A/N: welp. decided to try my hand at a crossover. this has been bouncing around my head ever since i replayed enemy within but i felt like i couldn't do it justice. then i figured i might as well write it seeing as i need a distraction from the ruins of my real life. i'm honestly more than a little disappointed with how this one turned out but i just wanted to punt out the boring-ish intro bits. as always reviews and criticisms are encouraged.

Name: Elizabeth D. Owens
Occupation: General of the 1st Battalion of the Human Allied Military
Appearance: Pale white complexion, red hair-short, hazel eyes
Psionic: Unknown
Status: Pending recruitment

Humanity was under attack again. And we were caught with our pants down again. For all the shiny new tech the Ethereals had left them, it couldn't negate the lack of training and know-how needed to fight zero gravity battles. At least the weapons they had were able to damage these new aliens and their ships from what she heard. She stood and looked out her window, stance disciplined yet relaxed. "Then again," she said to herself, "panicked and evacuating civilians are rarely a good source of intelligence." Her men were trying to sort out the evacuees from the Moon's mining facility, with little success. Then she heard the door to her office open behind her.

"General Elizabeth Owens?" a man said as he entered. Elizabeth turned to face the man, fixing him with a hard gaze. He was south-east Asian by her reckoning, judging from his black hair and caramel skin tone. He wore what appeared to be a military dress uniform, though it didn't resemble any uniform she was familiar with. He also carried a briefcase with what appeared to be a rather sophisticated lock. Some sort of black ops, then, she thought. "Who are you?" she asked with no preamble. The man began walking toward her in a measured pace and extended his hand out for a handshake once he was close enough. She took it. "I am David Malateo," he answered, "and I am here to recruit you into an organization."

She narrowed her eyes at that. They're definitely black ops, and so far underground that this guy can't say its name. She walked over to her desk and sat, back straight against the chair and hands before her on her desk. She motioned for David, if that was his real name, to sit in front of her. Once he was seated, she asked, "And what does your organization do?" He shifted slightly in his chair as if to find a more comfortable seating position, which he apparently found as he visibly relaxed a moment later. "We exist to combat any external potentially existential threats that present themselves to humanity, such as the Ethereals roughly 50 years ago and now the aliens invading us now," he said, his voice betraying the slightest hint of awe and little else.

If that was all there was to it then these people wouldn't go through the hassle of staying covert, she thought. A group dedicated to fighting aliens would have unanimous approval. "Why hide, then?" David briefly looked at the case that he held in his lap before looking back up at the general's piercing, almost unblinking, eyes. She did not miss his hesitation. "Our status as a covert organization allows us to bypass much of the bureaucracy of government agencies," he paused, "the lack of oversight gives us the speed necessary to conduct our operations." "Also much of our practices are… ethically questionable at best." She mulled over that last statement. A lot of what they did against the Ethereal army was some of the most reprehensible acts humanity has ever committed to other living beings and everyone was okay with it. She found it difficult to imagine a situation where someone would be worried about mistreating the aliens. Unless…

Unless he was talking about humans. If these people were committing serious crimes against humanity, then that would present a lot of problems to them. But what could they have been… "The super-humans," she muttered. She looked up at David who seemed to realize what she was getting at. "Those stories about soldiers with superpowers… that was your doing," she stated, "and you covered it up so well that nobody believes them." S. David met her gaze with a small smile on his face. "What did you do to them?" she demanded. His smile reduced somewhat and he averted his eyes for a moment before reestablishing eye contact. "I cannot tell you that." That was the nail in the coffin, then. Whatever they did, it was probably best that the public not know. Still, if those stories were true then this organization was capable of many things and were probably instrumental in the Ethereal War.

There was still the question of who was funding them, though. Then again, David definitely wouldn't tell her until she accepts. It also probably didn't matter much. Considering that these people could field teams of super soldiers while keeping everyone in the dark about it, their funders probably don't give a damn about what they do so long as they succeed. "Do you have any more questions, ma'am?" David asked, interrupting her train of thought. "What would you want from me?" Elizabeth asked. "Your performances in the simulations have been the most promising among all current high-ranking officers," he began, "your involvement in the counter-insurgency operations in China were also exemplary, as evidenced by your promotion to general after the fact. You have also shown a certain ruthlessness in your actions which plays into our methods. As such, you will be in charge of the organization as the over-arching commander. You will live on-site with limited outside contact and your pay will be forwarded to the person of your choosing."

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. It was a tempting offer, though she was a little worried about their backers. "Who funds you?" "People." Figures, there was no way she was getting something out of this guy. She wasn't trained to be a spy, after all. Without bothering to open her eyes, she stood from her desk and walked toward the window again with practiced steps. She looked out onto the designated landing zone for the evacuees. It was chaos and the invasion hadn't even fully hit yet. Once it did, it was going to be this bad or worse everywhere. "My outside contact," Elizabeth tentatively asked, "how limited is it?" David seemed a little surprised at the sudden shift in her tone, but he let it slide. "You will be given an hour of phone calls per week. Non-cumulative." She sighed, it wasn't that different from normal she supposed.

She turned sharply to face David again. This time she stood with more trained discipline, the movement of her breath almost imperceptible, making her appear as if she was cast from steel. The sunlight filtering through the window behind her gave her a backlight enough to produce a slight silhouette. After a fraction of a second, she spoke with finality, "I accept." To David, the whole display was rather imposing and he caught himself feeling a little intimidated. Fortunately for him, he was able to re-school his features and smiled. He stood to meet her gaze (with some difficulty) and extended his arm for another handshake.

"Welcome to XCOM, Commander Owens."