Yay! XCOM 2 came on sale on steam. So once this is complete, an XCOM 2 one will be out rather quickly. There won't be many more missions here, it sped up to the end rather quickly. I'll end this one part after the final mission of the game, for some rounding off, and a set-up for the next part (It will be the same world, with a few character's returning, but for the most part it will be new characters. I have 3 character's planned to return, but it could be less, depends on if they die or not in the final mission). Really excited for the ending of this, and the start of the next one, but I'm not going to rush it. And I'm going to hold off playing the last mission until I reach it in the story.
"How's he looking doc?" Harold asked Rebecca as she came out of the operating room. She'd been in there for over 5 hours, Harold sitting outside for the entire time.
"He's stable" Rebecca replied
"He'll be alright?"
"He'll survive" Rebecca replied, taking a few seconds before she continued "But. He, won't be, entirely, there"
"What?"
"I don't know how to explain it, so I'll just be blunt. He left side suffered extreme damage from the blast. We weren't able to save the eye, and we're going to have to amputate the arm and leg"
"So, he'll be crippled"
"Yes" She seemed to think for a second "But, Dr. Shen did send me a message about, alternatives"
"Alternatives?"
"The Engineering team have been working on some prototypes recently"
"Prototype what? Just say it"
"Well, we may be able to give Joe some, cybernetic implants to replace his limbs"
"Cybernetic? You mean, robot limbs"
"Essentially, yes"
"Why haven't you done it yet then?"
"Well, we had to get him stable first. And we need consent, since he can't give it in his current state, you-"
"Of course. If Joe was conscious he'd agree immediately"
"However. If you'd let me finish, I need to explain that there may be, complications"
"Like what?"
"Like I said, they're prototypes, they haven't been tested before, so there's a possibility something could go wrong with them, which could kill him, or damage him further"
"So, he'll either be blind in one eye, and have no use of his left side, or get new parts, allowing him to live like before, but they could backfire?"
"Essentially, yes. Some of the Engineering team are coming up to help attach them, and we'd like to get started as soon as possible. We just need your say-so"
Harold thought for a second, if it backfired, and killed him, he'd never forgive himself for getting him killed. But if he could live normally?
"Can't you wait until he wakes up?"
"Unfortunately, no. It could be several weeks before he wakes up on his own. By that time the wounds from the amputations would be healed, and attaching the cybernetics will be impossible"
"Why?"
"We need to attach them to fresh nerves, and if we amputate, we have to end off the nerves, which would make it impossible to attach them"
Harold took a deep breath "Do it"
"Of course" She turned to the door, just as a group of men and women came in, wheeling a box between them. "Excellent. Right on time. Harold. This will take along time. You should get some rest, you're still recovering from your injuries"
"Right" Harold began walking off, wondering if he would be able to get to sleep.
"How's Joe?" Maxim asked Harold. They were in the Psionics training area, testing out some new abilities they'd developed. Maxim and Keith had learned how to create physical barriers with their Psionics, which was fun, and Harold had learned how to, how did he put it, 'make the aliens shit themselves'.
"He'll survive. But, he's going to need some serious... Augments"
"Augments?" Maxim asked
"Cybernetic limbs" Keith replied
"Woah. Seriously?"
"Yes. A leg and an arm, as well as an arm, and some implants into his left lung"
"Damn. Joe's gunna be a cyborg"
"My brother's not a robot!" Harold said, turning away from the alien he'd been 'Panicking', he sounded actually angry
"I never said he was. I said cyborg. A robot is pure machine, a Cyborg is a human with robot parts, which is exactly-"
"I don't care. Don't call him that again!" Maxim saw a purple haze burst out of him, and the alien's head exploded. It was a good thing he had control over those powers.
"Woah. Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it" Maxim put his hands up.
"Enough" Keith put himself between the 2, putting his hands out. "Technically Maxim is correct, Cyborg would be the term for what Joe will be when he wakes up" Maxim saw the purple glow around Harold's head flare up again, and put up his psionic barrier in his mind in case he did a head-exploding thing again "However, he also shouldn't call him that if it upsets you. He has apologised. Now, let's get back to this"
Harold gave Maxim one last glare, then turned back to another alien chained against the wall (After Harold had killed quite a few, they'd just brought in a bunch of them)
"Thanks" Maxim whispered to Keith
"No worries. Just be careful, he's been on edge lately"
"I noticed"
"Maxim Popov and Keith Taylor, report to Engineering immediately"
Maxim jumped out of bed as he heard this call over the speakers, he'd been in the middle of a game, but practically dropped it as he ran out. The announcer never sounded that urgent. He was about to open the door, when he realized he was in his boxers. Quickly throwing on the first shirt and trousers he could find, he ran out the door. Heading for engineering, realizing half-way there that his shirt was on backwards, and fixing it as he ran.
