The idea to write this actually came quite a bit into my play through, so the missions up until the assault on the alien base will have quite a bit of them 'made up', as I can't remember them properly, I'll try to keep them as close to how I remember them, but the descriptions will probably get better after the base assault. There will probably also be a few jumps, as I can only remember a few missions, so the progress of probably a dozen missions, will be compressed into probably 4 missions.
The skyranger set down, and they undid the buckles holding them in the seats, and began moving out. Aya (Psycho) leading the charge, followed by William (Crash), with Keith (Scotch) just behind him, and Maxim (Vampire) bringing up the rear. "A... Burger King?" Maxim asked upon sighting the restaurant in front of them "Seriously"
"It's the aliens that decided to attack the place" William pointed out "Vampire, take up position behind that lamp post, you should have a good line of sight"
"I really don't like that name"
"Tough, it's yours now, get used to it" William said, as he and Aya ran to take cover behind some pillars in front of the restaurant. Keith taking up position nearby. Maxim sighed, and jogged over to the lamp post, he got behind it, and took out his sniper rifle, scanning the store front.
"I can't spot anyone" he said
"Psycho, head inside see if you can spot any" William ordered
"On it" Aya replied, running up to the store, shotgun in hand. Taking position next to the door, and looking in "Nothing"
"They must be hiding behind-" Maxim began
"Sectoids at the back" Aya interupted, whipping up a pistol and firing a shot, which connected with a wall. William ran over to the window accross from the sectoids, leveling his machine gun and spraying a hail of bullets at them, the sectoid ducking down just in time to avoid being turned into swiss cheese. Keith took position on the other side of the door to Aya, opening the door to give himself a clear shot.
"More on the left" Maxim called as 3 sectoids came into view around the side of the store, firing a shot, which the alien narrowly avoided. Maxim noticed they were gathered together, hiding behind a car "They're grouped up"
"Got 'em" William shouted, dropping his machine gun, and pulling a rocket launcher from his back, firing across the store and striking the car, igniting the fuel and detonating the car. The aliens were consumed in a ball of fire which also took out a good portion of the wall of the building.
"Woah!" Aya shouted as she did a forward roll to avoid a shot from a sectoid, as she ran to the other side of the store to get a better shot, just managing to dodge the green beam that flew over her, passing through the space that her head had just been. She came out of her roll against a corner, leaned over the window cill (which no longer had any glass) and pumping a shell into the alien, it's head now a lump of red meat. The last sectoid came running, jumping over the window cill, and turning to fire at Aya, who was returning to cover after firing her shot, but Keither turned, and fired a burst, striking it straight in the chest, killing it instantly.
"Great job out there" Bradford called over the coms "we can only detect 2 more aliens with the censors"
"They're probably hiding with the rubbish" Maxim said
"Alright, Scotch, you go around the left with Vampire. Psycho, wait up for me. We'll corner them" William said as he vaulted the window cill, and ran over to join Aya, who was in the process of re-loading another shell into her shotgun.
"You're doing pretty well" Keith said as they met up behind the husk of the destroyed car "You haven't freaked out yet anyway"
"This is all happening so fast"
"Told you, the fly here takes hours, but we're rarely here for more than an hour, and most of that is recovering civilians. But come on. You stay here, keep an eye out"
"Alright" Maxim stood up, steadying the rifle on a bit of roof that remained of the car, and looking through the scope as Keith ran up, and took position behind another car further up. "Wait. I think i can see someone hiding behind a truck"
"Alien?" Aya asked
"It looks human. But i can't be sure, i can only see a leg and a bit of the torso"
"Keep them in your sights, we don't want to take any chances" William responded "Psycho, come with me, but keep low"
Maxim kept looking through the scope, it looked human, definatly, but something was different, it just seemed... Stretched? Like someone had taken a human, and pulled them from opposite sides. A bit too long and a bit too thin. But he didn't want to jump to conclusions, it might just be a very tall, skinny man.
"Hey! You there!" Maxim heard William shout, the figure in his scopes turned, and he got a look at it's right arm as it turned, it had one of those plasma guns on it's wrist. Before he even registered what he was doing, he had pulled the trigger, striking the device on the wrist, the figure fell to the side from the force of the shot, and the pair of sunglasses it had been wearing fell off. It's head swivled towards him, and he saw it's eyes. They were slitted, like a cat or a snake. It held up it's wrist, and there was a green glow, followed by a flash, and when the light faded, the alien was lying dead, with it's arm gone.
