KA-001, previously known as Karl, growled low in his throat as he watched the recordings of XCOM's latest, excursion, into an ADVENT city. He watched as a Viper unit turned on the other ADVENT forces, and fired upon them, and saw Popov concentrating and thrusting from the device on his back just before this happened. He remembered those times, before ADVENT, but only vaguely, but he did remember that Maxim had not possessed that ability before, his psionics was expanding. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning to the other commanders around him, "They are getting stronger. It is time to bring out all of our weapons". He turned to the screen next to him, and, at a thought, an image of a large, bi-pedal walker appeared "The Sectopod. I have no doubt that they shall be afraid of it, and that they should. However this fear will work both for and against us, as they will focus all their fire upon this, but it can also take it, allowing our other soldiers to strike while they are distracted". He motioned to another screen, and an imagine of a large metal ball with an eye hole within it, next to that, an image of it open, with the greyish pinkish ball of flesh visible, with the psionic tendrils marked out in purple "Next, a new creation of the Elders, the culmination of genetic manipulation, and the mixture of Human and Sectoid psionic potential, hardy, and powerful with psionic capabilities, it will be able to easily outmatch Popov in psionic abilities, unfortunately, to release the abilities, it must forfeit the protection of it's outer casing, so it will be vulnerable. No doubt, they will also be fearful of, the Gatekeeper". He turned to a final screen behind and above him, and an image of a large humanoid shape appeared, the front of it consisting of a large glass-like dome, with a thick yellow liquid inside, a faint outline of a creature just visible within. "Finally, the, Andromeddon, a suit designed by our greatest minds, to allow the new addition to ADVENT to survive within out atmosphere. A very tough casing to break through, and, if they manage to break through, the suit is implanted with a limited Virtual intelligence, to allow it to continue fighting on it's own, which should prove a nice surprise for any XCOM fighters involved".

He finally turned back to the assembled commanders. "XCOM are sure to remain on the offensive as long as they can. Allow them this, let them think they are winning. We shall hit them when they overreach themselves. The stand on the edge of a pit, just 1 wrong move, and we shall shove them into the abyss. Now go, assemble your men, while XCOM remains on the warpath, the, so called, rebellion, is left vulnerable"

Once they'd all left, he turned to the wall, which slid away into the wall, revealing a screen, onto which came the shadowy image of an Elder. He heard a voice, but it wasn't from any speaker or mouth, it came from his head. "You have failed us before, Karl" the voice dripped with venom. They used his previous name when they wanted to rile him up, or discomfort him. Unfortunately, it always worked.

"I understand that, Elder" he replied, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice, though they'd know it anyway, they were in his head. "I shall not fail you again"

"See that you don't. You know the only reason you are alive"

"Of course"

The image on the screen vanished, and the wall slid back into place. He took another deep breath. His memory wandered back to when he had been with XCOM, it seemed like an entirely different person he was seeing, and in truth it was. He remembered playing with Popov. Popov had always been extremely skilled at the games, while Karl had been 'wrecked' every time. But, he knew one thing, he was patient. He remembered from his time at XCOM. He knew the weaknesses and strengths of each of them.

Popov, a great shot at range, although he now lacked a sniper rifle, that still remained true, and with his powerful psionics, he was dangerous. But, Maxim did have a flaw, he did not take defeat well. It would be simple to make him angry, to make him careless, then he'd fall easier.

Haidar, her speed was impressive, and her skill was undeniable, and, unlike Popov, she was slow to anger. And she could adapt very well to situations. Combined with Popov's psionics, they were a powerful pair. However, she wasn't indestructible. As fast as she might be, she can still be wounded, and her armour is lighter than the others, so she's an easier target to finish off in fewer shots, if they hit. Killing her would throw Popov off kilter as well. She was a high priority target to kill.

Sanders, he was always strong, but, now was worse. He could dismember soldiers with his bare hands. But, he was careless, he cared little for his own protection. But he was tough as well. A dangerous one at close range, but, if kept at a distance, virtually harmless.

Ward posed a problem to their security. Despite their efforts to increase the firewalls and other protections, they couldn't seem to keep him out of their systems for long. But, outside of hacking, he was a minor threat, they'd need to ensure the Sectopod was as protected as possible against Cyber attacks.

Mr. Ash, as he'd learned he was called, the new XCOM sniper. He was a powerful force, and a part of the group helping XCOM in other ways, that they had as of yet been unable to identify. They'd captured a few of the 'Mr's', but they were prepared and loyal, and took their own lives before they could be interrogated, and very little could be learned from their minds. He was dangerous at range, and difficult to get to, he'd pose a problem. Assassination would be difficult against one trained in that art.

