Hello and welcome back to the world of XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Now I know it has been a little bit since my last update, but honestly despite it's length, this was a very tough chapter to write.
I have to thank my beta reader Xabiar for their help, as without them SO many mistakes would have been made. Check them out. They are a WAY better writer than me.
Also a BIG thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorited and messaged me on the last chapter. It was actually a big help in powering through this one.
You gals and guys are what kept me going through the long rum fueled nights. SO again, Thank you, and please do keep it up.
Anyways, hope your all doing well, and as always don't forget to review at the end.
P.S. I revised this chapter a little, and I do apologize for not editing as thoroughly as I usually do.
Have fun with this one.
Alex Lee
Wednesday, September 16th, 2024
...who ACTUALLY gives a fuck?
Truth be told, neither of us were all too worried about the rest of the squad when we first heard the roar of ambushing alien forces.
Between the two MECs and Closure, they had more than enough close range firepower to utterly obliterate whatever the enemy was currently throwing at them.
It was the radio silence that followed the engagement which had us concerned.
That, and the sounds of combat still coming from the ruined church.
"What the hell is going on in there?" I muttered, watching as a billowing pillar of fire came spilling out from the backside of the building.
Psycho had no doubt unleashed his flamethrower upon whoever was inside, and yet, despite all this, still nothing came over the radio.
Logically, we both knew that unless it was mission critical or situational, most CQB combat calls would be done via voice rather than radio. But to unleash a weapon that unpredictable, in a confined space, without calling for clear? Either he was desperate, or we were missing something.
Current armorment unsuited to close quarters combat situations. Attempted rescue of squadmates is ill advised.
I frowned, shaking my head in frustration. "Thanks for the update tips."
There was no doubt in my mind that ABBY had good intentions. But simply knowing that there was nothing much I could do to help, did not make it any easier to simply sit and wait for a sitrep from the rest of the team.
Seconds ticked away, one after the other. Each one making me more and more certain we needed to go and help them.
Hell, I was just about ready to get up and head down when what felt like a wave of airborne sedative crashed into me.
Mental manipulation detected. Psionic signature identified. User, Master Sergeant Abby Lockdown Johnson. Status: Friendly. Neural Feedback coded to accept psionic signature.
After trying to extract every piece of information I could from Lock and others, that small message should have been a gold mine of questions to ask.
Lord knows I was only paying partial attention to what ABBY said though, as the strange energy continued to envelope me; relaxing my tightly coiled muscles, and calming my fried nerves with a familiar efficiency and intensity.
Gazing over at my partner, I took note of the purple glow that had enveloped her hand, and the stray strands of similar colored light that seemed to be tracing towards me.
"Feeling better?" She seemed to smirk. The light instantly evaporating the moment she closed her hand. "For the record, I'm glad your neural feedback didn't kick my ass this time."
"It almost did." I sighed deeply, the worries of the present a distant memory in my mind. "ABBY mentioned something about recognizing your psionic signature, or something. So I think you're good to use whatever that was on me in the future."
"Ah. Good to know." she nodded back slowly. "Now where ar..."
"Closure to Lock. Do you copy?"
Sweet relief continued to flood my veins as Holly's voice finally filled our comm channel.
"Affirmative Closure. We hear you." Lock sighed. Turning to glanced back to the church as she spoke. "What's going on in there?"
Moving in beside Lock, I happily took over scanning the area below us for movement.
"Ambush. The aliens were waiting for us with a couple surprises. Namely Mutons, a couple Berserkers, and a jammer."
Happy feeling instantly gone, Lock and I both unknowingly grimaced at the mention of Berserkers. From range, they were barely a threat, but in a place like the church? They would have been a nightmare to deal with.
A quick glance at Lock showed a small tightening of her hand as she no doubt readied the next, more pressing, question. "Is everyone ok?"
I unknowingly held my breath in anticipation of her answer.
"No casualties, but Ace took a pretty bad hit. Med kits applied, so he should be stable for now. He's out cold though..."
"Shit..." I heard Lock mutter under her breath. Despite her helmet, I could practically see the small grimace that was no doubt tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Alright. Prop him up somewhere safe, grab his explosives, and see about securing the Outsider. If it's even still there."
