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"The eyes of all our countrymen are now upon us, and we shall have their blessings and praises, if happily we are the instruments of saving them from the tyranny meditated against them. Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a freeman contending for liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth."

~George Washington

Chapter Fifty-eight: For Whom The Bell Tolls

"Engage the swarm!" Mox held down the trigger, and his bullpup roared, spitting magnetic projectiles out in a washing wave of death. They deflected off chryssalid plating, but rounds went into cracks and eyes, blowing off fingers and mandibles, and the bug-creatures reared, shrieking their blood-curdling war cries. Their knifelike legs jabbed at the air, fast and sharp enough it seemed that they cut paths through it, and saliva fell from their fast-working jaws. Whenever it hit the dirt, it hissed menacingly.

"Topped one," Cameron announced, as his sniper rifle barked and one of the chryssalids went down. Meysam fired too, and then Nui and Kang opened up from the foliage. The bugs took the hail of fire with aplomb, advancing without a care-

"Eat this!" David shot off a grenade, and one of the chryssalids caught it between its teeth. A moment later-

"More, you hear me?" Aileen fired right into the blossoming explosion, and her shot unerringly flew between chryssalid parts and into the chest of the Berserker Queen. "Hit them harder!"

Crack! Crack! Dragunova appeared from the shadows, firing a few quick shots that mowed down the most wounded of the chryssalids. By the time they turned, she'd ducked back around to Mox's side, and he'd slammed a new magazine into place.

"You should not stress your injuries."

"You should go to hell, alien." She sighted and took another shot: one that went right into a chryssalid eye. Yellow blood and orange brains sprayed over its companions, one of whom fell on the corpse and started devouring it.

Blam! Blam! Mariah's shard gun blew gaping holes in the crowd - and then she ducked as one of the beasts sliced for her throat. Her axe came out in a flash, and she nearly cut the chryssalid in two. Meysam shot another one trying to sneak up behind her.

"Push forward!" Mariah found a stun lancer in the chaos, and Mox winced when she efficiently disemboweled him, then turned his gun on his own companions as his death throes included squeezing the trigger. "We're almost there!"

"She's lost her mind." Dragunova took another shot. "She's going to get herself killed."

"Not if we move with her." Mox fired his grapple, and it latched right onto the most convenient target. "Do not follow me."

"What are you doing-"

Then there was no more time for words: Mox's grapple yanked hard, and he flew from his perch, ripjack coming out.

He landed on the Berserker Queen's shoulder, and he dug the blades in deep for purchase. She roared and flailed, and Mox held on for dear life.

"You're out of your goddam mind!" Julie cried. Purple flashed in the trees. "Mox, hang on, I'm coming-"

"The situation is manageable." And Mox ripped hard, slashing a nice hole in the beast's flesh. He shoved the muzzle of his bullpup into the gap, then-

Blam-blam-blam! Mox fired a burst on reflex, and when the Queen crashed on all fours, he abandoned moderation and unloaded at full auto. His shots ripped through her insides, wrecking anything they touched, and the monster let out a wounded wail that shook the trees.

"I don't think so!" Mox fired his grapple again, and this time he caught a soldier taking aim at Fatima from the side, while the EXO-suited Assault held down the right flank virtually by herself. The soldier wailed as Mox hauled him in, and the Queen caught him from the air seemingly on reflex. She crunched him in her fist, throwing the mangled corpse to the ground when she was done.

The corpse that still had Mox's line attached.

"Oh-" He flew, arm nearly yanked out of its socket, and landed hard on his back in the loam. The world spun dizzyingly.

Mox rolled sideways as a fist came down where he'd been a moment before. He kept rolling as the Queen lashed out for him again, then again, hammering madly at the ground and roaring her hate. One hit...

"Take this!" Mox ripped out his frag grenade, and he threw it right into the Queen's face. He rolled away, burying his head in the dirt-

Boom! Roar!

"It's falling back!" Sylvie paused, and Mox distinctly heard her shout something in French and a chorus of Advent voices wail piteously. "Mox, get out of there before-"

Mox yelped as something seized him by the scruff of his neck. He thrashed in the air, grabbing for his gun and realizing it was empty-

"I never gave my sister any grace for allowing your kind to escape and flourish, even before I encountered you." The Warlock's voice broke off for a harsh laugh. "I have even less reason to now."

