A/N: It's been a while, hasn't it FF? Truth is almost a year ago I lost my laptop with all my drafts and outlines, and with that I lost my inspiration and motivation to write. It's taken me a long time to start writing again, and I want to reassure all my readers that I fully intend to finish my other stories, but this is what my brain has produced and it would be a real shame to not post it. I'm particularly proud of the work I've done on this story.

Also, as I publish these stories and introduce new characters I'll be publishing them available for download to your XCOM 2 character pool. If you want to use any of my Advent characters you'll need to download the Advent Armour mod and Capnbub's Accessories Mod from the Workshop. Also feel free to submit your own OCs at any time in the form of reviews or PMs, and if you can make them available for download I'll add them to my character pool.

Other than that, happy reading and enjoy XCOM 2: Repentant.

1. Birth

When were you born?

That's such a simple question to most. They know when they were born as surely as they know their own names. For people like me though, it's a harder question.

If they want to know when I was born in the strictest definition of the word, then the answer is that I wasn't. I supposed the closest word that accurately describes the process by which I came into the world is decanted.

I was decanted on the 18th of December 2034, at precisely nine AM. I remember it perfectly. That's one of my features, actually. Perfect memory. I suppose it's so I can rattle off any sequence of events to my superiors in the case I see something important and not miss a detail. But I'm getting sidetracked.

That isn't even my earliest memory. Even before I had the slightest hint of self-awareness there was information being jammed into my head. The one bit that really stands out are a set of three orders.

1. Obey the commands of your superior officers without hesitation or question.

2. In the absence of orders, report immediately to the closest ADVENT barracks and inform your superiors that you are awaiting orders.

3. Report any damage to your neural chip immediately.

Those were the three directives that came to define everything I did.

But back to being born. One could take that phrase a little more metaphorically. Perhaps the first thought I had that I could call my own, that wasn't put into my head by my superior officers. But no, that wasn't it either. While deciding a nearby snack vendor smelled good was perhaps not an Advent directive, it was also not the kind of defiance my story is about.

No, I suppose that in the metaphorical sense, you could say I was born on the tenth of July, 2035.

10 JULY 2035 - ADVENT PATROL ROUTE #33851/A7, LONDON

"I heard they made another round of arrests the other day. Brought in a bunch of dissident sympathisers."

I shrug casually as I adjust my grip on my rifle for what must be the hundredth time. I don't know if it's the weight, the shape or what, but there's no comfortable way to hold the damn thing for an extended period of time.

"Those damn crazies. Seems to be one hiding in every res-block these days."

Up ahead of me, Suki and Block are talking. Suki is a Template Four standard infantry, with an altered physical structure to match a female human, while Block is a Template Twelve siege specialist infantry, with broad shoulders, dark skin and a deep voice. As I have picked up, there's twenty templates out there, with three or four facilities dedicated to producing each one.

Suki is probably my closest friend. I was there when she picked her name. Oh, we all have official Advent designations, meaningless strings of symbols that only appear on official documentation. Usually within a month we've picked a name we want to be known by. Suki's came from some sort of ridiculous creature, I don't even know what it was. Some sort of weird ball of fluff on four tiny legs came running up and started spraying urine over her boot. A human came running up, clucking away apologetically, and removed the offending creature, scolding it in a sickly simpering voice that made me feel slightly ill just hearing it, and it emerged the creature's name was Suki. My Suki apparently liked the sound of the name, and that was that. Sometimes I like to tease her about being named after an animal that peed on her foot, but then she threatens to come after me with a stun lance and I shut up sharpish.

Block, by contrast, is a relative newcomer. It's only recently the siege specialists have started to be added to patrol squads, but I'm already fond of him. His deep, slow voice has a calming effect about it, not to mention I feel a lot safer when standing next to someone who can envelop me in a kinetic shield at a moment's notice.

"Apparently they managed to grab someone pretty important this time. Some sort of technician who was hacking supply routes and tipping off dissident mobs."

I glance past the chatting pair to Boss at the head of the squad. I haven't made my mind up about Boss yet. The Template Sixteen command infantry unit can be standoffish at times but he's also scarily smart. I might not like him very much, but I'd trust him to lead me into a fight. He's got two fingers pressed against the side of his helmet, his head ducked down, sure tells he's on the command comm circuit. Beside him walks Crunch, our heavy autonomous support unit. Not much of a conversationalist, is Crunch, but I'm certainly glad of his artillery when things get serious.

Beside me, Splashie cradles her rifle a little defensively, head constantly on the swivel. There's definitely something up with Splashie. Barracks rumour has it that she was folded into our unit after most of her platoon was wiped out when dissidents rammed a truck full of high-ex into a train she was riding guard on, and sometimes I can hear her making soft distressed noises in her sleep, but according to Boss as long as she shoots when he tells her to shoot she's fine.

