About ten minutes earlier…

"Rautt! Keep up the act!"

Rautt, the Reaper undercover, was in the atrium of the Gene Clinic. He wore the usual clothes civilians in the city wore, but was disheveled. His hair was out of place, there were several fresh bruises on his face, and his nose was broken and bleeding. Or at least looked like it was.

He was leaning on the reception desk, doing his best to make it look like he was hurting — which wasn't hard since some of his injuries were real — as he talked to the guard the receptionist had beckoned over. He had been assaulted at his place of work. Overheard some cargo movers complaining about their lots in life. They threw their lots in with the Aliens when the Invasion started and now look where they were. Some night job moving around cargo. EXALT deserved better.

The Elders were far too slow with integrating Earth into their greater Empire. Far too slow with offering more extensive genetic modifications. Humanity was on the verge of a new era and the Elders stifled that. It needed to be fixed. Just before he could hear anymore, one of them spotted him. He was quickly cornered and beaten. But he managed to escape as the scuffle caught the attention of some others. And now he was here.

In reality, most of that didn't happen. But there was an EXALT cell that Bones wanted gone from the city. They were causing some trouble for his inside man besides causing other headaches. Though it looked as if Rautt's story was working.

Hearing the name EXALT, the guard immediately put in an order for Rautt's place of work to be searched. All civilians that worked there would have their backgrounds checked. Then they called Durga.

Within fives minutes of the call, Durga was on the first floor. She set her frigid eyes on Rautt as she exited the elevator.

"What's this about EXALT in the city?" She spoke to the guard first. They explained to her what Rautt told them.

Rautt felt his breathing hitch for just a second as soon as she arrived. His heart thumped rapidly as their eyes met. To be so close to an Elite ADVENT agent, someone so dangerous.

"Speak. Citizen." Durga turned her attention to Rautt. Her arms were crossed.

Rautt cleared his throat. He had a job to finish and couldn't let his mask slip too much. Just as he was about to speak, a window shattered. And so did his skull. The receptionist screamed.

Blood and brains painted just about everyone; Rautt's body twitched for a few seconds before collapsing. The guards quickly moved to cover and called in the shot. Durga grimaced. Eyes studying what remained of Rautt's skull before looking at where the shot came from. The window above the door was shattered. Purple suddenly flashed before her eyes, causing her to squint. As quick as it came, it disappeared, but something in the back of her mind told her to look down. Just a hunch, and annoying feeling that she knew the origin of that purple light.

As she looked down, on her chest was a purple dot, shaking every so slightly around her heart. It disappeared for a moment, then reappear. This repeated a few times for a few minutes.

... . .-.. .-.. - / .-. .- .. -. - . -.. / .-.. .- -.. -.- .-.-.- / -.- - ..- .-. ...- . / -. - - / ...- . .-. - .. -. / .. -. / -.- - ..- .-. / -.-. .-.. .. -. .. -.-. .-.-.- / - ... . / . .-.. -.. . .-. ... / .- .. ... ... / ..-. - .-. / - . / - - / ... . .-.. .-. / -.- - ..- / -.-. .-.. . .- -. / - ... .- - / ..- .-. .-.-.- / -..- - -..- -

She wrinkled her nose once the dot fully disappeared. "Kon-Ris…" Morse code. Really? She huffed through her nose. He could have just called and not caused a mess. Then a thought crossed her mind. Perhaps their communication network was compromised. A call would have tipped off this "vermin" he spoke of. And then the cameras had been acting odd today. Great.

"Raise the alarms. Sweep all the floors. We have company." She told the guards before heading back to the elevator. She had a doctor to guard and was not going to risk the Hunter getting "bored" for just a second and shoot her. If he did, she would have his head.


A few minutes before the present…

"I'm quite curious about what your people are doing here, Gresham. Especially working so closely with this sept of tech dabbling Reapers." Kon-Ris continued his chatter as he watched the XCOM soldiers quickly scurrying down the pipe connected to the roof once those alarms were raised. The temptation to sever the supports to the pipe was quite strong, but he resisted it. Something more interesting was going on. He shifted his attention to the windows just below the roof. Durga had caught up to the others.

"Quite the troublesome bunch. I like them. As dangerous as me. But the Elders insist I interrupt this party." Such kill joys They were. "But I want to pick that brain of yours, Gresham. What has you attempting to whisk away this doctor at such a heavily guarded Gene Clinic? Durga will have your people's heads."

CRASH!

Just seconds later, that window shattered after Durga's attack, sending Iris and Dr. Vox sailing out the window and crashing to the concrete below.

