I couldn't fit it in the word count. But the title of this chapter is: Chapter 11: All your base are belong to us

No more guarantees anymore. Characters may begin to die now. I will, of course, try to avoid it. But I am going to accept it. I'm not on Ironman, so I could just go, no, they didn't die. But I won't do that unless it was something really stupid. Like a car blew up, but didn't have any animations of fire to show me it would explode. If the character dies because I did something stupid, I will keep it. Fingers crossed it's someone we don't like. Also, I unlocked psionics after this part. If Maxim gets it, I will have so much fun with it. What goes on in their minds (they seem to be a bit nuts when they use the powers). If Maxim doesn't, Aya or Karl would be fun as well... Ryo could be fun too. I played the level, making notes on what happened, so this will be more realistic as to the actual game. I won't have every mission written up. There'd be so many chapters. I'll probably just do it if something different happens (someone dies, someone does something badass, etc.). And I'll have all the council missions as well, since they always have something fun. I'll be keeping it more accurate to the missions, but I will, of course take liberties with it, some of which just must be done to make it real time rather than turn based, others I will just do for flavour, like wrestling with a Muton when they miss a shot at melee range, or stabbing one with a nearby pointy object when they kill it at melee range. Anyway, I should probably stop babbling on at the beginnings or end of the chapters like this, but, fuck it. I like doing it, and if some of you don't like reading them, you can just skip them.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap" Maxim repeated the curse in his head all the way back to base. He'd given Aya the plasma pistol, so he could deny having it, but it probably wouldn't work. He was a bad liar, and he knew it. But he had to try something. Right?

The half an hour ride back to base was one of the worst moments of his life. Even worse than his first mission. That was surprising. Apparently he's more afraid of Shen and Vahlen than the aliens.

Once they got back to base they went to their regular places. William and Ryo went to the gym. Aya and Keith went to the bar. Karl and Maxim normally went back to the room to play games, but Maxim had to go talk to Shen. "What'd ya think Shen wants to talk to ya about? That plasma thing Aya gave ya?"

"I can't think of anything else. Come with me?"

"No way man. I'm not facing Shen and Vahlen"

"Aw come on man"

"No way. I'll help carry your coffin though"

"Gee thanks"

"No problem. If you survive, I'll be in the bar"

Karl headed off in the direction of the bar. And Maxim turned, and walked off to Engineering. His heart thudding in his chest.

"Maxim, there you are. Stand over there please" Dr. Shen said as he saw Maxim walk through the door. Motioning towards an empty area, which Maxim recognised as the area they used for testing new equipment, he'd been there to test out the laser sniper rifle when he'd gotten it, and promptly went from terrified, to shitting himself in a millisecond.

Dr. Shen approached him, with his trade-mark data pad in hand. "I understand you've been keeping something from me" not looking up from the data pad. Maxim briefly wondered what he had on it that was so interesting, but that thought was yanked from his head as he heard Shen speak

"I, uh, I, I, don't know what you're talking about" Maxim lied

"You're a very bad liar" Shen said, still looking at the pad. He tapped something on the screen, and turned it so he could see. It had security footage from inside the sky ranger, showing Maxim with the plasma pistol on his wrist.

"Oh crap"

"There's no need to swear" Shen put the data pad down "If you want to do anything like that again. Just tell me first"

"I'm really sorry, please don't... Wait, what?"

"Hasn't the Commander told you. Our biggest priority is the lives of our soldiers. If you'd managed to keep a Plasma Weapon in one piece, and wanted to use it, you could have simply brought it here, we would have done some non-invasive investigations on it, then given it back to you undamaged"

Maxim was too stunned to speak

"Now, on to the reason I asked for you to be here"

"Wait. That's not why"

"No, not really, I just wanted to get that out of the way while you were here. Oh, but one thing. The Commander asked that, if you don't go on a mission, but Ryo does, you give it to Ryo for the duration of the mission"

"Why?"

