We're hitting a very important milestone with this one - the story has officially hit double digits in the number of chapters! That might not mean very much to you, but it means a lot to me, as this is the first story I've written in years that's lasted as long as this one has. So thanks again for your continued support! It's really encouraged me to keep at it, and it always makes me smile to know that I made someone else smile.
This chapter's based on one of the side missions that you play in The Bureau, which is going to be a recurring thing here in the story. I'm hoping to show off how characters like Carter and Summer are growing, while also showing off the steady progression of abilities and equipment similar to how RWBY Within did it. Other than that, there's really not all that much to say about this chapter, except that it was fun to write! And I hope you enjoy reading it.
The smell of wheat and corn filled the air as the Skyranger doors opened, and as soon as she stepped off, Summer was hit by a wave of nostalgia. Memories of her youth, of her long summer days spent playing around the farm, helping out in the fields alongside her father and three older sisters. Contrary to her name, autumn had always been her favorite season, as that meant that seeds that had been planted in spring grew up into a bounty of delicious food. It was also usually when Mother came home from her summer-long Huntress assignment, tired and exhausted from fighting Grimm but still mustering the energy to prepare wonderful, filling meals with the season's harvest, filling the Rose home and farmlands with warmth, joy, and peace.
It was good to know that there were places like that here on Earth too.
"You okay, Sierra?"
Summer turned to Carter, who had a hand on his hat to keep it from being blown away by the whirling rotors as the Skyranger departed.
The silver-eyed woman nodded. "Yeah...just...something about this place felt familiar."
"Anything here help jog your memory?" asked Shen hopefully.
Summer shook her head, putting on her best false frown. "Afraid not. It was just a feeling, nothing more." While she hated the idea of continuing to lie about having amnesia, she hated the idea of being executed on sight even more. Which was pretty likely to happen if she were to ever reveal her true history to the Bureau.
Carter didn't seem totally convinced, but he didn't press the issue. "Well try not to let it distract you," he said in his familiar slightly-gravelly voice. "There's more to this farm than meets the eye."
Right...the mission. Summer shook her head to clear it, returning her thoughts to the task at hand. According to Faulke, this farm was actually a disguise for an underground nuclear missile silo, one that had a warhead ready to launch at a moment's notice. Unfortunately for XCOM (and the rest of the world), the Outsiders had taken control of the facility, possibly planning to use the deadly weapons against humanity. Summer had read the effects of one of the first nuclear detonations, and the sheer amount of carnage filled her with revulsion. It was a good thing this world didn't have Grimm - the thought of those kinds of weapons merely existing would have brought them out in droves.
But that was neither here nor there. She looked back at the group of agents assembled behind her and Carter, who were in the process of checking their weapons and gear. Dawson and Knox had been assigned on a dispatch job (much to the latter's chagrin) and Goldstein was on a supply run, so Strike Three had a few new faces this time around. Their Commando for this mission was a UN Deniable Ops agent named Leon Van Doorn, who hefted his massive M60 with practiced ease, while an Austrian field medic named Maximilian von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (or just "Max" for short) acted as their temporary Support Agent. And instead of choosing a Recon Agent for the last slot in the squad, Carter had opted to bring along a second Engineer to assist Shen - an American demolitions expert named Alex Massey, who was currently in the middle of checking each and every LAW he had brought along.
"So...let me get this straight," said Alex as he pried a piece of debris out the side of a rocket launcher, "The Outsiders cracked the security of over fourteen US Army bases, found a nuclear launch code, and broadcasted it to the secret facility here?"
Carter nodded as he slipped a power cell into his laser rifle. "But the bomb never launched, thankfully."
"And we're here to find out what went wrong."
"Or what went right," said Leon, racking back the slide on his "light" machine gun.
"Such strange times we live in…" mused Max in a thickly-accented voice as he loaded his own rifle - an AK-47, as Alex had so thoroughly explained to Summer on the ride over, "Nothing's as it seems anymore, yes?"
Summer almost smiled at the irony. Almost.
"You just about done checking those things, Alpha?"
"Almost," said Alex, seemingly oblivious to Carter's stare, "Seriously, these things are amazing. All the penetrative power of an M20A1, with about half the length and less than a third of the weight? Yes please."
"We know," said Shen with a bemused smirk. "You told us about four times on the way over."
