"Operatives Keith Taylor, Aya Haidar, Maxim Popov, Masambe Digkale, and Harold and Joe Sanders please report to the hangar"

Maxim put down his controller. Perfect timing, as always, he was 2 minutes off finishing the game, with a 20/0 kill/death ratio. He sighed, turned off his console, and went to the hangar. Part way there he realized, Karl wasn't coming. That was new, Every other mission he'd been on, Karl had come. At least Keith and Aya were coming, he'd only been on 1 other mission with Masambe, and the other 2 were new. On the up side, Ryo wasn't coming. He couldn't take that if HE came. They'd probably end up killing each other if Karl wasn't there to take some of Ryo's frustration.

A few minutes later Maxim arrived at the armoury. Dr. Shen was there waiting for him. "Oh shit", Maxim thought. He was suddenly very aware of the plasma device Aya had given him a week ago "Hi doc" he said, trying to act casual, but he could feel the blush beginning to spread across his face, he really wished he had darker skin right now, a blush would be so obvious on his pale skin. Fortunately, Shen wasn't really looking at him, instead he motioned to a suit of armour on the wall "We finished your armour during your injury time, I'm here to brief you on it's use". Normally Maxim would have said something, but didn't trust his voice at the moment, so he just nodded.

What followed was a, thankfully, short talk with Dr. Shen, as he explained the parameters of the new armour. It was very light, when Maxim put it on, he could swear his rifle was heavier than the armour. It also had some small servo's in the legs, that would absorb the impacts from long drops, like their last armour had, but this would also be able to power their movements, allowing them to move faster with less effort. It was also tougher than their last suit, but he also said not to take it too strongly, the strength had it's limit, a direct hit could still get through it, as would several glancing hits. So overall. It was better armour, lighter, and would support their movements, but it's still better to avoid getting shot... Well fucking durr.

"Hey Max" Keith said as he saw Maxim entering the hangar, "How's the leg?"

"Fine thanks"

"Well come on. We've got an I.F.O to clear" (That's what the called the alien crafts, Since they couldn't be U.F.O's after being identified, and Flying Saucer just sounded a bit silly. So they're Identified Flying Objects)

"Let's go" They got onto the ship and began their journey, Maxim saw Aya looking at him and was about to ask why she was looking at him, when he remembered, he still had the plasma pistol on his back. And he shifted around and got it out, clamping it onto the armour (He'd found it had some sort of mag-lock, if you put it on something for a few seconds, it would clamp itself on), with the trigger in his palm. She nodded when he did that and stopped looking.

"What's that?" Harold, who would be the squad leader for the mission, asked as he noticed it

"Oh, it's a, uh, one of the... Things the aliens have" Maxim blurted, holding it up for him to see

"Where'd you get it?"

Maxim spared a quick glance at Aya, who had no expression, then quickly scanned the rest of the ship so that Harold wouldn't know he had looked at Aya specifically, then said "Last time I was out, I grabbed one of an alien"

"Don't they explode when they die?"

"It was one of the one's we captured, I managed to get it off as I was dragging it back to the ship" Maxim lied through his teeth, hoping Harold wouldn't realize that the only mission they'd captured a Sectoid at was one he hadn't been on. But luckily Harold also hadn't been on the mission.

"Well, you should put that thing to good use"

"If they get too close, I will"

They set down in a clearing in a forest, but it clearly wasn't a natural clearing, there was burns on the ground and a deep pit gouged in the ground.

"At least we know where they landed" Aya said, pointing down to the end of the pit, where they could just make out the outline of a ship.

"Looks like Ace did a number on them" Keith said, noting the damage caused by the crash, referring to the call sign of the pilot that had shot it down "I'm amazed they can even take them down in the ships we have"

"They send 2 out at once, so they can attack it from 2 sides" Maxim said, remembering what the Commander had told him they did, he still wasn't sure why he had.

"Enough talk. There's a good spot over there Vampire" Pointing to a chunk of debris that would make for good cover "Smokes, Psycho, with me. Scotch, Whirr, follow us on the other side" (Smokes referring to his twin, called so because of his seemingly endless supply of cigars... and his use of smoke grenades) The 2 groups split up, one taking the left of the pit, one on the right, Maxim in the middle, covering them.

The 2 groups advanced slowly, going from cover to cover, Maxim kept an eye on the trees, switching to either side at random (He never set up a pattern, since if they could see him, they could take advantage of that to attack when he wasn't looking), they were just getting right up to the ship when Harold called to him over the coms "We're almost at the ship, and no contacts, they may be hiding inside, move up so you can get a better view"

Maxim moved up, running around cover until he was 2 3rd's of the way to the ship, at which point, he hopped behind another piece of cover, still scanning the forest.

"Psycho, come with me to the door's, the rest of you, get ready". Aya and Harold moved to either side of the blue field door, everyone else got into cover, training the weapons on the door.

