This chapter is unrelated to the main story. You could consider this chapter a brief intermission from your regularly scheduled programming, or a marker for 1 year of work on this story.

Sappy Opener

Hey guys, It's been a hell of a ride so far. A lot has happened in the time I've worked on this. I wanted to address the people reading my story, and the 1-year anniversary of Advent Provides seemed like a good excuse to do it. It may not seem like it's been that long, but it took some work to get to this point. It's quite an achievement for me, since this is the longest I've ever worked on one story. When I started writing Advent Provides I was posting updates on pastebin, but they put a stop to all the stories that were getting posted there, so I had to move my story to other places. The move was successful, not that it was very difficult (CTRL+c, CTRL+v). I didn't think I'd be working on it for over a year, but here I am, still working on it. Credit where credit is due, that's thanks in part to you guys: the people giving me feedback. Some of whom I have interacted with, and the ones I haven't who are just enjoying the story. Also, surprisingly enough to some artists: deltaV. Who drew up some fanart depicting scenes from Advent Provides out of nowhere. More than once, might I add, that was quite the compliment. Also to Lovelocked, who drew something when I was reminding everyone about the 1-year anniversary. Never thought in a million years people would like my story enough to be inspired to draw anything from it, and that is incredible. I'd link to their stuff here, but I don't know if they store their stuff anywhere.

I never thought AP would be as popular as it is now when I started. The fact that there are over 10 people actively reading the chapters I put out amazes me to this day. Not that I'm not confident in my own writing skills, you have to be somewhat confident in your abilities to put yourself out there. What I mean is, I remember when I started writing this and I thought 100 views in total was impressive because I hadn't seen any interest in my writing, until I wrote this story. I've learned a lot from writing AP, thanks to all the feedback I have gotten, and I'd like to think I'm becoming a better writer because of it. That's the thing with writing you have to write to improve. And, so long as I keep improving, that's enough for me to keep at it.

So, what's next for Advent Provides? There are still more chapters to be written, but with each one we come closer and closer to the end. As sad as that is, no story can go on forever, and the ones that do lose their punch after a while. I've always had an ending for AP in mind, and we are approaching it. What comes next? Not sure yet, I have a few Ideas written up for new stories to work on after I finish AP. Never thought I'd get this far, but I'm a writer, it's my hobby. So, I will keep writing even after AP is finished.

These "author notes" are just a short thank you to you guys: for the feedback and for reading my story. I don't think I've done that yet. And the chapter I wrote for this occasion is a celebration of my commitment to this story. I said it before, but 1 year is the longest I've ever focused on a story. These few paragraphs are the only sappiness/humility you'll get from me for a while, so enjoy it while it lasts, and what I wrote up for this special occasion. Now for the pretentious explanation of what the hell I wrote.

Pretentious explanation

There exists an infinite number of possibilities of things that can happen. Thoughts spoken and left unspoken can affect events within the physical world. Most choices, if changed, would not affect outcomes much. Eating toast instead of cereal for breakfast is not changing anything. But, for every 1000 trivial choices there is 1 important choice. One that can drastically change where you end up, depending on what you do. For example, what if two brothers, unsure of what the other would do, spoke to each other instead of hiding? What if they stayed side by side as they had always done, instead of allowing circumstance to separate them? What if it was the Rebellion that provided for our hero, instead of Advent? All interesting questions that will be answered, enter the slightly different world of Advent Takes.

Advent Takes

It was another operation. Granted, it was of above average importance. I stared down at my combat boots. Grey, like everything else I was wearing, for urban conflicts. The rhythmic humming of the transport engines calmed my nerves. It was just another mission, it'd end like all the others.

I felt someone smack on my shoulder. "Whatcha thinking about man?"

I looked up and saw the shit-eating grin of Squaddie TJ. His head was thin and tall which made his smile that much larger. "I'm thinking about how I might shoot you if you keep sneaking up on me like that." I chuckled.

He pointed at himself. "I'm the sneakiest motherfucker around. You only see me because I let you." He laughed.

Our chat caught the attention of another soldier, who pointed at him. "Don't you go agitatin my brother, he's the one directing you where to go. He might lead you right into a chryssalid nest." There was a hint of sarcasm to his tone.

TJ crossed his arms. "I doubt it. If he did that he wouldn't get to eat anymore of my famous chili."

I laughed. "You make a good point. Guess I'll have to make sure you make it home."

"I knew that'd get you, Sticks." He chuckled and walked back to his seat.

