Welcome. If you're new to my stories, I'd recommend you go and read A Gamer's Journey, since a few of the character from that will be appearing and there will be references to some things that might not make sense if you haven't read it, but there shouldn't be anything that you'll be completely lost on. Obviously, if you haven't played or seen XCOM then there will be some things that won't make complete sense, but I should clarify things enough that you'll be able to get the gist of it.

These bold texts at the top and/or bottom of the chapters will be on most parts and are essentially author notes, just things I'll be saying about things going on. You can skip these bits if you want, there won't be anything about the story in them aside from mentions of schedules, which are pretty unreliable as I tend to procrastinate things.

There may be some things that you won't agree with or like. I can't disclose everything that will be in here, as most things in the story will develop as I go through the game, but there's nothing that is intended to cause offense or annoy anyone, but things like Homosexual characters, a couple mental illness mentions, injuries, death, etc.

If you have any comments or constructive criticisms (or praise), feel free to do so.

That's all I can think of that I should do here, so I'll shut up and let you get to the story.

Aya woke up and got out of her bed. Stepping over to the bathroom and relieving herself before looking into the mirror and wiping the sleep out of her eyes. She looked at herself, as she had done most mornings for... how long has it been? At least a decade, maybe 2? She never bothered to keep track of the days, and calendars aren't exactly common anymore. Her eyes had been green once, but now, they were orange. Still normal in every other way, but the irises were orange. Stark and noticeable even from a distance. She was never one to care about her looks though, especially in the conditions she's been in for the past however long, as evidenced by the burn scar covering the left side of her face, she could have had skin graphs to cover it up and make her face the same as new, but she hadn't gotten them, since the surgery would have kept her out of the fight for a few weeks longer. Her black hair was also a mess, shoulder-length and sheared off roughly by a knife rather than cut by scissors. She headed out of her room and continued on with her routine, checking the defenses and trap around the run-down military base she'd taken up residence in some time ago. She rarely found anything, but there had been the occasional Sectoid or Lost that had come to the area and she'd had to deal with.
After making sure nothing had tried to get in during the night, she went to check on her supplies. Armour, Weapons, Ammunition, great stock. More than she could use in her lifetime. Water, okay, she'd need to make a run soon, but there was enough for a few days. Food, low, down to just the last few bits of jerky. Food was what she needed to make a run for today.

She entered her armory and grabbed her gear. An armored jacket, light enough to allow her to move around as if unarmoured, but protective enough to block a glancing blow from an ADVENT Rifle if they ever managed to land a shot, she'd scavenged this off the corpse of a Reaper who had been caught out and overrun by Lost, she'd arrived at the area only minutes after death, if only the Reaper's would make noise she could have saved her. A combat knife, equally good at skinning creatures as it was at spearing a heart, found in the back of a Berserker she'd taken down some months ago, she had no clue who put it there, but she doubted they were still around to miss the knife. And, finally, her shotgun. This she had had for a long time. Since her days at XCOM. Despite its age, it had never jammed. She took good care of this shotgun. She had never been a superstitious or emotional person, so she didn't consider it a lucky charm, nor did she name the gun, but she did like the weapon, and never left her base without it.

Before heading out, she checked her defenses one last time, she hadn't survived so long by being careless. After this final check, she went to her vehicle storage, and, after ensuring it had a full tank, got on the bike and began driving out. She knew where to go for food.

Aya hid her bike in the usual place and started jogging into the ruined city on foot. Knife in hand she headed for the area she knew she could find her food. She encountered a few lost, quickly dispatching of them with her knife, a simple stab to the temple put them down, and made no sound to draw more Lost.

As she got closer to her destination, she slowed down. Lost were thicker in this part of the city, and ADVENT patrols came through her often, there was also the occasional Reaper squad, and she wouldn't want to be mistaken for a Lost. She got to a T-junction, with a construction site on 1 side. Things were wrong here. First, she saw dozens of dead Lost. Not too uncommon, since ADVENT, Reapers, or even Skirmishers would occasionally clear them out. She moved closer to get a better look, switching to her shotgun in case ADVENT were nearby. She came to the junction and looked right, seeing the remains of an ADVENT tanker and many blown open corpses. She was no Forensic Investigator, but she'd seen enough corpses to know they were killed by an explosion, the Tanker had detonated.

