{Incoming Transmission. . . Connection Established}
{Secured Channel Open, Priority One Message}
{Commander… while I understand your… 'interests'… in this particular plan you have proposed…}
{Make sure that it does not in any way… interfere… with our overall objective…}
{While accepting the Viper into our organization was an… important step…}
{I am beginning to question if our 'involvement' with a member of the species enslaving us is… worthwhile.}
{Also… I have noticed an increase in activity… in regards to the movement of various pieces of Advent technology and equipment…}
{Several heavy weapon's platforms… in particular their Sectopod Walkers… have mysteriously gone… 'missing'… from various facilities.}
{I will continue to monitor and inform you of further developments… until next time Commander…}
{Transmission Complete. . . Deleting All Records. . .}
=Chapter 26, Indebted=
(Hawkeye's PoV)
"I HATE RUSSIA!" Puppy screamed from her bunk. "Why does this place have to be so FRIKIN COLD!?"
"Complaining isn't going to help Puppy." He said from his bunk, checking his cards in his hand. "What's your bet Sharptooth?"
"Alright… I bet fifty… and raise twenty!" She called out, before she dropped several chips on the table in the middle of their room.
"Sista be hustling us!" T-Rex laughed. "Alright, I'll see your raise!"
They've been poker for the past two hours, showing Mercy how to play the Sharks' time honored tradition of how to pass the time when they weren't doing anything important for XCOM.
That, and they finally got their deck of cards back from the Water Dragons, after loaning it to the Gamma Raptors, who had loaned it to Engineering, and who had loaned it to Maintenance, where it wound up in the Water Dragons' hands.
"I fold!" Falcon whispered, tossing his cards onto the table using his mind.
"I fold!" Eagleeye said as well.
"Uh… if I want to call… I put how many chips in?" Mercy hissed above him.
"The bet plus whatever its been raised by, so in this case, you would put in seventy!" He explained.
"Okay… I call then…"
He watched as a tail slid past him and dropped several chips onto the table.
"Alright, I call as well!" He said as he put in the chips as well.
Moments later a card floated past each of them, and saw that it was an Ace. Checking his hand again, he only had a pair of jacks, even with the river card.
"Alright, I'm all in, I bet one-fifty!" Sharptooth said.
"She's gatta have the straight man!" T-Rex laughed. "I aint in this hand brotha, I'm out!"
"Uh… Hawkeye… is this good hand?" Mercy asked him, before lowering her scaly hand to show him her cards.
"How come Mercy gets to have advise with her cards and nobody complains, but when I want advise you all say no help?" Puppy complained bitterly.
"Because unlike you, Mercy has no idea how to even play this game!" He answered instantly, seeing her hand had two hearts, giving her a flush. "Call the bet Mercy!"
"I'd make a wager that he's just trying to make her lose!" Sharptooth giggled.
"I wouldn't do that!" Hawkeye said instantly.
"Someone's sure quick to defend his snake girlfriend!" Puppy giggled seconds later.
"And someone sure has a big mouth for a little dog." He said quickly, though with a very faint blush appearing on his cheeks.
"It's puppy, what do you expect?" Sharptooth said.
"Ah, leave the little lass alone~!" T-Rex laughed.
"I do not understand how you find this game fun…" Mercy hissed quietly to him as the cards vanished, replaced by her tail as it plopped more chips onto the table.
"Well I fold, I got nothing but a pair!" He said.
"Alright, whatcha got Mercy?" Sharptooth asked. "I got a straight."
"Uh… does that beat these two red hearts?" She asked.
"I knew it; she was getting help with winning all game!" Puppy called out.
"I Can't believe a Viper cleaned us out!" Sharptooth groaned.
"That's what you get for letting her have help, you have only yourself to blame Sharptooth." Falcon said quietly, using his mind to take all of their cards and put them back into the deck in his hands.
It was true, they were spending most of their time these days in their room while the bridge crew scanned for supplies left for them by the resistance. It had been just over two weeks since their latest captive, a Viper called Netra, was brought on board the ship. Since then everyone learned how the Commander 'interrogated' the Viper, and learned not only the vital information she had, but also how he was deliberately avoiding a trap because of it.
