XCOM: The Advent Directive

by Xabiar

Australia has been annexed, the United Nations is in chaos, the world is under siege and the Ethereals have taken the field. Facing the full might of the Ethereal Collective, the Commander must rally XCOM, the newly formed ADVENT, and several other allies and rivals to unite the divided nations by any means necessary, for failure now will mean the fall of humanity once and for all.

50. Dream of the Dread Lord

Dream of the Dread Lord

---

Shantou, Guangdong – China

3/9/2017 – 3:19 A.M.

The ADVENT forces were in full retreat and those that were left were in the process of being converted into something more…useful…assuming their minds were still intact to begin with. The smaller number of civilians were also in the process of being enhanced to serve as his soldiers as the conflict progressed deeper into the country.

The Dread Lord stood alone; simply waiting and considering.

The Battlemaster had been true to his word, and this time Isomnum suspected that the Battlemaster would follow through on his threats should he retreat at this juncture. A rare, but infuriating moment of backbone displayed from the one who was so often a coward. His absurd stances would backfire one day, and Isomnum suspected that the Imperator himself might take action.

Or perhaps not. Too many of his own kind were weak of mind and stomach. If any were to be thrown aside as a sacrifice, it could very well be him. Yet he doubted, for the sole reason that the Imperator saw what he could bring and utilize, and he was not so foolish as to cast it aside based on pure morality.

Yet the situation now placed him in a curious position. His forces would last for a while longer, but they would inevitably start to dwindle, which would allow ADVENT to reclaim their territory piece by piece, and Aegis would continue to limit his effectiveness, and regardless of the pathetic character of the traitor, he was steadfast in his defense.

It would not be enough, but Aegis would be granted a quick death.

Fortunately, this was a setback he had a contingency for.

One spindly arm pulled out a holocommunicator. He activated it and after a few moments of waiting, saw the image of the Creator in her ridiculous cult uniform. Such a weak and malleable mind, twisted to serve an entity far more intelligent and dangerous than she could ever be. She had been rightly used as bait by the Imperator to harness greater power.

The puppet was of course ignorant of the role she played, but that was to be expected by one so thoroughly corrupted by the Bringer. And it was not her he needed to speak to, yet the arrogant puppet spoke as if she had authority. "Isomnum. You interrupt my work for what reason?"

"I am on Earth." The corrupted Ethereal did not need more than that. "I have not called to speak to you, but to Him. I will speak to his representative now."

"You forget of whom you are speaking," she insisted. "I am his voice and will just as-"

The air rippled around Isomnum. "Silence. I have no interest in you or your arrogance. I am one of the few who are responsible for your continued existence and that of your master. Otherwise you would all be dead at the hand of the Battlemaster now. I will speak to Him, now."

The Creator was silent for a few moments, her body remarkably still as if listening. "As you wish, Isomnum." The image shifted until the towering figure of the Temperance appeared, two arms visible and clasped together. The head was in a form he had not seen before, one with six eyes and a mildly aquatic shape and texture, even as the skin was still marble.

There were few creatures he treated with caution or was wary of. The Temperance was one such creature. It was intelligent, manipulative, and was quite aware of the limitations the puppet Creator was forced to endure. And any individual who could successfully defend against the Twins – as spineless as they were – had strength.

Strength the Temperance did not flaunt, which was a significant indicator of the danger such a mind posed. The truly powerful did not flaunt it. They simply were.

Power could not be faked. Those with it instinctively recognized others who had it as well.

"You show disrespect to my disciples," the Temperance said in a monotone. "Unnecessary."

"Then they should show more respect and lessen their arrogance," he replied. "Your puppet is unimportant now. The Battlemaster has done as you predicted."

A slight nod. "You have been completely cut off?"

"Yes," Isomnum confirmed. "With the threat of death upon returning to Collective space. He will attempt to follow through, unless the Imperator intervenes."

"It is irrelevant. You have justification to receive additional support," the Temperance waved a hand to something to the side. "I presume the arrangement still stands."

Spoken without ambiguity. A rhetorical statement which was not a question. One the Dread Lord did not dispute. "Yes. Assist in the conquest of China and you will be allowed to take as many as you desire from the inhabitants. You also have my assurance that the Paradise projects will not be hampered."

"Accepted. We look forward to showing the skeptical of your kind the…advantages…of our assistance to your Collective," the Temperance brought the hands back together. "Your support will arrive momentarily. Our Orders will each assist in your glorious conquest."

"ADVENT will pose little threat to your soldiers," Isomnum reminded the alien. "Your involvement will attract the attention of T'Leth."

The Temperance showed no response to the words. "We are aware, Isomnum. We will handle him should his interference become problematic. Expect us shortly."

---

Situation Room, Mars Collective Base – Mars

3/8/2017 – 8:14 P.M.

It appeared that his deployment plans would need to be temporarily put on hold, which suited the Battlemaster fine. It would keep them focused on Isomnum for now, and there was no significant time rush. Macula was handling the attacks currently being faced by the SAS. It was causing damage, and it appeared to be a sustained attack, but nothing critical was being damaged that couldn't be repaired, at least from a military standpoint.

It was, however, going to require a significant amount of additional resources and personnel to ensure the civilian infrastructure didn't collapse, as that was being hit the hardest, even if ADVENT did appear to be largely targeting military positions and personnel. Curiously it appeared that ADVENT had some kind of bomber which was oddly difficult to detect, which was already responsible for a number of spreading fires.

That would need to be handled. But that was something Macula had assured him could be done.

Right now, the Imperator was speaking with him. He had expected it would come at some point, but the immediate response was curious. He would have expected it after there had been progress on the ground. The Imperator was impossible to read behind the helmet, but he expected that the Imperator was largely displeased with recent actions.

"You should have consulted me before taking such drastic action," the Imperator said. "This goes beyond military authority. You actively disbarred an Ethereal returning upon the pain of death. That decision cannot be made unilaterally."

"Then perhaps you should have reconsidered utilizing him in a military operation," the Battlemaster responded flatly. "Or including him in your plan at all. You knew what he was like. You knew what he would do. You knew how incompatible he is with myself others. I am tired of hearing you feign ignorance, Imperator. You knew exactly what you were doing. The fault lies solely with you."

"If Isomnum would not have listened to you, I should have been informed-" the Imperator began before the Battlemaster cut him off with a lifted fist.

"No. I will not give Isomnum the benefit of the doubt. He is intelligent enough to know what he is, and is not allowed to do. You either failed to make clear his restrictions, or he no longer will listen to you. His actions do not warrant any protections within the Collective, no more so than your Paradise experiment."

The Battlemaster took a step closer to the hologram. "You intend to turn the Collective into something aliens will be interested in joining with, and staying in willingly, without significant coercion. If that is the case I am unclear exactly what you are thinking? Do you really think the Creator or Isomnum provide any benefit to achieving this supposed goal?"

"It is not that simple!" The Imperator answered. "And your willful naivety will not change that. You know of the Sovereigns and the Synthesized. The threat they pose."

"One more than the other," the Battlemaster commented.

"Both are usable to ensure we are not inevitably conquered by one of these two forces," the Imperator continued. "There are no other Ethereals who understand the inner complexities and weaknesses of the Synthesized, and the Bringer is our answer to stand against the Sovereigns. And as there is a Sovereign One on Earth, they will at times be needed to achieve the greater goals of our objectives. By throwing a childish tantrum you have actively damaged our operations on Earth and given ADVENT and XCOM hope that they can defend. Do you not see how your public unveiling of this infighting is actively rallying the Humans?"

"Then perhaps you should have made better decisions," he answered, motioning with a hand. "Perhaps you should think on why there is opposition to your decisions that are supposedly for the greater good. I will not continue to actively accept your inferior choices merely because you were designed to be the leader of our species, even if others will. And you know that I am not the only one."

"I accept our disagreements to a point," the Imperator stated. "But that point stops when the greater interest of our Collective and species are threatened."

"I am very glad we agree on that," the Battlemaster nodded. "Considering that knowledge of Paradise and Isomnum is actively damaging the reputation and internal capabilities of the Collective, dissolving these issues is the only practical measure to take."

"The sarcasm of Humans is rubbing off on you," was the neutral notation. "And given the opportunity, would you kill him? One of the last of our kind?"

He was, in fact, glad the Imperator had asked. "Isomnum is not an Ethereal worth preserving. I would kill him with no hesitation. And if you are so concerned about losing his knowledge, rip it out of his mind before he is executed. Isomnum will never be safe within the Collective so long as I am alive, and should the Creator dare show herself before me, I will execute her as well."

The Imperator appraised him for a few long moments. "Your insubordination is becoming an issue, but will not disrupt operations further at this point. Go. Do what you will, though soon we will need to discuss your role within the Collective. I will not have the Collective military led by someone as unreliable as you-"

Not unexpected, and as he had little intention of listening to the passive aggressive threats of the Imperator, he shut off the hologram and turned around to Yang who'd been standing in the far corner, who looked both impressed and concerned. "You're braver than I am," she said. "Cutting him off like that knowing what he can do…"

"There will be no Ethereal that actively defends Isomnum," he answered unconcerned. "And the Imperator will not act against me without showing himself a hypocrite. He has limited power over me and I have no interest in maintaining that illusion more than necessary."

"And what if he removes you from your position?" She asked.

He did wonder what would happen if that step was taken. The Imperator may be angry enough to do it, at least temporarily. "I will deal with that when it happens," was all he said. "We will discuss this at a later time. Now we have nations to conquer."

---

Hong Kong, Guangdong – China

3/9/2017 – 1:32 A.M.

Oliver slumped behind cover, and then forced himself to rise again and take aim at the Outsider which continued to encroach on their admittedly defensible position. It wasn't good news that they were slowly and steadily being forced out of the city, and were only holding a few more points in Hong Kong, but both the Chinese and ADVENT defenders were going to make the defense as costly as possible for the aliens.

It helped that the aliens were being funneled into specific choke points, which were the results of the Chronicler's work destroying the nearby buildings and cutting off flanking routes. Oliver didn't know how the man was still standing after all he was doing, but he was continuing to fortify the general area. The entire defense point had been leveled and destroyed, giving the defenders some much needed room.

It was big enough that a few Chinese tanks were being rolled in and placed along the lines of sight of the streets, and sniper nests had been established in the back line of buildings that offered clear shots down the street. In the area that contained the defenders, there were several rows of barricades and improvised cover of destroyed cars and boxes.

PRIEST teams, Dragoons, and squads of ADVENT soldiers made up the primary ADVENT defenders, with the majority consisting of exhausted and wounded Chinese. Oliver was extremely concerned that whatever protection Aegis and the psions were providing was beginning to weaken as he himself had experienced sudden bouts of terror and seen things briefly, though without any detail. Several ADVENT and Chinese soldiers had shot themselves or attacked others.

It was bad, and it didn't sound like things had gone much better elsewhere either.

David's team had been forced to retreat after Kanda had been killed, and both soldiers had been wounded and were receiving medical treatment elsewhere. From the scattered report Geist had given them, it sounded like they'd encountered a powerful Human psion who'd forced Kanda to go insane before breaking their entire offensive.

The bad news was that there was a better-than-comfortable chance that this person was coming their way.

The Archangel team had run into problems as well. They'd suffered a casualty and Viktoria had also gone down. Geist had responded by taking a team of ADVENT and Chinese soldiers and going in after her. They'd taken losses, but from how the other surviving Archangel, Zama, had described it, Geist had been angry.

Geist had also apparently suffered injuries, but was still contributing to the telepathic defense, albeit while hooked up to machines and receiving blood transfusions. Both him and the surviving Archangels were being treated further inland, while Zama, David, and Alisa were in one of the other defense points with the second Goliath that had been deployed.

The first one was right behind them now, and actively patrolling when needed. They were certainly a sight to behold in action.

"Another of the hovercraft!" Came the shout from one of the Dragoons as, sure enough, the vehicle came around a corner and began firing its weapons at their position. The tanks fired in response, the booming shots hitting the red shields that protected the front of the vehicle, causing them to flicker.

"They never stop coming," Oliver muttered as he focused on the Outsiders that continued advancing. Those in particular were proving difficult to kill. Plasma rifle shots worked to take out the armor, but it still retained the regeneration capabilities of earlier models. As was the case here, as even a direct shot merely caused the wound to flare brightly before it healed itself.

The barrage from Kane's Browning was enough to finish the job, however.

The alien hovercraft fired something from the top of it, and that was always bad news. "Grenade launched!" He yelled.

One of the PRIESTs in the back row extended a hand, purple energy flickering, and the projectile was caught and subsequently sent back towards the vehicle. It splashed with a bright plasma explosion which left a smoking hole in the vehicle, exposing the internal mechanisms. Oliver, Kane, and the other Chinese and ADVENT soldiers concentrated their fire, with the ADVENT telekine visibly keeping the vehicle in place. One ADVENT soldier went down from the return fire, but there was enough concentrated firepower that the vehicle exploded a few moments later.

He noticed that the aliens were being significantly more conservative now; they weren't throwing Custodians or Outsiders at them in overwhelming numbers like they were at the beginning. Were they beginning to run low? Or just deciding that the swarm tactics were too costly? Either way, it gave them a better fighting chance.

"Keep cover fire, I'm getting some more ammo," he told Kane as he dashed deeper into their small fortification to get replacement plasma cells and magazines. The Chronicler was in the makeshift command center, where he was talking to a small hologram of the Commander. Oliver stopped and gave a quick salute as the Chronicler turned to include him in the conversation.

"Ilari, good to see you still fighting," the Commander greeted. "You – and Kane – have done as well as can be expected. You might just need to hold out a little longer."

He was tired, but just nodded. "I'll hold out as long as I can, Commander. Any new developments, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Good news for us, in fact," the Chronicler said, his voice dry and, somewhat surprisingly, with no trace of weariness in it. "It appears that Isomnum crossed a line and the Battlemaster has publicly pulled all reinforcements and support for his invasion."

Oliver blinked. The fuck?

"About my first reaction as well," the Commander said, and Oliver realized he'd spoken out loud. The wonders of going without sleep for nearly twenty-four hours. "We don't know exactly how many forces Isomnum has on the ground, but now he can't expend them casually. And while the Battlemaster did a good thing here, I doubt Isomnum is going to retreat now. He is, unfortunately, in a box with his only escape to continue to press forward."

"What did he do?" Oliver shook his head. "And why now?"

"He's in the process of converting civilians into some kind of mechanical war machines," the Chronicler said. "Thousands of them. We might be encountering them soon. Which I'm guessing is what the Battlemaster didn't want him to do, since it's not exactly helpful to their image right now."

"This was likely the final straw, not just the action," the Commander interjected. "From what Aegis has said, even Ethereals hate Isomnum, and the Battlemaster is using this as an excuse to have us remove the problem altogether. Which we'll do, even if it comes at the cost of preserving the country."

"I'll take it," Oliver said. "I'm moving back out now, good luck, Commander."

"Good luck," the Commander repeated with a nod. "Reinforcements will be coming shortly."

He dashed back to where Kane was positioned and saw that in the meantime, they'd killed a few more Outsiders and Custodians, although they'd lost one of the tanks during the skirmish, or at least damaged it enough to where there were people trying to put out the fires. Two of the Dragoons were firing micro-missiles down the streets which resulted in bright explosions which were forcing another of the hovercraft back.

"Got good news," Oliver said to Kane as he resumed firing. "Isomnum pissed the Battlemaster off enough that he cut off support. We hold out a bit longer, we'll probably get the upper hand."

Kane didn't answer right away, and just fired down the street in an almost mechanical anger. Which was admittedly, not the reaction Oliver was expecting. "Thought you'd be happier."

"I expect you're happy with the Battlemaster for taking such a principled stand," Kane said, hastily reloading.

"Can't say I'm mad at him," Oliver shrugged, firing at a group of Custodians taking cover behind a destroyed hovercraft. "We could be dealing with a lot worse."

"He is a coward and an opportunist," Kane said coldly in return. "An enabler of Isomnum and those like him. He is no better, and it's sickening that he will be praised for this as if he has successfully washed his hands of it." Kane chucked a plasma grenade and it hit the hovercraft hard enough that it exploded on contact and took out a Custodian standing too close.

Well, apparently Kane hated the Battlemaster too. Oliver decided to drop the subject. He couldn't really say that he was in the best of moods given the previous hours.

Just a little longer, and things will start to change.

---

ADVENT Trench Lines, Busan – South Korea

3/9/2017 – 5:14 A.M.

There were significant portions of the first line of trenches that had fallen, and Duri and his squad had been forced into the second row, while the aliens pushed forward to claim their first piece of actual territory. Of course, they had the misfortune of now having to fight in the confined trenches which were designed not to protect from the back.

Some of the aliens, like the Mutons and Elites couldn't really fit into the trenches that well, and were prime targets for the Snipers and Rocketeers. So the trenches themselves were still largely untaken – aside from the dozens of Muton corpses which now inhabited them. The majority of the alien army was taking the smarter approach to using the wrecks of the alien hovercraft as staging grounds, and having far more success.

"Duri, catch." He turned to the sound of Cara's voice and barely raised a hand in time to catch a water bottle. He quickly sunk to the ground, took off his helmet and took a long drink of water as the guns still fired around him.

"Thanks," he said. "Any news from the back?"

"It's more or less the same across the trench lines," she shrugged, reloading her weapon. "The first line is compromised in a lot of places, but they're holding out right before it since we're stuffing the trenches with their corpses. XCOM is downwards, trying to keep the Hunter's attention."

"Best of luck to them," Miguel grunted as he adjusted some parts on the SHIV. "I don't envy them. At least he isn't on our comms anymore."

"I'm more worried about the siege weapons," Duri said, standing back up after putting on his helmet and looking downward, where the siege vehicles had slightly advanced. As far as he could tell, there was only one that was significantly damaged. "They've not fired for several hours. Which means they're waiting for something."

"Maybe they ran out of ammo?" Cara suggested.

"Unlikely," Duri snorted. "Beatriz, do you see anything up there?"