Lily quivered, Jane's shard gun held in shaking hands. "No. No, Jiaying-"

"The weapon, cousin." Her brown eyes boiled hard in the low light. "Throw it away."

"Jiaying-"

The muzzle of her pistol twitched toward Jane's prostrate form, and slowly Lily lowered the gun. When Jiaying didn't relent, she had to throw it off to the side, where it vanished into the shadows.

"What are you doing?" Lily swallowed. "Jiaying...you're mind controlled. You have to be."

"That would make life simple, wouldn't it?" Her jaw worked. "I didn't want it to come to this. If you believe nothing else of me, believe that."

"It was you. You overwrote my commands when Avenger was crashing." Lily raised her hands when the gun turned back to her. "You gave Advent the information on Liang and Rogers' covert operation."

"I did."

"You and Vermeulen have been planning this, haven't you? You've been together so much...I thought you two were...but you've been in cahoots."

"He was dumb muscle. He thought I was going to ground the ship and Advent would reward us both when they'd taken it."

Lily's stomach churned. "No. No, Jiaying..."

Her eyes remained cold. "Yes, Lily."

"If you blow the power core, you'll go up too-"

"And?"

"This isn't you!" Lily shook her head. "What's your loyalty to Advent? After everything they did to my father - what about the raid that killed your-"

"Advent didn't kill him!" Jiaying's face contorted, so fast and so harsh that Lily took a step back. "I never said Advent launched the raid, Lily! He worked on the Avatar Project!"

Those words rang around the Engineering spaces, bouncing off the dormant terminals and echoing from the high ceiling. Lily inhaled softly.

"The black site. Switzerland." She only needed the curl of Jiaying's lip to confirm her guess. "So this is revenge. You don't care what your fiancé did - just that he was yours and he's gone now."

"He was kind. He was good to me. He was good to..." Jiaying broke off, and Lily saw a glint in her eye. "I never wanted any of this, do you understand? Neither did he. All we wanted was a quiet life: a house, a family...nothing to do with this world of monsters and mayhem."

"Then we took him from you, and you're consumed by your hate now."

"Hate?" Jiaying barked a harsh laugh. "Lily, even when I lost him...I just wanted to forget. I wanted to stay with my parents. I wanted to stay with my son."

Lily's breath came in slowly. "Jiaying...where are they?"

Her eyes deadened, just a little. "I think you understand now."

"We can help you. We can find them. You can act like you're still Advent's perfect mole, while we track them down-"

"You'll never find them. And at least this way, my son gets to grow up in a world free from disease, knowing his father was avenged."

"Without you with him-"

"You think that doesn't haunt me?" Jiaying quivered, but her eyes never wavered. "You think I don't...you think..."

She exhaled. Lily watched her composure return...and the fury in her eyes redouble.

"None of that matters." Jiaying's lip curled again, and more derisively this time. "If your strike team, by some miracle, succeeds in restoring power, Lily - it'll be the end of the Resistance as surely as if they'd failed."

"Movement!" Cameron brought his rifle up and fired to prove it. The slug raced out across the forest, zipping between two trees, passing under the Berserker Queen's upraised arm and over Liang's head as she dove out of the way of falling fists, and then rocketing past Mox and the Warlock wrestling while Dragunova provided supporting fire whenever she had the shot. The mag-slug kept on going, and it slammed right into-

"That wasn't half bad!" A moment later, the world imploded as a red shot on a black, smoking trail zoomed right back along Cameron's bullet's flight path. He screamed and dove away from his tree, and the round bisected it neatly. "Betcha can't do it again!"

"Command, this is Menace one-five, we are trying to push forward but are up against a Ruler and at least two Chosen!" Cameron scrambled up as Meysam fired on the Hunter next. Cameron had to draw his pistol and double tap a purifier trying to get around the flank, and the resulting blast seared his eyes. He dropped behind a rock, rubbing at the soot over his face. "We need some support, now!"

"Menace, I have nothing left to send you. Push harder!" Bradford trailed off a moment later. "What the hell is that?"

"Central?"

He didn't respond. Cameron didn't like that.

He also didn't like the grenade that landed next to him.

"Oh, shit!" He grabbed it without thinking and threw it back in the general direction of the enemy-occupied trees. It made it all of two feet distant before-

Bang!

"My eyes!" Cameron dropped again, clutching them as the world turned to a hazy mire of gray. "I can't see!"

