The screen lit up with the alert that there was a high-priority encrypted message coming through. The Commander entered the proper code on his terminal, and the pop-up disappeared - only to be replaced with the familiar faceless silhouette of a man in a suit. "Councilman," he greeted crisply, "I take it you want a report on our latest agent?"
"Indeed, Commander," The Councilman responded, "I do not need to remind you how much time, effort, and risk was required in order to arrange the viper's 'betrayal' without ADVENT discovering my intentions. Many agents were sacrificed to achieve this, and I will not see their losses be in vain."
XCOM's leader nodded, "I did exactly what you said: I took her in and made her a Spartan. I was able to do it ahead of schedule since she seems to have what it takes anyway. You know how I feel about this, Councilman; not even Leonidas knows that this was your doing, and I still don't know how you were even able to do it."
"I take it that her integration was successful?" The interlocutor ignored the implied question, "Your son is uniquely accepting of such situations. Am I correct to assume that he has acclimated to the viper?"
"I have no reason to suspect that he hasn't," the Commander answered smoothly, "He's young, and has no strong opinions about anything. But it seems that she's done more than just acclimate to him. Alia has... latched onto him in a way. She trusts him far more than we could have imagined. It's like she's attracted to him by some sort of instinct."
The Councilman lowered his head in a sign of approval, "She is a rarity amongst her species. 'Alia,' as you have named her, possesses functional reproductive organs, and the resulting uninhibited production of hormones will likely cause her to behave more socially―or affectionately, as the case may be―than her peers. This was not unexpected, but it is not our objective. I want irrefutable evidence that there is a possibility of avoiding the total annihilation of either side in this war."
The Commander sighed, "I want that too, but I still question whether or not this was the way to do it. If Leonidas didn't have such a black-and-white outlook on people, he would never have trusted Alia. The other Spartans only trust her because they trust Leonidas as well as myself, and they're putting their reservations aside for that. I think that, by now, they actually accept her as one of their own, but we took a huge risk doing things the way we did."
"Risks must be taken if we want to win this war, Commander," The Councilman reminded him, "Remember that it took great care to ensure that this plan would succeed. Do not let that effort go to waste." The transmission ended, and he was left standing alone in his quarters again.
"I can try," The officer muttered to the empty room, "But one wrong step and this whole operation could come crashing down around us."
...
"I still can't believe how quickly you've accepted her," Central shook his head, "How can you be okay with this? With any of this?"
Leaning against the wall of the Spartans' quarters, Leonidas shrugged. The two of them were the only ones here, so they were able to speak freely. The older man had been chewing him out rather thoroughly about how he had been acting around Alia, and frankly, the young officer was just getting annoyed. It was obvious that Central was not keen on her presence to begin with; that much was clear from the beginning. Had it been up to the old veteran, he would have had the viper put in a cell, guarded around the clock, and interrogated before even thinking about letting anyone else near her.
Presently, Leonidas simply looked at his guitar across the room, "Let me tell you a secret, Uncle Bradford: I stopped caring a long time ago about how ludicrous my orders are. I stopped being surprised or bothered by things like this after my dad came back. It's not my job to care about my orders, it's my job to follow them. If dad thinks that Alia can be trusted, then I trust her. Is that so hard to understand? Why should I be bothered by where my people come from?"
"This isn't a game, Leonidas," Central snapped, "And this isn't just some new recruit. Alia is a viper, and therefore she's a former ADVENT unit! For all you know, she's just a spy who's trying to lead us all into a trap. Have you even thought about that?"
"Thought about it," he said dismissively, "And decided that they aren't smart enough to try that. Alia is a deviant, Uncle Bradford; not even humans look at me the way she does. And even if she was a spy, she's had more than one opportunity to try something at this point―including direct access to the Commander. Regardless, we're keeping an eye on her."
Central groaned at his stubbornness, "Leonidas, you can't just treat this like just another job. You and the Commander are both trusting her too quickly!"
"Says the man who trusted the Skirmishers on multiple occasions," The Commander's voice came from the doorway as he entered the room, "Honestly, Bradford, I think you're forgetting that crucial detail. ADVENT turncoats happen all the time; that's how the Skirmishers even exist. Besides, I think you fail to appreciate how neatly I'm keeping her under watch by putting her with the Spartans."
Leonidas chuckled, "True dat, dad! If she wants to turn on us, she'll be hard-pressed to survive for more than a few seconds before being eradicated."
"I admit that I took quite the leap of faith by trusting her so quickly," his father said to Central, "But she's a skilled marksman and eager to help us. Keeping her locked up in a cell would only make her hesitant to trust us. I accepted her quickly, and in turn, she was similarly quick to accept us. I will also admit that I did let my eagerness get the better of me, but it seems like it paid off in the end."
