Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

June 10th, 2010
Amy 'Panacea' Dallon

"Panacea!" The floor doctor called into the break room.

Amy "Panacea" Dallon looked up from where she was preparing some coffee. "Yes Doctor Richards?" she asked the tall, fifty year old man.

"You got some sort of government spook who wants to talk to you, in private." Richards replied and Amy frowned.

"Any reason why?" she asked.

"I don't know why, I asked and they said some bullshit about me not having proper clearance and they are very insistent about seeing you." Richards said and Amy's frown deepened.

"Alright, I'll see him then." She said sharply, unhappy with the whole situation. There were people in the ICU who needed her help dammit, so this government type better have a good reason for seeing her.

Still, she went to the central table after finishing putting her coffee together. She honestly didn't know what to expect to be honest from this government spook. She expected the agent to be a man wearing shades, a suit, tie, jacket, slacks, and dress shoes that together cost more money than she was probably going to make in a single year even after medical school.

That's almost exactly what she got, though she wasn't expecting the man to pull out a manila envelope that was at least an inch thick. "Amy Dallon?" the man asked.

"Yes?" Amy replied, standing up and offering a hand.

The man didn't shake it, but instead pulled out a device and activated it. It glowed with a dull light, it was a tinkertech device of some description. Though Amy didn't know it, the device was a mobile electronic faraday cage projector and audio dampener. No listening devices in the room would be able to hear them talking and the security cameras all went dead as the electronic faraday cage scrambled their transmissions to uselessness.

"I am Agent Flowers, Miss Dallon. I am here to make you an offer." the man said.

"What sort of offer?" Amy said.

He opened the Manila Envelope and pulled out a small packet. "The sort of offer that you must keep from absolutely everyone bar those in the know and we will tell you who you're allowed to talk about this too. To even disclose the offer itself, you have to sign this NDA." he said and Amy frowned, what the devil was this about?

Curiosity she would admit got the better of her. She opened the packet and paused.

There were a lot of government seals.

She didn't recognize all of them.

The fairly blood-curdling warning indicated that going past a specific page, not the next page, would be considered an International Crime if she didn't immediately sign the document and that she would face imprisonment at the Parahuman Containment Block for Leavenworth Military Penitentiary. Oh what the fuck?

She didn't know that there even was a Parahuman Containment Block at Leavenworth Military Penitentiary. But between the Birdcage and Leavenworth, she would take the Birdcage even if she would be able to see the sky at Leavenworth.

One part of her mind, the logical part, was shrieking at her to close the damn folder right now and turn down the offer. The curious part of her mind wanted to know what the hell could be so important that even the xenophobic Chinese Union-Imperial (also known as the Neo-Qing Dystany) was willing to play ball with whatever the fuck this was. The rebellious part of her mind…noted that this was a chance to get out from under her mother's thumb, Mom loved her, she knew that - but the woman sometimes just drove her too hard at times.

She turned the page several times, seeing more government seals she didn't recognize and the seals of government agencies most of which she didn't recognize. Until she got to a perfectly straight forward Non-Disclosure Agreement, one that now she had seen, she needed to sign. But as she read the particulars, while it was very simple legalese so that it could avoid traps in the writing, she could feel her eyebrows going higher and higher.

"Will I have to sign this for every country that had a seal here?" she asked, shocked.

"No you won't, that was a major complaint actually of the first NDAs for this offer. So we altered it so there's just one NDA for the whole thing." Agent Flowers said in an amused tone.

"Thank God, because I don't recognize all of these nor all of these agencies." Amy said dryly.

Agent Flowers didn't show much emotion beyond mild amusement. "That's what a lot of people say when they first see these NDAs."

Amy shrugged then signed the NDA, whatever the hell the governments wanted from her, it actually had her curious.

"Right, so what are at least sixteen nations of the world interested in me for?" Amy said as she put her pen down. If this was about her power, she swore to god.

"Amy Dallon, to give it to you straight, the Council of Nations, twenty-four of the most powerful nations on the planet are interested in having you as a member of the XCOM Project." Agent Flowers said.

Amy's thought processes came to a screaming halt. "Uh-buwh," she said incoherently, shocked trying to get over what had just been said. It took her several long moments for her mind to reboot. "What's the XCOM Project and why is the Council of Nations interested in me? Beyond my power, I am useless."

"The particulars of the XCOM Project is that it's the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, just in case there is hostile alien life out there. It's to be composed of Mankind's very best, our smartest scientists, our most creative engineers, our finest soldiers, and our greatest parahumans; because we are going to need our very best in order to fight them." Agent Flowers said and Amy paused, aliens? We're they real?

"Wait, you're saying that aliens are real and that they're hostile?" she asked, chewing her lip.

"We've dug up evidence that suggests so and that they possess weapons that are lightyears ahead of even the most advanced mass-producible tinkertech on the planet." Agent Flowers said and Amy couldn't help but feel dread. She disliked her power greatly, but at the same time…she knew what Carol always was saying how she should be doing more and how until she graduated from Medical School she was immensely limited in how much she could do because of Federal Law.

She always did want to make her mother proud, to do away with her contempt. "I'll join." she said slowly. "On two conditions."

"Name them." Flowers said.

"My sister, Victoria, is given the same offer to join the XCOM Project. She's an Alexandria Package and I reckon that flyers would be useful in fighting aliens; and I am allowed to tell my mother." Amy said and to her surprise, the government man smiled.

"Your profile suggested that you would likely only join if your sister was onboard as well. She's being tracked down as we speak. But why do you want your mother to know?" Agent Flowers asked.

"She's my mother, do you want her tearing the country apart because I decided to up and vanish if this thing goes active? She's well connected both in the judicial and cape worlds." Amy said in a simple tone.

Agent Flowers nodded. "That is understandable, we'll brief her before today is out."

"Thank you, I take it that I have more paperwork to sign?" Amy asked.

"We do."

Amy ended up signing several more documents that day. What really caught her though was how much money she was going to be earning. "That's a lot." she breathed, that was more money than her mother made and she was a lawyer.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all?

17:43 CST
April 29, 2012
Hayes, Kansas
XCOM Deployment
Operation: SILENT RAIN

The large blended wing, variable swing wing shape of the SR-77 Skyranger Transport roared over the town. Birds scattered in all directions at the sudden intrusion of the large aircraft, but there was an absence of people in the town itself. Not a single soul came out of the broad collection of buildings to look at the low flying transport, the howl of its engines being loud and distinctive to the point that it rattled windows. People should have come out, but no one did.

"Central, this is Skyranger Big Sky, we're at the mission site, setting down to deploy Strike Two." Commander Cameron "Big Sky" Mitchell, the pilot of the hypersonic capable transport said in a grim tone, this town had a population of seven thousand and it had just upped and vanished, having gone completely dark without any warning.

"Affirmative, Big Sky. Deploy Strike Two and then assume overwatch position." John Bradford ordered, his tone serious. "Strike Two, XCOM is on a skeleton crew at the moment pending the outcome of this operation for the decision of whether or not it will be activated. As such, we do not have the forces to properly sweep Hayes, Kansas. Reconnoiter part of the outskirts then get out."

"Central, Two-Actual, roger." Strike Two-Actual replied.

"Central, Big Sky, roger. Deploying Strike Two now." Big Sky said, there really was no good place for this mission to be done with just a single Strike Team. They would have needed at least two, maybe three in order to get this done. What's worse, they didn't have major Force Multipliers like HWPs or MECs. Strike Two had just four riflemen, four specialists, two parahumans, and four SHIVs at its disposal.

Hmm…deploying Strike Two closer to the outskirts could drop them right in the middle of a kill box which would not only be bad for the operatives but would put the Skyranger itself at risk. That being said, there seemed to be a decent spot near a farm that could be used as a staging point, he could land, drop Strike Two off and then request Central to mobilize Strike Five which was the only other full strength Strike Team, he could then leave Overwatch, head back to XCOM HQ and be back in only a few hours and then they could properly sweep the town.

It was a possibility, but one that would need the approval from Central before it was done and that would depend if this really was a case of aliens or if the Slaughterhouse 9 had just up and exterminated another small town in its near entirety.

Landing gear down, ramp lowering. Thump. "Alright hit it Strike Two!" Big Sky called out and he heard the sound of combat boots on metal, followed by the low whine of electric motors as the SHIVs moved out.

The process for Strike Two unloading took maybe thirty seconds at most and then his Crew Chief shouted over the intercom "Clear!"

Big Sky applied extra power and the Skyranger leaped into the air, its engines howling furiously. "Central, Big Sky. Strike Two is deployed, assuming overwatch position." he said over the radio as he gained a few hundred feet of altitude before swinging around and deploying the 30mm cannon that was slung under the craft's chin from its protective fairing.

"Affirmative, Big Sky." Central replied.

"Two-Actual, Big Sky on overwatch." Big Sky said.

"Big Sky, Two-Actual copy. We're approaching the house now." Strike Two said and the men and women of the Strike Team advanced, their IFF tags winking on Big Sky's HUD. They advanced in a standard five meter spread with the SHIVs covering their flanks.

"This is weird as hell, Actual. The S9 would at least leave animals still alive, but I am not even hearing a Kami-damned dog." Two-Three said, a Japanese accent coloring her words, if Big Sky remembered right, she was a Kyushu Survivor having been part of the JGSDF response to Leviathan's attack to boot.

"I know Three and that scares me." Two-Actual replied.

"Boss, got something on thermals on the second floor of the house, left corner room." Lieutenant Jawero Zimnako, his Systems Information Officer said.

