Despite having been largely repaired and operational enough to act as a makeshift headquarters, many of the Avenger's storage facilities were still filled with shrapnel and debris. Greene's team had been clearing out one such facility when alarms started sounding.
"ATTENTION. UNAUTHORIZED PRESENCE DETECTED ON THE BRIDGE." The Avenger's computer announced with its newly installed voice. Understandably confused, Greene and the others rushed for the armory. A couple of seconds passed before the alarm shut off just as quickly as it had appeared. The crew slowly got back to their respective tasks as Greene glanced at his second, George Kaizer.
"ATTENTION." The computer called out again. "SENIOR COMMAND EXCHANGE CONFIRMED."
"It seems like sleeping beauty has finally woken up," Kaizer stated as Greene gestured towards Jade squad.
"What are you waiting for? An invitation? Get back to work." The men looked at each other, resuming their previous chatter as they continued moving the debris to dump it outside. Greene watched them for a moment longer and did the same. The next half hour was uneventful, and Greene found himself thinking about the newly rescued Commander.
XCOM's original commander had been rescued by the combined efforts of two Resistance members and Menace squad. Both of the Resistance fighters had been killed in the operation due to an overzealous push without support. Greene had scoffed when he found out, too many had died in XCOM's fervent search for them. They fell unconscious shortly after Menace brought them aboard. The Avenger's few medical personnel rushed them into Doctor Tygan's research bay in a frenzied panic. Greene could only hope that one person was worth the lives of so many. He couldn't help but doubt Bradford's faith in this 'fabled' Commander, who was supposedly the ultimate advantage in combat. Greene briefly wondered how the Commander didn't beat the aliens in the 2015 invasion if they were as talented as Bradford claimed. Even still, that old war veteran had never steered Greene wrong before, so he had to wait and see if the Commander was indeed the one they needed to defeat Advent.
"JADE ONE TO THE BRIDGE. JADE ONE TO THE BRIDGE." Greene glanced up from his task and straightened. He supposed that he'd be called at some point.
"Keep going Jade squad, I want this room cleared by the end of the day." They nodded and kept working as Greene moved out of the room. He slowly climbed up the ladder to the bridge, each rung giving off a low sound that reverberated throughout the ladder well. Greene never did get a close look at the Commander when they were brought onboard. The medical staff swarmed them the moment Bradford set them down on a stretcher. Greene reached the top and now stood in front of the closed hatch. He smoothed out his torn uniform as best he could and pressed a button on the control panel. The door slid open with a quiet hiss, revealing the bridge in all of its incomplete glory. The crew had finally managed to fix the projector in the center of the room. There was now a large holographic Earth rotating in a lazy circle on a tilted axis, bathing the room in a soft blue glow. A dozen desks, computers, and screens decorated the walls around the room as crew members milled about in a constant buzz of muttering and radio chatter. Long blue lights lined the four corners and around the holo-globe projector on the ceiling, giving the room a rather cold feel. Large rectangular windows along the upper wall provided the only sunlight in the otherwise dimly lit room.
Greene then saw the two figures standing beside what amounted to ground control. He approached them swiftly and professionally, stopping at a respectful distance away as he clasped his hands behind his back. He stole a glance at the large monitor on the wall. It appeared that Kelly's team was successful and on their way back with the power converter. He knew that Shen would likely be elated to hear the news if she hadn't already.
"Good afternoon. You called for me, Central?" The two senior officers turned to face Greene.
"Commander. Let me introduce you to Staff Sergeant Greene. He's one of the oldest veterans we have." The Commander raised their brow. "Well except for me of course." Bradford chuckled. The Commander gave a curt nod to the squad leader before examining his worn fatigues.
"Military." They stated in a tired voice that seemed far too old for the surprisingly young Commander.
"Yes. Greene is the only survivor of his unit during the invasion, Doctor Tygan's left a dossier on all of our personnel on your desk. His experience has made him one of our most valuable assets in leading the troops alongside Sergeant First Class Kelly. Most of them refer to him as the Lonewolf."
"Why is that your callsign?" Greene perked up as the Commander addressed him. He glanced over at Bradford uncertainly. The man gave him a reassuring nod.
"Well… I…" He trailed off, the Commander waiting patiently for Greene to finish. "I keep to myself, sir." Bradford coughed and stepped in.