"What a strike!" Kon-Ris laughed. "Wonder if sister ever spars with Durga." He shifted his sights to the poor souls on the ground. Pooling blood glistened and rippled around the two as the rain grew heavier. And that flying robot, A Gremlin, frantically circling above the two. "I wonder if they survived the fall…" At the slightest tap, the scope zoomed in on them just as that mountain man, Warden, had arrived. Blackout arrived shortly after him. Warden was quickly checking to see if Iris had a pulse, as those eyes of his were dull. The man suddenly gasped, eyes springing to life as he coughed and sputtered, before suddenly convulsing. Hearing the familiar yelling of Troopers, Blackout quickly provided covering fire for Warden as he dragged his teammate over towards a dumpster for cover.

"Huh. Seems like one is. Won't be surprised if every single bone in his body is broken. Probably the same for the doctor." He carefully adjusted his grip on his rifle as he locked his sights on the head of Iris. Warren was prying off the gas mask, and his mouth was covered in blood. "Let me just double tap the both of them and put them out of their misery. I feel like being generous today."

"Oh, no you don't." Bones said.

"Hm? — Ack!"

Searing green plasma bolts rained down on a rooftop not to far away from the Clinic.

"There he is." The sudden light show on one monitor caught Commander Reeves' attention.

"Looks like Bones' people found him. Track where he goes." Central ordered. The Hunter was already scrambling for cover.

"Found me already? You guys are good." Kon-Ris laughed. Though he loathed his psionic capabilities, he threw up a quick shield to give himself a breather from the plasma fire. "But I'm better. Let's see how well you know this city." Eyeing the nearby ledge, he grinned. The next second, he sprinted for the edge and dove off the roof and into the darkness below. A blinding flash of purple filled the alleyway. The next second, it disappeared and there was no Hunter to be found.

"He hasn't gone too far. Listen for the grappling hook of his." Bones told his people. "And Von Tron, get ready. Feel like we're going to have to use it soon."

"Dammit." Central cursed under his breath as several warning signs flashed on his screen. He brought up a few windows and saw those familiar black boxes flying through the sky and towards the clinic.

"Menace 1, you've got multiple dropships heading your way besides half the city's forced converging on your area. You need to get moving now. Firebrand is on her way to the evac point."

"You don't say!" Blackout yelled as she ducked for cover as a hail of bullets came her way.

"Working on stabilizing, Iris." Warden said. Iris had finally stopped convulsing. "The blood just won't stop…" He mumbled, a hand pressed down on the grievous wounds, as another fumbled to get at a medkit on his waste. His Gremlin and Daedalus were circling above them. As the two were scanning and trading data, he ignored their constant beeping. He didn't need to look at it. He knew there were many broken bones. Eyes glanced down at the man's left arm. The thing was twisted at an odd angle and he saw that familiar white piercing the skin. H didn't even want to think of what shape his organs were in.

"And we've… we've got a problem." Hexx's voice hitched ever so slightly.

She and Warlord were still with Durga. Her finger shakily tightened on the trigger of her revolver as she watched the woman. She hadn't moved an inch after she had threatened her and Warlord. She was just studying the two. But she could see those fingers on her blade were slowly tightening.

"Hexx…" Warlord glanced back at her and then that window. Their freedom. He looked back at Durga. Still as a stone and cold eyes to match. He didn't like it. He glared back and gritted his teeth, fighting his grip on his shard gun. "Break that window and get to the fire escape."

"Warlord, what are y—"

"Just get to that fuckin' fire escape!" He snapped at her. "Get to the others!"

His sudden snapping shocked her for a moment, as she wasn't used to when he got serious, and then there was a slight hint of fear in his voice. But hearing the yells of the clinic guards coming around the corner snapped her back to reality. She backtracked a few steps before turning around and breaking into a full blow sprint for the window. She fired at it several times, shattering the glass.

Durga's eyes swiftly shifted to Hexx. She raised her blade and took a step forward. The next step, she broke out into a sprint. Warlord cursed on the inside. He had a sinking feeling just who the woman was gunning for. His finger pulled the trigger. It felt as time slowed as Durga swept past him, undisturbed by the alloy fragments ripping into her right sleeve and grazing her skin. She didn't strike him. Her eyes were fully set on Hexx.

As he turned to take another shot, his eyes went wide before they quickly furrowed as fire overtook them. Just a few more steps and she would be at Hexx's neck.

"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!" He snarled before giving chase.

Warlord felt like his heart was going to jump out of his throat as he gave chase. A hand reached out to catch the tail of her kimono, but it kept slipping from his grasp. She was just too fast. And getting too close to his best friend.

"NOW! Von Tron!" That deep voice of Bones suddenly popped on their comms. "Blackout time."

The lights flickered in the clinic before suddenly going out. The same happened to the alley below and the streets. And the rest of the city. Block by block, the lights were going out like a snuffed candle light, plunging the city into darkness.

"What the hell?" Several staff on the Bridge said as the videos to the monitors flicker and went out one by one.

