Maxim slowly woke up. He still felt tired, but his mom would always yell at him if he went back to sleep. So he sat up, and stretched, then opened his eyes. This wasn't his room. He looked around, still half-asleep, so not fully aware of what's going on. It was a small room. Just about 3 times the size of the bed he was on. In the corner was some kind of strange device, it was a large boxy thing, with a purple hologram of DNA floating above it. 2 of the walls were metal and plated, the 3rd wall was curved and was made of what looked like glass, there was one section of it, with the yellow and black stripe hazard thing around it, it looked like a door, there was only the 3 walls. He looked up, and saw another device on the roof, a circular device sticking out of the ceiling slightly, and there was a purple mist that seemed to be getting sucked up into it. He looked out through the glass, there was a computer on a table across from him, and the back of the room had stacks of boxes, other than that, it was basically just all bare metal. He walked up to the glass, and could just about see his reflection in it. He jumped back in surprise, then looked again. His hair was stark white, like it had been bleached. It was also longer than he's even had it, reaching past his shoulders. And his eyes, they were purple. He looked at his hand, and was shocked to see that he could see the bones, and musculature in the hand. He jumped back and blinked, then it faded back to normal. His heart was going nuts.

"Ah, you are a awake" came a heavily French accented voice. Maxim looked over to see a short man, completely bald (He didn't even have eyebrows), come walking in though a door in one of the metal walls outside.

"Who are you? Where am I? What happened to my hair and eyes?"

"Do not worry. You are with XCOM"

"XCOM?"

"Do you remember?"

"Vaguely"

"The memories should return in time, you have been out for a long time"

"Out?"

"You have been in a Psionicaly induced coma for just over 20 years"

That hit Maxim like a punch, he took a step back "Did you just say I've been asleep for 20 years?!"

"Yes"

"What, how-"

"I will explain everything with time, but we should wait for your memories of before to return first"

"Fine. But what happened to my hair and eyes?"

"A side-effect of Unleashed Psionic potential" the man motioned to his own head "You are fortunate, you still have your hair. And as for the eyes" the man open his eye lids with one hand, then took out a contact with the other, then looked back at Maxim, and he saw that his eye was also Purple, he was wearing green contacts. After showing Maxim the eye, he put the contact back and blinked it in. "Another unfortunate effect of Psionics in the body"

"Is there anything else?"

"For someone of my power, not that I've found. For you? I don't know. Anything is possible"

"Who are you?"

"Oh, sorry, how rude of me. I am Alex Ducan. I shall be re-teaching you about your powers"

Maxim began getting some memories back "Where's Aya?"

"Ah, you are remembering already, impressive, I thought it would take a few days before they began returning. Aya is fine, she is here, on the Avenger"

"Avenger?"

"We are on a ship. XCOM has changed since you were last with it. I shall explain it all in time"

"Can I come out of this room?"

"For now, unfortunately not. You see that device in the ceiling?" he pointed to it, and Maxim looked at it again "That device is funnelling away your latent Psionic abilities, so you do not return to the coma you were in. Were you to step out, it is likely you would merely collapse again"

"So I'm basically a prisoner?"

"No no no. You are here only as long as you need to be, until Dr. Shen finishes construction on a portable version of the device. If you need to think of it like that, it is more like, you're under, house-arrest essentially"

"Can I see Aya?"

"I can call her over, but it would be best if she did not enter the room. There's a lot of psionic energy floating around in there"

"Fine. You said you have psionics?"

"A small amount"

"What can you do?"

"Surface telepathy. I can tell what you are currently thinking or feeling, or project my thoughts into your head"

"So what am I thinking?"

"I cannot tell"

"You just said-"

"For most I can do that. But other psionic users have very powerful mental protection, and you do not know how to control it consciously yet"

"Isn't that convenient"

"Do you want me to call over Aya?"

"You said I'm still getting back my memories?"

"Yes, although you are getting them more rapidly than I thought, no more than a couple days until they all return"

"Then I should wait until I remember everything"

"That would probably be best"

"One last thing"

"Yes?"

"Do you have any scissors?"

William knocked on Alice's door. If anyone would know where he'd hear the name Digkale from, it'd be her.

"Come in" Alice called from inside

William opened the door and stepped in. Alice turned around from her computer "Oh, William, how can I help you?"

"Masambe Digkale"

"Excuse me?"

"What's that name from"

"Masambe Digkale was one of the Soldiers of the original X-COM. He was one of the ones with Psionic powers, and he was the one that used the Gollop device, and saved the earth from the alien ship that had been about to explode into a black hole"

"You didn't even have to look that up"

"No. Why did you want to know?"

