#xcom wotc

“Whoa!” Someone exclaimed as they ducked as someone flew high and over their head. They ducked again as a few limbs from the tree above fell and a mass of cables zipped by them. “We sure we didn’t let one of those snakes through?” Just a hint of concern tinged their voice.

Another laughed. “No, just her fancy legs. She’s one of the old guard.”

“Coming down!” Piper yelled. 

She had just finished setting up a few scanning arrays in the tree tops. Stepping off a sturdy branch, she became a blue and brown blur before she hit the ground with a hard thud. She scared the daylights out of one person, and the other was laughing. 

“How? How??” The other stammered as they struggled to get their trembling under control.

She had dropped from several meters and landed like it was nothing. There was just the faintest tremble of the muscles in her legs contracting and relaxing.

Fluffing out her afro, she turned to them and gave them a crooked smile as she tapped her heels against the ground. “I’m a spring chicken.”

“Knock it off, Piper!” Bradford barked. His eyes darted up from his tablet just for a second to catch the scene. Had was glad they were getting back some of their old Gene-Modded soldiers, but knew the problems it would bring for some personnel. Especially with there being talks of restarting that old program if resources permitted. “Finish up your tasks out here and report to the Medical team for your check-up.”

“Always the killjoy, Johnny.” She stuck her tongue out at him. The dreaded nickname got a glare from him. “But on it!”

Currently, Bradford was outside of the ship getting some fresh air and assisting with another round of “check-ins” regarding various personnel, recruits, cargo, and equipment onboard. It was a multi-stage and multi-person system that he liked to make sure was running smoothly. Even more so after there being a few incidents at some Havens with those Faceless. And he had been hearing some rumors of some thin and fairly tall “humans” with scales mingling around in some Havens that were more accepting of defecting Hybrids and aliens.

“Thin Men.” Bradford grumbled the name under his breath.

While working, he was also double-checking some reports coming back in from those out and working with the Havens and Cells. Some pictures were attached showing a much more refined form of those double-agent aliens that would better pass a scrutinizing eye. Not all were thin and tall like the models fielding around 20 years ago. They came in all shapes and sizes, including ethnicities and skin colors. Yet, all were still glaringly male. 

“Are the Elders making you guys again, though they have those Faceless?” He found it to be a little too suspect that they were finding several of them in the region. “Supposedly, from the reports, they’re not. Stopped the process after some ‘issues’ and recalled the most loyal back into Their fold after the world was won.” He mumbled as he continued to scan the report. 

There were more details of how the Elders “retired” some of the more clone-based Thin Men and spent a great deal of time and resources refining the remaining ones to act as ambassadors to help quell the human populace. It worked. And then, some of those refined were sent out to work alongside those Faceless to infiltrate Cells and Havens for future raids. Again, it worked… for a time. For some, the masks those Thin Men wore consumed them, and they found themselves having sympathy for humanity, finally seeing through the Elders’ lies and hypocrisy. 

“Still don’t buy it.” Bradford held onto an unhealthy amount of skepticism. Out of all the aliens the Elders used, he trusted the Vipers and their Thin Men counterparts the least. He had read many files and reports they had pulled from ADVENT and alien sources over the years. They were one of the most loyal to the Elders and most favored. 

“It may be a ploy. Keep your eyes and ears up.” He sent warnings to all who sent in the reports. “I’d… trust a Muton more than a Viper.” He saw in reports how that species was once hired muscle ages ago, mainly working for the thrill of combat and some technology the Elders provided, until something happened between the species and the Elders retaliated hard by oppressing all but a few of the most powerful clans. 

“Would say the same for a Sectoid, but the new ones have their Masters’ cruelty. Been hearing word that some Havens and Skirmisher clans have a few of the new ones living with them. Something about ‘empathy and kindness’ can change them. Hm.” 

Comparing the old model to the latest model, Sectoid was always shocking. Something so skittish, small, and weak became a tall, more menacing force. It showed how well the Elders knew how to remake a species in a short time. What did those aliens have in store for humanity? 

I remember the first time we saw the beginnings of the Elders splicing human DNA into them during the latter half of the invasion. Nasty things. Gave our psions hell. The first encounters with the prototypes nearly ended in some squad wipes. Still, some of their skittish nature remained, as some would hide and use human thralls to throw our soldiers off. 

He shot off a few more messages telling all personnel to practice the utmost caution, as always, when dealing with any “defecting” aliens and likewise with ADVENT. They didn’t need to deal with any potential moles. 

“Central!” A faintly rough male voice called out to him. “Bradford!” It sounded familiar to him. A voice he had heard recently on some transmissions. 

“Give me a sec.” He said, even raising his hand, when he heard heavy boot falls closing in on his position. 

“Always, have your head buried in a tablet, I see.” The man joked. “Makes me wonder how you don’t have a constant crick in your neck.”

Still not looking up from his tablet, he rolled his eyes, but there was a faint nod in agreement. As he was going over some new messages and finalizing additional inventory requests, his mind finally recalled the name to the voice. An old operative, who was now one of the Instructors and Senior Staff, he was more than happy that they would be coming back to the ship. 

“You’ve always got something to say when you come back, Taka–“ As Bradford was looking up from his tablet and was about to rib his old friend back, he paused. He was looking up at him. Wait… no… that can’t be right. 

Bradford knew for a fact he was a foot and several inches taller than him. For a moment, that crippling, suspicious part of his brain thought it was a Faceless that screwed up on such an important detail, but the more rational portions stomped it out. They had several detectors that would have detected that creature. “–mura…”

Takamura was just wearing a smile that slowly grew into a wide grin as Bradford’s bewilderment increased. 

Just as Bradford was about to speak, there was a series of soft clicks before the hiss of depressurization followed; before his eyes, his friend shrank inch by inch until he was just a tad shorter than him. 

Still not the correct height. But… He looked down at his legs. Not like he could see anything beneath the boots and fatigues; there was a faint shift here and a strain there against the fabrics of the pants. He looked back at his face. “New legs?”

Takamura nodded with a smile. He spent a few seconds increasing his height once more to be at eye level with Bradford. “The Void Walkers owed me again since a recent bargain cost me my last two sets and a bit of my hearing. The hearing is good as new now.”

For a second, Bradford’s brow twitched before he shook his head. “That explains why they’ve been oddly generous with tossing in some Meld containers in some recent trades and providing us coordinates to some facilities and storehouses that contained caches of that stuff.” He spoke with the faintest bit of irritation lacing his words before a rough throat clear knocked it away. Not the time to worry about that. 

Shifting his tablet under his arm, he extended his hand to him. “Glad to have you back with the main crew. And you have to tell me the story later.”

Takamura took his hand and gave a hearty shake. “Glad to be back, though I can’t quite call rejoining the ship a vacation since I’ll be thrown at training the new recruits with the others. And garden and kitchen duties.” He chuckled. “Over a meal and some of Warren’s drinks.”

“I would say our more advanced facilities would make it more of a vacation.”

Takamura nodded and pointed at him. “I do miss stable power, consistent food, and not worrying if the water filtration system broke again.”

The two continued to chat, mainly it was Bradford catching up on all the work Takamura and his retinue had been doing across the Americas for about two years that wasn’t always included in their sparse transmissions. 

Setting up some Cells went easier than most. Making them last some months to a year was the hard part, even more so when ADVENT would do their cleansing campaigns. As of recent, there had been an elite set of Mutons running the campaigns using two creature companions to wreak havoc on Havens, the Elders didn’t care to recover samples from. One that could be described as their “dogs” was a nasty and ugly piece of work with a voracious appetite. 

They called them Ravagers. Squat, bipedal nasty things had a keen nose that could sniff one out. But with the help of a smaller Faction by the name of NoX, they were able to quickly create some disorienting gas grenades and scent-canceling sprays to throw the beasts off. And then it seemed like the control harness that partially encompassed their head was a weakness. Striking it until it was sparking seemed to damage the harness and cause the beasts to attack their handlers.

The other creature they used was an amorphous, floating pink blob. Its simple and small design was deceiving as the creature could spit out globules, or streams, of some highly corrosive substance. To add to that, it seemed the creature may have had some sort of psionic power to detect them even when hiding. They called them Celatids. Additionally, the creatures were just as tough as the Ravagers despite their size.

Just some new creatures for XCOM to worry about. 

Bradford let out an annoyed sigh at the news. He just hoped neither would reproduce like the Chryssalids and couldn’t slip from the Elders’ control like some hordes of those ravenous bugs did. 

“More for the boys and gals to document and research.” He was already sending a message and setting up a full debriefing meeting with Takamura and his group for another day. 

“So…” Takamura’s voice trailed off. 

Bradford made a brief hm as he inclined his head. When there was no answer, he looked at him. The man had shifted a few steps and was facing the Avenger, looking up at the hearty ship. There were the faintest hints of a forlorn mood taking over; with each blink he made, his eyes stayed closed just a second longer. 

“Is it true?”

“Is what true?” Bradford gestured for him to keep talking. He knew far too many things – and couldn’t recall most of them – to even try and guess what he meant. 

“The rumors… You guys found the Commander? Commander Reeves?” 

Bradford’s eyes widened for just a second before relaxing. Swore I told him, then again, things have been so busy. And then… He mentally sighed. Some still think of that as my fool’s errand. He hated thinking about it. 

He moved over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. “We found her. She was in… rough shape. But we have her. Her health is miles better. She’s even leading.” He paused for just a second. “Mostly.”

Hearing the news brought a mix of emotions to Takamura’s face. Surprise, relief, anger, acceptance, and then relief again. Just as he was about to speak, he caught the pause and trailing word that made him raise a brow. “Mostly?”

Bradford chewed on the inside of his cheek. Should have kept my mouth shut, but he would have learned of it anyway. “What’s one of the ties that binds us all?”

Takamura closed his eyes and nodded. Just a faint subconscious reaction kicked in. He lifted the heel of one boot and tapped at the opposite leg. “Explain no more.”

Bradford caught him up on a very abbreviated version of the Commander’s recovery, omitting a few things she wanted to discuss in the future staff meeting. 

“Ah…” Takamura leaned back on his heels as his mind focused on her butchered health. “So, it is a miracle she is even amongst us living with how the Elders kept her?”

Bradford nodded. 

“That is… strange that those fools let her health degrade in that damned machine.”

Bradford shrugged. It was something bothering them all, and something he couldn’t speak more on with the concerning theories the Commander had been floating with the doctors. “They…” How much to say? How much to hold back? “Applied Their usual trade and were most likely going to apply it again. Those Floaters were practically fighting corpses.”

Takamura shuddered. “Revenants…” He couldn’t imagine that fate befalling the Commander. “I’m glad we haven’t seen them since then. So angry.”

He nodded. 

“So…” Takamura shot him a mischievous grin; the scarring around the left side of his mouth only made it worse. 

“Spit it out. I’m not playing guessing games.” Bradford shook his head. 

Takamura chuckled as he gave an innocent shrug. “You think Reeves will recognize me?”

“No.” He looked at him with half-hooded eyes before rolling them. He knew he was partially serious, but mostly joking. “Besides, you were one of the Operatives back then and got shipped out to a Sister Base midway through that War. No.” He was a little blunt, but the man took no offense. “And, you look different.”

“Well, I will say, I have aged more gracefully than you.” Takamura elbowed Bradford’s side a few times, only to get a solid jab under his ribs, which caused him to gag and stagger away. 

Like most of the old XCOM crew, Takamura had aged, gained several scars across his body, and his voice sounded different, too. He was sporting a lot more grays, wore his hair long, but pulled back into a bun, and had a mustache and short beard. His build and stature had stayed mostly the same through the years, lean yet muscular. He could even outpace the younger Rangers, with and without his mechanical legs. 

Rubbing the spot, Takamura stumbled back over to him. He raised a hand, a feeble attempt that he wouldn’t make the joke again when he noticed the gleam of annoyance in Bradford’s eye. Bradford shook his head and eased up.

“Ah…” Takamura hissed as he straightened himself back up. “Any words on the other three? And any other survivors?”

Bradford’s mood darkened immediately. “Negative. Sadly.” He shook his head. “Thaddeus is still most likely dead with what we found in the Nigeria base... Still no leads on the other two, but we’re going to put some more resources into searching for any trace of the three, and others, due to some recent upgrades we’ve had to our systems.” He explained. “Especially, security-wise.” A faint grumble slipped out. “Damn Codexes.”

Takamura nodded along until he heard a new word. He could immediately tell it dealt with security. “Codex…es?”

“New enemy. Annoying to deal with the current knowledge we have on it. You’ll be debriefed about it.”

Takamura just nodded.