Maxim heard a loud whirr and a boom at the same time, followed by Bradford calling over the coms "All contacts down, nice job. You just need to round up the civilians, and then you can return to base"
Half an hour later Maxim was sitting at a table inside the runined Burger King. They had sorted out all of the civlians. All it took was to get the weird green goo stuff off of them, and they'd get up, dazed and disorientated, but unharmed. Keith would give them a check-up, make sure they were alright, then they'd be let go, some left to, presumably, go home, but other's stayed around, probably wanting to stay with the soldiers in case of more aliens.
The other's were finishing up with the last few civilians, and Maxim had just finished dragging the bodies of the aliens back into the skyranger, apparently Dr. Vahlen wanted the bodies for research, especially that new one they'd encountered, it had been grisly work, Maxim had almost thrown up several times when a part would fall off as he dragged the body (The worst one had been the Sectoid that'd had it's head pulped by Aya's shotgun, the head has slipped off as he dragged it around the store, and he'd had to carry the head to the skyranger).
He heard voices coming from nearby, and he got up and went to investigate, keeping his pistol loose in it's holster. He could hear a female voice, presumably Aya's, and a male voice he didn't recognise. He went into an alley, and poked his head around the corner corner, and saw Aya and a man with Buzz-cut black hair. "Why are you here? Didn't you know there was aliens nearby?" Aya asked, but not in her usually monotone, she was speaking normally.
"Yeah, i knew there were aliens, but then i saw you guys arrive, so i decided to stick around to see the results" The man had a slight German accent.
"What's this you were doing?" Aya asked, motioning at a section of wall Maxim couldn't quite see, he didn't know why he was sneaking, but he just felt like he'd be interupting.
"Thats my art. I gotta show the aliens what i think about 'em"
Maxim moved to try and get a look at the wall, but ended up kicking a can that was on the ground, which then got launched into a trashcan, nocking it down on it's side, making a tremendous racket. Maxim had no idea how he kicked that hard, he couldn't kick like that when he'd tried football. Realizing he'd be found, Maxim decided to try and play it off like he just arrived "Hey, i heard voices and thought i'd come find out who was talking" he said as he rounded the corner.
"Oh, it's you" Aya replied, holstering the pistol she'd drawn when she'd heard the noise.
Maxim got a look at the wall Aya had pointed at earlier, and saw a drawing spray painted on it, a picture of an alien (a Sectoid) head inside a red circle, with a red line going sideways across the alien, there was a section on the circle missing, probably the part the man had been working on when Aya had found him. There was also several cans of spray paint scattered on the ground around it. And a couple pieces of carboard, probably the stencils he used. "What's this" Maxim asked pointing at the wall
"It's just my little 'Screw you' to the aliens" The man replied
Aya turned to the man "How are you with a gun?" she asked
"What? Uh, well, i know how to use a handgun" he replied
"Follow me" she said, turned, and began walking back towards the skyranger
The man turned and looked at Maxim, who shrugged "Don't look at me"
"But aren't you with her?"
"It's my first day"
"Oh, uh"
"I think it's best if we follow her"
"Hey, whats your name" Maxim asked as they walked back, following Aya
"Karl. Karl Wagner. You?"
"Maxim Popov"
"You're with X-COM?"
"Yep"
"You're new though"
"Yeah, i joined about a week ago"
"How'd you join"
"I applied to a thing"
"I thought you had to be picked"
"So did i"
They made it back to the Burger King and Aya turned around "Come on"
"Where are we going?" Karl asked
"HQ" Aya replied
"Wait... What"
"You seem fun, i think the commander will like you" She was still speaking in a normal voice, but Maxim could hear it slipping into Monotone
"Seriously?"
"Of course"
"Is she serious?" He asked Maxim
"I don't think she jokes"
"I need to get my stuff" Karl said
"I'll help you" Maxim replied
A few minutes later, they were in the Skyranger, Karl strapped into the seat Aya had been in on the way there, Maxim was in his seat, and Aya was standing at the door to the cockpits while they waited for William and Keith to return from recovering civilians.
"This is intense" Karl said from opposite him
"I know" Maxim replied "This is actually quite like how i was picked up"
"Didn't you say you applied?"
"I never thought i'd actually get in, but when i finished the simulation they were using to test recruits, he just picked me up, and drove me to HQ"
"No explanation?"
"Not really, no"
"Woah"
"Yeah. When you meet the commander, don't be worried, he's very...unorthodox. But he's a good guy"
"Hey, who's the new guy?" William called as he walked up with Keith, noticing Karl
"This is Keith" Maxim said
"Why is he here?" Keith asked
"I asked him to come with" Aya replied, back to her monotone. This seemed to suprise Karl, but he didn't say anything
"Alright then" William said, getting into his seat. Nothing else was said as they flew back to HQ.