Intelligence Operation: Israel

The Citadel, Situation Room

"I'm sorry about Friendly," the Commander told Van Doorn as the skyranger flew back.

Van Doorn gave a deep sigh, and didn't bother hiding the sadness in his voice. "Appreciated, Commander. He served well and I'll ensure he's remembered. But he wasn't the first friend I've lost, and likely won't be the last."

"Unfortunately true," the Commander agreed sadly, now turning his mind to more practical matters. Van Doorn appeared to come to the same conclusion and composed himself as they got into the thing that had been on his mind since the fighting started.

"They knew we were coming," he muttered as he turned off the screen and turned to the holotable. "That, or we stumbled onto a damn military exercise."

"They had to have known there would be a response, especially in the United States," Bradford noted. "Maybe they just decided to prepare?"

"They had cyberdisks in position before we even arrived," the Commander reminded him. "They knew when we'd attack, not just that we would."

"They also seemed to have just enough soldiers to push us back, if not wipe us out entirely," Van Doorn pointed out. "If Myra hadn't been there, it would have been much worse."

"Regardless, I think it's safe to say they seemed to know far more than they should," the Commander stated grimly, as he rested his hands on the holotable. "Which brings up a very important question: How?"

In the end, there were only a few plausible answers. Either the aliens had gotten lucky and sent just enough aliens to push them back by complete accident. Or the other, more likely possibility.

Someone had told them.

"I think it might be time for Zhang to start investigation possible breaches," the Commander muttered. "If there is a spy, we need to find them."

"Agreed," Van Doorn nodded. "Though I find it hard to believe anyone here could be a spy."

"All communication coming in and leaving the Citadel is monitored and screened," Bradford added. "It would be almost impossible to send out any sort of useful information without our knowledge."

"It's probably not one of the soldiers," the Commander agreed. "But an analyst? A technician with access to the systems?" He glanced over at Bradford. "Are you certain your people are trustworthy?"

Bradford gave a brief nod. "Completely, if they were sending signals to the aliens, I'd know about it."

"I'm not convinced that they would be sent directly to the aliens," Van Doorn interrupted, frowning. "We might have to consider the possibility that we've been infiltrated by EXALT. Who as we've noted, have some kind of connection to the aliens."

"Jackson is in charge of security, correct?" The Commander asked Bradford, looking over to him.

"Yes, Commander," Bradford confirmed, his eyes uncertain. "But I can assure you-"

"I know you will," the Commander interrupted, raising a hand to cut him off. "And while you believe so, I'm not convinced. If there is a spy, they need to be found and removed before the next mission ends with all our soldiers dead."

Bradford sighed. "I understand, Commander."

"We do have a problem then if we assign this to Zhang," Van Doorn reminded them. "What about his own agents? Many times they work beyond the Citadel where it would be easy to contact either EXALT or the aliens."

"Wouldn't have worked in this case," the Commander shook his head. "Too short notice, everyone who knew about this mission was in the Citadel. Though I get your point, and will speak to Zhang about it."

Van Doorn suddenly perked up. "You spoke to Patricia, correct?"

The Commander nodded as he understood where this was going. "Yes, I did. Though I don't think we'll be able to utilize her abilities until she improves. From what she explained, the most she can sense is emotions, and I won't accuse someone on that basis alone."

"Still," Van Doorn looked thoughtful. "It might be worth considering having her or a few veteran soldiers watch out for suspicious activity."

The Commander straightened up, and looked down at the holotable. "I don't want to let them in on this, not yet. We don't need suspicion in the ranks. As much as it seems like it now, we don't have concrete proof, which is why I want Zhang to look into this. If he finds something, then we move forward."

"Reasonable," Bradford conceded. "I suppose this will be kept to ourselves then?"

"For now, until Zhang completes a preliminary investigation," the Commander answered. "I'll let Vahlen and Shen know what's going on as well."

"What about Herman?" Van Doorn asked, crossing his arms.

The Commander frowned. "What about him? He doesn't need to know if that's what you're wondering."

"Not at first," Van Doorn nodded. "But should we discover a traitor, he might help make sure we don't make the Council angry at us. Your contingency doesn't exactly leave much ambiguity for the fate of this individual. There are some countries that might find it…disagreeable."

The Commander eyed him. "Regardless of what country they're from, they are now XCOM personnel, and are under the rules, regulations, and punishments of XCOM. I'm not exactly concerned with outside reaction, though I will take that into account should we find a traitor."

"I don't think Zhang should run this investigation completely internally," Bradford said after a few seconds, as he took out his tablet. "If there is a traitor within XCOM Intelligence, I'm not convinced he'll see it. Aside from that, he'll likely need to look at XCOM's security systems and Mrs. Jackson is going to notice."

"If she has issues, send her to me," the Commander answered, tapping his finger on the holotable. "But she's not cleared yet. I don't want her brought into this until we're certain she's clean."

"Zhang might spook her though," Van Doorn pointed out, his eyebrows furrowing. "She might get suspicious either way."

"Zhang did this for a living," the Commander reminded him, glancing over quickly as he pondered the blue map of the world. "I trust him to be subtle."

Bradford seemed to get a message on his headset and raised a finger as he listened, both the Commander and Van Doorn looked over, waiting. Bradford sighed and nodded. "Got it, I'll inform the Commander now." He clicked his headset off. "Our Raven just razed the area, but the UFO was gone."

The Commander rubbed his forehead. Wonderful, that didn't exactly dispel any suspicions about a spy. "It was worth a shot," he muttered.

"Look on the bright side," Van Doorn gave him a lopsided smile. "At least we stopped whatever they were doing, not to mention took out an impressive number of their soldiers."

"On losses alone, I would count it as a draw," the Commander said. "But I doubt we can rely on that again. Shen said it'll take a few days to restore the MEC suit to full functionality, so we're also down Myra at the moment."

"We'll hopefully have a short break here," Bradford said. "I'll gather the data from around the time of our attack and send it to Zhang. Maybe he can find something in that."

"Good," the Commander nodded. "General, I want a complete list of our soldiers and their psych profiles if you have them. As much as I doubt one of them is a traitor, I might as well check."

"I'll do so," Van Doorn nodded.

"Dismissed," the Commander ordered, saluting them, and as they returned it, he walked towards the door to go see Zhang.

The Citadel, XCOM Intelligence Control

Zhang seemed to have anticipated him, as he didn't look surprised when the Commander walked through. He set the tablet in his hand down. "Commander, excellent. There's something we need to discuss."

"That there is," the Commander agreed. "Though I suspect it's now on wildly different topics."

Zhang clasped his hands behind his back. "I'll let you go first, then."

"Fine," the Commander nodded and walked over to Zhang's miniature holotable. "Have you been updated with the latest mission?"

"Yes," Zhang confirmed with a nod. "And I see you've come to the same conclusion I have."

"A traitor," the Commander said, Zhang nodded in response.

"Yes, there are too many signs not to at least warrant some kind of response," he said, walking over to his table and picking up a file. "This is why you've come here, I assume?"

The Commander gave a humorless smile. "Nothing gets past you I see. Yes, I think we need to open an investigation. Can you do that?"

"Of course," Zhang assured him. "I handled internal…affairs during my work with the Triad. They take betrayal as seriously as we do. If there is a traitor within XCOM, I will find them."

Excellent. "Where will you start?" The Commander asked.

"Analysis and Communication is the obvious choice," Zhang answered, his eyes hard and deep in thought. "I'll see what I can find there, though it will take time since I assume you would prefer I was discreet."

