AN: Not much interest here, I see. Is it the combination of the fandoms, the execution or the idea itself? Should I try to make this a proper story or not? Thoughts?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the X-COM games or Sword Art Online. They belong to their creators and/or copyright owners. I make no money from this story. It's not for sale or rent.
XCOM: Ascension
X-COM
Chapter 1: Welcome to the game
X-COM
Part 2
X-COM
15.05.2033
X-COM Hub Yamato
Japan
In the armoury a bored looking and acting NPC handled them their chosen gear. Klein really didn't have many options to choose from – rifle – an assault or carbine version of the venerable M16A6 that certain units of the SDF used to this day, a side-arm, either a nine millimetre Beretta or a cult classing US Colt 1911.
"Those relics?!" Klein exclaimed.
The NPC stared him down and narrowed his eyes. "Do you think we'll trust you with anything more expensive before you've proven you won't shoot yourself in the foot?" The grizzled old quartermaster turned back to Kirito. "FN SCAR 17 S Carbine, side arm, grenades. You two will get measured and armour issued in the back."
"Why don't I get the nice accessories too?" Klein actually whined once he saw Kirito's weapons.
"You need to pass the exam first." The teenager smirked. "Anything but the basics requires requisition points that you earn either during missions or by completing basic, advanced training and the qualification courses. That includes accessories and some of those are quite useful – I don't fancy hitting anything at range without a scope. Tell you what, once we're kitted in, I'll go meet my acquaintance and you go through the firing range and marksman qualifications – that should net you enough REQ for at least some accessories but you should be all right anyway. That riffle should be able to take down anything up to armoured units." Kirito grimaced. "However, you don't want to face Muttons, especially 'Zerkers without AP alloy rounds and you can't use those with the basic firearms. The official excuse is that the barrels can't handle them for more that a few bursts."
"It's merely a grind or suicide?"
"Let me put it this way – I've emptied two magazines of 5.56 AP at point blank into a 'Zerker and that merely pissed it off. If it wasn't disoriented by flash-bangs and HE it would have stomped me into the ground then and there. After that, I got the damn thing blinded with two bursts in the face and that merely pissed it off. Those things have enough built in armour and cybernetics that even mostly dead can still cut you to pieces. The good news is we won't be seeing them for at least a month or two." Kirito twitched. "Then there're the bugs but that's not something I want to think about today."
"Okay, no bugging you about bugs." Klein grinned.
"You're a bad man and should feel bad." Kirito grumbled and headed to get his armour.
Unless something changed it should be able to handle a direct light plasma hit or more if it first blasted through cover. It was more or less equivalent in protection to what Klein could get but about a third lighter. He couldn't wait until the relevant research was done and there were enough alloys floating around for proper lightweight armour. Having a suit of that allowed for much more aggressive and fun tactics without too much danger of getting your head blown off.
Fifteen minutes later, Kirito was in his light recon armour in black just how he liked it. Being able to colour your gear how you wanted as long as said colours were in the right camouflage slots was a nice gesture by the developers. Kirito knew that his almost pure black outfit would stick up even during the night otherwise making it less than desirable.
Klein on the other hand got himself an odd grey and red colour scheme, complete with a bright red bandanna to keep his hair in place under the helmet.
"So firing range then…" The older man grumbled while fiddling with his gun.
"Firing range before you accidentally shoot me. Please don't point the weapon at anything you don't intent to shoot." Kirito looked warily at his hanger-on.
"Uh, sorry about that." Klein had the good grace to blush and point the weapon at the ground.
"The firearms safety and handling course should be mandatory..." Kirito grumbled. He tapped his comm and then linked it with his data-pad. "Argo, do can you hear me?" He asked.
"Kirito!" The woman crooned happily in his ear. "Come and meet me. I've got just the thing for you, my friend!"
