Probably 3 more missions before we get to the base assault. The descriptions of these should get better. Since I can write them up as I play the mission. So if they seem to be hitting too often for X-COM, or not getting Injured enough, that will probably change at the base mission. I've been doing them as accurately as I remember, but you remember things as you want to, so I'm probably making them more badass than they actually were.

Maxim sat in the skyranger yet again. It was only a few weeks ago that they'd gone to that office in Japan. The Commander had decided that Aya would not be joining them, although she had said she was fine, the Commander insisted that she take a week or so more to heal. So instead, the new guy they had picked up, Ryo Goto, he had shown himself to be amazing with his pistol, but also no slouch with a sniper rifle, he gave Maxim a run for his money. But sniping was Maxim's things, he refused to be beaten by that gangster, he had actually found himself working out, and using the shooting range instead of playing video games. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, he was in better shape, of course, but he was worried he would lose his edge at gaming. He may be a soldier now, but he was still a gamer. As it was, Maxim was still the group Sniper, Ryo was doing a more, Gunslinger-type role. So he'd either become an assault or a sniper, depending on what was needed. Maxim didn't like him. He had saved Karl's life, but they just didn't get on, he was too serious, and Maxim could tell Ryo didn't like him either. At least it was mutual. He'd been given the call sign 'Xeno' after the name of his old gang, Maxim wasn't sure what the gang had been called, and he didn't care to learn. They had also recruited in another soldier, this time not on the field, the Commander had found someone else to join, Masambe Gigkale. He was their Heavy Gunner. William was alright with his machine gun, but Masambe was a real expert with it. Masambe was a massive guy, he looked like a boxer, and was bigger than William, even when William was in his armour and he wasn't. He'd been given the call sign 'Whirr', after the sound of his machine gun. With his armour on he was a truly massive guy, not as big as the 'Mutons', as they had taken to calling the ones they met last time, he had no idea why, and didn't think he'd want to know.

The science team had been busy as well. They now had laser weapons in the form of Machine guns and Sniper Rifles, and the Shotguns were set to be finished in a few days. He liked the laser rifle. It was lighter than the bullet version, and had virtually no recoil, it also fired light, so no need to account for distance, movement or wind, it made his job a lot easier.

This operation was different, they were here to pick up a V.I.P. A person that was abducted by the aliens, and escaped. So they were going to pick her up before the aliens got her, and see if she could tell them anything. This time they'd be picking her up, then going back to base. So he wouldn't end up getting stuck with body duty again. Yay.

They touched down at a town centre, Maxim had quite forgotten where they were going, it didn't really matter after all.

"Vampire, get on top of that bus, should give you a good view" William said, pointing towards a bus to his right. Maxim saw a ladder on the side and began moving towards it, keeping his head down. Why was there a ladder on the bus? He'd never seen ladders on a bus before. He hadn't even seen any buses with ladders on them in any game or movie he'd ever seen. This was a weird bus. His mind was wandering. This was odd, his mind didn't normally wander like this. "-With me" William finished. Maxim had been lost in his thoughts, he had no idea who was doing what. He climbed on top of the bus, up the ladder that shouldn't be-. No. Stop. Focus.

"Thin Men over here" Keith called "2 of them" followed by the whoosh of a laser weapon "Damn it"

"They're behind a car" Ryo said, and threw a grenade, it exploded on the car, injuring the aliens huddling behind it, and setting the car alight, but it didn't explode just yet.

The aliens scattered to get away from the burning car, one was dropped by a double-shot from Karl. Masambe and William too far away to be able to harm them (the energy of the beams dissipated rather quickly from the machine guns). Maxim swung round, but the alien ducked behind another car before he could get a shot off, the alien then popped above cover, and leaned back, Maxim was getting ready to shoot when he saw some green gas come flying out of the aliens mouth, and fly towards Keith and Ryo, enveloping them in a green, slightly opaque bubble of gas. they both began to cough and scrambled out of the cloud "They spit poison!" Keith shouted

Maxim heard a voice over the com "A type of poison, designed to debilitate those infected, the stim's built into your armour will bolster your immune system, but it will still damage your lungs, so prolonged exposure is not recommended" Dr. Vahlen gave her report on the toxin's, picked up by their armour's sensors.

