The Commander put down the last of the journals, Boomer knew how to write a story, but it wasn't just a story. He'd been part of that group, Hammer and Anvil. He guessed this was his way of telling him about it. Though why he'd done it so secretly he had no idea, Tygan had been with ADVENT himself, in fact, he'd recognised the scar immediately after Boomer had joined XCOM, but he'd never thought anything of it. He got to his feet setting the books, no, the journals, down on his desk, and he went over to a terminal, and tapped on the Icon that represented boomer, a stick of TNT, there wasn't a huge range of icons available.

"Hey Boomer, come up to my quarters, I think you want to talk to me".

Maxim tried to calm himself, trying to remove all traces of doubt or fear, or even most thoughts for that matter is rather tricky, especially for someone like Maxim, who had a rather active imagination, and tended to go off on tangents at a moments notice, like that time that bus had a ladder on the side that defiantly should not have been there- No, he needed to stop thinking about things. Ok, focus, clear the thoughts...

"OW!" Maxim shouted out, as a book hit in right in the face, he fell backwards, more from surprise than pain, it wasn't hardcover at least. "The hell was that for!?"

Alex Ducan stood across from him in the Psi-Lab. Maxim only just noticed that he'd brought in some kind of table on wheels, like those ones at hotels that the cleaners use, and it was loaded with various objects, from books, to wrenches, to studded toys. "Did you think in the middle of battle that ADVENT's going to let you stand there and focus. No. Now focus, but remain alert"

"So i'm supposed to clear my head of all thought, but also keep a thought open for not dying?"

"No. You're supposed to allow your instincts to kick in. A psionic's instincts and reactions are faster than most, you just need to let yourself use them. Now, focus!" as he shouted this last line, he threw a wrench. Maxim ducked under it, and heard it clatter behind him, that would have hurt.

For the next few hours, Maxim went from not focusing enough, and getting yelled at by Alex, to focusing too much, getting hit with an object, AND getting yelled at by Alex. Eventually, he ran out of objects to throw. "That will be enough for today then" he announced

Maxim collapsed onto the floor, he could tell he'd be a mess of purple tomorrow. "Ow" he said half-heartedly, as his battered leg bumped against the wall as he sat.

"Not good enough. You were doing so well before we came to this exercise, perhaps this ability is beyond you"

Maxim didn't know how to feel about that, on the one-hand, Yay, not more wrenches getting thrown at me, but on the other hand, Maxim was incredibly competitive, normally, it only really showed up in gaming, everyone else, he wasn't really bothered if people could beat him, but recently, he'd begun to get competitive and defensive over his psionic abilities, like he was at gaming, he guessed this was because he kind of viewed his abilities like gaming abilities, giving them names, treating them like active and passive abilities, he even fancied he could give a pretty accurate cool-down time for each of them. You can tell you're gamer when-.

"Hey, I can manage it. I'm just not used to having to focus on so many different things at once" Maxim protested, pulling himself to his feet.

Alex smiled. He knew how to get Maxim to continue doing something, and he didn't need to be a telepath to do it. "Well then, try practicing on your own for a while, I shall return tomorrow"

"Wait. Can't I go talk to the guys. I'm getting bored and lonely, I don't even have an XBOX in here"

"As I told you before, the psionic energies in the room would play havoc with the electronics"

"Don't dodge the question. Can't I go talk to them. It's boring, and my face hurts from that wrench"

Alex chucked "Very well, I suppose you did take a beating, and maybe talking to your friends will help with the clearing your mind bit"

"Sure" Maxim replied, already heading out the other door, to get to the ladder. Why couldn't they have an elevator, their old base had 3 elevators.

As he emerged from the ladder, he caught sight of Roman walking quickly down the corridor. "Hey, Roman, you know where everyone is?" he called as he finished getting out of the ladder-hole.

Roman seemed to jump as he heard Maxim, but recovered quickly. "I believe they're in the Mess Hall"

"Thanks... Where are you going?"

