Activation 1.1
April 30, 2012
1000 Hours CST
XCOM HQ
Amy 'Panacea' Dallon
Amy wasn't quite exhausted as she should have been, having fallen asleep shortly after they had departed from Andrews AFB. Thankfully when flying west, you didn't necessarily need to worry about jet lag which was a bonus. Still, she was working on maybe four hours of sleep today and wasn't in the mood for shenanigans.
Particularly since she had often had to patch up the Wards when they got up to shenanigans. She knew the sort of trouble that could be cobbled together by a couple of bored teenagers with superpowers and too much spare time. They were almost as bad as bored Force Recon Marines and she had to patch them up too after they pulled shenanigans when she had been at XCOM HQ on previous occasions.
There was also the fact that Vicky could almost be as bad on her own.
Suffice to say, she was quite familiar with patching up people after they did something stupid. To the point that she was a regular on Medical Forum Threads, specifically the ones where doctors compared the 'weird stupid shit' that they dealt with. There were more than a couple where she just didn't want to know how the hell the patient in question managed to do whatever they did.
Thus, Amy walked into the lobby for the infirmary with a steaming cup of coffee in her left hand, an XCOM tablet in her right and was almost immediately greeted by the head of the research and development department, Doctor Moira Vahlen.
If Amy were to describe Vahlen…she would use the word 'intense'. The woman had a sharp gaze that was further intensified by her dark gray eyes that seemed to be locked in a near perpetual glare. It was the sort of gaze that had stopped an over enthusiastic Vicky who wanted to meet a person that I was working with dead in her tracks. It was also entirely at odds with the slim build that Vahlen had, were it not for that gaze, she would have been drop dead gorgeous. She also had a habit of being more than a little blunt and she didn't really care for pleasantries either and wasn't one for being informal.
"Doctor Dallon. Are you aware of the wounded soldiers we have in the infirmary, waiting to see you?" she said as a way of greeting.
Sighing, Amy nodded. "Well good morning to you too Moira." she greeted, after a pause she continued. "Yes, I am aware of the fact that we have two soldiers from Strike Two who are severely burned and in need of my attention."
"Good, I was hoping that we could use your power to figure out what injured some of our best soldiers so horrifically through their armor." Vahlen replied and Amy furrowed an eyebrow.
"How bad are we talking?" Amy asked, her mind already running probabilities on how bad it was.
"They were exposed to an energy weapon with enough radiant heat that a near miss melted a large portion of the body glove of their armor to their skin." Moira explained and Amy's eyebrows came together.
"Why me? My power is biokinesis, not a Thinker class ability." Amy answered, that was true. She could read anything's biology perfectly by touching it and manipulate living biomass to heal injuries or alter a person's body.
"True, but if we can find out the extent of the thermal damage under what's left of the body gloves, we can then start to hypothesize the level of heat used by the enemy's weapons and from there determine what they're using." Vahlen explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
Amy felt like she wanted to facepalm. How the hell could she have been so stupid for not seeing that angle? Ugh, my brain is still not fully awake yet. She decided as she nodded instead. "Okay, that's fair."
"Indeed." Vahlen replied, her German accent coloring her tone of voice.
Amy paused considering her next words as she slurped at her coffee in a crude manner. Vahlen tutted at that action. "What do we know about what happened to Specialist Little?" she asked.
The German Scientist frowned. "He was Mastered for sure given how he shot Lance Corporal Oshitia and then committed suicide with a frag grenade. But the fluidness of the motions that Specialist Little showed when he was Mastered indicates a very high Master level." she stated and Amy frowned.
"How high of a Master Level are we talking about?" Amy asked quietly.
"At least a seven, maybe as high as eight or nine." Vahlen replied with a note of quiet fear.
Amy gulped, Vicky was going to be facing aliens whose abilities might be a Master seven on the regular? Good Lord this was bad, she knew the PRT Master/Stranger Protocols by heart and thus, the mere idea of Vicky fighting something that was a Master Seven on the regular was more than a little terrifying. Particularly if Doctor Vahlen was correct in how high these little gray aliens were on the Master scale.
"That's a good dose of nightmare fuel right there. Fighting someone on par with Heartbreaker on the regular." Amy admitted, thinking about her sister.