According to Sharptooth, who learned about it in a briefing with Central along with all the other Colonel rank operatives, the Hierarch Mother had prepared a trap for the Commander, a trap she 'hoped' he'd take after learning about her intentions. Instead, she had let slip that she was 'desperate' to capture him to gain favor with the Advent High Council, it was the only way she was going to survive their wrath.
Her recent failures had gotten her out of favor with them, and now she was scheduled to be terminated. If she somehow managed to capture the Commander's mind in the gremlin again, she would gain favor with them again, instead, the Commander had decided, instead of trying to kill her, he chose to ignore her.
The only agents who didn't know, were those below the rank of Colonel. This of course meant Mercy did not realize her Hierarch Mother was facing execution, and as per his orders, nobody was to tell her.
"Alright, since most of us are out of chips, can we go do some target shooting?" Puppy asked.
"You just want a promotion, don't you Puppy?" Eagleeye asked.
"You bet gramps." She said. "It's better than just sitting here doing nothing! We haven't had a mission in over two weeks. Why's that?"
"The Commander has his reasons." Sharptooth said instantly.
"That is weird… he was so… active weeks ago… now we're idle…" Mercy hissed, leaning to talk to him from her bunk above him. "Why so idle now?"
"Don't worry about it!" He answered, before pulling his book from beneath his pillow to read. "Though speaking about weeks ago, how is our captive from two weeks ago?"
"I think she's alright!" Sharptooth said from across the room.
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm heading down to the range for some target practice, it's better than sitting here freezing in our room while we get cleaned out by a Viper at Poker." Puppy said.
"You get cleaned out three hands in each time we play!" Eagleeye said with a chuckle, getting up to follow her.
"I'm off to the bar, you comin Falcon?" T-Rex asked.
"I guess someone should keep an eye on you." He said.
While everyone left Mercy slid down from her bed. "I'm going to go visit Netra… do you… want to come Hawkeye?" She asked him, and the tone of her voice sounded hopeful.
"I think I'll stick here for a while, it's my turn to feed Vivi." He said.
"Oh… I see." She hissed sadly. "I'll see you later then."
Moments later he heard her slip out of their room and close the door behind her.
"You two sure seem pretty close nowadays." Sharptooth said from her bunk.
"What gives you that idea?" He replied instantly.
"Oh please, it's obvious you two are close." She said with a chuckle. "That… and the Commander kind of told me!"
"What?!" He yelled, instantly sitting up.
"Yea, he kind of slipped it to me!" She said, reading one of T-Rex's old comic books, something about the Looney Toons. "Though he made me promise not to say anything, said it was 'your' decision to say anything. So… tell me… do you really like her?"
He just shook his head as he laid back in his bunk. "How does he figure these things out?"
"He's our Commander, the guy's a master of information… that and he probably picked it up on the camera feeds." She said quietly. "Sad though… I know a few girls kinda had their eye on you for a while. Guess they lose to a Viper; bet they didn't see that coming."
Thinking about Mercy and what Sharptooth said made him think about it himself. Yes, he had 'feelings' for the Viper, but he just didn't want to get 'involved' with her, just 'yet'. He still wasn't sure if they would actually be able to survive this war. It had been dragging on, and on, and he's had a long time in his days in XCOM to know that things don't always work out for them.
But as he thought about Mercy, a part of him was actually sad that he didn't go with her to visit the Viper captive Netra. She was the only other Viper on the ship, and unlike Netra, she wasn't confined to a single room being forced to do whatever work Central and the bridge crew gave her to do.
"So Hawkeye… why Mercy?" Sharptooth asked suddenly. "I mean, of all the girls on this ship, you know… the ones still single and human, why a 'Viper'?
"Why Mercy… well… I guess it's because I was just being nice to her." He said. "She just seemed so… innocent, nice… if it weren't for her species… I'd figured she was like any other human."
Sharptooth chuckled at that before glancing over at him. "Well, if you two can make it happen somehow, then I personally will believe anything is possible. Even winning this war."
"You don't think we can win?"