"Is it human, Jawero?" Big Sky asked.

"Unable to tell, there's some sort of interference. I can't tell if it's a thermal dazzler or if it's something else." Zimnako replied.

"Affirmative." Big Sky grumped in response before keying the radio. "Two-Actual, Big Sky, be advised we have heat sigs in the house on the second floor, left corner room. We can't confirm if they're human or not."

"Big Sky, Two-Actual, copy on heat sigs. Three, Six, I want you to sweep the house. The rest of you, form a perimeter." Two-Actual ordered.

"Copy, Actual." Three and Six reported just moments apart.

Big Sky couldn't help but feel trepidation as the Strike Team advanced, they were using Masamune tinkertech armor and ballistic weapons - literally some of the most advanced technology that was actually understood on the planet. Yet he couldn't help but feel that something was very wrong here.

The team reached the house and two members entered.

"Clear left." Three said.

"Clear right." Six added.

"Actual, Three, the power's out, no lights and all the drapes have been closed. We got one hell of a stench in here too." the young Japanese woman said after a moment.

"Found the source of the smell, body on the stairs." Six said.

"I see it, Six investigate, I'll cover." Three replied.

"Roger, advancing." Six said, there was the sound of boots on wood before the man continued speaking. "The body's female, can't tell who, but it looks as if a high heat explosion went off inside her. The smell is from her ruptured intestines."

"Christ, so either Burnscar is in the area or we got a problem." Three said and there was a grunt of acknowledgement from Six.

"Central, Two-Actual. Town going dark is likely due to the Slaughterhouse 9, we'll continue investigating. If we spot any members of the Nine, we'll terminate them on sight." Actual said after a moment.

"Two-Actual, Central, affirmative." Central replied.

"Moving up to the second floor now." Six said after a moment.

"Moving towards the room with the heat sigs." Three said as on Big Sky's HUD, the IFF markers moved down a hallway before stacking up.

"Ready to breach." Six said.

"BANGING CLEAR!" Three shouted.

The draped over windows of the room in question had a flash of blue-white lightning erupt behind them. "CONTACT!" Six shouted.

Through the audio was the thudding of automatic weapon fire, the windows were illuminated again by yellow flashes; then something returned fire for there was a distinctive strobbing illumination of green light. "Sweet fuck!" Three yelled.

The crash of a shotgun roared followed by more green illumination. "That shit is hot!"

More gunfire. "Hostile down!"

The whole engagement had lasted maybe ten seconds. "Three, Six! What the hell is happening up there?!" Actual demanded sharply.

"Two contacts down, not human. Repeat, not human!" Three said, her voice high pitched due to the adrenaline rush that she was likely feeling.

"Say again, Three? Did you just say that the contacts weren't human?" Two-Actual said as behind the windows something flared purple.

"Confirmed Actual, this is a Case Twilight Alicorn." Three replied as Six suddenly wailed.

"Get, get, get out of my head!" the man roared in anger and terror.

"Six, what the hell?" Three asked in alarm.

Alarm turned to panic. "Six, lower your weapon! I am friendly! Six! Six!"

There was a discharge.

Three's IFF went black.

"What the actual fuck?!" Actual demanded in shocked surprise, a beat passed. "Son of a bitch! Man down, man do-"

The corner room exploded, shattered wood and glass flew in all directions and then something vaulted out of the blown open room and onto the overhang for the porch. "Take it down!" someone roared.

The small gray creature threw itself off the roof as XCOM X9 Assault Rifles roared their fury, spitting tracers at the alien which dashed with alarming speed. It fired at the SHIVs, bolts of green fire spraying from the pistol that it carried. One such bolt impacted a SHIV, punched through its armor like it wasn't there and set off the ammunition cassette inside, the turret was violently dismounted from the chassis as the hundreds of HEAPI .50-cal rounds in the cassette cooked off simultaneously.

The remaining SHIV on that side fired, tracers roaring through the air as the M2 Browning roared fury. But the creature managed to dash through the bullet hell before darting into a barn.

"Eight, rocket in the barn! Anti-Structural round! Nine, ten, ready your mad powers!" Two-Actual roared as he dashed to a rather beat up red pickup truck.

"Affirmative Actual!" Two-Eight replied as he dashed up to the truck, yanking his recoilless rifle off his back and then reaching into one of the specialized pockets on his armor and withdrawing the 84mm anti-building round and loading it in one smooth motion. He brought the launcher up. "Fire in the hole!"

An enormous plume on thermals followed by a faint, muffled boom. The front half of the barn was blown open in an obscene fashion, splinters of wood and tumbling sheet metal rained down.

There was silence.

Then radiance. A shining beam of green light blew the truck apart, Two-Actual and Two-Eight had their signals just completely vanish in the ensuing explosion. Screams were occurring over the radio as a vehicle growled out of the smoke and dust, it was floating roughly a half meter off the ground, the vaguely arrowhead shaped chassis glittered in the sun - the enormous gun that jutted from its front glowed an envious green.

"Big Sky, we need air support! Now, goddammit, now!" Two screamed as his gun roared in the background.

"I am inbound, ETA, ten seconds!" Big Sky shouted as he adjusted the throttles and the Skyranger roared like a waking beast, hungering for blood.

"Hellfires IIIs on your trigger!" Zimnako called calmly as on Big Sky's HUD, a piper appeared and without effort, he brought it onto the vehicle.

"Rifle away, rifle away!" Big Sky shouted and the Skyranger shuddered as two missiles were kicked away and engaged their motors, they covered the distance quickly, but just before they struck, the gun-tank fired again, another shining emerald green beam ripped through the air. Then there were two explosions on the vehicle as the missiles impacted, followed by a third larger one and the alien vehicle exploded in a green-orange fireball.

"Target destroyed!" Big Sky said.

"Heads up, bogey on radar, three miles to our north, at two o'clock!" Zimnako shouted, his voice breaking.

Big Sky looked and caught sight of an aircraft climbing into the air. It was shaped vaguely, like a Star of Life, each enormous facet of the fuselage had to be ninety meters in length with a height of something like thirty meters and a width of twelve meters. Whatever it was, the craft didn't look like anything that had been manufactured on Earth, not even the most outlandish of tinkertech aircraft looked like that.

As it climbed it opened fire from eight separate points, beams of emerald energy of two different sizes rained down on the town, obliterating buildings and carving great furrows in the ground that glowed red and orange. Flames bloomed up and began to greedily consume what was left.

Then, with a visible vapor cone, the craft just left.

"Sweet Jesus Christ." Big Sky breathed.

20:07 EST
April 29, 2012
Brockton Bay, Rhode Island

Amy's phone buzzed as she stepped out of the break room, ready to go back on duty. Frowning, she pulled it out, tapped in her PIN and saw she had a new text message.

It wasn't from her mother, it was the phone number listed in that NDA she had signed roughly two years ago.

She paled and swallowed loudly, her mother, while she was proud that she had signed up for the XCOM Project, had been skeptical of alien life being a thing. To be honest, she had been like that as well. She knew that Vicky was at home right now, she would likely grab their collective work bag that contained clothes and various knick-knacks just in case this actually happened. But both of them had thought it was a joke that had been played on them.

Now it was obvious that this wasn't the case.

"DOCTOR RICHARDS!" she shouted.

"What's wrong Panacea!?" The floor doctor shouted.

"I need to end my shift now, family emergency!" she shouted, knowing that the Council would come up with a story that would explain her disappearance from Brockton Bay.

"Alright, go!" Richards said and Amy sprinted for the elevator.

In another part of the world, even as Amy met her sister in the parking lot of Brockton Bay General Hospital and the two flew towards the Rig at high speed. Another Parahuman was being ushered onto a Skyranger - the woman in question wasn't happy, she had better things to do than an XCOM Project Activation Drill. But then again, XCOM soldiers typically didn't form an escort either.

It was irritating, but ever since about a year after she triggered, she had been on the shortlist to be the Project's Commander. They ran Project Activation drills twice a year, but it was always a mystery to see who would be Commander.

Something caught her eye, a laptop that usually wasn't there during a drill. She frowned, what the devil was going on?

After sitting down and strapping in, she pulled the laptop onto her lap and opened it. Immediately a man appeared on the screen, his face cast in shadow by the lighting, the Speaker of the Council of Nations. What the hell was going on?

The man spoke, his voice deep yet flat. "Hello, Commander. In light of the recent Extraterrestrial incursion, this Council of Nations has convened to approve the activation of the XCOM Project. You have been chosen to lead this initiative. You will oversee our first and last line of defense. Your efforts will have considerable influence on this planet's future. We urge you to keep that in mind as you proceed." there was a pause then. "Good luck, Commander."

Then the video ended and Contessa shouted in disbelief as data feeds appeared, showing what had happened with SILENT RAIN. The footage was horrifying to see.