"Quite." Vahlen replied, her expression thoughtful.
Amy sighed as she took another drag from her coffee. XCOM's coffee was, really, much better than the swill that Brockton Bay General served and indeed was even better than her favorite coffee shop in the city. She wasn't exactly sure where the hell they sourced the coffee from, but all she cared about was that it was good coffee.
Taking another drag from her cup she looked up. "Right, let's go and take a look at the soldiers and get them stabilized." Amy said with a slight frown.
Vahlen nodded. "Follow me." she said and then swept into the infirmary with Amy following close behind. Together they ducked into a changing room, Amy donned her medical scrubs and her medical scrunchy that went over her hair which was done in a tight bun.
The scrunchy was needed because of protocol, because of her power she didn't need gloves however. Which was good since they were heading to the burn ward, which was where the men were sequestered. "How did the Parahumans of Strike Two fare?" Amy asked as she followed Vahlen's lead.
"Well enough considering the circumstances. Tigress has already been sent home, she suffered a mostly superficial burn from a near miss and she's been ordered strict bed rest for the next few days." Vahlen supplied and Amy nodded, they had a couple of healers on the XCOM team.
"I would like to see the report from the healer that gave that. Just to confirm it myself." Amy said and Vahlen nodded, tapping something on her tablet.
Her own tablet chimed a moment later and Amy using one hand flicked it open. She had grown used to having to pull shit that only parents could pull by somehow appearing to have three or four hands with how effortlessly they juggled things despite only having two. It was a superpower of its own really and one that when she had been younger had thought was cooler than even Aunt Sarah's ability to fly.
The report on Tigress was well written and thought out, the wound wasn't too bad either. Really a borderline second degree burn, a few days of bed rest would heal that right up. Master/Stranger Protocols had come back negative as well despite having been in close proximity to such a high ranking Master.
Amy hummed and nodded. "Alright, I am going to schedule a visit however for this afternoon as a follow up." she said as a way of explanation, follow-ups were something she recommended if she healed a person during a Mass Casualty Event or an Endbringer Battle.
Vahlen tipped her head in response.
"Do we have any working theories on what might have been responsible for the wounds?" Amy asked as using her power she effortlessly sterilized her hands as they approached the Burn Ward.
To her surprise, Vahlen nodded. "Indeed, we've been able to rule out lasers. The energy pulses while they are very fast moving aren't moving fast enough for the energy to be lasers. But it's still moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Additionally due to a lack of radiation damage, we've been able to rule out light particle beams" she explained.
"That still leaves plasma, several types of particle beams, or something even more exotic." Amy noted, she didn't know the exact particulars of how those weapons worked, but due to having worked with Doctor Vahlen on occasion in the medical lab, she had learned a few things in other scientific fields.
"Agreed, we're going to need additional work on figuring out what it is in particular. Since armoring against a particle beam is considerably different compared to armoring against plasma." Vahlen said and while Amy wasn't too familiar with the differences, she just shrugged and nodded.
They came to a set of double doors, Amy pulled on her face mask and Vahlen did the same, but she also donned medical gloves. While technically, thanks to her power, she didn't need to use a facial covering, it was a good habit to be in since in her line of work, caution needed to be warranted in regards to viral or bacteria transmission. Still, she hated going into the Burn Ward, she had seen Lung's work far too often, as such she was far too familiar with 4th, 5th, and 6th degree burns and the stench that charred human meat made.
She steeled herself, and then heaving a sigh, stepped into the Burn Ward.
Missy 'Vista' Byron
Missy pulled the trigger, two liquids came together and then a mechanically actuated spark flared brightly, a 5.56mm projectile was driven out of the gun that she was holding at near fourteen hundred meters per second; the weapon cracked sharply, the kick soft and manageable. She pulled the trigger again and again, the weapon kicking out a steady beat, the flash from the muzzle not even noticeable as she peered through the holographic sight.
Another trigger pull and the weapon clicked empty, the bolt locking back. "How did I do?" she asked as she lowered the weapon, flicking the safety on and thumbing the magazine release before pulling the top mounted magazine away.
The overall leader for Strike Five, Lieutenant John Beagle hummed. "Could have been a lot better, but considering it's your first time shooting. You did pretty well."
