Time/Date: May 15th, 2035
Location: Earth, San Francisco
A lone man walked down the streets of the bay city, avoiding looking at the people or troopers. Of course, he was more dangerous than anyone within 500 kilometers.
Ronald Pinkerton sighed, cursing in Klingon and Andorian. The home of Starfleet Headquarters looked like someone tore into the city and pulled a Wolfenstein. He was TWO steps from going on a killing spree, which is why the escorts went with Takeshi and Lunamaria.
He wanted to limit any potential friendly fire. A red scanning beam passed over Ron's body as he walked under a lamppost, which sent out alarms, alerting a squad of Advent troopers and a MEC. "Mor Balaten!"
Ron raised an eyebrow. "Buddy, I'm two steps from hurting someone. Be smart and fuck off."
"On your knees! NOW!" The officer slammed his rifle into the Starfleet captain's gut, but cybernetics combined with a layer of fat made the blow pointless, much to the confusion of the officer.
"You have ONE more chance. Piss off, or die. Your choice." A lancer pointed its' rifle at his head and pulled the trigger, a gauss round exiting the barrel and entering Ron's head.
Or would have, had Ron's shields and tritanium-reinforced skeleton not stopped it.
"No more chances. Time for you all to die." He grabbed the lancer's rifle, positioning the alien to have the asshole's back touching his chest before quickly forcing the lancer to shoot his comrades one by one before breaking his neck.
Meanwhile - with Takeshi and Luna
"Clinic should be just up ahead," Takeshi said, as they approached one of the gene therapy clinics. However doing so, they passed by a large T.V. set up on display, which broadcasted an emergency report.
"This just in, from New San Francisco: there appears to be some type of disturbance in the area." The reporter said, giving the two Starfleet officers pause as they looked at the screen. "Reports are flooding in that a group of men are harassing and assaulting ADVENT soldiers-" she paused as she held an earpiece. "Excuse me?" she asked. "Just… one? Err, correction it seems to just be… one man…"
Takeshi and Luna looked at the screen, looked at each other, and facepalmed in unison. "Dammit, Ron." the two muttered as one.
The footage showed as Ron slaughtered the Advent idiots, before the MEC tried to step on him. But Ron was too fast, and jumped onto the machine before ripping its' head off.
"All citizens are instructed to avoid this… individual at all costs."
"We should have seen THIS coming."
Takeshi groaned in agreement. "Yeah, and NOW Ron's on a—"
RAMPAAAAAAGE!
(BGM: Rampage! by Miracle Of Sound - GTA5 Trevor tribute song)
The ADVENT Troopers fired at Ron, who simply let them hit. The troopers looked at their weapons before retreating. VERY quickly.
"Ra Cailum, this is Pinkerton: send down the Buzzsaw Package." A shower of light signalled the arrival of a bandolier of magazines, his sword and the buzzsaws of the Buzzsaw Package: a pair of MG42s with Doppeltrommel magazines fit to them. The Package included 16 added dual-drum mags, meaning Ron was NOT running out of ammo ANY TIME soon.
He fit the sword to his belt, then clipped the extra mag belt over his jacket before picking up both weapons and cocking them.
ADVENT Troopers were still keeping their distance, but their ranks were being bolstered by aliens: Sectoids, Vipers, and even Mutons, which, like the Sectoids, seemed to have the influence of human DNA in their makeup now.
"You all came here just for little ol' me? I'm touched. You're all still going to DIE, though." He took up a duelling shooter's stance, his right shoulder facing the enemy before opening fire with the right MG42, proving why they were called 'Hitler's Buzzsaws' by tearing into the sectoids and making a few well-placed headshots on the troopers, pausing fire to advance.
"Great to have you back, boys." Bradford spoke to Alpha squad, Buster, and Jaden as they entered the bridge. "Though I'd like to know how the hell you're-"
"Bradford?"
"Commander?"
"…Do we have any demigods in San Francisco?"
Bradford was confused… before he saw what the Commander - and the bridge staff - were looking at, as a single man was dual-wielding machine guns and unleashing a hailstorm of bullets on an endless horde of ADVENT soldiers, aliens and Mech's. "What… the… hell…?"
"Uncle Ron!" Bradford and Sheridan both looked at Larcei, who was clapping her hands together. "I TOLD you making my uncle mad was a bad idea!"
Both men watched as 'Ron' let go of both weapons, jumping on top of a muton and breaking its' neck.
Which even MECs had trouble doing! "He's slaughtering them. He's on a goddamned rampage."
"Be glad he's doing it to ADVENT and the aliens," Larcei remarked. "They must have done something stupid - like try to kill him."
The troopers slowly backed away, but the man tore into them like the aliens tore into XCOM during the base attack 20 years prior.
"Ooooh, he's REALLY mad." A MEC swung at him, be he climbed up and did… something that caused it to stop before he hacked a lancer IN HALF with his sword and fired his MG42 at an officer.
"What did he do to that robot?"
"He must have assimilated it," Larcei remarked off-hand. "He is an ex-Borg Drone, after all."
Adrian's eyes widened at that. "Did… did you say Borg?" he asked.
Larcei nodded. "The you I met in the other universe was a Trekkie, as well, I remember," she said. "Yes, it's real, yes, it's where I'm from, and yes, Ron is an ex-Drone, but the cybernetics they put in him couldn't be removed, so he makes do."
Adrian looked at Larcei, then back at the screen - and then back to Larcei. "…starship?"
"USS Ra Cailum, Odyssey-class."
Adrian looked back at the screen… and for the first time in a very long time, he let out a face-splitting grin. "Oh, fucking A!"
The MEC started moving and shooting at Mutons before the rifle fired green bolts of energy. "Disruptors. He turned the damn thing into a disruptor rifle!" Another MEC engaged the Ron-MEC, but it kicked the Advent MEC before sticking it with a tubule, and it shut down before moving against the alien forces.
Tygan watched with morbid fascination. "Remarkable. If we could use that same—"
"NO!"
The scientist looked at Sheridan, Bradford, Jaden, and Larcei, who interrupted him. "Why not?"
"Borg technology is a BAD IDEA!" Larcei said. "The only reason my uncle's using it is because he can control it!"
"Tygan - in Star Trek, just about anyone who messes with Borg tech has a very BAD ending," Adrian shook his head. "I am not risking it."
The scientist deflated before Ron looked at the camera, smirking darkly.
Lily backed away. "He… he scares the shit out of me."
"He has that effect on most people, Lily," Larcei remarked. "Only a few people don't get scared of him." After a moment, she blinked. "Oh, right, I have to introduce you!" She grabbed Jaden and pulled him alongside her. "Lily, this is Jaden. Jaden, this is one of my best friends in this universe, and XCOM's current chief engineer, Lily Shen."