Beatriz was in the Flak Tower a short distance behind the trench line, and utilizing the Sniper Nest within. "Nothing on the siege breakers. Shields are up, which is stopping me from getting a clear shot on them. They keep funneling soldiers downwards to the front, and have a fresh wave of the hovercraft coming this way."

The siege breakers had continued firing at semi-regular intervals, and each time it had been either a plasma missile strike, one of those massive bombs, or a chemical weapon. Unfortunately for the siege breakers, they were facing the PRIEST Division, who had turned many of the missile strikes away, although enough kept getting through to cause damage.

Beatriz and many of the snipers had briefly switched to the Hellfire ammo, or ClF3 rounds to try and cause significant amounts of damage, but it appeared that the quantity contained in each round was simply too small to cause enough of an impact. There'd been confirmed reports that the siege breakers – as well as the hovercraft – had some kind of limited nanite repair functions, as well as the shields which could handle the chemical.

So instead they'd saved the Hellfire rounds for the Muton Elites to much greater success.

"Duri, we've got big problems coming our way," Beatriz interrupted his thoughts frantically. "A new spacecraft just landed in the far back. Definitely Sectoid."

"Ethereal?" He wondered, now becoming worried. Ethereals tended to use Sectoid craft.

"Possibly, don't know yet. That isn't our biggest problem even though it's probably related. A transport opened the moment it set down. It's filled with Chryssalids. Hundreds of them by the looks of it. They're charging out now."

"Oh, that's not good," Cara breathed as she jumped onto the Browning emplacement. "Not good, not good."

"Everyone, Chryssalids incoming!" Duri yelled several times to everyone in the trench to get the word out. "Be ready!"

He still remembered the stories about the attack on Hamburg, where the creatures had first been reported. A lot of rumors back then, but as a military officer he'd known a lot more than most civilians. Enough to be appraised of the possibility of creatures that implanted eggs in hosts that elicited a zombie-like effect before birthing another Chryssalid.

They were among the most terrifying weapons the aliens had, and they had largely avoided using it after that point. That was clearly no longer the case, and unlike the much slower alien soldiers, the footage he'd seen of Chryssalids was that they were fast, agile, and surprisingly durable. If they swarmed, things were going to get bad very fast.

"ADVENT forces, we have been appraised of the incoming Chryssalids," the voice from ADVENT Command said, in one of the rarer public broadcasts. "Stay in positions. Purifiers are approaching to prep the area for defense."

"They better hurry," Beatriz said from above. "They're coming our way, and the ones that aren't are planting eggs in the corpses."

"I thought they only attacked Humans?" Cara demanded. "Or laid their eggs in them?"

"Apparently not," Duri said as he readied his rifle, now able to get a glimpse of the purple alien insects rushing closer, ignoring the aliens hiding behind cover. "Everyone ready!"

"Fire!"

Gauss fire shot out from the second trench line as the Chryssalids poured through. The first wave immediately collapsed as their chitin plating was shattered; it appeared that the Chryssalids fortunately hadn't undergone extensive upgrades, but even the volume of fire wasn't enough to completely stop the flow, and the Chryssalids jumped into the trench and likely began impregnating the many alien – and Human - corpses that inhabited it.

Duri waved Mana and Nobuatsu to follow him as they moved with another squad to defend the connecting tunnel with the Chryssalids that were about to come through. Cara and Miguel were continuing to mow down all the Chryssalids they could with their Browning and SHIV respectively. Down by Duri there was a Gunner, another Officer, and a Priest.

The roars and screeches of the Chryssalids could be clearly heard, and three of them came scuttling around the corner, red and yellow-tinged spittle dripping from their mouths and the orange eyes that glowed in the dim light giving them an even more sinister appearance. No one wasted time in opening fire and the Chryssalids were immediately cut down, only to be immediately replaced by more who came scrambling around the sides.

The Priest took center position, his body glowing a bright purple, pulled back an arm that was sheathed in bubbling purple energy, and then shoved it forward, sending a bright purple wave through the narrow corridor, vaporizing everything in it's path, leaving only Chryssalid body parts behind.

Duri knew they could hold the choke points. Their lack of armor made them weak, and the area was narrow enough that they could reliably kill anything that came through. Up above was a more difficult prospect, as it would only take a few coming down from the top into the main trench line to break it.

"Corpses are up and walking forward," Beatriz updated to the sound of gunfire. "It'll be a fresh wave when they all birth."

"Cara! How is it up above!" Duri called as some of the puppeted corpses had become aware and were walking towards them.

"Few close calls but we're doing it!" Cara called back. "We could really use those Purifiers!"

Ironically, the Chryssalid zombies they were now fighting were proving more difficult to kill since they were still wearing armor. Targeting the head only seemed to mildly slow it down, although they were already walking slowly forward. It was difficult to wound something that felt no pain. "Target the joints!" The other Officer called. "Block them off!"

Everyone complied, and Duri crippled an incoming Muton, forcing it to crumble to the ground, although it still continued to crawl forward. A few more, and the corridor was effectively cut off, as even the Chryssalids were being forced to climb over the fallen zombies. The Priest stepped forward. "Back!"

Both arms were emblazoned in purple energy, as he formed a small sphere of destructive energy between his hands and sent it forward through the corridor, and as it continued, it grew larger and began ripping everything caught inside it apart into bloody chunks. When it reached the largest concentration, the Priest closed his fists and the sphere exploded and destroyed everything in the general vicinity, including the corridor itself as it blew the armored roof off in certain places, and the flooring and lighting was annihilated.

"Woah! Easy," Duri helped catch the Priest with the other Gunner as he began falling down.

"Took more out of me than I thought," the Priest wheezed. "Worked though."

"Yes, good job," Duri assured him, passing him off to the Gunner. "Take him back, have him rest up."

The Gunner looked to his commanding Officer. "Carrie?"

"Take him back, and mention we need another Priest or Purifier here," she agreed with a wave. "But for now I think we can hold it. That seems to have taken out most of the zombies." She snorted. "Zombies. Amazing."

"I doubt that's all of them," Duri told her. "The explosion might have spooked them."

She jabbed a thumb backwards to another Flak Tower. "I've got my sniper up there. They're definitely not stopping."

"Any breaches?"

"Gonna be difficult to have permanent breaches when there are Psions here," she shrugged, reloading her weapon. "Haven't heard of any, but been distracted. Officer Carrie Jenkins."

"Officer Duri Eun-Jung, a pleasure," he said as sure enough, few Chryssalids came around the corner, screeching at him. "As much as it can be here."

They mowed down the Chryssalids, with Mana throwing a WP grenade towards the end to see if it would have some effect. Normally that would have been dangerous in a corridor, but since said corridor had holes in the roof, it was safer than otherwise.

"Beatriz, what's the status on the Purifiers?" Duri asked.

"Coming up now," she said. "Priests are psionically shielding them as best they can before moving out. Got more bad news though. You know that Sectoid ship? It's carrying a Hive Commander."

"What?"

"What?" Nobuatsu echoed.

"Got some confirmation from XCOM, it's a Hive Commander. They really want this place bad- Damn it, siege breakers are firing."

"Apparently they've got a Hive Commander here," Duri explained as they shot a couple more Chryssalids. "Siege weapons are also firing."

A short distance away they saw several plasma missiles hit, while others were deflected away. One of the Flak Towers was directly hit, but managed to keep standing and returning fire. In the distance more shots landed, but Duri also saw the Purifiers begin moving up ponderously slow. The psionic shielding wasn't directly on them, but angled before the Purifiers so as to allow them to use their flamethrowers.

Four of them had just walked across the small bridge above their own trench and began spreading out. "Beginning purge," one stated, and the white-orange flames shot out and began exploding as they made contact with Chryssalids, vehicles, and aliens. This forced an immediate retreat of all the front-line aliens, and to make it worse for them, one of the Purifiers colored noticeably different was firing a hose into the back of the growing firestorm, causing further explosions.

"That should hold them back for now," Duri said.

"Yeah," Carrie agreed. "But I really don't like how close it is to us."

---

ADVENT-Chinese Joint Command, Beijing – China

3/9/2017 – 7:15 A.M.

With the limited amount of sleep she had gotten, Saudia wondered if she should have even bothered. The bed was fine, and the shifts were done so as to have Ethan be with her during that period of a few hours, but the stress of the past day essentially made any sleep fitful and elusive. She was fairly sure she was more tired when she woke up than when she tried to sleep.

"Any updates?" She asked as she put her professional attire back on; one benefit to being Chancellor was that there was never a shortage of fresh clothes.

Ethan was reading his tablet, face grim. "Hong Kong is holding, but in danger of being pushed out. The entire coast is essentially lost, and allied forces have regrouped a short ways inland. No idea what Isomnum is planning now that his reinforcements have been cut off. It could get a lot worse."

The short and curt statement the Battlemaster had sent directly to ADVENT and the media had been one of the largest and most baffling surprises of the entire day, and they had yet to see if there would be a tangible aftereffect. It just seemed…odd.

Why even utilize Isomnum if you were simply going to disavow him later? It wasn't as if he was ignorant as to who Isomnum was. She could have predicted something like this, and overall everyone was just baffled, if cautiously optimistic.

So far, there were two explanations as to how this could have happened and what the ramifications were. Both Laura and Elizabeth were of the opinion that this was a tactic to make Isomnum a scapegoat (possibly with him aware of this), to justify everything he would do which would not taint the image the Collective was trying to push through Betos. Time would tell if he was truly cut off, or if he was receiving resources quietly as a front for the Collective to do controversial things while keeping their hands clean.

The Battlemaster himself might not be in on this plan, although in that case Saudia had to wonder if the Imperator actually thought that would work. The Battlemaster was oddly principled for an Ethereal, especially a warrior. Interestingly enough, she believed he was sincere, or at least as much as he could be. So the Imperator or other Ethereals covertly supporting Isomnum would likely not go over well.

The other explanation was that this was genuine and there were no ulterior motives, or as the Commander had said, this was the final straw that caused the Battlemaster to get rid of Isomnum. He was, unsurprisingly, not liked by other Ethereals. At the same time, it seemed out of character for him to pull something like this during an ongoing invasion, which the Commander had then pointed to Betos as a possible reason why the response was so quick.

Hard to really say your Collective is benevolent and welcoming if you're forcefully converting civilians into walking weapons.

Personally, she was of the opinion that no one – including the Collective – knew what was going on or what would happen yet. She found it unlikely the Imperator would have sanctioned this for any reason, especially during an operation, so the odds were high the Battlemaster had done this on his own. So how the Imperator responded remained to be seen, or what Isomnum would do himself. His actions could be an indicator for what was actually going on.

The largest takeaway for her was that there was a very high level of infighting within the Ethereals, which was certainly…curious. The fact that the Battlemaster had done this indicated that he was capable of defying the Imperator and more importantly, had certain lines he would not cross. This had been hinted at with some of his previous actions, but he had taken a very firm stand.

Quite curious indeed.

It made her wonder.

"Korea is holding strong," Ethan continued. "Although there are sightings of a Hive Commander, so this could continue to get worse. And the aliens are continuing to slowly advance, even if it's costing them significantly."

She perked up, frowning. "A Hive Commander?"

"XCOM confirms it," he said, walking over and sitting by her, showing the image of the orange-skinned alien that was multiple heads smaller than the Vanguard escort. It wasn't wearing anything, but its telepathic capabilities were certainly enough to defend itself. "They really are determined to capture something here."

"I wonder if Aegis could identify it," she muttered. "The damn things all look the same."

"In any case, XCOM is working on handling it," Ethan said as he continued scrolling down the pad. "There has, unsurprisingly, been a lot of coverage on our assault against the SAS, with plenty of people condemning her as a traitor."

Saudia allowed a thin smile. "Good."

"CNN is interviewing some of the Vitakara defectors now on it," Ethan continued. "Per your suggestion, I think. They've got a whole media tour scheduled. Public sentiment right now is definitely against the traitor."

"Of course it is here," she said. "Africa is what I'm interested in."

"Hassan is saying, and I quote 'Negotiations are proceeding well'," Ethan said, putting an arm around her. "You might want to ask him that, since I don't get access to your updates. I know he was targeting Egypt and Libya heavily, so I'll take that as a good sign. As far as we know, the SAS hasn't made any progress on the diplomatic front."

"That we know of," Saudia muttered. "Until Elizabeth finds out what went wrong, our intel on the SAS is potentially incorrect." She sighed heavily. "This was perhaps the worst time she could have screwed up."

"I'm pretty sure she knows that," Ethan set the tablet to the side. "Which tells me that the aliens put a good amount of effort into making sure we didn't know. It's good they consider us a threat, at least."

"That isn't an excuse," she dismissed. "She was put in charge to anticipate and counter moves like that. And if she can't do it, I will find someone else who will."

"Mmm," they were both quiet for a moment, just waiting in the quiet room. "What do you think will happen next?"

She pursed her lips as she leaned against him, closing her eyes. She didn't open them while she thought. "I don't know. That worries me."

"Why?"

"I don't know if they're ready to pull the trigger on us," she continued, her eyes still closed. "They're more advanced in technology, resources, and manpower. They could attack in dozens of places across the world and we can't defend them all. They could theoretically teleport into this room and kill us both. I don't know what they will do, but it looks like they want to end the war. Against their full power…I'm not sure we can stop them, even with all we have."

Ethan, curiously, didn't seem concerned as his heartbeat was steady. "From one perspective, yes. I think the Battlemaster at least wants to end it. He'll likely invade more countries. But it seems like…well, the Collective itself isn't stable. The Vitakara, Aegis, this split with the Battlemaster and Isomnum…" he trailed off. "And I suspect the Commander has something in mind. A contingency."

For once, she knew something about the Commander he didn't, and couldn't tell for right now. And she didn't know if T'Leth was going to be as involved or the trump card the Commander was hoping. Although Ethan would just say he had a plan for that as well. According to him it was impossible for the Commander to be caught unprepared.

"Probably," she agreed nonchalantly, then snorted. "No matter what happens, it won't end until the Commander is dead or we win."

"Oh yes," Ethan agreed. "If the Collective were to somehow win, he would be immediately organizing the resistance. And he would be…well, angry. If the aliens would like him now, they would be terrified of him later."

From what she knew of Miridian, it wasn't out of the question that the Commander could turn into such a Human equivalent. Hopefully they didn't have to find out.

She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Come on, let's get to work. Spent enough time off."

She finished getting ready, and her phone buzzed which she immediately answered. Only high-priority calls could go through, so something had happened. "Yes?" She said.

"The aliens have expanded their invasions," Laura answered briskly. "Brazil and America. Possibly others, we're getting exact locations. We're all assembling now and preparing to reinforce."

What perfect timing. "We're fairly well entrenched in both countries, especially in the-"

"They're invading Florida, not the West Coast," Laura interrupted. "Which probably means they're intending to take out ADVENT Special Forces Command."

"I'm coming up now," Saudia said. "Prepare a report with as many details as possible so we can compile something for the press." She hung up and a few minutes later she was marching down the hallways with her entourage.

On one hand, the targeting of SFCOM was bad as they weren't as prepared for that area.

On the other, the aliens were going to run directly into SFCOM.

They were not going to find it as undefended as they were probably hoping.

---

Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande Do Sul – Brazil

3/9/2017 – 8:00 A.M.

Her task was straightforward.

"Two main offensives will begin our conquest of South America," the Battlemaster had said during the final briefing. "The First Guardian will lead the assault against Fortaleza, and will continue the assault from the north. You will capture Porto Alegre from the South. Isolating Argentina and Uruguay will be important, and establishing a frontal position within the interior of the country will serve us moving forward. The terrain will be a hinderance, but one which can be mitigated with air-based assaults."

As far as she knew, Porto Alegre was a decent-sized city, if not one ADVENT would expect to be the first attacked. Zararch reports had put the defenses as 'moderate', which mostly just indicated that there was an ADVENT presence there. It would fall under a sustained assault, with a sizable civilian population. Only the major cities like Brasilia were extremely fortified, but the limited infrastructure development across the nation had a side effect of isolating other cities from each other.

"Deployment point approaching," the CODEX informed as it materialized in front of her, a golden holographic projection with a feminine voice. "Please confirm air or ground deployment."

"Air," she said. "Additional notes on the defenses?"

"Critical infrastructure points have been located and will be available upon your request," was the answer. "ADVENT has detected your descent, and are moving to prepare. You are also likely to encounter Peacekeeper forces in addition to standard ADVENT defenses. There is a high probability of limited ADVENT special forces engagement."

"Noted," she said, putting her helmet on and doing a final check on her weapons. She wouldn't need to utilize the Avatar connection yet, and hopefully wouldn't. It was admittedly most effective when they were both together, but in their positions they needed to be able to operate independently. There were too many points of interest to have both the Battlemaster and his Avatar attack the same one.

That was fine. She could handle herself.

Let's see how I do against the real ADVENT.

"Deployment position reached."

The hatch opened underneath her and she began dropping to the ground. It wasn't a significantly long drop, but it would have definitely killed a non-modified or non-psionic Human. It was the length of several skyscrapers, anyway, and while falling she took a quick look at the city and the landing alien transports from all sides.

Vehicles weren't needed for a city like this, but there were plenty of Mutons, Runianarch, and Custodians that would be able to dismantle the ADVENT defenses. As well as herself. She saw herself getting close to the ground, and stabilized herself with telekinesis before hitting the ground with a thud in front of several hastily erected ADVENT barriers with several dozen soldiers pointing weapons at her.

They appeared to be confused, which was understandable. Her rather unique armor and humanoid appearance would raise some questions. "Identify yourself!" Several of the officers yelled out in English and Spanish.

Well, the Battlemaster might give them a chance to surrender if the opportunity presented itself. So she would as well. "Surrender to the Ethereal Collective and you will be treated fairly." No reason to add a death threat, since that was implied. People would generally respond better to the benefits of surrender than the downsides of refusal.

"Fire!" Was the immediate response as the crack of the gauss rifles sounded.

She gave a thin smile under her helmet as the gauss rounds just stopped a short distance from her body due to the telekinetic field she'd erected. An invisible cushion that caught hundreds of the rounds within seconds to the immediate alarm of the defending soldier. "She's a psion!"