She looked into the construction site and saw big mounds of dead Lost. Not a single one killed by an Explosion or fire. So not ADVENT. Some had multiple holes in chests, arms and/or legs. So not Reaper's then, they couldn't manage that kind of volume of fire without shooting the corpses, but that'd be a waste of ammo, which the Reaper's don't do. Perhaps Skirmisher's then. She also saw a couple Purifier's further past it, their tanks had exploded. Likely Skirmishers then, it was rare, but a couple of them sometimes went through cities, though this was close to Reaper territory, so they would have needed a good reason to come here. The kills were fresh, still cooling, and there was still soot from the explosions. This happened recently then, less than an hour ago she'd guess. She saw some more Lost corpses down the road. If there'd been explosions, the Lost would have followed the Skirmishers. The ADVENT convoy had been destroyed, so she wouldn't be getting any supplies from them, but the Skirmishers might have something. So she decided to follow the trail of corpses.

The 2 women dropped from the Skyranger, Savvina Tombras acting as the leader taking the lead, dark-skinned, with her black hair tied in a ponytail. She led the way, carrying an LMG. The weapon relatively new to her, she was still getting used to the increased weight, slowing her down as she lugged the gun and its ammunition supply, but she appreciated the power of the weapon.

Andrea Sandoval dropped down after her, dark-skinned as well, with brown hair cut in a bob framing her face, a very attractive woman, her piercing green eyes practically sparkling as she looked around. Even in this ruined city, she had a slight smile on her face. In contrast to the other woman, her only weapons were a pair of pistols and an Uzi Sub-machine gun. The pistols in her hands were experimental, crafted by the Chief Engineer Dr. Shen, instead of bullets, the weapons acquire ammunition from shaving off flakes from a block of metal within the chamber, giving it practically unlimited ammo.

They noticed a small campfire with the bug-like head on a spit, the head was roughly the size of a human's, and was still dripping greenish blood. Approaching it carefully they kept their weapons at the ready. They didn't know a lot about this location, it was a city before the war, now just ruins, they were supposed to meet someone here, codenamed 'Outrider', one of the Reaper Faction. The city was supposed to be abandoned, scans had shown no living creatures in it before the Reapers moved in for the meeting, but there were mummified corpses scattered around. Savvina approached the campfire, looking at the strange head on the spit.

"If you are hungry, there is more where that came from". Both soldiers pointed their weapons towards the voice, and saw a female figure in the black armored jackets of the Reapers, with a hood and face covered by a mask. Seeing them pointing their weapons at her, the figure said "Impressive reflexes, but unnecessary" she reached up and removed the mask, revealing her face.

"It's cool, we're all friends here," Andrea said, holstering her pistols. Savvina nodded and lowered her gun.

"You are safe here -" the woman, presumably Outrider stated. Dozens of other Reapers standing up from their cover. Some on ground level behind vehicles or other objects, some on rooves, all of them wearing either hoods and masks or helmets "More so than you imagine. We shall see if the same holds true for these skirmishers of yours"

As if on cue, a screech echoed around the buildings. None of the Reapers reacting to it, but the XCOM soldiers looked around for the source of the noise.

"Your presence already disturbs them. We must move quickly. My people will take care of this camp. Come" Outrider led the way down the street, the XCOM soldiers following behind.

"Who?" Andrea asked.

"Who what?" Outrider didn't even look back as she stalked ahead

"Who's disturbed by our presence"

"The Lost. People who have been ruined by this place. They are no longer human, chasing after anything that moves and trying to kill it. If we don't move quickly they will surround us."

"Alright. Come on Savvina" Both XCOM soldiers hurried to keep up with the Reaper.

"In that building. Deal with them and follow me. We will take the high ground to avoid most of the Lost" Outrider stated, moving ahead at speed, heading for a fire escape up ahead "I will keep you informed of their locations"

In the bottom of what used to be a cafe was a half dozen or so humanoid creatures, green-skinned, wearing the tattered remnants of clothing, their skin pocked and cracked, and their eyes glowing yellow.

"This is why I have the big gun" Savvina announced, leveling her LMG, and firing as she walks, firing in short bursts, quickly mowing down 'The Lost'. One shuffled around the edge of a Bus, Andrea putting a single shot through its head put it down. Their weapons were suppressed, sounding like doors being slammed hard, drawing some more nearby Lost, but only those within a block or 2. They quickly followed after Outrider, the LMG clearing out the Lost easily. Andrea dealing with the few that weren't part of the group. They reached the ladder and Savvina climbed up first, throwing her LMG over her shoulder where it stuck to her back with a magnetic lock. Andrea keeping the area cleared until she could follow her up.

