Cpl. Karl Wentz

The paper target crumpled, then caught alight. The hiss of gaseous coolant rang out in the silence afterwards, and I felt the heat waft around me.

"You sure this stuff is safe to breathe?"

"Tygan says it won't kill you, but who knows the long term effects. Still, at least you'll be dead 20 years later rather than in a month to ADVENT." Came the reply from Shen. Beside her sat three more of the prototype laser rifles that she and the engineering team had crafted. They were based off of some old schematics from her father and Vahlen, back in the days of the original XCOM project, that our new lead engineer had been working on improving for the last several months. With new supplies in hand, we'd gotten just what we needed to get a leg up on the aliens. And at a good time too, because if the reports from the outside world were to be trusted, the aliens had begun using their… inhuman creatures to a far greater extent. Clearly, they felt that the new Resistance had become a real threat to their rule. I was hoping to prove them right.

"Seems solid enough. No recoil, although the coolant clips leave a bit to be desired. Hits like a truck, from what I've been seeing. I suppose we'll have to see how it operates under field conditions, though."

Shen nodded. "We don't have enough right now to do proper field tests. It's fully enclosed except for the coolant though, and as long as you keep those containers sealed and clean there shouldn't be any problems with jamming." She then turned to a drawer under the weapon stand. "And I've got some more toys for you. Catch." She lobbed a green cylinder at me, bagged in shrink wrap. "I've been looking at those chem grenades we found a while ago. I changed the recipe a bit, and repacked them into these. Should fit in your launcher. Have fun." A sassy grin appeared on her face. "Just don't shoot it anywhere you need to go afterwards."

I gave her a grin right back. I'd been with the Avenger team since the beginning, and the type of magic that Shen could pull out of metal scraps and spare batteries was nothing short of miraculous. "I'll use it well."

"I'm sure you will."

-xxx-

The supply raid last time out had gone poorly. We'd expected minimal opposition, given the way that the Skirmishers had described their hit on the train. Instead, we got half a dozen Vipers staring us down, and though we were all good shots, so were the snakes. It was a miracle that nobody died, or at least half of one. The other half came down to the Commander's orders. We pushed, disengaged, flanked, and attacked so many angles that I would never have thought of, but they did, despite being nowhere near the battlefield. It was only then that I realized why the Resistance had given so much to get this legend back onto the field.

I had been leading a cell deep in Central Europe for years. It's where I met Shen. She was some minor Resistance legend already by that point, and came to us with a plan to take over an alien supply ship in the process of being decommissioned. It was understaffed, vulnerable, and hopefully full of resources. It was also completely wrecked. We'd taken it, and planned to scrap it for parts. Unbelievably, she did, and this message passed through the Resistance like wildfire.

We got the Resistance's finest together, and one of them happened to know about some sort of human supercomputer that was running ADVENT operations. We were already planning an operation when the Skirmishers told us it was the mythical XCOM Commander. We had a lot of good men and women that we sent on that mission. They were brave, talented, and clever. Still, there's only so much one can do against plasma. That's why only one made it back unscathed: Bradford. The rest of them either died, had to be left for dead, or had no chance of ever fighting again. That alien advantage was also why our current best field operative was stuck in the medical bay. I was hoping that with our new resources, we could turn that tide.

With Sgt. Luo still out after his injury, and Wells off on some PR-resistance-training thing, the command of the strike team fell to me. And my first assignment was about to start shortly. I entered the room to see Cathy there, as well as two somewhat familiar faces.

"Take a seat, Corporal." Came the voice of the Commander. "These two, Specialists Carpenter and Reeder, were tasked with securing a tap on ADVENT communication lines running through the ruins of Boise. Though their team was mostly wiped out, they still possessed trackers for the location of the tap. We have located the core, and the plan will be to set it up and defend it, in order to obtain whatever data we can from it. The four of you will be deployed to do this."

"When do we leave?"

"As soon as you get suited up."

And so we did. Shen gave the other three a quick briefing on the new laser rifles, and we boarded the Skyranger, ready for a long flight.