X-COM
Convenience and fun along with a 'real', living virtual world was a major selling point of X-COM Ascension. Otherwise, Kirito wouldn't have been able to get a Skyranger to drop him to the roof of a skyscraper that had a high end restaurant and club in its upper floors complete with a stunning view over the city. You could enjoy all kinds of activities in X-COM that had little to do with the aliens – drive, dive, fly, skydive, swim, get drunk but not really, meet friends from all over the world in person without having to travel, which was still rather expensive… the possibilities were endless. The only things you couldn't really do in the virtual world was have sex or much of a nudity to keep it family friendly and thus suck in more people with the promise of safe fun and the later, well that much was obvious really.
While this wasn't the first time he did it, flying above Tokyo in a Skyranger with its back ramp open and looking over the city was oddly relaxing. The sun that shone in Kirito's face felt pleasantly warm and more real than in the beta, which as a major kudos for the developers. Back then it was very close to the real thing but not quite. He wondered what else has changed, hopefully for the better.
The time for reminiscence was over too soon, because the transport came to a halt and slowly descended to land on the roof. Kirito left his rifle behind and jumped out. Now, where did Argo said she would wait for him…
At that moment the door leading down into the building opened and a heavy set black man in an expensive black suit came onto the roof. He looked around, nodded and Kirito and said something into a radio, though the teenager didn't manage to hear it because of the roar of switching off engines. The stranger moved aside and a tall, elegant dressed brown haired woman followed behind him.
"Kiri-bou!" Argo beamed at him.
"Argo, won't you stop that?"
"Why? Kiri-bou? I merely like to show my affection to those few who I like!" She declared in her light nasal voice.
"And you decided that infernal nick-names are the best way to do it?"
"Yep'!" She put a heavy emphasis on the 'p'.
A second bodyguard – even larger than the first one made his way to the roof and took a protective position behind Argo.
"Rising up in the world already, I see?"
"Why get shot at when you can get all you want by selling information? I'll be the most infamous and powerful information broker in this world!" She declared grandly and cackled in a half-decent imitation of an evil overlord.
"You still need to practice your evil laughter." Kirito dead-paned.
"Dang!" Argo grumbled. "Is he right, boys?" She addressed her NPC bodyguard… or were those real people she shanghaied into her gig?
The black man made a so-so gesture with his arms while the other one shrugged. "You pay the bills, boss lady. You can laugh as much and anyway you want."
"That wasn't a positive endorsement, you know!" Argo grumbled only to be answered with another shrug.
"Argo..." Kirito sighed. "You wanted to meet in person. What do you have for me and how much is it going to cost me? You know I don't have much REQ after getting some decent-ish gear." It still paled in comparison with the pulse lasers he fell in love with but those wouldn't be around until the Muttons became a thing, perhaps later depending on what the R&D would focus on.
"I know of a few secret missions that can offer a lot of REQ as a reward as well as early access to Exalt missions and through them the opportunity to capture alien equipment that won't otherwise appear in the foreseeable future." Argo looked at Kirito as the proverbial cat that just ate the canary.
"I can't possibly afford anything like that without having at least a few missions under my belt." Kirito reasonably pointed out. Argo didn't just call him to taunt him with the possibility of challenging and lucrative missions he couldn't get access to, surely?
"Yep, I know that, dummy!" Argo made a dismissive gesture. "Two things – I want a percentage of the REQ and a favour. Once you send me a copy of the AAR, I'll know how much you'll have to wire me but your a good boy, Kiri-bou so I trust you won't try to swindle little old me!"
"Deal."
Argo's smile somehow widened as she made a decent enough impression of a hungry shark. She fished out a flash drive from her inventory and threw it at Kirito who snatched it in mind-air.
"There's what you need to look for and when. EXALT agents will be executing a few covert operations across Tokyo this evening, usually masking like criminals. Crash their party, get captives – either to X-COM or the police and that will be your ticket for early Exalt assignments. It would be a nice change of pace to disrupt their operations instead of it being the other way around, won't it?"
"I'll never know how you find out such things."
"I make friends in low and high places, thus the need for bodyguards."
"We're in a safe area – they're merely for status and because you love to order people around."
