Part 42 – Redemption for the Fallen

Lt. Priya "Innocence" Korpal - Diary Entry 42

I doubt ADVENT have their own memorial wall for their fallen, but if they did, it'd probably look like an art gallery. Sort of like our trophy room where we added a couple more heads and wrecks to our special collection. Or maybe they just print out an obituary catalogue for the month or something. In any case, we knocked them on their asses hard. Like seriously, whooped them. Even their Viper units have lost their balls lately, firing on their own comrades after discovering the fate of the only male of their species: to be a handy piece of armor with a comfy scarf sewn in for good measure. Too bad there weren't any Berserkers or Archons to chase off. Walker's like some kind of mecha robot in one of the animes my brother and I used to watch together when he wears that Icarus suit. Hmm, I wonder if they'll start making more animes after the war is over…

ADVENT's R&D team were at it again, piecing together a side job now that the Avatar project has been wrapping up for the fourth and hopefully not last time. They must've figured out that our lack of armor penetration and shredding has been plaguing us recently. Too bad I scrubbed all their detailed schematics off their servers, and I'm not even joking about the detailed bit. I downloaded one of the surveillance videos stored in their project directory where an actual tailor attempted to make measurements on a Muton. Guess there was a reason the video had the word 'attempt' on it seeing as he got stabbed midway through wrapping the measuring tape around the Muton's waist. Then I dropped a spike on the network, hopefully pushing back whatever else they were working on for at least two weeks. It was the best I could do, seeing as I didn't have time to uncover what their alternate project was. Their science division must be racking up the overtime hours.

We've also been getting some further insights into our Commander today. He admitted to going through some of our private logs (nosy). Poor Walker, I've never seen his face so red after the Commander confessed that he agreed with Walker's self-evaluation regarding his damage output. Yeesh, have a private convo with him at least. Even Carmine felt a little bad for him, but she couldn't hide that sly smirk when she learned that Walker had started keeping his own logs. Then the Commander singled me out and complimented my performance. I was literally speechless. I'd been working so hard to sort out my attitude over these past few months, I'm glad it's finally paid off. Even Central agreed (such a yes man). That made me so happy. I'm proud to call myself an XCOM operative, and to hear that I did good from the Commander… It meant a lot.

He also mentioned something about his advisors. None of us had any idea what he was on about, so Dr. Tygan's trying to work out if the Commander still has some residual access to the ADVENT network despite having his chip plucked out, or if he's schizo. Hopefully he finds out soon, because the A team's heading out on another sabotage mission. We need another flawless mission out of this, and if anyone achieve that, it's them.

Out.

Part 43 – 3 Pipper

Lt. Priya "Innocence" Korpal - Diary Entry 43

Talk about a major setback! Apparently, this was one of the main research hubs for the Avatar project. Destroying it seems to have sent the aliens spiraling back into the dark ages. Happy festive season ADVENT! It's about time we took our eye for an eye after their retaliation strike at Liberty Hills. If Movsesyan couldn't find atonement for his deeds in life, we sure as hell found it for him. Well, Jaz did anyway in true stun lancer fashion. While everyone encroached on the facility's perimeter, she ended up diving inside via the rooftop. No one could see anything, but we could definitely hear the buzz of the ionic axe being hurled, swung and an unnatural shriek not unlike a Berserker's. Between the PCS chip implanted within her, that RAGE suit she's rocking and her whole muscular thing she has going on, I wouldn't be surprised if she literally transformed into She-Hulk in there.

Speaking of tanks, I know the Commander mentioned that Jaz was one (agreed), but then we also have Major Longfellow on our side. She's definitely a force of nature out there. Not only did she fully absorb a direct blast from a Gatekeeper and poison from a Chryssalid, but she managed to disable a Sectopod with her pistol! Her pistol! That huge thing!? With her pistol! Even Mr. Texas Ranger was impressed, and the only person who impresses that guy is himself. She's not the only one who dominated out there that day though. The Commander finally saw it fit to promote Carmine to a Brigadier, the highest honor he can bestow. Only the best indeed. We held a celebration in the bar, sharing memories and stories of our fallen comrades seeing as we still haven't written any epitaphs (Weger's 'no arms' prank still gets a laugh out of us). Finally, things appear to be heading back on track for us... God I hope so...

