A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. I started a new part-time job back in December, and as much as I love it, it does consume quite a bit of my free time these days. Plus I sprained my wrist a bit, and although it's nothing major, it does make typing and writing a bit more difficult. So I do apologize for how long it took, and hopefully it'll be shorter from here on out!

This chapter and the next one have quite a bit of action, as they're retellings of one of the main story missions of the Bureau. So enjoy!


"Mornin, Billy. What can I get you this fine Tuesday?"

The bleary-eyed young Man blinked and gave his best attempt at a smile to the kind-hearted old woman. "Mornin', Edna. The usual, if you please."

Edna nodded with a sweet smile, then disappeared into the kitchen. With no one else in the coffee shop, Billy went back to the seemingly impossible task of trying to wake himself up. He wasn't sure if a cup of coffee was going to succeed where three alarms, a phone call, two Cokes, a kiss from his girlfriend, and the music from the high school marching band passing by outside had failed...but it couldn't hurt to try.

A moment later, a steaming hot cup of coffee slid over to him. The smell alone seemed to invigorate him, giving him the strength to reach out and sip it with a loud slurp. A wave of warmth and bitterness washed over him, tempered by just the right amount of cold cream and fresh sugar.

"Thanks, Edna," he said after taking another grateful slurp. "Appreciate the pick-me-up. Dunno why I'm so tired this mornin'. I hit the hay pretty much soon as I got home last night."

"Weir's working you boys down to the bone again, eh?" said Edna, a twinkle in her eye. Then her face morphed into a frown. "I swear, if he's making you stay past midnight again…"

"Nah, nothing like that," said Billy with a chuckle. "Left the lab at about nine last night. Slept pretty well at first...until some strange hum woke me up. Then it happened again when I went back to sleep, then it happened again, and again, and again, the whole night. Every time I started dozing off, that damn humming noise woke me back up." He looked down at the coffee. "I must be going crazy…"

"Probably just stress," said Edna helpfully. "Nothing a good day's rest can't fix. Take the day off of classes, make a date with Lily, enjoy the...huh. I didn't think there's be fireworks today too. And so early in the day?"

That, along with the return of that damned hum, was what finally woke Billy out of his stupor. "Edna! Get away from the window!"

But that was all he was able to yell out before the sound of screams and shrieks and the smell of burning ozone and boiling blood overpowered everything. Poor Billy watched horrified as metallic disks flew from the sky, raining down red death on everything in sight. So transfixed was he with the carnage that he was barely aware of the black fluid streaking down his face like tears, his skin turning pale and his muscles locking up.

"It was supposed to be a good day," he intoned robotically, "where'd it all go wrong?"


"Skyranger Teams, this is Bravo-Zero," came the authoritative voice of Myron Faulke over the radio. "Sound off."

"Skyranger-One, en route. ETA twenty-two seconds."

"Skyranger-Two, flyin' high. ETA two minutes."

"Skyranger-Three, inbound," said Leon Barnes. Looking back at the eager soldiers, he gave a smirk. "ETA forty seconds. Don't get too comfy."

Carter sat tersely in the back of the helicopter moving with haste, carefully snapping an alien power cell into the Laser Pulse Rifle in his hands. His Colt pistol was already fully loaded and resting securely in its holster, his Venn Brace was clamped onto his wrist snugly, and his familiar gray hat was twisted firmly into place on his head.

Once he was sure his gear was mission ready, he passed the time by watching the rest of his squad finish up their prep. The staunchly traditional Knox Dolan had elected to bring no alien gear aside from the backpack and Venn Brace everyone wore - an M14 rifle, a belt of frag grenades, and a couple of disposable M72 LAW tubes were all he needed. Summer Rose, by contrast, brought both a Laser Pulse Rifle and a Laser Pistol, along with a pair of alien-alloy reinforced combat knives tucked into her boots.

"Roger that Skyranger Teams. Change primary frequencies to lines Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Use those to communicate with Bravo-Zero if needed. Good luck, stay safe, and Vigilo Confido."

Adam Goldstein had his Laser Pulse Rifle in its sniper mode configuration, with a Z-62 machine pistol on his hip in case he found himself in a close-combat situation. Gray Dawson marveled at the compact (but just as deadly) Laser SMG in his hands, making sure his own Colt and his first aid kit were in easy reach in case they were needed. And Raymond Shen spent a moment admiring his own Laser Pistol before he stowed it and started loading shells into his Winchester with a sigh. Carter had to suppress a smirk - if they had recovered an alien shotgun from the Groom Range attackers, he was certain the eager young Engineer would have picked it out in a heartbeat.

"Skyranger-Three, this is Bravo-Zero Charlie," came another voice, this one belonging to Officer Chulski. "You encounter any new information or need tactical advice, give us a call."

Carter nodded. With three different Strike Teams running three separate missions, it made sense to have a dedicated communication team for each one. It was surprising (and a little flattering) that the Chief communications officer was assigned to his squad - but then again, if Weir was really as important as Faulke said he was, it was only natural he'd have one of his top people monitoring their progress.

His musings were interrupted by a loud swear from Barnes, followed by the sound of explosions and the violent lurching sensation that came from an unexpected aerial juke. "Scratch that ETA, Bravo-Zero! X-rays have set up some kind of AA defenses! Repeat! Enemy has deployed anti-aircraft artillery!"

Shit.

"Skyranger-Three, have you sustained any damage?" Chulski's tone was concerned, but composed.

"Negative, Bravo-Zero," said Barnes breathlessly, "Got damn lucky there. But I can't see us getting any closer to the dropoff point without getting shot full of holes, let alone move to pickup!"

"The aliens must have learned from Groom Range," mused Summer, "They didn't waste any time setting up defenses."