Chapter Text

After Action Report

Operation: SILENT RAIN

STATUS - COMPLETE

ALIEN PRESENCE ON EARTH CONFIRMED

XCOM PROJECT ACTIVATED

Strike Two Deployed via Skyranger Big Sky

6 Operatives Killed In Action

4 Operatives Wounded In Action

2 SHIVs Destroyed

1 SHIV Damaged

1 SHIV Intact

Operatives Deployed:

Two-Actual Sergeant Mason Boyle - KILLED IN ACTION

Nationality - American

Experience - US Army Rangers

Two-Two Corporal Anders Page - WOUNDED IN ACTION - GRAVELY (35-days, 5-days ICU)

Nationality - British 

Experience - Special Air Service

Two-Three Lance Corporal Oshita Ori - KILLED IN ACTION

Nationality - Japanese

Experience - Special Forces Group

Two-Four Private Roelof Renes - KILLED IN ACTION

Nationality - Dutch

Experience - Korps Commandotroepen (Commando Corps)

Two-Five Specialist Nicholas Clark - WOUNDED IN ACTION - GRAVELY (41-days, 7-days ICU)

Nationality - Canadian 

Experience - JTF2

Two-Six Specialist Blake Little - KILLED IN ACTION

Nationality - American 

Experience - Force Recon Marines 

Two-Seven Specialist Raoul Barbeau - KILLED IN ACTION

Nationality - French

Experience - Commandos Marine

Two-Eight Specialist Pravoslav Soukup - KILLED IN ACTION

Nationality - Czech

Experience -  601st Special Forces Group

Two-Nine Specialist Valent “Rapier” Bonaci - WOUNDED IN ACTION - MAJOR (17-days)

Nationality - Maltese

Experience - 8-years as a Parahuman Hero

Two-Ten Specialist Tigree - WOUNDED IN ACTION - LIGHT (5-days)

Nationality - Neo-Qing Chinese

Experience - 12-years as a Case 53 Tigress Hero

SHIVs Deployed:

Thunder 2-1 - Destroyed

Thunder 2-2 - Destroyed

Thunder 2-3 - Severely Damaged

Thunder 2-4 - Intact

Recovery Team Report

3x alien corpses - Unusable

1x ‘Gun-tank’ Wreck - Unusable

3x Weapon Fragments - Unusable

5-kilograms of Alien Alloy

OPERATION EVALUATION - POOR

Chapter Text

At Stewart AFB, Victoria wasn’t surprised to see several more troops and Flechette walk up the ramp, though the young Japanese-American Ward was the only Parahuman who did. She settled down next to Miss Militia and sighed, her shoulders were hunched, her figure wound up tight with nervous energy.

“You alright?” she asked and Flechette jumped, looking around frantically before sighing.

“Not really.” she admitted.

Victoria reached out and put a hand on her’s, it was a bit of a stretch but she managed it. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re in this together.” the Alexandria package said in a comforting tone.

“I know, it’s just, thanks to my power. I arguably have the most vital role of anyone in XCOM and I am going to be on the frontlines regardless.” Flechette replied and Victoria frowned before realizing what was bothering this girl so much.

She was scared, terrified really.

“Hey, for what it's worth, I am scared too.” Victoria said and Flechette perked up.

“Good to hear I am not the only one.” Flechette said and Victoria hummed, wondering what could be causing this.

“Did Legend give a variation of his Endbringer speech before sending you guys off?” Victoria asked and Flechette nodded.

“He’s an amazing Cape, but I swear, he needs to go to classes on how to give a speech.” she stated.

“Got that right, I honestly thought that his speech before the fight against Behemoth in Toronto was quite pathetic.” Sophia growled from where she was a few seats down.

“No kidding, the comparison he made was that fighting aliens is going to be like fighting a new Endbringer for the first time.” Flechette said with a sigh, blowing wind out of her nostrils.

“He did that? What the hell, Legend?” Jackson butted in.

“Hai, he did and I agree for the record.” Flechette replied and Victoria cocked her head.

Flechette blushed. “Sorry, habit. Hai means ‘yes’ in Japanese.”

“Oh.”

There was a pause and then Flechette blush deepened. “I totally forgot something, given how at XCOM, cape identities don’t mean much.”

“What?” Victoria asked and wasn’t surprised when Flechette then took off her mask.

“I am Lily, Hikari Lily.” Flechette, Lily introduced herself properly.

Victoria leaned back. “Victoria Dallon, Glory Girl. You can call me Vicky.” she said, introducing herself in return.

“It's a pleasure.” Lily said, leaning forward and offering her a hand, Victoria took it and they shook.

“So Lily’s what your power?” Victoria asked.

“I can imbue materials with the ability to penetrate anything, including its believed, Endbringers.” Lily explained and Victoria couldn’t help it, she whistled in surprise.

“That’s crazy.” She said sincerely, she knew that powers could be bullshit but damn that was impressive.

“Yeah, it's pretty bullshit, though I and I hate to say it Victoria. But I am better at doing collateral damage than you are.” Lily said with a smirk as she remembered some of the more…spectacular incidents she had caused.

“I got my PHO nickname after a building collapsed during a fight. I was partially responsible for it and the villain I was fighting then called me ‘Collateral Damage Barbie’ and it stuck.” Victoria said with a pout.

“You haven’t accidentally caused near catastrophic damage to a substation in New York City putting over a hundred thousand people in the dark and then had the bolt which did the damage fly almost half a mile downrange going through buildings and vehicles like they’re made of paper; I am lucky I didn’t kill anyone.” Lily answered with a shudder, the chewing out she had gotten from Legend over using a full power shot in the heat of the moment during a battle going spectacularly sideways had not been pleasant. Neither had the chewing out from the Chief of the NYPD, the Chief of the NYFD, or the PRT’s New York City Division Marshal been particularly fun.

Victoria whistled in surprise. “Damn, I have never managed something that spectacular.”

“Pray that you never do, I got chewed out by the Fire Chief, Police Chief, a PRT Marshal, and Legend for that particular fail. After that I then had to go through some very thorough remedial training so I knew when to use full power on my crossbow and when not too.” Lily explained, giving a full shudder.

Victoria winced, getting chewed out by a member of the Triumvirate for stupidity, that would suck. She thought that mom could be bad at times for chewing out. But Legend, no, just no she doubted that she could handle that. She would likely want nothing more than to melt into a puddle into the ground.

“That likely wasn’t pleasant.” Jackson butted in.

“No, it wasn’t.” Lily admitted. “I wanted to melt into a puddle and flow down a drain.”

“Well, we’ve all been there before after doing stupid stunts. You should have seen Mom’s face when I was experimenting with my power and I accidentally succeeded in turning a section of the backyard hot pink.” Amy said and Victoria couldn’t help it, she laughed hysterically and soon most of the Skyranger was laughing as well as Amy flushed scarlet with embarrassment.

Gomez Rodriguez

XCOM Colonel Gomez ‘Road Block’ Rodriguez had a grim look about him as he waited for the Skyrangers to arrive. He was a mountain of an African-American Man, six foot six inches and well over two hundred pounds with a barrel chest, broad shoulders, and a squared jaw.

The Commander had arrived earlier today, she was currently on the tour beyond the barracks, research labs, medical center, and engineering. She was being shown the entirety of XCOM HQ, colloquially known as the Anthill, its fission and steam generators, the officer training school, the workshops, and laboratories.

So while the Commander had arrived, they still needed the troops and that’s what the eight Skyrangers were delivering. Properly fitted out they could carry a disconcerting number of men and women. There were seven Strike Units that needed to be filled out in their entirety and Strike Two needed to be rebuilt as well, this was in addition to bringing in dozens of Engineers of various stripes, researchers, scientists, and medical staff.

Personally he didn’t think that the Commander was freaky, he had taken part in CSAR of fallen heroes during Endbringer battles for years and had fought in battles against the petty Warlords that had risen up in the Middle East and Africa shortly after Behemoth had appeared. His credentials were already well established with XCOM.

He wasn’t surprised when Skyranger Full House arrived first, the men and women onboard came boiling out of the transport as its engines spooled down. A mixture of normals and parahumans, soldiers primarily came out of the transport.

He nodded as he recognized them, Victoria gave him a respectful nod as she eagerly led her sister and someone else to their living spaces.

Missy nervously shuffled by, her bag slung over her shoulder as she followed a confidently walking Hannah. Walking right alongside the young girl was Sophia, her gait indicative that she too was nervous but her terror wasn’t as palpable either.

Right, Missy had only been picked up by the XCOM Project as a recruit literally two weeks before all hell had broken loose.

Gomez really felt sorry for the kid, she didn’t deserve to be here - to be tossed into the fire so readily. He made a mental note to ask the Commander to keep Missy off missions unless she was absolutely vital for said mission. Even so, he hated the idea of actually sending her into battle.

After a team from Strike Two had gotten decimated, the idea of sending Missy into battle just didn’t sit right. This was despite the fact that she had seen more action in her four years than most Wards saw in their careers as Wards. She was just too young to be doing this, fighting aliens and god knows what else. But because she had triggered with a Shaker rating of nine and with an extremely useful ability too, it meant that she had been selected for the XCOM Project.

But that didn’t mean he had to like it, she was just a kid for fucks sake. He sighed, this war was going to be absolutely brutal, he just knew it was. Sighing he turned and called after the nervous girl. “Missy, you have a moment?”

Missy squeaked in surprise but turned and after a brief exchange with Hannah that he didn’t entirely catch. “Y-yessir?” she asked nervously.

He walked over to her and knelt down. “Is everything alright?”

Missy shook her head violently. “No sir.”

“Scared about heading out there?” he asked.

The young girl nodded furiously. “Terrified actually.”

“Hey, it's okay. I’ve been in the military, done combat operations, have fulfilled Kill Orders on dangerous capes, and have been part of the response to Endbringers. I know what it's like to be scared.” He told her gently.

“You? Scared? I doubt that, you look like you could break Aegis over your knee without breaking a sweat.” Missy said, shaking her head in disbelief.

“There’s a saying Missy when we’re in the military that helps explain that.” He answered, hoping that Missy would ask about it.

“What’s the saying?” she asked.

“Anyone in a battle who isn’t scared is either dead or stupid. Given that I am still alive and given that I’ve been a soldier for years, I am not stupid either - so I know what it's like to be terrified out of your wits.” Gomez replied, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Missy seemed to perk up. “Good to hear that I am not the only one who is terrified of battle then.”

