The force of the dimensional shift put a few of the squad into a stumble as they landed at their new destination, with SYN and Clint being the only ones who retained their balance. Clint made quick work of surveying the area as the others regained their balance.

Where they were didn't seem to be a place on Earth. Construction was sleek, gilded, looking of alien origin. Torches burned with purple flames, and chandelier-like decorations hung high in the air with no support. There was no visible ceiling, and an abyss consumed anything outside of the area they were in, with massive pillars being the only distinguishing traits as far as the eye could see. Clint made note of the high ground at the four corners of the platform, including in the middle of the area as well.

He put his hand up to his helmet. "Commander, do you read? We've arrived at what I can only describe as the Hunter's inner sanctum."

Static greeted him in response. Worry grew. "Commander, can you hear us?"

"... connection ... different area ..." The Commander's voice came through in bursts, muddled and overpowered by static.

"Oh, the poor Commander." The squad snapped to the far end of the area. At the end was a raised platform, stairs leading up to it. Above it, levitating and cloaked in purple energy, was a tall, rectangular, smooth slab. In front of it stood the Hunter, arms crossed, looking amused as he sizes up the squad. "This is her team? She might be in worse shape than I thought."

Clint scoffed. "We're more than well-enough equipped to take you down!"

The Hunter laughed. "Quite the social call you're here for! I mean, I'll applaud you, you guys have made it this far." He jerked a thumb back at the slab. "You're seeing my sarcophagus. Take it in—no other human has ever laid eyes on it. Nobody was ever supposed to learn about our little 'trick.' Suppose you guys are full of surprises." He levelled a deadly look at them. "Soon to be full of holes."

SYN leveled his weapon. "Thank you for your compliance. We apologize in advance for any undue stress we may cause you."

"Hold on, hold on." The Hunter held up his hands. "I can hear your Commander desperately trying to get a signal in here. Give me a second." He closed his eyes, and suddenly the Commander's voice came in crystal clear on the comms.

"Menace One-Five, do you read me? We're getting... a very high quality video feed. How did you...?"

"You can thank me for that, Commander." The Hunter's eyes opened, looking sharply at the squad. "Technically you're on the Network right now, which I'm sure is going to make someone angry. But hey." He shrugs, hands out. "I figure I'm about to kill all of you anyway, so surely I'll be forgiven."

"Thank you, dear, you're always so hospitable."

The Hunter chuckles, his right hand falling to his side. "You're welcome, darling. I'd say I aim to please, but..." He tilts his head forward at the squad, the act suddenly and easily giving him a threatening air. "That'd be a lie."

He straightens out his left arm in a split second, and it barely budges as he fires out a grappling hook, the claw burying in the wall of the raised corner. He flies as it retracts, smoothly and easily vaulting over the railing as he comes into contact with it, crouching in the low cover, taking his Darklance off of his back and looking down the sight, right at Sherry. "Might as well shoot the medic first. Can't have you saving the others."

"Move!" Clint swept out his arm, and everyone scrabbled for cover, Sherry taking her place behind a column of the platform in the middle.

"Oh, you're no fun." The Hunter scowled, re-adjusting his aim, focusing SYN in his scope. "Well, easy target it is."

SYN's head locked onto the Hunter. "You appear to be trying to forcefully deactivate me. I'm sorry, Ref-Il Mordenna, but I cannot let you do that." He shuddered as his frame glowed up blue.

"Hah! I might let you live for that one, tin can." He aimed up a shot at SYN's chassis, spotting Rosa right behind him. "Hm, this thing should be high-caliber enough to get a penetration shot. This'll be—"

What he wasn't expecting was SYN to launch himself into a full-on sprint, Rosa keeping pace with him right until she ducked behind cover right in front of the Hunter's perch. SYN kept running, forcing him to trade his rifle for his pistol and crack off a shot. The specialized ammunition only grazed the side of SYN's armor but even a glancing shot was enough to cleanly shred off the bit it did hit.

SYN's rockets activated and he slammed down behind the Hunter, using his momentum to throw an Overdrive-strengthened punch, undoubtedly taking a cue or two from a Berserker. "I advise you to watch your six."