I sighed and looked somewhere else. My brother took off his helmet and held it under his arm. I saw my own face staring back at me. Well, my face plus a few scars; but at least he still had both his eyes and all his facial features. Course if he kept at it, that might change. "You sure you're ok?"

I nodded. "Yeah, just some pre-mission jitters, nothing new. I'll feel better once I can see the area we're landing in."

Everyone else in the transport was talking amongst themselves. So I was happy no one else saw how he doted on me.

He glanced back at the other soldiers. "Ok because if you're not feeling well, me and the boys could probably handle this one ourselves. You don't..."

His incessance annoyed me. "Look, dude, we've been over this before. I chose to do this. I can handle it."

That seemed to satisfy him. He nodded and slapped me on the shoulder twice. "That's what I like to hear. Stay focused, I know you can handle this, you've done it before." He paused for a moment and cleared his throat. "You should, ah give us another brief on the mission." He looked over his shoulder at the five other soldiers that were chatting inside the transport and nodded at two of them. "We got two rookies with us today, and I know they didn't read the mission report."

Nervousness pricked at my skin. "I'll, uh, do my best." He put his helmet on and walked over to his seat.

I took a deep breath and stood up, looking over at my fellow soldiers as I slammed my fist on the wall of the cab a few times to get their attention. They all turned to me in unison. "Alright guys. Seeing as we have some fresh blood with us today, I feel it necessary to go over the mission one more time before we touch down. So - uh, pay attention because this is the last time you will hear what we are doing."

I walked towards the back of the cab and started fiddling with the holographic projector at the back, but it was fried. One of the few sacrifices our organization had to make in order to steal a nearly fully functional Advent troop transport. Looking like an idiot in front of the people I was about to give orders to was not something I wanted to do. So instead of fucking with that projector for ten minutes; I summoned my drone from sleep mode using my phone and had it project a screen out for the soldiers to see.

With a beep, it projected out aerial photos of a ruined city. I pointed at the map. "This is where we are going - old Denver, as some of you may know it. It suffered the same fate as many other cities in the US, and has become an urban wasteland filled with the lost." I gestured to the two rookies, who seemed to be paying attention, and changed the slide to the one photo we had of the lost. Emaciated grey bald humanoids with glowing green eyes. "In case you two didn't know, the lost are what remain of the original human inhabitants of the city. They are zombies. There isn't a better word to describe them. And unlike how popular fiction depicts zombies, they are easy to kill with a well-placed shot. Don't feel bad about killing them either, none of their humanity remains. But, I cannot stress this enough: do not underestimate them. They move fast and will surround you until you run out of ammo. - These things are attracted to loud noises. So, use explosives only when necessary because once you do, we will have to extract before your position is overrun."

"Does everyone understand this?" The group murmured their yes's, including the two rookies.

I crossed my arms. "Good. There are other hazards in the city as well that are, uh - worth mentioning. It's - abandoned and - in disrepair, so watch your step. We don't need to have another mission jeopardized because someone fell off of a fire escape. This mission is also outside of our territory and Reapers have been known to move through this region. Treat them as neutrals and avoid engaging them in combat if you encounter them."

I switched the slide to a fuzzy picture of an advent trooper in well built yellow Advent armor. You couldn't see his face, but the blocky tall helmet made it clear he differed from a regular trooper. "This is our target, General Beckaar. Some of you may recognize that name, but for those that don't he has been giving Xcom, and other resistance groups, hell over the last few months."

I saw that stupid grin appear on TJ's face as he raised his hand, like a student about to ask a question he knew was going to be annoying. "I have a question."

I sighed. "Ask it."

He put his hand down. "How come these aliens are dressing their commanders in brightly colored armor, don't they know how easy that makes them to pick out? How do we know he didn't ditch the armor?"

That question showed a surprising amount of thought on TJ's part, which caught me off guard. It took me almost a minute of awkward silence to think of a response. "I can only speculate. But old human empires used to do this as well. A sign of status that makes it easier for the underlings to understand who is in command. Despite the circumstances he is in, I doubt General Beckaar would remove or change his armor. Their status, marked by their equipment received from the Ethereals, is considered sacred by them. We do know the higher you go up the chain of command the more fanatical these aliens become, so expect him to look like this." TJ leaned back in his seat and my answer seemed to satisfy the others.

"Getting back on track." I cleared my throat. "Currently, General Beckaar is in some trouble. We were successful in grounding his transport in an operation. And after that another operation successfully disabled his guards tracking chips, thus preventing his extraction. Which wasn't easy to do from what I heard, heh." I changed slides to a picture of an old radio station. "We've been tracking his movements, and we know he is making his way towards an abandoned radio station in the city to send Advent his coordinates for extraction. Our transport will touch down at that station and we will ambush him there. We'll have a few hours to set up and scout the area before his arrival. The goal is to neutralize him, and get proof we were the ones that killed him." I turned off the presentation. "You get all that, rookies?"

