//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 Unsettling // Story: Xcom: Alien Unknown // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 8: Unsettling As Dinky opened her eyes, she found herself in a rainy Trottingham and heard a whistle. She turned into its direction, seeing a blue unicorn with dark red mane making a stop sign as a car approached. The filly recognized her, it was Pipsqueak’s godmother Blue Murder. He had told her often of how a great godmother the mare was. Unfortunately, after a series of events most refused to divulge, Blue had to leave Pip and his mother, but none of the two blamed her for what had happened. The car stopped and the mare looked to her right and made a go sign and a group consisting of three ponies, the leader was a batpony with an eyepatch over the right eye walked out. “Okay, boys, let’s do this!” “Quite a marvelous day it is outside.” The second pony, wearing a Stetson hat like Applejack commented. “Oh, shut up, Tybalt, all this rain fries my equipment!” The other pony complained. “My pleasure, Bovril.” The other pony joked as they got out of sight and Dinky jumped as suddenly there was a traffic Jam, with Blue looking horrified around. “I told Shadowplay this was a bad idea!” Dinky then woke up, wondering what she had just dreamed as she had to smile. Jessie and Bianca were hugging each other in their sleep, Jane and Kyle did the same. The filly was happy for them that they had found together, knowing they would be happy together. Carefully, not to wake them, she walked out and towards the bar for breakfast, seeing the Knights, Lena and Lukas. “Good morning!” She greeted cheerfully. “Morning, Dinky,” Lukas replied as she joined them. “Have you seen how happy he was yesterday? He won’t forget this birthday so fast.” Wolf asked the others. “Yes, he and Bianca really fit together, and frankly, I think they all earned it.” Lena added. “Couldn’t agree more.” Fletcher took a bite of his toast before Bradford walked in. “Sorry to disturb you so early in the morning, but we got a very important mission to do.” He informed them and they all knew what this meant. “No problem, we report to the hanger bay at once.” Midnight replied and they all equipped their gear, Patch was going with them. Once inside the transport, the Central officer gave the briefing. “As far as we can tell, someone has been smuggling information out of the ADVENT network using one of their data vaults. The signal we picked up is faint, but there’s definitely something down here. ADVENT is already in position for their own recovery effort, so expect heavy resistance and we lost all contact with the resistance forces. Secure the site and locate the vault in question. Leave no enemy standing.” The Skyranger brought them to a small town as they deployed. “Menace 1-5, we’ve got a bead on the ADVENT data vault near your position. Be advised, self-detonating charges are in-place at the target. Move to disarm and extract the package before it’s contents are destroyed.” Keeping that in mind, Dinky and Lukas scouted ahead, moving at the end of the road, spotting an ADVENT patrol, consisting of an Officer, Stun Lancer and a third soldiers they had not seen before. Said soldier was wearing a white and black suit of what appears to be powered armor with a series of silver sockets on the back and a bundle of wires running from the back of the torso to the arms, the suit was marked with red lights on the legs and elbows, large with two pieces of plating on the sides of the helmet. Covering the shoulders of the armor was the bulky white pauldrons, which were larger than those of all other ADVENT units. The most notable feature of these pauldrons was the large red ADVENT logo stamped on the left pauldron, which is shaped like a rectangle. “Our resistance contacts had heard rumors ADVENT might be rolling out a heavy infantry armor system. Looks pretty though.” Central commented as Midnight took position behind a pole and fired at the Officer, blood splatted from the chest as he was thrown against a wall. The Stun Lancer activated his lance as his ally took cover behind a car. The former charged at the batpony who tried to block his attack but the Lancer managed to shove his blade aside and hit him with his Lance into the chest. Midnight let out random gibberish as the electricity went through his body, being disoriented by it, before Fetcher fired at the Lancer’s head and took him out. An ADVENT trooper, together with a Muton appeared from the left side of the road, taking cover behind a fence, Midnight fired a shot at the Muton but missed due to being disoriented. The hand of the white ADVENT soldier started to glow and he punched the ground with it and a red glow was spreading out like a fire and red shields appeared in front of him and his allies. Wolf fired at the trooper, he did only flinch as the shield absorbed the damage mostly. “We must get rid of that shield guy!” She yelled but Midnight got an idea. “Why killing him if he can be our ally?” He used his Amp to send a beam of energy towards the white soldier, he started to hold his head for a second