"You heard about that, Scotch?"

And then there's me. Scotch, template two standard infantry, at your service. I wag my head noncommittally at Block's question.

"All I heard was they shipped out everyone they grabbed late last night. Stuck them on a train and sent them off to processing. Good thing too, the world's better off with them in some hole in the middle of nowhere."

Suki turns and walks backwards for a couple of paces, grinning at me before she turns back around just in time to dodge a waste bin.

"Nah, they kept that tech guy I mentioned in a holding cell at the enforcement centre. Chrome's unit were the ones who nabbed him, he reckons they found a genuine V.I.P."

I notice Splashie suddenly tense beside me but I ignore it, chalking it up to one of the tiny woman's oddities.

"You really think so? Surely the Speaker would be bragging about it if they'd found someone important."

Suki waves her arms dramatically, nearly catching Block with her rifle butt as she launches into her scarily accurate impersonation of the Speaker.

"Last night our brave and super-awesome Advent peacekeepers arrested a dissident who is basically a total loser! Praise be to the Elders!"

Block chuckles.

"One of these days you're going to do that in front of the wrong person and get into a lot of trouble."

Suki just shoots him a cheeky grin. He sighs and shakes his head ruefully, but I can tell he's smiling.

"Well, I tried."

Unexpectedly, Splashie speaks up.

"Hey guys, does Boss look worried to you?"

It was only after the event that I put together what happened next. As if fate had heard Splashie's hesitant question the world shook and with a dull WHUMP sound I was bowled off my feet. I must have blacked out briefly, because the next thing I know I have the unpleasant taste of blood in my mouth and my vision is tilted at some crazy angle. I pick myself up off the floor, groping for my rifle as I try to hear past the ringing in my ears.

"... you okay? Scotch!"

I stagger briefly before regaining my balance.

"I'm okay. What happened?"

I look around and take in the scene around me. The first thing I see is Splashie, curled up into a ball with her arms wrapped around her head, rifle discarded a little way away. Block is kneeling beside her, one hand on her back as he tries to coax her out of whatever she's doing. Boss is jabbering angrily into the comm, gesticulating even though there's no way whoever is on the other end can see him, and Clank stands mutely beside him, rifle at the ready as he slowly turns on the spot, scanning for anything out of place. Suki is looking at me concernedly, picking up my rifle and pressing it into my hands, and behind her ...

The restaurant we had been passing has convenient glass panes on all four walls, shattered into tiny pieces now, letting me see straight through it to the enforcement centre on the other side. It looks like a giant creature has leant down and taken a bite out of the building. The entire upper floor is nothing but a few twisted spurs of jagged metal, thick black smoke billowing up into the sky, and a corner of the ground floor has been blasted away, rubble strewn across the plaza. I can see a few bodies littered across the ground, all in Advent battle armour.

Suki gestures angrily at the rapidly developing inferno.

"It's the Resistance!"

Boss gets off the comm and waves his hand in the air, getting our attention.

"Up top, let's go!"

I know what he means instinctively, it's classic Advent tactics straight from the basic manual. Take the high ground, rain down mag bolts from above.

Block punches the ground, a reassuring flash of energy rushing outwards and coalescing into the translucent red glow of personal kinetic shields around the squad. I have no idea how the tech works but I'm glad for it. A quick visual scan of the restaurant revealed a convenient drainpipe and I ran to the base of it, starting to climb.

I crested the edge of the roof, rushing to cover behind an air-con unit with Suki right behind me. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones to have the bright idea of taking the high ground.

There were two people on the roof, a man and a woman, both with long rifles pointed down at the burning enforcement centre. The man doesn't even react to our presence but the woman turns around, a slight expression of surprise on her face. She is wearing some sort of body armour that almost looks like our own gear, except hers is painted royal blue. She is wearing a black beret with some sort of pentagonal metal badge affixed to the front, long wavy blonde hair spilling out from underneath it, and bizarrely for a sniper a pair of half framed glasses perched on her face.

All of that is secondary to the grenade she has just sent rolling across the roof towards me.

Reacting on some instinct I hadn't known I possessed, I dove. Not away from the grenade but towards Suki, who had just arrived on the roof behind me. She barely had time to yelp in shock before the grenade detonated.

I covered her body with my own for the initial blast, and it was only Block's shield that prevented my armour from being blown clean open. As it was, I felt shrapnel pepper my back painfully, but not lethally. Unfortunately the blast had not only taken out my shield but the floor beneath us. We fall.

Everything goes black.