"Commander. The AVATAR project is entering it's final stages" Bradford said as the screen in front of him started flashing red with the logo.
"Excellent" The Commander replied "Alert lost, and get the soldiers ready"
"This is a really risky move Commander, as I've told you. If either group of our soldiers, or Lost and her group mess up, they will finish"
"Yes. But we must take that risk. They think they're about to win now. Then we're going to take out 2 of their facilities, and lose the data they already have all at once. It will devastate them and leave them reeling"
"I trust you Commander"
"That is all I ask Bradford"
"Who's going to be in Alpha Team?"
"Get Roman, his explosives expertise will be invaluable with the amount of cover available to ADVENT there. We'll need Alice of course. William, they're likely to have turrets and other mechanical defences. Aya, her speed and close range ability will be useful in the tight confines of the facility. And Maxim"
"Maxim sir, are you sure?"
"Yes"
"We still don't know how his powers work"
"We know enough, and Aya would be off if Maxim wasn't with her. She may not show it, but she cares deeply for him, pairing them together is the best way to ensure the most out of each of them"
"Very well. And the Beta Team?"
"Ash, he's still looking to prove himself to the other soldiers after we found out he's a Mr, so putting him with the Beta team will give him a chance to mix with the soldiers he isn't always with. Stacy, she's shown herself to be just as effective at command as Alice. Sean, they won't be able to hack without William, so being able to stealth will be useful. Harold, they'll need their own close quarters fighter. And Pyro, he's the closest to a demolitions expert we have aside from Roman, if nothing else, he can burn that place down"
"Very well Commander"
"See that it's done" The Commander went back to his quarters above the Command deck, sighed as he saw the stack of files, even when they're not doing this as an official agency, he still get's piled with paper work. As he stepped in, the screen on the far side flickered on, and the shadowed figure of the chairman came on screen.
"I hope you are aware of the risk you are taking, Commander"
"I know"
"You are putting a lot of trust into Miss Lost and her organisation"
"She has given us many stories of their success, all of which have been backed by our own resources, and they were responsible for our soldiers being motivated to join us. They have a lot of resources, and a lot of foresight. I do not doubt their skills for a minute"
"You have judged character, incorrectly, before"
"That was unfortunate, and unforeseen, it shall not happen again"
"We had best hope that it does not, for all our sakes"
"Are your people ready?"
"My teams are in position, ready to strike on your order. You have gotten me to set up quite a network for this strike. Even if all goes well, however, I will still lose a lot of resources, the Resistance will take a blow"
"It's unfortunate, but necessary. I have everyone of my soldiers getting ready to move out to their facilities now. I just need all the progress they made from those facility wiped"
"Good luck Commander"
The screen winked black again, and the Commander slumped onto his chair. God, he loved that guys voice, but he so rarely used it to say nice things to him. But he knew he was right, this was a huge gamble, if anything went wrong, ADVENT could finish their Avatar project, and that was sure to spell doom for XCOM, and earth in general. He still couldn't believe what the Chairman had said to him when he'd met him again after being rescued from the facility. All of the council countries had surrendered to the ADVENT coalition, except him. One thing he couldn't believe, was that Russia had surrendered. Russia! He'd expected to come back to find Russia and bombed out waste, but no, they'd surrendered as well. Only the chairman was still with them, and he didn't have the resources of countries now. Although he was essentially commanding the resistance, he didn't outright command them, they all worked independently, it had taken a lot to organise synchronised strikes on all the locations he needed to. Convoys had to be stopped, Gene clinics destroyed, files erased, and those Facilities had to be destroyed. The Resistance would be dealing with the convoys and other physical places of value. Miss Lost and her group, they still refused to give the name of their group, would be dealing with the non-physical side, eliminating files and what-not, along with a few assassinations. He'd have asked them to go for the Speaker, but there was no way anyone could get near him. And then XCOM would be taking out the facilities. 2 Strike teams. Alpha team would take the Sky Ranger, and take out the Blacksite in the Western US. Meanwhile they'd be taking the Beta team to the UK to take out the other facility. And while transporting them, only a skeletal crew would be left on the Avenger. Most of the crew would join the resistance in some more vital strikes, to ensure success. Everything had to go right. A couple resistance strikes could fail, indeed were expected to fail, for all their guts and gumption, the Resistance didn't have the equipment or training to be a real force. Dozens would die from failed strikes, and that was on his head, but it was inevitable.