“Back to the others… Kamon, Elli, Thaddeus…” He had to hold back a sigh. He missed those three. “Before we recovered Jynn, we heard rumors about some activity around the region where the old China base was located,  but with all that psionic energy blanketing it, it wasn’t worth it at the time. Back then, and even now, ADVENT avoided sending patrols there. Organic and mechanical.”

“The Hunan base… that would have been Kamon stationed there, right?”

He nodded. “With new contacts and resources, I’m planning on sending a request to the Void Walkers to see if they have any information on what’s going on there. I would ask the Reapers and their sub-factions, but that psionic energy makes it too risky.”

“Have you asked the Templars?” That seemed like the obvious solution to Takamura.

“We’re… still working on fully securing our relations with them, and don’t want them snooping around our old Base without oversight. It should be happening relatively soon with an upcoming meeting. If all goes well, I’ll ask them if they are willing to lend a hand.” 

“Sounds smart.”

“And for our old Australia base in the Outback. Haven’t had a chance to send any probes over there, but I’ve sent a request to the Void Walkers and Betos to check things out. Out of the three, Elli is the most likely one who may still be alive. Either free and hiding or has been captured.”

“Betos?”

“The Skirmishers have some rather rough-and-tumble clans that are kicking out in the Outback just fine.”

Takamura chuckled. “That is rather fitting.” His mind then drifted back to the first of the Sub-Commanders spoken of. “So… still no traces of Thaddeus? Not even in that ‘Missing People’ database.” He knew they were running near constant DNA checks whenever they got the chance, when hacking ADVENT systems or stumbling across the occasional cadaver locked in some suspended storage.

“None. I truly believe he’s dead, with all the blood I found that registered as his. Probably dissected and processed a long time ago.” He shook his head, doing his best not to let his mind dip into anger and despair. 

His shoulders stiffened for just a second when he felt Takamura place a hand on his shoulder and grip it tightly.

“Until we find his body or some file detailing his ‘dissection’, he’s still alive. He was a tough bastard.” Takamura grinned.

Bradford let out a snort before a small laugh followed, which was a little sadder than he wanted. “He was. Miss him and the others. Could use his discipline tactics for some of these hooligans.” Slyly, he tilted his head at some of the crew moving about, specifically the more anti-ADVENT, Hybrid, and alien people.

Takamura tilted his head ever so slightly, recognizing some faces before shifting back. He was surprised they were behaving as he saw a few Hybrids moving supplies around. “Is Alberich and his gang still around?”

“Yes and no. Currently, off ship due to an incident — I’ll fill you in later.” He raised a finger to stop the incoming question. “Have them assisting some Havens, and don’t exactly want them around when we meet the Templars.”

“Smart.” 

“Currently, the Commander is reviewing their files and may move them to be permanently off the ship, depending on how things go when they come back. I barely see them lasting a month, as we have some more Skirmishers and other Hybrids that are joining the crew soon.”

Takamura grimaced. “Hopefully, that is before bloodshed breaks out.”

“Already late on that. Fights between him and Mox have broken out a few times. Usually, someone more level-headed breaks them up before any major damage is done.” He shook his head, remembering reading the incident and medical reports. Then he remembered another detail, a rather surprising one. “Surprised that Elena came to his rescue one time. Though… her explanation was concerning…” 

He is mine, and mine alone to kill. 

As Bradford was letting his mind focus on that statement and the venomous glare Elena wore during the debriefing, he finally noticed the puzzled look Takamura was giving him.

“Ah, dammit…” It clicked.

“You are speaking names, I have no clue who they are.”

“Sorry, force of habit. It will be a part of the debriefings; in short, Pratal Mox is a Skirmisher, formally a high-ranking Captain, right-handman to Betos. Elena Dragonova is a Reaper, one of Volk’s most trusted people.”

“I will keep these names in mind. New people to figure out.”

Needing to go take care of something inside the ship, Bradford motioned for Takamura to join him and would fill him in on anything he wanted that didn’t require them to be in one of the meeting rooms, and showed him some of the latest changes and rooms.

Takamura asked if some of the usual people he knew were on the ship, especially the cooking and garden staff. He was more than elated to hear most were still there and a little annoyed Memento, the head gardener, was away at one of the nearby Haven’s fixing up their garden and doing some checks on the soil and local environment for any traces of the Elders’ machinations or the usual escaped experiments causing issues.

He was sad and angered to hear that Laney had been captured, but happy they were tapping into all ADVENT communications to track wherever they had taken her. And was of course sad to her that Jody had died in the same operation.

On the partial tour, Takamura saw some of the new rooms under construction, a few he knew he would need a detailed conversation to fully understand the alien tech they were reverse-engineering or integrating. One thing that had him excited was that Memento’s Hydroponics and Garden room was finally getting a much-needed upgrade. From what Bradford explained, Commander Reeves gave the go-ahead to repurpose the old stasis field modules found in the old cryopods to make a long-term storage area for food supplies.

He asked if the Commander had approved of Memento’s other idea of installing hidden planters around the landing pad area or the flatter and more accessible parts of the ship’s roof.

Bradford said no. She didn’t want to risk the structural integrity of the ship and didn’t want to risk anything cluttering the landing pad for the Skyrangers; well, only one ship, as they were still working on getting the second one operational.

Once Bradford reached where he needed to be, Takamura swiftly found some old friends to catch up with while the man worked with someone from the Communications team and the Armory team. The whole thing took less than an hour, and before Bradford knew it, they needed him outside again. Just as he was leaving, Takamura caught him by his sleeve. His look was serious and faintly grim.

“I just remembered. Any luck getting back in contact with Recoil?” Takamura asked.

Bradford closed his eyes and shook his head. He took in a sharp breath before slowly letting it out. “None. Like he disappeared off the Earth without a trace after we dropped him off in America those years ago.” He soon grumbled. “Still not sure if the person leaving ‘comm drops’ is an impersonator or not. Any luck on your end?”

Takamura shook his head. “My team and I found a lot of rumors, but they all led to dead ends and more questions. But…” He rummaged around in his pocket before producing a small black case. “Perhaps the team here can do some back-tracing on these chips?”

Bradford eyed the chips. Finally, a lead of sorts? He hoped so. He took the case before leaning in and whispering. “Don’t bring this up with the Commander.”

Takamura was about to speak, but quickly shut his trap. He nodded.

“You know the usual people to talk to when you want to start your debriefing.” He said as he started to leave again. “And at some point you’ll run into the Commander unless she finds you first!” 

—————————

Bradford finished up what he was called for, what still needed some overseeing outside, and finally received a package he had been waiting for, before he was finally able to respond to a message from Commander Reeves.

She was in no rush for him to come to her Quarters for some important chat on a range of topics. She was just about finishing up a session with Dr. Veer.

As he was passing through the Bar and was nearly back in the hallway, a thunderous commotion of yelling and glass crashing caught his attention, causing him to swiftly backtrack.

There was another heavy thud and another cry of pain as billiard balls clacked about.

Elena had one of the usual jokesters and anti-hybrid people pinned against the pool table, slowly twisting their arm. Some people standing nearby attempted to intervene, but an ice-cold glare from Elena made them all back away.

“Tits! You can’t take a joke about tha— AH!!” The woman tried wiggling herself from Elena’s grip only to yelp when she twisted harder. 

“I know your kind doesn’t joke.” Elena sneered. She leaned in closer and hissed into her ear. “Do not trespass on my targets, or you will be wishing you were dealing with a nest of Chryssalids. Understand?”

The woman spat out a curse, which only resulted in another harsh twist.

“Understand?”

The woman laughed. “With the way you’re so possessive over that hybrid and that Chosen scum makes it sound like you’re more interested in fucking them bo—” 

Before the words even left her mouth, there was a loud snap, causing the woman to choke on her words before letting out a scream.

“That’s enough, Elena!” Someone finally stepped in before Bradford had to and pulled Elena away as she let go.

The other woman was cursing up a storm and promising to return the injury in turn as the others were dragging her off to the Infirmary. 

Elena just kept a firm glare on her. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Elena…” Bradford said in a low tone as he came over. He had a firm glare on her.

She returned it before rolling her eyes. “I displaced her shoulder and maybe fractured the arm. Nothing the medical team can’t heal.”

“You need to stop escalating these spats into fights. Especially over that particular subject.”

Her brow twitched ever so slightly. She took a step forward until their chests were nearly touching. “Someone needs to put her kind in their place. I don’t see you or anyone doing that with the trouble they have caused. Especially not the ‘Commander.’”

“Elena. Cut the crap.” He was in no mood for insubordination. “We are fighting a war to take the Earth back. We can’t be all sunshine and roses here. We need everyone we can get to overthrow the Elders. Get your vendettas under control before they get you killed. Got it?”

She rolled her eyes. “Got it.”

“And remember, you have a meeting with Commander Reeves in about three days.” It had to be rescheduled due to recent events.

“Tch. I remember.” 

That tone still bothered him, but he held his tongue. Dressing her down would be pointless. Her mind was set. It would take a miracle to break that cold cynicism poisoning every inch of it.

To think I was like this for some years before finding the remnants of XCOM. And just as hateful to the aliens and ADVENT before some truths were found. He still had a healthy skepticism for the more loyal aliens.

Both held their ground for a while longer before Elena finally backed off, saying ‘she had her equipment she needed to maintain.’ 

“Jynn is going to have one hell of a talk with her… alone.” He grumbled to himself. With how Elena had been as of late, it made him not want her to have that future meeting one-on-one, but Jynn insisted there would be no one hovering in or near the meeting. He just hoped there would be no violence.

With that, he made his leave and made sure to document the incident for further review and investigation.

—————————

Bradford made sure to drop the package off at his room before he made it to the Commander’s Quarters. He knocked before opening the door. To his surprise, Dr. Veer was still there and seemed like she had commandeered one of Dr. Marin’s assistants, Frazer, to assist her.

The trio was situated around the couches with a series of machines from the Psi Labs sitting nearby. There was a bit of a blue light show going on as he quickly figured out that Dr. Veer and Frazer were running tests on Jynn’s psionics. There was that electrode cap fastened on her head, a few more electrodes placed on spots where one would find a Hybrid’s ports, and several more placed across her body.

Jynn was slowly walking back and forth, with a psionically imbued arm outstretched towards a few floating stacks of books that were wrapped in bands that ethereal blue glow. Frazar was keeping pace next to her, but not too closely.

“Ah, hello John, good timing.” Veer noticed his presence first. Even with her ever-present tired look and weary-laced voice, she smiled.

“Evening, Dr. Veer.” Bradford nodded to the older woman as he came over. “How much longer? Do I need to leave and come back?”

“No, we’re just about done here in a few minutes.” She said. “I’m actually glad you made it before we left.”

Bradford raised a brow at the statement. “Why?” 

“John’s here?” Jynn finally noticed the new voice in the room. For a second, her powers faltered, causing the bands around the books to dissipate, making the books fall, but she quickly refocused and caught them before they hit the ground.

“Your reflexes to reignite your psionics are fairly good.” Frazer noted.

“Frazer, if you can wrap up the test, we can transition to analyzing the data down in the lab.” She then turned her attention to Jynn. “I’ll schedule another session so we can continue our discussions later, but do consider talking to someone about them.” She had a particular look, like a stern teacher scolding a student. With the faintest flick of her head, she gestured to Bradford. The man didn’t catch it.

Jynn bristled. She stole a glance at Bradford for a second, her cheeks heated up, before looking back at the doctor with a nasty glare that could bore holes through concrete.

Bradford looked at Jynn and back at Veer. He noticed there were brief flashes of their psionic energy in their eyes. Then he noticed Jynn’s cheeks were red hot. For a moment, his brow twitched. She better have not…

Quickly defusing the situation, Frazer dragged Jynn over to a chair so he could remove all the electrodes. Jynn kept a harsh glare on the doctor before finally paying attention to Frazer, who was trying to usher her over to a chair. 

“Doctor…” Bradford said in a low voice. He kneeled since she was sitting. “What was that about?”

“Nothing to truly worry about.” She said as she turned her attention to her tablet, but she glanced over at him a few times. “Something more personal. I can’t say more. Patient confidentiality.”

“Now you’re enforcing that.” He found that too convenient.  

Veer took in a sharp breath before she faced him. “I will tell you this much. It is a push to get her to consider broaching certain conversations with those she trusts. You are one who is high on that list.”

Bradford let out a grumbled hm. Those conversations could have been about anything, and they were already talking about a lot. But the way Jynn was blushing had him worried that the doctor had told her his deepest secret. 

“Also!” A nudge from the doctor caught his attention. “I hope I’ll be seeing you sometime soon to complete our sessions.”

He gritted his teeth as his lips twisted. “I’ve been busy.”

