The entire week had been spent preparing for the mission. The two Spartans were accustomed to stealth, but this time they would be hiding in plain sight. Apparently, there was a hidden data store in the same building where the party was being held, and the Commander was confident that said cache was full of information valuable to the Resistance effort. For this purpose, the team would be bringing a unique Resistance agent with them who would help to extract any useful intel. This mysterious operative's identity had yet to be revealed, but today that would change.

Alia shifted uncomfortably in her ADVENT armor as she made her way to the control room. Until now, she hadn't realized how much more comfortable XCOM's kevlar suits were. Simultaneously, the serpent was extremely anxious from the extra dark looks from the Avenger's crewmembers, since she looked more like the enemy now. That was the point, though; this was her disguise. In her hands, the alien operative held a non-functional replica of a standard-issue viper plasma rifle. Shen, one of the few people who didn't hate her, had assured her that nobody would be able to tell the difference so long as the viper didn't try to shoot anything. Finally, Tygan had given her a compound that would alter her natural scent to the one of an ADVENT viper.

Entering the control room, Alia saw the Commander and Leonidas standing near a young man dressed in casual clothing with a satchel on his hip, who was admiring the holographic globe. He was tall and thin―almost lanky―had short brown hair, a subtle stubble, and intense green eyes. The Spartan leader, on the other hand, was wearing a suit and tie―his disguise as a party guest. Leo noticed her first and waved invitingly. As the serpent approached, she asked: "How do I look?"

"You look like you'll fit right in with the guards," Leonidas answered, "so long as no one looks too carefully."

The stranger turned to look at her. "You must be Alia," he said, extending a hand, "I'm agent Razor. I'll be joining you two on this mission."

"It is nice to meet you, agent Razor," the viper responded politely, shaking his hand, "Might I ask how you will be assisting us? You must possess skills that cannot be provided by an XCOM operative."

The Commander stepped forward, raising a hand to stop Razor from answering. "I'll answer that. I suppose I should brief you on all of this anyway. Your mission is to extract some sensitive data that ADVENT is keeping on the physical storage device located in the building where this party is being held. Razor's going to help you get that data. I'm trusting Ghost's judgment with this one; I'm not exactly comfortable with sending a grease monkey on a field op, but he insists that Razor is our best bet."

Fire flashed behind the agent's steel-gray eyes. He opened his satchel, reached in, and produced a pistol with an attached silencer. "'Grease monkeys' don't carry ten-millimeter handguns," the man stated, returning the weapon to its hiding place, "You've seen what I can do, Commander―I can handle myself just fine."

The senior officer sighed. "You're very capable, Razor, but cyber-warfare and firefights are two very different things."

"Razor here has worked with us before," Leonidas said to Alia, changing the topic before the other two men could argue any further, "He's the best hacker in the Resistance."

"Hell yeah I am," the hacker chuckled, disengaging from the Commander, "World-class talent right here; I'm one of the best cyberwarfare specialists on the goddamn planet!"

The viper cocked her head to one side as she examined the Resistance agent. She had learned over the years, and especially from her time on the Avenger, that humans tended to hyperbolize these things in moments of pride. But something about Razor told her that he truly believed his claim was true. The man looked old enough to have the necessary experience, and he had also been referred to as a "grease monkey" which Alia knew meant that he was an engineer―most likely a mechanical engineer, at that. If both of these things were true, there was no way that Razor was anything close to ordinary.

The Commander must have seen her scrutinizing the hacker, as he quickly turned to her and explained: "It sounds like hubris, I know, but he's… well, he's not wrong. Very few people can match his skill, and even fewer can actually outmatch him. Razor is quite the prodigy―we can't say for sure, but he's probably the best in the world at the moment. Before the invasion, there definitely would have been better hackers out there. But now, the bar is admittedly pretty low."

Alia nodded, trusting XCOM's leader's vouch for their ally. If they had worked together before, then he would know how good the cyberwarfare specialist really was. She turned back to Razor. "If you do not mind me asking, just how old are you? I am quite curious; you appear to be quite young."

The Resistance agent grinned. "Twenty years, ma'am. I get that a lot―I look a bit younger than I am. And I know you're just under nineteen." It surprised Alia just how casually he demonstrated his power while answering her question.

