XCOM: From The Ashes of Temples
Chapter Thirteen: Tokens
Captain Kim Chun Hyun made her way through the corridors of XCOM Headquarters. The two security personnel guarding the door saw her and saluted as she approached. They still checked her ID and clearance before letting her pass, however. With good reason: the section of the base she was about to enter was one of the highest security areas in XCOM HQ, the place everyone called 'Isolation'. The official term for it was 'Personnel Observation Wards' but anyone with an ounce of sense would know it for what it was— somewhere to keep compromised individuals contained while the interrogators questioned and scientists observed.
Security cameras swiveled to watch her in the corridor as she passed. She wondered if somewhere in the Control Room, Lt. Cheng Pan was scowling at her through the screens and nursing that black eye of his. She shook her head in irritation.
Damn those hotheads and their itchy trigger fingers. We had everything under control. A few more minutes and the situation would've been resolved.
Instead of what had happened several hours ago...
"... I know how to make the voices stop." Annette extended a hand to Dobrynin, keeping her eyes fixed on his. "Let me help you. People like us need to stand by each other."
The man's bloodied-knuckled grip on Bradford's stolen pistol was wavering, and Hyun could see his eyes, natural blue overlaid with an unnatural glow, dart frantically from Annette, to her, to Valdez, and to the open doorway behind them.
Come on, Dibs. Make the right choice. Stand down...
Dobrynin lowered the gun. Hyun felt a rush of relief, but it was only for a fraction of a second. The room suddenly filled with another wave of psionic energy Dobrynin's expression changed to one of alarm. Before anyone else could react, he brought the weapon back up and aimed it at the door behind them, just as Pan and his team burst on to the scene. With the worst timing possible.
On seeing the light show of psionics, the security officer immediately came to a rather unfortunate conclusion:
"They've been psi-jacked! Don't shoot the Strike Team, aim for the controller!"
There was a blur of movement as Valdez, realising what was happening, quickly tackled Dobrynin out of Pan's line of fire. Dobrynin's shot went wide and the pistol clattered to the ground, but Valdez still wasn't quite quick enough and Pan's return shot caught him on the side.
"Hector!"
Both men were knocked down hard, crashing into the same metal desk Dobrynin had been hiding behind. Fortunately, Valdez was clad in Skeleton armour and the alien-alloy plating shielded both of them from the worst of the shotgun blast. Unfortunately, the kinetic force imparted by the shot and the impact of the fall was still enough to stun, and neither were able to get up after that.
Damnit damnit damnit! "Lt. Pan, it's not mind control! Stand down! Weapons down now!"
But her orders fell on deaf ears. Pan, convinced they had all been compromised, ignored her and rushed onwards, his stance and ready weapon making his intent clear. Having come in without her weapons, Hyun resorted to blocking their line of fire, but while this was enough to stop the two junior security personnel, it wasn't enough to stop their leader.
"...using a medic and then a woman as human shields... " Hyun heard Pan mutter in disgust as he rushed forwards, shoving her aside. Realising Pan's definition of 'breaking the mind-control' was to kill Dobrynin whatever it took, she took aim with her Skeleton armour's grappling hook module. If she could just disarm him...
There was a loud buzz and Pan crashed to the ground mid-stride. Hyun blinked in astonishment. Annette however, yelped and dropped her Arc Thrower.
"You didn't tell me that thing fired lightning!" she stammered, her face ashen.
"Oh sorry about that. We didn't have time." Hyun reached over and plucked the shotgun out of Pan's nerveless hands. Despite herself, a smile found its way to her lips. Not bad for a rookie.
"How was I to know? There were purple lights everywhere and you were all just standing there without your weapons! How was that not suspicious?" Pan groused, reclaiming his shotgun from Hyun. Fortunately, the Arc Thrower had been on the relatively weak 'Thin Man' power setting and not at the maximum level of 'Muton Berserker', so no real damage had been done and he had recovered fairly quickly. His pride however, probably would take longer, considering the embarrassment of a veteran like him getting downed by a civvie. "Well, at least the situation is under control now."