I also have to say that Major Longfellow's personal mentorship program with Heidi seems to be paying off dividends as of late (thank God she chose Heidi over Moreau for this initiative). Heidi's been getting better at handling her psionic powers, probably due to Longfellow's soothing voice. Even the headaches aboard the Avenger are starting to subside, which is great because our aspirin supply is running low thanks to her. Fortunately, we've received word of another supply raid opportunity on an ADVENT train, so hopefully we can restock. There's also the fact that we don't have the materials to mass produce a new type of powered armor Tygan's managed to design. This supply raid is exactly what we need to cement our status as a threat to the ADVENT regime. They may have cooled our jets recently, but now's our chance to turn the heat right back up. It's going to be a bloody Christmas.

Out.

Part 44 – Supply Train

Lt. Priya "Innocence" Korpal - Diary Entry 44

Like total grinches, we plundered that ADVENT train full of goodies and made off with our loot in explosive fashion. Unfortunately, ADVENT didn't go down without a fight. Turns out they assigned a mixed squad of Archons, Mutons and Mechs to defend the goods, and they were all too happy to lob some explosive presents our way. Carmine's GREMLIN put in some overtime, zipping around the battlefield in an effort to keep everyone alive. Still, they were no match for our team on the ground, with Heidi gradually showing off more and more of her psionic potential out there. She barely fired her weapon that night, opting to mind-fuck them whenever she had a chance. She even turned a Centurion into her own personal puppet. Lucky she had enough common sense to sever the strings once they'd cleared the area. I have a feeling Moreau would've tried to invite him aboard for "research purposes".

Professor Fields ended up retreating into his dorm the moment he earned his promotion to concoct some kind of new recipe for his volatile arsenal. Guess all those explosions our squad ran into gave him some kind of new idea to try out. The very next morning, I found him outside the Avenger with his grenade launcher surveying our surroundings. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me that when he tries to test out his grenades inside the Avenger, people look at him funny. Duh, dumb question Priya. Anyway, whatever Fields came up with, it certainly worked. The grenade blast left a crater the size of Godzilla's footprint, and our crew inside had mobilized for an imminent Avenger Defense after hearing the thundering boom. Fields and I both turned to see half our troops on the ramp holding whatever weapons they could find (poor Walker only had his trousers and the Icarus helmet on). Central wasn't impressed, but then again, does that guy even know how to smile?

Tygan's been looking a bit sulky lately as well, seeing as all the supplies we'd recently acquired were invested in other pursuits rather than his latest breakthrough of powered armor. We've recruited another soldier for the cause, a Colonel by the name of Marshall Skadden. He seems very intellectual, but it's always those smart ones that have something to hide, especially when they use big words all the time. He's definitely not as warm as Longfellow was when she first joined us. I might keep an eye on him for a bit just in case.

Poor Mason's been looking more frustrated than ever seeing as these high ranking soldiers are only coming out of the woodwork now to join our cause. He respects the idea of having a chain of command too much, and resents having another soldier on board to report to, especially one that hasn't gone through the trials and tribulations the rest of us have. I think he's trying to organise some kind of side project involving us lower ranks in an effort to keep himself involved seeing as our 'training sessions' have become hopelessly repetitive. I hope he's not planning some kind of revolution or anything, but the idea sounds good if we can get away with it. Pfft, I'm a rogue, of course I can get away with it. Oh shoot… Commander, if you're listening (and you probably are too, damn it), forget I said anything!

Out.

Part 45 – Bradford's Motivation

Lt. Priya "Innocence" Korpal - Diary Entry 45

Uh oh Jaz, looks like you've got some serious competition on your hands now! Colonel Skadden definitely proved his worth the other day, holding his own on the front lines and taking down as many ADVENT units as possible (he even pulverized a Gatekeeper!). By the time the others reached the prison's perimeter, Skadden had already given the all clear and had even let the VIP out of her cell! The alien interceptors probably hadn't even taken off by the time our squad returned to the Skyranger with our newest engineer in tow. That 'lightning strike' tactic we dreamt up in the GTS definitely helped in that regard.

Skadden… Hmm… I'll admit, when he first joined with us, I went a little nuts with all the probing about his history. But he kept his cool and had an answer for everything (lawyers are well-prepared like that I guess). I don't know. Maybe there's something dark about his past, maybe there isn't. Surely not everyone signing up for the XCOM project are washed out psychopaths (Moreau) or high ranking ex-ADVENT members (Movsesyan). Jaz seems convinced that he's hiding something, but I just want to believe he's well and truly on our side. He seems like a good guy once I got to speak to him a little more. Smart. Humble. I hope I'm not wrong about him, 'cause he's damn good… Really good! Gosh, listen to me, I sound like I'm fangirling out here. Ahem.