On the other side of the room, they climbed into Outrider was crouched by the window, gesturing for them to crouch too. They moved up next to her and saw the area below had dozens of Lost wandering around aimlessly. "Clear them out quickly, then we must move before more arrive"

"Can do" Savvina announced, elbowing the window to break it and placing her LMG on the windowsill, the extra support letting her fire fully automatic. Mowing down the Lost in seconds.

"Very good, now let's move" Outrider jumped out of the window, rolling as she landed, barely making any sound. She hadn't even drawn her rifle yet.

Andrea dropped down next. Lowering herself down from the windowsill, then dropping the rest of the way, landing and rolling as well, though not as gracefully as Outrider had. She drew a pistol and killed the few Lost that had been in the lower of the building they were in, and making her way after Outrider, as Savvina also dropped down, landing heavily on her feet, the shock absorbers in the armor letting her take the fall with little more than a grunt. She jogged after Outrider, with Andrea bringing up the read, with a pistol in her hand in case any lost jump out along the way.

As they jogged Andrea smiled, and, over the coms said "I think we forgot introductions. I'm Andrea, and the quiet one's Savvina"

"Dragunova"

"Nice to meet you Dragunova"

The second group was meeting with the Skirmishers. The other half of the meeting the XCOM Soldiers were overseeing.

Raul, often called 'Soldier' by the other XCOM operatives, having command. He had a weathered-looking face, black hair cut short, carrying his rifle with a confidence that showed regimented training. The others would make fun of him for how military he was, always walking bolt upright, doing military drills and keeping short-cut hair. But he didn't care, he prised himself on his military bearing and his skill was undeniable, as was his tactical ability in combat, which even the Commander recognized.

The woman with him was not military. Hiroyo Saito, often called 'Psycho' by the other operatives because of her outlandish tactics and apparent uncaringness about her own safety and pain, often continuing to fight with broken bones. Though Raul didn't appreciate her bearing, keeping her finger eternally on the trigger instead of showing proper trigger discipline, he couldn't deny her skills in combat and with explosives, and her outlandish tactics were very effective against the extremely regimented ADVENT soldiers.

As they approached the meeting point, they saw an ADVENT dropship crashed on the ground, still burning. A wall of smoke emerging from it.

"How'd that get there?" Psycho asked, bringing her shotgun up into her hands properly rather than carrying it at her side.

As they approached the smoke cloud, they heard the barking-like noise of the ADVENT language, followed quickly by gunfire, and a red-armored ADVENT soldier seemingly attempting to flee the smoke. Before either of them could get a shot off, the soldier was yanked back into the smoke. Psycho ran ahead and Raul chased after her.

Coming out of the smoke cloud they saw a figure standing over the ADVENT, wearing armor that looked similar to ADVENT style armor, but modified, he spoke too quietly for them to hear until they got close, hearing his say "Vox Tala For Ten", before driving the claws on his gauntlets into the soldiers neck. As the soldier twitched, he turned to face the XCOM Operatives, he'd removed his helmet before they exited the smoke, he was bald, with the strange facial features of an ADVENT clone, his eyes black rather than white with almost glowing yellow-orange where the iris and pupil would normally be.

"They were sent to purge the Drak-Ten, The Lost. Our meeting point is still secure" the figure said as he stood up and grabbed his helmet off of the ground

The XCOM operatives had been filled in on the Lost by Savvina before they'd reached the meeting point. "I assume you're Pratal Mox. I am Raul Marquex, and this is Hiroyo Saito"

"It is a pleasure to meet you. Now, we must go" Mox said, replacing his helmet and leading the way forwards.

They moved up to the construction site, their route leading them straight ahead. As they moved up, they noticed 2 more of the red armored ADVENT, Psycho firing a burst as they noticed each other, narrowly missing them as they moved to cover, with Mox using the grappling hook on his gauntlet to gain a Highground flank on one of the few, firing into it and killing one. Raul stood ready for the other one to emerge from its wall, while Psycho ran to get behind it. Before she could get around the truck, the ADVENT ran towards Raul, a burst from his rifle damaging the tank on it's back, a loud hissing sounding from the breach. As it got within range of its flamethrower Mox fired a few shots before Raul got a chance, igniting the gas escaping from the tank, and causing the soldier to exploded. Raul dropping down behind the crates he was behind as shrapnel was flung in all directions. He stood up and saw a chunk of red armor in the crate.

