XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 147: Faith

Ranger

Chapter 147: Faith

By Wanderer D

"...and Shutdown." Ember grinned as her hack overrode the turret's protocols and completely turned it off with the ADVENT Captain under it entirely unaware. "How's that security tower coming up, Lily?"

"Oh? Oh yeah, hold on…"

"What are you doing?"

"I've got the location of a couple of ADVENT bases out of it, I figure if you give me a couple more minu—"

"Shut it down." Ember's hand wrapped around Lily's shoulder like a vice. "Don't forget why we're here."

"Yeah, sorry…" Lily muttered, quickly deactivating the security tower. Externally it seemed to be working fine, but all systems and transmissions were completely down. "Done."

"Alright team." Ember moved to the front. "Let's get going, we don't want to be near here when the turrets activate again."

"Why aren't we taking down the captain?" Lily asked as they snuck by the few non-mechanical ADVENT troopers.

"You've been watching too many of Menace's missions and not enough of ours," Ember replied, glancing at the other woman. "We're trying to infiltrate the tower while Menace draws the attention of ADVENT and even the Chosen that was spotted earlier.

"If we start a street fight before we're close enough to the tower for it to be confused with a normal scuffle between Julian and ADVENT, we will have their attention."

"And we definitely don't want that," Lily said, nodding with a slight self-aware blush, "I understand, I'll keep the nerd inside."

"It's not about keeping the nerd inside," Security said, "it's about letting out the nerd when needed."

"Fine, fine, I get it! Keep the curiosity for when it's ready to be used, not when I want to use it."

"Exactly," Ember said, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye. "They grow up so fast!"

"Right, right," Shen growled, smacking Ember playfully, "let's just keep going."

"Hey, hey, hey… don't get ahead of yourself," Ember said, "we're still surrounded by ADVENT, and those guys, we can't hack."

"Yet."

"Wuzzat?" Breaker asked, blinking at Shen, who gave him a raspberry.

"Secret project."

"Right," Ember said, giving her an odd look. "Anyway, the factory is just a few blocks down… all we need is—"

"Dragon, this is Menace," Sunset's voice came through the comms, "we're engaging ADVENT, and the Hunter is confirmed. Repeat, Hunter is confirmed. I'm not sure if you'll see any movement of troops on your side, but at least we have her attention."

"Roger that, Menace, stay alive! And bring me back my people, Sunset, or I swear—"

The team winced when the city shook after a particularly loud explosion, rattling windows on the buildings around them.

"Menace!" Ember called in. "Menace!"

She glanced at the others, but both Coyote and Breaker shook their heads.

"Menace is fucking crazy," Ember muttered, "come on."

"How do you know that was Menace, and not ADVENT?" Lily asked, moving after Ember, who led them deeper into the alleys. From there, they saw the occasional group of ADVENT troopers running in the direction of the explosion.

"Right before I lost contact, I could have sworn I heard Fridge shouting, "Boom, baby!"," Ember explained. "That idiot, Sunset, is contagious, she's going to be returning my troops to me with bad habits."

"You don't think smoking is a bad habit?"

"Oh, they don't smoke," Ember said, shrugging. "They just use the cigarettes as tokens for bets. Something about Shaw and Shank's redemption?"

"Who?"

"No idea, but that's where they got it from." Ember motioned for them to stop, then moved alone to the edge of the building, peering out. "As expected, other than those few guys, most of the ADVENT troops set up around the tower are still here."

"Wait, wasn't Menace supposed to draw them away?"

"No," Coyote said, kneeling next to Shen, "they're drawing the attention of the Hunter and stopping them from getting backup. That's why we need to be as quiet as possible until we reach the tower. We don't want to give away that we're here."

"Isn't it a bit of an obvious diversion?" Shen asked. "I mean, why would XCOM attack just now?"

"Remember that ADVENT is basing all of their strategy off of what they learned from the Commander?" Ember asked, returning to them and motioning for everyone to follow. "The commander never sent larger teams, or two teams to the same mission in all her history in XCOM.

"In essence, they know how we used to operate… and if I've learned something about ADVENT is that with very few exceptions, they're not inclined to change, and oddly enough, they don't expect us to change either."

"It's sad," Shen said.

"Only if you're them," Ember countered. "But, you can ask the old guard that's still left, or just trust us. The Commander is not doing things by the book anymore. It's not just the Skirmishers, Reapers and Templars either… something happened that made her rethink things… and somehow, she managed to stick ADVENT into the relatively predictable mode we know."

"But for how long?" Shen asked.

"Doesn't matter," the other specialist replied. "By the time they figure out how to adapt to our new strategies, the Commander will have a new one."

"You have a lot of faith in the Commander," Lily said.