They responded at the same time. "Yes sir."

"Um, good." I clasped my hands together. "Keep in mind a lot is riding on this operation. This general has been kicking Xcom's ass lately. If we take him down that will catch their attention and we might receive their much needed support in our - resistance efforts."

I looked at the equipment some of these guys were carrying. Their armor was ramshackle, fabric on it was torn. They welded metal plates over holes made by Advent's Railgun rounds. Our guns were functional, but I had heard from an engineer that we were constantly replacing parts on them, and that most guns would still misfire on occasion. Hell, the only thing we had a reliable supply of was bullets, but the materials to make them were expensive to get. Advent has had us on the ropes ever since I joined. The problem is we haven't had any time to build up our forces. It was hard enough recruiting disgruntled citizens to our cause, and then once they joined we had almost nothing to equip them with. This operation is our shot at fixing that. Getting access to Xcom supply lines and support would be a godsend. And, if our squad pulls this off, our glorious leader Douglas might finally give me and Randy some recognition.

They all looked ready to pass out from boredom, which is impressive considering everyone except for TJ and me was wearing helmets now. I added some motivation at the end. "Right - so, let's kill this fucker and get back to base." I got a hoo raa in response.

0-

The touch down went fine. It was difficult to spot our landing zone from high up, thanks to the fog that filled these abandoned cities. A few lost were wandering around the LZ, but nothing difficult to take out quietly. Had to hide their corpses so the general wouldn't get suspicious. A few rusted cars were in the parking lot, one of which had crashed into a light pole that was lying on the ground. The driver's side door had been ripped off with significant force, shown by the jagged metal hinges that once held it in place. There was one of those pod things near that car. It was shaped weird. A metal box with four extensions coming off of it that looked like metal crab legs, nothing like the style of Advent tech nowadays. Strange vines coated the outside of it and seemed to move with a mind of their own. It was still emitting an eerie green glow and gas after all these years. Both the car and it were a grim reminder of the horrors Advent inflicted on us during the invasion. Hell, this entire city was a grim reminder of that. Everywhere you looked in this graveyard of a city you saw remnants of their war crimes. Scorch marks on the concrete, skeletons clutching each other, destroyed buildings. It was enough to make a man sick with hatred. We gave that pod a wide berth as we passed by it.

The radio station building looked to be in better condition than the aerial photos suggested. It was a two-story rectangular brick building, with steps leading up to it. There weren't many features beyond its windows, and two sign letters on top of the entrance outcropping. K, and R. The letters had space between them that suggested there was once a letter in between K and R, and possibly even more after. The steel girder signal tower rose high above the building and looked functional.

I looked around at the other soldiers. "Great work, now let's clear out the inside. We don't need the lost complicating things."

It didn't take long to clear out the building. As long as you're careful, the lost never put up much of a fight. We all took up our positions and sent out Eagle and Fish-Fingers to scout the area and look for General Beckaar. They found him and relayed his troop count back to us. Troopers, a few vipers, sectoids and the General himself. It was little protection for a general, but I'm sure his posse was much bigger before he started making his way through the city. Occasionally, the lost were useful in that regard. These Advent troops were no doubt low on munitions and supplies at this point. Three days in a city like this without backup will do that to you. Should be easy pickings for our squad. Everything was prepared, now all we had to do was wait."

0-

I looked down at my tablet. Which was giving me a birdseye view of the area, courtesy of the high definition camera on my drone. I wasn't sure about these drones at first, but they sure are fucking helpful. I can see the battlefield, give tactical orders, and sit nice and safe away from the fight. That place happened to be at the top of the radio station in its control center. Only downside is the drones can't carry larger transmitters, so I have to stay somewhat close to the battlefield. Maybe someday when we get some better equipment, tactical advisors like me can give orders from the compound.

The control center was filthy, dust coated everything and fresh lost "blood" was splattered on the floor. Didn't resemble blood much, it was viscous grey sludge, a far cry from what their human blood once looked like. The room was well lit thanks to the windows at the corner of the room that were letting in what sunlight made it through the fog. I sat down in a dilapidated office chair that was missing two wheels and stared at the broken console in front of me. Smudge, the electronic expert we brought to this fight, sabotaged the power connection to the console in this room. The aliens could still use it, but he assured me it would take some time to fix what he broke.