She drew her swords and tossed them forward while beginning to walk on her own, the telekinetic barrier still in place as she manipulated the swords to puncture them in vulnerable areas in the necks and joints. From the front she lifted a hand and a half-dozen ADVENT soldiers and the barricade were yanked into the air and subsequently crushed into broken bones, metal and flesh.

The other hand she thrust out, sending a telekinetic wave that threw the remaining defenders backwards and right into the swords which crippled or killed them. She killed the rest of them through snapping their necks or outright crushing their skulls. She recalled the swords back to her hands and continued marching forward, ignoring the terrified civilians who ran away from her as they watched the firefight.

She didn't care about them. There was no place for them to run now.

The streets themselves were nowhere near cleared out, and were filled with abandoned cars or people taking shelter in them as ADVENT forces began marching downwards, yelling orders as they took cover while the remaining civilians fled into nearby buildings or just away from the fighting. Both swords in her hands, Yang charged forward with a series of slashes and stabs.

ADVENT armor had vulnerabilities, particularly in the neck and joints. Combined with her new weapons their armor could be penetrated from a direct hit, even if it was more difficult. The less durable material of their helmets made them prime targets for stabbing them directly in the head, which she performed several times and afterwards sent the corpse towards another soldier.

It was remarkably easy to fight against standard soldiers now. It was only a matter of flicking her fingers and they would go flying backwards and slam into a wall, which she could compress them into until their skeleton shattered. Entire groups could be lifted into the air and killed in moments. Their weapons couldn't penetrate her telekinetic barrier and grenades she could just throw back.

And if they tried to run, she would just leap after them, or direct her swords to impale them.

No escape.

No hope.

Only defeat.

The CODEX gave her regular updates on the status of the other incursions, all of them going well, and the fact that ADVENT appeared to be rerouting more forces to stopping the threat which was carving up their defenses. It wasn't a surprise then when she saw a PRIEST team approaching with the distinct Lancer escort. A mixture of Executors and standard soldiers.

Excellent.

There were three Priests, and one of them had the distinct misfortune of appearing to be a telepath who was confused as to why he couldn't affect her. The other two were Dynamo psions, and one shot out a stream of energy at her while the other began forming rifts in her general vicinity.

She charged forward, moving faster than they anticipated. The four Executors rushing towards her she telekinetically lifted and tossed back into the psions. The Lancers were equipped with plasma weapons which she couldn't block like the gauss weapons, so she sent her swords out that jammed into the weapons, causing them to explode. With a free hand she telekinetically grabbed one of the Priests and shattered his body.

The Lancers adapted quickly and switched to sidearms or tossed several grenades, all of which she caught and reflected back towards them which they dodged out of the way from, aside from a few of the Executors still on the ground who were now covered in the Symbiote substance. She killed them quickly, even as she beheaded one of the Priests while telekinetically crushing the chest of the other with a loud crunch.

The other Lancers were dispatched quickly enough.

More would come, but they would have just as little success. As the CODEX continued to update her, she knew it was only a matter of time before the city collapsed completely, and the Collective had a solid foothold in the region.

Mission accomplished.

---

South Florida, Florida – United States of America

3/9/2017 – 10:32 A.M.

"Prepare them for offworld transport," the Battlemaster commanded the Custodians as they finished securing the civilians who had been captured or otherwise stumbled into the Collective landing zones. "Do not allow interference once their processing has been completed."

The Custodian acknowledged this wordlessly as the machines began lining up the Humans and leading them through one of the established gateways that had been erected. The invasion of Florida was one where some experimentation was due. Simply assaulting the fortified cities was of limited effectiveness currently, especially when approached directly from space or no firm starting point.

This time they would be attacking from the ground. There was a large amount of open space in Florida, especially in the southern half. Their positioning now was above several of the nature reserves, though several Runianarch and Sectoid teams were exploring the feasibility of southern expansion as ADVENT would be hesitant to continue into it.

From this centrist position, they would be able to expand east and west, while cutting off Miami from the north, largely ensuring significant control over the southern half of Florida. North would be highly difficult. ADVENT SFCOM was the primary target, and the base – as well as Tampa near it – was extremely fortified and a direct assault would be a waste.

However, they had a significant personnel and resource advantage, which was why the current construction of a central command was being developed. The combination of architects, engineers, and geologists of the Sectoids, Vitakara, and Andromedons had been able to design a self-sufficient base with slight tweaks to accommodate the Floridian terrain.

Custodians and Spectres had also proven extremely useful in the construction of the base itself, with Mutons being used for heavy manual labor, Custodians for heavy-duty precision work, and Spectres for the creation and implementation of more delicate and critical components. Heavy equipment such as construction machines, anti-aircraft defenses, and gateways had been flown in, and when the Gateways had been established, enough personnel had been deployed for the base to already be taking some shape.

Twelve Executors were deployed on the perimeter, and to date had yet to encounter any encroaching ADVENT or XCOM force, though the Battlemaster suspected that one would be coming in time. They had estimated that it would take three days for the base to be capable of basic operations, a week before it was at full operating capacity, and two weeks before self-sufficiency could be established.

The Sectoids were using this as an opportunity to perform their geoengineering experiments, primarily by infecting and modifying current farm and swampland. The Everglades in particular were of interest to certain Sectoid Hives, as well as the viability of growing various alien foods on Earth. This tied partially into the self-sufficiency of the base.

The Sectoids were likely going to be pleased with the opportunities these invasions would bring. Once bases were established in Brazil, the rainforests were something the Sectoids were also interested in. Last he had heard, Yang had been mopping up the remainder of ADVENT defenders while the First Guardian was encountering stauncher resistance.

Unsurprising. Yang's operation was to establish a working base of South American operations while the First Guardian was to attract more ADVENT defenses. He saw the commanding Zararch Officer waving him over as she was speaking to several Zararch Operatives and Fectorian's REPLICA units. "Battlemaster," Zar'aoura'vitiary greeted. "We've finished our sweeps of the surrounding area. No signs of ADVENT moving against us yet, though there is a small town nearby."

"Moore Town," the Battlemaster recalled. "They have ADVENT support, correct?"

"No military support, yet at least," Aoura clarified, bringing up a small holodisplay of the town. "However there is a heavy Peacekeeper presence. They have one of their prison production facilities located nearby. Heavy defenses, but nothing we wouldn't be able to handle. Taking it out would hinder their production capabilities in this region, if only by a small amount."

"PRIEST involvement?"

"Unlikely in the town, at least there were no reports," she shook her head. "There were several Deacons spotted near the Peacekeeper Station. Nothing that can't be defeated."

"Send Vanguards to psionically delay civilian evacuation," the Battlemaster ordered. "The Peacekeepers will need to be dealt with."

"There is a potential concern," she added. "A minor detail, but there is an organized militia in the town. We are not aware of their exact armaments, but it is safe to assume that their equipment and weaponry is inferior to standard ADVENT personnel. They will be on guard, even if they can be easily defeated."

"Civilian defenders are irrelevant," he shook his head. "I do not expect them to pose a significant threat. This does not alter your orders. The Peacekeepers are the larger concern, especially if they have Deacon support."

"We can move Cleanser Ships into position," Aoura suggested. "Destroy the Station and Prison that way."

"No," the Battlemaster disagreed immediately. "Targets this small would be brought in range of ADVENT defenses and aircraft. Not worth it, and I do not want to destroy the prison. There are a significant amount of Humans within that may have reason to turn against ADVENT."

Aoura smiled. "I believe this is a better approach. I would suggest we act fast if we want to move before ADVENT inevitably sends the military to evacuate and fortify the town."

The Battlemaster considered. "Inform the Stalker that she is to take her soldiers and destroy the Peacekeepers and secure the prisoners. I will also send separate teams of Custodians to secure the civilian population and return them for processing."

"Acknowledged, Battlemaster," she confirmed while making a note. "What should we be preparing for in the meantime?"

"An assault," the Battlemaster said, looking to the sky. "It will take ADVENT time to realize what we are doing, but when they do they will attempt to strike us with everything possible. Likely by air and XCOM may respond as well."

"Against all of this?" She indicated the continued formation of the base. "It'll need more than one XCOM squad or a few airstrikes."

"If ADVENT has a countermeasure," the Battlemaster said, turning to check on the status of the central command center to monitor the progress of the wider conflict. "We will learn of it soon enough. Then when we are ready, we will march."

---

Hong Kong, Guangdong – China

3/9/2017 – 7:45 A.M.

Oliver was one of the first to see it. Or rather, them. "Kane, we might have some trouble."

Kane swung his Browning to where Oliver was indicating and stared for a few moments, trying to get a better look. Admittedly, Oliver wasn't quite sure what he was looking at either. Six knights approached, each carrying a different weapon and with their armor slightly different. He could tell it was intricate and of exceptional craftsmanship, as there were miniscule writing and symbols engraved onto the armor which ranged from silver to a mix of deep blues and whites.

Behind them was a male Vitakarian in silver-white robes, which seemed highly impractical for the combat situation. He seemed to be the main leader as the other knights were moving before him. They were definitely hostile then, even if he still wasn't sure what they were. The knights were differing sizes as well, and he could swear that one of them was a Muton.

Kane opened fire without a second thought. "They're from the Bringer!"

Oliver didn't know how he knew that, but the knights took the attack as a signal to storm forward, and several of them became engulfed in psionic energy, some of them applying it to their weapons as they shouted war cries in an unknown language and charged forward. The Custodians and Mutons which were still alive and had been largely in retreat held their positions as the half dozen psionic warriors charged forward.

He decided to target the robed figure who was standing in the back. The shots were perfect, and would have hit the alien in the head had a blue shield not appeared right before him, blocking the shot, and immediately after that the figure looked to him and Oliver found himself being lifted into the air as what felt like an ice-cold knife was jabbed into his skull as an alien presence manifested itself in his mind.

He'd never come under a psionic attack this direct before, and it was a mixture between helplessness, agency, and seeing flashing or thinking random thoughts from his memories, largely recent. He saw Kane turn the focus of his fire to the robed figure who seemed not bothered in the least as a psionic shield just appeared around him.

Then just as quickly as it had happened, the icy pain vanished and Oliver could concentrate again, picking himself up from the ground. There was still something off about everything, but he had to assume that the Chronicler was now protecting his mind more directly than before. The knights had somehow not been slowed whatsoever by the volume of ADVENT fire, and were nearly towards the front line and they leapt into it, swinging their weapons and utilizing their psionics.

The front-line soldiers didn't stand a chance, and the one knight that was marching towards them was projecting a psionic shield superimposed over the kite shield he (Oliver assumed the knight was male) was carrying while purple heatless flames fell off the black short sword. Oliver could glimpse more of the writing that was inscribed on the armor, and while at first glance it looked like a character language like Chinese or Japanese, it was none of that. He definitely had never seen it before, or anything like it.

Maybe the language of the Bringer.

What was it doing here supporting Isomnum?

The knight slammed the shield forward and sent out some kind of psionic wave that sent most of them tumbling backwards, while Kane just stumbled, although absorbed the worst of the corrosive wave, stripping off a layer of his Titan armor that immediately began repairing itself. The knight slashed forward and Kane deflected it with his gauntlet although damaged it in the process.

With his free hand he grabbed the wrist holding the blade and the knight responded by slamming him with the shield which was now laced in corrosive energy, intending to damage the Titan armor enough to let him go. The rest of the soldiers took advantage of the struggle by flanking the Knight and firing into it, with Oliver throwing a Symbiote grenade to the ground and pinning it in place.

Then Kane unexpectedly let go and fell back, briefly firing with his plasma sidearm. "Evade it!" He yelled as the knight roared, and the ground flared with purple fire as it ate through the Symbiote substance and rushed to one of the soldiers and stabbed him through the helmet, before swinging his sword and sending a lethal wave of psionic energy towards a duo of ADVENT soldiers, which almost disintegrated the armor of one and dismembered another in a spray of red.

The knight suddenly stumbled and roared again, pointing the sword at Kane and a beam of purple energy materialized and shot at him. Oliver shot at the hand while Kane threw a container at the knight which, while it didn't kill him, was enough force him to move as two Gunners moved behind the knight and opened fire with Oliver diving to the side to avoid the crossfire.

It miraculously didn't go down, but the armor was weakening even as Kane picked up his Browning and started firing into the back of the knight again, and now the knight was clearly suffering from something. It dropped the shield and dropped to one knee as it raised its hands and shot out energy that was enough to vaporize the upper half of one of the Gunners while the other managed to fall out of the way just in time.

That appeared to be the last effort of the knight, as it fell to one knee, visibly vibrating and screaming a blood-curdling war cry as the psionosphere began ripping around it. Heedless of the danger, Kane walked over to the knight and placed his hands over the helmet, and the knight jerked backwards and swung his arm around shoving Kane to the side with surprising force as it suddenly charged the surviving Gunner who struggled to get his weapon up.

It wasn't nearly fast enough as the knight tackled the Gunner to ground the and began slamming his fists into the helmet, heedless of the pain that it had to have been causing him as one of the fists glowed with psionic energy and punched straight through the helmet as the knight stood and charged the nearest trio of soldiers coming in to help.

All of them backed up and fired their weapons, with Oliver tossing his last symbiote grenade at him, and it detonated just close enough to ensnare the leg. The armor was completely tarnished now, and it was bleeding profusely from multiple points, staining the metal crimson. Its yell was more raw-throated, and a hand glowed in psionic energy, even as Oliver saw fingers of the hand fall off, and it inexplicably placed it on the trapped leg and severed it.

The freed knight leapt forward and crawled along the ground and tangled the legs of a soldier who'd been unable to move back in. How was this thing still alive? It shouldn't be possible, but the thing was still encasing his wrists in psionic energy as they were disintegrating before his eyes, and was whaling on the corpse with bloody and corroding stumps.

Kane charged forward and jumped on its back with enough force that the armor cracked and Kane's boots went through the body, snapping the spine and crushing the bones and organs within. Kane fired the Browning point-blank into the head for a full three seconds and the knight finally seemed to die.

Kane stepped out of the body as Oliver looked at the corpse in disbelief as the surviving ADVENT soldiers pulled the mutilated corpse of the soldier away from the knight. "Good job," Oliver said to Kane as he looked at the corpse which had endured so much punishment. "I don't know how-"

"You'll see," Kane said curtly as he reloaded his weapon. "Learn your suit. Nanites can be used for more than repair."

Oh…So that had been what he was doing. And it explained why Kane had been so insistent on evading the creature. Because he knew that in minutes the nanites he'd infected it with would debilitate it so that it would presumably be easier to kill. A feature of the suit Oliver did know about, but had not seen a good reason to expend them in that manner until now.

But these nanites, as opposed to ultimately debilitating them, only seemed to drive them into some berserk rage where they fought until they literally died. It was…unnerving to see the soldiers fight immune to the fear of self-harm.

"What is that thing?" One of the soldiers asked in awe and horror as Oliver looked around to see how the rest of the soldiers were faring.

"They call it a Carmine Baptist," Kane said shortly as he began appraising what was next even as the body was being eaten by nanites. "A soldier of the Bringer."

Oliver stared at him. "How do you know that?"

Kane looked back at him and answered flatly. "I watched the footage."

They would have to discuss this later, as the battle was far from over. A cursory glance showed that the other robed Vitakarian was still standing, but currently dealing with a squad of ADVENT soldiers and Priests which had moved forward. Oliver saw in the background there were four Priests fighting the Muton Baptist, surrounded by nearly a dozen other dead soldiers.

There were the corpses of two more of the Baptists scattered around, but they had taken a significant toll on ADVENT and reduced it already to a fraction of its strength. The remaining two Baptists were engaged against the Chronicler and on the retreat as the Chronicler was…well…unleashed was the best word Oliver could describe.

He was almost more of a blue hologram than person, if said hologram radiated energy which was actively ravaging anything in its vicinity. The Baptists had shielded themselves, but the Chronicler had one encased in a telekinetic grip and with the other was ripping it apart while the other Baptist was shooting much weaker psionic blasts towards the Chronicler which seemed to be doing nothing.

Oliver couldn't pay much more attention as the Priests were falling to the Muton Baptist, one of which had been smashed into paste, while another was being flayed with psionic energy while in the massive grip of the alien. Right. Bringer soldiers could somehow use psionics despite that apparently being impossible.

The Goliath was also actively targeting the Muton, and a series of micro-missiles as well as the plasma lance slammed into the alien which seemed to only damage the armor, but not the alien underneath it. This one didn't have any defensive gear, but held a massive warhammer that it swung around in an arc forcing everyone to stand clear or have their heads caved in.

The Priests were having trouble keeping it contained, as one tried to put it in a psionic cage, which dissipated when the Muton closed a fist and the area around the Priest began turning into a rift. The other tried pinning it with telekinetics and had her concentration broken when the Muton telekinetically threw the hammer at her, forcing her to dodge or get hit.

"Distract it," Wei Liuxian, the Goliath, said in an infuriatingly calm robotic tone. "Away from me."

Oliver nodded to Kane. "Take point?"

"Be ready to fire," was all he said, as he began shooting his Browning at the much-less armored Muton which immediately caught the attention of it. Oliver strafed to the left, and took some inspiration from Kane and threw some of the empty containers and boxes at the alien, which divided its concentration if not being more than an annoyance physically.

It gave a signature Muton roar and shot out a hand at Kane to shoot a funnel of psionic energy towards him, which he dodged by moving behind some barricades and cars that only withstood the raw energy for a few seconds. Oliver added his own shots to the mix, and scored a few hits that were causing the alien to slightly bleed.

But the distraction was enough for the Goliath to stomp over and slam a metal foot onto its back, planting the Muton firmly in the ground facedown. The Goliath wasted no time in following up with a metal fist delivered directly down into the head of the Muton, resulting in the sound of crumpling metal and broken bones. Even though it was clearly dead, the Goliath repeated this again and the head was turned into paste.