She had only known the hacker for a few minutes, and already she was amazed by his skillset which he so confidently brandished like a weapon. Normally the serpent would be skeptical, but Leonidas and the Commander seemed to support the young man's claims, and she trusted them. It was quite the coincidence that the Resistance happened to have two extremely talented agents who were in the same age group, but Alia wasn't about to complain; they needed any advantage that they could get. Plus, Razor was right: she was almost nineteen―even younger than Leonidas, though nobody seemed to realize it―meaning the viper was a talented youth herself, considering that she was a Spartan.

"Wrote my first program when I was six," the specialist broke her train of thought, "Cracked my first security system when I was ten. Been breaching the ADVENT network since I was twelve. I've always been good with this kind of shit, and the Resistance makes sure I have what I need."

Alia nodded astutely. "I assume that you have devised a method of veiling my presence on this network? My malfunctioning chip may cause problems otherwise."

"Already got that covered," the engineer smiled, "I've got a specialist linked into the psi-network to emulate your signal in real-time―to the guards, it'll be like you're a regular unit."

"Shouldn't we be focusing on our mission right now?" the Spartan leader interrupted, "What's the plan? We don't have all day."

"Right," the Commander shook himself from his thoughts, "Leonidas, you're going to stay with the other guests and keep an eye on things there while Alia smuggles Razor into the restricted areas. From there, you two sneak into the data storage and get what we need. Razor's been studying this place all week; he has a plan. Do what he says, get the mission done, and if all else fails, Leonidas or I will take charge." He turned to the hacker, "You get them home alive, or I will have your head. Dismissed!"

Minutes later, the three of them were on the transport and en route to the party. Apparently, the cyberwarfare specialist had a much more detailed scheme than what the Commander had described. The party was being held in the City Hall, and the databanks that they needed to access were located on the second floor near the back. The festivities themselves were held near the front of the building, away from their objective.

"That seems… off," Leonidas said, "Why host a party and draw attention to the building where such sensitive information is being held? Why store that data in such a public place?"

"It's quite clever, really," Razor explained, "They have these databanks in the City Hall for the exact reasons you just described. No one would think to look there, and they have an excellent excuse to have plenty of security around the clock. The party just doubles that; less likely to have something there with all the people, and more guards to keep watch over the increased number of occupants. Not the most original cover, but an effective one."

"Then how did you know about it?" Alia asked, curious as to how the hacker had circumvented this concealment.

He shrugged, "It's my job to know shit that I'm not supposed to. A peek at the network here, a couple of whispers from my contacts there, and I can learn almost anything. No matter how badly ADVENT wants to keep it a secret."

Elaborating on the Commander's brief explanation, Razor laid out the plan in greater detail. He was playing the role of a technician who had been called in to fix a "glitch" in the building's computer systems. This "glitch" was actually the result of some minor sabotage made with the sole purpose of justifying the engineer's sudden appearance. Alia would pose as his guard, first escorting him to his task then watching his back once the hacker started his work on accessing the data stores. Leonidas would stay with the main party, keeping an eye on the guests and guards, watching for any sign that the two infiltrators might have been detected. He would also serve as backup in case things went sideways, having concealed a combat knife and revolver on his person, with a ballistic vest under his suit.

"Be suspicious of everything," the hacker advised, "A few guards suddenly start moving to the back hallways? Guests start leaving early for no apparent reason? You get on comms and let us know. We'll still get it done, but I need to know if we need to switch to plan B. That's why we're doing this now instead of when things are quieter."

For the rest of the trip, Alia was practically bubbling with questions, and Razor was happy to answer. The pistol in his satchel was based on the same model used by the original XCOM project. He had built it himself using recovered blueprints, albeit modifying the design to use 10mm ammunition instead of 9mm, as well as introducing numerous other adjustments to increase the stopping power. The reason that the original handgun didn't see much use in the Resistance was its insultingly low damage output; Razor's design solved that problem but wasn't cost-efficient to mass-produce. Evidently, this was a common trend in his innovations―he wasn't just a hacker, but also an engineer.

Strapped to his left forearm was a device that he called a "tacpad," which was shorthand for tactical datapad. It had a small touchscreen that the agent could use to interface with technology on the fly, or simply display information for quick and easy access. The chassis was thin enough to be worn discreetly beneath clothing, and Razor claimed that the device itself wasn't very powerful; it had a wireless connection to a much more capable server that did most of the work remotely. He then proceeded to describe why such measures were needed.

