"Through there" Masambe said, pointing towards an area near the middle of the alien ship. Maxim looked around at the group that had been chosen for, what could possibly be, the final battle with the aliens.
Aya was sitting across from Maxim, in the Archangel armour (Maxim didn't know how useful that would be inside), the shotgun on her lap, and the claws she'd taken from the Berserker last mission still attached to her right wrist.
Keith was on Aya's left, his rifle also in his lap, fiddling with the med-kit spray.
William on her right, his LMG on the ground, he was sitting a lot stiller than everyone else, probably thinking about what they're going to do once they got on the ship.
Harold was on Maxim's left, the shotgun in his lap, his hands balled into fists, he really looked like he was ready to punch the first thing he saw when they got out, pretty standard then.
Masambe was in the cockpit, talking to the Pilot, apparently touching the devise showed him how to get into the ship.
Maxim was checking the scope was right on his plasma sniper, occasionally taking a look at the ship, if he used Psionic vision all he saw was a big purple cocoon in the air, it had some insane psionic protection, if he used normal sight, he just saw the massive alien ship hovering over the water.
After a few minutes, they were very close to the purple cocoon, Maxim did not want to find out what happens if they fly into it (they hadn't been shot at after all) "Uh, Masambe, I don't know if you can see it, but there's that big ass psionic field around it"
"I know" Masambe replied "Don't worry, I've got it"
"Alright then, if you're sure"
"I am"
Just as they were about to strike the field, the field disappeared in the area around them, and they passed straight through
"Damn" Maxim said, he was the only one that actually saw the field, and saw it disappear around them (except maybe Masambe), so nobody else saw how epic that seemed
"I told you"
"How are we getting inside?" Firebrand (The Pilot) asked "I can detect no openings in that thing"
"There's an opening. Get above it"
Firebrand obliged, and the skyranger went up, after getting above it, Masambe began directing her more precisely (left a bit, forward, right a bit, etc.)
After directing it for a few minutes Masambe simply said "Down"
Firebrand obliged, apparently she'd been told to do whatever Masambe said, and the ship dropped down, and, straight through the ship. It didn't even seem to have a space, but it looked like they'd just dropped through the ship.
"Landed" Firebrand said as the ship stopped dropping, and the bay doors began opening.
"Wait here as long as you can" Masambe told Firebrand as he moved to the door.
The others got out first, being closer to the door, and began taking up positions before a door towards the inside of the ship. As Masambe jogged over to take his place, his stopped, and a hand went to his head. There was a slight purple glow around his head when he started doing that.
"Masambe?" Maxim asked, worrying that it might be some powerful Mindfray.
"It's. A, voice? Something about, failed trials, a New One to face trials... I think I'm this, New One"
"We have Neo on the team" Maxim said, trying to make light of it
"Just ignore it" William said "It's just the aliens trying to scare us"
"Let's hope you're right" Keith replied
"Let's do this!" Harold roared as he ran inside, going to a railing thing, an firing a shot over it "Sectoid and Commander one left!"
The room was massive, and made of platforms of a greyish, purplish metal over a huge drop to nothingness.
"You need to slow down" Keith said, as he shifted position to the door Harold had gone through, and fired "1 Down. They're disappearing after we kill them"
"Wounded the Leader" Aya said, she'd, apparently, run in during that, and was near to Harold taking her shot at the Commander.
"It's talking about the Sectoids" Masambe said, as he too ran in through the door, the Sectoid Commander stumbled, but stayed up "Cyberdisk" he called
Maxim ran inside as, just Harold jumped down and sent the commander flying into the gap of the platforms, and Maxim created the Telekinetic Barrier against the Cyberdisk's shots. "Probably some kind of Psionic portals to remove the bodies or something"
"More Cyberdisk's" William called as he too joined them inside, and a Cyberdisk and it's drones came flying in from the other side. The first Cyberdisk opened up, and it's tail thing reached inside "Grenade!"
The grenade sailed through the Telekinetic field, and landed right between Maxim and Masambe, destroying the railing they were behind and badly damaging their armour. "Armour got it" Maxim called as the other Cyberdisk floater over the gap, moving to a position where the Harold wasn't covered, it fired a green beam, but the shot went high as Harold pumped a shot into it as it was open to fire, and it did a backflip, but didn't complete the spin as a plasma bolt slammed into the side and it flee into the hole for a second, before disappearing in a purple flash. William unloaded his LMG, and the other Cyberdisk disappeared in a purple flash as it was hailed by plasma bolts. Masambe began his own spray at the same time, and destroyed the 2 drones with the Disk.
