ALIENATION
PART ONE: GRAND CENTRAL
Grand Central Terminal has been overrun. That is nothing new. Crowds and crowds have condensed in a thick mass outside the building. The sidewalk heaves with them, pushing, shoving, trying to get to their station before the trains depart. A woman stumbles and a man in a dark coat picks her up again. A young boy is walking around and around in circles, shouting for his papa. Lines of suits keep checking their watches, like some bizarre mating ritual amongst the flock. Everyone seems to have somewhere to be, but no one is making any progress at being there.
William Carter and his men have been watching this scene for about five minutes. It has not changed in that time. Anyone else might have thought this was just a snapshot of New York City in rush hour. Carter knows better. He has seen this before - Philadelphia, Great Falls, Pima. It is the same all across the States, and getting worse by the hour. These people will never get to their destinations. They have succumbed to the Sleepwalker virus, eating away at their brains, making them repeat the same instant again and again and again and again.
Carter's duty is not to them right now, though. They have bigger problems.
Raoul Etienne and Guy Todd follow him down Park Avenue, heading towards the station. Although no enemies are in sight at the moment, they keep ducking behind the abandoned cars. Stains of black goo and char marks tell them all they need to know. Not long ago, this place was a battleground. Another war on home turf, unlike anything Carter thought he would ever have to experience.
He peers above the yellow taxicab and along the wide street. The white colonnade facade of the station still stands, though peppered with more holes than he remembers. The tracker in Carter's hand beeps. That is the way they have to go. Carter knows that already. He had been the one to set out the motions for the team before. Now, they are gone, vanished without a trace of their mission. Carter is determined to find them.
"Looks like we're gonna have to go through those walkers, boss," Todd says at his side.
"They won't give us any trouble," Carter assures. It is not the first time he has dealt with Sleepwalkers. They have never been hostile. All they do is repeat their last action before the infection took them over. It is ugly to watch, as they are essentially stuck in the prison of their own bodies, but they are not dangerous.
Nevertheless, he grips his laser pulse rifle as they come out of cover. The Sleepwalkers might be alright, but there are other perils waiting for them. He guides his men down the wrecked street, stepping around pieces of cars, bashed into bits like children's toys. Glass crunches loudly beneath their feet where someone has been thrown through a windshield. Every now and then, they pass a hand sticking plaintively out of the debris. Carter doesn't look. He keeps his eyes ahead, on the entrance to the Terminal, and further afield, into the New York skyline. The looming dark shape of the alien guns rise amongst the crowded buildings, positioned atop various high-rises. Their slender funnels aim into the clouds, silent for now. That unsettles Carter. His squad had been sent out to shut them down. Obviously, they have. So why didn't they request immediate evac after doing so? How did they get themselves lost?
Carter and his men are getting nearer the Sleepwalkers. Just as Carter thought, they meander round them, trapped in their own worlds. That kid is still screaming for his father, and the sound is ear-splitting. Soon, he will draw the Outsiders to them, and those here will be finished off, without even a single memory of their lives before.
He, Etienne and Todd climb the steps and pass into the main concourse. Ticket-vendors are selling passes like it is any normal day, only the long, winding queues aren't moving. The same couple stay at the front, receiving their ticket, giving it back, receiving it again. The people behind keep tapping their feet. Back and forth, passengers run, dragging their suitcases and possessions. They are stuck in an endless loop of trying to escape. It is too late. The Outsiders are already here, and soon, they will flood through the doors once again.
Carter checks the tracker. Its signal is directing them further down. It isn't what he expected. Grand Central was only meant to be a way through - convenient cover before Evora's team reached the guns. But, sure enough, there is something transmitting from below them, in what seems like the lower railway tracks. Carter hesitates next to the central information point. "Looks like we're gonna be staying here a little longer than we thought," he says.
"What were they doing here?" Todd asks, checking the tracker.
"I don't know. Maybe they got cornered. Either way, I'm having words with Evora when we find him. Come on, we're going down."
Carter takes them off the frantic ants' nest of the main concourse, and into the arched walkways that lead down. Helpful signs point the right direction. The entire station is a labyrinth, made even worse because of the Sleepwalkers strolling about and blocking the paths. Carter pushes through, with one eye on the arrows to the lower levels and one eye on the tracker. It is pulsing, further, further, further down. He can't help but think they are being led on a wild goose chase. Evora is a smart man, he wouldn't have lost himself so deeply in this maze without good reason.
