"Hawke."
"Yeah?" Was the first response.
"I'm bored."
"Yeah." Was the second response. Still sighing in annoyance Hawke took a moment to stop meditating as the psionic energy wrapping around his body seemed to fade before regrowing in strength. Had to thank the Ghost taking over on regulating their powers.
Gotta say, learning to use Psionics was boring as hell. Most of the days it just revolved around meditation, learning to reach for that internal reserve of cosmic energy - Orgone as the Overseers called it - and pull it forward. Grabbing hold of the stuff wasn't too hard, but regulating it was another story. When you grab hold of this stuff, this… "power of the cosmos" it tries rushing forth like a flood. Forget learning to move things with your mind, Overseers had enough trouble teaching everyone to not be overwhelmed by the power and Burn.
In the five months that Hawke had been at Tower-00, he'd seen maybe thirty Burns incidents, each one from youths trying to hold onto more than they could carry. They got quarantined for a while, but they eventually came back so he at least knew they weren't getting "swept under the rug".
Soon as a person got enough control over regulating their powers, they'd be allowed to be part of more eventful classes, actually using their abilities and learning to use them properly.
Till then though, Hawke found himself in one of the most boring classes in existence. Still it was better than nothing right? His powers weren't sporadically influencing the world around him anymore.
"Hawke… Hawke~"
Huh?" Turning the young man caught sight of Ethan standing next to a few seconds away from nudging him with his foot. "Oh hey." Hawke watched as the layer of psionic energy radiating from him start to disappear, fading fully this time as Ghost laxed his control over it. "Class over?"
"Finally." Ethan extended a hand, holding it out to his roommate and helped them up. "Come on, time to grab some lunch."
"Right." Hawke popped a joint in his back before following after his counterpart. "So, any clue what's on the menu today?"
"Some fake meat, some bread and maybe something from the green house." Ethan shrugged, putting his hands in his pocket as he did. "You know, the usual."
"Urg~ I want some real food." Hawke grumbled as he started to slouch. "Everything I eat nowadays is some synthetic stuff."
"Well, what do you expect, the food the NEG gives these guys to feed us is all made in a lab. Just be glad it's all edible."
"I want real meat, this rate I'd settle for snacking on a Chryssalid."
"Gross." Ethan chuckled as he pressed on. "What about a Pandoran?"
"No freaking way."
"I heard that eating those things makes you start mutating."
"Pandorans are part human right?"
"Like at most… 10% I think?" Ethan muttered in thought. "Most of it is like shellfish or crab or something of the like."
"10% human is still too much for me." Hawke admitted. "Chryssalid though, that's zero human or Viper or anything Muton. I get behind eating that."
"So you say." Ethan smiled as the two hit the cafeteria. "Actually I heard eating snake was very popular before the Vipers showed up."
"I call bullshit."
"I'm serious, it was supposedly popular in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand, but after the Ethereal War it was banned."
"It's probably because they got scared of people trying to eat the Vipers."
"Yeah, well I still don't believe you. I mean who'd eat a snake?"
"You're saying you'd eat a Chryssalid just to get some real meat in your stomach, and you're having trouble believing in people eating snakes?" Ethan kept that smile as he raised an eyebrow. "
"I'm just saying, if someone was eating snakes we would have heard about it by now."
"That's because snake was banned." Ethan stressed. "No one eats it anymore - makes the Viper's uncomfortable. Supposedly the only way you can get it now is on the Black Market."
"I could believe that. I mean Vipers are basically giant snakes with arms right… wait shit is that racist?"
'Hell if I know.' Hawke replied as he and Ethan grabbed their food trays and started looking for a place to sit.
"Hey guys." Anemone wasn't the most attractive girl. Well she wasn't a model in the making anyway. She had freckles, black hair glasses and her hair was braided. If anything she looked like the stereotypical nerdy girl at school.
