XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D


Chapter 209: Army

Ranger

Chapter 209: Army

By Wanderer D

Twenty Years Ago

"You are powerful, too powerful. This is good. A healthy body, the capacity for unlimited power. For too long have our failures held us back. For too long have these unworthy species proven useless. Now your last test remains, chosen one. Show us how you fare against your predecessors."

Sunset shook her head, mentally reinforcing her shields and blocking the Ethereal's voices completely. In her mindscape, all was silent until a shimmering figure appeared in her mind's eye. Shifting. Phasing. Warm.

'They're annoying.' Sunset projected to the figure.

"Yes. But you're close."

'Can you help?'

She waited, staring up at the prismatic forcefield door that had withstood the Phoenix Cannon's blast, while Stardust awaited her orders.

"I'm sorry, Sunny. Once you cross that door… if I'm sensed…"

Sunset Shimmer nodded. 'Will I hear you again?'

"I will be with you at the end. I'll tell you the truth of who I am."

Sunset smirked. "Can't wait."

"For what, Colonel?" Lionel asked.

"To send E.T. home, of course," she replied. She took a deep breath, extending her senses. "The ethereals are badgering me with their BS. But I sense several living creatures past this point. And more all around us. A veritable army." She smirked, picking out a song.

Listening to the notorious intro, the others chuckled.

"That's not 80s or 90s, Colonel, could it be you're growing out of your fixation?"  Elaine asked.

"I feel slightly betrayed," Irvine added.

"Never! This is like, one of four songs I have in this thing that are not from the best decades. But we need to send a message, and this might as well be it." She looked at the others. "We'll follow our usual approach," Sunset said then, "but Irvine and I will take point this time."

Irvine rubbed his forehead, pushing his hat back. "I dunno, Sunset. Snipers are supposed to stay back."

"Don't worry, I might not have a sword, but I can still protect you."

"Is she referencing something we are not meant to know?" Bors stage-whispered.

"Yes." Zhang shrugged. "But she's our leader."

"Fair."

"Irvine and I will take point," Sunset repeated, "Zhang and Elaine will be right behind us, center. Bors and Lionel flank them."

"Any particular reason we're doing this?" Elaine asked demurely, her gaze meeting Sunset's. "I trust you, but it seems foolish to risk you two."

"I sense more life-signs further in… we might have some bots on the way," Sunset said. "In which case we'll not only draw their attention…" she tapped her head, "but if you take care of them as I know you can, I can use my powers to bolster our troops."

"Oh, I like bolstering."

"I know," Sunset motioned for Irvine to move forth next to her. "Ready?"

"No."

"Go!"

The shield faded, revealing another massive room with green tubes of some sort in the middle of it, and two long tower-like structures at the other end. Both snipers took the details of the room as fast as they could while they ran in opposite directions across from each other, trying to find the best vantage point.

Almost immediately and straight ahead, the room had a second lower level from where two cyberdiscs floated up, with four of the smaller-sized drones flanking them each. It took less than a second for a rocket to blast across the empty space and explode, shredding the drones completely, and badly damaging the cyberdiscs.

Shots followed the rocket, but Sunset's mind was already on what she was seeing across from them. Two berserkers were running parallel to each other, heading straight for them, and worse still, she could hear the chilling chittering of chryssalids nearby.

"Irvine, take down the one heading for you. Don't worry about the one on the left."

"Roger."

Just as a red flash emerged from the far corner of the room, burning its way in an unfaltering trajectory straight for the berserker's head, Sunset stood and pointed her open palm at the other creature.

She projected her will to the creature just as she spoke up, her voice carrying an echoing quality with it.

"YYoouu," she growled, the echoes giving her voice a distinctly ghostly quality, "wwiillll OOBBEEYY!!"

The berserk didn't stop running, but it took another route, straight into six chryssalids that were creeping in through the center. With a mighty leap, the berserker brought both fists down on the first, unaware chryssalid, splattering green ichor all over the others, and damaging its hands with their spikes. But, in true berserker rage, it only seemed to make it stronger and faster.

While her new minion destroyed the chryssalids, the other berserker had taken Irvine's shot to the head twice, and it had barely made it to the ramp connecting to their location when it took shots from Elaine, Zhang, Bors and Lionel.