"Menace 1, come in! Menace 1, can you hear me?" Central said. There was just static.

A moment later, video feeds came back on. A few were pitch black. The moonlight barely provided any illumination — not helped by the rain — but a few cameras had night vision.

"Can h—r you, C—tral. What's go—g on?" Warden responded, but his voice was choppy.

"ADV—T's sto—ed sh—ng!" Blackout was just as choppy.

"Hold on, can't hear you guys." Central gritted his teeth. He ordered for the signals to be bolstered.

"G—z, the — dark! Barely — see a thing! But ADVENT's stopped shooting! And I think they're clutching their heads? Sounds like they're in pain." The boosted signal cleared up Blackout's speech.

"What the hell?" Central mumbled, hearing that. He looked at her camera feed. Those Troopers that were hounding them moments ago were clutching their heads, stumbling around, and crying out. "What the hell…" He mumbled again and even more so when an alert popped up on his screen. He glanced at the new information. Then he looked at one of monitors and noticed the dropships looked like they were going off course. Something wasn't right. "Dimitri! Is this information correct?"

"Double checking!" She said. "Something is causing the AI on those dropships to reroute them to a new destination. Outside of the city so far. And then…" She paused, raising a hand to that headset she was wearing. She grimaced. "S-s-something's is dumping a massive amount of junk data into the Tactical side of the Network. So much junk. This is… disorientating trying to find the good stuff."

"Haze." Bones spoke up. "Von Tron says you may want to take that headset off. He's doing his best to keep that data from flowing over to you, but he got a bit too giddy with his programming for this little stunt."

A hiss escaped her lips as she felt a headache come on suddenly. She tried holding on, but the more junk data flooding the system, the greater her headache became. "Yeah.. this is coming off." With a little work, she reluctantly took off the headset and set it aside. Eyes shaking, she bobbed back and forth for a moment before setting her head on her console. That headache had grown worse, and she was turning pale. Someone was already getting a doctor for her.

"You guys' communication should be unaffected now, and a few cameras should be back up." Bones said. "Patch! You and your people mop up the soldiers bothering Blackout and Warden. And keep an eye on them. And watch out for the Vipers! They won't be bothered like the rest of ADVENT. Nor will Kon-Ris. Mica and Linus! You guys get to work on those data centers before ADVENT gets things sorted!"

As he gave orders to Patch, the alley lit up green as several Troopers cried out. On queue, a thunderous shot rang out and a few of Bones' men cried out.

"Peekaboo." It was the Hunter. "You have my full attention now like XCOM. And this little stunt has shut the Elders up for a bit. Thank you. Crippled the city's Network. They're freaking out."

"Knew you didn't go far. Stay on your toes, everyone. The game's on." Bones chuckled. "You can't hide from us."

"I'd like to see you all find me. Let's make this night special."

"So this is what he's been saving." Commander Reeves mumbled as she watched everything unfold. At least the Hunter was partially distracted by Bones' people. That would give her people some breathing room. But she would not forget this. She was going to have a long talk with Bones and his inside man, Von Tron. She wondered what position the man had to do this.

Then an important thought crossed her mind. "Blackout! Check on the doctor!" The doctor had to be doing just as poorly as Iris.

"On it!" Before she took off, Warden tossed her a medkit.

"Ah…"

A sharp hiss exited Durga's lips as she felt something pierce her mind. Her vision grew blurry. As she raised her hand to head, her moments grew sluggish as her body shuttered. She grunted, not only from a growing headache, but she felt her kimono suddenly tighten around her neck. She glanced back, partially making out a few glows in the darkness.

"I SAID GET AWAY FROM HER!" Warlord's voice boomed. He had a firm grip on her kimono and was pulling her back. She grimaced at that. He would taste her blade. She turned to strike him. A sharp, thunderous sound rung out.

"ARGH!"

But as she turned, she felt a great impact against her abdomen that caused her to cry out before stealing her breath away. Several sharp shards penetrated her armor and tore into her stomach. Orange blood sprayed out. Warlord let go of her kimono as she was thrown back from the near point blank blast. She crashed to the floor. Her wakizashi clattered to the side. With her down, Warlord rushed over to Hexx, quickly turning on the flashlight mounted to his gun.

"What the hell…" Hexx wasn't quite sure what she had witnessed in the dark, and was less sure of what was going on in general.

"WE MOVE! NOW!" Warlord's yelling snapped her back to reality, and the two headed down the fire escape to meet up with the others. When they reached the second floor, he stepped on the railing and jumped off of it. He yelled for Hexx to do that same mid-jump.

"Just like I taught you. Bend, tuck, and roll!"

