#tobyiskrogan

 The United States has reported a small ufo landing in the outskirts of its northern woods near the Canadian border.  Preliminary reports state that much of the crew has since moved out, and taking out this recon ship while its defenses are light could keep North America a great deal safer.

  As the crew unloads on the LZ, they find themselves ankle deep in a gentle flowing fiver.  The shallow river snakes through the field, leaving only small patches of soil and rocks.  Cover is light and sparse, not a good sign.

  “I’m… not sure about this,” Toby confided in Caariosamu as the rest of the squad waded ahead.  He watched the replacement for BeMess crouch behind a large boulder to the right, adjusting his gear as he waited for the rest of the squad.  “Dossiers aren’t really my thing.  What’s the new guy’s deal?”

  Caariosamu shook her head.  “Captain Haderach.  Served as a member of the British Royal guard.  One of the few who survived the attack on the royal family, he opted to stay in the country even after being forced out of the city by aliens.  He’s had impressive results in guerilla warfare and reducing causalities.  England suggested he be cleared for the XCOM program after we pitched in a few weeks ago.”

  “Sounds good enough.”  Toby said as he made his way straight through the river as the rest of the squad fanned out.  He knelt behind a rock jutting up from the stream and signaled Artemis to move ahead of him.  She sloshed her way behind a fallen tree causing a part in the river.

  “Heavy resistance!”  She shouted, spotting a patrol of three Thin Men and three Mutons.  The entire patrol rushed to a fallen tree about fifty yards ahead of Artemis, just as a rocket from Toby went flying across the marsh.  The shell slammed against the roots at the far end, and the blast caused a massive stream of water and bark to spray against the patrol.  Two Mutons and two Thin Men were decimated, with one Thin Men having scrambled to cover behind a rock and the last Muton being too far away from the blast to be impacted by little more than bits of tree and a geyser of harmless water. 

  Haderach quickly made his way to cover a little behind an abandoned beaver’s dam a little behind Artemis.  He unleashed fired a daring amount of pistol rounds at the Muton, missing most from the long distance but managing to glance the beast.  It roared in anger, allowing Caariosamu to hit the distracted target.  The bullet shook the body of the brute, and Rayne put it down for good with a flurry of assault rounds.

  Dany made a daring advance to get closer to the Thin Man hanging back, only to spot some sort of automated defense system with hovering drones surrounding it.  She snapped a plasma blast with her laser pistol at the Thin Man but merely wounded it as it ran all the way back to the ship.

  Caariosamu fired a sniper round at the hovering sentry disc, but even as the bullet pierced the metallic hull the robot still approached.  Haderach ran past Rayne and Artemis to get on the end of the log they were taking cover behind, and holstered his pistol as he pulled out his assault rifle.  But before he could prime the weapon, the floating disc began rapidly spinning.  A chamber opened on it, and a grenade came soaring out.  It sailed over Dany and went behind the log, where it detonated with massive power.  The tree that Artemis, Rayne, and Haderach were crouched behind splintered into nothing and all three were knocked off their feet.  Rayne and Artemis made their way back up with difficulty, but Haderach remained motionless face down in the river. 

  “GOD… DAMN… IT!!!!!”  Toby yelled, firing his heavy assault rifle at the disc.  It smartly maneuvered out of the way, but in doing so was almost directly above Dany who landed multiple high impact shots with her shotgun.  Seemingly disrupted, the machine was defenseless as Toby didn’t even get back into cover after firing as was XCOM protocol, a few laser shots from the safety drones glancing off his hulking armor as he fired even more rounds at the security disc.  These ones all found their marks, and the machine exploded in midair and landed with a splash into the river below at Dany’s feet.

  Artemis ran over to Haderach.  She flipped him over, and he began choking up water as she forced the water out of his lungs.  His face was profusely bleeding from being torn by splintered debris and large parts of his armor were completely destroyed, leaving large parts of his bleeding flesh exposed.  She reached for her medkit and immediately sprayed the gel all over him.  The wounds began to scab over, and he groaned as Artemis dragged him across the stony riverbed to what was left of the tree while Rayne provided cover fire.  She propped him up against it and pat him on the thigh.  “Welcome the squad, Mister Haderach.” 