"And now it's five," said Carter. "Once you finish your weapons check, you're with me and Lima as we sweep the west side of the farm. Sierra, Romeo, and Mike? You two take the east side. Watch out for enemy patrols, and look for some kind of hidden control room. The moment one team spots either of those, tag them and report to the other team to converge. Clear?"
The squad nodded, and began to move. As they were walking, Summer pulled a silver tube off the side of her backpack and snapped it over the sights of her rifle with a twist and a click. The Spectral-Calibrated Optical Perception Enhancer - or just the SCOPE, for short - was just one of the new toys that Alan Weir and the boys in engineering had come up with, using Outsider computer technology and imaging software to collect real-time visual information beyond what the human eyes could see. Not only did this give the Agent using it access to a variety of vision modes - thermal, X-ray, and night vision, among others - it also gave them accurate targeting info to help them line up that perfect shot.
She watched Shen snap his own SCOPE onto his Scatter Blaster on her left, while on her right Max chose to simply sweep the barrel of his AK-47 across his field of vision. Toggling the thermal vision setting, Summer brought the SCOPE up to her eye, crouching behind a stack of hay bales to steady her weapon.
The surrounding area was filtered through a lens of dark orange and black, like she was looking into a world inhabited only by glowing yellow and white figures. Three of those figures began moving up the west side of the farmland, carrying backpacks and weapons that showed up as red. Nodding in satisfaction at the progress Carter's team was making, she shifted her gaze towards the barn, where she saw a handful of four-legged creatures pacing anxiously...as well as at least a dozen alien silhouettes.
"Got eyes on a squad entrenched in and around the barn," said Summer into her radio, "Six Outsiders, four Sectoids, and a Shield Commander...along with three of those little floating robots."
"Drones," groaned Massey. "Why did it have to be Drones?"
"Anyone got a baseball bat?" Van Doorn quipped. "Bet the boys down in engineering would love to get a look at one of them that isn't shot to hell and back."
"Sierra, we're making our way to you now," finished Carter. "Prep for an alpha strike."
"Copy that, Whiskey," said Summer as she steadied her rifle, "Ready to fire on your mark."
"As am I," said Max.
"Romeo? Why not give another one of Weir's new toys a try?"
Shen nodded, and Summer watched as he pulled a black brick off the bottom of his backpack, deploying a tripod from the bottom and flipping the front open to extend four laser barrels. With the flick of a switch, the assembly hummed as the barrels heated up, the device glowing with red light.
"Turret in place," said the young Engineer, "Barrels are hot and ready to open fire."
The homeless Huntress nodded to Shen, then watched as three human-shaped orange figures made their way through the assortment of granaries, tractors, and scattered stacks of hay bales until they were about thirty yards away from the barn. After confirming targets with Carter, Summer switched off her thermal vision on the SCOPE and turned the targeting display back on. She waited until the reticle was perfectly aligned with the head of one of the Outsiders…
And then she fired, blasting its head off its shoulders in a streak of red light.
"Let's give 'em hell, boys!"
Van Doorn stepped out from behind his cover and unloaded into the group of enemies, his machine gun tearing through a pair of Sectoids and shredding the arm off an Outsider. A barrage of lasers finished the armless alien off, then turned and vaporized another one as Carter switched targets with practiced skill. Rifles from two different corners of the world clattered as Max and Massey each took down an Outsider, then the Engineer pulled a LAW off his back and fired a rocket that sent the two final Sectoids flying. The last alien trooper, clearly shocked at how easily its allies had fallen, attempted to retreat back into the barn...only for Shen's turret to reduce it to a smoking husk.
"Heads up, here come the drones!"
Sure enough, a trio of ball-like flying robots with glowing optics hovered through the entryway, shifting their armor plating to orient themselves in attack mode. They almost looked adorable, what with their rounded appearance and little grabby claws on the front...until their optics began to hum and project a singular laser beam at whatever they stared at. Worse, they were surprisingly agile, as even Summer's best shots missed the drones, and their miniature shields and toughened alloy armor meant that they could shake off most of what did hit them.
"Lima, get back into cover!" barked Carter. "Mike, throw a smokescreen onto Sierra and Romeo, then move into the barn with Alpha! Don't bother shooting the drones if you don't have lasers - those bullets aren't strong enough to punch through their defenses"
"Copy that!" called Massey. "Oscar Mike!"