It connects fully with him as he's turning around, picking him up by his chest and throwing him off of his feet, flying off of his perch and flat on his back on the ground below. The Hunter sucks in air through his teeth, clutching his chest and coughing. "Had t' be fuckin'—ngh!—brittle, didn't I?"

The whirr of a Beam Cannon spinning up to his right makes him turn his head, greeted by the barrel of Rosa's gun just a few feet from his face. On the high ground, SYN raised his gun, his own Elerium Phase Cannon preparing to shoot. Rosa barked out a laugh. "See you, sucker."

The Hunter's face fell. "Well, shit."

That was all he got out before the combined fire of Rosa and SYN tore him up, Sherry in the back getting her own chance to add a shot or two. Orange blood sprayed from each wound, leaving the Hunter crying out, ghastly screams eventually silenced as enough plasma was bored into him to be fatal. Rosa stepped back into cover just as his body was teleported away. SYN descended, taking a few steps before his head swiveled to the Hunter's sarcophagus. The purple psionic energy that had been moving in waves over its surface had dispersed, and power was saturating the air. In the back, Clint noticed it as well.

SYN turns fully towards it, then fires an experimental shot. The bursts of plasma connect with the surface, leaving darkened holes wherever they landed. "It appears as if the sarcophagus is now vulnerable. Firing upon it is advised."

"You heard the robot, and Tygan said as much up here," the Commander said, coming in on comms. "Fire at it."

"No need to ask twice!" Sherry clamors up to the high ground in the middle of the room, standing at one of the corners and getting off a shot. Everyone else moves to their formations, unloading their guns on the slab. More and more black marks marred its surface, cracks starting to form that bled a lavender light.

It got to a point where everyone had to reload, all except SYN, his Phase Cannon's mag having plenty of juice left in it. He took his chance to fire off another volley of shots before the Hunter's voice filled the room, coming from the sarcophagus.

"Going for the gold, I see. Well, I can't really just let you guys run amok, that'd be bad." A raised pad in the room started to glow. "Commander, since you like tin cans so much, have a few."

Three ADVENT Heavy MECs appeared on the platform as the light faded, guns at the ready and surveying the squad.

"Oh, MECs!" Clint laughed, moving forward a bit. He took his psi-amp into his hand, starting to channel his power through it. "How quaint."

He threw the energy forward at one of them, the psionic energy curling around it and centering on the launching mechanism on its back. With a menacing click, the explosives in it detonated, destroying the Heavy MEC outright and heavily damaging the other two, shredding their armor. Roland took it as his chance to hop over a barrier or two, coming to a stop in cover, taking a shot at one of the MECs with his shotgun. It went down, the other standing its ground, aiming at Roland and firing, keeping him pinned to his cover.

"Hold on," Sherry says, moving to the other side of the platform, "I've got you covered." She carefully took aim while the MEC was busy suppressing Roland, her ensuing shot hitting home successfully. All three Heavy MECS lay on the ground.

"What was that about robots?" The Commander said.

"... Well. I never said they were good tin cans. Maybe this'll be more of a challenge."

Once the Hunter was done speaking, a pad behind everyone's general positions started to glow, revealing a Muton flanked by two Archons, already taking aim at the exposed party.

"Shit, move, move!" Clint dove for cover as a plasma beam nearly took off his head, the rest of the squad following suit. Rosa was slow on the uptake, watching as the Muton took aim and fired at her.

She braced for a shot that never came. Looking back, SYN was standing in front of her. His armor had absorbed the blunt of the plasma, but a few spots belied the wiring beneath it. "Rosa, I highly advise faster reaction times. Losing you would surely put the squad at a disadvantage."

"Yeah? Losing you is gonna put us in hot water!" She practically glued herself to his back. "This WAR Suit can take more than you think!" Rosa took the chance between the Muton's shots to rev up her Beam Cannon, stepping out from behind SYN to unload back on the Muton, taking a chunk out of it as it scrabbled for cover.

