Even her name sounded good, this blonde haired beauty reminded him of the Valkyries of old that came down onto the battlefields to gather the spirits of the fallen heroes for the final war of Ragnarok.
"Then thanks for saving me today Alicia, if you hadn't been there I would have been riddled with holes."
"Oh? I personally think you were the one who saved us on multiple occasions, Heather can definitely attest to that."
"No... if you hadn't decided to pick me up then all those lives could have been saved." He put it bluntly, there was one thing that he hated in his entire 24 years of living and that was owing someone else.
"... Heather wasn't kidding when she said you had an issue on gratitude."
"I've lived my entire life supported by ADVENT, when my parents disappeared they sent me to a state orphanage. When i studied, they sponsored my tuition. When i needed a job, there was one right there for me. It was so secure that it was disgusting!"
"... You really are a peculiar guy!" She snickered.
"I couldn't even mention a single achievement in my life without mentioning ADVENT in it! How would you feel if you entire life was dictated by others or by others telling you how you should grow up like?"
Alicia looked stunned for a moment, a smile was planted across her face.
"It seems we might have much in common! Ah! We're here, could you wait outside for a second?" They reached outside a room with a holo-globe in the centre, it was some sort of Command Centre.
She walked over to an aged Officer in combat fatigues and talked with him. The hologlobe was the only thing that occupied his mind now, it seemed to dominate the entire room.
But it looked incomplete, the hologram was fizzing and the poles weren't aligned properly so it became more for show than for function. Every part of his body itched to sort out this problem, so he didn't disobey it. He walked straight to the holo-globe and inspected the hub and console, then he took apart the cover to the mainframe and checked to see if the hardware portion was done. It was, but the software was like it was done by a high-school student.
He took out his trusty data pad and linked up with the local network and began working on the code. The staff in the Command Centre didn't seem to mind him tampering with the hub. Perhaps they thought he was the technician hard at work, his focus on the job at hand seemed to give them the impression he was.
"And...there!" As he declared, the holo-globe switched off and restarted its function again.
This caught the attention of everyone in the Centre including Alicia and the old officer.
"Now there's no way we can just let him go!" Bradford grinned and Alicia just smiled.
The holo-globe no longer flickered and the earth was now spinning with points marked to indicate the areas of importance, there were floating discs in red moving around the globe in a certain consistence, he honestly didn't want to know what they were.
As he closed the cover to the hub, the aged officer and Alicia walked up to him.
"If lily caught you doing that she would scream you stole her job, but you certainly left an impression with that little time you worked on the holo-globe, that was a nice job."
"The program was elementary, more like someone laid a foundation and left the job to do something else."
"Ouch! Horus-1 and Lily-NIL!" Alicia said from the sidelines.
"I've not been formerly introduced yet, I am Central Officer Jeremy Bradford. Your already quite the rock star in their fire team. Come! We'll discuss further in my office."
Horus obediently followed Bradford, Alicia tagged along by his side. The office had simple furnishings but had a homily feeling to it like he lived here.
"That's a very rare name you have yourself." Bradford said.
"My parents chose that name, there wasn't any say in it for me."
"What's your surname?"
"I don't have one." He had never heard his parents being called by their surname and neither did the administration keep tabs on it, he was simply found wandering on the street after his parents vanished.
Bradford looked at his pained expression and regretted asking him, Alicia had a complex feeling about him as well.
"Right, I'm sorry for pressing. So Horus, is there anything you've had on your mind that you would like to pursue?"
"I assume you're not going to give me the job of the one who programmed the hologram, are you?"
Bradford laughed heartily like he heard a magnificent joke.
"Hahaha.. hah... thank you! That really made my day, but sorry that job is permanently taken. If she ever heard you say that, an army of drones would chase you to the ends of the earth!"
Alicia also snickered at the thought but held back her laughter.
"If not then I'd like a place among the combatants."
Bradford and Alicia froze as if hearing something unconceivable.
"You need to understand, Horus. That the battlefield isn't as safe as you think, even the casualties received to retrieve you are considered minimal nowadays."
"Then wouldn't having me on the team be of better use, if I'm there to hack into their mainframes I could steal their intel, turn their security systems against them or allow your men to slip pass monitored areas." Horus's proposal sounded all too appealing for Bradford, he was almost about to say yes at the spur of the moment but held himself back.
