Strike-1 had been called up to serve. Isara watched them march off the deck, toward their operation:To counteract a bomb planted on local bridge. She watched as Van Doorn, new member to the team, walked off with Papa Bear and the others. She rubbed the back of her neck, then looked to Jack, who seemed lax today, but was still maintaining his demeanor.
"You think they'll be okay?" Isara questioned.
"They're the best we got." Aya answered with a smirk. "Don't worry, Is... It'll be fine." She then stated. Jack tapped his chin with his index twice. Something big was going on again if all of Strike-1 was called up for ops, including Van Doorn, who, while not exactly new to battling the aliens, was a rather new addition to XCOM, who had almost immediately received Lieutenant ranking.
"Alright, I trust you." The girl said, crossing her arms. Joana, meanwhile, seemed her usual ice-cold serious as she regarded the soldiers marching out of their line of sight into the aircraft. It'd been a good two weeks since Vengeful Pyre and the Aliens had made several major moves that Isara couldn't be a part of, due to the doctor having to check up on her well-being and on further 'Psionic Developments' as she called it.
For better or for worse, Strike-3 was resting at base...
In the Rec Room, Isara sat quietly in a corner, at one of the tables, listening to the slew of chatter among XCOM operatives. Two weeks of sitting on her ass and doing nothing was starting to get to the young Operative. She fiddled with a device she'd gotten from Doctor Shen to keep her busy. She didn't know what it was, but she knew it worked like the usual communication devices for those on Earth. She scoffed as she stung herself in what stood for its battery, rubbing her index to relieve the numbness after the little electric shock. She sighed...
"Uhm... Miss Gunther?" Selvaria's voice spoke. Isara's eyes turned to greet the silver-haired Valkyria.
"Hello, General." The young girl spoke calmly.
"I came to ask if you'd require some help." Selv offered.
"I'm okay for now, General, thanks..." The Darcsen answered, her gaze locking back to the item at hand. Selvaria frowned, then sighed. She was about to say something, before the girl raised her index up and said "Gotta focus, General... I know what you're gonna say... I'm still iffy on trusting you, but for now, I'm willing to give you a chance." before pressing further and reopening the device. She gasped, then said "Ah, got it fixed!" with a smile. "Strange item, this thing." She then said, placing the golden black cover back on and looking over it... A Smartphone, as far as the General heard.
"You were fixing that? For who?" The woman asked, a brow quirked up. Isara whistled in a low pitch and said "Sergeant Diaz! I fixed it!" as a shorter, more physically toned man approached the table, a smile on his face. He had short, trimmed black hair, a clean, short mustache according to XCOM regulations, as well as a pair of black sunglasses that hid the color of his eyes. He also sported XCOM's off-duty, on-base green uniform shirt, pants and boots.
"Thank you, Corporal." The man said as he was handed back the phone. He pocketed the device, then said "What was wrong with it?"
"Battery was probably placed wrong, though I'll admit, that's the smallest battery I've seen yet." Isara explained. "It had to do with the connectors not properly linking to the power output points..."
"In short, you had to place the battery the right way 'round..." Diaz hummed. "I wanna ask how it got put in the wrong way, but I figure I'm not gonna like the answer. One of ours probably trying to prank me, or something." He then shrugged "Oh, well, thanks anyways, Corporal Gunther. Saved me from having to buy a new one once I got out of XCOM."
"Come to think of it, Sergeant Diaz... If I'm not prying too much by asking, why do you need it?" Isara inquired.
"I've got a few things saved on it that help me around base, plus it's a memento from home, just like the sunglasses." The man answered calmly. He saw General Bles sitting on the side, legs crossed, then turned his head to her and said "Good afternoon." to which Selvaria hummed and nodded. She waved to him, then turned back to Isara and shrugged.
"Ah, right, sorry." Isara chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. "Sergeant Diaz, this is former general, now PFC Selvaria Bles. She and I shared a similar fate that had us both inducted into XCOM. General, this is Sergeant Rodrigo "Crusader" Diaz. Strike-2's commander."
"A pleasure." Selvaria nodded politely.
"Likewise, ma'am." Diaz offered with the same demeanor. "I'll be going, Corporal."
"A good day, Sergeant." Isara nodded, smiling. She watched the man walk away, with the phone, before turning to Selvaria and noting "All of XCOM's people are very kind if you get to meet them." before noticing Gillian walking by and waving to her. Gill waved back with a smile as she held her tablet close, strolling toward one of the kitchen to make her own food.