"I would," the Commander agreed. "I want this kept quiet as much as possible until we have some kind of evidence."

"I'll keep my agents to a minimum," Zhang promised. "I'll have Akello take a look."

The Commander crossed his arms. "You certain you can trust her?"

"I trust her not to make stupid mistakes," Zhang amended slowly. "She isn't reliable on everything, but I can assure you she's not a traitor."

Well, there was going to have to be someone who was a risk, and at the moment, Akello was a much lower risk than Jackson, no matter how much Bradford trusted her. He hoped that she was clean, because then she would be exceptionally helpful inpinpointing any breaches. But for now, he had to put his trust in Zhang's judgement.

His trust actually was pretty high. He knew that Zhang would be impartial when dealing with an issue like this, he was far more reliable than Bradford here. The Commander admired Bradford's optimism and trust, but he had issues with viewing people objectively. Like it or not, if there was a traitor, Jackson was a fairly obvious target.

"I'll take your word for it," the Commander said. "But keep an eye on her."

The corners of Zhang's lips curled up. "I always do."

"Good," the Commander stated. "Keep me appraised of every development. Take this as well, your codebreakers might find it interesting." He pulled out a piece of paper with alien writing on it and handed it to Zhang. "The alphabet as best as I was able to translate. It's not a full session, which still needs to be done, but perhaps your people can write some sentences and I can verify their accuracy."

"Appreciated," Zhang answered as he looked at the paper. "Though once we complete the process of translation, there will need to be another decision. Who should we share this with?"

"That should be decided with everyone present," the Commander stated, pursing his lips. "But I see no reason to share it outside our allies."

"Yes, our allies," Zhang muttered. "I suppose I might as well move into the topic I wanted to speak to you about." He pressed a few buttons on the holotable and if displayed the land around Israel a few seconds later.

"Has Israel made a move?" The Commander asked, crossing his arms as he appraised the map.

"Not publically," Zhang answered, pointing to a desolate are close to Tel Aviv. "But they've begun training exercises and war games. My source in the IDF has said we should see what they're doing."

"How helpful," the Commander commented dryly. "Is there a reason he couldn't just say what's going on?"

"Not if his cover is to remain intact," Zhang shook his head. "Israel is almost as paranoid as us about monitoring communications. Any more specific and someone would have noticed."

"Fair enough," the Commander conceded. "But that doesn't sound good."

"No," Zhang agreed, pursing his lips as he looked at the map. "At the very least this implies an expectation of war. And I'm not convinced that it's the aliens that they're training for."

"It doesn't make sense," the Commander muttered. "The UN is about as dangerous as a kitten, but other countries won't take a conquest so well."

"NATO would become involved at the very least," Zhang stated. "But I think it's time to know for certain what's going on." He highlighted a part of the map. "I've identified one of their training areas, which I believe to be the main one. I want to send in my operatives, take as much information from their databases as possible, and leave."

"You want my permission?" The Commander asked, looking up. "Do it. The last thing we need is another war."

"I thought you'd agree, but I needed to be sure," Zhang said. "This mission will not be on any records. If my operatives get caught, they will be disavowed."

The Commander nodded gravely. "Understood. Who are you sending?"

"The only agents I have on hand," Zhang answered. "Abby, Ruth and Akello."

The Commander frowned. "Are you sure sending Abby on this mission is a good idea, especially given its severity and potential consequences?"

"Abby performed well in the Russian op," Zhang answered firmly. "I have no reason to believe she'll do worse here. Should they be caught, Ruth has standing orders to kill her, since I wouldn't trust her to hold up under interrogation yet."

"Reasonable," the Commander noted slowly. "And Ruth? You certain she'll be fine working against her country?"

"She will," Zhang assured her. "She's loyal to XCOM and humanity now, and will do whatever it takes to ensure victory. Besides, I think she's just as curious as to what Israel is doing. In addition, she's very familiar with their systems which will be invaluable to Akello."

"You know your agents," the Commander said. "More so than I, anyway. When will you begin?"

"Now," Zhang said, turning to pick up his tablet on a nearby table. "All I was waiting on was your approval."

"Well, consider it approved," the Commander nodded and saluted. "Good luck and appraise me of the outcome as soon as possible"

Zhang returned the salute. "It will be done, Commander."

The Citadel, Hallways

Abby walked down the hallway with Ruth, wondering what prompted the sudden call they'd received. Well, she would take that over what she'd been doing, namely interrogating that EXALT soldier using a very wide variety of methods. She'd been there to monitor him and make sure they didn't go too far.

She'd felt sick initially, watching Ruth and a few more XCOM agents systematically drive the man to the brink of insanity. She'd recommended against permanent mutilation, because for one, it wasn't the most effective form of torture, and two, she'd thought that might make the agents go easier on him.

She'd been wrong on the second part. It became quickly apparent to her that there was far worse pain than amputation.

The first tests involved figuring out his exact pain resistance, and realistically, there was only one way to really test that. After hooking up several sensors, she'd watched the man be cut, burned and exposed to corrosive agents. She'd forced herself not to intervene once the man began screaming, remembering her orders were to only intervene if he was in danger of death or insanity along with recording the data from the sensors.

It was…difficult.

They'd settled into a simple pattern. One of them, usually Ruth, would ask a simple question, like his name or where he'd been last. Something harmless, yet would establish a baseline for determining how much pain would be required. If he broke, they would move to more difficult questions and proceed from there.

He'd eventually succumbed to the first level of testing, after sulfuric acid had been applied to his joints. After that, she was ordered to clean him up, and she'd neutralized the acid before any permanent damage could be done. He was completely drained, the fight in him completely dead and she'd seen in his eyes he was terrified, knowing that worse was going to come.

She hadn't been able to sleep that night. She hadn't been sure if she should feel guilty or not, since she hadn't actually done anything to hurt him, but she'd been complicit nonetheless.

The following days had been much easier, as they moved to chemical testing, using a wide variety of drugs to loosen his lucidity and cloud his mind. That day she'd taken a more active role, determining and administering the drugs to him. She wasn't proud of herself, but at least it was more humane than cutting him open.

They'd been in the process of refining some of the drugs when Ruth had told her Zhang needed to speak with them. As good a reason as any, and she'd be glad to leave the cells for a while. She'd considered asking Ruth how she rationalized it, because Abby did think that she wasn't a bad person. But it was sometimes hard to rationalize that when she'd watched her make pinpoint incisions on a helpless prisoner.

"You know why he wants us?" Abby asked Ruth.

She shook her head. "No, though it must be important. He wouldn't have called us away otherwise."

Clearly. Though what was making her somewhat apprehensive. They soon arrived at Intelligence Control and strode in. To her surprise, Akello was there was well, speaking to Zhang and both turned once the door slid open.

Zhang gave a small nod, as stoic as ever. Akello burst into a wide smile. "Abby! Haven't seen you for a few days."

Abby hesitated, not sure how much she should say. Instead she gave a forced smile. "Been busy, good to see you too."

Ruth gave Zhang a salute and Abby remembered that even in the relaxed atmosphere of XCOM Intelligence, Zhang was due some amount of proper respect. Abby quickly copied Ruth and placed her fist over her heart.

"At ease," Zhang said after a couple seconds, then gestured them over. "Come here."

Abby approached as they all gathered around the holotable. Abby stood opposite Zhang and Ruth and Akello took opposite sides. Abby looked down at the glowing blue holographic map displayed. Huh. She wasn't as familiar with her geography as she honestly should be, but the word Israel displayed on the map were pretty hard to miss.