"He may be a bit of an introvert, but he's among the fiercest fighters in our cause." The Commander nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer. Bradford briefly looked between Greene and the Commander before changing the subject. "I didn't send for you just so you could meet the Commander, Jade leader. I've also got a job for you." Greene snapped his full attention to Bradford as he waited for the briefing.
"We have received intel of a hostile VIP located in South Africa. He's going to be in a lightly defended facility on the outskirts of a major city. It's dubbed patrol zone 6 right about here." Bradford grabbed a map of the region and set it on the table, pointing out the coordinates as he continued. "Advent defenses around the city are light for now, most of them are either hunting for Wraith in a nearby region or reinforcing the convoy hit by Menace. You'll have a short window to make extraction once you get on the ground, estimated at around eight minutes. I'll give you a more detailed brief once you're in the air. Go alert your team." With that, Greene nodded and turned on his heel to exit the bridge. It looked like they had a job to do.
Arriving at the now-empty facility, Greene gathered his team together and began to speak.
"Central's got another assignment for us. The operation is time-sensitive and we need to be on the skyranger with full battle rattle in the next fifteen mikes." He checked his watch, the seemingly ancient screen cracked from decades of constant use. "If we do this right, it's going to be a quick and clean operation. Now move out." The five members acknowledged his orders and started for the armory with Greene right behind them. It only took ten minutes for the team to get completely ready, having been well practiced in case of an emergency. Greene took the next few seconds to look over his squad, noting the ragged and worn nature of their secondhand weapons and equipment. They weren't soldiers by any stretch of the word, but they were a start. Jade squad reached the hangar just as Brown finished refueling the skyranger, waiting by the hatch as they psyched themselves up.
"Are we good to go, Firebrand?" Greene asked as he looked over the subsonic lightweight aircraft. Brown looked back at him, although he couldn't see her eyes through the gold visor protecting her from the direct sunlight above the clouds. Her flight gear was dark grey and almost resembled what old-world combat pilots would wear in their fighter jets.
"We're all green here. Go ahead and load up your team when you're ready, lead." Brown then entered the skyranger and disappeared into the cockpit.
"Let's move Jade, we're on a time crunch as it is." Greene waited for the insurgents to take their seats as he took the one closest to the hatch.
He gave a thumbs-up to Harris as the burly man pounded on the door with a closed fist, letting her know to close the hatch and start the take-off sequence. The six XCOM fighters felt a jolt when the elevator began to rise.
"Central, this is Firebrand. We clear to commence launch?" There was a slight pause before the answer came.
"Affirmative Firebrand, fly fast and take chances. We'll see you when you get back." The thrusters kicked on and soon, they were all hurtling straight into the sky at breakneck speeds. After about five minutes of flight, Bradford's voice came over the comm.
"Your mission is simple, Jade squad. An Advent VIP's protective detail was reduced a few hours ago thanks to Wraith squad. You are to move in and capture the VIP alive if possible, dead if necessary. Extraction will be on the roof of the facility. The window is rapidly closing, so you'll need to move fast before Advent can respond. Good luck." The team sat in silence as the skyranger's steady hum filled the bloodtray with what amounted to white noise. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably closer to two hours, the aircraft began slowing down.
"We are now above the AO, good luck out there. Over." Brown opened the hatch and released the ropes.
"Down the ropes, move move!" Greene harshly ordered as he leapt out of the skyranger. The team hit the ground as the skyranger moved off to avoid getting shot down.
"Warden, Marshal, on me. Warhorse, Stiff, Brother, bring up the rear. Target building is two blocks East and we have eight mikes before the window closes for good." The team quickly began moving through the back alleys and avoiding the main roads, they couldn't risk getting pinned down on the street or their VIP would be evacuated. It took the team two minutes to reach their target, Fox rested his sniper on the nearby dumpster overlooking the building and gave Greene a thumbs up. Jade squad's leader then gave Kaizer several hand signals before whispering to Harris.
"They're going to flank the building from the right, then we'll move on the left and get crossfire on those sentries." Greene pointed at the door where two Advent troopers were guarding the door. The mainline infantry for Advent were seemingly human, wearing dark-colored armor with red highlights and oddly shaped helmets. The only visible portion of their face was an uncovered mouth, from which they spoke in what many believed to be an alien language. It seemed like only the Resistance knew that the soldiers of Advent were not human, or at least completely. They bled orange when shot and had hideously malformed faces alongside sounding almost identical to cliche robots from a science fiction movie. Greene checked his watch, they had five and a half minutes before their window closed.