"Damn, that shit volatile," Psycho said as she kicked what remained of the corpse. Little remained of its torso.

"Could you not kick the dead bodies," Raul said as he checked his ammo count and continued moving ahead.

"Why not? He's not bothered by it? Are you Mr. Burny guy"

"We must move," Mox said, against moving forwards

"You guys are no fun" but she stopped kicking it and again followed them.

They emerged from the construction site to view what could only be described as an army. ADVENT soldiers, Sergeants, and flamer units, surrounding several tanker trucks, purging Lost from around them.

"It's an army" The voice of Central officer Bradford came over their coms, obviously watching their body cams

"One we do not have time to face" Mox stated, firing his bulpup rifle into a flamer unit next to a tanker, the gas igniting and the soldier desperately trying to get rid of the tank in the half-second before it detonates. The explosion rocked the city. The Operatives ducking behind whatever objects they were next to, to avoid the shrapnel.

"That's one day to deal with an army!" Psycho laughed

"LOST INCOMING!" Raul called, seeing the green creatures coming towards them, a horde stumbling along, with some at the front, with what looks like barnacles covering them, sprinting at full speed towards them

"Onto the crates, we need the high ground" Raul ordered performing a tactical retreat, firing on the sprinting ones as he backed up towards the large crates on the ground. Mox turned and, using his grappling hook, got onto a crate suspended by a crane. Safely out of the Lost's reach, he began firing into the horde, killing the quickest ones to give them time to reach the crate.

They climbed on top of the crate just seconds before the faster Lost reached them. They ran full force into the crates before stumbling backward and then getting ready to jump. They never got the chance as Raul began firing with disciplined bursts into the horde, and Psycho firing wildly with her shotgun.

"Central, we need a new route," Raul said into the coms

"I noticed. Give me a minute, we're working on it"

"You have your minute" Mox declared, firing onto the horde.

The regular Lost struggled to climb onto the crates, unable to get the speed of the fast ones, they were reduced to climbing on the bodies of other Lost and trying to grab the edge.

"If this lasts much longer they'll be able to walk up the pile" Psycho shouted, she seemed to be enjoying this.

"We have a new route, down the road behind you," Central said over the coms.

"Mox, give us cover, they can't reach you there" Raul ordered "Saito, come with me"

Both did so without complaint. Mox providing a steady stream of fire into the horde, giving them space to jump down the back of the crate and start pulling back up the street, Psycho clearing out the ones coming for them, while Raul shot a path in the horde for Mox to follow them, which he did.

Once back together, they ran down the path indicated by their HUD's, easily out-pacing the regular lost, and dealing with the few remaining Dashers with quick bursts.

Without the constant sound of fire, the Lost fell behind, eventually losing track of them. Once they were sure they were away from the Lost they stopped to catch their breath.

"That was close," Raul said, panting.

"Indeed," Mox said "It is amazing how many Lost still exist within this city"

"Yeah," Psycho said, "How far is the meeting point?"

"Just up the road, on that bridge," Raul said, pointing towards said bridge

"Let us move then," Mox said, continuing on.

The XCOM operatives meet up in one of the broken down trains while Mox and Outrider met on the bridge.

Andrea looked at the other group "You guys look like shit, what happened"

"Mox blew up an army and brought the horde," Psych said

Savvina raised an eyebrow and looked at Raul

"Pretty much that, yeah. There was a group of ADVENT going through, apparently clearing ou the Lost. Mox shot the fuel tanker, and the entire thing exploded, then we had to fight off a horde of Lost until Central could find an alternate route, then we had to outrun the horde."

"Damn, we got like, 20 or so, but Savvina melted them"

"Well, let's hope the rest of this can go smoothly," Raul said.

As if on cue, there was a flash from the direction the meeting was taking place, followed by a voice hissing "No-one has ever done that before. No-one shall ever do it again"

They all grabbed their weapons and ran off the train.

"Vox Prima, Elder Assassin, butcher of freed ADVENT" Mox was saying

"Guess it's not going smoothly. Should have touched wood" Andrea said, jogging to the edge of the bridge.

The XCOM operatives group up along the edge of the bridge, weapons at the ready. Mox grapples across the street to the fire escape. Outrider vanishing from sight on the ground.

The same hissing voice from before seemed to emanate from everywhere at once "So many have fallen - and yet, my work is never done"

Raul began moving down the bridge "Spread out, limit the effectiveness when they de-stealth" as he said this, he noticed a slight shimmer on the air next to a car, like the haze above a fire on a cold day, it shifted slightly along the car, and Raul quickly fired a single shot into it.