"Did he have a family"

"A husband and 2 children. I don't have any records of them. They went missing a few days after the beginning of the Alien invasion"

"I think I found one"

"What?"

"Stacy. She had a picture in her room, with 4 people, 2 men, and 2 children. With 'The Digkales' written on it"

"Why were you in Stacy's room"

William blushed furiously and looked away

"Woah, Will?"

"It's not like that. We just kissed... Can we focus on the big picture here"

"All right. But you've got to tell me what happened later"

"Fine" He really didn't want to talk about that stuff, he wasn't even sure what had happened himself.

"So, you think Stacy is the daughter of Masambe?"

"Yeah. Why else would she have a picture of him in her room?"

"Maybe she's a fan" Alice smiled "No, you're right. I'll have a look, see what I can find, we don't want to jump to conclusions here. It's possible she just shares a last name and had a similar family build"

"I guess"

"Hey Will"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks"

"For what?"

"For telling me this. I love finding stuff out"

"I just knew you'd know who Masambe was"

"You ever need any information that isn't hacked, you can always come to me"

"Yeah" William walked back out. He'd had too much social for 1 day. He went back to his room, and flopped onto his bed. If he had a health bar that went down when he took too much social damage, it'd be blinking red right now. He looked over at his GREMLIN. "Why can't everyone be as simple as you NOCLIP"

"Because people are difficult" said a voice. William looked over to see Stacy standing in the doorway. Note to self: Lock door.

"Uh, wha-. Hi. What are you doing here?"

"I figured you must be pretty confused by what happened a couple hours ago"

"A bit"

She sat down on the bed next to him "I'm sorry if I was a bit forward there"

"Uh, no it's, it's fine"

She smiled "I guess I just have a bit of a Cyber-Kink"

William blushed bright red again, and tried to bury his face in a pillow

Stacy laughed "You are so easy"

"I'm better with computers than people" William said into the pillow

"I'll leave you alone then" William felt her get up, but didn't remove his face from the pillow

"William. That wasn't just a one-off thing. I do like you" the door slid shut, and William was along with NOCLIP again. He was this close to screaming into the pillow. The hell had just happened. Since when did girls start saying the liked him. Maybe Lost had given him some kind of pheromone implant or something while he got the Taser-Fingers.

"Maxim, how are you doing?" Alex asked as he came into the lab again.

Maxim had been doing sit ups on the floor. Because he had nothing else to do. This was reminding him of the time he'd been training to see if he had Psionics originally. Out of boredom, he just worked out. He stood up as Alex walked in. "I've got my memories up until I passed out after, teleporting, I guess, away from the X-COM base. And I'm now really bored"

Alex smiled "Understandable. And I believe that is all of your memories back. From what Aya has told us, you teleported to you old apartment, then passed out. You woke up a couple times over the last 2 decades, each time for just a couple seconds, said some warning, then passed out again. Last time it happened, you said Blood Way. And that lead her to the Resistance haven that was being attacked, and brought her into contact with the XCOM forces there"

"Guess I have some future-sight as well then"

"Again, that may not be a conscious ability though"

"Yeah. This whole conscious and unconscious ability thing is annoying"

"You will learn. Eventually you will be able to control all of your powers"

"You'll be teaching me?"

"I am the only person that we know that has receive similar training. So I will be doing my best"

"But first-"

"Ah, yes. You wanted to talk to Aya once you remember everything?"

"Yes. Could you call her"

"One moment" Alex walked over to a panel next to the door, and spoke into it. It was too quiet for Maxim to hear "Knowing Aya's speed, she'll be here in moments"

"Have you guys found out how she's so fast?"

"No. Tygan has some theories, but nothing we could actually test. Though we have found she can run faster than Usain Bolt, and can keep up her speed for hours"

"What's your idea?"

"Simply a wonderful genetic mutation. There are some people out there. I remember a T.V show I watched when I was young, they went around finding people with extraordinary abilities. One that had similar abilities to Aya, simply did not produce Lactic Acid in his muscles, which made it so that he never got tired. He could theoretically run for days on end without tiring. I believe Aya has something similar, and also has very efficient muscles"

"Somehow that's more confusing than my own abilities"

Alex laughed

"What are you two talking about" A familiar voice said from the doorway. Maxim looked over to see Aya there. He would have run over and hugged her if he could have left the room.

"Aya!"

"I shall leave you two alone" Alex said as he walked past Aya "Just remember, Maxim stays inside, Aya stays outside"

"What was that comment about?"

