The advancing slow crawl was beginning to grate on Jane Kelly's nerves – more than she'd like to admit. Adrenaline of the battle still pumped through her veins hotly and she wanted nothing more than to arc her sword into the shoulder of some deserving Elder puppet. But, she kept a level head, for the sake of her squad. Every now and then she cast her gaze over her shoulder to check on them.
They looked more than capable to fight, as the Codices mercifully did not seem to harm them, but rather intent on disabling them. Kelly didn't want to find out just how hard they could hit – and if the rift they were spawned from was any indication, they must be psionics. She wondered what other nasty surprises did ADVENT have lurking in the bases just waiting to unleash once they poked the sleeping dragon enough times.
Despite the base being on high alert, there were surprisingly little patrols between the secluded grasslands to the compound proper. An inactive ADVENT Skyranger lay resting on it's pad and most of the stations were unmanned. It was as if the majority of the base had simply evacuated, which made no sense. It was certainly not an autonomous facility. Why the lack of manpower?
Her questions burrowed in her like insidious paranoia, making her skin feel clammy and her mouth dry. It all accumulated to one, alarming word: Trap. They must be walking into a trap.
"Halt," she barked out in order, stopping before a parked, abandoned vehicle. The squad followed her order, fanning out to take cover behind the walls of the surrounding buildings or even the Skyranger itself. She scanned the surrounding area, tracking it with the muzzle of her shotgun and frowned. Not an ADVENT in sight. Were they all just waiting for them inside the site itself?
"Webnar, scout up ahead."
The German Ranger dipped his head in acknowledgement, slipping his shard gun into it's sling and crouching low to the floor, mimicking the similar track of a Reaper's sprint. He took cover in the shade of a long, bullet-style train which merely looked like a locomotive version of their typical vehicle design. Sure, it may have been sleek, eye-catching and distinctly ADVENT's brand, but visually unoriginal.
He sidled down the length of the train until he came to a baggage dock, only to quickly dive behind it's cargo when one of the heavy turrets mounted on the facility's roof booted into life; glowing an ominous ready yellow. The turret's head spun on it's axis, scanning the surrounding area for that sign of life that briefly flickered in. Once it's sweeping protocol had finished, it remained active, periodically searching every other second.
"There's a turret on the left-hand side of the roof," he informed quietly over the two-way radio, squinting over the stacked pods, straining his eyes. " – Think there's one further down, still on the left and – I'm hearing alien chatter. Two. No."
A pause. The guttural, buzzing of ADVENT's speech was as unmistakable as the bug-like chattering of the Sectoid's malformed, subhuman teeth.
"Four. One x-ray, three pugs."
"On our way," Klaus ignored the affirmation of his squad-leader, as once his gaze fell to the cargo he was hunkered down behind, he began to actually look at what it was. Strange, pod-shaped boxes. Like coffins, or cocoons that caterpillars use for metamorphosis. He risked crawling over to the edge of the stack to see past the green, thick tinted glass – and swore loudly when he did.
"A-Are those..?" the fright in Shen's tone was chilling to those on the deck of the Avenger and it did not lose it's fear over the terrible, re-established comm-line.
"Bodies." Bradford breathed, seeing the visual on screen through Klaus' camera. All scout units were equipped to give them live footage from the field of battle, but in this regard the spotty feed and distorted images did not help his unsettled stomach. He saw the faces clearly, despite the static. Citizens, some faces twisted into grimaces or screams from when they were taken – some serene, tranquil and unaware.
He prayed that it was merely a flicker of light cast over the glass playing a trick on his eyes, because he didn't want to come to grips with the fact they could still be alive when he thought he saw one blink.
"Even after all these years, they were still abducting people … they might never have even stopped." Central murmured, lost too deep into his own thought, swaying a little on deck as the realization flooded each and everyone of them. He risked a glance to Kingsley, whom remained statuesque. His gaze hardened, as if begging her to say anything. Anger, fear, upset.
She did not respond, staring at the close up of the alien coffin.
Lily confirmed Bradford's worst fear. " – The.. containers .. look like they have self-contained power cells, like the ones they employ for their data vaults. Some of those people could still be alive if their pods are acting like a stasis suit."
Then, quite daringly, she adds; "With enough time.. I think Doctor Tygan and I could crack them open without harming the patient inside. We could theoretically save most of them, depending on the condition of the containment unit."
"The cargo hold of the Skyranger isn't nearly enough to carry them all, let alone with a full squad. Maybe three or four." Bradford sucked in a sharp breath. " – It would take more than a hundred trips and that's just looking at the ones outside the facility. Firebrand's an ace, but those anti-air guns are still live and she can't dodge ADVENT's interceptors forever."