"Oh! Umm… hello," Lily said, looking at the rather tall human standing in front of her… and handsome. 'Where did THAT come from?' "Y-Yeah, I'm Lily…"
"Nice to meet you," Jaden smiled, nodding. "Thank you for being with Larcei, after all this time… it's only been a week for us, but here… "
"It's fine, really! If anyone should be thanked, it's Central! He's been looking after her since the invasion."
Bradford winced. "Are your… parents going to be as mad as your uncle when they find out where you've been?"
"No, they'll be happy to see I'm alright." She said, "In fact, my uncle might just give you an honorary Starfleet commission."
Bradford was confused by that. The angry son of a bitch tearing ADVENT a new hole, pleased with him? "Why?"
"You protected me," Larcei smiled. "He's big on family, so that makes you an honorary member of his own!"
"Bradford - don't question it," Adrian said, watching the video. "Let's just try and NOT piss of the guy who can-HOLY SHIT, HE JUST FLIPPED THAT CAR!"
"Eh, he's flipped over runabouts," Larcei remarked. "That thing's nothing."
The ADVENT troops broke ranks, but Ron was NOT letting them go. He was going to kill them. ALL of them.
"Look, I love seeing ADVENT getting its ass handed to it as much as the next guy," Adrian said, as Ron ripped a Sectoid in half with his bare hands. "…but he's drawing WAY too much attention, and there is still a chance civilians might get caught up in all this… "
"Hang on," Jaden pulled up his commbadge. "Yo Ron, having fun in San Francisco?" On the screen they could see Ron pause as he answered.
"Spartan. Anything to report?" He fired a single bullet into a trooper's head, allowing the MECs to do all the work for him.
"Well, I've got good news, better news, and bad news." Jaden informed. "Good news: we've contacted XCOM of this universe. Better news-"
"Hi, Uncle Ron!" Larcei called out.
He paused for a moment before his voice came through, though his mouth wasn't moving. "LARCEI?!"
"You always complained about a running tally." She said, giggling slightly, "I didn't figure out it was my parents having sex and you walking in on them until a few—"
"Don't finish that sentence, young lady; we're taking you home! NOW!"
"Wait, wait! I'm needed here!" Larcei said hurriedly. "I'm a member of XCOM!"
"Your parents are going to be PISSED. And we're not staying; you know DAMN well we don't belong here!"
"Maybe not, but I've been here eighteen years!" Larcei told him. "Bradford practically raised me! I have good friends here! We owe it to them to help bring down ADVENT and liberate Earth from alien rule!"
"Is Commander Sheridan there?"
The commander in question spoke up for the first time since Jaden contacted Ron. "Uh, yes, but shouldn't you be… not in public?"
"I'm not TALKING, commander," Ron said. "You're a Trekkie, you know the Borg. Think."
Sheridan blinked. "You still have the neural transceiver in your spine."
"Good work; you get a gold star for the blatantly obvious. ADVENT doesn't have subspace comms; they can't intercept this. I'll give you the same deal I gave the XCOM in the OTHER universe: 22nd Century Starfleet technology. And the same warning. Abuse it, I end you. I'll mop up here, then beam to your location. Pinkerton out!"
With that, Ron started moving again, except FAR more aggressively.
And he was pretty fucking aggressive BEFORE!
"He must have turned off his Aggression Inhibitor," Larcei remarked.
"Aggression inhibitor?!"
"Yeah, he has something to help him keep from just killing everything in sight. Sometimes they just turn it off for… well…" A Muton was backed into a corner before Ron jumped onto it.
What followed is barely appropriate for an M-rated fic, let alone a T-rated one. Just know it was REALLY graphic.
"…Ok, first rule: DON'T PISS HIM OFF!" Adrian shouted. "EVER!"
"A very wise decision," Jaden nodded, glancing at Lily. "So… Larcei said something about you being an engineer? What do you make?"
Lily grinned. "Follow me."
New Berlin
Takeshi, Luna, and their team now stood outside a gene therapy clinic - they weren't sure if it was the same one that the broadcasts had been talking about, the one that had been raided, but it seemed like a good place to get some answers.
"OK, looks like we've found our target," Takeshi remarked. "OK, remember, we're here to see what they do at this place, both what they say they do and what they actually do, and to see if we can connect to the ADVENT network. You all ready?"
"Yes, sir."
"You know it."
Takeshi forced the door open, scaring the woman at the front desk. "P-please don't hurt me! I only work here!"
Luna rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Then hide under the desk and shut the fuck up! You cause trouble, you WILL be hurt! But put your head in the sand, and we won't do ANYTHING? CLEAR?!"
She screamed and hid under her desk.
"You're starting to remind me of your stepmother."
Luna smiled at her husband. "Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment; your stepmother scares the crap out of me." Takeshi shuddered a bit from memories, before the team entered the clinic. "OK, we need a computer terminal."
The woman reached out and pushed the Terminal on the front desk towards them - still hiding underneath it.
"Thank you," Takeshi replied, before he began going to work.
Thirty Minutes Later
They'd found what they were looking for, alright.
They just wished they hadn't.
On the official side, the gene therapy clinics were supposedly there to fix defects and cure illnesses, and for the most part, they did just that.
Of course, Takeshi had remarked that it sounded too good to be true.
It was.
A bit of hacking had revealed a dark secret: Anyone who came in for treatment had their DNA scanned. Mostly it was so the aliens had a map of the Human Genome which they could use to improve their soldiers, hence the changes to the Sectoids and Mutons.
However, if someone's DNA matched the profile for some kind of project codenamed: Avatar, then the person was quietly abducted, and shipped… somewhere. Where, they didn't know yet.
"Get this information transmitted by to the Ra Cailum," Takeshi ordered. "And call Ron. If he's not pissed off already, he's going to be conducting mass murder after he hears about this."
His commbadge chirped before he tapped it. "Yamato."
"Takeshi, I want you back on the Ra Cailum. We've found Larcei, but there's a wrinkle."
Speak of the asshole, and he shall appear. "That's not the only wrinkle…"
"Spit it out, Take. I'm pissed off enough as is."
"The aliens are still abducting people," Takeshi informed. "Under the guise of curing diseases, they've been mapping the human genome to improve their soldiers, and abducting anyone whose DNA matches the criteria for some kind of 'Avatar Project'."
The silence was a bad sign. When Ron got mad, he was vocal. THIS was new.
"…If you'll excuse me, I have a bunch of motherfuckers to SHOVE ONTO FLAGPOLES! Get our girl back! PINKERTON OUT!"
Takeshi flinched at the yelling from his brother-in-law. Clearly, his aggression inhibitor was offline.
"Alright, people, we should get going," Takeshi remarked, before tapping his combadge again as the team exfiltrated into an alley, taking all the data they could get from the systems. "Yamato to Jaden, status?"
"I'm at XCOM's mobile base - some mobile airship," Jaden informed. "Sending coordinates now - beam on over here… got a surprise for ya."
