I've been releasing these fairly quickly, but, they will probably slow down now, as half-tern is over, so I've got school again. Probably 1 or 2 a week like I said in, part 2, I think. And will then probably slow down again once we get past the base assault mission, since I'll have to do the game as well. If Maxim dies in that mission. I will be so annoyed. If that happens, this will either have to end, or carry on from another character. Hopefully neither of them will happen.
"That was a nice shot kid" William said as they entered the lounge, back at HQ "How did you know it was an alien?"
"When it turned I saw a thing on it's arm like the Sectoid's had"
"But how'd ya know shootin' it would cause it to blow?" Karl asked, he had been secretly watching the engagement from the alley before slinking off to do his art
"I didn't" Maxim replied "To be honest. I missed. I was aiming for the chest, but I hit the gun"
"And a good thing you did as well" A voice said from behind, and Maxim turned to see Dr. Vahlen walk in with a tablet in her hand "Some preliminary scans show the new aliens actually have no vital organs in the torso"
"Seriously?" Keith asked "How is that possible?"
"We're not sure, but it seems that, strangely enough, their vital organs are actually all confined to the cranium, and the arms"
"How does that work?" Keith puzzled
"We're not sure, this is just some preliminaries, after we fully dissect it we will know how it works"
"Why'd you come up here to tell us?" Aya asked "Normally you send an assistant with this"
"The Commander wanted me to bring your pick up to him"
"Personally?" Karl asked
"Well, he wanted me to perform some... psychiatric, tests first of course"
"Psychiatric?" Karl sounded scared
"Personality tests mostly"
"Oh. Alright then"
"Follow me" Vahlen looked at the tablet "Mr Wagner, is it?"
"I prefer Karl"
"Follow me"
Karl followed Dr. Vahlen out the room
"Hey, Aya, why'd you bring him anyway?" Keith asked
"He seemed fun, and had a beef with the aliens. Figured the Commander would like him" Aya replied
"Aya, you were talking... Strangely? When you were talking to him"
"Yes"
"Why"
"I don't want non-operatives to know my condition"
"Condition?"
"She's a psychopath kid" William answered "Didn't we tell you earlier"
"Well, yeah, I heard that, but... That's why your voice is so... that"
"Of course, I spoke, 'Normally' around Wagner before so that he wouldn't know" Aya put air quotes around Normal "I know people are unnerved by the way I talk, but, honestly, I don't care, I imitate it around non-operatives because the Commander asked me to. It's part of the stipulations to me being in X-COM"
"Stipulations?" Maxim asked
"Don't kill any non-aliens, don't injure any non-aliens, if possible, don't let non-operatives know about the condition, the basics"
"You needed those stipulations?" Maxim asked, suddenly feeling a little sick
"Not really, I'm not an idiot, I'm not going to do that here, I'd be caught immediately"
"Of course... I'm not feeling well"
"Well don't throw up on me. Last time I got vomit on my armour, Dr. Shen made me clean it myself"
"I'm gonna go to my room" Maxim said as he began leaving the lounge
"Take care of yourself kid" William called after him
Maxim put down the controller, he just wasn't in it right now. Normally he would've had at least 10 headshots by now, but he'd died 4 times, and got 3 kills. He needed to do something, or was going to begin some serious raging. But he didn't want to bump into Aya again. Then he heard a voice over a speaker in the room "Maxim Popov, please report to the Commander's Office". At least if he bumped into Aya now he had an excuse to ignore her.
5 Minutes later Maxim arrived at the door to the Commander's office, and nocked on the door, "Come in" came the voice of the Commander from inside
"Uh, Commander, you asked for me?" Maxim asked as he opened the door and walked in, and saw the Commander siting behind his desk, with Karl Wagner sitting on the other side
"Ah, Maxim, come on, sit down, would you like a coffee or something?" the Commander said, motioning to another chair
"Uh, no thanks" Maxim replied as he sat down "Why did you want me here?"
"I wanted to talk to you about Karl here"
"Hey" Karl said
"Hey" Maxim replied "Uh, What about him?"
"If he should join X-COM"
"Woah, wait, what" Karl asked "I can join X-COM"
"Potentially"
"Awesome"
"Uh, should we be doing this with him in here?" Maxim asked
"I don't mind" the Commander replied with a smile "But you're right of course. Karl, could you go collect something from Vahlen"
"Collect what?" Karl asked as he got out of his seat
"I don't know"
"Does Vahlen know I'm coming"
"Probably not"
"And I don't know what I'm collecting"
"I'm sure it'll be hilarious, now shoo"
Karl left, looking both confused and worried, quite a feat for a human face to pull off
"So, uh Commander, what did you want to ask me?"
"I already did. Should Karl join X-COM"
Maxim was stunned "I thought you were going to ask me questions about him, not just a straight up question like that"
"I already have the paperwork on him. Vahlen's report says he'll be suitable, I just want to know what you think"
"Well, uh. Yes?"