I thought about whether my little speech in the transport had been inspiring enough. Couple years working with squads and I still hadn't gotten a hang of this whole public speaking thing. But, at least I told them what they needed to hear, so I didn't have to worry about any missteps. The two rookies - Arnold and Kelvin had decent scores at the shooting range, so they could aim their guns. That's more than I could say for some of the recruits we got, but it's not like we could afford to be choosy.

My earpiece suddenly came to life and interrupted my thoughts. "Target is approaching the radio station. He is 900 yards away from the strike zone. The group is down one trooper since we last saw him." It was a man's voice and had a slight scandinavian accent.

I pushed the button on my earpiece. "Great eye, Fish-Fingers. You have the first shot. Take out one of the vipers, if you can. That goes for everyone else too. Target the sectoids second after the vipers. Getting grabbed by one of their tongues is an easy way to end up dead. Shoot General Beckaar If you get an opportunity. But, if he runs, don't chase him. It's Fish-Finger's responsibility to take him out then. If we do this like we discussed, we should all be back home soon."

TJ's voice grated against my eardrums. "You don't have to be so serious. There's - what - like ten guys coming at us."

Luckily, my brother spoke up to keep him in line. "It only takes one bullet to kill. Maybe you should take these fights more seriously, TJ."

TJ chuckled. "I know, Stones - I know. Sticks and Stones, you guys are really breaking my bones." That joke was the point of me and my brother's nicknames, but he mentioned it way too often. "I'm not suicidal. I am just sayin we aren't storming the city gates here. It's a simple kill, then leave kind of a job."

I cleared my throat and pushed the talk button on my earpiece. "I can see the target on my tablet now. Stay silent until Fish-Fingers takes the first shot."

We had a good position on them. The road they were on went right up to the main entrance of the radio station. There wasn't much cover on the route either. Just some cars, benches, and trash cans, a few more of those pods too. The squad was positioned somewhat close together in a rough semicircle in front of the station. Our sniper, Fish Fingers, was barricaded in a room in an apartment building across from the radio station. Anyone with their back turned to him would be in for a surprise. It was all coming together. Then that stupid general decided to use the brain in his big yellow helmet.

He stopped at the edge of my drone's vision and so did his troops. I pushed the button on my earpiece. "What's he doing, Finger's?"

"He's telling his troops to stop. - He's suspicious of the area."

I thought for a few moments. "Fuck, the lost. He's probably been fighting his way through hordes of them to get here, and to suddenly not see any is a red flag."

"Is our plan compromised?" Fish-Fingers asked.

"Not yet. Stick to the plan unless I say otherwise. Let's see what he does."

"Roger."

General Beckaar held his position for a couple of minutes, taking his time to survey the area. Then he waved his hand. His troops started fanning out in front of him. One viper stayed close to his side for a minute or two longer before it moved out with the rest. His troops filled up what cover was open and crept forward. Despite their cautiousness, they were approaching our strike zone. Few minutes of watching them make their way to the radio station later, and Fingers took his shot. Hit a viper right in the neck. Gruesome, but it dropped soon after. Some of the Advent Troops popped out from cover to look for the sniper, and the rest of the squad opened fire on them. Something as simple as wearing grey combat armor to slightly blend in with the dreary surroundings gave us that extra second we needed to pump them full of holes. Thanks to my birdseye view. I could tell we had taken out about a third of them with this opening attack. Easy pickings indeed.

A sectoid raised a dead Advent trooper and sent it at Smudge, who was closest to it.

I activated my earpiece. "Take out the sectoid if you can. The psi-zombie will die with it."

Smudge ignored me and shot at the zombie instead with his assault rifle. It had closed the distance quite fast, so I couldn't blame him. The rest were targeting the vipers like I had told them to. One down, two down. The third slithered out of cover and shot its tongue out to grab Eagle. It yanked him far away from the rest of the squad and coiled around him. He wouldn't last long. I'd seen one of those monsters bend steel with its body before.

I was about to tell Fish-Fingers to give him support, but as I went to activate my earpiece, I saw the viper release Eagle. That Swede was a crack shot with a rifle, and he knew what he was doing. Definitely the most experienced member of this squad. Eagle Pulled out his shotgun and blasted the disoriented viper in the face, sending it flying backwards. He jumped behind a bench for cover, but not before taking a few shots from an Advent Trooper.

I pushed the button on my earpiece. "Are you alright Eagle."

He responded over comms through gritted teeth. "I'm still kicking, Sticks. Took two shots in the leg and one in my back. Could use some painkillers."

"Ok. Gypsy. You're too far away from him. Use your drone to seal his bullet wounds."