Gomez smiled. “No problem, you ever need someone to talk to, I am willing to lend an ear.”

“Thank you!”

He looked at the others from Brockton Bay. “That goes for you two and Victoria as well once I managed to track her down. You need someone to speak to, I am willing to lend an ear.”

Sophia nodded.

“Thank you Colonel.” Hannah said.

“Anytime.” Gomez replied, standing up. “Need help getting settled in?”

Hannah opened her mouth, but Sophia beat her in answering. “Might as well, I am not completely familiar with the Anthill yet.”

It caused the Americanized Kurd to shoot a sharp glare at Sophia who held her hands up. “I’ve only been here once, I was recruited after the 2011 Ward Summer Training Session and I lost a leg in November of that year and needed it regrown by Panacea so I missed most of the Ward Winter Training session.”

Hannah sighed in response. “Right, sorry, I forgot about that.”

Gomez chuckled. “Hey it's okay, shit has been beyond hectic ever since Hayes occurred. I am not surprised that you forgot Hannah.”

Hannah shook her head. “I was second in command of the Brockton Bay Protectorate and was one of the few in the know about the XCOM Project at Brockton Bay. I should have kept a better track of how well those in know, knew XCOM HQ.”

With a smile, Colonel Rodriguez turned and led them deeper into the Anthill. War was breaking out, might as well enjoy what peace they had before it went completely to hell.

Chapter Text

April 30, 2012

1000 Hours CST

XCOM HQ

Amy ‘Panacea’ Dallon

Amy wasn’t quite exhausted as she should have been, having fallen asleep shortly after they had departed from Andrews AFB. Thankfully when flying west, you didn’t necessarily need to worry about jet lag which was a bonus. Still, she was working on maybe four hours of sleep today and wasn’t in the mood for shenanigans. 

Particularly since she had often had to patch up the Wards when they got up to shenanigans. She knew the sort of trouble that could be cobbled together by a couple of bored teenagers with superpowers and too much spare time. They were almost as bad as bored Force Recon Marines and she had to patch them up too after they pulled shenanigans when she had been at XCOM HQ on previous occasions. 

There was also the fact that Vicky could almost be as bad on her own.  

Suffice to say, she was quite familiar with patching up people after they did something stupid. To the point that she was a regular on Medical Forum Threads, specifically the ones where doctors compared the ‘weird stupid shit’ that they dealt with. There were more than a couple where she just didn’t want to know how the hell the patient in question managed to do whatever they did. 

Thus, Amy walked into the lobby for the infirmary with a steaming cup of coffee in her left hand, an XCOM tablet in her right and was almost immediately greeted by the head of the research and development department, Doctor Moira Vahlen.  

If Amy were to describe Vahlen…she would use the word ‘intense’. The woman had a sharp gaze that was further intensified by her dark gray eyes that seemed to be locked in a near perpetual glare. It was the sort of gaze that had stopped an over enthusiastic Vicky who wanted to meet a person that I was working with dead in her tracks. It was also entirely at odds with the slim build that Vahlen had, were it not for that gaze, she would have been drop dead gorgeous. She also had a habit of being more than a little blunt and she didn’t really care for pleasantries either and wasn’t one for being informal.

“Doctor Dallon. Are you aware of the wounded soldiers we have in the infirmary, waiting to see you?” she said as a way of greeting. 

Sighing, Amy nodded. “Well good morning to you too Moira.” she greeted, after a pause she continued. “Yes, I am aware of the fact that we have two soldiers from Strike Two who are severely burned and in need of my attention.” 

“Good, I was hoping that we could use your power to figure out what injured some of our best soldiers so horrifically through their armor.” Vahlen replied and Amy furrowed an eyebrow. 

“How bad are we talking?” Amy asked, her mind already running probabilities on how bad it was. 

“They were exposed to an energy weapon with enough radiant heat that a near miss melted a large portion of the body glove of their armor to their skin.” Moira explained and Amy’s eyebrows came together. 

“Why me? My power is biokinesis, not a Thinker class ability.” Amy answered, that was true. She could read anything’s biology perfectly by touching it and manipulate living biomass to heal injuries or alter a person’s body.

“True, but if we can find out the extent of the thermal damage under what’s left of the body gloves, we can then start to hypothesize the level of heat used by the enemy’s weapons and from there determine what they’re using.” Vahlen explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world. 

Amy felt like she wanted to facepalm. How the hell could she have been so stupid for not seeing that angle? Ugh, my brain is still not fully awake yet. She decided as she nodded instead. “Okay, that’s fair.” 

“Indeed.” Vahlen replied, her German accent coloring her tone of voice. 

Amy paused considering her next words as she slurped at her coffee in a crude manner. Vahlen tutted at that action. “What do we know about what happened to Specialist Little?” she asked.

The German Scientist frowned. “He was Mastered for sure given how he shot Lance Corporal Oshitia and then committed suicide with a frag grenade. But the fluidness of the motions that Specialist Little showed when he was Mastered indicates a very high Master level.” she stated and Amy frowned. 

“How high of a Master Level are we talking about?” Amy asked quietly.

“At least a seven, maybe as high as eight or nine.” Vahlen replied with a note of quiet fear. 

Amy gulped, Vicky was going to be facing aliens whose abilities might be a Master seven on the regular? Good Lord this was bad, she knew the PRT Master/Stranger Protocols by heart and thus, the mere idea of Vicky fighting something that was a Master Seven on the regular was more than a little terrifying. Particularly if Doctor Vahlen was correct in how high these little gray aliens were on the Master scale. 

“That’s a good dose of nightmare fuel right there. Fighting someone on par with Heartbreaker on the regular.” Amy admitted, thinking about her sister. 

“Quite.” Vahlen replied, her expression thoughtful.

Amy sighed as she took another drag from her coffee. XCOM’s coffee was, really, much better than the swill that Brockton Bay General served and indeed was even better than her favorite coffee shop in the city. She wasn’t exactly sure where the hell they sourced the coffee from, but all she cared about was that it was good coffee.

Taking another drag from her cup she looked up. “Right, let’s go and take a look at the soldiers and get them stabilized.” Amy said with a slight frown. 

Vahlen nodded. “Follow me.” she said and then swept into the infirmary with Amy following close behind. Together they ducked into a changing room, Amy donned her medical scrubs and her medical scrunchy that went over her hair which was done in a tight bun. 

The scrunchy was needed because of protocol, because of her power she didn’t need gloves however. Which was good since they were heading to the burn ward, which was where the men were sequestered. “How did the Parahumans of Strike Two fare?” Amy asked as she followed Vahlen’s lead. 

“Well enough considering the circumstances. Tigress has already been sent home, she suffered a mostly superficial burn from a near miss and she’s been ordered strict bed rest for the next few days.” Vahlen supplied and Amy nodded, they had a couple of healers on the XCOM team. 

“I would like to see the report from the healer that gave that. Just to confirm it myself.” Amy said and Vahlen nodded, tapping something on her tablet.  

Her own tablet chimed a moment later and Amy using one hand flicked it open. She had grown used to having to pull shit that only parents could pull by somehow appearing to have three or four hands with how effortlessly they juggled things despite only having two. It was a superpower of its own really and one that when she had been younger had thought was cooler than even Aunt Sarah’s ability to fly.

The report on Tigress was well written and thought out, the wound wasn’t too bad either. Really a borderline second degree burn, a few days of bed rest would heal that right up. Master/Stranger Protocols had come back negative as well despite having been in close proximity to such a high ranking Master. 

Amy hummed and nodded. “Alright, I am going to schedule a visit however for this afternoon as a follow up.” she said as a way of explanation, follow-ups were something she recommended if she healed a person during a Mass Casualty Event or an Endbringer Battle. 

Vahlen tipped her head in response. 

“Do we have any working theories on what might have been responsible for the wounds?” Amy asked as using her power she effortlessly sterilized her hands as they approached the Burn Ward. 

To her surprise, Vahlen nodded. “Indeed, we’ve been able to rule out lasers. The energy pulses while they are very fast moving aren’t moving fast enough for the energy to be lasers. But it's still moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Additionally due to a lack of radiation damage, we’ve been able to rule out light particle beams” she explained. 

“That still leaves plasma, several types of particle beams, or something even more exotic.” Amy noted, she didn’t know the exact particulars of how those weapons worked, but due to having worked with Doctor Vahlen on occasion in the medical lab, she had learned a few things in other scientific fields. 

“Agreed, we’re going to need additional work on figuring out what it is in particular. Since armoring against a particle beam is considerably different compared to armoring against plasma.” Vahlen said and while Amy wasn’t too familiar with the differences, she just shrugged and nodded. 

They came to a set of double doors, Amy pulled on her face mask and Vahlen did the same, but she also donned medical gloves. While technically, thanks to her power, she didn’t need to use a facial covering, it was a good habit to be in since in her line of work, caution needed to be warranted in regards to viral or bacteria transmission. Still, she hated going into the Burn Ward, she had seen Lung’s work far too often, as such she was far too familiar with 4th, 5th, and 6th degree burns and the stench that charred human meat made.

She steeled herself, and then heaving a sigh, stepped into the Burn Ward.

Missy ‘Vista’ Byron

Missy pulled the trigger, two liquids came together and then a mechanically actuated spark flared brightly, a 5.56mm projectile was driven out of the gun that she was holding at near fourteen hundred meters per second; the weapon cracked sharply, the kick soft and manageable. She pulled the trigger again and again, the weapon kicking out a steady beat, the flash from the muzzle not even noticeable as she peered through the holographic sight. 