before firing on the trooper. “Dominated!” The others got it, he was mind-controlling him. He ordered the soldier to do his shield trick again, this time shielding the XCOM operatives. The Muton aimed at Lena and fired, she did barely feel pain and only got shoved back a little as she was hit, returning fire and killed the Alien with a shot to the head. “Kill confirmed.” She announced as they moved on. Dinky flew her GEMLIN towards a house where the vault was located, seeing that it was guarded by a MEC and something else. It looked like a blue colored space suit with a yellow glass covering the “Helmet”, looking heavily armored, having what appeared to be a tank with green liquid on the back, causing Central to comment, “This thing looks ready to smash something.” “Is that an environment suit…Maybe something that can’t handle our atmosphere?” Shen suspected. “Those emissions could be toxic. I advise caution.” Tygan warned on the radio. Fletcher fired in the blue suit, the enemy flinched only. “Hit the plate!” With series of low, metallic groaning sounds emitting from behind the sickly-green screen, the Alien then fired multiple green beams, yet missed him, hitting the wall behind him, before Midnight rushed forward to strike the MEC with his Blade, destroying it then retreated back to cover again. The other hostile looked at Lena, aimed it her and Lukas, it’s weapon shook for a second and a green glob was fired from it and both screamed in pain as it hit them “Acid!” The woman yelled as she felt like her skin burned and melted, green spots on her armor, melting slightly, but Dinky was already alerted and healed both with her drone. “Looks like this calls for drastic measure!” The green stallion drew his bow and fire and powered shot, the suit got thrown back, the cockpit broke. A thin, dark, fleshy, faceless figure hung morbidly out its broken visor, blank fish-like eyes unblinking. Then suddenly, the suit twitched and sparked, standing upright again. “We all saw that thing go down…What the hell is it doing?!” Central asked in disbelief as the suit moved towards the Pegasus, laying a trail of deadly coolant in its wake and raised its fist for a strike but Wolf ducked to avoid it. She then fired her weapon and it got thrown back a bit, the White ADVENT solder and Lukas then fired , followed by Patch, eventually taking it down. “Okay, one autonomous alien less in the world.” The Brite said and they moved towards the house, avoiding the acid on the ground and hacked the vault, defusing it. “Menace 1-5, status confirmed, the charges are inactive and the package is secure. Eliminate all remaining hostiles near the AO.” Bradford ordered. An ADVENT transport arrived at the left end of the road and an officer with two Stun Lancers jumped out, the squad got in position before a terrifying roar came from behind the ADVENT troops. Everyone’s eyes went wide in fear at what they saw. A Berserker. But it was different. The head was covered by a metal plate, green glowing lenses were the eyes should be. On the back were two green tanks, connected with hoses to two metal claws. “Of all the aliens running around out there these days…she just had to modify a Berserker, hadn’t she?” Central asked in shock. “Her curiosity was not unfounded, although I agree it was perhaps not the most prudent of choices.” Tygan added. “Oh...well...this day just keeps getting better and better! CAN YOU SENSE THE SARCASM?! CAN YOU?!” Wolf yelled. They all watched as the ADVENT squad opened fire on the alien, but it shrugged everything off, throwing the soldiers back with strong force as it charged at them, then let out a powerful scream, making the XCOM squad quivering in fear. With shaking hands, Patch aimed at it and fired, the shot surprisingly knocked it back. However, it recovered quickly, roaring again and all others concentrated their fire in it as it punched the white soldier, throwing him into a wall, killing him, then slammed the ground, creating a quake that throw everyone over, being stunned or disoriented. Dinky watched in shock as the Berserker moved to Midnight, who had fallen against a car, moaning in pain. “Get up! Quickly!” She yelled on the radio as the Berserker raised it’s arms. The stallion’s vision was blurry, his head ringed as he looked up, seeing a faint, blur figure in front of him. Upon getting clear, his eyes went wide and in a split second, he threw the frost Bomb he still had with him, hearing the cracking of ice. He let out a breath of relive to see the alien frozen, it’s metal claws inches away from his head. “Too close…” He then checked the others, helping them up. “Watch out!” Dinky yelled as the ice cracked, the alien slowly starting to break free. In a matter of seconds, the XCOM operatives surrounded it, opening fire as it broke free, it started to flinch with every hit it took, Midnight used his blade, curing through the chest, Wolf her blade and knives to cut the back. The Berserker let out a dying groan and fell backwards. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall. I’d love to ask Vahlen what exactly she planned on doing with this thing.” Bradford commented relived at the kill. “Status confirmed, all hostiles are down and the area is secure.” “Well, that didn’t go as planned.” Lukas said as they were on their way back. “Hey, could have been worse.” Dinky pointed out with a weak smile and Lena stroked her mane. “I guess you have a point.” Finally back on the Avenger, they used the rest of the day to relax from this exhausting mission, with the others being glad they were still alive after hearing of the modified Berserker. In the evening, Wolf said to Midnight, I hit the hay.” And was instantly asleep as she climbed into her bed. The bat pony put the blanket over her. “Sweet dreams, Wolf.” He whispered and turned to leave before he felt something grabbing him. He looked back, seeing that the mare was hugging him in her sleep. “No, Wolf, I’m not your teddy bear.” He attempted to free himself, only for the Pegasus to strengthen her grip, causing him to groan in discomfort. The time passed, the ponies did some missions here and there to help XCOM, wondering when they could go home. It was now August, and they, together with their friends walked past the lab, seeing Tygan, Shen and Central watching recordings of the Blacksite. “I truly hope those gruesome imagines are the worst of what we find today.” The scientist said to the young woman. “They’re slaughtering us, Doctor. What could be worse?!” Bradford wanted to know as he pointed at the screen. “We’re about to find out.” Lily tipped on a terminal. “I’ve patched the Shadow Chamber directly into the ship’s computer. It’s been shifting through the material we recovered non-stop since our return. Cataloguing sequences.” “Genetic sequences. In near infinite combinations. Yet all bearing similar genetic markers. Human markers” Tygan added. “There must be thousands of them.” Bradford replied with disgust. “Tens of thousands. And the procedure is still nowhere near complete.” “Which is why we need the ship’s computer to find out where they came from.” Shen explained, “By cross referencing them with the data we’ve managed to hack from the ADVENT network.” She tipped on the console and holographic images of patent files and the ADVENT logo got shown. “It’s…an admission file from one of the Gene Therapy clinics.” “Avatar.” Bradford concluded, “Just what exactly is in that vial.” He turned to the scientist, whose expression became horrified. “In my worst nightmares, I would never have imagined.” “Doctor.” Central demanded to know. “I believe we have found the missing civilians.” Tygan said in shock and Bradford shared his reaction. “That’s…that’s impossible.” He said in disbelief. “The gene clinics. Millions of people, just looking for help.” The young woman sounded horrified. “Medically screened and selected. Suitable candidates taken to that contemptible facility to be processed. Refined into the material we now process.” Tygan finished. Dinky gasped at what she heard, the knights, Heavy, Jane and Bianca looked at each other with terrified expressions. Patch, James, Kyle and Jan, Lena and Lukas looked at each other with the same expressions, realizing what horrible fate they had barely escaped and their friends had suffered. “But…Why do this?” The Central officer asked in confusion. “I could not begin to fathom a guess at this point. There exists no research that would ever warrant this.” The Chief scientist told him. “It’s genocide, Doctor. And these people are walking into it!” Lily exclaimed in disgust. “We may not know what they’re doing with this stuff, but I think I can find out where it’s going.” She tipped on the monitor again. “Got it. It’s a high security facility – standard defensive complement.” “Then we should act quickly, there is no time to waste!” Dinky exclaimed, surprising everyone. After a brief pause, Tygan said, “Agreed. The information we gain could prove invaluable towards stopping the aliens’ true agenda. Reminds me, if you see another Codex in the field, Midnight, try to hack it.” “No problem and I agree, the sooner we do this, the better for all of us.” The stallion sounded determined and they made their way to the Skyranger. Once they got in, the others noticed how Sasha was wearing what looked like the skin of the modified Berserker. “Tygan made a powerful armor out of it, let’s see how it does in the field.” He said as Bradford gave the briefing. “As far as we can tell, this Forge is some sort of alien production facility, most likely tied to that stuff we found at the Blacksite. ADVENT and the alien forces won’t be happy to see us, so expect heavy resistance. We have to do whatever it takes to find out what’s going on in there.” The transport deployed them in a forest area. “This is Avenger. The facility is in range, move to investigate.” Central gave the order and Dinky and Lukas scouted ahead. They both spotted a Stun Lancer and Codex patrolling the road ahead, causing Tygan to say, “Commander, that Codex provides the ideal opportunity to infiltrate the ADVENT network.” Just as he finished, the patrol moved away, and loud stomping sounds greeted their ears, seeing a Sectopod, patrolling with the small group, it