"Ordinarily, I would ask 'what the hell was that,' but I'm assuming that you know about as much as I do." Bradford said as Ruby stepped off of the Skyranger with the rest of Strike Eight, "So instead, I'll ask 'can you tell me anything about what happened out there?' "

Ruby watched the two MECs step off the transport, with Blake supporting a light-headed Yang as they headed off towards the medbay.

"I can tell you a few things," Ruby admitted, "But I'm guessing you already know the most important bit."

"That the last contact was a psionic?"

Ruby nodded, wincing when the action moved her head a little too quickly, "A very powerful psionic. Back in my first op, I think the Sectoid Commander tried to force control over me. I remember getting subconscious suggestions to kill Blake, who was pinned down with me in the auto shop, but the signals weren't strong enough to overpower my self control. This thing, though…" She paused, trying to think of a good comparison, "Imagine you're driving a vehicle. Then all of a sudden, you find yourself in the backseat. You have no idea how you got there, but you're stuck watching someone else driving instead, and he's trying to run down your friends. This thing basically carjacked my body, and I was powerless to watch while it tried to use me to kill Jaune."

When the last member of Strike Eight disembarked, Ruby followed Bradford back to Mission Control while he continued their discussion, "It's not the first time we've had to deal with mind-controlled operatives," Bradford admitted, "But that thing was definitely a contact we've never seen before."

"It talked to me." Ruby noted, unsure if this was also something experienced by other operatives.

Her companion stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Ruby, "He did what?"

"Only I could hear it, so I'm certain it was telepathic communication. I think it called me 'The New One,' and said some stuff that sounded like they planned to use me as an alternative in case the 'Earth Breed' failed to meet their expectations."

"That sounds incredibly disturbing... as if humanity's total annihilation isn't their only goal. Is it testing us? Does it plan to turn us all into genetic paste after it conquers Earth?"

Ruby shrugged, "According to the stories I've heard from Strike One, they're already doing that paste stuff with their abductees. If they need hundreds or thousands of subjects for that kind of thing, what could they possibly do with eight 'New Ones'?"

"I don't know. But do me a favor and don't get captured. I'd rather not find out what these guys have in store for you."

Bradford's joke managed to elicit a laugh from Ruby, "Noted, sir. If you don't mind, I'm going to check on Yang. She took a psychic 'up yours' from our new friend, and I want to make sure she's alright."

"Get to it, Actual. I'll head down to the lab and see what Vahlen's staff can deduce from the remains you brought back." He raised an eyebrow at Ruby, "You sure you had to vaporize him? Vahlen would've appreciated more than ashes to work with."

Ruby shrugged as she left for the medbay, "Look, the thing just disintegrated when it died. Nothing I could do about it, boss."

By the time Ruby reached the medical wing, Weiss and the entirety of JNPR was already at Yang's bedside. Ruby didn't see Blake with the group, so she figured Blake hadn't finished de-suiting. Weiss shifted to towards the base of the bed to make room for Ruby. The Lieutenant studied the sleeping figure of her sister. On the surface, nothing looked damaged. If Ruby didn't know any better, she'd question why Yang needed to be here.

"Not much to look at," Weiss noted, "All the damage is internal, as you may have already guessed."

"Is it bad?" Ruby asked, mild worry in her tone. She knew her sister possessed incredible fortitude, so Ruby doubted it would take Yang long to shake off the damage. Even so, that psionic attack looked pretty powerful.

"Some scarred brain tissue," Ren answered, "But it's pretty superficial."

"Still, probably not a good idea to go jumping into those rifts for fun." Weiss noted.

Ruby nodded, "That doesn't sound too horrible. Any estimation for how long she'll be in here?"

"Vahlen's initial guess is about a week." Pyrrha said. "She'll get a better idea once Yang starts recovering and the doctor can observe how quickly she heals. Since this is the first time she's encountered this sort of brain injury, she has no precedent to determine a baseline."

"Even if she had a baseline for Earth humans, she definitely doesn't have one for our physiology." Ren pointed out.

Ruby felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around to see Jaune, concern on his face, "What about you, Ruby? Yang got hit by that purple vortex, but she's sleeping it off for now. That thing got inside your head and tried to make you kill me. I'm not a doctor or anything, but shouldn't Vahlen have a look at you, too?"

Jaune made a good point, and Ruby felt embarrassed that the thought didn't occur to her, "I… hadn't actually considered that. After you snapped me out of… whatever that was, I didn't really feel any aftereffects of the mind control. I mean, I could probably have the doctor check for a concussion, since you gave me a pretty hard knock, but I feel pretty good, all things considered."