Alice had given him a book. The art of war by Sun Tzu. And he'd taken the teachings of that book to heart. For this battle, 2 fit particularly well 'Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak'. He'd followed that one to a tee here. He'd told the resistance to start pulling back any direct engagements, make them seem weaker, and his own forces had deliberately arrived late to a few non-vital missions, to make ADVENT think they were running low on resources. So that when this strike comes, ADVENT will be underprepared for it. This tactic will only work once, as ADVENT isn't known for falling for the same trick twice, but hopefully this strike would damage them enough to make it worth it. And of course, something he always believed himself 'A leader leads by example, not by force'. They'd all be taking to the battle field today. He got up, and pressed a panel on the wall, a section slid up, and another part came out. There was a suit of predator armour, a dark red colour, with black highlights on it, above the armour was a sniper rifle, and on either suit of the suit was a sword. He'd had Shen make these when she'd made the new armour and equipment for the soldiers. He'd put in time on the practice range to ensure he wasn't rusty, and had received a couple implants from Lost to make sure he could fight at full efficiency. He was kind of looking forward to it. A chance to take on ADVENT without the use a papers. He took down the equipment, and began putting it on. He put the com in his ear. "Bradford, is the Omega team ready?"
"Yes sir, we are waiting for you down below"
"I'll be down shortly. There's one last thing I need to do"
"Yes Commander"
He rolled his shoulders to loosen up the muscles. His sniper rifle was across his back, and the swords were on his hips. He went out of his room, and began heading for the rooms. He got to the room without bumping into anyone, which made sense, it was 2 in the morning, and knocked on the door. After a few seconds he heard someone get out of bed, and walk over to the door. The door opened and Alice was there. Her hair was loose behind her, here glasses were on crooked, and she was wearing a large shirt and underwear. She was rubbing her eyes under her glasses. "Can I help... you" She half-stopped as she noticed the Commander in full battle gear "Commander?"
"Alice, I need to talk to you, but I need to be quick"
"Yes Commander" She didn't seem tired anymore. If there was anyway to wake Alice up, it was with the promise of information. there was a reason she was Archive.
"I am engaging something I've been planning for a while, I am sorry I didn't tell you about it, but it was simpler for you to not know, and wouldn't weigh on your mind. We are launching strikes against ADVENT. I myself am taking the field as well, and you all are to take out 2 facilities. I am entrusting the Command of the squads to you and Stacy. But, I am entrusting you with more than that. Should you get back tot he Avenger, and I don't return within a few hours, and Bradford also doesn't show up. I need you to take Command of XCOM"
"Commander, are you, are you asking me to be your heir?"
"I guess. If neither I nor Bradford return from this, you have the best tactical mind, and the most knowledge to command them in my absence" He placed a hand on her shoulders "I need you to do this for me. 4 hours, not a minute more. If I don't return , take the Avenger, and carry on. If I am indeed still alive, I'll get the Chairman or Lost to contact you, or just meet with you myself through the resistance. But if we get caught out... I won't get captured again. You don't have to worry about them using me against you again. I had lost install a chip, which goes into all their agents. If I get in that situation. They aren't get me alive again. Do you understand me?"
Alice nodded "I understand Commander. I'll do the best I can if you don't return"
"That Is all I ask. If you'd do one other thing" He reached into a pocket, and brought out a small leather-bound book, the writing on the front was faded, only a few words could still be made out. The ... .. War. ... Tsu. "Hold this for me"
Alice took the book, and nodded again, sternly
"That's my Archive" he pulled her into a hug. She seemed shocked for a second, then hugged him back.
The Commander stood back up. "Hopefully I'll come back, and we can imagine this never happened"
Alice nodded again "Good luck"
"You too. Get some sleep though, you've got a big day tomorrow" he jogged off down the hallway to meet up with Bradford.
Alice watched the Commander go. Really hoping they could indeed forget this talk happened. She was good with tactics, and had read just about everything there is to read. But could she command the Avenger? She really hoped her Commander would come back.