"Typically, ADVENT utilizes three grades of protection in their networks," the engineer explained, "The first grade is what you might encounter in non-important systems, and is affectionately called 'Viper's Scale' because it's easy to penetrate―no offense, Alia," he caught himself. The serpent assured the cyberwarfare specialist that none was taken, and asked to continue. "Okay, so the second grade is standard-issue in scanning towers, MECs, and medium-priority nodes, nicknamed 'Andromedon's Shell'. This is what you've likely encountered in previous missions. Grade three is referred to as 'Sectopod's Ass', and it protects mid-to-high importance nodes, most of the systems in UFOs as well as―obviously―Sectopods. But then there is the final, fourth grade; almost impenetrable, supposedly guarding critical-value information―such as the data we are after. I call it 'Trooper's Skull'―and very few people can pierce it. That's where 'Excalibur' comes in."

Filling his speech with a variety of technical terms, the hacker explained that said Excalibur―a custom supercomputing rig, optimized for security breaching―was extremely expensive, and even its immense processing capabilities and connection bandwidth were barely enough to overcome ADVENT's top-notch cyberdefence measure, effectively making it support only a single attempt at penetration of "Trooper's Skull" at a time. As such, making more tacpads was nearly pointless as far as hacking was concerned. "Besides," said Razor, "I'm still working out the kinks. This tech… well, it has its quirks. I've gotten used to it, but it's certainly not gonna work with everyone."

Naturally, the party would have extensive security, ranging from regular metal detectors to highly sophisticated multispectrum sensor arrays, ready to catch anyone trying to smuggle anything illegal. This would pose a problem for the trio, but the hacker had assured his companions that the security system was disabled. "Max is an artist with this kind of thing," Razor explained, "He can mask any tampering with pretty much any tech―ADVENT or otherwise."

"Who is Max?" Alia inquired. No one had mentioned this person until now."

"That'd be me, ma'am," a man's voice came over a speaker on the hacker's tacpad, "I handle all this stuff so that Razor can focus on the more sensitive objectives. We've been setting up this job all week."

So there were two hackers. That made quite a bit more sense; the workload was split, meaning that both of the cyberwarfare specialists could focus on their respective tasks. The fact that the duo was apparently able to breach the ADVENT network undetected was a testament to their skill, let alone what they had accomplished beyond that point. Max sounded older than Razor, which potentially explained how the young man was so knowledgeable; it was possible that Max was his mentor, or something to that effect. Either way, both of them seemed to know what they were doing, and Alia was grateful that she didn't have their job.

The transport landed near the outskirts of the city, away from prying eyes. From there, the three operatives headed to the party and did their best to remain inconspicuous. The viper stayed close to Razor, reverting to her training from back when she was an actual ADVENT unit. Maintaining the correct posture, the disguised agent held a serious expression and moved forward confidently. The "technician" walked slightly ahead of her, careful to remain within her line of sight as if she was actually his escort.

Behind them, Leonidas hung back and acted as though he was just an ordinary civilian on his way to the party. The Ranger looked around at the surrounding buildings and politely greeted passers-by, occasionally explaining why he was walking and not driving to the City Hall. His excuse was that it was a nice day and that he could use the exercise. The first statement was actually true: it was a sunny afternoon with a pleasant breeze. But even just from her relatively limited experience with the Spartan leader, the serpent knew all too well that he got plenty of exercise.

When they reached the City Hall, the hacker didn't hesitate to march up to the main entrance and state his purpose. Alia followed, doing her best to appear calm as she mentally prepared herself for anything. "You are late," the guard growled at Razor in ADVENT's inhuman language, "You were scheduled to arrive three minutes ago." He turned to the viper. "Are you the designated guard?"

"Affirmative," Alia responded crisply, silently amazed that this was working.

"Why were you travelling on foot and not by vehicle?" the guard demanded. The serpentine agent's stomach flipped; she hadn't thought of an excuse for such a thing. Maybe this wasn't working very well after all.

Luckily, Razor had that covered. "Ran into problems with the transport vehicle," he said, giving a rather convincing impression of frustration, "We were close enough to make it on foot, so that's what we did."

The guard looked to Alia for confirmation. She nodded, playing along, "What the human says is true. It is the reason for being behind schedule."