"Because Ryo uses his pistol very often during the mission, so the extra power of the plasma weapon will help the operations tremendously"

"Oh, uh, right. O.K"

"Excellent. Now. If you'd follow me, I have something I'd like to show you" Shen turned, and began walking off, heading towards the door leading to the armoury.

Maxim followed, relieved beyond words that Shen wasn't mad about the plasma pistol. Although having to share it with Ryo wasn't going to be fun.

In the room, on a stand near the door, Maxim saw a suit of armour. It looked similar to his current suit, but looked lighter, and had some kind of device on it's left wrist.

"This" Shen said, motioning towards the armour "Is the Skeleton Suit. The Commander wanted you to have it. But first. We need to test it out"

"Oh shit!" Maxim attempted to shout, but his stomach collided with the pipe before he was able to utter the first word.

"You need to control the speed of the retraction" Shen's voice came over his com piece. Maxim was currently clinging to a pipe, high above the testing area in Engineering. He was in the process of learning to use the 'Skeleton Suit' they'd made. Apparently there were servo's built into the suit to enhance the wearers movement and flexibility, they were simple enough to use, since they activated automatically when he moved, it just took a few minutes of running around to get used to. The grappling hook however, was a whole other matter entirely. He had been trying to use it right for about half an hour, and had only achieved in denting several pipes, about a dozen new bruises on his chest and stomach, and winding himself a good 15 times.

"How do I do that?" Maxim asked, wheezing the words out past what felt like a bruised lung.

"The speed is controlled by how much you clench your fist when to you draw it in"

"I'll keep that in mind" Maxim turned around, and dropped from the pipe. For the first 10 minutes, it had taken a tremendous amount of effort to force himself to drop from the pipe, but it became a lot easier after slamming into the pipes. He dropped to the ground, landing on his feet, his knees bending only slightly, as his leg armour absorbed the impact of the 2 storey drop. At least that didn't take any control.

"Again" Shen demanded, pointing to another pipe.

"It's going to be a long day" Maxim thought, as he fired the grappling hook at the pipe.

"I heard you spent 2 hours slamming into pipes in Engineering" Aya said as Maxim entered the bar. Karl and Scotch were there as well, although they were on the other side of the bar. Maxim didn't know why, but, apparently, Aya ran the bar.

"Could you, get me, a, drink?" Maxim asked between breaths, he felt like he had a punctured lung or two.

"Soda?" Aya asked, grabbing a glass

"I feel like, I should want, something, alcoholic. But, I don't, like alcohol"

"That's because you've never tried it" Karl said over his beer

"I've, tried it, didn't, like it"

"You gotta try it a buncha times before you actually like it"

"That's what, everyone says, I can't be, bothered to, do that. I'll stick, to soda" Maxim sat down at the seat Aya had placed the drink in front of, no lemon, ice, straw. Maxim was beginning to realize why she ran the bar. She has an amazing memory for drinks.

"How's the torso?" Keith asked

"Purple mostly"

"I'll have a look at it in a bit. I know some things to help"

"Thanks"

"How's the grappling hook skills progressing?" Karl asked

"Alright. I've been able to, slow down enough, that it, just hurts, doesn't bruise"

"Another few hours of training and you'll be fine" Aya said, hopping over the bar and sitting down with a drink of her own, there wasn't a chair on the other side.

"I don't think my ribs can take any more punishment"

"Wait a minute. You're alive. Shen didn't kill you for the plasma pistol thing"

"Yeah. Apparently he, didn't mind, he just wanted to do some, non-invasive investigations, and he wanted me to, let Ryo use it, if I'm not, on the mission"

"That's gunna suck" Karl said

"Yeah... I hope the Commander, gives it a few days, before we attack the base. My ribs need to, heal"

"He will" Aya said.