"Max!" Keith's voice shouted from behind him. Maxim turned, but couldn't see anything through his shirt
"Keith?"
"What are you doing?"
"Fixing my shirt" Maxim got his shirt on properly "Do you know what's going on?"
"No"
"Well. That's not good"
"Come on" Keith ran past, and Maxim ran to catch up
"Get in" The Engineer said, pointing to an elevator behind him. Maxim and Keith didn't stop to question it, and hopped in. The Engineer followed behind them, and slid a card down a scanner, the doors closed, and the elevator began moving downwards.
"What's going on" Keith and Maxim asked at the same time
"Do you know that device we recovered from the alien base?"
"The massive thing with the light coming from it?"
"That's the one. Well, we've been working on it, and we've used it to create what Dr. Vahlen is calling the 'Hyperwave Beacon'"
"What about it?" Keith asked
"Well. We finished it yesterday, and began testing it. And, it seems to be, overloading"
"What?"
"That's why we're getting you 2 down there. If it explodes you should be able to contain the explosion"
"But, we just got these powers"
"We know. But we haven't got much choice right now"
The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. Revealing a huge room, with a massive device in the middle, and dozens of engineers running around it, or sat at monitors.
"Maxim, Keith, come over here" The Commander said, waving them over "Did John tell you what's going on?"
"That thing's overloading and may go boom" Maxim said
"Essentially. Shen's saying we should shut it down. But Vahlen's insisting we let it go on. You guys are here in case Vahlen's wrong"
"What do you want us to do?" Keith asked
"How big a field can you make?"
"I don't know" Maxim said "We just started training these"
"If you can, create a field around it. If you can't, cover the door, at least we can prevent it from damaging the rest of HQ"
"This is a lot of pressure" Maxim said, looking at the massive device
"I know. But it's got to be done. You can do it"
Maxim kept looking at the device, put a hand on Keith's shoulder. Maxim felt a presence in his mind, but knew it was Keith from times they'd practiced this, melding their psionic abilities together. While they did this, they became 1 mind in 2 bodies. It was extremely disorientating the first few times they'd done it, but he was used to it now. They focused, and a slight purple glow began around the device, visible only to them. It wasn't that powerful, with only 2 minds to power it, they couldn't cover the entire device with enough strength.
"We'll have to just cover the doors" Keith's side said telepathically
"Maybe- Wait" Maxim's body looked at the commander, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This will be disorientating" Both bodies said as one, and they melded the Commander's mind into them, adding him to the power. They saw a slight increase in intensity. It didn't require psionic potential to join in this and add power, they just needed the mental capacity to handle it.
"This is strange" The Commander said.
"It won't last long. We just needed the extra mental capacity. You're helping us maintain the barrier" Both Keith and Maxim said as one. It was impossible to tell whether they were using 1 or 2 voices.
"Wait. That's it" Vahlen said, just as the alarms died down, the monitors nearby stopped flashing, and the machine grew quieter.
Maxim and Keith released the connection, sliding back into their own bodies. Maxim always felt strangely empty afterwards, and knew he'd feel strange for a few hours, before his mind re-adjusted to be singular again. He'd start getting small bit's of memories from Keith and The Commander, not much, but enough to confuse his memories, he really wasn't looking forward to sorting those memories out, he had a childhood memory of Keith's, it was very strange to have a deep, meaningful memory of people you'd never met.
"Thank you" The Commander said, smiling "That was an interesting experience. You can go back to whatever you were doing"
"Oh shit" Maxim exclaimed, running back to the elevator
"What is it?" Keith asked, as he sprinted over to join him before it took off
"I forgot to pause"
Sorry it's a bit short. But that just felt like the perfect line to end a part on. We've got 2 missions before the final battle. But there will probably be around 4, maybe 5, more parts before the final mission battle, then 1 more part after that. Thank you for reading my story, and for sticking with me all the way to here. We're approaching the end, but we still have a bit to go before this is over. Again, sorry this is a bit short. But the parts with battles will be longer. And the final mission part is going to be long as fuck.