XCOM: Enemy Within

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XCOM: Enemy Within

Unread postby spector29 » June 6th, 2014, 4:46 am

XCOM: Enemy Without

August 30th;
It's been a month, give or take, since Operation: Hidden Throne. This was the mission that used the Engineer's fancy 'Skeleton Key', the one where we dropped right on X-ray's house party. Myself, Maria, Col. Ramirez, Maj. Boor, Maj. Okeke, and...James.

We broke in and got to work. I was the single Assault-Class Soldier the Commander decided to send on this mission, something I still don't know how I feel about. I wanted the A-Team along, but Matt was clipped in the arm by a Muton's Plasma Rifle during the Terror Attack on Moscow, and the Commander wasn't about to risk a vet. So we brought James along.

James was a damn fine soldier, but he was green as the weed Matt 'kicked' when he joined up. Still, it was amazing he never flipped and panicked like the other rookies I had the displeasure of training.

And The Commander brought him to die. Not specifically, hell, we all thought we would die If-when the base fell.

But James was holding the Arc Thrower, and everybody but him knew what that meant.

True to his role, we managed to capture the damn psychic bug. But on his way out, he was nabbed by a Seeker and...

Well, the memorial wall is there for a reason. The Commander commissioned some new protocols, and The James Doctrine was born for use in contact with Psionic Aliens. So that's something.

But I'm out of the Medbay today. I ate a Muton's grenade during Hidden Throne, last I remember was Okeke zapping me back from death and into a healing coma. Hopefully I didn't lose enough digits to send me into a MEC.


--

You grouse to life, having slept under your own power for the first time since the mission. Your own room, which you attained by reaching Colonel and requiring trace Medical Supervision, was rather small and very dark. Growling and hitting the lights, you notice the light of several notices on the terminal on the other side of the room.

Debating on returning to dreamland, military discipline decided to kick in and hall your lazy ass out of bed.

Wearing nothing but your own hair, you stride over to the terminal and play the messages while you scavenge things to wear.

*MESSAGE FROM: MAJOR MATTHEW HUDSON [15 DAYS AGO]*

Out from one knife and under the next. Turns out I didn't even need to go on your mission after all. With all the shit they salvaged from that base, everyone from the Top-down is getting a Genetic Makeover. The lab coats looked all to happy to cut me up, but I'm getting a full suite at least. Come on down before they spend all the Meld on me, yeah? Should be out in about 15 days.

~MAJOR MATTHEW HUDSON~



*MESSAGE FROM: COLONEL MARIA BOOR [10 DAYS AGO]*

Hey, lazybones. The brass might not care where you are, but the Rookies are looking for their Field Commander. James was a good guy, and the grunt who fist-fought a Muton to protect him seems like a good enough guy to follow. Hard to believe none of these guys really got their asses dragged out of the fire by the Commander like us, huh? XCOM's getting so big these days we might eventually outnumber the Greys.

Sorry, I'm rambling. I sent you a message to let you know I'm getting sealed up in a PSI Pod for about 10 days. Everyone from Hidden Throne is, as well as all those badass NCOs that couldn't remember how cover worked. (Not looking at you and Matt, of course. :P)

Come on down when you're up, and I'll see you on the other side!

Love,

~COLONEL MARIA BOOR~


Note to Myself:

Check with requisitions that my stuff is still useable. Hate to have to get used to a new gun after a month-long nap. It's not pressing, but if
Maria and/or Matt are boring (sorry, babe :P) it's something to do.

~Booker Durand~


You crack your back and pop your neck around, ready for your first day back at XCOM.

Where are you headed?