"Hawkeye, I was here before you, I was there when we rescued the Commander from that clinic, and I'm still surprised I'm alive after all the crap we've been through… but as far as winning was concerned…" She sighed and sat up, tossing T-Rex's comic book onto his bunk. "After everything that's happened, it seems like Advent gets stronger, while 'we' get weaker. Sure we win a battle here, blow up a building there, kill a few Xenos here and there, and spread the truth everywhere… but at the end of the day, who's still in charge? When we go to bed at night, why are 'we' the ones with wanted posters lining the walls? When all the 'sheep' are living the comfortable, clean, well fed lives in the cities… we're the refugees running from continent to continent, just to stay safe."
"The Commander may give us hope, strength, the edge we need to win in a fight against Advent… but he's just one person. I heard him muttering about it just as I left the debriefing with Central. We need a miracle at this point to really turn the tide… if Advent won't deploy their Codex units, we can't Jack into them to get the information we need. Sure we shut down a huge portion of their forces with that Virus, but that's only temporary, the second they find a cure or workaround… they'll deploy their forces again, and we'll be outnumbered. Without the info the Codex's are protecting… all we're doing, is delaying the inevitable."
She sighed again and gave him a thumbs up.
"I'm off to the bar, pinkie promise I'll keep your little 'relationship' secret from Puppy. But don't expect her to not realize it sooner or later, especially if you two keep on acting all nice together!"
With that Sharptooth left the room.
He sighed and went back to his book.
"A miracle huh…?" He whispered. "If Mercy and I can make it happen… anything is possible huh?"
(Mercy's PoV)
"So… what is it you are doing?" She asked Netra.
She was sitting in the cargo hold where, in the same mesh net that once was 'her' prison, Netra was busy examining boxes that various Gremlins were bringing her. Rover, Chief Engineer Shen's Gremlin was among the Gremlins, holding a datapad up for her.
"Inventorying for the Commander!" She said happily.
"You are… inventorying for the Commander?" She asked.
"Yes!" She said with a smile after closing the box and tapping on the datapad. "He wants me to examine every box and inventory the contents for Shen! If I finish soon I'll be able to eat dinner with him."
"He wants you to dine with him?" She asked in amazement.
Her Commander never once offered to dine with her, or even offered her the chance to dine with him. In fact, now that she thought about it, he never dined at all.
"Oh yes… something about… not wanting me to eat alone with the crew because I might…" She said excitedly before hesitantly looking away. "Never mind… it is private… I am not to discuss."
"Private?" She asked skeptically, peaking into a box and seeing just a pile of broken alloys and stripped wires.
"He just said… not to discuss with anyone!" She said nervously, returning to her box and rummaging around again.
She sighed and looked around the cargo room. The cameras were all still there, some of them had their recording lights off, but most were still watching them. The room itself seemed 'warmer' than before, and she noticed this was because of a heater in the center of the room. It seemed to be a patchwork job, apparently one of Shen's rushed jobs, probably on the Commander's orders.
She smiled at seeing it, her Commander did have a heart after all. Even if he didn't show it often.
"Well at least your accommodations are better than when I was here." She hissed to the captive.
"Were you treated well?" Netra asked nervously, pausing in her examining of the box.
The instant she stopped Rover smacked the back of her hood with the datapad and whirled. [Netra, the Commander wants this done, that means 'finished', back to work!] Shen's voice said in a broken, disjointed recording, obviously taken from various samples of Shen's words.
"Y… yes ma'am!" She said nervously, before going back to examining the contents of the box.
She thought about her times back when she was a captive, and smiled at the difference between then and now. "Yes… back then, all I had was a thin blanket and a mattress… and it was so cold in here." She said. "But… it always got warmer when… Hawkeye visited."
"Hawkeye?" Netra asked tentatively, examining another box now.
"A human male… he is… well… I 'hope' he'll be… my life mate!" She said with a warm smile.
"Life mate…!" Netra said loudly, dropping the box she was handed by a pair of Gremlins.
In response, Rover smacked her again and whirled angrily. [Watch what you're doing, that stuff is valuable!] Shen's voice yelled.
"Apologies!" She squealed fearfully, quickly picking up the box and going back to her work. "Life mate… but… they are humans! Our species hasn't had a… life mate pair… for such a long time!"
She sighed happily and thought about that, if they could somehow make it work, they'd be the 'first' life mate pair her species has had for a very long time. The last pair to be made was… well before the Elders uplifted her species. After that happened, there hasn't been a pairing.