Carter nodded tersely, furrowing his brow as he thought of the best way to proceed. If the aliens had anti-aircraft defenses, that made getting in and out much trickier - especially if they had to escort Doctor Weir through hostile territory to a safe pickup location. But if the tower that harassed their Skyranger could be brought down...or even controlled…

"Barnes. How close can you get us to that AA tower?"

The pilot was quiet for a moment, before he looked back at Carter with a grin. "I can set you down on the southwest side of town, at an intersection about a klick away from the primary cannon."

"Then put us down there," he said brusquely. "We'll disable the AA tower for you."

"That'd be mighty nice of you, Whiskey-Three. You sure your team can handle it?"

Carter gave one more look at his squad, who all nodded in unison.

"We'll be ready for anything."


Summer was not ready for the first few steps off the Skyranger.

Up until now, her only exposure to Earth had been bombed-out military bases and underground corridors. Sure, she had seen pictures of the world outside the Bureau's fortress, but the technology wasn't perfect, so the fading photographs failed to capture the real thing. This was her first time stepping into a small Earth town, with colors and shapes and people and smells and tastes foreign to her. It should have been a magical experience.

It was anything but.

The small town in front of her was in shambles, and the road she and the rest of Strike Three were traveling down took them straight through the horror show. A colorful banner hung overhead, strung between the buildings with little flags that spelled the word "HOMECOMING!" in bright, bold, joyful letters. She could imagine a marching band playing and parading proudly beneath the banner, while the rest of the town gathered on either side of the road cheering and waving and picking up candy that was flung from the floats. In reality, the members of that marching band lay scattered across the road, blood staining their uniforms and their instruments. The onlookers didn't fare much better - they too were cut down by alien laser fire, their final faces frozen for all time on their still, lifeless bodies. And the floats, the culmination of months of work and hundreds of pounds of flowers, paper, plastic and steel, were reduced to little more than burning, smoldering wrecks, shattered and destroyed like the lives of this small town.

It was almost too much to handle.

Almost.

Summer looked at the rest of her squad, finding some solace in the fact that she wasn't the only one affected by such a gruesome display. Dawson made the sign of the cross on his head and heart, while Shen fumed in silent anger. Knox did his best to conceal his own grief, but a low growl escaped his lips.

"Poor kids," said Adam with a somber shake of his head, "Never stood a chance."

"Why would they attack a town like this?" Dawson asked to no one in particular, "It's a non-military target."

"They did all this just to get to one person," replied Knox. "Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting."

"And if we don't find that person, this town won't be the last one hit," said Carter. "AA Tower is just ahead. Let's move out - and get some payback for this."

Sure enough, Summer could hear the thumping of alien artillery in the distance, which made the ground shudder and her hairs stand on end with every boom. She nodded and took point alongside Carter and Knox, while Shen, Dawson, and Adam brought up the rear. Taking one moment to grab an untouched rose from a wrecked flower wagon, she tucked it into her hair and followed the squad down the road.

Carter raised an eyebrow at the young woman, who just shrugged. "Something to remember them by."

"If that works for you, go ahead," said the gray-hatted man. "Just don't lose it when the shooting starts."

Knox grumbled something about women being "too sentimental for field work," but no one responded. Summer just readjusted the rose and brought her weapon up, sweeping back and forth as she matched Carter's pace.

The rest of the walk through the ruins of Rosemont revealed more of the same type of scenery. Broken buildings, blasted cars, and butchered bodies filled the roads, while the air reeked of burning flesh and ozone. Carter seemed to pay no mind to the destruction around him - like he did back at Groom Range, he seemed to move with a singular purpose, not stopping the squad until they came to an intersection with a stack of burning cars blocking their path.

"Looks like we just hit rush hour," said Dawson with an attempt at a smile. "And here I thought we wouldn't have to worry about traffic."

"...that supposed to be some kind of joke, Golf?" snarled Knox.

"Look, I'm just trying to lighten the mood here," said Dawson defensively. "And I'm not seeing anyone else here make an attempt to -"

"Enough," ordered Carter, scanning his surroundings. Summer followed his gaze to first a coffee shop with its windows blasted wide open, then to a fire escape tucked between two buildings across the street.

"Alpha, head up that fire escape and try to get a visual on the area. See if you can find us a shortcut. Golf, back him up. Everyone else, hold position."

Adam nodded as he stowed his rifle on his backpack, climbing up the wire-thin stairs and ladders to the top of the building. Dawson frowned for a moment, then followed the Recon agent up to the roof. The two men disappeared from sight, and a moment later Adam's voice came through the radio.

"Alpha-Three here. Got a visual on the AA tower just past that barricade. Looks like you can cut through that coffee shop and come out the other side."

"Good work, Alpha," said Carter, "You have eyes on hostiles?"

"Negative, sir. Gonna have to move a bit closer."

"Get as close as you can without getting spotted," ordered Carter, "We'll head through the shop and figure out our next move from there."

"Understood."

"Grab me a bagel while you're in there."

"Seriously Golf?"

"Well, no, but -"

"We'll see what we can get for you, Golf," said Summer with a smile, "though I can't guarantee it'll be fresh."

Dawson laughed. "See? She gets it!"

Carter groaned. "Alright. Let's move. Sierra, Romeo, on point. Kilo, watch my six."

The squad nodded and moved into formation, following Summer and Shen as they stepped over broken glass. The inside looked like just as much of a mess as the outside, with one clear difference - at the front table, sitting hunched over with an empty coffee mug, was a man with pale skin and black fluid dribbling down from his eyes.

"Oh Christ!" shouted Knox, aiming his rifle at once. "We got a live one!"

Carter put a hand on the rifle barrel, forcing Knox to lower his weapon. "Hold fire. If it was gonna attack, it would've done so by now."