But Hexx just continued down and took the ladder. She did not have faith in her fledging free running skills. He had taught her a lot, but she was not a daredevil like him. Warlord stuck a bit of a slippery landing, but was no worse for wear. He rushed over to Warden. Hexx wasn't far behind.

"How's poindexter doing?" He asked sincerely. He couldn't believe the blood trail he saw and was shocked to see Iris' chest raise and fall, if shakily.

"Stable for now." Warden said as he finished sealing up the last part of the nasty wound Iris had sustained. "Need to get him to the Skyranger asap!

"Help… Dr… Vox…" Iris sputtered. His body trembled more as he tried to raise an arm.

"Stop talking and stop moving!" Warden quickly held that arm down, surprised he could even move it. "Man… you shouldn't even be able to talk. Or alive, for that matter." His eyes glanced over to his data pad and all the data the Gremlins were still sending him from the scans. It was a miracle he survived that fall and an even bigger one that he was still holding on.

"Need some more spray!" Blackout yelled out.

"Take this to Blackout!" Warden pulled around medkit from his pouch and tossed it to Warlord. Once he was done treating Iris, he carefully picked him up. "Hexx, give me some light as we head to Firebrand." Hexx nodded, and the two were off.

Warlord nearly dropped the medkit, not expecting it to be tossed. "Got it! Will catch up to you guys." He took off towards Blackout.

As Warlord made it to Blackout and Dr. Vox, he could see the prognosis was grim. Her body was just as twisted and Iris'. He could count about 7 places where he could tell her bones broke the skin just from how her clothes looked. Blackout was clamping down on a deep neck wound that just wouldn't stop bleeding. Though diluted by the pouring rain, the blood pooling around her was massive and her skin was beyond pale. She was shaking badly.

"Hold it tight." He told Blackout as he applied the spray. The wound started to seal up.

Dr. Vox let out a strangled gasp as the medicine stung. "The data stick… in my pocket… take it… don't think… I can hold on…" Her eyes looked down as she tried to reach for her jacket pocket, but her limbs just wouldn't work. Her eyes were growing dim.

"Nah, nah, nah, you're making it out tonight." Warlord shook his head.

"Warlord…" But Blackout had a feeling what was coming. She removed her hands from the doctor's neck and quickly fetched that all important data stick from her pocket.

A pained chuckle left the doctor's lips. Ah, that optimism. She wished she had that. "Best of luck… to you all. And I'm sorry… Reeves… for what was done." After she said that, she stopped shaking. Her breathing stopped.

"Dammit." He cursed.

A moment later, he started picking the doctor up. "Get going, I got her."

"She's dead, Warlord." Blackout said.

"I know," he cast a glare at her as he slung the body over his shoulder, "but don't want them bloody aliens picking at her brain. They'll find out about her defection and whoever else was working with her." That was something Warlord was always paranoid about after witnessing a Sectoid "raise" an old friend from the dead and the puppet'd corpse said something that there was no way the Sectoid could have known unless they picked at the memories.

"Warlord, leave the doctor. We've got the data stick." Commander Reeves butted in. She somewhat believed that was true, but with everything going on they needed to leave the city fast. "You don't need the dead weight slowing you down. Especially with the Hunter still around."

Just as she said that, she heard some curses from Bones' people. Sounded like they hadn't found his new hiding spot and the blue devil had hit someone else. Central pointed out one camera feed. A glimpse of Bones people on a rooftop. Someone was on the ground screaming their head off as they clutched at their left knee. What was left of it. The calf barely hung on by the threads of muscles that were left.

"New ammo again." Central grimaced at the sight.

"Geez." The Commander mumbled under her breath.

"I feel like being generous now. Heart and headshots get boring and I want you all to stick around longer. Especially for future encounters. So… you can walk that off later." Kon-Ris darkly chuckled.

"Uh sorry *shzt* Commander *shzt* think that thing *shzt* Bones did is making you *shzt* break up!"

Commander's head whipped back over to Warlord's and Blackout's screen. As he was saying this, his screen was oddly shaking. Looking at Blackout's screen explained why. He was punching at his right ear.

"No… don't tell me he's about to—"

A few good strikes and a sharp hiss went through the comms before it went silent.

"Did you seriously just do that!?" Blackout was rubbing her ear from the sudden his. She felt like he was smirking under that mask of his.

"Did he just… break his earpiece?" Commander Reeves felt her brow twitch. She didn't believe what she just saw.

"Yep. Dammit, Warlord." Central shook his head.

Central eyed new information coming in on his workstation. The Information Network was still being flooded with that junk data and ADVENT was more or less immobilized. Warden and Hexx had run into some Vipers and Mutons on their way to the Skyranger, but another group of Bones' people were providing them with strong support. So maybe Warlord could carry the doctor's corpse to the Skyranger with no problem? As long as the Hunter played nice.

"You will not leave here alive!" A female voice snarled. But they had a problem.