"Reload for a second" William said "Vampire, know anything about these portal things?"
"Not really, I can see a bit a line going from the flash, but it's too faint and too fast, I can't see where it goes" Maxim replied, checking his armour to make sure he wasn't impaled by shrapnel, fortunately he wasn't, but his chest plate was rather fucked up.
"Any guesses as to why?" William asked
"Maybe the captain of the ships a clean freak?" Maxim suggested
"Let's hope so. Everyone, keep an eye out, if they can port stuff out they can port them in" William said. "Now move up, I see another door over there"
Everyone began moving up the stairs to the higher platform that was leading to the door William had noticed, they could split off to go on separate routes, but they didn't want to risk getting split up, and this platform was higher so they'd have an advantage in a fire-fight.
Maxim grappled across the gap, seeing no point in running around, as he sailed across the gap, he glanced to the right and saw 2 Sectoids moving around on the lower platform, when he landed, rather than immediately climb up the raining, he held on with his left hand, and fired the plasma pistol on his wrist, and pumped a shot straight into one of their heads, it disappeared in a purple flash, and Maxim pulled himself up, he looked over, and the other one fell as it ran, then disappeared, just as a plasma bolt streaked through the area it was in, Maxim looked at where the shot had come from, and he saw Aya and Harold standing next to each other, Aya with her pistol out, Harold already moving away from the position 'Kill Stealer' Maxim thought. Aya put her pistol away, and jumped, aided by her suit, onto the platform, not bothering with the stairs. Maxim noticed a big arch over the right side, and raised his grapple to try and get on top, but it just slipped off the ledge, he fired it a few times, but it just kept slipping off "Guess that's not happening" he said after the 4th try, and turned to the door just as Aya and Harold ran inside, he could see the platform become thin, only wide enough for 3 or 4 people to stand next to each other at once, he could see some ramps coming up on the closest side, and again on the other side, so he assumed there were multiple levels.
"Floater's right!" Harold shouted
William ran inside, and he started firing right, and then a purple line came out of Harold and there was a screech. "Heavy down" Harold called as a beam of plasma went over his head "Ya missed!"
Aya shifted position forward "Floaters, left. 2 Far Side" as she fired over the railing "Damn dodgy fuckers"
William unloaded his LMG again "They can't dodge all that though"
"They're talking about the Floater's being disappointments like the Sectoids" Masambe said as he moved in, and looked at the floaters on the far side, Maxim was aiming at the through the door, just as he was about to take a shot there was a large area just seemed to start swirling with purple, and the floaters fell then disappears
Keith fired over the left railing as Maxim ran into the room and he saw the Floater just taking evasive manoeuvres and dodging all the shots. "Let me do it" Harold shouted and levelled his shotgun, striking it straight in the chest, and sending the parts flying before they disappeared
"The New One has surpassed all the others with such confidence. So skilled with the gift" A voice spoke in Maxim's head, it sounded like the few times Keith had communicated telepathically, but Echoy, as if there were a half-dozen voices speaking at the same time.
"What the-" Maxim wondered at the voice but snapped out of his confusion as he saw 3 Flashes of light 2 from the right, 1 from the left, and, without even noticing what was teleporting in, he turned, and pumped a shot into the one on the left, then swivelled the gun and pumped another one into the one on the right. After taking the shots he noticed that the 3rd one was a Crysalid, so he assumed the others were as well. But didn't get much chance to think about that as the last Crysalid was destroyed by a hail of plasma bolts from William's LMG.
"Form up at the door" William called
They moved up, doing their regular door formation, Aya and Harold at the front, William and Masambe in the middle, and Keith and Maxim at the back.
This time Aya went in first, Maxim couldn't see much of the room, because there was a massive box-thing in the way, which Aya ran up to "Thin Men" she called, before pumping a pistol shot behind the box, before the puff of green gas showed that she'd killed it. "One fled"
"Move in, keep your eyes open" William said, and they did just that, moving in, taking cover behind one of the boxes (There was another one just a few feet after it), or the railing.
William grunted as a plasma bolt struck his shoulder as he moved to position from the Thin Man that had ran outside, and moved around the wall, but it didn't get to do anything more, as Keith fired a shot, which hit the aliens gun, resulting in a small explosion behind the wall. "Hey. That's my move" Maxim said, remembering his first encounter with the Thin Men. "It's a good move" Keith replied.