As if to demonstrate his point, Carter went closer and snapped his fingers a few inches from the slouched figure's face. It gave no reaction, no indication that it acknowledged Carter's existence - it simply sat there, sipping its empty mug, oblivious to the world around it.

"The hell is wrong with him?" asked Knox.

"I've seen this before," mused Shen, "when I was helping Doctor Dresner earlier this week. Apparently these Outsiders use some kind of signal to 'wire' people's minds to make them follow orders. The process is quite...invasive, and doesn't leave much of the person's original mind intact, but it does create a pretty ferocious puppet that can act on whatever they want."

"Like the woman that attacked Whiskey and I back at Groom Range," recalled Summer.

"Or the troops that went berserk in Strategic Command," said Shen with a nod. "Point is, when the alien stop broadcasting that signal, it doesn't undo the damage. It effectively burns out their brains, leaving them stuck doing whatever they were doing in their last few moments of lucidity. It's like...it's like when a record player gets stuck on a scratch. It just keeps repeating itself over and over again until you finally turn it off."

"Is there anything we can do to help them?" asked Summer.

Shen shook his head. "Doc's been working on a cure for these so-called 'Sleepwalkers', but so far he hasn't found anything. Best we can do for now is to knock out any we see and let the recovery teams sweep them up."

"...it was supposed to be a good day," intoned the Sleepwalker robotically, "where'd it all go wrong?"

With a nod, Carter brought back his first and clocked the poor Sleepwalker over the head. The Venn Brace let out a burst of electricity as soon as his fist made contact, stunning the man and sending his unconscious form to the ground. Summer watched as Carter and Knox propped him up against the wall, leaning him over next to a burnt-out jukebox that warbled mournfully.

"I hope we can help them," she said, shaking her head.

"Me too, Sierra," said Shen sorrowfully. "Me too."

The lull in the conversation was suddenly interrupted by Adam's voice coming over the radios.

"Contacts spotted. Six Sectoids, five Outsiders. One of them's wearing some big blue cape."

"Sounds like another one of those Shield Commanders," grumbled Carter. "Have you been spotted yet?"

"Negative. Got a perfect sniping position in a two-story bookstore west of that barricade we passed earlier. I can almost see past their cover completely. Golf's on the ground floor, hiding behind the windows."

"Any good cover?"

"Just some trucks that haven't been bombed out," replied Dawson, "Plenty of cover for you to flank them from the east. Could even set up a crossfire if you wanted."

"Perfect," said Carter with a nod, "Thanks for the intel. On my signal, I want Alpha to drop that number of unshielded Outsiders from four to three. Golf pops a smoke as far south of the AA gun as he can throw, and Kilo goes over there and gets the Commander's attention. Romeo and Sierra, you're with me as we advance and take out as many of the bastards from the side as we can, at which point Kilo and Golf join in the assault proper. We catch them in a three-way crossfire quickly and take out that AA tower before they call in reinforcements. Understood?"

A chorus of "understoods" and "yes sirs" sounded off as the soldiers stepped through the shattered windows to the other side of the barricade, moving quickly and quietly into cover. The natural colors of Rosemont gave way to cold metallic steel of an Outsider construct, and the thumping of the alien artillery cannon directly ahead seemed to shake the improvised tower to its very foundations. True to Adam's description, Summer caught a glimpse of a trio of Sectoids setting up some kind of portable laser turret, while a regal-looking Outsider barked orders in an alien language to one of its less-important brethren.

"On my mark," whispered Carter, pulling out his pistol and pointing at the preoccupied Sectoids. Summer nodded, zeroing in on her rifle while Shen flicked off the safety on his shotgun. A tense moment went by as the ambient noise around Summer went quiet, replaced only by the sound of her heart beating in her ears.

"Mark."

A loud ZAP snapped through the air as the Outsider in front of the Shield Commander dropped dead in an instant, followed almost immediately by the hissing of pressurized smoke escaping its canister. Before anyone had time to react, Carter and his team opened fire, leaving the trio of Sectoids with punctured torsos, burnt-out eyes, and a skull filled with more buckshot than brain matter. The remaining forces all raised their weapons and searched for the source, but there was no need to look for very long - a hot shower of lead erupted from the pink smoke, cutting down another Sectoid and sending ripples across the Shield Commander's defense.

"That one's for Groom Range, you pieces of shit!" howled Knox at the top of his lungs. "Go Army, Beat Navy!"

"Go, go, go!" shouted Carter, racing north towards the tower. Summer and Shen were right behind him, the former firing bursts of lasers in the direction of unshielded Outsiders.

While Knox's volley didn't penetrate the shield, it did have its intended effect as the Shield Commander ordered all forces to fire on the soldier in the pink cloud. Knox ducked down as soon as the lasers started to fly, pushing himself as much as he could against the broken roadblock. With all the focus on the man in the smoke, none of the aliens were paying much attention to the other five troops systematically picking them off. One Outsider was blasted back with a hole in its gut the size of a baseball, another had his brain boiled in an instant from a hundred yards away, and the remaining two Sectoids were incinerated in high volumes of laser fire.

"Kilo, grenade on my mark!" shouted Carter as he smashed his Venn Brace into the face of the last common Outsider. "Aim for the bastard's feet!"

"Copy, Whiskey! Ready when you are!"

Summer watched as Carter unslung his own Laser Burst Rifle, setting it to full-auto mode as he popped up from cover and unloaded the entire energy cell into the backside of the Shield Commander. Surprisingly, despite the telltale ripples of the shield being visible, the elite Outsider still stumbled forward beneath the sheer volume of red light. Maybe these shields were meant more for ballistic projectiles, and not for protection from their own weapons? Summer wondered if the Outsiders had ever considered the possibility of their own weapons being turned against them, and what this said about their species and their pride if it was true.

