ADVENT: History
The Collapse of the United Nations
"I suppose all of us thought the United Nations was too big for it to collapse. Sure, its actual power was limited, but how can something that's comprised of the United States, China, Russia and every country in Europe fall so quickly?
Turns out all you need is the leadership being killed, an alien invasion and fear. Or it's possible that no one believed in the United Nations enough to try and preserve it."
-Former NATO Colonel Francine Gullet
Response from Stockbroker [Censored] to independent Journalist Jessica Wong during an anonymous interview.
"If you thought it was bad when Australia was attacked, it was absolutely nothing compared to the hours after the United Nations was effectively destroyed. The stock market was barely holding together as it was, since every single business operating out of Australia was wiped out. Do you know the economic ramifications something like that causes?"
"Well, no, that's why I'm here I guess. But it was bad, very bad, worst ten hours of my life. Until later, of course. See, the only reason everyone wasn't in complete anarchy was because the UN was actually getting their act together and doing something in that big address of theirs. Calling a General Assembly was exactly what was needed to stabilize the markets a little bit."
"A little bit."
"So I thought things were stabilizing, and everyone did, so despite aliens being down under, we were adapting. Then of course the UN was attacked and everyone in charge died and suddenly we were facing a global crisis the likes of which you'd have never seen before. Don't smirk at that, I'm dead serious. For all its faults, the UN was more or less the only thing humanity had as a united front. So how exactly do you think people reacted when supposedly the best hope of survival was gone?"
"Yep, they panicked. Pure and uniform panic. Which led to the worst ten hours of my life, as everyone tried to figure out what the [Censored] we were going to do. You're really going to bleep that out? [Censored] that, it's a pretty big [Censored] deal."
"Fine, whatever. So what do you think could possibly make things worse? Well, try dealing with the news that pretty much every country is suddenly pulling out of the UN. That's taking the markets, and blowing them up with a nuclear bomb. Nothing should have been left, the market should have been in tatters and right now we should all be dealing with a worldwide recession the likes of which not seen before."
"So…then you'll ask: Why aren't we?"
"Simple: ADVENT. You can point to ADVENT as the sole reason why the majority of people are still living above the poverty line, and that scares the [Censored] out of me. These guys were fast. Mere hours after the UN collapsed they were already making their presence known to certain economic circles. They sent out a [Censored] memo to Wall Street explaining…well, the basic gist is that they were taking care of things and not to panic. Heh, way too late for that, but then again, that's just what the regular guys got."
"This is where it gets interesting: Word is that some very influential people at Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and WTO all got both meetings with top ADVENT people and a separate memo which I have no clue what was on it. But whatever they said to them was the first step in things somehow stabilizing. Major companies stressed not to panic, and everyone was looking for some sign, any sign of stability and organization."
"Boom, one day later and ADVENT is officially established with the backing of America, Russia, Israel and so on. That was the first sign that things might be getting better. But what's spooky about all of this is that ADVENT seemed to know that some [Censored] was going down. There is no way that anyone could react in all the right ways, so fast, without knowing what was coming."
"Let me be clear that I'm not suggesting anything, not at all. But it's unnatural how quickly ADVENT took control of the situation. Everyone with any basic knowledge of economics knew that it was going to take a lot more to prevent even a short recession. But in the days after ADVENT wasted no [Censored] time and pulled out every single [Censored] trick in the book. Price freezing was big initially, which helped the initial shock after dozens of businesses went…well, bankrupt in the initial crash."
"ADVENT also didn't waste time flat out taking over businesses in the name of the state. To be fair, by all accounts they've allowed the leadership and boards to remain intact, but everything is produced for ADVENT. The biggest weapon manufacturers were hit hard with this. Every single one of any relevance was taken over by ADVENT, for obvious reasons, but it says something that giants like Solaris Industries folded to them without so much as a peep. And let me be clear: ADVENT was not asking to take them over, they were ordering them to take over."
"It was all done really quietly, relatively at least, as in I bet most of the public doesn't know that Wal-Mart is now a direct arm of the State. But ADVENT didn't [Censored] around. You didn't cooperate, you were arrested and this was done quietly, in the dead of night. Sound dramatic? Yeah, it was, but ADVENT wasn't even subtle about it. They just stationed those Peacekeepers outside and told whoever passed by that they were conducting 'operations.'"
