Chapter 11: Retaliation
Dinky groaned as she regained consciousness, rubbing her head. What happened? Where am I?
Her eyes went wide as she found herself in what appeared to be a facility beneath the ocean, several large pods were scattered around the room, and a large statue of an Elder was in the middle of it.
“The Temporal One...The daughter of the rift-walker and the mare who should not have been...Truly, you are a curiosity.” A voice echoed through the room, sounding emotionless. It was eerie, dissonant. As if speaking through several other voices and she saw how the pods glowed purple and something materialized in front of her, looking identical to the statue, wearing a red coat, the mask was golden.
An actual Elder.
It was astonishing for the young pony, yet confusing. “H-h-how...wh-what are you doing?”
“Your power begets our conversation, willingly or otherwise. Know that, already, you are ours. What remains is for you to decide how willing you choose to be. Would you help your world...or hinder it?” The Elder asked in return.
Dinky got more confused, why should she help them? “I...I want you to stop...I want to leave the humans alone.”
“Alone? With what? With their wars? With their disasters? With their madness that has gripped their civilization since its beginning and endures as long as there are none to oversee them?”
The unicorn did not understand. “Why should you oversee them?”
“Who better? Gaze upon us, child. Know of our power, our capabilities. Even glancing at a being beyond your comprehension, rich as your world is with magic, you understand that it is in our reach to teach humanity to live without hatred, without ignorance...without suffering.” The Elder explained to her.
It made no sense to Dinky, why the brutality then? “But what about the attacks you made?! The people you killed?!”
“Retaliation, definition; to repay harm done to you upon those responsible for it. Our wrath is directed upon those who would see us suffer, who would prefer themselves to suffer than live in gratitude to that which they refuse to understand.”
Dinky started to shake, remembering why XCOM fought for. “You don't understand! Humanity didn't ask to be overseen! They don't want to be overseen!”
“...A sign they need to be.” The Elder said and vanished.
The filly couldn’t believe what she just heard. The aliens had attacked humanity, how could they see their cause as just? Seeing it necessary to watch over them?
“Why….Why did you invade them? They never did anything to you…” She mumbled in confusion.
“Our intentions for humanity were never hostile.” A different voice sounded in her ears, also echoing but sounded caring, friendly, and she saw an Elder which cloak and mask was colored blue.
“What…what do you mean?”
“Our home was the oldest of worlds and the first to be consumed. Billions were lost. When we first encountered Earth we wept for a broken world. A tortured race crying out to the stars in agony. We answered their call. We saw their true potential. The invasion was a test. But humanity did not fail. They succeeded beyond measure.” The Elder explained to her.
Dinky tried to make sense of it. “Bu-but what has this to do with me?”
“You are the child of one who conquered time itself. Truly you were meant for something more. With your aid, your powers, we will work in unity to prevent your world from suffering the same fate as ours.”
The pony thought about it, shaking. It made sense to a degree but still…
“Why should I help you? After everything that happened?” She wanted to know.
“To protect, pony kind and humanity, child. You have nothing to fear.”
“B-but…I can’t…” She stuttered. “I don’t want to kill….”
“You won’t have to.” The Alien replied it raised an arm, the hand glowed purple and suddenly, Dinky felt sleepy, closing her eyes.
On board the Avenger, Fletcher grew worried. “I can’t believe this happened. We should have done something!”
Wolf put a hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t blame yourself, Fletch, there was nothing we could have done without putting her at risk.”
“We'll get her back in no time. The information we've attained will give us a head start.” Midnight added with a weak smile.
“Yes, Fletcher, she means a lot for all of us and we won’t rest until she’s safe.” Kyle had an honest expression with the others.
“Much appreciated.” The stallion now smiled weakly.
“I….I just hope they won’t…” the young boy trembled and Toby hugged him.
“We won’t let that happen, Edward.”
It was late in the night as the Knights got called by Bradford. “We located her magic signature in a therapy clinic but we can’t confirm it yet.”
“I can take a look.” Midnight offered and Central nodded.
The grey stallion stepped into the Skyranger, staying in the shadows one arriving at the city center, having no problem to get to the facility, seeing many ADVENT troops guarding it.
Guess I am on the right track.
He climbed into a vent at the side of the building, waiting until a trooper had walked past before proceeding inside.
A trooper was patrolling inside, the Knight followed him without being seen, towards a door, seeing a scientist doing maintenance on a stasis pod.
