Location: Earth/ [Redacted] / XCOM Headquarters
Timestamp: 4:45 hours Zulu Time, 10/16/2177
Words couldn't really explain how much he hated this room.
It's always so quiet here, and that bothered him more than anything. The silence… if he was to be honest, it always unnerved him with how "empty" it made a room feel.
So yeah, the empty silence made him feel out of place in this small room.
As for where here happened to be; well it's a sealed chamber located in a building affiliated with the New Earth Government.
The chamber he found himself resting in had the walls slanted to give it a sort of half-circular shape, and there was a small but noticeable camera resting on a pair of railings connected to the ceiling. It hadn't taken it's singular eye off of him ever since he'd been brought in, and as much as he hated the damn camera he was used to it. In front of him the wall showed his reflection thanks to it being a one way mirror.
Seeing his reflection Solomon just took a breath as he took a moment to fix his bangs and lean forward, resting his head between harms as he yawned.
"XCOM Agent, Post Mission Psych Eval."
A familiar, relatively distorted vorce reached Solomon's ears as he glanced up at the camera rotating before him. He imagined the face of the one behind it; a handsome, shaven well man with slicked back hair and a suit firmly pressed over his form. It was a simple image, but one he could work with. One that didn't make him think too much. Others would agree with him, others would come up with something different, perhaps more elaborate or silly. There was a pool gathered about such thoughts, a load of cash ready to be claimed by whomever guessed the unseen officer's face properly.
"State your name for the record please."
"Solomon Lucius Gabriel." The man introduced himself. "XCOM Agent Delta 9 Foxtrot. Clearance level 7." He said in an even tone.
Mr. Gabriel, how would you describe yourself?"
"I consider myself efficient." Was his simple response. "More often than not, I'm focused - if a task is put in front of me I complete it without much distraction." He paused. "Most of the time anyway." He muttered in disappointment.
"How do you feel working with XCOM?"
Artemis said nothing as he just stared at his reflection, using it to grow lost in his own eyes. It wasn't narcissistic in nature like most, it was more like… he was searching for something. An answer that while proper, wasn't dishonest, and wouldn't trouble him. "It's… painful."
"Painful?"
"I've seen things since I started working for XCOM; lots of things that I likely shouldn't - things people can't imagine: death, madness, monsters…" He sighed as he looked back at the camera. "I can't really describe it to be honest, but I can say this, since joining XCOM I've walked further and further into the shadows between worlds, slowly getting glimpses of those dark corners of the Earth we weren't supposed to see." He shook his head. "I became the kind of man who stares down the dark alleys and feels the hairs on my neck stand on ends. I feel alone in the crowds sometimes, like I can't relate to the everyday problems of normal people… it's a painful existence, lonely too."
"I see, how long have you been a XCOM Agent?"
"Seven year."
"How did XCOM first discover you?"
"XCOM took an interest in me when I was just a kid because of my… unique physiology; but they first approached me when I was 26. Just finished training at the N.E.G. Military Academy in City 12, that's when one of XCOM's Advocate's came to speak with me. "Just finished repairing an old craft when one of Blackwatch's Advocates came to see me." Solomon chuckled slightly. "Told me he represented a special forces branch in the N.E.G. and they were extending an invitation my way. The rest as they say is history."
"Thank you, now, please tell us about your last mission."
That got Solomon to pause for a moment as he started to think back, a frown crossing his face as he did and leaned back in his seat. "My last mission…" He muttered. "My last mission was at City 45. All citywide Agents got a call of an ABYSSWALKER case and were told to intercept." He paused as he frowned. "The mission was a disaster. We lost good people and… we lost the city." A silence followed and he got the impression that whomever was behind the camera was jotting something down.
"Please elaborate."