Oliver reloaded and turned to see the Chronicler had dispatched his opponents and was now facing the robed alien and engaged in an astonishingly fast duel. The ADVENT soldiers that had previously been fighting the alien were dead – more accurately in pieces – and the Chronicler was now fighting instead.

The robed figure was using psionic barriers offensively and at an extreme speed, though the Chronicler was responding by simply performing micro-teleportation every few seconds as the area gradually became encased in a rift with the Chronicler at the center. The robed alien was protected by a shield himself, but it was going to fail eventually, even if the face betrayed nothing.

"Enough."

The psionic maelstrom suddenly ceased even as the Chronicler continued to emit blue energy. The alien on the other hand had been yanked into the air even as the Chronicler had not moved a muscle. The passive expression that had been on the alien's face began contorting as…something happened to it.

That was when Oliver realized that the voice hadn't come from the Chronicler, but something his mind had heard.

"Your puppets are worthless as you are," the voice rumbled – T'Leth, Oliver assumed. "Fanatics driven by the whispers of a dead power. You have no influence over this planet and species, and your days are numbered. Flee, for your people will suffer agonizing deaths otherwise."

Oliver and Kane watched as the alien quite literally melted in front of them while the Chronicler stood and watched, and listened to the alien scream as he was melted second by second until only the robes soaked in blood and slurry were left. The energy slowly dissipated from the Chronicler.

"Was that…him?" Oliver asked after a few moments.

"Yes," the Chronicler looked around. "He's…angry. The Bringer is involved on Earth. He must be stopped, and there are many others who are in danger."

"We're down too many to hold this position," Oliver said, looking around at the survivors. "What can we do?"

"ADVENT must retreat," the Chronicler shook his head. "Isomnum is no longer the priority. Finding and stopping the Bringer's forces is, and we're going to have to move as fast as we can."

"Then we go," Kane said without hesitation. "ADVENT will not stop them unprepared."

The Chronicler was somber, but he gave a nod. "I know. And the Bringer does too."

---

Haikou, Hainan - China

3/8/2017 – 5:18 P.M.

They'd been running for hours, and at this point they needed to stop and take a rest. The Collective was still out there, but both of them were fairly sure they'd lost the immediate pursuers. Luckily it wasn't difficult to find a place to go, and they'd snuck into a hotel and kicked one of the doors in on a lower floor.

There might be more survivors, but they hadn't encountered them. Nor did either of them expect to at this point.

Exhausted, Nuan carefully set her weapon against a corner and leaned against a wall while taking off her helmet and releasing a breath. "I…think we should be good for now."

"For now," Iosif agreed, also setting his weapons aside. "I think that you killed the Mosrimor avatar. At least I don't know anything that would be able to come back from that. That's their best weapon to try and find us."

"Unless they bring in more of them," Nuan closed her eyes. "Or Sectoids."

"That is a risk," Iosif admitted, sitting on one of the beds. "There is good news though. If they do a telepathic scan of the island, I'll know it. They can't touch my mind without me knowing."

"Oh good," she muttered. "So they'll have our direct location."

"Not exactly," Iosif clarified. "I'll block them. They'll just know the general area we're in. But since I haven't sensed anything like that, it either means that they've given up, or don't want to track us that way."

"Or didn't think of it," Nuan supplied.

"Possible, but unlikely," Iosif shook his head. "I can't imagine they wouldn't have thought of it."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Nuan asked, going over to sit by him. "We never came up with a plan."

"Good question," Iosif sighed, pinching his forehead; showing actual exhaustion for probably the first time. "Getting off the island is essential. But we're cut off, and going the wrong way will just lead us into Isomnum's path. So we need to rest and get clean first. We might be here a few days yet."

"Do we even have that long?" Nuan asked, looking around. "We're not low profile. XCOM soldiers won't just be allowed to…wander around."

"I don't know, Nuan," Iosif said slowly, shaking his head. "Finding two people on an island, XCOM soldiers or not, may not be important for them. They could easily assume that we can't do anything without them knowing, and it only takes one mistake on our part to get caught. They can afford to play it safe for now."

He looked to her. "And we can't run ourselves to exhaustion, not right now. We need to slow down and think. Staying in one isolated place is better than constantly moving."

Nuan pushed herself up and went to the bathroom to see if anything was working. Turning on a few faucets answered the question. "Water works, at least. Heated too."

"Not surprising," Iosif commented. "I don't think they hit vital infrastructure. Purely telepathic attacks. No reason to damage anything. Works good for us."

Nuan walked back out, eyeing the bathroom suspiciously. A shower would feel good right now, as would sleep, but she was leery of getting out of her armor right now. Iosif seemed to sense what she was getting at. "We take turns," he shrugged. "One in armor, the other not. Remember I have psionics too. I'd also suggest we replenish our nanites with the resources around. Fill everything to capacity."

That was a good plan. Nuan nodded. "Alright. Let's do that first. No splitting up."

"Wouldn't think of it," Iosif grunted as he stood and followed her to one of the rooms down the hall. Within an hour they'd successfully destroyed the room and harvested the wood, fabric, and metal to replenish their nanite stores and repair any damage to their armor. A useful side effect of the repair was that it functionally cleaned the armor as well, removing the blood, scratches, dirt, and gore that could pile up. A new suit for all intents and purposes.

"What next?" Nuan asked. "Sweep the floor or get food?"

"Sweep first," he said, lifting his rifle. "Make sure there isn't anyone else here."

"Couldn't you sense that?" She asked.

He tapped his helmet. "Not a telepath, I know when someone will touch my mind, not as easy to do the opposite. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked."

"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm…not thinking as straight as I should."

"Neither am I," he admitted. "Otherwise this should have been the first thing we did."

"Well," she motioned to the hallway. "Let's go. Shouldn't take long if we go fast."

"Not too many places to hide," Iosif admitted. "Although…it would go faster if we had a keycard."

"Do we want to go down and look for one?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Better to not go down unless absolutely necessary."

So they began their sweep, being decidedly unsubtle about kicking in the doors and clearing the room. Each one took about a minute since all the rooms on this level were only for a small group of people at most. The beauty of standardized hotel chains, and it helped that Hainan was something of a tourist spot.

There had definitely been something that had happened here. Most of the rooms were already upturned or disorderly, and not from regular guest messiness either. There were bloodstains in many rooms, clear signs of fights, holes and scorch marks in the walls. No bodies, which meant that they'd been manually removed. That was good news since it probably meant the aliens weren't going to come through again.

They were close to three quarters of the way through, and as usual Iosif tried to kick in the door, and surprisingly found that this time it was jammed. He kicked it in again, and confirmed that it was definitely barricaded from the inside. They exchanged silent glances through their helmets. Survivors. Iosif instead gave a tentative knock. "Hello?"

No answer, Nuan took the initiative. "[We're Human, with XCOM. We're not going to hurt you. Please open.]"

There was a brief silence. "[How do I know that?]" Came the voice of an audibly nervous man.

Nuan sighed. Caution was understandable, but it was tiring right now. "[We really don't care. We're going to clear the rest of this floor. When we come back, we want to come in. If you want off this island, we'll be your best chance.]"

She turned to Iosif. "I said we'll finish sweeping the floor and come back to him. Give him time to unblock things."

"If you say so," he said, and they continued to sweep the rest of the rooms. They reached the last one and kicked it in as was standard procedure and entered a seemingly empty room, but this one had the corpse of a…machine? It looked like a Human corpse, except that it had been shot in the back and there were clear mechanical components in it.

"This is new," Nuan muttered as she turned the machine over. "Might be someone left in here…"

The bed was disturbed, as was expected, and under the beds seemed clear. "Definitely some people here," Iosif muttered. "I can at least sense that." She nodded.

"[You can come out,]" she said out loud. "[We're XCOM, we're not going to hurt you.]"

No response. Maybe not a Chinese resident? "We're XCOM, she said. Come out, we won't hurt you. We know someone is here."

"Ok!" A voice called out from the bathroom which had been conspicuously closed. "Just…don't shoot us." Iosif went to open the door, and was greeted by a visibly nervous Chinese woman who still blocked the entrance. Her eyes widened as she saw their towering suits. "[Don't shoot,]" she insisted to Nuan in Chinese.

Nuan exaggeratedly made a point of placing her rifle in the corner and taking off her helmet to assure them that they were Human. "[We won't, we're not going to hurt you.]"

The woman swallowed, then opened the door. "[Not for us, for him.]"

"The hell?" Iosif demanded as on the ground was a clearly wounded Vitakarian who was barely conscious and bleeding from an unknown stomach wound. There was teenage girl also in the room who started at the sight of the armored soldiers. The room had dozens of bloodstains and all the towels had been torn up for makeshift bandages.

Iosif raised his weapon but the woman stepped in front. "[No! No! He helped us!]"

Nuan motioned to Iosif to lower the weapon. "[Explain.]"

"[We experienced some kind of…]" she waved her hand around. "[Nightmare. Everyone did. It ended, we woke up and there was another person that tried to come into the room. I thought she was a survivor someone to help. She tried to kill us! He shot it, but it hurt him. He saved us, you can't shoot him!]"

"What's she saying," Iosif asked.

"They experienced Isomnum's attack," she said, thinking through the story. "When they came to, she says they were attacked by that machine in there and this alien saved them. I don't think she's lying."

The Vitakarian was awake, and was looking quite terrified as the XCOM soldiers looked down at him, even if he didn't say anything. "Why help a random woman and her…daughter?" He shot the teenage girl a look.

Nuan indicated the girl. "[Who is she?]"

"[My daughter,]" she confirmed. "[My husband is on the mainland. I…don't know if he's alive.]"

"[Hey, don't worry, I'm sure he's fine,]" Nuan lied, not wanting the woman to break down now. "[We need to focus on helping all of you right now. We need to get closer. See what his wounds are.]"

She motioned for the medkit. "I need that."

"We might need it later," Iosif cautioned, even as he complied.

"And we might need him to interrogate," Nuan answered as she carefully aimed the medkit. "He was here for a reason."

"Probably Zararch," Iosif speculated, looking down at the alien thoughtfully. "It doesn't make sense for anyone else to be here. Doesn't explain why he'd help a random Human couple though. I doubt it's for sympathy."

"If he was here during the attack?" Nuan shrugged as she stood back up. "Possible that he's now questioning his loyalty. We get him out of here alive, we find out." She looked back to the woman. "[Move him onto the bed and find him clothes if you can. We'll be back.]"

As the woman and her daughter began moving the alien away, she and Iosif moved back out to go back to the first guy. This time they just opened the door and walked inside. There was a Chinese man in a business suit holding a gun shakily at them, and Nuan carefully took off her helmet again. "[Easy. We're all Human here.]"

"[Ok. Ok,]" he said shakily and put his weapon on the ground. "[Sorry, sorry.]"

"[It's fine,]" she reassured him. "[We're all on edge today.]"

Well. It appeared that their stay here and eventual exfiltration was going to be a little more complicated than they had planned. Nuan just felt more exhausted at the prospect. They had three Humans and an alien to keep safe now, and only two tired XCOM soldiers to make it happen.

But this was what their job was all about, even if it was difficult.

It was much easier to just shoot things.

---

ADVENT-Chinese Joint Command

3/9/2017 – 10:09 A.M.

Many developments, some expected, some not.

The invasions in Brazil and America were not as surprising. Florida was slightly unexpected, but the Commander was not as concerned due to the fact that it was reasonably fortified and there was a strong militia core developed in the state, something ADVENT had confirmed. It was going to be a long fight, but one they had a decent chance of winning, even if there were indicators that the Battlemaster was taking a smarter approach to this.

He was, however, rather focused on the holoprojection of the figure that had been captured on camera in Brazil. A woman and psion, who was almost certainly a female. Carried two swords, wore rather unique armor that was masterfully crafted – and was fighting against ADVENT. "Do you think it's the same person?" He asked Zhang who was communicating from the Praesidium.

"It matches the description Fiona provided, at least as far as her fighting style goes," Zhang said, looking at the projection curiously. "It is likely Yang Shuren. We do not have confirmation of this yet, but she should be considered our enemy, whoever she is."

"Thank you for the sage advice," Creed commented sarcastically. "We should be planning our response, not looking at one traitor Human who we may or may not know. The Bringer is involved now. Isomnum isn't going down without a fight."

"I wonder if the Battlemaster knows," the Commander mused, scratching his chin. "Or the Imperator. It's possible that Isomnum went behind the Imperator for this to salvage his plan."

"That's a question to ask later," Jackson interrupted. "The Bringer's involvement has been damaging already. They're tearing through ADVENT and are appearing in locations that are well away from the fighting. Places ADVENT isn't prepared."

"I'm aware," the Commander nodded. "The Chronicler has said that T'Leth is actively monitoring China and deploying his agents at will. Unfortunately, it appears there are more of them than what T'Leth has active, and at least some of them are teleporters. Creed, have you reviewed the squads deployed?"

"Yes sir," Creed confirmed. "Being deployed as we speak. I'm not sure this is the best first deployment for Axis, but he has reason to hate the Bringer more than us. MELD Operators and psions should be solid counters, so long as they are protected. More Priests will be needed as well. Can Aegis continue to hold out?"

"He's given the affirmative, but we need to dissuade Isomnum from continuing," the Commander said. "ADVENT is preparing drone strikes along the coasts since they're largely abandoned. Nuclear action is on the table, so I've heard from Chinese officials. Continuing debate on that though, and I don't think they're ready to do anything until a more approximate location of Isomnum is fixed."

"What of Hainan?" Creed demanded. "Are we writing off Iosif and his squad?"

"Not yet," the Commander shook his head. "But we can't devote anything more to recovering them right now until we know for sure. Iosif can look after himself, and I don't want to send another team until we know what we're facing. The Bringer is a far more pressing concern now, as are the invasions."

"How much should we commit to the attacks led by the Collective and the ADVENT attack on the SAS?" Jackson asked, motioning to the hologlobe. "If anything at all?"

"Let's wait to see what the Collective does in Brazil and Florida," the Commander said, thinking. "Actually, Creed – put together a team to take out the First Guardian. Hold off on Florida until we see them do something. In the meantime, I think it would serve as a nice distraction for our other resident Ethereal to show how he's changed."

Zhang caught on immediately. "South Korea."

"Correct," the Commander confirmed. "The Collective is under the impression that they can gain a foothold in the region. Caelior is powerful enough to handle these siege breakers and the Hive Commander that is supposedly there. If we're lucky, we can capture the Hive Commander and the Hunter. We cease this siege in Korea, we can move him to other important areas."

"At the very least it will give the Collective another shock," Zhang commented. "I'm concerned about possible retaliation for this. I cannot see positive reactions to the fact that another Ethereal has defected."

"Assuming they believe a defection at all," Jackson pointed out. "They may claim that it's the result of XCOM Manchurian conditioning. And would only be half-right."

"The point is that Caelior is an asset we are intending to utilize," the Commander refocused the conversation. "That will shake up the Collective's battle plans, since they know that we can break any siege just by sending him to defend against it."

"And handle the orbital defenses," Creed added. "Still needs practice on that, but I'm assuming he'll get it relatively soon."

"Are you sure we shouldn't deploy him in China?" Jackson asked worriedly. "Korea is holding, even if they are slowly being pushed back. China is in a more precarious situation."

Both the Commander and Zhang began shaking their heads before she even finished the sentence. "Caelior is the equivalent of a nuclear bomb," the Commander said. "China requires a scalpel. Not to mention Caelior would likely attract the direct attention of Isomnum, and he can't defend against it. Too high of a risk to potentially lose him. Aegis is suited to contain Isomnum, Caelior is not."

"We can save him for the Battlemaster," Zhang said. "And other Ethereals whose inclination is not telepathy."

"Fair enough," Jackson relented. "What stance should we take on the SAS, Commander. Since they're firmly with the aliens…"

"Traitors, all of them," he pursed his lips. "If you want to make a statement, we stand behind ADVENT and strongly encourage all African nations to assist in the elimination of the traitor state. Zhang, we will need to watch some of the independent nations closely. If they are looking to defect and ADVENT diplomacy fails, the Hades Contingency is authorized."

"I anticipated that," Zhang confirmed, making a note on his tablet. "Contingencies are in place and agents have been deployed. We've taken preventative measures already, and multiple SAS diplomats have been removed."

"Excellent," the Commander nodded. "When you say removed?"

"Most eliminated and disposed of. Several have been captured and are being interrogated."

"Possibly worth subjecting them to the Restraints and letting them go," Jackson mused. "The more moles in the SAS, the better."

"It would take too long," Zhang dismissed. "They are already late for their assignments. They will assume ADVENT has compromised them. They will not have proof, nor will anyone believe them. As far as I understand it, ADVENT negotiations are proceeding well. Libya and Egypt are at least holding joint talks with ADVENT."

"Saudia is scheduled to meet with both of them by the end of the day," the Commander recalled. "A good sign, and the continued bombardment is keeping their military primarily in check. Right now the SAS is contained, and I want to ensure it stays that way. But carefully. There is at least one Ethereal behind them, and I don't want to commit heavily until we know which one it is."

"We will work on acquiring this information," Zhang frowned. "Unfortunate that we did not know of this. More disturbing that ADVENT failed to notice this development. We will need to begin monitoring independent countries to ensure this does not happen again. I am surprised this precaution needs to be taken."

"We likely should have been doing it already," the Commander sighed. "However, we did learn a valuable lesson here. We can't rely solely on ADVENT to monitor Humanity. They need assistance every now and then."

"An expansion of XCOM Intelligence is in order," Zhang said. "Especially considering our operations beyond Earth."

"We'll discuss details after the current situation is largely resolved," the Commander nodded to all of them. "Get your assignments done and I'll keep everyone updated as to the current situation. Good luck."

With each saluting, they winked out of existence as the Commander prepared to return and catch up with what was happening with Saudia in the meantime.

---

Cairo – Egypt

3/9/2017 – 4:18 P.M.

Saudia had only been to Egypt a few times in her life, and had never really enjoyed it. Too hot for her tastes, sandy, and really only known for a few things which had been mild disappointments in her youth. The pyramids had largely been degrading stones that couldn't really compare to the more modern pieces of architecture, not to mention she'd continually been disappointed that she couldn't go into them while they'd been there.