"Back to Idaho, eh?" Cathy quipped.

"Unfortunately. I'll be honest, I'm sick of dealing with the Lost. Hopefully these- " I gestured to my rifle "-will make it a bit more tolerable. I've heard they don't like being set on fire."

She nodded. "By the way, I never got the chance to say thanks for last time. You're quite the shot."

"Thanks, but I'm pretty sure you're better."

"That I am. That I am." She spun her rifle in the air, and then mimed taking a potshot with it, much to the consternation of the new recruits. "Fired one of these yet?"

"Yeah. They work as well as you'd hope."

"Hoo boy, this will be fun. Blam!" This time, Carpenter ducked.

-xxx-

We landed at the entrance to a subway station. The signage and architecture made it clear that this was some sort of ADVENT project, likely abandoned after the Lost showed up in the city. Strange. I'd always thought the Lost arose before ADVENT made their mark on the world. The two GREMLINs our recruits carried shone their spotlights into the blackness, as we slowly cut our way through the blinding dark.

"So where exactly is this core? And moreover, what is it?"

"It's an ADVENT psionic network receiver that some resistance cell nabbed from a comm tower. And from what I heard over our team's radio before they got wiped, it smashed through the street when we tried to airdrop it. Hence why we're in the tunnels." Came the reply from Reeder.

"And if I understand anything about ADVENT's network, they'll see this unauthorized breach into their network."

"Yes."

"I guess that's why we're here." I grumbled.

The first sign that we had gotten near the transmitter was light. Natural light. As we turned a long bend, the sight of rubble, spotlighted by a hole in the roof like a gift from the divine, appeared.

"Well, it certainly looks like it fell from heaven."

"Unfortunately, it made an impact suitable for that. We're gonna need to dig it out."

It was difficult work, especially given our lack of proper tools. We had to remove all of the massive chunks of concrete that had fallen with the object, and then sift out all the dirt in between the tunnel roof and pavement that had fallen onto the pod. It wasn't until nightfall that we managed to extricate it, and by the end we were working by the small lights of the GREMLINs, as well as whatever pocket flashlights we could find in our packs. Fortunately, though the pod was completely shredded, the padding within had done its job. After a thorough examination from the techies, the verdict was delivered: the operation was to continue.

Our next stop was to one of the nearby half-constructed subway stations. They were designed to have backup Elerium power generators, and it would be into one of those that we would attach our device to. I checked my fluorescing watch for the time, its eerie green glow oddly comforting in the quiet shade of these abandoned subway tunnels. The two specialists had fashioned some sort of cart to pull the device along the rails of the leftover tracks, and we had been making good time. Still, it was already 4AM by the time we got to the location, and I could feel the exhaustion getting to me. So as the two in charge of the core began connecting it to the power network and setting up all the data-gathering peripherals, I went looking for some personal comforts.

I returned with a backpack full of snack foods and a coffee machine in my hand.

"I'm back, and I brought food and coffee! Well, coffee-in-progress."

"Where?"

"Their staff room had a coffee machine and some leftover beans. Best before 2032, but it should still be fine. And a few blasts from the laser should be more than enough to boil some water. The snacks are from a vending machine I smashed open."

"That seems unsafe." Came the reply from Cathy.

"The breaking glass or the laser water boiling?"

"Mainly the second one."

"Well, do you want some or not?"

"Of course I want some. Get over here, and go ask those brainiacs how to hook that thing into the power grid."

They told me there was a spare cord, and I ran it to a countertop on the opposite side of the open area. I got the water boiling, and dumped the various foodstuffs out on our temporary table.

"I've got Elders' Edam, Single-Serve Bacon Strips, and Mini ADVENT Burgers."

"I'll take a burger. Always heard about these."

"They're good. No idea what they put in them, and no idea how they'll be after years collecting dust, but I've enjoyed them."

Cathy took a bite, and seemed pleased. "I doubt ADVENT makes these fresh to order. Probably enough preservatives to embalm a Berserker. I heard rumors that these were made with human flesh. Your opinion?"