The older man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. They were being reckless―that much they were admitting―and it was still a huge risk and a massive breach of protocol. What the veteran officer did not know was that Leonidas secretly developed something of an affection for Alia soon after she had joined. He had never really had someone who understood him so well, feeling like an outsider looking in on the rest of humanity. The human in him was just happy to have a proper friend whom he could talk to, while his inner leader was satisfied to have another skilled fighter who could fill the role of either scout or marksman. It was mainly the latter that the young operative focused on.
"I'm not denying that she's a Spartan by ability," said Central, "She went for some time with an untreated concussion and was able to keep up when we got her out. That alone takes some serious grit. But should we really be trusting her so easily? I can't get over how relaxed the two of you are about this!"
Leonidas shrugged, "I just accept that dad has his reasons, and stop questioning it. Things are working out well, and that's good enough for me."
"That's because you're a nineteen-year-old boy who acts on impulse!" Central fumed, "You hardly know how the world works, Leonidas! All you think about is the war effort and not the kind of irrational behavior that you constantly exhibit! And blindly following orders is not something to be proud of!"
His eyes narrowed. Leonidas hated―no―loathed being reminded of how young he really was. He had been born after the defeat of the original XCOM, and had only survived because his mother had been able to escape in time and go into hiding. It was shortly thereafter that she had given birth, and his first few years of life were spent with her before the boy was brought into the care of Central and Ghost. His whole life, Leonidas had trained almost nonstop to become the best warrior he could be, and was already more capable than most people in their mid-twenties. His life revolved around the war against ADVENT, and as such Spartan-1's mind had developed in a way unlike any other.
Everyone always said that Leonidas was unique, but they hardly knew the half of it. Leonidas was an anomaly, an enigma―he was hardly even human in his behavior. It was difficult to capture how absolutely divergent he was from the rest of humanity. Some theorized that he possessed a mental disorder, and in all reality, they were probably right. The young Spartan was spontaneous and impulsive, and in many situations, he just didn't care. He didn't care about what people thought, about what he was doing, about whether or not he was behaving sensibly―to him, these things just didn't really matter. All the Ranger cared about was winning this war and the lives of his fellow Spartans.
On the flipside, he also didn't care about killing the enemy. To Leonidas, violence was simply a mechanism through which the war could be won. Leaving survivors, making peace―he did not object to these things, actually somewhat preferring them since they meant less work for him. But waging war was almost always the only way forward, so he built himself around that. The Spartan leader's outlook on the world was skewed, but not cynical. He was irrational and unwise, but sharp as a whip. Leonidas knew where he stood on anything, even if his stance was indifferent. But he loathed being discredited for his age and being talked down to just because he was different. And now the young soldier was ready to take a stance: aggression.
"Well maybe," Leonidas growled, quickly growing to a roar, "You wouldn't be so blind if you pulled your head out of your ass and opened your eyes! She wants to help us, so I can't see why we can't give her a chance!"
The Commander stepped forward, "Leo, calm down."
"I don't want to calm down!" He shouted, "I've been sitting here for half an hour getting my ear chewed off by this closed-minded piece of shit, and I did my best to just take it, but now it's personal! You bet your ass I'm young and broken; I have dedicated my life to this goddamn war! I sacrificed my childhood―sacrificed the best years of my life just to get better at fighting―and do I even get so much as a 'thank you' from anyone? No! Alia is the only person here who has shown any gratitude for what I do! Why the Hell should I have to take shit from either of you!?"
"Leonidas!" XCOM's leader barked, "You're out of line!"
He pointed at his father, "No! You're out of line! None of this would be happening if you had just done your job twenty years ago! Now you have me cleaning up your mess like some kind of war machine! I did everything that was asked of me, no matter what I wanted! I never show any emotions because I pretend that I don't feel anything! I pretend that I'm what you want me to be: a weapon that you can use to fix your mistakes from before I was even born! And now I have to take shit from Bradford because I'm following you so diligently! I've had enough of this charade!" Leonidas stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him loudly. He was certainly feeling something right now, which was rarely a good thing.
In the armory, Alia was trying on her new suit of custom Predator armor, which was meant to replace their now-outdated kevlar rigs. It fit her extremely well, and she was currently making small adjustments and looking herself over in an impossibly cute fashion. When she heard him enter, Alia looked up and smiled, "Oh, Leonidas! What do you think about-" She then saw his expression, and her smile quickly faded, "Leonidas? Is there a problem?"
Leonidas strode forward and pulled her into a tight embrace, letting out a sigh as he said, "Nothing... I'm just glad you're here."