There was a small spray of purple blood and the haze formed into a tall purple-skinned female creature in light armor, a sword in hand and some kind of rifle on her back. The look on her face could only be described as surprise. "Open fire!" Raul shouted, firing another burst into the creature.

All the operatives followed his order, Savvina leveling her LMG and firing at the figure, Andrea began firing both her pistols, Psycho fired a slug from her shotgun, and Mox fired his grapple.

The 'Vox Prima' stumbled backward under the hail, but no more purple blood sprayed out from the hail. Raul saw the figure stumbling backward, a hand covering the right side of her face. She noticed him looking at him, and snarled before vanishing in a flash of light.

The voice echoed around again "It was the elder's will that none survive this day, I cannot leave that to chance" one of the devices that originated from the original invasion then began emitting a loud base noise. Raul then heard the voice, as if speaking directly into his ear "And I'll be seeing you again" He spun with the butt of his gun to hit the source of the noise, but passed through the area the noise seemed to come from.

"We gotta move" Savvina shouted out, pointing towards a horde of Lost stumbling and running towards them.

"Follow me" the voice of Dragunova rang out and they saw her heading for a fire escape to the top floor of a building.

Mox moved next to the fire escape, being the closest, and began providing covering fire, shooting down the fastest Lost.

The XCOM operatives dropped from the bridge and began running for the ladder as well.

Andrea reached the ladder first and started the climb. the rest reaching it shortly after and going back to back to protect the ladder. A lone Dasher managed to escape the fire and got in range to grab Mox and bite into his shoulder before Mox speared it through the head with his gauntlet blades. Orange blood was sprayed from the bite, but it didn't seem to be bleeding too much and Mox continued fighting without apparent difficulty.

"There will come a time when my people take this place back as our own" Outrider said as she continued through the building
"If they are all like you, that is a likely possibility" Mox replied as he grappled up the fire escape.
"Could you guys flirt later!" Savvina shouted

One by one they managed to make it up the ladder, those on top providing covering fire for those blow. Once they were all up and inside, Raul fired his Bulpup and separated the ladder from the balcony. "This way," Outrider said and continued through the building.

They followed her, Savvina bringing up the rear, reloading her LMG as they continued through the building. They came to the other side of the building, viewing the evac zone on the ground below, swarming with lost trying to find their way up. Savvina leveled her LMG on the windowsill and began spraying into the horde. Once the horde was thinned enough, they dropped down and moved towards a truck, the highest point on the ground. Mox and Outrider bringing up the rear. Outrider finally firing her rifle. The rifle gave off no sound but did make a muzzle flash.

The XCOM Operatives gathered on the top of the truck, while Mox and Outrider moved towards it on the ground, backing up while firing. "Outrider to Avenger! Where the hell's our exit!"

The Skyranger lowered out of the sky, hovering just above the truck "This is as low I can get her!" the pilot shouted into the coms.

The XCOM operatives climbed into the ship first. Savvina holding onto a handle with 1 hand, and firing her LMG into the horse with 1 hand, the end of the gun resting on the edge of a seat, firing at the left side of the horde while Outrider and Mox moved towards the avenger from the right. Outrider got onto the ship first, then turns and begins accurately firing around Mox to clear him to get onto the ship. Before Mox is able to step onto the ship he is grabbed from behind and the Vox Prima appears holding him for a split second before vanishing with him.

Outrider tried in vain to reload in time to fire, but by the time she had a new clip in, they were both gone in a flash of light. The door closed, and the Avenger rose into the air. "No" she whispered towards the area Mox was standing.

Outrider turned to Savvina, who was now slumping into a seat, her weapon smoking. "Why didn't you do something!?"

"I have an LMG! if I tried to shoot the Purple Lady I'd have put more bullets into Mox than anything else. Why didn't you shoot her, you're the one with the silent sniper"

"I was reloading!"

"Hey, guys, nows not the time. It happened to fast for any of us to stop it" Andrea said calmly. "But look, she grabbed him and teleported away. That means she wanted him alive. If she'd wanted to kill, she would have stabbed or shot him. So that means we just need to find where she took him"

Aya sprinted through the building and came out onto the road, seeing the Skyranger take off just a second before she came into sight. She saw a familiar logo on its side, an elongated pentagon, with an image of earth with 3 stars above it, and a white x going across the Pentagon, and the words 'Vigilo Confido' on the top of the Pentagon.