"Form up again" William said, and they did so, Aya firing a pistol down to the right as she did so, "Thin Man" she explianed. After reloading Harold just charged into the room. "Mutons left right and Zerk middle"
Masambe ran inside right after Harold, and an area became a swirling purple vortex again, the 2 Mutons inside it disappearing in a flash again, apparently dead. Just as this portal appeared Harold dropped down the railing, out of Maxim's sight, and the Berserker roared and ran into the swirling area, and then fell and disappeared. "That worked" Masambe said "Shut up! I don't care about your damn aliens!" he shouted, most likely yelling at the voice that kept talking to him, while he was yelling there was a red blur, and Aya flew past to the right, with a loud boom following "Muton down". Maxim ran in, noticed how grouped up they all were, and activated the stealth (He'd received Ghost Armour before the mission, since it was essentially just an upgrade to his other armour), and dropped over the railing so he was out of grenade range.
The Muton didn't grenade, instead it tried a long shot at Harold, who was flanked in his position, but Maxim was there and, freaking out as the ball flew at him, threw out his hands, and the ball flew up into the air. The Muton didn't get long to be confused by this, as Aya moved a bit, flanking it, and shotgunned it in the chest, it stumbled back out of sight, but there was no flash, again shitting himself Maxim thrust his hands forwards, and the bolt of plasma came down from the ceiling, down behind the box thing, this time there was the flash as it's body was ported out.
"When did you learn that?" Aya asked as she came over, reloading her shotgun
"No idea. I was just shitting myself about, first me getting hit by that shot, then you getting shot. And the plasma ball just kinda, did stuff" Maxim replied, looking around, and seeing a faint purple glow in the area the plasma ball went through "Did I just learn proper Telekinesis?"
"It seems so" Keith said, as he came around, he used the stairs rather than vaulting it. Maxim looked down the room, there was another railing a bit ahead, and 2 Platforms running down the left and right, and a set of stairs coming up at the end of the room, so Maxim assumed there was a lower platform.
"Psycho, fly over and check out that lower bit" William said
"On it" Aya said, and she took off, flying up, and over to above the railing "Sectopods. It's scanning the railing, it hasn't noticed me" she called
"Everyone move up, but keep away from the middle railing" William said "Aya, save fuel"
Aya flew backwards and down, landing on the right side by the railing. Maxim moved back to the platform they'd come from, hoping to get vision, but the railing was in the way. Before he was able to move to where everyone was, William took the rocket launcher off his back, and fired. The boom of it's detonation was followed quickly by Masambe looking over the railing, and an extremely loud explosion for about a half of a second before a purple flash announced their teleporting away.
"That was easy" Maxim said as he moved over to join up with them, before he saw 2 purple flashes on the other side of the room "I think they brought in re-enforcements"
"Vampire, stay here, keep us covered. Everyone else, up and over". Maxim got up against the railing, and rested the sniper rifle against it, keeping an eye out for when whatever had been teleported in ran into view.
A few seconds later, the rest of the group were taking cover behind the boxes at the far end of the platform. Maxim saw some of the Elite Muton's running down the stairs at the far back, onto a middle platform, Maxim took a shot, and nailed one in the face, it fell backwards and disappeared. The other one fired a shot at Aya, but she engaged her jets and hopped over it, and Maxim turned, and pumped a shot into it's face as well.
"Anything else coming in?" William asked
"Nothing I can see"
"Come down and join us. Form up at the door"
Maxim hopped down, and ran towards them, they were only jogging, and, assisted by his servo's, he caught up with them at the top of the first set of stairs.
"Damn Maxim, you're going to give Aya a run for her money on speed" Keith said as Maxim sprinted up next to him
"Nah, i'm actually sprinting it, Aya just, appears" He looked over at Aya "How do you do that anyway?"
"I'm good with my legs as well" Again, Maxim could hear the wink, and see it with Psionic vision he kept turning on without realizing it.
"Enough flirting. Form up" William said, and they began forming up outside, there was no actual cover, and, looking through the door with Psionic Vision, Maxim could see it was a tunnel before it lead to the other room, so, instead, they just lined up either side of the door in the usual order.