"Oh, ya fuckin kidding me…" Warlord's eyes twitched. Just as he and Blackout were moving. He didn't want to look, but he did. His head quickly spun around as soon as he heard the voice.

It was Durga. Mid leap, hair splayed out like an angry witch. Whipping in the wind, with a scowl that was only exaggerated by her face paint. That kimono of hers was gone, revealing the armored suit she wore underneath. She landed on the concrete hard, before quickly getting up like it was nothing. Her eyes snapped onto Warlord, the one who wounded eyes were full of rage. But also twitching. She drew another blade from her back and dashed at him.

"Seems like you pissed her off!" Blackout turned and fired a few shrapnel volleys at Durga. Though there was still a slight delay to her movements, the elite agent dodged the blasts almost as if she was firing in slow motion. But a few squirts of that orange blood appeared and so did a grimace.

"A point blank blast to the stomach tends to do that!" He couldn't believe Durga was still moving after that hit. But she was a heavily modified elite agent. "MOVE! MOVE!"

"Whoa! FUCK!" He barely dodged a strike aimed at his neck, but the second swipe got him on his right shoulder. Cutting through the metal pauldron, and reinforced padding underneath, like they didn't exist. The blade bit hard. A searing pain radiated from the wound and through his body. He stumbled, nearly dropping the doctor, but kept moving.

"Howler!" Bones yelled.

"Got it, boss!" Howler responded

As Durga was about to strike again, aiming a strike at his spine, she let out a sharp cry as a plasma bolt struck her in the back. It was soon followed by another that hit her just where the point blank blast struck minutes ago.

"No, no, no. Hands off the Brit." Bones said.

Durga let out a snarl. She was about to move and strike Warlord again, only for a plasma shot to hit her hand, burning it and knocking her blade free. And then she was struck in the back again and then a shot from Blackout hit her chest. The sudden onslaught forced her to seek cover.

"KON-RIS!" She yelled to the sky. Where was the help he promised her?

"Tch. Tch. Tch. Haven't heard his this pissed since she and Yorrick got into a fight. And that was messy." Kon-Ris tutted. He was still working on disabling those pesky Reapers, enjoying his unfound perch. But hearing Durga's angry cry for help, he turned his attention to her plight. His scope applied an x-ray vision, allowing him to peer through the walls. He found her, pinned down by plasma fire, hunched over, clutching her newest wounds.

"Well, that's not fair." He then shifted his attention to the two XCOM operatives running. "Huh." He wondered why one of them was carrying the doctor's body. "Anyway…" He quickly swapped out mags to something stronger. Had to pierce through a few buildings to hit him. With a fresh mag in, he readjusted his grip and zoomed in on Warlord, aiming for those legs. "Let me give her a helping hand. Don't need those knees now, do you?"

"No, no, no." Bones spoke.

"What the?" All the readings on the Hunter's scope distorted before becoming blurry. His targets blended in with the background before it became static. "This again?" He frowned, remembering what happened at that Blacksite. He smacked his scope a few times. "The Elders assured me They fixed that little issue. Guess They lied or Their engineers are as incompetent as They are prideful."

He shrugged and removed the scope, stashing it in one of his pouches, before retaking position to snipe Warlord. "But I don't need the scope to still shoot you." He didn't need it. Sometimes it was a crutch. All he needed was his eyes and his inherent skills. Precognition. He found the operatives again, finally in a are where the buildings wouldn't block his view, and honed in onto Warlord. They were almost to that flying bird of theirs. The only resistance in their way were some Vipers and Mutons, but they were pinned down by Bones' people.

"You see Kon-Ris Ororos, you've been underestimating me. A lot." Bones said.

"Oh? I have?"

"One, I'm nothing like Volk. Yes, I'm a Reaper, but we don't always see eye to eye."

"You're dabble with a lot of alien tech like those Reaper defectors, the Silent Striders. Big deal." He had known that for ages. "What else have I missed?"

"Two." A soft chuckle left Bones' lips. He had his scope trained on the Hunter. He had found where the Chosen had moved to. One of the taller buildings that gave Kon-Ris a good view of the surrounding area. This one had a lot of greenery on it that hide the Hunter and his heat signature pretty well. His finger tugging ever so slightly on the trigger to his heavily modified Vektor rifle. "Von Tron." Suddenly, lights flickered to life on the rooftop the Hunter. Lighting him up like a Christmas tree.

"What the?" Kon-Ris looked around, noticing the flood lights. How did he miss those? Then a deep, robotic and distorted laugh started to play.

"I know your patterns. I know your perches. Always check your perch. Tomko always did."

Those bright lights shifted to a blood red and pulsed. And pulsed quickly.