XCOM was back.

She stood in shock for a second before remembering the Lost, and, fought her way through the horde before sprinting back the way she'd come. She easily outpaced even the Dasher. There was nothing that could keep pace with Aya when she was sprinting.

She made it back to the crossroads where she began following. She went to the destroyed convoy and found a Sergeant mostly intact.

"Guess you'll have to do," she said to herself as she used her knife to remove the breastplate from the corpse, and carved out a large chunk of meat from the chest. With no time to cook it, she ate it as she ran. She preferred Muton or Sectoid. But ADVENT meat would do.

XCOM was back. She needed to get into contact with them. But she had no radio or anything. But she knew someone who did. It had been a long time since she'd been to the Resistance cell. But now was the time.

The Commander sat in his room. Everyone he met was always surprised. He has a reputation so people expect him to look a certain way. They never expect to see a clean-shaven, baby-faced man with buzz cut brown hair and blue eyes. He always enjoyed peoples reactions to seeing him. But he was more than he appeared. Perhaps the greatest tactical mind in human history. He was outwitting the best generals of the day when he was 10 years old. Undefeated in every kind of war game he'd ever touched. He was a tactical advisor at 11, and Commander of the infant XCOM programme at 15. A master of politics as well, no-one else had been able to convince every major country on earth to back the funding of XCOM, and no-one else could have managed to keep them funding XCOM until the day of the surprise attack. After the aliens were thought to be defeated, XCOM was betrayed, HQ fell, and the Commander was captured. Even the aliens recognized his abilities. Instead of killing him, they wired him in and made him the commander of his forces. With his unwilling leadership, the aliens had defeated Earth in a matter of days. With every country on earth surrendering to the aliens within a month. The Commander was rescued a few weeks ago by operated Gatecrasher. Though it cost the lives of 3 XCOM Operatives, and dozens of Resistance fighters, The Commander was back, and he'd make sure their sacrifices were worth it.

Though he was normally found looking over charts and maps, planning every move XCOM would make or assisting the Operatives on ground missions, today, he was sat on the floor of his room, sitting on a map crosslegged, appearing to be meditating.

3 Purple-skinned figures appeared in a huge room, a statue of an Elder in the middle of the room. The 3 figures were very different.
The first one to appear was sitting cross-legged, as if meditating, female, wearing very light, form-fitting armor, a sword, and rifle on her back, and a small scar on the left side of her face.
The next one to appear did so in a crouch as if landing from a fall, 1 hand on the ground. His arm was slightly bulkier than the females, and he had a hood covering his head, and a sniper rifle on his back. He pulled the rifle out and aimed it at the female, before she vanished from sight and reappeared behind him, with her sword held to his neck.

The third figure, the tallest of the group. His armor the bulkiest, and red instead of black, but with several gaps along his arms and legs exposing the skin. The gauntlets of his armor ended in claws, with a ball of purple energy sitting in his hand. Approached them, and held his hands up in a threatening gesture.

The Sniper-wielding one raised his weapon but the female pushed it down. The figured talked, and then the sniper and clawed ones seemed to get into another argument.

The argument was interrupted at the statue of the Elder glowed purple, all 3 kneeled, the Sniper taking the longest, and clearly reluctant to do so, and doing so casually as if it was his idea to kneel rather than it being a response to the Elder.

Images played around the Elder, ADVENT subjugating humans, attacking resistance cells, but then switching to the Commanders tank, followed by the Skyranger flying away.

The Sniper looked up and rolled his eyes, saying something, before the face of the statue opened, and a red glow emitted, a torrent of purple energy landing on the Sniper and forcing him onto all fours as he was bombarded by the force. The clawed one smirking as this happens. The flood and red glow abruptly stopped, and the Sniper slowly got up and returned to kneeling. More images cycled through, a fissure in the ground, leaking purple energy, explosions, humans being killed, XCOM scientists around a tank.

The 3 figured then vanished in a flash of purple light.

The Commander opened his eyes. "They fight and bicker among themselves. We can work with this. The Sniper is also the weakest link. Clearly arrogant and dislikes authority. Kept in check with threats and promises. Perhaps we could convince him to our side"

He looked up at the roof, nodding slightly to himself "It was a risk, but a calculated one, we need to know what we're fighting, and we can work with this. Now, let's work on finding Mox"

The Commander closes his eyes once more.

Thank you for reading this first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.