"Hang in there, Moose!" Liang appeared over him, and he heard her gun roaring even if all he saw was her leg. "We're almost to the transmitter!"

"Good!" Cameron got to his hands and knees, feeling for his weapons. Charlotte went running by as he did, screaming in French about someone named Evangeline. Her gun roared, and the Berserker Queen howled.

"It's backing up! It's running into the trees!"

"Leave it, Dragunova!" David fired another grenade, and the treeline exploded. Cameron grabbed his rifle, thankful as his vision started to swim back into focus. "Mariah's already pushing in with Tariq and Tashiro - we've got to get up there and give her support before-"

He went down with a cry as sparks flew. Something slashed open his back, and David rolled away, howling curses his accent nearly swallowed. Cameron lunged to his feet, but the form materializing from the air hit Liang before he could even manage to warn her, flinging the Grenadier and her ninja wrappings to the base of the tree Cameron had occupied.

"Shit!" He threw his gun up defensively as silver flashed, and he caught the Assassin's blade on the barrel. His gun creaked dangerously, and when the Assassin recovered and slashed again - and when Cameron was foolish enough to parry again - the blade cut right through.

Cameron sucked in breath when the Chosen's sword came back around - and then shot right for his throat.

"Go! Go!" Edward Gallant broke free from Zhang's grip as they burst back through the bridge doors. "John!"

"What the hell is that?" Bradford turned from the hologlobe. "Commander?"

"We've got incoming!" Volk dove behind a computer console, bringing his rifle up. His Reapers spread out with him. "For the love of God, man-"

"Get down!" Gallant tackled Bradford as she appeared down the hallway, her gun up and a host of soldiers on her heels. Gallant heard a whine as the weapon powered up, and then-

Purple laser blasts shredded the bridge, punching into computer monitors and light fixtures. Glass rained from shattering bulbs, and sparks flew as the energy blasts blew apart the holodisplay's projectors. Red mag-projectiles joined the fireworks display as the Adventers fired too, moving in squads down the hallway and for the open bridge doors.

"Let them have it!" Volk fired back first, and then his Reapers. Gallant pushed himself up off of Bradford, leveling the Shadowkeeper and hitting the trigger as soon as he lined up on the more eager stun lancers leading the charge. His target flipped head-over-heels - and Angelis calmly stepped over her, sliding a new violet power cell into her carbine.

"Vox Tala for Ten!" Betos and her Skirmishers fired from Gallant's podium, and their fire raked the hallways. Adventers went down screaming, and when a shot hit Angelis' shoulder, her face contorted with pain.

"This body..." Irritation and disappointment flashed in her eyes, and then she flattened herself behind the doorjamb.

"Volk!" Gallant waved to the hall. "Claymores!"

"Inside the ship-"

"I'd rather have a ship with holes than no ship!" Gallant ducked low as bridge techs opened up with emergency pistols. "Blow that bitch to hell!"

"You heard him! Claymores!" Volk pulled his and pulled the pin too, before hurling the device out into the hall. His contingent threw theirs, and almost half a dozen of the little things emplaced on walls and ceilings.

"Heads down!" Bradford popped up with a frag grenade, and Gallant needed no further urging. He ducked, and when his XO threw the little bomb-

Boom!

It was tremendous: like someone had distilled Armageddon into a wasp's nest and hit it with a golf club. Fragments of the hallway and the vaporized door crashed down on all sides, trailing smoke and spitting tongues of flame. Advent blood flew too, and smoke rushed into the bridge. Gallant coughed, trying to wave it away, even as the entire ship shook and the lights flickered.

"Did we get her?" He popped his head up, trying to pierce the smoke cloud that had once been an entryway. "They're not shooting through the smoke...I don't see movement."

"Maybe." Zhang had a pistol of his own now, and he kept it angled right at the door. "Is there some kind of secondary blast door we can use to seal the hole-"

"Commander." A hand caught the back of Gallant's neck, and he whirled, lashing out with his elbow on reflex.

"Shoot her!" Gallant shoved the Shadowkeeper into Angelis' face, right over the soot and scuff marks on her visor. He hit the trigger the instant he had the gun pointed between her eyes-

Bubbles burst from the muzzle. Angelis' eyes glowed purple.

"...oh, shit." Gallant swallowed.

Tygan stared Kipler down, and something uneasy clicked in his old mentor's eyes. The doctor slowly removed his glasses.