They reach the dining concourse which is still radiating with the scent of food, despite what is happening above them. Waiters flit about the tables from the various stalls and central buffet. The long room is full of the sound of clinking cutlery and glasses. If he didn't know any different, Carter would have thought that it was any other normal day. But each person he passes has sickening streaks of black goo dripping from their eyes and mouths. The same plates are continuously being served, and the people keep eating the same things. "Poor bastards," Todd comments. "Having to eat tomato soup for the rest of their lives."
"Ignore them," Carter says abruptly. "This way."
He heads towards the tracks. They are almost out of the hall when something moves in the ranks of the walkers. A man in a train driver's uniform emerges. His hand reaches back and suddenly, there is a pistol pointing at Carter's head. Etienne and Todd immediately push in front of him, guns drawn. "Drop it, pal," Todd orders. "Do it now."
Carter notices how much the man's hand is shaking. Sweat is dribbling into his eyes, which are already betraying hints of that ugly infection. "Who the hell are you?" he asks.
"We don't mean any harm," Carter says. "We're here to find three men. Have you seen anyone come this way?"
"I might have." He still hasn't lowered the pistol. He clings to it like it is his only lifeline. Here, amongst all this sickness, threatened with the Outsiders so close, probably it is. Carter doesn't want him to think they are another danger on top of that. He eases in front of Etienne and Todd, getting them to drop their laser pulse rifles. The driver hesitates. His eyes fall on the Venn Brace about Carter's wrist, and the wires connecting it to his tactical backpack. The sight only inflames his hostility more. "Are you with them?" he accuses. "Are you part of that - alien invasion?"
"No. We're trying to fight it off. This is -" Carter pauses. This man will be down for the count soon, but who knows what he will remember if he ever wakes up again. "This is one of our techniques. Now, please, these three men. Did you see them?"
Seeing that they aren't going to hurt him (or maybe resigning himself to how, if they are aliens, that measly pistol won't do a thing), the driver re-holsters the weapon. He sighs. "They were here about - maybe a day ago, I don't know anymore. I've been down here for much longer than that, hiding from these creatures. I tried to get to them but they were on the run from the aliens, and they were talking about finding some of the missing people here."
That explains it a little. Carter knew that they wouldn't have come here without a reason. Even if Evora had broken his orders by taking on another mission. They were meant to get to the guns, turn them off, and get out again. Not search about for missing people. "Did you see where they went?"
"They went... they went to the tracks. I haven't seen them since then. I should have warned them. I should have told them not to go down there."
"Down where?"
"Down the tunnel." The man shudders. His face has suddenly turned a shade paler. "There's something down there. The stewards used to tell us there was something weird in that tunnel, even before this invasion - or whatever the hell it is - started, but we never believed them. But now, sometimes, I hear it - I hear it in the walls - in the tunnels - it's getting closer all the time -"
The man is going mad. Carter resists the urge to tell him to get a hold of himself. "Just hold tight here. We're gonna find -"
"I don't want to be another missing person," the driver babbles. "Too many people go missing here, and it's not this black goo that's doing it, and it's not the aliens. It's something else. Oh my god, it's something else -"
Carter sees Etienne glance at Todd. He doesn't want to indulge the man any more in his panic, and he's starting to think he's not going to get any more out of him anyway. "Just stay here," he repeats. "You'll be fine. How many other survivors are there?"
"I don't know - I don't - I think I'm the only one."
Carter knows it is cruel but he is almost glad. He can't have word getting out of 'something else' prowling alongside the Outsiders. "We'll try and find you on our way out. You've done well to live this far, you can manage an hour or so more."
He nods, resigned to his miserable fate. "I only hope that you make it out, sir. There's things here that no man was ever meant to see."
Tell me about it, Carter thinks.
They leave the man with his pistol. His quiet sobs begin to fade as they get further away, blending in with the monotonous drones of the Sleepwalkers. Carter does not look back. They have a job to do, and now, they have a clearer direction. But he can feel the tension radiating off Etienne and Todd, driven higher by the survivor's frantic rant. He would say something, but he's not the comforting type.