Molander, one of the squad leaders, highly intelligent and a skilled fighter, her knowledge of the workings of the ADVENT was disturbing, she was a threat they'd need to deal with.

The one they call, Pyro, the heavy weapons officer, his ability to deal out significant damage to both Organic and Synthetic opponents made him deadly. But, his inability to talk means a stealth strike could take him out easier than the others. Assassination would bring him down fairly easily.

Digkale, the other squad leader, a more conventionally skilled fighter than Molander, less knowledgeable than Molander, but still a big threat, and highly military behaviour, covert operations against her would be difficult.

O'Connor, previously a, rather vocal oppose of ADVENT turned fighter, his abilities at stealth makes him a great asset to XCOM, as he can infiltrate into many XCOM facilities, and has proven rather difficult to pin point during battle.

And finally, Garza. This was one he knew deeply, and from memories that didn't seem to be from a lifetime ago. Just 5 years ago, he had been his trusted lieutenant. He had sabotaged an operation, took out his chip, and escaped, and, apparently, found his way to XCOM. His knowledge of their working was great, he was the first target.

The Commander, was another matter entirely. Perhaps the greatest human tactician for over a thousand years, and he was a good fighter, and could anticipate his own movements, as he'd learned that day to his displeasure. He was a formidable opponent to take down, but, if he was brought low, XCOM would likely scatter like they had before. Ideally, they could recapture him, to run the network again, without his abilities, they'd been damaged. But recapture was too risky, he'd have to be eliminated.

As much as he'd hated to do it. There were groups outside of ADVENT that could be used for this purpose. Mercenaries, loyal only to their next payment, no matter the situation, mercenaries could be found. But, this 1 was unique. Previously part of a group now allied with XCOM, trained for years in his art. He was the poisoned dagger hanging over XCOM, waiting to drop at his order.

Karl was patient, he would wait for the perfect moment before he ordered the drop, and when that moment came, The Commander would fall.

He allowed himself a rare smile as he imagined the victory this would grant him. The Elders weren't happy about hiring Merc's, but that was exactly why he was with them, he thought 'outside the box'. He was the dagger while ADVENT was the hammer. Distract the foe with the Hammer, then the dagger can sneak in behind. He would end XCOM.

"You sure you wanna go ahead with this?" Maxim asked. He and Aya were standing in his 'room' in the psionics training area.

"Have I ever changed my mind on anything in the past?"

"No"

"Then proceed"

"But-"

"Vampire" Aya interrupted "You said there was something weird, and I am curious to find out what it is"

"Didn't you hear about the cat?"

A slight smile came to Aya's lips "Just get on with it Max"

"Alright" He looked up at the hole thing that was usually drawing in some purple mist, but that mist was no longer there, the thingy he used in combat on his back was absorbing the latent psionic energies before the hole thing did... Apparently. "Let's do this shit". He took it off his back, and placed his hand inside the ball, scooped a handful, and held it in his palm "It might hurt a bit, I don't know" he said as he brought the purple glow from his hand, and lightly slapped it against her forehead.

Last time, it had been a 1-sided domination of the Viper, and it had just been him taking over, completely swallowing the Viper consciousness, and even that had given him a connection to Vipey. This time, it was a willing subject, with a very powerful will, and, it rather reminded him of the ability he used with Keith a few times, a merging of both of their consciousness, only, although he hadn't thought it possible, this seemed even more powerful. Their minds merged. He could see what she saw, feel what she felt, and he was sure she could do the same. As he saw what she saw, things looked, different. It took him a minute to put his finger on it, everything seemed, just a tiny bit slower than he normally saw things, like everything was in a very slight slow motion.

"Is this what things are always like to you?" He asked, although, he found he couldn't tell if he said it, or Aya said it.

"What do you mean?" She replied, or was it he that was answering her, man this was confusing.

"Everything seems, slower... Wait a second" He noticed something else strange, but, he couldn't get his finger on it.

"There's something else... Something... Weird, I don't know what"

"Perhaps it's the Sociopathy" Aya suggested, or was he saying it... God this was confusing... Who was thinking that. They were kind of like the same person, but not... Dear fuck did this give him a headache.

"Wait, does that mean I have that right now, or neither of us, how does that-... Wait, let's not get into that"

"Agreed"

"This is going to bug me all day unless I figure this out" Again, which one of them said that?

"Well hurry up, this is rather disorientating"

"Which of us said that?"