"What are you implying, Richard?"

"There's only one person who could be accessing our data." Tygan shook his head slowly. "Why?"

Kipler shrugged slowly. "Advent won the war, didn't they? The way I see it, Richard, the ones holding humanity back are the terrorists blowing things up across the world. What makes you different from the old fundamentalist cells?"

"The aliens want to wipe us out-"

"You haven't seen what I've seen. You haven't worked a tour in the Forge." Kipler blew air through his teeth. "The Elders seek to elevate humanity to a higher place along with them. The sacrifice will be great, but in the end there will be a better world for it."

"Utopia justifies the means, then?" Tygan was not a soldier. There were no weapons in the SHADOW Chamber. What could he do? "I thought better of you."

"Richard, your personal experiences have led you away from Advent. You saw what I did." Kipler held out his hand. "Come back. These people are renegades and rebels: terrorists, scum, criminals...not to mention Gallant, a regular psychotic if there ever was one. You aren't like them."

"No." Tygan wasn't going to argue with that. "That's why they need me."

Kipler sighed. "Richard-"

"Save your breath, Matthew." Tygan clenched his fists. "I...I won't let you delete our data."

"Richard-"

"Back away from the terminal!" Tygan grabbed the nearest weapon, which turned out to be a large power drive, currently dormant but nonetheless heavy for it. "Matthew, I will-"

Kipler resumed typing. Tygan started his way-

The door hissed open.

"Donut!" An Advent soldier marched in, reaching out imperiously. Reflexively, Tygan brained him with the power cell, and the trooper tumbled onto the nearest computer table. Tygan hit him again, then lunged for Kipler as the scientist pulled a data drive from his machine-

Blam!

It hurt. It hurt a lot.

The power drive fell, and Tygan stumbled back into the far wall, clutching his chest. His white lab coat stained scarlet in a hurry, and his hands ran red when he pulled them away, almost too terrified to believe it.

Punctured lung. Doctor that he was, the diagnosis came easily. Missed my heart by inches.

He collapsed, sliding down to a seat against the wall while the world went in and out. The Advent general in the doorway lowered her gun, then beckoned imperiously to Kipler. Tygan's one-time mentor - one-time friend - spared him a glance.

Then he left, flanked by the general's escort, and she turned with him, contemptuously smashing the SHADOW Chamber's main terminal with the butt of her gun in passing.

Tygan slumped onto his side, feeling his blood beat its way out of his body and watching it wash over the SHADOW Chamber's pristine floor.

"It's getting worse by the minute. They don't stand a chance."

"No." Anne Lawrence looked a lot less sanguine than she had at the start of all this. "Advent...is winning."

"Yes, they are." Janet Ross swallowed, pacing back and forth, back and forth... "Advent's going to tear them to shreds."

"Let them fight."

"Geist, can you not see-"

"Janet, I have spoken." Geist raised a hand. "XCOM are not allies of ours. Advent will be weakened by this battle, and we can-"

"We can what?" Janet glared up at his throne. "Do what, with what? Volk and Betos are aboard, and this day will be the end not only of Commander Gallant and XCOM, but the Reapers and the Skirmishers with him. We will stand alone."

"And we will-"

"Who will Angelis come for next?" Janet cried. "You would do nothing while the world burns? You would leave our fate in the hands of-"

"I have spoken!" Geist's eye twitched. "Janet, you forget your place."

"Janet!" Anne drew a finger across her throat, shielded from Geist's sight by a large twisting column. "Leave it, sister: leave it."

"My place." Janet swallowed. "What you ask is something I cannot provide."

"I am your Messiah, Janet. You swore an oath to follow me."

"I swore an oath to serve your interests. Those are not the same thing."

Geist's eyes narrowed deliberately. "I will hear no more of this."

"Maybe not, but I intend to speak more of it regardless." Janet leveled her finger at the display like a sword. "I will not watch, Geist. I will not watch as the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, and you are too craven and petty to put your hand in the ring!"

"Janet, silence-"

"I will not watch!" She very nearly stomped her foot, and her voice drowned out the Messiah's. Every other Templar shrank back from the confrontation, eyes wide. Anne swallowed, the blood draining from her cheeks. "I will not sit here in comfort and peace and meditative tranquility, while those you call lesser fight our war for us! While they die - for us!"