"If I leave the room, I might pass out again, and if you come in" Maxim shrugged "There's a lot of psionic energy in here. Maybe you explode"

"That would be an anti-climactic way to go, wouldn't it"

Maxim chuckled "Yeah"

Aya approached the glass "So, the Vampire must remain inside, and the Valkyrie must stay out. We each fit our names well"

"I thought you were Psycho"

Aya smiled "Valkyrie fits better"

"Wasn't that what I called you before I passed out"

"I believe so"

Maxim smiled. Aya might not really have emotions properly, but he knew she cared about him. She'd protected him for 20 years, and had started calling herself the nickname he gave her.

"Your eyes are still purple" she said

Maxim looked down, he still didn't know what to think about the new colour "Apparently it's some kind of side-effect of Psionic energies or something"

"They suit you"

"Really?"

"Somehow purple eyes work with you, the white hair sticks out though"

"I have white hair, you have a burn scar on your face. We've both taken something permanent from X-COM"

"Yes. But we are not done"

"No. Now we've got those ADVENT guys to deal with"

"Yes"

"They'll learn to fear the Valkyrie and the Vampire"

Aya smiled again "They will fear Rage as well"

"Rage?"

"Harold is back as well"

"Why's he Rage now?"

"He's had those combat stimulants in him for 20 years. He's always angry, and spends him time destroying things"

"Seems like nobody survived X-COM unscathed"

"No"

There was a few seconds of silence. It wasn't quite uncomfortable silence, but it was comfortable silence either. Maxim was the one that broke it. "I was out for 20 years?"

"Yes"

"You were with me for that time?"

"Yes"

"What happened. I don't remember everything"

"A lot happened"

Aya then spent the next few hours explaining what had happened since he passed out. Maxim listened intently, and only broke in a couple times when he didn't understand something. When she finished, there was only one thing missing. "So, we know what happened to everyone else. But nobody's heard from Karl"

"That is where I have some bad news" She brought out a file she'd been holding, and Maxim hadn't noticed, and put it into the slot in his door. She closed her side, and Maxim opened his side, and brought it out. He read the file, and paled even more.

"So, Karl's an enemy now?"

"It appears so"

Maxim took a shaky breath. He remembered Karl as the joker Street Artist. Now he was some big bad evil guy.

"I'll leave you to think" Aya turned and began walking off

"Wait, Aya, don't go" she stopped before she left and turned back around

"Yes?"

"It's so boring in this room"

Aya smiled again "I do not believe there are any game devices on the Avenger"

"Crap. Then I either have to work out, or convince you to stay here"

"I spent 20 years staying with you while you were asleep. I can stand another few hours"

Maxim smiled "Thank you"

A week later, Maxim had re-learned how to use his first power. Similar to Mindfray, but this one wouldn't disorientate, only hurt, and it was impossible to resist, no matter what your mental defence. Although it inflicted no actual visible damage, things would just get hurt and/or die. Maxim named it Soulfire. Since it was like he was just burning their soul. He was also learning how to temporarily increase the reactions of a friendly target. Allowing them to move faster and do more than they normally would be able to. He named it Inspire, since it worked similarly to the original power of that name, but was focused on 1 person.

Alex walked in, he had a strange device in his hand. It was metal, and thin, and had a handle, then a generator-like-thing in the middle, and ended with 2 prongs pointing at each other, there was a small purple glow between the prongs, just a dim light.

"Hello Maxim"

"Hey Alex. What's that thing?"

"This is the portable device Shen was working on. The Psi Amp"

"So I'll be able to leave this room?"

"As long as you keep this device on or near you. Yes"

"Gimmie"

Maxim went over to his door slot. Alex laughed, and put it in his side. Maxim opened his side, and took it out. It was surprisingly light. It looked really heavy, but weighed nearly nothing. He noticed that when he picked it up, the tiny purple ball of light grew from the size of a pea, to a bigger than a tennis ball, and the light grew as well. It was like he was holding a small light bulb.

"The ball shows the power of your Psionic abilities. Clearly you are a lot more powerful than me"

"Whatever, I just want out of the damn room. How do I open the door?"

"Give it a push"

"Seriously. That's it? I thought it was locked"

"Which is why we didn't need a lock"

"You clever mother-fucker" Maxim pushed open the door with his free hand, and stepped out into the rest of the room "I'm free"

Alex chuckled, and handed him another small device, this one had a strip of material. "What's that?" Maxim asked

"This is a mag-lock. Put in on like a sash, with the device bit on your back, then you can put the Amp on it. So you don't have to carry it everywhere"

"Great" Maxim put the Mag-lock on, and slapped the Amp onto it. "Uh, where is everyone?"