Takeshi nodded. "Ron wants us back on the ship, but I think a little detour wouldn't be too bad." He tapped his combadge twice. "Yamato to Ra Cailum. Six to beam to Jaden's position."
"Seven," Luna remarked.
"Seven?" Takeshi asked.
Luna pointed to where the receptionist had followed them into the Alley.
Takeshi used his Psionics to briefly scan her mind - she'd been horrified by what she'd heard them talking about regarding the aliens, and she wanted out.
He nodded. "Right," he said. "Ra Cailum, make that seven to beam to Jaden's coordinates. Energize when ready."
The away team and their guest disappeared, with the latter covering her face in fear.
Sheridan was surprised to see seven people beam directly into the command center. "Commander Sheridan, Commander Takeshi Yamato." The Starfleet commander said, "My commanding officer is… mad, so he'll be joining us shortly."
"No shit!" Adrian said, pointing at the TV screen "That man tore into ADVENT like it was paper! What did the Borg DO to him?"
"Removed 70% of his vital organs, including half of his brain, replacing them with cybernetic components, lacing his bones with tritanium…" Takeshi listed off. His gaze then fell on a woman standing near Jaden, with his shade of hair and eye color, but with Luna's face… "L… Larcei…?"
She smiled. "Hi… Tou-san… Kaa-san…"
Takeshi did a brief probe with his Psionics… and then enfolded the woman in a hug, Luna following shortly thereafter. "LARCEI!" they both cried. "Oh god, baby, you're safe!"
Bradford winced before another shower of light appeared, depositing Ron in all his murderous glory. He had removed the MG42s and was now wearing a First Contact Starfleet uniform instead of civilian clothing. "Central Officer Bradford. A pleasure to see you again, though from your perspective, it's our first meeting."
"Uh… Captain…"
Ron rolled his eyes. "If you're worried about me doing to you what I did to ADVENT, don't. You're not stupid enough to shoot at me." He gestured to the young woman hugging her parents. "And you took care of Larcei. So XCOM is exempt. Where's Sheridan?"
"Right here," Sheridan said, waving. "Though I've only just gotten back… I was… held captive by the aliens ever since they attacked XCOM HQ 20 years ago."
"No wonder you lost," Ron said. "I've instructed my chief engineer to begin construction of something… a little better than this." Ron gestured to the Avenger.
"Like?"
"NX-Class cruiser, circa 2160. Photonic torpedoes, polarized hull, shields, phase cannons, the works."
Adrian grinned. "Oh, that will be perfect," he said.
Ron looked over to find Larcei hugging her parents before he rubbed the top of her head. "Hello, Larcei."
"Uncle Ron! …You were mad."
"I had every right and you know it. I'm happy to see that you're alright now."
Ron glanced at Sheridan. "I want a full briefing of your situation: resources, weapons, personnel." He glanced around. "Speaking of whom, where's Vahlen? I need to smack her upside the head."
"We don't know," Bradford replied. "She disappeared after the attack. Dr. Richard Tygan is our science officer now."
"Shame. She was an idiot, but a smart one. And Dr. Shen? I presume his ass is currently missing?"
Lily angrily walked up to Ron, anger overriding survival. "My father fought long and hard!" she shouted. "This ship is his legacy! Don't you DARE insult him!"
Ron leaned forward, glaring into her eyes. "And do not presume that I was insulting him," he said. "If he weren't loyal to XCOM, I would have asked him to join us. He would have made a HELL of a Starfleet engineer."
At that moment, Lily remembered who she was talking to.
The walking, talking murder machine.
"Um… uh… sorry about that…" Lily replied. "But… no, he's not missing, he's… gone…"
"Shame. I presume you're his replacement?"
Lily nervously nodded. "Lily Shen. Sir."
Takeshi covered his ears before Ron bellowed.
"SONJA!"
"Yeah, yeah, boss, I'm on my way down."
"You two are going to have a LOT of fun."
"He's right, Lily," Larcei said. "You are." She then said to Ron, "Also, try to be a little more considerate around her, alright? Lily and I practically grew up together here. She's my best friend in this universe."
"Y-yeah, we're… like, almost sisters." Lily said, rather sheepishly, looking between Larcei's parents and her uncle.
Takeshi smiled. "Nice to meet a friend of Larcei's," he told her. "Thank you for helping take care of her while she was separated from us."
"My pleasure, Commander." Another shower signalled the arrival of the Ra Cailum's chief engineer, and third biggest bitch on board.
Cassie and Luna took second and first, respectively.
"Suh'prise, motherfuckers!"
"Everyone, Sonja Henderson, our chief engineer. Shen, you'll be working with her." Ron smirked. "And probably worshipping her by the end of the day…"
Lily scoffed. "I doubt that."
Larcei smirked. "Wanna put money on that?"
Main Engineering - Later
Lily's jaw was agape as she handed Larcei over the cash, as she watched the Starfleet Engineer go to work in her own field… and absolutely dominating every last project she had. Sonja was able to improve the power rating and hover systems of the XCOM GREMLIN Drones, and didn't stop there as she started building several more variants of the Drones on the side.
"The new drones have superior computer processing, partial EM shielding to negate some small arms fire, and I expanded it slightly to include a small 4mm machine gun with 200 rounds. Not enough to do much more then piss off a muton, but sectoids and lightly-armored troops will learn to fear it. Magnetic field coils are better and to be honest, I could lift Captain Pinkerton with it."
"And Uncle Ron weighs 310 pounds, so it can lift anybody outside heavy body armor."
Sonja grinned. "And that was with the scraps YOU had laying around. Imagine this shit with 22nd Century Starfleet shit in it."
Lily's jaw was practically on the floor. But she had only one thought in mind. "Take me with you."
"Huh?"
"After we deal with the aliens, when you head out for your next… well, stop," Lily explained, before repeating, "Take me with you. I wish to learn from the masters!"
"Well, that was—" The drone began going haywire, flying around the room. "The fuck?"
"Pinkerton to Henderson: there's a tight-beam transmission coming in to your location."
Lily looked at Larcei for an explanation. "He can pick up things like that with his spinal comm system. This is Larcei: the drone's going crazy!"
"Get it under control! Now!"
Lily was about to do something, before it hovered over by the screens - which suddenly began to display data on them. "Working on it…" She said, "This isn't right… someone triggered your remote uplink… but that's not possible, no one knows these systems." Sonja coughed. "You're an exception."
"Shen! Power readings just spiked - what the hell is going on-" Bradford began, before the comms shut off with the lights - save for the monitors, which displayed a series of codes.
Lily's eyes widened - she knew those codes… and the only other person who would know them was… "…Dad?"
"The fuck? Your dad is dead."