I heard her respond. "On it, sir."

The drone flew over to Eagle, released a burst of blue mist, and flew back to Gypsy's position."

"Are you still in the fight, Eagle?"

"I could take a few more shots like that before I'm down."

"Good to hear. Give Eagle covering fire as he gets to better cover."

I scanned the area, and it looked like we had taken all the Vipers out at this point. Three were dead, but I thought there were more than three. I had little time to think much about that because a sectoid started using its psionic powers. I saw that purple energy drift out and flow into one of my squadmate's heads. It was the guy in the middle of the squad. Shit, that was where my brother was positioned.

He started yelling into comms. "Oh, Fuck - fuuuckk! It's in my head. I can feel its fingers digging in. Get this fucker off of me."

I heard the rookie Arnold say something. "He's gonna start shooting at us! I've got to get away from him!" He sounded panicked.

"Stay behind cover rookie, don't run out in the open." My advice came too late. He hurdled over the hood of a car and got gunned down by the remaining Advent troopers.

"Someone take out that sectoid." I turned my comms off. "Fuck!" I slammed my gloved fist on the dead console in front of me, cracking the broken screen on it further. "These idiots never listen. Why was his first fucking move to just run out in the open? Dammit."

I looked down at my tablet again and saw TJ charging at the sectoid, sword in hand. Great, he's going to get himself killed too.

The sectoid was focused enough on breaching into Randy's mind that it didn't notice TJ. I couldn't see it well on my screen, but it looked like TJ beheaded it and ducked behind a car. Showoff. At least he got the job done.

I heard Randy's voice over comms. "Thanks for the save TJ. I owe ya one."

"I'm keeping a list Stones. You better watch what you promise." He laughed after that.

I checked Arnold's vitals on my tablet, and somehow he still had a pulse. "Gypsy. Arnold is still alive. You need to stabilize him."

She didn't respond, but I saw her drone fly over to him. That was good enough for me. Lucky bastard might come out of this alive after all.

Fish-Fingers' voice added to the commotion over comms. "I hit General Beckaar. I can't confirm the kill, yet. But he is down."

"Great shot." This was all going well. No deaths on our side, as of yet, and it was just a matter of time until those that remained were put down. I leaned back in my chair and put my hands behind my head. Ah, a job well done. I should give myself some credit. I was the one that set up this ambush after all.

My premature celebration ended - prematurely. A beeping sound came from my tablet. I picked it up and looked at it. Something tripped the motion sensor I set up on the staircase leading to this room. Fuck, one of them must have snuck around the back. There was a chance it could be one of the lost, but better to assume the worst. It was probably one of General Beckaar's troops coming in to activate the radio tower. It was a possibility, which is why we disabled the console, but I didn't actually think one would get past my squad.

I activated my earpiece. "There's something in the building with me. I don't know what it is, but it tripped the motion sensor I set up. I'm deactivating my comms and setting my tablet to wipe its memory in ten minutes, just in case. You guys will be on your own."

My brother responded. "We'll send someone up as soon as we can. Hang in there Luke."

"Thanks." I turned off my earpiece and started the memory wipe protocol on my tablet. Once that protocol was activated, apps could still be used, but data can't be accessed. There wasn't anything on it I couldn't restore once we got back to base, so it was standard procedure to do this if situations got dicey. I considered leaving the room and running away, but it would be foolish. There could be more of them in the building, and if there weren't, I would just make myself a liability on the battlefield. There was also the console, and while the chance was slim, it was still possible that whatever was coming up those stairs could reactivate it and summon Advent reinforcements to our position. Better to have the element of surprise than nothing at all.

I got an idea; I played white noise on my tablet and crouched behind a metal desk that was tipped over across from the door.

I never felt like much of a hero. People would congratulate me after firefights, but it almost felt wrong. It was never my life that was on the line in these fights. And the soldiers ultimately decided what to do, I just watched their backs and gave them advice. I liked it that way; I liked my life not being on the line. Seems like my luck had run out, so I brought my 9mm pistol out from its holster and pulled the slide back. I wasn't the best shot with it, but I had put my hours in at the range. Despite how many missions I had been on my kill count was at rookie levels, I had shot a few of those Advent troopers before, but I always had backup. I've never gone toe to toe with anything. I had loaded my pistol with Armor piercing ammo, but one clip might not be enough to take down whatever was coming through that door if I missed. Assuming it wouldn't give me a chance to reload with my spare clips. Maybe If this alien freak stepped out in the open, I wouldn't need to be a good shot.