"Sneaky devil." Kon-Ris grinned. He knew what this meant. "I knew I liked you." Ever so cheery in the face of death. It was always a pleasant rush to his system and sometimes he longed for that long, cold sleep. He quickly holstered his rifle and moved to the roof's edge. "You keep things interesting. Just like XCOM."

As he reached the edge, he fired off his grappling hook.

"Oh, no you don't." Just as Kon-Ris fired off his grappling hook, a bolt of plasma severed the line, stranding the Hunter. The next moment, the rooftop lit up like an inferno. Flames swiftly quickly consumed the Hunter as he cursed. He disappeared as the roof crumpled underneath him to quickly for him to react. The ground shook and windows to nearby buildings shattered.

"What the hell, Bones!?" Both Commander Reeves and Central exclaimed. The views on the monitors were flickering in and out, but they caught glimpses of the burning aftermath.

"Relax. The building is empty. Same with the ones nearby. Made sure of it. No casualties." Bones explained nonchalantly. "Can't say much for the glass of neighboring buildings and the occupants' eardrums."

"That's still overkill…" Commander Reeves ran her fingers through her hair. She wondered how that Speaker would spin things once everything cooled down.

"Well ADVENT already calls us terrorists, so this changes little…" Central shook his head. But knew this would could cause some issues for the future.

"It's a great way to knock him on his ass for a few weeks." Bones kept an eye on where the Hunter fell. So far there was no pillar of psionic light signaling the Chosen's departure. "Hm… Though it seems like he may have upgraded his armor. Finally."

"Central, this is Firebrand. All operatives are onboard." Music to their ears.

His eyes shifted to the camera feeds of their soldiers. Warlord was the last to get on and that ramp was closing. "Good. Get going!"

Before the ramp fully closed, the Skyranger was off.

"Leo, why in the world did you bring the doctor with you?" Still making sure Iris stayed stabilized, Warden watched as he put the doctor's body in a seat. They had heard the conversation of the doctor dying. Such a risk he took carrying dead weight.

Warlord tapped the side of his head. "Her brain." Once he had the body buckled in, he took off his mask and wiped the sweat off his face. And smearing just a bit of the doctor's blood on it. What a crazy night.

"That dumb superstition of yours?"

"Sod off! It's bloody real!"

"Let's not argue right now!" Hexx stepped in. "Just… let's not…"

Iris let out a pained laugh that soon transitioned into a coughing fit. Warden quieted him.

Hearing the laugh, Warlord went over to the two. He couldn't believe how bad Iris looked. That blue balaclava he usually wore around his neck was just soaked in his blood. Bits and pieces of bone jutted out of his skin. And that brown skin of his was pale and soaked with sweat. He kneeled down and tightly gripped his hand.

Iris grimaced. Felt like his nerves were on fire. He shifted his eyes to look at Warlord.

"Don't die on me, ya blighter." Warlord said, squeezing his hand again. Even with how the two constantly butted heads, he didn't want the guy to die. "We still got a few grudges to settle and you're the only one on the ship that knows how to make some bloody good kohl. And I want to hear that talk on those weird electro-windows things from earlier."

Iris closed his eyes tightly. A snort came out before another pained laughed. What the hell was with this guy? He still didn't like him too much, but could tell he was being sincere with his terrible choice of words. "You… are… an… ass…" Warlord just grinned.

"Let me get the gash on your shoulder." Blackout said as she pulled out one of the medkits stored on the ship and went to treat him.

"Ah. There you are."

Bones still had his sights trained on the burning building the Hunter fell into and finally caught a glimpse of him. A few floors down, he saw that familiar blue arm reach out, grab a beam, and pull. Then he saw those bright purple eyes. They were looking at him. Some of Kon-Ris' clothing had burned away and his armor was scorched along with some his skin. Orange blood was running down his face. A face that only had a wide smile. A smile painted with blood.

"You're pretty good, Bones." He let out a pain laugh, face twisting into a grimace as he suddenly clutched at his chest. "Always one upping yourself every time we meet. Always trying something new to irritate the Elders. To kill me. Something about you makes me nostalgic. Just something about those antics makes one of those voices in my head louder."

He pulled himself up further and leaned on some debris. "And now you're helping XCOM. You've got yourself a wildcard, Commander Gresham… The Elders won't let me hear the end of this after tonight." He always found hunting Bones sept of Reapers fun, but like the main faction, he took his time with whittling them down. Though weak humans, they were more entertaining prey than what the Elders employed. They actually put up a fight. They could think for themselves and didn't have a Tactical Information Network as a crutch. And then they had skills he could appreciate. Fellow hunters like him.

"You've just made my job harder. Like I have little choice in the matter." He hunched over again before vomiting. A mixture of bile and blood. "Ah… think something just snapped again… Time for me to leave. Till we meet again. I'll have your number again. I promise that!"

