The wreckage of Big Sky was a dreadful place. The Skyranger was stuck in the centre of a dense swamp. Moss draped over the wings of the old aircraft, and the grey coat of paint had withered away over the many years of immobilisation.
It sat in the shadow of great bushy trees, and it drowned in the liquids of nature. There wasn't much clearing for the Avenger to land nearby, so two of the dropships were used to get in close. They transported some humans along with them, Central took charge for the small expedition of engineers.
Luc held the railing above him as if her were on a train waiting for the next stop. He had his gear at the ready, as they all did. Trust was still new to the three species, Luc hoped it wouldn't take long for them all to talk to each other freely. It would be a long war, they best get used to one another sooner rather than later. Guess old wounds may never heal.
The one named Neska stood next to him in anticipation. She had been wondering how to speak to him for the whole ride to the site. She decided not spit it out plainly. She had to show her recognition of his mercy back at the facility.
"Thank you." She had trouble comprehending that she had thanked a human for the first time in her reasonably short life. Fifteen years in human terms wasn't very long, but to her kind she had reached maturity.
Luc gave a small smile and a nod in return. He didn't need to ask what it was for. "No problem." He turned back to gaze out to the swamp.
"Why did you do it?" she asked him.
Luc pondered on this question. He truly didn't know himself, the face of his dying limbless friend came to his mind. He pushed the image away.
"I have no idea." Luc said truthfully.
"Really?" She though him mad.
Of course, Luc could hear her, he looked at himself from her eyes, indeed, he may be slightly on the downside of his sanity. His general appearance gave much of it away. Perhaps the constant presence of other thoughts drove him closer to the edge, he always wondered what a crazy person felt like, perhaps this was it. Inside his head he laughed, but on the outside, he didn't.
"I guess I couldn't just murder you then and there."
"Most of your XCOM allies would have killed me if they had that chance. What gave you reason not to?" she countered.
"You should thank Ana for that." And after that, he said no more.
The ships landed some distance away from the wreckage. The engineers wasted no time in picking over the remains like vultures on a corpse. Each time someone took a step, the muddy dirt would swallow their legs up whole. The Angelko couldn't traverse the soft terrain. One of the completely black Vipers had herself sunken her body halfway into the marsh. She had to be pulled free by three Mutons alone, plus a human or two. Her rifle was dropped, and it could not be seen, no one wanted to go and search for it, so the Angelko remained on the high and tough ground, keeping watch.
The Skyranger had several small crates, the faded logo of XCOM could still be seen upon most of them. The engineers examined all of them. Luc patrolled around the southern perimeter with Neska, across hard terrain so she didn't get stuck. One of the XCOM crates had tumbled some fair distance from the wreckage. It sat at Luc's feet when he spotted it hidden in the ground.
He wiped the moss and dirt from the half buried box, he got on his knees which stuck to the ground slightly, and pried off the lid. A small trail of sticky substance presented itself around the edges as he lifted the lid. The interior was pristine, as if no amount of dirt or swamp had impacted the silky white cushion inside.
Laying atop the white cushions, was a well preserved and odd axe. Its design was honed to an incredible degree. It looked ancient, yet had that futuristic look to it as well.
The blade was curved at the back, the handle looked almost like wood. Yet when he picked it up it felt like metal, and the axe was somewhat light in his hands, he lifted it up at its base, on the other end was a small silver tooth (somewhat like a fang), the sharp metal glinted in the sunlight.
"Not much use at range." Neska remarked from behind him.
Luc went back to the box, another axe was inside, they both crossed over each other like a small 'X'. Both of them were identical in design.
He held one axe in each hand. Swinging them in small arcs, the blades sung with every swipe.
"Throwing axes." he said. "Just as deadly as bullets."
One of the human engineers took them into his hands when Luc reported them in. He had them stashed in a separate crate in one of the dropships. Luc peered inside it, he could see other weapons, a small old fashioned pistol, and a rifle that looked somewhat like a bow. Kurt had later found a small blue grenade. Which was placed with the other odd objects.
"Any idea what these might be?" Kurt had asked him as they lifted off back towards the Avenger after an hour of further searching.
Some strange feeling came over Luc. The weapons were familiar, as if they were long lost toys of his early childhood.
"Not a clue."
-XXX-
"LET ME OUT! I CANT….NO MORE."
Luc opened his eyes slowly from his deep slumber.
"PLEASE GOD NO! STOP IT!"
Luc was in his cell, the power of Solace, and the sustaining of his body had been learnt within this week. He wanted his rest, not more interruptions.
"It's OK Velia, I'm sending someone down." It was the thin white line on a terminal near the doorway that spoke, announcing the Commanders presence to the whole Psi Lab.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"
Jeez, how can I rest with screaming banshees every other day?
