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



Sunset Shimmer escapes Equestria... with unforeseen consequences.

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Chapter 61: Paris

Ranger

Chapter 61: Paris

By Wanderer D

o.0.o 20 Years Ago o.0.o

It had started like any Fourteenth of July. The whole of France was ready to celebrate the Bastille Day parade. The streets were flooded with citizens and tourists alike. The streets were decorated with flags, and people had dressed up to witness the grand parade.

It was a procession like no other; starting at the Arc de Triomphe and crossing through the Champs-Élysées before proceeding gloriously through Paris, celebrating the beginning of the French Revolution.

By three in the afternoon, things had changed.

The streets of Paris were littered with bodies, debris and abandoned vehicles. Flags fluttered singed or ripped, in the dry air, buildings were in flames, parks covered in holes and craters, people running and screaming… and strange creatures running rampant, shooting, slicing or exploding innocent people without mercy.

The chaos so far had cost a lot of lives, and some not even at the hands or claws of the aliens themselves. Humanity had shown its worst side, and as people despaired, they jumped out of burning buildings or choked to death, or they trampled each other and left behind the injured and unconscious to die.

Civilians were generally unable to fight the aliens at all, even those that stood a chance through wits and good reactions, were entirely outgunned, and humans tired a lot quicker than mutons, chrysalids and floaters.

Someone would try to protect their loved ones and soon they would be a splatter on the wall if they were lucky. If they were unlucky… they might be the zombies hunting down those they had tried to defend at first.

The police and the army had tried to fight back, a wild, violent attempt… but had retreated when officer after officer; soldier after soldier fell in horrible ways—shot through, molten by plasma, blown to bits or dismembered by giant insectoids—engaged in an unexpected battle that they had been completely unprepared for.

Orders from their superiors had forced them to leave behind those that most desperately needed them when their guns had proven mostly ineffective against the aliens, and except for occasional success against the likes of sectoids, the officers and soldiers were severely, hysterically, outgunned.

The fighter jets that were routine part of the parade had been the first victims as out of nowhere a giant UFO had emerged from the clouds, shooting plasma and raining metallic death. Military vehicles were set up for parade purposes, not to defend in warlike conditions, and even the tanks were little match for Mechtoids landing on them and pummeling through the armor, controlling the operators or simply ripping off the top and shooting everything inside with their plasma weapons.

There was nothing they could do to help, and so, under orders, they had reluctantly left the citizens to fend for themselves, retreating in as orderly fashion as they could, giving up street after street.

They have naively attempted a last ditch effort to save people with helicopters. Brave pilots had flown in, soldiers pouring out to offer covering fire… they hadn't anticipated the viciousness of the invaders, who didn't hesitate to bring down the evacuating civilians with something akin to glee.

Scores died, and the Seine ran red with the blood of thousands of innocents, but one ran, thankful that her luck—and something else, something… primal... inside of her—had kept her alive so far.

Annette ran into an alley between two half-destroyed buildings. The ancient baroque structures, exquisit in their design and lasting for centuries were little challenge for the alien bombardment as more than one of the metallic, gas-carrying contraptions the alien ships were dropping had gone through the roofs and walls before crashing into the street.

The roofs had collapsed in, and only the sturdy construction practices had kept the rest of the buildings mostly intact… until the fires inside—if the smoke columns emanating from windows were any indication—eventually consumed them into ashes.

She hadn't been there when it happened, thankfully, as several bodies were frozen or covered in green slime, and that would have been her fate as well. She didn't want to stay too long either, who knew if the fires inside would hit a gas main soon as well, but she dared not run out too quickly.

Annette had seen strange, tall men in black suits on top of buildings, running faster and jumping further than any human being could have done, incongruously doing pirouettes of some sort, perhaps to use their momentum, to reach greater speeds and heights.

The worst part was that there was something inside Annette… some strange, unknown feeling she was somewhat familiar with, but scared her. This feeling was more than just instinct… at times it was as if she could just catch glimpses of people or even aliens, and this strange feeling insisted that they were looking for her.

And they were gaining.

No matter how careful she was, or how far she moved, a sixth sense would warn her and she'd look up or around a corner and spot one overseeing the area where she was heading, or investigating where she had been. By now she was convinced that that sense that alerted her of their presence, also somehow let them know she was close, if not exactly where she was.

So far she had remained lucky… they hadn't seen her. And she would try her best to keep it that way. It was an unfortunate blessing when something would explode, or a scream would cut through the night and the aliens would turn their attention there, moving fast, like vultures diving in to pick on roadkill.

Annette leaned out from the corner of the building to her right and looked down the street, trying to make herself as small as possible while attempting to get as clear a view of the area as she possibly could.