"Roger that."
Letting go of the com and grabbing her rifle, I watched out of the corner of my eye as she moved in next to me, and setup overwatch once more.
Chancing a lull in the action, I nudged her lightly. "Hey. He's gonna be fine. Alright?"
Still as a statue, I could only watch and wonder how she remained so impassive and calm despite the fires and destruction that raged on around us.
"That's not what I'm worried about," she muttered softly. "Ace is one tough son of a bitch. He's more likely to be pissed off that he missed some of the action than anything else."
"So what's with the silence then?"
Glancing over at me, she let out a deep breath. "I'm wondering where all the civilians are..."
"Dead, probably." I guessed, a stray memory of the bodies back in the plaza passing through my head. "I mean we saw a few back in the park."
"That's just it though," she muttered, taking her eyes of the scope to look over at me. "There was maybe a dozen at most there. This town easily had a population of several hundred. So where are the rest of the bodies?"
My brow knitted together as ABBY began to formulate theories.
A slight movement in the streets just down from the church however, caught my attention first.
"Eyes up. Movement down the street." I noted, scanning the alleys for any further clues as to the cause.
Raising her rifle along side my own, she seemed to follow my gaze to the alleys and dark corners of the town.
"Closure." She quietly radioed. "Drew thinks he spotted more enemies up the street. What's your status?"
"Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"Not the time Holly."
"Sorry. Yes, we located the Outsider crystal thing. We also snagged some resources. Problem is that while Chip and Psyco can probably lug most of it back to the ship, they wouldn't be able to use their weapons while doing so. That takes out three of us, since I would have to carry Ace"
"Fuck." Lock cursed loudly beside me. "Ok, enemy presence is low right now, and Drew and I should be able to cover you from the rooftops. If we hustle we should be able to save everything. Also be a dear and leave a surprise for them to find Should buy us enough time to get out."
"With pleasure."
I swore I could see the smile on Closures face from here. Lord knows what sort of trap she was planning leaving for the enem...
Again, a miniscule movement caught my eye. This time from the window of a home directly across from the church. A small hint of yellow.
"Lock." I motioned again, scanning the are again. "Movement. Houses directly across from HQ."
Scanning across the field, she seemed to squint at a few different places, before shaking her head. "I don't like the looks of this."
"Alright done. We packed as much shit as we could, and party starter has been primed. Moving back to exfil."
"Roger that."
From our position, we could easily see Holly carrying Ace, duck out from the church and began her trek back to the park, followed closely by Chip and Psycho. Both as promised, were loaded down with various cargo. Most notably a large red crystal, and a couple orange canisters of what I could only assume was meld.
"Thats a lot of shit…" I muttered, glancing over to Lock. Catching her staring towards Holly, or more likely, the bloody uniform of Ace. "You sure you want to risk them all not being able to fight back?"
"Yes." She nodded along with my assessment. "They should be fine so long as we continue to provide cov…"
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeargggggg
Both Lock and I snapped around instantly as a god awful screech pierced the night. Bringing us face to face with arguably the worst creature the aliens had to offer.
"Chrysalid! Move!"
I was off the roof before Lock had even finished her transmission. Landing hard on a room adjacent to our original position with my rifle ready to blast whatever came after me.
Thankfully only Lock seemed to follow, landing close by not a second later with her side arm now drawn and ready for use. "Priority one! Protect the cargo!" She quickly yelled, before sprinting off towards the rest of the squad.
"Got it!" I yelled back, drawing my own side arm before sprinting after her. The skittered sounds of those fucking nightmares behind us hastening my already blinding pace.
Set up claymore in approaching alley. Trap will damage, and slow enemy forces.
Sighting the alley she meant ahead, I made a snap decision, and holstered my pistol, before reaching around my back for the claymore I had brought along.
Pulling the trip wire loose, I dropped down to the streets, and dashed to the mouth of the alley. Jamming the explosives legs into the ground, before haphazardly running the wire to a trash can on the other side.
One primer pin removal later, and I was sprinting away before the enemy had even caught up.
Use grenades to further delay the enemy. Prime. Wait one second. Toss.