“I will do as ordered, I just need additional time.” The man said to the trooper before hearing a strange sound and turned towards the soldier. “Did you say…something?”
Blood splattered from the trooper and he fell dead to the ground, the man looked in fear at the bat pony. “You’re one of those!” He took a step back in fear. “You must understand. I had no choice…” He tried to explain before Midnight knocked him swiftly out.
He then looked at the stasis pod. “Oh, Luna…what did they do to you, Dinky?” He mumbled in shock as he saw the filly inside a stasis suit, yet didn’t hesitate to report. “I have visual confirmation.”
“Are you sure?” Central asked.
“Eternal Knights are always sure.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Cover your tracks and get out.”
“Copy that. I promise we get you out of here, Dinky.” He looked at her, then got out of the facility the same way he got in, waiting on a roof for the rest of the squad to arrive.
It took around thirty minutes for the Skyranger to get here and his fellow Knights, together with the humans got out. “We will need a distraction to get in.” Patch figured out and looked around, spotting an ADVENT van at the end of the road. “That should do it. Let's get cracking.”
The others nodded, getting into position as he walked up to it and placed an explosive charge on it.
“If they spot me, take the sides and be ready to move in on my signal.”
“What signal?” Wolf asked before they all got it.
“Patch, don't be an idiot. We can get you out of this if it comes that far.” Midnight tried to assure him.
“I very much hope so but if those guys see the charge going off, we're all in danger, especially Dinky. This could be our only chance.” The Brit pointed out. “And...If I don't make it out of this alive... Pick up my pieces...and bury them in Surrey.”
“Hey, you there!” A voice yelled and he saw an ADVENT officer, together with a few troops coming towards him.
Toby knew he had to do something and fast, so he did the first thing that came into his mind.
“♫And did those feet in ancient time. Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God. On England’s pleasant pastures seen?♫” He sang and the soldiers looked confused at each other, yet closed in.
“What...the buck...is this?” The grey stallion asked nonplussed.
“...William Blake, I think.” James replied.
“♫And did the Countenance Divine. Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here. Among these dark Satanic mills?”
In the moment they stood before him and he felt the explosion, closing his eyes and grunted in pain. “Gonna feel that tomorrow.”
Then he realized he was actually far away from it, next to Fletcher, his horn glowing. “Do you think I let you die that easily?” The stallion asked and the Specialist realized he had been teleported away, tisin being an aftereffect.
Yet the explosion had the desired effect as almost all troops investigated it, only a handful was left outside. Wolf flew between them, slicing them in a blink of an eye, allowing the rest to get into the clinic.
“Uncle Fletcher’s here, Dinky!” The green unicorn said as he pulled the switch to open the pod, fearing the worst as it slowly opened, his heart raced.
It almost skipped a beat at what he saw once it was open.
“it’s empty!”
“How?! We were only gone for five minutes!” Midnight exclaimed in surprise.
“They must have moved her out of your view.” Jessie concluded, “Let’s get out here, there’s nothing else we can do.”
Heavy used a grenade to blow a hole into the wall of the backside of the clinic and they all evacuated.
“Damn it…We were so close…” Fletcher lowered his head in defeat.
Lena out a hand on his shoulder. “We will find her, safe and sound, don’t give up.” He smiled weakly in response and it was early morning as they came back.
Edward looked at them with hope but quickly understand once he saw their lowered disappointed expressions, shaking. “Please…don’t tell me they….” Before he could finish, Lukas looked at him with a weak smile.
“The hope dies last. No matter where she is, we will find her and safe her.”
“Attention, Menace 5, report to Central at once.” The intercom buzzed and they did as told, his expression was one of slightly worry.
“We picked up an intermittent distress signal. And as far as we can tell the aliens are hitting back against one of the resistance outposts. It doesn’t look good. I need you to move in as fast as possible. We also discovered traits of unicorn magic.”
“Then Dinky must be here, there’s no time to waste!” Fletcher exclaimed, not wanting her to die and they got back into the Skyranger, hoping it wasn’t too late.
Parts of the settlement were burning as they arrived, Wolf scouted ahead, seeing cowering civilian behind a fence, moving towards him, noticing a Stun Lancer running towards him.
She shot him in the head, sending the soldier backwards into the dusty ground. “You’re covered, go!” The mare yelled and the civilian moved towards the Skyranger.
Midnight then moved up, noticing what appeared to a cocoon near a house, a Chryssalid emerged from it and rushed towards him.
He reached for his Fusion Blade and slashed at it, setting the Alien on fire, it flared around before dying. “Starting to like this thing already.”