"There's no way. Imagine the hassle, and if people ever found out there would be full blown riots. The aliens aren't looking for that, just to be evil for evil's sake. It's probably processed plant matter."

We sat in silence as we consumed our various foodstuffs. A few minutes later, the sound of the coffee machine went off, and I went to serve it.

"Want some?"

"Sure."

I poured the coffee into my spare bottle, and then into Cathy's canteen. The scent wafted into my nose along with the steam. It was just what I needed. I took a small sip. The warmth scorched my lips, but was just right once it entered. I gripped my palms around the bottle for warmth.

"I haven't had coffee in a while," said Cathy.

"Oh? How come?"

"Makes my aim all jittery if I have too much of it. Here's different though, I'd rather be awake and jittery than half-asleep. Plus, hopefully we'll be out of here before it really starts to kick in."

"Hopefully." I nodded. "I'll be honest, I never really got to know you. Hell, I don't even know your last name. Tell me more about yourself."

"Lasseau. Born near Ottawa, if you know where that is. I was with that XCOM squad up north from the start. Had a brother at the main base when everything went to shit."

"My condolences."

"It's been twenty years. I've had plenty of time to get over it. Anyways, we survived up there. Had to do some shit to get through it all, but we did. Some of us, at least. Now we're here."

I took another sip of the coffee. "And your aim, you always talk about it, and so does the rest of your little band."

"Yeah, it's what everyone knows me for. Sucks a bit, 'cause it makes people see me as just a soldier. Still, makes 'em not want to mess with me. My brother used to take me hunting when we were younger, and he taught me most of it. Exhale after a shot, and count it before it lands. That was his little trick. Joined up after him, just in time for the aliens to get here. Now I shoot for him." She let out a long exhale, and the half-grin that usually was melded to her face began to slip. "To tell you the truth, it's a bit tiring putting up this bravado. It can be exhausting being the one that everyone counts on. Sometimes, I just want to be able to admit I'm not the strongest. That I get scared, even if I get over it. Still, I've got people that count on me, and I can't let them down, now, can I?"

"Amen to that." I brought my bottle up for a mock toast. The half-grin made its way back onto her face.

"Anyways, that's my story. What about you?"

"Was a cell leader in Germany for a couple years. Had a history with Shen, and helped her when she got the Avenger operational."

"Oh?" She cocked her eyebrow.

"Not in that way." I shook my head slowly. "Met up with a bunch of the resistance's best after that. Then most of them died when we rescued the Commander. Made me wonder if this whole XCOM business was worth it." I sighed, and lay back a bit. "I don't have any doubts about that anymore."

We sat there for a bit longer, just absorbing the silence, the warmth, and the caffeine. I didn't bother to check my watch. It was nice, to just exist, and not really care about aliens or war or death. To just be.

All of a sudden, a voice came from the other side of the open area. "We're ready to start when you are." I let out an exaggerated sigh, and slowly picked myself up, shaking off the metaphorical cobwebs that had begun to envelop me.

I walked over to make sure that everything was set up, despite having no idea what it was supposed to look like. From my uneducated inspection, it appeared to be plugged in. The core was an egg-shaped thing, smooth and gleaming with the tone of alien alloy, with a flat bottom and top. Wires dangled from the upper half of the half-egg, a large one connected to what looked like a stripped down generator, with a glowing cylinder set next to it and hooked together with a series of thick lengths of metal. The rest fed into a large brick of a computer, with a tiny monitor mounted on top.

"Seems good, but I have no idea. Double-checked everything?"

Carpenter answered this one. "Yes. The data-tap is being fed into the computer, which is decoding and storing the data into a drive. It's set up for quick removal, so if we need to abort we can yank it out and take whatever we can get."

"Thinking ahead. I like that." I said. Cathy piped up from behind.

"In hindsight, we should probably have reinforced this area."