Missy nodded as the paper target she had been using was winched back towards them. She glowered at the paper target, the SMG she held had extremely little kick for the muzzle energy involved, but her shooting hadn't been particularly great.
Beagle looked over the paper target again. "I want you to shoulder your weapon again, there might be something in your stance that's off." he decided.
Missy was more than a little confused. "How does that work?" she questioned.
The Australian shrugged. "Shooting a gun is like martial arts, you need to have the correct stance otherwise you're not going to do well at shooting."
This caused the young girl to nod in response, it made sense. She was familiar with Martial Arts, indeed she had learned Karate so that way she wouldn't be completely helpless in a fight should she get blindsided. It had come very much in handy during a clash with Empire 88 and had really saved her bacon when Hookwoof surprised her.
"Right, so what am I doing wrong then?" she asked as she shouldered the SMG again.
Beagle looked over her form and then proceeded to adjust her stance, nothing too major apparently. She just got a lot of little things wrong, from how her fingers were spread to how her arms were set. Small things that had added up to really screw with her ability to shoot accurately.
"That should just about fix it." Beagle told her as he hit a button and another target appeared.
"Range is hot!" he called.
Missy flicked the safety off and primed the weapon to fire, the dust cover locked back. She settled her sights and opened fire. The SMG cracked out its steady beat as she fired once every few seconds, her improved stance was certainly helping with making it easier to control the weapon.
It took nearly three minutes, but the magazine clicked empty once again, ninety rounds having been expended. The moment that the last round left the barrel, she flicked the safety on and ejected the spent magazine. "Range is safe!" Beagle called out as Missy lowered her weapon.
Beagle hit the switch that caused the target to reel in. "Much better, still room for improvement but that's to be expected." he said looking at the target.
Missy nodded. "Mister Beagle sir?" she asked nervously.
"Yes Missy?" he replied.
"Which Strike Team will I be part of?" she asked and Beagle hummed.
"Not sure, particularly since organization around here can be fairly complicated." Beagle replied and Missy felt her shoulders slump. "But if it makes you feel better, Strike Five doesn't have all of their Parahumans yet, I can put in a request for the Commander to have you attached to Strike Five."
Missy perked up and nodded. "I would like that, I heard that Victoria and Sophia are going to be in the Strike One." she said.
John bowed his head slightly. "I am not sure if that's true or not as the rosters haven't been released yet; but it wouldn't surprise me." he answered.
"I wouldn't mind being on Strike Five." Missy admitted.
"Good to hear, anyways with the number of rounds you've put through today. I think that covers your weapon familiarization." John replied and Missy nodded in response.
"Thanks sir. Is there anything else?" Missy asked and Beagle nodded.
"There is actually, we need to measure you for armor." He explained.
"Armor? Is my Cape gear not good enough?" Missy asked, offended, she liked her cape gear. It had gotten her through numerous fights in one piece, including several tangles against Lung.
"Undoubtedly, the stuff we have access to is either Dragon or Mausume Technology and it's much better than anything else barring other tinkertech. Your submachine gun is a Mausume weapon, for instance and our armor is Dragon Tech." Beagle said and Missy paused.
That would be considerably better armor than what she wore in the Wards. It was likely powered to boot, which meant that she would be faster and stronger too. But the materials from which it was made? She wasn't entirely sure if the durability would be improved or not. Most armor worn by heroes was typically good enough to take some fire from assault rifles, unless naturally you were a tinker, then you could create shit that needed anti-tank weaponry to crack open.
Suffice to say it would be a considerable improvement over what she had worn in Brockton Bay; she knew what it was like to get shot and didn't particularly want to repeat the experience if she could help it. Mostly because it was so goddamned unpleasant to say the least. But the fact that she knew what it was like to get shot despite being a Ward said a lot about how much of a shithole Brockton Bay was.
Maybe XCOM would have substantially better armor then? "How good is the armor?" she asked.
"It's fully powered and provides full protection against Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Technological threats with the individual armored plates durable enough to withstand sustained heavy machine gun fire, with the body glove capable of handling shots from battle rifles easily enough. It has a very nice tech suite too." Beagle explained and Missy whistled, impressed.