Now that she was older, she could appreciate them for their history and how they certainly helped Egyptian tourism even if she was never going to be amazed by them. She still disliked the blazing heat and the endless sand. That was probably never going to change. Nonetheless, she didn't have to worry about that much in the well-furnished room where she and Hassan were waiting for the Egyptian President and Prime Minister.

She was occasionally glancing over at her tablet, which she normally would never bring to a diplomatic function like this, but considering the situation across the world, particularly in China, she needed to be up to date on everything. China was still not going well, but that was the only completely bad news she was seeing.

Well, Brazil was also being invaded and losing some territory, but nothing crucial had been lost yet.

The doors suddenly opened, and their two hosts entered. President Hussein Shamon was first, a tall and stoic military man who had spent several decades in the Egyptian military. He'd been what could have generously be described as harsh, especially when it came to clamping down on crime and extremism. He'd been surprisingly active during the War on Terror to violently put down any Caliphate individuals and sympathizers, likely wanting to keep the Commander himself as far away as possible.

For the most part, it seemed to have worked and Egypt had largely escaped the worst of the fallout, despite having a notable Muslim population. In the years since Shamon had made it a very…public point to insist that there was no Islamic extremism in his country whatsoever. Very much an international relations move, but one Saudia knew was based in some action. Egypt had also made efforts to more closely align itself with Western countries, although had difficulties for some due to the less than democratic actions of the police and military to suppress dissent.

From what Hassan had said, Egypt was wary of ADVENT, and Falka had said that there were continuing talks on the viability on simply staying out of the conflict or allying with China, the latter of which was quickly shot down. Ironically, there had apparently also been suspicion that the SAS was actually a trap by ADVENT which was why they'd refused to entertain the possibility of joining.

If only that had been true, and at one point she would have entertained that idea. But that was too complex and wasteful for the current war. That would have been the plan of EXALT, not ADVENT.

The other individual was Mono Bata, the Prime Minister. A political figure that kept a notable low profile, he had proved to be a relatively efficient manager of the government, and unsurprisingly had strong military connections, which was the case with almost every important member of the Egyptian government. It was slightly refreshing to deal with a government with a more militaristic mindset. They were usually more practical, if self-serving.

Either she could work with.

"Chancellor, a pleasure," President Shamon said, extending a hand to shake, which she took. "Hassan, you as well."

"Mr. President, Prime Minister," Hassan answered, nodding to each of them. "I and the Chancellor appreciate you being able to meet with us so quickly."

"That we do," Saudia confirmed. "Although I should warn you that due to the situation, I may be required to depart earlier than planned."

"I do not envy your position, Chancellor," Shamon said, as he indicated the table. "But I understand the possibility. I am impressed you came yourself at all, as these talks could be conducted by your Chief Diplomat."

"I prefer discussions like these to be had face to face," Saudia said as she took a seat, with Hassan beside her as they were opposite the two Egyptian leaders. "The implications are significant for your country no matter what is decided, and that should be treated seriously."

"An understatement, Chancellor," Prime Minister Bata agreed, his voice more gravelly than his colleague. "So let us discuss. We know what you want from us."

Saudia exchanged a glance with Hassan. "Do you know what we want, or do you assume?"

"It isn't difficult to extrapolate," Shamon said with a knowing, if guarded smile. "Perception is important to you now, especially after Betos' little speech. In theory you could march through our nations to strike at them, and there is little we could do to stop you without suffering the same fate as Canada. But it would subsequently give some legitimacy to the claims of Betos, and that you would prefer to avoid right now."

"In theory," Saudia nodded. "But in contrast to the traitor, we would be hesitant to do so unless we were severely threatened. As of now, the SAS is not an existential threat to ADVENT."

"But you want to stop them before they become one," Shamon nodded. "And that means moving through our country, and perhaps others."

"Correct," Saudia confirmed.

"I have mentioned this before," Hassan added. "But the war will eventually come to you as well. You have tried to stay out of it for understandable reasons, but that is beginning to come to an end. The SAS will attempt to expand and conquer. They merely need a technicality to justify invasion, and Betos is a puppet for the Collective. Her word cannot be relied on."

"I'm curious," Saudia laced her fingers together. "Has the SAS reached out to contact you?"

"No," Bata said. "Not yet, at least."

"I find that curious," Saudia mused, while allowing a smile. "You are one of the pivotal nations in the continent. Why would they not reach out to Egypt?"

"Perhaps to avoid spooking you," Shamon suggested. "To give you pretext to annex our nation and then have a clear path to their territory."

"You are thinking too rationally," Saudia shook her head. "You have the wrong impression about Betos. She is not a political strategist or military genius, she is an idealist whose naivety is being turned against us. View her actions through the lens of her idealistic morality, and ask that question again."

It appeared both men got her implication. "A curious theory, Chancellor," Shamon said, nodding slowly. "And ADVENT yet has little issue with myself or our government."

"We respect results and pragmatism, Mr. President," Hassan said. "We know better than most that some harsh actions are necessary for the benefit of all."

"The actions of ADVENT lead me to believe you," Shamon nodded. "And so you want our…permission…to move through our country."

"That would be our most basic request," Saudia confirmed. "However, consider the big picture. Know that anything you do to assist us – even if it is as simple as moving soldiers through a nation – will be grounds for the SAS and Collective to attack. You cannot claim neutrality. You will be marked until this war is ended."

"And so we should throw in completely with ADVENT," Bata inferred with some skepticism. "Why take that step when we know that you will protect us should an invasion come, if only to protect yourselves?"

Saudia smiled. "We don't take steps such as these for free, Prime Minister, I would think you know that. While I will not disclose the details of our agreement with China, we are not defending them with the expectation that they will leech off of our goodwill. We have a mandate to protect Humanity, and will do our best to fulfill this. We do not have a mandate to protect those who hold our species back."

Bata shot a glance to the President, who merely raised an eyebrow. "Confident, Chancellor. But in your position you can afford to be. My Prime Minister does raise an excellent point, however. Why should we do anything more than allow you passage when you will protect your investment regardless?"

Saudia pulled out a small holoprojector and placed it on the table. "What are the benefits of ADVENT? Aside from receiving complete and unconditional military protection, medical and infrastructure support, and a voice in deciding the course of our species? There are no downsides to becoming part of ADVENT on a structural level, gentlemen, not if you want Egypt to have a true presence in the world."

She paused. "Your military was widely recognized as among the best in the region, and responsible for keeping order in chaos. It merely requires modernization, and Egypt will be widely recognized for their efforts to bring Africa under control. But there is the question of what Egypt will get that others do not. An extra incentive one is owed as a full member nation of ADVENT."

Hassan continued speaking as she activated the hologram showing Africa. "ADVENT is currently engaged in a long-term environmental project to reverse desertification," Hassan said. "Project Greenwall. Early tests being performed in the Middle East are promising, and for Egypt we can expand it significantly."

An area of the hologram was highlighted. "A plan proposed decades back utilized the Qattara Depression to serve as an artificial lake, which would be filled by the creation of a canal to the Mediterranean Sea. If I recall correctly, it was never implemented due to the high cost. We would be able to complete this project with no cost to the Egyptian government or its citizens."

Both men looked surprised, if somewhat skeptical at this proposal. "That is a curious offer," Shamon said slowly. "Especially with the lack of financial issues. But it would not be a promise acted on for years. And agreements can change."

"Incorrect," Hassan said, nodding to Saudia who pulled out a document from her bag. "Appropriations have been made to begin near-immediate construction of the Ball Canal, as well as several hydroelectric generators throughout it which would provide the country will additional clean energy. This has been approved by the Congress of Nations, and requires my signature. ADVENT is not solely composed of soldiers, Mr. President, we are capable of beginning projects at the same time, especially for our member nations."

She pushed the document over for the President to read. "We do not require a decision this instant, and I presume that you want your lawyers to look over the proposal to confirm we're not hiding things in the fine print. You will also find a few more appropriations that will directly benefit your country."

They read them quietly for a few minutes while she sat back and waited. They were being won over, she could see it. Admittedly not difficult when they were getting anything they could really want. "You have also appropriated historical restoration and museum funding?" Bata asked, unable to mask his incredulity. "How can you afford to pay for these projects so easily?"

"We consider it an investment, in your nation and our species," Saudia said. "A fitting one, I believe, considering Egypt has the privilege of being one of the oldest civilizations in the history of our species; a nation which held some of the earliest developed humans to walk this Earth. An investment which will pay off later, I am sure. Money, resources, manpower, we have all of those and there is little reason not to utilize them. Let us worry about any financial or resource cost, Mr. President, I assure you we will take care of it."

"I see," Shamon said slowly, looking to the Prime Minister. "Well Chancellor, in this case, I think we should be able to come to an arrangement very soon."

---

ADVENT Trench Lines, Busan – South Korea

3/9/2017 – 3:41 P.M.

There was the continuous feeling that they were going to be overwhelmed at any moment. The adrenaline that had pumped through all of them at the beginning had become dulled as Duri and his squad repeated the actions of aim, shoot, reload, repeat, over and over again. ADVENT was continuing to take losses as the siege weapons fired steadily, and they were not always able to be deflected, especially as the Hunter had made a mocking point to start picking off Priests.

It seemed XCOM hadn't managed to deal with him yet.

In the no man's land, the aliens had established multiple forward positions, even if they had been temporarily prevented from moving forward when the Purifiers had burned a literal line in the sand. Duri had been concerned briefly that the fire would come their way, but it had proved to be unfounded as it mostly just…burned in one place, going deeper into the ground until it burned itself out. They were just careful not to get too close, since the lingering poison and byproducts of the chemical were dangerous in their own right.

He'd seen some of the Archangels flying overhead, or maybe it was just the same one, either way it had been impressive the way it had systematically taken out multiple Mutons and Custodians with a long flamethrower sweep. XCOM and ADVENT both seemed to have an affinity for fire. But right now his back pressed against the trench wall and he sighed, tired.

At some point they would have to be relieved and get some sleep. But the fact that they hadn't yet meant that ADVENT couldn't afford to replace any soldiers now, or they didn't want to risk making substantial changes yet. Granted, they were holding the line very well, even as plasma fire continued spraying over the trenches and into the scorched Flak Towers.

Fortunately, the aliens seemed remiss in trying to actually make substantial progress beyond the first trench, a fact that Cara was continually upset about. "Come on, xeno cowards!" She shouted at the closest alien position with Mutons barely peeking out and firing. The barrage of Browning fire drove them back. "Stop hiding!"

"Don't think it's working, Cara," Duri said with a tired chuckle. "Maybe if you yell a bit louder? I'm not sure they can hear you."

"Ha ha, sir," Cara retorted. "Hilarious!" She returned to focusing her fire on the barrier, and it did seem like she clipped one of the Mutons hard enough for it to roar and stumble back.

"Careful what you wish for, Cara," Beatriz warned. "There's a massive force coming up now. Andromedons leading them. Probably to storm the first trench and get an actual position."

Duri breathed in. "Well, we can't have that."

The army that she had been talking about was soon within sight, and it was indeed led by Andromedons who were projecting red barriers in front of themselves, which made them targets as well as protected them significantly. Behind them was another line of Andromedon soldiers who were cycling out with the ones who had their shields depleted, and behind them were an unknown number of Custodians and Mutons.

Not good.

Purifiers were being moved up, and ADVENT defenders were focusing fire on specific Andromedons, though this only seemed to trigger the side effect of the armor Duri had forgotten about – how the Andromedon suits still continued fighting after their deaths. Now grenades spewing acid and fire were being thrown into the trenches, and while some were caught, dodged, or deflected by soldiers and Priests, others landed in the confined spaces.

Duri ducked as one of the grenades just barely flew over the trench and detonated above on the other side. More Andromedons were 'dying', but they were pushing to the trenches and beginning to file down into them. It was going to get ugly very fast if they maintained any sort of foothold. Duri pulled out his own grenade and rushed down to the tunnel that had previously held off the Chryssalid rampage and chucked it to the end, and was rewarded with the pained roar of a Muton.

Carrie had also returned with several of her soldiers. "Guess they got smart!" She called as the tunnel began being filled with plasma fire. "A Priest is coming. We need to hold off until then."

"Got it," he said, and stuck his rifle around the corner and fired blindly. "Aleksandra!"

"Working," she confirmed, activating her PDS field. "Clear now!"

"We've got cover!" He yelled to Carrie. "Take them out."

All of the soldiers, including Carrie's Gunner and Rocketeer moved out of cover and focus fired down the center, with the Rocketeer firing several warheads into the far trench, with everyone else just continuing a volume of fire or chucking grenades down along with it. The plasma that was heading their way either fractured or was outright deflected, likely to the surprise of the aliens.

"Shield off," he waved to Aleksandra. "Let's save it for when we need it again. Miguel, we need the SHIV down here now."

"Coming right up," was the answer.

"Beatriz, how many are still going into the trenches?" He demanded as he returned to the blind fire tactic, even as he singed his armor from the plasma.

"Fucking Andromedon suits are not going down and causing a lot of trouble," she updated. "Battlefield Engineers coming in now to set up permanent shields. ADVENT Priests are helping, but they're being focus-targeted. More difficult to concentrate I think. You're not getting those reinforcements cut off anytime soon."

On cue the siege breakers fired another volley, which Duri knew would tie up more of the Priests. He was seriously considering the viability of retreating to the third trench line as Carrie's Gunner was shot in the knee and had to be pulled back. Until there was a transmission interruption that Duri was sure he'd misheard initially.

"This is XCOM Operative Eriksson to all ADVENT personnel," she said. "Be advised that we are receiving Ethereal support. Do not open fire on any Ethereals seen in the field, he's friendly."

Duri wiped the dust off the visor of his helmet and glancing at Aleksandra and Miguel seemed just as confused from their body language. "Did you guys really give up China? For this?" Even the Hunter seemed confused. "Aegis struck me as the type to go down to the bitter end. Huh."

"Do you know what he's talking about?" Carrie called. "Is China lost?"

"No idea," he called back. "But there must be a good reason they're bringing him over here, and we can definitely use him."

"I'm not sure," Beatriz sounded unconvinced. "They didn't actually say it was Aegis."

Duri reloaded his weapon and resumed his firing down the tunnel. "What, you think there is another Ethereal that defected? Why would XCOM hide that?"

"More importantly," Miguel grunted. "Who would it be?"

"Guess we'll see either way," Duri said. "Only helps us, and if there's a Hive Commander, we'll need it."

They continued fighting for a few minutes, still waiting for Aegis to come, or at least begin work elsewhere. Word would spread fast.

And it did. Duri was somehow unsurprised that the Hunter was the first to make a comment. But instead of his dark sarcasm, the Hunter sounded utterly shocked. "Is this a fucking joke?" A pause. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"Not Aegis?" Duri looked behind him. Now he was cautiously optimistic, because either XCOM had said it to lure the Hunter into some kind of trap, or there were now two Ethereals that were working with XCOM, and that was going to give everyone a better fighting chance.

"Oh my god," Beatriz said in a small voice. "Oh. Oh."

"What-?" Duri began asking, but trailed off as everyone felt a tangible change in the air. Everything seemed to become still and static; the air didn't move, and random pieces of dirt, cloth, and other material floating in the wind became frozen. To his unbelieving eyes, he witnessed an Ethereal leap over the second trench and immediately focus on the Andromedon defenders.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Carrie shouted as the Ethereal appeared to just look at the defenders and an entire line of suits were picked up and crushed into pieces of scrap and yellow blood. "But isn't that the Ethereal that attacked Japan? Twice?"

"Caelior," Duri remembered the name numbly. Now that he remembered, there had been a small note saying that the Ethereal had been taken into custody by XCOM, but he'd just assumed that…

Well.

Caelior looked mostly the same as he had when he'd been fighting for the other side, though his mix of robes and armor was blue and silver, as well as prominently displaying XCOM emblems. He was showing his former allies the same power he had once used against ADVENT, though from what Duri remembered, his power seemed more controlled and directed – even as it was relentless and brutal , with enemies being crushed, pummeled, and ripped apart.

Barricades were ripped from the ground and wrapped around the soldiers they had protected before strangling them. Weapons were yanked from dozens of Custodians and Mutons at a time, while more were simply turned into organic missiles to be hurled at their comrades or flung across the battlefield.

The hovercraft, which had been hanging back recently, moved forward while firing their weapons. Six of these vehicles entered range, and Caelior yanked them all into the air, and began systematically tearing them apart and throwing the chunks at other vehicles and barricades.

It was safe to say that the tide had officially turned.

---

ADVENT Trench Lines, Busan – South Korea

3/9/2017 – 5:51 P.M.

"Looks like our WMD is doing his job nicely," Marvin commented as they stood a short distance behind the fourth line of trenches, watching as Caelior continued on his march through Collective lines, turning the aliens to slag and rent flesh. It was both impressive and mildly terrifying to behold, especially as he had completely supplemented the PRIEST defenders when the siege weapons had continued firing barrages, and he'd elevated himself into the air telekinetically to get line of sight over the entire defense line, and erected a telekinetic cushion that absorbed, and then turned away the oncoming missiles.

The Priests were quick to supplement his temporal exposure, erecting Psionic shields in front of him to stop the barrage of plasma fire that also was aimed at him from the entrenched alien defenders who were not going down without a fight.

But the Archangels were waiting for something very particular. There were two problems to solve – the Hive Commander that had been identified, and the Hunter who had not ceased his strikes, even if he was now remarkably quiet. Fatima had been working extensively to telepathically hunt down the slippery Hunter, and she was supposedly getting close, while Said was working with the Priests to lessen the influence the Hive Commander was spreading against the defenses.

This was apparently a dangerous Hive Commander.

"I really hope she hurries up," Anna muttered, stepping up beside Sierra. "I hate standing here and doing nothing."

"Join the club," Sierra grunted. "But Mona is right. We go out hunting him blind and he'll pick us off one by one. Quick and clean is what we need."