I waited and stared at that door every second that passed felt like an hour. Clanging sounds reverberated up from the staircase, breaking the monotonous white noise and reminding me that something was coming for me. My legs ached from crouching and sweat beaded up on my face. This room was hot and did not have any ventilation. What the fuck was taking it so long? Did it know I was in here? Maybe it was being cautious, but it wasn't being sneaky with all the noise it was making. I kept my gun close and continued to peek over the side of the desk.

I don't know how much time passed as I stared at the door, but eventually the clanging sounds stopped, and I was left with the white noise that was playing on my tablet. The door cracked open. As I resisted the urge to fire my whole clip at the door, it flung open and smashed the handle through the drywall, cracking the wall from the floor to the ceiling. The sound of that door hitting the wall shook me to my core. I knew that a trooper, or a lost, would not have the strength to do that.

This wasn't the first time my life had been in danger, and it would not be the last if I had anything to say about it. I swallowed down my fear and took a deep breath, a technique I had developed for myself. The fear didn't disappear, but focusing on my breathing helped me manage it as I continued to watch the door. I couldn't see into the hallway, but after a few moments, what I feared moved into the room.

There - standing at about 7ft tall was a viper. It wore that black and gold metal armor they all did, and was wielding a silver plasma rifle. Those guns looked goofy, like a blow dryer attached to a rail, with two prongs on it to discharge the energy. It looked like it would explode if you accidentally dropped it.

I knew there were more than three of them. It must have slipped past during combat, or maybe it was sent here on its own before General Beckaar even got close to the radio station. How it got here didn't matter. I had to either kill it or buy some time.

Its cobra-like hood was extended, and it scanned the room with its blood-red, predatory eyes as its tongue flicked out quickly. This thing's interest shifted to my tablet. It must have realized where the white noise was coming from. A bead of sweat dripped off of my face, and I remembered these things had an excellent sense of smell. It wouldn't take it long to realize I was in the room with it. If I was going to take it down, it was going to be now or never.

I popped out of cover, and in an instant it locked eyes with me. I fired four shots at it in quick succession, counting down the bullets as I fired each shot. Eight bullets left in my clip. Somehow it dodged all of my shots. I couldn't even describe its movements; they were a blur to me. But I saw it take aim at me with its plasma rifle. As I ducked down behind cover, the rifle glowed green. A burst of green plasma illuminated my cover and hit the wall behind me. I moved away from the edge of the table where it saw me duck, and two plasma shots melted holes through the desk and smashed into the floor where I was crouched moments ago.

As I came out of cover again, I located the viper. It had moved behind the console and was using it as cover. I fired two shots at it to keep the pressure on. Six bullets left. One hit the console, the other grazed the metal gauntlet on its left arm, shredding a channel through the metal, and splattering some of its yellow blood on the wall. That shot elicited a blood-chilling hiss from the viper. Now I knew my bullets could pierce its armor. All I had to do was hit it in the chest.

It fired back at me, aiming at my shoddy cover, knowing it could shoot through it. I dove out of the way, but not in time. One bolt burned through the fabric on my armor and scorched the flesh of my left calf underneath. I exclaimed "Fuck!" I hadn't been hit by plasma before, and it hurt like a bitch. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I realized that that Viper was backed into a corner. If I could flank it, I could get some easy shots on it, and with the metal desk I was using as cover looking like swiss cheese, I had to change cover. I vaulted over the desk and fired three shots at it as I ran for another tipped over desk that would give me a flank on that viper. Three bullets left.

It must have realized what I was doing, because it risked coming out of cover to launch its tongue at me. Tried to jump, but it still caught my ankle and pulled me down. I fell onto the ground, flat on my face, and felt it drag me across the floor. As soon as it managed to wrap me up, I knew I was going to be a goner. Determined to prevent that, I pulled out my combat knife with my free hand and flipped over onto my back. It was too focused on reeling me in like a fresh-caught fish to shoot at me with its gun. I went to cut this bastard's tongue off me, but it spotted my knife as soon as I brought the edge to its tongue. Panic filled its eyes, and it released me, but not before I wet my blade with its yellow blood.

A smile formed on my face as I took aim at it with my pistol. This was it, the clear shot I needed. Nothing between us and its tongue injury temporarily distracted it. Looks like I win again, better luck next time Advent. I pulled the trigger down and braced for the light kickback of my pistol, but felt nothing. Misfire. Dread seeped into my skin like a poison. All that struggle and strategy, doomed to fail just because my gun didn't fire at the last moment I needed it to. I didn't have time to curse these shitty guns before my target lunged at me, smacked the knife out of my hand with its tail, and coiled around my lower body. I shoved my gun in its face, hoping this viper didn't realize it had just misfired. It pointed its plasma rifle at my chest and froze.