"Is it done?" Bradford asked as the Commander dropped down through the hatch, and joined Omega team. The group consisted of: Himself, Bradford (Wearing predator armour, with a rifle and sword on his back), S (The leader of the Resistance cell in Mexico. Her name was Sophie, but she preferred S, she was tall, with black hair, and was wearing a thick armoured trench coat over a shirt and trousers, she had a rifle in her hands, and a pistol on her waist), and Mr Phoenix (he was tall, nearly 7 foot, with long red hair, and a trimmed beard. He had a shotgun in hand, which was silenced, and a sword on his back),
"It's done" the Commander looked at them "Everybody ready?"
"Yes Commander" Bradford said, taking out his rifle, and checking the clip.
"Affirmative" Phoenix replied in a robotic rumble. It seemed that a lot of the Mr's and Miss's had a lot of cybernetics.
"This better work. I got my guys spread halfway across the country doing these strikes, a lot of them aren't going to make it"
"I know, it's unfortunate. But this must pay off"
"Yeah. If your guys fuck this up, we're all dead" the Commander couldn't tell if she was talking to him or Phoenix.
"Bradford, is the vehicle ready?"
"Yes"
"Lead the way"
Bradford lead them a short way away, over a small hill, and down into a valley. Sitting at the bottom of the valley was what looked like a military jeep. Bradford got in the drivers seat, the Commander got next in the passenger seat, and S and Phoenix got in the back.
A few hours later they arrived at their destination. They pulled the jeep up in a forest, out of view of the road, and got out.
"My men have already set up the block, they're ready to spring on your shot"
The Commander nodded. "Everyone get in position" They all spread out. Maxim stayed in the forest, laying down at the edge of a hill, so anyone wanting to get at him would have to run uphill, and he could easily stand up, and slide behind a tree. Bradford was further down the hill, getting behind an outcropping of rock. S went over to the van that was lying on it's side along the road. With several people standing around it, apparently trying to figure out how to fix it, they looked cut up, like they'd been in a crash, but it was all superficial. S was with them, apparently trying to find a way to flip it back over, her rifle on the ground nearby, hidden from sight, her pistol hidden by her trench coat. The others would have similar weapons hidden on them or around. They were all ready and waiting to jump to their guns when things went down. For all intense and purposes, Phoenix was gone. He was nowhere to be seen. But he knew he'd pop out with that Shotgun when they started.
An hour or so later a rumbling could be heard in the distance as an ADVENT convoy came approaching. The Commander crouched back further into cover, but kept his rifle resting on the ground, and he was looking through the scope, aiming at the road. 4 Vans came into view and slowed to a stop as they saw the flipped van blocking their way. The front one came to a stop, and an Officer stepped out from the back, and came around to the front, walking towards the people trying to fix the van. S stepped up to talk to it, as the Officer stepped up, he noticed a logo on it's shoulder. He recognised that logo. It was the logo of Hammer and Anvil. Alice had showed him the translated file. This was going bad already, and that wasn't good. He was too far to hear, and S had taken her coms out, so they wouldn't see it. The Officer and S had a short conversation then the Officer walked back over to the van, and the other AVDNET soldiers got out. Apparently doing a search of the area. There was a small hut down the road, and he saw a group of 3. An Officer and 2 Stun Lancers heading over to it. He felt sorry for the people living there. But also grateful that it got rid of those 3. It made this next group a bit easier. He lined up his shot, and gently pressed the trigger as he breathed out. The loud echoing bang of the sniper rifle firing was preluded by the Officer he shot falling to the ground, and a dozen more bangs as the Resistance group around the van produced weapons and fired while getting into cover. Phoenix appeared, like, literally appeared, there was a slight ripple in the air, and he was standing next to some of the ADVENT, and unleashed with shotgun and sword. Bradford got up, and began firing as well. It wasn't as perfect as it could have been, these guys were more armoured than they were expecting, and reacted much quicker and more efficiently than normal ADVENT troops. S took a graze to the shoulder, and Bradford nearly had his head taken off by a Lancer, but Bradford managed to duck, and drove his sword into it instead. Phoenix kept disappearing, then reappearing behind their cover, with a shotgun right to their head. Several resistance fighters were taken down. As the fight was winding down. There was only a few Troopers left, they had no Officer or Lancer support, and there were spread out. The Commander heard a noise behind him, and he quickly shot his feet, dropped the sniper, and drew his swords just in