"That is their choice-"

"And this is mine." The words were out before she moved, but not by much. Janet turned for the far door, and her footfalls rang like gunshots through the chamber. "If I'm the only one brave enough to-"

"I'm coming." Anne took her place at Janet's right hand. If she shook, if her face was pale...that she was afraid made her no less brave. Janet was afraid too.

"Halt!"

Power crackled in the air. Janet trailed off, slowing until she stood at the precipice of the steps to the elevator. Anne froze in her tracks.

Geist rose from his chair, and he descended from his podium smoothly. Janet inhaled as he loomed, eyes crackling with purple power.

"No one is permitted to depart this place without my presence." Danger flashed in his eyes again, harsh enough Anne took a step back. "No one."

Julie Richardson vaulted through the trees, rifle forgotten and amp in hand. She unleashed a searing wave of power to herald her arrival, and it blew the synapses of two purifiers to Hell and back in one blast. They collapsed with brains dribbling out their ears - and that was just from being caught on the fringes of the shot.

"You dare!" The Warlock staggered, hit by the full thing. He covered his face, and purple seared over his arms as he prepared his counterattack. "What are you, little girl, to the might of the Elders' Chosen?"

"Mox." Julie jerked her head. "Go help Cameron."

"Are you sure-"

"Hell yeah." Julie flipped her amp up again, and her own energy pulsed and roared, running out over her palms. "This son of a bitch mind-raped my girlfriend."

The Warlock's power burst out, searing the grass around his feet. Mox skittered away, and Julie clenched her fists, wrapping the Power up in her grip.

"Very well, child. You will have your wizard's duel." The Warlock raised his hands, and energy burst into being above him, spiraling and swirling like a hurricane. "You will not enjoy this - but it will be over quickly."

"At least you're enough of a man to admit it." And Julie lunged, slinging hot psi-power left-handed.

"Let us begin, then!" The Warlock flinched as it latched onto his shoulder and yanked. His retaliation was simple: he lifted a rock from the field and threw it. Julie's hand shot out and she flicked it around her back with one click of her amp. Grass ripped up by the roots, whirling around the combatants like a dust cloud.

Julie reached out for his mind, and she yelped when she made contact: something was human about it, but it was buried under so much alien...so much raw power...

"Do you feel it now, girl?"

"That's what he said-"

Julie screamed as that rock hit her from behind, and she flew face-first into the dirt. She rolled out of the way as it came back down, and she clicked her amp frantically. When the rock hit the ground, it vanished - and a moment later, it reappeared right over the Warlock's head. He howled as he brained himself.

"Pay attention!" Julie jumped up, and she slung a slicing wave of power that bisected a tree and a MEC right at the waist. The top half of the tree fell, only to be caught by the invisible hands of the duelists and added to the spiraling maelstrom. The MEC's two halves flew in as well, the top spitting missiles that arced around in the dust and dirt, exploding randomly.

"You have some skill with the Gift." The Warlock leveled his hand, and Julie cried out as knives drove into her skull. "I wonder how your friends will handle having those skills turned against-"

"Je ne le pense pas!"

All the missiles shot through the cloud, and they detonated in a swarm as they crashed into the Warlock's chest. He flew backward with a cry, and Julie collapsed to her knees, clutching her head as the world rang.

"You are an idiot!" Sylvie caught her under the arm, then slapped her: hard enough the world abruptly stabilized. "I leave you out of my sight for one minute-"

"Get out of here, Sylvie-"

"I will burn you both alive!" The Warlock bounded up through the smoke, power glowing on his hands. "To the Void with you!"

"Watch out!" Julie hit her amp at the same time as Sylvie, and they caught searing beams of violet energy with their own. Beams crossed and spat sparks, and little fires ignited in the grass. Flaming strands of vegetation joined the chaotic whirling display, and that rock tumbled through it all, nearly cracking Julie's skull wide open.

"You have no prayer of triumphing over me!" The Warlock stepped over the body of a muton Mariah had done her thing to, curling his lip. "Your power is as weak as your Resistance's mortal strengths-"

"Julie!" Sylvie jerked her head once in command. Julie's eyes flicked to the target, and she saw what her girlfriend had. But with the Warlock's power boring into her, she couldn't-

"No!" Julie got out nothing more coherent than that when Sylvie dropped her shield, taking the Warlock's blast right in the chest. She flew with a scream, steaming from every inch of her armor, and flipped horizontally right into a great thick tree that shook from the impact.