The darkness seems to get deeper the lower down they roam. The lights are dimmer, and every now and then, something heavy will shift on the street above and make them flicker into black. Carter doesn't have to imagine what is making the earth shake. He has seen it before - the massive alien structures corroding human cities and towns, replacing fields and urban settlements with their metallic fortresses and communications towers. Just like at Groom Range, where this all began, they are building. They are building for their reign of total domination. Carter refuses to be a pawn, or a slave, to their plans.
The subway tracks are eerily empty, without even a sleepwalker hanging around. Trains still wait expectantly at the platform. Carter glances through the windows as they pass. Some have been shattered and blood clings to the spidery cracks. Black goo is spattered up the inner sides of the doors, like someone has slammed them shut on one of those damn Silacoids - the amorphous blobs that have tried to absorb Carter's squad more than once.
"Do you think that survivor meant Commander Evora went down the tracks?" Todd asks, drawing his attention away. He is aiming his torch into the gloom. That dark tunnel could be hiding a hundred enemies.
"I can't see any other way," Carter replies.
"We're gonna go down - there?"
"I hope you gentlemen aren't afraid of the dark."
Carter is about to hop down when there is sudden movement along the platform. Two Outsiders emerge from the train on the other set of tracks. Carter immediately hides behind one of the pillars. Todd and Etienne do the same. He chastises himself for not having noticed them before. They are not one of the higher order - only the regular alien soldiers, without even the shield that the tougher enemies have - but if they had spotted Carter's team, their fire could have raised the alarm. Carter wants to get in and out with minimal fighting, for once.
Still, he keeps his finger hovering over the trigger of the rifle. Gradually, he turns his head so he can see down the platform. The two Outsiders seem to be searching for survivors. Their light armour clinks on the ground as they roam up and down the stalled train. Another alien hurries to join them - a grey Sectoid this time, scampering like a bizarre little monkey at their feet. Its long limbs allow it to crawl up the side of the vehicle and pull itself through the broken windows. It keeps coming out with trinkets in its fingers - jewellery, a watch, a couple of hats, eye-glasses... The Outsiders aren't pleased with what it brings, and keep sending it back in. Carter watches this bizarre ritual with a frown. As far as he can tell, the Sectoids are at the bottom of the pile of alien invaders, stretching all the way up to their elite commanders and further to that mysterious entity the scientists are calling Origin. It is unsettling to know how much structured hierarchy there is between them all. It reminds him how they are fighting an entire race.
Eventually, the Sectoid comes back with something his superiors like. They stop and pick up the offering, turning it in their hands. Carter peers closer. He has to stop himself from swearing aloud. It is Evora's ammo pack. He can make out the 'US army' print stamped on it. They're going the right way to finding them. But it seems they're not the only ones on the hunt anymore.
Carter waits until the Outsiders and their little dog have left again, proud of their new trophy. Then, when the platform falls into eerie silence once more, he ducks out of cover. "Quickly," he whispers to Todd and Etienne. This time, they waste no time before dropping down onto the tracks. Their torches are barely enough to scatter the darkness in the tunnel. On all sides, the shadows press in, threatening to overwhelm the flashlights' circles of illumination. "Keep close," Carter orders.
Carter knows his men have already been through a lot - and seen a lot - but this black passageway seems to be playing with their minds. He can hear their harsh breathing right behind him, getting heavier the further they plunge. He cannot help thinking of the things the frantic train driver had told them. There is something in those tunnels - something else. What the hell else they can be faced with Carter isn't sure. He has already had to adjust himself to the reality of this current alien invasion. It is hard to believe that he only became mixed up in it a few months before.
