"You failed to mention this, why, exactly?"
"Central, I lost my memory…I don't even know what it is."
"It is, according to my autopsy and observation, our 'Avatar'." Tygan interrupted.
The three of them (plus the Commanders line nearby) were in the research labs, a lone bench that Tygan had used to cut open all there alien corpses was in between the three of them, atop said bench was the 'Avatar's' body, dried blood crusted its midnight armour, and it slumped its head lazily to the side, mask still on.
"This is in fact, an Elder, not in its final, new form. But a sort of 'work in progress' build, very Psionically gifted as you can probably tell."
Tygan was right, the corpses brain was still somewhat alive, even with this many plasma burns torn through it.
After Luc had calmed himself over seeing this 'Avatar', the memories began flooding back into his head. The Avatar, was the very same thing he found his alien psi amplifier with, though strangely, this one didn't have one.
"This thing, the other one I'd seen, it made me what I am now."
His eyes drifted to the purple facemask.
"Its…The Elder is still alive. Its…"
"During my autopsy, the Elder appeared for a moment, it's gone, I assure you. Though I am concerned that if the Elder gave you your powers. Why did it do it? And can it take them away?"
"More importantly, is it possessing you?" Central said with narrowed eyes.
"Central, surely I'd have attacked you by now, right?"
"Well, I suppose…"
Luc had replied rather too quickly at his last question, but this went by unnoticed.
"Did the Elder say anything to you? Any information?"
Luc thought hard, pressing one hand to his temple as he did so. He remembered it talking to him, before he even laid eyes on its half dead figure. It acted like his guide, his companion as he crossed the great desert.
But that couldn't be right, it was just his head playing tricks on him. No voices, he wasn't that crazy.
His memory told him otherwise, it was like two brothers, always fighting, never listening to the other, that's what his head felt like.
"Yeah. A... no, nothing."
"Interesting, for a moment.."
"Wait! There was something, a…a name."
"Go on." the Commander spoke up.
Now Luc was becoming frustrated, it was right there, on the tip of his tongue. It had been there, it had all been there a few moments ago, now it was slipping away off the cliffs of forgetfulness.
"I…I don't know." he said with a sigh, after a minute of thinking.
Just need more time. He mentally thought.
"This will have to wait. The gate we recovered, how's that going Tygan?" said the Commander.
"Our recent findings on that subject was remarkable, in fact, it may possibly help get your memory back Luc. If this creatures psionic energy rebooted that event, the gate could as well."
Over the last few weeks, the gate was recovered and upgraded into the shadow chamber, it had to be disassembled and reassembled several times, but even through the thick walls of the ship, it still sent off unusual energies. They must have done their recent 'findings' while he was gone, as he sensed nothing too astronomical from it.
It was worth a shot.
"Let's go then." Luc said, following Tygan out of the glassy room, leaving the dreadful figure behind them.
-XXX-
It was in the shape of a broad 'U'. It was made from what seemed like countless amounts of root-like metals, curling and twisting all around its frame. In its centre, was like something out of a vision, a one way mirror was showing some alien backdrop. The scene was filled with other similar gates, spread randomly all over a large metal platform.
It would change every ten seconds, showing large rooms filled with odd alien plants, almost like a garden bed you would find on earth. In the background were flying animals, most looked like sharks or fish, that's when Luc realised they weren't flying, but swimming.
"Where is that?" Luc asked as soon as they stepped into the chamber. The walls were backed with numerous consoles and buttons, but three terminals stood out from them, showing mostly energy readings, and odd shaped aliens, which Luc had never seen. There was one he did recognise, an Elder, only it was robeless, and was unusually skinny, the thing was hideous.
"Unknown at this time, we tried sending a GREMLIN through, only to be pushed out, so don't approach it too much."
Four steps lead up to the gate, he planted one foot on the first step, and embraced the waves of psionics coming from it. Eager to put to rest his unruly memory.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
Nothing.
Luc shook his head at Tygan, who nodded in understanding.
"Just a theory." Is all the scientist said.
"Thanks anyway." Luc replied as he stepped away, the gate spooked him somewhat, something about it just wasn't right, the way its purple aura seemed to dull the further he moved away from it, it was small, but noticeable.
However Tygan couldn't see what Luc saw, and thought nothing over it.
-XXX-
XCOM had assaulted the ADVENT forge some time ago, and they had brought back a body, one in a suit much like the Commanders when she was held in New Isa.
This particular suit was holding, as Tygan and his team found out after the Avatar's corpse was brought in, a foundation for the making of yet another Avatar body. How many were there? That question would never be answered.