She lay so very still...

"You fucking son of a fucking bitch!" Julie shrieked, hurling more of her essence into the attack. Her beam eclipsed the Chosen's at a rapid rate, driving his energy back toward his palms. His eyes actually widened.

"You truly think that much of her, then?" The Warlock bore down on her, pushing even harder himself. The beam stabilized as they both committed. Julie had no words: just screaming hate and desperation as she prayed Sylvie had survived the hit. There was still purple energy glowing around her form, so maybe...maybe...it couldn't all be residual...

Bang!

Julie screamed as something drove hard into her leg. She crashed on her side, and the psi-energy billowing between her and her enemy dissipated in a flash. Smoke rose from the muzzle of the Warlock's rifle, and he calmly took aim while Julie clutched her mangled calf.

"I am impressed by your skill. In another life, I would enjoy testing our strengths more properly." The Warlock sighted in. "Unfortunately, I have a war to win, and my pets are not yet here to feed on you. Don't worry: they will come soon, and your corpse will-"

Purple shot in from the side, and it latched hard onto the muton corpse. The Warlock whirled-

The muton's plasma grenade went off. Julie covered her head, throwing herself flat as the green explosion tinted the world and flung the remnants of the psi-tornado's captives aside into the forest.

When the blast cleared, there was no sign of the Warlock.

"Julie!"

"I don't..." She burst into tears as her savior knelt beside her, ripping her calf plating open to get a look at her wound. "I thought he killed you!"

"Sustainment." Again, Sylvie's accent turned the -ment into -mon, and wasn't that just the hottest thing ever? "It's what you did when the Hunter shot you. I had to trigger the grenade, which meant I had to break the beam battle without losing it, which meant I had to take the shot-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Julie grabbed the back of her head, and careless for the war around them, she gave her girlfriend the deepest, longest, and sexiest kiss she'd ever given anyone. "What? Isn't that what a damsel in distress does for a knight in-"

"Come on, losers!" Aileen appeared across the clearing, firing into the melee and grinning like an idiot. "We've got a transmitter to destroy!" She paused, as if considering. "And I'd think doing it right here on the leaves and the rocks and the blood would be uncomfortable-"

"You're a bitch." But Julie forced her way up, using her power to create a psionic splint. "Lead on and shut up, LT."

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Angelis shrugged off the incoming gunfire, slipping behind the holoprojectors for the globe. Gallant threw himself backward, abandoning the Shadowkeeper and grabbing his reassembled cane as Advent stun lancers charged through the breach in the doorway. Their batons flashed, and bridge techs went down, screaming and thrashing.

"Hold the line!" Bradford kicked open a canister, and from it he drew the Kickass Assault Rifle of Death. It spat lead, and he ventilated two lancers before they could reach Volk. "This is it! This is the big push!"

"And I was wondering when Advent would get serious!" Gallant flung himself to the side as more mag-fire came in, scouring the bridge. Betos' crew returned fire.

"Donut!" A purifier appeared, grabbing for Gallant's throat, and he drew his cane-sword and stabbed the son of a bitch about fifteen times. It wailed piteously, but Gallant's stock of pity for Advent was limited, veering toward none.

"Watch out!" Bradford shoved Zhang aside, and he opened up with the rifle again. His bullets went out - and they pinged off Angelis' chest in a great tide, flying away across the bridge and ricocheting over the whole mess. Angelis shook her head to clear it as Zhang put a mag-shot into her face, but on she came-

"Gotcha!" Gallant stabbed her in the ribs. Angelis' eyes snapped to him.

Then she vanished in an explosion of purple light, and Gallant had no more support. He thumped down onto the deck, while Angelis appeared in the far corner of the room, hissing as she clutched the puncture in her flank. Red blood dripped out from the wound.

"Volk!" Betos grappled an Adventer, and she hurled him across the bridge. Volk caught the fellow and floored him, beating his face in with two strikes from his vektor butt. In return, he popped up the instant he was done and squeezed off a snapshot that went right into the eye of a lancer racing up on Betos' flank. Her ripjack flashed as she fended off his companions, one of whom tumbled down the stairs from the elevated platform with his throat slit. Gallant seized his mag-rifle, and he used it to mow down a trio trying to flank Zhang and Bradford's firebase out from the left. Chilong did battle with fists and pistol, while Bradford laid down heavy covering fire - and whenever they missed one, golden-haired Irina Vasilieva fired a burst from the observation balcony, punching golden mag-tracers into anyone who forgot she was there. She even got a shot into Angelis as the Elder lunged for new cover, and she let out a snarling curse in what sounded like her native tongue.