“You can’t neglect your mental health.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone. “You’ve recovered from that minor drinking spiral a while back quite well, and other things have been going well concerning a certain subject and… locks.” Ever so slyly, her eyes drifted over to Jynn before going back to Bradford. She then spoke in a quieter voice. “I have contacted the Templars to see if they can send over someone to help.”

He followed the movement, and his eyes narrowed. “You’ll see me soon once we’re settled in. Tap. Tap.”

Veer’s eyes began to glow.

You better not have told her about that. His voice came like a cracking whip. He didn’t even give her a second to send a message over. 

John. She let out an exasperated sigh, barely bothered by his tone. Patient confidentiality. And that is just as personal as the problems she and many others are dealing with on this ship. I’ve just noticed some of your clothes are in here. Additionally, I’ve been hearing rumors—

We are not sleeping together!

I… was not… going to imply that. Closing her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose. I’ve just heard you’ve been visiting her more often for long hours. She has partially confirmed that she vents to you about some stressful subjects and has been slowly shuffling that off onto the other veteran staff she’s familiar with.

Damn it. He meant to keep the curse to himself and from slipping out. He looked away, feeling rather stupid for jumping to that conclusion so fast. 

John. She placed a hand on his arm. I wouldn’t dare speak of your feelings for her. I know that is a sensitive subject, and I know the issues interpersonal romance can cause, especially with her being the head of this faction.

He let out a gruff snort as he didn’t answer or look back at her. His mind dwelt on those troublesome feelings for his best friend. He wished he didn’t still have them. He stole a glance over to where Jynn was. He was glad Frazer had her distracted. He just hoped she wasn’t detecting this conversation. 

He looked back at Veer. Thank you. And sorry for jumping to conclusions. Just… Just… I don’t know why those nightmares have started coming back. They were under lock and key. Hell! They should be gone with her back!

Sometimes the mind can be illogical. Like I said from our previous sessions, something is causing those psionic locks to break down. By all means, it could be stress, time, or even… Jynn’s psionics. She’s told me she’s mind-linked with you before, correct?

Bradford froze when she said that. The brief flash of a memory concerning a ghost of the Elder and those desiccated corpses came to the forefront of his mind. He still wasn’t sure if Jynn had finally told the doctors about that. Well, the Elders issue was more well-known after that Stasis Suit test went south, but the other thing… He needed to ask her about that.

She has. A few times, but it’s always short. I’m not a fan of those Mind Melds. Though he found Jynn’s psionics to be more pleasant compared to others. 

I know. I suggest you two tone it down until we can get those locks fixed. Veer gently suggested. I don’t want any surprise feedback when they fully break, potential feed back, and possibly she cou—

Don’t… continue. He didn’t even want to think about Jynn glimpsing those nightmares. I’ll keep that in mind.

Just as they finished, Frazer had finished removing all the electrodes from Jynn and was working on packing up the equipment. Veer got up to help him. Bradford headed over to Jynn. 

He noticed she was at her computer and was currently bringing up various files and had something ADVENT related playing on one of the smaller monitors. As he closed in, he could feel a faint tingling irritation hang around her. Oh, boy. Let’s avoid whatever Dr. Veer was trying to broach. For now. 

“Evening, Jynn.” He put on a cheery tone.

There was some silence before she finally responded. “Evening, John.” An irritated sigh slipped out. One that made her tense before letting her shoulders slump. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He chuckled. “I’ve been there.” He shook his head. “Our first rounds of restocking, shipping out, etc., have gone off without a hitch.” He said switching over to ‘military mode’ to help get her mind off current things.

He went into more detail about the currently received shipments, what they were still expecting, and what they sent out in a mix of trades and goodwill gifts. Firebrand and Gargoyle handled their respective runs throughout the day to drop off personnel at the various Havens, Cells, and joint operations with other Factions, as well as picking up any dead drops. 

Recon had been going well. The usual expected ADVENT activity was occurring in the region. Surprisingly, they were in unclaimed territory for their three headaches, but knew the Warlock claimed territory somewhere in North America due to reported high Templar activity. Otherwise, they were currently under ADVENT’s radar. Especially after that close call some days ago.

He didn’t have any positive updates on their search for Laney’s prison location or the location of Jody’s body, if it hadn’t been processed already. Still no hits in the Network, and none of their contacts had found anything. In fact, XCOM was suspecting that a few black markets in Africa and Europe were hit due to information pulled from either. Survivors were few, and they told of how ADVENT came down on them hard when it was the ‘busy hour.’ 

They finally got a hint of a lead on Bones’ man, Marrow, and sent the details over to the odd Reaper. So far, he was still alive but in bad shape with how the Hunter was handling his interrogation sessions. They were no longer within the region that the information pointed to, but knew this scrap of knowledge could hold some truth.

The talk seemed to put Jynn in a better mood, which only increased once the doctor and assistant left. Before leaving, Dr. Veer said she’d talk to the others to get some blood tests and scans scheduled for what she requested. 

Bradford asked what that was about, but she quickly redirected the conversation back to the original topic. She provided a few suggestions here and there regarding what they needed to do in the current region before moving on to the next two locations, before they finally met the Templars. A few weapon and armor production facilities had caught her eye. Disrupting the two would be a mild nuisance to ADVENT, but snatching those supplies and blueprints would be more than worth it in the end. 

Eventually, Bradford felt like it was time to broach the subject, but wanted to start with something else.

“So… how did your other doctor check-ups go?”

Jynn was already leaning on her arm, pressed against the desk. The mere mention of that caused her to flip her hand up and bury her face in it.

Bradford grimaced. “Sorry, if you don’t want to—” A finger silenced him.

“You’ve had a long day. I’ve had an even longer day.” She groaned. Pulling her hand from her face, she looked tired. A faint bit of blue shimmered in her brown eyes. “I am learning things about myself I would rather not, and know there are going to be a litany of tests in the future for me.” She put on a strained smile. It felt like the tests would never end.

His eyes widened before he recomposed himself. He quickly fetched a chair and sat down. “Where do you want to start?”

“Well!” A she turned to face him, she winced before rubbing her chin and arms. “Ever since that damned test, it looks like it has awakened even more of these hidden ports across my body and some semi-dense nerve bundles of some biomechanical crap that I partially zoned out on because curse these damned Elders.” She just wanted to scream, but kept it all in. 

Bradford had both brows raised. A lot of new news to him that he had a feeling both an explanation from the doctors and whatever files he would have access to would leave him lost in the complicated scientific and medical terms. He carefully eyed her chin. Nothing looked odd or out of place, minus some red marks from those electrodes.

“And these things don’t make any sense!” She threw up her hands. “They seem more complicated and invasive than the standard applied to the other Hybrids, especially with how fickle, to not caring, the Elders were handling my health. And then it’s an absolute pain to even try to get them to open up, even with anesthesia!”

He was about to comment on the odd complexity of the ports until the mention of anesthesia caught his attention. “Anesthesia? Did they try cutting you open?” He was looking her over and didn’t see any incision marks, but noticed some bruising on her arms and chin.

“Kind of. It was the better alternative to try and explore the ports on my face and not use that…” She shuttered. “… Helmet. Or any part of the suit… didn’t want to risk what happened again.” She was pretty sure her death glare kept the more daring doctors from even suggesting it, besides Tygan’s own stern glares. “The docs could barely get them open. Broke several scalpels and forceps, but Tygan managed to take some tendril, tissue, and liquid samples to study.”

He offered his hand, and she gladly took it and gave it a good squeeze. He was glad none were idiotic enough to try that again. “Good, good. Any more intrusions from Them?”

“No, it’s been pretty quiet after that.” And she was going to thank that Templar heartily for that rescue. “But I know They’ll be back a knocking sooner than latter.” She sighed. “Especially when that Shadow Chamber is up and running. Tygan and the others have some tests they want to run. They say it should have the power to run some more intensive body scans for my quirks.” 

“Hoping that can give us some solid answers and maybe some potential leads to get some more.” He nodded. 

“Ah! Nearly forgot!” She said with a grimace and twitchy eye. He didn’t like that. “We also did a little test run on the tactical information we recovered from that ADVENT General, Cross.”

With how much her eye was twitching at that grimace was becoming a scowl, he had a feeling the news wasn’t good. “You slipped off into that trance again?”

“Yep.” She said before letting out a slew of curses under her breath in a few different languages. “The Elders really screwed with my brain. But, it… it also let me recall some things.”

“Recall what?”

“They’re fragmented, like several of my memories and dreams. But… there is definitely something special about this Cross. The rhythm to his signature in that Network is far too familiar to me. Like I’ve… met him before. Like he’s my right hand. Like I’ve… I’ve…” She bit her lip.

He wondered why she paused until he remembered something. That unsavory part of that theory. “Jynn…” He placed a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it. “You had no control over what They made you do.”

“I still pulled those triggers.”

“No, you didn’t.”

It took more words of encouragement to get her out of the funk and more on to something else. Thinking about her own health headaches again, Dimitri crossed her mind. She asked for an update on her recovery. Bradford said she was still suffering from some migraines, but was doing miles better compared to that night. And no degradation with her vision. 

The discussions continued for some time until it reached a natural lull, allowing silence to take over. 

A message from someone had Bradford distracted for a bit, and Jynn had slipped on an earpiece to tune into what she had on a side monitor. 

With the message answered, Bradford glanced over to Jynn and then to what she was watching. One screen had that ADVENT Speaker, Amon. It looked like he was doing another speech on the “horrid terror attack” that happened at City 22, Sha’n’dao, and how nearly all digital infrastructure was back in operation. Repairing the affected buildings from the explosion would take time. And then the other monitor. It took him a few seconds to figure out it was also something ADVENT related, a talk show of sorts, and one of the presenters looked familiar. A quick search on his end answered the familiarity. 

“Exactly why are you listening to that snake?” He then pointed at the other monitor. “And what are you watching and why?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Hm?” She stole a glance with an equally highly raised brow. “I’m learning more about our enemy.”

“What more do you need to learn about them that we don’t have in the Archives?”

“Propaganda. We have to find the chinks in it if we want the world fighting on our side when this New War reaches its end.”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “You have a point.” Then he recalled something. “I’ve noticed you’ve put together a Media team to work in conjunction with our Communications team to pump out some recruitment propaganda of our own.”

She smiled. “I have, and I have also them working with some other teams to compile evidence of the brutalities ADVENT inflicts on those that refuse to join the “controlled settlements” and cities, and evidence of the Elders’ experimentations.” She sighed at the end. “Neither will be pretty, but I believe showing that to the world at the right time will shatter the hold the Elders have on the world. Have to show them we are just lambs for the slaughter in the Elders’ eyes. I know those gene clinics will be the biggest push back. All the good they did will be tainted for many.”

“Huh…” Putting together something like that had never fully crossed his mind. Showing it to the various splintered settlements and Havens, yes, but a full exposé to show to the world, that would be needed.

 He subtly nodded at what she said about the Gene Clinics. He couldn’t deny the “good” they did for those loyal citizens, curing just about every single last issue humanity had struggled with for centuries. He also still had several clear memories of the good the Meld did when they were using it back in the day. And they had some of their Ex-ADVENT citizens and important personnel who had stories of having their issues cured. But there was a truth that those citizens were blind. All those cures? Temporary. 

Heard doc Rosch’s cancer has come back. Again. Such a pain in the ass, we have to waste resources treating him and the others whenever their old ailments come back. Damn those Elders. Need to hit some of those medical databases to find a permanent fix.

Whatever the Elders had set up for those treatments worked on a timer, and perhaps subtle genetic tweaks were made to make those ailments come back. The suggested, but always pushed, check-ups just reset it. Just another reason why citizens were dissuaded from ever leaving those cities, even if it was just to visit friends or family in the controlled settlements that still refused to move to the cities or were waiting for a residence slot to open.

A mixed snort of a sigh slipped out as he thought of his own health. Some days, he wondered how he was still moving. Since rejoining XCOM, he had a few treatments to fix a few issues here and there, but nothing excessive due to their limited resources. He didn’t want the new blood thinking he was getting special treatment since he was one of the original members of the organization before the fall.

Really need to see about getting my knees treated. Giving me some trouble again. He grumbled as he subconsciously shifted his knees ever so slightly. Seeing and hearing those leaps Piper took got them aching, and I still think I have some shrapnel in the left leg. Should also get my shoulder worked on again. He rolled his right shoulder. Just thinking about it brought back the impact and burning phantom pains. Damn that plasma that night. Has to be the worst of all my plasma scars. 

Jynn paid no attention to the sounds or movement he was making.

“Also,” she gestured to the screen with the talk show, “I won’t say I find it entirely too hard to believe that this man, Garette LaCroix, is a torture technician ‘by night’ with how the Elders’ work.” 

