"Any ideas?" The Commander asked Doctor Tygan. They were in the research bay on the avenger, Maxim was in an MRI scanner, and Tygan was looking at the results.

"Unfortunately, we know very little about the way psionic's work, and-" he turned the screen so the Commander could see, and he saw that, instead of the usual cross-sections of the brain that you're supposed to see, all that he could see was a big purple blob in the general shape of the brain, he'd seen that when Tygan showed him the scans of Harold, but it was different. Harold's just looked like a purple field around the inside of his skull, but for Maxim, although it looked similar, it was slightly different, as the scan tried to get further in, the purple got brighter and brighter, then faded as it went back out, but everywhere it completely blocked the view of the brain, they showed that the purple block faded out an inch or 2 after his skin "-Maxim's seem different. Harold's is like a purposefully made block, Maxim's just looks like it's radiating out of his head"

"Any idea's how to fix it?"

"As I said, we know very little. At a guess, I would assume that something happened, and his psionic's overwhelmed his mind, and put him into this state. If this is indeed what happened, then getting him conscious would be a simple matter of creating a conduit of some kind, through which the power's could bleed out of without damaging him"

"So do it. Maxim knows a lot about Psionic's, and if what Aya has told us is true, he became a truly powerful psionic user"

"Unfortunately Commander, I haven't the slightest clue how to go about doing that. In theory, it's simple, but, we don't know what kind of materials or machinery that would take, and until I know that, Shen cannot make it"

"So we need to know more about Psionics?"

"Yes"

"You're working on the Magnetic weapons right now aren't you?"

"Yes Commander"

"How much longer should that take?"

"With the current resources we have, and with myself and the others working 'round the clock. I'd say, 7, maybe 8 days"

"We should prioritize getting our current soldiers sufficiently equipped before we go for the potential of getting 1 extra soldier. Finish up the weapons first"

"Yes Commander. I will have Maxim set up in our temporary med-bay until Shen finishes with the Advanced Warfare Centre, then we'll treat him like we would anyone in a coma"

"That sounds good. Inform me when you have finished with the weapons"

"Of course Commander"

The Commander walked back out of the Research bay, and began climbing up the ladder to get back to Mission Control. The one downside of the Avenger over their old base, was that they didn't have elevator's in this one. But he did also need to work off 20 years of atrophy, so, all in all... He still wanted elevators.

He reached the top of the ladder, opened the hatch, and climbed out.

"Hello Commander" He turned to see Alice standing there. Her hair was loose down her back, and she wore her usual dark blue T-shirt and black trousers, but something was different, she was wearing glasses.

"When did you get glasses?"

"I lost my contacts"

The Commander chuckled at that

"What?"

"You just look so cute with glasses"

"What?"

"All you need is freckles, and-" The Commander had an idea "Wait here, I'll be right back" He ran off, going up the staircase to his quarters

Alice waited where she was, did the Commander just call her cute?

After a few seconds, he came back down, he had something in his hands, which he quickly hid behind his back "Close your eyes, I have a surprise"

Alice sighed, but closed her eyes. She felt him put something on her head. "Open your eyes"

She opened her eyes, and the Commander was holding a mirror in front of her. She looked into the mirror, and saw that the Commander had put a cap on her head. It was dark blue, and had the symbol of XCOM on the front of it. And she had to admit, she did look kind of cute. All she needed was freckles and she would be the perfect image of the geek girl at school.

"Keep it, it suits you" The Commander said, as he lowered the mirror, he had such a giddy smile on his face

"Sometimes, you seem like the most mature man in the world, leading an organization to re-take the world... Other times you seem like a giddy 13-year-old" Alice smiled

"I know. It's fun" he then skipped away towards Central. The Commander was a strange man. If she hadn't know that he'd always been like that, she'd have thought he'd taken some brain damage from all that time in ADVENT capture. Maybe he had, but he seemed fine with it. Alice chuckled, and headed back to her room.