"What do you, think it will, be like in there" Maxim asked

"Probably a lot of aliens" Aya said

"We'll probably find out what the aliens have been doing with the people the abduct" Keith answered

"I imagine, green, and platformy" Karl answered

"Why?" Maxim asked

"I don't know. Just seems alieny"

"You aren't very good with adjectives are you?" Keith asked

"I'm not good at language in general" Karl laughed

2 Days later.

"Operatives Masambe Digkale, Aya Haidar, William Ward, Karl Wagner, Maxim Popov, and Keith Taylor, report to the hangar"

"Everything is pain" Maxim groaned as he dragged himself out of bed, his chest and stomach were a purplish colour, but had gone down quite bit. He'd have to thank Keith for his remedies, as much as he liked to moan, it didn't hurt much, and once he was in the armour, the stimulants in it would dull it down, and with the adrenaline as well, he wouldn't even feel them, besides, they'd be the least of his worries.

Maxim got up, and made his way to the armoury to get his armour, the Skeleton Suit was amazing, it was even lighter than the carapace armour, but, he still wasn't fully used to it, and with the servo's, it felt like he was jogging when he was walking. He had the grappling hook on his left wrist, the plasma pistol on his right wrist, and his sniper rifle on his back. He felt like a badass. All he needed now was some facial scars and he'd be set... But he was fine not having facial scars, his leg scar was plenty.

"Hey Max. That looks awesome" Karl remarked as Maxim walked in. How was he always the last one to arrive?

"Thanks. Still not used to these servo's though, I feel like I'm running when I'm walking"

"You'll get used to it in the field" William said "Everyone learns faster in action. Now come one. We've got a base to raid"

"We're in your base, killing your dudes" Karl and Maxim said, at virtually the same time.

"What was that?" Masambe asked

"It's a meme. Long story. I'll explain it later" Maxim said as they got in the skyranger.

"Stand back, I'm placing the charges" William called. They were somewhere in the Mojave desert. For some reason, there was a pool in the desert. They were a few hundred meters from said pool. William was placing C4 charges in a square of a seemingly random part of the desert, but they'd done scans, and found this was the best place to break into it. The plan was to set of the charges, blow a hole through the roof, then drop down with ropes attached to the skyranger, or, in Maxim's case, just drop straight down.

The rest of the team moves back to stay clear of the detonation while their explosives expert set them up. William finished places them, and jogged over to the rest of them, taking a small device out of his pocket, opened the case, and flipped the switch. The explosives detonated. Maxim's helmet automatically dulled it's audio receptors, so the explosion wasn't deafening. The others clipped the ropes to the belts, and they moved towards the hole. Maxim looked it. But it was too Smokey to see the bottom.

"Once more unto the breach" Masambe said

Maxim took a breath, and dropped into the hole.

The fall was mercifully short, he landed on his feet, but didn't land properly, so fell to his hands and knees, before standing back up. He looked around. The others were lowering down on the ropes. There were about half a dozen tanks in sight, each of which was filled with some green goo, and a figure vaguely visible in the goo.

"God only knows what they're doing to these people... All the more reason to blow them to hell" Central said

The others dropped down to the ground, and unhooked the ropes. There were stairs leading up on either side of their position, and a platform leading to the end of the room. "Whirr, Psycho, Vampire, head to the left. Spray, Scotch, come with me" William ordered. They moved off to their positions.

"Crysalid's" Aya called. Maxim swung his sight around and fired, nailing one of the bug-things in the chest with a beam of light. But, oddly, the creature kept going, must have not hit something important, fucking redundant bug organs. There were more flashes, as Karl and Keith opened up with their rifles, the ones that Maxim had shot was dropped by a beam to the chest, another was dropped as it's head was dissolved to goo by a twin burst from Karl. William raised his LMG to fire, but a flash of light destroyed the last Crysalid's head and chest with a burst of light, before William was able to fire. Maxim lowered his rifle, and saw Aya. She had run all the way around the place, and pumped a shot into it. Maxim was always amazed at how fast she could move. Even with the Skeleton Suit's servo's helping him, he couldn't move like that.

"Nice job. Head to the doors and reload before breaching" William said, as he took up position on the side of the door on his side.