A pillar of psionic light erupted around the Hunter and reached high into the sky. A second later, it disappeared, and he was gone.

"And there he goes. Like to see him try to catch me again." Bones chuckled as he lowered his rifle. "Now that's less headache before this blackout is fixed." He hoisted his rifle and started to move. He had things he needed to check on.

"How are your people, Commander Reeves?" He asked.

"Safe for the most part and on their way home." She answered. She noticed a notification. The med team was ready to whisk Iris down into the Medbay as soon as they arrived. Something good, but she wondered if Iris would even survive the next few hours.

"Don't worry about us. We knew the risks. We'll get our dead home before the night is over." He said. "Also, be prepared for ADVENT to step of their security after this."

"I would be surprised if they didn't." Headaches for the future, but something they expected to eventually happen with all raids they've done over the months.

"Commander, if you don't mind, I have a favor to ask." Bones said.

"Yes, Bones?" She wondered if he remembered she wanted to have a long talk with him due to several things. Then she remembered some comments Bones has made towards Warlord earlier. "I don't think Warlord wants to deal with you for quite sometime."

"Not that." He laughed deeply. "Though he will learn to love dealing with me in the future." Both laughed. "The favor… the favor deals with Elena."

"Elena? What about her?" She asked.

"Tell her I don't think she's crazy. It's taken some years, but I fully believe her now. Finding a way to bring him back."

Bring him back? Looked like a night of more cryptic nonsense she had to decipher. "Exactly what is that supposed to mean?"

"She'll know what it means." He chuckled. "And give your man Warlord my thanks. He's saving my guy Von Tron a lot of headache later by taking Dr. Vox's body."

"So Warlord's superstitions have some truth to them?"

"Maybe. What we're worried about is them her hacked chip from her brain. Von Tron does not want them finding out how that happened any time soon."

"So that was his handy work." She really wanted to talk to this Von Tron. What information could they gain from him? "I can understand that being a major concern. I'll pass on my thanks." After giving the soldier an earful first. Perhaps she'd let Corvo handle that for tonight. "And is there a possibility Von Tron would be willing to share how to hack these chips?"

He laughed as if he expected that. "He's thinking about it. Has some kinks he's still working out, so they can't ever be reactivated."

"Mhm. I'll hold him to that."

"Till we meet again, Commander. Can't wait for our nice long talk." He cut off their communication link.

"Hmm…" She rubbed her chin. Bones was a strange one. Her mind went back to what he said about Elena. "Doesn't think she's crazy? He believes her? Trying to bring him back?" That really piqued her curiosity. Maybe she could finally have a proper sit down and talk with Elena. Talking to her was like pulling teeth. Even Mox was more open than her and he had to deal with some of the crew's hostility towards him.

"I need to make a note of that." She looked over to Central. "Central, schedule a meeting between me and Elena sometime toni— No, she's doing a recon mission with Yoko and Reever. When? When?"

"How about four or so days from now?" He suggested. As soon as he was done with his current task, he would get that settled for her. "Give you some… rest," he gestured to the monitors, "and give her some rest as we get settled in America."

She nodded. "Sounds good to me." She then sighed, closing her eyes. "And really need to get my thoughts together after everything tonight and prepared for what we'll find out from all the stuff Dr. Vox gave to us." Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she opened her eyes.

"Things will be fine, Jynn." He gave her a reassuring squeeze. "I don't think the info will be any worse than what we already know and what you've shared with me from those 'dreams'."

She hesitantly smiled. She hated she was remembering more and more fragmented bits and pieces of her imprisonment. Especially everything dealing with experimentation. "Hopefully not."


The Skyranger made it back to the Avenger a few hours later. Actually, much faster than they had initially left for the operation, as Firebrand was burning some fuel for Manson's sake. As soon as the Skyranger touched down, they were lowered into the Armory, and that ramp opened, the med team had Manson on a gurney and were rushing him out of the room. Another team pulled out Dr. Vox's body and were taking her down to Tygan so he could extract her chip. And someone had to hold on tight to Daedalus. The Gremlin wanted to be with Manson so badly and was making a lot of noise. Trish handed off the container the doctor had given her to the crew.

As the rest of the team was exiting the Skyranger, Warren and Trish were giving Leo a few good smacks to the back of his head for his antics. Asher stuck back and help the crew clean the blood out of the Skyranger. She did hand off that crystal data stick to one of the crew so they could take it to either Tygan, Shen, or someone else just as qualified as the two.

"You're lucky Durga didn't get you again because of Bones' people. Her blades must be as sharp as the Assassin's." After having smacked Leo's head, Warren's fingers were going over Leo's damaged armor. A clean slice through the metal. Metal salvaged and remade from a mix of ADVENT armor and alien alloys. Like all the hard work, the Research team and Foundry crew meant nothing. They had to strengthen their armor if they had more encounters like this.