"Yeah, but-! We have to go and check this out! If my father's alive—"
Sonja shoved something into Lily's hands to shut her up. It was a type-2 phaser, circa 2293. "I'm going with you. You need someone better to deal with this shit, and I've got personal shields. Not to the degree the boss does, but I'm just as bulletproof."
"I'll go, too," Larcei added, putting a hand on Lily's shoulder. "You've been there for me all this time… now it's time for me to be there for you."
Lily nodded, tears coming to her eyes as she thought about how her surrogate sister was doing so much for her, and starting to feel a bit… more… for her. "Al… alright…" she said. "Thank you… Larcei…"
"I'm going too," Jaden said, looking at Larcei. "Soldier or not, I am NOT letting you out of my sight, Larcei."
Larcei smiled, blushing a bit. "Works for me," she said. "Glad to have you with us, Jaden-kun."
"Run the scans again. This doesn't make sense." Ron walked over to the sensors post, curious. "Sup?" Bradford looked at the UFP captain, shuddering briefly. "That's what we're trying to find out. We've getting a message on an XCOM frequency, but there's no one in the field."
"Play it. I'll make some sense of it." They replayed the message, their ears only getting static.
But Ron's brain made sense of it. "That dumb cunt. She really DID need Sheridan to control her." Bradford looked at Ron. "What?"
"It's Vahlen. Seems she bit off more than she could chew." Ron sighed. "If you send a team, I'm going. If only to mock the stupid bitch."
"Vahlen…" Bradford muttered, before he nodded "Alright, but I'm going too. If she's alive, we need her back here."
"Pinkerton to Ra Cailum: launch the Ra-Horakhty." He looked at Bradford before he could object. "You've only got the one Skyranger, and I'm not beaming a team in there. We're taking my shuttle."
"I can live with that. Packing those machine guns?"
"Hell no. I'm taking my compression rifle."
"Trust me: it's overpowered as it is!" Adrian called from his spot on the bridge. "Good luck, Bradford!"
"Why do I get the feeling I'm regretting this?"
"Regretting what, me coming with you or you not sleeping with Vahlen?" Bradford choked as Ron chuckled and left the command deck.
The Skyranger was lifted to the top deck as a sight Larcei was long since missing entered view.
It was ancient, but it was beautiful. The Ra-Horakhty swung in, landing on the Avenger before Ron and Bradford, as well as another team, exited the mobile base. "Central? Where are you going?"
"To deal with a dumbass German scientist!" Ron shouted. "They picked up a distress call from Vahlen, and I need to smack a bitch!"
Larcei shook her head. "Where's the uncle that DIDN'T curse?"
"You were three! This is me to everyone above 12!"
"Still, Uncle Ron, I'd appreciate it if you watched your language around me," Larcei told him.
Jaden shrugged. "I'd do it, Ron," he said with a chuckle. "Kinda hard to say No to her, you know."
Ron made a 'meh' face and waved it off before climbing into his personal shuttle. Bradford followed him before screaming something about the shuttle being empty.
"What was that about?"
"Oh, Cassie probably flew it down on autopilot. Guess no one's used to that." Jaden himself had to agree with Bradford.
Because if he was on a shuttle without a pilot, he'd freak the fuck out, too.
"Well, aint no rest for the wicked," Jaden said, as a Pelican dropship followed the Ra-Horakhty in, its loading bay opening up. "Come on, this should get us over there without needing to move Avenger."
Larcei nodded "Right, let's go!"
The shuttle landed on the rocks, rear end facing the cave. "Central, this is Tygan: we are picking up massive psionic signatures and heat patterns inside the cave."
Ron rolled his eyes as he activated his compression rifle. "Really, thought that was plainly obvious, smart man." Bradford sent Ron a warning glare as he set his HK416 on the ground to pick up a datapad.
"What do we have here…" He muttered, as the datapad activated.
"…the data must be preserved at all costs!" A voice said, one familiar to both Ron and Bradford… and sounding very panicked. "You must hurry! Take this and find Bradford!"
Bradford sighed "It's her… but her friend didn't make it to the evac point."
"I had hoped to meet my predecessor under less…. Extreme circumstances." Tygan said on the comms. "Still, I managed to track her signal to an area just ahead in the cavern."
"Good," Bradford said, handing the pad to Ron. "I'm guessing you can decrypt the data?"
"Is the Pope Catholic?" The Ex-Borg said, snatching it from his grasp before plugging it in. "Hmm… well, bit degraded… this might take time to piece together. Might as well head on forward."
Central nodded, as the two headed forward along with the rest of the XCOM team. However as they moved forward, they noticed the… decorations.
"Burning stakes with human skulls," the Captain mused. "I'd've used a few paintings, personally. Less foreboding."
Bradford looked at Ron, fixing him with the 'WTF is wrong with you' look. "We're going into a dangerous situation, and you're making jokes?!"
"PLEASE." Ron rolled his eyes. "I'm practically death-proof, so I can afford to make jokes." Hissing was heard, and Bradford had the rest of the squad stop while Ron kept moving.
"Captain, you should stop!" A white form shot out from one of the cracks in the cave wall, heading for Ron.
It was quickly hacked in half in the blink of an eye by Ron's overly-sharp sword, which was quickly resheathed. "See? The only people you need to worry about are the rest of your team. I can handle myself."
Bradford groaned, before he looked at the corpse Ron had just created. "Vipers… why did it have to be Vipers?" he muttered.
"Quit with the Indiana Jones shit," Ron said, looking it over. "Hmm… looks different from the Vipers we've encountered before. Almost underdeveloped, like an earlier stage of growth…a precursor organism?" He scanned it with his tricorder. "Definitely weaker though." His head perked. "Ah, got the first bit decrypted - playing on the radio."
There was a sound of coughing "Testing… system dictation, this is Doctor M. Vahlen - initial entry. It has taken me longer than I'd care to admit, but the secondary power systems is finally operational. Enough so I can continue on to more compelling work. While attempting to salvage materials from what appeared to be a totally inert storage system, I made an astonishing discovery. A single cryostasis unit remained intact and occupied…. This changes everything."
"Not sure I like the sound of that…" Bradford muttered, as they headed deeper inside.
"Oh, yes." Ron looked around, his cybernetic eye modified to pick up abnormal IR signatures. "Vahlen's smacking is going to be WELL deserved."
Another albino viper shot out before Ron simply shot it. "Move up; I'll warn you if there's any real trouble coming our way."
"And how would that be?"
"Cybernetic eye that can see through solid rock, maybe? Or the tricorder on my belt sending information to aforementioned eye?"
The man was a smartass. But he was on their side, and willing to put himself in more risk to protect them, so that was a plus. "Let's keep moving."
The UNSC Pelican put down on one of the few viable landing points on the VERY rusted out tower. Sonja, carrying her Calico and a pair of compression phaser pistols, was the first one out. "Ok, kids, you know what to do."
Jaden raised an eyebrow, hidden by his helmet. "That being?"