"You don't sound very sure"
"Well I don't know him, I don't know anything about the guy"
"You know enough"
"I don't even know if I'm good enough for X-COM and- Wait"
"Ah, you spotted my trap. Mwa ha ha" the Commander said, putting on an evil laugh
"You already decided to let him join haven't you"
"Of course"
"Then why'd you bring me here"
"To test You of course. Aya said you looked like you were about to vomit after you got back. It can be a symptom of shock"
"That? No, I was just freaking out about Aya"
"What about Aya?"
"The fact that she's a psychopath"
"You knew that already didn't you?"
"I didn't know you made her promise not to kill anyone"
"So you'd rather I not make her promise?"
"I'd rather you didn't need to"
"You know other people have complained about Aya. Shen, Vahlen, All of the council members. You know who haven't complained about her?"
"Who?"
"Me, Keith, and William"
"But"
"Keith and William have fought with her, and they trust her completely. I made her do those promises to appease the council, they weren't necessary, but it made them less mad"
"But, she's a psychopath"
"What do you know about Psychopathology"
"What?"
"It's a field of psychology for investigating mental disorders in the brain. OCD, Depression, Psychopath's"
"What does that have to do with anything"
"Well, you should do some research on it"
"What?"
"Psychopath's aren't want you think. What is your first thought when I say psychopath?"
"Uh"
"Answer honestly"
"Serial Killers?"
"That's what most people say as well, and that's the problem. Sociopath?"
"Is there a difference?"
"I'm not entirely sure myself, I've looked it up, but I've found like 4 definitions, all of which conflict each other"
"Uh"
"But the point is. Not all psychopath's are killers. Most just live through their life as normal, completely unnoticed by everyone. They are smart, they learn to imitate emotional responses like everyone else, and, although they don't feel it themselves, they know that most people find them revolting, scary, or whatever. They live normal lives, and never feel the need to kill dozens of people. Or, if they do, they repress them, and do something else, like everyone else. Most murder are done in a heat of the moment type thing, like 'You're annoying me, and theres a gun... *Bang*'. There are the exceptions of course. But most people could be psychopaths, do you get what I mean"
"Uh. I get all that, but.. Hasn't Aya committed crimes?"
"Oh, a couple, robberies mostly"
"Yeah. I'm not really concerned about the psychopath part too much, it's the fact she's been arrested"
"Which shows that she's willing to do whatever is needed to be done"
"But"
"Look. You don't have to worry about her. She's a smart girl, she only got caught because of a screw up, which was beyond her control. She's not going to kill anyone while she's here, she'd be caught instantly."
"Yeah. But-"
"There's no need to worry about her. Another trait of psychopath's is that they are very logical. Most things they do are on a mechanical basis, not emotional, so, she's actually more predictable than most"
"So she doesn't form attachments?"
"No, she still forms attachments, but it's a logical one. 'when we talk it triggers the emotional centre of my mind, we should do this more often'. If you have any concerns with her. Talk to her about them"
"But-"
"You don't have to worry about it, she can't get offended by it, just explain your concerns to her, and she'll explain them herself. If her voice disconcerts you, ask her to use her 'people' voice"
"But-?"
"I already explained this, she can't get upset by it, just explain why, and she'll do her 'people' voice"
"Commander!"
"Eh?"
"It was a problem. But. After all that explanation, I can accept her being here, even if I don't like it much. But. I've been trying to explain, that wasn't why I was feeling sick earlier"
"Why then?"
"Because.. My.. My parent's live in Birmingham"
"Oh... That makes sense" the Commander looked slightly relieved "Well. This is easier.. Sorry I chewed out your ear earlier. What's their names?"
"Uh, sorry?"
"I'll do a quick search, call in a favour, and I'll check if your parents were part of the abductees"
"Just like that?"
"As the Commander of X-COM I have quite a few resources available"
"You'll.. You'll use them on me?"
"Of course, the condition of my operatives is my top priority... Names?"
"Oh, yeah, uh, Bogdan and Dzvezda Popov"
"Alright... Uh, Bogdan spelt like it sounds?"
"B-O-G-D-A-N, yes"
"Alright... Uh.. How do you spell the other one?"
"Dzvezda. D-Z-V-E-D-A"
"O.K... Just a moment" the Commander tapped some keys on a computer in front of him
"Why do you use papers if you have a computer?" Maxim realized
"Because the aliens can't intercept paper transmissions like they can electronic. Ah. here we are. Bogdan and Dus...Dez.. Sorry, I don't know how to pronounce her name"
"Few people can" Maxim admitted
"This is them right" the Commander said, turning the screen around, and showing a picture of his parents
"That's them.. Yes"
"I'll have someone check round their house, make sure they're still there. It'll take an hour or 2, but i'll send someone to get you"
"Thank you, so much Commander"
"No problem, I need to make sure you don't have a panic attack In the middle of an operation" the Commander smiled "You may want to get out of here before Vahlen comes to yell at me for sending Karl"
"Oh yeah, good idea" Maxim quickly got up, and went back to his room, relieved that the Commander is checking on his parents, but still worried about what he could find.