Chapter 5- Am I Alive
Jake walked through the streets at a steady pace, blending into the crowds. Watching people go about their lives. After escaping EXALT Jake found he had nothing left to do. His chances of finding anyone from XCOM was so small, it may as well be non-existent. Though he did know one. Central Officer Bradford had often spoken of his hometown in Kansas. Mostly complaining how there was never anything to do there.
The Nearest bus station capable of taking him where he needed to go was packed. Many deciding to leave New York, mostly because of the high chance of Alien attack. Jake idly flipped his ticket in his fingers as he stood in line waiting to get on his bus to take him to Kansas. He really hoped Bradford still lived where he said and that he wasn't wasting his time.
Lind found the one called Vahlen an unusual human, as far as humans went anyway. Her questions on what would be mundane things to his race has caused him confusion. Many times she would ask Lind to repeat himself as she typed on her handheld Tablet. The most recent questions dealt with small things.
Lind supposed Vahlen felt the same when he asked her about blinking as she called it. Strange questions like his planets biosphere, which Lind was sure she already knew. Still he answered each question to the best o his abilities, and never showed his confusion.
He considered it a small miracle he was not only still alive, but also free from the mental control of the Withered Ones. He could humor the woman at the very least. Gender was another thing Lind could not quite grasp. His planet had no species with a separate gender, though he did not know of the other races, after the disconnection from the Withered Ones Lind found much of his knowledge during that time gone.
He remembered a few things. There were fragments when he and the others subjugated the tribal ones called Mutons by humans. There were fragments during the fights with humans. What he did remember were events with no context. Strange it was to see whole portions of life, knowing you did something but not why you did it. Truly a horrifying concept.
"Vahlen, do your people still fight", asked Lind.
Dr. Vahlen looked to Lind before she seemed to take contemplative pose.
"Technically XCOM is no more, but I know others still fight out there, just little less organized and with whatever weapons and equipment can be found"
Lind nodded.
"I see, you do not give up", said Lind, but it was phrased as a question.
" Some people I speak to say we do not have to win this war, just not lose. Make the War very costly for the Ethereals, until there is more cost than gain", said Dr. Vahlen.
"Interesting tactic, but it will not work", said Lind.
Dr. Vahlen gave a sigh before she sat down next to Lind.
"I know, humanity has always been good at fighting war, mostly with itself. based on what I have seen the Ethereals do not use any form of currency, their ships numbers are unknown to us, it could be they are not limited by it and this war will never really cost them. Without XCOM I don't know if we can win like we have against other humans", said Dr. Vahlen.
"The weakness o the Withered Ones is in their arrogance", said Lind.
"What do you mean", asked Dr. Vahlen.
"When the invasion starts it is always the same, they send in the weak. The ones called Sectoids are first. This gives you a chance to gain their technology, there is a gradual progression as time goes on. Stronger beings are encountered. Then you find one of them who possesses the Gift, and that is when they see, see if you can unlock the Gift", said Lind.
"And afterwards", asked Vahlen.
"They continue allowing you to grow, and when they feel you are at your apex, they reveal their true power, your race missed this part of their plans, your XCOM is no more, and now their plans have changed", said Lind.
"Can you clarify a few points", asked Dr. Vahlen.
"What is it you wish to know", asked Lind.
"What is this true power you speak of", asked Dr. Vahlen.
"My people did the same as you did, we took their technology for ourselves, but we did not possess the Gift, when this became clear to them they revealed a massive fortress, once of great power and size. Far larger than any ship you have ever seen. Less a ship and more a city", said Lind.
Dr. Vahlen could not imagine how large this flying city truly was, it seemed impossible. Though the Aliens seemed very good at making the impossible possible, Psionics itself proved that.
"You say their plans have changed, how so", asked Dr. Vahlen.
"I do not know, but this false peace they speak of has never been used by them, normally they end the battle in a show of power, I am not sure what makes your race so different for them to do what it is that you told me they are doing. It could be their confirmation of you possessing the Gift. Other than the Withered Ones, only the small ones called Sectoids have anything close to the Gift, but only partly. The Sectoids were taken long before my people were", said Lind.
"I suppose we will find out soon", said Dr. Vahlen.
"I suppose we shall"
Dr. Shen looked over the schematics again before nodding to himself. Taking out a blow torch he lowered his mask and got to work. While he was only able to get so much equipment from XCOM, Dr. Shen was able to make off with equipment needed for this project. Using parts for a heavy plasma rifle proved to work for his intended idea.
He did not have to take whole chunks of alien items with him, just a few things he could get his hands on. The sparks flew as pieces were welded and connected while a nearby computer uploaded the software into the mechanical 'brain' that had yet to be put into the machine.
It was an ambitious project and one he normally would never have taken, but with XCOM gone and the recent news of the Psi-centers Dr. Shen wasted no time to get started. He was somewhat glad the original Psi-center was destroyed, but at the same time EXALT being involved only made it worse, especially if they got their hands on any of that equipment. EXALT was dangerous enough as it was, them having Psionics would only make it much worse. Dr. Shen did not want to think of what EXALT would do with that equipment.