"Understood," said Max as he pulled a smoke grenade out, "Though didn't Sierra say something about a Shield Commander?"
Before the realization could sink in for anyone else, the sound of a powerful laser beam burning through the air echoed across the battlefield, followed by a cry of pain as Alex Massey hit the ground clutching his side.
"Shit! Alpha went down hard! Took out his shields in one hit!"
"Must be the Shield Commander. Find him!"
Summer toggled thermal vision back onto her SCOPE, peering out of her meager cover as she did her best to duck and avoid the blasts of the ever-annoying Drones. Sweeping from left to right, she looked for the telltale orange silhouette of the higher-ranking Outsider, to no avail. The barn didn't have any other aliens inside, no other targets were registering on her HUD, and even a cursory glance down the road they came revealed nothing. It was as if the Shield Commander had vanished into thin -
There. An orange figure lying prone on top of the barn roof, well-hidden behind a wooden lip, with a longer-than-normal laser rifle.
"Got eyes on the Commander! He's on the roof with what appears to be a sniper rifle."
"Good find, Sierra. Mike, you still got that smokescreen?"
"Was just about to throw it on Romeo and Sierra, sir."
"Throw it on Alpha instead, and get him stabilized. Romeo, Lima and I will deal with the drones. And Sierra? Find a way up there."
"With pleasure, sir," said Summer, toggling her SCOPE back to normal and spotting a drain pipe that went up and along the side of the barn. With a nod at Shen and Max, she bolted across the battlefield, dodging a drone as it fired off one final shot before a laser turret tore it to shreds. Grabbing the pipe and climbing it with practiced ease, Summer scaled the side of the barn in less than a minute, and was on top of the Shield Commander in a heartbeat. One combat boot to the base of the spine to pin it under her heel, one slash of her Muton blade to separate its head from the rest of it, and the sniper was no more.
"Commander neutralized," she reported with a grin, flicking the blood off her sword.
"So I see. Nicely done."
"Let's clean up, boys! Not fair if she has all the fun."
From her vantage point, Summer had an excellent view of the rest of the fight. Carter blindly fired his own laser rifle out from behind cover at one of the drones, baiting it into the perfect spot for Shen to blast it apart with his Scatter Laser. The final drone zoomed towards Van Doorn and spun in an all-out charge, only for the Commando to knock it out of the air with a well-timed swing of his LMG, bringing the full weight of his weapon down on the Drone and sending it clattering to the ground.
Nodding in satisfaction, Summer hopped off her perch and landed in a soft hay bale, clambering out and approaching Max and Massey. "You good, Alpha?"
"Never better," gritted the American engineer. Then he smirked as he felt the smooth skin. "Those medkits are something else. What's in that stuff?"
Max opened his mouth to speak, but Carter came over and cut him off with a glare. "You do not want to know."
Shen went over and picked up the weapon that had fallen out of the Shield Commander's grip when it lost its head. "A weapon that can punch through our shields in one shot...looks like we're not the only ones upgrading our arsenal."
"Just means more new toys for us to play with," said Van Doorn as he picked up the fallen Drone wreck and put it into his backpack. "I'm sure our Recon Agents will be very happy to have a proper alien sniper rifle."
"Quite so," mused Carter. "Skyranger-Three, any advice from the scientists back at base?"
"Just finished talking to them now, Whiskey," came Barnes's clear, cool voice through the radios. Summer smirked. She may not have known as much about radio frequencies as people like Chulksi or Penny, but she had spent a few summers at Beacon interning at the CCT tower. So she knew enough to work with Weir on getting all field agent's "mikes" talking not just with each other, but with the Skyranger's own communications network as well. This meant that anyone in the field could talk back to base, without Carter having to constantly lug around a brick-sized two-way device in the field. It also meant that their Skyranger pilot could join in on their field conversations, whether it was to give aerial intel or to just chime in with a thought.
"And how was the 'Nuclear Missiles 101' lesson?" asked Carter.
"They said that launching a nuke is a three-step procedure," explained Barnes, "Provide fuel, release failsafe clamps, and specify target. It's all computer controlled - if any step fails, the launch is aborted."
"Fuel, clamps, and target, got it," said Massey. "Any intel on the location of the computers?"
"Check the barn first, it's gotta be large enough for that sort of infrastructure," replied the pilot, "If it's not there, check the farmhouse."