She knew why too, armor like that was impressive and expensive to maintain, to the point that there were only five or six individuals in Brockton Bay actually using the stuff. With a solid half of the members being either members of the Protectorate or the Wards. But mass produced armor made by Dragon? That shit was stupidly expensive and restricted to militaries only, yet she was apparently going to be receiving a set.
"Wow, I never thought that I would get to see armor that good." Missy breathed, amazed, giddy at the fact that she would be using one of the best armor systems on the planet.
Beagle looked amused. "Neither did I to be honest, but it's very good stuff."
Missy hummed, she could imagine that. She had noted that she was, almost instinctively, walking slightly behind Beagle as they headed for the armory or equipment room. Inside were racks upon racks of various weapons and pieces of equipment. It was vast and impressive, Missy knew that they had dedicated armorers who would take care of the weapons of XCOM. So she dropped her SMG off and left it there for an armorer to clean and maintain.
Then she followed Beagle to a different part of the armory, where suits of armor rested. They were impressive with black body suits and gleaming plates that were notably thick and covered the vitals. The visor was a deep orange color, it wasn't reflective but it was opaque. Missy gently reached out a hand and stroked the cool metal of the cuirass that protected the chest.
"What is it called?" she asked as she stepped back from it.
"We call it a Phalanx Suit." Beagle told her, gesturing to it.
"Phalanx…not the most imaginative name." Missy admitted as she looked at the armor, still having a hard time believing that this armor was something that she was going to be wearing; the armor was familiar though, but she wasn't where she had seen armor like it.
"Eh, true. The name could be better, but it's still an amazing piece of kit." Beagle replied and Missy nodded. She could see why, if this suit was anything like the power armor even Dean used.
Well, running at speeds of 30-kilometers per hour (she had learned metric the hard way thanks to Armsmaster) would be in the ballpark for sure as would considerable lifting capability. The armor would essentially turn even her, who was more squishy than she liked to think about when guns got involved, into someone who could take a decent punch and could move effectively too. Maybe fighting for XCOM would be something that she might come to actually like, being treated in a manner that didn't scream kid. She had more experience than most members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, with five years on the job at this point, yet she was still extremely young at only twelve years old and was seen as a kid and treated as such.
It was annoying to say the least and she partially understood why. But she didn't want to be treated like she was made of porcelain glass. "It looks similar to Armsmaster's armor." Vista noted as the appearance finally clicked, the armor was very similar to Armsmaster's suit, just instead of blue and steel, this was black and gray.
"If I remember what Dragon said when she was showing off the suit to us, herself and Armsmaster did collaborate on the Phalanx Armor." Beagle said as he thought about it.
"Wouldn't surprise me, a few years ago, Armsmaster did a project so secret only Director Piggot was allowed to know about it and his lab was off limits until it was done. Almost landed me in god knows how much trouble more than once because I nearly barged in." Missy answered, scratching the back of her head.
"Probably Leavenworth level bad." Beagle mused.
Missy cringed, Parahumans rightly feared the Birdcage but Leavenworth from what little she knew of it was even scarier simply due to the fact that there were armed guards and even military trained Parahumans who would use lethal force to prevent escape attempts. "Right, I am grateful that Armsmaster had the foresight to put that special lock program on his door then."
Beagle tipped his head as the armorer came up to them. "You Missy Biron?" she asked them.
"Yes ma'am!" Missy replied in a chipper tone.
She nodded. "Alright," she gestured to a slightly raised platform, "stand here please. I am going to take your measurements."
Vista stood on the platform as she was told and remembering from when she was measured for her own suit of armor back in the Wards, held her arms out for the armorer. The woman brought out a tape measure and quickly gathered her measurements, as she did so, she asked a dozen other questions regarding her previous experience with armor.
"Alright, judging by your previous experience with armor in the Wards. I am going to recommend Heavy Phalanx, the flexibility and plate coverage will be most similar to what you used previously." The armorer said after a moment.
Missy nodded. "I take it that this Heavy Phalanx is like my old suit? Full plate coverage with no body glove showing?" she asked.
The armorer nodded. "Indeed, not many operatives have been issued Heavy Phalanx precisely because they feel that the mobility loss is too great."