Along the way, she passed by the training room, and she saw Aya there. Aya was wearing a red T-shirt and black trousers, her hair had been cut, and properly, it was just cut short though, no styling for Psych- Valkyrie, Alice reminded herself. Aya didn't want to be Psycho anymore, she was Valkyrie now, and she had to admit, the name fit her, she certainly looked like a Valkyrie from Norse mythology. Especially in the training room. She'd read about her insane speed, which had never been explained, and now she was seeing it. There were 2 other's in the room with Aya, sparring with her. Roman was about the same height as Aya, only an inch or 2 shorter, and he was broader than Aya. Roman was all muscle, and bulky, he was easily the strongest active person on the Avenger physically, but Harold would probably beat him easily since his muscles are always working at maximum efficiency. He was duelling with Aya, both of them were using a stun-baton, so they'd get injured, but nothing that a good sleep wouldn't fix. While Aya was moving around, dodging any of Roman's attacks, then lashing out with her own, Roman stood stock still, only pivoting on the spot to stop her getting around him, and parrying her attacks with his own baton. If it was anyone else, Alice would say that she'd get tired, and Roman would eventually overpower her, because he was conserving energy, but Aya never seemed to get tired, she could tell they'd been sparring for at least a few minutes now, but Aya didn't even seem to be sweating yet. In fact, it seemed to be going the other way, she was attacking faster and faster, each swing getting closer to contact with Roman. He'd hold out for a minute or 2 more, but Aya was clearly the better fighter here. The other person in the room was Ash, and he was just cleaning his rifle, watching the show.

After about a minute, Aya got in a poke, and Roman dropped his baton, and held up his hands in surrender. He was breathing hard and sweating, but smiling. He dropped one hand and held it out to Aya, who shook it. "You are good Aya. I see how you survived as long as you did"

"Thank you" Aya said, Alice noticed something about her voice, she was speaking in monotone now. It was kind of creepy, but Alice knew that that meant she was staying, she only spoke like that around people she knew. Aya turned, and saw her, then walked over, placing the stun baton on a bench as she went. "You're Alice right?"

"Yes"

"You said you had Harold here?"

"Yes we do"

"Is he conscious?"

"No"

"Where is the Commander"

"On the bridge I think"

"Thank you" Aya then began walking towards the Bridge

"She's a strange one" Roman said, coming to stand next to Alice as Aya walked off

"Indeed"

"How do you think she moves so fast without tiring?"

"No idea"

"Oh my god, you look adorable" Alice turned to see Ash looking up at her "I like the hat"

"Commander" Aya approached him as he stood looking at the world hologram in the centre of the room.

"Ah, Aya, how can I help you" The Commander turned away from the map

"I would like to see Harold"

"Why?"

"Because he knows who I am, and I am the only person here who stands a chance against him in close quarters"

"If he flips out, it'll take us a minute to get him"

"I know. I can handle myself"

"If you were anyone else I'd never allow it"

"Which is why it is me"

"Yes. Follow me"

Harold woke up. He was again on that metal table. After a second of consciousness the Hunt-Pain returned, and he grunted and grit his teeth.

"Hello Boomer" Harold turned, ready to rip some arms off to get rid of the hunt pain, and saw a figure, a woman standing near the wall, she'd probably be leaning on it if the field wasn't there. Harold immediately was on his feet, and was about to punch her, anything to remove that damned pain, but something made him stop. He couldn't tell what, but something about this woman made him pause. Her voice was different to other's as well.

"Who?" Harold asked

"Ah good, you still talk. Aya" the woman said

Harold looked at her, he didn't know that name, he grit his teeth even harder, thankfully he kept some natural defences even through the stims, and didn't grit hard enough to damage his teeth.

"Perhaps you remember me as Psycho"

Psycho, that triggered something. Something deep in his mind, he couldn't recall what, but he knew it from somewhere.

"Smoke?" the woman asked, brining a pack of cigarettes from her pocket. She flipped it, and one of the cigarettes came half out of the pack, she held it up for him to take. She seemed so calm, while the other's he'd seen had been terrified.

He reached out a took it. The woman then brought a lighter from the other pocket and light the cigarette.

He put it in his mouth, and the memories came flooding back. He remembered everything "Aya" he said around the cigarette. The Hunt-pain receded as well, although it didn't fade completely

"I have to say, I'm surprised that worked so fast"

"What? What worked?"