Human and alien DNA intertwined throughout the Avatar, the material came from the gene therapy clinics, the unlucky civilians were culled, one by one, thousands upon thousands of poor humans, looking for cures to sickness, were cruelly turned into one final body suitable for an Elder to possess.
The Avatar, it was the aliens final goal.
What would have happened if they couldn't have killed it?
The perfect body, had it been complete, they wouldn't have been able defeated it.
All this research took weeks, almost a whole month. And during this time, the ADVENT network was beginning to get more and more active. Some operations had to be evacuated, as the sheer overload of reinforcements bombarded every area XCOM tried to punch.
The resistance was now a global threat, causing severe damage all over the world. Some towns and the occasional city would have rioting, protesting, and fighting within their streets, however these were purged within a matter of days, but the signs were true, and one thing was certain.
The people had begun to wake up.
Haven recruitments went up, and more and more people left the cities in favour of human company.
Four trucks slowly drove through a snowy field, the road was barely noticeable in the blizzard. The trucks were ADVENT, with guns protruding out there roofs.
They never saw the twenty odd rebels hiding in the snow, one man pulled a trigger, and they all blew up, sending mushrooms of smoke into the air. Any troopers to survive were brought to an end, from guns they never saw.
Supply convoys all over the world were wiped out, by rebels and XCOM alike.
The Elders watched over in shame, the reckless acts of humanity had destroyed the peace they had created. They ordered production of forces to an all time high, the lack of two ungrateful species didn't help, plus the resistances outstanding attempts at hacking mechanical forces.
XCOM was no longer a small plague, it was a giant thorn in their sides.
The once great prosperous cities and towns had begun to burn. Bodies, both human and alien, littered the streets, eyes lifeless, mouths agape. Alien airships flew overhead, evacuating there wounded and what few civilians they could, without taking unnecessary casualties.
They couldn't use battleship bombardments regularly, they needed the humans.
And the humans needed them.
So the Avatar project was sped up. All other priorities for ADVENT were written off, they only had one goal now, no need to improve weapons or armour, the project came above all else.
The council gave an abrupt call to the Commander to warn her.
"ADVENT is not taking the death of two Elders lightly, and in turn have greatly accelerated their final stages of the Avatar project. A plan is now in place for the rapid processing of all non-essential human life. To begin immediately."
The dark figure hunched forward on his screen.
"Not only is the deaths of their leaders accelerating their efforts, two alien species have almost entirely…defected, and are fighting in the streets."
"Vipers and Muton's." Shen commented, to which Tygan nodded beside her.
"ADVENTS speaker will announce a breakthrough for the human condition soon. Billions will flock to gene clinics across the globe. They will never return." he said grimly.
"The speakers address will broadcast live to a global audience via this facility."
The globe behind them lit up in several different spots, then a picture of a an alien tower pulled up on the side, acting like a beacon as it pulled waves around it, the structure linked to all the dots, acting like a sort of hub, down in Madagascar.
"We must use this against them. The information I am sending you should allow you to take control of the transmission and disrupt their network from within."
The video feed of the figure went fuzzy, if but for a moment.
"I ask one more thing of you."
"Yes?" The Commander asked.
"Broadcast the truth, and let the world know what is happening. Do not let your new found allies get the slightest of the upper hand. Our original project failed all those years ago, and now that we have our enemies on our side, I can only hope that you find a way to live with them, not for them."
"Without them, we wouldn't be speaking."
"That's the undeniable truth, Commander…." A door behind him was kicked in, the lock held firm. "Our goal was to be rid of them, yet now you work with them, have a plan Commander, in case this doesn't last, which I fear it won't."
"I'll do what I must."
The door buckled again.
"We are both out of time." He draws a pistol. "Farewell, and good luck, Commander."
Two troopers burst through the door, guns blazing, the spokesman turned and fired, and before anyone's fate could be decided, static ensued, and all was silent.
"Commander?"
"Yes, Shen?"
"I think I have an idea to get everyone in the whole world to know the truth."
-XXX-
The Avenger landed a few miles south of New Isa, a new haven had been established for New Australia, and a few people were out with the Skyranger, lending a hand to them, whilst the science crews worked effortlessly towards finding a way to fight the Elders directly.
One soldier called in, and told Luc that Emily said hi.
He had to think about who this 'Emily' was, but it came to him when the unnamed soldier said it was a child. She was the only child, along with her mother, to survive the old havens assault, along with him and Phoebe. It brought a smile to his face when the soldier called it in.
On the Avengers right flank were Rangers 2 and 3. On the left side was a precarious cliff, and across to the horizon, the cities lights shown like a beacon in the night.