Her friend let out a sigh of relief, "That's good. I was worried that the alien did more than try to mind control you. What if he planted some sort of, I dunno, psychic bug that could be triggered remotely or something? I know it sounds stupid, but-"

"Jaune," Ruby cut her friend off with a reassuring smile, "First off, we're currently living in a world where aliens can burst from your chest or control you like a puppet with their mind: nothing sounds stupid anymore. Second, I'll talk to Vahlen and see if she can run some sort of scan. The psionic labs have been operational for months now, so I'm guessing they're well-equipped to detect any sort of funny business rattling around in my noggin Who knows? You might be right."

Jaune smiled back at her, "Yeah, okay. Just be careful, alright? That was some seriously scary stuff that happened back there on the field."

Before Ruby could answer, Blake came charging into the medbay. Her eyes locked onto the group standing around Yang's bed, and the servos in her mechanical legs whirred as she made a beeline for her partner. Before she even reached the bed, Blake began to rapid-fire questions at her friends, "How is she? What did Vahlen say? Is she okay? What did that thing do to her?"

Ruby waved her hands in an effort to calm down the flustered Blake, "Relax, relax! She's fine! Just a little internal damage, but nothing that-"

Yang sitting bolt upright in bed, her eyes as wide as saucers cut off Ruby mid-sentence. Short, ragged breaths made it seem like she just finished running sprints down in the armory, despite the fact that she spent the last half hour bed-ridden.

"Yang…?"

Ruby's expression matched Yang's as soon as her older sister flew into a coughing fit. The metallic hand she brought to her mouth came away flecked with blood.

"Nora," Ruby said, "go get the doctor." As Nora ran out to retrieve Vahlen, the leader of Strike Eight turned to her partner, panic on the edge of her tone, "Weiss, what's happening? Vahlen said she'd be okay, didn't she?"

Weiss shook her head, voice filled with tension and concern, "I don't know. That's what she told us before she left. She never said anything like 'Oh, and by the way, Yang might wake up and start coughing blood, so be ready for that.' I have no idea what's causing her to react like this."

"We need to stay calm down guys," Pyrrha started, trying to play the voice of reason, even though her own tone betrayed her fears, "This might not be that bad…"

"It hurts…" Yang moaned. Her words were quiet, but carried the weight of someone suffering from hours of pain. She coughed again, and brought up more blood, "Oh Dust, it hurts!"

Blake grabbed her partner by the shoulders and turned Yang to face her, "Yang? Yang. Look at me." With bleary eyes, Yang tried to focus on Blake, "What hurts?"

Yang's mutter barely reached above a whisper, "Ev… everything… s'like I got hit by… a truck."

Doctor Vahlen strode into the room, flanked by a pair of orderlies with Nora hot on their heels, "Everybody stand back!" The doctor reached the monitoring equipment tracking Yang's vitals and quickly scanned the information readouts.

"Impossible…" she whispered, "None of you are at all psionically sensitive, I… I ran tests. How is this reaction even happening?"

"Doctor?"

"The instruments are registering heavy spikes of psionic activity in her brain patterns. This is the sort of thing I was looking for during your psychic testing, but I found nothing."

"Is it supposed to be causing her extreme pain?"

Vahlen shook her head, "Absolutely not. Small headaches are common for newly-awakened psi operatives, but nothing more." She gave Yang a sad look, "From what I've learned of Sergeant Xiao Long in these last months, she's incredibly sturdy. If she says it hurts, then the pain must be very severe."

More coughing and more blood erupting from Yang's mouth punctuated the Chief Scientist's statement.

"What can we do?"

The doctor sighed, "All I can think of is to take her down to the Psionic Labs. If we can sync her with one of the test chambers, maybe I can dampen the psychic energy running rampant in her nervous system."

"I thought MECs couldn't undergo psi testing."

"They can't." Vahlen confirmed, "I will have to jury-rig one of the machines to properly interface with Sergeant Xiao Long. It's a bit of a long shot, but my other ideas are even longer." She turned to her two assistants, "I want the operative transported to the Labs. Immediately."

Once the orderlies started to prep Yang, Vahlen addressed the rest of Strike Eight, her gaze lingering on Blake, "You may accompany us if you'd like, but I must ask that you do not crowd me while I work. Doing so will do nothing beneficial for your friend, and will likely run counter to my efforts."

Blake nodded, though Vahlen's assumption regarding her behavior slightly annoyed the huntress, "Of course."

"Good. Let's go."