was black in color. “The aliens used this to defeat most of Earth’s conventional forces. It can punch through armor just as easily as it chews through infantry. Be careful.” Shen warned. The rest of the XCOM squad moved up and Bolster took aim at the Stun Lancer, pulling the trigger. The shot went right through the helmet, throwing the body a few meters back. In the moment the Codex and Sectopod took notice of the hostiles, Heavy fired a grenade at the latter, the explosion destroyed some of the armor and the Codex used a rock as cover. The Sectopod extended its legs and opened it’s front and a series of emitters became visible. They quickly realized it charged up a powerful shot. They all fired at the robot, it did not flinch nor got thrown back, making it impossible to tell if it took damage before they moved out of the way as the Sectopod fired, destroying tress and rocks in it’s path. Midnight then flew up and used his own Blade, the Sectopod glowed red and exploded. Then he dived towards the Codex and rammed the Skulljack into the jaw, lifting him it and killing it instantly, starting the hack. “I got access.” Before anyone could react, a purple glow appeared on the ground near them, glowing brighter and brighter. As it vanished, they all saw what appeared to be a human in a black armor suit. The human had white hair, appeared to be androgynous, the face could barely be seen, covered behind a purple facemask, raising a hand to flaunting Psionic powers, as it glowed purple. “Commander, I believe we are seeing something entirely new…an alien species that has so far managed to elude capture or observation by resistance forces. I strongly advise a cautious approach.” Tygan warned as the human went to cover behind a tree. Dinky noticed that a purple projection of an Elder was behind the hostile as Patch yelled, “The mind is willing!” And shot a beam of psionic energy towards the human, it filched in pain, then vanished in a purple flash and reappeared on their left flank behind a barrier. “It can teleport!” “Let’s see how you like this!” Sasha yelled as he charged forward, evading a shot from the enemy and performed a punch, it threw the enemy into a wall of a checkpoint, but it recovered quickly. “How tough is that thing?!” The hostile then fired a beam of energy towards him and he grunted in pain, but Lena already sent her GREMLIM to heal him. “You won’t get away!” Wolf yelled as she casted her vines to lock the enemy it place, the human struggled, unable to break free as all other fired on it, flinching with every hit but still was standing before Patch fired at the head. The human fell dead on its back and they saw how the projection of the Elder dissolved with a distorted scream. “It’s down.” Abstraction confirmed the kill and they moved towards the Forge. As it was in sight, looking very familiar to the Blacksite, the filly noticed that Lukas held his head for a second. “Are you alright?” She asked with concern. “This place…looks familiar, but I can’t remember from where…”He replied. An ADVENT officer, together with a Stun Lancer and a MEC guarded the entrance, the robot was red in color instead of white. Midnight threw one of his Bombs at them, it blew the soldiers against the wall, the MEC was sparking, but still standing. “it’s better armored than the white version!” He exclaimed but that gave Abstraction an idea. “Maybe, but not against this!” He pointed at the MEC and Lyra flew over, shocking the MEC and it fell sparking and smoking to the ground. The former trooper and Dinky then entered the Forge, seeing several tubes with the ADVENT Logo on it. They opened and they saw something surprising. “These aren’t civilians. They’re ADVENT.” Shen said as she saw troopers in the tubes with their eyes closed, like they were sleeping or unconscious. “Yes. And judging by the subject’s condition, I’d say it was recently manufactured.” Tygan added. “No wonder they keep coming.” Central commented as Lukas held his head again, seeing flashes of the same facility and himself getting operated on. “I…remember. I was made into a trooper in such a facility….” He mumbled and Dinky and Lena slightly gasped, not wanting to imagine how painful it must have been for him. A little further ahead, they spotted a new enemy. It’s visual design appeared to be based of on the Egyptian gods, featuring ornate gold armor, a wreath-like design for its levitation jets and a muscular physique, but like with ADVENT soldiers, only the mouth was visible. It held a polearm in its hand. “The aliens may have cleaned up the design, but these monsters are no better off than the ones my father dealt with.” Lily commented at the sight as the rest of the squad moved in. Next to the new enemy was a Muton, he panicked upon seeing the Grenadier, firing at the flying alien, then cowered behind a wall. The shot only grazed it, but thy saw how the flying enemy, raised it’s hand into the air, letting out a angry roar, like it was in a frenzied state. Sasha pressed himself against the wall as the hostile pointed his pole at him and fired a green beam, hitting the ground next to his left foot. Lena