Garrette was one of several people the Elders loved to parade around from time to time to show the strength of Their technology and vast generosity. Just another poor child suffering from a terminal illness caused by the recklessness of the governments of the Old World, unleashing chemical attacks against the aliens. With Their ever-flowing kindness, Garrette was one of the first treated by the newly established Gene Clinics in the city. He and his parents felt forever indebted to the Elders, and Garrette worked to become one of their Ambassadors when he came of age.

“If the reports are true, he’s a psion. Which explains how pale he looks even for his brown skin tone.” Jynn noted. She knew some psions would draw the short end when it came to whether their newly awakened powers would affect their appearance or not. “Somehow that white suit doesn’t make him look paler.”

“They are true. Have a contact that barely survived one of his interrogations.” Bradford shook his head. “He’s a sadistic piece of work. Likes using his abilities to puppeteer his prisoners around and make them inflict pain on their allies. And enjoys mind games.”

“I haven’t seen that file.”

“Haven’t had time to upload it. Sorry.” 

“Get it typed up as soon as you can. We may make him a special VIP one day.” A devilish grin crept across her face. “I have a feeling he may be amongst the upper echelon regarding some of the Elders’ plans.”

He laughed, seeing that mischievous grin. “I’ll get to it. May even see if the Void Walkers can get more information on him.”

“Good.” As she was turning back to continue watching the show, she paused. “Speaking about them, did you know your friend, Jake, is dabbling in making videos?”

Bradford had turned his attention back to his tablet and was swiftly typing away, but as soon as she mentioned that annoying Radio DJ, he came to a screeching halt.

“He’s doing what now?”

With a few clicks and taps, Jynn brought up a new video on the main screen. Bradford cringed at the sight and even more so when he heard the voice.

“Oh, for the love of…” He let out a deep groan, nearly letting his tablet slip from his hands. “Did Nithrall get him that stupid mask!?”

The Radio DJ had a setup similar to their other Faction cohorts, making sure to keep the outside background obscured. Bradford was happy the man did keep in mind the training he drilled into him. But his get-up. The mask, if not a helmet, he had on was like something his Void Walker contact, Nithrall wore. Electronic. That black faceplate was lighting up with various symbols and words as the man blabbered on and on about ADVENT’s lies and short failings before going on about finding some old CDs and records. He would be streaming some new tunes on his new pirate station, so people could appreciate the classics and not the current alien crap.

“He most likely did.” Jynn held in a snicker watching his reaction.

“Turn it off!”

She quickly turned the video off to not torture him any longer.

Bradford rubbed his temple. “I see I’m going to have something new to review to make sure he’s not compromising himself, others, or us.”  He grumbled.

“So far, there haven’t been any more Stanford incidents.” She chuckled and even more so when those eyes of his became half-hooded. “I’ve been keeping up with them here and there. Just more of what he blasts on the airwaves than the videos.” She shrugged. “Oh, before I forget, do tell him to get his crush under control and ease up on the hitting on me.” 

“What.” His brow twitched. 

She snorted. “You’ve missed his latest comments?”

“…What?” It was the only thing he could muster.

With a few clicks and a tap, she brought up some segments she had the Media team snip.

“I probably shouldn't mention this on the air, but...woo, I've got a serious crush developing for that mysterious Commander running things over at XCOM. 

I'm not sure if we're talkin' about a man or a woman here, but still...have you seen what's been going on?! Just today, he or she kicked the hell out of some ADVENT goons like it was just another day at the park. Ooh, ooh, ooh!”

“Oh my God… Jake…” Bradford just smacked his palm against his face. How did he not hear this? How did no one else hear this? He knew a certain few would have been teasing him with this.

“It’s a bit… endearing,” if she could even call it that, “but he needs to keep several of those comments to himself.”

“I will make sure he shuts his trap on that.” Bradford was already drafting a message to his ‘friend.’ “What the hell, Jake…”

She started snickering again. Snickering so much, it made him look up from his tablet. “I wonder how the others would have reacted to that.” 

“Who?”

“Thadd, Kamon, and Elli!” She had the Sub-Commanders on her mind. “Kamon would have probably sent a message before even mentioning it to you. Elli would have probably said something the first time she heard it and maybe threatened a visit, even more so if she had a new dog. And Thaddeous would probably ignore it until rumors would start circulating…”

His lips twisted until a snort slipped out. Hearing that made most of his sour mood disappear. “You’re right about that.” Then he sighed. “Miss those three. Really miss Kamon right now. Could use his brain for the logistics.” He was hoping he was still alive.

She nodded. “You’re pretty good with that and have a decent team to back you up.”

“Kamon was on another level with what he could pull off. I’m pretty sure he infuriated the Elders several times when he noticed a pattern to their movements and could figure out Their shifting supply chains. Hell, with what he found, he kept that Hong Kong operation from going sour.”

She thought for a moment and nodded again. “Right, right. Still can’t believe we managed to take control and safely bring down that Battleship. That was a boon to our Research teams and helped calm down that part of the world. Think the China representative was adamant to have him be the head of the branch opening there when the whole fiasco started.” She shook her head just thinking about the Council.

“I remember that. Thought they would have wanted Elli with the amount of aliens getting captured over there that needed interrogating.” Bradford chuckled. “Either way, took some heat off of you for a bit.” He nudged her.

“Barely.” She rolled her eyes. “If Kamon screwed up for just a second, they would have blamed me. And the same with if any of the personnel transfers got delayed.”

He shifted his head back and forth as he searched old and foggy memories. A second later, he sucked on his teeth. “You’re right about that.”

Their conversation shifted over to talk about the Sub-Commanders and the resources being shifted around to find out any information concerning them.

Bradford had a few Data Centers lined up that they could hit, a few high-ranking VIPs they could capture, and some potential Captains they could have another go with the Skulljack.

Jynn was a little worried about using the Skulljack so soon again, but Bradford assured her that the team had taken note of the counter intrusion and bolstered their security to hopefully reduce triggering another Codex. But, he did agree that those things would appear if they continued to hit high-security information.

The conversation eventually shifted over to the eventual meeting with the Senior Staff concerning recent events involving the Commander and her health. The specific date had to be moved around again as they were getting settled down at their new location, but it was going to happen. Jynn was nervous, but felt like the slides Tygan and the others put together would be of great help, besides letting them interject when needed.

Bradford was still a little skeptical, especially knowing the ones who didn’t have the same rapport with her as the others did would be more judgmental. Especially, some of them were not always supportive of their hunt for the Commander and others. He kept most of his negative thoughts in and promised he’d make sure the meeting room was secured.

With the conversation coming to an end, Bradford bid her an early goodnight. He had a few things to check on before turning in. He knew she was going to be handling a few small operations while he was out, and one of his subordinates would take over his position. Just some supply runs and disrupting ADVENT checkpoints and Outposts that were a bother to the locals and those traveling. 

“Should have some ‘new’ minor factions uploaded to the database sometime soon. Seems the NoX have some reach out here in this part of the world, and we’ve been hearing rumors about some psionically inclined group called the Sirens. Seems they have a small branch that’s traveling about.”

Jynn nodded and said she would keep an eye out for the new info. She also told him to remind Jake to lay off his comments, which only got a cursed grumble from him, which she snickered at.

With him gone, she turned her attention back to the monitors and another program concerning Garette.

“What charm and disarming smile. I see why they use him in conjunction with those remaining Thin Man ambassadors.” She mumbled as she studied his mannerisms. He liked to gesture with his hands quite frequently. 

“Hm…” She mumbled as she hunched over, bringing her face closer to the screen to study his face. “Don’t know why… or…” She didn’t want to acknowledge why. “You look familiar… Hope it’s just my faulty memories… or implanted ones…” She hoped it was that. She didn’t like acknowledging her prison and being the unwilling handler of so many ADVENT units. 

“Will keep tabs on you, especially when you’re on ‘tour.’ We will have to catch one of your shows.” She chuckled.

—————————

“‘Go on this simple resource grab and destroy mission, Vert. It’ll be real quick n’ all, Vert.’” Vert threw his voice a few octaves higher to mimic a sassing woman. Then he dropped it much deeper to mimic a gravely, but boisterous male. “‘Real simple op, bruddah! ADVENT won’t know what’ll hit ‘em!’” He spat before yelping as a hail of magnetic fire whizzed past his head, followed by a few harsh ones with thunderous crackles. Several chunks of his concrete blew apart, causing him to scramble nearly on all fours to get to somewhere more stable. “To hell with that! I’m going to die by that damn Hunter!”

“Quit your crying, Verty! Heh!” Farsight said, doing her best to keep a laugh, but was failing. “And didn’t you hear the Commander? That’s not the Hunter! Don’t have his yapping clogging the comms.”

“Wish it was one of the blue bastards.” Scarab sneered. He still had a score to settle with the Warlock.

“Well, they damn well shoot like the blue monster!” He yelled and cursed again, with a sharp yell when his metal cover exploded out into jagged chunks. A faint electric crackle trailed with the chunks before disappearing. He dropped to the ground to get as low as possible before grabbing his right arm. Some blood dripped through the gaps in his arm. 

“Same with the damn ammo!” He felt an electric tingle radiate out from where he felt metal shards and something blunt stab their way through his reinforced kevlar. His fingers quickly found the gap and dug out the metal shrapnel and then a ‘bullet’, which looked to be some metal marble, and checked how deep it went. Not too deep, but it would leave some damage if he didn’t get it treated. 

He cursed again when another round drove through his cover like it was nothing, throwing out a crackle of electricity as it blew a chunk out of the concrete next to his feet. Without thinking, he threw himself back towards the nearby building. He hoped the layers would give him some breathing room.

He flinched again when he could feel solid thuds coming from the other side of the small building. Why do they want to kill me so badly!? His eyes shot down to a metal container he had hooked to his waist. It was no bigger than his hand, having hints of a more alien design with those faint patterns of a UFO’s shielding, and was constantly cold to the touch after it had been removed from some docking station it was plugged into.

This satchel can’t be that special? He was slowly suspecting it was since he did pull it from some strange computer set up by some holding cells. “Where is that suppressing fire, Scarab!? Corsair!? TYKI!?”

“As directed by the Commander, I am securing the last crate.” The harsh flanging voice of Corsair answered his cry. “Will assist once done. You are fine bait for the masked sniper due to what you carry.”

Corsair was one of their new Skirmisher recruits, whom they had finally picked up once they landed in North America. She was a former Elite Stun Lancer with a rather serious demeanor.

Vert let out a rather nasty curse in Portuguese. 

“For your health later, I will pretend I did not understand that.” Corsair said, dangerously straight.

“Assisting Farsight, mate. Got some damn snakes that won’t die.” Scarab said. He and Farsight had worked to tag a few crates until two Vipers had interrupted them, causing them to lose a few. “I’ll send Pixy to you for added interference with some smoke in a second.”

Vert yelled when a hole blew out above his head. He was moving again. “A sec will be too long, you bug!” He snapped. “I will haunt all of you, especially you Far, if I die—”

“Cool your jets, bruddah!” Despite the chaos, Tyki sounded rather jolly. The sound of a few explosions went off swiftly, cutting the cries of a few Guards short. “There’s that gone for ya. And nearly in position for the other nuisance. Gonna paint their world.” The faint whirr of a Mag Cannon filled their comms before the barking hellfire came down.

What was supposed to be a rather simple resource grab before the sun would set, from a partially understaffed ADVENT Outpost, quickly blew up into a nasty fight. The squad had managed to tag a few crates scattered around and pilfer some data from the few unattended computers in one of the buildings before a certain invisible nuisance nearly took off Scarab’s hand when he was hacking into his next crate.

Luckily, he was pulling away to allow his Gremlin to go to work, and the bullet caved in the interface of the crate. The issue was that the damage set off the security system, and they lost their stealth advantage.

Commander Reeves wasn’t sure if she should have been relieved that it wasn’t the Hunter dropping in on them. She hoped the menace was still recovering since their last encounter. But this current sniper was a problem. One she hadn’t seen since she first sat in on an operation. That cloaking four-armed sniper who also had an affinity for laying down smoke to further obscure their position.

Several harsh alien hisses could be heard amongst the tinkling and crunching of bullets pinging off of armor as orange blood squirted into existence. Just at the edge of the smoke covering the area they were firing from, the sniper flickered into view, revealing their tall and gaunt frame. Three arms worked to keep their rifle from being hit by the errant spray of bullets as they quickly rose from their crouched position and sought out new cover.

“Keep on running!~” Tyki sang as he kept a steady stream of fire on their enemy. He was quite glad the Outpost was light on guards, as he could stand out of cover without fear of being domed.

“Smile for the cameras.” Briggs mumbled, arms crossed as he closely watched the monitors. Elisha Briggs was another Communications Officer and was currently filling in for Central.