"Poison bad" another voice said. Clearly Aya's, she was probably listening in on her coms.

Maxim chuckled. But was snapped out of it by a loud boom as the car finally exploded. He quickly turned, and fired a shot, but the alien had already ducked down, and all the shot did was burn a hole In the car. Keith took cover behind the exploded car, and fired, burning a hole right through the alien's head.

"Rest up for a second. Scotch, sort yourself and Xeno out" Williams said "Vampire, keep an eye out. Everyone else, form up here" He called as he took position behind a plant pot near the fountain. The others taking positions nearby. As Masambe took up his position behind a small pillar near to William he shouted out "3 Sectoids!"

Maxim swivelled, and fired a shot, you can't see the shot go, as it literally fires a beam of light, but the Sectoid didn't fall down, so Maxim assumed he missed. Masambe levelled his machine gun, and the loud whirr of it charging up, was followed by a loud screech as one of the aliens dropped, dozens of holes burned through it. One of the Sectoid's saw Maxim, and levelled it's plasma pistol. Maxim immediately dropped, but, as he did, he saw some purplish lights dancing in the air between the 2 remaining Sectoid's, and the plasma bolt, which had sailed over his head initially, flew back around, and struck his leg. "Ah! Fuck. That burns" Maxim cried out as the plasma burned into his leg. But he remembered enough from what Keith had told him, and didn't try to wipe it away, that would just spread it further. He grabbed the small device they all had, and sprayed some red-ish gas on the burn, the plasma was neutralised, and stopped burning his leg, but the damage was already done, Maxim didn't think he should use that leg if he could help it. Fortunately, laying down still gave him a good view, and he saw the Sectoid that the purplish lights were coming from disintegrate under a deluge of lasers from Masambe. Maxim saw the lights change colour, and the dancing changed, and he heard a small squeak, as the other Sectoid fell to the ground.

"Vamp. You alright?" Keith called. Maxim looked over, and saw him coming towards him.

"I'm fine, just a burn on the leg. We can deal with it later" Maxim said. Gritting his teeth to get through the pain. He had no idea how Aya managed with the plasma burn on her face, but he did supposed the med-kits so have pain killers in them, so that would have helped.

"You sure?" Keith asked again

"It's just my leg. I don't need it to shoot. I can still hop if I need to"

"Alright. Keep an eye out" William said. "V.I.P up ahead. Spray, go get her, we'll cover you"

"Gotcha" Karl called, and he began to jog forward, as the rest of the team took up position near the fountain

"More Thin Men" Masambe called. Maxim turned himself, using his uninjured leg, and took a shot at the aliens, one dropping to the ground as the others scattered to hide behind cars, they didn't make it 2 steps before they dropped, holes burned through them by the lasers.

"Ma'am?" Karl said softly. The woman was too far away for him to hear the reply, as she didn't have a coms device like they did to pick up their voices. "We're X-COM. We're here to get you out of here" again Maxim couldn't hear the response, but Karl began moving back to the fountain, the woman coming with him.

"Head's up guys. X-Rays inbound on your position" Bradford called over the coms

The group began moving back towards the skyranger, but suddenly several thin men dropped out of the sky. Maxim had no idea where they came from, but had no time to worry about that, as one landed just a few feet behind him on the bus. "Holy mother!" he cured as he whipped around the sniper rifle, and fired, the alien fell backwards off the bus. Maxim heard more whooshes as the others fired their lasers, and by the time he looked back around, the other thin men that had dropped were on the ground.

The next minute was uneventful, they moved towards the skyranger, moving slowly and keeping their weapons ready. The V.I.P following behind keeping ducked down behind any cover she could find. Maxim dragged himself to the other side of the bus. Avoiding the gas cloud the Thin Men left behind them when they died. He was now on the other side of the bus, looking towards the skyranger. If he was the aliens, that would be where he would drop, directly in their path.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, as the rest of the team were just a few feet from coming off the raised platform of the square. Maxim fired a shot, striking one of the Thin Men right in the forehead the second it landed. The other one was shredded by the fire of the others as they reacted. It fell to the ground in a pile of dust. Apparently firing enough beams of energy into something would cause it to disintegrate.