"Well – Doctor Lovett is on the field, right?" she persisted. "I'm sure I could counsel her, or maybe I can take remote access of her GREMLIN – "
"Where would they go, Lily?" interjected Kingsley. The only note to her lilt was the ever present tiredness that seemed to pervade every inch of her. She admired the engineer's stalwart heart and determination, but her hope was ill-founded. She gripped the railings of the Command deck tightly, keeping her frosty gaze onto the image of the alien coffins before them. "If ADVENT have brought them here, then they have no life to return to. They will be hunted down."
As Lily opened her mouth to hotly protest, Kingsley raised a silencing hand. " – The nearest Resistance haven isn't for miles and we attract more danger by sticking with them, both to ourselves and to the civilians."
"So, what do you suggest, Commander?" spat Lily, venomous enough to make a Viper proud. "That we simply ignore them? Leave them to die?"
'I have often wondered what separated a good commander to a great one.'
Kingsley didn't appreciate the Assassin's commentary coming in at the most inopportune time. She stared at the image ahead, unmoving, nonspeaking, even as Kelly's squad caught up with Klaus and pensively awaited their next order from their leader. She was aware of Bradford's gaze, to Lily's acerbic one. The uncertainty of the techies manning the stations and the cool regard of Jax-Mon's attention resting like a blanket on her mind.
Her jaw clenched as she could feel the Chosen drifting through her memories like one might window-shop. It had been easier for the children of the Elders to contact her, to reach and torment her as her health declined. She tried to block her out, but unlike the Assasin's brothers, she was an elusive shadow that drifted just far away. In reach by the tip of her fingers, but not quite close enough to dispel her.
The Assassin selects a particularly burrowed memory to view for the both of them. Kingsley tightly screws her eyes shut – ignoring Bradford's concerned call – as it played in the forefront of her mind.
Decked in her former XCOM uniform, the Kingsley of the past stood in parade rest before the Council of Nations as they recited the current month's loss against the alien threat.
'Squadrons one through twenty five, including the Sentinel and Typhoon manned divisions have all been destroyed in dogfights with the UFOs and their interceptors, Commander.' The spokesman for the Council informed with grim disappointment. 'Our infantry are being slaughtered by the battalions against their mechanized unit your team refers to as a 'Sectopod.''
'Our naval units are also being sunk by an unknown force.' the Admiral added at the side of her in the war room, hands steeped over the table as their map was looking more and more scarce the longer the combat against the alien threat raged on. 'The shipwrecked mariners returning to shore all give differing eye-witness accounts – and that's just the sane ones! Something is getting in their heads, their minds.'
'Regretfully, I must inform you as well that Argentina has withdrew from the XCOM Project, following it's armistice to the alien forces. Whilst they do not doubt your ability to lead, their eyes are set on the future of their land.' told the shadowed man. Kingsley could see the lack of colour in his hands as he clenched them tightly. He didn't agree with the Council's choices, but as their mouthpiece, he could not disagree.
' – and it appears as though Germany and Egypt may follow their example, including withdrawing your chief scientist, Doctor Vahlen. What do you propose, Commander?'
When Kingsley opened her eyes and settled her despondent gaze on Lily – whom shrunk back under it – she found herself speaking the same words as she had once before.
"The loss of these lives are unfortunate, but we cannot spare the time for the dead when we still have the living to protect." Kingsley felt sick in her stomach, more so when the presence of the Assassin in her mind curved in a knowing smile. She blocked her out as much as she could, ignoring the broken expectations on Lily's face. "Continue on to the Blacksite, Menace. That's an order."
'Knowing that you cannot save them all, I find, is a good start.'
Jax-Mon winced sharply when the psionic feedback snapped across her mind like a whip. She hadn't expected Kingsley to fight back so strongly when her defenses were so weak. Humans were awfully sensitive things – when the right buttons were pushed, they were capable of accomplishing great feats of superhuman strength … or disgustingly petty vengeance.
Soothing her head, she rose from her meditative crouch at the roofs of the Blacksite to approach the railing, looking down upon the gathering of XCOM soldiers preparing to breach the facility. She kept herself cloaked and the turret beside her hummed into life, dipping the barrel towards the target it calculated most likely to hit – A white haired soldier, one that oozed with enough psionic energy that would make her elder proud.
Or, more likely, revolted. He despised humans harnessing the Gift of their masters, thinking them heedless, unskilled dogs. She was inclined to share that distaste, though she would never let it show so openly. A great commander would not allow their own opinion to colour their goals or their threat assessment.
The soldier – the Network recalled files on her instantly thanks to her skirmishes with her elder brother, her identity known as Luminița Feng – gathered the psi-energy into the conduits of her gloves, shooting out twin blades that conjoined into a shield, absorbing the magnetic auto-fire of the turret.
Power from her focus and the magnetic bolts congealed into a volatile sphere; unstable and arcing out from the palm of her hand and scorching the ground around her. It traveled the length of her arm, the muscles of which noticeably tensing under the heat and perspire with a flash sweat. She drew it back – and then hurled it forward.