On the cliff sat the psi operative, there was no wind on this night as he stared endlessly at his old home. Last he saw, smoke piles rose out of it, now it was clean once more. He wondered what his house would look like. Ransacked? Perhaps untouched?
Maybe I should go down there and find out.
It seemed so small at this distance, a wave of nostalgia came over him. To think that this place was where it all started. His eyes drifted towards the cities edge, maybe his footsteps were still imbedded in the sands, trailing on into the unknown sandy fields. That old man, was he still there? Eating that soup in those rotten old bowls, or was it stew?
Did he even meet the old man?
Yes. He was there.
He wasn't there at all.
I met the Elder.
There was no Elder.
There had to be, how else could he be the only human in XCOM to be Psionically gifted? He killed it, it returned the favour.
What was with all these sudden doubts?
Luc didn't realise he was clutching his head with a tight hand, and never heard the slithering tail approach from the side.
It spoke to him, but he didn't listen, it called again.
"Luc?" it sounded very far, and echoed.
"What? Oh, hey Ana."
"You OK?" she said, coiling down to his side, and matching his gaze towards the city.
"Just thinking."
She gripped his right hand, she felt his own squeeze back.
"I said, do you miss it?" she repeated.
He gave a 'hmmph' sound at first. "Honestly? I prefer the beach."
"You lived on the coast?"
"No, I haven't."
How could you prefer it then?
"I never got to ask you, how long have you been living in Isa?"
"About my whole…life…"
His thoughts warred again, his whole life? That couldn't be right, it didn't feel like he was there that much, yet it felt like home, he had called it home, thought it was.
He scowled, his memory had come back, and now it made less and less sense. He recalled the events of his life. But all that turned up, was the day he met Ana. A sudden ringing sensation went through his head, sort of like someone shaking a piece of metal, it held in his head for a few seconds before going away.
"Luc?"
…
"Luc?"
"Sorry, what did you ask?"
"How long you live there?" She pointed to the distant shimmering city lights.
"Whole life, all on my own."
"Parents?"
The ringing again. It only effected him slightly, he blinked one slow blink before answering.
"Both died long ago." he said in a monotone voice.
"Did you ever meet your father?" he asked her. "Ever see him?"
"No, my Queen…mother, took great care of me, my King…father, I hardly saw, maybe one time I did, but he never spoke. Did my mother tell you were he was?"
He told her that he was hibernating, off world.
"I wonder what he'd think, about us." She sent her eyes to the sky, the great collection of jewelled stars seemed to reflect off her eyes, giving her the look of some great alien explorer.
He said something, but he couldn't hear the words come out of his mouth. Whatever he said, it got Ana to smile, and bring her head in to kiss him.
After a while, the couple started to feel the coldness of the air affect them. They stood and walked back up the ramp to Ana's room, together.
Luc completely forgot that conversation they just had, he never even recalled stepping out there in the first place.
-XXX-
Luc brought something with him when he boarded the ship for the first time. A gift from his friend, the long dead Indira, he had promised her that he would get everyone to see what they had seen, and today, he would fulfil it.
Video feeds of the outside and inside of the clinics, the ones in pods, the ones without limbs, cruel images that needed to be shown.
Correction, that should not be shown.
Shen had implemented Luc's feed with other videos, one of a blacksite they raided before even Luc joined up. A line of pods, all filled with bodies, covered in green liquids, the faces underneath the helmets of the troopers. All of it was crude, and perfect.
It reminded him of James, his other dead friend, Luc was glad that after this message was seen, no one would meet a similar fate.
Shen was a powerful engineer, editing a video like this was nothing for her, it was perfect, it was ready.
Team 'The Hugh Jass'' was assembled in the engineering bay, the screen played through Shen's message, and they all approved. Across the open bay was the Commander herself, she strut down to them after it was finished.
"Needs more fighting…" Thalia commented afterwards. But when she was the first too spy the Commander, her attitude changed. "I mean, great work! You have good ideas, Commander."
"Thank you." And to everyone's surprise, she winked as well. Thalia's eyes seemed to roll back, and her large body tumbled backwards. The team had been side by side, and Ana stood next to her, if it wasn't for her mobility, she would've been crushed.
"Thalia, you…."
"Are alright!" she finished for her, standing up a second later, acting like nothing happened.
"OK team, Shen is going to…"
"Team what, exactly?" interrupted Kurt, rudely but with a stupid smile on his face.
She ignored him. "Shen will upload this 'gift' to the ADVENT network, the whole world will know the truth. I will send three others to get the network tower under our control, once done, we will strike the heart of the Elder's operation."