The creature fell forward, sliding through the floor with sheer momentum to end in a bloody heap. The foursome didn't even stop, rushing towards the battle below and taking cover before showering the chrysalids with laser shots.

All in all things were going well for Stardust… but then they changed.

Just as Bors and Lionel circled around the battling beasts, finishing them off, two piles of energy formed behind them, and another in front.

"You want to keep us away, chosen one, but your test is your own. These pests are unnecessary."

Two more cyberdiscs appeared, this time behind the pair of specialists. Zhang reacted immediately, his heavy laser making short work of one, but not before the other had completed its transformation into its fish-like appearance.

A wicked, metallic tail lashed out, slamming onto Lionel and sending him rolling into the group of elite mutons that had also materialized.

"No!" Sunset shouted, arms shooting forward as a ray of pure, purple-black psionic energy sliced through one of the elites, but her reaction, and even Irvine's immediate shot was not enough to stop the cyberdisc that had tossed Lionel onto the wall to empty a barrage of plasma straight onto Bors, point blank.

They heard him scream for a second and then he was gone.

"Fall back!" Sunset shouted, taking a running leap and opening her arms wide, before bringing them together. A whirling vortex of energy formed where the mutons were, dragging them into it, screaming alongside the last chryssalid and the berserker.

It seemed to compress for a second—the sickening crunch of bones and armor accompanying its reduction in size—before it exploded outwards, throwing the dead bodies over the team. Zhang and Elaine took the opportunity to finish off the cyberdisc. The lasers destroying it completely.

Once it seemed safe, Elaine ran to check on Lionel, while Sunset ran over to Zhang, who was kneeling next to Bors. Or what remained of her friend.

That much plasma at point blank… Sunset closed her eyes and looked away. There was not much to recognize.

"Sunset," she heard Zhang before he placed a hand firmly on her shoulder. "Death is inevitable today. No matter what we do. We just need to finish the mission."

Sunset took a deep breath, nodding as she knelt next to her dead friend, shifting through the remains to fish out his dog tags. A moment later, tags in hand, she made her way to Elaine, who was helping Lionel apply a generous amount of medicine and painkillers.

"How are you, Rook?"

"Could be better," he whizzed, glancing briefly at her hand, where Bor's tags were.

Sunset followed his gaze, then extended her hand, passing the tags on to him.

"Y'know," he said, gently pushing Elaine away and forcing himself to sit. "I always thought I'd be first."

"That's two of us down…" Irvine whispered, catching up to them. "We're taking out a lot more, Colonel, but—"

"Don't even say it." Elaine glared at Irvine. "We'll keep going on. As long as we make it to the end. As long as we bring this thing down…" she trailed off looking at the body. "It'll be worth it. That's what he would have wanted."

Irvine pulled down his hat to cover his eyes. "Hey, Colonel… are we letting that song go to waste?"

Sunset shook her head.

"Let's go then."

"Yeah," Lionel whispered, looking down at the tags in his hand, before hanging them around his neck. "Yeah. I'm good to go."

Sunset leaned down, grasping his hand and pulling him up. They turned to face the towers just ahead.

"I sense a powerful mind there… not as powerful as an ethereal… maybe a Sectoid Commander?"

"Then we'd better be ready," Zhang said.

"Come on… let's move. We still have more songs left."

Present Day

"We knew at the time that opposition in the ship would be strong," Chrysalis said gently, almost as if she wanted to reach down and touch the tiny image of Sunset Shimmer. Her Sunset Shimmer. "But we had no idea… I had no idea… that she would be so… powerful, and yet so overwhelmed.

"I don't think I understood when she left… until I saw this over and over… just how scared of facing her death she truly was."

"Sunset Shimmer's power is vast…" Luna said, her eyes on the image. "And her knowledge of combat seems to exceed our Sunset's. I cannot imagine an enemy that could truly pose a threat to her."

"But she wasn't there on her own… and the ethereal leadership was there… their ultimate leader. If Sunset hadn't destroyed that ship, that ethereal would have been overseeing ADVENT… if they would have needed it at all… and its strength far exceeded anything I had seen before.

The others remained silent, watching Stardust pick itself up and head deeper into the ship. They couldn't hear what Sunset and the others were saying... just the music.

o.0.o End Chapter 209 o.0.o