Lynne watches in horror as those creatures enter Yoshika's mind and her thoughts starts to fill up the walls of the room, everywhere Lynne looks she sees images of the 501st and Yoshika's family stolen from her head by those creatures. But the worst thing for Lynne is the look on Yoshika's face, even though her friend is unconscious she sees her friends face filled with pan and covered in sweat. Lynne desperately tries to break free but the tentacles of this squid thing are too strong for her, all she wants to do is stop this but she can't. All she can do is watch, she feels terrible seeing Yoshika in pain so close to her but unable to do anything, she can only watch and make futile attempts to escape. The Eila look alike is enjoying this, Lynne feels sick when she sees her smiling at Yoshika's pain. Lynne is not a violent person and never thinks violent thought but right she is, right now she is wishing to be free and to kill whoever or whatever it is that looks like Eila. But she can't, all she can do is watch as they continue to invade Yoshika's mind looking for something. The fill with pictures of Yoshika's time in Lynne's homeland of Britannia, Lynne sees herself laughing through Yoshika's eyes after they fell into the Channel the day Lynne got her first kill, she sees herself in the bah with Yoshika although it is mainly her chest that she sees, Lynne blushes seeing how much of the time Yoshika spends staring at her breasts and she sees herself asleep as Yoshika holds her before Yoshika kisses her forehead before she too drifts off to sleep. But before she can see more she hears Yoshika let out a pain filled moan, Lynne looks back to her friend as she sees the purple waves have grown bigger and brighter. The images on the wall change and it looks like those creatures are forcing Yoshika to remember certain things, the images change from members of the 501st to images of the Neuroi they thought back in Britannia.
"Stop this" Lynne pleas as Yoshika lets out another pain filled moan. "Stop hurting h…"
A hard slap across her face caused by the back of the Eila's lookalike hand cuts her off and nearly snaps her neck with the force her head flow to the side, when she looks back up she looks into the eyes of that Eila look alike and instantly looks down shaking in fear. But that Eila lookalike doesn't let her avoid eye contact, she grabs Lynne's chin and forces her to look her in the eyes.
"No" She says squeezing Lynne's chin to the point that nearly crushed it and making Lynne whimper in pain. "I was kind enough to knock her out, would you rather I wake her up? Keep her awake as this happens? How would you think she would feel when I tell her it was your fault she wasn't allowed to escape this pain? I bet she would feel the same way about you then" Lynne remains silent not wanting to make things worse and not knowing how to make things better, she knows there is nothing she can do and this Eila holds all the power. "If you don't want that then I suggest you keep quiet and wait" Eila lets her go and Lynne's head fall down avoiding the terrifying eye contact. "One more word from you and I will wake her up and I know the screams will drive you to insanity" the sounds of one of those big headed creatures grabs everyone's attention, Lynne looks and all the walls are filled with one things. "The Warlock plans, she did seem them after all. See what else she knows and throw the one in one of the cells"
Two hours later, miles away and safe in the Underground base both team one and team two are gathered in a briefing room, Bradford and Jordon are stood at the font ever side of a monitor that still amazes Eila and Hattori with the fact that it can change colourful images at a press of a button. Eila and Hattori sit next to each other with Jennifer to Eila's left and next to Jennifer is the Hermann and the rest of team one. Jordon clears his throat drawing everyone's attention and ending the small talk in the room, at the same time he presses a button which shows a view of some lifeless desert, all that is there is sand, sand and more sand. Why are we being shown sand? Eila thinks as she waits for Jordon to speak.