Before she could ponder too deeply, the battle was over when Knox threw a frag grenade at the Shield Commander's feet, landing it perfectly inside his shield and blowing him up into a fine paste. She watched as Carter ordered the squad to regroup as Shen approached the front door of the tower.

"Ah, dammit," growled the engineer, "They've burnt out the door control circuits. Gonna need a minute to rewire it."

"Can't we just blow it open?" asked Carter, already reaching for one of his grenades.

"Don't bother," said Dawson as he walked up. "I don't know what kind of metal they use, but it's tough. Nothing short of Elerium-based explosives is gonna punch through that."

"Guess we'll just have to wait for the kid to fix this," grumbled Knox. Then he looked at Shen. "You can fix this, right kid?"

Shen snarled as he pulled open a panel. "First of all, old man, I'd really appreciate it if you stopped trying to give me nicknames like 'slant' or 'kid'. Second off, of course I can fix this. I just need a minute."

Summer could tell that Knox had something nasty on the tip of his tongue when Adam's voice crackled through the radio again. "Heads up, incoming objects on our six! Defensive positions!"

The squad turned, expecting something nasty to come out of the barricade...only to see what could only be described as alien sarcophagi fall from the sky and bury themselves feet-first into the earth. They opened up and hummed with energy, and out stepped an Outsider with two Sectoids on its shoulders. Six of the strange drop pods landed with reverberating crashes, bringing a total of eighteen new enemies for Strike Three to deal with.

"We'll try to buy you as much time as we can," growled Carter, "Get that door open, Romeo! Everyone else, take cover and dig in! I'll take point, Kilo and Sierra on my flanks! We've gotta draw their fire!"

Summer nodded as she charged in after Carter, heading for a slab of alien steel halfway down the battlefield as she tried to avoid the swarm of lasers firing down range. Some of them made contact with her chest and shoulder, but the shield in her pack held firm and kept the worst of the energy from penetrating. Even so, some of the heat still bled through, and as the lasers kept biting into her protective barriers, the heat grew worse and worse. She slid into cover with one final sprint, narrowly missing a coordinated blast from an Outsider that no doubt would have punched straight through the shield.

"Fucking Christ," spit Knox as he slammed his back into the side of a burnt-out truck, "Remind me to buy the Kraut a beer after we get back. That kinda rush woulda torn us to shreds in the old days."

"Just remember to let it recharge between rushes," said Carter as he threw one of his grenades into the crowd, "otherwise you will get torn to shreds. Romeo, how's the door coming?"

"Just finished bypassing the first circuit," came the sound of a very stressed-out engineer, "I'm going as fast as I can, but have you ever tried to fix something while getting shot at? It's not exactly the quickest job."

"Tossing you some smoke, Romeo. Hope it helps!"

"Appreciate it, Golf. Hopefully now I can work in - wait, is this YOUR cigarette?"

"It's one of Whiskey's, actually."

"...goddammit, Golf."

Carter rolled his eyes as the grenade went off in the crowd, sending shrapnel and four Sectoids flying. "Watch the flanks! Don't let them get past us!"

After looking back to see that Shen was indeed concealed in a cloud of pink fog, Summer crouched behind her cover, resting her Laser Pulse Rifle on top of the steel structure and using it to stabilize her aim. In a series of quick, efficient bursts of laser fire, Outsider after Outsider fell to the floor with burns across their torsos and heads. At one point, the disappointing click informing her she was out of ammo sounded just as a Sectoid was making a sprint to try to flank her; with no time to reload, she instinctively reached for one of her knives and flung it with perfectly-honed precision, burying the bladed tip into the tiny flanker's skull and killing it instantly.

"Holy shit, woman," remarked Knox. "Dunno what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't that."

Summer could only smirk as she slapped a fresh power cell into her rifle. "What can I say? I'm full of surprises."

"So's the enemy," growled Carter, as he fired off another salvo from his cover. "Stay focused. Romeo?"

"Took a couple of burns, but I'm alright. Second circuit's done, just one more to go."

"Romeo, watch out! Outsider on your five!"

A distant ZAP sounded out.

"Got your back, Romeo."

"Thanks Alpha."

Carter shot Knox a disapproving glance, silently admonishing him for letting an Outsider slip past his side of the fight. Growling, Knox stepped out of cover, unloading the rest of his magazine into the rapidly-diminishing crowd of Outsiders and Sectoids. They began to fire back in retaliation, which Carter and Summer took advantage of with well-placed laser shots until finally, only one Outsider remained.

Just as the two leaders finished swapping power cells, however, Knox's shield finally gave out.

"FUCK!" shouted the grizzled soldier as lasers bit into his chest, knocking him back and onto the ground. Summer instinctively yelled out, and lined up her rifle on the last Outsider, intent on making him pay…

...and watched as the offending alien was launched backwards twenty feet, its corpse used as a wedge to shatter the barricade of broken cars.

Summer's blood froze, and she snapped her gaze around, looking for the telltale signs of a Shield Commander. She didn't find the commander...but she did find Carter standing out of his own cover, hand outstretched and glowing with blue energy.

"What...what the fuck…" whispered the leader of Strike Three, staring at his own hand. "Did...did I do that? What did I do...and how did I..."

"Carter!"

The sound of Summer screaming his name seemed to get his attention, snapping him back to reality. Taking in the situation, he went over to Knox and helped him back to his feet, giving him the healing hands treatment as he did so.

"Jesus Christ on a pike," coughed Knox, "now that was a proper dust-up. Haven't had a fight like that in a long time." He nodded his thanks to Carter, then gave a shit-eating grin at Summer. "You're not too bad in a fight...for a woman."

Summer smirked in return. "Same to you...for an old man."