Maxim got a position with a view that would go through the door when they opened it, and opened the cell at the side of the gun, and slotted in another one. They were essentially really powerful batteries which powered the generator in the gun. When he looked up, Masambe and Aya were at the door, Aya was loading another cell into her gun, and Masambe held his gun in one hand, his other hand ready to open the purple and blue curtain of energy that passed for a door for the aliens.

Aya pumped her gun and nodded. Masambe passed his hand through the door. Maxim looked through his sights, and saw 2 floating, things, just inside the door. Aya brought up her shotgun and fired, but the beams of light didn't hit it, instead, there were dozens of burns scattered across the area nearby, Maxim guessed it was some of forcefield or something, he was about to put a 'bullet' in one, when Masambe raised his LMG and sprayed the area with light. The, things, dropped to the floor sparking. Now that they weren't moving, Maxim got a proper look at them and, he found a word to describe them, drones. They were some kind of robotic, floating drones. Shen would like a look at those afterwards.

"2 Sectoids" William called

Maxim turned, and pumped a laser into one as it attempted to duck into cover behind a console. Karl attempted to kill the other one, but only managed to rip a chunk out of the wall behind it. Keith leveled his rifle, and drilled a hole through the console and into the sectoid. Maxim turned back to his side, in time to see 3 Mutons stand up from behind some consoles, 2 ran to cover, 1 ran at them, it had no gun, but a wierd claw-like thing on it's gauntlet, and considerably more bulky armour. Maxim brought up his Sniper, and nailed a Muton in the head. A twin burst of light dropped the other one, as Karl ran on top of a platform on his side to get view of it. Masambe raised his LMG again, and fired a burst at the Clawed Muton. The beams punched into it's chest, but it didn't seem hurt, it just roared and continued running. Masambe tries to fire again, but he'd overheated the gun, and it wouldn't fire. Meanwhile, Aya leveled her Shotgun and fired, the light slammed into it's skull, a killing shot for anything they'd ever encountered. But it kept running, even though it's face was now a pulped ruin, it tried to roar again, but it came wet and garbled, like it was shouting through water. It brought up it's claw, and was about to punch it into Masambe's chest, but Aya pumped a round into it's arm, shearing the arm off at the elbow. The alien was still trying to punch at Masambe with it's stump of an arm, when Masambe slammed his gun into it's side. Nocking it to the side, and sending it tumbling down over the side of the platform. "That thing was tough" Aya said, taking the cell out of her gun, and throwing it down after the alien.

"Thanks" Masambe said, as he too took the cell out of his gun

"Advance to the doors, and reload" William called from across the room

They moved up to the door, taking their positions. Maxim took out his cell and inserted a new one. He looked to the side and saw the others doing the same.

Masambe ran his hand through the door, opening it up. There was one of those green tube things that apparently work as generators. A wall that looked to be stone blocked his view of the rest of the room.

They moved up, Maxim took position next to a metal thing, so he could see the room below them, he could also see another platform going up on either side. "Mutons!" Karl shouted, 2 beams of light shot past him, behind the wall, and he hard a growl of pain from a Muton. "More Mutons" William called, and he raised his LMG, firing at one of Mutons that had come into view on the other side, the shots pummelled into it's legs, it stumbled, fell down the stairs, but dragged itself to it's feet again. The other Muton ran down after it's friend, raising it's rifle to take a shot at Aya, who was running down another set of stairs towards it, it fired the balls of plasma, but Aya dropped, sliding down the last few steps to drop under the shots, rolling when she hits the ground, standing up as she got behind a metal box thing, bringing the shotgun up, and pumping it into it's chest. Maxim didn't see the result as he heard a shout of pain from William, and looked in time to see a ball of plasma shoot out of a small hole in the cliff wall, and strike him in the chest. He turned, and fired a shot, striking it in the head, and dropping it to the ground. He turned as he heard more shots, and saw another Muton run around the wall, dodging lasers fired by Keith. Maxim brought up his rifle, and dropped it. Maxim turned to the right, where the last Muton was, only to see that it was already dead. William limped to the middle of the platform and met up with Keith, who brought out one of the med-kits. Maxim reloaded, and moved to another position, so he could overlook the room better. "Rest up and, reload for a second" William said, as the med-kit helped his body heal, and sealed the damage in the armour. Maxim looked over as he was reloading, and saw some strange devices with human figures lying on them. Dr. Shen's voice came over the coms while he was looking at them "While you're waiting, would you mind getting me a closer look at those devices"