"To bring you up to speed," Zhang began, focusing on the capital of Israel, Tel Aviv. "XCOM has an alliance with Israel, they provide us with additional funding and personnel in exchange for some of our alien tech."

Abby blinked. Israel. Well, that was an interesting alliance to be sure. But considering the past few years, she wondered how good an idea an alliance with them really was. Especially if they were getting alien tech out of this. "How long?" She asked.

"Close to half a year," Zhang answered neutrally. "It's because of this alliance that Ruth is with us today." He nodded towards Ruth who smiled.

"So…" Akello said, crossing her arms. "What's Israel got to do with why you called us?"

"Everything," Zhang answered. "Israel has been working towards something over the past few months, and what that is concerns both XCOM and the current state of the world."

"There are only a few ways Israel could cause this level of concern," Ruth noted, frowning. "Are they seriously considering a conquest of the Middle East?"

Zhang fixed her with piercing glare. "That is what we need to determine. You were part of the Kidon, so you would know if Israel has considered a move like this before."

Ruth thought for a few moments. "We did have preliminary objectives, should Israel ever need to occupy certain countries in the Middle East," she said slowly. "But nothing much more than that."

"That might have changed," Zhang stated, moving the map over to an unmarked place. "Israel has locked down on all outside communications within the IDF, and I assume this also applies to the Mossad and their respective branches. A few days ago they've begun combat exercises and war games. All signs point to an Israeli conquest, and if so, XCOM needs to know about it."

Akello shook her head in disbelief, her expression incredulous. "What could Israel possibly gain from such a move? Especially now?"

Ruth snorted. "Control of the Middle East, for starters. I have no doubt that the Prime Minister considers a united Middle East a net positive, and will no doubt be the angle he pushes." She shrugged. "The issue I have with this is that Israel has neither the soldiers nor resources to maintain control."

"Not to mention they might provoke the rest of the world," Abby pointed out. "Remember Palestine?"

"Palestine was completely out of control and a threat to us," Ruth stated firmly. "Our response was completely justified, regardless of what story the UN tried to push. No, politics will not dissuade the Prime Minister."

"But he does have to consider the individual country response," Zhang reminded her. "China, Egypt or India might not take kindly to new Israeli neighbors."

"Good point," Ruth muttered.

"The point is we need to determine what their actual plans are," Zhang redirected. "Thanks to my source in the IDF, we have an opportunity to get a closer look," he gestured at the map. "This is the largest area Israel is using for their exercises. Your mission will be to infiltrate the area, recover any documents or files you can and leave."

"Easy," Ruth commented sarcastically.

"You know how they operate," Zhang reminded her. "I'm certain you'll do fine. Akello will devise a way to get the files, and you and Abby will go in."

"Right…" Akello muttered. "Yes, I'm going to find a way to break into the IDF database. Yay."

"You got into the Russian's, no problem," Abby encouraged.

"Yeah," she looked unconvinced. "But there's a difference between that and an actual military system. And Israel takes its security seriously."

"Will that be a problem?" Zhang asked, eyeing her.

Akello shook her head quickly. "No, I'll find a way."

"Good," Zhang looked back at Abby. "Both of you will meet up with my source who's at the mission site. He'll give you any additional information you'll need."

"And his name is?" Ruth asked.

"Eldad Levi," Zhang answered. "He's set to meet you on the outskirts, I'll mark the exact location."

"When are we leaving?" Ruth asked.

"Now," Zhang answered. "We have a limited opportunity, so no time for delays."

Abby swallowed. She didn't think she was completely ready for this, but it seemed they had no choice. "One more thing," Zhang added, his tone somehow growing more serious. "This mission is extremely sensitive for a number of practical and political reasons. Should you fail in your mission, you will be disavowed by XCOM. As far as you're concerned, this mission does not exist. Understood?"

Abby took a breath. "Yes, Director," she answered quietly. Ruth and Akello nodded as well.

"Good luck," Zhang told them. "A skyranger is waiting to take you there."

Scotland, Cerian's Residence

"Fire!" Darril ordered.

Olivia and Baston fired several shots down the hill at the targets that were set up. The cardboard stood no chance as the bullets ripped through it, leaving a series of new holes within it. Cerian took a breath, steadied his own weapon, and fired a single shot towards the farthest target.

He didn't need to send someone down to confirm, it'd been a perfect shot. Still, the two soldiers wouldn't believe him otherwise.

"Hold!" Darril called as he jogged over once they'd finished shooting. He looked up at Cerian at the top of the hill. "Alright, let me check." He jogged over to the targets while Cerian slung his sniper rifle over his shoulder and walked down by Olivia and Baston, both of whom were looking at him in disbelief.

"Maybe you're as good as you say," Baston muttered enviously. "How did you manage to hit the furthest target while being behind us?"

"Lots of practice," Cerian answered with a smile. "Think of that before challenging me to a shootout."

"The requirements were a bulls-eye and one shot," Olivia reminded him. "Both of which Darril has yet to confirm."

Cerian motioned to the approaching medic. "Well, then let's see if I met them."

"I wouldn't have believed it," Darril announced as he walked up, carrying the target. "But he somehow managed to hit it dead center." He showed the target with a bullet hole right through the center.

Cerian sighed, appreciation for his marksmanship was appreciated, but he preferred it not to be exaggerated. "Temper your praise," he warned wearily as all of them looked at the target in amazement. "I'm a sniper. It's literally my job, so it follows that I'd be a poor one if I missed shots like that."

Olivia smirked and patted him on the shoulder a few times. "Keep telling yourself that, Deadshot, it's pretty damn impressive to the rest of us."

"Please don't call me that again," Cerian asked in mock exasperation. "I'm too old for nicknames."

"Well, we are technically spies," Bastion noted wryly. "Don't they normally have code names and stuff like that."

Cerian shook his head and began walking back to his house. "Only in movies, Baston. This operation will have none of that," he clapped his hands together once. "Alright, enough diversion. Back to work."

There was a muttering of acknowledgement and all of them trudged back in the fading sunlight. Well, Cerian didn't imagine that they'd be staying too much longer before leaving for the next target. They'd lost track of the XCOM Intelligence team soon after sending the Russian's on that company, but that had been expected.

He'd assumed that the files they'd recovered would provide a solid enough link for further investigation, namely, Solaris Industries. Unfortunately, it seemed that Patrick and his superiors were still considering how best to handle that particular revelation, if at all. Well, like it or not, it was the best lead they had, even if it wasn't strictly related to XCOM.

Still, as far as Cerian was concerned, XCOM was perfectly justified in their investigation, especially if it involved EXALT, which had apparently caused issues for them before. Patrick hadn't been quite as ok with letting XCOM off the hook of this particular mission, but he'd accepted his reasoning and promised to convey it to the Council, for all the good that did.

While they'd been waiting for new orders, Cerian had his team split into two teams, one focusing on the files recovered and gaining whatever information they could from them, and another looking into the organization EXALT.

A closer inspection of the files had confirmed that Solaris Industries was involved in this, one way or another. Based on the sheer amount of product being moved through the company, Cerian was fairly certain whoever was authorizing these shipments was very high up in Solaris Industries itself, though he wasn't yet convinced that Mr. Solaris himself was the culprit.

Still, it warranted a very thorough investigation, which he was currently anticipating would be his next assignment. While XCOM and their activities were the primary reason he was working with the Council, things had to be moved around to adapt to changing circumstances. And at the moment, XCOM was being quiet, more or less, and EXALT was still out there, likely mad they lost a shell company.