Carter once more rolled his eyes and readjusted his hat, which miraculously had stayed on during the entire fight. "Romeo?"

"Door is open! We'll scout ahead and disable that cannon."

"And maybe see what kind of toys they have," added Dawson.

Sure enough, by the time Summer had retrieved her knife from the head of the Sectoid, the infernal thumping of the anti-aircraft cannon finally ceased. A wave of relief swept over her, and she felt tension leave her shoulders that she didn't even know was there. A moment later, Barnes's rich voice came from Carter's radio block as he helped Knox swap in a fresh power cell for his shield.

"Anti-aircraft tower has stopped firing," he reported, "skies are all clear now."

"Nicely done, Strike Three," added Chulski, "Skyranger-Three, plot a course for the Strike team to take."

"On it, Bravo-Zero Charlie. Strike Three, stand by."

Summer watched as the Skyranger zoomed overhead, nearly ripping the rose free of her hair. It hovered past the once-threatening tower, then banked left and vanished out of sight once more.

"Looks like there's a path right through the bank just up ahead," reported Barnes, "It'll take you down a road that goes right to the front steps of Rosemont University."

"Thanks, Skyranger-Three," said Carter, "Let's move."

After regrouping with the rest of the squad, Summer and Carter led the group through a rather spacious bank lobby. Like the rest of the town, any impressiveness the decorated lobby would have held was ruined by the presence of destruction and decay. Bodies were strewn across the floor, and thousands of dollars worth of paper bills were either on fire or trampled underfoot by the corpses. A pair of Sleepwalkers stood in line for the withdrawal stand, waiting for the next available teller that would never come.

Adam grabbed a few wads of cash off the top of a stack, which earned him a glare from Knox. "Seriously? You're stealing at a time like this?"

"Not stealing, scavenging," said the Recon Agent defensively. "I'm grabbing stuff that might be useful either in the field or back at base. I don't know if you've noticed, but there isn't much of a supply line right now."

"Uh huh...and what exactly have you 'scavenged' so far?"

"Couple dozen fuses, some soap and antibiotics, a few books of matches, and a cord of wire rope." Under Knox's withering glare, he eventually admitted "and some comic books" in a much quieter voice.

"Long as you can carry your own weight, it won't be an issue for now," said Carter before the Commando could open his mouth. "Just remember to take what's needed and not what's most valuable - even if you could get money for it, where the hell would you even spend it?"

Adam looked at the ground for a moment, nodded, then dropped most of the bills he was holding, pocketing only the driest of the paper currency. Knox muttered something about "being stuck with a goddamn klepto" before Summer broke the silence.

"There's voices at the end of the hall," she said with a hint of hope in her tone. "Sounds like it's coming from the vault."

"Survivors?" inquired Carter, "Or just Sleepwalkers?"

"Not sure. They were talking back and forth, so I'm inclined to think the forner."

"Golf and Sierra check it out. Everyone else, make sure the way out is clear. Find that exit Skyranger spotted, and get it open if it's jammed."

The squad nodded and moved out. Summer drew her Laser Pistol, hoping against hope she wouldn't have to use it. Dawson seemed similarly hopeful yet hesitant, as he moved next to Summer with one hand on his first aid kit, the other on his own pistol. The two of them approached the multi-ton steel door with bated breath, and rounded the corner to find…

"Wait! Don't shoot!"

...a dozen or so scared, shaking civilians of various ages, states of dress, and wounds. Some of them were clutching their shoulders or nursing minor burns, while towards the back a small girl whimpered in pain, her leg bent at an unnatural angle. A pair of adults near her did their best to try to soothe her pain, but with blood covering their own hands and shirts it was clear they were nearing the extent of their limited medical knowledge.

Still, they were alive. Which was good enough for Summer.

"Whiskey-Three, this is Sierra-Three," reported Summer over the radios, "Can confirm, we found survivors. Real ones."

"Copy that, Sierra-Three," crackled Carter's voice, "I'll be there in two mikes to assess. Do what you can to help in the meantime."

"Roger that, Whiskey-Three. Standing by."

With that, Summer watched as Dawson immediately pulled out his medical supplies, tending to the various injuries the best he could. Summer did her best to aid the Support Agent with her own knowledge of treatment - it was expected for Huntsmen and Huntresses to know at least a little bit of first aid - but it still didn't feel like much. By the time Carter arrived in the vault, it was all she could do to wrap some cold damp cloth around one man's forearm. It wouldn't do much for the laser gash that threatened to tear off at least a quarter-inch of skin, but at least it would make the burns stop screaming as loudly.

"We came to the bank 's soon 's the lasers started flyin'," the young man rasped, "Figgered a bank vault's gotta be the safest place, right? These things're built to outlast them atom bombs, or so the gov'rnment says anyways…"

"You had the right idea," said Summer, slipping into her "authoritative Huntress" voice that she tended to project in situations like this, "and you did what you could, the best you could. That's all anyone could have asked of you. Now we're going to get you someplace safe."

The man nodded and limped off as Carter walked up to Summer, who stood up to meet his gaze. "You sure you don't remember who you are? Cause that's the mannerism of someone who's been a soldier for years right there."

"I suppose some things are just ingrained into me like muscle memory," said Summer with what she hoped was a sheepish smile. "Even if my head forgets who I was, my heart can't let go of it."

"Now if only the two of them could start actually talking with each other. Anyways. What's the status of the survivors?"

"Fourteen total, mix of men and women, all kinds of age ranges. All injured."

"Any of them in critical condition or shock?"

"Not that I could tell. They all appeared to be responsive, and their injuries shouldn't be too debilitating. Except for…well…"

Both Summer and Carter turned to look at Dawson, kneeling over the young girl and pulling some candy out of his vest. Even from this distance, they could tell that it wasn't a reward for being a good little patient - she would need something to bite down on, because the next step in the treatment was going to hurt. The woman nearby openly wept into her husband's shirt.