"Not really. There's no point when ADVENT can just flush us out with grenades. We gotta hit and run them in the darkness. We're green to go, but keep your guns handy. You'll need them."

The core suddenly began emitting a low-pitched hum, as the top began to separate from the bottom, a purple glow emanating from the opening in the middle.

All was silent for a minute or so, as we stared at the light, entranced. We were jolted out of our reverie, however, when Central's voice came cracking over the comms. "Menace 1, we're getting reports of ADVENT communications in the area. It looks like whatever forces are left in the vicinity are closing in on your position."

"We expected nothing less. Let's get ready."

We braced for first contact. Then waited. Then waited some more. Several painful minutes passed in the silence, the anticipation of combat more psychologically taxing than what the fighting would inevitably be. It was almost a welcome relief once the harsh barks of the ADVENT language echoed from above.

Footsteps on metal were all the indication we needed, as beams of red light lit up the shroud of darkness. The sound of searing flesh was our indication that our shots struck true. But there were more of them than there were of us, and despite our best efforts mag rounds ripped near us as we were forced back into our cover.

"Reposition! They're tracking us by our beams, so move and hit 'em again!" I whispered into my headset. I took my opportunity when I heard a faint clatter of metal on tile, and dashed to take cover near the half-built turnstiles. I hoped their night vision hadn't quite adjusted yet.

I was working off of sound for my first couple shots, trying to pinpoint their location in the darkness from the stray shots of ADVENT rifles. My first shot went wide, but the ephemeral glow from it gave me just enough sight to land my second. Lasers from the other corners all converged on the squad of ADVENT, as they fell to the ground, one by one, in a crimson lightshow. There were still more, however, and I heard footsteps approach me. A flashlight turned on, and I had a feeling it wasn't ours. The glow pinned me behind the wall first, and the ADVENT troopers wisely held their fire as they approached.

"Need a little help here. Now, if possible."

"Okay. Sending drone to blind."

I wasn't really sure what that meant, until I heard the whir of the GREMLIN draw near. I peaked over the small wall just in time to see the autonomous bot flash all of its lights on at once, and the squad of troopers covered their eyes in pain. With the flashlight off me for the moment, I quickly made my way up into the security booth, and with some fire support dealt with the rest of the squad. We dispatched a couple more ADVENT, before Cathy's voice suddenly appeared over the chatter.

"They're setting up a MG nest on the escalator, and they've got mobile cover! I think they're trying to just blast us with more firepower!"

"Can you get a shot?"

"Negative. They've got their gunner locked down."

"No worries. Give me some rounds as tracers, and I'll handle the rest." We'd field-tested the rifles, and they'd been performing better than my wildest dreams. Now it was time to test the heavier ordinance. I unbuckled my launched from my back, and used it to give a swift whack to the glass that obstructed the path of any potential grenades. Cathy's laser fire began to rain down on an elevated position that I could just about reach. I readied, aimed, and gently pressed the trigger.

*Poomf!*

I could faintly see a greenish cloud form near where I had fired, followed by the sound of a slumping body, and then one falling from some height, its gear clattering.

"Menace 1-3, this is Central. Lifesigns appear cl-*Ztt*-interf-*Ztt*"

"Central, you're cutting out, over."

"Ma-*Ztt*-in-*Ztt*"

The next voice, fortunately, was not filled with static, but unfortunately, was panicked and brought bad news.

"We've got a problem with the tap! Get over here ASAP!" Was the call from Reeder. I began hoofing it towards the direction of said tap. Once I had made it across the open area, I was greeted by the sight of beam fire. Aliens.

"Something yellow popped out of it, and started blasting at me!"

"Hold on, I've got a shot on it." As Cathy spoke those words, I saw a laser fly towards the direction I had just seen fire green plasma.

"It's not dying!" This, however, was the least of my worries, as another yellow creature, which looked strangely digital, appeared out of nowhere.

"We've got another one here!" I quickly got behind a pillar before I could take a shot. I turned to see how the rest of the squad was faring, just in time to see a purple orb appear and emanate an aura around the other three.