"Copy that," affirmed Carter. "Sierra, take the engineers inside with you and sweep the place. Lima, Mike and I will check the perimeter."
"Understood," said Summer with a nod. "Come on, boys. Let's go."
Pushing the barn doors open and sweeping with her rifle as she stepped inside, Summer got hit with a wave of nausea at the sight of most of the animals slaughtered, the blood of pigs, sheep, and cows splattering the walls and the posts of their pens. She had to suppress the urge to retch at the brutal image - seeing human corpses blasted with lasers beyond recognition was one thing, but helpless farm animals who posed no threat? Even if it was a matter of getting resources, there were more efficient ways of doing so - ones that didn't involve such violence.
Though she took some comfort in seeing one cow standing in the corner, calmly chewing its feed as though nothing was wrong. A trio of pigs, a pair of sheep, and a sleepy old tomcat were also alive and well, sparing one cursory glance at the homeless huntress before deciding she wasn't all that interesting.
"Looks like a normal barn, alright," observed Massey. Then he wrinkled his nose. "Smells like one, too. Except for all the blood, of course."
"Poor things," muttered Shen, shaking his head. Then he looked to Summer. "You okay, Sierra?"
"I'm fine," lied Summer, "Fan out and start looking. Don't be afraid of making a mess - can't make things worse here if we tried, I'd feel."
The engineers nodded and spread out, floorboards creaking under their footsteps as they walked away. Summer stepped towards the back wall, looking around and trying to mentally block out the death and decay that seemed to be present wherever the Outsiders went.
She looked at the cow helplessly. "I don't suppose you would know where the hidden entrance to an underground launch room might be, would you?"
"Mmmmooo." The cow gave a cursory glance at the silver-eyed Huntress, then went back to her lunch.
"Very helpful, thanks." Summer rolled her eyes, then tilted her head in curiosity, looking past the cow and noticing a lever along the back wall that was almost the same color as the wood around it. With a heavy sigh, she climbed over the fencepost, moving inside the pen and stepping into the floor of straw and gods-know-what-else. The cow gazed at her, swishing her tail in some annoyance and flicking her ears...but once she realized that Summer wasn't here to hurt her, she ignored the Huntress that walked across the pen and pulled on the lever with a good solid tug.
Immediately, the back wall opened to reveal a sleek-looking computer room.
"Heh...how about that?" Summer let out a chuckle, rubbing the cow's fur with one hand as she checked the tag. "Thanks for the help...Bessie."
Bessie gave another low moo as Summer clicked her mike. "Strike Three, this is Sierra. Found a hidden entrance on the first floor of the barn along the back wall, moving to investi - "
Another moo, this one much more alarming, warned Summer a second too late.
The huntress turned on the spot just in time to see a blob of swirling black ichor launch itself at her, wrapping itself around her face and clinging to her head. Summer clawed at the entity and tried to pull it off, but she only succeeded in tearing away clumps of spiky gel as more of the stuff flooded into her mouth and nose. She tried to think of her family, of her friends, of anything that might activate her silver eyes, but to no avail. All she could do was fall to her knees as the lack of oxygen began to take effect, as what felt like millions of tiny insects began devouring her face and her eyes and her…
"GET THAT THING OFF HER!"
A powerful concussive force struck the side of Summer's head, sending her slamming into the side of the cow pen with a crunch. The entity attacking her went flying like a pile of mashed potatoes, splattering against the back wall in a sickening squelching noise. This was then followed up by about ten seconds of continual LMG fire, as Van Doorn hosed down whatever was left of her attacker in a shower of hot lead.
"Summer. Summer, come on, look at me."
The world around her was drowned out in the noise of panicked squealing, bleating, mooing, and yowling. She was briefly aware of a pair of arms pulling her coughing, violently gasping form out of the pen, holding her steady until enough oxygen traveled back into her brain to help her process what just happened. "What...Carter...what was…"
"Don't talk right now," said Carter, "just focus on breathing."
"Damn Silacoids," snarled Van Doorn as he snapped a fresh ammo box onto his weapon, "always hiding in corners and cracks just waiting to jump out and shred you to pieces. Encountered some of those things back down in Rosemont. Damn thing almost took Richardson's leg off before Weaver shot it off of him. No idea what they're made of, but at least they die if you shoot them enough times. Problem is there's never just one."