"Right," said Carter, as if he was unaffected by the display, "We'll radio Skyranger-Three for pickup just outside the way we came in. Alpha will be standing there with a flare to guide him, and - "

"That's it?"

Carter balked. "The hell do you mean, 'that's it?' You have an objection, Sierra?"

Summer took one more look over the bank vault filled with suffering civilians, then trained her silvery eyes on Carter - or rather, on his hands, which even now seemed to hum with ethereal energy.

"We could be doing more," said Summer with a glare. "Should be doing more."

"We're giving them a way out of this hellhole, what more do you want? Should we give them a free back massage and a complimentary breakfast too?"

The Huntress nodded towards the little girl, then gestured to Carter. Surprisingly he shook his head.

"No. Absolutely not."

"You've healed worse."

"I've healed life threatening injuries. A broken leg isn't gonna kill her."

"But she's hurting all the same," protested Summer.

"We're supposed to keep a low profile. If I go around healing every little scrape and cut like some kind of Christ, that goes out the goddamn window."

"Right," balked Summer, "because we've just been the epitome of subtlety so far."

Carter furrowed his brow. "Listen. We didn't come here for everyone. We came here for one person. That's the job, that's the mission, that's the only fucking reason we're here. Now either call Barnes for a pickup and wait on the Skyranger if your bleeding heart can't handle orders...or put a bandage on it and fall in line. What'll it be?"

Summer opened her mouth to protest, then closed it and stepped back. Dawson stepped forward a second later, pulling a pair of bloodied gloves off his hands.

"Gave her a splint and a sedative," the Support agent reported somberly, "It's the best I could do under the circumstances."

"It'll have to be enough," said Carter with a nod, ignoring Summer's glare. "Sierra and Kilo on point while Alpha waits for the Skyranger. If there's no other objections...let's move."

The homeless huntress had plenty of objections, but none of them were voiced on that day.


The road from the bank to the university was uneventful. Sure, there were a few Outsider and Sectoid patrols roaming the area, but it was nothing a few well-placed satchel charges and a few rounds of focused fire couldn't solve. Carter had to admit, the mission was going well - almost a little too well, like the other shoe was just hanging over them like the Sword of Damocles, waiting to drop at any moment.

Naturally, their biggest roadblock came in the form of another pod of aliens guarding the front entrance of Rosemont University. For the most part it was just the standard fare of aliens they'd fought so far; a handful of Outsiders, a half-dozen Sectoids, and some minor fortifications set up to serve as cover. But there was an unusually large alien with greenish-black armor and shoulders as wide as two varsity quarterbacks, with a hairless ape-like face and a glowing green breathing apparatus over their mouth and nose. The beast was armored from head to toe, and it left cracks in the pavement with every stomp it made as it seemingly paced across the courtyard.

"The hell is that?" Adam's voice crackled from the radios as the rest of the squad hunkered down behind pillars and fallen rubble. "I can see it clearly from where I'm hiding, but I don't recognize it."

"Looks like some kinda big dinosaur," whispered Dawson. Then with a smirk, he added, "Remember Dinky the Ditzy Dino? This looks like his bigger, pissed-off cousin."

Knox groaned quietly. "Christ, Golf, why you gotta bring that up? My kids watched that shit growing up. Hated every minute of , looks more like a monkey to me."

"Cut the chatter, Threes," growled Carter, "and get into ambush positions. Sierra and Golf on the left; Kilo and Romeo on the right. Alpha, watch their patrols and let me know if anything changes. I'll radio Bravo-Zero and see if we have any intel."

As the squad clicked their mikes and moved into position, Carter pulled out his two-way and clicked the transmitter. "Whiskey-Three to Bravo-Zero, we're outside the university. Enemy got here first though, and they're patrolling the front entrance. They got some kind of new enemy unit - looks like a giant green muscular hulk. We got any intel?"

"Sounds like you get to be the first to say hello to one of those 'Mutons', Carter," answered Officer Chulski.

Carter blinked. "The hell's a muton?"

"Well, it's the smallest element of genetic material capable of undergoing distinct muta-"

"Penny."

"Right. Apologies, Officer. From what little we've been able to decipher of their communications, it appears that the Outsiders have enlisted the aid of a number of other alien species in their invasion. You've already seen the Sectoids, which they seem to treat as little more than pets - it would seem they've also hired a number of these 'Mutons' as hired muscle."

Carter leaned out from cover for a moment. "Well, they've certainly got the 'muscle' part down pat. Anything idea what they can do?"

"This is the first time we've seen them out in the field," said Chulski. "So you boys be careful out there."

"You too, Summer! Oh, I mean...Sierra-Three."

With a small chuckle, Carter shook his head. "Understood, Bravo. Whiskey out."

Clicking off the transmitter and stowing the two-way, the leader of Strike Three looked out to see the squad in position. He could see Knox and Shen peeking out from behind a pair of half-ruined pillars, while Dawson and Summer hid behind a brick-built rectangle that once upon a time might have held a flowerbed.

"Alright Threes, here's how it's gonna go down. Golf throws one of those new 'flashbangs' into the Outsiders and Sectoids, while Romeo throws a satchel charge at the Muton. Kilo, Sierra, and I cut down the chaff while they're stunned, Alpha finishes off whatever's left over, then we all focus fire on the Muton. Golf pops smoke, I'll throw grenades, Kilo fires off a LAW, and Alpha punches any chinks in the armor he can find. If there isn't a weak spot, we make our own. And Sierra…"

Summer's eyes lit up.

"Keep your distance and fire with your laser. You too Romeo. Don't know how dangerous these things are up close, but I'm not taking any chances."