"Move inside, investigate and kill everything that shoots at us. Standard procedure."
"Understood," Larcei replied, even as she adjusted the new addition to her XCOM Armor - a belt that had been ferried down by the Pelican. "What's this supposed to do again, Sonja?"
"Remember the Jem'hadar?"
"Dominion footsoldiers who…" Larcei blinked. "OH. It's a cloaking device?"
"No, it's a holographic field generator that makes you look like an Undine." Sonja rolled her eyes "OF COURSE IT'S A CLOAKING FIELD GENERATOR! I built the damn thing after our little bullshit encounter with the Alpha Jem'hadar, and the boss approved of it. You know him and irony. I never made more because with the upgraded PSGs, we didn't NEED them."
"As long as it keeps her-" Jaden began before he saw… them. Lying around the area before the landing site, what appeared to be two dormant Mech's of some type… but MUCH older. "Contact ahead."
"Prototypes." Sonja cocked her M960, moving in first. Other than Jaden, she was the most heavily protected person on the team, so she was a good choice to move forward. "They're inactive. But…" She pointed her compression pistol at each one, shooting them each in the head. "Best to be careful. Unlike the boss, I don't have those fancy nanoprobes to hijack them."
"Fair enough," Jaden nodded, leaping up over the stairs where two more MEC's awaited - having been alerted to the destruction of the previous two units. Jaden just pulled out his MA37 and gunned them down, the armor-piercing rounds shredding them. "Well, armor is weak anyways - standard projectiles cut right through that armor it seems."
"These things are old, rusting. I'm not surprised the armor sucks." Sonja climbed up the stairs, finding what seemed to be a factory floor full of proto-MECs. "Whoever this guy is, his shit's out of date. Hell, I could make better out of chewing gum."
The lights kicked on, and a voice piped in on the PA. "Oh, you are new. No armor, advanced energy weapons and a low opinion of my facility."
"I can kick the shit out of anything down here, so who the hell are you?"
" Ah but what does that matter? The prodigal child finally returns, I see Father's pride in your abilities not entirely unfounded," the voice said. "I am so glad you could join me."
"OK, this is fairly unusual," Larcei remarked quietly. "Is it just me, Lily, or does this guy seem to know you?"
"Don't look at me…" she muttered, before more of the MEC's began to activate. "Oh for the love of - more incoming!"
"My Apologies," the voice said, as the MEC's began moving. "We don't get much in the way of maintenance around here. Still I believe they will be more than adequate for the task at hand."
"We'll see about that…" Larcei muttered, as she turned on her cloaking device and turned invisible - knowing Sonja's inventions, she doubted that anything on the planet would be able to break through the cloak, let alone anything in this facility.
Sonja looked at her PADD. "Clever… he's bouncing the comms around the facility," she mused, as she tossed one of her knives into the head of one of the MEC's without looking. "Hard to get a good fix on his location… give me a minute."
"Impressive. ADVENT doesn't have the technology to triangulate such a complex scattering field, and yet you're actually punching through. I'm going to have to step it up."
"Your technology is three and a half centuries out of date, asshat. I could probably shut you down if I weren't entertained." She threw another knife into a MEC, decapitating it before getting the weapon back.
"Hmm, monomolecular blades. You're not even remotely linked with ADVENT, are you, miss…?"
"Commander Sonja Henderson. And you can kiss my Martian ass." She looked at Lily. "Signal's coming from a computer core in the facility, underground. But he's trying to access something on a higher floor. Anyone up for climbing?"
"Probably an elevator around somewhere, though given what we've seen it's probably designed for the mechs," Larcei remarked, disappearing from cloak as she blasted one mech with her shotgun, and sliced another nearby mech with her sword.
"Up ahead!" Lily pointed forward towards the console on the other side of the room. "I think that's an elevator control console, I can try and hack it and get access to the upper levels with them." Bullets flew over her head and she cursed as she ducked for cover. "Shit! Easy to kill but they're damn annoying!"
"Understatement of the century, Lily!" Larcei replied, blasting another mech with her shotgun as she ducked for cover as well.
"You should be proud, Lily." The Intercom voice spoke, "There are so few alive today who could have uncovered my signal. I estimated only a 13.0395% probability you would have located this facility within the first year of broadcasting."
Lily rolled her eyes as she blind-fired her assault rifle - nailing another MEC. "And he's talking to me," she groaned. "Of course… "
Sonja pulled out her tricorder, a pair of phaser turrets beaming down from the Ra Cailum to hold off the MECs. "Get upstairs; my little friends will hold them off."
"Ooh, quantum teleportation technology. I have never seen anything—"
"Shut up, or I use a particle shower that WILL erase your annoying ass. The only reason you're still active, you stupid AI, is because I'm entertained by your attempts to kill us."
That actually shut the dumb bastard up. For about two minutes. "You are a disturbing human being."
"It's why I was thrown in the stockade."
Lily blinked, looking at Sonja "AI?" she asked, before she paused. "Wait… I remember you… Dad was trying to upgrade the base AI to something more… like us. But you were different back then - more simplier. He called you… Julian?"
"Julian?" Larcei asked. "You mean that thing we played with that had chess installed on it?"
"I'm surprised you remember!" 'Julian' said. "You were always too caught up in yourself to remember the minor details. Sadly Father's admiration for you has left me with little choice. You are needed. Your compatriots - while advanced - are not."
Jaden rolled his eyes, as he casually walked up to one of the MEC's. "We come as a full package, jackass," he said. The MEC raising its weapon to fire - the rounds just bouncing off of his shields. Jaden just grabbed it by the head and ripped off its skull-like face… and proceeded to beat it down with its own head.
"…Nice," Lily nodded.
"Meh, it's okay." Jaden shrugged, letting the head fall to the ground. "I knew this one Spartan who could rip a person's skull from out of your head, and beat you to death with it."
"…that… doesn't seem physically-"
"I thought the same thing, but I saw her do it."
Lily grabbed onto one of the lifts as soon as she lifted the lockouts. "Well, up we go!" The lift shot up a floor.
And so did her stomach contents.
"These fucking things—" Ron stabbed another neonate viper before outright decapitating it. "Are BABIES! I've always said I hated babies, but THIS takes it to a new level!"
Bradford shook his head in amusement. This must've been why none of his crew had lynched him before now. He was funny in his own way.
"No sign of Valhen?"
"Nothing my tricorder can pick up. Some of the sealed rooms in here are lined with lead and what looks like kelbinite: the scans aren't getting through." He approached a sealed containment room, which had its' own atmospheric recycling system. He slammed his fist into the wall, denting it slightly. While faint, it did give his tricorder a crude echo-location of sorts. And inside was a moving, breathing human being. "Found her."
Bradford started to walk towards the door controls "She's locked it from the inside…" he said. "Ron can you-"
*SLAM*
"…did I even need to ask?"