Two scientists had walked in from the main hall a minute later. They wore matching white lab coats, the man and woman quickly unlocked the second cell across from Luc's. Which was a mirrored design of his own.
They each grabbed the woman's shoulders to support her out of the cell. Hitting a switch near the door on the outside, this switch shut off the voids energy in Velia's room, closing it off with a small swish.
"No, no no no no no no….." Velia said as she was taken out of the lab. She was yet another soul that had her mind almost crushed by the voids initial pressure.
"It's pointless Commander, what is this? Ten? Twelve more who have failed?" Luc said without looking the white line on the wall.
Despite the numerous attempts to improve the supply of Psi Operatives, the department of Psionics came up lacking. They had their fair share of Rangers, Grenadiers, Sharpshooters and Specialist's. But Luc was alone when it came to his 'Class' of operatives.
"Your right Luc. I still can't figure out why you are the only one to develop the potential, at least back in the day we had a few more than one…"
"Perhaps I could be of some assistance to this matter." One of the scientists had come back through the door. He was Tygan, the chief of the whole science division. He wore small thin glasses, and his bald head seemed to shine off the purple light.
"You have Luc here very busy with recent events, perhaps now that we wait to track the old Skyranger's last location, I can delve deeper into Luc's gift. With you approval of course."
"Very well, make it so. But should anything come up, we need our strongest to deal with any trouble."
"Your too kind Commander." But she didn't respond to Luc, she was gone.
"Come then Luc." Tygan waved one arm towards the door
Luc opened the glass door with little effort. And followed the scientist to the research labs.
-XXX-
In the hanger bay, Ana stood with Xida next to a table filled with weapons found from the old aircraft XCOM used to use. She recognised one of the weapons, the rifle that looked like a bow.
A short Asian woman with black hair stood nearby, Central was with her.
"Any of these familiar to you?" Central asked.
She pointed to the bow rifle. "Similar to one of ours, old model very devastating."
"Shen, think you could duplicate these things? They might be useful, our arsenal could use more weapons.."
"Only one way to find that out Central." Shen said, she turned to Ana. "Perhaps you could test out how to use this rifle in the shooting range?"
She had expected Central, or any of the humans to recoil at this. But Central only gave a small uncomfortable shuffle. The human engineers looked somewhat confused.
"If that is what you wish."
"It is. Let's go."
Ana had to go alone, Xida was to remain in the hanger while she went down below the ship. One long vertical ladder lead straight to the depths of the ship. She was the first to climb down. Central, Shen and a guard had followed her down the ladder. She scaled it like she had done to buildings, with much ease and little effort.
A few racks of weapons lined one wall, parts of armour and guns sat on the other. Between them was a barricade of boxes, down the hall was a photo of a Muton, stuck across more boxes.
"Maybe that's why you didn't allow Xida down…" she said looking at the odd looking Muton.
"Your right about that. Now." She hands her the rifle. "What's this thing called?"
Ana went through the steps of the weapon's use. She had pronounced it as something no human could understand, but it roughly meant 'Caster' in the human language. The trigger had to be held for about three seconds. No more or less, lest the Caster would overheat, or lose its speed when firing.
She had fired one thin bolt of death into the Muton picture, it tore through the crates and impaled into the wall behind it. It was a satisfying and impressive sight to behold, she had not used one of these since her training off world.
"We need Tygan to look into these as soon as possible." Central had said. A high pitched scream of a women pierced Ana's hearing. Shen had slightly squirmed underneath the hearing. The screaming could be faintly converted to words filled with terror…
"Please god! Stop it!" the voice cried. It grew ever more quieter after a minute, the screams from above had died down.
"Who was that?" Ana said while looking up at the roof..
"We have some issues in one of the lab's. But anyway, let's get these things to Tygan's lab. He may want a demonstration as well. You want to help us get them to him?" Shen asked Ana.
"Shen, no aliens are allowed into…"
"It's OK Central, Ana can tell us more about this weapon to the both of us. We will be out before you know it. So, Ana?"
Ana gave a slight smile. "I understand your hesitance Central, I will help your…'Tygan' and you as well, Shen."
They went and packed the gear into crates that hovered off the ground slightly, and left for the labs, were Tygan had taken Luc.
-XXX-
"Well, isn't that interesting…"
"What do you mean?"
Tygan examined the many strands of DNA on a small screen. Luc hadn't been a great fan of needles, but Tygan only took a small amount off his arm, he was glad it was over, or so he thought. Tygan also had taken a number of X-ray's after pondering on the blood sample, this went on for longer than Luc thought it would.