The young woman sighed, her disappointment visible for all to see. Still, she nodded in the affirmative, checking her Laser Pulse Rifle to make sure the power cell was full. Carter took a moment to check his own ammunition reserves, adjusted his hat, and when he saw the rest of his squad give similar readiness signals, he let out a breath.

"On my mark...mark."

A cylindrical grenade went sailing high into the air, landing at the feet of an unfortunate Sectoid. An instant later a bright flash enveloped the battlefield along with a high-pitched bang, leaving ringing in the ears and blinding the eyes of anyone who wasn't ready. Another explosion, this one almost inaudible compared to the "flashbang," rocked the Muton's back plating, sending it staggering forward.

"Holy Moses, Sierra," rasped Dawson, "I don't know what you put in those stun grenades, but it's pretty potent!"

Carter could hear Summer's pride from all the way over here. "Just a little bit of magnesium and an oxidizer. You could say that it came to me in a...flash of inspiration."

"Stop flirting and start shooting!" groaned Carter, bringing his alien rifle to bear in full-auto mode, cutting down Outsiders and Sectoids alike. Summer followed suit with bursts of laser fire, followed by a spray of bullets from Knox's position. A single red beam descended from the corner of a nearby rooftop like the finger of God, silencing the last Outsider and leaving only the Muton remaining.

The alien brute had just managed to shake off the impact of the explosion when another one blasted into its side. Then another erupted from its feet, followed up by blasts of laser fire from all directions. Despite the constant, relentless assault, the Muton flinched less and less with each attack, reaching for a small metallic brick on the small of its back even as its armor began to melt off its limbs. With a click and a whine, the brick opened up and its surface panels slid to become an alien looking weapon with angular plates on the sides and three hot, glowing emitters on the front.

"Shit! Whiskey, get down!"

Knox's warning came a second too late, as a cone of red lasers swarmed Carter's position, punching right into his chest and knocking him out of cover. Heat burned across his body, but he could tell from the lack of severe pain that the shield had caught most of the energy - but the telltale pop and the pungent aroma of smoke coming from his backpack told him that the miracle probably wouldn't happen again.

"Carter!" called Summer.

"I'm alright!" groaned the leader of Strike Three, hand clutching the shot location. "Shield took the worst of it, but it burnt out from one hit from that thing! We need to make that asshole drop his gun!"

"Easier said than done," said Shen pointedly, "Looks like it's got some kind of ablative armor, which is designed to chip away when it's damaged. Nothing we have would make a dent in that thing until its armor is completely gone."

"So let's start turning up the heat already!"

"My thoughts exactly, Golf," growled Carter. "I want all lasers firing on that thing at all times! Kilo, Sierra, draw its fire! Alpha, the second that armor's gone, I want that asshole's main hand messed up so bad it can't hold a tin can!"

"You got it boss!"

"Come get some, you big green asshole!"

It was unclear if the Muton understood the language, but it understood the challenge quite well, steadily advancing on Knox's position as it fired more cones of lasers from its alien shotgun. The Commando and the Engineer close by were forced back into cover by the Muton's blind push, seemingly ignoring the sloughs of armor melting off its frame as Carter and Dawson hosed it down in red lasers. When it got too close to Knox and Shen, Summer rose up from her cover to issue a similar challenge, redirecting the Muton's ire onto her and Dawson and drawing it away from the soldiers across the courtyard.

Carter's weapon began to burn in his hands, as the wasted energy of the lasers began to seep from the heat sink. Despite the pain he forced himself to keep firing, drowning out the Muton and the noise of the battlefield in a haze of red. The smoke grenade that the Support Agent had thrown down wouldn't protect them forever, but it did cover them just long enough for the last drops of molten metal to splash against the floor. Carter knew that it had worked when a burst of assault rifle fire from Knox made the Muton stagger - something that wouldn't have affected it if the armor was still up.

"Alpha! Now!"

A loud high-powered ZAP answered his command, as a red beam from the Recon Agent's position drilled into the forearm of the now-unarmored giant. The Muton roared in fury as it clutched the nickel-sized hole in its wrist, dropping its weapon in the process. Before Carter could command the squad to finish it off, however, it pulled a belt of alien-looking spheres off its chest with its uninjured hand, tossing the entire bandolier towards Knox and Shen.

"Oh shit!" Knox growled as his eyes widened. "Scatter!"

And scatter they did, running for their lives in different directions before the grenades went off in a massive chain reaction, blowing the pillars and anything within ten feet of them to smithereens. The Agents were sent flying by the shockwave of the explosion, landing face down on the pavement and smearing blood across the grainy ground.

A loud cry from Carter's left drew his attention to the other developing situation - in the chaos that followed in the explosion, the Muton had charged into the smoke and began swinging its massive fists at whatever it could hit. A backhanded blow from the injured arm sent Dawson flying across the courtyard; a downward slam shattered the alien rifle that Summer used to try to block the strike, leaving her unharmed but unarmed as the Muton came closer for another strike.

The other shoe wasn't done dropping yet, though.

"Shit!" Adam's voice through the radio was almost drowned out by the sound of laser fire. "Sectoid patrol found my hiding spot! They got me flanked!"

Carter grimaced, then took a moment to mentally step back from the situation. Analyzing the battlefield for a moment, he watched as Knox and Shen pulled themselves back to their feet, retrieving their weapons and clutching their wounds. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Summer backflip to avoid another downward slam, pulling the pair of knives from her boots the moment she was back on the ground. The Muton flared at her, then responded to her confident smirk by pulling out a knife of its own, which instantly extended and glowed red-hot with energy with the pull of a trigger on the handle.