"If that's what you want then I'll be more than happy to welcome you into the team!" But to Horus it was too obvious that this was all Bradford had been hoping for.
"But first, you'll have to go through our recruits course for combatants first. Lieutenant Hunor will take you there shortly, but before that I would like to hear from you your story."
"My story?"
"Our surveillance caught traffic of you being pursued by ADVENT forces due to an intrusion in their network, whatever you pulled off set off the bells and whistles and flagged you as a target for termination." Bradford informed him.
"I was only doing what was instructed of me at the time. My job consisted of getting a survey of the population via code so I had access to the network pass the security system. I never would have guessed they were so secretive over an encrypted file that was almost gibberish." Bradford's ears perked up when he heard about the encrypted file.
"I see, was that all? Did you find anything, even a small bit would help our efforts here!"
Bradford was now at the edge of his seat waiting for Horus.
"The file was only in my possession for less than a day, I did download it but it's in my computer at my dorm which would have been swarmed with them by now and my place taken apart to look for secrets that I might have hidden."
"There were things that you've kept a secret?"
"Of course, like my porn stash!" Bradford stumped his head against the table and Alicia laughed again.
"How often do you come across paper magazines nowadays, those things are worth thousands now!"
"Anything else…" He forced Horus to change the subject.
Horus thought for a while, just then he remembered a small detail he chanced upon while looking at the script.
"I had a light browse through the files code and I remember seeing a constant trend in it… the name kept popping up every paragraph, 'avatar' this and 'avatar' that."
A stricken look appeared on Bradford's face as if coming across such a grave news.
"Do you have any possession of that files code on you?"
"Like I said, at my computer back in the dorm... Actually, I do but only part of the code. It's on my data pad I used to bring along with me to read in. What the hell is this Avatar thing anyway?"
He took out his data pad and placed it in front of Bradford. The later took hold of it.
"That's what we're curious to find out as well, I'll take this to Tygan for analysis. Lieutenant, take our friend to the Bunks and have him settle in. Tomorrow, you begin your training. Rest well in the meantime and again, welcome to XCOM!" Bradford shook his hand before dismissing them both.
Alicia took him to the bunks within the depths of the facility, coincidentally the armory was part of the bunks which was probably for quick reaction means.
Alicia stood before a sleeping older woman who was resting in a chair.
"Nanna. Nanna wake up."
"Huh?... Alicia, dear. What seems to be the matter?" The old maybe 50 or something woman woke up to her soft shrugs.
"We have a new occupant today, this one's a special one!" Alicia gave him the best impression to the one she called Nanna.
The older woman straightens her glasses and sizes him top to bottom.
"For the physical aspect I can't say I'm impressed, but for you to call him special means he really has some kind of quality other than strength." The older woman said bluntly.
Horus was a little irritated that this old woman who had only just met him was already bad mouthing him, but his expression failed to show it.
"Horus, this is Nanna Lee. She is in-charge of the base logistics and weapon procurements, since the bunks fall under the armory naturally come under her control. She's the one who will issue you with all the equipment you need on your missions and training."
"So she's the hidden power behind the base then."
"Oh? I'm starting to like this kid already. But tell me why do you think that is the case?"
"No army, no organization can run without logistics to fuel their function. Logistics can decide who gets more and who gets less, no war can run without a proper logistic chain either." He said everything he remembered from an edition of the Art of War in his possession.
"So you know who not to offend while you're in this organization, smart boy! Allow me to properly introduce myself. I'm Lee Hye Gi, I've been in XCOM even before this young lady was born. I was and still am a senior staff officer in it."
"So how shall I call you then, not Nanna I presume?"
The older woman laughed and Alicia blushed slightly.
"No no no! This child has given you the wrong impression, no one else calls me Nanna except her! I've raised her since she was an infant in place of her mother and father."
"Then can I call you Madam Lee?"
"Oh? Do I look like a madam to you?" She answered sharply, most would think she had been offended but Horus was thinking otherwise.
"There's this air of nobility around you, you control the flow of resources throughout this base and you raised Alicia since she was a baby. I think you've earned the title Madam more than enough."
"I see…. It this why he's so special to you, my dear?" She turned to Alicia.
"That and more, much more. Bradford see hopes that he'll become a specialist in the field. He's proven to all of us that he's more than capable of taking up this job. Lily is going to have a new rival soon."