"The cigarette, triggering thoughts of your brother to bring back your memories to the time before you went all stim-crazy"

"How did you-"

"We don't have time to discuss everything that's happened. As long as you have a smoke, you should be able to remember, that's all that matters"

"So if I get rid of it-?"

"You'll probably forget again, yes"

"This is very strange. I still have the pain"

"I don't know what that means"

"I didn't think you would"

"Are you going to punch anyone if we let you out?"

"Nothing that's alive"

"Good enough for me" She reached behind her, and banged twice on the wall. A section of wall slid back into the wall, then to the side. A door.

"I'll introduce you then"

"That simple?" Alice asked Aya, after she had explained how she'd gotten Harold to be reasonable

"Yes. His brother always had a cigarette, I figured that just giving him one would be enough to trigger memories of his brother"

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you thought it would be something really complicated"

"You are quite wise Aya"

"No. I just knew something about Harold that wasn't in any of your reports" She then walked off towards her room. Alice was really learning to like Aya. She'd be an amazing asset to XCOM. Alice did a quick count in her head. There was only 1 member of the old XCOM unaccounted for. All the others were either confirmed dead, or on the Avenger. Only 1 hadn't been discovered yet. Karl Wagner, Spray. Alice hoped they'd find out what had happened to him, she hated having missing information from her Archive.

Alice sat in the Sky Ranger yet again. But this time. Only half of them could be considered the nerd Brigade. She had her hair back in a pony tail, which was fed through the gap in the back of the cap, she had her glasses on, she still hadn't found her contacts, and, secretly, she kind of enjoyed not having them. Everyone kept calling her either cute or adorable. Not that she needed an ego boost or anything, she wouldn't care no matter what they called her, but, it felt nice. Across from her was William, with his glasses and cap on, and all his tech equipment on his back. The 2 of them defiantly looked like nerds. But the people sitting next to them defiantly didn't. Next to Alice was Harold. He was the tallest one on the ship, and he was just covered in scars of all different types. His hair was buzzed short, and he looked angry.. He always looked angry. Across from him was Aya. The left side of her face with the burn scar, her hair also cut short. There was defiantly a split between the nerd side, and the badass side of the group this time. Alice was still the one in charge, but Aya and Harold both had a lot more experience than her, they just didn't have the ability to communicate plans to the other's properly. The door slid open, and the ropes dropped down, they got up, and slid down the ropes. They dropped down next to a road. There was a beacon in a building just a block away, and they had to make sure the alien's didn't break it. Just across the street was another building, and there was another across from it, they had to go either over or around the building in front of them.

"Hax, with me, we'll take the roof. Valkyrie, Rage, take the ground"

Alice and William, headed for the drain pipe that would give them access to the roof, and Alice began climbing, followed quickly by William. On the ground, Aya and Harold moved to a truck which was parked along the road. It was past 9 PM, so there was no traffic. ADVENT kept a strict curfew on vehicles. "ADVENT across the street" Alice spoke quietly into her com, across the street, walking past the door. "Valkyrie, Rage. You're go"

Aya and Harold moved forwards. Harold had a cigarette in his mouth, as long as he kept that he would stay under control and not just go charging at anything that moved. They moved up, and without even saying a word, Harold broke cover, and ran at the Trooper with a sword he unsheathed from his back. Just as he broke cover, Aya popped out, and fired her shotgun, from just a couple feet away, right into the Officer's face. Neither knew what hit them. The Officer's head just exploded in a shower of orange blood and red armour. Harold ran straight through the Spray, and decapitated the Trooper with a single swing. Followed by a quiet thump, as the Officer's body hit the floor.