Their key to success here, Archangel Kawamura, a telekine, sounded skeptical. "This is assuming we'll even be able to kill or hold him. You know how durable his kind are. I don't think he's missed a single shot."

"It's simple," Marvin said. "You hold him in place, and we flay his regenerating skin off of his bones for as long as it takes until he's a burning puddle. You have your flamethrower ready, Sierra?"

She lifted her wrist. "Always."

"The Hunter is dangerous when he's unknown," Marvin continued. "Corner him and he'll lose his advantage."

"In theory," Kawamura supplied.

If he'd had his helmet off, Sierra guessed Marvin would be rolling his eyes. "Fine. In theory."

"I've got him!" Fatima interrupted over the comms triumphantly. "Placing his location within this vicinity. Far left-center in no man's land, not a lot of places for him to hide. I'll let you know if it changes." On cue the mini-map in her HUD lit up.

"Alright, let's go!" Sierra called up, and one by one the six Archangels blasted into the sky and towards the battlefield.

"Erecting telekinetic field, expect some visual interference," Kawamura said, and a few seconds later Sierra did see some visual distortion, though nothing too significant. Unfortunately it was necessary since the Hunter would just shoot them out of the sky otherwise, and since he didn't use plasma, physical rounds could be stopped or deflected.

As they sped across the battlefield they spent some time sniping some of the many Mutons and Custodians on the ground, with Sierra causing one of the Elites to explode with a blast from the WHEEE cannon. The plasma fire that shot their direction didn't miss, but was so wildly inaccurate that it wasn't a concern.

"Well, what have we here," the Hunter drawled out. "Archangels coming out finally. Let's see how long you last…"

"Here it comes," Kawamura said, and Sierra barely saw anything but there were several flashes and a small explosion away from the rapidly receding group. "Hah, idiot." Kawamura smirked. "Come on, did you really think I didn't plan for you to use exploding rounds."

"Can't blame me for trying," the Hunter said. "Oh well. Guess I'm going to have to adapt. Whatever will I do now that I've been outsmarted so handily?"

"I don't like the sound of that," Sierra commented as the sarcasm audibly dripped from the Hunter. "I wouldn't be shocked if he has backup weapons."

"Jim, altitude surveillance," Kawamura suggested. "Target area sighted. Open fire at will."

Their sniper, Jim, shot high into the air as Sierra focused on the area where the Hunter likely was hiding. It was a fortified location, with Custodians, Mutons, and Andromedons taking cover behind barriers and adjusting their sights to the oncoming host of Archangels. Kawamura swung her arms outwards as she slowed, and inversely applied the telekinetic bubble to the entire area and began compressing down.

The effect was instantaneous, as each thing caught in the invisible net was suddenly forced downward. The Mutons roared in pain and fell to the ground, only to find that the pressure didn't lessen. The heads of the Custodians began crumpling as they fired up. The Elites and Andromedons managed to remain standing, albeit with growing pressure and pain. It didn't help that the barriers themselves were shaking.

Sierra aimed her flamethrower at a section of the defenders and the white-orange flame engulfed those unfortunate enough to be caught in it. The Mutons boiled alive, while the Andromedons endured, though their suit integrity continued to suffer. The other Archangels combined their weapons and slowly exterminated the defenses that appeared to be close to a hundred strong.

Kawamura applied more pressure, and this was enough to shatter the Andromedon helmets that were still standing, which cascaded into the deaths of the pilots and the destruction of internal delicate instruments. The Muton Elites died as their brains collapsed, and the Mutons were flattened into the ground in a mix of fleshy mush and broken armor.

Marvin and Anna performed flyovers with their flamethrowers, adding a final layer of destruction to the carnage. "Think we got him?" Anna asked as she flew around to regroup.

"Let's see," Kawamura said, and ended the telekinetic field. "I doubt he's dead, but he'll get up now-"

She jolted in surprise as a plasma bolt slammed into her jetpack and sent her to the ground. "Your psion is a bit too distracted," the Hunter chuckled as Maria dived to the falling Archangel. Spinning around, Sierra saw the black form of the Hunter a short distance away, with no surrounding cover and no reinforcements in sight. He was holding a sniper rifle. "Thinking I would just sit still while she probed where I was. But since you're all here, let's talk."

The Archangels opened fire as they began strafing runs, and the Hunter just stood there, though growled in disgust. "What part of 'let's talk' did you not understand? Idiots." In quick succession he began firing back, even as he tanked a full blast from Anna. She suddenly threw her flamethrower to the ground as it exploded.

The Hunter swung his rifle to Sierra, and she swooped to make it difficult to shoot, but the alien somehow managed to punch a hole right through the WHEEE cannon, making her have to throw away another one, since she wasn't going to risk it exploding on her. She briefly stopped to think about what the Hunter was saying.

"Hold fire!" She called, even as she reached for her pistol. "What do you want? And put down your weapon if you want to talk!"

"Nah," the Hunter said, the smirk clear in his voice as he kept his rifle trained on the shaken Kawamura who was still recovering. "I think I'll keep my eye on your telekine. She even so much as waves a hand, this time I'll aim for her head, and not her jetpack."

While the other Archangels maneuvered around the Hunter, weapons trained on him, Sierra decided to take the risk and land on the ground a short distance away. In response the Hunter switched to a one-handed grip of his rifle while pulling a pistol on her. "Careful where you step, Archangel. Just because I was nice before doesn't mean I won't blast your head off."

Sierra didn't lower her pistol. "What's your game. We have you surrounded now that you revealed your position. You can't get out of this."

The Hunter laughed. "I cannot die. I've been shot, burned, decapitated, spaced, dismembered, and flayed. If you think having my limbs shattered and broken, if you think your plasma weapons are anything more than just temporary discomfort, then I'm afraid to disappoint you."

"Maybe if we aim for the body," Sierra indicated him. "But the head may offer a more permanent solution."

"I'll take my chances," the Hunter said. "Which is why I'm talking with you at all. Now, you see the truth is that I don't have a desire to be here right now. I wasn't expecting the Little Storm here, and frankly, I'm not prepared to kill him right now, and as fun as it is to pick off your poorly-defended soldiers, I'm not an idiot."

Sierra cocked her head. "Are you surrendering?"

"What? That's funny," he nodded indiscriminately behind him. "No. It'll take you a while to get through here, even with Little Storm helping you out. That Hive Commander isn't going down without a fight. Nah, the fact is that this entire battle –" he waved around with the pistol. "Means nothing. Especially with what's going on in China."

"Speak for yourself," Sierra answered. "The Collective thinks differently."

"Well, the almighty bitch herself has decided to send her Bringer pawns to help Isomnum," the Hunter interjected. "Now, let's say that the bitch and I parted on bad terms, and since you know what Paradise and the Bringer are, I won't recap them. Suffice to say that them being involved is bad for everyone involved, especially myself."

Sierra raised her eyebrow under her helmet. "And why would that be?"

"I may have been the one to accidentally blow the lid off of the Creator's hell," he said absentmindedly. "Now, I'm under the Battlemaster's protection, but if the Bitch is deranged enough to ignore the Battlemaster and help our prestigious Dread Lord, there's a non-zero chance that she'll come after me too, and I value my life too much to tie myself to a pointless battle."

He flipped the pistol in his hand – clearly showing off. "Now, I'll get to the point. I have an interest in stopping the attacks in China now. Every Bringer soldier dead makes my own chances of survival better. You obviously want to stop Isomnum. So here's my offer – I help kill the Dread Lord and whatever pets from the Creator he brought, and in return you don't come after me when I do this. I give my word I won't kill your own soldiers during this period. When I leave China though, all bets are off. Temporary alliance, after all."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Sierra asked skeptically. "That the Battlemaster would just let you do this?"

"What, you think I ask for his permission?" The Hunter chuckled. "He's occupied with bigger things than me right now, and I guarantee he wants Isomnum stopped as much as you do now. If I take a few days or weeks to chip in here and there, well…" a shrug. "I doubt he'll care. Besides, I've been wanting to kill the Dread Lord for some time. Everything else is just a bonus."

"And if we don't agree?" Sierra inquired.

"Then I kill all of you, and go to China and kill everyone who gets in my way," he said, angling the pistol towards her head again. "Plus, if you agree, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you when I talk to the Battlemaster."

"Orders, Sierra?" Anna asked.

She considered in the long seconds as the battle raged in the distance. As much as she hated to consider it, she didn't know how well they could beat the Hunter right now. In the event Jim hit him, it might not debilitate him permanently. And his marksmanship was so much higher than any of theirs, he could outshoot them before they could fire back.

It was not a decision she wanted to decide unilaterally. However…being able to push the Hunter from a Collective tool to more of a directed weapon was an improvement, assuming he was telling the truth. This was going to be a risk, but she was going to take the chance. If the Bringer had soldiers involved in China now, they could very well use him.

"Fine, you have a deal," she said unhappily. "Go back on it, and you'll wish we'd have taken you out here."

"Excellent!" The Hunter holstered his pistol and returned to a two-handed grip on the rifle. "I'll be in touch in China, be sure to tell the Commander so he isn't surprised. But I'll need to…acquire some things. I really hope the Bitch remembers me, because I have definitely not forgotten about her."

The Hunter suddenly vanished in a flash, and Anna landed beside her. "I really hope you made a good choice," she said. "This could backfire."

"Trust me," Sierra sighed. "I know."

---

It took some time for the Hunter to make his way to the end of the Collective lines. XCOM would return to help Caelior clean up and begin pushing forward. As long as the Hive Commander was a factor, Caelior would be prevented from being an unstoppable force, or so it was theorized. Still, it had been a surprise to see him of all Ethereals show up.

It was, the Hunter mused, rather indicative of the state the Collective was barreling towards. First Aegis, now Caelior, and it was probably only a matter of time until a few more pivotal Ethereals defected. The rift between Isomnum and the Battlemaster was the clearest evidence of this yet, and the Hunter was rather fascinated to see it play out.

Ironically, it seemed like the Collective may not be undone by the Humans, but by Ethereal infighting.

If such a time came, he'd have to be careful about who to throw his support behind. Assuming that anyone actually cared. If they didn't, all the better for him. It was tempting to consider just abandoning everything and taking his chances in the inner galaxy, but so long as the Imperator and Battlemaster were alive, that was only going to result in his untimely demise.

Then again, it wasn't as though he wasn't sticking his neck out here.

I am not going to do that again.

He was good, he knew that. At range he doubted that there was anyone in the galaxy who could match him in pure marksmanship. An accomplishment he took some rare pride in. At the same time, XCOM had easily had the upper hand there. There was a benefit to building up a certain persona of utter confidence and dismissal of opponents – it helped him to bluff.

Unfortunately, he was not omnipotent, nor had the ability to stop time. His body could withstand the damage easily enough, but it was only going to need one volley to debilitate him, and even a four-on-one – especially if they were XCOM – was simply not going to turn out in his favor. Not to mention he knew there was a sniper far above, and he wouldn't be aiming for the body.

Fortunately, his bluffing had likely saved his mind and gotten what he wanted.

None of the aliens paid him any mind as he walked away, pulling out his holocommunicator. They had more important things to worry about, and he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. A lot of hunting to do and prepare for. A feral grin spread across his face as he envisioned the hunt to take place.

He was quite interested to see if these soldiers the Bringer commanded were as dangerous as he imagined they were. The bitch was deranged and mad, but she still unfortunately had a brilliant mind, and whatever the Bringer was, it wasn't an idiot either. Perhaps if he was lucky, one of the so-called Saints would come.

He'd always wanted to know what it was like to kill a being that thought it was a god.

He scowled at the holocommunicator, annoyed by how long the Battlemaster was taking to pick up. "Come on tin man, pick up the damn call."

A full minute passed before the hologram of the Battlemaster appeared. "You are alive. Good."

"Thank my charming personality," he quipped sarcastically. "I've found out how far I'm willing to stick my neck out, and this no longer includes exposing myself to a fucking Archangel team while being assaulted by one of their telepaths for hours."

"It happened as I knew it would," the Battlemaster said, unconcerned. "You achieved your objective?"

"Of course I did," he rolled his eyes under the helmet. "I have a free pass in China. Heading out there now, and if XCOM keeps their word, I shouldn't encounter problems. Depending on how involved the bitch is, I might receive some special attention." A pause. "Admittedly, I'm almost surprised XCOM agreed so quickly."

"They know the risks the Bringer operating openly poses," the Battlemaster answered firmly. "Your actions against them are minor compared to that."

"Fair enough," fine with him. He didn't really need to be considered on the level of a Sovereign One. Too many people gunning for you then. "Also, Little Storm is back and on the wrong side."

"I am aware," was the curt response. "Concerning. He will need to be handled when Isomnum is contained."

"I've got a plan for him if you want," the Hunter offered. "I wouldn't mind taking him out. Never liked the petulant child."

The Battlemaster was silent for a moment. "I'd prefer he not be killed. It is also unlikely he is being coerced. Aegis would not stand for it. I would prefer to know what brought him to willingly assist them. Reclaiming him is a greater priority, but his involvement changes how we need to prepare. This is secondary to your objective. Use whatever resources you need to eliminate Isomnum and the Bringer's soldiers."

"And keep your sanctioning of this under wraps, I presume?" He inquired. Not that he particularly cared one way or another, he had no interest in trying to blackmail or backstab the Battlemaster. There were some beings you simply did not screw over – unless you had the protection of other beings protecting you.

Such as his current predicament with the Creator. Although he was wondering how much that would matter if the Battlemaster lost influence or station in the Collective. His protection might not be worth as much after that. A problem to consider if it happened. For now, he had plenty to distract him.

"Preferably," the Battlemaster said. "However, I doubt anyone would believe you. You are an unreliable alien to them. Anything you say is suspect."

"Suits me fine," the Hunter nodded. "Well, in that case, I have a certain Ethereal that needs killing. Good luck…well," he waved a hand. "Wherever you are."

"Good hunting. And if you target ADVENT or XCOM, I will be sure to send your dismembered body to the Creator."

"Yeah, yeah," the Hunter sniffed. "No need for threats, not when it comes to this. Trust me," he patted his pistol. "There are only a few people I actively want dead – the esteemed Dread Lord is one of them, and our glorious Creator is the other. It will be done, Battlemaster, have no worries."

---

Haikou, Hainan - China

3/8/2017 – 10:13 P.M.

Everyone was in as best shape as could be expected at this point. All of them were set up in rooms of their own, which admittedly wasn't difficult to set up, given the fact that all of them were open. The Chinese mother and daughter – Yawen and Ren Fao respectively – were in their own room after they'd been able to learn some of who they were.

Both of them were residents of the city, and had been requested to leave their homes and move to the hotel to wait for evacuation. They'd experienced delays, and before they'd been able to be moved away, the whole city had been locked down and soon after that Isomnum had attacked. Had it not been for the Vitakarian, they would have died.

Said Vitakarian had his wounds bandaged and he was recovering, though both Iosif and Nuan had made sure that he was secured and bound. They were not as trusting of this alien yet, although Nuan was curious as to why the alien would help them. Something to interrogate it about at a later date.

Their other newfound civilian was Jun Ye, a fairly wealthy businessman who primarily worked as a representative overseas, although he had said that ADVENT "Was shaking up everything in this line of work" and he was in the city temporarily, although subsequently been caught up in the evacuation and subsequent lockdown.

Nuan had spent time questioning exactly how he had acquired a gun, seeing as how they were supposed to be extremely controlled. China was not America where everyone seemed to have the things, and so a civilian holding one struck her as suspicious. She'd first suspected that he was Chinese Intelligence or even a colleague. The explanation was just as simple, though made her bristle. He'd been granted an exemption by someone in the Communist Party, allowing him to carry a firearm. Bribery.

A crime officially, and the man had been suitably terrified when Nuan had revealed she was a member of the MSS and calmly asked him for the name of the individual who he had bribed. Not that Nuan intended to really punish this man, but whatever person who was participating in corruption would need to be removed at minimum.

They simply did not have time to deal with continued corruption when the Earth was being invaded.

He was now sleeping in his own room – the same one he had barricaded earlier – something there had been debate over. There was some logic to everyone being in one room, but at the same time, it would become crowded very fast and it would also trap them all in one place. There were risks and benefits associated with each option, but in the end they had all decided to have multiple rooms for the night. More decisions would be decided in the morning.

Nuan and Iosif had also taken a trip down to the kitchens and managed to bring up enough food for everyone from the working fridges. They hadn't wanted to risk actually cooking something in case an alien patrol stumbled upon them. It had been a somewhat nerve-wracking experience, especially with the dead silence that they hadn't wanted to break for fear of missing something.

But it had happened without incident, and everyone was feeling a little better. More so now that they were both able to use the showers after having to delay that initial plan. "Who's first?" Iosif asked, as she set her rifle in the corner. "Actually, scratch that. You go first, I can wait."

Nice of him, even though he'd probably earned it as much as she had. Still, she wasn't going to spurn him being courteous. "Alright. Help me out of this." And began taking off the easy parts of the Titan armor, such as the gauntlets, helmet, and boots. Glancing over to Iosif, he was clearly hesitant. Granted, she wasn't exactly oblivious as to why…but still. "It'll go faster," she said. "I don't bite."

"Yes, yes I'm aware," he said, moving over to her and starting to help loosen things up. "Don't usually get this close to subordinates though. Even XCOM has an aversion to the possible harassment lawsuits."

Nuan had to chuckle about that. "Has that ever happened in XCOM?"

"Not so far," Iosif said as he lifted upwards and helped pull the center chestplate over her head. The damn thing really was heavy. "Intentional by the Commander. All candidates get psychological profiles sent over. Examples of unprofessional or criminal behavior, harassment, anger management, and so on – gets an immediate disqualification, doesn't matter how good they are."

"Good for him," she wasn't too surprised. The Commander struck her as a professional and someone who didn't tolerate that type of behavior. She wasn't ignorant of the irony that he more than likely sanctioned things that were just as technically bad or worse, but if someone was mean to a lady? No chance of getting into XCOM. Sort of weird standards when she thought about it, but she couldn't really complain.