"Shit! My mag just fell out!" Came the anxious call of Carpenter.

"Ditto, and that ball's pulling me towards it!" Said Reeder.

"I'd get out of that purple haze, pronto!" I yelled at them.

"Hold on, let's see if this works." I saw Reeder scrabble for a grenade that had begun to roll towards the orb, and threw it near the corner of the wall. A bitcrushed scream rang out, and the triumphant scream of "Got them!" came over the mic.

"If you're done, I still got one here!" Was my reply. I traded fire with it for a second, but the darkness and the angles made it impossible to hit anything. "Can someone get around that thing?"

"On it." Cathy said. I pinned it down as best as I could with my rifle, as I saw Cathy make her way around the small room where we set up the network hack device. I saw her get into firing position, and the comms crackled.

"Goodbye."

The yellow figure flickered once more as Cathy pumped round after round into its head, until a sharp clink rang out and the hologram suddenly disappeared. A metal object clattered onto the hard tile flooring, and the room fell silent.

"I think that's actually the last of them." I went to investigate what was left of the strange cybernetic creature. It was made of alien alloys, and shaped like a shrunken, smoothed brain. The beams had charred it, and it felt impossibly light. I was sure Tygan would have a field day looking at this thing.

"Pack up the data if it's done. Good work. Oh, and there's some food and coffee over there if you're hungry. You both look like you need it."

-xxx-

Normally, Tygan gets very pissy about the ground troops being in his workspace, but Shen convinced him to let me see the results of the data analysis. I had asked Cathy if she wanted to join, but she declined, simply asking me to thank Shen for "putting a damn rail on these rifles". Apart from Shen and Tygan, I was joined by Bradford, the Commander, and a couple of scientists I didn't recognize.

"Much of this data is simply troop movements, manifests, and the general information required to run any form of civil and military operation. I took the liberty of preparing this information for our resistance contacts. There is one strange thing, however, that particularly caught my attention. References to a Blacksite, the coordinates I will bring up now." A glowing dot appeared on a map of the continent, somewhere deep in the Appalachians. "The aliens, of course, keep plenty of secret operations, but the majority of those are for military use. This site has no references to its purpose, and the majority of communications regarding it revolve around the transport of civilians to the location."

"And I assume they don't come back." Said Bradford.

"No." was the reply.

"Well, whatever this is, we need to investigate." Said the Commander. "We'll get in contact with the Reaper cell in West Virginia. They'll perform a force analysis, and if results seem good, we'll send in our strike team," they turned to me as they said this, "and if not I'll need to organize some sort of full assault with the Eastern groups. That'll be a nightmare."

"I'll get right on that, sir." Came the voice of Bradford.

"Please do. And Shen, how are those advanced laser prototypes coming along?"

"Well, sir. They still need to be fully tested, but we should have them operational soon."

"How soon?"

"Around two weeks from now." This caused the Commander to frown.

"Well, let's hope we won't need it."

-xxx-

The Blacksite was, indeed, kept to a skeleton crew, to maintain the secrecy of the site. Not secret enough, though. Sgt. Luo was back in fighting condition, and so we had all four members of Menace 1 ready to deploy. Bradford had set the Avenger down somewhere near the Mississippi to get in Skyranger distance of the site, and we had been fully briefed on the situation. The only reinforcements would be whatever aerial patrols were out of site, so we were to clear out the site, then comb it thoroughly for information.

The flight there was turbulent, to say the least. We were going up high in the mountains for this one, and I was wondering in the back of my head if we'd be at all hindered by the lower oxygen concentrations this high. Our drop site was about a kilometer and a half outside of the blacksite, and we made our way towards the facility cautiously.

"Is that...smoke?" Asked Cathy.

"Think it is." Replied Sgt. Luo. "I'm pretty sure that's our target.

The front of the site had a large ADVENT building erected, with the main road leading past it. Some form of checkpoint, and with checkpoints often came sensors.

"We got any intel on trackers in that shack?" I asked.