He couldn’t help but shudder seeing the thing’s mask. A ghostly white with two large red lenses mimicked the compound eyes of an insect, luminescent blue tubing connected to the mask shuddered with every breath, and it looked like it had a large open ‘smile’ where a mouth would have been.

“Get plenty of pics of that rifle.” Briggs ordered.

The rifle had that standard geometric design, they were all too familiar, but that’s when the similarities ended. Halfway down the receiver, the light gray rifle and its long, asymmetrical barrel split in two, revealing the inner rib-like struts and parallel conducting rails. A faint red light thrummed within it as visible electricity crackled down the rails.

The sniper was only on the screens for a few seconds before that cloak of theirs flickered back on into that distorting heat-like haze as they slipped behind an outcrop of rocks. A few rocks were kicked up before all footprints disappeared.

Tyki kept up the suppressing fire for a while longer, chewing the rocks up, before finally stopping as nothing was there. He quickly moved to some cover so he could let the red-hot barrel cool off as he reloaded his cannon. 

“Don’t want to know the face behind that mask.” Briggs mumbled as he looked at a freeze-frame of the sniper’s mask. “Hm?” He placed his finger to his ear and glanced over to a worker at another station. “Got it.” He then turned his attention over to the Commander. “Commander Reeves, we’ve got a hit on the sniper. They finally tapped into the Network. Sending the information your way.”

“Finally.” Commander Reeves nodded. “Stay alert, everyone, they’ve moved.”

Ever since the fight had started, she noticed that this sniper was not communicating with the other ADVENT units and a few aliens on the ground. They were completely operating on their own. It was strange. So far, every ADVENT unit and some of the aliens were fed information from that Network. Even the Chosen tapped at it more frequently than this alien.

She took a moment to brace herself before her eyes focused on her monitor as soon as the information came through. Just for a moment, her brows scrunched together as she read the information before both of them shot up with surprise.

“Was not expecting that.” She shook her head. 

“Hm?” Briggs glanced over her shoulder. 

She saw a designation she didn’t expect to see for some time. PROXY.

›› Smoke - ADVENT PROXY(PXY) - Null -  B1(II.V) - 02

“Great. Another headache for us.” She tapped at her chin as she looked over the other information they grabbed.

“Have to step up our investigation on this designation. First, the General, now a Sniper.” He shook his head. 

It wasn’t much. Every touch this Smoke made to the Network was sparse. A quick check to see how the other units were faring in the position of XCOM soldiers. Another check to see what valuable crates had been stolen or reclaimed — classified. And priority orders to get back whatever Vert had picked up — also classified.

In a way, she was rather glad Smoke’s interactions with the Network were short and curt, as she had a feeling she’d slip into that trance again like she did with General Cross.

“Vert, stay alert. They did not like you grabbing the satchel cache.” Reeves warned. “Something about it containing valuable samples. Not sure what, but knowing ADVENT...”

“Oh ho, ho, ho! You think, smart lady!?” He sassed back.

“Remember who you’re talking to, Vertigo.” Briggs chided him. He only got a colorful curse in response in Vert’s native tongue.

“Last crate tagged!” Corsair said. She was already doubling back to rejoin the squad.

“Affirmative, Corsair. Firebrand is coming round to pick it up.” Briggs said. “Squad, it’ll take some time for Firebrand to come back around to the LZ, but start heading there now. We’re picking up incoming Dropships. ETA 10 minutes and counting.”

Everyone chimed in one by one until a startled shriek of pain came from Vert before a flurry of curses followed.

An alert appeared on the Commander’s screen concerning Vert’s agitated heart rate and dropping blood pressure before she saw the damage on their screens.

Still waiting on one of the Specialists to reach his position, he had taken it upon himself to bandage the seeping wound with one of his bandanas. 

Instead, that seeping wound was now a blasted, twitching, open bicep, and with the shattered remains of the underlying bone embedded in the surrounding shredded muscle. In between all his curses about his other injuries over the years — losing two fingers on his left hand, a notch taken out of his right ear, etc.— he was also cursing out his squadmates for taking forever to get over to him.

“Shit.” Briggs gawked. “Letting the Medical team know what they need to prepare for.”

“Get sight on that sniper, now!” Commander Reeves barked. Her brow twitched when the tapped into cameras revealed three new plumes of smoke appeared around the battlefield, all far from each other. “And someone gets to Vert before he bleeds out!”

“Nearly reloaded, Commander, and I’ll be huntin’ again.” Tyki sang.

“Easier said than done, Commander.” Scarab hissed through the searing heat as a Beam Rifle shot glanced off his armor. “Farsight and I are still pinned by these Vip—”

“RaaaaAAAARGH!” Corsair suddenly roared. 

Like a blazing missile, she came bounding in hard, adjusting her direction a fraction so she could step on and leap off some heavy-duty crates. There was a snikt as the claws on her left gauntlet sprang forth as she soared through the air and towards the Vipers. One was quick to duck and slither out of the way. The second wasn’t so lucky.

Corsair hit them with such force that she caused the Viper to crash to the ground. A dazed hiss came from the Viper before self-preservation instincts kicked in, and it began to thrash about like an angry bull to get rid of its clingy attacker. Unbothered, Corsair dug her sharp nails into its scaley hide before she reared back those claws and drove them deep into the Viper’s unarmored neck.

Several cries of pain came from the Viper as it thrashed back and forth, even crashing into crates, forklifts, and whatever else it could to get the mad Skirmisher off, but Corsair held on.

“Good gravy, are all Skirmishers like this?” Farsight said, half distracted by the terrifying, ferocious attack unfolding that even had the other Viper shocked. Scarab took advantage of that to force it back.

“Mox ain’t like that. Maybe it’s just the Lancer model with the bug in ‘em.” Scarab said. “Or her clan. Silvered Wolverines.”

“Scarab!” Vert yelled, causing his mic to crackle and cut out. Through all the involuntary muscle twitching caused by the electric discharge from the bullet, he had managed to pull himself into the building before another bullet could claim the rest of his arm. “Where is that promised smoke, you dung beetle!?”

“Calm yourself before you go vertical.” Scarab was just about ready to mute all communication coming from Vert if he caused his mic to top out again. 

“Fuck you!”

“Pixy should be there just about now. Deploying smoke.”

Speedily buzzing through the air was a Gremlin with a cream colored shell, and two of its right thrusters on one side were painted red. As it closed in on the building, a hatch opened on its underside, and white and gray plumes of smoke began to pour out of it.

“Thank you! Thank you!” At least Vert wasn’t too angry to be thankful. “Now…” As quick as the praise came, his voice dropped into a low growl. “Can one of you — Farsight — bright and beautiful people — Far — get over here before I DIE!? EVEEEE!?”

An annoyed sigh came from Farsight.

“Keep the excessive chatter down, Vert, before you pass out.” Briggs chided.

“Go get your boyfriend. Pixy should still be hovering around there. I’ve got this snake, and I’ll help out Corsair— Oh, no, she’s got it.” Scarab let out a bemused snort, seeing the carnage unfold, which was replaced by an ‘ow’ when Farsight punched him in his side before heading off.

Corsair had finished one Viper and was swiftly making her way towards the second with a twisted adrenaline-laced grin, ignoring the mag fire being driven into her back from the few guards that remained. Scarab worked to chase or pick them off.

Farsight made her way as swiftly as she could to Vert’s location. She sent her Gremlin, Hypnos, ahead of her when she was informed that the Vert’s levels were critically low; Hypnos made its way mostly undisturbed, found its way through the smoke, and into the building, and gave Vert a much-needed, but small, dose of restoration spray.

Spotting Pixy floating in and out of the edge of the smoke it had dispersed, she was nearly to that building.

“Hang on, Verty, nearly the—”

Her words were caught in her throat as she found herself suddenly tumbling forward, Mag rifle clattering to the ground, as the muscles in her left thigh seized. Only once did she hit the concrete, did she finally yell.. 

“Farsight! What’s wrong?” Briggs’ eyes were laser-focused on the feed from Pixy. He was glad the bot flew over to her, but annoyed it deployed what little smoke it had left, obscuring whatever had happened.

“Tyki! Systems pinging the sniper southeast of Farsights position.” Commander Reeves chimed in.

“Movin’!” He hummed. It wasn’t long before that wonderful sound of the barrels spinning before the bark of sustained fire filled the air and caused that alien to hiss again.

“Crap! Crap! Crap!” Farsight cursed as she pushed with her good leg and dragged herself into cover before a loud crunch exploded behind her. She’d had to thank Tyki later.

She gave Pixy her thanks before she flipped herself over. Pushing her back against the outer wall of the building, she examined the back of her thigh the best she could with her hands. Her fingers traced the jagged edges of her sundered armor and under-armor, followed by singed cloth, and then the skin. There was blood, she could feel that, but it barely felt any deeper than her short, clipped nails.

“Farsight!?” Briggs called out her name again.

“Alive, give… me… a…second.” She said through gritted teeth as the last sensations of the pain biting at her thigh dissipated. 

She ran her fingers across the wound again. Bitting back, a hiss, feeling some of the raw flesh. “A graze?” She double-checked one last time, and it was just that. “What the hell was in that shot? Felt my whole leg seize up like it was on fire!”

“Far!” Vert yelled, rather shakily. That brought her back to more pressing matters.

Giving her a small booster shot, as her thigh still felt like jello, she forced herself up and into the building to find her teammate, which wasn’t too hard to follow the blood trail on the floor and walls.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” She teased as she found her angry friend hiding behind a wall of those heavy-duty crates. The man was shaking hard, barely keeping himself up and awake as beads of sweat poured down his paling face. He had done some rough work with his bandanas to stop the bleeding, the best he could.

Vert shot her a glare so bloodthirsty, if she wasn’t already used to such a hateful look, she would have frozen in her tracks.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Verty. Let’s get you patched up.” She playfully tutted, even throwing in a flirtatious wink. Her hands were opening her side pockets for the tools she needed. “Hypnos, get those meds and anesthesia going!”

“Oh…! No… no…no!” His words were strained as he gasped for breath that he didn’t have enough of. “No sweet-talking… from you, Evey! I’m—”

“Shh. You’re pretty brain needs that oxygen!” With a forceful finger, she hushed him as she started working on his mangled arm.

He was about to speak again until he suddenly leaned too far to one side, made the world spin, before he barely caught himself and leaned against the crates. Instead, he bit his tongue and waited for enough of the meds to kick in, and he wasn’t so lightheaded.

Scarab and Corsair relayed they had taken care of the Viper trouble and a few guards and were heading their way to assist with the evac as Firebrand had finally returned. Those Dropships were nearly there.

Tyki reported that he had lost sight of the sniper, but swore he had done some serious damage as he saw it bleed a lot. Commander Reeves reported there was nothing from them on the Network, but they were monitoring it. He quickly made his way to where they were all meeting up. 

“It’s not pretty, but that’ll hold for the doctors to do their work once we’re back.” Farsight said as she double-checked her work. The wound was closed, but it wasn’t pretty; it did the work. He was not going to be able to use that arm again until he got it treated.

Helping him to his feet, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek despite all the harsh stubble, which made him pull away.

“No, no, no!” Vert had his second wind of breath. Bringing up a finger so fast, it made her recoil, he harshly waved it in her face. “No buttering me up. We are not doing the twisted tango later either!”

She stuck her tongue out, purposefully licking his finger, which got a small shriek out of him. “Mhm, we’ll see about that.” Just another tease.

That got snorts and laughs from the others.

“You do know we can hear you two?” Briggs said, holding back an exaggerated sigh.

Commander Reeves rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she missed the professionalism of the old days.

As soon as Scarab and Corsair arrived, Corsair took the satchel and bolted out the door, spitting out a few words of “not to worry about her” and “I will be swifter than their bullets,” much to the others’ protests.

Almost on queue, just a few feet after she had left the building, there was a thunderous bang. A second later, just as Corsair vaulted over some of the heavy-duty crates, a sickening punch of metal collapsing inward was heard, accompanied by an electric crackle, followed by another punch and grind, before the sound of concrete breaking followed it.

[Smoke:] “››Accidental overcharge of rail cannon. Caused by errant fire of the one with the cannon. Assumed damage to the capacitor and rail segments. Tyki. Callsign lodged. //Sigh// Premature shot. Missed the traitor; new carrier of the valuable object. Marked. Interception priority.‹‹”

[Smoke:] “››Cloaking system damaged by emergency discharge.//Sigh// Logging that for repairs.‹‹”

[Smoke:] “››//Sigh// Rail cannon cooldown cycle. Inoperable. ETA: Too long. //Sigh// Switching tactics. Hm. Retrieval of… Moving. Backup should be here soon.‹‹”

Commander Reeves read off what appeared in the Network under her breath. 