"The Commander wants to talk to me"

"What'd you do" Maxim teased

Roman didn't reply and walked off. Maxim shrugged, Roman didn't tend to say much anyway, so dodging a question wasn't anything new. He made his way over to the mess hall, and found Sean, William, Ash, Alice, and Stacy. Almost everyone. Harold would be beating the stuffing out of another dummy, he missed meals a lot, who knew what the hell Pyro was doing, probably outside starting a forest fire or something, Roman was going to see the Commander. But where was Aya. Maybe she was training or working out, she usually didn't miss the meals, but she did have a habit of kind of showing up some places. He noticed William and Stacy were sitting together and talking, was there-, hey, who was he to judge besides, he didn't exactly think of himself as a great judge of people, they could just be chatting. He walked in and went over to get himself some food, but as he came in, the murmur of a conversation stopped, and they all looked about awkwardly.

"What? Something in my teeth?" Maxim joked, trying to break the sudden tension in the room.

"I thought you'd be training with Alex all day" Alice said

"What, you guys talking about me?" He asked it as a joke, but he noticed William and Alice immediately looked kind of nervous, and they looked down at their food. "Wait, were you guys actually talking about me"

"No!" William and Alice said at the same time, a bit too forcefully. They were terrible liars.

"I might not be a very good people-person, but you 2 suck at lying. What you guys talking about"

"It's not important Maxim" Sean said, his voice, eternally calm, always seemed rather soothing, like a kindly grandfather or uncle. Maxim knew that trick, Sean had done it to him several times, at least 4 times, Sean had gotten him to give him the last doughnut, on the rare occasions someone, usually Aya, Sean or Ash, did a shopping run into the City.

"Cmon, what you guys talking about. I won't be offended. The eyes? The hair? I have been thinking about getting Shen to make me Contacts"

Alice looked away awkwardly "No. It's not about that"

"Come on. Just tell me already, I'm just going to be annoyed, and keep bugging you until you tell me"

"I don't doubt it" Alice replied. "Aya told us about your attempts to mess with Xeno, completely ignoring him except for combat"

"Ah, good times" Maxim sighed as the nostalgia kicked in, and he remember messing around with Karl to try and annoy Ryo, or was it Rio... Was Rio the city? He never did learn how to spell the guys name, maybe it was- No. She'd almost done it. Maxim was fairly easy to manipulate, and Alice was good at diplomacy, but he'd been working on pulling himself away from tangents. "Stop trying to distract me with Nostalgia. What are you guys talking about?!"

"I'm out of ideas. Anyone else?" Alice said

"I could tazer-hand him" William suggested

"I will Soulfire you" Maxim threatened, reaching a hand behind him to the purple orb of psionic energy.

"Ash, Sean, you guys got any-" Alice began, as she looked over, she saw that both of them had managed to sneak off without any of them noticing. Sean and his damn quiet ass legs, and Ash with his damn Mr training. "Damnit"

"2 horrible liars and the soldier are left. Can you just tell me already" Maxim was beginning to get a bit annoyed with this. He'd faced plenty of people talking behind his back at school, but never people he considered his friends.

"All right. Maxim, don't get mad-" Alice began

"I wouldn't be mad if you would just tell me"

"I'm trying to tell you!" Alice shouted back

"All right" Alice continued "Now, Ry-, The Commander said that it would be best not to tell yo-"

"Don't drag the Commander into this. And Who's Ry?"

"Aya was injured during the last mission" Alice blurted out, trying to distract Maxim from her blunder with the Commander's name. Of course, around the Commander she would forget to use his real name, then around others she forgot to use his title, sometimes she hated her brain.

"That's it? Aya's been injured loads, didn't you notice the massive ass burn covering half her face"

"This is worse" William put in

"How worse?" Maxim was beginning to get worried

The silence lasted for the better part of a minute, and Maxim was about to butt in when Stacy did it for him

"All right. From what I heard, she got messed up by an officer, shots all down her left side, 1 straight through the cheek as well. She's alive, but in bad shape, and, I think, she might lose the arm"

Maxim slumped down, luckily he'd been in front of a chair so he didn't just fall on his ass. He couldn't be hearing that right, Aya, lost her arm.

"There's no maybe about it" Alice added quietly

"What!?"

"I talked to Zacharie, the arms way too fractured, we had to amputate it"

"We?"