Dan now, "Commander, we?"
She nods. "I'm going with you all, through the body of an Avatar, we will pass through the psionic gate, and fight the Elders head on."
"How many of us will go in?" he continued.
"Just the seven of us, not enough time send anymore of us in, once we are through, were on our own until the end."
Tygan and Shen had run hundreds of checks, they had constructed there own Avatar in the hopes of the Commander to use it, the gateway required it, and they had to provide. Only the Commander had interacted on the ADVENT network enough for her to use it, not even Luc was powerful enough to use it.
They had limited energy to keep the gate open, there would only be one shot, and only a few seconds to keep the gate open.
"I don't know who or what is on the other side, but I wouldn't ask you if I didn't think you all can handle it. If any of you have doubts, speak now."
Nothing, no sideways glances, no comments, no nothing. She had expected some hesitance, but perhaps they had all come to terms with one another.
"Alright, the op starts in two days, meet up at the shadow chamber, first thing in the morning. Get yourselves ready, do what you have to."
At that, she left. Albeit abruptly.
The six stood motionless, silent. Shen bid them good luck, and followed the Commander out.
Slowly, the team started to dissipate as well. They had gone on dozens of missions together, and this would be the one, the final one, do or die.
For the rest of that day, they did anything and everything together, they trained together, ate together, only at the end of the day did they retire to their rooms.
Only the Psi Operative and the Viper were together on that night.
Ana clung to the side of Luc, embracing his warmth. They made love again that night, each of them embracing both minds and bodies once more.
-XXX-
You made the wrong choice, that's all you ever have or ever will do.
Its time you learned the truth, if you'll make the right choice.
Back in Ana's room, she coiled around him, tail covered him like a coat, her body nudged as close to his as she could. Her cold body had warmed up against his bare skin, and her soft underside rose and fell peacefully.
He wrapped his arms tighter around her, and in her sleep, perhaps on instinct, she in turn did the same. The end of her tail drooped across the edge of the bed, along with one of his legs.
They stayed like that, the human couldn't sleep, not anymore, too many thoughts raced about, too many worries. They would willingly fight in the unknown, and there was a strong chance that they wouldn't all make it back.
If it was Ana who would be left behind, what would he do?
There was no world without Ana.
Slowly, he untangled himself from her, dressed, and went down to the psi lab.
The last time he had been here was the day he first saw the psionic gate. He had trained his mind to its limits, earning him the rank of Magus. He could cast rifts, project beams of energy, mind control, inspire others, keep himself from dying and was immune to explosives and poisons.
He was the most powerful operative in all of XCOM.
It only took a thought of an aliens death to bring him on the verge of collapse.
He sat down on his bed, not being used in a while, as he spent most nights with Ana, and 'recalibrated' his psionic energy. Going over every detail of the void, reworking his mind so he was at peak condition, at his most focused.
However his mind was troubled, and the Viper upstairs knew it.
She came down after waking up alone, with Luc gone. She hastily equipped her vest armour and went down after him. She was leaning on the glass door to his cell, and his eyes were closed. He sent her warm thoughts through there bond, and he returned them.
"Come back Luc. Don't dwell on what hasn't happened, what won't happen." she had said.
"I can't lose you Ana, I don't know what I'd do."
She walked up to his sitting form, sat with him, and embraced him, kissed him, loved him.
"You won't."
"But…"
"Stop."
He kissed back, and all the worried thoughts slipped away. Their minds embraced, and they tugged each other in their arms, never letting the other go as they fell back into slumber.
The next day went by too quickly.
Nice things must come to an end.
They had spent the short day together, eating, taking walks on the cliff face. Spending the day together. And just like them, the rest of their team did so as well.
Kurt had noticeably spent more time with Phoebe, Luc didn't pry, but he definitely felt something between those two, he was happy for them, perhaps they could be something as well.
As for Thalia, she and Dan had been talking about the Commander, Dan gave her more information on her, and she was grateful.
All this Luc saw with his mind, he needed not his eyes to see it all unfold.
That final night was calm, quiet. The ship itself seemed to lose all its natural noises, somehow aware that today was its last normal day of being XCOM's headquarters.
They slept.
-XXX-
You are nothing.
The A.I.'s voice was calm, as if this mission was just like any other. It told everyone what to do, and fell silent after it served its purpose
The two of them, with great effort, pulled away from each other on that morning.
With the help from the other, they awoke as two soldiers. For the next day, they promised they would not let their emotions get in the way of the last step towards peace, towards there unknowing future together.
But words were what they were, words.
And words can, and will, be broken. So can people.
This mission would break them.