"We have been intercepting transmissions from this location, it's a stretch of sand in Egypt and no one knows who's sending them. To find out we sent a recon starlight to investigate, at first all it found was sand" Jordon says as he presses another button, now the screen changes colour and an outline of something becomes visible buried under the sand. "But when we scanned underneath the sand we found this, a structure of unknown origins. We were still discussing it when we saw this" He presses the button again and an alien ship is seen leaving the base. "Only five minutes ago, this is one of their bases of operations. We are going to assault it and find out what they are up to, both teams are going in to secure the base and recover any Intel you can find. Bradford will take over with the plan now"
"Both teams will work as one squad, Hermann you are in command and Jennifer you are second" Bradford says taking over. "You will enter here" Bradford points to a large circle shade in the ground. "We have determined it is a hanger and the only way in or out of the place, once inside you will move through the base and clear it out. The enemy strength is unknown so stay alert, any questions"
"What will happen if that ship returns?" Hermann asks raising his hand like a school boy. "A Skyranger won't stand a chance and the enemy will have us trapped and attacking both our front and rear"
"An Interceptor will be circling the area ready to intercept any incoming threats" Bradford answers. "Any other questions?" No one says anything or raises their hand. "Good now get ready you are leaving in ten minutes"
Ten minutes later the Skyranger was taking off with both teams inside. Everyone is armed to the teeth carrying more ammo then normal, when Jennifer asked why Jennifer told her. "We may not know how many but you can bet there will be a lot so we need to make sure we have enough bullets to greet them with" So both Eila and Hattori picked up three extra mags for their assault rifles and another one for their pistols. Looking around Eila can see the new recruits have different gear then the others, Simeone has a shotgun like Hermann but unlike Hermann he has a sword on his back that looks just as deadly as the one Sakamoto used to cut so many Neuroi in half. The other new recruit that Eila doesn't know the name of is holding a large machine gun that must be lighter than it looks because the only machine guns Eila knows of that are that big needs two people to move and operate but he doesn't seem to be struggling, it must be light Eila thinks as she turns away. The trip takes just over an hour and the two teams spend that time looking over the image of the alien base, studying it to learn where the enemy could be and where they could expect trouble once they storm the place. They can only theorise though, in reality they have no idea what to expect once they are inside.
As the Skyranger reaches the target the Interceptor sent to prevent enemy reinforcement's drops a bomb onto the desert sand above the hanger doors to the alien base, a huge hole is blown straight through to the alien base as the sand is thrown up into the air and sent flying in every direction. The Skyranger quickly dives through the hole making Eila's stomach flip once again and both Eila and Hattori to grab hold of the straps securing them to the chair for dear life, how the others aren't affected by this still remains a mystery to Eila. Even more mysterious is the fact that Simeone is cheering the whole way through the dive clearly enjoying himself, Eila just shakes her head thinking he's gone crazy as she tries not to scream or throw up or both. The Skyranger quickly touches down and the two teams exit with team one taking point and team to following close behind. The alien hanger is empty but well light from hidden lights, there is only one door in and out of the building and it's like the door Eila saw the day Sanya was taken. A curtain like door which opens by itself as the two teams spread out and approach, no one waits until they see what opened it, it can only be the enemy so everyone just dives for cover. Three big headed Sectoid's enter the hanger and quickly spot the Skyranger, the two teams remain undetected but the Skyranger was impossible to hide. Eila watches as the Sectoid's take aim with their wrist mounted guns targeting the Skyranger, Eila flips the safety off of her rifle well ahead of Hermann when he orders.