"Piss off!" Gallant cut another soldier's throat when he got in too close, then scrambled to recover his pilfered rifle. He let out a long burst that pinned Angelis in place, blowing chunks from the column she sheltered behind. Purple glowed from her position-

"Ah!" Irina was first, clutching her head and lapsing into a set of curses in Russian. She collapsed on her side, thrashing.

"Shit!" It was Volk next, and he went down almost at Betos' feet. She lasted only a second longer, and then Bradford cried out, and Zhang, and the techs and the Reapers and Skirmishers and-

"God damn it!" Gallant dropped his gun, clutching his temples as the world went hazy and pain rippled over his world. He fell to his good knee, shaking himself to try and get the vision out-

Boom.

"No. No."

"Commander."

It was her. It was her, and there she stood: bikini-and-sarong-clad as he remembered, toes sunk into the LA shore in the dark. The faintest streams of light hung on the far horizon, hinting at oncoming sunrise even if Gallant couldn't yet make out if it were lie or truth.

And he knelt in the sand, helpless as Angelis strode his way.

Cameron caught the Assassin's wrist as her sword came for him. He cried out when it drove instead into his side, but that was better than his throat. Irritation flashed in her eyes.

"You are resourceful. That won't be enough to-"

"Let go of him, skank!" Liang hit her from behind with the butt of her cannon, and the Assassin dropped Cameron. He hit the ground on his rear, and he rolled frantically to get away as she plunged her sword into the dirt where he'd been. The Chosen whirled, and all that saved Liang's life was that she took the shot on her armored chest plate. The sword nearly punched through it regardless, and she flew a good twenty feet, hitting hard on her shoulder and sliding until she crashed into a stand of rocks.

"Liang!" Cameron scrambled up to his feet, ducking when the Assassin came in for him again. He punched her in the face, which made him feel good - and got a headbutt for his trouble, which broke his nose and sent him tumbling onto his back. A low roar filled the world, one that made the ground seem to shake.

"I suggest you lie still." The Assassin loomed, blade upraised. "I confess to indifference about the nature of the afterlife. Still, if you believe in one, know that your girlfriend will join you in but a moment's time-"

Boom!

The incendiary grenade Liang had stuck on the Assassin's belt detonated, and Cameron shielded his eyes from the blast of heat and hate. A moment later, pistol fire echoed from the Grenadier's position: evidently she'd found Cameron's discarded sidearm. The Chosen snarled and spat, reeling as she beat at the flames coating her back.

"You will die for that!" She howled, dropping and rolling to put out the worst of it. "I will kill you both slowly-"

The roar got louder, and Cameron abruptly realized what it was when the shape appeared in the sky. His eyes widened.

"Fucking-" He scrambled to his feet and bolted, heedless of the possibility of being shot. He tore right for Liang, covering his head as the Assassin whipped out her shotgun and took aim at the both of them-

"Down!" He tackled Liang, and the pair rolled into cover. The Assassin started their way - but froze a moment later, and Cameron knew why.

"Holy shit!" Liang screamed, as the Skyranger came down like a meteor, slamming into the disbelieving Assassin's still form like a lightning bolt from Zeus.

Cameron barely heard her. The detonation was incredible, as the Skyranger's engines and fuel tanks cooked off in a tremendous blast that sent shrapnel and dirt flying in a thousand directions. Smoke blasted outward, and metal flipped through the air like arrows and spears flung by titanic forces of physics. Cameron drove his head into the dirt, throwing himself overtop of Liang while she shrieked. The pyre shot into the sky like a signal, and hot wind whipped at the clearing even while overpressure nearly blew his eardrums out.

The stillness after the blast was almost eerie.

"Are you okay?" Cameron pulled Liang to her knees. She coughed, spitting dirt, but nodded nonetheless. Cameron had to cough too. But...

"Firebrand?" Liang beat him to it, keying her com while she tried to clear her throat. "Firebrand, how copy, over? Firebrand?"

Nothing. Cameron sucked in breath.