Missy snorted out a laugh. "That's hysterical, I remember when Aegis joined up, he was skeptical that my armor wouldn't hinder the hell out of my range of motion. I convinced him otherwise by doing full cartwheels and somersaults in my armor.."
"Wait, really? You can do that?" Beagle asked, shocked.
Missy couldn't help it, she preened with glee at her physical ability. Finally, something that she was better at doing than all of these proper soldiers. "Yeah, it's pretty easy to do if your armor is fitted properly and if you're even halfway athletic, I've been on the Brockton Bay Wards for almost five years now."
Beagle whistled. "Most capes are lucky if they last five years. You must have a good head on your shoulders."
"I do, but the Wards were treating me too much like a Mascot and less like the experienced member of the team that I was; I have more experience than some members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate and you think that because of my age that I can't do solo patrols? Ugh, it's shit like that which is a major reason why I leapt on the offer to join XCOM, I figured maybe that things would be different here." Missy explained, yes people would say that she's far too young.
"Wait, you're from Brockton Bay?" Beagle exclaimed, shocked.
"Yes, I am. I am also one of the most powerful Shakers on the East Coast." Missy replied, she wasn't one to boast, but with her rating of Shaker 9, she really was one of the most powerful Capes on the Eastern Seaboard.
"What's your rating?" the armorer asked.
"Shaker nine." she replied.
Beagle whistled. "Damn, it's rare to see Capes that powerful."
"Why thank you." Missy said, feeling quite proud of herself.
Commander Contessa 'Fortuna' Rapone
The Commander of XCOM was seated behind her desk, her tour was over and frankly the XCOM Project was much larger than she had expected it to be. She had to focus on creating Paths to Victory against the aliens so that way they could win and prevent God only knew what the aliens had in store for Earth and humanity.
But things had become so damn clouded after both Scion and Ziz had gone missing in action. Both around the same time now that Contessa thought about it, Ziz had been seen breaking orbit in November of 2010 and telescopes had lost track of her completely some time in January of 2011. Scion had gone MIA in March of 2011, shortly after the appearance of Azrael, the Fourth Endbringer in February of that year.
She had been trying to think about war winning paths, but they got incredibly foggy beyond more than two or three months. It was something that was more than a little teeth grinding to say the least. Her power was usually quite cooperative, ranging from how to defeat various villains without injury to finding the best Meat Lovers Pizza on Earth (the best one was in a small hole-in-the-wall pizzeria in Osea).
But against these aliens? Zero. Zilch. Nadda! It was almost as if something was actively disrupting her power. She frowned and realized that something might actually be disrupting her power. Maybe it had to do with the fact that aliens weren't from Earth and thus her power might not work.
With this in mind, she decided to change her efforts from seeking a Path to the end of the war to something more short-term, maybe to the Council Report that was stated to occur at the end of March? She focused her power on this idea and immediately, a Path appeared in her mind and what she needed to do.
Picking up a pen and notepad, she quickly began drawing notes on what was needed for the Path to be fulfilled. It was weird in a sense, since in order for the Path to Victory to be filled, she would have to command and hope that the rolls of the dice she took during operations would work. Essentially micro-managing the XCOM Project, what they should build and what they should research.
It was something that she had experience with to an extent. Doing it on this level, in a situation where things were constantly shifting…was something that she had never done before however. In many ways though, she looked at what she was dealing with a sense of excitement. Mostly because it had been far too long since she had been given a proper challenge.
"Commander to the research lab. Commander to the research lab." The base AI chimed, from what Contessa understood, the AI had been created by Dragon.
She stood up and on her way out, grabbed her signature fedora. She would be damned if she went anywhere without it. The burgundy though clashed with the dark green of the XCOM Sweater that she was wearing. Not that she didn't mind, the sweater was quite nice all things considered.
A quick trip down the hallway to the elevator, passing her secretary and along the way, passing a squad of XCOM Base Security on patrol. They came to attention as she strode by and then the sound of their boots on the hard floor resumed.
The elevator very quickly took her to the level where the Research Labs were. She quickly strolled out and smiled as another group of Base Security, identifiable by their bright blue shirts came to attention as she strolled out.