"Hold on, let me check." Jack punched some commands into his wrist-mounted computer, and the GREMLIN extended a wire, which began retracting back and forth. "I think I can get access into this. Shen? No, I- Oh. Yeah that seemed to work. Doors are open, and the sensors are down."

We made our way into the building. While the front was ostensibly a guard post, there was only a solitary guard, who we quickly neutralized. The rest was reserved for common storage. We made our way to the second floor for a better vantage over the site.

"The fuck are those pods?" Said Luo.

"Whatever's inside looks almost… human." Was Cathy's reply.

"Based on what we know, they probably are. Watch your fire around those, they might still be alive. Let's take care of those two patrols from up here, and then push into the facility proper."

We lined up our shots, and on the Sergeant's word, unleashed hell upon the ADVENT forces. Some of them managed to get a couple shots off before we cut them down, but the element of surprise, combined with searing laser fire and a well-placed grande from yours truly made sure that none of them came even close to hitting us.

"Good work. Let's get a move on, we're making good time." But we weren't about to get too comfortable, for as soon as we got out of the guard station Central came crackling over the comms.

"We've got a mass pisonic signature on your position. If that's what I think it is…"

Before he finished his thought, a massive purple figure appeared before Jack. It drew its blade right into a slash, with such force that despite Jack blocking the strike with his rifle he was still knocked several metres back, clearly reeling. The figure then took off at a perpendicular angle and vanished into the backcountry.

"Central, what the hell was that?" I yelled.

"We've seen it once before, it's fast, stabs you, and doesn't die. Get rid of it if you can, otherwise just get moving."

"Great…" I mumbled.

Whatever the thing was, it had decided to leave us alone, at least for the time being. We moved towards the main facility. The pods did indeed contain humans, but from their pallor I doubted they were still alive. I was gazing at the massive smokestacks and wondering what they could possibly be emitting, when my earpiece sprang to life with two simultaneous shouts.

"We've got Vipers on the right!"

"That assassin's back for more!"

And so we were caught in a difficult pincer. Worse, I heard mechanized noises from inside the building. My first instinct was to dive for cover from whatever threat I knew the location of, and fortunately the boxes I crouched behind were sturdy enough to resist plasma.

"Get a flash on those cobras now!" I struggled to get my launcher off my back without exposing my head to a stray shot, before deciding to just break the strap and launch a blind lob over in the general direction.

"Eyes off!"

I turned away from the light, but the sound was harder to block out, and I could feel my ears ringing. Not great for situational awareness, as I would soon find out, when I was pummelled by a wave of psychic energy as I faintly heard the latter half of a warning from Jack. Sgt. Luo quickly dashed over to get me reoriented, but a blast of plasma caught him in the side.

"Sarge, are you okay?" He glared at me with a strange mix of fury and exasperation, and yelled,

"Nuke that blue bastard before we all get shot!" This was enough to get my mind out of whatever funk had entered it, and I tried to spot the sword-wielding alien. I noticed it just as it was lining up a shot at me with its massive shotgun. It drew fast. But my gun, or launcher in this case, was already up. I pulled the trigger, then slammed my body against the floor as buckshot narrowly missed my head. The thing was knocked on its back, and we all unloaded into it.

"Why won't it fucking die!" Jack yelled, as it managed to get up, and performed a massive backflip away from us. He gave chase, firing at it as it retreated, and yelled over the mic, "It's not gonna escape!"

While we had just taken care of one threat, at least for the time being, another one made its way to us. The doors of the facility opened, and I could hear the clicking of mechanical joints that meant that we were about to have to deal with ADVENT's heavy weapons platforms.

"Great, MECs?" Cathy said. "We've got to deal with one of these angles, or we're toast!"

Sgt Luo, who had pulled back a fair distance and was now trying to pin the Vipers in place with his decades-old marksman's rifle, yelled frantically,

"We're already stretched thin enough! Hold station!"