"I believe they tend to hang out in the Lounge. I'll lead you there" Alex lead him out the Psi Lab, and down a short hallway to a ladder "We do not have elevators" he explained as he began climbing. Maxim followed. After leading him up the ladder they went across a room with computers along the walls, and a big hologram of the earth in the middle. To a door. "Through here" Alex then began walking off "I will see you later Maxim"

"See ya" Maxim took a breath. He only knew 2 of the people in there, and was concerned he'd come across a group of Ryo's. Aya had refused to tell him anything about them, saying it would ruin the surprise. He opened the door and stepped in.. To the middle of a food fight. There seemed to be 3 groups, all of them behind tables they had thrown up on their sides for cover. There was 3 people in each group.

To the right was 2 men and a woman. One of the men had a cap on, along with a shit-eating grin, and he was hurling handfuls of mashed potatoes over the table at the others. The other man was shorter, with brown hair in a receding hairline, he had some wrinkles showing his age, but it was his legs that drew attention, they were robotic, and only had 2 toes, like a Turian from Mass Effect. The woman had brown hair, tied back in a ponytail, which was feed through a cap with the XCOM logo it, she was wearing glasses, and seemed to be discussing tactics with the man with the robot legs, she looked cute with the glasses and cap. They very much looked like the nerd group, gathered around and discussing tactics for the food fight.

To the right was another 2 men and a woman. Aya was standing up in front of the table, just dodging out of the way of anything that was thrown at her, everything striking the table behind her. She even caught some of the more solid food, and threw it back at who threw it. Behind the table was a short man, dark skinned, and bald, he was crouched down, gathering all the food he could, and handing it to the other man. The other man was Harold, though he was a lot more scared than Maxim remembered, and he was throwing the food with amazing strength, Maxim half-expected the food to go through the tables.

The final group, at the back of the lounge, had another set of 2 men and a women (they seemed to have a fair distribution of the sexes here), the woman had dark skin and short black hair, cut military style, her arms seemed like a blur, as she reached down, grabbed something and threw it, the repeated, using both hands at once. One of the men had a gas mask on, with a tinted visor, so Maxim couldn't see his face, he was bald, and had dark skin, he was grunting and making other noises. It reminded Maxim of what the Pyro would say in Team Fortress 2. Finally, there was one more man, who popped up every now and then, and took time to line up a shot, he had blonde hair, just under shoulder-length, and a hat, like that Australian-type, but without the dangly bits. Maxim recognised that behaviour of lining up each shot, he was clearly an accuracy guy. He was the sniper.

They hadn't even noticed Maxim yet. He liked these people, not a Ryo in sight. He felt a twinge, and knew he had an idea. He grabbed the Psi amp off of his back, and, reached in, grabbed the purple ball, then threw it towards the middle. It elongated into a purple line, when it reached the middle of the room, it quickly spread out in a wave, and all the food flying threw the air, slowed right down to a crawl. Everyone looked around. It must have been weird to see everything suddenly slow down. Only Aya didn't seem affected. "A bit of a dramatic entrance Vampire"

Everyone turned to look at Maxim, who was still standing by the door. He smiled, and waved. "Hey. Just needed a stop for a second so I could say hi. Now. Let's do this shit" he released the power, and the food returned to normal speed. Maxim ran over and joined Aya's team

"Hello Maxim" the bald man said as he crouched down behind the table he held out his hand to shake, he had slight German accent "I'm Roman. Nice to meet you"

Harold grunted a hello, but continued throwing food at the other groups.

The food fight lasted for a few more minutes. And Maxim was correct in guessing that the left group was the Nerd group. A minute or so after Maxim joined he felt a presence behind him, and turned to see robot legs right behind him, with a handful of mashed potatoes in each hand. He clamped a hand around Maxim and Roman's faces, covering them in potato. Maxim wiped Potato out of his eyes, and saw Robot legs then shove another handful down Harold's shirt. And heard similar sounds from the other team. They'd pulled off a stealth pincer movement. Although how Mr Robot legs had gotten all the way across without Aya seeing him was amazing.

"Apparently your perception only applies when you're writing your diary Roman" the man said. He turned to Maxim "I am Sean" he had a very soft voice, and although he was speaking quietly it was easy to hear him over the shouting of the rest of the room.

"Maxim" Maxim replied, shaking his hand

"Aya has told us a lot about you" Sean said

"Really?"

"Let's hope the Vampire can live up to his stories"

"Thanks. Nice legs by the way"

"Thank you"