"That too!" Argo smiled brightly. "Now, go have fun. I have a magnificent bottle of wine and dinner to get back to. Unless you want to join me for a date?" She flashed him a dazzling smile.
"I'll have to go now..." Kirito muttered and got back on board the Skyranger as if a hungry bug was hot on his heels. This woman… "Get us back to base, we've got people to pick up." He told the pilot and after strapping himself in, got his data pad out and plugged in the flash drive. "What do we have here..." A map of Tokyo appeared with four areas circled in red and each had time where Exalt might strike – two after nightfall, one between nine and twelve in the morning and the last, three to seven in the afternoon. Two were supposed to be robberies used as cover to retrieve data, another was a theft of expensive equipment Exalt would use for… research? Would they have to actually research and produce or buy their equipment too and if that was so could those actions be disrupted to good effect? That was certainly different from the beta… The last was kidnapping… Huh… well this was a virtual world with simulated governments, economy, etc… so this was probably to put a pressure on someone or to make a witness disappear. How interesting...
X-COM
Part 3
X-COM
15.05.2033
X-COM Hub Yamato
Japan
The initial X-COM orientation all but guaranteed that Asuna wouldn't really be playing much if any of the game. One good look at the heavy recommended training and qualification coursed one had to complete made sure of that. Rewards and experience or not, she wasn't keen on crawling through mud, under barbed wire no less while NPCs shot above her head. What she did however, out of curiosity and because it would have made her mother gape at her in shock was to go through the firearms familiarity and safety course followed by a sting to the firing range. To her surprise, she wasn't a terrible shot, the NPC Sergeant even congratulated her telling her that she had a potential if she trained.
That didn't really matter for a simple reason – she found out she didn't like guns, just not for the reasons why most of her countrymen. They were too loud and the less said about the smell of whatever they used to propel the bullets be better. After half an hour on the range, despite the ear protection, Asuna left disgusted and feeling like taking a very long soak in a bathtub followed by even longer shower. She thought about leaving then and there before remembering that Ascension was hailed as much more than a mere game. It was a whole virtual world with more than a dozen major cities around the world being simulated through the different HUBs along with notable parts of the countryside. You didn't need to fight aliens or even acknowledge their existence if you kept to the safe areas or even watch battles between virtual soldiers, X-COM and the invaders from the front seat in complete safety.
Asuna went out to explore and, well, Tokyo was Tokyo. The place looked and felt real. What she got by osmosis from her friends, internet and TV didn't prepare her for how realistic everything felt. If she didn't know better, Asuna would have been sure she was really on the streets of Tokyo. That said, she has been to Tokyo before, thank you very much. She sighed at the wasted time, pulled out her PDA and went to options looking for the log out button. She scrolled down and there it was… greyed out and inaccessible. Her eye twitched. Of course there would be some nasty bug at launch, probably just to keep her stuck in here being as bored as she was back at home!
X-COM
Back at the X-COM base, Kirito found Klein near the armoury and he was grinning like a maniac. He had obviously completed the firearms training and qualification – while he was busy examining the shiny new urban camouflage and accessories strapped to the M16 variant – scope, laser sight and forward grip bolted to the rails, he had removed the magazine, hopefully made dame sure that there was no bullet in the weapon and stood in such a way that the barrel pointed at a wall. At least this one could learn, more than could be said about a significant number of beta testers and now probably too many of the new gamers.
"You know, you didn't struck me as a gun enthusiast, Klein." Kirito sighed at the man's antics.
"I'm not, not really. It's just cool now!" He patted the weapon. "Just like on TV or games." He nodded sagely as if it explained everything. Perhaps it did.
"I've got information about a few secret missions – one of them will be up in an hour or so. We might be able to take one regular assignment and if we load up on ammo – try for it on the way back."
"Hmm… Is there a way to leave a message for my friends? At least two of them won't be on for about an hour or so." Klein wondered.