...
Back in the Spartans' quarters, the two XCOM head officers looked at each other worriedly. "Okay," the Commander said slowly, "Maybe you have a point―maybe Alia is a bad influence. I don't think that he's ever had an outburst like that before. And that's not how an officer should behave."
Central half-sat on the table, resting his head in one hand, "No, it's my fault. Leonidas hates it when anyone brings up his age or... psychological deviance, and I just did both at the same time. Professionalism can only go so far―everyone has a limit, and some things can't be let go. If anyone's got a point, it's him; we rarely show any real appreciation for anything our troops do except for the occasional reminder that they're doing the right thing. Leonidas has done more than that―more than any other soldier here―and I should now; I raised him, for God's sake!"
"How can he be that sensitive?" The XCOM leader mused, "I've read the psych evaluations, and I knew that this kind of thing happened sometimes, but is it always that bad?"
"Only for that topic specifically," Bradford explained, "You can ask Ghost, since he handled most of the kid's upbringing, but Leonidas practically forced himself to skip puberty for this war effort. I think that's a lot of what messed him up so badly, you know? That's meant to be a time for a kid to figure out how the world works and to explore themselves as a person. Leonidas never did―he just pushed himself harder and harder to be the ultimate weapon. Is that what we created? A living weapon who doesn't know himself?"
The Commander scratched his chin thoughtfully, "I believe it was Sun Tzu who said: 'If you know neither your enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.' I'm pretty sure I'm paraphrasing, but that's not the point. The point is that Leonidas has forged himself into a living weapon, as you put it, and only succeeds because he lives in a way that doesn't necessitate knowing himself. A weapon doesn't need to know its own nature, it needs only a skilled wielder. Do you suppose that's why he's so indifferent and adaptable?"
Central looked at him with a pained expression, "Dammit, Commander, this is your son we're talking about! Screw how effective it makes him as a soldier; he's a goddamn human being, and he should be able to live like one! We―no―I pushed him too hard as a child, and now he's detached himself from the world around him. Do you get what I'm saying? Your reasons for trusting her be damned; Alia's showing Leonidas more basic human decency than we ever have, and she's not even human!"
He sighed, moving beside his old friend, "You're right. It's probably why the two of them connected so quickly. Alia wanted to learn about him and his strange behavior, and he was able to be as different and... well, as himself as he wanted. Alia just assumed what we all did: that he was just impulsive and spontaneous. Hell, I think we even have him convinced that this is the case, but in reality, I think that he just doesn't know how to act."
"Except when he's on the battlefield," his friend shook his head, "Dammit! Why didn't we see this sooner?! He was raised thinking that the war was everything, so the war is his everything! In a fight, Leonidas feels right at home―he's an expert in combat, but in any other situation, he has no idea what he's doing."
"And he's convinced himself that he does," the Commander placed his head in his hands, "How are we only figuring this out now? I've been back for two months now, and I... Ngh," he slumped down slightly, "I... I don't know anything about raising a kid, Bradford. I hardly knew that my wife was pregnant before everything fell apart all those years ago. Now that I'm back, I've been pushing him to his psychological limits carelessly, and he's just been taking it in stride. What kind of monster did I create, John?"
"The kind that hunts monsters, Commander." He looked up to see Ghost leaning against the far wall, his expression unreadable as usual, but his eyes sympathetic.
The Commander did a double-take, "Ghost!? Where were you?"
The old sniper shrugged, "Around. Close enough that I heard the whole thing."
"How did we not hear you come in?" Central asked.
"I didn't earn the name 'Ghost' for being easy to detect, John," Ghost sat down on the sofa, looking at the two of them intensely, "And I have to say that I'm also guilty for not seeing this sooner. I think you're forgetting that he had no problem with this until recently. Leonidas grew up on this ship since the age of three, and he thought that it was normal to live this way. The few other children who were brought up here had real parents to raise them―a mother and father. Not us. Now Leonidas's world is shattered, and he's finding that he prefers it that way. I'll continue to watch over him and keep him from falling apart, but I think that Alia is what he needs right now. Whatever reason you had for trusting her this way, Commander, I think that your son might actually start opening up to someone, and that someone is Alia. For better or for worse, the two of them have really grown attached to each other over the past two weeks."
The Commander leaned back, "That's... a lot to process, Ghost, but I think you're right. God, I hope you're right. Something tells me that this is all about to bite us in the ass pretty soon. Even sooner than we might expect..."
A/N: I... can't really think of any creative commentary on this one. The title sort of did that for me. Leave a review to tell me what you think, because things are about to take a bit of a turn!
As always, have fun and stay safe out there! -VV