"Yes… we'll be the first pair… if only our Hierarch Mother could see us now…" She said softly.
"Yea… too bad she'll never see us again." Netra hissed sadly.
At that she looked at the Neonate and saw that her blue and white scales had gone pale, and her expression went slightly fearful.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked.
"Uh…" Netra hissed fearfully. "Nothing… I meant nothing!"
"What… do you mean… by that?" She hissed now, with a sterner tone, inching closer to the mesh net.
"Its… nothing I swear!" Netra whispered fearfully, now backing up as close to the wall as she could.
"I am your 'elder' sister… and a member of the 'superior' genes… now tell me… 'what do you mean by that'?" She hissed angrily.
Netra nodded instantly and began speaking. "She's scheduled to be terminated!" She yelped.
At those words Mercy stopped glaring and look shocked. "Terminated… but…"
"The elders are displeased by her failures, the day after tomorrow she will be terminated!" Netra hissed in fear, not knowing that she had stopped glaring at her. "The Commander wanted the information kept secret! He told me not to share it with anyone else, he said he'd throw me off the ship if I said anything! Please don't tell him I said anything!"
Hearing what Netra said made her put the pieces together, the reason why they were idle, why they had gone from being active to now just sitting around. It all suddenly made sense.
At that realization she turned and left the room as fast as she could, slithering up to the one place in the Avenger that 'no' operative went to unless they were ordered there.
The Commander's quarters.
"You won't tell him I said anything will you?" Netra asked as loudly as she could.
[Back to work!] Shen's voice yelled through Rover again.
(Commander's PoV)
He sighed as he watched through the cameras, overseeing the conversation's outcome and knowing what was going to happen in a few minutes. [Damn you Netra… I said 'not a word' for a reason…] He growled.
He patched into the coms to talk to Central.
[Central… have security standing ready if I give you the signal, and have them head to my quarters.]
{Why's that sir?} Central asked.
[Because Mercy just found out about the Hierarch Mother.] He said simply.
Moments later a knock on his door sounded, and he checked the camera to see Mercy right outside.
[Enter!] He said calmly.
Mercy opened the door and slithered in. "Commander…"
[You're here to ask about the Hierarch Mother.] He said, looking at her through his optics to see her surprised face. [You forget; I have eyes everywhere on my ship… I already know Netra spilled the beans about the Hierarch Mother's termination. And judging by your expression, you figured out why I told her to keep quiet about it.]
She nodded and slithered over to his desk. "You have to rescue her Commander, she is my species' Hierarch Mother, our spiritual leader, our guide in how we are to live! If she were to die…"
[Then the Advent Administration, and the Elders, lose the most valuable weapon they have against us.] He answered curtly, picking up a datapad and reading it. [Without her they can't match me move for move, without her strategies they can't predict and outwit me on the field! Without her, they lose the greatest advantage they still have left, the accumulated tactical knowledge that 'I' had while still connected to their Psionic Network. The second she goes, is when I finally get the initiative against their forces again.]
"But… you can't just let her die!" Mercy said fearfully. "She's too important… if she dies…"
[Then 'we' win.] He said instantly. [Need I remind you that she tried to kill 'us' several times… you and the other Sharks, without hesitation. She was willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of forces to capture me. Do you think she'd extend the same courtesy to you?]
Mercy was silent for a few minutes, and thinking that she had finished giving her piece, he turned toward his book shelf for the briefest of moments. "But she loves you…" She hissed hopefully.
At that he stopped moving.
"She loves you Commander… you said so yourself… she wouldn't 'dare' hurt you. Even if you threatened to kill her… she'd never lay a finger on you." She hissed in a hopeful tone. "If… if you saved her… she'd join us… I'm sure of it! If… if you brought her to our side like you did me… then others of my kind… they'd join as well! I know they would, if you told her… she'd get my species to…"
[I am not about to save the very same creature, that held me captive in a plasma shield on some podium… like a trophy!] He said angrily. [For that to happen, something 'drastic' would have to happen to get me to save her. As far as I am concerned… she can 'die' to a firing squad, and I won't bat an eye or give a second's thought about it.]