The members of RWBY and JNPR followed Vahlen out of the medbay while the two orderlies followed close behind with a quietly moaning Yang. Ruby kept telling herself that Yang suffered worse injuries in the past, and that she would be fine, but another part of her didn't quite believe that.

Three days passed since Vahlen brought Yang to the Psionic Labs. The doctor's gambit worked, and the equipment she had in the facility allowed her to bring the psionic spikes down to a much more controllable level. Yang remained in the lab, however, because any attempt to remove the damping field resulted in the pain returning. Vahlen promised to develop some hardware that Yang could use to 'carry' the field with her. The solution meant that Yang couldn't use her Aura Module, however, because the electric surge used to break the Aura suppression would negatively affect the psionic dampener.

Even though Yang spent most of her time asleep in her psi chamber, Ruby still 'kept her company' whenever she had free time. She felt tempted to spend her time in Shen's workshop to feel more productive, but she reminded herself what happened the last time she traveled down that road. Instead, the Chief Engineer made a point of stopping by the Psionic Labs at least once a day to bring Ruby some food and keep her company while she maintained her vigil. During one such visit, Bradford's voice rang out over the base-wide PA system.

"This is Central, I need all Strike Leaders to report to Mission Control ASAP. Repeat, all Strike Leaders to Mission Control."

Ruby groaned. More than anything, she wanted to be with Yang right now, but Bradford would only summon all the squad leaders for something extremely important. She glanced over at her friends, who all gave her a variety of sympathetic looks.

"Go." Shen told her with a reassuring smile, "If Vahlen learns anything new about Yang, good or bad, I'll personally interrupt Bradford's meeting and tell you myself."

Ruby flashed her friend an appreciative smile before dusting herself off and heading up to Mission Control.

By the time she reached Bradford's center of operations, Ruby could practically taste the tension in the air. Where usually there'd only be a handful of techs manning the terminals flanking the hologlobe, someone manned every single station with a headset and a focused expression. Bradford stood at his usual podium with seven XCOM operatives standing around waiting for instructions. Ruby jogged the last twenty steps to reach Bradford, and eight set of eyes turned to look at her.

"Sorry," She apologized, "I was down in the Psi Labs with Yang and Shen when you gave the order for a meeting. Some idiot thought it would be hilarious to push every single button on the elevator before I got on."

Bradford nodded in understanding, "And how is Sergeant Xiao Long? I've been meaning to congratulate Doctor Vahlen on her quick thinking and ingenuity in finding a way to defuse your sister's… situation."

Ruby shrugged, "She sleeps most of the time, but Yang's coherent while she's awake. A little loopy, but definitely all there. Vahlen says she'll be able to be out and about in another day or two when she finishes building a portable dampening field."

Bradford nodded, satisfied with Ruby's report, "The doctor and I both agreed that, while the Neural Damping genetic modification would probably do the trick, we didn't want to run the risk of the operation having permanent adverse effects on your sister. I hope the prototype field does it's job."

"Thank you, sir."

Ruby's update on Yang now finished, Bradford began the meeting, "As it turns out, the reason I called you all here may actually have something to do with the incident that put Lieutenant Rose's squadmate in the labs." He gestured back towards the extremely active Mission Control, "It's also the reason why things have been a bit busy down here for the last twenty minutes."

"Something big, then." Van Doorn stated.

"Indeed. Roughly thirty minutes ago, our satellite network picked up a new contact."

Zhang let out a soft hum, "Something bigger than their Battleships? I shudder to consider the prospect."

"Fortunately not." Bradford assured the Colonel, "Unfortunately, size may not be the greater issue here. Our network only picked it up because of the integrated Hyperwave Relay we have patched into our detection net. One of the techs monitoring the big hunk of metal reported activity, which prompted the personnel here in Mission Control to run an augmented sweep. Usually, we only use the relay once we've confirmed a contact to tap into their communications and get an idea of crew composition. We never thought to use it to run the scan in the first place."

"So if the craft was only detected because you used the relay for the sweep…"

"… It means the contact has extremely advanced stealth capabilities, yes." Bradford confirmed, "Also, communications picked up by the Hyperwave Relay included an unrecognized classification for one of the crew members, so it's likely the same type of contact Strike Eight had trouble with on their op. Based on the rudimentary linguistics we've gleaned from the Hyperwave communications so far, the new alien's classification is loosely translated as 'Ethereal.' "

Van Doorn chuckled, "Sounds pretty ominous to me. You know what they say, though: the bigger they are…"

"Indeed." Bradford agreed with a smile, "It's about the size of a Destroyer-class UFO, so it might be relying on stealth rather than firepower for survival. However, we're not taking any chances with this one. The plan is to outfit two of our Firestorms with the best equipment available and try splashing this son-of-a-bitch."