"Presume it's an acquaintance from medical?" Selvaria asked.
"Yep. Gillian Grayson. Apparently one of the groundside Medics." Isara hummed. "Quite a friendly girl, too."
"I'll take your word for it, since I've yet to speak to any of the XCOM members as of yet." Selvaria shrugged "Save perhaps for the commanding trio and your own team." She then said. Isara nodded, then sighed and looked up at the vaulted Rec Room ceiling. She then turned her head to the alcove that now housed the Memorial Wall. Selvaria frowned as she too saw the names written upon it, with pictures and flowers and shot glasses set below the names. 30 in less than 3 months... It was too much for Selvaria to even think about. And their own faced thousands of casualties, the Gallians tens of thousands.
Isara sighed, then felt something in her pocket buzz. She took it out, only to reveal a flat screen device similar to that of Diaz's. It had an XCOM emblem on the back of the cover and a message. From Shen... 'Miss Gunther, if you would like to come down to the Repair Bay, now renamed into the MEC Bay, I can present to you the fruits of the Project I and doctor Vahlen have been working on. Tech Sergeant Gonzales has recovered well and seems to be happy to still be able to fight.'
Isara smiled... At least Luis was not a casualty to add a 31st name to the list of dead. She looked to the General, then said "Doctor Shen called me down to see a certain project they've been working on down at RnD... If you don't mind?" and she received a small half-nod from Selvaria, who stood up and bid a quick goodbye, before walking to the kitchen. Isara stood to her feet and walked toward the elevator, only to be joined by several off-duty Techies from the base's Geoscape. They gave her nods, two of them being female and two more Male, before they got off on a different floor. Presumably XCOM's Non-Combat personnel barracks. She leaned against the grating that separated her from the elevator shaft and waited until she came down to one of the lower levels, before stepping off to her right.
She walked off through a couple of satellite uplink stations, those that kept XCOM in touch with its surroundings on Earth, their coordinated dishes linking to at least 3 satellites together. She bid a hello to the Engineers working at their stations here, then strolled into a large hall. She found herself atop a catwalk, with a cot that had dozens of computers to her left and the technicians working on them. To her right was an operating table with small OR bots and sets of prosthetic limbs hanging on the wall. It was awe-inspiring, to say the least... She then cocked her head to see Doctor Shen sitting by the railing, with a smile.
"Ah, Isara. Come along." The friendly old doctor offered, showing Isara to take a position beside him. She nodded as she walked toward the railing, then gasped as she looked down into the pit... Several engineers manned an exo suit about two and a half times a human's height, its metallic limbs plated with what Isara could only assume was reforged alien alloys. Sitting in a large holder beside the suit was a single weapon. Two prongs, which had a pair of rails down the middle and a set of electromagnets behind each rail, hidden cleverly in the body of the massive tank-sized weapon. And the man in the suit was no other than Jose.
As the techs stepped away from the machine and several wires detached, the man inside the machine started moving... And the limbs immediately responded to the movement of his arms and legs. The first step he took forth was a stomp that sent a rippling thunder echoing throughout the entire hall. Isara's eyes went wide as she saw Jose fiddling with his new arms and legs, grinning to his ears as he did so, before turning to the doctor and her and giving a thumbs up.
"All projections nominal, Doc Shen!" One of the Techies gave a thumbs up, grinning. "The Tech Sergeant's doin' just fine!"
"You kidding me, amigo? I'm better than 'just fine'!" The man laughed happily. "Doc, what can't this suit do!?"
"For now, Corporal, just fly." Shen said optimistically "It is good to see you taking this in stride."
"Oh, I'm gonna be payin' back the aliens in stride, Doc! God bless you!" The guy grinned, punching his fist into his open palm. Isara also noticed several addons on the wall next to the weapon cradle with the Rail Gun. A Flame Thrower, a melee system nicknamed the 'Kinetic Strike Module' as per the tag below it, an area-of-effect medikit, an AOE EMP device and a grenade launcher. All in all, a pretty powerful arsenal... Though Isara doubted all of it could be mounted to this MEC suit.
"Impressed?" The Doctor asked.
Isara nodded, smiling, then said "I am, doctor. It's good to see Jose back to his full as well... I haven't seen him in the ICU, but I am glad to know he was in good hands." She then offered, turning to the doctor, who gave a nod. Isara then chuckled and yelled at Jose "Hey, Tech Sergeant! See if you can't roll forward!" to which the newly-minted MEC Trooper snickered and gave a nod... While Shen looked terrified.