I couldn't pull my trigger, but for some reason it didn't shoot me. We stared at each other. This thing didn't move, and it didn't blink. All I could do was look at its oddly mesmerizing eyes, which contained a bitter hatred that screamed surrender at me. The only thing that moved was its tongue, which was constantly flicking out. I had never been this close to one of these things while it was still alive. It was strange. Though it must have some intelligence, it clearly didn't realize my gun was fucked because it wasn't making any moves to kill me. I might be able to buy enough time for someone to rescue me.

I spoke more for my sake. I didn't know if this thing could understand English. "So, you're smart enough to know we're both dead if one of us pulls the trigger. That much is apparent."

It responded by blinking its eyes once, that bitter hatred they contained remained.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you let me go and we just back away from each other real slow, then we can both leave. It'd be a win-win situation. I can go back home and hang out with my cool friends, and you can go back to your Advent base and hang out with your disgusting alien friends." I paused for a moment to hear a response, but got none. "Well, how 'bout it?"

It must understand me because after I said that it furrowed its scaly brows and flicked its tongue at me. It surprised me even further when it spoke back. "As if I would allow you to leave, Human. When my commanding officer enters this room you will surrender, or I will end your life." Its voice was feminine and smooth, but there was a fiery edge to it. Not at all like I expected it to sound.

I chuckled. "You sure about that? Last I checked you were the ones losing."

It responded by squinting its eyes, but did not speak. After a minute of silence, and us staring down at one another, I heard a burst of Advent speech come from its helmet.

For a moment its ironclad disposition wavered, and I took full advantage of it. "What's the matter? Is General Beckaar not gonna make it up here? You should give up and leave now before my friends turn you into a target practice, snake." I threw all the hostility I had at this thing. It didn't matter if we killed it. The general was our target, so if it left it wouldn't matter much to me. Lost would eventually kill it for us anyway.

I saw uncertainty in its eyes for a moment, like it was considering my offer, but that uncertainty turned to fervor in an instant. Its pupils turned to slits, and the muscles in its neck tensed up. "I am but one of many."

It flicked its head to the side and bit the uncovered part of my forearm. I pulled the trigger over and over again. As its fangs sunk deep into my forearm, my gun fired, but my angle on its head was bad. All I managed to do was give it a hood piercing. The other two shots I had left fired off, but they didn't stop it. Empty. I felt the venom course through my arm veins as it let me fall to the floor.

My arm felt like it was simultaneously numb and on fire. The pain was agonizing. I leaned over and clutched at my arm. My fingers on that arm wouldn't respond when I tried to move them. My gun sat next to me. The chamber was open and empty.

The viper noticed this and had a smug aura about it. "Out of ammo."

It slithered over the console and started pushing buttons on it to activate it. Too bad for her it was dead. As I breathed heavily, I spoke through gritted teeth. "You won't get away with this. My friends will get here soon and kill you."

It snorted in response, focused on the console more than me. I looked around the room for my knife, but it was nowhere to be seen. I thought about crawling away from it, but my thoughts became less coherent. Oxygen - deprivation from the venom. The viper grabbed my tablet and started tapping on it. What the - hell she use it for. Not for her to use. Ugh, not memory wiped yet. I lay on the ground and watched her tap on it. She seemed excited and tapped on her wrist screen. My vision blurred and I groaned, rolling onto my back as my whole body felt numb.

That stupid viper moved into my sight and stabbed me with something in my neck. It made my neck feel - warm. I couldn't make out what she said. Something like: "You are coming with me. - lost will keep terrorists busy." Don't know. It felt like I was being dragged away as the venom made me pass out.

0-

I awoke in a cold sweat and looked around. My bed felt as hard as a rock, and I was in a room that was barely bigger than my bed. Home. Did my squad get me back to base? As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I soon realized I was not back at base. The room was solid concrete. There was a light fixture above me in the ceiling, but it was turned off. The only light in my room filtered through a translucent red door three feet across from my bed.

They had captured me. Shit, where the hell was I? Looking through the door, I could see what looked like other, similar cells. There was a silhouette of something outside my door that was close to it. At this point it was clear that I was in some sort of Advent prison, or holding facility. If the room wasn't obvious enough, the tacky white jumpsuit I was wearing had a black Advent logo stamped on it on the right side of my chest.