For the first time since the meeting began, Ruby spoke, "So you called us here to determine the squad composition that's going to investigate the craft once it's shot down?"

The Central Officer nodded, "Precisely. My gut reaction is to just call in Strike One, but we've got one or two other high-priority ops coming down the pipe, and I don't want to exhaust all of XCOM's A-team players. We'll certainly need a few of the best, but I'd like the squads leaders to propose and agree upon a suitable team for the crashed landing."

"I want to go." Ruby said, "I don't care if standard procedure dictates that I still have required R&R after the last operation. If one of these Ethereals is on-board, I really want to give some payback on Sergeant Xiao Long's behalf."

Bradford gave Ruby an odd look, "Honestly, I called you here just so you'd be in the loop, but if you're sure… I can't think of a reasonable objection."

Ruby nodded, "I'm sure. Aliens almost killed my sister, so I want to kill some aliens. A lot of aliens, actually."

"Man, somebody's feeling salty." One of the other squad leaders commented. Ruby didn't recognize him, but his shoulder patch indicated he was from Strike Six, "It's cool, though. I know that feeling. I'll second Lieutenant Rose's self-nomination for this mission."

The Central Officer shrugged, "If you're sure, then I've got no objections. Let's keep moving."

The discussion continued until the operatives agreed upon seven other operatives to join Ruby for the mission. Colonel Zhang and Captain Durand volunteered themselves as ranking officers for the mission, with Zhang in command. Ruby had no objection whatsoever: This was not a Strike Eight op, and so she had no right to claim the role of squad leader. Besides, she just wanted to kill some aliens. Letting somebody else handle all the orders would be a nice change of pace. The fact that she liked Zhang didn't hurt, either.

In addition to the officers, the squad leaders agreed upon two MECs (Ruby managed to successfully advocate for Blake, who she knew would also want an opportunity for payback on Yang's behalf), two gene-modded soldiers, and a second psionic from the various Strike teams to fill out the roster. Ruby thought that the team they assembled looked very solid, and she felt even better knowing that Van Doorn shared the same sentiment. After a minute of casual chatter about the team and mission, Bradford once again called everyone's attention.

"I just received word that the Firestorms have been launched. Expected time until contact is roughly thirty minutes. The plan is to launch the Skyranger as soon as the UFO is shot down, so I recommend gearing up now and standing by for launch."

"This is Eightball, we've got eyes on the bandit."

After getting her gear prepped for the operation, Ruby returned to Mission Control to watch the interceptors duke it out with the unknown contact. On a professional level, she decided that watching would help her get an idea of how challenging the following mission might be. If the ship turned out to be heavily armed, then it stands to reason that the passengers possessed similarly powerful equipment. Knowing the ship's strength could help Strike Two (so named because Zhang was the commanding officer) approach the downed craft with a properly-tuned strategy. One could argue that not watching the dogfight would be dereliction of duty, as it meant going into the AO without any sort of prior knowledge of the enemy.

On a personal level, Ruby just wanted to watch a UFO get shot to hell.

Five minutes after she arrived, Colonel "Eightball" Lucerno and Captain "Freebird" Leonard reached their target over Canadian airspace.

"Enemy is padlocked." Freebird confirmed, "Weapons hot."

The moment the two small interceptors closed to engage the UFO, a flurry of plasma shot out from multiple ports on the alien ship's hull. The two Firestorms banked hard to dodge the salvo before Eightball called out, "Jesus fuck, this thing is packing."

"Prioritize defensive measures." Bradford answered, "We can continue searching for the contact with the Hyperwave Relay if it manages to escape this time."

"Understood sir. Re-routing excess power from Plasma Cannons to maneuvering thrusters and plasma dispersion modules. Wingtip Sparrowhawks are live. We're moving in for another run."

The Firestorms tried a two-pronged approach the second time around, forcing the UFO's gunners to split up the ship's offensive capabilities if they wanted to hit both targets. For a craft the size of a Destroyer-class vessel, it had agility on par with a Scout. However, the Firestorms still held a small speed advantage. Another stream of plasma raced towards the interceptors, but their improved handling let the pilots dodge the shots without breaking off. Two stray bolts managed to strike the hull of one Firestorm, but there appeared to be no damage beyond scorch marks.