Lena moved towards another civilian she spotted, but he collapsed and turned out to be a Faceless, she didn’t hesitate to shoot it, the plasma rifle burned right through the chest, killing it instantly.
Fletcher scanned the area from a hill, noticing a shadow from behind the burning building, looking like a filly. “Guys, I think I found her!”
“Good!” Midnight said and walked towards it, hearing a scream. A woman came across the corner, falling to the ground, bleeding from her arm. “Dinky, are you-“
He cut himself off in shock as the filly stepped out.
She was dressed like an ADVENT Priest, but the armor was red like that of an officer, having a cape on the back, armed with a Magnetic rifle and Psi Amp, the former held by her magic.
Dinky put a hoof to her chest, then raised it towards the sky as she looked at it and said something in the alien language.
“Oh no…” Midnight mumbled in shock as the filly vaulted behind a crate for cover, then reached for the amp and sent a purple beam towards a Muton. The Alien aimed at Midnight and fired, grazing him and he cried in pain. “We have to neutralize her!”
Just as Midnight had said this, the filly looked at Heavy and pointed at him, while yelling and other ADVENT soldiers, together with a Viper came from behind her.
They opened fire, suppressing the XCOM squad, forcing them into cover. “We can’t kill her!” Lena yelled.
“Let me try something!” The female Sniper jumped up into the air on a tower, only to realize the young unicorn had her in her sight, firing a rapid burst of six rounds, hitting her into the chest, throwing her over with a cry of pain. “Damn it!”
Fletcher then got an idea, focusing and teleported behind the ADVENT and Alien forces, flanking them and drew his pistol but was forced into cover by the same Muton. “I’m pinned down!” He yelled as he pressed himself against a stone wall, trying to think of a way how to stop this without hurting Dinky.
I can’t hurt her! There has to be a-
Suddenly something threw him to the ground and he felt a sudden stabbing pain in his chest.
A piercing chill shot through him.
The stallion struggled to get up, groaning in pain, holding his chest and looked at his hoof.
It was covered it blood, he was bleeding, seeing the shot had come from Dinky as her rifle was smoking, it was the last thing he saw before collapsing.
Fray’s friends looked in shock to see him lying in a puddle of his own blood, breathing heavily.
“Fletcher!” Wolf yelled and let out an angry growl. “No! You bastards! You're dead! You're all bucking dead!” In a fit of Berserker like rage, she flew through the hostiles, slicing them, creating chaos as she tore through their ranks.
Her ears twitched as she heard a faint sound, stopping as she realized it was sobbing, turning into it’s direction.
Her comrades did too, surprised at what they saw.
Dinky walked over to Fletcher, dropping to her knees with a lowered head, her forehooves grabbing his armor tightly, tears left her helmet.
It came from her, she was crying at what she had just done, slowly standing up and looked at the sky.
Suddenly she held her head and screamed in pain before falling to the ground.
They all were shocked, yet Lena didn’t hesitate to check her and Fletcher as Wolf had neutralizing all other enemy forces, hoping it wasn’t too late for both of them.
Her worried expression became one of relief. “They are both unconscious.”
“That’s good to hear. Wolf said as she and Midnight grabbed the now stabilized Archer by the forelegs, Lena took Dinky in her arms and Patch checked on the woman, her face was one of surprise as she saw him.
“T-Toby? Is that really you?”
The Specialist was just as surprised, but stayed calm and focused. “Yes, it’s me and I am glad to see you are alive, but let’s get you to a safer place."
They all were glad Dinky was so far alright but wondered what had caused her to fall unconscious as suddenly, Lena’s GREMLIM let out a warning beep and she took a look.
“What? She’s deploying a cerebral haemorrhage!”
“Then we should hurry!” Midnight replied and alerted the Avenger.
Once onboard, Lena, Midnight and Wolf brought her to Tygan who scanned her. “It appears she has an implant in her skull, we must remove it immediately or we risk losing her.”
“Are you sure you can do this?” Midnight asked with concern.
“Yes, I did this before with the commander.”
Dinky’s vision was blurry as she came to, hearing faintly a voice, “…Preparing final incision.” She saw what she could only describe as a tong, as she heard a female voice.
“Her readings get erratic! Doctor!” Then saw how a scientist implanted something in her, feeling numb but it was very painful before everything went black.
“No signal.”
The filly slowly blinked and saw an Elder before her, it raised it’s hand and it glowed, overpowering her senses.