"I went out of my way to get here as quickly as possible," the hacker added, "Now can we please get a move on? We're behind schedule, after all." The way that the agent voiced the last sentence made it sound like he was blaming the guard for making him late―a very interesting touch, to be sure. The Trooper waved them through, and together they made their way through the crowd to the back of the room. Slithering through the hall, Alia quickly scanned the chamber to assess the security detail. There were numerous Troopers mixed with a few vipers, but what worried her was the four MECs stationed near the walls, standing as if on display. It was clear that the robotic units were mainly there for looks, but that didn't mean they weren't a serious threat.

Once the infiltrators had crossed the room, they were able to pass through a door labeled "Restricted" guarded by another Trooper. The soldier let them through without a word, and Razor gave Alia a quick wink before they continued onward. It was convenient that the viper's disguise necessitated moving behind the hacker since he was the one who knew where to go. Soon, though, an ADVENT serpent joined them. Apparently, one escort wasn't enough, so the security detail had sent a party guard to accompany the two.

"There," the alien soldier hissed in English, pointing at an access panel on the wall, "Fix quick, human." Her words sounded stiff, and her grammar was poor; she was not nearly as fluent as Alia, something that made the rebel viper feel oddly proud. In a strange way, it felt as though her ability to speak English correctly made her better than her sisters in some way.

Razor walked over to the panel, then froze as the hostile serpent grabbed him and hissed: "Where are tools!?" At that moment, Alia wished her fake plasma rifle was a real gun―even a basic Resistance assault rifle―that she could use to fight, should this other viper expose them.

"Oh, they're right here," the hacker said calmly, reaching into his satchel, "Let me just―" In a flash, he pulled out his pistol with one hand while grabbing the alien's head with the other. Before she could make a sound, Razor shoved the muzzle of the gun up against her chin, holding her mouth shut as he fired a single shot. At point-blank range, and with no armor to cover the viper's jaw, the round easily found its way to the serpent's brain and brought a quick, painless death. Alia heard the sound of the bullet hitting the armor at the back of her sister's head―only to remain inside the corpse's skull and minimize the signature of the murder. A calculated kill―and not how XCOM would have done it. "Max?" the engineer asked.

"No one heard the shot," their remote ally answered over comms, "I've already compensated for the death on the local network. You're clear."

Razor himself wasted no time in dragging the lifeless body into a nearby office. "The first floor is used for actual employees," he explained to no one in particular, "It's the second floor that no one gets to see." Despite carrying out a masterful cold-blooded execution (and beating a viper's reflexes, no less), his expression was entirely blank, showing no emotion. As the "technician" exited the room, the door closing behind him―a computerized lock that he had hacked, no doubt―he looked at his weapon. "I could get used to that," the cyberwarfare agent said with a ghost of a smile, "Real fun." He stowed the pistol, looking at Alia. "Alright, let's get to the second floor. Oh, and here," he produced a second handgun, identical to the first, "Take this. Probably for the best if we're both armed. Put it in your rifle replica if you want to hide it―the thing's hollow, and should be airtight enough to keep other vipers from sniffing you out."

"How did she not 'sniff out' the weapons while they were in your bag?" Alia inquired, indicating the dead soldier. She took the weapon as she spoke, stowing it inside her mock rifle as the hacker had described.

"You mean a bunch of steel and polymer?" Razor chuckled, "The exact same stuff that my presumed 'tools' would be made from? My guess is that she smelled them from the start, but assumed it was something else. Likely got suspicious at the very end there, which is just as well; I was gonna have to kill her anyway."

Alia was growing more and more wary of the hacker with each passing minute. He seemed to have every element of this operation planned, and every contingency accounted for. Not only that, but he didn't even try to hide the fact that he enjoyed the act of killing. The young man was certainly unique, though, unlike Leonidas, it was far less charming and much more… unsettling.

The duo made their way to the stairway and up to the second floor without complication. It seemed that ADVENT hadn't counted on anyone making it this far, and hadn't posted many guards, if any at all. The hallway that the stairs led into split left and right.

"Alright," Razor pointed left, "These halls make a loop around the floor. You head that way and sweep the area for anyone who might wanna get in our way. I'll go the other way and meet you at Data Storage. The layout up here is pretty basic according to the blueprints, so don't worry about getting lost." The viper nodded, heading left as Razor broke right. As she moved, Alia debated whether to have her pistol drawn, enabling her to quickly eliminate any enemy units, or keep it hidden and use the fake plasma rifle in order to maintain her disguise. The latter option was preferable; it would allow her to analyze the situation before she started shooting.

