After trying out my new form's abilities (and getting nervous whenever Viv looked at me, particularly if she appeared hungry and, for some reason, especially if she really did need something to eat, I decided to get back to adventuring across the multiverse. Time waits for no man (or whatever you are), so I really had no reason to be lazing about.

"Ready for another adventure?"

Viv flashed a predatory grin around me, which only served to make me wish I was wearing armor...well, more armor. Seriously, why was I so nervous around her? This was not a normal teenage thing - I never got this uncomfortable around girls back when I was not a Commander, an this was probably not natural to any species I'd encountered so far - still not sure on how Progenitors work.

"Am I ready to go unto unknown worlds, face glorious battles, and crush a few skulls? Hell yes!"

Okay, now I was really uneasy, but I could put tangible reasons on that.

That being said, I also found her viciousness to be somewhat comforting (if only because it meant she was going to stand with me through this)...and rather attractive, too.

….Someone help me, please.

XXXXXX

Exiting through the portal, I readied Marchosias' weapons. I didn't want to pull in my commander until I had cleared out our arrival site of all foes. Behind me, Viv made her own entrance, observing our insertion point for enemies.

"See anything?"

"Not yet, my dear Commander. Though I can certainly hear things milling about around us. Perhaps you could use your sensors to find them - I have to dull my other senses to hear them in detail."

Fair enough. Carefully, I extended out my senses, trying to determine what was lurking in the shadows. Consideirng we'd arrived in the ruins of some town, I doubted it was naything good.

Sure enough, I found several heat signatures a few hundred meters from our location. From the way they were moving, they looked incredibly similar to zombies.

Well, time to find out if they behaved similarly.

I closed my eyes for a moment, then activated a mimic beacon. This one, unlike the baseline version from XCOM 2, could create a moveable projection, based on data I'd acquired from both the Loki Warframe and Executioner Harkonar, and with the data I'd gleaned from the Mirage frame, they could also attack enemies. This one had been set to simulate a dog, to see how the strange beings would react.

Unsurprisingly, the zombie-like creatures attacked the hologram as soon as they saw it.

Well, they are aggressive, to be sure. But can htye be reasoned with?

This time, I deployed three decoys - one a diplomatic looking woman, another a male soldier, and the third a child - and sent each in a different direction toward the horde. Let's see how they react.

The results I got back were...troubling. While with the dog, the response had been pure aggression, this reaction had signs of cunning and cruelty in it. First, the 'zombies' attacked the woman, but when the hologram appeared to show signs of injury (because I wanted to make things realistic), they stopped attacking, instead allowing the mimic to scream and moan in pain. I sent the solider decoy to her, only for them to 'cut down' the wounded decoy just as the soldier one reached her, before a different 'zombie' ran into the second decoy and exploded.

Once those two were eliminated, a huge, froglike decoy assaulted the child, briefly allowing the third decoy to assume it had escaped before ambushing it and swallowing the child facsimile whole.

Okay, what the fuck?!

Also, looks like we have to resort to violence.

Viv, who had been watching the file with disgust, merely smiled when I made it clear we were going in loud. "If these things act this monstrous toward what they think are real people, then I am looking forward to grinding them to pulp."

"Well, then, let's do this."

Taking aim, I fired off a shot from Marchosias' rifle, taking down three of the beasts in one hit. A moment later, Viv joined me, and soon after that, a horde of robots and Coelohim burst out of the portal behind us.

It didn't take long for all of the nearby beasts to be purged. Form there, we began examining for a suitable sight to deploy my Commander - one of the advnaces Celm had given me was the ability to choose where the portal sent my Commander IF I already had something else on the other side of the portal, hence sending my warframe through it. Along the way, I examined the remains of the town for anything that would explain what we were fighting.

The only intel I got (which came from examining the giblets of the beasties I'd killed) was that these creatures were apparently technically living zombies, sorta like the Technocyte Infestation.

Well, at least the Tenno would find some nostalgia fighting this kind of monster.

On the plus side, I did manage to locate a metal deposit filled area to set up shop.

Moments later, my Commander was on the battlefield, and homebase was under construction.

"So, where are we?" asked Viv.

"I'm launching an orbital scout now, give me a minute...okay, it looks like we're on an alternate Earth."

"We are? Then what bioweapon got unleashed here?"

"None, it appears that this was caused by an extraterrestrial pathogen."

"Got a name for it?"

"According to some still active satellites that Rory just hacked, it's called XADA and...oh."

"You know where we are?"

"Yeah. Hey, Rory?"

"Yes dad?"

"Can you see if you can locate a machine referred to as Avalon?"

"Scanning...found it. According to some transmissions I hacked, it is being commanded by someone called Jake Calloway. Know who he is?"

"Yeah, where is he?"

"He is currently located at the ruins of some United States City - large scale industrial complex, if you want specifics. I think it used to be Detroit."

"Okay, and where are we?"

"Somewhere in the middle of Africa. Used to be a nature preserve nearby."

"Okay, last question - what is Jake doing now?"

"Talking to his uncle. Shall I plot a course to them?"

"No, they're going to be on the move soon. Chart a course to wherever they are headed."

"Will do as soon as I know where they are headed...Could you please tell me, Vivienne, and Cassidy where we are?"

"We've arrived in Implosion. Pretty sure that we arrived just after the boss battle at the end of Chapter 3."

Viv just stared at me for a moment, completely stunned. "We're in an app game universe?"

"Yeah, not really surprised."

XXXXXXXXXX

AN:

The current universe is Implosion: Never Lose Hope. It's an app game that ended up ported to the Nintendo Switch. It's also really popular.

This isn't really meant to be much of a character focused arc, just a good old fashion curbstomp. I wanted something more light hearted after all the crap form the last arc.

So, Read and Review! This is Flmael15k, singing off!