It took close to ten minutes to get the suit fully off, as it was a lot more complex than previous suits, even the Aegis. Both of them were quite blatantly ignoring how close they were to each other, and making short comments about nothing. Eventually she was stripped to just the black undersuit. "Alright, I won't take too long," she said, standing up and moving to the bathroom.

Once inside, she started the shower, took off the undersuit, and stepped into the warm water. Yes, this definitely felt good, even if it didn't eliminate the stress of the day and the events just hours earlier. It was almost surreal; she just continued pushing forward despite the fact that she'd just watched horrendous deaths, suffered injuries, and witnessed Isomnum's terror weapons.

She didn't know if some small rational part of her brain was keeping the weight of all of that from crashing in at once, or if she was just…numb to things like this now. There was a surreal aura around a lot of things now for her, and it hadn't stopped since she'd first watched Isomnum broadcast his speech to the world.

A dream. A nightmare.

At times throughout the day it seemed like she was just walking through the motions as if in a lucid dream. If she was in a dream, she wouldn't have been surprised. She knew the soldiers who'd died slightly, in a comrades sort of way, but they weren't who she considered friends. She'd survived after pulling off a lucky throw, rushed through the town while being chased, and got to be a hero by finding some desperate civilians. Even a moral quandary was thrown her way in the form of the alien.

Not to mention how now she and Iosif were sharing a room.

Rationally, she knew none of this was fake. If it was a dream, she would have woken up by now. Nor would she have wanted to live such a paradoxically real dream. Because this could plausibly happen, if she'd really been in a lucid dream, she would have not had anyone die, China would be saved, and she'd lower Isomnum into a burning pit of lava.

Perhaps she was just tired. Maybe she'd been killed by the Mosrimor Avatar and living out some kind of fucked up afterlife.

Wouldn't that be funny.

You are very tired, Nuan, stop overthinking things.

Right. The warm water was making her loopy, and she couldn't afford that now. Plus, she'd promised not to take too long, and she didn't want to make Iosif wait uncomfortably long. A minute later, she shut off the water and began drying herself off. The only downside was that she'd have to wear the undersuit again, and that she didn't have any other clothes, but she'd make do.

She wrapped the towel around her to give a little more covering, for all the good it did. Back in the room she saw Iosif had moved her Titan armor to the side, keeping all the components together, while also working on taking off his own armor. Without a word she moved over to help him as well, and this time they didn't really talk, even as the atmosphere shifted for both of them.

Extremely distracting. Not uncomfortable, but distracting. Enough for her mechanical hand to linger on his chest briefly before she realized what she was doing and quickly moved it away, while he just sort of froze. They only locked eyes for an instant before continuing with what they were doing. Eventually after what seemed like a long time, he was in his own undersuit, and coughed awkwardly. "I'll be out soon."

"Right," she said distractedly as she copied what Iosif had done, and moved the various components and pieces to the side. Well, there was exactly zero chance they could really continue to not talk about the growing elephant in the room. Intended or not – and she had definitely not intended it when she'd originally been assigned here – they'd become close.

Close, with neither of them really willing to acknowledge or push it further. Him probably because he was the director of Psionic Operations and there were some power dynamic concerns from his end, and from her…well, maybe not to make the only friend she had here distant or uncomfortable. While it was true that she wasn't really looked on suspiciously anymore, she still didn't feel like she quite fit in with everyone. Easy to put aside when on missions, less so back at the Praesidium.

It really was annoying that this was something that was being dealt with in a situation where they both could very easily be killed in the next few days, or even hours. That would be decidedly tragic. But they didn't choose to be put in this situation, so they just had to deal with it the best they could. And something told her that awkwardly avoiding it would be the worse alternative.

So she just sat and waited, distracting herself with trying to think about the logistical issues with moving the alien prisoner. It was a temporary distraction, but worked for however long it took for Iosif to finish up, and he'd similarly used the towel to cover up slightly more than the undersuit showcased. "Hey," she nodded as he walked over to sit on the edge of the bed opposite her own.

A short silence was punctuated by Nuan sighing. "So. Tell me if I'm imagining this or not."

His lip twitched. "I somehow don't think so."

"Well…" she trailed off. "This thing with us. That we keep avoiding. I know it's not exactly appropriate right now, but…" she coughed. "You're not an idiot. I like you, more than I should since I didn't really plan on anything like this…I think you feel the same. Or if not, we should get it-"

She trailed off as Iosif raised a hand. "I may not be a telepath, but you're somehow more unsure now than when fighting. Funny how the mind works. Anyway," he shook his head. "It's not just you, I feel the same. Not expected for me either, and I was more considering how to handle it. I can't completely forget about rank here."

She relaxed a lot after hearing that, happy that her suspicions were confirmed. Ok good. They could go from here. "I wondered. I don't really care about that though. Does it really matter," she looked around. "Especially here?"

He gave a wan smile. "Realistically, no. But…well, I like to be on the safe side when it comes to this kind of thing. Beaten into me by my superiors a long time ago, and I can't drop it so easily. But we have someplace to start now. We can work through it more when we get back to the Praesidium."

"Ok," she nodded. "Good extra motivation to get out of here alive."

"In the meantime, we need to figure out who's going to stay up first," he nodded to the clock. "Shifts every three hours. I don't think everyone should be asleep at once."

"I'll go first," she said. "Since you let me use the shower before you."

He smirked. "I won't argue right now. But don't let me sleep later – I'll remember the time."

Nuan walked over and retrieved her rifle as Iosif settled into bed, pulling the sheets over himself. For her part, she sat on the edge of his bed, and silently watched over him as he drifted off to sleep.

---

China

3/11/2017 – 3:11 P.M.

Oliver missed the days of straightforward fighting and holding positions against an oncoming alien force. Predictable may have been too strong a word to use, but it at least introduced some sense of normalcy and stability to war that had been lost when the Bringer had begun assisting Isomnum. It had turned a nightmare into a demented fever dream that was no longer restricted to the coast.

All XCOM squads deployed to China had been turned into an immediate counter strike force thanks to the Chronicler's teleporting, and he and Kane had been teleported all over the country to assist in repelling surprise attacks by the Bringer and other forces. Few they may be, they were somehow capable of outclassing even the PRIEST Division.

They'd often arrived too late to save the majority of defenders, even if they'd served in softening up the Bringer soldiers and were more easily dispatched. But it never seemed to be enough to completely stop the flow, even though rationally he knew that the Bringer would eventually cut his losses. It didn't help that Isomnum was very much still active and expanding his reach over a tiring Aegis.

The worst places they'd found weren't filled with defenders, but with the Bringer Caretakers teleporting unconscious victims away with the dead bodies of Chinese and ADVENT defenders all around them. Performed throughout the country, in many places which hadn't undergone a full evacuation, this was devastating.

But this one seemed different.

The whishing sound of the teleportation put them in the location of a city ADVENT had reported as coming under attack by a new type of Bringer soldier, or at least that was what was assumed. It was entirely possible that they were incorrect, and it was one of the dozens they had already fought. That all of them seemed to have slightly different armor didn't help with this.

They were immediately confronted by ADVENT and Chinese soldiers on a street, in a city which had limited infrastructure and no skyscrapers. Definitely one of the more rural cities of the country, but there was something immediately noticeable and wrong as Oliver actually got a good look at them. At their arrival all of the soldiers broke into sudden cheers and claps, with artificial smiles on their faces.

They wore no helmets, and had no eyes.

He shouldn't be staring in disbelief, but this was not expected. The sockets were still bloody, if precise. They had to all be in extreme pain, but none of them seemed to react to the fact they were blind. Adding more to the surreal atmosphere, there was a lively and haunting melody that was playing across the air.

"Chronicler?" Oliver asked, raising his weapon at the smiling and cheering mind-controlled soldiers. They had to be mind-controlled, though up to this point they had been just killed, not preserved like this.

The Chronicler seemed to appraise the crowd for a second, until the crack of a gauss pistol from behind him fired and blew the head of one of the women apart. Kane was wasting no time in systematically executing them coldly with direct shots to the eyeless heads. The cheering stopped as all of them seemed to freeze.

"Kane!" Oliver swore. "Wait-"

"No, he's right, though not for his reasons," the Chronicler said grimly. "These people have been touched by the Bringer. They cannot be allowed to live."

All of the controlled soldiers suddenly began laughing, and a new voice reached over them, a madly happy female from what he could tell. "Indeed! Indeed! Perceptive, little pawn. And yet you think killing them is what we – what they fear?"

The laughing grew more intense, and blood began trickling out of their eye sockets.

"You think we fear death?!"

Even Kane had stopped shooting as he beheld the mad and increasingly raw laughter of the soldiers, some of whom had fallen to the ground, shaking as they kept laughing. One of them stumbled over to Kane and yanked the pistol to his smiling head.

"Do not hesitate. Give them what they want."

Kane fired, and this time he continued walking. The Chronicler refrained from performing executions on his own, and Oliver complied as they walked forward, the laughing blind moving out of the way down the cleared street. More of the laughing were falling over, and coughing up blood as their bodies were forced to continue laughing.

It soon turned to wheezing, coughing, and gasping as the trio witnessed those who had previously been laughing hysterically seem to die, with wide and bloody smiles on their faces.

Even in the quieter absence of the laughter, he could still hear it.

But why do this?

Kane had holstered his pistol and pulled out his Browning as they approached what looked like a city center of some kind. If one had turned it into a nightmarish cult hub. In the center there was a literal altar and still more blind soldiers were in the crowd, eagerly looking towards the scene unfolding before them, even lacking eyes.

In the center was a lone figure wearing deep purple robes, which were adorned with more of the mysterious writing and symbols that to his perhaps too tired eyes seemed to shift the more he watched. It was clearly a woman, though the species he could not tell. The most distinctive aspect of her attire was the mask she wore.

It was silver and completely covered her head, reminding him of the old theatre masks he had seen before. Those masks expressed an emotion, happy, sad, angry, and more. Always static, never evolving. So too was the mask the woman wore, one with a laughing mouth, wide eyes; coalescing into an unsettling image, more so because unlike most masks, this one had extra details on it in silvery detail.

Small scars, wrinkles, dimples, details that disturbingly looked like a static snapshot of someone who had actually been laughing.

On the altar was a woman who was lying tranquil, with no restraints or anything that Oliver could see. The masked woman was over her holding a small and pristine knife that she then lowered to the wide eyes of the victim and began cutting the eye out. The crowd cheered and the victim expressed no pain, even going so far as to clap while lying down.

Oliver didn't fail to note that there were several cameras placed around the area, and he realized that this was likely being recorded or streamed for others to watch. He sincerely hoped that ADVENT was finding and shutting them down as fast as possible.

Kane growled and lifted his rifle and the Chronicler shot a hand over to him and Kane was suddenly encased in a stasis field. "Let me go!"

"No," the Chronicler said quietly. "Not yet. I want to see what happens."

"There are others!" Kane yelled. "We're not killing them for your curiosity!"

Sure enough, Oliver looked behind the altar to see that there were at least a few dozen soldiers who still had their eyes, but they were clapping along with the crowd, were not restrained in the slightest, and had wide smiles and bright eyes.

It reminded him far too much of a celebration. Were the Chronicler not protecting his mind, Oliver was afraid he might have been caught up in the 'festivities' since even now he could feel the urge to also show appreciation for what he was seeing. "Everyone is lost." The Chronicler hissed. "They will all die. Just not yet."

The masked woman extracted the bloody eyeballs, which were amazingly still in their shape, and carefully placed them in a nearby basket which to his disgust held dozens more extracted eyes. The victim stood with a smile and walked to the crowd, seemingly thrilled with what had happened.

"Another child has joined His ranks, and will forever see with His sight!" The masked woman called out. "Who shall be the next to cast aside your mortal senses for that which is eternal?"

To his dismay and horror Oliver saw all of the soldiers who still had their sight nearly swarming the masked woman, practically begging and pleading to be the next to have their eyes cut out. "Let. Me. Go." Kane demanded.

"Not yet," the Chronicler said. "Patience."

"Ah, your enthusiasm is commendable, but first!" She turned around and looked right at the trio. "Let us extend a welcome to our guests of the afternoon! An ambassador from none other than T'Leth himself."

The crowd seemed ecstatic at that, and Oliver wondered just how powerful this psion was that she was managing to influence everyone so completely simultaneously. It was growing more and more unnerving by the second, starting from when they'd stepped foot into this cursed place.

The Chronicler rippled with a blue aura as he continued to walk forward. Something Oliver now knew as T'Leth taking control over him. He lifted a hand, and closed it into a fist. "Be silent."

Some hands were thrown to throats, as Oliver saw a rippling band of air around the throats of the crowd. It appeared T'Leth was justifiably angry.

The masked woman twirled the knife in her fingers, the blood seeming to vanish off of it as she expertly sheathed it in a pocket. "Such a lack of manners. For a ceremony mind you! Is that all you came to do little puppet? Disrupt our joy? How typical of your kind, how hilarious!" Even while choked, the crowd around them took the cue to exert as much laughing as they could.

"What are you?" T'Leth almost sounded curious. "You have developed more extensively than normal."

"I am no one of importance," the masked woman bowed dramatically, going so far as to extend a hand dramatically. "Merely one of His Trusted, who has been tasked with so holy a task as to bring His truth to all others here!" She spread an arm indicating the asphyxiating crowd. "A truth all here now know. One I invite you to understand as well!"

She stepped forward. "I knew you would come. But you came expecting war and hate, and there is none of that here, unless you have brought it with you." She spread her arms. "All of these men and women were suffering. They exist in pain and anguish daily, fighting for temporal and petty things. Fighting for a people who will never face the danger they endure themselves. Who do not truly care about them. Now they understand that One does, and they rejoice."

"What a lie," Oliver muttered, training his weapon on the laughing mask. "One she is deluded enough to believe."

A rumble sounded from the Chronicler, a deepness and rumbling Oliver realized was a laugh or chuckle from T'Leth. "Your hypocrisy has not changed, Bringer. You offer no choice, only domination and submission. You may have manipulated the Imperator into doing your bidding, but you will not be granted this species as yours – or any others."

A dramatic sigh sounded from the woman. "So be it, Sovereign. Give in to your primal nature and kill me!"

T'Leth sounded amused again. "No. I won't kill you. But he will."

There was a loud crack as the Chronicler executed all of those he had held in the crowd, and subsequently released Kane who began firing rapidly at the woman. Those who T'Leth had not executed rushed forward screaming crazed battle cries, Oliver quickly put them down with well-placed shots to the head.

The woman suddenly duplicated into dozens of copies – psionic illusions most likely – and pointed at Kane who stumbled, kicked away a rushing brainwashed soldier, and continued forward with a furious roar – one of rage, not pain.

The Chronicler broke the psionosphere around the area where the illusions were, and purple surges of energy lashed out which vaporized several copies, and the Chronicler extended a hand towards what was left and all of the copies suddenly disappeared revealing the real one a short distance to the left of where she had been standing, one hand moved to her head, which she shook and directed at Kane again.

Oliver threw a plasma grenade to her which somehow broke into pieces well before it reached her location. The robes she was wearing were being ripped by the rounds from Kane's Browning, but not seeming to hurt her as Oliver saw wounds being healed in seconds. A Biopath then. Kane's weapon suddenly fell apart and exploded as a final round went through it.

Pieces of his armor started falling off as well, and realizing what was happening, he outright charged towards the woman who lifted a hand above as if to teleport away – except nothing happened – seeming to leave her stunned just long enough for Kane to slam her into a nearby wall and was unrelenting as he smashed her head into the wall again and again, before throwing her to the ground.

The Chronicler was also walking forward, energy flowing off of him and one fist lifted and clenched. With pieces of his armor still falling off, Kane lifted his boot and slammed it down on the mask and elicited a yelp. He repeated this move several times, with the woman somehow laughing madly as much as her breaking face would allow, until there was a distinct cracking sound of bone giving way and the body stopped moving.

Kane stood over the body, breathing heavily. "Good job," the Chronicler nodded.

Kane attempted to swing a punch though he was frozen just before his broken gauntlet could hit the helmet of the Chronicler. It didn't seem to deter him. "Don't you ever do that to me again, Chronicler." He growled.

"Then keep yourself in check," the Chronicler replied calmly, releasing him after stepping back. "We killed what I believe was one of his most powerful soldiers, and another city is dealt with. Good work."

Oliver looked around at the carnage, and he definitely did not feel like they'd done good work. No one had been saved and he was never going to forget the nightmare this place had been. Kane's voice was more controlled now. "I need armor and weapons."

"Yes," the Chronicler agreed. "We need to replenish those first. Let's go." A portal was created around them, and they were gone just as quickly as they'd come.

---

ADVENT-Chinese Joint Command, Beijing - China

3/11/2017 – 5:05 P.M.

The situation was continuing to deteriorate and Saudia didn't know what the best solution was. The introduction of the Bringer had disrupted their defenses significantly, and attacks across the country were being reported, and in many cases it was a matter of civilians going insane and attacking ADVENT and Chinese soldiers.

Aegis was weakening, XCOM was being rushed all over to put out fires and hunt down Bringer soldiers, and ADVENT was suffering substantial losses even when they won. Worse, the Bringer – or Isomnum – wasn't just targeting defenses, but also the populations. XCOM had confirmed this multiple times, which was triggering a massive rush to evacuate the inner cities since boundaries no longer seemed to matter.

ADVENT was also working overtime on the digital front, as some of the assaults were being broadcast by the Bringer's soldiers, a way for Isomnum to continue to spread his terror non-psionically. It was a continuous battle to keep it suppressed, and while it was being largely successful, and Saudia had ensured that a gag order on any footage was given to the media, they weren't going to be able to stop everything.

Even one or two of these teleporting Bringer operatives were enough to somehow take on garrisons. Oh, they'd be put down, but only after they'd killed many times their own number. Suicide units or not, they were weakening the defenses across the country, and it didn't seem like T'Leth had enough operatives to stop everything.

Then something changed.