Shen turned back to his newest project, something more ambitious and dangerous than anything he ever attempted before. He however knew the threat the Ethereal Collective posed to the world, and sometimes drastic measures had to be taken. He only hoped this was not going to end as he feared it would end.
Dr. Shen turned off the blow torch before he wiped the sweat from his brow. He looked over to the spherical 'brain' he had been working on. A moment of hesitation came over him before he walked to the brain, lifting it with a series of wire and chains one would see in an auto shop to change a car's engine. Shen walked to the mechanical 'brain' as he lifted it with the help of the machine. He took a deep breath before schooling himself and began to move.
Moving the 'brain' into the device, Dr. Shen carefully loaded it in as he began connecting the wires. Once the wires were set up Dr. Shen looked to his computer to see if everything was going perfectly, and thus far all seemed to go as he had hoped. After a moment Dr. Shen felt satisfied and began sealing the brain within the machine before he backed off and activated it.
The familiar whirling sound came from the device as the Hover SHIV began to float. The 'head', which was just a modified plasma weapon, pivoted as it looked around. This SHIV however was unlike any other.
While it resembled the Hover SHIV, it also had two retractable 'arms' that came from the sides. It also had experimental cloaking technology similar to the Aliens weapon known as the Seekers, a stealth based robot unit who strangled others and immobilized them. They were frighteningly efficient in slowing a mission down, and could appear anywhere making them very dangerous to soldiers attempting to fight other threats on the battlefield. The Stealth systems of this SHIV however had a somewhat limited time limit before it would need to recharge it's cloak. Even an elerium power core could only last so long. The SHIV then looked to Dr. Shen before an automated voice came from the machine.
"Am I Alive"
Despite knowing that question could be asked while developing the A.I, it still scared the Doctor somewhat. Dr. Shen took a deep breath before answering.
"I do not know, but until I find out, I will treat you as such", said Shen.
The Machine remained silent before the 'head' pivoted again.
"Are you my Father"
That was somewhat unexpected, but only somewhat. Shen however did the only thing he thought he thought was right. Dr. Shen nodded his head. The SHIV seemed to understand the meaning of the gesture before it spoke again.
"What is my name"
This time Shen did not Hesitate.
"While I was making you, I called you Ares, you can pick another name if you want", said Shen.
It was silent for a moment in contemplation before the SHIV spoke calmly.
"I like Ares", said the SHIV somewhat awkwardly.
Dr. Shen, despite his earlier hesitation, smiled at that.
Howard Phillips looked at the massive tanks around the room with EXALT agent in each one. After XCOM had gone down, collecting Meld had been a cakewalk. Howard looked to the nearby doctor who was fiddling with samples taken from who knows what.
"So Doc, what have you got for me when we go against Durand and her friends", asked Howard.
The Doctor turned to look at Howard before he pulled away and moved to a screen and showed CGI renders of a human head. Howard leaned against one of the tanks as he watched the scene unfold. The CGI head opened it's mouth before Howard raised a brow when the bottom jaw split and unfolded As the Mouth opened in a sickening display to reveal a mandible like jaw.
"By analyzing the jaw structure of the creatures Known as Thin Men as well as certain insects and sea creatures , we have been able to create this secondary mouth. The lower jaw will split vertically and unfold to he width of a human head. It will allow for a stronger bite. The Mandible bone will be very flexible in this state allowing you to bite others. Hollow fangs on the opposite end of the maw will inject a neurotoxin that immobilizes others, it will keep them paralyzed but also aware, so take care not to speak secrets around them should they escape. Consider it our version of the original XCOM Arc Thrower, with the added benefit of being turned lethal should the need arise, simply by increasing the bite force. It will make capturing live subjects much a much simpler process", said the Doctor.
"Now that is nice, a bit grotesque, but it gets the job done, Do I keep the razor sharp teeth", asked Howard.
"Yes, they will remain", said the Doctor.
Howard smiled.
" Then I'll take it", said Howard.
"I thought you would, given the abilities of this modification, we have taken to calling it the Reaper Maw", said the Doctor.
Howard nodded.
"Durand won't know what hit her", said Howard.
A/N: I admit it, I am guilty of being a fan boy. The Reaper Maw gene mod is in fact the mouths seen on the Reapers in the second Blade movie. The only difference is it just paralyses others and does not turn them into vampire like creatures.
I wanted to have Howard look a bit more Eldirtich, since he is named after the father of the Cosmic Horror Story. I originally had an idea where he had retractable tentacles coming from his mouth to give him a Cthulhu like look that did the same thing as the Reaper Maw, but as I wrote it, it came off as somewhat goofy looking. Then I remembered the Reapers in Blade 2 and how cool they looked. So I rewrote the whole it with the same ability, but a different design.
I didn't want to use ideas from other bodies of fiction, and only use XCOM, but dammit the Reapers looked to cool not to use. I hope it is not distracting to the story and that it doesn't kill it for you, but I really liked the design of the Reaper mouths. Forgive me for being a fanboy.
As said the Reaper Maw will be treated as the EXALT version of the XCOM Arc Thrower, used to capture others alive. However unlike the Arc Thrower it can turn lethal in a second.