[Just to Clarify, Maria and Matt are getting out of their prior engagements right now, so if you choose to visit one of them they will indeed be there. Also, first quest, yay.]
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Re: XCOM: Enemy Within

Unread postby shadowspiri5 » June 9th, 2014, 9:38 pm

MARIA, MARIA, she reminds me of a west side story. Ok I'll stop now. But seriously go see Maria.
If at first you don't succeed kill it with fire! Because why not?
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Re: XCOM: Enemy Within

Unread postby Wraith5 » June 9th, 2014, 9:57 pm

Yeah, go see Maria.
"Boss, why is it that you always say 'I've got a plan' like a terrorist says 'I've got a bomb'?" - Garrus Vakarian in Razor's Edge: Requiem (a Mass Effect fan-fic)
"Sometimes I stop to think and forget to start again." - t-shirt
"I don't understand, but I disagree." - my older sister misquoting my younger brother ("I understand, but...")
"Come to the Darkside; We have bacon." - t-shirt
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Re: XCOM: Enemy Within

Unread postby spector29 » June 10th, 2014, 12:51 am

You look over the note to yourself and smirk. You're a thirty two year old soldier participating in one of the most horrific conflicts in human history, decorated with three different medals and more than thirty confirmed kills to your name...

...And you still use smiley faces in your own notes. Of course, it's in mention of your girlfriend, so she's obviously the one to blame. Humorously, you remember that fraternization was frowned upon quite heavily in XCOM a while ago, even if many of the troops kept romantic trysts from the brass. It is unavoidable, really, when you have all these men and women in high-stress situations, that things like these can...erupt. Arguably, yours and Maria's relationship began truly a few missions into the war. She, like her brother, was designated to become a Sniper, and had gone up a few ranks accordingly. You were the typical Leeroy Jenkins, running up with the shotgun and blasting off the faces of anyone who decides to look at you funny. The two of you were quite a pair in battle, with you never being afraid to be on the front lines of any conflict and paint enemy targets for Maria to pop off with ease.

This actually ended up boosting morale for a few reasons. For one thing, your...forward thinking in regards to cover and tactics means you kept the heat off of others when the X-Rays would rather be trying to get rid of the crazed berserker. Secondly, you had a miraculous tendency to pull off heroic saves when everything goes to shit. Early on into your career, you took part in a six-man mission to clean out the first ever shot-down UFO. You were all unprepared for the results. Taking up firing positions around the downed craft, you sent two of the three rookies into the craft. An orange crystal materialized at that moment, and became a humanoid of what the scientists called, "Pure Energy."

There was nothing pure about the green field that came around him as he charged his plasma rifle. Everyone was preparing to shoot him while he was uncovered, but just as soon as he appeared he promptly nailed one of the rookies in the face. The shock to the other one caused him to hesitate, and the Outsider got away into a corner. It was then, likely, that everything went to hell. The last Rookie on the team primed a grenade and promptly blew the back out of The Outsider's protection. What followed was that, instead of moving to take a different position of cover, The Outsider charged at the Rookie who had thrown the grenade and melted the torso of the unfortunate Soldier. You were on the other side of the craft, now, with your two comrades intending to catch the bastard in a pincer. Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, you moved to secure the last remaining Rookie, who had worked up quite the impressive panic attack.

And then shit really hit the fan. The two squaddies had flanked the Outsider and unloaded into him. By the time they had to reload, The Outsider looked like mulch. Mulch that rapidly knit itself together and started murdering your comrades.

Time to NOPE on out of there. As the first of the squaddies went down to the river of plasma hell-fire, the second seemed to stop. He looked down at the two of you, the last of the squad...

...And gave you a single nod. This was not going to end in a Code Black after all.

"HEY YOU FUCKING XENO BASTARD! OVER HERE!" Shouted the last man as he ran off, shooting his gun back in the Outsider's direction.

You scooped up the gibbering Rookie and ran back to the Skyranger in tears. Incidentally, you received the International Medal of Honor that day. Also, that event made Maria's older brother quite fond of you. Considering you saved his life.

--

You slink by the general barracks, hoping the new guys don't mob you. It's not that you don't appreciate it- It's quite endearing, really- but you ARE busy. However, as you cross the main mess hall you notice that it's absolutely packed and brace for impact.

...

...Or not? The soldiers seem oddly subdued today. Well, whatever, you've got places to be!

--

Down the elevator and across the floor, you make your way to the Psionic Testing Chambers. It's on the end of the floor, mirroring the Genetic's Lab's placement on the other end. Some stairs, purple-tinted hallways and purple-tinted corridors later, you're down on the main floor. There are three pods there, with the implication that Maria was inside one of them. Quite a few people were also gathered around, you guess this is because this is the first round of soldiers getting out of the pods.

PSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Three pods opened. In the left most pod was Major Marvin Okeke, a big black sonovabitch in charge of keeping you guys alive. If anyone took James' death on Hidden Throne harder than you, it was him. It was his job, after all, to prevent you from dying. But capturing the Sectoid Commander was no easy task, and we used all the Medkits in the fight.

In the right most pod, Maria's older brother and the man whose ass you saved from the fire all that time ago, Daniel Boor. He was a shorter guy, but still taller than Maria. He was white as the driven snow, but made up for it by not skipping arm day. Or leg day. Or any day, really.

And there, out of the center pod, came your girlfriend of some months. Maria Boor, Sniper extraordinaire. Well, that was technically inaccurate when her brother and Ramirez had more kills than her, but judging from how many times she's capped an alien that got behind you on one of your charges, she seems like the best of the bunch. Maybe you're biased.

But before you could step up to embrace her 5"5', wispy black-haired form, the scientists converged on the three of them. First, they clumped to Okeke. He concentrated for a moment, but ended up just shaking his head in defeat. The scientists were disappointed, but released him. You shared nought but a look as he left. Then they clumped around Maria, and there were so many scientists and she was so small that she got lost in the crowd for a bit. Eventually, though, the crowd gathered around Daniel as Maria slipped out of the white-coated throng.

"Hey! You got my message?" She says, stepping up to hug you. You take a second to enjoy this before you reply, it's been about a month since you've even seen each other.

"Absolutely. Matt actually went under the knife a few days before you, so he did get his message off first. I was tempted to go see him..." You smirk, getting into the habit of teasing the smaller soldier.

Instead of pouting adorably like she did when you were still fresh, she just smirked right back, "And give up brownie points with your possibly-psychic girlfriend? I doubt it."

"True, but he probably could punch me through the wall for snubbing him. You wanna go see him?" You say, lightly tugging on her hand.

She smiles and shakes her head, "Can't. Everyone with the Gift has to stay for some more testing."

You pause. Maria had the Gift? What does that mean- OH. Maria tested positive for Psionic ability. Gotcha.

"Please don't tell me you just now figured it out." Suddenly, you could hear a voice in your head. A softly feminine voice...

Looking back at Maria, you can see the purple psionic glow in her eyes, and her face lit up in another smile. "That's amazing! Congratulations!"

She smiled and did a little bow, "What can I say, I always knew I was special."

You smile, "Damn right."

She slips out of your grip and pushes you towards the throng of scientists, and you idly note that you can see a purple cornea of Psionic energy around Daniel.

--

[] Concede and Enter the next round of testing
[] But...Matt. Punching. Walls.
[] Write in Your Own Answer
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Re: XCOM: Enemy Within

Unread postby Wraith5 » June 10th, 2014, 1:39 am

I have one question before I decide. Does Matt tend to use one hand more than the other in hand-to-hand combat, or does he use both comfortably? Your answer might change my response... lol
"Boss, why is it that you always say 'I've got a plan' like a terrorist says 'I've got a bomb'?" - Garrus Vakarian in Razor's Edge: Requiem (a Mass Effect fan-fic)
"Sometimes I stop to think and forget to start again." - t-shirt
"I don't understand, but I disagree." - my older sister misquoting my younger brother ("I understand, but...")
"Come to the Darkside; We have bacon." - t-shirt
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Re: XCOM: Enemy Within

Unread postby spector29 » June 10th, 2014, 1:51 am

Matt is more of a brawler, preferring a strong right hook.
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Re: XCOM: Enemy Within

Unread postby Wraith5 » June 10th, 2014, 1:58 am

Hmm... not sure whether testing or Matt. The corollary to Matt is that we try to stay slightly to his left. We do NOT want to get punched too hard. I'm not entirely sure what that 'genetic makeover' will do to him, but, from the sound of things, if it boosts his physical strength, we don't want to get hit at all.
"Boss, why is it that you always say 'I've got a plan' like a terrorist says 'I've got a bomb'?" - Garrus Vakarian in Razor's Edge: Requiem (a Mass Effect fan-fic)
"Sometimes I stop to think and forget to start again." - t-shirt
"I don't understand, but I disagree." - my older sister misquoting my younger brother ("I understand, but...")
"Come to the Darkside; We have bacon." - t-shirt
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