“That’s the first instance of them talking.” She noticed. A brow raised as she was picking up their speech patterns. Another unit that had enough freedom to have personality. “And if Corsair never took that shot…” She just let her voice trail off as her mind imagined the narrowly missed carnage. 

  She glanced up at the screens and saw one of the hacked cameras caught a glimpse of the Smoke before it disappeared into an obscuring cloud. There was a faint electrical crackle coursing around them, as parts of them here and there would flicker in and out of view.

“Briggs, what’s the ETA on those Dropships?” She asked.

“2 minutes and counting on the backup, people. You need to get moving!” Briggs answered her and relayed that to the soldiers.

“Our sniper nuisance’s cloak has been damaged, and it seems their rail cannon rifle is under cooldown. This is a boon, but stay alert. We have no idea what other tricks they may have.” Commander Reeves added. 

Once Tyki arrived, he let his cannon hang by his side and took over carrying Vert for Farsight. Vert complained that he would at least put him in a position where he could watch their six since he couldn’t shoot. 

They didn’t need to be told twice to start heading to the LZ.

Corsair managed to make it to the Skyranger with a few more dings from the remaining Guards, but nothing that would slow her down. She got herself hooked in and started to ascend. In her free hand, she was examining the satchel, turning it around and over with a firm grip.

“Hm…” Her voice thrummed. “Commander, I may know Vert was targeted heavily. Cold, cold container. Self-powered system.” She mumbled before her voice picked back up. “This reminds me of containers I have seen with certain recovery teams that were doing research in fie—”

The green bolt flashed across the screen before an explosive spray of that concentrated plasma exploded against Corsair’s back. She let out a reverberating shriek before every part of her being entered a semi-rigged but limp state.

“Shit! Corsair!” Briggs yelled. His eyes quickly found her vitals. Levels were critical, but she was still alive. He just hoped her modified biology would keep her stable until the others got there.

“Dammit… Stay alert, Menace. Seems our sneaky friend found a new gun.” He started relaying information over to Firebrand about the issue. There wasn’t much the pilot could do, except maybe move to a new position, but the skies would be crowded soon. So he was hoping the automated pulley system would get the Skirmisher into the craft and not leave her dangling like carrion.

“Sending Hypnos, but don’t have much left to wake her up.” Farsight said.

“Where are you? What are you thinking?” Commander Reeves mumbled as her eyes darted back and forth from her screen with information flowing from the Network and back to the screens concerning the field. Better late than never. She noticed that a strong gust of wind had finally come through and was pushing away the older plumes of smoke cover the sniper had deployed. 

[Smoke:] “››//Huh// Direct hit with damaged Beam Rifle. Target out. Twitching. Rigid grasp on container. //Sigh// Must be Lancer model or variant. Charging. Moving closer to sever. No luck twice. //…//Assistance requested at POI when dropping.‹‹” 

“There you are.” Reeves spotted the sniper who was on the move once more towards the Skyranger. They were keeping a wide berth from the rest of the squad, opting to head up the nearby hill. 

Oh great. She saw the first Dropship coming in, and a MEC was already deploying. “The LZ is going to be hot Menace. The first Dropship has arrived, and the sniper is heading over there to dislodge Corsair from the cables.”

“We see it.” Scarab said through gritted teeth as he was already moving into cover to support the others and to watch where the newest headaches were moving to. He did not like that the MEC was rapidly closing in on their position with at least one Trooper following it; its grenade launcher was cycling. Screw the container. Need to get this path clear.

Picking up his tablet, he quickly checked to see what his Gremlin still had left. If we’re lucky, it may stun the thing long enough.

He started to key in instructions to Pixy to buzz over to the MEC and give it a hearty zap from its last Capacitor Discharge. The flaps covering the bot’s eyes opened and closed before its thrusters let out a high-pitched hum, and it was off, flying an errant pattern in case that sniper wanted to take it out of the air. 

“Tyki!” He glanced over his shoulder. “Still got grenades? Vert, you got any?”

“A couple on my backside. Mostly the reg kind. Blues all out from earli’r.” Tyki said as he adjusted how it was carrying Vert on one arm — who immediately complained — as his other blindly searched for his bandolier.

“Just a stunner left.” Vert said gruffly.

“A stun’s useless, but the others will do.” Scarab didn’t care; they just needed something that’d hurt. “Farsight, how’s your throwing arm?”

“Pretty good!” Before Tyki knew it, Farsight snatched the bandolier off his waist and headed over to Scarab. They divided the four grenades between each other. 

“Save yours for the party gathering under Corsair. I’m gonna try and hobble that MEC. Give Tyki support!” He said before he vaulted over his cover, laid down some fire to make the Trooper seek cover, and worked his way towards the MEC. The other three started moving again, doing their best to avoid catching the attention of the MEC.

The MEC paused in its rumbling run and trained its Cannon on him and let loose a volley.

Scarab bit back a yell as he dove into cover. Throwing his rifle precariously over his head, he blindly fired at the robot. “Come on, Pixy. Not sure how long it will notice the others moving…”

The bark of mag fire, followed by the cry of death from that Trooper, caught his attention. Then he heard a few more stomps moving away and that cycling whir. Shit. His fingers blindly searched for a grenade and then its pin. As he was rising to pull the pin and toss the grenade, he heard an angry, zooming whir buzz overhead before that familiar static discharge filled the air. 

Hearing the sound of gears grinding made him grin.

“Move along, buddy!” He yelled. That pin flicked out, and the grenade went soaring. He repeated the same thing with the other.

There were a few tinks and then a boom as it went off just behind the MEC. The sound of metal crumpling, a heavy thud, and the more gears grinding was sweet music to his ears. 

As the smoke cleared, the MEC was kneeling over as the back armor of its left leg was shredded, revealing a sparking mess. Its head twitched as its systems tried to force it to rise, but it found itself dropping as soon as the compromised hydraulic system gave out. The cylinders to the launcher on its back made a horrible grinding sound as it only spun halfway before violently turning back.

“Good enough!” He’d take the leg being out of commission and the grenade launcher being jammed. He quickly moved, sticking to cover as the MEC quickly showed it was still capable of shooting, to catch up with the others.

Hypnos had made it over to Corsair and was currently frantically weaving back and forth as the few Troopers below the LZ were taking shots at it. It had provided what little healing spray it had, stabilizing the Skirmisher, but not enough to get them back up.

“Menace, the LZ’s hot and the sniper’s taking aim at Corsair again.” Commander Reeves said. “If they drop them, ignore the container, grab Corsair, and just get on the ship.” They would come across something like that again in the future; what she needed more was experienced soldiers.

They acknowledged.

“May need you to block that cable, buddy…” Farsight quietly relayed orders to her Gremlin. As she could see the problem ahead of them, she let her rifle drop to the side to grab a grenade; her nail was picking at the pin. “Just a little closer.”

“Farsight!” Scarab yelled. He had nearly caught up with them. He spotted the sniper on that hill. One lower arm was pressing against the ground behind then, as it used two arms to stabilize the Beam Rifle. The green glow was growing fast. “Pitch ‘em, now!”

There was a click before she threw the first grenade. A second click soon followed. As those grenades sailed through the air, a beam darted across the sky. An explosive green flashed, rocking Corsair, but she didn’t drop. Something else fell, which a Trooper quickly grabbed. 

“Wait… did they?” Briggs narrowed his eyes, seeing that Corsair was still tethered.

Commander Reeves was scanning the Network. “Yes, I think they—”

A sizable explosion cut and abrupt cries cut her off. 

“That’s one way to clear the LZ.” Briggs grinned.

“Wonder if that satchel survived it or not.” Reeves said.

“Menace, move quickly, the other ships have arrived!” He said as he noticed on some screens that they would be having company coming from behind.

“Do a quick check to see if that satchel is still around. If you can’t find it in 10 seconds, forget it.” Reeves adding.

The four made it to the LZ. Farsight was quick to go up first, so she could pull Corsair in and told them to send Vert up next. Once Vert was going up, Tyki got himself in but didn’t go until Scarab was hooked.

“Hurry up, bug!” Tyki said. Eyeing the incoming black armor made his hands travel over to his cannon.

“Give me a second.” Scarab was searching for that container, counting the seconds down in his head. He just needed two more and he would— “Got it!” He said only to curse under his breath to see how badly beaten up the satchel was. Part of the metal was melted, and it looked to be venting some cool gas. “Let’s go! Let’s go!” He rushed back. Once he was hooked in, both of them were heading up.

Commander Reeves held her breath watching the last two ascend, expecting a green beam of death to strike Scarab, but it never came.

Her eyes drifted over to her monitor and the stream of information from the Network.

[Smoke:] “››Container lost. Partial failure. Readings show damage to the container. Contents compromised. Degradation should start //…// Not what the Network called for, but damaging samples was only viable solution.‹‹” 

[Smoke:] “››May the Elders be understanding. New data gained in return. Two-fold. More research needed. XCOM now in North American Sector or has active Cells here.‹‹” 

[Smoke:] “››Information disseminating to all superiors Taking leave. Unit requests recovery and equipment repair.‹‹” 

“Hm…” Her eyes narrowed as she read the transmission a few times over before looking back at the screen. 

As the Skyranger was making its escape, just before the last sets of hacked cameras fizzled out, Smoke was making their way to a Dropship that had landed. Their armor was peppered with dents and holes, from which orange blood seeped out. 

She was about to give Briggs some orders, but he started speaking to the team. A quick check to see how each soldier was doing. Everyone was banged up to varying degrees, but alive. Corsair was even coming back to consciousness after Farsight used some of the medical supplies stored in the Skyranger. The Skirmisher was going to need extensive treatment on the hand Smoke blasted if she didn’t outright lose it. Something else for Briggs to inform the Medical team. He wished them safe flying and transferred all communications over to someone else who would alert them of any trouble.

“Briggs, have this information sent over to the usual teams to get it analyzed for anything I’ve missed. And tell them to get those files updated regarding this Smoke.” Reeves said once he was done.

“Will get right on it, Commander.” He nodded. “ETA for Firebrand’s arrival is half an hour, as long as her flight path stays clear.”

“Mhm.” 

Turning her attention back to her computer, she typed away at the keyboard to bring up some intel. Eyes went through file after file until she narrowed it down to three files. 

“Hm…” 

She looked at the time. 19:37. “Maybe…” She wasn’t feeling tired just yet and didn’t feel stressed. Her mind was coursing with plans and itching for another operation. She tapped at her lip. “Could do another raid with the cover of darkness if done right. Just have to worry about some of those units having enhanced night vision.”

She mulled over the idea in her mind a few more times as she took a look back at the files. Another supply raid. Hacking a workstation. Or recovering a confiscated item of importance.

Hurting for more supplies, so let’s do that again. Just choose a location not too near this one. They’ve most likely increased security at all places near this Outpost. And this will be if for tonight and you need to turn in. Don’t need to get in trouble with the docs.

Additionally, all the personnel working in with Thaddeus would be required to wear a personal mindshield;  which in turn forced the medical team dedicated to him to work in smaller shifts, since they didn’t have many of those things to go around.

Despite Dr. Marin’s warnings — per Bradford’s chewing out — someone attempted to put a psionic-dampening collar on Thaddeus only to have that blow up in their face. Literally. 

As soon as that collar snapped shut, Thaddeus writhed in agony. The psionic detectors went off. A second later, blue energy coursed through Thaddeus’ body, all rushing towards his neck. The energy visibly crackled across the collar until several pops were heard and the clamps blew off. The energy dissipated once it fell off, and Thaddeus continued his uneasy sleep.

Marin wasn’t too pleased to hear of the incident, and worked hard to keep it from reaching Bradford, but relayed the information to the rest of his team and Shen’s team to start working on something stronger for the future.

Marin put in a request with Bradford — skirting the topic the best he could — to see if he could get his hands on more of the ADVENT-dampening collars and Sectoid corpses. Especially any collars made for strong psions. Bradford said he would see what he could do. He’d hit up his Resistance contacts and the Black Market to see if they had any extras.

———————————————

Once Veer was back in good health, Bradford had a few discussions with her. First, he apologized for the necklace gambit. Who knew it would cause such a mess, but it looked like it was the key to finally breaking through Thaddeus’ disbelief. 

Second, he asked how she was doing. She was doing better but would be taking it slow until she was nearly 100% again. The unpleasantness of Thaddeus’ psionics still had her rattled. It wasn’t too dissimilar to a Sectoid’s or the Elders’ touch. But it left her both emotionally and physically drained.

Third, he brought up what happened between him and Thaddeus. The mind meld and something was there. Some entity, alien or psionic, was there. Much to his annoyance, he couldn’t recall what he saw and heard, as the memory had grown more distant. But whatever it was, it was unpleasant. He could feel it touching, prodding, goading. Whatever it was, it liked to pick at and savor intense emotions.