"I bet she cleans up really nicely though…"
"Hey Anemone." Pulling up next to her the pair made themselves comfortable as she continued eating.
"So how was class?" She asked.
"Could have been better." Hawke muttered. "I swear I think I almost fell asleep trying to meditate."
"I think you did." Ethan countered. "You looked way too out of it to be meditating."
"Yeah well I was bored." Hawke grumbled as he rested a hand on his chin. "And don't tell me you weren't; just sitting for hours at a time doing nothing is well… boring."
"Not really."
"Ok now I gotta call bullshit."
Sure it's not the most interesting thing to do, but it helps clear out the clutter in my head." Ethan stated. "Kinda relaxing." Hawke raised an eyebrow as Anemone nodded. "What about you Ane? How was your class?"
Guess you could say Anemone was a grade above them. The courses she took, revolved around actually shaping her powers to do things.
"I'm getting better at my Electrokinesis. I can control the current now, make sure it doesn't overload things."
"Nice." Ethan stated. "So what, you're like a human battery now? Bet your phone's never gonna die on you." Anemone gave a weak smile as she nodded before twiddling her thumbs.
"What about you two, you two are gonna start taking more practical courses soon right? Have you thought about what to take?"
"Well unlike you Hawke and I haven't manifested any real abilities besides basic Telekinesis. But I have been thinking about asking them to teach me some Manipulative techniques." Anemone looked up, a bit of surprise on her face as she heard the words.
"Really?"
"Well this is news to us?"
"Why Manipulative? You know depending on what they teach you, you will have to be tagged so people know you can you use those abilities."
"I know."
"Then why go for Manipulative abilities?"
"No BS; XCOM."
"XCOM?"
"The Extraterrestrial Combat Unit?"
"Yeah, you know the organization responsible for fighting the Pandorans and the Cultists popping up? I want to help them out after I get out of here."
"And you think learning Manipulative abilities are going to help with that?" Anemone asked. "Wouldn't some Environmental skills be more beneficial."
"Normally I'd say so, and while blowing up the bad guys with my mind will be cool and all. I think it'll be better to help them away from the frontlines."
"You mean like an interrogator?" Hawke wasn't too sure about that line of thought; hurting people to get information out of them. He'd seen movies, the stuff worked but…
"Not exactly." Ethan's smile dropped as it shifted into a frown. "I don't want to hurt anyone, and if I learn the right stuff I won't have to. They'll tell me what I need to without basically mind raping them." He muttered as he seemed to think away. "The war outside's gone cold, but it's not over. Everything's taking place in the shadows now, and if you wanna win that kinda war you don't need a gun; need information, you need to know who you're fighting."
"You're… not wrong." Anemone muttered. "Still, you're already thinking of a career?"
"Well yeah. I mean the Overseers told us that when we get out of here we don't get a lot of options for a lifepath laid out for us. It's either some federal job like police work or employment within some private sector and getting recruited by corporations." Ethan shrugged. "If I'm stuck choosing between the two I'm gonna go with the military and join their intelligence division" Ethan admitted as he looked at his friends taking a minute to toss a slice of synthetic meat into his mouths. "What about you two? Surely you've thought about what you wanna when you get out of here." Both Anemone vans Hawke glanced at each other before looking down in embarrassment. "Guess not huh?"
"Not really, I'm… I'm thinking of going back to school, I didn't finish my last two years when the OIS picked me up." Anemone muttered. "It… It would be nice to get into a career and use my powers for good in some way."
"I… I don't know what I'll do when I get out of here." Hawke admitted as he returned to eating. "
"Well, you could go back to school like Anemone's thinking." Hawke flinched as he started thinking back, the sound of snapping bones deciding to echo out in his mind.
"M-maybe."
"Either case, you got time, we're only seventeen, after all."
"Yeah." Hawke muttered as they returned to eating, making small talk as they did.