As for EXALT, they hadn't been able to come up with much more than the conspiracy theories of old, all espoused by delusional men and woman who could be considered insane or believed in things so outlandish it invalidated everything that came out of their mouths. Cerian did like to keep an open mind…but it was hard to consider some of these people as reliable sources when they believed that JFK was assassinated by the US government, the moon landing was faked and the Earth was actually flat.

Yet throughout all the inane ramblings and detailed accounts, several patterns had emerged that were consistent with everything they had on the legendary organization.

Control. For what he'd read, EXALT was a very exclusive, invitation-only type of organization. Oddly enough, that did seem to be somewhat backed by evidence, since all the people willing to go on record had clearly stated that they'd never been part of the organization, only stumbled upon it by accident.

That particular detail Cerian found fascinating. In nearly every conspiracy, the organization supposedly being "revealed" usually had at least one or two people who espoused that he or she was a member of said organization, and thus their word was more valid. Cerian wasn't entirely convinced that it wasn't a massive coincidence, but it was interesting to note nonetheless.

However, if he actually accepted that this was all true, then it raised a whole host of other questions. Namely, how one of these whistleblowers wasn't actually from EXALT itself. All organizations had traitors or defectors, and if EXALT really was hundreds of years old, Cerian found it extremely unlikely that there hadn't been one defection all that time.

Unless of course EXALT really wasn't all that old, or had that many members. If EXALT was really as large as the stories claimed, there would be a lot more information than what was currently available.

The second pattern was infiltration. All the accounts claimed EXALT had people placed in highly influential positions throughout the world, within businesses, media and governments. Through them, it was said, EXALT spread it's influence with no one the wiser. Supposedly.

Cerian had usually thought of that highly unlikely, since it would actually imply that EXALT did not have as much influence on the world as he would expect. The two World Wars, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, the War on Terror, were not what he'd expect would benefit EXALT much, if at all.

If all of those were actually caused by one organization, then he figured the rest of the world pretty much screwed anyway. Well, he considered that highly unlikely. Now, just based on the facts, it did appear that EXALT was responsible for infiltrating at least some major companies. Cerian doubted it was extensive as the stories went, but he was forced to acknowledge that it was a likely possibility, if not outright confirmation.

All of this tied back to one major theme: Secrecy. The whistleblowers and conspiracy theorists peddling the EXALT legend were all very…generalized. There was a very interesting lack of detail in all the accounts. There weren't any specifics. They warned that EXALT was controlling governments, yet never specified which ones. They claimed prominent figures were actually sleeper agents, yet couldn't reliably point to one. They proclaimed that every major political event and war was the result of their machinations and somehow couldn't even give one specific, irrefutable piece of evidence.

If there was one thing they all agreed on, it was that no one knew exactly what EXALT was doing or how they operated. Again, this made Cerian suspicious about what the organization actually was. If couldn't be as big as claimed and still retain this seemingly impenetrable veil of secrecy, lies and deception.

So, from the limited records, confessions and evidence he'd been able to gather, there were only three possible explanations. Well, four if he was being honest.

One: EXALT existed, the legends were true and they exuded a massive amount of influence over the world. In which case, the rest of them were pretty much dead.

Two: EXALT existed, but it wasn't nearly as old and influential as the stories went. They were a threat, yes, but not one powerful enough to control governments and start wars.

Three: EXALT did not exist, and the group they were after was simply using the name for reasons Cerian didn't know.

Four: EXALT didn't exist and all of them were chasing a completely dead end, or more accurately, XCOM was being played since they were the ones who seemed to be under the impression this was who they were dealing with.

Now…after extensive research, Cerian did feel like there very likely was an organization called EXALT. In that case, the second explanation would be the one that made the most sense, since the chances of an organization that large and influential still being nothing but a legend would be nearly impossible.

Still, there was one thing he wasn't sure of: The ultimate goal. The records were no help there, he'd seen their motives range from world domination to simple finances. Some said they had benevolent plans, and others declared they were planning a police state where they utterly controlled all individuals.

So if he accepted the second explanation, he could likely rule out any grandiose plans such as world dominations and the like. Which left….what? Money? Limited government influence? Personal power? The obvious answer was money, but that felt…wrong to him. He couldn't explain why, but money seemed such a…trivial motivation for an organization with such a storied history.

But perhaps it was the simplest answer that made the most sense. Unfortunately he wouldn't know until he actually investigated further.

He opened the door to his house and stepped onto the wood floors. Mary was sitting casually on the couch in the living room directly to his left, typing and staring at her laptop screen. Propping his rifle in the corner by the door, he strode over to her. "Anything new?" He asked, standing before her.

She glanced up at him. "Oh, hey boss. You win your little…" she waved her hand in a circular motion. "Shooting contest?"

"Easily," he confirmed. "So, anything?"

"Sadly no," Mary sighed, taking the opportunity to stretch and used both her hands to push her hair behind her ears. "I'm considering trying to poke around Solaris Industries firewalls, but that's not going to be easy several thousand miles away."

"With any luck we'll be taking a visit to the States soon," Cerian told her. "I'm just as eager to follow up on this as you, believe me."

"Yeah," Mary yawned. "Anything from our dear Mr. Rush?"

"I'd imagine Patrick is busy," Cerian told her, sighing in resignation. "If I don't hear from him soon, I'll continue the operation myself."

She bit her lip and returned to looking at the screen. "Good."

Cerian left the room and walked into the kitchen, where Ren and Darril were playing a game of checkers on the table. Cerian had never liked that game, found it too simplistic, but did see how others might. He pulled out a glass and listened to the two men as he poured water into it.

"So, you think Israel and Germany actually know the Commander is in charge of XCOM?" Darril asked as they played.

Ren shrugged. "Maybe. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew."

Darril snorted. "You'd think they'd have an issue with that."

Ren eyed him as he took a couple pieces and Darril winced as he saw his blunder. "Why?" Ren asked. "Nowinski essentially worked with the Commander during the War on Terror. Habicht seems more focused on control of Germany to me."

"They like power," Darril noted.

"Right," Ren nodded. "And XCOM is a means to power. While they aren't the greatest force in the world, they are likely the most advanced and dangerous. Control the tech and you could control far more than just one country."

"Kinda surprised Russia or China haven't made some kind of deal," Darril quipped as he took one of Ren's pieces. "I would have thought them to leap at the opportunity, neutrality be damned."

"From what I've heard, China isn't happy with the Commander at the moment," Cerian interjected, walking over by them and taking a seat. "They didn't exactly like their play to block the Chinese from the dreadnought wreckage."

"Yeah, but won't that be sorted within the month?" Ren asked, looking over at him. "I'm pretty sure China managed to clear those claims quicker than usual."

"Oh they did," Cerian confirmed. "But they won't forget so quickly."

"Well if nothing else, I can applaud the Commander for the sheer gall to challenge the Chinese like that," Darril stated, raising his glass of water in a mock acknowledgement. "But realistically, what can China really do about it aside from being really angry."

Cerian paused and looked up. "They can reduce their funding, worse case they leave completely. But Russia and several other countries have stepped up their funding in response, negating whatever effect China may have had."

"Question," Ren spoke up suddenly. "What's the United States' response to all this? They supporting the Commander or not?"

Cerian hesitated before answered. That question was also one that had interested him, but Patrick hadn't really given a satisfactory response. "Don't know," he admitted, shaking his head. "Based on insinuations from Patrick, it sounds like the US is staying neutral here and letting China and Russia lead the different sides."

"Odd for the US to step back," Darril muttered. "They love being the center of attention."