Another trigger pull and the weapon clicked empty, the bolt locking back. “How did I do?” she asked as she lowered the weapon, flicking the safety on and thumbing the magazine release before pulling the top mounted magazine away. 

The overall leader for Strike Five, Lieutenant John Beagle hummed. “Could have been a lot better, but considering it's your first time shooting. You did pretty well.”

Missy nodded as the paper target she had been using was winched back towards them. She glowered at the paper target, the SMG she held had extremely little kick for the muzzle energy involved, but her shooting hadn’t been particularly great. 

Beagle looked over the paper target again. “I want you to shoulder your weapon again, there might be something in your stance that’s off.” he decided. 

Missy was more than a little confused. “How does that work?” she questioned. 

The Australian shrugged. “Shooting a gun is like martial arts, you need to have the correct stance otherwise you're not going to do well at shooting.”

This caused the young girl to nod in response, it made sense. She was familiar with Martial Arts, indeed she had learned Karate so that way she wouldn’t be completely helpless in a fight should she get blindsided. It had come very much in handy during a clash with Empire 88 and had really saved her bacon when Hookwoof surprised her.  

“Right, so what am I doing wrong then?” she asked as she shouldered the SMG again. 

Beagle looked over her form and then proceeded to adjust her stance, nothing too major apparently. She just got a lot of little things wrong, from how her fingers were spread to how her arms were set. Small things that had added up to really screw with her ability to shoot accurately. 

“That should just about fix it.” Beagle told her as he hit a button and another target appeared. 

“Range is hot!” he called. 

Missy flicked the safety off and primed the weapon to fire, the dust cover locked back. She settled her sights and opened fire. The SMG cracked out its steady beat as she fired once every few seconds, her improved stance was certainly helping with making it easier to control the weapon. 

It took nearly three minutes, but the magazine clicked empty once again, ninety rounds having been expended. The moment that the last round left the barrel, she flicked the safety on and ejected the spent magazine. “Range is safe!” Beagle called out as Missy lowered her weapon. 

Beagle hit the switch that caused the target to reel in. “Much better, still room for improvement but that’s to be expected.” he said looking at the target.

Missy nodded. “Mister Beagle sir?” she asked nervously. 

“Yes Missy?” he replied. 

“Which Strike Team will I be part of?” she asked and Beagle hummed. 

“Not sure, particularly since organization around here can be fairly complicated.” Beagle replied and Missy felt her shoulders slump. “But if it makes you feel better, Strike Five doesn’t have all of their Parahumans yet, I can put in a request for the Commander to have you attached to Strike Five.”  

Missy perked up and nodded. “I would like that, I heard that Victoria and Sophia are going to be in the Strike One.” she said.

John bowed his head slightly. “I am not sure if that’s true or not as the rosters haven’t been released yet; but it wouldn’t surprise me.” he answered. 

“I wouldn’t mind being on Strike Five.” Missy admitted. 

“Good to hear, anyways with the number of rounds you’ve put through today. I think that covers your weapon familiarization.” John replied and Missy nodded in response. 

“Thanks sir. Is there anything else?” Missy asked and Beagle nodded. 

“There is actually, we need to measure you for armor.” He explained. 

“Armor? Is my Cape gear not good enough?” Missy asked, offended, she liked her cape gear. It had gotten her through numerous fights in one piece, including several tangles against Lung.

“Undoubtedly, the stuff we have access to is either Dragon or Mausume Technology and it's much better than anything else barring other tinkertech. Your submachine gun is a Mausume weapon, for instance and our armor is Dragon Tech.” Beagle said and Missy paused. 

That would be considerably better armor than what she wore in the Wards. It was likely powered to boot, which meant that she would be faster and stronger too. But the materials from which it was made? She wasn’t entirely sure if the durability would be improved or not. Most armor worn by heroes was typically good enough to take some fire from assault rifles, unless naturally you were a tinker, then you could create shit that needed anti-tank weaponry to crack open.

Suffice to say it would be a considerable improvement over what she had worn in Brockton Bay; she knew what it was like to get shot and didn’t particularly want to repeat the experience if she could help it. Mostly because it was so goddamned unpleasant to say the least. But the fact that she knew what it was like to get shot despite being a Ward said a lot about how much of a shithole Brockton Bay was.

Maybe XCOM would have substantially better armor then? “How good is the armor?” she asked.

“It’s fully powered and provides full protection against Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Technological threats with the individual armored plates durable enough to withstand sustained heavy machine gun fire, with the body glove capable of handling shots from battle rifles easily enough. It has a very nice tech suite too.” Beagle explained and Missy whistled, impressed. 

She knew why too, armor like that was impressive and expensive to maintain, to the point that there were only five or six individuals in Brockton Bay actually using the stuff. With a solid half of the members being either members of the Protectorate or the Wards. But mass produced armor made by Dragon ? That shit was stupidly expensive and restricted to militaries only, yet she was apparently going to be receiving a set.

“Wow, I never thought that I would get to see armor that good.” Missy breathed, amazed, giddy at the fact that she would be using one of the best armor systems on the planet. 

Beagle looked amused. “Neither did I to be honest, but it's very good stuff.”

Missy hummed, she could imagine that. She had noted that she was, almost instinctively, walking slightly behind Beagle as they headed for the armory or equipment room. Inside were racks upon racks of various weapons and pieces of equipment. It was vast and impressive, Missy knew that they had dedicated armorers who would take care of the weapons of XCOM. So she dropped her SMG off and left it there for an armorer to clean and maintain. 

Then she followed Beagle to a different part of the armory, where suits of armor rested. They were impressive with black body suits and gleaming plates that were notably thick and covered the vitals. The visor was a deep orange color, it wasn’t reflective but it was opaque. Missy gently reached out a hand and stroked the cool metal of the cuirass that protected the chest.

“What is it called?” she asked as she stepped back from it. 

“We call it a Phalanx Suit.” Beagle told her, gesturing to it.   

“Phalanx…not the most imaginative name.” Missy admitted as she looked at the armor, still having a hard time believing that this armor was something that she was going to be wearing; the armor was familiar though, but she wasn’t where she had seen armor like it.

“Eh, true. The name could be better, but it's still an amazing piece of kit.” Beagle replied and Missy nodded. She could see why, if this suit was anything like the power armor even Dean used. 

Well, running at speeds of 30-kilometers per hour (she had learned metric the hard way thanks to Armsmaster) would be in the ballpark for sure as would considerable lifting capability. The armor would essentially turn even her, who was more squishy than she liked to think about when guns got involved, into someone who could take a decent punch and could move effectively too. Maybe fighting for XCOM would be something that she might come to actually like, being treated in a manner that didn’t scream kid. She had more experience than most members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, with five years on the job at this point, yet she was still extremely young at only twelve years old and was seen as a kid and treated as such. 

It was annoying to say the least and she partially understood why. But she didn’t want to be treated like she was made of porcelain glass. “It looks similar to Armsmaster’s armor.” Vista noted as the appearance finally clicked, the armor was very similar to Armsmaster’s suit, just instead of blue and steel, this was black and gray.

“If I remember what Dragon said when she was showing off the suit to us, herself and Armsmaster did collaborate on the Phalanx Armor.” Beagle said as he thought about it. 

“Wouldn’t surprise me, a few years ago, Armsmaster did a project so secret only Director Piggot was allowed to know about it and his lab was off limits until it was done. Almost landed me in god knows how much trouble more than once because I nearly barged in.” Missy answered, scratching the back of her head.

“Probably Leavenworth level bad.” Beagle mused. 

Missy cringed, Parahumans rightly feared the Birdcage but Leavenworth from what little she knew of it was even scarier simply due to the fact that there were armed guards and even military trained Parahumans who would use lethal force to prevent escape attempts. “Right, I am grateful that Armsmaster had the foresight to put that special lock program on his door then.”

Beagle tipped his head as the armorer came up to them. “You Missy Biron?” she asked them. 

“Yes ma’am!” Missy replied in a chipper tone. 

She nodded. “Alright,” she gestured to a slightly raised platform, “stand here please. I am going to take your measurements.” 

Vista stood on the platform as she was told and remembering from when she was measured for her own suit of armor back in the Wards, held her arms out for the armorer. The woman brought out a tape measure and quickly gathered her measurements, as she did so, she asked a dozen other questions regarding her previous experience with armor. 

“Alright, judging by your previous experience with armor in the Wards. I am going to recommend Heavy Phalanx, the flexibility and plate coverage will be most similar to what you used previously.” The armorer said after a moment.

Missy nodded. “I take it that this Heavy Phalanx is like my old suit? Full plate coverage with no body glove showing?” she asked. 

The armorer nodded. “Indeed, not many operatives have been issued Heavy Phalanx precisely because they feel that the mobility loss is too great.” 

Missy snorted out a laugh. “That’s hysterical, I remember when Aegis joined up, he was skeptical that my armor wouldn’t hinder the hell out of my range of motion. I convinced him otherwise by doing full cartwheels and somersaults in my armor..” 

“Wait, really? You can do that?” Beagle asked, shocked. 

Missy couldn’t help it, she preened with glee at her physical ability. Finally , something that she was better at doing than all of these proper soldiers. “Yeah, it's pretty easy to do if your armor is fitted properly and if you're even halfway athletic, I’ve been on the Brockton Bay Wards for almost five years now.”

Beagle whistled. “Most capes are lucky if they last five years. You must have a good head on your shoulders.” 