…

Meanwhile, Razor found two Troopers standing in front of the data storage vault door. He walked forward, unfazed as the guards shouted and raised their weapons. With a quick swipe on his tacpad, he activated an interference routine that played havoc with their psionic chips, causing them to convulse and choke as their brains were virtually cooked inside their skulls. The engineer rolled his eyes at the fresh corpses―everyone always underestimated his abilities. Nobody ever seemed to suspect that he could be so dangerous until it was too late. At least these Troopers had the excuse of not knowing his identity.

While Max had control over the building's security, this door had no remote connection. The lock was hardwired into the access terminal, which was solely built to enter a passcode. Additionally, the keys included biometric readers to prevent unauthorized personnel from touching them. Presumably, this was supposed to make it unhackable, since half of the processing was done by circuitry and not code. Luckily, Razor possessed more than enough technical know-how to prove this wrong. He produced a small jamming device from his belt, which he stuck to the metal casing before prying said casing open with a multitool.

As he examined the electronic guts in front of him, the hacker heard the sound of two vipers approaching from down the hall. Drawing his pistol, the cyberwarfare specialist half-turned to get a look at this new threat. With mechanical precision, Razor raised his weapon and shot the first serpent in the mouth as it rounded the corner. The second looked at him with wide eyes, her weapon still aimed at the floor. "How did you know that was not me?" Alia asked as she approached cautiously, eyeing the two dead Troopers.

Razor stowed his pistol once more. "You don't wear a constant scowl," he answered, "And you weren't surprised to see me. Now watch my back; this op is already getting hotter than I'd like."

In seconds, the young engineer bypassed the lock and opened the door. He didn't waste any time ducking inside, pulling a data transfer cable from his tacpad and plugging it into the massive server. From the inside, Razor could see that the room was built like a vault, with reinforced walls, ceiling and floor that he guessed could probably withstand the blast of an X-4 charge. ADVENT had spared no expense in protecting this place from an attack―including hiding it in plain sight―but they hadn't counted on someone doing it quietly.

His wrist computer beeped, indicating that it had successfully connected to the target before displaying the various files that were held on the hard storage. The cyberwarfare specialist then realized that there were next to no security measures stopping him from digging around. Apart from some basic file encryption that would be easy to crack, there was nothing. The hacker chuckled to himself; they hadn't been so thorough after all! With no remote access except for a few hardwired connections, ADVENT must have assumed that their physical security measures were enough to ensure that no one ever got this far. Of course, they never counted on him and Max giving it a go.

"Jackpot, baby!" Razor exclaimed as he downloaded several files, "We've got this by the ass!" He quickly cleared the access logs of any evidence, removed the cable, then promptly left the room and grabbed one of the dead guards to move them out of sight. All that was left was to escape.

Thanks to the quiet approach, this proved to be easy enough. Alia helped the cyberwarfare specialist drag the bodies into the server room, then the two of them made their way back down to the first floor. "That was much less difficult than I had expected," the viper commented as they went, "I had assumed that there would be complications."

The young man laughed, "There doesn't always have to be a plot twist, Alia. Sometimes, an operation can go off without a hitch. But we ain't out of the woods yet; stay sharp." Stowing his pistol, he looked himself over to ensure that there were no signs of combat staining his clothes. Verifying that he had kept himself free of blood, Razor motioned for the serpent to scout ahead―if anyone spotted a human coming down from the second floor, it would botch the entire mission.

Alia signalled that the coast was clear, and they moved forward. Razor's heart pounded in his chest as the duo made their way back toward the party. No one had really brought it up, but if someone had asked, he would have made no secret of the fact that this was his first field mission. While the two Spartans had spent the week practicing their acting skills and playing pretend, Razor had been collecting data, then using what he found to meticulously assemble a plan.

