"They were men of valor, those who came before us—but now we are here to make sure their sacrifice was not in vain, they were X-Com, and we are their product, we are

X-TEC."

-Commander Zakrov, 4th Extra-Terrestrial Combat Division; Special Weapons Dept.

"He's late." Ivan remarked cooly as he scanned the area once more and checked his digital watch. They'd been waiting for around an hour for the diplomat to show up. Sykes shrugged his wide Ukranian shoulders, "He's a diplomat, we're expecting him on time? He probably got drunk last night and slept with some babe, now he's just waking up or something."

"I don't know Sykes, tonight doesn't feel right." Ivan stated as he shook off his sleepiness and placed his eye back in his rifle's scope. "I mean, I know he's one of the big-wigs at HQ, but who'd want to kidnap or kill him right now? They know, obviously, that we're going to be watching him like a hawk because of last month's little mishap."

Sykes sighed, "You worry too much Ivan, they just posted us here as a precaution; this'll all be over in the span of thirty minutes, then we'll go back to base, have a couple of beers and pass out on the floor of your dorm."

Ivan smirked and snickered a little, "Yeah, sounds like every night to me Sykes."

"Whatever, man, whatever. I'm going to go down and grab something to eat really quick," Sykes stated as he opened the hatch which was the only way on or off the rooftop.

Ivan blinked under his scope at Sykes, "Dammit Sykes, you're gonna get me fired one of these days. The commander told us in briefing to sit tight."

A brown van turned the corner of main, a small entourage of guerilla soldiers trailing closely behind. "There you are, Mr. Karkov, and your little rebellion too."

Grunting as he focused on the situation at hand, he followed the motorcade as it passed down the street. There were a few people lining the streets right now, none of them overly suspicious, but he had to keep a close eye on them all.

Then he saw it, a man in his forties in a brown trenchcoat and leather hat turned to face the motorcade as it was passing and from under the trenchcoat he pulled a fullsized rocket launcher and shouldered it.

Ivan's eyes flew open, "What the—!" He sighted the man's head and a bead of sweat parted from his forehead. He remembered his army training to calm down and muttered it to himself as he lined up the shot quickly.

Breathe, he took a breath in and out, Relax, the muscles on his back untensed, Aim, the scope began to fall down from above his target, Sight, the crosshair slid over the man's skull.

Shoot. The man shook once and then fell over as the rocket blasted from his rocket launcher. The projectile blasted past the motorcade and flew into a building across the way. The rocket pummeled into the building and an explosion belched out into the air. Ivan's eyes stared at the flames from the scope and shook as he saw a hand raise from the window in flames.

The world went black for a second and Ivan felt a grip on his shoulder. Before he even knew what he was doing, he found himself holding a knife to Sykes' throat.

"Ivan, it's me!" Sykes pleaded as the cool blade bit into his neck painfully.

Ivan blinked and then remembered Sykes. He took the knife away from Sykes' neck and sheathed it, panting. Sykes gulped his fear down and turned to face Ivan, "What happened out there, Ivan?"

Ivan shook his head, "I don't know, some civilian wearing a trenchcoat was hiding a RPG under his coat; he pulled it out, I saw him, and I shot. The missile—it missed the motorcade, but..."

Sykes looked over across the street to see the building in flames as he pulled his radio from his belt, "It'll be alright, bud. It'll be alright. I think that building was abandoned anyway."

He clicked the mic on. "Wildfire, Wildfire, this is Running Man, please respond."

Over a light layer of static, a grisly voice answered, "This is Wildfire. Running Man, got a sitrep?"

Sykes looked down at the man laying over the RPG, now being kicked over by two of the guards in the armed motorcade. He looked french from this distance. "Yeah, Wildfire, stand by for that sitrep. I've got a situation down here."

Sykes grabbed Ivan's mounted OICW and looked in the scope. He noticed the symbol of the eagle patch on his shoulder with four letters threaded across the top,

"X C O M"

Numbly, Sykes thumbed the transmit button and said slowly, "Wildfire—the situation has just got worse; order an immediate withdrawal of the Pageant. Inform the Parents that it's rained out."

"Roger that Running Man, we'll inform them to shut down the Pageant. Expect some father's to be upset; does your little girl need a ride home?"

"Yes, Wildfire, I could use that ride. If you could drive it over ASAP?"

"Of course. Stand by for pick-up, ETA Thirty Minutes, inbound from Orange Base; your driver's name is 'Papa."

Sykes thumbed the comm off and looked over to Ivan, "They're evacuating. You did your job, soldier, now let's get the hell out of here before this situation heats up some more."

A twin pair of rockets hurled over head and smashed into the council building where the negotiations would've been held. The blast knocked Ivan and Sykes off their feet.

Ivan pushed the limp body of Sykes off of him and saw the building flaming. Smelling smoke too close to be from the Union Center building, Ivan shouldered Sykes after he grabbed his OICW and tried as best he could to remain calm.

The building they were in was abandoned and old. No doubt that a fire in such a weak support area would crumble the entire building in less than ten minutes.

Taking a deep breath, Ivan pulled open the hatch to the top floor and pushed Sykes down to the next floor. Shouldering his weapon, Ivan grabbed the last rung of the ladder with his foot as he swung onto it and ducked as he slammed shut the door overhead.

Dropping to the tiled floor of the old Brandon Hotel, Ivan smelled the thick odour of smoke and flaming cloth. Hauling Sykes on his shoulder once more, Ivan shuffled down the hallway and kicked open the stairwell.

Looking down the seven story flight of stairs, he felt Sykes getting heavier on his back and braced himself for the pain that would be there a long time after he had reached the bottom floor.

Balancing himself firmly with each step, Ivan made his way down the staircase and was make a great deal of progress until some of the flaming ceiling decided to come down and greet him personally.