"Well, if there was one country that could manage that, it would be them," Ren commented. "King me."

Darril sighed and complied. "So, Cerian-"

He was cut off as Cerian's phone began ringing. Both men stopped and looked at him. Cerian immediately stood and looked at his phone. A scrambled number, about time he was getting some contact. He answered. "Hello, operative Irelan speaking?"

"Cute," the voice of Patrick answered, sounding more exasperated than amused. "Who do you think would be calling you?"

"Good question," Cerian answered, walking out of the room. "Honestly, at this point I didn't know if you'd be calling me back. There a reason you've waited so long? We could have acted days ago."

"Apologies, but I've been somewhat preoccupied," Patrick answered, his tone weary and irritated. "XCOM attacked a Russian site they presumably learned from the files soon after you sent them to the Russian government. We suspect it was a site for these 'EXALT' people, but XCOM didn't leaveanyone left to speak. Not to mention the Russian's secured the area soon after."

"So?" Cerian asked. "Regardless of your opinion of XCOM, if EXALT has moved against them, XCOM is technically obligated to deal with them as they see fit."

"I'm not in the mood to argue technicalities," Patrick answered, exhaustion in his tone. "That isn't even why I'm calling you, I just felt you needed an update on the reason for my delay."

That excuse might have worked on anyone else, but Cerian wasn't that fooled. "It might have been part of the reason, but it certainly wasn't all of it. However, I'd also prefer we moved on. You get everything my team was able to compile on EXALT and the files?"

"Yes, we have it." Patrick confirmed.

"Right," Cerian nodded to himself as he stepped outside. "So, do you want us in the States?"

"You're not going to America," Patrick answered.

Cerian frowned and looked at the phone. "Sorry?" He asked incredulously. "But…ah, why? Solaris Industries is our clear next target, especially since we don't have anything new for XCOM."

"I should remind you that your purpose is to investigate XCOM, not EXALT, or whatever they're calling themselves," Patrick reminded him with a sigh. "EXALT is something we can deal with later."

"I disagree," Cerian stated flatly. "No matter if EXALT is real or not, the fact remains that this organization is complicit in criminal activity and has incriminated one of the largest weapons manufacturers in the United States. If EXALT is working against XCOM, and by extension, with the aliens, I would feel that warrants our investigation."

"It does," Patrick agreed wearily. "But believe it or not, there is another reason you're not being sent over to America. Yet."

Well, that was better. "Go on."

"One of our watchers in Tel Aviv spotted your XCOM agents," Patrick said. "For obvious reasons, we want you to investigate."

That got Cerian's attention and he stormed into the house. "Hold for a moment," he told Patrick and looked toward Mary. "Mary! Tap into the security feeds at Tel Aviv. We've got XCOM agents apparently."

Mary gave him a thumbs up. "Got it, boss!"

Cerian returned to the phone. "Israel? Why would they be there?"

"Presumably the Commander is just as curious about their recent activity as us," Patrick answered. "But we don't know for sure. Regardless, this time your mission will be twofold. Find out what XCOM is doing, and also learn what you can about the operations Israel is conducting."

"Got it," Cerian confirmed. "We'll head out right away."

"After this I'll have you follow up on the Solaris lead," Patrick assured him. "Regardless about what some of my superiors believe, this should be solved before it becomes a problem."

Cerian raised an eyebrow. "Oddly practical of you, and smart if I'm being honest."

"Thanks," Patrick commented sarcastically. "Purely practical in this case. If I told you to ignore it again, you'd likely just disobey and I'd really prefer keeping tabs on you. Finding rogue agents is no fun."

Cerian snorted. "Come now, I'd never do that."

"Well, I'd prefer not to find out. Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks." Cerian hung up and banged a fist on the wall. "Load up everyone! Pack desert gear, we're going to Israel!"

Israel, Unmarked Location

"Can I ask you something?" Abby asked Ruth as they laid on the dunes while the sun set behind them. Clothed in tan desert garb, their faces completely covered up along with any exposed skin, Abby still found it annoying how grains of sand still got in her eyes, mouth and nose.

Ruth didn't seem bothered, but Abby figured she was used to this since she'd grown up here. With the binoculars pressed to her eyes, Ruth didn't look over as she responded. "Go ahead."

Abby hesitated. It might not be the best time, but they had a while before the sun set completely, allowing them to enter undetected. Even if it was, Ruth wouldn't get irritated at her. Hopefully, anyway. "If it's not prying too much, were you always a Kidon agent or it happened…later?"

Ruth put down the binoculars. "I wasn't always an agent, no. But I wasn't especially special before it either."

"What did you do?" Abby asked.

"I was a teacher," she answered slowly. "In Palestine long before the Pacification. I was very idealistic back then, thinking there would be where I could do the most good. Tensions between us and them were cold even back then, I thought I might be able to help that in some way."

Abby looked over. "Did you?"

Ruth snorted. "The kids were great, they hadn't been taught they were supposed to hate me yet. The parents weren't so generous, but they were desperate for teachers regardless of where they came from. I figured if I let them be they'd eventually recognize I wasn't there to hurt them or just get bored."

"So…" Abby questioned. "I assume it didn't work out."

"Depends on your perspective," Ruth shrugged. "I suspected one of the students was being abused, so for the next few weeks, I scoped him out, followed the father around some, even got the child to tell me what had happened."

"You didn't worry about the father coming after you?" Abby asked incredulously. "Not to mention being caught by someone else?"

"I was," Ruth admitted, raising up her binoculars again. "But I wasn't going to be intimidated. In the end, I gathered up all my evidence and went to the authorities," her tone turned hard. "Who promptly laughed and kicked me out, despite everything I had. To make matters worse they informed the father I'd come and he promptly pulled the child out of school and I never saw him again," she gave a humorless laugh. "Well, he must have been worried since he didn't say anything do anyone else. Guess he didn't want it turning into an actual investigation."

"So what did you do?" Abby asked quietly.

"I sent everything I had to Israeli authorities," Ruth muttered. "I didn't actually think anything would come of it, but I was furious and wasn't thinking very clearly. Turns out that guy was some high-profile criminal within Israel and they sent a Mossad agent to meet with me and gather information."

"I suppose he offered you a job?" Abby guessed.

"Essentially," Ruth nodded. "My position gave them a unique opportunity to gather information, since so many criminals and terrorists resided in the country. All I was to do was gather information on the parents of my students and pass it on. I did that for the remainder of the year."

"And after that?" Abby asked.

"I requested a transfer to another nearby school and repeated the process," Ruth answered. "I actually ran into some trouble this time, one of the parents caught onto me and decided to confront me in my house. When I refused to consider leaving the town, as well as the country, he pulled a knife on me."

Abby had a feeling she knew how this story ended. "You killed him?"

"Not my finest or cleanest," Ruth admitted, putting her binoculars down and resting her chin on her crossed arms. "But it sufficed. I'd prepared for that possibility, I covered the body and dragged it over by the house of a family that had terrorist ties. Once I planted a knife on his body with their fingerprints, I called the authorities. Anonymously, of course."

Abby furrowed her eyebrows. "How did you get their fingerprints?"

"Easily," Abby could hear the smile in her voice. "Parents do have to sign quite a few forms, even in Palestine."

Abby shook her head in disbelief. Even as a teacher, she was still an utterly terrifying woman. But even knowing that, Abby could very easily see her getting along very well with kids. It was good she hadn't lost that warmth she'd had while teaching. "What happened after that?"

"I stayed on for another year, with more or less the same results," Ruth continued. "After that someone came and spoke to me, a Kidon agent and asked if I'd be interested taking a more…active role. My job was become much more dangerous and I figured it would only be a matter of time before I was forced to leave, so I accepted."

She shrugged. "And that's the story of how I became a Kidon agent."

"From teacher to Kidon," Abby commented. "Quite a big leap."

"Perhaps," Ruth agreed. "But not much different from surgeon to soldier to agent."

Abby smiled at that. "Good point. I never would have thought I'd be doing this."

"I'd like to ask you a question, actually," Ruth said. "Why'd you want to become a surgeon?"

Abby shrugged. "I wanted to help people. That seemed like the best way to do so. You can't do much more than save lives."

"An admirable goal," Ruth nodded. "Not many hold your position. I suppose that's why it's harder for you."

Abby grimaced. "Would you really know that?"

"Not for sure," Ruth admitted. "But it makes sense. You took an oath to help people, I'm not blind to the fact that we haven't been doing that recently."

Abby sighed. "Does that change anything? We have our orders."

"Of course," Ruth nodded. "But you're still human, you still might feel guilty about what we do. But ask yourself if what we do is worth it if we save more people. How many did you save on the operating table? A few hundred? Maybe more?"

The numbers weren't important to her, Abby knew she'd never be able to help everyone, so just focused on the ones who came her way. "Something like that."

"Right," Ruth nodded. "And think of how many thousands we'll save, and only at the cost of a few people who clearly don't deserve that privilege. It's normal to feel guilty at first, but don't let that blind you to the good that will come from it."

Abby sighed. She understood the point Ruth was making, but there was a tangible difference between her work as a surgeon and what she was doing now. Sure, thousands might be saved, but in the end it was theoretical, Ruth didn't actually know if their actions would have saved anyone, but she knew for sure that one man was going to suffer a horrendous death just based on the possibility.

"You don't think we ever go too far?" Abby asked.

Ruth looked her in the eye. "That depends on the context. In the interest of saving humanity I doubt we could go "too far," but for something on a smaller scale, it largely depends on the person we target. Tell me, Abby, do you think everyone is worth saving? Everyone deserving the same amount of decency and respect?"

"At least on some level," Abby answered. "No matter what they've done, they are still human."

"On the outside, perhaps," Ruth murmured. "I suppose I have a different outlook. I don't believe every person is worth saving, nor should they be afforded the same rights and treatments decent people receive. Criminals, terrorists, traitors, aliens, I see no reason to treat them any better than they deserve."

Abby sighed. "I get that…and to some extent I even agree with it. But regardless of how useful or justified it is, it's not right."

"'Right' is subjective," Ruth pointed out, her tone turning deliberately neutral. "You heard of the Trolley Problem?"

"In passing," Abby answered, shaking her head. "I don't know what it is."

"Imagine a railroad," Ruth answered. "A group of people are tied on the tracks and a train is coming. You're by a switch that can divert the train, but on the alternate track, there is another person tied up. So, what do you do?"

Abby sighed. "Switch the tracks and sacrifice the one person."

"Right," Ruth told her. "That's what we do. Sacrifice a few to save many. Do you think that was the 'right' thing to do?"

"I still don't know if I'd call it that," Abby said. "But it was the best option out of the two."

"And is the interrogation of a few criminals and terrorists not worth saving potentially thousands?" Ruth pressed. "It's the same thought process. Is it right? Debatable, but few would say it's worse than the alternative or doing nothing."

Ruth did have a point here, and she wasn't sure how she felt about that. Even from her youth she'd been taught that inflicting harm on others was wrong and almost always unjustified. In med school that had been emphasized even more, with quite a bit of time devoted to malpractice to drive that point home. The War on Terror had shown the results of a complete lack of empathy on both sides.

But she had to admit, she'd always viewed it as a binary choice, more or less. Good people didn't hurt others, but from working just within XCOM, and now with people like Ruth, she didn't feel that was accurate anymore. Ruth might not exactly be a good woman, but she certainly wasn't evil either.

She wasn't so sure about herself anymore. She'd passed the point of no return way back when she watched the Commander torture that woman and did nothing. In XCOM Intelligence she'd tried to limit the brutality in the little ways she could, but the fact remained she was still complicit in their activities, and like it or not, they were justified.

Ruth seemed to indicate that this bout of self-reflection was normal for newer agents, but Abby wondered how long it would really last. No wonder intelligence work was considered stressful. Right now she just wanted to get on with the mission.

"Another patrol coming up," Ruth noted as she looked through her binoculars. Abby picked up her own and looked through.

The Israeli IDF had definitely put their alien alloys to good use, since the soldiers were all wearing some form of armor. The tan-painted plates weren't nearly as thick or covered more than XCOM armor, but they covered all the major organs, arms and legs. Their helmets were also standardized, and looked more like astronaut helmets than the ones XCOM utilized.

For starters there seemed to be less metal actually in the helmets. The lower metal part covered their jaws, cheeks, mouth and extended up to the back of the head. What covered the top of the head and curved just past the nose was some kind of black dome. The gap between the armored part and the dome was filled by some kind of transparent substance, likely plastic.

They must have some kind of HUD, because there was no way they could see out of those helmets normally. It was impressive what they'd been able to do regardless. "We're really going to stand out," Abby muttered as they watched the patrol complete their sweep around the perimeter of the town.

"I've let our guy know that," Ruth assured her. "He said he'd take care of it."

"Let's hope so," Abby said, frowning as she looked for more patrols. "At least there don't seem to be many here."

"For now," Ruth countered. "Either they're training for small groups to take over towns or more will be coming."

The watch on Abby's wrist beeped. "Akello's signal. Guess our guy is ready."

Ruth rose to one knee and put the binoculars away. "Let's go." Both women walked down the dunes, keeping a sharp lookout for any more Israeli soldiers. The town was mostly made up of sand-blasted concrete homes with barely more than three rooms. They weren't dilapidated, but they did appear to be abandoned.

Abby wondered why they'd all left.

Once they reached the perimeter, they kept close to the walls, moving along the sides listening for footsteps on the sandy streets. Ruth motioned to one of the seemingly abandoned buildings. Abby nodded and they both dashed towards the entrance after making sure the streets were clear.

Once Abby was through, Ruth quickly closed the door behind her. Abby took a breath and saw the man sitting in a wooden chair, a pistol pointed at them. "Take off the headgear," he advised, moving the gun for emphasis. He looked fairly young, brown-skinned, his black hair buzz cut and bright blue eyes.

Abby slowly and deliberately took off the goggles, desert shawl and cloth around her face. Ruth did the same. The man she assumed was Eldad Levi lowered his weapon. "Agents Ruth and Abby, good. Glad you came so soon."

"Time of the essence?" Ruth asked as she took a seat.

"Not if you mind your job harder," Eldad shook his head. "If you'd waited a few more days, there would be a lot more soldiers than now. These ones are here just to secure the area."

"Right," Ruth nodded. "So what's going on here?"

Eldad tapped two casesthat were setting by his feet. "First put these on, I'll explain while you get dressed," he stood and opened the cases. "The new standard-issue מָגֵן armor," Eldad explained. "You'll need it to avoid being spotted," he nodded at Abby. "Especially her, no one here has skin as light as hers."

Abby grimaced, but he had a point. Still, did he expect them to change right now? Ruth didn't seem to mind and was already removing her heavier garments while she just stood there. Eldad gave a dramatic sigh and turned his back to her. Somewhat meekly, Abby started transferring to the new armor.

"The Israeli army is going to be performed a series of war scenarios and games over the next few months," Eldad said as they undressed. "Scenarios range from an attack on Tel Aviv to subduing a hostile town. I don't have confirmation on any of this, but the general consensus is Israel is planning a conquest, which I'm sure you've already guessed."

"I don't suppose you have any more specifics?" Abby grunted as she began putting on the armor. It was nowhere near as comfortable as XCOM's.

"Whatever the IDF is planning, it won't be implemented soon," Eldad continued. "They know full well what would happen, so my guess is that they're waiting for a specific event. Something to draw everyone's attention. Once the rest of the world is distracted, they make their move."

"It'd have to be something huge to cause an Israeli attack not to get much attention," Abby commented. "So, you think Israel will be behind this event?"

"It's a definite possibility," Eldad admitted. "Mrs. Shira would likely know if they would consider it, let alone have the resources to pull it off."

"I have no doubt they have multiple plans," Ruth confirmed as she pulled on her gauntlets. "When I was with the Kidon we had contingencies in case a superpower turned against us. Something on the scale we're talking about here would likely be either assassination, or two major powers going to war. The second is much harder to pull off."

Abby put the helmet on and let it click into her armor, a few seconds later, a basic HUD appeared, sentences in Hebrew in the lower part of her HUD and in the corners. "Is any of this important?" She asked.

Eldad turned around and appraised her. "The HUD? No, just displays some environmental information. Not much different from XCOM tech, so I'm told. But ignore the Hebrew unless you intend to be fighting."

"This is not bad," Ruth commented, as she rolled her shoulders, adjusting to the armor. "They really outdid themselves here."

"The Prime Minister has pulled every scientist he has into the military," Eldad informed. "It didn't take much convincing, so I'm told. They still haven't really managed to improve their weapons, so you'll just use these." He walked over to the wall and grabbed several assault rifles standing in the corner and handed the weapons to them.

"The main command center is in the middle of town," Eldad said while they adjusted their weapons. "After you exit this building, pass approximately four buildings and you'll come onto the main street. Take a left and follow that towards the town center. You'll see it easily, there are tents and they've set up in the building that clearly has electricity. How you get in is up to you."

"Anything we should know?" Ruth asked.

"Some of them might ask for passwords," Eldad cautioned. "Treat them as a joke, laugh, whatever, but don't give them an answer, it's a trap. However, right before you enter the command building they will ask for authorization. The number is four-three-one-six-dash-A-M-G."

"Got it," Abby nodded.

Eldad eyes her. "You know any Hebrew?"

Abby shook her head. "Afraid not."

He pursed his lips. "Then I suggest you let Ruth do the talking. You get whatever you need to. After this you won't see me again."

"Understood," Ruth nodded. "Thank you."

He waved to the door. "Appreciated, convey my thanks to Director Zhang for the quick response."

"I'll be sure to," Abby assured him, and they walked out the door into the street.

"You have Akello's drive?" Ruth asked as they walked the directions given to them by Eldad.

Abby reached in her pocket and pulled out the drive. "Right here," Akello was trying something different this time. Instead of having the drive allow her to connect to the database, she'd made it so it would copy everything to the drive itself, since it was already embedded in the system.

It seemed rather simplistic to Abby, but "That's how IT works," according to Akello. The way she'd said that while snickering indicated to Abby that Akello was making fun of her limited computationalexperience. Whatever, what mattered was that it worked. Akello hadn't let them down yet and she didn't expect it would be different now.

"There it is," Abby muttered. The only two-story building was lit up with four soldiers guarding the perimeter, with two additional guards by the entrance. Both women ignored the four soldiers and went straight to the entrance.

"אנחנו צריכים להיכנס פנימה." Ruth told the two guards.

Both looked at each other. "קוד אימות." The right one asked, his voice sounding suspicious. She seriously wished she spoke Hebrew right now.

"ארבע שלוש אחד שש מקף בתחתוני." Ruth answered.

Abby held her breath. The possibility that Eldad had been wrong hadn't really occurred to her, but she suddenly was concerned. Please be right…

The two guards stepped aside Ruth and Abby quickly entered into the building. There were two rooms, immediately to their sides. Both rooms contained rows of computers, but were adequately filled. Unfortunately, Abby realized that in her armor, she'd stand out with all the analysts in far more casual attire.

"I'll distract one," Ruth whispered as she began moving into the rightmost room. Abby followed a second later while she watched Ruth go over to one of the analysts and began talking. Abby took that opportunity to kneel down by one of the computers and slip Akello's drive into a USB port. A blinking red light appeared at the end. She assumed that when it turned green it would be finished.

She prayed it wouldn't be too long.

Ruth was chatting up the guy, who was having an intense conversation, even pointing at the screen to show her something. They were talking so fast Abby couldn't even begin to keep up. She walked to the end of the door and took a stance, as if standing guard. Hopefully no one would….

Oh no.

A man was walking down the stairs, but it became quickly apparent that he wasn't an analyst, nor a soldier for that matter. His uniform was more ceremonial, with several badges and medals on his uniform. Probably the commanding officer. Out of pure habit she snapped into a salute, which she luckily knew thanks to Ruth.

He nodded in her direction, then frowned as he heard Ruth and the analyst talking. Abby breathed a sigh of relief at that, if he'd asked her a question, she was dead. But he walked over and began talking with them.

Abby couldn't tell what was going on, but now Ruth was pointing at the screen and conversing rapidly, at least to her. Now the officer was apparently interested, judging by how he leaned in and was also gesturing at the screen, clearly asking her more questions.

Time was passing either really quickly or slowly, she couldn't really tell, but they talked for a good ten minutes and Abby decided to check on the drive.

A solid green.

Moving as casually as she could over to the computer, she knelt down and pulled out the drive with a soft click. Putting it into a pocket she stood, no one apparently noticing. She nodded to Ruth who seemed to understand and returned to her "guard" position.

As the minutes dragged on, she was wondering if Ruth hadn't overplayed her hand, since the officer appeared not to want to let her go. But finally he said something, she saluted and walked over, leaving the officer and the analyst to keep talking.

"Let's go," she muttered.

Abby didn't need to be told twice and both of them walked out of the building at a brisk pace. No one questioned them, and both women didn't speak, not wanting too until it was safe. They did pass a patrol, but they must have assumed they were friendly since they just walked on by.

They reached the edge of the town and began heading to the small dune buggy they'd arrived in, which they'd use to get to the extraction point where a skyranger would pick them up. As the town faded in the background, Abby breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

They'd done it.

Israel, Unmarked Location

The Council was not going to be happy.

Cerian didn't necessarily mean that in a negative way towards him, but looking through his scope on the abandoned town below, he couldn't see any positive the Council could pull from this. Concerned, frustrated or angry…those were more along the lines of what he was expecting them to feel.

But he'd be lying if he didn't find this incredibly interesting.

Cerian had long held the opinion that Israel should just really be left alone. They clearly didn't get along with the UN, nor many others for that matter and had shown they were perfectly willing to outright defy them in pursuit of their own security and interests. In short, no good could really come from treating them as any other country, or holding them to the same standards.

Despite their small size, Israel had become a genuinely advanced nation, and Cerian knew that one day someone would provoke them and start a new Middle East conflict. Judging by the Israeli soldiers marching in front of him, it seemed Israel itself was already preparing for that possibility.

Truth be told, he actually didn't have a clue why they were actually here. The most logical explanation for this was they were performing training exercises or drills. Which then brought up additional questions such as "why here?" and "why now?" Hard as he found it to believe, it looked like Israel was preparing for war.