The hacker had begun this process at the moment he became aware of this opportunity, which had been just two days before the Commander got involved; it wasn't much time to plan a job like this from scratch, but it was a chance that he couldn't afford to miss. It hadn't been easy, but they didn't hire world-class talent for easy. When the XCOM's leader had been alerted, he had insisted that they employ Leonidas and Alia. At first glance, the Spartan leader's role seemed redundant; with Max hijacking the security system, there was no point in having someone stand watch. But there was more to it than that: should the two infiltrators be discovered and their identities compromised, Leonidas would be able to back the agents up and help fight their way out. The MEC units in the main room could be used similarly, but they couldn't effectively navigate the hallways like the human soldier.

With Max's assistance, compiling data and making predictions was Razor's forte. It was incredible just how much information could be found on the ADVENT network with enough digging around. His original plan had been for a Skirmisher spy to act as his escort, but this role was instead filled by Alia. While the hacker had effectively made a scenario that would work entirely without the Spartans' assistance, he chose to modify it; once the Commander had been made aware of the operation, he had insisted on being involved. As far as the workload was concerned, it wasn't that different from his original plan―Razor had to execute an intricate and time-consuming process to make such a transfer look legitimate, and the difference between planting a Skirmisher versus a viper was minor. While he had access to the psionic network, allowing him to actually make some of the lower ADVENT figures play along, that was what made the process so arduous. The psi-net was almost frightening; even with Max's help, it was so convoluted and easily disturbed it could take days to make something happen, no matter how inconsequential.

Thinking of the semi-organic network reminded Razor that Alia had a psi-chip in her brain that was reported to be deactivated. As they re-entered the main room, he debated whether or not this was true. The cyberwarfare specialist knew that, at the very least, the device wasn't influencing her actions, since she wouldn't be here impersonating a guard if it was. But based on the report―it was classified, but Razor had a habit of getting his hands on XCOM's classified intel―Alia's chip had been disabled through what could charitably be considered as percussive maintenance. He had never heard of a shutdown happening due to a concussion, and wasn't fully convinced that the viper didn't need a proper deactivation procedure. But that would have to wait; for now, they had to worry about getting out of here and extracting unnoticed.

…

"Found what you need?" Leonidas asked under his breath as Razor met him near the back of the room, "I've been trying to figure out a way for all three of us to leave, but I don't see a way for Alia to escape without blowing her cover." He glanced around the room, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, other than a few of the guards looking at them. The Spartan resisted the urge to check for his weapons―any suspicious movements would put Alia and Razor in danger.

"I got it," the hacker nodded, "And yeah, I think you're right. The guards should be getting suspicious of us… now."

Leonidas glanced around, spotting multiple guards making their way to the pair. "I reckon we have ten seconds tops before shit hits the fan. Any ideas?"

Razor grinned, quickly tapping out a command on his tacpad. "You forget who you're talking to?" he grinned, "Showtime!" He pressed a button, and one of the MECs that had been standing sentry suddenly switched to a combat stance, arming its powerful magnetic cannon before opening fire on a nearby Trooper. One by one, the four robotic units turned on their allies, causing mass panic. The guards began ushering people out as they tried in vain to retaliate, their weapons barely managing to damage the MECs' armored frames. The automatons, however, had no such difficulty in ripping the security force apart with their superior firepower.

Leonidas and Razor easily blended with the fleeing crowd. The hardest part was actually avoiding getting shot in the crossfire. As they ran, the Spartan noticed that the hacked robots were deliberately steering clear of shooting civilians. Whatever Razor had done, he had taken care to ensure that any non-combatant casualties wouldn't be his fault. Or at least not directly his fault; if a guard killed a civilian while trying to fight the machines, that was out of his hands.

The chaos provided the perfect cover as the operatives escaped the building. Sprinting away, Leonidas wished he could have worn his combat boots instead of impractical formal shoes. It felt like he was running with wooden boards strapped to his feet, making his steps awkward and uncomfortable. More than anything, the shoes made a lot of noise―luckily, silence wasn't a present concern. The agents ran until they could barely hear the sounds of gunfire, then stopped to wait for Alia.

"Four at once," Leonidas commented as he caught his breath, "How did you manage that?"

"I wrote the Haywire Protocol that your GREMLIN units use," Razor said proudly, smiling despite being winded, "And I'm way more capable than a simple program. Plus, I have Max helping me."

A moment later, the viper arrived. She was just as out of breath as they were, but none the worse for wear. "Why was I not warned," she panted, returning Razor's pistol to him, "That the plan was to use the MEC units to create a diversion?"