The Pandora's… they started by using some kind of EMP. Disrupted our gear and the Mist Repeller." Solomon stated as he sat up straighter. "First time I've seen em use that kinda trick, but it worked. We were blind as bats when the mist settled in. Had some trouble figuring out who was who and suffered some friendly fire but we held out for a bit… how long though, I can't say." Solomon muttered as he took a breath. "I got knocked out by a suicide bomber and when I came to, I was getting dragged towards the ocean." He frowned. "They were taking hostages." he stressed the word before shaking his head. "Anyway, I got back in the fight. Saved who I could, killed what I could…" He took a breath. "In the end though… in the end it was all for nothing. Forget the bay, they were already in the city, the localized military tried fighting them off but… we lost City 45. Had to call it in, had to get out." He crossed his arms as he frowned. Remembering the sound of screaming filling the mist as he tried getting as many people out as he could before getting out himself." "It was a disaster."
"I see."
The voice on the other end muttered as Solomon nodded his head.
"Your thoughts on the ABYSSWALKER case?"
"They're learning." Solomon muttered. "The EMP, the suicide bomber, taking hostages? Usually it's just them physically changing to fight us, but they never tried using tactics until now." Solomon grumbled. "Our enemy is getting smarter… I think… I think this was just the prelude to something worse. Something much worse."
"I see, thank you Agent Solomon, This session is over."
Commander's Quarters
Looking at the report XCOM's commander simply took a breath as she leaned back in her seat as she started to think. "They're learning huh?" She muttered before going to her files and started to shift through what they had on the Pandorans. "We always knew there was that chance." She muttered to herself. "But… Why now of all times?" She muttered. "It's been well over a hundred years since this all began, so why… Why are they getting smarter now?" She asked but couldn't get an answer. "Damn it… what's on the horizon?" Again she didn't get an answer.
Pausing, she turned her attention to the door as it opened. "Central Officer Roland Pierce." She greeted.
"Commander…" Central Officer Pierce began. "You're needed in Mission Control."
She raised an eyebrow but obeyed.
Solomon found himself scratching his head as he left the Psych Evaluation chamber and started walking on. "God damn it…" He muttered before slamming a fist against a wall so hard the metal dented. Without a word he headed on, frowning as he did before noticing a few others running by him. "Hey, what's the rush?"
"One of the Towers has sent an SOS." Someone told him as Solomon's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing.
"Oh hell no." He followed right after them as he made a request to join the mission.
On Route to Tower
He was dead tired. Anyone that had been pulled out of City 45 would be exhausted, but still he was happy to be here. Sitting in Manticore aircraft with five others Agents he went about checking his new Ares AR-1. It would take some time to customize the weapon to suit his preferences, but for now he was just happy to have something other than his sidearm and combat knife on him. 'Not to mention a new helmet.' Solomon thought to himself as tapped the side of it, and the feed on his visor changed a bit, reminding him the name of his fellow Operatives and how much distance it was between each of them. 'Still, can't believe those Pandorans learned to create an EMP… how the hell they do that?"
He reviewed what he knew about those mix & mash abominations.
"Pandorans".
Basically they were cobbled together with the DNA of various sea life and Terran; human, and alien alike -not that you could really consider former extraterrestrials alien when generations had passed with them being born on Earth- as well as "something else". Some unknown lifeform that wasn't part of their world.
Since they first showed up just over a hundred and fifty years ago, these things were really hard to understand and painful to look at. They were these frankenstein monsters all but sewn together. Over the generations they adopted a more "natural" look. Still hideous monsters but they became something people could make some sense of.
They were adapting, evolving in their quest to take over… and sadly that wasn't all they did.
As they evolved they started terraforming their environment. Something about the Mist helped do it, and Shen's Mist Repellers were the only thing really keeping part of the world from turning into… whatever the Pandoran's were turning it into.
'Adapt to fight… adapt to take over…' Solomon thought as he adjusted his helmet settings. "These guys were an issue just doing what they were, but now if they're developing the brainpower to come up with tactics to back up their ability to already make biological weapons…'
Their days might be numbered...
"This is the Central Officer Pierce to Silverridge Team."
Hearing the voice Solomon was pulled out of his thoughts as he sat up straighter, as did everyone.