"Then let's check the area for more of them," commanded Carter, hoisting Summer back onto her feet once she got her breath back. "Alpha, Romeo, you two check that computer room Sierra found. Mike and Lima, check the left. Sierra, with me."
Summer, now that she wasn't gasping greedily for air, nodded as the rest of the squad moved out. "Thanks for the save back there," she said gratefully, "And nice work with that push. You been practicing?"
Carter nodded as he kicked over a barrel full of rotten apples. "Figured if this alien artifact is giving me these powers, might as well use 'em. Even if I don't completely understand how they work."
"Well, you won't hear me complaining," said Summer, sifting through a trough full of withered oats. "Keep it up, and I'll bet you'll be throwing around cars like Superman any day now."
"You've really taken to those comics lately, haven't you?"
"Wonder Woman's my favorite."
"Of course it is." Carter rolled his eyes as he clicked his mike. "Romeo, Alpha, any progress with the secret room?"
"Found the console, Whiskey. Looking over it - oh. Oh no no no…"
Alarm bells went through Summer's head at Massey's tone of voice. Carter picked it up too. "Engineers, report, what's wrong?"
"The missile's already been fueled up, and the clamps have already been released! This thing's been programmed with a countdown - we've got twenty minutes to launch!"
Carter's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Where's it headed?"
"According to the terminal," replied Shen with a hum, "It's heading...thirty-eight degrees, fifty-three minutes North, and seventy-seven degrees, two minutes West."
"Oh my god…
" breathed Barnes. "That's Washington D.C.! These Outsiders are gonna try launching a nuke at the capital!"
"Can you override the launch?" asked Summer.
"Not from here," reported Shen, "This terminal's been locked down. However, according to the notes left here, it looks like there's a secondary control station inside the farmhouse itself - with the entrance disguised as a wine cellar, no less."
"Then there's no time to waste," growled Carter, "We gotta get to that computer fast!"
"Minor hiccup, Whiskey," reported Van Doorn, "We've got incoming!"
Sure enough, Summer heard the THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of Outsider drop pods landing outside the barn, followed shortly by the sound of ballistic weapons firing back against lasers. She nodded to Carter, and the two rushed outside into the fray.
"There seems to be some kind of underground accessway that leads from this room to the farmhouse…" reported Shen, "Alpha and I will go ahead of you and try to access that terminal."
"Go ahead, Romeo," answered Carter as he hurled a grenade into a cluster of Outsiders, "We'll meet you inside."
The people on this world sure seem to like their underground tunnels, thought Summer as she calmly snapped off a shot that took off a Sectoid's head. On her left, Van Doorn laid down a steady stream of suppressive fire that kept the oncoming aliens behind cover, while on her right Max flung a flashbang to disorient and blind an Outsider firing squad. Strike Three made their way across the field cautiously, yet with some degree of haste - every minute they spent trading shots with aliens, the closer an unaware city came to being purged in nuclear fire.
"These Outsiders are persistent," mused Max as he shot down what must have been his tenth Sectoid with a shotgun, "Annoyingly persistent. Reminds me of my opa's stories about the Russians."
"They do seem all too eager to keep throwing themselves at us," observed Summer, taking down another Outsider with a well-aimed shot. "But they're not sending any heavy hitters, like Shield Commanders or Mutons. Why?"
"They're not trying to stop us," Carter growled as he threw away a spent power cell. "They're just trying to slow us down long enough for that nuke to launch. We can't get to the house if they keep shooting at us."
Van Doorn snapped a third box of bullets onto his M60, racking back the slide meaningfully. "Well then...what if we gave them something else to shoot at?"
Carter looked at the Commando with a raised eyebrow. "You got an idea, Lima?"
"I've got that prototype shield booster that Weir and the boys in engineering cooked up," explained Van Doorn. "I pop that and draw their fire, letting you and Sierra slip up into the house under smokescreens from Mike."
"You'll be eating an entire platoon's worth of lasers."
"I've taken worse. It'd just be another story to tell little Pete back home."
Summer looked from Van Doorn, who was already moving his hand to his Venn Brace, to Carter, who was looking down at the ground with a frown. "Skyranger, are you watching the time?"
"Been keeping track ever since the Engineers found the console. You've got about twelve minutes to launch."