“…pupillary response normal, Vitals stabilizing. Procedure complete.” It was Tygan’s voice, shining a flashlight into her eye before everything became black again.
The filly couldn’t tell how long she was out, but her head was aching as she came to in a bed in the crew quarters, seeing Edward smiling at her.
“Glad to see you've woken up. Must be a serve headache though.” He said with pity as she tried to get up, only to fall back. “Easy…Tygan said a chip was buried halfway into your skull.” You were out for the rest of the day.”
Slowly, she remembered everything and saw Fletcher walking in, he was bandaged but appeared to be in good health otherwise, smiling weakly at her.
Yet, she was filled with guilt, starting to shake and sobbed as she lowered her head. “I’m sorry…Fletcher…so very sorry that I…”
He gently hugged her. “I am not mad at you, Dinky, you hadn’t control of your actions.”
She sniffed. “T-thanks…”
“…I never thought I’d see my girlfriend ever again but I hope Dinky’s fine.” Toby’s voice sounded in her ears and the middle-aged man walked in with the others, having a weak smile too and Dinky remembered.
“T-Toby… I…did I…killed…I’m sorry…” The filly stuttered in guilt before he patted her back.
“I don’t blame you, Dinky, I know you would never do that. My girlfriend survived, she should be released soon. She doesn’t blame you either.” He told her with an honest expression and she sighed.
“That’s good to hear….”
Yet, she was lost in thought. They said my friends would not be harmed. They did they lie? Or…
She couldn’t finish as the Chief Scientist walked in. “It is good to hear you are woken up, Dinky. I found out what the purpose of the implant was.”
“And that is?” Midnight asked curious.
“Similarly to the implant the commander had, it was a conduit, passing a vast amount of data directly into Dinky’s cerebral cortex. Tactical combat simulations. The same as in ADDVENT officers in the Psionic network.”
Wolf growled. “They made a war machine out of her.”
“Indirectly, yes.” Tygan countered. “I analyzed her behavior, it was completely defensive, with her shots meant to incapacitate but not kill anyone that became a threat to her, it appears the Elders wanted to spare her the guilt of murder. Also, there’s something else.” He sounded slightly unease about it.
“What?” Fletcher asked.
The man took a deep breath. “The Psionic gate we recovered needs an organic signature. It is needed to activate the gate. It has to via the Network, but a direct interface would cause serve, if not fatal trauma to an unprepared central nervous System. Yet, Dinky has survived this, with the commander.”
Dinky looked at him in confusion, trying to make sense as Fletcher protested with a worried expression, “B-b-but, she's still a child!” The others shared it.
“I know, but the organic signature is the only key and both keys are needed.” Tygan replied.
“But only if she wears the best armor!!” Fletcher demanded.
“It was different.” Midnight pointed out, “The Stasis suit…”
“Created the perfect interface to the network. Tailored to her specific biology. Of any candidate, she and the commander are the most likely to survive the connection.”
“Most likely is not good enough.” Wolf added with concern, “Alone getting disconnected almost killed her.”
“Yes, because the shock of having hurt Fletcher was too much. But it’s the only answer I can give you. And our only option to traverse the Alien portal.” The scientist countered.
There was silence for a moment before the green stallion took the word. “No, I'm sorry, but this is not something I'm supporting.”
Dinky looked at him with confusion. “But Fletch-“
“I'm sorry, Dinky, we're putting our hooves down. Our mission is very clear, get you home safely. Letting you do this defies logic.” Wolf cut her off.
“This could be our only option.” Tygan replied to explain as Midnight replied,
“Fine, I volunteer in her place.”
Tygan sighed annoyed, losing his patience. “Sir...”
“I've been through worse. I could get my head around it.” The bat pony added with a neutral expression.
“No, no, you don't understand.” The doctor said, his annoyed tone becoming more audible.
“Why the hay would we understand sending a kid to head a mission this deadly?!” Wolf exclaimed with a hint of anger.
“Because Dinky is the only one here the Elders don't want to kill!” Tygan exclaimed and paused to take a deep breath. “I know this is bad. I realize you must feel awful doing this, I feel awful for even considering it, but none of us have the same chance of safety that she has. This is, quite honestly, our only option, and time is far too scarce for us to look for others. Please, for the people of earth, for everyone you've met here who has placed their trust in you, Dinky has to do this. No-one else.”
In response, the Eternal Knights gazed around the room in uncertainty before Fletcher said, “Let me ask again. She'll have the best armor and sensors?”