Well, there was that. Annette's discharging of the Arc Thrower did have one rather unintended consequence in addition to stunning Pan. By sheer bad luck, the electric arc also conducted through the nearby metal desk to hit both Valdez and Dobrynin. Fortunately, Valdez was protected by his mostly-insulated Skeleton armour and only received a light shock. Poor Dobrynin however, already weakened and having no protection other than what a pair of shorts offered, was not as lucky.
The only good thing that could be said about Annette unintentionally incapacitating poor Dibs along with Pan was that the security personnel ceased their attempts to kill the man at that point.
Hyun's attention was forcibly returned to the present by an angry shout from the back of the room.
"Back off! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
She turned to see Annette hovering protectively over the unconscious Dobrynin, but it hadn't been her who had shouted. In front of her, Valdez stood bristling at one of the base security personnel who had approached them. The man had a pair of cuffs in hand.
"Securing the prisoner before we move him, Sergeant..." replied the confused security officer.
"He's a patient, not a prisoner!" Valdez burst out, looking angrier than she had ever seen him. "What the hell is wrong with you people? Put those cuffs away and get me a stretcher so we can move him to the infirmary— he needs medical treatment, not more mistreatment!"
Pan looked at Valdez as though he had lost his mind. "Patient or prisoner, I don't care. You are not endangering the staff and other patients in the infirmary by bringing someone that unstable and dangerous in there. He's going to Isolation and we are going to keep him incapacitated in there until Bradford wakes up. The boss can make a call on what to do with him then."
Valdez had opened his mouth to argue. She quickly stepped in to keep things from degenerating. "I agree Isolation would be the safest place for him now, but only temporarily. And no cuffs. If Dobrynin wakes and finds his limbs are in restraints and freaks out again , it's going to be his psionics that he resorts to. Given what happened in the lab, let's try to avoid that."
"Fine. But we keep him sedated."
"No, no more sedatives." Valdez interjected firmly, his fingers pressed against the side of Dobrynin's neck as he spoke. "His heart rate's already way too low. I have no idea how he was even running around as heavily doped as he was." He looked up at her, eyes pleading. "Hyun, he's suffered enough."
It was a delicate balancing act, trying to be prudent without being a heartless bastard. "I'm putting you in charge of his care, Hector. Grab what you need from the infirmary and treat Dibs once he's been moved to Isolation."
Thankfully, that was good enough of a compromise. Valdez nodded in relief. Pan seemed satisfied as well.
"Finally some sense. All right men, get a stretcher and bring the pri— patient, to Isolation cell-A. Make sure he doesn't wake up on the way. Dr Valdez can head over once he gets his equipment. You know which cell that is, right?"
Valdez hesitated. "Yeah. I know which one that is."
Pan paused for a moment, then smirked and gave a little laugh. "Oh yeah! Of course you would. I forgot... it's the same one they held you in for weeks back after you got psi-jacked, wasn't it? You sure you're going to be able to handle going back there without getting a panic att—"
Pan never finished his sentence. Valdez's response hadn't exactly been in words.
Hyun approached the last set of doors that led to the Isolation cell and paused. The last time she had been in there, it had been just after the alien base mission. Everyone had been celebrating their success at taking down what they had thought at that time, was the alien headquarters. The celebrations had been kept low-key however; they had also been mourning the loss of the well-respected and beloved Colonel Spencer and the other casualties of that mission.
Few had bothered to spare a thought for the one forgotten human being who had been confined to that room.
Shaking her head to dismiss the memories, she refocused. She had a job to do. She tapped her access card on the scanner and the doors to the cell slid open, allowing her to step inside the fortified space.
Oh, how she remembered and hated that room, if it could be called that. There was not even the pretense of any kind of privacy about the place: the walls and floor were built out of the same drab grey metal as the rest of the base— depressing and featureless. But at least they were solid. The one remaining wall in the cell consisted of what she knew was a reinforced one-way mirror so the labcoats and the brass could spy on the occupants any time they wished. A simple cot occupied one corner of the room, while a latrine took up the other corner. In her opinion, it was barely one step above from being put into the alien containment chamber. But it was also probably the only other place on the base that could hold Dobrynin if his mental state proved problematic.