"Open fire!" Hermann orders as her fires his shotgun blowing away one of the Sectoid's, the other two don't seem surprised at all and quickly dive for cover leaving Eila wondering if the two teams were really undetected at all. "Team one take the one on the left, team two the other one's yours"
"Eila, Hattori keep, covered as I flank it" Jennifer says as she starts to move round to side of the big headed creature. Eila and Hattori fire in quick bursts of bullets only firing three at a time just like Jennifer taught them, they succeed in keeping the enemy pinned down as Jennifer flanks it. Both the young witches knows the plan worked as the alien falls down dead after a burst of fire from Jennifer's assault rifle turned it into bloody mess, although they could already tell the plan worked the smile on Jennifer's face still is the only thing that confirms the plan worked. "Ours is dead"
"Ours is two" Hermann reports, as Eila turns round to see the other creature dead with its head filled with buckshot. "Alright everyone reload and let's move on" Hermann orders before speaking to the Skyranger pilot over the radio. "Take off and hold we won't be able to cover you anymore"
"Copy that" The pilot replies as he starts to take off. "Call me when you are done down here and good luck"
"Ok let's move" Hermann says as the Skyranger takes off. "Team one is on point, team two follow close behind"
The two teams leave the hanger and walk not only into what appears to be a control room but also a trap, two Thin Men pop out from behind the alien computer consoles and opens fire. Both Jennifer and Simeone are nearly killed as they narrowly duck under the incoming glowing green plasma rounds, then another creature appears. A crystal shoots out of one of the consoles and transforms into a humanoid form, if Eila hadn't seen it she would never have believed it. This new creature fires at Hermann hole only just dodges it with a more powerful version of the guns used by the Thin Men which blows or rather melts a hole through a wall, its body glows and Elia's thinks it looks more like a crystal then a man as she watches it dive into cover alone side the Thin men. She is so caught up at staring at the new crystal like creature that it nearly costs her dearly, Eila is only brought back to the fight after a plasma round slams into the pillar Eila is using for cover. If that shot was a little more to the left, just an inch more than it would have taken her head off. Eila quickly returns to the fight firing at the Thin Man that just nearly killed her. But her bullets miss, the Thin Man ducks under them before they hit his snake like eyes.
"Eila" Jennifer says as she moves to cover closer to the Pillar where Eila is. "I want you and Hattori to concentrate fire on the Outsider" Eila's confusion must on her face because Jennifer adds. "It's that crystal man, it's their leader if we take it out then fighting the other will be easier"
"Ok" Eila says before she fires a short burst, her bullets hit their mark and even cause her target to nearly fall over but fail to kill it. The crystal man only filches but quickly recovers and returns fire, the shots slam into the pillar Eila is hiding behind blowing a green glowing hole right through it. Hattori fires next, her bullet also hit but fail to kill it, the Outsider fires at Eila again forcing her to duck lower as another hole is blown through the Pillar. This time both Hattori and Jennifer fire together and when their bullets hit it the Outsider dies letting out a screech that sounds like the sound the Neuroi make when they die, it even shatters like a Neuroi too. As Eila gets back up she see the two Thin Men have been dealt with and the room is secure.
"Team one move up and secure the room, team two hold here and cover us" Hermann orders as her step forward. Eila, Hattori and Jennifer all take cover in positions where they can cover the other team, team one quickly secures the room and with a hand signal from Hermann Eila and her team move up. "We will take the next room the same way, team one on point and team two following"
Meanwhile locked in her cell Lynne is holding Yoshika, ever since that evil Eila finished with Yoshika her friends been asleep. Lynne rests Yoshika's head on her lap holding her friends hand willing her to wake up, Yoshika's face is still covered in sweat and from the look on her face Lynne believes she is having a nightmare. All Lynne can do is hope she will wake up soon and that the evil Eila lookalike is done with them, hope they will be let go know that she has the Warlock plans the Witch Neuroi shown Yoshika. But she doesn't fully believe that will happen, deep down she knows they are trapped and won't escape from that evil Eila. Even as she hears gunfire Lynne is doubtful she and Yoshika will escape and that the shooters are here to rescue them, she feels even more that she's going to die when one of those big headed Sectoid's flies through the door spraying blood from its wounds and she sees the shooter enter. Lynne watches as Eila enters the room wearing some strange outfit and wielding some strange weapon Lynne has never seen before. "She's going to kill us" Lynne thinks as she squeezes Yoshika's hands tighter and prepares for death. But then Hattori enters the room surprising Lynne and an older lady Lynne doesn't recognise. "Who are these people?" Lynne wonders as Hattori throws herself at them hugging both her and Yoshika tightly.
"I'm glad you two are safe" Hattori says as she hugs them. "Come on we will get you out of here"
A quick question
While writing this chapter I was wondering what class of Xcom soldiers will the witches be, I already think Sakamoto will be a ranger only using a Katana instead of the normal sword the other use, Lynne a sniper and Yoshika a support. But what about the other, let me know what you think.
Also if you have any suggestions please let me hear them your feed back and idea's always help me write.