"One second" Maxim replied. Bringing up the grappling hook, and launching it at a console near the devices. He clenched his hand, not too hard, and the grappling hook retracted itself and Maxim was pulled across to the platform. Maxim got up, and looked into the device. There was some greenish, brownish goo and nothing else. He looked up, at the other one, which was a few feet further, and saw a vaguely human form in the device, surrounded by the same goo, the body seemed to be dripping into the goo.

"I would appear that these devices are, liquefying the abductees into a liquid substance, what purpose could this have" Dr. Vahlen's voice came over the coms

"Drones" Aya called from across the room. Maxim looked up, but couldn't see, there was some metal thing blocking his view. He ran around the devices, hearing the sounds of laser fire, and some strange buzzing noise. Maxim got around the metal thing, and brought up his plasma pistol, firing a plasma bolt into the closest one to him, the shot burned through it, leaving a hole through it, and dropping it to the ground. There was another flash, and the other one dropped, similarly destroyed.

"Head up to the doors, get into position, and reload" William called.

They formed up at the door, ejecting spent cells, and inserting new ones. Aya and Karl took point at the door. Masambe and William took places next to more of those weird metal devices that kept blocking his view. Maxim and Keith took up positions next to consoles. Aya put her arm through the door, opening it to reveal... An empty room.

"Form up again. According to the scans, this should be the final room in the facility" William said. They moved up, and took similar positions behind bits that popped out from the floor. Aya and Karl at either side of the door. Masambe and William at the closest cover. Keith and Maxim a bit further back.

Karl put his arm through the door, opening it. He and Aya advanced inside. "Clear" Aya called.

"Vampire, Spray, and Scotch, take the upper platform. Psycho, take the lower platform. Whirr, we'll take the floor" William said, and everyone began moving towards their positions. William and Masambe took positions by consoles, Karl and Keith began moving up the ramp to the upper platform, Maxim getting up with his grappling hook. Aya went down the stairs to the lower platform, taking cover behind a console.

"There's some weird thing shooting red light out the top of it" Aya called as she looked around. Maxim looked over, and saw the red light, but the device was hidden by the floor.

"What's that thing?" Karl asked from the console he was behind. Maxim moved over to see what he was asking about. And saw a weird metal disk on the floor, with strange, multi-coloured lights being projected from it. It seemed somewhat familiar to Maxim, though he couldn't place his finger on it.

"I know what that it but... I can't recall" Maxim said, staring at it, suddenly it clicked "I think that... An alien, game"

"Strange game" Karl remarked

"Is that what the aliens do for fun" Dr. Shen remarked "At least they're not, playing, computer games"

"Come on doc. Video games are awesome" Karl remarked

"Muton's!" Keith called. Maxim looked over, and could just about see the head of one over the console Keith was ducking behind

"Hold a second" William called. Maxim lowered his gun, he knew what was going to happen, and braced himself, he didn't know how well built the platform was. William fired a rocket, there was a loud boom, and roars of pain. It sounded like he hurt them, but he didn't kill them.

There was a loud whirr, and Maxim looked over the platform to see Masambe unloading his LMG into another one of the Claw-Muton's, the armour on it's chest was reduced to shreds, and Maxim could see the organs inside it's chest through the green-yellow blood of the creature, but it kept coming. Aya suddenly appeared behind it, and brought up the stun-gun thing they used to capture aliens, the blue electricity cracked into the thing, and Maxim could smell burned flesh, but still the creature was standing, it turned, and was bringing it's claw back to stab at Aya, who hoped back down the stairs she'd come from to avoid the claw, but didn't need to, as 2 beams of light shot through it's head, vaporising the things head. Even without a head it kept swinging at the air with it's claw arm, before it overbalanced itself and fell down the stairs, landing next to Aya, who kicked it over the edge, just to be safe.