"If only Wukong hadn't got himself punched..." Roland eyed the Muton, looking over to Sherry. Sherry herself had moved back to her previous spot, popping off shots at the Archons, preventing them from standing still long enough to aim their fire well. While they were distracted, he moved up, but the Muton caught him moving and blind fired at him, plasma shooting over his head. He cursed, hugging his cover. "Cherry! Need a Defense Protocol if I want to do anything!"

She took another shot or two before nodding to her GREMLIN. "Go cover 'em!"

The GREMLIN spared no time, whizzing over to Roland and projecting a field over him. To the outside observer, Roland's position kept changing, his form blurred and hard to define. He lept over his cover, easily dodging shots from the Muton, moving to flank it. He took his spare Fusion Axe in hand and with a great overhead throw, sent it flying, the blade burying itself a few good inches into the Muton's skull, downing it.

Clint climbed up to high ground with Sherry, standing behind a raised wall, taking aim with his Plasma Bolt Caster. "Dodge this, infidel!" The two arches of the bow fanned out as the plasma bolt formed, the shot screaming through the air. Even as the Archon tried to dodge, once the plasma caught even just the edge of it, the shot seemed to redirect into it, burrowing through it, bringing the second enemy of the pod down.

The second Archon roared out, the flames of its rockets gaining a sinister red hue. It blazed a flight path towards Roland, dodging the spread of his Storm Gun, arms closing in around the illusions. The Ranger screamed as the Archon flew higher and higher into the air, mockingly laughing as it prepared to drop him. Sherry's GREMLIN chirped out in panic, flying back over to its operator.

Clint cursed, reloading his single-shot weapon. SYN had already reloaded, taking aim and firing, but missing, over calculating due to trying to avoid hitting Roland, circuits whirring in distress at the shot. Rosa was also in the middle of reloading her cannon.

"Awww, someone's about to learn the tale of Icarus quite literally. If you people had some sense, maybe you could've saved him."

The Commander's voice came in through comms. "Cherry, reload!"

Sherry activated her Auto-Loader, taking aim. "They all said I should put a Repeater on this instead of a Loader, look where we are now." After her quip, she landed a shot square in the Archon's side. It cried out in agony, releasing its hold on Roland, whose first order of business now that his arms were free was to grab his axe and catch himself on the still-floating Archon with it. The blade sunk into its gut amongst the groan of metal and tearing of flesh, bringing out another agonized scream as it spiraled to the ground. The Ranger brought his axe free and made a heavy, but safe landing as it crashed into the floor.

Rosa finished reloading her cannon, casting her gaze over to the sarcophagus. The psionics around it were starting to cover the surface of it again, the bare exterior of it shrinking among the encroaching wave. It'd take too long to get her gun spinning again in prep for a shot and she was sure everyone else was still making sure Roland was fine. In a bout of quick thinking, she raised her left arm, the mechanism on it giving a high-pitched whine as it quickly primed. "You're not getting away that easily!"

Her arm bucked as she fired off the Shredstorm Cannon, the force of it enough to push her slightly even with the aid of the WAR Suit. The spread of alien alloy shrapnel and plasma burrowed into the exposed part of the monolith with a sound like booming thunder. The force of the shot was enough to widen the crack that was forming in the middle of it, the other side visible as they spread, and spread, and spread...

The purple of the psionics fled the sarcophagus as the cracks splintered over it, each successive one giving a sound like a combination of ice and metal shattering. The fractures reached the edges of the slab, each piece still holding together but shaking and cracking with more pinkish sparks.

"Is that it?!" Roland shouted, out of breath.

The Commander was the one to spy the energy rising upwards, channeling into one of the transport pads. "Not yet, stay alert!"

Soon, the rest of the squad spotted it too, quickly scrambling into better positions. When the light faded and the column of purple retreated, the Hunter was revealed, appearing to be in perfect shape... except for one or two wounds still in his gut.