then took aim and fired at the head, taking it down for good. The squad then took a close look at the pods with the ADVENT soldiers, not believing what they saw as Central commented, “First it’s human bodies, now we’re finding ADVENT…something tells me they didn’t abduct these ones.” “Looks more like a production facility to me, the configuration is different…is it possible? Could this be where the ADVENT forces are coming from?!” Shen wondered. “Nothing is beyond the realm of possibility when dealing with the aliens.” Tygan added. They then moved towards a room in far back, finding a white colored tube. ”This is Avenge, package is in range“ Bradford informed them and Jane walked up to it, pulling the lever to open it. A white suit, looking similar to a space suit fell out and she caught it as Central exclaimed in shock, “How can that be? It’s just like the one –“ “Careful! Preserve the specimen at all costs!” The scientist warned. “Confirmed acquisition of the package. Move to EVAC.” The ECAC zone was just behind the Forge, so they quickly made their way there but a reimport brought reinforcements in form of an officer with a trooper and Stun Lancer right next to it on a small elevation. The others suppressed the ADVENT troops, so Jane could get the stasis suit to the EVAC zone and grabbed the rope to get on the Skyranger. “Status confirmed, target package in custody.” Bradford acknowledged. Fletcher then focused his magic and teleported between the hostiles in a flash, stabbing them with his spear to clear the way. “Now let’s move!” Suddenly there was a roar and they all looked behind them, seeing another of those flying enemies, but this one had a red skin and the armor was silver in color. “This…variation on the Archon we’ve encountered before must surely be the modified subject Dr. Vahlen had been experimented on.” The Chief scientist commented at the sight. “She didn’t have to upgrade their equipment on the process, no matter these things escaped from the lab!” Central yelled in annoyance as Patch fired a shot, throwing the Archon back quote a bit, only for it to let about an angry scream, like the regular one had done. As the Specialist reloaded, the modified Archon flew up high into the air and let out a battle cry, launching a barrage of explosives from it’s pinions, the CXOM soldiers looked up in shock and dived out of the way as the pinions came down, barely avoiding it “Watch out, Midnight!” Dinky warned but it was too late as the stallion was still dazed on the ground when the Archon grabbed him and flew high up into the air, the bat pony struggled to get free. “Let go of him!” Wolf flew up and delivered fast, yet strong stabs with her knives, causing the alien to let go and Midnight used his wings to stabilize himself in the air, then rammed his Blade into the Archon’s chest, the alien let out a grunt and fell dead towards the ground. “Vahlen toughed ‘em up good. But not good enough to handle us. “Good work out there people.” Central praised them and they evacuated before more reinforcements would arrive. “We’ve got what we came for, let’s get clear of the area.” “I am eager to begin examining the subject as soon as we get it back to the labs. We might as well take advantage of Dr. Vahlen’s existing experiments, as I have no intention of trying to replicate them myself.” Tygan added. “Commander, that’s the last of ‘em…three botched science experiments, three alien rulers down for the count. At the very least, we know Vahlen is still out there somewhere, and we picked up some new gear in the process. Not a bad haul considering.” As the Skyranger flew back to the Avenger, they all let out a breath of relief that they had made it. “Can…can you believe what they did to those poor people?” Bianca asked, not able to believe what she had seen. “I can’t believe it either. I mean, me, Kyle and Patch barely avoided this fate back then.” James replied with a shaken voice. “Yes, but with this latest success, we might be able to stop this.” Dinky said, sounding very confident about it. “I guess you have a point. Let’s hope it is.” “I’m pretty sure it will, James.” Midnight replied with a slight smile. Suddenly an alert ringed in their ears. “Firebrand, what’s wrong?” Jane asked on the radio. “We got ADVENT interceptors incoming! They got a lock! Hold on!” The pilot yelled and suddenly the Skyranger shook violently and Dinky screamed, with Lena holding her tight to calm her down. The ramp broke apart and they felt the strong wind, smelling smoke from the outside and the VTOL shock again, throwing them all over and they heard screams. “James!” Bolster yelled as he and Toby got thrown out, the Pegasus and bat pony jumped out to save them. “Help!” Dinky yelled as she almost had been thrown out, holding on the ramp with both hooves for dear life, slowly slipping, hearing in shock how Lukas and Fletcher screamed as she were thrown out too. Lena attempted to grab her but she fell and screamed, with all others watching in shock. Her life flashed before her eyes as the ground came closer and closer. “Got you!” A voice yelled before she blacked out upon impact.