"I'm not going to judge ADVENT for what they're doing, quite frankly, I admire them taking steps to actually prevent a catastrophe. But I'm telling you it's pretty [Censored] unnerving to look at the market and realize that ADVENT is now literally in control of a large part of the global economy. You know for all those speeches they gave, I will grant you that they do seem to not want to public to starve while the military fights, even if that means every business either goes under or doesn't turn a profit. That takes guts, even if I question if all of it was needed."
"But here's what's floating around now: ADVENT is apparently looking to not just influence the global economy…but flat out control and regulate it. All of it. And not in a communist way either, where they control every aspect. No, it seems they want just enough influence to be able to force certain businesses to collapse and others to thrive. Pretty much the power that every Wall Street broker dreams of, except that ADVENT might be influential enough to make it happen."
"It was already making a lot of businesses worry, but it quickly became clear that if you wanted to keep your head above water, you did whatever ADVENT wanted otherwise they were going to find a way to take you down. There were quite a few people who just up and left when ADVENT started imposing their regulations and rules, moving to China, Canada and pretty much the major non-ADVENT aligned countries."
"Now, even if ADVENT is more focused on home at the moment, I can guarantee that they have a list of the people trying to subvert them. It tells me even if they don't have complete control over everything, they have very specific standards as to what is and is not acceptable and they will take steps to ensure that everything is how they wanted. ADVENT doesn't want private entities, not really, but they have to keep that illusion, so they just make it so only the ones friendly to them able to survive and starve the others to death. Honestly pretty clever, I have to admit."
"And how? Well, rumor has it that they're going to launch a new currency. Not surprising, and you'd likely suspect them to take the dollar, euro or equivalent, slap some "ADVENT" logo on it and pass it off as some new type of currency. Boom, easy. Relatively, anyway, even the basic [Censored] dealing with economics gives most people a headache."
"Anyway, I'm getting distracted. No, they apparently want a new currency that isn't tied at all to the old ones. Alright, fine, you might say, until you hear that it's going to be backed by something. Yeah, I was shocked too. I'd dare you to try to find a currency today that isn't mostly backed on IOUs. So there are a couple of possibilities here that could possibly make sense. Precious metals are possible, but there is no way ADVENT found enough gold to back their ambitious world government. So what does that leave that could be equally as valuable? Oil? I considered that, but again scarcity comes into play and there's too little to somehow back a global currency."
"So think about it hard: what is something that ADVENT has, that is valuable, that is scarce, yet precious enough to turn into a tradable resource? You're shaking your head, and I can tell you to stop looking for stuff on Earth. [Censored] it, I'll just tell you. ADVENT has alien tech. They have alien metals. And therefore they have a market that literally no one else on Earth has."
"Since no one has set a price on the metals, ADVENT can arbitrarily declare whatever price they want on a particular amount and it will be worth that much. They could literally create the most stable currency in existence, and as long as ADVENT keeps winning some victories, they will never run out of money. And even though gold is nice, alien tech is far more versatile and useful overall by a long shot.
"Funnily enough, if this is actually what's going to happen, China is actually going to be pretty wealthy since they have the dreadnought, and I can only guess how much additional money XCOM is going to get. The point is this: ADVENT wants to directly influence the global economy, and if they keep making smart and decisive decisions like this, they are going to succeed."
Transcript between two NYPD Officers:
Officer 1: "He's giving the speech now. Should be interesting."
Officer 2: "Think they'll finally reveal that XCOM was working for them all along?"
O1: "Maybe. Honestly not sure if I'd feel better knowing one way or another."
O2: "Hey, XCOM saved the city. Don't really care who they're working for, they're good in my book."
O1: "He's honestly more likely to announce some kind of united international coalition than anything to do with XCOM."
O2: "Makes sense. NATO on steroids."
O1: "Would need to be a lot bigger than that."
O2: "Shut up, he's starting."
Thirty Minutes elapse.
O1: "Come on buddy, get to the point-"
O2: "Hey!"
O1: "The hell? It just went out?"
O2: "Of all the times-just switch the channel."
O1: "Uh…it's not on this one either."
O2: "That's really odd."
O1: "Hold on, they're doing something."
Television Anchor: "Apologies for this. We're experiencing technical difficulties with the signal. We are working to reestablish the connection now."
O1: "You had one job."
O2: "Something tells me this isn't going to be fixed soon. Let's get a snack, I'm hungry."
Fifteen minutes elapse.
O2: "Showing the building. Better than nothing I guess."
O1: "Quite a time for the UN to drop the ball now. Some of us are…"
O1: "Uh…"
O2: "Are those explosions?"
O1: "The building is collapsing!"