It began with the feeling of a growing pit in her stomach, and looking out the window she saw the city burning, with alien fighters swopping in and strafing the buildings. Ice clamped around her heart as she saw what was happening. Her body suddenly froze as the Manchurian Restraints took hold, and the rational part of her brain screamed that this was impossible.

Then it all vanished. "Chancellor!" One of the Priest guards called, marching up with her honor guard. "You need to come with us now." Saudia looked out of the building, and was immensely relieved to see that there was no alien fleet in the city…but something was still wrong.

"What's going on?" She demanded, pulling out her pistol, a concerning feeling that she would need it coming over her.

"Unsure at the moment," Ethan said, stepping forward. "But the entire city just experienced a psionic attack. Priests are trying to contain the situation, but it's taking hold. We think Isomnum is here."

She stiffened. That was very, very bad. And brazen. "How?"

"Probably teleportation," the Priest said, as they began escorting her out with her in the center. "But he shouldn't be here. It's unlike his dossier, but if he is he must have also brought backup."

Saudia thought furiously as she was escorted through the hallways. Protocol dictated an extraction to the nearest Gateway back to a secured ADVENT base, but she knew there was some greater objective here. There were only two places they needed to focus on to cause maximum damage, and if the population remaining was driven insane and dealt with the forces on the streets…

"Order an immediate evacuation of the building," she told Ethan. "They're going to attack here - and send the evacuation order over to Qin at the Great Hall as well. Any legislative and administrative officials need to leave now. Isomnum wants to make a statement here, and he doesn't have the forces for a prolonged battle."

"Yes, Chancellor," Ethan confirmed and began rapidly speaking in the background, as they began moving towards the open staircase leading downwards. Elevators were a terrible idea, and while the stairs were restrained, there wasn't a better option. While she was confident that she could be protected, she was worried about the parts of the Chinese government who'd elected to stay due to believing the danger was still far off.

Everyone should have paid more attention to D.C. The Collective clearly had no problem striking in the heart of what is assumed to be protected territory. But maybe it would turn out for the best; in D.C. they had almost killed the Battlemaster. Perhaps here they could kill Isomnum.

"Where is the Commander?" she demanded, knowing he was still observing operations here. He needed to get out of here as well until it was contained and safe.

"Don't know," Ethan updated. "Communications are jammed now, I just barely got the evacuation orders off."

"And Qin?"

"Interrupted, but he got the message," Ethan stepped in front of her as fighting was just ahead in the hallway they were trapped in. It was a wide hallway, yes, but with almost no cover and only the stairs at the end. A robed figure was thrown back and slammed into a wall, and was subsequently struck by lightning.

The Commander emerged from the stairs, not wearing armor, but holding a gauss rifle. Beside him was another figure in blue and black robes who was absurdly tall – as tall as her even. He was almost regal in how he conducted himself and his face was stern, though his stormy grey eyes flashed with annoyance. In his hands with fingerless gloves over them was a staff of all things.

It was metal with the handle itself having grips built into the design, with a sharp spike at the bottom, and at the opposite end held the head of the staff, which was a ring with odd text written on it. In the center was an orb that glowed with an internal blue-green light, with ripples emanating from it. One of the Sovereign Orbs, which meant that this new individual was an agent.

Good news.

"Chancellor," the Commander greeted curtly. "Glad you're safe. This is Crevan Machas, we're going to get you out of here."

"We're escorting her to the Gateway now, Commander," Ethan confirmed. "You can-"

"The Gateway is compromised," Crevan interrupted curtly. "Fiona is currently engaged in combat with one of the Bringer's teleporters. The building is under attack and you are the target. They are marching up here now."

That explained why they'd been fighting up and not down. Saudia saw no reason to disbelieve them. "Fine. What is the plan."

"We move towards the roof, and a Skyranger will come to evacuate you," the Commander said. "Alternatively, Fiona teleports us out of here. Whichever comes first, but we need to keep moving."

"Indeed," Crevan glanced to his staff. "They are aware of our capabilities and will be sending forces against us. I can prevent teleportation surprises and telepathic attacks within a certain radius, but little else."

"Understood," Ethan moved her guard around. "I don't suppose you know what is happening?"

The Commander pursed his lips. "Isomnum is indeed in the vicinity. We did not expect it, but it is going to cause issues. I think he is trying to provoke a reaction, and if he succeeds in this brazen attack, he will get it."

Vague, but Saudia suspected he was referring to T'Leth, which she would have sincerely hoped was the case even before there had been an attack of this magnitude. "Enemy contact!" A guard called out, and Saudia was yanked out of the possible line of fire as one of the Priests placed a barrier before her.

Four soldiers stepped out of a blue-tinged portal. Another of the robed aliens, this one wielding a short silver sword. There were two of the soldiers which XCOM had identified as Carmine Baptists, one carrying a sword and shield, and the other carrying an axe. The one in the center emulated the Baptists, but was distinct in several ways.

The armor was more ornate, and the silver wording on the armor seemed to move and glow. A deep purple was woven into the color scheme, and an equally colored cape fell from his shoulders – and this man was a giant, eclipsing even the wiry height of Crevan, with the body mass to match. But the most distinct piece of attire was the silver helmet which was designed to bear a face. Much like in a theatre.

If the mask portrayed utter rage. It was disturbingly detailed; a snapshot of raw emotion captured somehow in metal. The mouth was open in a snarl, the beard was short and stained with spittle. The eyebrows were furrowed and the face was creased with every feature emphasizing the utter anger felt.

Too detailed. That shouldn't be possible in something so inanimate.

"Fire!" She heard Ethan call, and the Baptists charged with shrill battle cries. The robed one pulled out twin pistols and began firing purple bolts in their direction. Crevan stepped forward and slammed the staff into the ground with enough force to plant it. He was definitely enhanced if he could do that.

She saw the Commander pull something out of his pocket, and a few seconds later three things whizzed towards the robed alien. It teleported away, and reappeared behind the Commander now, though he managed to keep the harassment of whatever he was doing up. The Baptists were unaffected by the pounding fire, and slung their weapons forward, sending waves of psionic energy towards them. The second Priest erected another barrier which absorbed the blasts.

Once they got close enough, Crevan waved a hand towards the charging Baptists and they suddenly slowed, then collapsed to the ground, somehow dead. He gestured for the shield to be lowered, and the masked Baptist marched forward slowly; deliberately. It pulled a greatsword from behind it and the blade became emblazoned in blue energy.

Crevan lifted his hands and shot lightning from his fingertips, a white-blue stream of electricity that slammed into the masked Baptist with enough force that it dropped the greatsword and roared in a howl of pain and rage, briefly echoing the mask it wore. Plasma and gauss rounds dented and marred the pristine armor, and yet it was not killed.

Instead it lifted a hand and the lighting streaming from the fingertips of Crevan was directed towards it, while the opposite one was pulled back and then shoved forward, and purple-tinged lightning shot out instead before anyone could properly react. It didn't hit Crevan, but instead hit one of the Priests who couldn't block it in time, and she barely had time to scream before the lightning fried her body.

Crevan ceased his stream of lightning, and instead adapted his tactics. With a motion, the armor of the masked Baptists turned molten orange over the course of seconds as it slowly began melting off in chunks. The Baptist roared and charged forward, disregarding his weapon lying on the ground. More rounds were penetrating the weakening armor, but they weren't slowing it down.

Crevan directed a single stream of lighting at him, forcing the Baptist to slow down significantly, though not outright stop. Saudia looked back to the Commander, who was still engaging with the robed alien who'd just thrown a dagger at him while shooting purple-tinged projectiles. Not wanting to be helpless in this situation. She lined up her pistol and fired.

The robed alien had clearly not expected her engagement and the round went straight through its neck, forcing it to stumble back, which allowed the Commander to reached out telekinetically, lift it into the air, and crush the head into yellow paste. But to her dismay, she saw that two more aliens emerged from a portal on the same side, who were another regular Baptist and robed teleporter.

This was getting bad. They were becoming pinned.

The Priest protecting her focused on the masked Baptist, for a few solid seconds, yelling "Hold him still!" At Crevan, who reinforced his lightning intensity so much that the Baptist was forced to remain still. The Priest released a hand, and the psionic shield appeared in the chest of the Baptist, expanding horizontally, ripping it in half.

And it still didn't die. Bleeding out on the ground, it flopped forward with its two arms in screaming fury, when Crevan ripped up the staff and stabbed downwards, skewering its head and twisting until it stopped moving.

Fire immediately became focused on the new threat, with the Baptist firing a psionic wave forward that the Priest was able to block just in time. This robed teleporter also had a rifle, and the bolts struck one of her guard before he could react, and penetrated their armor somehow. "More behind!" Ethan called, swearing. "They're not stopping."

This time though, only one emerged from the portal. A stone-faced man in robes, looking decidedly unimpressed with what he saw. The Commander behind her telekinetically grabbed the Baptists and began crushing the armor even as he fired psionic energy back at the Commander which was blocked by the Priest.

The other robed man lifted a hand and the weapons of her guard went flying towards him. Crevan shot lighting from his hand at him, though a raised palm and small psionic shield blocked it from ever hitting. He lifted a hand sharply and another of her guard was bisected vertically and fell into two pieces.

They were losing, little question of that now, and she fired her pistol at the stone-faced man, for all the good it would do. Crevan intensified the lightning, lighting up the room and filling it with the crackling sound. Yet the man didn't seem deterred, but instead looked to her and a blue psionic shield appeared around her, trapping her.

She fired her plasma pistol at it, heart pounding as the very real danger of what could happen next set in. The Commander had killed the Baptist, and was still fighting the robed teleporter, while her last Priest in an attempt to distract the robed man charged forward and encased him in a psionic prison, making him temporarily immune to harm.

He was decapitated by blue shield appearing out of his neck.

It can't end like this.

"Fiona, get back here now!" Crevan yelled, now sounded concerned. "Do whatever you have to!"

The man gestured towards her, and she saw a blue psionic barrier sever her arms.

She barely had enough time for her brain to process what was happening before another shield severed her knees and the functioning torso fell to the ground, sending screaming jolts of pain through her body.

"Saudia!" Ethan yelled from above.

The shock of the pain and her inability to do anything numbed her. Blood pouring out of her wounds, she forced herself up on her stumps towards the one who had crippled her. If she was going to die, it would be looking her killer in the face.

There was a flash of green and a stone-armored figure stepped out, and was immediately different from the rest. She was stained in yellow and red blood, with her sword equally as ruined. She flickered a greenish-white; as if a hologram phasing in and out. The man forced two psionic barriers at her which should have decapitated or bisected her, but instead they went through her as if she didn't exist.

A hand encased in white-green energy was extended and the figure was suddenly before the man and placed it on the chest. The man stiffened, opened his mouth – the only trace of emotion she'd seen, just before his body vanished in a flash. She allowed herself to slump to the ground, light-headed from the loss of blood and only hearing the last snippets of conversation before she passed out.

"You know what will happen…"

"Yes."

"I'll deal with it. We need to get the Chancellor medical attention now."

"I'll do what I can."

"Yes. Hold her steady."

---

In the Great Hall of the People, there was a party being thrown.

The doors of the exclusive building had been thrown open, and all residents had been invited inside. It was a subtle whisper, a sirens call that was impossible to ignore even through the madness that now permeated the once-great city. None were immune to its call, not completely, and right now no one would interrupt the festivities which awaited.

If one walked the city during the time Beijing had fallen, they may have believed they had been walking in a dream, for that was the atmosphere which had been woven throughout the night. A fine purple mist tinged the sight of all who stepped outside, the smog replaced with intoxicating clarity and revelry.

The dull and defeated eyes of the soldiers, psions, and civilians who had lived in fear had their concerns slowly melt away as they first cowered in terror, then felt themselves settle into a euphoric state of mind; a mind knowing that their temporal concerns, dreams, and fears were no longer important. Only One was.

That deserved to be celebrated.

The exclusive steps that had been denied to so many were open to the hundreds which walked forward, and the site of so many pointless and cruel deaths was turned into one of remembrance and celebration. The robed ambassadors of the Bringer waited and welcomed those with open arms as if they were old friends reunited, and invited them to partake of the festivities, free of the dull and tiresome lives they'd lived.

Fires burned to cook food, and the smells wafted over the air, of what seemed to those who wandered over to be a delicious aroma, as intoxicating as the atmosphere around them. So content were they that they paid little attention to the tables where meat was carved off the dozens of corpses, each from a willing line of people willing to contribute their bodies in celebration of such a night.

Such a victory.

For they knew even in death they would ascend to something greater.

Blood once more flowed within Tiananmen Square, but instead of the blood of innocents tainting the stones, it was the blood of the sanctified; the few and honored who so freely offered their own flesh for others.

Hundreds partook of the meal outside as melodious music played by a Weaver of this dream drifted over the air; a hypnotizing sound that those who heard felt the urge to follow. Within the Great Hall itself, the most prestigious of the night resided and reveled.

Those who wove the dream were seeded throughout, encouraging and directing the festivities in honor of their god. Wine glasses filled with thin red liquid were freely distributed as well as flesh on platters cooked to differing temperatures, to of course accommodate for all tastes. Toasts were shouted frequently to boisterous cheers.

Those within ate, drank, and were merry.

Deeper within were the halls of honor, the place where the Auditorium of Ten Thousand People stood; a place of history and significance where the leaders of this nation had given statements, lies, and truths to their citizens. Declarations of power; declarations of war, it was a place where the attention of the world could be focused.

So to it was that the auditorium was filled to the brim as hundreds of the newly converted sat in rapture as they feasted and listened to the men on the stage who sat in front of a fully packed and ornate buffet of the courses of the evening. Raw organs were placed in special bowls, and limbs both cooked and uncooked were available to be cut and eaten.

The men who had once represented the nation, led their military, and ruled over the people eagerly partook of these delicacies, liberally giving their compliments to the chefs, with bloody mouths and eyes that shined too bright. Lively conversation between them took place as they babbled around topics of little and great significance, their tongues twisting the languages into something most would consider gibberish, but which each equally mad man understood.

Yet what enraptured the audience so was how each who sat at the table stood up and loudly professed their devotion to the One Who Brings Paradise, who gave moving testimonials and revelations they had experienced so quickly, yet had been apparent to them all along. How they had lived their lives blind until they had their eyes opened.

Many of these testimonials moved much of the audience to tears, and those who professed their newfound faith broke down; believing themselves so unworthy to receive the love that had been bestowed upon them this night.

The greatest of these was when the former President Qin stood and professed the sins he had so easily partaken in without remorse. He confessed every single crime that had been done against his people through sobs and tears, so remorseful he was of the injustice he had committed for so long. He loudly and fully decried the evils of ADVENT and how they would deny the love and joy he had been awakened to tonight.

By the end, he understood that he could not merely accept the unconditional forgiveness of the One Who Brings Paradise, it could not be enough. A sacrifice was required. As he had been blind to his acts for so long, and his words had led so many astray, he would ensure he would never lead those off the only path that mattered.

To a standing ovation, before the crowds he took out a knife which had been given to him by those who wove the dream, and cut out his eyes, then severed his tongue, and yet there was smile on his face as he finished, for he knew that the Bringer was satisfied with his offering.

Such festivities and joy could not simply be restricted to the confines of the square and halls, and such powerful testimonials could not go unheard. So they were shared; broadcasted to the world with high quality cameras at all angles. The celebrity event of the year that all needed to see and understand to be saved.

ADVENT would try, but they could not stop all of it, not at all.

The world was held by what happened that night, captivated and terrified.

And after the blind and mute Qin returned to his seat, a spindly arm came down to rest on his shoulder as the black eyes of the Dread Lord looked down on him in the closest to approval one could come, then looked back out at the revelling crowd as the audience felt compelled to speak of their own conversions.

He looked upon the mad world that he had created, and saw that it was good.

For perhaps the first time in his life, he felt it.

A small, obscured emotion that he had only heard described. Unlike any he had felt before.

Happy.

He mimicked his lips in an approximation of a smile.

A genuine smile.

Happy.

He was happy.

He had won today.

The first of many, for the world would be shaped in this image.

Within the Dream, in the midst of the revelry, one could just hear the mad laughter of the Dread Lord.

And those who heard, smiled, and prayed for the Dream to never end.

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To be continued in Chapter 49:

Reign of the Dread Lord

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A/N: Well, one million words. I'd hoped that everything would line up so I would break it in chapter 50 and subsequently wrap up Act III, which would have been a poetic, albeit probably unrealistic, outcome. But length is not really something I can really plan for, so here we are. Still, it's a large milestone and one I honestly didn't think I'd be breaking until I was close to the end of the story, or at least past the rough halfway point. Can't promise that there will be another million words to follow, but hey, you never know!

In all seriousness I'm very thankful to everyone reading, reviewing, or otherwise following along in my hobby. It's special, and not something you can't completely appreciate until it happens to you. Regardless, thank you, and know that your feedback has definitely helped shape the story into what it is today. The most radical changes are suggested by my excellent editing team, but if someone else has a good idea, I'm likely to figure out some way to incorporate it. And trust me there's a lot of time left in the story for things to keep happening :)

I'll close out this particular note with highlighting the two pieces of supplementary material written by members of my editing team, the first being the Chronicles of Salvation, by Edumesh - of particular relevance given the events of the chapter, and an excellent piece of writing on it's own. The second is the XCOM Files - Technical Addenda by Ashardalon125 which is a more technically-focused XCOM files with a more scientific component. There is not significant overlap with the XCOM Files, although you may see a couple characters in both. If you want a glimpse of some of what ADVENT may develop or pursue, I would highly recommend checking it out.

The last thing I'll highlight is a series by SLotH4, who writes Shadow of the Phoenix, a Star Wars story set in the post-Legacy era. I've been working with him quite a bit to help expand and flesh it out, and have personally written quite a bit of supplementary material for his universe with a lot more on the way. If you want to see a rather different take on Star Wars with a good amount of background material to go along with it (I do think some of the stuff I've written for him is among my best work), I recommend you check it out. There will be links in my profile.

So thanks again everyone, and let's see if we get another million words out of this.

Also, told you Act III was going to be a climactic end.

- Xabiar