Location: Earth / United States / Del Coronado Bay / City 45
If anyone asked he'd admit it whole fully; he didn't like smoking. Shit tasted terrible on his tongue, and he knew how bad this stuff was on his tongue. Still this was one of those rare occasions he broke his rule about not smoking.
From behind his helmet Agent Solomon took a drag from his smoke as he stared down a hint of exhaustion etched across his frown. There's a body not that far from him, didn't have to be here. Woman didn't have to try running, but they did it anyway, and that choice had cost them. Now there was blood in the streets, people were forming a ring of sorts around the police circle, muttering to themselves. Why was it that whenever this stuff had to happen, people dropped whatever they were doing just to see what was going on. Human, Hybrid, Septoid name it something about death just fascinated them. It was like watching a car crash, everything stops cause everyone wants to know what the hell happened. Who got who died and all that good stuff.
"What is wrong with us?" He questioned as a Police officer approached him and stepped forward. "Officer."
"Agent." They replied curtly as they handed the mountain of a man a tablet. "I apologize that it had to be this way, but we couldn't let her go on as she was."
"I know." Solomon grumbled as he continued looking at the information provided by the tablet. the tablet in front of him. Delilah Wisteria. Age 27, powers erupted some three years, been on the run ever since… It was hard finding this woman since she went underground, but they found her, the problem was they couldn't have the Wrangler bring her in. She'd hurt too many people, she hurt herself, and she had to go down. "Think you can contact her family; Tell them we found her?"
"Someone's gotta." The officer stated as he was given back the tablet as Solomon grinded his smoke under his foot as the month guard part of his helmet expanded.
"Thank you for your cooperation." Voice synthesizers altered his voice, made it more deeper, gave it an echo as he turned away. "And I apologize for the mess she made." Walking off, Solomon stepped towards a building and crouched, psionic energy gathering his legs as he jumped up some seven floors to reach the roof of the building. Landing he placed a hand on the side of his helmet and tapped it, comms activating as he did so.
"Agent Solomon."
"Retrieval was a failure." He reported in. "Fugitive made a break for it and caused the police to get involved. As it stands she's being put in in body bag as we speak.
"That's unfortunate. She didn't have to run."
"That's something we can agree on." Solomon muttered as he continued walking on, moving from rooftop to rooftop as he did so.
"Anyway, I'll be coming back now. Feel free to call on me when we've located another rogue."
"Will do. Godspeed, Agent."
The call ended not too long after that, Solomon sighing to himself as stared at the sky. "I hate nights like this." He muttered before something wrote itself across the interior of his helmet.
"Incoming Transmission."
He accepted the call.
PRIORITY ONE HYPERWAVE TRANSMISION: ALPHA PRIORITY CHANNEL
TIMESTAMP: 10:32 HOURS ZULU TIME, 10/15/2177
FROM XCOM CENTRAL COMMAND: CITY 45 DETACHMENT
TO: ALL CITYWIDE XCOM AGENTS
CASE ABYSSWALKER CONFIRMED - PANDORAN PRESENCE DETECTED
At 15, October 2177 Hyperwave sensors at XCOM offshore facility site reported oceanic activity. Pandoran activity CONFIRMED to be heading towards City 45. All available XCOM personnel are to prepare for CASE ABYSSWALKER. Local NEG Branch is to be alerted immediately.
"Well shit." Solomon muttered as he read the message plastered on his screen. "Looks like I'm not heading home after all." He grumbled as he tapped another part of his helmet letting XCOM know he was on route and turned towards the bay.
Since the Ethereal War, XCOM's stayed an open secret. People know it exists but they don't know where the Headquarters are, or who the agents are. OIS has given up on trying to figure out the agents names and identities and that's for the best. Easy to blend in, try having a normal life when you're not needed. Besides with XCOM's shadow war with the enemy within, getting identified is a death sentence.
"Been a long night…" Solomon muttered as he rolled his shoulders and took a few steps back. "Night's about to get longer." He took off like a bullet.