"And you don't?" Ember tilted her head and looked over her shoulder at Lily. "How long did we hunt for her? Don't tell me you're having second thoughts?"

"No?" Shen said, "Maybe? It's… complicated… it's not second thoughts, or doubting her, it's just how fast things changed. You would have expected her to be out of it for a few days or something, but she woke up, just as if she had fallen asleep 20 years ago, but jumped right in and took everything in stride… including the changes.

"How did she do that? I… I don't think I could. Even if I was aware of how things were happening, my thought process and strategies being ripped out of my mind by alien tech, long lost friends suddenly reappearing, people you thought dead were suddenly alive, and/or younger… you have to suddenly put all of that together, all of this and create a new strategy to fight your previous tormentors…"

Shen licked her lips. All of Dragon was sneaking a bit more slowly, listening to her words as they moved.

"It's just… beyond human," Lily said. "It's ridiculously out there, but she's not only doing it, you can almost feel the change."

"Maybe," Ember said, "but it's a good change, and I am glad our Commander can do it. Even if I couldn't. Or you. Or hell, our bacon-headed princess of blood. My father believed in her. Your dad believed in her. Galahad. Bradford. Vahlen. Annette. All the engineers and scientists of old XCOM that risked life and limb to join us in the Avenger. Hell, even that Councilman that calls from time to time like some sort of worried grandmother."

They slowed down as a patrol walked past them at the end of the alley, waiting silently until Ember deemed it safe to move. As they did, they started hearing the occasional shot, and small explosion until they emerged almost to the end of the street, where further ahead the facility where the MECs were created lay, surrounded by many other MECs, exchanging occasional fire, until they were destroyed by the insane firepower of the many, many turrets on the walls of the factory.

They studied the area in silence until Ember sighed. "In the end, the Commander is the one we need to trust. And that trust has to be absolute in the field, do you understand, Lily?"

Shen nodded, gulping as she glanced around. "So… how are we going to do this?"

Ember smiled.

o.0.o End Chapter 147 o.0.o

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Something tells me that ember has a Good idea.

[the other sans]

The slowed down as a patrol walked past them

1. They.

[Dustcan]

Grandmother?

[lordelliott]

9052772
I'm thinking Celestia, maybe Twilight since she's older there.

[Dustcan]

9052793

I mean like if he Councilman was intentionally made a woman in the story or if Ember's mocking the still male character. Wouldn't be the first time an offhand gender pronoun alluded to character's being a different sex than their counterpart.

[shadowshooter45]

9052728
I am unsure if there will be BOOMS! glorius BOOMS! if there is.. they better be worth it

[Bronycommander]

9052834
Indeed.

[Dark Feather]

Embers about to order the boys to wear straw skirts and do the hula.

9052803
I think she was being ironick.

[Black_Knight]

I find Lily's speech about the Commander changing so quickly kind of ironic since we know her counterpart is the Changeling Queen.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

"Menace is fucking crazy," Ember muttered, "come on."

Nah, just regular crazy. Fucking crazy won't happen until Menace loses another member.

...Which might be fairly soon, depending on whether the Hunter lives up to her reputation.

[Reese]

""Wuzzat?" Breaker asked, blinking at Shen, who gave him a raspberry. "Secret project.""
""Wuzzat?" Breaker asked, blinking at Shen, who gave him a raspberry.
"Secret project.""?

[tsaukpaetra]

Time for the boobs to spring the booby traps?

[djthomp]

Shen nodded, gulping as she glanced around. "So… how are we going to do this?"

It's time for that scientific curiosity to be taken back out of the bottle they just stuck it in, I assume.

[FanOfMostEverything]

That's why we need to be as quiet as possible until we reach the tower.

"Which is why we're having this conversation."

In any case, definitely a thought-provoking meditation on Chrysalis. Now to see just what Ember has planned...

[Winter Rosario]

I literally bought Xcom the Complete Edition and Xcom 2 and all current dlc's because of this story. Keep it up!

[Wolfcape]

I'm glad someone voiced my opinions on the Commander. I almost forgot about it, but this jogged my memory. Shen literally noted all my concerns.

[AlexTFish]

"can't hack yet" - Ah, Shen's working on the Skulljack at last.

I've never tried a team of all Specialists. It sounds entertaining.

I'm glad that someone's lampshaded how exceptionally unusual it is for the Commander to send more than 6 people on a mission!

[gerandakis]

Well now ... the High Score has been shattered ... eight consecutive chapter without me finding anything ... good job

about ADVENT is that with very few

it's

[Flame Heart]

Bacon-haired princess of blood

XD

[Black--Soul]

O damn... They better think of a way to get Julian sending again. A city full of mechs would be a redicules effective boon.

[Black--Soul]

Great build up of characters, probably some of them will have memorable ends... hope Ember makes it, her father was one of my favorite characters.