"We're in position," Kaizer reported as the team readied themselves for a firefight. Greene took a breath, counted to three, and gave the order.
"Open fire!" Four rifles and an LMG immediately rained fire down on the two unlucky troopers. They both fell in an instant as the team ran for the building.
"Get this door open!" Jade leader yelled as he covered the street with his rifle, cursing when the painfully loud sirens kicked in and a disembodied voice ordered civilians to vacate the area immediately. Fox and Harris forced open the door, allowing Turner to rush in with his shotgun to sweep the room with Kaizer right behind him.
"Room clear, stairs right!" Turner shouted as he leapt to the side and took point, his weapon giving him an advantage in the tight quarters.
"Jade squad, be advised of Advent rapid responders on approach to your position. Interceptors are en route to take out Firebrand. Get that VIP and get out of there. Over." Greene checked his watch as they moved up the stairs. The team only had three more minutes before they would be trapped. The team burst through the next door to see two men and a woman in the room covered by two more troopers and an officer. Advent officers wore ornate red and black armor with a small cape draped over their left shoulder. They command squads of lesser Advent soldiers and bark out orders in their foreign tongue constantly. While they were deadly, the apparent blind obedience of the lesser soldiers left them predictable if not vulnerable. The officer barked at the insurgents before a pair of rapid shotgun blasts threw her off her feet. Greene and Kaizer each aimed and gunned down both troopers as they scrambled to cover. The three civilians were crouched near a computer terminal with their hands over their heads. Two of them wore lab coats and had tools beside them with some other equipment in a pile on the floor, the third wore a black uniform with a single medal on his breast designating him as an Advent puppet.
"Brother, grab the kissass, and get to the roof." Clayman nodded before delivering a powerful hook squarely into the VIP's jaw. The blow was enough to knock him out cold and he collapsed to the ground in a heap.
"Marshal, Warhorse, secure the roof," Greene ordered after Clayman shook his hand with a wince. Their medic slung his rifle as he threw the unconscious man over his shoulder.
"VIP is en route to the extraction point," Clayman stated as the remaining team members left the room and continued up the stairs.
"Jade squad, be advised, response teams have arrived and are moving on your position now. Interceptors are closing rapidly. You are out of time, get to the extraction point!" Greene saw the extraction point through a window on the roof and got an idea. He smashed through the glass with the butt of his rifle and clambered over. The others quickly followed suit as inhuman yelling carried up to them.
"Firebrand to ground team, I see you and I'm dropping the ropes. Over." Greene swore in surprise when Advent troopers stormed up the stairs behind them and took aim.
"Behind us! Warden, suppress that window!" Harris immediately opened fire and slowly backed up to the ropes as Greene did the same. Fox aimed his sidearm at the closest trooper and fired, hitting them in their exposed mouth and spraying the wall beside them with orange blood. In return, a shieldbearer fired off a short burst that hit him straight into his improvised body armor. The grey-armored humanoid then activated his kinetic energy shield, bathing himself in a red glow as the troopers advanced.
"Arghh! I'm hit!" Fox stood up and grabbed a rope alongside Clayman. The two dropped their ropes back down as Turner, Harris, Greene, and Kaizer were the next to go.
"My weapon's jammed!" Harris shouted before he turned to run. The other three picked up their fire rate as they each took cover beside a rope, Harris reached out for his before suddenly falling to the ground with a gurgled sound.
"Warden!" Kaizer went to grab him before a round impacted his cover and forced him down. Blood pooled on the ground around Harris' neck as he lay there. Turner yelled in frustration when a round grazed his cheek, leaving a nasty mark as blood oozed from the wound. He grabbed onto a rope and quickly entered the skyranger.
"Leave him! There's no time!" Greene suppressed the trooper responsible for shooting Harris as he grabbed onto a rope with one hand and emptied the remainder of his magazine with the other. Kaizer reluctantly left Harris on the ground before doing the same, the two entered the bloodtray as Fox slammed the door with his fist.
"This is Firebrand, The VIP is secure. Warden is KIA. Stiff and Marshal are WIA, but stable. Over." Silence followed as the skyranger rocketed away from the AO.
"Roger Firebrand, the medical team is standing by, RTB as soon as you can. Central out."