It shot like lightning, smashing into the internal circuitry of the turret and exploding the automated defense in a shower of debris and latent energy. Smoke billowed from where it once lay – and the scent of magnetic fire would likely linger on Feng for the rest of the mission.
"Efficient," her companion that Jax-Mon knew herself to be Jane Kelly noted. A notorious criminal that was ADVENT's most wanted. She had yet to return the Ranger's favour of a gut full of shotgun slag – Reapers were not the only creatures with long memories.
Her lip curled when Mox drifted out of sight – and she corrected that by leaping effortlessly off the roof, landing behind the squad neatly and soundlessly. She slipped into a crouch on top of an unoccupied fork lift, glowering at the Skirmisher that cheated death more than the Chosen had themselves. How many times did she have to send him to death's door before he remained there?
She took a page out of her older brother's book to study her prey before striking. They were currently sizing up the patrol of four, to which Jax-Mon helpfully alerted them through the Network of the oncoming threat. The squad mobilized, which in turn sent XCOM scrambling to better positions, lest their flanks be caught.
The Assassin would study them fight. Study them work in cohesion – and then prove to them the futility of their efforts. Show their Commander the countless lives she continues to waste, even twenty years later. The longer she denied the Elders Their right to her - the higher the body count.
First to emerge out of the ADVENT patrol was the Stun Lancer barrelling out the front entrance, the spines of the stun baton raised and sputtering with a red electric current. His gaze behind the red visor locked with his unfortunate target of the medic Dawn, shouting aggressively in ADVENT's tongue and charging towards her with as much ferocity as a stampeding Berserker.
Even as she nailed a decent shot of her pistol into his dominant arm, he relentlessly pursued her, too doped up on stimulants to feel the blood oozing out of his injured arm. He vaulted over one of the pods and weaved out of the gunfire of her companions with an unprecedented agility – smacking her arm aside to make her pistol shot go wide.
Dawn swiftly grabbed his wrist to try and grapple his baton away from her form, swallowing thickly as the heat of the current washed over her from proximity. She struggled briefly, but the Stun Lancer was made of sterner stuff than the average trooper, easily overpowering her to drive the forked spines into her stomach.
" – Dawn!" Lukas called, watching the medic crumple to the floor after a hoarse, bedraggled scream tore from her throat. He leveled his minigun up with the Lancer, whom ignored all around him to continue to wail on the medic with a swift kick to her ribs, intending to drive his baton down - until the Grenadier unleashed a barrage of cannon fire into him, sending the body limp over a stack of pods and splattering the green containment cover orange.
He intended to rush over there to assist her, but was forced to duck under cover when magnetic fire of the Officer and Trooper tore through the narrow doorway, creating a kill-zone of sorts.
Jax-Mon observed, keenly interested as despite this, Lukas picked himself back up and powered on towards his fallen friend – even when one of the bullets grazed his arm. He gritted his teeth, biting back the whine of pain
"Shit, shit – " Kelly swore, keeping a hand on her cap as it threatened to be carried with the wind of the suppressing fire. She'd seen Dawn go down and her heart hammered for the worst. "Tell me she's alive!"
Lukas discarded his cannon, dropping to the floor and hauling the medic to his lap – exhaling with great relief that her shallow breaths indicated she was alive. Her GREMLIN whizzed around uselessly – without the direction of it's master, it did not know how to compute the situation.
"She's alive, but she's unconscious!" he roared over the gunfire. "A-And.. got a broken rib. She needs medical attention."
He glanced the GREMLIN – and an idea struck. Activating the two-way radio, he contacted the Avenger; "Dr. Shen, can you take remote control of CMT Lovett's GREMLIN? She's been knocked cold but I think she administers the medkit through her robot."
"The medkit won't revitalize her," Tygan's voice filled in as the sounds of furious typing accompanied him. "But it should extend the time she can go without a proper surgical procedure."
"Accessing… got it!" Shen announced. The GREMLIN stilled in mid-air, almost dropping completely, before it returned to hover a little more haphazard than it's usual erratics. Lukas tilted back, allowing the GREMLIN to flutter down to use the medkit. The cloud of nanites washed over Dawn's body, but as Tygan said – she didn't wake up.
"I've got you, doc, like you've always got us." muttered Lukas, slipping an arm around her waist and lifting her to rest supported over his shoulders. She wasn't as light as he expected, as a CMT's gear was virtually just as hefty as a soldier's, but he packed a minigun and carried it easily enough. He tucked one of her arms over his shoulder to his chest and held onto it to keep her firmly in place.
As Luminița demonstrated before, she connected her psi-blades into a large shield of energy, leaping in the centre of the kill-zone. Fire from the Officer's and Trooper's weapons hailed into her defense and she struggled to hold it up as she provided respite for the squad to reposition. She noticed Kelly slide up behind her, urging her onward. They only needed enough room to get a foot in the door.