Annette was sitting in a chair next to the patient's bed. The girl's face lighted up on seeing her. "Captain Kim!"
Hyun nodded a greeting and turned to Valdez, who was on the other side of the bed, putting the contents of his medikit back in order. "How's Dibs doing?"
"A lot better than he was the first time I treated him," Valdez replied. "Glass cuts, shotgun grazes, displaced knuckles... but nothing major that I can find— physically, anyway. Mentally..."
"I am taking care of that, " Annette added. Her hands were placed on either side of the unconscious man's temples, and a faint lavender glow of light pulsed between them.
"Something about making the voices go away," was Hector's comment on noticing Hyun's querying look. "She said it would help him when he wakes up."
"It will keep the voices out," Annette explained. "Alecto and Maegara needed it all the time; they couldn't think without it. Tisiphone always managed one herself."
Valdez shot her a 'I don't know what she's talking about either' look before she could ask. Hyun considered asking, but decided against it because whatever Annette was doing looked like it needed a lot of concentration and she would rather not risk a distraction.
She turned to look at the man laid out on the bed. In the stark, unforgiving florescent light of the room, the genetically-modified Dobrynin still looked normal, as far as she could tell. No oversized Sectoid eyes or Chryssalid spikes or anything like that. In fact, cleaned up and bandaged, he looked exactly like the determined soldier she remembered from Moscow.
Hyun wondered just how much of that person was left in there.
She didn't have to wonder long. Annette suddenly gave a soft 'oh!' and pulled her hands back. Everyone tensed as Dobrynin began to stir. Hyun let her hand drift to the Arc Thrower that hung at her belt. Just in case.
But if they were expecting him to jump up and go berserk again, they were disappointed. He did nothing of that sort. Instead Dobrynin groaned and gingerly raised his head to look around. He immediately froze when realised he was not alone.
"It's okay. You're safe." Valdez spoke up, going into doctor-mode. "We're friendlies." There was a pause as the man sat up and continued eyeing them warily without saying anything. "Er, don't try to move too suddenly. Those nano-sutures still need some time to set, I'd rather not have to put them back in again. How do you feel?"
Another few seconds of tense silence, then... "Like I have been drugged, shot at, and electrocuted," the man answered stiffly.
Hyun heaved a sigh of relief. Sure, the tone was less than friendly, but at least it was a response, and one that showed that Dobrynin was still relatively sane.
Valdez however, appeared to find his response funny, for he chuckled heartily— a sound she hadn't heard for a very long time, and said: "Yeah, that sounds just about right. I thought I had hell of a bad day but I think you have me beat."
Dobrynin didn't say anything for a while— just continued regarding the three of them, as if sizing them up. Finally he spoke again. "The voices. They are gone. What did you do?"
"What I promised to," Annette spoke up. She smiled shyly at him. "I shut them out for you. Don't push against the barrier... if it breaks they will come back again."
He turned and looked intently at her. "Annette Durand, is it?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Thank you." The smile was gone as quickly as it had come, but it was startling how that slight change in expression transformed the man's face. Hyun could detect some measure of wariness and reserve in Dobrynin's eyes still, but at least he was no longer outright treating them like hostiles. All in all, it was as much as could be hoped for, considering what had happened so far.
"Y-you're welcome." Annette was blushing like a schoolgirl.
Hyun arched an eyebrow at the drastic change in her behaviour. I hope you're watching, Dr Hendriks, she thought, giving the mirror-wall a light glance. Because if that is what I think it is, I'm not sure if I am up with dealing with that one. Then she turned back to address the Russian soldier.
"Captain Dobrynin, I'm Captain Kim Chun Hyun of XCOM."
"XCOM...?" He didn't ask what it stood for, which was promising since it implied he already knew and remembered. "Captain, why am I here, and where is 'here'?" Dobrynin's voice was respectful, and his English was excellent even though his thick Slavic accent made some parts of his speech difficult to follow. Still, she noticed he was careful to keep them at a distance.
"You're in XCOM headquarters. you were on a mission for the Council in Moscow, but a terror attack left you critically wounded before we could get you out."
"Wounded?"