"There is if you know what names they'll use… but that might just sent it to someone random with the same idea." Kirito shrugged. "You did arrange a meeting place before entering, right?"
"Yeah, we checked this Tokyo's maps – there's more or less decent replica of a bar we meet at sometime." Klein looked a bit shifty when saying that and made Kirito raise an eyebrow at him.
"Do I want to know?" He took a wary step back.
"Nothing bad, I promise! It's just that my wife and I own and run the place and we're all curious how close the replica is. She drew the short straw and get to tend work first then later tonight we'll switch." Klein admitted.
"Ah. Good, so you aren't some kind of pervert or something." Kirito said in relief.
"Hey! What gave you such an idea?!" Klein exclaimed.
"Bad experiences online before." Kirito dead-paned. "Lets get on the Skyranger. We've got a few Sectoids to hunt."
"Ah, the grey little buggers. Those are almost cute."
"They still have plasma and occasionally an officer who can mind-rend you or merge with the others turning them into a significant threat." Kirito pointed out.
They headed to the hangar and Kirito pulled out his data pad to call the mission selection screen. There were three types of missions available. First – investigate strange occurrences in the countryside – a waste of time at this stage. It would take too long to get there and back. The rewards wouldn't make it worth the time investment for at least two to three months. Second – the same, this time down-town. That had possibilities, however also a chance if low of encountering Thin Men. That wasn't something Kirito was too keen on risking without a med-pack that could deal with their poison properly much less a newbie. The third was what he clicked on – strange pods appearing in the suburbs. At this point there would be just a few Sectoids running around and even the NPC squad-mates would more than capable of dealing with them.
"This one should be just like the starting missions of the old X-COMs – pods, green goo and a small number of Sectoids. Nothing we can't handle."
"Playing that tutorial for the first time on the enhanced edition was a trip." Klein grinned, especially in VR. "We shouldn't worry about mindcontrol yet, right?"
"Mind Rend is the worst. It makes it hard to see and your aim drift a lot so you couldn't possibly hit something besides point blank range. Nothing really to worry about unless you're the last one standing."
Or unless everyone got 'rended with a bunch of pissed off Muttons rushing their position. No one made it off that mission intact during the beta and it was a good thing that a squad wipe in this Ascension wasn't as severe as it could be back in the other games. No one would be happy at losing all their progression and starting from the beginning, however a death was still quite expensive in both equipment and REQ.
When they got to the Skyranger, four NPC troopers already waited for them. Two were SDF, one American and a brown skinned South African or so their flag above the X-COM patches on the shoulders claimed.
"We're good to go, sir." The American addressed Kirito.
"Pilot, we're ready. Lift off." Kirito said after strapping himself in.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Klein protested.
"A rookie who hasn't completed his qualifications and thus of equal or lower standing than the rest of us." Kirito nodded at the NPCs who had the cheek to give Klein smug grins.
After the Skyranger got out of the base and accelerated, Klein whooped at the sudden acceleration earning himself smirks by the virtual people who proceeded to banter between each other wondering if they would really find aliens or if it was all some kind of crazy hoaxes.
"That's unnerving." Klein muttered while observing the NPCs. "If I didn't know better, I can't really tell them apart from real people – not after so little interaction anyway."
"While they do follow their programming, there's AI and learning programs that help them interact better with people. They were more… how to put it? Wooden? Fake? Wooden I think is the best way to describe them at the start of the beta. As they interacted with us testers and some of the programmers who dived in to check up things from inside, they got much, much better, quite fast too." Kirito explained.
"Do we really look like dummies to you two, sir?" The South African sneered. "This is pure racism, I tell you! You'd think I would be away from that shit in this outfit..." The NPC shook his head in disgust and refused to look in the player's direction until it was time to land.
"Thats…" Klein just stared.
"Laddie, you nicely put your oversized boot in your oversized mouth. If I was in your shoes, which for the record I'm glad I'm not, I would now shut up and think about my manners until we deploy." The American glared at Klein.
"Yep." Kirito smirked. "Ascension is something else."