"Alright then, if that is the case then welcome to the family. Let me get my minions to gather all the necessities you need for you stay, and Alicia."
Madam Lee took out a key card from her porch and handed it to Alicia.
"Have him settle in the one-man quarter, 038."
Alicia took the keycard and pulled Horus's hand to follow excitedly. "Come on!"
Madam Lee watched them go. "(sigh) it's good to be young!"
Alicia led him by his hand through the corridors of the deck.
"You seem to have left quite an impression on Nanna as well!"
"Really? At least I didn't give her a bad impression of me or wrongfully offend her."
"It must be! If not she wouldn't have given you a room to yourself, normally recruits shared a bunk in the communal area. Even private quarters are only something a commission officer on deck is entitled to, so does that put things into context for you?" She showed him that meaningful smile again, he really liked it. It felt like it suited her and could brighten one's day just by getting a glimpse of it.
"Doesn't that mean she expects me to perform at the level of a commissioned officer then?"
His alternate views towards others impressions always left a sour taste to his conversations with others, but Alicia didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, her eye brows twitched with excitement as if she were a child learning something new for the first time.
Room 038 was right before them, Alicia swiped her keycard through the slot on the side and a metal click indicated the mechanism unlocking.
The room was small but enough to fit proper furnishings like a single mattress, a desk and a cabinet for storing clothes and equipment.
"I know I should be grateful but I have a sudden feeling of claustrophobia." He announced.
Alicia sat on his new bed.
"Don't you have some Officer things to be doing?" He reminded her.
"Heather will take care of it for me, so I have the whole day to relax."
Poor Heather, she had risked her life in the field, even nearly lost it and now her superior was unjustly overworking her for her own convenience.
"Well then, I know which Unit I should avoid going to. Seeing as you work your subordinates like slaves."
Alicia pouted at his remark, but her brief frown and pout turned into a grin and smirk.
"You won't have any say in the matter, because you'll belong to my team when your done training!"
"Really?"
"Really, we bid for the recruits on a rotation, this time it's my turn to pick my first choice so strap yourself tight. Because I'm going to ride you like a horse!"
"That can be taken in so many wrong ways."
Alicia realized her mistake and blushed heavily.
"Ah!- No! I meant work not ride…..argh!"
Horus laughed unconsciously at her blunder, it just came out naturally. Alicia was genuinely surprised, because it was a true laugh and smile instead of that disturbing on he wore back in the city square.
"I didn't know you could smile like that!"
"Neither did I, maybe it's because I haven't smiled in such a long time, maybe!"
Alicia got up from the bed and headed to the door.
"I'll let you get settled in first, you're probably tired after such a long day. I'll pick you up in the morning tomorrow, goodnight!"
"Alicia…."
"Yes?"
"Thanks for everything."
She showed him her signature smile before leaving his new room.
Madam Lee handed him his equipment right after Alicia left along with a list on how to court a girl, she winked at him before leaving herself.
For a rogue organization they were sure well equipped. He had expected that he would receive second-hand equipment and uniforms but they were all brand new. He started to wonder, was XCOM receiving help from a sponsor, it only made sense seeing the clothing were of the same quality as those in the cities clothing stores. He lifted the assault rifle that he was issued and placed it in the cabinet, he wasn't sure about the technical aspect of the weapon so he wouldn't fiddle around with it yet. He hung his set of uniforms and combat fatigues in the cabinet and began sorting out his place. The real benefit of a private quarter was that it had its own personal bathroom, a luxury few had that even he didn't back in the city. He swore to himself that he would work for these benefits, after all the one thing he hate was owing someone else.
The next morning, he woke up early a 4am to have time to explore the place. No one had shown him around so he had to venture on his own free time. Alicia would mean him at 6 to have breakfast before he entered the training school.
The corridors were quiet and all that could be heard was the tapping of his footsteps echoing against the unusual metallic floors, he wasn't sure what type of alloy it was but it felt thin yet sturdy. Almost like he was in a carapace of an insect and this was the entire structure and material throughout the facility.
He was lost.
There were no maps nor working staff walking around at this time so he was stuck, he could see a bright light at the end of the corridor and decided to start there. It turned out to be an over watching balcony that looked at the outside of the facility, the forest lay beneath and beyond. But the truly most outstanding thing present was the sun rise, he checked his watch on the data pad. He had never encountered such an early sunrise.