"You were in a coma for a week. I'm told by the medical staff that you had a cardiac arrest—" Hyun couldn't help but notice an odd expression on Valdez's face as she said this, "—by the time the doctors were able to revive you, there was some brain damage. That's probably why you can't remember some things."
"I still remember some," the soldier said slowly, his eyes assuming a faraway expression, "but it is all very confused, I think..." He trailed off for a while and closed his eyes, as if trying to dredge up more information from the recesses of his ravaged mind. Suddenly his eyes snapped back open and he froze, staring into the distance.
"What's wrong?" Annette said at once, alarmed. "Did the barrier break. Do you need me to—"
"Solokhov, Kratsky, Dholov, Vanya..." Dobrynin said, almost as if to himself. Then he seemed to snap out of his trance. "Captain, I had a team with me. What happened to my men?"
"In Moscow?" When she saw him nod, she continued. "When we found you, you were alone. But we did find the bodies of Russian soldiers in uniforms similar to yours. We did not find any other survivors. I'm sorry." She pretended not to notice the way his shoulders had sagged at the news, and allowed him some time to compose himself before she spoke again.
"I don't have much time, but I need to discuss something with you. Privately," she added, stressing the last word. Valdez got the hint and immediately took his leave. Annette remained sitting in the chair, until a pointed look from her got the message through.
"I have to leave too? But what about... what if he loses control again? I should be here—"
"Thank you, Annette. But I am sure he will be fine," Hyun said firmly, noticing how the Russian looked slightly uncomfortable at Annette's overly-effusive attentions.
Annette pouted at this, and continued pouting on her way to the door. Dobrynin stayed silent, watching her go. Finally, he doors sealed shut, leaving the both of them alone.
"She's taken to you. Must be a 'birds of a feather' thing," Hyun quipped. Seeing the blank look the Russian gave her, she realised he didn't understand the expression, and waved her hand dismissively. "Never mind."
They stood facing each other for another few moments in awkward silence.
"Captain. Are you going to tell me what happens to me now?" he said at last.
Well, he was very to the point, this man.
"Yes. I have to be very honest with you— we can't send you back. Moscow was overrun and bombed to prevent further spread of Chryssalids. We can't get in contact with your regiment, or anyone from Russia anymore, because—" she paused and recalled the exact words CO Richardson had used in her earlier report. "—'Russia has just left the Council of Nations and has closed all lines of communication with the outside world'."
It took several moments for the implications to sink in before Dobrynin responded. "In other words, I have no choice but to remain in XCOM custody." He paused, then looked away. "I am not surprised that they have done as they have done. Russia has always turned to solving things her own way when the rest of the world has little left to offer her. But even had she not, I think your people would not have let me go anyway, would they? There is something else that has happened." Dobrynin's hand drifted to the massive scars across his front. His face darkened into a frown as his fingers traced the vivid marks on his skin. "What wounded me?"
"A Chryssalid," Hyun replied.
The man's face quickly turned to an expression of horror. "The ones that make the corpse horrors, yes? Is that why I was in the tank? Was I... did I turn into one of those things?"
"Not a zombie, in case that's what you're thinking. And about what happened to you earlier in that laboratory, I'm sorry you had to experience that. It was some sort of experimental procedure to heal you using... alien genes. As bad as it sounds, it worked. It regenerated your damaged brain cells— with some unexpected side effects."
"Such as hearing voices in my head and making things happen with my mind?" Dobrynin finished for her.
"I don't think anyone anticipated that one."
He turned back to face her. "So what now?" he asked, his voice bitter. "Do your superiors intend to keep me here like a lab animal? Watch me through that mirror over there? Ask me to make little lights on their command?" His arms were now crossed defensively in front of him, the blood-mottled bandages and bruises standing out in stark contrast to his pale skin.
Hyun reflected that at least the bitterness didn't sound like it was being directed at her, but at XCOM as an organisation. She couldn't blame him, considering how he'd already been grossly violated by their labcoats so far. Even if it supposedly had been done with the best of intentions, thinking of how all that had been going on without her knowledge made her feel as though she'd been misled and betrayed by the higher-ups, somehow.