“I do, but the Wards were treating me too much like a Mascot and less like the experienced member of the team that I was; I have more experience than some members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate and you think that because of my age that I can’t do solo patrols? Ugh, it's shit like that which is a major reason why I leapt on the offer to join XCOM, I figured maybe that things would be different here.” Missy explained, yes people would say that she’s far too young. 

“Wait, you're from Brockton Bay ?” Beagle exclaimed, shocked. 

“Yes, I am. I am also one of the most powerful Shakers on the East Coast.” Missy replied, she wasn’t one to boast, but with her rating of Shaker 9, she really was one of the most powerful Capes on the Eastern Seaboard. 

“What’s your rating?” the armorer asked. 

“Shaker nine.” she replied. 

Beagle whistled. “Damn, it's rare to see Capes that powerful.” 

“Why thank you.” Missy said, feeling quite proud of herself. 

Commander Contessa ‘Fortuna’ Rapone

The Commander of XCOM was seated behind her desk, her tour was over and frankly the XCOM Project was much larger than she had expected it to be. She had to focus on creating Paths to Victory against the aliens so that way they could win and prevent God only knew what the aliens had in store for Earth and humanity. 

But things had become so damn clouded after both Scion and Ziz had gone missing in action. Both around the same time now that Contessa thought about it, Ziz had been seen breaking orbit in November of 2010 and telescopes had lost track of her completely some time in January of 2011. Scion had gone MIA in March of 2011, shortly after the appearance of Azrael, the Fourth Endbringer in February of that year. 

She had been trying to think about war winning paths, but they got incredibly foggy beyond more than two or three months. It was something that was more than a little teeth grinding to say the least. Her power was usually quite cooperative, ranging from how to defeat various villains without injury to finding the best Meat Lovers Pizza on Earth (the best one was in a small hole-in-the-wall pizzeria in Osea). 

But against these aliens? Zero. Zilch. Nadda! It was almost as if something was actively disrupting her power. She frowned and realized that something might actually be disrupting her power. Maybe it had to do with the fact that aliens weren’t from Earth and thus her power might not work. 

With this in mind, she decided to change her efforts from seeking a Path to the end of the war to something more short-term, maybe to the Council Report that was stated to occur at the end of March? She focused her power on this idea and immediately , a Path appeared in her mind and what she needed to do. 

Picking up a pen and notepad, she quickly began drawing notes on what was needed for the Path to be fulfilled. It was weird in a sense, since in order for the Path to Victory to be filled, she would have to command and hope that the rolls of the dice she took during operations would work. Essentially micro-managing the XCOM Project, what they should build and what they should research. 

It was something that she had experience with to an extent. Doing it on this level, in a situation where things were constantly shifting…was something that she had never done before however. In many ways though, she looked at what she was dealing with a sense of excitement. Mostly because it had been far too long since she had been given a proper challenge . 

“ Commander to the research lab. Commander to the research lab. ” The base AI chimed, from what Contessa understood, the AI had been created by Dragon. 

She stood up and on her way out, grabbed her signature fedora. She would be damned if she went anywhere without it. The burgundy though clashed with the dark green of the XCOM Sweater that she was wearing. Not that she didn’t mind, the sweater was quite nice all things considered.

A quick trip down the hallway to the elevator, passing her secretary and along the way, passing a squad of XCOM Base Security on patrol. They came to attention as she strode by and then the sound of their boots on the hard floor resumed. 

The elevator very quickly took her to the level where the Research Labs were. She quickly strolled out and smiled as another group of Base Security, identifiable by their bright blue shirts came to attention as she strolled out. 

She walked past the barracks, down the hall, and into the research labs, before entering she flashed her Common Access Card and the lock thunked, allowing her to enter the research labs. The primary research lab had a variety of different scientists already going over what they had on the aliens. 

She had already seen the report from Doctor Vahlen; they couldn’t even begin to reverse engineer the weapon fragments that they had due to how wrecked they were. 

“Ah, Commander.” Doctor Vahlen’s voice cut through the air like a knife.  

“Doctor Vahlen, you wanted to see me?” Contessa asked. 

“Yes, I did. I am pleased to say that we’ve had a minor breakthrough.” Vahlen said and Contessa immediately began providing her full attention. 

“Already, where?” Contessa asked sharply. 

“It has to do with the element used in the power cells of the alien weapons. We’ve been able to determine the atomic number of the element used.” Vahlen said and Contessa raised an eyebrow. 

“That’s fast work Doctor.” Contessa replied and Vahlen shook her head.

“It's partially due to our equipment actually. But we’ve been able to determine that the element used in the power cells is a new element.” Vahlen said and Contessa’s eyes widened. She expected there to be new elements to be discovered, but for one to be discovered this quickly? 

“What’s the atomic number?” she asked, referring to the number of protons in the atom. 

“115, we haven’t even begun to research what the properties of Element-115 are, nor have we even come up with a name . It might be an allotrope of an element that I know has been synthesized on Earth Aleph but whose existence hasn’t been confirmed yet. There is a placeholder name for it though, Ununpentium.” Vahlen explained and Contessa scowled.

“Doctor, I am certain I can’t pronounce that and that would go for our soldiers as well. Can you try and find a better name?” Contessa deadpanned, not even trying to pronounce that name. 

“One of the other scientists has proposed Elerium, Commander.” Vahlen replied. 

“Elerium.” Contessa stated, sounding out slowly. It was easy to pronounce and decent enough. “That’s as good a name as we can get, alright, put it down that alien energy cells and power sources are to be stated to use the element Elerium. Next question, can we synthesize it?” 

Vahlen shook her head. “No Commander, we don’t know enough about Elerium. We’ve only just discovered it and from what I know of Ununpentium, which Elerium might be related to, while it was synthesized, it decayed in milliseconds. If we can receive a steady stream of Elerium and start research on it now, we might be able to get to a point where we can synthesize our own Elerium in, barring no huge breakthroughs, two maybe three years.” Vahlen said and Contessa frowned, before quickly forming a Path on the research of Elerium. 

What she saw made her smile. “You have my approval, Doctor, I want medium priority on this. Just in case something else comes up that requires higher priority.” Contessa told her. 

Vahlen nodded. “Understood Commander.” 

Contessa paused as another question came to mind. “Any progress on what sort of energy that the aliens used?” 

The head of the research department shook her head. “No, but it was of exceptionally high heat at least according to what Panacea told me. She’s putting together a wound report and will have it for you if not today then at the very latest, the day after tomorrow.”

She made a note to read that report when it came in and then forward it to Dragon along with having a conversation with her for ideas on improving their armor to try and resist whatever energy the aliens were using for weaponry. But something told her that what the aliens were using was vastly more powerful than something like it ought to be, given what they had seen so far was frankly cause for alarm. 

“Very good, is there anything I need to see Doctor Shen about then, regarding Elerium?” Contessa asked. 

“Not at the moment, no, but that’s probably because we still don’t know enough about Elerium other than it can serve as a power source.” Vahlen explained and Contessa nodded, it made as much sense as any.

“What about our chances of finding out anything about our unwanted company?” Contessa questioned, referring to the bodies of the aliens that they had.

Vahlen sighed. “Between the damage from gunfire, the explosion from a grenade, and naturally the fire that burned down the house due to the alien tank exploding. The corpses we do have are completely unusable, we can’t even begin to sequence DNA and it’s a miracle that the contents of the power cells of the alien weapons were intact enough that we could determine the element used in them, even if we can’t begin to determine how said power cells function.”

Contessa nodded, made as much sense as anything really. “That’s what I thought.” she said with a sigh, after a moment she continued. “Very well, carry on Doctor.” 

With that, Contessa turned on her heel and walked out of the research labs, a decision coming to her. She needed a chance to actually sleep as she had been going for almost sixteen hours at this point, the stress of the XCOM Project being activated was starting to get to her. With this in mind, she headed back to her quarters and made a note for her to not be disturbed for the next eight hours while she slept. 

Chapter Text

April 30, 2012

1450 Hours CST

XCOM HQ

Specialist Sophia “Shadow Stalker” Hess

Scout. That was the role that I had been given yesterday. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it to be honest. XCOM was vastly different from Brockton Bay, at least there were no Nazis to punch, but at the same time I couldn’t help but wonder if agreeing was the correct choice. Granted, at least XCOM had managed to work with the FBI to put Stephen away and to give me medical help. Even if it was arguably too late to help me given what my trigger had been. 

I suspect that XCOM had wanted to headhunt me for a while but had wanted to see if I would be worth it. Maybe that’s why back in early December of 2010 everything had changed for me. Mom and Stephen had both been arrested for child abuse and then during the trial, I had managed to reveal my trigger event after taking to a strange man who I am now fairly certain was a recruiter for XCOM. Which had made my testimony a test of sorts, at least that’s how I figure it. After that though, things had changed dramatically, I had been given a full psychiatric work-up and now I had mandatory therapy; though being with a Wards Team and having PRTCP Instructors who could just lend an ear had helped considerably. I was adrift during that phase, still was in many senses of the phrase actually since after that in 2011, everything was just a blur. 

At least what happened to me was better than Emma and Madison, they were currently rotting in prison for causing Hebert to trigger and granted part of this was also due to their prolonged bullying campaign. I still wasn’t sure how I weaseled out of trouble there, it just didn’t feel right for me. I wondered if me being a Ward who had been turning the corner had anything to do with it or if the fact that I literally hadn’t been part of The Locker at all. I just didn’t know, what I did know is that I had essentially broken cleanly with who I used to be. Part of it was that due to everything I was going through, I had inadvertently cut ties with those two idiots and thus apparently my testimony meant more than there’s. 