  A flash of green light, and suddenly Artemis was once again on the ground.  Rayne turned to look in horror, but Artemis rolled over and knelt next to Haderach.  He seemed concerned, but was flitting in and out of consciousness.  Rubbing her temple, Artemis assured the team over the radio she was fine.  Caariosamu picked off the drone that fired the wounding shot, and Dany ran up to the last drone and blew it apart with a close range shotgun blast before it could react. 

  Toby was furious.  “This can’t keep happening!  I knew we were stupid to even try approaching in this fucking river!”  Haderach coughed and then piped in over the radio “yeah, but it washes the blood right away.”  “This isn’t a fucking game!”  Toby screamed, storming past Dany on route to the UFO.  “Stay right the fuck where you are!”  Groaning as he laid his head back against the stiff bark of the tree, Haderach meekly agreed.  “Couldn’t get up if I tried.”  “Same goes for you Artemis!  Heal up and keep back, we can’t lose a field medic!”

  Dany approached the UFO first.  “At least they left the doors open,” she observed as she neared the front of the craft.  “It was dangerous, Toby, but looks like they weren’t expecting visitors.  High risk, high-“  a wave of rapid fire green energy beams soared through the air, lighting up the inside of the craft just early enough to tip Dany off as she dove into the river.  A glowing orange guardian hovered out, gun in hand searching for Dany.  He convulsed as Dany nailed him with a high voltage stunning shot, solidifying into a crystal-like form and splashing into the stream next to her.  “Gotcha,” she said smugly. 

  “Gotcha,” Caariosamu said smugly as she sniped the Thin Man from earlier, lurking in the corners of the UFO hoping to ambush a squad mate.

The squad had broken down into three teams.  Dany and Caariosuma took the left street around the library/cafe, Toby and Artemis took the right street, and Rayne/BeMess clambered to the rooftop.  Dany led the charge while Caariosuma picked off what she found.  They needed to go around and find a different entrance to the library, because part of the wall ceiling had collapsed, rendering half the room inaccessible with civilians still trapped inside. 

On the other side, Toby and Artemis were struggling with the wave after wave of enemy.  The highly dangerous melee centipede like aliens were halting their advances, which allowed Jetpack aliens to freely roam the streets picking off innocents and firing shots at the team.  If not for the efforts of BeMess on the roof, Toby's team would have fallen; BeMess was sniping the back lines while Toby and Artemis fended off the centipede like Crystalids.  Rayne was tasked almost exclusively with keeping the Crystalids from climbing the walls and overrunning BeMess's nest; easier said than done because the Crystalids could take a beating. 

"Dany, this is Rayne!  We're being overrun up here!"  She fired at a Crystalid, failing to halt its advances as it clambered up the wall as the bullets bounced off its tough exoskeleton.  It reached roof and reared on its hind set of legs menacingly, letting Rayne tear into its underbelly.  Enraged, it turned to her.  Rayne dropped her weapon and cartwheeled out of the way, pulling out her pistol as it charged past her.  

clang clang clang the pipe running up the left wall echoed with Dany's rushing ascent.  She tumbled over the edge and landed on her feet, priming her shotgun as she ran with all she could.  She cleared a small gap in the rooftops and hit the ground running.  Toby tried firing a few shots from the street level but was forced to turn his attention back to the ground as another pair of Crystalids burst forth.  Artemis's high powered laser rammed into the skull of one, knocking it to the ground and partially melting its exoskeleton.  As its legs twitched wildly, Toby tossed a grenade directly into its body, firing at its partner, softening it up for the explosion to finish it.

Rayne fired a few shots with her pistol at the Crystalid, but it wasn't phazed at all.  It began a charge, but was thrown backward as Dany came up behind Rayne and blasted it with buckshot.  Enraged, it dashed off towards BeMess, who'd drew out her pistol.  Toby looked up just in time to see it drive its pinsers straight through her armor deep into her chest, her pistol clattering useless to the ground.   It unceremoniously flung its head to the side, sending BeMess's body crashing down onto the pavement below.  Dany slayed the wounded beast with a plasma pistol shot, but the damage was done. 

  Six days removed from the struggle in the UK and Brazil is suffering a major invasion in a major metropolitan area.  With only Dany recovering fully from the previous battle, Toby has to lead the younger recruits against what’s likely to be just as ferocious a battle as the last one.