She walked past the barracks, down the hall, and into the research labs, before entering she flashed her Common Access Card and the lock thunked, allowing her to enter the research labs. The primary research lab had a variety of different scientists already going over what they had on the aliens.
She had already seen the report from Doctor Vahlen; they couldn't even begin to reverse engineer the weapon fragments that they had due to how wrecked they were.
"Ah, Commander." Doctor Vahlen's voice cut through the air like a knife.
"Doctor Vahlen, you wanted to see me?" Contessa asked.
"Yes, I did. I am pleased to say that we've had a minor breakthrough." Vahlen said and Contessa immediately began providing her full attention.
"Already, where?" Contessa asked sharply.
"It has to do with the element used in the power cells of the alien weapons. We've been able to determine the atomic number of the element used." Vahlen said and Contessa raised an eyebrow.
"That's fast work Doctor." Contessa replied and Vahlen shook her head.
"It's partially due to our equipment actually. But we've been able to determine that the element used in the power cells is a new element." Vahlen said and Contessa's eyes widened. She expected there to be new elements to be discovered, but for one to be discovered this quickly?
"What's the atomic number?" she asked, referring to the number of protons in the atom.
"115, we haven't even begun to research what the properties of Element-115 are, nor have we even come up with a name. It might be an allotrope of an element that I know has been synthesized on Earth Aleph but whose existence hasn't been confirmed yet. There is a placeholder name for it though, Ununpentium." Vahlen explained and Contessa scowled.
"Doctor, I am certain I can't pronounce that and that would go for our soldiers as well. Can you try and find a better name?" Contessa deadpanned, not even trying to pronounce that name.
"One of the other scientists has proposed Elerium, Commander." Vahlen replied.
"Elerium." Contessa stated, sounding out slowly. It was easy to pronounce and decent enough. "That's as good a name as we can get, alright, put it down that alien energy cells and power sources are to be stated to use the element Elerium. Next question, can we synthesize it?"
Vahlen shook her head. "No Commander, we don't know enough about Elerium. We've only just discovered it and from what I know of Ununpentium, which Elerium might be related to, while it was synthesized, it decayed in milliseconds. If we can receive a steady stream of Elerium and start research on it now, we might be able to get to a point where we can synthesize our own Elerium in, barring no huge breakthroughs, two maybe three years." Vahlen said and Contessa frowned, before quickly forming a Path on the research of Elerium.
What she saw made her smile. "You have my approval, Doctor, I want medium priority on this. Just in case something else comes up that requires higher priority." Contessa told her.
Vahlen nodded. "Understood Commander."
Contessa paused as another question came to mind. "Any progress on what sort of energy that the aliens used?"
The head of the research department shook her head. "No, but it was of exceptionally high heat at least according to what Panacea told me. She's putting together a wound report and will have it for you if not today then at the very latest, the day after tomorrow."
She made a note to read that report when it came in and then forward it to Dragon along with having a conversation with her for ideas on improving their armor to try and resist whatever energy the aliens were using for weaponry. But something told her that what the aliens were using was vastly more powerful than something like it ought to be, given what they had seen so far was frankly cause for alarm.
"Very good, is there anything I need to see Doctor Shen about then, regarding Elerium?" Contessa asked.
"Not at the moment, no, but that's probably because we still don't know enough about Elerium other than it can serve as a power source." Vahlen explained and Contessa nodded, it made as much sense as any.
"What about our chances of finding out anything about our unwanted company?" Contessa questioned, referring to the bodies of the aliens that they had.
Vahlen sighed. "Between the damage from gunfire, the explosion from a grenade, and naturally the fire that burned down the house due to the alien tank exploding. The corpses we do have are completely unusable, we can't even begin to sequence DNA and it's a miracle that the contents of the power cells of the alien weapons were intact enough that we could determine the element used in them, even if we can't begin to determine how said power cells function."
Contessa nodded, made as much sense as anything really. "That's what I thought." she said with a sigh, after a moment she continued. "Very well, carry on Doctor."
With that, Contessa turned on her heel and walked out of the research labs, a decision coming to her. She needed a chance to actually sleep as she had been going for almost sixteen hours at this point, the stress of the XCOM Project being activated was starting to get to her. With this in mind, she headed back to her quarters and made a note for her to not be disturbed for the next eight hours while she slept.