Carter swore under his breath. "Fine. But you'd better live, so I can chew your ass out later."
"Chewing my ass out is an activity reserved for Missus Van Doorn, sir," said the Commando with a smirk.
"Mike, stay with Lima and make sure he doesn't bleed out once the shield wears off. Sierra, with me. We'll need to move fast."
Summer nodded, as did Max, who was already pulling a handful of smoke grenades off of his belt. "Still have one charge of that medkit left. Hopefully we won't need it...but it's there."
"Alright. Move!"
At Carter's command, Van Doorn slammed the button on his Venn Brace, and immediately a crimson and violet light overtook his frame as the power cell in his backpack began to glow a pale blue light. It almost reminded Summer of a Huntsman powering up their Aura...minus the concerning high-pitched whining as the shield generators strained to keep up with the new influx of energy.
"COME ON!" yelled the Commando as he stepped out of cover. "I won't go down without a fight!"
The Sectoids immediately cowered in the face of the angry glowing European spitting machine gun fire at their ranks, while the Outsiders shot back with ineffectual lasers that just seemed to bounce off the barrier. So focused were they on the one-man aggressor that they failed to notice a line of salmon-colored smoke clouds trailing from a fallen tractor to the house, nor did they spot the pair of figures scurrying through the smokescreen until they were already past their defensive blockade. Summer couldn't resist taking a few shots at the aliens as she darted past their cover - the less guns shooting at Van Doorn, the better, even if his overcharged shields could take it.
"Alpha, Romeo, we're approaching the house now," reported Carter as he tossed a grenade into a cluster of Outsiders. "What's your status?"
"We're coming to a ladder that leads to the house, sir," came Shen's voice. "Be warned - SCOPE readings say that there's five Outsiders and two more of those Silacoids just inside the doorway, so expect resistance when you arrive."
"Copy that," said Carter. To Summer, he turned and said, "Ever breach a house before, Sierra?"
"Not that I'd remember, sir," she replied with a smirk. "You?"
"A few times here and there," said Carter as he adjusted his hat. "Stick close and neutralize the most alert hostiles first. Then move in and secure the objective."
"That sounds like more than just 'a few times here and there,'" quipped Summer.
"Well, a few times...officially."
"Ah."
As they made their approach to the rustic-looking farmhouse, Summer took note of the smashed front windows as Outsiders leaned out to shoot at the now-distant Commando. Even from this distance, she could tell that the shield booster had worn off, and was now withstanding the alien barrage with sheer tenacity and willpower. The fact that Max was right there next to him with a smokescreen and a medkit likely emboldened him, giving him the courage and drive to keep up his relentless assault.
But it wouldn't last forever, which was why the Squad Leader and his ASL hastily made their way up the front steps, pressing their backs against the walls as they faced the door.
"Ready, sir?" asked Summer, drawing her Muton blade and extending it to its full length with a snap of her wrist.
Carter nodded as he pulled out his pistol, clicking the safety off. "Ladies first."
The door was knocked off its hinges with a mighty kick from the homeless Huntress, who opened up the breach with a slash from her sword, the red blade humming and leaving a trail of light as it burned through the flesh and armor of the first alien trooper. The two Outsiders by the window turned to open fire, but Carter telekinetically pushed them into each other, confusing them just long enough for Summer to run them both through the torso. Another one ran up from behind and tried to tackle Summer, but two shots from Carter's pistol made its kneecaps explode in showers of crimson, giving the woman the perfect chance to pull out her blade and cut off its head in one clean cut. And the last one charged and swung its rifle at Carter, but he ducked and countered with a punch from the Venn Brace, flooding its body with sparks and sending it flying out the window in a shower of glass shards.
"Silacoids converging on your location!" Massey called out. "Watch out!"
The agents spun on their heels and watched the piles of alien goo slither towards them, "mouths" open and ready to strike. Carter simply unhooked one of his grenades and tossed it into the opening of one of the Silacoids, which detonated in a burst of gray bits as the shrapnel tore it apart from the inside. The other Silacoid launched itself at Summer, but this time she was ready - she swung her weapon right as her attacker was lunging in mid-air, the laser-heated blade cleaving the creature in half as it cut through gel and circuits alike.
"Nicely done," said Carter, adjusting his hat.
Summer panted as she retracted her blade, the battery powering down as she did so. "You didn't do so bad yourself. Boys, it's clear up top."