Ron grabbed the door as he dug his hands - penetrating the armor plating piece by piece. "Alright Vahlen, time for you to-"
*BLAM*
"BITCH!" Ron shouted, pulling out - with… something sticking out of his head. "I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU DAMMIT!"
"You stay-" A German voice from the other side of the door spoke up, before pausing. "Wait… you're… Human?"
"Doctor Vahlen?" Bradford asked. "Its Bradford! Are you alright?"
"Hey!"
"I've seen you flip cars and snap Muton's necks," Bradford deadpanned. "I'm not worried about you."
"…fair point."
"Brad… Bradford?" Vahlen spoke, "You're… alive…" There was a pause. "You… you have to get out of here! Now! I don't know if they're still here!"
"You mean those little projects of yours?" Ron growled, pulling the dart from out of his head. "Alpha, Beta, and Gamma?"
"How did you…? You got my data?" Vahlen asked. "T-then you know we have to kill them! ALL of them! My failsafes all failed, I, I…" They heard her sigh. "Bradford. there's…no other way to put this other than: I fucked up…"
"That's a fucking understatement!" Hissing was heard from closeby, and it wasn't from one of the smaller ones. "Well, fuckery. Bradford, get her to the Ra-Horakhty."
"Can't you just beam us out?"
"Too much EM interference to get a good lock. Clever snake. Get her out of here. I'll deal with… Which one?" Valhen flinched as Ron looked to her. "Gamma. S-subject Gamma."
"Gamma, then. This will be," The grin that appeared on Ron's face was infectious. "FUN."
A blob was spat at the captain, partially encasing him in ice as a larger viper, with greater coloration and some type of crown adorned on its head, approached, hissing and roaring.
"Cryokinesis?! Oh, you're going to be a joy to take down, Gamma!"
The "Viper King" just hissed - as more of the weaker Vipers emerged from every nook and crany. Bradford grabbed the doctor. "Leave them to him!" he shouted. "We're leaving!"
"B-But Gamma has-"
"Doctor, trust me - he can handle it," Central said. "Try and keep its corpse relatively intact Captain! Tygen will want to dissect it!"
"I make no promises!" Two more vipers went down thanks to Ron's compression rifle before he broke out of the ice. Gamma's serpentine eyes widened, and Bradford was sure he saw horror in its' eyes before they started to glow.
"Captain, do NOT let it escape! It will create a psionic portal—"
"Yeah, yeah, I got that!" The captain ran and grabbed the King's tail before dragging it down a hole. The Viper scrambled in terror with its' hands, trying to escape Ron's grip.
The XCOM team watched in morbid fascination as the Viper King was dragged down the hole, screeching in what they knew was terror. Phaser fire and the sounds of bones breaking were heard from the inside.
"Bradford… where did you find this man?"
"He technically found us, Vahlen," Bradford replied. "As to where he came from… that's a very long story…" He then smiled. "Still, glad you're alright."
The Starfleet captain emerged from the hole, dragging the VERY dead Subject Gamma, which looked like a truck ran over it...a truck with a license plate reading 'RAM9A6E' and not shaped like a truck at all. "So, this intact enough for you?" "…Uh… Yeah. That'll do. What will it take to actually pose a threat to you?"
"Something older than us and VERY mad at me. And Iconian. Yeah, Iconian's a big factor. And Doc?"
Vahlen looked out from behind Bradford. "Yes?"
Ron walked up to her and punched her in the face. "THAT is the LEAST I can do for your complete stupidity in making this thing! Be thankful XCOM needs you, or I'd break you in SO many ways."
Bradford just shook his head. "Come on, let's go," he said. "Vahlen, I'll explain things along the way."
The doc shook her head as she touched her nose, which was broken and bleeding. "Yes… And I hate to agree with him… but I DID deserve that. I got my entire research staff killed, and made ADVENT stronger for it."
"Work through the guilt, Doc. Let's go."
It took them a few minutes to get past the MECs and old turrets, but they did. And their reward? A super MEC called a SPARK. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy making this thing better," Sonja seemed to purr.
"So… this is it." Lily said, looking at the machine. "What that… thing's been ranting about…"
"Yeah," Larcei remarked.
"You've come this far," Julian spoke, the monitors flashing around the room. "All you have to do is link my systems for the transfer. There is no need for further conflict." A panel moved in front of Lily, with a palm-print ID device displayed.
"I know we used to play chess with him, but I hope you're not trusting that Skynet reject, Lily," Larcei stated bluntly.
"Lily, don't tell me you're listening to that thing…" Jaden warned, looking at the monitor. "Its acting like a Rampant AI…"
Lily glanced at them for a moment, before looking at the 'SPARK' "This was… definitely my dad's design…" she muttered, her hands grazing along the chest plate of the machine.
This however… woke it up, as a hand-print ID device snapped forward from the chest of the machine - and the head and eyes activated - staring at Lily. "Identity: Shen, Lily." The Machine spoke, causing her to jump. "Awaiting Impression."
"No! IMPOSSIBLE!" Julian shouted, as the consoles began to spark. "THIS CANNOT BE WHAT FATHER WANTED!"
Lily looked at the ID device. "I think this is exactly what he wanted. " She reached out, pressing her palm against the screen. Her palm was scanned, as the eyes of the SPARK lit up.
"Identity Confirmed. Initiating boot protocol." The arms of the SPARK twitched, before moving into position as the chest armor retracted over the panel - stepping off of its pedestal as it stood at its full height before the XCOM/UNSC/Starfleet team. And popping off of its back emerged a larger - more heavily armored version of the GREMLIN Drone.
"NO!" Julian shouted, its screen image fading "I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU-" Julian's picture faded - however, replacing it from static was another image, a video of a face Larcei and Lily knew all too well.
Lily's eyes widened. "Dad," she whispered. "It's really him…"
"Lily," the video played out. "If you are seeing this message, it means you have successfully activated the SPARK Prototype." Shen spoke on the monitor, sighing. "It… also means, in all likelihood, that I am no longer with you. It was always among my greatest fears I would leave you alone in this world. "
"You didn't…" Lily whispered, a few tears slowly welling up in her eyes - she suddenly felt hands on her shoulders, glancing to either side of her where Larcei and Jaden were - the former smiling at her.
"I had hoped this day would never come," the video continued. "But since the loss of the commander, the XCOM Project has suffered. Our latest report indicates we cannot hold this base for much longer. To that end, I have accelerated the development of the SPARK Robotic Prototype. I believe that someday this machine will prove pivotal to humanity's survival. Though the unit is not ready for manufacturing, this prototype has been coded for one specific task."
Shen smiled "It will protect you, perhaps even better than I ever could." He said, "For all I have accomplished in this life, Lily, there is one thing I know for sure… You are my greatest gift to this world."
Larcei smiled. "I kinda think the same thing, Lily," she said to her friend.