"And breaking your earpiece!?" Trish exclaimed as she punched him in the side this time. "What in the world were you thinking!? And do you know how much work goes into making these things!?"

"Stop before the both of you give me a fuckin concussion!" Leo swatted their hands away before rubbing his sore head. "I was thinking in the moment, okay?"

"Hello, Leo." Corvo said with a grin. Leo immediately flinched as soon as he heard that deep voice.

Just a few feet in front of them, the Training Officer was standing at the entrance to the Armory with his arms crossed and was tapping his foot.

"Oh, fuck…" Leo mumbled under his breath. He was expecting the Commander. Not him.

Corvo only grinned more. "Oh? Scared? You know we're just going to have a friendly chat."

"That's a fuckin' lie, slave driver!" They were never just friendly chats. He stopped in his tracks. He was not getting anywhere near the man.

Trish and Warren looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They then shoved Leo's hesitant butt and as soon as he was in reach, Corvo grabbed his arm and quickly wrapped an arm around Leo's neck. Leo was already trying to break free, but Corvo had a stronghold.

"Now our talk won't be too bad now. Commander Reeves has told me to go easy on you since your little stunt actually helped out Bones and his inside man." He squeezed Leo's neck for a second, which made the man squeak. "Though breaking that earpiece. Tch. Tch. Tch. Lily and the engineers aren't too happy about that."

Leo cursed at Warren and Trish as Corvo dragged him out of the Armory.

"Whatcha think he's gonna do to him this time?" Warren glanced at Trish.

"Besides the usual," she shrugged, "probably have him help the engineers reroute and rewire those hard to reach places on the outside of the Avenger AND finally teach those climbing classes he's been trying to get him to do."

"Oooh." Warren winced at the idea. He knew Leo was a skilled climber, as limber and mobile as a monkey, but having him climb the Avenger's exterior would be evil. "Hope he'll let Leo wear a harness or have a landing pad nearby if he loses his grip."

They continued their speculations as they turned in their weapons and took off their armor, before heading down to the Medbay for their own quick health checks.


Sometime before Manson's arrival to the Medbay, Commander Reeves was there letting the doctors have a quick look over her after the operation.

"Everything looks fine, Commander." Dr. Chalsa said as she finished the exam. "Still got some adrenaline flowing through your system, but after you told me what happened with that operation, I see why."

"Nothing weird with the neural pathways?" Jynn asked.

"None. Back to normal, but I'm sending the data over to Marin." She said. "But take it easy for the rest of the night."

Jynn nodded. "I'll try to, but you know how the job is."

"Commander to the Bridge. Commander to the Bridge. Priority One call." The ship's AI said through the intercom. Both of them looked up before looking at each other.

"Speaking of job." She shook her head and Chalsa laughed. Of course that would happen. She gave her thanks to the medical team, words of encouragement to them and Manson as soon as he was rolled in, and left. As she was making her was back to the Bridge, she slipped on her earpiece.

"Central, who's contacting us on the emergency channel? And what's the call about?" She asked.

"It's the Silent Striders, Commander." He answered. "They've got a problem at one of their havens is being attacked. ADVENT raid. It's the haven around the mountains in Terelj, Mongolia. "

"Chosen? Or is it the usual 'Butcher'?" She asked, remembering some terrifying new war hound has been plaguing them. "At least this time of year the troops don't have to deal with cold weather, though the night might be chilly."

"No, so far no trace of the madman. But whoever is leading them is still brutal. They're taking heavy casualties as they're trying to evacuate the civilians."

She closed her eyes tightly when she heard that. She wondered if the Elders purposefully sent out a strike team in response to what happened in the city. Force their hand and stretch them thin. "Let's get a team together, then." She wasn't going to leave the Silent Striders hanging.

"Already getting the Skyranger refueled and switching out Firebrand for Stellar Echo."

"Good, she needs a break after everything today."

Once she was on a Bridge, she quickly put together the team they would be sending out. Once the Skyranger was good to go, and the team was geared up, they were off. Central asked her if she needed a break, but she said she was fine. Helping the Silent Striders chase off ADVENT shouldn't be as stressful as the previous operation.

"Missions back to back." She shook her head as she watched the Skyranger take off.

"Like the old days. And well now." Central chuckled.

"Well, if those 'mini bases' ever grow to the point they can field some Skyrangers, I can see that happening… much to my chagrin." She let out a slight sigh as her shoulder dropped. She a strong feeling that would eventually happen. But tt would be something good for the Resistance. They would have more ways of taking care of business when the Avenger was halfway around the world, despite it being more work for them to keep it all coordinated.

"I just wonder who's leading this attack?" She scratched her chin, leaning back in her chair. "What new ADVENT unit will we see?"