"Stay here!" He left Liang behind, not hearing if she called after him. He ran past spots of flaming fuel and burning brush, stepping over discarded parts and ducking under the still-burning remnants of an engine. He passed one of the tail stabilizers, still at full power and bouncing around the ground trying to ignite a forest fire.

"Firebrand?" Cameron coughed again as smoke poured into his lungs. He reached the fuselage, and he paused to rip at the shirt of the first fallen Adventer he could find. He wrapped the fabric around his hands, prying at fallen wreckage that impeded his progress. "Firebrand! Speak to me, come on!"

"Moose?" That was her! Cameron arced toward the motion he saw in the wreckage, shoving garbage aside as best he could.

"Hang in there!" He hurled one of the drop bay seats aside, and that was what he needed. Cameron pushed through the gap he'd created, and then he was in what was left of the cockpit.

"I'm hanging." Firebrand coughed, and Cameron didn't like how weak she sounded. He fished out his pocketknife and quickly cut the straps on her safety harness.

"Hang a bit longer, okay?" He put the knife away, and then he tugged the pilot up into his arms. She let out a grinding hiss when he extracted her from the wreckage, and one of her legs trailed limply - and her foot was bent at one hell of an angle - but she gripped his shoulders tightly as he forced his way out of the firestorm.

"Come on." Cameron pushed out of the wreckage and into clearer air. He staggered under the pilot's weight, nodding as Liang fell in with her cannon back in hand and relief plastered over her face. She had his pistol, too, and Cameron let her thrust it back onto his belt. "We're gonna get you to Lieutenant Quinn. You're going to be okay, Firebrand-"

"Please." She coughed again, and then grabbed for her helmet. Cameron paused when she undid the release, letting the heavy thing fall to the forest floor.

"Oh, God, I can breathe..." The green-eyed brunette underneath sucked in a long one to prove it. "And please, Moose...my name is Lilah."

"Why'd you do it?" Cameron drunk in the lines of her face, but he didn't let himself stop moving. He carried her away from the flaming Skyranger - and he winced as something big exploded from further back. "You just trashed our only-"

"Fuck you too, Moose. Saved your sorry Canuck hide, and you're in on lecturing me?" She scoffed. "Won't bother next time, how's that?"

"Listen, you!" Liang shook her head. "That was the most insanely idiotic, reckless, and heroically brave thing I've ever seen in my life."

"I'm a competitive girl. I'll top it." Firebrand - Lilah - groaned when Cameron had to bounce over a log. "It hurts when you jostle me."

"I'm sorry, but we've got to get you to Aileen. Or Charlotte. Maybe-"

"Lieutenant!" Liang lead the way out of the treeline, and Cameron spotted the Irishwoman a moment later. He angled that way, passing Junior, Mox, Dragunova, Mariah...

"There's the target!" Aileen pointed right at a towering alien spike of evil metal, one pulsing with yellow electrical energy. Fatima and Mariah started that way, Charlotte and Meysam on their heels. Kang and Nui and David covered them, heads swiveling as they sought targets.

"Lieutenant!" Cameron hurried closer, gently setting Lilah down on a rock. "We've got wounded!"

"You..." Aileen blanched when she saw her. "Lord! What did you do, Firebrand?"

"Something stupid. You know me. I'm a sucker for a cute boy." Firebrand waited while Nessie buzzed around her leg, dispensing her medical supplies. "Did we win?"

"If we can get enough firepower to blow this transmitter, yeah." Julie joined them, Sylvie hovering protectively at her flank. "But we haven't seen much in the way of Advent since the Warlock retreated-"

"Contact!" Mariah snapped her gun up and fired. Mox and Dragunova did too, but quickly broke off. Cameron's head twisted around.

"Oh...fuck..."

"This has been fun, hasn't it?" The Hunter emerged from the trees, along with his dozens of mutons and soldiers, all taking steady aim. Spectres and codices accompanied him, and a battery of red-painted MECs. "Be so kind as to lay down your weapons, please?"

"No please about it." The Warlock loomed with sectoids and priests at his back, cutting the XCOM forces off from retreat. "Lay down your arms now."

Author's Note 58: Competing Perspectives

Yes, Kipler is intentionally espousing the same beliefs I heard left and right when XCOM 2 was announced. I said I wanted to explore almost everything that could happen in the game, and here's part of it: the various interpretations of what's actually happening.

This chapter is really long, so I'm going to keep the AN short. Tune in next time to see things get worse! I love you guys!

Until then, Vigilo Confido.