"Whose there!" A sharp tone rung out in front of him. He used his hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun and made out a human figure leaning against the railings to the balcony.
"Good morning!" He greeted.
"Uh!- Good morning! I've not seen you before."
"I'm new here. Just got pulled out from Adelaide yesterday, so I'm unfamiliar with the place."
"Do you normally wake up this early?" He was rather early even for a revelry.
"Do you wake up during this time?" He asked back.
"Of course not, I just didn't sleep that's all!" She replied in her ever sharp tone.
Horus walked closer and could now see her features.
Short to the shoulders black raven hair and sharp features on her face, if in another time she would have been a model. Asian in decent, and still looked striking for any foreigner he guessed.
"What?" She noticed his eyes on her.
"Is this base full of gorgeous woman?"
"W-what?! Are you trying to make fun of me?" She snapped at him.
"No." His look was too serious to be making fun of her.
"I see, sorry for being too defensive." She quickly apologized.
"What's your name?" She asked as he leaned against the railings looking into the forest.
"Horus. Today I'll be taking up training to become an XCOM combatant." He answered honestly.
"A combatant? You don't have the build of one, sorry for being so blunt!" She apologized again due to being unconvinced he was one.
"I don't blame you, fight is just secondary to me. I plan to provide those on the field with technical support."
"So your aiming to be a specialist then?"
"Is that the name of the job category?"
"I'm surprised how in lack you are of information pertaining to your job description, listen carefully. There are four jobs applicable for you within the combatants' area of expertise. They are Ranger, Grenadier, Sharpshooter and the job your gunning for, Specialist.
Ranger deals in assault and direct attacks and silent ambushes. Grenadier carries heavy weapons to provide high volumes of firepower. Sharpshooters are precision marksman task with picking off high value targets. Specialists are involved in providing medical assistance or supporting advances, there are also not many who can perform tasks like hacking the ADVENT network or providing electronic counter measures for the team."
"Thanks for the heads up, I happen to know a thing about programming so I might fall into the specialist category."
"Really? Then I'm actually quite fortunate to come into contact with you, you see I'm looking for a specialist that might help me in that field. You interested in working for me then?"
"I hate to blow your parade but you'll have to sort that out with Lieutenant Hunor."
As he mentioned Alicia the smile on the woman's face turned into a frown. Was there some sort of internal dispute between these two?
The woman looked deep into his eyes and smirked.
"You know if you being force into her group I can tell you you're free to join mine, I can assure you special privileges."
She leaned against his body.
"Special means exclusive treatment no one else might get you know." She informed seductively.
He politely pushed her back and gave a reply.
"I'll keep a rain check on that. But there are a lot of things I've yet to learn about this place so I'm not going to answer in the heat of the moment."
The woman seemed satisfied with his answer.
"So if I do look to join your group how will I call the name of my leader?"
"To others, it will be Lieutenant Yoshikawa but in private it should be Tsukuyo. Remember that!"
She waved him off.
"When did I say I was leaving!" He turned back to the sunrise. She let off a light laugh at his care free attitude and leaned on the railings next to him watching the sunrise together.
Alicia was up and already walking towards his room. "Hey!" He called out from behind her, she turned around to greet him.
"Didn't think you'd be up this early, where did you go?"
"It's my first day on the job so I can't oversleep, I took a stroll around the place and saw some interesting venues."
"That's nice to hear, you should have let me take you around!"
"When did you have so much time to take me around?"
"I'll have you know, Central expects much from you. I'm merely ensuring that his investment and mine comes on top."
"So your using me as an excuse to ditch work." Alicia stuck out her tongue confirming his thoughts.
The mess hall was quite large and again, the variety of food made Horus wonder who was so bold as to sponsor this rogue organization with all these goodies.
Horus had been to one of the old cities before on a school trip with armed ADVENT guards, the condition of those 'Havens' were such that living tomorrow was already a blessing. Though the word was used to describe communities that weren't regulated by the administration, which included both slums and the slightly better off true 'havens' which have power supply, clean water and crops.
"I have a question?" She asked while munching on her food.
"Go on."
"What do those ADVENT burgers taste like?"
"That's got to be the hottest topic here am I right?" She nodded in his reply.
"I've only had two my entire life. When you compare it with the burger from a food joint in the old world they're miles apart. Is it the method of frying through some sort of chemical flame, the alien spices used to marinate the meat, who knows?"