Maxim remembered that there were Muton's, and ran over to Keith, brining up his plasma pistol, and firing at one while Keith fired at the other, Keith's shot burned into a console the Muton ran to, and Maxim's shot slammed into the Muton's chest, but failed to kill it.

"Floaters" Karl called from across the platform, Maxim moved him pistol to aim for the other Muton, who had it's head out of cover to take a shot, and put it down with a bolt to the skull, he then saw something out the corner of his eye and, acting on instinct, fired the grappling hook at it. He looked over, and saw the other Muton, with a grappling hook in it's chest. Maxim clenched his hand to draw it back, and the grappling hook pulled the Muton over the console, on to the floor, and retracting the grappling hook to it's housing bit. Maxim was about to move away to help out with the floaters, when he noticed something in the grappling hook, and looked, there was some strange, thing in it's claw. Makin opened the hook, and took it out, it was squishy, and... A heart, Maxim realized as he looked at the organ the hook had pulled out. He shuddered, and dropped the heart over the edge, wiping his hand on the console.

"Floaters and Muton's down" William reported "Reload and rest for a second, the leader of the aliens will be with that device up ahead"

"Whirr, take the right, see if you can't get around it, everyone else, head up, get some eyes on it" William continued.

The Commander's voice came over the coms "If possible, don't kill it, we could learn a lot from this thing"

Maxim ejected the cell, inserted new one, and moved up to the edge of the platform, taking cover behind another console, he looked over and saw a strange alien. It looked similar to a Sectoid, but was larger, and had a red tint to it's skin. "Found it" he called, bringing up his pistol, and shooting at it's head, the alien didn't move, but the plasma bolt didn't connect "Wait, what?" Maxim muttered to himself

Karl fired off his shots, which missed, but destroyed the console the alien had been behind. Keith brings up his pistol and fired, this time, the laser shot connected with the creatures leg, it let out a scream, but it's mouth didn't move. Maxim was looking at it, trying to clear his mind of the scream he'd heard within his head, when he saw it's eyes glow with a purple-blue glow, it was looking to the right and below him, and he heard the voice of Masambe over the coms "I see now", along with the whirr as his LMG warmed up to be fired. Maxim immediately could tell something wasn't right, he brought up his rifle, and fired a shot, the laser drove straight into the plasma pistol on the aliens arm, damaging it, and hurting the alien. Suddenly Aya was right next to the alien, she brought up the tazer, and fired, the blue lightning not even connecting with the alien, they were diverted mid-path, and connected with the ground.

"Fuck this" Karl said, and brought up his rifle, pumping to rounds at the aliens head, one reflected off an invisible field around it's head, the other went straight through the creatures head and it dropped to the floor.

5 minutes later

"Ugh, that was.. Strange" Masambe said. He was leaning against a wall, a hand on his head (he'd taken his helmet off)

"What happened" Keith asked

"I, I don't know. The creature just looked at me, and, I believed the aliens were here to help us, and XCOM were the bad guys. I was about to shoot at you, Will, when they killed it, and I went back to normal"

"It appears the alien is able to use it's mind as a weapon, twisting the perceptions of it's enemies. A rather insidious form of mind control" Dr. Vahlen said "It would probably be for the best if you seized Mr Digkale's weaponry, there may be some residual power in his head"

"That would be safe" Aya agreed, and picked up Masambe's LMG, which he'd dropped once the alien was killed.

Our first brush with mind control. This is my perception of it, I like to think it's not a forceful way, at least not the way the aliens do it, the human psychic's will probably do a more forceful version, since manipulation perceptions would be more difficult. Around 5,000 words, about 2.5 chapters in one. Hopefully this makes up for a week with none, and if not, they'll be going up more often. I'm in a rather XCOM mood, and really want to play. So I'll be doing more missions more often, and I won't want to get too far ahead in the game.