Exhaling, I pushed the thoughts of the last year or so out of my mind. As much as I wanted to reminisce and maybe go write in my journal, I had more important things to do. Mostly training for combat deployments out of a Skyranger. This promised to be interesting, in multiple senses of the word. I had never put much stock in the fact that aliens could very much be real, personally I always thought that the conspiracies saying that Scion was an alien were a load of bunk. But now, I really wasn’t sure what Scion likely was to be honest - this went double after his disappearance last year. 

She walked into the hanger complex which for XCOM HQ was quite impressive actually, this part of the complex contained the Skyrangers. The large craft were incredibly fast, reportedly capable of supersonic operations, and could carry fifty fully equipped soldiers into battle plus things called SHIVs and HWPs. I spotted the Skyranger that I was going to be practicing on, going by the colors, this was Skyranger Harbinger, one of the twelve Skyrangers that were operated by XCOM here in North America. 

Once again, I couldn’t help but look over the weapon that I had qualified on as a member of XCOM, the SR-25 derivative was immensely powerful. The designated Marksman rifle was similar to the XCOM X9 Assault Rifle, frankly comparing it to my crossbow back when I was a Ward was ... well it wasn’t even a fair comparison. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel quite nervous about the whole thing. I had seen the footage from Silent Rain and thus everyone knew what were up against. 

“Ach, Specialist Hess!” a voice called as I got into earshot. The eleven other members of Team Peril, part of the platoon sized formation known as Strike One were waiting. I knew that Strike Two only had one team ready when all the hells broke loose - when Hayes occurred which meant that the unit had needed rebuilding. 

“Sergeant Gallaher.” I said, the Sergeant in charge of Team Peril. Nicholas Gallaher nodded. The man was from Britain if I remembered correctly, formerly part of something called the Special Air Service and now on secondment to the XCOM Project. “Reporting as ordered for disembarking training.” I said and the Sergeant smiled at my words. 

“Good tae hear, lassie. Am keen tae get stuck in wi ye!” He said and I couldn’t help but pause. 

“What do you mean sir? I thought that I would be relatively unknown around here.” I said, surprised at what the man had said. 

“Aw, pure simple, eh? Does Jatniel Rosario mean anythin' tae ye?” He asked me and I started, damn right that name was familiar. That man was part of the reason why my life had changed so much during my Wards Training Period. 

“Very sir, he was my PRTCP trainer when I was learning all of the various Ward Standard Operating Procedures. He’s honestly half the reason that I am as well put together as I am. If you don’t mind me asking, how the hell do you know him?” I demanded, Jatniel had helped me through some really dark times after my psychological exam had found the laundry list of problems that I had and that didn’t even get into trigger traumas of which I had several. Some of the things he had done to help me were a bunch of these little exercises to help keep me calm, probably the biggest was Box Breathing.

“Well, ah read yer file an' I was dead surprised tae see him there. Crackin' operator an' he’s always had a wee soft spot for the kids. Makes sense that efter he hung up his boots he joined the PRT tae show the bairns how tae bloody look after themselves.” Gallaher replied and I snorted at that, learning how to defend myself when there was power nullifier or tech of that nature around hadn’t been exactly fun even after I got over my hang ups, but it was thanks to Jatniel that I had been able to do so. 

“Soft spot is right, he helped me get over my trigger trauma.” I said and Gallaher winced in sympathy. 

“If ye need someone tae chat aboot that, just shout at any wan fae Strike One.” Gallaher replied and I smiled at that, it was a good honest smile that crossed my face.

“Thank you sergeant, now, can you tell me how my role as a Scout and Designated Marksman will affect how I deploy out of the Skyranger?” I asked curiously as I looked at the big burly, supersonic capable, twin engine transport. 

Gallaher nodded. “As a Scout, ye'll be first aff the ramp and typically be the Point Man when the Team or Strike Unit's pushin' forward. Ye need a keen pair o' eyes an' ears, along wi' a bit o' gut instinct. Ye've got the instincts, an' yer Wards trainin' will help ye wi' the first bit.” he said and I couldn’t help but nod, that made sense as much as anything. 

“Thank you sir.” I said. 

“Nae need tae call me sir, Specialist. Ah just work, so jine me Sergeant or Sarge.” Gallaher said, shooting me an extraordinary taut look and I stiffened in response. 

“Yes Sarge.” I replied and then I glanced back at the Skyranger. “Are we going to do disembarking practice here or are we going out into the field?” 

“Aye, we're off tae Fort Campbell fur that, pretending tae be a Delta Team gettin' their re-certification fur combat deployments. We're no' takin' the Skyranger, but one o' the Condors that XCOM's got fur that.” Gallaher said and I nodded, okay, not taking the big huge, supersonic capable VTOL jet but something else. Great, just lovely, it's a shame because I liked the Skyranger. It was big and relatively comfortable, but as I glanced at the Skyranger again, I couldn’t help but notice that it was also rather unique. Whatever the hell a Condor was, I hoped that it would be a lot more subtle. 

“Okay Sarge, I am ready to get going.” I said and the man nodded. 

“Aw right, let’s get a move oan, then.” Gallaher said and the rest of Team Peril followed as our Sargeant led us to an elevator that I hadn’t seen before. The elevator rose quickly and we exited out into a structure that looked vaguely like a warehouse or motor pool. Beyond the open doors of the warehouse was this weird looking propeller driven aircraft with its propellers pointed straight up, most notably the damn thing had four of them.

Shrugging I boarded the odd aircraft as the turbines began to spin up with a low snarling whine as the air began to chop. I exhaled, leaned back and closed my eyes as the strange aircraft lifted into the sky. 

Central Officer Bradford

“How are you settling in Commander?” I asked the strange Italian woman who had been made Commander of XCOM; Fortuna bobbed her head. 

“Well enough, anything of note?” The Commander asked and I shook my head. Part of my role as Central Officer was to provide tactical analysis as well as helping the Commander with daily things occurring throughout the base. Given that XCOM HQ operated twelve platoon sized formations, their Skyrangers, plus several squadrons of Interceptors - not to mention our RnD and Engineering staff as well as Base Security, the base was usually very busy. 

“Not much ma’am. Team Peril is working on getting Shadow Stalker and Warlock certified with combat dismounting from the Skyranger. They’re going to Fort Campbell in a Condor for that. Meanwhile the survivors from Strike Two after Hayes are integrating with their various reinforcements and that seems to be proceeding well.” I said as I thought about the itinerary for today for various groups. Getting Shadow Stalker and Warlock recertified for combat dismounting from the Skyranger would take about five days and thanks to Council interference, XCOM formations would always have priority.

The Commander nodded in response before she glanced up at the Hologlobe. The Hologlobe absolutely dominated the Command Center of XCOM HQ, a marvel of technology that employed Holograms and was connected to the military radar sites as well across the planet as well as specialist satellites that allowed for the rapid display of UFOs and other items of interest. It greatly streamlined the Command and Control process and it wasn’t the only one either. 

“Any UFO sightings?” She asked. 

“The Graveyard shift under Jackson didn’t report any.” I replied and I glanced at the Hologlobe spinning serenely. “It's weird, if I were the aliens I would have hit military bases across the world in an opening blitzkrieg. But, instead they reveal their presence with an attack on a small town barely worth the name in the middle of nowhere.” 

“Odd, could the aliens have a different strategy in mind for Earth?” The Commander asked. 

“Maybe? If they do have an alternate strategy planned then I can’t see it.” I replied, shaking my head. “It's peculiar, the aliens essentially achieved complete strategic surprise when they hit Hayes. Why did they waste it abducting several thousand people and razing a small town that wasn’t worth the name?” 

Indeed it was something that was seriously annoying me. I had thought that a war against the aliens would be more like a normal war. That they would hit us with an overwhelming decisive strike, obliterate most of the militaries of the world, and then conquer the cities. With what we had seen? Six months, maybe, with our current tech level. Whoever was running this campaign was a complete moron. 

“Could it be that they’re after humans in particular? That they don’t care about our planet but our species?” The Commander mused and I shook my head in response. 

“Doesn’t make any sense if that’s the case. They should be sending more UFOs to abduct more people, so why aren’t they?” I said and the Commander shook her head. 

The Commander thought for a second, glancing up at the Hologlobe as she did so before glancing back down. “You raise a good point, Central. I don’t understand it either, the aliens if they’re goal is something that we have, then they aren’t pushing it as aggressively as they should be.” 

I nodded as I tried to consider something, anything really that could provide insight to the alien’s strategy. But nothing was coming to mind unfortunately. It was infuriating actually now that I seriously thought about it. The aliens had scored all of the major checkboxes needed with their surprise appearance that they could have devastated Earth Bet before anyone could have mounted a major defense. So why hadn’t they? It was irritating and not in a good way. 

“I don’t know and that point concerns the hell out of me.” I said and the Commander nodded and opened her mouth to respond when the Base AI suddenly chimed. 

“Commander to Engineering. Commander to Engineering.” 

“Guess that’s my cue to leave.” The Commander said and I nodded. 

“Best to not keep Dr. Shen waiting. He would only request your presence if he has an idea that he wants to run by you.” I said and The Commander nodded, she spun on her heel and left the Command Center. 

A few minutes after The Commander left, another man walked into the Command Center. “Ah, Colonel Rodriguez, how are things going?” 

“Things are going alright, Central. The new recruits are settling in well, even the Parahumans which is a good sign.” Rodriguez replied and I nodded in response. 