“Yes.”
“We'll be in touch with her at all times?” The mare added.
“Of course.”
Midnight then took the word. “And we'll be allowed to help her if things go flanks-up.”
“None of us will stop you.” Tygan replied and the grey stallion shook his head.
“My mind must be waning after all these years...Very well.”
“Don’t worry Fletcher, I am sure we can make something.” Dinky’s voice sounded and they all looked confused at her. Her expression was neutral, yet her voice sounded slightly mature, a purple glow surrounded her eyes and horn. “It is our only chance, we can’t afford to lose it.”
“What…” Kyle mumbled in awe.
“Ah, I forgot, it appears the psionic powers she gained affect her personality, boosting her bravery as far as I can tell.” Tygan added.
“Still, we need a plan for this. You should use this to think about it, Dinky.” Midnight advised and they all left the room to give her some quiet.
The Eternal Knights looked at each other with worry and unease. They understood the need, but it was very risky and none of them could ever forgive themselves if Dinky would die. But it seemed unavoidable if they wanted to succeed against the Elders.
Dinky was also lost in thought. She couldn’t tell why she felt so ready for this, it seemed so natural, necessary if she wanted to go home, seeing her family and friends again. Yet, she wondered, the Elders said she and neither her friends would be harmed. If they were honest, then why making an ADVENT soldier out of her? Was her being defensive their promise of no harm? She couldn’t tell and probably would never know.
The filly looked on the watch on the wall, seeing around a quarter hour had passed as the other XCOM operatives looked after her.
“We managed to create a heavy armor for you, we made sure it’s comfortable for you.” Fletcher said and held it with his magic, looking similar to the heavy armor of Sasha, being dark blue in color.
Yet, before she could answer, Patch tipped on a close and it showed a man in the shows, unable to be identified as he spoke, “Hello, Commander. You and your crew are to be commended. Your efforts in rebuilding the resistance network and uncovering the truth about the Avatar project have been admirable. I only wish I had better news.” He sounded concerned and the others realized it showed the Spokesman talking to the commander.
“ADVENT is not taking the death of an Elder lightly and in return have greatly accelerated the final stages of their Avatar Project. A plan is now in place for the rapid processing of all non-essential life. To begin immediately.” This earned shocked expressions by everyone.
“Very soon, ADVENT’s Speaker will announce a breakthrough in gene therapy. A final treatment for the human condition. Billions will flock to gene clinics across the globe. They will never return. I have managed to secure tactical data and access codes to the ADVENT Network Tower. The Speaker’s address will be broadcast live via to a global audience via this facility – the whole of ADVENT’s network will be listening. It is this hubris we must use against them. The information I am sending you should allow Doctor Tygan and Chief Engineer Shen to take control of the transmission and disrupt their entire network from within.” He paused for a moment.
“Though my hope is that this disruption will confuse the enemy’s forces long enough to allow your final assault a chance of success, I ask one more thing of you. Take what you have learned. Let the world know what is happening here. Wake them up. Broadcast the truth. Before there is no one left to listen.”
Suddenly, a loud pounding noise was in the background as someone tried to breach the door and the human looked briefly at it, grabbing a pistol. “It seems we are both out of time. Farewell, Commander.” The transmission cut off as the door got breached and a firefight broke out.
They all stayed silent for a moment, trying to process all this information.
“This is the chance to strike at ADVENT’s heart. There is no turning back now.” Dinky said again with her mature voice, sounding very determined.
“You…saw everything?” Central’s voice came from behind, startling everyone.
“Y-Yes, sir, I passed it through, thinking the others should see it too.” Toby was a bit nervous, fearing he might be punished for this but Bradford gave a slight smile.
“It was good thinking, spares me the briefing. Dinky, you really want to do this? I know it’s a hard burden.” He looked at her with concern.
“I am ready to assist, humanity must know the truth.” She said and put her armor on, together with a Psi Amp. The other nodded and went to the Skyranger as Edward and Jan waited for them
“Good luck, Dinky. Be careful” The boy gave her a hug, Jan did the same with her son.
“Of course I will, Edward.” The unicorn replied and they all entered the transport.
The Skyranger dropped the squad off on a platform on a Skyscraper, the purple beam of the tower was visible in the middle of it, looking almost identical to the spike that had prevented the Avenger from escaping. It was clear ADVENT didn’t put much effort in hiding the Alien tech.