It had all started when he had been tasked with delivering a mysterious briefcase to Director Faulke, the leader of the Bureau of Strategic Emergency Command. The organisation had been set up to deal with the ever-present threat of a Soviet invasion of the US, but, as it turned out, Faulke had had other ideas. A rogue military liaison had tried to gain possession of the briefcase and had shot Carter with a slug that should have been fatal, just as that weird black stuff had started to pour from her eyes and nose. Carter had passed out just as the room had filled with blinding light from the package.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but he had awoken with his wounds healed up, and the officer incinerated to a crisp on the floor. He had left quickly, trying to get answers, only to run straight into an alien gunship blasting through the facility. Within hours, Groom Range had been destroyed by what Carter could only assume was the Outsiders' equivalent of a nuke, and only Faulke had survived out of the top brass. Carter had found himself recruited into the Bureau, which had been co-ordinated not just to fight off Reds, but these alien invaders too. Since then, Carter's life had revolved around them. After a year of being trapped to a desk job, he has suddenly been thrown back into the field again. This time, he is armed with technology the scientists have reverse-engineered, like the cumbersome but devastatingly useful Venn Brace on his wrist.
Todd and Etienne have followed him into nearly every mission. They have faced Outsiders and mutons and even Origin's henchman, Axis. But now, the tension is creeping between them, as thick and heavy as the dirt and alien infrastructure pressing down from above. When Carter's tracker beeps suddenly, he hears Etienne drew a sharp breath and utter a low "merde".
Carter angles his flashlight to look at the screen. The little dot indicating Evora's position is still saying he is below them. "The hell -" Todd breathes. Carter sighs. That is exactly what he was afraid of.
"It must be a tech malfunction," Etienne says. "What's below us now? We're on the subway."
Carter puts the tracker away again. "It's not a malfunction. That crazy bastard, what the hell was he thinking? He'll have got himself trapped down there."
"Down where? Commander, what -" Todd treads carefully, unsure whether he is stumbling into any classified information.
"There's a lower level below the station - M42. It's a basement where the power converters are. The Nazis targeted it in the war to try and grind the trains to a halt. It's not on any maps, but the elevator down is still operational, if you know how to get to it."
"Would Evora have known about it?"
"I should think so. He was stationed in New York during the war, and was involved in god knows what."
"Do you know how to get to the elevator?"
Carter nods. He hasn't been here before, but has heard of the labyrinth below the station, and the deep, 300-foot shaft that leads down to it. He only hopes that the Outsiders haven't uncovered it too. "On me, gentlemen," he says, his mind already made up.
He leads them further into the shadows. Now, it is not only the darkness of the railway surrounding them, but the foggy darkness of classified secrets too. M42 had always been an FBI specialty, not CIA, but Carter had come across multiple references to it during deep-cover in Vladivostok, where the Trans-Siberian railway terminus held its own hidden lines and passages. Soviet agents had been working to sabotage the US's train system and New York had been a prime target. Carter reaches back through time to remember the plans, translating them from the Russian.
The darkness seems to go on forever. Eventually, Carter finds what he is looking for. "Help me with this," he says, and then he and Todd are tugging a vent cover from the wall. The noise it makes is deafening in the tunnel, and for a moment, they brace themselves, prepared for the Outsiders to come pouring down upon them. There is nothing. So Carter adjusts his flashlight and crawls inside. Behind him, he hears Etienne utter a plaintive, "in there?" but within seconds, he follows, preferring the tight space to the prospect of an Outsider ambush in the tunnel.
They hold their breath as they squeeze through. The ducts luckily only go one way, not confusing them with any junctions. Carter doesn't like it any more than the other two and is glad when the exit point finally comes into sight. He eases himself out into a corridor, packed up with boxes and other containers. Cobwebs hang from the walls and dust is clouded thickly on the floor. He would think that it hadn't been used for years, but amongst the decades of dirt, he can make out footprints. They are going to the right and round the corner. Carter lights the way with his torch.
Todd and Etienne follow diligently. Hallway after hallway blend together like some messed-up fun house. The pathetic electric-bar lights have failed completely down some, plunging them into familiar darkness. Eventually, Carter turns at a junction and sees what he has been waiting for. It is another short passage choking with abandoned storage units, but at the end is that ancient elevator system. The footprints he has been trailing finish at the closed doors.
They have to clamber over the boxes to reach it. Some fall to the floor, spilling tools and wires. Carter kicks them away and examines the shaft's access panel. The security around it has been decimated, either by desperate survivors or by Evora and his squad before. Either way, all they have to do now is call it up, and then take the long journey down into the bowels of the station. Carter is just about to press the button when a blast pierces the wall inches from his head. "Contact! Damn it!" Todd shouts, and rolls behind the stacks of boxes.