"Dispersion modules are holding." Eightball reported, "Remind me to buy Shen a beer when we get back."

After the UFO's systems finished firing and began their cooldown cycle, Eightball and Freebird shot back. Their plasma cannons boomed and launched miniature green suns at the ship while the Sparrowhawks detached and ignited their boosters to follow shortly thereafter. The UFO juked to dodge Freebird's offensive, but flew right into Eightball's volley in the process. Plasma burned through the hull while the secondary explosives splashed against the hardened metals.

"Plasma's effective, sir, but the Sparrowhawks aren't cutting it. Weapon-shifting remaining missiles to Nighthawk-class breaching explosives."

In response to the UFO's third attack, Eightball dodged high while his wingman dropped low. The Colonel rolled 180 degrees, and the two pilots angled back towards the ship for another run. Ruby felt shivers as she watched the display of airmanship before her. The interceptors weaved an intricate dance with the UFO, sneaking in powerful blows from their plasma cannons in between acrobatic maneuvers meant to dodge enemy fire. Their defense wasn't flawless by any means, and burn marks and twisted metal began to build up in the surface of both Firestorms as the alien gunners landed hits of their own. Eightball's decision to switch to Nighthawks turned out to be prudent: where the Sparrowhawks splashed harmlessly off of the ship's heavy armor, the denser Nighthawk warheads managed to punch through. Even though they carried a smaller explosive payload, the Nighthawks detonated behind the armor, and therefore provided meaningful contributions to the damage race.

"Damn, this thing sure has a lot of juice." Freebird commented, "How much more punishment can it take?"

"Hopefully less than we can." Eightball answered, "I'm starting to feel the heat over here."

"Well, if you can give me some covering fire, I can get in close and EMP the motherfucker."

"Be careful, Captain." Bradford cut in, "Remember my order to prioritize defense over aggression. Your Firestorm is too valuable to lose."

"Understood, Central, but this asshole really needs to get splashed. Permission to engage at close range, sir?"

Ruby knew it was a gamble: going in close would let Freebird hit the ship with his powerful EMP Cannon, but it made him an easier target for the UFO to shoot down. Ruby knew it, Bradford knew it, and the pilots almost definitely knew it. And yet…

"Granted." Bradford sighed, "Though I think you know my thoughts on close range."

"Yeah, well, we can't let those kids in Strike Eight have all the up-close-and-personal fun. Switching to EMP."

… They initiated the plan while making jokes about the danger. Ruby didn't know if she could keep such a level head if she was the one in the cockpit. Eightball began to pepper the UFO with lower-powered plasma rounds. The reduced strain on his cannons allowed the Colonel could throw out a much higher volume of shots instead. Freebird dropped down low, possibly in an attempt to convince the aliens he planned to break pursuit, before pitching hard and tearing through the sky towards the UFO.

A wave of plasma streaked towards the daring Firestorm, and Freebird rolled hard to avoid it. However, his proximity to the ship meant a much smaller window to react, and so a large portion of the volley crashed into his interceptor.

"Well that hurt," Freebird reported, "but now it's my turn, you little shit."

The EMP cannon hummed to life and pulsed its energetic payload at the target. The UFO shuddered from the hit, and again from the followup strike. In a last ditch effort, it launched one more salvo of plasma at the Firestorm.

"Shit!" Freebird cried as the plasma started to melt his interceptor's hull. "I'm getting chewed up over here!"

The second Firestorm appeared in front of Freebird, its own frame shimmering with energy as it tanked the remaining plasma fire for the Captain. Eightball's voice came over the comms, "I got you covered. Though I think you're the one that owes Shen a beer now."

"Shit, I'll buy that glorious bastard a goddamn case after this."

The plasma fire ceased, and Eightball banked out of Freebird's path, "Dispersion modules are shot. Don't fuck this up, 'cause you're not getting another chance."

Freebird ignored the jab and instead discharged his EMP Cannon once more. The engines on the UFO flickered briefly before dying altogether, and the ship dropped out of the sky shortly thereafter.

Eightball reported, "Contact is down" amid an eruption of cheers and applause in Mission Control. Bradford turned to Ruby, nodded, and the Lieutenant left to report for duty at the Skyranger. Whatever aliens waited for her team at the crash site, she only knew one thing.

Vahlen's freezer of corpses would be overflowing before Ruby felt like she killed enough aliens to satisfy her rage.

A/N: A reader suggested that I apply a little "Remnant Magic" to XCOM's air game, and this is the result. I thought it would be fun to try my hand at an air battle, and the Overseer fight seemed like a good one to go with. Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did!