Fuck, I am so screwed. My muscles ached as I leaned up in my bed. Who knows what they were gonna do to me. I knew where those Advent troopers came from; they turned normal people into them and the ones that had good performance were cloned. They were the lucky ones. I had heard so many stories from the other soldiers I worked with, some of whom had met people from Xcom. Stories about people being turned into green goo at certain Advent facilities, horrible experiments meant to extract every bit of usefulness out of us before we expired and then recycling our bodies for nutrients to further fuel their war machine.

Fear creeped up my spine as I thought about what would happen to me, the worst-case scenarios sitting at the forefront of my mind. I wasn't strapped to an operating table - yet, so maybe they'll try to extract information first.

Something banged on the door and took me out of my thoughts. "Are you awake yet, prisoner?" The voice was feminine and somehow familiar.

I didn't respond, and I got treated to another banging sound. "Answer - prisoner!"

I groaned. "Yeah, I'm up."

The door opened and a viper slithered partway into my room. It looked the same as any other viper I'd seen before, but it had three circular shaped holes with scar tissue around them on the right side of its hood. One hole was close to its head and the other two were closer to the edge of its hood. There was something on its shoulder pad, a perfect square patch that was scratched out, like that area had been sanded down, but nothing was in its place. It took little effort to connect the dots.

I backed away in my bed. "Oh shit, it's you!"

It squinted its eyes. "Yes, it is me."

My fear was replaced with anger. "Nice piercings. Who gave you those?"

My instigation did not have the desired effect. It ignored my comment and turned its head towards my right forearm. "You did not come out unscathed either."

I saw what it meant. On my arm were two scabs about the size of bottle caps, and the flesh surrounding them was black and veiny. "Eugh! What did you do to me?"

It seemed satisfied by my disgust. "A side effect of my venom. The natural color may return within - months."

I sighed, pushing on the black flesh of my arm. Which produces a dull pain. "So why am I here? What is going to happen?"

It hissed at me and caught me off guard. "You know why you are here, terrorist!" The viper took a moment to collect itself and relax its hood. "I cannot speak with you on such matters, but you will be punished. If you cooperate with Advent, that punishment may be less severe."

I scoffed. "Like that'll ever happen - alien. Why did you come into my cell?"

It extended its hand towards me and dropped a paper bowl filled with white goop on my bed. Some of it splattered on my face and onto the bed.

The goop looked like porridge, but had no smell. "What the fuck is this?"

It snorted and wrinkled its nose. My question seemed to annoy it. "It is food, soylent and proteins mixed with added nutrients. Enjoy it, you get one a day."

As it slithered out of my room, it flicked the bowl with the tip of its tail and knocked it off my bed. I caught the bowl before it hit the ground.

I spit out: "Thanks bitch," as the door to my cell was closed

I slurped up my slop, retreating into my thoughts. How the hell would I get out of here? I needed a plan; I needed to figure out the schedules. Getting out of here was a possibility. I just needed enough time and materials. It had been done before. Rook, a guy I had worked with before, escaped an Advent prison and joined us. And Rook, well... to put it bluntly, he was an idiot. Probably the 2nd stupidest person I had ever met. If he could do it, so could I. That was a nice thought, but I knew time was not on my side. My only hope is that my comrades come and rescue me before I crack from whatever torture Advent or that snake planned to inflict on me.

I looked up from my soylent meal, the horrid bland taste of the phytoestrogens suddenly hitting my tongue. Eugh, I almost miss the slop they fed me at the compound. The viper sat outside my cell, facing away from my door. I couldn't see other guards stationed at the other cells across from me. So, either I was the only prisoner here, or I was special. Lucky me, I get my very own guard compliments of Advent, those fuckers. My guard was quite large, and likely impossible to subdue at close quarters without an edge. Seemed like this viper was going to be quite the obstacle to my escape, but I'd find a way. I always came out on top.

Even in alternative universes you cannot escape the snussy

Q&A Thing

Well, that's it. To preemptively answer some questions: I probably won't be continuing this. It was an idea I explored for fun. That viper Lucas encountered, and is now being "guarded" by, may or may not be 11-7 that is up to your interpretation. But, let's be honest for a second, what are the chances that this is the same viper? Out of potentially millions of them, this one just so happens to be 11-7, I don't know about that. Still, totally up for your interpretation, I'm just laying out the cold hard facts of the situation. I regret to inform you that I will not be writing a spin off story about the escapades of Fish-Fingers the sniper. I will also not be writing a passionate spur-of-the-moment hate fucking scene between rebel Lucas and his viper prison guard, in his cell, during an event that would give them enough time for that. For example: a riot that would distract the other guards, and prisoners, long enough for a loud and sloppy quicky. Sorry, I know that will disappoint some of you.