"I can't – Hold it … much longer… !" the Templar warned, pushing herself to the limits; the physical exertion as clear as day on her face as she poured more and more of her psi-energy into sustaining the shield. Dizziness swarmed her increasingly blurry vision until she eventually collapsed to one knee as the purple blades wavered in and out of view.
It bought them just enough time for Kelly to bolt into the facility. The two ADVENT changed their course to try and shoot her, alleviating Luminița of the continued fire. Her shield dropped and she heaved a greedy breath, hands splayed on the cold ground in utter mental and physical exhaustion.
Jane didn't bother with any fancy sword tricks that the Assassin might be fond of. She merely feinted out a shot to give her the advantage to press the offense – and cleanly decapitate the Officer with her sword. The trooper, upon witnessing the death of his superior, panicked and attempted to shakily shoot her down – only to be gunned by Mox, whom stormed through the front door and landed three kicks of his bullpup into the soldier's chest.
"Well, that was an utter disaster," Kelly quipped, wiping the flat of her blade across her thigh to clean it, before sheathing it. "But at least we've got.."
Three ADVENT.
Where was the Sectoid?!
The noisy creature hissed inhumanly as it reared around the corner of a stack of high crates, plasma bracelet pointed straight at Kelly's heart. Like a deer in headlights, she was convinced she processed things a second too late before her flight instinct kicked in to force her flat to the ground. But, she needn't bother, as a blade pierced through it's back and out through it's chest.
"Klaus.." breathed Kelly in relief. The other Ranger's eyes crinkled at the corner, even as his bandanna hid his grin. He kicked off the Sectoid from his blade, flourished it and offered a bow of showmanship for his display.
"I think that's one drink you owe me, sweetheart." he winked. Had they not been in the middle of a mission, she would've resolved to smack him senseless. She signaled for the rest of the squad to enter, activating the camera on her vest to give the Avenger sight of the inner Blacksite. Now that they were no longer under fire, they could actually look around.
Kelly regretted doing so.
Humongous racks of human-sized test-tubes lined the centre of the facility, hovering over a deep pool of chemical bath that did not bare to be contemplated about. It cast a ghoulish, green glow in the dark of the site. Inside each of the test-tubes were cadavers of humans in various states of decomposition – some, fully formed humans floating in the gelatinous fluid, others skeletal torsos or limbs with dissolved flesh.
The pipework and mechanisms lining around the racks were intricate as they were alien; with the same coloured liquid that collected in the pool surging through, equally draining and replacing the bath.
Jax-Mon stared at the same sight as XCOM did, inspecting the abject horror that slackened their jaws or widened their eyes. She felt nothing, glancing at the processing tubes. Nothing but a necessary evil to wheedle out the useless waste of society into better genetic materials. Their Commander understood sine qua non – but evidently, not her soldiers.
'ADVENT follow without question, without regret. Would you not prefer to lead those that depend on your every word than deal with this, Commander?' she taunted, knowing full well that Kingsley could not respond – only listen.
"So many victims.." It was rare that Tygan ever got so emotive, but he sounded choked up – devastated, perhaps believing that he may have contributed to the butchery before them through his research and work. "… processed with such, brutal efficiency. Test subjects for some sort of, chemical weapon, perhaps? Afflicting humans on a molecular, cellular level?"
As he spoke, Jax-Mon waved a hand, bringing the facility to life. The metal groaned and squeaked as the racks were lowered out of sight, dipping into the acidic bath. She was beginning to feel something she hadn't ever before – a mounting, racing excitement that begged for it's cathartic relief. A combat spurned by soldiers so jaded by the sights they were not meant to see; it whispered promises of the TRUE battle she yearned for.
" – It.. looks like a refinery to me, Doctor." Lily uncertainly added. At least one among them were not so blind. There, at the far end of the facility, lay the orange sample of Elders' own DNA. Bradford took note of it, even if he may not know just what it was.
"Once we get a hold of that sample, we'll know for sure."
"Acquire the sample, Menace." Kingsley intoned. " – and set the charges. I want this place erased."
"Look upon Their work, XCOM." Jax-Mon urged, lips curving into a fanged smile as each soldier snapped straight into alert. Her voice carried all around the facility, keeping them tense as she stalked the shadows.
"Bask in the Elders' intention for you. It may not pay off now, but perhaps, there lies a far future where your great-grandchildren may live among the stars as Gods, too. Why must you fight against a requisite? Your wars have been far bloodier than this." A pregnant pause pervades the air – until she cuts it with a sigh.
"Yet if you listened to reason, you would not have come here to your grave. You do not adhere to what is necessary to achieve your full potential. Because of this, you cannot be allowed any further. Because of this … you will die."