"Max helped you with that, too, huh?" Leonidas asked Razor, motioning for Alia to lean on him to catch her breath.

"Hell yeah," the hacker answered, "Don't know what I'd do without him. And for the record, Alia? The reason you weren't warned is that even I didn't know I was hacking those things until I actually did it. I had that idea from the moment we walked in and saw them, but I was kinda hoping not to have to actually do it. Know your options, and utilize them as need be; improvisation is the savior of any plan."

"We got the data," said the Spartan officer, "And we're all still breathing, so I'd call that a success."

"I'll send your Commander a report once I confirm what I think this stuff points to. I've got my own ride coming, so I'll catch you two on the flipside!"

As Razor jogged off, Alia looked at Leonidas. "You look nice in a suit," she said, "I thought that you might like to know."

The Spartan leader laughed; he appreciated the compliment, but if he could help it, he would never wear formal attire again in his life. "And you," he chuckled, "look a lot better in anything that isn't an ADVENT uniform; you can't pull off the 'I want to kill you in seventeen ways' look."

…

After the debriefing, the Commander ordered Alia to meet him in his cabin. She quickly discarded ADVENT viper armor in favor of her normal clothing, then made haste to follow this directive. Arriving in the officer's quarters, the serpentine operative knocked on the door adorned with the XCOM insignia politely, knowing that it was common courtesy to do so and not wanting to be rude. "Come in, Alia," the Commander answered shortly. The viper promptly did as she was told, standing stiffly in his quarters as she awaited whatever XCOM leader had in store for her.

"I'll be direct: the reason you're here has nothing to do with today's mission," he stood across the room from her, eyes piercing straight into her soul, "Though you do deserve a commendation for your restraint: while Razor killed several guards―admittedly, he still kept things together―you made discretion your number-one priority. Even when he handed you a gun, you refrained from killing anyone and maintained your cover. Excellent work."

"Vigilo Confido, Commander."

"But like I said: that's not why you're here." He stepped closer, narrowing his eyes slightly, "I'm very lenient with… fraternization and serious relationships between squadmates. I don't mind, so long as it doesn't hinder your performance. I'm telling you this because I'm assigning you and Leonidas as bondmates. If you don't know, that means you'll be training together to work as partners. It won't change your role in the squad, as far as I am concerned, but after today's performance, I think you and Leonidas make a good team."

"Th-thank you, Commander."

"Leonidas has already been made aware of this. I'll be handling the dynamics of your partnership, so I would actually advise that you don't think about it much. This is just an explanation of why you'll be working closely with Leonidas in the field. In fact, I don't think you'll undergo any real training for a while."

"Yes sir."

"What I really want you to know is this: it's not uncommon for bondmates to develop relationships… off the battlefield. I know that you've taken a liking to Leonidas, and while I completely understand why this is, I can also see you developing stronger feelings for him. If this happens, I won't stop you so long as you respect how Leonidas feels about it. But he's also… different. I'm afraid that I don't really know how such a situation would play out, and I don't want to be caught off-guard in any case. So if you do start developing feelings for Leonidas, you do not hesitate to tell me, is that clear?"

Alia nodded, releasing a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding. The serpent had been worried that the Commander would take a much less open-minded stance on the matter, especially since she hadn't considered the possibility of being more than friends with her team leader until now. If the Commander had berated her for something she'd never even thought about, it would be extremely uncomfortable for her. But now the viper knew that the option was there as far as her superior was concerned. And even though Alia didn't really suspect that she would develop such a relationship with anybody, it made her feel somewhat at ease.

With that, the Commander dismissed her, and the viper made her way down to the Spartans' quarters to unwind. There, she found Leonidas sitting on the couch, playing his guitar and singing to himself.

"Won't you come with me

We'll take on the world and set it free

Together we've got what it takes

We'll break the chains, make mistakes

Run through Hell and smash down the gates..."

A/N: And here you have it: the reworked and rewritten version of Chapter 7! Way different from the original, right? Newcomers obviously won't know what I mean by that, but don't worry; just know that the previous version was substantially worse (at least in my opinion) and went in an entirely different direction. The ending here was largely unchanged, though.

Be sure to remember Razor; he returns later. He's also the reason why I had to wait until these chapters were revised until continuing after Chapter 14 since his role makes a proper introduction rather important.

As always, have fun and stay safe out there! -VV