"You're damn good at your job from what I've seen," Jaden nodded. "You're gonna go far with Starfleet."
"…Thanks, you two…" Lily said after a moment.
"You're more than welcome, Lily," Larcei replied. "Now, let's deal with that Skynet reject and get out of here."
Alarms began going off. "No, no. You are NOT leaving here with MY body! The SPARK WILL be mine!"
"You think you have a CHOICE," Sonja mocked. "Oh, that's cute."
Gas began flooding into the chamber outside, although the rest were protected thanks to a (to Sonja) primitive atmospheric shield.
"Oh, this is funny." Sonja pulled out her tricorder, accessing Rover's control systems. "You think this is actually going to STOP us. You should know something, Julian. I'm chief engineer of a Federation starship. And not just any Federation starship: the USS Ra Cailum. We don't take threats lightly. We kill the idiots who do!"
"You can TRY!" Julian shouted, before the monitors switched off… and there was a very loud rumbling.
"He's sending more MEC's our way," Jaden said, looking at his motion tracker.
"How many?"
"…Yes."
"That many. Ok." Sonja handed her Calico to Lily. "I'll be back." She pulled out a collapsible mask that covered her face and ears before hopping outside, pulling out her pistols.
"…She just gave you her gun." Larcei muttered in awe.
"So?"
"Lily, Sonja trusts NO ONE with that thing! The last person that touched that thing without asking was shoved out an airlock! Granted, it was Uncle Ron, but that's a big thing!"
The turrets outside fired at Sonja, but the engineer was VERY agile. While she wasn't Riza, she did have a miniature floater unit allowing her to do some pretty amazing acrobatic tricks. And she put it to great use, doing aerial flips and twirls that she coupled with shots from each of her compression pistols, destroying each turret while the gremlin did its' job. "Come on, Julian! You're fucking with a Starfleet officer! That's a death warrant in and of itself!"
"Wait a moment. STARFLEET? You cannot be serious: Star Trek is not real! It's a fictional—" Sonja fired her phasers again, showing off their distinctive orange hue.
"All things are fictional, all things are reality, cockbite."
As the gas was vented and the outside room returned to normal, Larcei activated her cloaking device again, slipping out into the fray as more turrets popped up and more MECs began to drop down into the room. At the same time, Lily began moving out along the catwalks, Rover returning to her even as the SPARK began engaging the enemies.
"You will not leave this facility alive! Well, not with that SPARK, at least."
"And what makes you think you're going to stop us? Sonja's got particle weapons, Jaden's armor is shielded, and you've literally got nothing that can stop us from leaving. In fact, the only reason you haven't been wiped from existence is because Sonja's entertained by all this!"
At that moment, a MEC jumped up right into Lily's path, its gun already coming up to aim at her. Time seemed to slow down for an instant as Lily tried to bring the Calico to bear, but knowing she wouldn't have time-
But she didn't need to, as Jaden rammed the MEC, slamming it into a wall and destroying it.
"Oh, good work, big man. I can recycle every unit you destroy. How much ammunition did you bring?"
"How about you shut up BEFORE I decide to march down there and pull your plug out, you asshole."
"Yeah!" Larcei replied as she decloaked next to Lily as well. "You may have been created by Lily's father, but you're not his child anymore - you're just a damn Skynet Reject!"
"Yeah, so f-" Jaden paused glancing at Larcei "-…frak off!" He fired another burst from his rifle - blasting off the head of yet another MEC.
Soon, the group reached the next set of elevators, and were off to the rooftops - with Lily grateful to both Jaden and Larcei for their support, and to Jaden for saving her life.
And Larcei was beginning to realize that it wasn't just Jaden that her affections had changed from sibling familial to romantic towards…
The roof was deserted, but they knew better.
Julian wasn't letting them leave with the SPARK. "This is something I wanted to avoid. But I am left no choice. I want that body, and I WILL have it." Thudding was heard as a storehouse was destroyed. "This prototype is more… restrictive than even the facility's systems. But it will serve my purposes in killing you and reclaiming the SPARK!"
"Looks like those things Ron hijacked in that other XCOM universe," Larcei quipped. "Too bad we don't have him around to assimilate this one."
"Wanna bet? Ra-Horakhty, this is Henderson: we have a… SLIGHT problem that needs tending to. How close are you to our position?"
"Pinkerton here: 15 minutes out. Define problem."
The new sectopod stomped its' way to them, more boxy and human-looking than the original models from the invasion.
"Big, four stories tall and angry."
The top of the 'pod deployed a massive railgun turret. "And packing a REALLY big gun."
"Increasing speed to Mach 6.8: revised ETA is 6 minutes. Don't get killed."
"We'll do our best, Uncle Ron, but the thing's controlled by a Skynet Reject," Larcei remarked, even as she rolled away from a burst of its cannon.
"Keep giving me excuses to use the warp drive."
"NO! BAD IDEA! REALLY BAD IDEA!"
"Oh, you're calling for help. How pathetic. I thought you were ready to kill me, Lily."
"Oh, we have a much better idea in mind, Skynet Reject," Larcei remarked. "You know the Borg, right?"
"Of course I do. Father let me view the series. …Why?"
"Well, my Uncle is an ex-Borg Drone, but he still has all of his cybernetics," Larcei replied smugly. "Including the nanoprobes."
"I can counteract his nanotechnology."
"Brave words. We've heard THEM before! From thousands of idiots on thousands of worlds since long before YOU were conceived! But resistance was futile!"
The team continued to shift from cover to cover, moving to avoid Julian's sectopod as they waited for Ron to come in.
"I am the most advanced artificial intelligence ever created by man, enhanced by ADVENT! What can he do to me?!"
Jaden and the away team began laughing. Loudly. This dumb computer had no idea whom he was fucking with. Jaden saw him do some insane things, so he had no doubt Ron would screw over Julian somehow.
And they were about to find out how, as they could see the Ra-Horakhty fast approaching in the distance. Larcei grinned. "Get him, Uncle Ron!" she yelled.
The 'pod turned to face the shuttle, firing at the Ra-Horakhty. This was a mistake.
Any IDIOT with any sense of self-preservation didn't shoot at Ron, or his shuttle. Julian just fired at both. "So, who wants to bet on total humiliation before Julian begs to die? Anyone?"
Larcei shook her head. "No bet - I know him, and he's totally unpredictable in his vengeance. He'll humiliate him, yes, but how he'll do it is something I can't guess."
"He just SHOT at me."
"Yes, captain, that was obvious."
"Doc, you have a LOT to learn. When someone shoots at me, they DIE. He shot at me AND my personal shuttle! I'm going to tear that son of a bitch apart, byte by byte!"
"OK, so how do you want to do this, Captain?" Bradford asked. "Do we set down, then you go after him, or does one of us take over the controls while you jump out? If it's the latter, we're going to need a few instructions."