“Move to infiltrate the network tower. Locate the access point and hack in to seize the broadcast signal.” Central briefed them and Lukas scouted ahead.
He walked towards a crossroad, in front of him was a small cabin with antennas on the roof, being the access point, guarded by a turret on it, to his right a MEC and trooper and to the left a Codex with a Archon.
“Abstraction, can you shut down the turret?” Patch asked and he nodded, watching as Lyra flew past the guards undetected and hacked the turret, it’s barrel pointed downwards to show it was successful.
Wolf then moved behind a wall for cover, aiming at the Archon and fired at the head, taking it down. “You know that was good!”
The Codex spotted her but Jane made a sprint to slash the enemy, the Codex flinched at the hit but survived, creating a clone and teleported on a platform to their right, out of their movement range or so it thought as Patch got an idea.
“I’ll pierce all!” he yelled and created a Psionic Lance, sending the purple beam towards it, killing it instantly.
However, this alerted the trooper and Merc, the latter responded by firing a barrage of explosives towards the squad.
“My shield will hold!” Dinky yelled as she reached for her Psi Amp, casting purple shields around everyone and herself, they all heard the sounds of the explosions, but found themselves completely unharmed by it.
Kyle ducked behind cover as the Trooper fired at him, grazed him and he cried in pain. “That one hurt!” He yelled before Lena sent her GREMLIM to heal him and Jane saw how the Codex teleported towards a wall next to the cabin, she ran after it and sliced it again, killing it.
James noticed the turret was about to reboot and fired his rile at it, the plasma beam went right through the armor, destroying it.
With only the MEC and trooper left, Kyle pointed at it and Lyra flew over it, shocking it, making the robot twitching and Fletcher fired his Rifle, throwing it back before Midnight used his blade to slice it through the chest, dealing the killing blow.
“Suppressing!” Heavy yelled as he fired, pinning the trooper down and Bianca took the shot, killing the hostile with a clear headshot.
With all hostiles eliminated, Kyle then moved into the cabin seeing a console. “Menace 1-5, target in range. Move in to hack the command console.” Central ordered and the Specialists did as told.
“We got access!” He reported and Central confirmed it.
“Status confirmed, we have control of the network tower, the signal is going out.”
They all took this as sign to get back on the Skyranger, a few ADVENT soldiers fired at it in an attempt to stop it before the tower released a bright yellow shockwave, causing them to hold their heads and cry in pain as they passed out, getting disconnected, a MEC also opened fire but became limb as it shut down from the shockwave.
Bradford watched the broadcast on a screen as a crewmember reported, “Firebrand has cleared the perimeter, sir. Meeting limited resistance.”
“Well done, Doctor.”
“Yes, it would appear the feedback pulse is having the intended effect.” Tygan replied a he looked on a screen showing the technical details of it.
“Shen? Status…Did it work?” Central asked as the broadcast started, showing a propaganda speaker.
“ADVENT assures us this breakthrough will be available to all citizens immediately. We go live to the Speaker for more…” She said and the scene switched to him.
“Fellow citizens. For 20 years we have put our trust in ADVENT, in the Elders – because we believed a better future is possible for all.” He said as a footage of ADVENT soldiers got shown briefly flickering and showing them without helmets. “Today, that trust, that belief, has been rewarded.” It then showed a Retaliation strike, earning shocked expressions from the viewers as the Speaker continued, “ADVENT peacekeeping forces are traveling across the world carrying the greatest gift from the elders.” He paused for a moment.
“A revolutionary gene therapy, yes. But so much more.” He was completely obvious as the footage of the Blacksite got shown behind him. “This is an end to disease. To pain. The beginning of a new tomorrow. Available to all of us. Today. Truly humanity takes its rightful place among the stars.” He turned around in confusion as the crowd shouted in anger, becoming shocked as he saw the footage and took a step back before the crowd stormed towards him and the broadcast cut off.
The XCOM squad then prepared for the final mission, Dinky saw how the commander was in stasis suit, the Avatar they had recovered started slowly to move and she took a deep breath, using her psionic power to make the connection as Bradford gave a speech.
“Alright, people. The World got its wake up call. And now they know the truth. ADVENT is a lie. And their time is up. They’ve got a full-fledged war on their hands now! While the Aliens struggle to contain our world, we’re gonna make a move on theirs. It won’t be easy. But you’re used to that. You did what was needed. You never gave up the fight. You are XCOM. And you’re gonna end this! Humanity is counting on us, people. Good luck!” He finished as the squad stepped with the commander into the portal.