time to see 2 Stun lancers break out of the nearby shrubbery and come charging at him. He ducked under the charging swing, and brought his swords across the chest of the one of them, if not killing it outright, then taking it out of the fight for a good while. He duelled with the other Stun Lancer. It was skilled, but they weren't trained to fight in duels, they were meant to tab at people with rifles, people that engage from range, so fighting someone that's fighting back with equal skill isn't something they can hold against for long, that is, without support. He heard a bark of the alien language, and noticed too late that there was an Officer waiting in ambush as well, and it fired off a single shot, which hit the Commander in the left arm. The shot must have shattered the elbow, because he immediately lost feeling in it completely, and it went limp, he recognised what Lost said would happen when he took a hit that would cause debilitating pain, to block out the pain it just blocked all the synapses leading to it, shutting off all commands to it, and any sensation back, but not blocking the blood flow. As that kicked in, he engaged another Cyberwear he'd gotten. And, moving faster than the Lancer could see, he ducked under a swing, got up inside it's guard, and drove his blade up through the Lancer's chest armour, up into the head. he then tried to yank it out, but found it had gotten wedged in the body somewhere. He felt another impact on his back, and fell tot he ground on top of the Lancer. He flipped himself around as he landed, to see an Officer, with one hand holding it's rifle, and another hand holding the blade of the first Lancer. Before he could get up, the Officer put a foot on his chest, keeping him on the ground, and leaned down to him, holding the blade just above his chest, ready to stun him unconscious. It seemed to struggle with something for a moment, then spoke in broken English through gritted teeth.
"You've been a handful, Commander. But you slipped up. I noticed what was going on the second I stepped out of the Van. I saw your rifle poking up. But I knew it was you, so I let you do your little ambush, and lead my bodyguards here to get you myself. The Elders will be happy. We'll make sure you don't get free again"
"Do you know where you messed up Karl?" The Commander asked
"I am not Karl"
"You used to be"
"I know what your doing"
"What am I doing?"
"Stalling until your friends finish up with the rest of my men and come over to get you"
"Me? No, I'd never"
"Silence. You've been a pain. But you've lost" The Officer that had been Karl drove the stun blade onto his chest, there was a spark of red lightning, and the Commander jerked slightly. But he'd planned for this. One of those cybernetics, was designed to store electricity put into his system. So this exact kind of weapon couldn't knock him out.
"You don't think others can use your own tricks" he mentally activated the signal, and several resistance troops dropped down from the trees with stun weapons, and fired at Karl. He was struck by a half dozen Tasers. But, showing the true ability of his armour and gene-modifications, didn't go down. He swept his arm across the cables connecting the Tasers to the prongs, breaking the circuit, and fired his rifle at the group on full auto, and 2 went down, but the others dropped into cover, and produced Lethal weaponry. Karl turned back to the Commander.
"This isn't the end" he then sprinted off into the forest. The Resistance soldiers fired after him, but didn't pursue. Bradford ran over. "Commander, are you all right?"
He nodded, and looked at his left arm, it was limp and bloody. He looked over at S as she came over.
"Did you do it?" She asked
"Partly"
"Partly?"
"We didn't capture him. But that wasn't the plan"
"You told me that was the plan"
"You had to believe that. The plan was simply to shame him. He keeps going back to the elders with failure, and they'll put less resources into him. Eventually, they'll disband him when he doesn't produce results. We don't need to kill or capture him. We just have to make them loose faith in his abilities"
"I hope you're right"
"I do too"
"Fine" S began gathering her surviving Resistance group and heading down to the caravan to loot what they could.
"Phoenix?"
"Yes Commander" he appeared beside him
"Did you get what you needed"
"Yes. I have planted a bug in their system. It cannot penetrate deep. But it should go unnoticed, and provide us some information on their movements"
"All right. Do you need a ride?"
"I can make my own way"
"See you later then"
"I doubt you will see me Commander" the air rippled, and he disappeared
"Why do they always want a dramatic exit?"
"It is their way. Come on Commander, we should get you back to Zacharie"
"Yeah. Phoenix! Tell Lost I said thanks for the cyber!"
"I doubt he can hear you"
"I don't know, he seems like the hovering type"
Bradford put an arm over his shoulder, and helped him back to the jeep.
"I just hope the others manage to do as well as we did. Not perfect, but it works"
"Alice and Stacy know what they're doing. They'll get it done"
"Yeah"