"Sectoid and Trooper, banging" William called out, and Alice turned away from where William was facing, and hear the short bang of his flashbang go off. Alice sprinted across the roof, getting into cover behind the railing (thankfully they built them with full covers, not just metal rails... In some places anyway. ADVENT built things strangely), as she ran, she lined up a shot. The Sectoid was behind a box, he wasn't as covered, but she knew Sectoids were tougher than they looked, some kind of Psionic force field, that would absorb the velocity of the shots. So she targeted the Trooper, who was more covered, but who could be killed with only a couple shots. She fired, and the Trooper stumbled backwards just as she fired. Obviously not a purposeful move, it was disoriented and dizzy, but it saved it's life. She heard a beam of plasma fire, and saw the Sectoid turn and fire into the building. Next to the Sectoid, was the Trooper, shaking it's head to try and clear it's head. They were right next to each other. Quickly, she brought out a grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it. The grenade landed on the boxes, and rolled off, on the aliens side. She quickly ducked back down, so she wouldn't be looked as it detonated. There was a bang, followed by a loud screech from the Sectoid, and the firing of a rifle from next to her. William fired down, and finished off the Sectoid as it reeled from the explosion. "I am a hacker, and I must hack". Alice looked to her side, to see William sending his GREMLIN somewhere, and looked to see it flying towards one of those Tower's that ADVENT transmitted information with. Hopefully he'd get something useful. Alice hurdled the railing, and landed, bending her knees to absorb the short fall. She then got behind a Lamp Post by the road, Aya was behind the side of a truck, reloading her shotgun. And Harold was standing next to her, his sword in one hand, a shotgun in the other. There was a whoop from above, and William dropped down, and got into cover near to Alice, behind an advertising podium. "I got the coordinates to a stash of stuff"

"Stuff?"

"Not sure what, I was doing it quick" She could tell William was trying not to giggle

"What did you do?"

"I replaced the coordinates in their system with a video of a cat dressed as a pirate"

"You are so weird"

"Yeah that's-" He was interrupted as an ADVENT transport flew past overhead, and an Officer and 2 Troopers dropped out of the ship. She was completely unprepared for that. They always dropped a flare before. Luckily, it didn't even Phase the Badass Brigade. Harold sprinted across, and a bang ran out. Hearing the shot made Alice focus, and she quickly fired a burst into the last Trooper, dropping it just as it was about to fire as William. Alice looked over, and saw the other Trooper lying in a pool of orange blood, it's chest was covered as well, he'd taken a shotgun to the chest. She looked to where Harold had gone, and saw the Officer had not gone as simply. Every limb was separated. Both arms, both legs, the head, and the torso were separate. Judging by the lack of screams from the Officer, and how Harold waked, he must have, very quickly, swung his sword in a circle, and got every limb in one swing. Note to self, don't face Harold when he has a sword in his hand. "Damn" William finished

"Form up at the Window. There shouldn't be many left" Alice said. Aya and Harold went right at either side of the window, and Alice went behind some garbage bags (not the best cover, but she needed somewhere with vision, and William went behind a street lamp slightly further back. "Breach" she called

Aya and Harold jumped through the empty window (The glass had been broken by the grenade), Alice followed behind, going to take position by the window that they had been, but saw Aya and Harold still running in, and saw a Sectoid and a Stun Lancer on the other side of the building. Before the aliens could even react, Aya had put her shotgun right up to the Stun Lancer, and taken it's head off like she did to the Officer earlier, and Harold, literally, jumped on the Sectoid, Landing feet first on the alien's chest, and knocking it the ground, then driving his sword through it's chest, pinning it to the ground. Finally, he jumped. It was messy. The alien's chest just burst under his feet. He then yanked the sword back out of the ground, and gave the head a kick. The head, rather than fly off, out the window, like Alice expect, just burst around his foot. Alice did not envy the poor guy who'd have to clean that up in the morning. Alice looked to William, and he gave her a thumbs up "Central confirms, all ADVENT in the area down. I'll do my thing" William then went over to the beacon, and started computering.

An hour later, Alice got off the Sky Ranger, back onto the Avenger. And Ash approached her. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure" Alice replied, and followed him to a deserted corner of the hangar "What's up"

"I just got a message from a friend"

"And?"

"I have some coordinates for the Commander"

"So give it to him"

"It'll be easier if you do it" He handed her a piece of paper. She looked at it, it was a set of map coordinates. It was somewhere in Canada, near Alaska. Above the coordinates, was a name Miss Lost. Alice looked back up to ask him about it. But he was already gone.

She'd never heard of this 'Miss Lost', but she trusted Ash, and she went back to the armoury to take her armour off. She'd give the Commander the coordinates once she was out of her gear.