Before anyone could fire, he held up a hand. "Wait, wait, shhh..." He put a hand up to his hood, as if listening to something. "Can you hear that? Trick question, you can't, you haven't ever been able to." He broke out in a grin, starting to clap. "The Elders have shut up for once in their glorious lives! I've gotta thank you, XCOM, if I knew having my sarcophagus trashed was the way to make them stop bugging me, I would have invited you over for this houseparty sooner."

His grin got wider, looking a bit more unhinged. "I suppose I'm mortal now. Good. As thanks for freeing me, XCOM, I'll give you a little gift. One last battle to the death. Don't disappoint, now."

Quick as the flash, the Hunter darted from where he stood, gunning for one of the closest towers. SYN fired on him but the Hunter was far enough from him to weave between his shots, pulling himself up a ladder with one hand and swiftly drawing his Darklance again. "Oh yeah, you. I'm not going to have you punch me into oblivion with a stupid one-liner again."

SYN shuddered as he attempted to activate Overdrive again, but the Hunter was quicker, aiming up a shot and firing, the mysterious shot shredding through the air, leaving a dark pink trail in its wake. It hit home on one of SYN's leg joints, completely obliterating the socket, causing the SPARK to topple and crash to the floor, systems loudly beeping in alarm.

"SYN!" Rosa cried out in distress, crouching down next to him. The robot was still bulky enough to be low cover, but had to drop his gun to keep himself steady. Rosa fretted over him, looking up as the Hunter lined up another shot, just barely ducking her head down in time, the bullet splitting the top of her helmet.

"Fortuna, you're a sitting duck there! Move!"

"No!" Rosa had practically dropped prone, one hand on her cannon while the other gripped SYN's chassis. "I'm not leaving him!"

"RRRRR-Ro—sa..." SYN's audio matrix had been scrambled by the fall, making his voice glitch, his head angling back to "look" at her. "R-r-ruu—uuun..."

"Aw, ain't that just heartwrenching." The Hunter laughed sadistically. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two had a thing for each other."

Roland let out a cry of rage, vaulting over his cover. "You sick basta—!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Supporting his sniper rifle on the railing in front of him, the Hunter's other hand grabbed for his pistol, switching the mode on it and cracking off a shot. It hit Roland square in the neck, causing him to collapse, a quickly-draining needle jutting from his neck. "I'm not about to be challenged by either of you."

He chuckled darkly, setting his sights on Sherry. "And before you can do anyth—"

The Hunter didn't spot the Specialist's missing GREMLIN until it was shocking him, making his shot go wide, giving a pained shout. Sherry stuck out her tongue and made a gesture the Commander wouldn't approve of, firing and grazing the Hunter's side, wearing him down further.

Clint could practically hear the Commander jump forward on his comms, voice panicked. "Clint, NOW!"

Face set in determination, he sprinted around for a clean shot at the Hunter, taking out his psi-amp once more, absolutely flooding it with power until he hurt to look at. With a shout of exertion, he flung the power at the Hunter, his psionics coiling like a whip around the Hunter's mind.

The Hunter dropped his weapons, clutching his head. "N-nice t-to know you're r-resorting... resorting to—!" His speech was cut off by his own scream, one matching his volume coming from Clint.

There was a battle of wills taking place between the two of them. Clint was searching desperately for entries in the Hunter's mental fortress. No gifted psionic was he but he was still able to force him out at every turn. Clint couldn't pick up anything—all of his smaller powers; disorientation, panic, dazing, the Hunter was blocking all of it.

He surged more and more of his power in, almost forcing a weakness open before that, too, was closed. No mind control. He could just feel the Hunter taunting him as he was progressively getting more and more shut out.

Clint couldn't fail the Commander. At this point, he was starting to feel the strain of his failed efforts on himself. If he stopped now, he'd only be taking himself out of the fight, leaving Sherry and Rosa to the wolves. He couldn't fail. He couldn't stop.

Clint screamed out, his psi-amp starting to shudder violently, cracks forming in the sleek design. Sherry and Rosa had to cover their eyes at this point—looking at him was like looking at the Sun. The trail of energy in the air connecting the Hunter and Clint's heads gained the same blinding brilliance, and he forced his psi-amp forwards, completely draining himself of the shining psionic power, throwing it down the line, right at the Hunter's head.