No, I can't jump to conclusions. Not yet. Once Bradford's no longer out of commission, once we get this thing with Dibs settled, they deserve a chance to explain themselves. But she couldn't let any of her inner conflict show, not right now, so she put on her 'calm' face and said: "Dobrynin, you're not going to be treated like a prisoner or a test subject. Not if I have anything to say about it."
The man however, had a much more cynical outlook. "You speak with sincerity, Captain. But you are a soldier, are you not? We soldiers don't get to have a say in how a war is run. We just obey the orders of our superiors."
"Not blindly." At seeing his rather skeptical look at this, she continued: "You helped my squad out back in Moscow when we got ambushed by Seekers. You might not remember that anymore, but I haven't forgotten, and I owe you one."
That gave him something to think about, but his arms remained crossed in front of him. She waited a while in silence, then sighed.
"Look, I know you don't have good reason to trust us so far, but as far as I'm concerned, you're our ally who got us the information that saved Annette Durand's life. If it wasn't for you, she'd have been taken by those traitors, and God knows what those bastards would have done to her."
That got his interest. "The girl— Annette. She says she also hears the voices. Is she here on her own free will?"
"She is, and she's now in training under me. You can ask her yourself the next time you see her."
He nodded, and seeing his guard finally drop a little, she decided to play her trump card.
"By the way, it's not much as a goodwill gesture, but I have something for you. Here— these personal items were found on you when we pulled you out of Moscow. I thought you'd like them back." She handed Dobrynin the small clear plastic bag she'd brought in with her. "Sorry about your uniform though. It was kind of in shreds and contaminated with blood and alien uh... fluids. We had to destroy it."
Dobrynin wordlessly accepted the bag and extracted its contents: a small leather wallet with no identification, just a picture of himself and his family. An army dogtag on a ball-chain. A silver watch with leather-straps and the word 'Vostok' stamped on it. Last but not least, a simple gold ring, which Dobrynin silently regarded for a very long time before proceeding to slip onto his ring finger.
"Thank you," he said, his tone slightly softer than it had been.
He was thawing out a little now, good. Just as well, because she was out of time. "I'm sorry, but I need to go soon. There will be another doctor— a Doctor Hendriks, who will be coming to see you after this."
"Why not the other doctor from just now?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
"Dr Valdez is not that kind of doctor," she replied, inwardly cringing as she realised how bad it sounded.
Dobrynin got the point. "They are sending someone in to see if I am crazy, yes?"
"I can tell by talking to you that you're not crazy," Hyun said. "But it's standard procedure, everyone gets a psyche assessment after terror missions. Even me. If it turns out well at least she can clear you and you won't have to remain in Isolation any longer," she added, stressing the last few words. "I'm sure once things are cleared up, we can find somewhere, and something for you to do."
"Then do what you must," Dobrynin said in resignation. He hesitated, then said suddenly: "Captain Kim, I know I am in no position to ask for this, but you lead a field team, yes? If you have room for one more recruit..."
"Are you volunteering to fight for XCOM?" That was an interesting offer, given that he didn't seem to even fully trust them at the moment.
He seemed to read her mind. "I do not wish to spend the rest of my days confined in this room. I am still a soldier, and the aliens are still invading Earth. Out on the battlefield, where everything else is trying to kill you, you can find out quickly whether a person can be trusted or not."
"I'd rather not find out on the battlefield that someone on my team can't be trusted, Dobrynin."
"If there is someone who cannot be trusted, you will find it will not be me." He gave her that same fleeting smile from earlier, before dangling more bait. "Also, I am a very good sniper."
If it had been anyone else, she would have thought it overconfident bragging, but Dobrynin had said the last bit with a firm conviction that was without any trace of arrogance. She remembered the perfect headshot he'd scored on the EXALT agent in Moscow, and the precision in which he had planted the two bullets at Annette and Valdez in the Cargo Bay. Whatever else Dobrynin was, or had become, he definitely was still a crack shot. And she needed crack shots.
"Well then," she replied, patting him lightly on the shoulder as she left, "I'll give your request some consideration. But in the meantime, you'd better make sure you pass that psyche assessment."