"You're going to be settling down just outside Tower-00. The Tower sent out an SOS signal just a short while ago, unfortunately we have no idea what caused the SOS in the first place."
The voice reported in.
"Your mission is to assess the situation on the ground. Ascertain the current situation of Tower-00 occupants and investigate the tower to determine exactly what happened to the Tower. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Good, Central out."
Solomon glanced to the side as he noticed someone clenching their weapon tighter.
"Walker?"
"It's nothing." The agent muttered as she breathed through her helmet. "I'm fine."
"No you're not." Agent Golberm grumbled as he put a hand on the agent's shoulder. "You're worried about your little girl aren't you." Walker didn't say anything. "It's alright to be worried."
"I know…" Walker grumbled. "I'm just…" She took a breath. "I need to focus on the mission."
"Hard to do that when the mission sends you to your daughter's school." Golbern got a look sent his way as he nodded his head. "Listen, you sure you'll be able to focus when we're there?"
"Yeah." Walker grumbled. "Don't worry. I just gotta keep my head in the game."
Tower-00 Outskirts
"Central this is Raven. We've arrived." The pilot of the Manticore stated as he frowned.
"Roger Voodoo 9. Any sign of activity?"
"Negative. Can barely see a thing down there. Seems like the Mist managed to roll in." He responded as he started hitting a few levers. "Activating Mist Repeller now. Soon as we get a clear sight of what's beneath us we'll be setting the Manticore Down."
"Very good."
The Mist Repeller built into the Manticore took about a good minute before it was able to push back the mist enough to set up a landing zone. Moment they succeeded though, the squad dropped down, and they could get a better look at what was going on around them.
"Good Lord…" Tower-00 or rather what had been Tower-00 seemed to be replaced with ruins. Ruins decorated with this overgrowth that looked like dry flaky skin. Scattered across it were these large orifices which pump out a sticky, greenish liquid that has formed a series of small rivers.
"Command you seeing this?" Agent Harrion muttered as he activated comms.
"We see it…"
"What the fuck are we looking at?"
"Fraid we can't give you an answer agent. After the area is secured, we'll send in Dr. Alberta's team in to examine the area."
"Oh god, even with the helmet's filters it smells terrible down here." Someone muttered as they pressed forward. "Think I'll die if I take this thing off."
"Then keep the helmet on and your eyes focused, we're still going in blind here." Solomon muttered as they continued walking towards the ruins of Tower-00.
"It's quiet here…" Walker muttered as she tried staying focused. "I hate it when it's quiet."
"Well it looks like its gonna stay quiet for a while." Harrison muttered. "Not picking up anything on visuals yet. Hoping it stays that way."
"Right." Walker muttered.
The entire walk to Tower-00 was silent, and despite that being a good thing, it unnerved the hell out of everyone.
Same time getting in wasn't exactly difficult either. Enter the passcode and the doors opened on their own, and as it opened, a body dropped down in front of them.
Harrion crouched down as he checked the person's pulse before turning them over. "Damian August, one of the Overseers of Tower-00."
"Cause of death?" Harrion stared at the gaping hole that made up the Overseer's chest.
"Some one ripped his chest open, looks like they pulled his insides out."
"Damn." Dearka grumbled as she looked around. "Looks like we got more bodies this way."
That wasn't all they had. From the looks of it, someone drew some pictures on the walls. "Anyone recognize these?"
"These belong to the Followers of the Old Gods." Harrion muttered as he got to his feet and made a noise before tapping comms. "Command; I'm sending you some footage of some symbols drawn up. Can you identify which organization they belong to?"
"We'll start working on that right away to see if we can get you a name. Meanwhile, take a look around, see if you can find any survivors."
"Yes sir." Harrion muttered as the six agents started walking inward.
"I don't like this, guys…" Solomon muttered as he turned to the others.
"None of us do." Thankfully and despite the layout, this was an op where the silence lasted. And because of that, it wouldn't turn out to be a story worth telling.
Still the eerie feeling of the place wasn't exactly one they'd forget any time soon, not to mention that feeling that someone was watching them.