Pulling the two grenades off my belt, I primed them as I ran. Sighting Lock and the rest of the squad, just barely ahead of me.
Booooom
Claymore detonation. Enemy still closing fast.
"Claymore did shit all! Enemy still catching up!" I yelled, sprinting right up to them, before slowing my pace down to match theirs. "We got any more explosives!?"
Lock, instantly holstered her side arm and ran up next to Holly. "Quick! Give m... Contact! Six o Clock!"
Letting go of the lever, I spun on the spot and blind threw the first grenade, followed closely by the second.
Both devices missed the four legged abomination, but the explosions that followed did not.
I watched for all of a second, as shrapnel and fire engulfed it's hideous yellow eyes, before turning and jogging to catch up with the rest of the squad.
"Here!" Lock tossed me two more grenades as soon as I neared her. Pulling the pin on another one and tossing it behind me as she ran.
"Toss one every ten seconds!" she yelled, pulling the pin on another grenade form her belt.
Small explosions followed us from that moment onward. My ears were practically deafened with each subsequent grenade thrown, but as the skittering sounds backed off more and more, with each explosion, I could hardly care.
"Uh Lock!?" Holly called, her voice heavy with exhaustion. "Zod's Ahead!"
Tossing the last grenade, I glancing forwards and damn well nearly threw up.
The smell alone had me practically gagging, as I took in the sight of each and every single body that had once littered the park, and probably a good portion of the town, now standing before us as a shambling grotesque horde of monsters.
Each and every single one, green, and bloated with whatever it was the chrysalids filled them with. The once innocent civilians of this town, now nothing but walking time bombs for the alien forces.
"Keep going! Drew! I'll take care of the left side! You take right! Plug anything that gets in our way!"
Stumbling forwards, I could barely keep myself moving, as the squad barrelled down towards the swarm.
We were dead. All of us. This was where our story ended.
Mental state compromised. Combat effectiveness dropping below acceptable levels. Adrenal Neurosympathy Activated. Adrenaline, serotonin, testosterone and dopamine levels increased. Dampening all mental impulses not mission related.
An intense surge of energy instantly coursed through my veins, as ABBY flooded my body with a massive cocktail of various hormones.
Locks order registered not a second later and before I even realized it, my hand was bringing the revolver I wore to bear against the enemy before me.
Darting to the right hand side, I let lose against anything that got to close for comfort. Shot after shot blasting apart enemies with an almost mechanical efficiency.
My hands reloading the gun instantly every six rounds, allowing me to continue raining death into the monsters again and again.
Around me the sounds and smell of death and mayhem rang out. Blood continually splattered the ground, skulls were blown apart by the force of my hand canon, knives slashed ferociously through flesh. Yet none of it reached me.
All of it. The sights, the sounds, the sheer level of carnage, it was all swept aside. Disappearing into the fog that surrounded my mind as we swept through the abominations at a breakneck pace, and made our way back to the ship.
A stray swipe from one of the zod's caught me in the side, and yet I barely even noticed the pain. Continuing forwards at the same speed as if it never happened.
We must have run out of ammo for my pistol at one point or another, as the next thing I knew, I was laying into the Zod's with Ace's rifle was in my hands. Buying Lock enough time to bang on the ships door, while her limp left arm went barely noticed admits the anarchy that surrounded us.
The bay doors opened before the second impact of her fist, allowing us to clamber in as soon as the doors were low enough. I remember watching as Chip and Psycho, the first to get on, quickly deposited their cargo in a safe area.
Only to then turn and unleash the full force of their miniguns into the enemy forces. Mulching the fleshy egg sacks into mince meat, while Sky yelled something about executed an emergency take off.
The hanger doors were just starting to close when a series of yellow beams slammed into Chip. Knocking him completely off his feet and back into the bay.
"Shit! Cyberdisks! Everyone hold on!"
I barely had time to grab onto a seat, before the entire ship blasted upwards. Slamming me and everyone else into the metal flooring with the force of a literal rocket.
Between the impact and the g forces of the take off, I could feel the black edges of unconsciousness creeping up on me. And with no strength left in me, I was out not a second later.