One of the tall men had jumped down from the roof of a building across the street, almost like he was made of rubber and landed without any issue. He had started investigating an area she had just ran past, and again the nagging feeling returned: they were looking for her.

"It seems you caught their attention," a voice said from behind her, startling Annette. She whipped around to face a young woman, about her own age, leaning casually against a wall. She had long hair, obviously dyed purple and white of all things, and held up in a pair of ponytails. She was dressed in a rather unusual style, not quite punk, but plenty of stubs and metal spikes, and oddly enough an old stylized pendant with a large ruby… more importantly, she was armed with some sort of gun and seemed utterly unconcerned about what was happening around her.

"Are you crazy?" Annette whispered, looking over her shoulder fearfully. "They will see us!"

The woman snorted. "Who? The Thin Men?" She glanced outside at the tall man-like alien, who was looking down at another victim, and had now been joined by two more. "They're not much of a threat. Insufferable bastards that they are. Once you get in close… they break like twigs."

Annette looked at the woman as if she had grown another head, then shook her head and started to walk away. "If you're going to fight them, I want nothing to do with it."

She heard the woman snort in amusement. "And where will you go, Annette?"

She stopped, frozen in place, a cold shudder running down her spine. "How…"

"Do you know why they want you?" the woman continued, "It's because you have a gift, and they have sensed it. They always go for the ones with the gift."

"Gift?" Annette asked, looking over her shoulder at the woman. "I don't know what you're talking about. Who are you? How do you know these things?"

"My name is Aria Blaze," the other woman answered, a feral grin slowly growing in her face. "And I am part of an organization that knows the truth… why you have the gift. And you know the gift well. It tells you where they are. That they're thinking of you specifically. That they want to capture you. You can run away, or try… but I can tell you why the aliens are attacking. What is the future of humanity after this…" she waved at the streets.

Aria walked towards Annette. "Do you really want to keep running forever, Annette?" she had asked, "Or do you want to have a say in your future? They will eventually catch you," she added with a shrug, patting Annette on the shoulder as she walked past her, "but it doesn't have to be that way. The choice is yours, of course… come with me and change things for the better… or stay here and become their experiment."

Annette glanced back. One of the men—creatures… Thin Men... had jabbed a long needle into one of the unconscious bodies and the others had spread around to do the same. For now they seemed unaware of her.

What would happen if she ran out? Took her chances?

A look at the bodies answered that question quickly enough.

Annette shuddered and looked at Aria, who was still walking away. Swallowing down the knot in her throat, she made her choice... the only real choice she had... and hurried after the strange woman.

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

Mox's blast tore into Aria's back, splattering blood and sending the assassin stumbling forward. She immediately showcased the unnatural reactions that the Elders had modified into her, as even though she was clearly in pain and in an uncontrolled stumble, she turned it into a forward roll that barely missed Annette's jab.

The combatants spread out, with the Assassin dripping blood as she glared at the other two. "Cowardly—"

A powerful shot took her in the shoulder, making her spin in place and brace herself against the wall. "Someone that turns invisible to stab their opponents has no business accusing others of being cowards."

Aria hissed. "I will skin you alive, Reaper." Her threats, however, were cut short as Annette attacked with renewed vigor. A cloudy blast of psychic energy missed Aria by inches, creating a small crater on the wall, while Mox's bullpup left a trail of small holes on the floor.

The assassin dodged desperately, trying to get a foothold so she could launch an attack; but whenever she paused to gather her wits, she immediately had to dodge an attack from one of her opponents.

The close quarters didn't lend themselves to her usual evasion tactics, and the trio was relentless. She tried to take cover behind the table, but Annette ripped it of the floor, and had Aria not laid flat on her stomach, it might have smashed into her neck before both of them crashed against the wall.

She cursed as the bullets hit her leg, slowing her down into an almost crawl. She waddled, unable to put much weight on her now-useless leg and finally collapsed against the window, glaring at her opponents. "You must feel proud for now, XCOM." She coughed blood. "But don't relish on your victory too long… remember that I am immortal."

"Yes, we will enjoy this victory," Mox replied, weapon trained on the Assassin, "it is—after all—our second victory against you."

"I'll come back for you," Aria spat, glaring at Mox.

"You talk big about treason for someone who turned their back on their supposed friends," Annette said, looking down in contempt at Aria. "You say I changed… but so did you. For the worse. I'll meet you again in the battlefield anytime, Aria."

The Assassin coughed a blood-stained laugh. "I wonder if you'll have the guts to face me on your own."

"Say hello to your sisters."

Aria opened her mouth to reply, but Annette didn't let her say another word, gathering psychic energy in an instant and blasting her with a solid beam of pure power that went through the reinforced window as well before dissipating into nothing, along with the Assassin.

o.0.o End Chapter 61 o.0.o

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