XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 99: Dodging

Hello Commander! It's been a long time! How have you been? Like, I bet you guys totally forgot that I was out there to get you! But guess what? I totally crashed that mission of yours in old Shanghai! It was kinda fun, but I don't think you'll like what I did to your troops though!

Did you ever read that story, "The Most Dangerous Game?" I bet you did, back in school. Well, it's a lie. They weren't dangerous at all! Still, brownie points for trying! Only, like, there's no second chances here! Just wait commander, I'll be coming for you soon, so make sure you have some spicy tacos ready for me!

"Report?" Chrysalis called from the balcony overlooking the world map.

"It's true, Commander," the Comms Engineer spoke up, her voice shaking. "We've lost communication with Eagle team."

"Nothing? No word from Captain Foles?" Chrysalis hissed. "Biometrics? Anything?"

"N-no Commander."

Chrysalis cringed, gripping the bars tightly. "Keep an eye on the comms. Let me know if there were any survivors that were captured." She sighed. "Take us to the Black Market. I'm getting tired of these Chosen. We need more info on the Hunter and the Warlock."

"Y-yes Commander."

"Central," she looked at Bradford, who was looking at the static on the screen with tight fists, "I want Tygan and Lily in here with you in ten, I think it's about time we outline our response."

"Yes, Commander."

Twilight shifted in place, nervously looking at the woman sitting calmly across from her.

"Do I make you nervous, Princess?"

Twilight gulped. "I'm sorry, you're… it's just…"

"I'm the counterpart of someone you know from your own dimension, I understand," Luna said, smiling encouragingly and moving her gray bangs to the side with her hand. "I hear I'm a princess there too."

"Y-yes, there is a Princess Luna, she raises the Moon."

"Oh? That's very interesting, can you tell me more about her? I can't quite use magic to control the daylight hours, but I'm sure she and I have some things in common?"

"I'm not sure…"

"I have a sister here, do I have one there?"

Twilight crossed her arms. "I know what you're doing. I've read psychology books too."

Luna leaned back. "Alas, I have been discovered. There can only be one reason for me to ask such a question after all, and it must be related to whatever it is you don't want to talk about."

"Look, I don't want to waste your time…"

"You're not, I'm paid by the hour."

"Oh."

The pair sat in silence.

"I really don't have anything to say."

"Mhm."

Twilight leaned back and tried to mentally design a new spell matrix to incorporate into her project, but Luna's pencil scratching on paper kept distracting her. She glared at the counselor. "Paper and pencil? In this day and age?"

"I couldn't find any quills," Luna quipped.

Twilight blinked. "They have quills for writing here?"

Luna nodded. "Well, they did, it was more of an art than popular practice, but calligraphy was a field of study I partook of as an optional class."

"Back home we had a store which specialized in quills," Twilight said, smiling, "and sofas. It was mostly what they sold."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "What an interesting economy you must have had."

"Yeah," Twilight chuckled, "Ponyville was kind of idyllic. Ponies were hard working, but we'd still find time to enjoy life. I was very surprised to find how many days of minimum eight hours of work were customary here before some time off was awarded."

Luna smiled. "Some jobs came with more vacation time, but sometimes that was ephemeral as well. Celestia and I would have to spend a big part of that "free time" meeting with other teachers and planning the curriculum."

Twilight crossed her arms.

"I'm not trying to 'catch' you, Twilight, I just want to talk, about whatever you want to talk about."

"And if I don't want to talk?"

"Then we'll stay quiet."

Twilight sighed and looked down, trying to wait out the time. "I really don't need this, you know? I think Chrysalis is overstepping her authority."

"Oh?"

"I'm a Princess, I've dealt with a lot of things before and I've come out fine. I just need to concentrate on work or study and I'll get better."

"What type of things, if you don't mind my asking?" Luna said, tilting her head. "I'm actually curious… I heard that the Princess title is earned, did any of these instances have anything to do with you becoming a princess?"

"All of them did, I suppose," Twilight admitted, "from my first day in Ponyville, where I had to fight Nightmare Moon, to defeating Discord and fighting the changelings and discovering a new type of magic I guess was the culmination of it all… but I had plenty of less extreme days where I had to deal with a lot of stuff. This is just like that, and the Commander is just worrying too much."

"I see, and what was the type of magic you discovered?"

"It was the magic of—" Twilight bit her lip and looked away. "I don't think I want to talk about it."

Luna smiled. "Fair enough. Our time is up for now, but maybe you should consider this… did you get through everything else you did on your own?" She stood up and patted Twilight's shoulder. "Over here, our meetings are confidential, I hope you take that into account for our next meeting."

"By now I imagine you've heard of what happened," Chrysalis said, walking in front of the group. "Eagle Team was decimated. The Hunter arrived and started picking them off… all it took was for one to panic and the whole thing…" she bit her lip. "In the end it's my fault, but I'm not going to take the blame and not do anything about it."

She looked straight at the Menace team. "Menace, you have Annette and Angel on loan, make sure they come back as pristine as you're getting them.

"Your mission is to infiltrate the Assassin's HQ, find her, and kill her. If there's a way of killing these bastards, it's going to be in there. They took out one of our teams, and they've been hunting us. It's time they become the prey."

"We'll only get one chance to do this," Bradford spoke up, "If this mission fails, they'll not only recover, but account for their weaknesses. We won't be able to infiltrate their base again, and we can't afford to lose another team. We need to take advantage of the element of surprise… they won't be expecting this."

"We have made some improvements to the equipment," Lily spoke up, "we've got plasma grenades ready to replace your usual fragmentation ones, and I have finished upgrading your GREMLIN, Jane."

Jane smirked. "Great!"

"It has improved hacking capabilities and range… I've also made sure to attach a NanoMedikit to it for emergencies," Lily added. She turned to look at Sunset. "Your request is also ready, so you guys can pick that up before you leave."

"Understood," Sunset said.

"It's time to hunt, Menace," Chrysalis said, "Go get rid of that bitch."