O2: "Holy-"
O1: "Yeah, I just felt that!"
O2: "Get people out there now!"
Sounds of radio static.
O2: "We saw it. Moving out now!"
End of transcript
Memo to all NATO Personnel
Subject: Concerning Recent Activities
As you have likely heard by now, we have received word and confirmation that the United Nations Headquarters, as well as major offices in Vienna and Nairobi have been leveled to the ground, and we can unfortunately confirm the deaths of all senior representatives and leadership. As of right now we are treating this as an alien attack, and have put all NATO bases on high alert.
Concerning our response to this, that is being internally discussed. Though the decision on how we are going to handle it is currently undecided, and we are making preliminary steps to work with various governments themselves to establish some kind of global defense and retaliation for this grievous attack.
As distasteful as it is, there is the possibility that NATO will undergo major changes, as we are now an independent military power with neither the resources, nor manpower to form an effective defense strong enough for all of Earth. If the limited oversight the United Nations had over us is no more, NATO will likely be undergoing reforms to work with the new collection of united governments to combat the alien threat.
I apologize that most of this is either speculative or unclear, but that is due to the fact that as stated earlier, discussions are ongoing and you will be updated as soon as possible. Rest assured that those who've done this will be brought to justice.
-Adele Renard, NATO Secretary General
Archived text messages between Trish and Madi Franklin
[Trish Franklin]: Where are you?
[TF]: Answer me right now miss.
[Madi Franklin]: Still at the building.
[MF]: That gov building
[MF]: Miss Rachel said she was going to call you
[TF]: She did four hours ago. Why are you still there?
[MF]: I dont know
[MF]: They have soldiers in front of the doors
[MF]: We're sitting and waiting
[TF]: Rachel isn't picking up. Can you ask her to call me?
[MF]: They arent telling me anything mommy
[MF]: Im scared
[TF]: Don't worry, you'll leave soon. Just tell Miss Rachel to call me ok?
[MF]: Ok
[MF]: Do you know whats happening?
[MF]: What does lockdown mean?
[TF]: Honey, why are you asking?
[MF]: The lights dimmed. Bobby says its a lockdown
[TF]: It just means they're going to keep you safe.
[TF]: But get miss Rachel now.
[MF]: I dont feel good
Five minutes elapse.
[TF]: Honey, are you there?
[TF]: Are you alright?
[TF]: Answer me now!
[TF]: Tell miss Rachel I'm coming right now- (Message not sent)
To the Commander
Subject: Demeter
I am pleased to officially report that the execution of the [REDACTED] has been achieved successfully in the locations we have designated. Thanks to key agents being planted in advance, we were able to easily circumvent the more troublesome aspects of the [REDACTED] security and allow our operatives to easily infiltrate the building.
The usage of Psion [REDACTED] was also a worthwhile investment as she was responsible for ensuring that the demolition teams were able to enter the building undetected, and again helped ensure they left without notice. While the teams at [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] lacked psionic support, they were faced with far less security and the teams were able to enter the buildings without issue.
The schematics obtained proved to be accurate and the infiltrated teams were able to easily locate the security mechanisms responsible for the cameras and lockdown functions of the [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], and once control was obtained, the rest of the operation was able to be executed with little issue.
Special commendation deserves to be given to Agent [REDACTED] for her suggestion of dispersing [REDACTED] gas as a more efficient way to pacify the population within the building. Thanks to her suggestion, all teams were able to complete their mission and plant their respective X-4 charges quicker than our simulations had estimated. The possibility of [REDACTED] being detected by forensics teams is a likely one, though considering its effectiveness, it will likely not raise any concerns as to why aliens are using [REDACTED].
While we were unable to smuggle [REDACTED] corpses into the [REDACTED], sufficient evidence of [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] was planted to pass known forensics tests. The planting of [REDACTED] corpses at the offices in [REDACTED} and [REDACTED] were successful, and will solidify the role the aliens had in the destruction of the [REDACTED].
Once the teams were clear, the charges were successfully detonated and the teams were then extracted without detection, collapsing the buildings in their entirety and ensuring that there were no survivors within. Local law enforcement and emergency services were on site within minutes.
After consideration, I have suspended the operation at the [REDACTED] office in [REDACTED] as we discussed, as it would be more useful intact and can serve as the public base of operations for [REDACTED] once it is fully established. Despite the operation being a success, I recommend that we immediately begin implementing the [REDACTED] before the repercussions of this operation become irreparable.
That is all.
-XCOM Intelligence Director Shaojie Zhang