Dr. Tygan's finished his evaluation on the Commander regarding his so-called advisors and came up negative on the insanity part (our Psi-Ops are now clear of suspicion). Instead, he's retargeted his efforts into figuring out why the Commander has caught onto some "amnesiac tendencies", especially relating to something as critical as our new powered armor units. I personally think it's just something to do with age … he did just celebrate his birthday. I've never seen Central party as much as he has over the past couple of days, probably because it's his first birthday celebration with the Commander in over twenty years, so he felt he had a lot of catching up to do. Whatever the case, he made a toast to quote 'kicking the Speaker in the balls and feeding him to a group of Hive Queens'. Of course, none of us were sober so we cheered along with him like it made total sense.

Everyone else went super crazy as well. Walker scrambled up onto the bar and announced his New Year's resolution was to adopt a Muton and name it Garrus, following on from his previous conversations with Carmine and Heidi. To be honest, the Muton would probably wreck his face. Hmm… there's an idea. Maybe if he does adopt one, we should call it Wrex instead. Anyway, Walker then tried to use his Icarus boots to slow his fall … even though he was only jumping from the table. Luckily Heidi managed to Stasis him before he shot up through the ceiling. Classic Batch began to hyperventilate at the sight and had to be punched out by Mason to keep him from blowing the whole room up. Poor guy, I guess some people never change. Maybe Batch's 2036 resolution can be to find a way to calm down… I know mine is to keep my attitude under control and not be so twitchy all the time – though to be honest, I'll probably forget about it come February.

Out.

Part 46 – Feel the Bern

Lt. Priya "Innocence" Korpal - Diary Entry 46

Months have gone by since we hit that ADVENT Blacksite and snatched that vial, and only now have we finally constructed a facility capable of studying its contents. I've never seen Tygan so excited. Completion of a brand new science lab and we were able to fabricate his designs for powered armor? Hell, even the rest of us couldn't help but smile. All except for Mason of course. He was about to literally tear the whole Avenger apart (without the RAGE suit even) when he found out that Resistance HQ had dug up another Colonel by the name of Arctorus aka "The Experiment". Thankfully, the Commander caught on to Mason's rampant emotions and threw him a bone: a spot on the squad heading down for the latest op to extract a VIP.

Poor Mason. Cabin fever seems to have hit him the most out of all of us. I'll admit, I'm disheartened too that I haven't had a chance to head out there and kick some alien ass, but what can I do? I'm only a Lieutenant compared to the other, more senior soldiers. I only hope that Mason has enough sense to put his conflict with Walker to rest out there after our New Year's bash. Come to think of it, same goes for Walker. I know he's been trying to pull off this 'Kubikiri' shot he's been promising to show us, but we've yet to see any result out of it. I'm scared they'll both try to one-up each other and both will end up… well, end up not coming back.

Men and their egos, seriously. How hard is it to show some humility? I mean, look at Col. Skadden! He's like Jaz 2.0! Or maybe Jaz is Skadden 2.0 (ooh, if she caught me saying that…). He pulled off some more badass moves out there and didn't say a word about it, opting to compliment Longfellow (aka Spiderwoman) and the others for a job well done instead. In true Shinobi fashion, he sprinted ahead of everyone else and showed off his CQC skills. That guy's packing some serious muscle for a lawyer. While our psi-ops would normally channel their energy to put that giant floating golf ball in a sort of stasis bubble, Col. Skadden simply tossed his axe and stunned the thing long enough for the others to clean up the rest of the enemy. I'll admit, that little manoeuver had me beaming a little. When he found himself caught in a mini inferno, I shouted for Carmine to heal him, only for her to tap my shoulder and stare at me blankly. Guess I'm just used to seeing her on the live feed rather than in person these days. Thankfully, Skadden found his own way out of it unharmed.

Hmm… I know the Commander said that Mason might be jealous (wouldn't blame him), but I wonder if Jaz is as well. New guy on the block, showing up everyone else on missions… Hehe… I might tease her a little the next time we spar… I wonder if he'll take up her invitation to join us? I hope so… maybe I'll learn another thing or two.

I've also noticed Locke skulking around recently. She's been looking kind of shifty these past few weeks. I'm not sure if she's got something going on with someone, and if she has, no one's told me anything. Probably for the better I think. All I know is that she's been keeping her eye on Col. Skadden lately, casting some suspicious glances his way. I guess Jaz isn't the only one with a funny feeling about him. Maybe I just really want him to be good, but surely those two won't be able to dig up anything bad on him… right?

Out.