... Meanwhile... In the Brig... Dunstan Pierce sat alone for the nth time in his life, hands cuffed and eyes gazing out toward the armed guards sitting by the thick glass door to his cell, wearing plated armor and carrying what looked like sci-fi laser weapons. He still bore that shit-eating grin on his face, just more subsided now, as he sat on nothing but a bunk, waiting for a supposed 'Covert Ops Commander' to stride in and talk him through his future job here... And there she was...
A blonde-haired woman with deep blue eyes, wearing an azure XCOM cap, with the XCOM logo sown on the forefront, appeared in front of the guards. Her hair was caught in a ponytail on the back of her head and wrapped around her neck were a pair of wireless communication headphones and in one of her hands was a tablet. She wore a sleeveless leather jacket below which a black turtleneck resided, XCOM logo barely visible on the left, as well as dark-blue jeans and a pair of dress shoes... And Dunstan's grin widened as he saw the telltale bulge under her arm. A pistol holster... She said something to the Guards and they stepped aside, sliding a card to open the door. The woman strolled inside, calm and wearing her poker face.
"Dunstan Pierce." She said with a hint of snark in her otherwise calm voice. "You're quite a hard man to find."
"Even harder to catch." Dunstan offered back as the woman grabbed a chair from the side and sat down in front of Dunstan.
"Yet, here we are." The woman returned, looking at her tablet. "Dozens of counts of aggravated assault, possession of illegal firearms, high-level officials murdered... The list goes on. Half the states in the world want your head on a pike, many of them with the death penalty abolished." She then looked him in the eye as she spoke "So... Why slip up now?"
"I told your Central Officer everything he needed to know... Let me summarize it for you, though:Aliens are fucking up the world I'm working in, that means they're fucking up my clients and some people I'm meant to fuck up." He smugly responded, watching as the woman typed on her tablet. He snorted, grin widening yet again, before asking "You trying to psych profile me? Trust me, many have tried that and they couldn't."
"I'm not the many, Pierce. I'm the few." She said, placing the tablet on her lap and once again looking Dunstan in the face. "I know very well why you're here. I was asking why now?"
Dunstan took pause, thinking for a moment, before he noted "Same reason you brought a gun to an unarmed man's cell." with a grin.
"Safety?" She once again returned, poker face still on and having figured out that Dunstan noticed the gun... She made it obvious, though, so the guy was sharp and noticed the small details... Good. "Well, Pierce, I don't know what Safety you can expect from XCOM... We fight Aliens for a living, so you know it ain't the safest job around." She spoke to him calmly.
"If I wasn't looking for a fight, I wouldn't be here... But you know what I mean." Dunstan returned, leaning back against the wall next to his bed.
"... It's a tough call to make, but we'll see... If you play nice, it might happen." She bit back, holding onto the 'no emotion, no remorse' thing pretty well. "Anything you need that I can get right now?"
"These cuffs off. I assume those two retards outside gave you the key?" Dunstan nodded to the Guards, one of which raised his middle finger at Dunstan. The Dutch Archangel operator laughed, then said "You too, buddy!" as the woman took out the key. She stood up, then showed Dunstan to stand up too... He extended his cuffed hands and the woman grabbed them, then yanked him forward, pushing his hands down and bringing him face to face, Key still in her hand.
"Let me be very clear, Pierce. Fuck us over in any way, shape, or form" She spoke, maintaining her Poker Face even as she threatened him, then continued as she saw a visible shiver run down the man's spine, despite his face not showing fear... "And I will be the one to personally put a bullet in the back of your head and leave you in a ditch. I hope you get me." She finished off, receiving a nod from the man. She then raised his hands close to the key and removed the cuffs, tossing them on the bed inside the Cell. The man rubbed his now free wrists, then nodded, grinning still.
"One last thing." The Dutchman spoke, seemingly a hint more serious...
Sue raised a brow, then gave a nod to the man to go on.
"What's your name?" He inquired, arms crossed "Just so I know what to call out when I curse my would-be executioner." He then quipped, grin returning.
"... Sue Susan. You can call me Sue." She answered, then turned about and walked out the door, with Dunstan tailing behind her "Now, c'mon. We've got business to attend to. Central has to find you a team, a bunk and a basic introduction to our gear." and the two left the Brig under the watchful eye of XCOM's security personnel and the cameras. Central rubbed his chin. Dunstan would either be a great asset against EXALT as they are... Or would be one hell of a liability. He trusted Sue to make that choice for him, but he'd need backups, just in case.