"Come on Vampire, we're out" William called as the V.I.P entered the skyranger, and the others formed a defensive circle around it.

Maxim dragged himself over to the ladder. Which still shouldn't be there. Stuck out his injured leg, and climbed down with his arms and un-injured leg. And then began the arduous task of hopping to the skyranger.

No other Thin Men dropped down. Either there were no more waiting, or they realized they couldn't break through the soldiers guarding it, and declared the V.I.P as a lost cause.

Maxim sat in the skyranger, his leg extended in front of him. Keith looked at him from his seat. He'd wanted to take care of the wound before they left. But their Pilot declared that alien craft were closing in, and the skyranger couldn't take one of them on by itself. So they'd taken off immediately. Maxim grimaced every time the craft rocked from turbulence, moving his Injured leg. He'd probably be spending some time in the infirmary after this, but he didn't really mind. He had some portable game devices, so he could just spend his time getting back into the game. He chucked inwardly at his own pun. But was cut off halfway through by another patch of turbulence, this brought a moan of pain, as his armour rubbed against the wound. He looked at the E.T.A timer on the wall. 2 hours until they returned to HQ. This was not going to be fun.

Maxim hopped down the Skyranger's ramp, supported on his injured side by Keith. The walk/hop to the infirmary was mercifully short, since they'd designed the place so that injured soldiers could be taken to the infirmary quickly. Keith helped Maxim into one of the beds (There was a rather disconcerting number of beds. But he supposed the Commander preferred to be prepared for the worst). Maxim turned around on the bed to let Keith get a look at the wound.

Keith was quiet. Maxim began, for lack of better words, shitting it. What if the wound was worse than he thought? What if he lost the leg? What if it was infected and he got blood rot? That was a thing right? He was pretty sure that was a thing. These and many other thoughts went through his head in the space of the 4 seconds Keith examined the wound for. The Keith looked at him and said "This was close. Another few seconds on your leg and it would have got to the bone. Nothing permanent. I'd say within a few weeks you'll be back on your feet"

"Seriously?"

"I don't lie to my patients. You'll probably have one hell of a scar though"

"Oh"

"But it's on your leg, so who's going to see it"

"What if I wear shorts?"

"Do you wear shorts?"

"Not really, no"

"Then you don't have a problem" Keith took out his med-kit and sprayed the wound. The pain almost disappeared instantly "That'll help you with the pain. One of the infirmary doctors will be with you in a minute"

"Thanks doc"

"It's what I'm here for" Keith said as he walked out of the room "By the way, you're starting to sound like the commander" Before Maxim could comment on that, the Doctor was already gone

"Hey Vampire" Maxim heard a voice say from his right. He turned. But he already knew who it was. He only knew one person who spoke in that Monotone, and called him Vampire out of the field.

"Hi Aya" Maxim replied, looking over at her. She was in a bed next to him, in a sitting position. A bandage wrapped around the side of her face that got burned

"How'd you get injured"

"Sectoid got me in the leg with a plasma shot"

"The leg? It sounds like you're not using cover right"

"It missed, then it used some telekinesis or something, and the plasma turned around and got my leg"

"That must've sucked"

"It did. But it's not as bad as your, you got it in the face"

"I know"

"How are you doing by the way?"

"I'm fine, it's mostly healed now. The Commander's making me stay here for a few more days, to make sure it's fully healed"

"Are you going to have a scar?"

"Most likely, yes"

"What about your eye?"

"What about my eye"

"It looked like it might have been damaged in the shot"

"No, my eye's fine. The blink reflex is very fast"

"Well, at least there's that"

They sat in silence for a while, before the doctor came in, and Maxim had his leg taken care of. Apparently he was going to be off for almost a month. He didn't know whether he was happy or disappointed by that.

I was going to put in a cliff hanger. Then I realized. I've already said Maxim's still around. So Cliff hanger's wont really work until the base mission. At least for Maxim :-)