"I have basic medical training, I helped him out"

"So Aya's only got 1 arm?" Maxim was going even paler than normal, Alice was worried he'd go into shock or faint.

"No" She added quickly "Shen made... a spare"

"A spare?"

"Like Sean's legs. We attached it on. But it'll still be a few weeks before she recovers... If she recovers" she added this last bit quietly

There was a flash of purple and a rather loud bang, and when Alice's vision and hearing cleared again, Maxim was gone, and there was a slight purple haze where he'd just been.

"What the-?"

"If she recovers" Those words had triggered something in Maxim, as soon as she said that, he'd felt a build up in his head, like all those years ago when he's just started to learn his psionics, and he was unlocking his new abilities, the build up of psionic energies in his head that needed to be released. He didn't he know what he was doing, he just poked the barrier in his mind that held back the psionic energies, and a rush of psionic energies raced through him. For a second, everything was a strange mass of purple mist swirling around itself, it was kind of pretty, but it only last for about half a second before the purple mist was replaced with the metal surroundings of the Avenger. It took him a moment to recognise it, but he was in the infirmary.

"Great Scott" A startled voice said from behind him, and Maxim turned to see Zacharie, one hand on the bed behind him, it seemed like he's jumped backwards when Maxim had appeared. "Maxim. Where did you come from. Ah, that was loud. Do you hear ringing?"

"Sorry, I think I teleported"

"You think?"

"Not sure if there's a sciency word Alex would use, but yeah"

"Well, now that the ringing is dying down-" he wiggled a finger in his ear "-somewhat, would you care to tell me why you didn't just use the door like a normal person?"

It came rushing back, and he remembered what had sent him here "Aya"

"Oh. I thought they weren't going to tell you until you finished that psionic lesson"

"Where is she?"

"I'm afraid I can't let you see her right now. She's not completely stable, and I'd rather not have you throwing psionics around"

"Where?!"

"As I said, I can't say. Come back in a week, and she may have recovered enough to-"

"To see me?" a voice came from Maxim's left, a voice he recognised instantly, he'd recognise that monotone anywhere. He turned, and saw Aya standing in the doorway. She had on a gown, like the ones you have to wear at hospitals, but with long sleeves. Did the ones at hospitals have long sleeves? The last time Maxim had been in a hospital for surgery was when he'd had to get his wisdom teeth removed, and that was kind of faded from the hospital gas he'd been on afterwards. is mother had told him he'd been saying he'd gotten a letter from Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and thought he was a wizard, then started crying about something that they never got out of him wh- Those god-damned tangents. He immediately ran over, and tackle-hugged her. Normally, if he tried anything like that, it was like he'd hit a brick wall. Aya might not have been a massive woman, but she was tough, and knew how to absorb impacts... But not this time. When he slammed into her, she went down. He fell with her, entirely surprised by the fall. Luckily, Aya was fast, even in an injured state like this, and she managed to twist in the air as they fell, so they landed on their sides, and their shoulders took the impact of the fall, not the back of Aya's head. Even so, it hurt. Maxim was not as fast, and got a good whack tot he head from the floor, he always wondered why hospitals didn't have softer floors, what with all the people that would have injuries, or could faint at a- He needed to find some way to stop that. What was it some people did, get an elastic band around your wrist, and snap it every time you- Fuck sake, he even went on tangents about stopping his tangents. As his mind did his wander, he felt something wet on his face, and looked down to see blood. He immediately forgot the tangent, and shot up, back to his feet. He noticed Aya pulling herself up as well. He checked himself over, and saw no injuries, he ran a hand over his head, and found nothing, he looked back to the floor, and saw a quite substantial amount of blood there, then he looked over at Aya, and saw something very not pleasant. Apparently Stacy had been right about her taking a shot to the cheek, the stiches must have come out from the fall, because blood was spraying out of her left cheek. Strangely though, Aya didn't seem to notice. She seemed to be doing an inventory much like himself, but surely she could feel that, it must hurt like hell.