"Vampire? You have stealth left?" William asked
Maxim checked his suits venting system "Loads"
"Stealth inside there. Tell us what you see"
"Alright" Maxim engaged the stealth, and moved inside, as soon as he opened the door on the other side of the tunnel the voice began speaking.
While it spoke Maxim noticed an Ethereal slightly Larger than the one's they'd encountered before, standing on a platform higher up than the rest of the room, with 2 Elite Mutons on the platform below it, and a purple flash on platforms on both sides of the room.
"Behold the greatest failures... Of the Ethereal ones... We who failed to ascend as they thought we would. We who were cast out. Who were force to feed on the gist of lesser beings... As we sought to uplift them... To prepare them... For what lies ahe-"
Before it finished it's speech, Maxim, still in stealth, lined up his sniper rifle with the Ethereal's face, and, before it finished, fired a shot, there was a flash of purple, and it's Psionic Barrier was shattered. Quicker than he'd ever done it before, fired again, it didn't even get time to react to the first shot before the second one went straight through it's face. The Alien flew backwards with the force of the shot, then disappeared in a purple flash, at the same time it disappeared, all the other aliens in the room also disappeared.
"This is not your path... Not your purpose... You need our guidance to hone your powers... Without us, what are you" The voice screeched
"I'm a gamer" Maxim replied, no idea if the voice actually heard him, he just thought it sounded like an awesome one-liner.
"We're clear guys" Maxim called down the corridor
They came through one at a time, the corridor too small to let them pass through quicker "Maxim, did you just?" Masambe asked, as he saw the empty room, the only notable thing left was an object like the one in the Gollop chamber on the far side of the room "Interesting" he muttered
"Maxim, what did you do?!" Harold asked, he sounded angry "Why didn't you save any for me!"
"I just shot what looked like the leader, got him right in the face, then the other alien's disappeared like they'd died" Maxim replied
"Maxim, i need to talk to you" Masmabe said, he sounded urgent so Maxim went over to him
"What is it?" Maxim asked
"That wasn't how that was supposed to end" Masambe said
"What?"
"When i touched the device, i saw how this was supposed to end, everything else was the same, but you were supposed to go in there, kill the Mutons then we moved in to help. We still won in the end, but William died, and the rest of us were injured"
"Sounds like i helped then"
"That's the issue. That's not supposed to be possible"
"What?"
"You just altered the way the future was supposed to go"
"It could have just been-"
"No. You altered it, it's not supposed to be possible, but you did it" Masambe seemed to realize something and he muttered "So, i'm not the-"
Before Masambe finished the ship began shaking violently, and bits started falling from the ceiling
"GO!" Masambe shouted, and threw his hands towards the door, everyone flew backwards through the tunnel, and then a purple field appeared in the tunnel "Get to the skyranger. There's nothing you can do here. The ships going to explode, and I have to get it away"
"How do you-" William began
"GO!" Masambe shouted, this time he didn't use his mouth, they just felt the voice slam into their minds "You may be able to get away. GO!"
This time, they didn't argue, and began running back towards the ship.
They ran onto the skyranger, getting onto the bay doors as they began to close, Aya getting in first, followed by Maxim, then Harold, then Keith, and finally William, who only made it in after Maxim did a pulling motion with his hands and William flew forwards "I'm getting good at this"
The skyranger took off, flying back out the same way it came in, through the roof. And they began flying off, the cockpit door was still open, and Firebrand looked back in "Where's Masambe?"
"He stayed behind, something about getting the ship away before it explodes" Harold said, he was looking and sounding rather grumpy.
The Skyranger flew away from the ship "Barrier's gone" Maxim reported, and the ship flew straight through where it used to be.
Suddenly they all heard Masambe's voice speaking in their mind "The day of my birth, my death began it's walk. It is walking towards me, without hurrying. I go now to embrace him, and I do so with a smile. For I shall see them again".
At the conclusion of his words there was a loud boom, and Maxim turned, looking through the small window in the closed bay doors, he saw the alien ship, now very high in the atmosphere, explode in a fireball.
The Commander's voice came over the coms "Good work everyone. Hopefully, that's the last we see of the aliens"
Almost done now. 1 more part left. The ending to that mission was just so hilarious to me. I'd forgotten that's what happens when you kill the leader alien. So just having a sniper move in, and snipe the leader in 1 turn, it was just so funny. Ah ha, i'm the big alien boss, be afrai-*Sniped*. Just the epilogue left. Thank you for reading this, as we reach the end, of the Gamer's Journey in X-COM.