A small team of Outsiders have somehow found them. Two peer around the junction they have just exited, providing covering fire as two more scramble into the corridor. Carter drops to his knees. Hot laser pulses sear past his shoulder. He crawls into position, damning himself again for being so careless. He knew it had been too easy for the squad to reach the elevator. But how the hell did the invaders get down here? There must be another way, somewhere he doesn't know about -
He doesn't dwell on it now. As the firing goes dead for a second, he peers above the boxes and takes his first shot. It slams into the Outsider on the left. It staggers out of cover, enough for Carter's next round to take the front of its armoured face off. "Get the ones in the corridor," he orders Todd, and to Etienne, "get that elevator up. We need to get down there quick."
One Outsider is down already. Todd and Carter deal with the others as Etienne drags himself over to the button. Carter hears the satisfying click of it, and the first whines of the pulley system. But the thing is 300 feet below them, and it's going to take a while to reach their floor.
The boxes aren't giving great cover. They keep being obliterated by the fierce laser fire, and Carter has to shift his limbs every few seconds. Todd lands an effective shot, blowing off an enemy's chest protection, but they can't escape the fact that they have been cornered. Maybe this is what happened to Evora. Carter is determined not to go AWOL like them, though, definitely not against this meagre team of four. He has faced far, far worse than this.
Etienne rejoins them. Above the aching groans of the approaching elevator, he shoots at the other Outsider in cover. A return volley catches him in the wrist and he swears, but it can't be too bad because in the next second, he has the bastard down. Another invader takes its place. More are approaching from the junction. Damn it, how many have followed them down here?
Carter fires round after round, trying not to let them enter the hallway. His other men catch a couple in the crossfire. The bodies are piling up, but more replace them. He glances behind, willing the elevator to speed up. It has to be over halfway now. It is like the Outsiders can sense their desperation. They press in, getting closer behind the tipped boxes. Carter starts to shoot them into pieces, taking down the places for cover. Once they are exposed, Todd and Etienne take them out. Carter has already lost count. Where the hell had they been hiding?
It seems to take an age but at last, the elevator grinds to a stop behind them. The shuttered doors ache as they open. There are still Outsiders intent on stopping them getting in. Carter thinks of Evora and rallies himself for the final shots. One, two, three, four enemies are routed. "Get in, now!" he calls. Etienne and Todd scramble back. Carter covers them. Finally, only one Outsider remains. It peers around the remains of the boxes, giving Carter an easy shot, but something makes him lower his weapon.
The Outsider readies to take him down. Carter harnesses the power of the brace around his wrist and wrenches the alien into the air. He takes a sick delight in how its legs kick uselessly. He keeps it there, flailing, until Etienne and Todd are safe. Then he slams it up into the ceiling. It drops to the ground in a dead slump.
He doesn't breathe easy again until the elevator doors have shut behind him. That is one more battle down. Maybe a hundred still wait for them. But, right now, Carter's biggest concern is what they might find at the bottom of this shaft. He takes a breath, looks at Todd and says, "let's go down."
Todd pulls back the lever. The cage gives a jerk, which isn't very assuring. But then, slowly, painfully, they begin to descend. Carter's tracker keeps beeping, more, and more, and more.
A/N: So I've recently just finished playing this game and I've been pretty surprised at how negative a lot of the reviews are for it. I think it's a perfect bit of science fiction with such a great storyline and aesthetic, and I really fell for the characters. The gameplay was so fun. I just wish there was a bigger fandom for it. I wanted so much to do fanfic for it but I couldn't think of much to add as the plot was so well-rounded and on point. Soooo I decided to cross it over with one of my dearest favourite franchises, Alien. But the main aesthetic and ideas will come from The Bureau XCOM Declassified. Btw, Raoul Etienne and Guy Todd are two of the squad mates I created in-game, and there'll be some others later too. Anyway, TL;DR I love this game so much and I wish others did too haha.
(apologies to anyone actually from New York, I know nothing about it. Also thought I'd better say I haven't played any of the other XCOM games, this is my first venture into the franchise)
feedback alwayssss appreciated, hope you enjoyed so far c: