Council Mission: France II

The Citadel, Situation Room

All of them stood in silence after the last armor cam turned to static.

"It seems like Nartha wasn't exaggerating about the extent of the Ethereals powers," Van Doorn said quietly. "That couldn't have been anything else."

"No." The Commander shook his head. "It couldn't have. And now we've lost an entire squad and skyranger."

"Even once our injured soldiers recover," Bradford added. "We're now in a precarious position with soldier numbers. We're barely over twenty as it is."

"Unsustainable," the Commander agreed. "Put together a list; make sure no country is excluded."

"I think we have a bigger problem," Van Doorn added slowly, still looking at the static screens. "Numbers are probably not going to beat this thing. I'm not sure it would have changed if there's been twelve soldiers instead of eight."

The Commander pursed his lips. Van Doorn had an excellent point, one that had been driven home by that Ethereal and the speech he'd given to him. The good news, if it could be called that, was that this was probably the extent of alien commitment for now. So there probably wouldn't be a planet-sized invasion until either this Ethereal got bored or they killed him.

But after watching that Ethereal take out eight of the world's best soldiers, the Commander wasn't entirely certain they needed an army. Which meant they now had to switch focus to defeating powerful psions, because that was likely going to be the deciding factor in how long they could last. They could have all the guns, tech and gadgets to defeat the mutons, Vitakara and sectoids, but it would all be pointless if the soldier wielding them lost his mind simply because a Hive Commander or Ethereal willed it.

"What's our response to this, Commander?" Bradford asked, looking at him. "Because as it stands now, I'm not sure we can take that thing out with what we have."

"No, we probably could," the Commander disagreed with a shake of his head. "Though we'd likely expend everything we have in the process. Not good enough. Unfortunately we can't really respond with force, since the aliens could be anywhere. But now we need to focus all our efforts on defense and subjugation of psionic wielders."

"Should I convey specific instructions to Vahlen and Shen?" Bradford asked, picking up a tablet.

"I'll do that myself," the Commander said. "But save the footage we have and give me a copy. In the meantime we need to improve the soldiers we have and bring in new ones. Bradford, give me our current list for genetic modification approval."

He nodded. "Will do, Commander."

The Commander turned his attention to Van Doorn. "Right now we need to finish establishing our alliances should this Ethereal strike again. I want this war between the Koreans ended; how soon could you set up establishing peace talks?"

"I'll start today," Van Doorn promised. "Though it may be better if you're present."

"Provided nothing else comes up, I can be," the Commander promised. "And Bradford? Send Patricia up to me. It's time she get brought up to speed on all our work. She'll be instrumental in killing this Ethereal, I'm sure of it."

"She beat the Hive Commander," Van Doorn said thoughtfully. "I hope it will be enough."

"Honestly, probably not," the Commander stated bluntly. "Which is why she needs to get stronger. If she knows the stakes, she'll do what's required. In the meantime I'll draw up everything we have on the Ethereals and distribute it to the soldiers."

"And what will that consist of?" Van Doorn asked slowly.

The Commander pursed his lips. "Immediate retreat unless specified otherwise."

"That's probably best," Bradford agreed. "Even if it's only a temporary strategy."

"Then let's get to work," the Commander ordered, pushing himself off the holotable. "This Ethereal could strike anytime, and until we know a way to beat him, more people are going to die."

He didn't need to even say the words to convey just how precarious their situation suddenly was. Both men knew that the consequences of failure would be casualties in the hundreds of thousands, and no one needed better motivation than that.

For the most part.

The Citadel, Office of the Commander

Patricia felt chills run through her as she watched the Ethereal systematically slaughter the doomed soldiers, all while delivering threats to the Commander. It had to be an Ethereal, the description matched what Nartha had told them, and it was obviously far more powerful than the Hive Commander, which to her was a terrifying thought.

"Impressions?" The Commander asked grimly as he shut the screen off once it turned to static. "You have an idea of how his powers work?"

"I…" Patricia paused. "There was direct mind control, clearly, but he somehow managed to control three soldiers, at least, as well as Fallen Sky at the same time. I have to concentrate for just one."

"And unless I've been mistaken, this is the first time we've seen a demonstration of telekinesis," the Commander added thoughtfully, resting on the edge of his desk. "I suppose that shouldn't be too surprising. Have you attempted anything similar?"

"No," Patricia shook her head. "But mostly because I wasn't sure it was possible. But it might be simply because I'm not…oriented towards that application."

The Commander waved his hand in a circle. "Explain."

"It's something I've been observing in the awakened psions," Patricia explained, recalling the important details of her theory. "Some of them are either reacting differently or demonstrating abilities I haven't been able to do. My working theory is that each individual psion is more sensitive to certain aspects of psionics than others."

"That makes sense," the Commander nodded slowly. "Then the question would be if that in turn excludes the user from other aspects where they aren't as sensitive."

"I don't know," Patricia shrugged. "We need more psions to even begin validating this theory. But my point with that was that just because we haven't observed something doesn't mean it can't happen. Psionics is clearly…versatile."

She felt a faint spark of amusement burst through the Commander. "An understatement, Psion Trask. I'm more concerned with the range of his mind control. Taking control of Fallen Sky should not have happened. Could you do that?"

"At the range he was?" Patricia asked, crossing her arms and looking down as she thought. "I…don't know. In a dense population, it would have been nigh impossible. But with only a limited number, I'd likely be able to sense it. Maybe. Distance isn't really a factor. If I can sense a mind, I can access it."

The Commander furrowed his eyebrows. "So theoretically, if you could…pinpoint…a specific mind, you could access it from anywhere? Regardless of location?"

Something changed in him. It was subtle, but he seemed interested in the answer, more so than he should be. "Again, in theory…yes. But having an actual visual is far easier. Why?"

"I'll tell you later," he answered. "Now…you heard the armor cams. Everyone in the squad was in pain, which shouldn't have been possible. They were clearly fine, so I'm assuming it was the Ethereal debilitating them psionically."

"And since he mind controlled them at the same time, he must have applied it as a…passive, for lack of a better word," Patricia noted, eyes widening as she realized how powerful and skilled the Ethereal was to be able to perform both simultaneously. "Planting pain isn't difficult, per-se, but it takes effort to continue it as he did."

"I suppose the Ethereals wouldn't send a pushover," the Commander commented. "If Nartha is anything to go by, he's probably centuries old. Plenty of time to hone psionic powers."

"And I've only had them a few months," Patricia muttered. "How the hell am I supposed to fight that?"

"By getting better," the Commander stated bluntly. "As of this moment, you're the only one who could remotely put up a fight against this alien. Everything can be killed, it's just a matter of finding weaknesses and exploiting every advantage we have. In which case here: you."

She felt a rush of pride. Misplaced at it may be, she appreciated the sentiment. Especially since the Commander seemed to genuinely believe it. It was somewhat odd that she didn't sense any dishonestly within him. Even this Ethereal didn't seem to faze him overmuch. Sure, he was concerned, but afraid or worried? No. Nothing.

Maybe it was because he didn't know the intricacies of what those powers entailed and she did, but his calm confidence that it could be done was reassuring to her sometimes over-imaginative mind. "I appreciate it, Commander."

He appraised her with his gold-rimmed eyes. "You do, though it doesn't seem that you share the same sentiment."

"Not entirely, Commander."

"You drove a Hive Commander insane," the Commander reminded her. "I can't speak to the difficulty of that, but that isn't something to dismiss. You can become strong enough, it's just a matter of devoting yourself."

"I'll do my best, Commander," she promised.

"Now, there was another reason I brought you up now," the Commander continued, picking up a tablet. "You need to get caught up on…well, the state of things, for lack of a better term."

He handed the tablet to her. "The detailed documents are there, if you're interested. But they mostly concern current politics, alliances, research and XCOM operations."

She took the tablet and resisted the urge to begin reading it. "Alright. I guess just condense the important stuff for now."

He motioned her to the screen which he turned on to display a map of the world. "XCOM has begun establishing independent alliances with various countries around the world," he explained. "Those are highlighted, those in orange are ones that we're looking into. Council Nations are specifically marked and the rest have either withdrawn or are not a part of the Council."

She immediately realized some odd points. "China withdrew? And we're allied with Taiwan?"

"Ah, yes," the Commander answered, pursing his lips. "I suppose I should say that XCOM-Council relations are not…good. There is a very clear division in the Council, mostly centered around me."

"You?" Patricia frowned. "Why? You're a large reason why we've done this well."

He sighed. "It's slightly more complicated. But they aren't exactly fans of how I work, mostly because I don't, well, 'respect their authority' as they'd put it. I perform operations how I see fit, and only involve the Council when it's really needed. They don't like that."

Yes, she could see how that might put off some people. "But this is literally our best chance against the aliens," she pointed out. "That's an extremely petty reason to withdraw. Do they know what the aliens are doing to us?"

"Oh, they know," the Commander raised a hand. "The point is that I do not want to rely on the Council for funding and am seeking other sources. China is a loss that's mostly been covered thanks to previous efforts, but thanks to it, we've lost what surplus we've had."

"So your response is to make China angry?" Patricia asked, looking at the map. "Is that a good idea?"

"There are consequences for putting politics ahead of humanity," the Commander stated coldly, clasping his hands behind his back as he also looked at the map. "If China wishes to work alone, I will debilitate them as much as possible. Taiwan, North Korea, Mongolia and ASEAN will send a clear message to China."

She felt the cold anger underneath his words, controlled, contained, but very much there. The Commander did seem personally insulted that China would pull a stunt like this. She nodded along until she registered a country the Commander had said. "Wait. North Korea?"

"Yes," he answered nonchalantly, a small smile on his face. "Believe it or not, North Korea contacted us about a potential alliance."

Patricia blinked. "And you're considering it?"

"Yes," the Commander answered firmly. "I've spoken with the Supreme Leader. We can work with him. They already have access to alien tech, and have the industrial and manufacturing ability to be extremely useful. Furthermore, if all goes well, we will hopefully negotiate peace between the two Koreas."

She was genuinely surprised at that. It took a certain degree of pragmatism to even consider allying with North Korea of all things, and most people didn't have it. She wondered how that conversation had gone when the Commander had proposed it. "I'll accept your judgment here, Commander."

"I haven't overlooked their past," the Commander added. "Should we form an alliance, North Korea will make concessions. In his own way, I do believe that the Supreme Leader really does want what is best for his country. He's just an authoritarian."

Patricia snorted. "Just an authoritarian. But I suppose we can't really be picky right now."

"Another good point," the Commander chuckled. "While we're on this topic, we've also been funneling alien tech through proxy countries into Russia."

"Really?" Now that she wasn't really surprised at. Russia liked their military and would probably do quite a few things to gain an edge over America and China. "I'm somehow not surprised at that."

"Fine by me," the Commander chuckled. "But I thought you should hear it from me. Now, there is something you should be aware of concerning XCOM's Research and Development."

She waited. "What?"

"It mostly relates to developing experimental genetic modification," the Commander said, switching the screens to show glass holding cells in a white room. It actually looked very familiar. "In short, we're using human test subjects."

"Wait…" Patricia sucked in her breath. "This was the footage we recovered from the EXALT base! You mean…?"

"Propaganda," the Commander answered with a quick nod. "Using our own footage. EXALT may very well be conducting experiments like this, but that doesn't matter. All the public needs to see is this footage and they'll be convinced. It's not like EXALT can publicly refute it. Yes, we've performed what is considered horrific experiments on humans, but they were necessary."

"Where are you even getting them?" She demanded incredulously, turning directly to the Commander.

"Prisoners on Death Row, mostly from the United States," he answered neutrally. "I wouldn't use civilians on this. Not when there are other options. The test subjects you see are dead men and women, we're ensuring that their death goes to good use."

The utter lack of any empathy…or emotion of any kind…was highly unsettling. Death Row prisoners were better than…well, almost anything. But still, they were people. People who felt pain, terror and despair. But from how the Commander spoke and how he felt…he didn't seem to consider them as such.

"Is this going to be a problem?" The Commander asked, calm as ever.

"I don't know," she muttered. "I don't like it. Not at all. But you're not sadistic or doing it out of anything other than necessity. Which I suppose is better than the alternatives. But I suppose that it worked, judging by Carmelita and…you."

"Vahlen is good at what she does," the Commander affirmed. "I don't waste human life unnecessarily, Patricia. I wouldn't authorize it if it didn't work. But I see no point getting emotional over those…people, if they could be called that. Their lives have ensured that much better people live; ensured that the people who deserve to be saved are. We need to do whatever it takes to ensure humanities survival, and in the scope of that, considerations of people worth less than nothing are not important."

When he put it like that…she shook her head to clear it and looked back to the screen. He truly believed that he was completely justified and right on this. Completely. There wasn't even a whisper of doubt. Sure, it seemed he knew that people would have problems and even why, but it seemed that he actually didn't seem to think they were in the right.

But…it did make sense to her. In the whole scope of things, why did the lives of a few murderers matter? In the practical world they lived in now, the answer was very clear: They didn't. So why should she devote any more time to them than necessary? She wasn't sure why she felt the need to feel outraged about this. After she'd heard who the test subjects were, she'd only been able to muster up an almost obligatory anger.

And why?

Because it was wrong?

So society said, anyway. No, she wondered if she was overly defensive because what she felt in the Commander and heard from him lined up scarily with her own revelations. The Commander had put voice to her darker feelings, and it was…odd to hear them out loud. By figures of influence arguing them seriously.

The Commander had originally been part of the Commander's group, and it seemed some of his brutal practicality had rubbed off on him as well. If he was willing to acknowledge this to her, maybe her feelings weren't an isolated event. She looked into the Commander's eyes. "I agree."

There was a brief flicker of surprise in him, and the only visual of that she saw was a raised eyebrow. "Do you now?"

"Yes," she answered. "It was something I realized during my…interrogation of the Hive Commander. Something I'd been wondering for awhile now. I was hurting it, intentionally making it suffer just to see if I could, to see just what I was capable of," she paused, trying to voice her thoughts coherently. "And I didn't feel any guilt at all. None. All I felt was that it was deserved. Justified."

She shrugged. "It's been something I've thought about ever since. I guess it boils down to that there are some people that don't deserve consideration, mercy or life." She gestured towards the screen. "Those people? They fall under that category. So yes, I agree."

He gave one nod. "It's good you do. I did wonder how you'd react."

"As long as you keep it to those that deserve it, I have no issue with it," Patricia stated.

"That I can do," the Commander said, sounding more pleased then before. "The last thing of note is that my Internal Council has access to an additional set of contingencies. Look over them and ask questions if you have them."

"I'll do that," she promised.

"Keep working with the awakened psions," the Commander ordered. "And help Vahlen if she asks. We all have a lot of work to do."

"That we do, Commander," she agreed, forming her hand into a fist and giving him a salute. "I'll get to it. Thank you."

"The pleasure is mine," the Commander answered. "Good luck with them."

"Appreciated," Patricia sighed. "I'll need it."

The Citadel, Office of the Commander

"Are you open to using the Citadel for hosting the peace talks?" Van Doorn asked, handing him a tablet. "Because neither will meet in the other's country, and we don't exactly have a lot of options for neutral ground."

"Provided they're fine with restricted information and full searches," the Commander answered. "No personal guards either. Iseul would probably take it as a chance to demonstrate his improved soldiers, and I'd rather we avoid that."

"They both seemed willing when I brought it up," Van Doorn said. "I'll convey that to them. In that case, I think it can be arranged in the next few days."

"Excellent," the Commander said, satisfied. "President Rena has set the official announcement of our alliance with Taiwan to tomorrow. All goes well, we'll begin negotiations with Mongolia and ASEAN within the next few weeks."

Van Doorn gave a small smile as he heard that. "Let's hope things go that smoothly."

"I somehow doubt it," the Commander added with a sigh. "China and EXALT will probably begin work to disrupt us, at least publically. But I hope the same."

"Commander?" Bradford's voice came from his earpiece. "I'm receiving an incoming call from the Council."

"Really," the Commander stated, exchanging a look with Van Doorn. "Put them through."

"Yes, Commander."

"What is it?" Van Doorn asked with a frown.

The Commander walked to face the screen at the back of his office. "The Council. It seems like they want to talk."

"About what, I wonder," Van Doorn commented, walking up beside him. "I could see it once word of the peace talks came out or Taiwan announced our alliance. But now?"

"They don't know about the Ethereal yet," the Commander added. "So they might just be calling to offer congratulations on our assault of the alien base."

"Maybe," Van Doorn conceded. "But the Council typically doesn't call to simply offer congratulations."

The screen flashed and immediately displayed the familiar figure cloaked in blue shadow. "Commander," he began with an inclination of his head. "The Council would first like to offer…congratulations…for your recent victory over the aliens. What you discovered has been…illuminating."

"Appreciated, Speaker," the Commander answered cordially. "We know what the aliens plan to do to us. Hopefully this can inspire the…reluctant…councilors to consider what is most important to humanity."

"It is certainly causing some to…reevaluate," the Speaker revealed. Really. That was interesting. Well, if so, good. If they would drop the pointless feud with him and realize that the aliens were the biggest threat, he'd happily work with them. It would have been useful from the beginning, but better late than never.

"I'm pleased to hear that," he told the Speaker. "Preventing acts like those are what we should be focusing on. Not politics or the past."

"That particular topic, while needed, isn't why you have been contacted," the Speaker redirected. "There has been a disturbance near the French-German border. We are currently unsure as to the nature of it, but there are clear alien signatures, as well as those associated with EXALT."

The Commander frowned. "They are still allied, as far as we know. What kind of disturbance?"

"Again, difficult to pinpoint," the Speaker emphasized. "But we suspect that one or both are involved in a conflict of some kind."

Van Doorn and him exchanged a look. Well, that was interesting. If EXALT and the aliens were fighting…hmm, maybe Director Vyandar wasn't as idiotic as she'd insinuated. "Send me the location," the Commander said. "We'll send a team immediately."

"Thank you, Commander," the Speaker said, inclining his head again. "Good luck. We will be watching."

The screen cut out and the Commander immediately turned to his desk. "Have Bradford order a skyranger to prepare," he ordered. "I'll put together a team."

"It seems awfully soon for EXALT to pull something like this," Van Doorn noted as he picked up his tablet. "It's unlike their methodic nature, even if it benefits us."

"Perhaps the aliens got tired of their pretend alliance," the Commander shrugged. "But whatever the case may be, I won't complain."

"True enough," Van Doorn agreed with a nod. "I imagine the soldiers will be ready to exact vengeance on the aliens."

"Oh, I'm sure," the Commander agreed, as he looked over the list of soldiers. "Let's make it happen."

Location Unknown

How the hell could any of this exist?

That was what Latrell had been trying to figure out ever since he'd woken up, bound in what he could only assume was an armored truck and headed…somewhere. EXALT. It had to be them, and they'd somehow managed to capture them despite all the precautions he'd taken. Deep down, a part of him hadn't quite believed it when Annette had described a secret organization based in Antarctica that manipulated the world.

He'd unconsciously begun putting together what he had considered a more reasonable explanation, which was probably a well-organized crime ring or a black-ops government site. A government-run operation would actually explain how they had people within the government as well as their apparent funding and skill.

What had thrown a wrench in that theory was that Annette could read minds, which was something he still was wrapping his head around. But as he looked around the armored car, with the six men and women all wearing white bandannas and plate armor, he was becoming more and more convinced Annette was completely right.

At the moment, he was still pretending to be dazed, thinking maybe they'd drop their guard if they thought he didn't pose a threat. Well, whoever they were, he knew exactly what was going to happen next. The only reason he was being kept alive was to keep Annette in line. They couldn't control her, so they needed insurance; namely him.

He wasn't afraid of dying; no, what made him concerned was that they would torture him to get her to cooperate. He wasn't trained to resist that, and he supposed it didn't matter at all. They weren't going to ask him questions, they would just use his pain to get her to cooperate. And she would, he knew that. No matter what he said she would do what they wanted, she didn't abandon people she cared about when she had options.

"So she tried attacking you?" One of the soldiers, a man, asked.

"'Tried' being the key word," another man, with a distinctly British accent answered smugly. "The two snipers did the trick; completely disoriented her. She really does burst into purple energy though, kinda unsettling, I'll admit."

Latrell could agree. Seeing Annette wrap her arm in that energy while the skin melted and warped around it was something he wouldn't forget, nor wanted to. He wondered how she could endure it, though by the sounds of things, it'd seem that she hadn't had much of a choice in the matter.

"So what can she actually do?" Another asked, a woman this time. "Control people and shoot purple energy?"

"That we know of," the British man confirmed. "But we don't know exactly what. Why do you think she's still sedated?"

"True," the first voice agreed. "Though I'm more worried we're going to kill her with an overdose at this point. That's enough sedatives for a tiger."

"Better safe than sorry," the British man said, sounding like he was shrugging. "Don't know about you, but I'd like to keep my mind."

Sedatives. Right. And it sounded like a lot of them. He supposed the question was if weakening them would be enough to wake her up. Her body had probably been changed, so it might actually make more to keep her down. If he could just pull a wire or tube…

The truck slammed to a stop, and he took the moment to shake himself awake and look around blearily. The back of the truck back was as he'd suspected. An open middle with opposing benches, three soldiers per side. He was at the back of the truck, wrists and ankles bound and beside him a half-meter or so away was a sedated Annette.

She at least looked like she was sleeping peacefully, her chest rising and falling while the machine beside her beeped at regular intervals as it injected the drugs into her wrists. All he needed to do was pull out one of them and it might weaken it enough to wake her up. The only problem was that there was no way he could do that without being noticed.

At least one of them was looking at him at all times, so he couldn't scoot closer without someone noticing. So for now he just stayed in place. "Will someone go see what the holdup is?" A brown-haired woman he'd heard earlier asked in exasperation.

One of the black-haired men sighed. "I'll be right back."

For a brief moment, no one was looking at him and he scooted a few inches closer to her. By the time someone looked back, he was completely relaxed as if nothing had happened. "You're awfully quiet," the British man said, eyeing him warily. "Nothing to say?"

"I'd ask you to let us go," Latrell answered sarcastically. "But it'd probably be a waste of breath. I know how you kind of people operate."

"Blame your girlfriend for dragging you into this," he replied. "Our orders were to take anyone with her into custody. That includes you, this time."

"Yes, I should definitely blame the woman who ran away after being experimented on," Latrell snarled. "Flawless logic there. Truly."

"Cut the snark," the woman growled. "She's dangerous. She isn't the same woman you knew."

"Who you kidnapped in the first place!" Latrell responded.

"You can't understand," she sighed. "It's impossible."

Latrell didn't even bother to respond to that. What really could they say that would explain any of this? How could they possibly justify it? He was thinking up a suitable retort when the ground shook and the unmistakable sound of an explosion reached his ears. He smiled. "Sounds like you have company."

Three of the soldiers stood. "You two stay here," the British man ordered as he opened the door and jumped out with two others flanking him. Latrell knew this would be his one opportunity and quickly slid across near Annette and tried maneuvering his bound hands to try and find one of the tubes. His fingers grasped one and he gave a sharp pull.

Realizing his time was up, he quickly slid back to his first position as the two remaining soldiers knelt in the middle of the truck, their weapons trained on the door as more explosions and the sounds of weapons fire entered the truck. He glanced over at Annette, still sleeping peacefully and hoped that she'd wake up sooner than later.

He'd prefer not to not die in this tomb.

Skyranger, En Route to Alien Activity

Patricia was praying this would be a smooth engagement. She sincerely hoped that the Ethereal wasn't behind this activity, and was skeptical she'd be able to do much if it was. Even without that potential issue, another was that the majority of her squad were newer recruits. She'd worked several times now with Jamali and Lesedi, but this would be the first time she'd worked with the rest.

They all seemed stable though, if eager to exact vengeance for the recent deaths, both from the base and Ethereal. She felt grim determination and resolve from each of them, all ready and willing for her orders.

"So what do we do if that thing shows up again?" Renato asked. The Brazilian had been quiet for the most part and spoke with a clear accent, but otherwise seemed perfectly capable.

"Retreat," Patricia answered immediately. "We need to have a plan to kill it. Right now we'd have no chance."

"Couldn't you block it's attempts?" Garen asked, one of the two Armenians on the squad.

"I'm sure it's possible," Patricia answered with a shrug. "But I'm not sure I'm strong enough, and I'd prefer not to test that on the battlefield."

"A wise choice," Veronika stated with a nod. "Study our enemy, then slit it's throat and kick it back down to hell." She brought a finger over her throat for emphasis, sounding awfully proud of herself. Patricia bit her lip as she tried not to chuckle. Veronika was almost a walking Russian woman stereotype and she found it kind of funny.

The woman was at least as tall as her, and probably much stronger. She spoke with a heavy accent and seemed to sincerely enjoy the prospect of killing aliens, or anything else for that matter. Still, she seemed like a nice woman, provided you didn't make her angry, which was a distinct possibility. She held very strong opinions on certain topics.

Somehow, Patricia wasn't surprised that the alloy cannon was a favorite of the volatile woman.

"Heads up, Grizzly Team," the Commander interjected. "You're getting close to the area provided by the Council. Initial reports are pointed to a possible EXALT-alien conflict."

"Huh," Lesedi commented lightly. "Should really get involved if that's the case?"

"It's tempting," the Commander acknowledged with some amusement. "But no. We can't have either group free to do as they please. It appears that the area of the conflict is near a massive dam. Big Sky will observe the situation and drop you behind the alien forces, as they will be the biggest threat."

"Sounds like a plan," Patricia acknowledged. "Should we attempt capture of surviving EXALT personnel?"

"Only once the fighting is done."

"Copy that."

"Good luck," the Commander finished. "Citadel Commander, out."

They flew in silence for a few minutes until Big Sky spoke. "I've got a visual," he began, then whistled. "Wow. They're really going to war. EXALT has a small army fighting at one end of the dam. The aliens have set down two UFOs on the other side cutting them off."

"Who's winning?" Jamali asked curiously, leaning forward in his seat.

"Hard to tell," Big Sky answered. "But EXALT seem to be holding their own. The aliens are sending Mechtoids over now, so we'll see how long that lasts."

Ralph Tritagor checked the safety of his rifle. The Marine Raider enjoyed calibrating his weapons on his own, claiming they always worked better for him that way. Patricia didn't particularly care as long as he followed orders. "I think they're in for a surprise," he said, his voice a higher pitch than she would have expected. "If they're sending Mechtoids, that means they still likely have outsiders in reserve."

"Good point," Patricia agreed, nodding approvingly towards him. "We'll clear out the UFOs on the end first, then move forward."

"I'll set you down on top of one," Big Sky told her. "The dam also has watchtowers of sorts throughout the road. Lesedi might like that."

Patricia imagined the South African woman grinning at that. "Oh yes, I would."

"Then get ready to deploy," Big Sky stated as they immediately dipped. "We're coming in hot!"

"Get ready!" Patricia ordered as the skyranger lights turned a hard red. She could sense alien and human minds below her and the contorting emotions accompanying them. She stood and headed towards the ramp, readying her autorifle for the assault. She could hear laser fire and explosions the lower they got.

The skyranger gently came to a rest, and the ramp opened up revealing a road under siege with explosions, laser fire and screams. A highway of hell, if she could describe it poetically. Ropes fell down, giving her the opportunity to give the order. "Deploy!" She ordered and charged out and down into the warzone.

French-German Border

The unnatural pulsing of the alien UFO began the instant her boots hit the shimmering metal, immediately boring into her mind. She was fairly certain she was more sensitive to it since she was a psionic. Everyone else hit the top of the UFO a few seconds later, their weapons raised and Patricia took a quick moment to observe the situation.

Chaos was the optimal description. The highway was littered with crashed cars, trucks and semis, all strewn haphazardly across the road. A good portion were either on fire or almost scorched beyond all recognition. There were no civilians alive she could see, either they'd somehow escaped or were corpses.

The aliens hadn't skimped on deploying their most dangerous units either. She counted the skies filled with at least half a dozen floaters, two cyberdisks accompanied by twice that number of drones. On the ground were clearly a large number of Mutons and at the minimum of three mechtoids. Although one mechtoid was much…different than the others. It was a least a quarter taller, appears more armored and seemed to have some sort of missile system attached to its shoulder.

Wonderful.

She quickly sensed the inside of the UFO and smiled. Sectoids. Pilots most likely. Well, unfortunately for them she knew every possible weakness they had. She'd been inside the Mind of a Hive Commander, a few mindless drones were nothing.

"We ready?" Veronika asked tensely as a rocket slammed into one of the cyberdisks, which began leaking yellow fluid.

"Almost," Patricia muttered distractedly. "There are twelve sectoids, six per UFO. I can deal with them, but there may be outsiders."

"We're ready," Ralph assured her as he knelt by the edge.

She nodded and clenched her hand into a fist as she entered the minds of the first group. Now what would be the best way to deal with them? She could debilitate them with pain, or force them to commit suicide…but why do that when she could order them to do whatever she wanted.

Go to the mechtoids, she ordered, imitating the voice, image and pattern of the Hive Commander, along with an image of the mechtoid. And kill them. Afterwards kill yourselves.

Simple and straightforward and she knew that her orders would enter the deepest corners of their minds. She repeated the same procedure with the second group and returned to the real world. "The sectoids are going to be coming out," she stated, walking up to the edge. "Don't kill them. They should help take out the mechtoids."

Sure enough a few seconds later a dozen sectoids scampered out of the UFOs and towards the battle. Jamali shook his head in disbelief. "Wow."

"Drop down now!" Patricia ordered as she lowered herself onto the cracked concrete and took a position by the first UFO entrance. The rest of them followed suit within seconds, Veronika taking the opposite position.

Green plasma fire spat out and Patricia gritted her teeth and risked peeking inside the UFO and wasn't surprised to see two outsiders in cover behind the piloting consoles blasting away. Patricia would prefer not to destroy the UFO itself, but some damaged equipment was acceptable.

"Ralph! Switch with Veronika!" She ordered as she readied her autorifle. "Then suppress the left one. I'll get the right. Veronika and Yeva flank and kill them. Everyone else enter and suppress!"

"Copy!" Veronika shouted and Ralph took her place and the rest of them lined up behind them, waiting for the word. Patricia took a deep breath and let the world become less vibrant, noisy and distracting, instead focusing on the power within her. She tuned herself to the minds of her squad, their senses, their feelings, and brought everything into one cohesive union.

It was getting easier.

The plasma fire stopped for one seconds and that was all she needed. She spun around the entrance and directed a deadly stream of Gauss fire on the outsider and Ralph completed that directly alongside her, all in perfect harmony. The rest of the soldiers had already started moving when she did and were inside the UFO in seconds.

Jamali, Garen and Renato took positions behind the short alloy barriers within the ship and added to the barrage, their minds connected as they systematically locked down the outsider preventing it from moving even an inch without being utterly annihilated. As it was the sheer volume of fire was shredding the consoles they were hiding behind.

Veronika and Yeva dashed right behind the elevated control deck where the outsiders were trapped. Yeva fired a blast which somehow missed the leftmost outsider, but did force it to back up to deal with the new threat. It was immediately hit by Garen and Ralph, the force of the rounds cracking its head and back.

Veronika fired two quick bursts at the other outsider, the first of which hit its chest which sparked and cracked, and the second volley slammed into it's head, shattering it into pieces as the supercharged metal shards eviscerated it like cheap steel. Yeva fired another volley at the now exposed outsider which slammed into its upper chest and neck. Everyone had turned their fire to the remaining outsider and within seconds it was torn apart by the hundreds of rounds directed into it.

The instant the outsider began disintegrating all of them were immediately reloading. At this point Patricia would have let the mental influence fade, but she held on for the moment. Ignoring the mounting pressure in her brain, she immediately directed everyone to the next UFO and they all began moving towards it in perfect synchronization.

She needed to become more powerful, and that would only come with practice.

None of them were surprised when Lesedi pulled out a smoke grenade and tossed it towards the entrance of the second UFO. The instant the outsiders charged outside all of them were taking positions behind burned cars and highway dividers and unleashing a hail of fire towards the crystalline beings.

One of them was grazed several times by gauss fire but managed to get into cover behind a truck. The other took position behind the UFO entrance itself and began returning fire. Patricia began to feel the pressure became unbearable and dropped her autorifle and focused on maintaining the connection just a little longer.

Her fists clenched, she felt it stabilize and observed Ralph and Renato begin laying down suppressive fire on the outsiders, while Jamali and Garen pulled out twin symbiote grenades and tossed them towards the two outsiders at the same time. At the same time Veronika and Yeva took advantage of the soon-to-be pinned outsiders and charged around the vehicles for flank shots.

The outsiders were too slow to react to the rapidly changing battlefield. The one by the UFO itself tried to run and was immediately hit with gauss fire and a mistiming of the grenade immediately trapped it out in the open and it was annihilated by one direct headshot from Lesedi. The other stayed in place, apparently resigning itself to being trapped. But that didn't save it from the twin alloy cannons of Yeva and Veronika, both firing at the same time to ensure it was killed.

With that done Patricia finally let the connection break and staggered as the realities of the world entered her at blinding speeds. Her vision briefly swam and she stumbled against the car she'd been taking cover behind. Everything seemed so much louder as it all rushed back into her. Someone helped her up. Jamali. Yes, that's who she felt.

She took a moment to regain control, closed her eyes and opened them again as the squad gathered around her. "You ok?" Garen asked, concern emanating from him.

"Fine," she breathed as she turned her attention forward. "That just takes a lot out of me."

"What the hell was that," Ralph asked incredulously. "That was…I've never experienced anything like it. That was you?"

"Yes," Patricia grunted as she raised her autorifle. "I was helping you."

"Ask questions later," the Commander interjected. "You might want to end this battle soon. It appears that the explosions are weakening the dam. If it gets worse, it might break."

"Great," Patricia muttered. "Let's get to work. Lesedi, get to one of those watchtowers."

"On it!" She confirmed and began dashing towards the nearest watchtower. Patricia motioned everyone behind her and they moved forward. EXALT was still putting up a good fight, but the amount of fire and explosions had definitely diminished. Patricia saw that the sectoids she'd directed had died, though not before seemingly taking out a mechtoid. One cyberdisks was still in the air, will most of the drones.

The floaters were dead from what she could see, but there were still at least eight mutons pressing the attack. The massive mechtoid was holding back, and had turned around to presumably face them. It raised it's weapons confidently as they approached. But it contained a sectoid, and sectoids were nothing to her.

"Lesedi, begin targeting the mutons," she ordered as she stopped walking and extended her hand towards the massive mechtoid. "I'll take care of this. Kill it and move on."

She gathered the power around her and pushed into the mind of the mechtoid, or what was left of it. It was interesting, far different than a MEC which was the easiest comparison. It was a complete sectoid mind, not diminished in any way from a regular mind. And that made it vulnerable. Lower your weapons. She sent, pressing that instruction into its mind.

The massive alien hesitated and then did so. React to nothing. She emphasized as her squad opened fire on the mechtoid. She locked down it's mind as it struggled to react as the rounds tore it's mechanics apart, ravaged it's body and brought with it debilitating pain. Yes, the sectoid encased it this metal shell still felt pain.

And she used it against it, amplifying everything it felt. The slightest scratch felt like boiling acid, a direct hit was like getting amputated with anesthetic. The alien screamed in her mind and audibly, the shriek high-pitched and nothing she'd ever heard for an alien.

Well, except the Hive Commander.

It's misery was finally ended when Yeva fired an alloy cannon blast into it's face, turning the flesh and bone into mush. Patricia felt the connection cut and observed the sparking mechanical wreck fall to the ground with a massive thud. The cyberdisk above her exploded from EXALT fire, and the drone closest to it was shot out of the sky by Lesedi.

Patricia grinned as she looked at the pitiful remaining alien force. Lesedi had killed two mutons, another had succumbed to EXALT fire and two more had been killed by presumably Garen and Renato. The remaining three mutons were scrambling to find somewhere to run, terror threatening to consume them as they became boxed it.

The remaining mechtoid was similarly affected, but it did it's best to keep firing at them. Something she put an end to by taking control of its mind the same as the other. Kill them, she directed, forcing it to aim it's weapons at the mutons. Two plasma blasts from its cannons annihilated one, Veronika killed another seconds later.

Lesedi shot the final drone out of the sky and the combined fire of Ralph and Renato killed the last one. Patricia kept ahold of the mechtoid's mind, keeping it idle as the battlefield became quiet. Alien corpses and wrecks surrounded them, and she could see a large amount of corpses where EXALT had established themselves.

Her left hand held up as a physical reminder she was controlling the mechtoid, she walked towards the EXALT line which began backing away as she had the mechtoid stand behind her. They raised their weapons as her squad came up and took positions. There were only fifteen of them left, and she could feel their apprehension and fear.

They wouldn't surrender. She could sense that much. Afraid they might be, but surrender was one word they didn't know. There was only one way this would end. She prepared to give the order when the sound of a door being ripped off its hinges broke the silence. Patricia watched in surprise as a woman sheathed in purple energy jumped out, her face contorted in fury, her eyes glowing a vibrant purple.

"She's free!" One of the EXALT soldiers shouted. "Kill her!"

They immediately began firing at the woman, XCOM forgotten. She snarled and began attacking them. Patricia watched the fight in wonder as she witnessed the woman literally tear the soldiers apart. So, another psionic. That explained a lot.

"Should we help?" Garen asked, walking up.

"No," Patricia shook her head, glancing up at the entranced mechtoid. "I think she's got it under control."

More importantly, it seemed she had a score to settle with them, and what she was seeing was any indication, Patricia did not want to risk stopping her.

"Kill the mechtoid," she ordered, as she kept watching. "I don't think we'll need it."

Several Minutes Earlier

It all came to her in a rush. Sound, sight and feeling. She immediately felt her surroundings. Latrell. Two others. Concerned, but not at her. She attempted to move and realized she was bound. The rest of it came flooding back. Their escape. Stopping to fix a tire. Latrell being taken out and subsequently her.

EXALT.

They had her. Or would have if she hadn't woken up.

She suspected she had Latrell to thank for her awakening. Stupid of EXALT not to consider him a threat. He'd done his part.

Now it was time to do hers.

She focused on one of the soldiers who was in the vehicle. Something was happening outside, but she didn't care. Everything was focused on controlling this one man. She focused on it with the subtlety of a train, impressing only one major command on his mind. Kill your friend and free us.

"Hey?" The soldier said, her voice sounding concerned. "Are you alright."

"Fine," he responded, her control devoiding his voice of any emotion. "Nothing to worry about."

She smiled as she heard a pistol shot and a few seconds later she felt herself being turned over and the restraints being taken off, the soldier performing his instructions with no hesitation. Once Latrell was free as well, she stood and faced the soldier who was standing in the middle of the truck. Any effects of the sedatives were wiped away as she gathered her power.

"Thank you," she told Latrell, letting herself become enveloped in the hate she felt for these people. "I'll finish this."

"What are you going to do?" He asked, swallowing.

Her skin split apart as her arms were enveloped by acidic energy that writhed around her. She let go of the soldier's mind whose eyes filled with terror as he realized what had happened. "I'm going to kill every single one of them," she hissed, drawing the power into her hands and thrusting out.

A deep purple wave threw the man into the truck door with enough force that it blew it off its hinges and into the front of another truck. The man's limbs were contorted and it looked like his chest was crushed. It didn't matter, the impact alone had killed him. Annette leapt out and immediately saw a large number of EXALT soldiers.

Surprise and terror leaked off them and she drew on that. They were right to be afraid of her, and now all of them were going to die. "She's free!" One of them shouted as all of them scrambled back through the street littered with burning vehicles. "Kill her!" Annette snarled and thrust her arm toward the offending man who was thrown far into the air and off the bridge they were on.

Annette immediately charged toward the nearest guard and grabbed his throat, turning him into a human shield. Her energy-encased hand burned through the thick cloth around his neck, burning his throat. They tried encircling her, firing small laser bursts, but it was too late for them. She gathered more energy into her hand and slammed them together, creating a shockwave that blew all of them back and to the ground.

She then focused more energy to the hand that was holding the soldier, and thrived from the pain she felt from him as the energy ripped him apart. A few seconds later she tossed his ripped corpse to the ground. Annette then directed the energy shears towards a small group of three soldiers who were struggling to get up.

They stood no chance as the energy eviscerated their weak bodies, leaving only three bloody corpses on the ground. All the soldiers she could have at least tried to control, but she wasn't interested in that right now. They needed to die by her hand. Two more were raising weapons and she formed a ball of crackling energy in her hand and thrust it towards them.

The woman instantly died as it hit her, and once it did, she expanded the ball to explode, turning the upper body of the woman to meaty chunks and blowing most of the man's face off. A laser wildly missed from behind her, and she whirled on the source, another soldier by the edge of the bridge, frantically trying to line up another shot. She simply sent another burst of energy his way and threw him off to his death.

The last group of soldiers were actually running further into the bridge, towards some more people in armor. But they seemed distinctly different. And weren't helping. Enemies? It didn't matter, if they attacked her, they'd die to. As it stood now, Annette extended her arms towards the fleeing soldiers, purple energy wrapping around their bodies forcing them to collapse to the ground, writhing in agony.

She let the energy continue ravaging them as she approached slowly. She wanted to make it last, so they would have something of a taste of what she'd endured. Satisfaction and joy filled her as she watched the soldiers die a slow, painful death. They were still alive, but everything within them was ripped apart and they would die within a minute at most. Any more and she risked killing them outright.

Not good enough.

She ceased the flow of energy and let their bleeding bodies shut themselves down on her own and turned her attention to the last soldier, a woman cowering close to the edge of the bridge. Her weapon was clearly tossed away, as if that would save her. Encased in purple flame, Annette walked slowly towards her, enjoying her terror that practically dripped off her.

"Stop! Please!" The woman begged. "I was just following orders!"

"You were," Annette growled as she grabbed her throat with a glowing hand. "And you will die because of that."

The woman screamed as Annette directed the writhing energy into her body, cutting, slicing, and crushing her skin, organs and bones into smaller pieces. Blood spurted from her multiple wounds onto her, but Annette didn't care. She kept the speed her body was torn apart slow, so this woman would feel every part of her slowly being destroyed.

She didn't know how much time had passed. Minutes or hours, she didn't know, nor care. The woman was still alive, and would be screaming had she a throat left. At this point she was barely more than a bloody, blinded and hairless husk of a human. She would die soon, but she still had a couple minutes before her body shut down completely.

Annette let go of her neck and let the body of the female EXALT soldier fall to the ground. Confident she'd never rise, she turned her attention to the other group of soldiers, one of whom was coming up to her. Her red armor was scratched and covered in dust, soot and alien blood, but it didn't seem to be EXALT.

"You can stop now," she told her quietly, raising her hands slowly to take off her helmet. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Prove it," Annette snarled, raising a glowing hand in warning.

The woman took off her helmet and tucked it under her arm. She actually didn't seem that much older than her. Her chestnut hair was put up, and her face was smooth and seemed concerned. Like she cared.

"I'm with XCOM," she continued. "We're fighting EXALT, Annette. That's your name, yes?"

XCOM.

They'd actually managed to find them. After everything they'd gone through, they'd actually done it. Annette let the power she was holding onto fade and gasped as it receded. Which was then she realized something. "How do you know who I am?" She asked, wincing as the wounds on her arms became apparent.

The woman raised her left hand, the back of it facing her. Annette watched with amazement as it shimmered with a faint purple energy. "Because I'm like you, Annette," she assured her. After a few seconds she let it fade and let her hand drop to her side.

"You're like me," Annette repeated numbly, not quite believing what was happening. "Then you know what it's like…"

"All too well," she said, extending a hand. "I'm Patricia, XCOM Psion. We can help you, and your boyfriend who's coming out of the truck now."

Annette gratefully took her hand. "Thank you," she whispered. "Please, get us somewhere safe."

"Don't worry," Patricia assured her as she led them back across the road. "You won't have to run or hide anymore. You're safe now."

After-Action Report

Operation: Deluge

Personnel:

Grizzly 1 (Squad Overseer): Psion Patricia Trask

Status: Active

Kills: 4

Grizzly 2: Specialist Jamali Muhammad

Status: Active

Kills: 1

Grizzly 3: Specialist Lesedi Iminathi

Status: Active

Kills: 4

Grizzly 4: Specialist Veronika Slava

Status: Active

Kills: 3

Grizzly 5: Specialist Ralph Tritagor

Status: Active

Kills: 2

Grizzly 6: Specialist Renato Caio

Status: Active

Kills: 1

Grizzly 7: Specialist Yeva Hurik

Status: Active

Kills: 3

Grizzly 8: Specialist Garen Sevan

Status: Active

Kills: 0

Artifacts Recovered:

-2x Mechtoid Wrecks (Moderate Condition)

-1x Enhanced Mechtoid Wreck (Moderate Condition)

-12x Sectoid Corpses (Moderate Condition)

-6x Floater Wrecks (Moderate Condition)

-2x Cyberdisk Wrecks (Moderate Condition)

-4x Drone Wrecks (Moderate Condition)

-16x Muton Corpses (Moderate Condition)

-2x Alien Power Sources

-500 Alien Alloys (Assorted)

-134 Alien Weapon Fragments

-40x Assorted EXALT Weapons

-35x EXALT Soldier Corpses

-6x MELD Canisters (Recovered from UFOs)

-Assorted EXALT Equipment

Personnel Recovered:

-Annette Durand

-Latrell Moreau