"Your DNA is unlike anything I've ever seen, at least…some of it."
Luc peaked over his shoulder, the strands that made up his blood looked normal to him. But he remembered something from the clinic in the city, his disease, his curse. It seemed to have gone away. Luc was a fool to think Tygan wouldn't notice this, as he found out after ten or so minutes of scanning through his blood and X-rays of his chest.
Tygan didn't expect to find such an anomaly in his DNA. He had only ever seen this in his time when working in a Gene Clinic. He need only a glance to know the problem.
"Luc, I just found something I think you…"
"Its fine Tygan, I already know."
"Fine? It certainly is not fine, I have to report this to the commander." Tygan walked over to one of the terminals that usually had the thin white line, but it was currently switched off.
Luc could do little to stop him. The moment he would release Tygan from mind control he would tell someone. Then he would be in a world of hurt, assaulting the chief scientist wasn't a good idea, but it was tempting. What am I thinking? Tempting?
"Commander?" Tygan had switched the screen on. "I have news regarding your psionic operative…"
"Yes Tygan? Have you found out anything?"
"Luc here, has lung cancer."
The silence that passed was short lived. Luc had stood up from sitting on the small bed. He was angry at the 'loud mouth' that stood before him.
Luc was about to talk some foul language, but the Commander got a word in first. "Luc." He could feel that she was shaking her head in confusion. "Why did you not tell us this?"
"It doesn't even bother me! I don't even look like I do, do I?" Luc said defensively.
They all knew this was true. He looked perfectly healthy in terms of appearance, he hadn't coughed blood or ran short of breath ever since his left the desert. He told this to them, and the Commander asked a very important question after a moment of thinking. Tygan stayed quiet, truly this was unusual, even for him.
"Was it worse before you left the haven?"
"Yes."
"About the time you lost your memory."
"What about it?"
"That was when it got better, yes?"
"I think so."
"Tygan, return to your research into Luc's DNA, second highest priority. Find out why a guy with cancer can still be walking around like nothing's wrong. But make it quick, we have a lead on where the Skyranger took off from, and I want Luc in there."
Tygan insisted that Luc remain in the Avenger, and that the battlefield was no place for someone like Luc anymore. But she wanted him in the fight, regardless of his status. Saying that keeping him indoors was a waste of time and resources. She was right, and wrong at the same time.
"Tygan, can we keep this…off the records? I don't want the others to know about this."
"I keep my clients privacy as my highest priority, but you shouldn't keep this a secret, it could get worse very soon, if it hasn't already."
As if on cue, Ana and Shen had walked in a moment later. Luc acted like nothing had happened, while Tygan prepped another needle.
"Doctor, we have some unique weapons we need to study right away." Shen had two crates behind her, Ana was pulling them with her, she gave a smile to Luc, which he returned to his best ability, she did notice this, but thought little of it.
"Very well Shen, just one more blood test for Lance here." He held up a long needle with both hands.
"That's one giant needle, how you holding up Lance?" Shen said.
"Well, I'm alright, nothing too bad, I don't mind.." Tygan had jabbed the needle into his arm mid sentence. Luc did his best to keep a neutral face, but he couldn't help but curl his face up, as if he was punched in the face, his boasting was short lived.
"Nothing too bad, huh?" Shen smirked. Luc shook his head, the needle was released after a few seconds. The pain had eased after that.
"That should be enough, so what is it you found?" Tygan said as he put the needle away.
The rifle Ana held was demonstrated again, this time it was unloaded, Tygan took notes, and looked on to the other weapons after Ana was done.
"These are truly fascinating, I wish to look into these as soon as possible."
"Already ahead of you…" Shen had already pulled out the pistol thing. She and Tygan began talking endlessly to each other, leaving Luc and Ana to themselves. They didn't even say goodbye when the human and alien had left the lab.
"Guess you're allowed into the Avenger now?" Luc said as they walked back to the hanger.
"Maybe."
"I could show you around if you'd like." He felt a weird feeling in his stomach, he was almost asking her out, in a way.
"I was only to go with Shen and come back quickly. But I wish I could see the rest of this place." Ana said, looking through open doorways that they past, a workshop, another different kind of building area, and a small purple room.
"What is that place?" She asked, looking into the room from the doorway.
"The Psi Lab, where I hang out. Want to check it out?" he asked, somewhat excited.
She nodded in agreement, just a few minutes of exploration couldn't hurt. She entered and saw two glass rooms, each had one bed and one table. All of it was white, except the purple energy that came from within the roofs of the small rooms.
He explained how it worked, to his best knowledge, he would let it flow through him, allowing him to train his mind to use new abilities, it was fascinating and confusing at the same time.