Veer found what he told her perplexing. She couldn’t recall from her time with ADVENT of the Elders of having some sort of alien that sounded like that in Their retinue or “implanting” a psionic being into a test subject, but she also remembered she was just one branch of hundreds of twisted experiments. Anything was possible. 

With Bradford’s permission, she tentatively probed his mind and being with her psionics. There was still a great deal of lingering energy from Thaddeus’ outburst, but she was picking up faint traces of something stubbornly clinging on to it and him. She probed a little further until Bradford abruptly told her to stop with some anger. Similar to how he would usually snap at Corvo when the man prodded too far with his jokes.

He too was shocked by his sudden outburst, unsure why he’d done that until a memory surfaced.  The Nigeria base years ago.

Veer asked if she could prod again. She knew that was a sensitive subject.

At first, he was going to tell her no, as he didn’t want to relive that day again, but he had a faint feeling she would find something. So he begrudgingly gave in, as long as she helped him deal with the turmoil he was going to slip into.

She readily agreed, telling him to clear his schedule before beginning her search again. It didn’t take her long to figure out what that something had wrapped itself around. That painful, sorrow-filled memory. Still, whatever it could be had her stumped, but she agreed with his earlier assessment. Whatever it was, it liked intense emotions.

For his safety, she barred him from returning to the Infirmary until all of that energy dissipated. Bradford objected until she brought up the potential of another mind meld happening between him and Thaddeus and who knew if the second time would be much worse. He reluctantly agreed, but told her to keep him updated on all things. She agreed.

She logged all the information into her notes; making sure to restrict it to her eyes only, and a few select others. This was information that if leaked, would cause an uproar on the ship.

For the rest of the day, she helped Bradford keep his head on straight as several nasty memories and unpleasant suicidal thoughts had been roused.

———————————————

With her health nearly 100%, and armed with a beefed-up mind shield, Dr. Veer returned to the Infirmary to begin some cursory probes into Thaddeus psionics and mind. She was taking advantage of him still being unconscious and hoped his psionics would be less active.

For the next few days, off and on for a few hours during her check-ins, she cautiously poked at Thaddeus’ psionics with her own to test their reactivity. A push here. A pull there. Would they snap back and attack her? Would they try to invade her brain if she went too deep?

They played nice, if not being a little guarded when pushed repeatedly. But no snapbacks. With that reassurance, she took her first deep dive into his mind.

Layer by layer until she hit it. Fractured memories. Edited memories. All that pain, sorrow, grief, and rage. That rage. It was subtle at first, before hitting her like a whirlwind. Biting. Clawing. Tearing. It nearly overwhelmed her; she thought she had seen and felt everything with her unwilling work with ADVENT and then her more grateful service to XCOM. But this… this was different. 

She questioned how even had a shred of sanity left. The Hunter came to her mind, along with some other unfortunate subjects. Would Thaddeus even be fit to lead XCOM once he was awake again? The thought crossed her mind several times as she sifted through the mess. He was going to be an interesting fractured puzzle for her to mend.

As her observations and probings continued, she noticed something strange. Interesting, if she could call that. Some of those tampered memories were correcting themselves via his psionics. She wasn’t sure if that was even possible. She carefully examined it and found something else strange. It felt like there was another force intertwined with his psionics. She didn’t know what to make of it — it didn’t remind her of the Elders — and quickly backed off when she felt it push back when she went too far. That would be something to study later and share with the psionics team.

Before she finished, she noticed how those surface memories were reordering themselves and focusing on XCOM. On old faces. Old friends. Bradford. Corvo. Shay. Matching themselves to the “current” time-worn versions.

Faintly, she could hear the outburst days earlier when he accused them of being liars, and everything was just some elaborate trick. As quickly as it appeared, it was growing more and more silent as the sounds of weeping overtook it. It was just cries of apologies for attacking them, for trying to kill them. For nearly killing Bradford. Everything was real. It wasn’t fake. It wasn’t a twisted mind game.

She wondered how many times he had suffered such a horrible reality.

As she was wrapping up her investigations, she felt those faint traces of something she found tethered to that nasty memory in Bradford in Thaddeus, but it was scattered throughout his being. It was like sand. Ever shifting, sneaking into every crevice, and hard to remove. She just made several notes of it, especially how much clung to that angry side of Thaddeus. That worried her.

Once she finished her investigations, she went about preparing her future work on the journey of mending his mind and soul. It was going to be her toughest work yet. She shot off a few messages to Marin and his team. She felt like a great deal of psionic testing would be in Thaddeus’ future.

She left a note of the medical staff treating Thaddeus to alert her when he woke up as well as have security on standby just in case the man would be volatile.

Once she had all her thoughts gathered, she updated Bradford and the others on what she found, what his potential mental state would be when he woke up, and smoother details. 

There was a chance for it to still be volatile, but she had a strong feeling he was going to be more docile and cooperative.

———————————————

Another day. Another dawn. Or was it dusk?

It didn’t exactly matter to Bradford’s exhausted brain. He had just come back from a week-long field operation. They had some new supplies, sabotaged an ADVENT train route, and recovered some alien tech. Additionally, they got something the Void Walkers wanted and, in turn, the Void Walkers gave them some newly made ADVENT-issued psi-dampening collars. Sometimes he wondered how they could procure such equipment, but knew it was better than to ask questions.

Currently, Bradford was at the Bar. Not to drink. Thankfully.

Still in full gear, he was slumped down on one of the coaches, head thrown back and hanging just by the edge of the headrest. Initially, he was just passing through, but that coach called to him like a siren and he could not resist. He was not making it to his Quarters.

He was out for a good 30 minutes before a worker nudged him awake. 

“Rrgh…” He groggily grumbled as he came to. “This better be good.”

He was about ready to curse them out if it wasn’t. What they said next made him alert.

“Thaddeus is awake, sir. Dr. Veer requests you come to the Infirmary. Corvo and Shay are indisposed.”

He hopped to his feet, thanked them, and hurried off.

———————————————

Bradford arrived at the Infirmary in a few minutes. 

It had some patients. There were a few moans, grunts, and bickering from the few soldiers who were currently being treated, but everything was calm.

He made his way to the back of the room, to that cordoned-off area they had the Commander in.

As he pulled back the sheets, he saw Dr. Veer sitting to the right of the bed. Then he saw Thaddeus. The man was awake. Still restrained to the bed. His mood was dower. He was fiddling with something in one hand. It took him a second, but he saw it was the necklace.

Hearing the metal rings of the curtain shift, Dr. Veer looked up. She raised a brow, seeing he was still in his gear. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything?”

“No, you didn’t. Didn’t have time to take this off.” He reassured her. “Hope it’s not a problem.”

She looked him up and down. At least he doesn’t have that over-modified rifle. But the knife could be a risk. “It shouldn’t be. How’s the nose and hand?” She noticed most of the bruising on his face and neck was gone, but he still had a stint on his nose.

“Both are better. It’s like he never broke my hand.” He raised his right hand and flexed his fingers. There was no hint of pain or stiffness. They still were trying to figure out how the psionics helped the healing process. “So, how is he?”

“So far, fine. Just unresponsive at the moment.”

She went on to show and explain all the latest scans. Everything was positive. Though on the psionic side, that was still a tentative mess. Things were in check now, but occasionally there was a spike here and there. She believed it was his emotional state causing it, but didn’t discount that other presences intertwined with his psionics. 

Bradford nodded along, doing his best to decipher the more scientific terms. Hearing about the psionics worried him. He did not want to have to deal with those again. He never liked them. Even when it came from friendlies. But there was something about Thaddeus’ that was wrong. There was so much rage and pain in them. And then that thing could be there.

“So…” He glanced at Thaddeus. Seemed like he was off in his own world. Still no acknowledgment of his arrival. “What are we going to do?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Veer sighed. For once, she felt stumped on what subject they could start with. “Perhaps—”

“John.” Thaddeus finally spoke. He still didn’t look up. “John… Bradford…” His tongue held onto each word for a minute before letting go.

Bradford didn’t respond. He glanced at Veer. He felt a tap on his mind before hearing her voice.

I think that’s your sign. Take it. She gestured. I’ll keep a connection going. 

Before he could speak, Thaddeus finally looked at them. Looked at him. His eyes were exhausted; his face was tear-stained. 

“Yes?” Bradford said. He took a step forward.

He sniffled. “I… remember you. Remember XCOM. Shen. Vahlen. Shay. Corvo. Jynn, Kamon, Elli… So many others. So many damn others…” He paused as a weak chuckle came out. “You’re not fake. None of this is fake.”

Bradford closed his eyes as he heard that. Part of him was relieved. Looked like that chaos bore some fruit. But the other part felt a new sensation of dread eating at the back of his mind. Fake. 

Dr. Veer had explained what the Elders had most likely done during their debriefings. Something those bastards did to many test subjects if they had used as some thrall. He was still wrapping his head around that. It sounded like senseless torture. Especially if the theories of what the Elders were using him for were true.

“We’re real. Still fighting the good fight.” Bradford nodded.

There was silence again. Thaddeus was studying his old friend’s face, comparing it to the memory from 20 years ago. He looked so different. In a way, he barely resembled himself.

“What did They do to you?” Thaddeus asked. “What happened?”

Bradford put on a smile. ”The Elders never got Their hands on me that day. Just the stress of the world going to hell and trying to survive did a number on me.” That was an understatement. “The years were rough until I found some like-minded misfits and then old friends.” His eyes drifted down as he thought of the late Dr. Shen. “And then I picked up some bad habits. Still kicking some.” 

“Mhm.” He listened. He had seen some of those memories during their last scuffle. He looked back down and to his hand. He continued to fidget with the necklace. Old friends. “Dr. Shen… Vahlen… Are they here?”

Had a feeling. Bradford had to keep himself from reflexively sighing. Both were sensitive topics. “No, sadly. We lost contact with Vahlen some years ago after an incident. Still searching for her and her crew. And Raymond…” If I wasn’t out running an op that day, would he still be alive? He was already up in age… “He passed some years ago. Securing this vessel,” he gestured around them, “came with some costs. The Avenger. His finest work. His daughter continues today.”

Thaddeus’ fingers tightened upon hearing the news. Two faces he would most likely never see again except in photographs. If those had survived. 

Wait. Something clicked in his mind. Daughter. He recalled a female called Shen when they were pulling him out of that suit. He couldn’t quite remember if the good doctor had a daughter. Some memories from the past were distant.

“You said ‘daughter’?” He asked, looking at him again. “That Shen I heard when I was being pried out of that prison… Is she…?”

Bradford nodded. “That’s his daughter. An-Yi Shen. Prefers we call her Lily.”

Thaddeus’ eyes glanced around as he tried to find something in his memories. Something was there, but it was faint. Maybe she was mentioned in passing? “Ah.” He just nodded. 

Silence crept back in. 

Bradford and Veer were whispering, thinking of what they could bring up next. 

Thaddeus was digesting the information and searching though his less foggy memories. It was still a scattered mess. But his mind focused on the fall of XCOM, his capture, and his long imprisonment as the Elders’ pawn. The things They did to him. It was hard to recall all of it, but he was sure he nearly died a few times under Their “tender care.”

Well, one cared more than the others… I think. He could faintly recall one Elder who seemed to be more concerned with his health. Or he thought. It was hard to tell with how broken the memories were, but the Elder was ticked off 90% of the time They worked on him. The other 10%… he wondered if those memories were more hallucinations, but that particular Elder sounded pleasant and less haughty and hypocritical than the others. As well as treating its underlings with respect; none of it was in a backhanded way. It was strange.

What can change the nature of a man? What can truly change it? The soft-spoken voice, with a faint rasp, of that Elder played in his mind. A strange one They were. Always speaking Their thoughts. Always talking to him, though he was barely conscious and had no way of replying with that chip arresting his senses away from him.

He closed his eyes tight and let out a sharp exhale. Let’s talk about that next. Want to get it out of my mind. Maybe give them a point of reference to start hunting for some answers.

“I was captured when they hit all the bases.” Thaddeus spoke.

Hearing that made Bradford and Veer freeze. Not the subject they thought they would be touching any time soon. A hint of worry entered Veer’s eyes as she noticed his brainwaves and psionic levels spiking.

“They did… things to me… that chip…” Rage was slowly entering Thaddeus’ voice. His eyes began to glow. Faint wisps of psionic energy formed around his head. “I’ve been Their prisoner for 20. Long. Years.” Just as the pot was about to boil over, he let out a sharp exhale. The energy dissipated. “20 long freakn’ years.”

Bradford moved closer to him again. Hesitantly, he placed a hand on his shoulder. That just made the man sigh. “You were aware while in that thing?” Bradford asked.  Something all of them were curious to know.