An unseen wooden hatch flipped open, and soon Shen and Massey clambered into the room. The American demolitions expert looked flustered and tense; Shen, meanwhile, seemed as calm and composed as a cucumber in a freezer.
"According to the notes, the wine cellar should be...right over there. Come on."
Shen led Massey back into the house, and when Summer went to follow, Carter put a hand on her shoulder and led her back to the windows. With a nod of understanding, the two of them pulled out their laser pulse rifles and steadied the ends against the window frames, sighting into the currently-flanked aliens firing at Van Doorn and dropping them one by one. It didn't take long for the remaining Outsiders and Sectoids to realize they were caught in a crossfire, and by the time they did, the battle was already over.
"Okay, we're at the backup computer," reported Shen. "Hmm...Whiskey, there's good news and bad news."
"Great, just what we need," groaned Carter. "What's the bad news?"
"The bad news is we can't stop the launch."
"Son of a -"
"The good news," continued Shen, "is that the targeting systems are still accepting an input. We can also adjust the heading of the missile, to send it somewhere else. But there's no way to abort the launch at this stage."
Summer looked over at Carter, watching as he frowned with a pensive look on his face.
"Sir! We're running out of time here, what should we do?"
"Patience, Alpha. Let the man think."
The leader of Strike Three was not in an enviable position. Summer could tell that he was weighing the choices he had in front of him carefully, trying to think of all the possible places to send a weapon of mass destruction. Even if it wasn't being aimed at the nation's capital, that was still a lot of deathly potential energy that had to go somewhere, and wherever it was sent, people and plants and animals wouldn't be living there for a long, long time.
Each minute passed by in an uncomfortable silence, marked by the ticking of a clock that sat on the nearby wall, its pendulum undisturbed by the chaos and carnage surrounding it. Summer wanted to reach out and take her squad leader's hand, or put a hand on his shoulder, or do something, but it was all she could do but watch him struggle with the ethical quandary presented to him.
Eventually, though, Carter spoke up.
"Send it to Groom Range."
The silence on the other end of the mikes was palpable, and it was eventually broken by Shen.
"...Whiskey, confirm selection. You want it sent to Groom Range?"
"Damn right I do," growled Carter. "We set off a series of Elerium-enhanced nuclear bombs to cover our escape and tear down the outpost the Outsiders were trying to set up. That place is already a radioactive hellhole - what's one more nuke gonna do?"
"...understood, sir. Redirecting launch to Groom Range, Nevada."
The next few moments were silent save for the sound of distant computer keys clacking in the back room, as Summer and Carter kept watch from the windows. Using her SCOPE, the Huntress could see Van Doorn and Max stepping out from the fading smoke cloud, shields depleted and mildly burned but still very much alive and well. The two of them were talking and laughing about something, but their words didn't reach her ears. They didn't have to.
A minute later, an unfamiliar sound caught her attention.
She whipped up her rifle, trying to find it, before Carter chuckled and put a hand on her barrel to lower it. "Relax. It's just the missile going up. Look, over there."
Sure enough, Summer could see a column of smoke rising out of the ground between the barn and the farmhouse, followed by the tip of a sleek-looking steel-gray rocket emerging from a hidden bay door. The missile began to rise out of the earth, slowly at first, then gaining speed as the roaring noise grew louder. Eventually the entire assembly left its housing, propelled by a plume of flame as it flew higher and higher, leaving behind thick gray clouds as it ascended until finally, it disappeared into the setting sun.
Summer had to admit - she'd never seen anything quite like that on Remnant.
"Holy shit. Saw that on the cams from in here," breathed Massey.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your tax dollars at work," joked Van Doorn.
"If we ignore the fact that it's carrying a nuclear bomb…" said Summer to Carter, "...I'd almost call that 'beautiful'."
"Least where it's going, it can't hurt anyone," replied Carter before he keyed his mike. "Bravo-Zero, this is Whiskey-Three. Situation has been resolved."
"Excellent work, Strike Three," came the static-laced voice of Myron Faulke, "We'll send a dispatch squad to keep an eye on the rest of the installation until things can get back to normal. See you back at base."
Carter clicked twice to confirm the instructions, then sighed in relief. "Just another day on the job, huh?"
Despite this being nothing like her usual line of work, Summer Rose could only nod in agreement.