Both screams were cut short, leaving agonizing silence. Sherry was the first to brave opening her eyes. The Hunter laid on his back on his perch, weapons discarded. Clint was face-first on the floor, similarly unmoving.

Rosa was the next to start looking, along with SYN. "Are they...?"

"Crazo..." The Commander sounded disbelieving. "Crazo's alive. Unconscious, but alive. Cherry, scan the Hunter for life signs."

She nodded, directing her GREMLIN over to the unmoving Chosen. A blue scanner moved over his form for a minute, chirping and flying back over to Sherry, who read the output. "He's alive too."

Rosa shakily stands up, hoisting her Beam Cannon. "Good. I wanted to finish him off myself.

"Stand down, Fortuna. That's an order. Crazo put him out of commission for a reason."

The barrel of her gun faltered, tipping downwards. "What...?"

A familiar groan came from nearby as Roland woke up, slurring his words. "Where's that... that fuckin' prick... m'gonna stab him..."

"Rascal, good to see you're alive. Take it easy, the fight's over."

He held his head up a second more before slumping back to the ground, muttering incomprehensibly. Rosa took the chance to look over SYN. "SYN, are you—are you ok?"

"Dddddd—damage d-d-diagnostics concluddddded. Vvvocal systems: 65% s-s-s-stability." He picked up his weapon, putting it on his back. "Aaaaaaa—ambulatory systems: 25% damaged. M-m-movement still posssssible." There was a storm of groaning and whirring as the plates on his arms shifted, his gauntlets getting wider and thicker. He planted them on the ground, and with servos groaning, pulled himself into a handstand.

Exhausted and emotionally shot, Rosa could only laugh. "I, uh, I guess that answers it."

"Sure does." Sherry couldn't suppress a smile, relieved at the mission being ultimately successful. Her face fell as she remembered what the Commander said. "Commander O'Leary? You said the Hunter was 'out of commission' for a reason?"

There was a moment before the Commander responded. "Yes. I instructed Crazo to see if there was any way to render him able to be captured. Like I have spoken to him, I have interests in the Hunter, ones that want him alive. I'd wait for Rascal to wake up further before moving out—I want at least two people on the Hunter. Considering Crazo is likely going to remain unconscious and SYN is in no state to do any carrying, you and Fortuna should assume the task."

Sherry was silent, looking over at the Hunter's unmoving form. Quite a few thoughts were racing through her head, but she silenced them. If the Commander wanted the Hunter in alive... "Understood. Give me a minute to check up on everyone and we'll move out. I'm sure I have something that can perk Rascal right up."

"Copy that."

Eliza remained staring at the screen for a while longer after that.

"Commander."

She didn't react to Bradford.

"Commander O'Leary, your knuckles are white. Take your hands off the railing."

With a shaky sigh, she wrenched her hands off of the metal bars. She rubbed them, still staring up at the screen. "We... it happened. He's down. Can't revive. Elders can't reach him."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Central nod, but his face escaped her. "Thanks to Clint, though I'm worried about his state. Using that much psionic power—"

"Likely has put them both in a comatose state," Tygan finished from somewhere behind Eliza. She was still trained on the screen as Rosa and Sherry hoisted up the Hunter. "I expect the Chosen to recover faster than Clint, but even then, it is unclear how long either of them will be unconscious for."

"Guess that means we better hurry up," the Commander mutters, running a hand through her hair. "Get the cell ready. Firebrand's still in the area but we better make this quick. Something tells me that we're gonna get a lot of heat, really quick."

"ADVENT's way ahead of you, Commander." Shen was at one of the other monitors, typing away at a pad. "They're sending in everything they've got from the other cities. They're going to be a while, but we need to start moving soon."

She nodded, crossing her arms, head buzzing with thoughts. "Menace One-Five, get moving on the double. ADVENT's coming in and probably knows we're making off with one of the Chosen. If we weren't public enemy number one, we sure as hell are now."

Bradford sighed. "So we just stole a Chosen."

Despite herself, Eliza grinned. "Yes we did."