And not against the aliens, either.

This reeked of wanting to be hidden. If Israel was preparing for the aliens, they would do so in traditional areas, well within the public eye, more or less. The fact that they were not again brought up concerns about what they were doing.

Because if Israel was preparing for war…who were they planning against.

He wasn't even sure why he was debating this. Israel was many things, but stupid they were not. Starting a war now would be utterly foolish and bring down the armies of multiple superpowers upon them. Unless they were deliberately provoked, Cerian could see no way that Israel could come out of a war looking good, if they came out at all.

Why XCOM was here he still wasn't sure, but he suspected they wanted to know the same thing he did. He'd spotted the two XCOM agents, whom he suspected were Abby and Ruth, respectively, entering the village. Luckily, he'd moved his own people in it well before they'd arrived and they were reporting to him now.

"They're still in that house," Olivia reported through his earpiece. "Can confirm they haven't exited."

"Unless of course there's another exit," Cerian muttered as he watched another patrol go by.

The new armor was also very interesting, and concerning. He had no doubt that it was the result of the applying the alien metals they'd been receiving from XCOM. While impressive, it made their army suddenly the most advanced in the world, beyond the United States, Russia and China, something he'd never thought he'd actually see.

If this was just their armor, he wondered what other tech they'd developed.

"They're leaving," Ren interrupted his thoughts. "Looks like they have disguises now, those new Israeli armor suits."

"Heading towards the center," Olivia updated. "Should I follow?"

"Follow, but do not engage," Cerian ordered. "I want to know who they were talking to."

"Copy that,"

Cerian wasn't sure there actually was anyone in that house. But if there was he had plans. The winds blew over him for a few minutes as he waited.

"New contact coming out," Baston suddenly updated. "An Israeli soldier. He'd probably a mole."

Cerian trained his rifle on the edge of the village. "Proceed with the plan."

"Will do."

Cerian watched, waiting for the soon to be captured mole to stumble out into his sights. He figured it was time to take a more direct role in figuring out exactly what Israel and XCOM were doing, and nabbing this mole was a good start.

Ren and Baston would drive him out using distractions, letting themselves be seen and letting him chase after them. Even if he was a mole, he'd still act the part of the soldier and that included running after suspicious people. He wouldn't call it in either since that might raise questions as to what he was doing.

Worst case scenario he didn't fall for it and they left with no one the wiser. Best case they captured him.

"Heads up, Cerian," Ren informed after a few minutes, his voice tight. "Target approaching."

A figure in the Israeli armor came charging outside the perimeter, his weapon raised. He looked more confused than anything, but it was enough for Cerian. "Target in sight," he informed calmly. "Move in."

With that he fired a shot from his silenced sniper rifle. The bullet hit a weak spot by the knee, forcing him to fall to the ground. A second shot through his right arm rendered it useless and he dropped the weapon. A final shot through the opposite arm severely restricted his ability to fight back.

Ren and Bastion appeared, leaped on and pinned the man to the ground. Ren ripped off his helmet and placed a towel drenched in Tracrium over his nose and the man was out within a minute, thrashing weakly as Ren and Baston held him down. Their mission one, Ren hauled him onto his back and they began trotting over to his position.

"Cerian, both XCOM agents have entered the central command building," Olivia updated. "Instructions?"

"Pull back," Cerian ordered as he stood. "Let XCOM conduct their investigation, we have what we need."

"You got him?"

Cerian smiled as he looked at the sleeping body of the XCOM informant, as Darril began tending to his wounds. "We certainly did, and I have a few questions for him."

Skyranger, Preparing for takeoff

"Woo!" Akello cheered as they boarded the skyranger. "You did it!"

Abby flipped the helmet in her hands. "Wasn't easy, but we managed."

"Yes!" Akello clapped her hands together. "So, give me the drive. Let's see what they've been doing."

Abby and Ruth exchanged a long look. "Uh, Ruth…" Abby began tentatively. "You did grab the drive right?"

Ruth's eyes widened. "No…I thought you did. You had it, right?"

Abby made a show of reaching into her pockets. "Uh…oh no. There might be a problem…"

Abby looked at Akello who had a look of pure terror and dismay. "You…you did not…" she stammered, unable to form a complete sentence.

Abby and Ruth exchanged another look and burst out laughing. "You should have seen your face," she said in between laughs. "I really should have taken a picture."

"Agreed," Ruth chuckled. "Come now, did you really think we would leave that drive behind?" Abby tossed the drive to her.

"I hate both of you so much," Akello muttered, flushing red. "For the record, I knew you were joking the whole time."

"Sure you did," Abby teased as she went to sit down. Ruth took a seat by Akello who was already typing furiously after she inserted the drive into her computer.

The skyranger ramp closed and Abby felt them lift off. "Well…" Akello began after a few minutes. "Good and bad news here."

"What is it?" Ruth demanded.

"We got all their files," Akello confirmed. "Bad news is I can't tell what's in them."

"Why?" Abby asked, growing worried.

"It's all in Hebrew," Akello shrugged. "So it can be translated, but it'll take much longer."

Ruth motioned for the laptop. "Give it to me, let's see what I can find."

Akello surrendered her laptop and Ruth began scrolling through the long list of files. Abby closed her eyes and leaned back, wondering how long it'd take for her to fall asleep. "That armor doesn't look bad," Akello noted. "The Israelis did well."

"I suppose it's better than what's used today," Abby admitted. "But it's nowhere near XCOM levels."

Akello shrugged. "If you say so. I never wore any myself."

They rode in silence for a while, Abby was almost asleep when she heard Ruth whistle. "My, my, Prime Minister. You really aren't messing around."

"What is it?" Abby asked, shifting in her position.

Ruth looked up, incredulity in her voice. "I just stumbled on a very interesting document. Considering how accurate this is, and it appears completely genuine, it describes exactly the plans Israel has for the Middle East."

"How could you find it that fast?" Akello asked, frowning.

"Short version is that all big operation names are usually overly dramatic and symbolic," Ruth explained. "The guy who always came up with the operations names back when I was with the Kidon was really into that, not to mention he was extremely organized. Level four is the highest rank he used, so I looked at that folder first. Not too many options then."

"Well, don't leave us in suspense," Abby encouraged, waving her hand. "Tell us."

"This is currently designated as Operation: הופעת," Ruth answered. "As for what's in it, that conversation should wait until I've actually confirmed what's in here and Director Zhang is present."

Abby sighed. "You do remember I don't speak Hebrew, right? Can you at least tell me what that…word means?"

"Advent," Ruth supplied. "It means Advent."

Abby frowned. "I am assuming that they are not referring to the holiday?"

"Symbolic, as I said," Ruth nodded. "Advent means a coming of something, and knowing how symbolism works, I believe it's intended to mean the coming of a new beginning for the Middle East. Under the leadership of Israel, of course."

Akello whistled. "Damn. I honestly didn't think they'd actually do this."

Abby shook her head in disbelief. "The Commander is going to be very interested in this."

"Oh, he most certainly will be." Ruth agreed as she returned to her laptop.

Abby rested her head back, thoughts blazing through her mind.

Advent.

She wasn't sure why, but that word had an ominous feeling towards it now. She'd never thought of the word in any specific context, positive or negative, but now could really only prescribe one word towards how she felt about it now.

Foreboding.

Should something horrible happen, she had the feeling Advent was going to be in the middle of it.

On that cheery thought, she finally fell asleep, thankfully not disturbed by dreams.