• Published 25th Jan 2018
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XCOM: Ranger - Wanderer D



Sunset Shimmer escapes Equestria... with unforeseen consequences.

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Chapter 41: Blood

Ranger

Chapter 41: Blood

By Wanderer D

o.0.o Twenty Years Ago o.0.o

Dr. Vahlen hurried down the hall towards the lab. Two notes were clutched in her hands, and around her, soldiers, engineers, scientists and general staff ran, armed and ready. As she passed certain members of her team, she would tap them and have them follow, even grabbing a few engineers.

Eventually they reached one of the far labs, and when they were all inside, she sealed the blast doors from within. This was the lab where they did the autopsies and was connected directly to her interrogation room and the alien containment.

The moment the base had been attacked, all aliens had been immediately eliminated by automated systems. In a way, she regretted not having been there to see them burn. Regardless, she had a mission.

She looked down at the notes.

Two missions, actually.

"All right everyone!" She shouted drawing their attention. "I know you are scared, and that this attack is unexpected. But we have a mission to perform, and while we might have been betrayed, we must not—we cannot allow our research to be destroyed! Gather the data, and load the trucks! The back door here connects directly to the garage, we will evacuate as per the Commander's standing orders."

"But the others—"

Vahlen silenced the man with a look. "We are all in danger, and the others have their own missions to perform."

"But what if they come for us?"

Vahlen smirked. "Dr. Shen set up something for situations like these. Hurry now." She turned. "Leave those alone, however."

"But—"

"That's an order." Vahlen moved toward her computers and samples. "We have much to do. Especially if we want to leave this place alive and not empty handed."

She started working on her assignment, glancing at the letters and cursing.

They had known there would be retaliation, but for things to happen so quickly, that meant that by the time the Skyranger took off, there had already been enemies inbound. The building shook, but she barely paid attention. If anything could get past this room's defenses, it deserved to kill them.

That, and the tremors got old by the third time.

She heard something glass-made crash and break in the garage. "Careful! We might never have a chance to obtain specimens like these!"

Vahlen returned to her work. She had no idea where the others were, or what was the status of the Commander, Shen or the soldiers. But she knew what she had to do for XCOM, for the world… and for a friend.

o.0.o Present Day o.0.o

Sunset drove carefully down the ramp all the way down into the roots of the mountains. There were some sort of movement detectors on the way, as often lights would flicker on, illuminating the area enough for her to see the walls on either side, even if the darkness ahead went far beyond.

But, eventually, they reached the bottom and found themselves in a large garage. It was tall enough for trucks to drive in and even had a loading bay. Another apparent exit or entrance had collapsed in the far end, and there was a large, broken glass tube next to the entrance to the apparent bunker itself.

Sunset quickly got out, fearing that her adrenaline wouldn't keep her up much longer. The door to the bunker was already half open, but it had rusted a little and it took her some effort to get it open.

When it was open enough for her to go through, she walked into the room, trying to figure out where she could lay Jane down and somehow treat her. The place seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry… there were faded papers that had become part of the floor, and abandoned boxes.

A door at the far end of the room was half-melted, half-collapsed, as if something had exploded with such force and heat against it that it had affected even the rocks. Most of the tables still had abandoned equipment on them. It didn't look as sophisticated as the new stuff but it did look medical, or scientific in nature.

Sunset turned, her eyes roaming the place in the blinking, sterile lights and her eyes fell on a table covered in plastic.

She walked towards it and grabbed the cover, pulling back and uncovering what lay beneath.

It took her a moment to fully comprehend what was right in front of her. An ambulance stretcher stood there, innocent-looking, while on top of it was a full bag of medical supplies, an old pad and… an envelope with her cutie mark emblazoned on it.

Dear me,

Hello. You are most likely freaking out right now. Take a deep breath… or actually, don't, don't relax. You have things to do and a friend to take care of. There are meds in the bag, one of them is something that you desperately need. It's square-ish, blue and has a needle on it, ideally covered for health reasons. There's a little cocktail of goodness next to it. Shake it hard, put it in there and take a shot on your arm. You can thank yourself later.

Bring your friend in, hook her up with the aid of the little instruction video I might have blackmailed Vahlen into creating for "emergency situations", which this is. It's in the pad. I don't know if it'll have battery by then, but you should have a source of your own. Then you can come back here.

Sunset blinked, opening the bag and finding the items that S-whoever had wrote that had left there. Could it have really been her? She shook her head, shaking the mix and setting it up. She recognized what this was. It was an old stim injector.

It felt like being stung by a bee, but suddenly she was standing upright, full of nervous energy. She quickly moved the items on the stretcher onto a nearby table and dragged it out of the room, easily pushing the door open now that she wasn't exhausted.

When she opened the van door, she grimaced. The bumping around in the forest had opened the wounds again, and the medikit and her lingering magic were barely keeping Jane alive. Carefully, Sunset lay Jane on the stretcher, applying another dose of medi-kit spray on the wound.

She pushed the stretcher into the room, and dragged the door closed behind her. Then, after activating her spell to ensure that there was no more internal bleeding that her magic hadn't covered earlier, she placed Jane's GREMLIN on the table, hooking it up to the old pad, then after waiting a few seconds, she turned it on.

The video started, clearly a hand held device, that was recording a familiar-looking woman. Sunset puzzled for a moment, wondering when she had seen her. But then she heard her own voice.

o.0.o Twenty Years Ago o.0.o

"Come on, Moira," Sunset whined, holding the camera to the side. "You said you would! It's important! And I know you don't have anything to do right now. Come on."

"That's Dr. Vahlen to you, Corporal Shimmer," the other woman responded. "I worked hard for this title. A title, I might add, that you would share with me if you hadn't decided to be…" Vahlen looked at Sunset up and down with a sneer. "This."

"Hey now, is that how you treat your favorite student?"

"That was over seven years ago, Miss Shimmer, and your grades notwithstanding, I'm not teaching you this. This is best left to medical professionals for a reason."

"Come on, I'll read your future in the cards if you do this for me," Sunset pleaded.

"No, Miss Shimmer, 'magic' will get you nowhere. Only science is the true ruler of this universe."

"Sure, tell that to the aliens."

"They use science too, Miss Shimmer."

"Corporal. I worked hard for that title and I might add, it's fun as hell. So, Doctor, will you fulfil your promise?"

"Why do you need to know this?"

"Because I make many things bleed. One day, I might need to put the blood back in."

"That is insane." Vahlen muttered, massaging her forehead. She directed a glare at Sunset. "Your logic is, as always, flawless."

"Thank you, sarcasm is the bread and butter that keeps me going for more. Now, about this…"

"You understand that doing this might kill someone."

"That's XCOM, baby."

"Insufferable brat. Fine. My relaxation time is gone, what else have I got to lose?"

"Oh, I can think of a few things."

"Shut it. Now, since we're going to ignore all medical safety procedures, let's just get it over with... and may Ottenberg and Landsteiner forgive me."

She led the way to the lab, where she pulled out several objects and them lay the down on the table for Sunset to record, then she dragged out a dummy they used at the lab sometimes.

"Say it," Sunset said.

Vahlen gave her a look. "Nein."

"Say it for our audience!"

Vahlen's mouth twitched, then she rolled her eyes, and looked straight at the camera. "If anyone other than yourself ever sees this, I will hunt you down and kill you, Sunset."

"I promise it's only going to be me. Scouts' honor."

Vahlen took a deep breath and glanced around before turning towards the camera. "My name is Moira Vahlen, and this is 'Doctors Gone Wild Special: Direct Blood Transfusion 101.'"

"Perfect!"

o.0.o End Chapter 41 o.0.o

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