"Aya, sit down, I need to re-stitch that" Zacharie came storming over, with, what looked to Maxim like a needle and thread. Aya sat down, and Zacharie began the process of cleaning and stitching the wound, again. Despite him putting disinfectant on it, and then beginning to stitch it, Aya never once let out any sign of pain.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Maxim asked, as Zacharie's needle, or whatever the medical word for it was, bit into her flesh, as he stitched up her cheek. Aya held up her right hand, then held up her middle and index finger and the thumb, then brought the 2 fingers down to her thumb. Sign language for 'No'.

Maxim had learned sign language young, his cousin was deaf, so he'd learned it to talk to him better. But he was surprising Aya knew it. Without even realizing he was doing it, he switched into sign language, despite the fact that he could have talked normally. He put his finger on to his chin, then turned it 180 degrees, without it leaving his chin. 'Seriously?'

Aya replied by making a circle with her index finger and thumb, held that out by her side, brought it in to her stomach, twisted the hand, then moved it back to beside her. Although she only did it with 1 hand, when it's meant to be a 2-handed one. Maxim knew what she meant 'Painless'.

Maxim was about to continue when Zacharie stood up. "Right, well. You seem to be mobile, but get back to your bed, we still need to see if your arm will attach itself properly. And since you can apparel communicate with sign's, I'd recommend doing that as well, so you don't end up pulling out the stiches by talking" He sighed "I guess it's fine for you to see her them Maxim. Although I am amazed you are awake. I thought you'd be out for another few hours at least. And then to be able to walk around as well. You're made of stern stuff Miss Valkyrie. I'll have to report this to the Commander" He looked at Maxim, then at Aya. "And nothing strenuous" With that, rather invasive, comment, he left the room.

Maxim pointed at Aya, then brought his hand to his chin in a loose fist, before thrusting the hand away from his chin, and making an L with his index and middle finger. 'You OK?'

Aya gave him a thumbs up, a rather universal sign of 'Yes'.

Maxim made his hands into a kind of M shape, with the last joint of the fingers pressed together, and with the thumbs pointing towards his chest, then turned this upside down. Pointed at Aya. Then placed his right hand flat on his left, and dragged the hand down from the upper-arm to wrist. Roughly 'How's your arm?'

Aya's right hand made a shape like Spider-Man shooting a web, placed the middle and ring finger on her sternum, then brought them up to collar-bone height, then changed her fingers to all pressed together (Like a sock-puppet with its mouth shut), and brought that out to her side. 'Numb'.

Maxim pointed at Aya, then tapped the side of his head with all 4 fingers pressed together, then made his hands into rough fists, with the index finger coming out, and moved the 2 index fingers around each other. 'You Know Sign?'

Aya put her thumb to her mouth, then held it In front of her, and put her middle finger and thumb together, then fluttered the hand to the side. 'Secret Messages'. The she pointed at Maxim. 'You?'

Maxim made a his hand into a C-Shape, then held it up to his hear, and swivelled it, then put a finger at the corner of his mouth, then moved it up to his ear. 'Cousin Deaf'.

Aya nodded, she then held her hand down, and brought it up into a kind of OK sign that divers would use, before making another sign that was like pointing at him, but with the middle finger pointing down slightly, made a fist, and did the point, finger down thing again 'Found PSP'

Maxim didn't wait another second, he hoped over to Aya, helped her get up, she was a little shaky on her feet, with her left leg bandaged up and in a cast, and helped her into her room, where the Gaming awaited.

Sorry if I went a bit overboard in describing the signing. I started doing it, then couldn't stop it. And because I've gotten into the habit from school, here's the link to the site I got the signs from, in case somebody wants it for, reasons. I don't know, just felt like I should put the link in.

Anyway, I'm going to try and make sure that I get 1 of these up a week, though the actual day will vary depending on when I have time, but once a week hopefully, and maybe more if we get to Christmas and I end up getting into XCOM again. Oh, if anyone was wondering, I, unfortunately, do not have any DLC's on the game. So we won't be seeing the alien Kings/Queens, nor Shen's moment (Sorry, didn't have the money for it, and now I'm getting towards the very end game, so it's a little too late). Maybe after this is all over I'll make another one with the DLC's included, but it just won't feel right writing an XCOM story without the group. Maybe an alternate universe thing or something. I don't know, but we got quite a while before that, as there's still a lot of shit to go down before we get there.