Alicia seemed to think highly of them.
"Then it made me wonder, what was used for the meat?"
"Huh?"
"In my 20 years of living in several cities and several rural settlements I've never seen a single livestock nor any processing plant. The nutrition values on the burger wrapper say the calories and protein levels but never the ingredients. And that's the reason I stopped having them."
As if coming to an epiphany she held her mouth as if she was holding back puking.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't a good subject to talk about during meals." Horus said as he patted her on the back.
"Finally! Somebody dares to question those ADVENT burgers and the back story behind them, absolutely marvelous!" A voice boomed behind them.
A short haired woman sat uninvited next to him.
"Say! What's it like in those ADVENT controlled cities?" She asked with vigor.
"Lily?... Morning." Alicia greeted when she had more a less recovered from her nausea.
"Morning, Alicia!" She said back casually and then turned her attention to Horus.
Horus had been thinking, this was the person who did that shitty job on the holo-globe.
"Well, what's it like?"
Horus thought for a moment, the other day Bradford had mentioned scary things about her, like the drone army that would chase him. Perhaps this was the god given chance he needed to set a good impression of himself before unloading the bomb that was his name.
"It's safe and secure, the one thing any person would look for when finding a home for himself and his family. If you register into the city, they're all sorts of benefits that you can get, free dental and health care, not to mention surgeries and treatment with a 100% success rate. Schools are free and Academies sponsor your studies, internship is guaranteed. Adding all these into the equation and more, anyone would forego some form of freedom to attain these sort of luxuries that you couldn't get anywhere in the world, and quite literally."
"Mhm! Mhm! That was the shortest summary I've ever heard while still holding all the important details about the habitat! Have you considered working with me in Engineering? Oh by the way! I didn't get your name! You probably already know who I am, right?" There was not even a single pause in her sentence, she was literally a speaking machine gun, belt-fed.
"My names Horus, and I'm currently training to be a combatant." The moment of truth.
"Oh! In the combatants, that's a shame- wait! Did you just say Horus?"
"Yes, the names Horus."
"Ahhhhh! You're that snitch Central said was trying to pinch my job!"
Her outburst caused Alicia to silently giggle again.
"I honestly have no idea what kind of tall tale Central told you! I can assure you it was a mere joke!"
She crossed her arms.
"Oh really! Elementary programming?"
"Arghhh!" He couldn't get himself out of this one, that was exactly what he had said to Central word for word. He turned to Alicia but she turned away from him giggling at his demise, she truly was a selfish girl.
"I'll have you know, that I had other busy things to settle, so sorting out Bradford's glittering globe was the last on the list!"
"Couldn't you have just not touch it then if that's the case?"
"I-….That-….that's just because-….urghhh! It's my muse! I have a working ethic of multi-tasking my way to completing all the jobs at once!" She scrounged up an excuse.
"Judging from the program, you are still pretty far away from completing any of them!" He was done for anyway so he might as well get it off his chest.
Lily had an outburst like a raving chimpanzee and blabbered out many profanities at him while he continued eating because he realized he really didn't care what she said any longer.
"Hey! Don't just ignore me and go back to eating! We're not done yet!"
"I'll come by to help when I have the free time." As he said this, Lily suddenly quieten down. Everyone else in the mess sighed in relief.
"…..What?"
"You're in that situation because you lack manpower, so I'll help when I can."
"What, really? You'd ready do that?" She transitioned back to her original attitude.
"You need to swear on your dignity as a man!"
"Why do I have to do that?!"
"Whatever, just swear! And if not…. you'll be castrated!"
""Pfftttttttt"" It wasn't just Horus but also Alicia who spat out their food when she said that.
The contrast between the mannerism of Lily he was looking at and the one the Central mentioned, these two images of Lily started to merge into one terrifying monster. And there was not much he could do to stop her.
"When do you need help?" He sighed miserably.
"Swear!" She insisted.
"Ok! It seems that I'll just take back what I said about helping you."
"What, why?!"
"Talking about castrating someone is no funny matter in any given society!"
"Ok, fine! Then at least do I have your word-."
"You have it!" He didn't want to argue anymore, he had a long day ahead and he was already getting exhausted talking and expending energy to keep up with her.
"Great! I'll wait till you've finished your training course in a week's time then we'll talk about my latest build, my battlefield drone assistant project!"
"(sigh) I'm going to get some more coffee."