Annette and Valdez were still waiting outside the cell for her. They weren't the only ones, the two security guards from earlier were there too. Hyun paused at the sight of the unusually-crowded corridor and raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?"
"Commander Bradford's regained consciousness, Captain Kim," answered the first one, whose name Hyun couldn't quite recall. "He wants you at his office for debriefing ASAP."
"Just me?"
When the guard nodded in affirmative, she made one last decision before she left for the office. "Valdez, Once Dr Hendriks is done, you and Annette head back and stay in there— do not leave him alone."
It was a rather disheveled and haggard-looking Commander Bradford who awaited her in his office. As an unwelcome surprise, Lt. Pan was there too. The security chief's black eye had swelled up beautifully, but if he didn't look happy to see her, he was prudent enough not to show it in front of Bradford.
"Good to see you back with us, sir," she said as she took the offered seat.
Commander Bradford didn't waste any time on pleasantries. "Now that you're both here, we might as well get this over with. I know you both have a lot of questions about the recent security breach and the incident in the labs."
Hyun straightened in her seat, as Pan leaned forward and nodded in agreement.
"Yes sir. We do."
Hours later, Hyun stood ready and waiting as the Skyranger touched down on the hangar floor, having just returned from their latest Council mission. Her mind was still churning over the events of the day, and that of what had gone on in her meeting with Commander Bradford.
The sight of Zhang and McLeod alighting from the Skyranger ramp was a welcome distraction from those dark thoughts. Hyun was relieved to see that both looked unharmed. Three of the new recruits were not as lucky, and had to be carried out in stretchers. At least there hadn't been any fatalities. The last rookie looked lost as the paramedics rushed the other three off to the infirmary, until McLeod, who was directing the evacuation of the wounded, said something to him, and he nodded and left in the direction of the barracks.
Hyun's attention was quickly redirected to the civilian who was being frog-marched forward by Zhang. The newcomer's face was flushed with indignation, almost a match for with his ruddy brown hair. His expensive-looking suit showed some tear and scuff marks, and the flashy glitter of his jeweled watch and golden cuff-links were utterly out of place in the spartan surroundings of the hangar, and XCOM HQ in general.
"Senator William Thorne," she greeted, remembering her briefing details, and nodded at the squad leader as he approached. "Good work, Sgt. Zhang."
"This is an outrage!" the suit blustered in ineffectual anger. "I demand to talk to whoever's in charge of this uncivilised—"
"—you'll get to talk soon enough." Hyun informed him. "Security will escort you to your 'interview' room. I am quite certain they will have some questions for you about your advocacy of collusion with the invaders."
Zhang waited in silence until the vehemently-protesting Senator Thorne had been moved out of earshot before he spoke. "Captain Kim, we found something in Thorne's possession that you need to see." He beckoned at a large silver suitcase they had brought back from the mission with them. "He was in the middle of a transaction for this item when we apprehended him. There was another man there who committed suicide when it was clear he would be captured. We brought the corpse back in the Skyranger."
McLeod had joined them, having finished with her duties as team medic for the mission. The usual sunny expression on her face was missing, and her eyes were red-rimmed, almost as though she had been crying. "You show her the thing yet, Zhang?"
"Show me what?"
Instead of trying to explain it with words, Zhang simply opened the suitcase and silently extracted what looked like a battered set of XCOM-issued Skeleton armor.
"Espionage?!" If outside forces were getting their hands on XCOM gear, higher command had to know about it right away. This would have been bad enough, but Zhang shook his head at her, as if she had missed the point. At first Hyun didn't understand, but then he turned the chest plate over so she could see the back. Black. Green. red. Blue. The colours of the South African flag were still plainly visible on the patch that had been attached to the nape of the collarpiece.
It was then when the implications of their find truly hit her, and it felt as though a cold hand had reached into her chest and enclosed her heart in its icy grasp.
"Oh my God. That armor's—"
Kotsi's.
End of Chapter Thirteen
AN: Hope you enjoyed that. As always, reviews are not required for updates. But they are greatly appreciated if you feel like making my day by leaving your thoughts on this chapter. Cheers for reading and recommending!