  As the plane lands in the LZ, the squad is looking at a massive parking lot for a factory.  “Command, the hell are we looking for?”  Toby asks.  “Brazil hasn’t been able to contain the aliens.  They’re running rampant through the streets.  Proceed with extreme caution.”

  “Fucking figures.  This is what I get for taking a mission off.”    He set the squad in defensive positions in the parking lot.  “Easy does it guys, if the little shits are running rampant let’s stick close.  I’m sure we’ll hear them or something.”

  As the squad formed a perimeter, they saw squad of three jetpack aliens zoom over the fence separating the street from the parking lot.  Rayne immediately took shots from behind a parked car, wounding one.  The wounded one let out a scream and blasted away from the pack.  The squad ducked it as whizzed by overhead, breaching the perimeter.  “I got it, don’t worry guys!  Just keep focusing on the fuckers ahead!”  Toby assured them, chasing down the rogue alien.  Back outside the perimeter, one of the still healthy aliens kept a stream of laser fire directed at the car BeMess, Rayne, and Dany were behind, and the last one used this opportunity to close in on the other side since the squad wasn’t willing to risk returning fire until they found an opening. 

  Ruine, who had kept a distance from the main front, fired a sniper shot at the alien closing in.  But he couldn’t get a clear shot with the constant suppressive fire from the furthest alien.  George, who was behind a large freight truck making up the right side of the perimeter, sent a wild burst of warning rounds that forced the alien pinning the rest of the squad down into a new position further back, giving  Rayne and BeMess a chance to pop up and overwhelm the alien on the other side of their car.  With it removed, Dany was able to advance and chase down the retreating alien, ensuring the easy kill with her shotgun.

  “No time to rest!”  Dany shouted, as she ducked behind another parked car to avoid incoming plasma fire.  “Damnit, I’m pinned down!  They’ve got a Muton up here!”  A second Muton snaked between parked cars towards Dany’s position.  “Hurry!”  As it closed in, Dany saw two sectoid grunts set into defensive positions in the actual factory further ahead.  This was quickly becoming a dangerous situation.

  Toby, removed from the rest of the squad having chased down the splinter alien, ran to the opposite side of the truck George was behind.  Being too far away to get a clear shot, he lobbed a grenade into the bed of the truck the approaching Muton was poised behind.  It exploded, but the thing was tough.  “That truck’s gonna blow!”  He warned.  Dany was in a dangerous position.  “Hell, the car I’M behind is gonna blow if it takes more damage.”  She’d noticed the engine was starting to catch fire, likely ignited from the constant barrage of plasma fire from the Muton further back.  She sure as hell couldn’t move safely either though. 

  “You say that truck’s about to blow?”  George asked.  He moved to the car where Rayne and BeMess were guarding and then chucked a grenade towards the wounded Muton behind the flaming truck.  The grenade’s explosion also set off the truck’s explosion in a giant fiery chain reaction, shredding the alien with shrapnel and scorching it to death.  Rayne took this time to fire at the alien suppressing Dany, missing the alien but giving Dany a chance to get away from the flaming deathtrap that would not only blow up in her face but leave her with little cover.  The Muton and one of the sectoids fired at her as she retreated to the truck in front of George, Rayne and BeMess but neither were able to hit as Dany quickly booked it back.  Some of the stray shots hit the freight truck Ruine was crouched behind, causing the cab to explode.  Ruine was rocked by the explosion, and struggled to get back up.   

  BeMess moved a little closer and busted out the rear window of the car she was behind.  She then fired a few pistol shots through the opening and managed to kill the sectoid that caused the explosion.  The remaining Sectoid ran back inside the building, narrowly avoiding another explosion as his car blew apart.  The Muton likewise retreated out of view as his truck burst into flames.

  “Cars making fucking terrible cover.”  Toby said as he rushed over to Ruine.  Ruine was already grimacing as he touched the raw flesh burn on his cheek.  “Relax, buddy,” Toby said in an unusually comforting tone.  “Stay back, we’ll take charge from here.”

  He then moved to one of the few remaining cars near the LZ, and signaled for Rayne to take cover behind the charred truck he and George had bombarded with grenades earlier.  She did so as Dany moved back to the vehicle she’d originally had to abandon before it was about to explode.  From behind it’s twisted frame she fired a laser pistol round at the Muton, but missed because she had to dodge a reaction shot from it at the same time.  Rayne then unloaded the rest of her clip into it, dealing massive damage.  George rushed next to Dany and was able to pick off the wounded alien. 