"With all due respect, I'm not gonna die cowering! They'll be dead in a second, hang on!" Cathy replied, and turned to rush the Vipers. I swore, and gave whatever covering fire I could. However, the Vipers shouldn't have been our worry. A MEC came out of the far door, and I heard its grenades pop out of their cannons, just before I saw them blow Cathy off of her feet. Down, but not out, she grabbed her fallen rifle, aimed, and shot. The lasers struck true, and the head of the MEC came flying off. However, the MEC wasn't the only enemy present. The troopers might not have been good shots, but even they could hit a prone, unmoving target from 30 feet out. She was dead before her rifle hit the ground. Two full clips of mag bullets will do that to you.

"SHIT! MENACE 1-4 DOWN!" I launched my last grenade at what was left of the ADVENT forces. It killed a couple, and the few that were left were made easy pickings for Sgt. Luo. I vaguely heard over the comms that the assassin was gone, the site was clear, and that we needed to hurry, but I wasn't really hearing anything. I went to pick up the corpse. She at least deserved a proper burial. As I moved to the body, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Karl! This is not the time to break!" Sgt Luo anxiously said into my ear. "We've got two more squads of ADVENT coming in from the south! We've got to move!"

I nodded. "I'll deal with them. Check the site, and yell if you need me."

ADVENT troopers made for good meatshields, but poor shooters. As I awaited their approach, I had pulled Cathy's body inside, and set up to fight. The first squad landed their transport, which wasn't the best idea, as by the time they had dismounted I had already shot three of them dead. The others took more ammunition to deal with, and I had to resort to reloading from Cathy's corpse, bending down to rip coolant packs off of her vest. I picked up her rifle when I finally ran out of her mags, and worried that I might have to deal with the rest hand to hand. Miraculously, I didn't. It might have been the custom scope, or just blind luck, but it did almost feel like her spirit was guiding the shots. I wasn't one for spiritualism, but still.

The other two were already discussing with the Commander what they had found. Some sort of vial, and a lot of processed human tissue. I slung Cathy over my shoulders, as I heard the reassuring sound of the Skyranger overhead. Then the much more worrying sound of gunfire.

"I'm taking small arms fire! You're gonna have to deal with that before I can get low enough!"

"Understood, Firebrand." Said Sgt. Luo. I caught up to them as they were about to exit the building, guns drawn.

"Not quite done yet, are we." I said.

"No. We've rigged the charges, but we have that second squad from earlier to deal with."

"Well, I'll need more ammo." I turned to Jack. He tossed me a single magazine.

"That's all I have."

"It'll be enough."

We made our way outside, into the wilderness. It had begun to snow just a slight bit, the white dusting the pines. I leaned Cathy's body against the edge of the wall, and we watched the dropship get nearer. They kept the doors closed until they were nearly right on top of us, at which point the ADVENT forces began to jump down. They landed in a copse, and we opened fire. I was extremely conscious of my limited ammunition, so I knew I had to make every shot count. I exhaled. One. I fired and hit the head of a trooper. Two. Struck the Officer in the chest. I saw a touch of orange. I'd seen those troops in the past. Three. The laser struck, and I could see something leaking from the tank, but nothing yet. I grimaced as the enemy began to fire back, and I saw Jack duck, out of ammunition. Four. The copse lit up with flames, as the ADVENT squad was instantly immolated. The few that could still get up met sniper bullets to the face.

"Good shooting. We needed that." Sgt Luo said with a small, sad smile. I could tell that he was letting some of the emotion start to enter, and he was just as distraught losing a fellow operative. Probably more, since he knew her for so long beforehand. I put all my remaining shots into the fleeing rear of the dropship, as Firebrand set down next to us.

We bundled the corpse into its seat, but the smell was becoming unbearable, so I made an executive decision to stuff it down in the cargo area. It wasn't like the dead needed human comforts. In contrast, we certainly did. Theoretically, we'd dealt a grave blow to whatever plans the aliens had with our accomplishment. We should be proud of our achievement. But all I was thinking was how quickly we make and lose our friends in this profession.