"How long would you sit in here to train?" She had asked, looking at the bland table, and the pristine bed. She wondered how such a little room could be comfortable to anyone. Though they did set up small tents when the humans landed and scanned the area, at least her tent was bigger than this.
"Longest I've been is about four days."
"Four?" She asked, shocked.
"They say it should go on for longer, but I guess I train quickly, the scientists thought it would take weeks at a time, but I proved them wrong."
This reminded her of his blood testing by the one named 'Tygan'. Perhaps they wanted to know about his fast learning gift as well.
"Are you the only one to have the gift? I see there's room for another." She motioned over to the other room.
"That's the dark part of this lab. Everyone but me leaves this place screaming their lungs out. You probably heard the last one earlier. It's a risky business, but at least the quiet returns when they leave."
Ana did hear the screaming, she could imagine the pain they would endure. She had felt some connection to the energy coming from the roof, and therefore could feel Luc's mind as well, she could just about recognise his emotions. The moment she realised this she questioned him more and more.
She closed her eyes when she talked again. "Do you ever get lonely in here?"
Luc felt her presence in his mind, he rather enjoyed it, he then realised the truth behind his answer. The quiet never bothered him, he rather embraced the solitude, he became hypnotised by the small connection to her. He wanted more. He knew he hated the solitude, he lied to himself about that.
"Yes." But if it was the real Luc. He would have denied it, however something made him express himself differently. "Yes, it bothers me." he said this with undying truth.
Ana also felt entranced, the moment she had recognised the tendrils of his mind reaching out, begging to connect to anything, she embraced it without knowing. She felt wonderful, as if she was connected to an Angelko on a deep level.
Part of Luc wanted to break the contact, but he could not let go of such a feeling. He felt Ana's presence like air through his lungs.
"I hate the loneliness, always have."
Behind Luc's answers was a pain, a terrible pain, one he hadn't told her about, only mentioning it briefly back in the city of New Isa.
You're not the only one dying, Ana, I have a similar fate. This memory played through both of their heads.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked, but her tone had changed, she said this rather forcefully, almost impatiently.
"No…nothing…" Luc's inner self had begun fighting him. His mind was trying to close off to her, but she persisted. She focused on the pain, bringing it out from the back of his mind. Some unknown cause wanted her to find out what it was. The pain was hidden in himself, as if reserved. She pried and pried into him.
Why do you hide it? Let me see.
No!
Luc stumbled out of the door to his room. Clutching his head. This wasn't right, this wasn't him, and this wasn't her. His eyes burned when he tried to open them. So he felt for the wall instead, trying to grab hold of the switch to shut off the void. It took him a few bumps into the wall before he felt his way out the doorway.
It had been pleasant at first, but now they both were under the influence of their own greed for knowledge. Only Luc had managed to control a part of himself, Ana sat on the bed, assaulting his mind with her own, she hadn't felt this much power in her whole life, not even the Queen could compare to this. No amount of psionic connection could be thought possible. It was so much, too much, but she let it control her, she couldn't help but embrace it.
All the while, not a sound was made, no one could hear the screams of the minds, no one could. If an Angelko was nearby they might have, but none were on board. They were trapped in each other. A humans mind twisted into an aliens.
Luc managed to catch the switch with one finger, he pulled it, but his finger slipped off of it. The pain was becoming unbearable, he started coughing, he didn't need his eyes to know what the substance on the floor had to be. His knees buckled, and he leant against the wall to keep himself upright. Again he used his hand to find the switch, he got a hold on it once more. But he couldn't keep himself up, he collapsed to the ground. Ana had stood up and was pushing him away from the switch, neither of them could see, but he knew she was the one to push him down.
She pulled the pain into existence, she could just barely make sense of it, some sort of disease within his body…
But his grip was true, the lever was pulled down with him, and the void was closed. He tumbled to the ground, his eyes didn't open, and he stopped making sense of the world. His mind was closed again.
Ana had opened her eyes after some time, she lay on the ground, her tail stretched to the bed a meter away, and she was sprawled halfway out the door to Luc's room. One arm was next to her, the other had been laying in front of her. Luc was on his back in front of her, his own hand on top of hers.
Small amounts of blood could be seen near his head, it dribbled out of his mouth slightly. She brought her tail to her body, and coiled next to him.
"Luc?"
No response.
"…Luc?"
Nothing. She focused her senses, his heartbeat couldn't be heard. She used the sleeve of his grey shirt to wipe the blood from his face. She shook him again. Calling his name over and over.
"Please..wake up! Luc!"
But he did not.
"I'm so sorry. Luc…I'm so sorry…"