Summer's smirk faltered a little, but her confidence did not. Like some kind of twisted re-enactment of David and Goliath, the woman lunged at the Muton and struck first blood, cutting into the alien calves before falling back to avoid the retaliating strikes. The two melee fighters moved with such swiftness and struck with such power that if Carter didn't know any better he would have sworn the duel was rehearsed. But there was no acting or play involved; both fighters stood on the razor's edge of life and death with every stroke, feint, and counter.

"Carter! Outsider reinforcements have joined up with those little shits! I'm being overrun!"

Tearing his gaze away from the frantic melee, Carter began barking orders into the radio. "Fall back, Alpha! Fall back and regroup with us! We'll deal with the bastards if they follow you! Kilo, Romeo, get off your asses and form up on me! We're gonna help Alpha, then Sierra."

"Understood!" Adam responded, his machine pistol chattering in the background. "Oscar Mike!"

Carter raised his rifle to try to provide suppressing fire for Summer as Shen and Knox arose, but it didn't take him long to realize that the constant firing had melted the barrel. Growling in frustration, he reached for his pistol and tried to aim at the Muton, but the two of them were moving too fast for him to line up a shot. He simply couldn't get a bead on the Muton, at least not without the risk of hitting Summer as well.

Shen seemed frustrated with his lack of options as well. Summer was too close to the Muton to risk throwing a satchel charge, and he had the same problem as Carter when it came to lining up a shot. Finally, he looked down at his shotgun, then looked up with a dangerous expression.

"No," ordered Carter, shooting down the unspoken request.

"But if I can get its attention for just one second - "

"That's all the time it'll need to turn you into a smear on the pavement. Do not engage that thing at close range."

"So you're fine with letting her die, huh?" Shen snapped back.

Before Carter could answer, Adam appeared over the corner of the rooftop, a hail of lasers flying over his head as he slid down a nearby pipe. He hit the ground and sprinted over to Carter and the rest of the squad, firing his machine pistol behind him until the magazine was emptied in a loud click.

"You alright?" asked Carter as he started taking potshots at the advancing Outsiders.

"Yeah, shield took most of the hits," answered Adam as he swapped a fresh magazine into his sidearm, "Just caught me by surprise, is all. What's the plan to -"

A loud scream got the attention of all the men, and they turned to see Summer clutching her thigh, steam rising from the newly-made cut. The Muton capitalized on the injury by reaching out and grabbing her throat, lifting her up and slamming her into the stony wall behind them.

"Hang on!" Carter shouted, but a volley of laser fire forced him back into cover. Next to him, Knox and Adam were also suppressed, unable to move or shoot without exposing themselves to enemy attack.

Pinned down by the reinforcements, Carter could only watch as the knives fell out of Summer's hands, as the alien fist tightened around her neck…

Just like before, he found himself reaching out, staring at his hand as it began to glow...

The Muton suddenly buckled as the sound of a Scatter Laser firing filled the air, and Carter watched as the behemoth swing around to see Shen holding its discarded weapon, the business end still glowing red-hot. It responded with a backhand blow that Shen narrowly avoided, but in doing so it lost its grip on Summer, who fell to her feet. Taking a fraction of a second to gasp for breath, she surged forward and drew her Laser Pistol, pressing the tip against the back of its knee and discharging the entire contents of her cell into the monster. The Muton howled in pain and fell to its wounded knee, dropping its knife in the process. Summer wasted no time in picking it up and swinging it with a scream, slashing the Muton's throat with the red-hot blade before plunging the tip into its chin.

The muscular menace just froze for a moment, choking and gurgling on its own blood and blade, before it finally fell to the ground, dead.

Almost instantly the lasers suppressing Carter and the rest of the squad ceased, and hushed alien chattering carried through the now-empty air. The men peered out from behind cover just in time to see the Outsiders blasting their own brains with their rifles, while the Sectoids cast aside their weapons and curled up into tiny little balls.

"Fucking cowards," spat Knox.

"Hey, I'd probably be doing the same if she wasn't on our side," admitted Adam.

"Yeah, well, at least this way it should be easier to capture them," said Carter as he adjusted his hat. "Use your Venn braces to knock them out, I don't think you're gonna have much resistance. I need to have a few words with the 'heroes'."

The men nodded, electrical generators already humming as they moved to the cowering Sectoids. Carter took a moment to make sure the aliens weren't fighting back, then walked over to Summer and Shen, who were both still panting and clutching their newly-pilfered weapons.

"Well...I hope you two are happy with yourselves."

The two of them looked at Carter, meeting his gaze for a moment. Shen stared at the ground, while Summer just smirked.

"All things considered, yeah, I'm pretty satisfied," she said, giving her new blade a few test swings. "I'd say this is a pretty good-sized knife...still not the biggest I've seen."

"I told you to keep your distance."

"Yeah, well…" Summer looked at the corpse of the Muton, "that thing didn't exactly give me much of a choice, did it?"

With a nod, Carter looked at Shen, who was already fiddling with the alien shotgun. "And how about you? Are you satisfied with your new toy?"

Shen paused for a moment, then nodded tersely.

"Good. Because if either of you disobey a direct order like that again, I'm putting your asses back on the Skyranger and sending you back to the Bureau in handcuffs. Is that clear?"

After making sure they both nodded, Carter went over and pulled the unconscious Dawson back to his feet, his hands glowing as he healed the wounds created by the Muton's fist. Then the whole squad regrouped, grabbed the weapons of the fallen Outsiders to replace the ones they'd lost, and marched up the steps into Rosemont University.

Hopefully the good doctor was worth all this trouble.


(A/N): One more thing I should mention is that a lot of the agents in the story are either inspired by, or related in some way to, characters from a Discord RP inspired by the RWBY Within series. So if you're interested in talking to other people with a vested interest in the REMCOM Verse (if that's what we're calling this), then be sure to check out DrAmishMD's author page to find out more!

And as always, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time!