  There was a general silence as the rest of the squad began to adjust the perimeter.  They knew the Sectoid was luring them into the building, so they set up a defensive guard stretching the parking lot and facing the building.  “Everyone reload, let’s be gentle about this,” Toby instructed, gently opening up the door so as to avoid detection.  The inside of the factory was actually a reception area, and Toby couldn’t see anything in the lobby.  Dany moved to the opposite side of the doorway, and Ruine made his way (with difficulty) to the car parked outside the door. 

  BeMess noticed the Sectoid sneaking its way to the main lobby, and fired her sniper at it.  The bullet pierced the window and blew its brains right out.  The noise, however, alerted two more Mutons who’d been waiting inside the building.  They rushed out to see what was the matter.  Toby, Ruine, and Dany all let loose with defensive fire from the doorway, shattering the next double door set separating the lobby from the rest of the factory.  But the Mutons were protected briefly by those doors and scattered before any of them could be touched.  One ran into the left side where the Sectoids had been flitting in and out of during the firefight, and the other ran deeper into the factory.

  BeMess took another shot at the Muton, who’d taken cover where she’d sniped the Sectoid, but this one was alert and shifted position right before she made the shot.  George was able to wound it from his position, and Dany left her post by the door to get closer to the window.  She let loose a shotgun spray that sent the alien reeling; but it was still alive, and pissed.  “How do they take so much punishment?!”  She screamed.  Rayne moved to the truck George was behind and finally put the beast down.  “Not bad, team, but there’s more inside,”  Toby warned as he slowly made his way into the lobby.  He got a good look at the room the rest of the squad had been firing into.  It was an office area, not part of the actual factory.  Computers lay dormant on desks, and filing cabinets lined the wall.  As he surveyed the area, a back door burst open and another Muton rushed out and fired at George, managing to hit from all the way across the room.  “SHIT I didn’t think there were MORE!”  he gasped.  “I’m fine, don’t worry guys.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried,” Toby muttered as he whipped out a rocket launcher.  He let the rocket fly across the office, hitting a cubicle the Muton was behind.  The cheap walls of the cubicle did nothing to stop the explosion from ravaging part of the office and severely wounding the Muton.  George took the opportunity to advance unnoticed to the window and unleash a wide spray into the room.  With all the cover decimated, the Muton had nowhere to run and was mowed down as it tried. 

  “Be wary of that back room,”  George warned, wincing as his shoulder throbbed.  BeMess, Rayne, and Dany rushed into the building, quickly securing what was left of the office area.  Ruine kept his distance with George outside.

  “Now where the hell is that last one…” Toby wondered, gently pushing open the door.  He went unnoticed, and he was looking into a warehouse stockroom.  “How fucking creepy.  I saw it run into here.  Be careful guys, it could be anywhere.”  Dany made her way from the office area into the warehouse, trying to trace the steps of the Muton that had split into here.  “It’s too dark… there’s no power at all.  I can’t see jack shit.” 

  BeMess waited by the door for Dany, trailing her with her sniper scope.  George rushed next to her, but had to stop to catch his breath and let his shoulder rest a bit.  Rayne cautiously advanced to the back room and checked inside.  It was just a small storage space, with nothing more inside.  “That thing really was just waiting to ambush us… they’re using advanced tactics, be-“

  A Muton fell right in front of Toby.  There was a small awning over the door Toby had opened, and the Muton had been waiting there.  It fired its heavy plasma rifle right into Toby’s chestplate, knocking him down in surprise. 

“TOBY!”  Dany shouted, hearing the noise.  “OH GOD ARE YOU HURT!”  But Toby didn’t answer.  From his position on the ground, he unleashed a hail of bullets into the Muton.  It roared in agony, and Toby got up in a sprint and dashed past it.  Ruine, seeing Toby clear the lobby, threw a grenade into the room, filling the whole reception area with an explosion that blew apart the walls.  Large parts of the ceiling fell on top of the Muton, pinning it to the ground as it reeled from the explosion.  Dany made her way to the pile as the Muton flung debris off itself.  She let loose a large electric blast, and the Muton couldn’t reach its gun under the mess.  It slumped over, completely stunned.  “I think it’s time we take one of these back for a proper analysis.”