Ron simply got up from the seat.
"Hey, Pinkerton—PINKERTON?!"
The sidehatch opened before the captain looked back at Bradford. "Be back soon." He jumped out of the shuttle, Bradford and Vahlen screaming at him.
"You crazy bastard! We can't fly this thing!"
The hatch closed before the Ra-Horakhty banked on its' own, circling the facility. "You're an IDIOT, Bradford. Ex-Borg drone. Use your brain, or whatever it is you pretend to think with."
Vahlen was the first to realize it. "I… I think he might still be flying it, just by remote now," she theorized.
"Oh, finally, someone figures it out. No wonder XCOM failed until you got Sheridan back."
Bradford growled before he calmed down. Ron was testing how he reacted. Classic Sun Tsu: make your enemy angry, he will reveal his true self to you. He just applied it to everyone.
On the roof, the team and the SPARK took cover - focusing on the extra MEC's as the Sectopod came closer. "Oi jackass!" Jaden shouted. "Heads up!"
"Wha-?" Julian asked in shock, before there was a loud clang as Ron landed on top of the Sectopod.
"Surprise, motherfucker!" The sectopod began stepping from side to side, making every attempt to kick Ron off. Ron just held on harder, magnetizing his boots before firing his own modified floater pack to force the sectopod towards the edge of the building. "Hey, fuckwad! Think you can survive a fall?!"
"I'll just transfer myself back into the facility! You can't stop me!"
Ron extended his tubules. "That's what you think~" He injected them into the sectopod, deactivating its' communications systems.
All but the speakers, at least. "What?! No, no, no! This isn't happening—"
"Down you go!" Ron boosted, sending the war machine falling off the edge.
Julian's screams echoed into the distance as his Sectopod fell, and a few faint 'crunching' noises could be heard as some of the trees around the lower levels gave way to his descent.
"He's going to be having fun with that. I'll be back soon." Ron jumped off the building, disappearing from view.
"…IS HE SUICIDAL?!"
"Knowing him, he's got rocket boots," Larcei commented.
"Is there anything you don't have?!"
"You want an honest answer to that question, Shen? Because it's difficult to answer."
After a moment, Lily shook her head. "No… no, probably not," she admitted. "Still, this is reinforcing my decision to go with you guys when you have to leave."
The Ra-Horakhty dove down, dragging the sectopod back up using its' tractor beam. Apparently, Ron wasn't done with it. "Oh, morrrrrrrrrrrron…" The sectopod began kicking wildly, trying to get away. "You shot at me. Time for me to… correct that method of thinking."
"LILY, HELP ME! PLEASE!"
"If anything, Julian, I want to help the captain, for everything you tried to do today," Lily said. "Unfortunately, I'd likely get in the way. Though Captain, I'd appreciate it if you recorded it for me, so I can watch later."
"Already done. Head back to the Avenger. I'll deal with him." Julian screamed in horror as the team left, joined by the Ra-Horakhty, slaved to the Pelican's nav system.
As the two teams were returning, Takeshi and Luna were heading out. They'd made contact with local resistance forces, and had found the location of the Advent Blacksite where all the local abductees were being taken.
"OK, people," Takeshi had said once they'd made it to the ground. "You know the objective - make our way to the Blacksite, find out what we can, and shut the place down."
"Yes sir," Colonel Kelly nodded. "Let's show these assholes Alpha is back in action!"
"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Forward!" And with that, the team headed out, heading towards the location of the Blacksite.
On approach, an officer spotted them, but Kelly shoved a newly-designed skulljack into its' head to hack into the network. The more intel, the better. Of course, after they got the data, a strange being made out of virtual matter appeared, and began to attack them.
"What the fu—" The 'being' started glowing, generating a psionic storm. As Luna was carrying a phaser rifle, she just took aim and shot it in the head, killing it.
"Nice shot, Luna," Takeshi told her, as the being mostly dissipated, leaving behind a single metallic 'brain', which he recovered. "We'll need to get this to Sonja, see what she can get out of it. Come on, let's keep moving."
"I think the aliens are going to be pissed."
"They should be, Commander. Let's move!"
More ADVENT personnel spotted them, but stealth was no longer their primary option, and they wanted in quickly. A Viper reared up, only to get a bullet to the face as a muton joined it in hell seconds later. "These guys seem to like that building. Let's find out why! Alpha, move in, secure the place!"
The building was a large black thing with the ADVENT logo on it, and turrets along the top. They opened the door, and…
"Oh, jeez, I never expected this…"
…found a large number of humans in tanks, though those tanks seemed to sink into the floor. At the far end of the chamber lay a pedestal, containing a small vial of some kind of liquid.
"Ok, when Ron hears about this, he's going to be on full-tilt genocide."
"I thought that was him on a daily basis."
"That's him against stupidity! Grab the vial and let's get out of here. And avoid informing Ron at all costs!"
Kelly ran up and grabbed the vial, even as Takeshi threw a Photon Grenade to make a new exit. The team vacated, heading for the evac point, even as ADVENT troops and aliens fired on them.
"So, who wants to break the news to him?" Alpha universally agreed "NOT US!" before Takeshi and Luna shared a look. "Let's let Bradford do it."
The Skyranger appeared above them, before they all rode the cables up to the transport to bring their finds back to the Avenger, where Sonja would likely take the Codex Brain up to the Ra Cailum for study.
"Ok, leaving that place intact is a mistake, Commander."
Luna held up her tricorder before pressing a button. "I'm sorry, WHAT place?"
Inside, an ADVENT trooper looked around to secure the area when a light shower signalled the arrival of a long tube.
The trooper only had a second or two to blink before the Photon Torpedo detonated.
"OK, when you guys do overkill, you don't mess around."
Takeshi chuckled. "Maxim 37," he said. "There is no 'overkill'. There is only 'open fire' and 'I need to reload'."
Lieutenant Canter chuckled. "I can get behind that," he said.
"Central, this is Alpha." The Colonel said, smirking at the crater that once was the black site… and everything within a 1 kilometer radius of it. "Mission complete - heading home. "
"Copy that, Alpha. …Goddamn, it's good to say that again."
Kelly smiled, echoing the one probably on Bradford's face. "Damn straight, Central."
The Skyranger sped off, heading for home.
117Jorn: Well, you know what they say - it's just another day at the office for our boys in the Ra Cailum armada.
Takeshi Yamato: Yep - and those people who noticed the beginnings of a relationship between Jaden and Larcei last chapter will have noticed that there's a third member joining their relationship. To borrow a phrase from another fanfic, pairs will be paired, and trios will be trio'd.
Ron the True Fan: ADVENT (seriously, is it an acronym, or do the XCOM devs just like capitals?) is boned. They have made the one man you DO NOT MAKE MAD, ANGRY.
HA Anderson: Well, you know what time it is!
Ja Ne!