"3... 2... 1... Breach" Harold called, Aya passed her arm through the door, removing the field "Holy mother" Inside there was 6 Muton and an 'Outsider' (as the captains of the ships were called)

Aya swung in, pumping a shell into a Muton, severely wounding it. Keith pumped in a laser, finishing it off. Maxim took a shot, going clean through the Outsider's head, and it fell apart into the crystal it turns into when it dies. Masambe noticed 3 of them grouping up around a console "Vahlen's gonna be pissed", he took out the rocket launcher from his back, and fired, destroying the console, and severely wounding all the aliens, Harold took out a grenade, an alien one they had taken from a Muton earlier, and threw it in as well, it detonated a few seconds later, finishing off the aliens. "Smoke out!" Joe shouted as he threw a smoke grenade near to the door. Covering everyone but Maxim, who was too far back, in a pinkish smoke. The last 2 aliens got to their cover, one fired a shot at Maxim, but it hit the metal he was ducking behind. The other, however, saw Aya and Harold being a bit too close together, and threw a grenade, it landed directly between them, and detonated. They both flinched back as the force of the blast took out the weakened wall, Maxim couldn't see the rest of the result because of the smoke. But he heard the boom as Aya and Harold moved forward and killed the Mutons with their shotguns. A few seconds later the smoke cleared, and Maxim was about to ask if they were alright, as he could see them crouching behind a console on the other side of the ship, but, before he could ask, he heard a loud buzzing sound from above, and looked up to see 3 Floaters coming over the ship, he quickly flicked his rifle up, and shot one right in the chest, nocking it to the ground, and killing it "FLOATERS" he shouted into the com. Masambe looked up, and sprayed another with his machine-laser, peppering it full of holes, dropping that too. Joe and Keith went to take shots, but it quickly zipped away out of sight behind the ship. They stayed where they were for a few seconds, tense, waiting for it to drop back down on them, until they heard a shout of pain from within the ship. Maxim moved his rifle down in time to see the Floater blown away by Aya's shotgun.

"All contacts down, you're clear" Bradford's voice sounded over the coms, confirming that the floaters were the last of the crew. Maxim got up, and jogged in. And he saw Harold, leaning against the console pulling a piece of metal out of his leg "SCOTCH! SMOKES!" Maxim shouted, seeing how injured he was. Smokes got there first (He was incredibly fast when he could run straight out), and got out his spray, treating the burn on Harold's chest. Keith arrived a few seconds later, and began treating Harold's other injuries, namely the massive cut in his leg from the piece of metal. Maxim realized he hadn't see Aya, and looked around. He spotted her, walking around the ship, stomping on the Muton's heads (She did that with all Mutons after the one incident when they were dragging one back to the ship), she appeared to be fine, her armour had absorbed the majority of the blast, and the Floater had only hit Harold with it's plasma gun, she had a few cuts on her, but nothing major, probably only a few days in the infirmary to make sure they didn't get infected. Maxim walked over to her. And shot another one in the head with the plasma device she had given him, it's head disappeared in a green flash. She looked up at him, nodded, and stomped on the last one's head. Maxim heard a grunt, and turned around, Joe and Keith were helping Harold to his feet, and they were walking back to the ship, the bleeding had stopped, but Maxim knew that he would still need serious treatment for that, if the Floater had hit even an inch higher it could have destroyed his neck. Maxim shook his head to clear away the morbid thoughts, and set about dragging the bodies back with Masambe and Aya.

"Why were there so many Mutons?" Maxim asked as he and Masambe dragged back the floaters, Masambe had one on either shoulder, while Maxim dragged the 3rd behind him

"Probably wanted to have an elite guard or something" Masambe grunted

"Do you think Boomer will be alright" Maxim asked, using Harold's call sign (As they were all supposed to do in the field)

"He'll be fine. Probably going to need like 2 month's off though" Masambe replied, still hefting the Floaters

"I heard you went toe-to-toe with a Muton" Maxim said, changing the subject

"Oh, that, yeah, that was intense"

"How'd you manage that?"

"I was a boxer for a few years before I joined the military"

"But still... Muton's are... Well, they're huge"

"Yeah, they're stronger than me, but I'm faster than them. And speed is more important than strength"

"I suppose"

"I know. You can be as strong as you like, but you can't kill what you can't hit. Who told you about it anyway?"

"Spray. As soon as you got back he ran over and told me"

"He exaggerated it"

"What do you mean?"

"He said I went toe-to-toe with one right?"

"Yeah"

"It's not strictly true. I did punch it, but then I ducked around and kept behind it, it was swinging wildly at me, so I just kept back, then lashed it... I think I nearly dislocated a finger on the first punch though"

"Oh... I prefer Kar-... Spray's version better"

"Of course you do. Everyone loves a good exaggeration"

"I guess"

"History is written by the victors Maxim. When we win this, I wouldn't be surprised if, after I'm gone, the story get's exaggerated further, until I went toe-to-toe with 5 Muton's at once, only ever fought with my fists, and could kill a Muton in a single hit"

"Sounds a bit pretentious"

"I'm not saying I could, I'm saying people love to exaggerate stories. All of us would probably get one like that. You could nail any alien between the eye from 2 miles away, and never missed a single shot. Aya once took a plasma shot directly to the face, and laughed it off. Whenever any of us do anything impressive, it will become legends eventually"

"Sounds cool"

"Ah, but then you realize you could never live up to that"

"What?"

"If people believe I can go toe-to-toe with 5 Muton's, and fight with my fists, yes I would be a legend, but, if I were to be killed by a luck shot from a Sectoid, I would become a cautionary tale, don't bring a sword to a gun-fight kind of deal"

"That wouldn't happen"

"It would. History needs it's heroes. But it also needs it's cautionary tales. Don't be too quick to try and make a name for yourself"

Maxim was lost in thought

"Ah, forget about that. I tend to get lost in thought. Come on, let's get back to HQ so Rebecca can sort out Boomer out

Sorry this one took a bit longer to come out. My charger decided to break and I had to get a new one.

Thanks for reading, and for sticking with the story so far.