"Commander… I'm begging you please!" She hissed again.
[Get out…] He growled.
"But… Commander… please…"
He turned to her and pointed at the door. [I am your Commanding Officer… and I am giving you an 'order'… get… out!] He demanded. [Do not make me call security, because I WILL!]
Moments after that he heard the coms go off in his room.
{Commander, we have a transmission coming in… it's him,}
[Great… just what I needed.] He said exasperatedly. [Leave Agent Mercy… you have ten seconds before I call security and have them remove you! This is a private talk…]
He glared at her with his optics until she nodded sadly, and slithered out with her tail following behind pitifully.
He sighed as the door closed behind him, before turning to the view screen to see the Council's shadowy, faded, distorted image appearing.
[Hello Council.] He said.
{Hello Commander, it would seem your… 'alliance' with the organization… known as EXALT… has paid dividends… in spades.} He said in a prerecorded message. {I have just received a communication from their shadow leader…}
The screen changed to show the EXALT insignia, spray painted on a wall.
{EXALT's assaults on the various facilities belonging to Advent across the globe, have spread their forces thin, thin enough to allow one of their agents, to infiltrate… and steal a cache of vital secrets and information, from the highest levels to the lowest of Advent's chain of command.}
The screen changed to an image of the EXALT insignia, and the voice that followed was synthetic. {What becomes of the information, is not of our concern, for we are both united in our common goal… you are indebted to us Commander… we 'ask' you to repay that debt.}
The screen returned to the Council's image.
{EXALT has requested we… obtain… the information their agent was able to acquire… before they were discovered… and forced to hide it. Your mission, is to go to the coordinates… locate the information… retrieve it at all costs… and use it to neutralize Advent, before they can locate the information and neutralize 'it'! Good Luck, Commander.}
He bowed respectfully to the Council Spokesman as the screen returned to the XCOM insignia.
[As you wish Council…] He said.
An hour later found him on the bridge, waiting for the coordinates to be decrypted and plugged into the holo globe.
"How much longer Shen?" Central asked impatiently.
"Patience is a virtue Central, as I keep telling you!" She said. "This is as fast as the decryption algorithm goes!"
[The sooner we find out where we're going… the faster I can repay my debt to EXALT and be done with them.] He said.
Several minutes later he saw Shen finish typing and took a sigh of relief. "Got it, plugging in the coordinates!"
The globe spun, and then zoomed in on a section of the Central United States. Then it zoomed in further, toward what appeared to be an abandoned town, well away from one of the major Advent City centers.
[No… recheck those coordinates!] He ordered.
"Checking… confirmed, that's where the intel says we're supposed to go." Shen said.
"Well at least we…" Central began saying before he was interrupted.
[Check them again!] He ordered.
"Sir I just…" Shen said before he repeated himself.
[I said… check those coordinates… 'again'.]
"Okay…" She whispered, before reentering the coordinates into the globe, and it zoomed back to the same location. "Confirmed sir."
He looked at the globe, and then back to Shen, glaring with his optics.
"Checking… 'again' sir… for any computational errors." She said nervously.
Moments later the globe faded, reformed, and zoomed in 'again'… on the same location.
Everyone glanced at the Commander now as he glared through his optics at the globe.
"Uh… let me check those decryption algorithms again… and recheck the coordinates I got from them…" Shen said quietly, before typing five times as fast as she could on her datapad. "Sir… I'm afraid… the coordinates are… accurate… these are the correct coordinates."
[You have got… to be kidding me.] He said. [Of all the places… of 'all' places… why 'there'…]
"Sir, what's up with this location?" Central asked in confusion.
[This place… is the same town… that the Hierarch Mother is scheduled to be visiting tomorrow!] He growled. [This is the same town, that she's broadcasting from… where she laid a trap for me… the same trap that I was trying to 'avoid'. And the Council Spokesman told me to 'find' this information cache… meaning I have no choice… but to step 'into' that trap!]
That was only half the story though, the town in question had another reason that he wanted to avoid it, but it was classified to only 'him'. Nobody else, not a soul, in all of XCOM knew… that the town that they had to go to tomorrow…
Was his 'hometown'…
He glared at the globe, and growled so low that only he could hear himself.
[Damn you EXALT!]