"I don't think there is separate us right now, I think we're just, we"

"This is giving me a headache"

"What are you 2 doing" came a voice from the door, this time he knew who It was. Alex had shown up. As soon as they turned towards him, he immediately noticed what it was that was different. Looking towards him, he just knew some information about him, his psionics were weak, he was pretty un-athletic, but he was smart. Instantly he knew the best course of action to fight him. They'd need to get him before he could use his psionics, although weak they could still hurt if he wished, and could send them to their knees with pain for a short time. So they'd need to take him down fast, they didn't have their weapons, so Aya would dash over, while Maxim threw a psionic power at him to prevent him using the ability, then, while he was distracted, Aya would grab his head, and slam it into the wall with her Cybernetic arm, with that she could crush his head like a watermelon with 1 strong push into the wall, and that would be the end of him.

"Holy Crap!" He shouted, as he saw the difference. He knew it was him this time, as the surprise at realizing that had broken the connection, and they were separate. He turned to Aya. "Is that really how you see things?"

She cocked her head slightly "What do you mean?"

"Thing slightly slower than normal, which probably explains your speed, you're just always at a quicker pace than everyone. And then, when Alex walked in, you instantly knew the best way to, well, to kill him before he could react"

"Excuse me!?" Alex asked. But Aya ignored him.

"Of course, why do you think I can move at such speed, I just look at them and let my instincts take over" then she looked at him puzzled "You don't?"

"NO!"

"That's weird"

Suddenly he had another though, and quickly grabbed the knife from her boot, and tried to cut her arm. Before he'd even gotten the knife out of the boot, she'd grabbed his wrist. "What are you doing?"

"You didn't fell the pain when you got the new arm and I ripped your face back open... I wanted to test it"

She released his wrist, took the knife in her cybernetic hand, and while looking at him, sliced the blade across the tip of her index finger. It wasn't a deep cut, but poking something pointy with your fingertip accidently would hurt like fuck. Ow, that should have hurt like hell, yet she didn't make any reaction to it, other than to, after a second or 2 of bleeding, pressed it against her thumb, to block the bleeding.

"Just ask me before you grab for my knife"

"Uh, yeah"

"What the hell are you 2 doing!?"

"Science experiment" Aya deadpanned.

"We gotta go see Alice" Maxim said, grabbed Aya's robot arm, and began leading her towards the rooms, leaving Alex standing on the other side of the room, staring after them. Probably very confused.

Alice wasn't in her room, which was strange. They checked the lounge room, and found Pyro and Roman playing Pool.

"Hey Roman" Maxim called in "You know where Alice is?"

"I think she's talking to the Commander, about the facility coordinates we got from whats-his-face"

"Thanks" Maxim called as he and Aya went back out "To the Captains Quarters"

"What do you think they're up to" Roman asked as he took a shot

Pyro shrugged, and made a grunting noise.

"Oh, Yeah... Mute... Never mind then"

As Maxim approached the door, he stopped, he heard a noise. He put his ear against the door and confirmed he was hearing grunts of exertion from the Commander's Room. As he crouched there, with his ear pressed against the door, Aya cocked her head slightly as his strange behaviour "What are you doing?"

"I think they're doing it" he whispered

Aya rolled her eyes and pressed the Open door button. With a hiss, the door slid upwards, revealing, The Commander delivering a roundhouse kick into Alice's stomach, and she dropped to the ground holding her stomach and gasping for breath. They were both wearing, essentially, workout clothes. As she gasped for breath from the kick, the Commander brought his foot back from the kick, standing normally, but he took a step towards Alice "Are you alright?" he asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah... I'm good" Alice gasped out "You've got... a strong foot"

"Ahem" Aya cleared her throat, and they turned to look over at them.

"Oh, can I help you Aya? We were just sparing" The Commander said, as Alice finally managed to stand back up.

"Actually, we wanted to talk to you, Alice" Maxim said.

"Oh, what about?" Alice asked

"A weird thing I found in Aya"

"Woah, TMI, I did not need to know that" The Commander turned around and went over to a desk, and busied himself shuffling papers.

"Not like tha- Ah screw it. Alice, can we talk in your room"

"Sure... Follow me" Alice said, giving them a weird look as she left the room.

"Wait... am I doing paperwork?" The Commander asked himself as they began leaving

"We'll finish later Ryan" Alice called, before she seemed to catch herself, clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Who's Ryan?" Maxim asked as they followed Alice

"Nobody" Alice said quickly, speeding up her walk, barely short of a jog

Aya rolled her eyes again and followed

"Who's Ryan?" Maxim asked Aya as they followed

She looked at him, with a very obvious 'Are you kidding' face. "The Commander"

"No it isn't!"

"He really builds up an image, then there's this un-intimidating, plain guy, called Ryan"

"He knows how powerful an image can be. But it seems we aren't supposed to know that"

"Yeah. Don't worry Alice, we won't tell anyone"

"Shut up!"