“Thoughts on the Strike Teams and Strike Units? Think that they’re ready for deployment?” I asked, Rodriguez at the moment was the closest that XCOM had to an active Field Commander. 

“They’re as ready as they’ll ever be, Central. I mean, we saw what the aliens have with Hayes, so I don’t think that we’ll be ever truly ready. It's like being part of SAR for Endbringer fights, you're never truly ready for your first one.” Rodriguez replied in a grim tone and I exhaled in response to that. 

“That’s a fact, so opinions? Any problem children we’ll have to watch out for?” I asked, referring to the Parahumans. 

“My biggest worry is Vista, if only due to her age. Yes, she’s quite possibly one of the most powerful capes on the planet, but she’s also incredibly young. Don’t be surprised if I order a full psychiatric work up for her at some point.” Rodriguez said and I nodded in response, that made as much sense as anything. I was personally against having a thirteen year old in the XCOM Project but frankly, one as powerful as Vista could be a boon to the Project’s effectiveness. Her crowd control abilities alone were something that was terrifying to behold and the ability to stop her if she snapped was very small - particularly if she had taught herself any Physics at all. 

“For what it's worth, same here. Which Strike Unit is she going to be in the pool of Parahumans for?” I asked. 

“Strike Five.” Came the reply and I nodded once, that was good. Lieutenant John Beagle was many things, eccentric was one way to put it actually. But he put the care and well being of those under his command first. Which meant that if anything, Vista was going to be in very good hands, particularly since like a good chunk of the SF community, he had a soft spot for kids. 

“Good choice, Lieutenant Beagle will keep her mostly safe.” I said and Rodriguez nodded in response. 

“Right, anything else?” I asked. 

“No sir, none.” Rodriguez replied. 

“Alright, dismissed.” I said.

“Yessir.” The big man said and he left and I hummed as I looked up at the Hologlobe again, spinning serenely. Part of me was tempted to ask the Command Center to do a sweep looking for an S-class Threat that we could whack, but I suppressed the urge primarily because of the gross misallocation of resources. 

“Central, sir.” Another voice called and I turned and saw the CAG, Colonel Julio “Eightball” Lucerno approaching. “Colonel Lucerno, something wrong?” I asked. 

“No sir. Just reporting that all squadrons are fully manned and ready to roll.” Lucerno replied and I nodded in response. The CAG was a big man, he had to top two-meters in height and he was well muscled with a mop of short brown hair and brown eyes. 

“Good, which squadron is on alert five at the moment?” I asked. 

“Currently? Skull Squadron, with Orca Squadron on Ready Fifteen.” Lucerno replied and I nodded. XCOM had four Interceptor Squadrons composed of eight interceptors each: Skull, Tempest, Cossack, and Orca plus a squadron for the Skyrangers which went by Voodoo. 

“Any problems with the pilots?” I asked, knowing that XCOM employed pilots from primarily NATO nations. 

“Not particularly, sir. I am just grateful that we didn’t get any Russian interceptor pilots, otherwise the Poles that we have might try and kill them. You know how it is with those two nations. Frankly, I am not sure how the hell we managed to avoid a war in ‘95 after Behemoth hit Moscow.” Lucerno replied and I nodded in response, that was a small blessing to be sure. The amount of bad blood between Poland and Russia was frankly astounding, the two nations very much did not like each other in the slightest. 

“Same here, either way, how are they integrating with the Parahumans?” I asked, knowing that Parahumans were going to be real wild cards within XCOM. They would either be the ones who brought XCOM to the heights it needed to succeed or they wouldn’t and Earth would be overrun. 

“Well, Captain Leonard got into an argument with Glory Girl over who was faster; one of our Ravens or her. Last I checked, they were still going at it, but from what we know of her, she’s unlikely to do anything stupid and well, Captain Leonard leads B Flight in Cossack Squadron and thus the odds of him doing anything stupid is low as well.” Lucerno replied and I couldn’t help but nod in response. 

“Makes sense.” I replied and then glanced back up at the Hologlobe, nothing was going on at the moment. “And from what I know of Operative Dallon, she has a level enough head to not do anything stupid.” 

Lucerno snickered. “You mean that the instructors beat the stupid out of her. Her first attempt at sparring without her power did go viral around here for a reason, seeing that Pole take her down in about four seconds was funny as fuck.” 

At that I had to restrain a laugh. One of our instructors was a retired member of Polish GROM and to call that unit good was dramatically understating things, Instructor Walerian Bies didn’t go easy on anyone even when it was their first training spar. He was also responsible for teaching our Parahumans how to properly fight in hand to hand combat exercises without their power. Oftentimes it resulted in what could be best described as a bounty of comedy as awkward combinations of power usage and improvised fighting styles didn’t really work when your power was available for you and you were fighting someone with formal training. Naturally though that could always be fixed with the proper application of drills. 

Commander Contessa 'Fortuna' Rapone

Path to Engineering - Complete.

Smiling, I walked into the locker room for Engineering, Chief Engineer Raymond Charles Shen was many things. One thing that I had learned the hard way was that he had extremely strict safety protocols in place, violating them would get you yelled at by him. Not even I, The Commander of XCOM, was immune to getting chewed out for violating this. Thus, in order to get to his Office, I donned hearing protection and a hardhat, and quickly weaved my way to Shen’s office. 

I knocked on the door and after a moment I heard Shen’s voice say “Come!” 

I walked in. “You wanted to see me Shen?” I asked, pulling my hardhat off and taking my earplugs out.

“Yes Commander, I did. I am pleased to report that a Pre-Invasion Research Project recently finished and that we got the first prototypes made. The project itself was meant to see if we could facilitate a one-shot laser weapon into the casing of a 40mm Low-Velocity grenade.” Shen replied and I felt my eyebrows go up. That sounded….brilliant actually, definitely something that could very much be handy in most situations. 

“Interesting, what’s the output and range?” I asked. 

“50-kilojoules, due to the small size of the lens though compared to the relative output, range is not great - no more than 150-meters at most. However, the beam is still quite lethal and should be able to penetrate the armor of an alien HWP at fairly close range.” Shen said and I nodded, thoughts swirling in my mind as I contemplated this piece of equipment. The alien HWPs, now being called Gun Tanks, were quite powerful based on what little information we had on them. Still, something to give our troops more anti-armor options beyond standard 40mm grenades and rockets or an HWP. 

“So I see, how soon can you put it into production?” I asked. 

“Today. Would you like to see it in action?” Shen replied and I nodded in response, a demonstration would be quite nice actually. It would help give her a decent idea as to what the laser could do, she wasn’t expecting much to be perfectly honest. 

The kindly old Engineer stood up and walked to a coat rack, he put his own hardhat on and then he led me through engineering. Past the various machines and assembly lines on the shop floor, I was led through a door. Here, the noise wasn’t as bad, the dull roar from the shop floor was rather muted and thus I felt like I could actually think in here. 

Shen led me to a table where these things were laid out, they were maybe 50mm long and 40mm in diameter. At one end was a menacing lens for the laser, the opposite end though resembled a typical 40mm grenade. 

“How does it work?” I asked and Shen gave a light smile. 

“The laser weapon is composed of a capacitor, a continuous beam laser, and the whole thing is activated by a modified primer essentially so we don’t need to modify our existing grenade launchers.” Shen said, donning a pair of tinted safety goggles and I did the same thing. 

“Any drawbacks?” 

“Yes unfortunately, due to the raw power of laser weapons they can be seriously problematic for causing collateral damage due to the sensitive tissues in the eyes. Thus we can’t use them in urban areas.” Shen replied and I cursed softly, that wasn’t what I wanted to hear. The power of the laser would be useful, but cost and benefits needed to be taken into account. I quickly reviewed Paths and what would happen if I accepted this weapon and if I rejected it. What I saw wasn’t good if I rejected it and frankly while the path if I accepted it unilaterally was better, it wasn’t by much. I needed a third option here, these simple disposable laser weapons would be damn useful but their drawbacks were significant in urban areas. 

I paused, what if we deployed them in uninhabited or rural areas with not a lot of people in them? The path that came into existence was much more promising, smiling I nodded. “Alright, I want to see this thing in action myself before approving it for limited deployments in non-urban areas.” I said and Shen nodded, he walked over to the table and picked up a grenade launcher, he popped open the breach and inserted the device. 

He walked over to a firing range that I hadn’t seen, there was a target dummy downrange wearing trauma plates from a tactical vest of some description. Shen leveled the launcher and fired, the beam was invisible but there was a blinding flash of incandescent plasma erupting as material in the path of the beam vaporized leaving a ragged wound in the armor that seemed to have punched through the insert, the kevlar underneath, and then punched a non-considerable hole in the ballistic gel dummy beyond. I couldn’t help but blanch at the damage, Tinkers rarely fooled around with lasers for various reasons, but I never knew that weapon grade lasers could be that powerful. 

“Wow,” I said, stunned, I hadn’t been expecting that. That had been impressive, both visually and performance wise. Shen’s reaction was a kind smile. “Alright, its approved for deployment. How many do you want to outfit soldiers who have under barrel grenade launchers with?” I asked. 

“Typically, a grenadier with an underbarrel launcher has about twenty 40mm grenades, I was thinking that we would assign five of these grenades in a standard loadout.” Shen replied and I nodded, that made perfect sense, considering that a load out would have a mixture of grenades, having five of these would be significant firepower.

“That seems agreeable Shen.” I said and then before the Chinese engineer could respond, alarms began to blare. 

“Commander to Mission Control! Commander to Mission Control!” Bradford’s voice said directly over the intercom and I activated my wrist mounted communicator. “On my way.”