A/N: i wasn't planning on uploading anything today but i got bitten by the writing bug and so here it is.

"I see. Now then," he said as he cleared his throat, "MELD is a substance that allows for unparalleled biological and cybernetic modifications, giving us the ability to enhance our soldiers' combat capabilities. They can see farther, react quicker, move faster, heal injuries as you said, and that's not even the more exotic abilities they have."

"Such as?"

"We have one mod, dubbed the 'secondary heart' by the science team, which allows our soldiers to survive what would otherwise be fatal injuries. Provided that most of their vital organs remain mostly intact, of course. The adrenal response has also been improved, reducing the detrimental effects of a prolonged adrenaline surge, making it easier to control, and gives modded soldiers the ability to release adrenaline as a pheromone cloud which triggers and compounds with the adrenal response of those within the area of effect. There are more, but we'll cover them later."

Elizabeth hmmed as she turned another page on the file, this time it read 'Cybernetic Modifications.' She'd heard of the so-called cyborgs, of course, but they didn't appeal to her as much as the bio-modded soldiers since there were less stories about them and her grandfather may have made her slightly biased. Still, the idea of a walking tank appealed to her military mindset.

Sensing her change of interest, David continued, "While our genetic and biological enhancements have made our soldiers perform far better in the field, they are still infantry units and are limited accordingly. Our cybernetics programs, however, have allowed us to create a literal mechanized infantry unit: the armor and firepower of a tank with the versatility and mobility of infantry all contained within a single person."

Now THAT was something to consider. From what she could get from the file, these MEC troopers could shrug off small arms fire like it was nothing, though anything heavier than that could pose a problem. They could carry what would normally be vehicle-mounted weaponry while being able to strap on smaller 'subsystems' giving them a degree of tactical flexibility. Best of all were the jet propulsion system which gave MECs a limited ability to scale vertical obstacles. And from the size indicated, they could fit into most buildings. Jumping indoor tanks! Urban warfare would be revolutionized!

David could almost see the cogs turning in her head, so he left her to mull over the various implications of having super humans in her command. Eventually however, she looked at him and asked the question he'd been dreading to answer: "I've never heard of these technologies before. Does that mean these haven't been classified as safe yet?"

He sighed, taking the time to gather his thoughts. "Technically, we've already released parts of our research; mostly medical applications in gene therapy and prosthetics, among others. However, these were all just derivatives from our main research into MELD. We chose to withhold information, including the existence of, MELD primarily for two reasons."

He looked over to Elizabeth who was looking at him with unnerving intensity. "The first is that MELD is currently a finite resource. All of our MELD stores were acquired from the Ethereals and while substantial, we have yet to find a way to synthesize the material ourselves. We have more than enough to supply our operations, battlefield losses notwithstanding, but if we made the existence of MELD public-"

"It would evaporate in weeks," Elizabeth said.

"Months, actually," David said, "but the point still stands. We can't allow such a valuable resource to run dry just yet." Elizabeth nodded in understanding. "And the second reason?"

David massaged his forehead. He wasn't looking forward to explaining that. "There are multiple… complications regarding the extensive use of MELD enhancements. One or two basic modifications generally don't cause much problems, any more though caused a myriad of issues: increased susceptibility to psychosis, severe allergic reactions to most medications, and the occasional aggressive tumour growths."

'Aggressive' was putting it lightly, she thought. The pictures that were so generously provided for were downright gruesome. The least revolting one had something that was barely recognizable as an arm with what appeared to be bones and possibly teeth jutting out at odd angles. Elizabeth wasn't even sure how that was possible*. The rest just looked like random body parts melted together and then promptly exploded. At that moment, the reality of the valiant heroes who rescued her grandfather hit her hard. The price these people paid… And yet they could have been integral in humanity's victory against the Ethereals.

David forcefully cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him. He was rather obviously trying to avoid looking at the pictures, so Elizabeth decided to flip the page. She wasn't keen on lingering on it any longer than she should, anyway. Once he noticed that the pictures were out of sight, David released a small sigh of relief. "Thankfully, the MEC troopers were spared from the more horrifying side effects. They're constantly on dialysis and other… artificial waste removal procedures, however."

"Why's that?"

"Most of their internal organs needed to be removed in order to make way for the supporting structures needed to interface with the cybersuits. If we didn't, anything more strenuous than walking slowly would rip their bodies apart."

Crimes against humanity, indeed.

"Of course these were the first things we sorted out after the war. The tumours are no longer as… intrusive and the allergic reactions have been mitigated. " he added quickly.

She nodded in understanding, albeit hesitantly. There were deaths to be expected in war, she knew that; violent and gruesome deaths even. But she always assumed those deaths occurred on the field at the hands of the enemy, not in their own labs. The price of victory was steep, or was it? If every one death prevented ten others, that would be considered an astounding success in any other situation. So why should it be different where they die?

No, there had to be a difference, she told herself.

She closed the file, not willing to read more of it. "David," she said, "your rather conflicted about this, aren't you? I would have thought that someone working in the command staff of a morally dubious organization would be less affected by this."

He sighed, gesturing to her to return the file to him. "I- I understand the motivations behind these actions but I don't agree with the extent they took it to," he said. "Perhaps I had to be there to truly comprehend the mentality of our predecessors."

Elizabeth turned her attention towards her armed escort. "Corporal, are you modded?" She nodded.

"How does it feel?"

Cho simply shrugged. "It burns when I pee."

Both David and Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise. Clearly neither of them was expecting that sort of answer. Elizabeth allowed a small smile spread on her face while David let out an amused chuckle.

With the air cleared up, David reached back into his briefcase and retrieved a third folder. Curiously, this one was unmarked. "Commander, what I am about to show you is XCOM's greatest secret. There's no telling what could happen if anyone outside of our influence found out about this."

Now Elizabeth was intrigued, even more so than before. What could possibly be worse than those experiments?

"We have-"

"We're here."

The driver had cut off whatever David was about to say. Elizabeth looked out of her window and out onto the air-and-space port. In the middle of it was an unmarked Skyranger VTOL with the engines already running and ready to leave in a split second. "Seems like we'll have to continue our conversation in the plane," David said.

She nodded. At least she'll have some in-flight entertainment.

*It totally is. They're called teratomas and they are disgusting. I mean, REALLY fucking disgusting. One woman had one of these in her ovaries and you know what was in it? An eyeball, 'various internal organs,' and a head. An honest-to-god whole human head, brain and everything. IN HER OVARIES.

A/N: fyi, im gonna go on a trip for a few days so i expect a delay. then again, this has been my most successful fic so far and i've been pretty motivated to keep writing it as a result so who knows?