“Partially.” A faint growl rumbled in his throat. “The lucidity came when They needed to take me out of maintenance or experiments. My memories are… fragmented… at best. But they were using me for something sinister.”

Bradford didn’t even have to glance at Veer. With the psionic connection she had going, he could feel the knots growing in her stomach. For him, there was a growing disgust.

“So… you guys searched for me, all these years?” Thaddeus asked. Part of him was having a hard time believing it.

“Yeah. Maybe not a first, but when I rejoined the others and learned how things went for the…” Bradford’s voice trailed off as a painful memory took him. Those eyes closed tight like a vise as she shook his head. A sharp exhale followed before a sharp inhale. “The Sister Branches. It looked like the Elders wanted to capture the leaders. What happened to the others is still up in the air, but I remember that Muton that grabbed you.”

“Hm.” He listened. For a moment, he wondered why he trailed off before a sudden pain made him wince. A memory came forth, not his own. He understood. “And what if you guys found me dead?”

Another sharp exhale came from Bradford. Something that had been discussed several times. A nightmare scenario he hated to entertain. “We’d still keep up the fight despite the great loss. Rather die free than a slave of Theirs.”

“Tch. Heh.” He shook his head. “Foolhardy.” He liked that. 

“How it is.”

Silence crept back in. 

“Thank you…” Thaddeus said. He looked at Veer and then back at Bradford. There was a smile on his face. “Thank all of you for never giving up the search.”

“Anything for a friend.” Bradford smile. Veer simply nodded.

Bradford took a step back to give him some room. And then Veer wanted to discuss some things. Just the psionic readings. The off-and-on spikes were concerning. She wanted to probe Thaddeus’ mind but had a feeling he would have a potentially negative reaction. Bradford would see if he could broach the subject for her.

As they chatted, Thaddeus leaned back deep into the pillows on the bed. He looked up at the ceiling. Eyes jumping from routed wire to exposed ceiling panel. Looked like things were still in the works here.

He wondered how they found this ship. From the bits and pieces he had pulled from Bradford’s memory, when he tried to kill him, he knew the alien origin of the ship.

He quietly chuckled to himself. I faintly recall during my more lucid moments, the Elders had a knack for misplacing some assets unless they were important. That was the most likely answer.  Sekat’kra! He cursed in his mind and chuckled as some fragmented memories of his more lucid moments when out of the system came to his mind. Arguments between the Collective over lost test subjects and facility issues. How many assets have they lost track of?

He chuckled to himself some more before pausing. The hell does Sekat’kra mean? Somehow, part of his brain knew it had alien origins but lacked the meaning. A mild bother, something he could ask them to investigate.

His mind drifted back to the present.

“20 years… so much to catch up on…” He just started speaking his thoughts. 

It had taken some time for it to set in — and in many ways, part of his mind was rejecting it —  but that was such a terrifying thing to dwell on. He knew the world was different. So many were dead or altered by the Elders. He wondered if any of his family was still alive.

“Tch.” He sucked on his teeth. Well, the ones I didn’t send to their deaths. You guys fought valiantly to light up those skies. Burned those UFOs real good.

He barely noticed Bradford coming back. Nor did he notice the first restraint was undone. It wasn’t until Bradford had gone around and undid all of them, and come back over to the right, did it click when he could twist his wrist without discomfort.

“Sorry about your current… arrangements.” Bradford said. 

“I attacked people. Nearly killed you…” Thaddeus’ voice trailed off. Not something he wanted to think about. That damn thing got under my skin. “Sorry… about that.” 

Bradford just raised his hands. “No hard feelings. Truthfully, I think several of us would have done the same if we were in your place. Once Veer,” he thumbed back at her, “and the other docs run some more tests, we’ll get you up in your Quarters. May even have some reading material for you to get that brain of yours going.” He tossed in a little joke.

“Tests… will they— I have my own room?” The latter was more interesting for him.

“It’s been ready for you for years, buddy.” He chuckled. “Though, I’ve crashed in a few times as I’ve been Acting Commander in your absence.” Just thinking of that bed made a wave of tiredness come over him. But with a few blinks, he pushed it back. 

Thaddeus snorted. “‘Acting Commander’?”  He faintly recalled hearing that a few times. 

Reflexively, Bradford’s shoulders fell. “It’s been rough… How did you and the others do it, day in and day out?” He felt it was only dealing with a drop compared to the sea of stress they had to deal with.

Thaddeus rolled his eyes. More or so thinking of how it was a madhouse some days back them. “One step at a time. Tilki.”

Bradford’s brows raised. Tilki. Did he hear that correctly? “I haven’t heard that nickname in years…”

“Some nicknames are coming back to me.” He raised his free hand and started to count off each one. “Tilki, Numbers, Panpa, Think Thank, Hakim, aaaaaand,” he paused for dramatic effect, “Johnny.”

As each nickname for him(and some others) was rattled off, a smile grew bigger and bigger on Bradford’s face. Then it came to that last one. His brow twitched. “You know I hate that one.”

He grinned. “I recall that well.” He usually savored every wince when he used that name back then. “Only used it to get your attention when you drowned yourself in your work.”

“Sure, suuuuure.” Bradford rolled his eyes. He could recall that nickname was used to rile him up when they were off duty.

They both laughed. 

“So about the… tests?” Thaddeus asked, hesitantly. His eyes drifted off to Veer. She was currently looking at her tablet, but those tired eyes glanced up.

“It’s…” Bradford was unsure what to say. “Veer?”

She held in a snort. Broach the subject for me? She sent a teasing thought before taking over. “There will be a multitude of tests. Physical examinations, as you’ve been in stasis for 20 years, yet your muscle atrophy is fairly minimal. Physiological examinations. Again, 20 years in stasis, and I can only imagine the horrid experiments afflicted on you. I will be handing those. And psionic examinations. I will be working jointly with Dr. Marin and his team. As I’m sure you’ve noticed… you’re a latent psionic.”

She continued to explain the psychological and psionic examinations in further detail, emphasizing that it wouldn’t be a one-and-done session. There would be several, especially for the psychological part. She emphasized his mental state was precarious. Both from what the Elders did to him and the shock of the world he found himself in.

 Thaddeus listened intently. He wasn’t too fond of the idea of all the examinations but knew they were necessary. Especially, the psychological and psionic ones. The idea of having his mind picked at figuratively and mentally irked him. But he knew it was necessary. Back in the Old War, even before that time, he saw what an unsound mind could do to a person. Especially a soldier. How many suicides did I stop and fail to stop? He didn’t want to become that. 

“Psionics…” Thaddeus muttered. What were the chances? Was he always one? Or did the Elders make him one? “Vahlen…” He was recalling something. He shook his head as a pained smile crept across his face. “I wonder what Vahlen would say if she was here right now?”

“Mild jabs that you should have let her do that testing and shove you into one of those sarcophagi.” Bradford shook his head before a chuckle slipped out.

“Sounds about right.”

“Dr. Marin will have to fill in for that.”

“That name sounds… familiar.”

“He’s a survivor. He worked closely with Vahlen. Helped kick off the Psionic Divisions research. Doing the same thing now.”

“Huh.” It was nice to hear there was another survivor around.

  Veer excused herself for a moment. Someone needed her assistance. She reminded Bradford she’d listen in via their psionic connection.

Topics began to shift. 

“John… tell me…” Thaddeus paused. His mind had gone back to the memories he saw the other day before he snapped. Memories he picked up from that necklace. His nails dug into the wood. There was a twinkle forming in his eyes. “What was that man like?”

 Bradford had a puzzled look. “Who?”

“The man Lauretta nearly fell in love with, but rejected as she held out hope I was still alive and we’d meet,” his voice cracked, “again.”

Shit. Bradford closed his eyes tight. A no-go topic, but Thaddeus brought it up. He felt a gentle push on his mind from Veer.

Just keep him calm. Denying him may make it worse. 

He could agree with that.

Bradford sat on the edge of the bed. He placed his hand on his friend’s arm. He could see that pain ebbing and flowing in him. Tears were streaming. Bradford looked away. His eyes trailed off to the ground as he tried to find his tongue. 

“From what I could tell, Leon was a standup guy. Never felt bitter after she rejected him. Understood the loss and was willing to wait. Even if that time never came.” He spoke truthfully.

Leon. That was his name. Thaddeus filed that away. He sucked his teeth a few times before raising his free hand to his face to cover it. He was struggling to hold it in again.

Bradford could feel him tremble. He shifted his hand up to his shoulder and gave it a good squeeze. “I’m sorry, Thadd. Didn’t want you to find out like that…” And he cursed those psionics in his mind. “But sooner or later, we would have had to tell you.”

“It’s okay.” He lied. “It’s ok-kay.” His voice cracked.

It didn’t take long for those good gates to break again. Bradford did his best to comfort him.

Veer eventually returned. To her relief, his vitals were fine. And those psionics were playing nicely.

Sometime later, the sobbing came to an end. He half-heartedly shoved Bradford off so he could have some time to himself. 

Bradford left and came back with some towels so he could clean his face. 

Giving the man space once more, he started chatting with Veer. They went over the readings and her notes. If Thaddeus was willing to endure some psych evaluations in a few hours, and all went well, they could move him to his Quarters sooner. Bradford liked that. Just as he was going to bring the question up to Thaddeus, he had a question for them.

“What do I look like?” The thought had just crossed his mind. His free hand was touching his face, poking at his features. They felt human, but knew something could be off.

Bradford glanced at Veer. She bit her lip. Their expressions weren’t helping.

“Get a mirror.” Veer sighed. “Please.”

Bradford nodded. He left and came back a few minutes later. 

Bradford kept the mirror facing him as he approached Thaddeus. “You still look human. Really, you look like you haven’t aged a day.” That was still a crazy thing to think about. “Minus, you have some new scars and…” He paused. How to describe that eye?

“Quit the pauses and just show me.” Thaddeus said. That commanding tone slipped out.

“It’s something.” He turned the mirror around.

Thaddeus’ eyes went wide. He still looked human and didn’t age day. His head was shaved. Expected. And he had more gray in his eyebrows than he remembered. He noticed the new red scars decorating his nose and part of his face, but those eyes. Those scars around the eyes and the discolored eye got him.

“What…”

He leaned in closer to get a better look. With his finger, he started pulling on the skin and eyelid to see what was going on with that discolored eye. Why is it black…? Why is the iris glowing blue?

It was just several minutes of silence.

“What the hell?” Thaddeus finally pulled back. He looked at the both of them. “Why?”

“No clue.” Bradford shrugged.

“We’re still running tests.” Veer said. “For the eye, I believe it may be connected to your psionics. You seem to be one of the unique ones where there is a permanent eye color change. Though for you, it is just one eye, and the sclera, white of your eye, was affected.”

Thaddeus’ brow twitched. He faintly recalled some psi operatives back during the Old War had permanent eye color changes. Some accepted it. Others were bothered. 

“And we’re hunting for all data related to your imprisonment. Which will take some months to find.” Bradford added. He wished they had a little more time when pulling him from that location to hack the system, but they only had one chance for that operation.

“Great… Great.” He was hoping for answers. Looked like he would have to wait. 

Then something else clicked in his mind. His brow twitched again. He noticed some scarring on his neck. He raised a hand to the back of his neck and began to feel around. The skin felt off. It was rubbery smooth in some areas and then twisted with divots and raised areas. Then he stopped. Something cool, like metal, brushed against his fingers. Hesitantly, his hand explored it.

He caught the grimace crossing Bradford’s face. And Veer was shooting Bradford a concerned look.

“Talk. Now. Both of you.”

———————————————

The psionic sensors went off for a few minutes before things calmed back down in the Infirmary. 

Thaddeus had entered a rage. Thankfully, he didn’t take it out on anyone but the air itself. And the psi shield generator contained the errant energies.

He was more furious at the fact the tattoo he got in memory of his mother was destroyed compared to the strange implants in his back. 

“Why the hell would They touch my back? Did they break my freakn’ spine!?” He spat. A small whiplike projection of psionics shot from his tongue. His eyes were still glowing blue.

“We are still running tests and will be doing more intensive scans soon,” Veer did her best to keep a calm voice, “but we are theorizing something happened to require those implants. Perhaps how you were handled during your capture damaged your spine?” That was her best guess.

“Freakn’ figures.” He grumbled. He clawed at his face with his free hand as he stewed in his thoughts.

Why, why, why? With the technology the Elders had, They had to severely mess up to leave him with such a massive scar. His body shuddered as he felt an all too familiar chill trickle down his spine. Then he felt something tapping at his skull.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

“Oh, for the love of…” He mumbled. “FUCK! OFF!” He snapped, slamming both fists on the bed. Psionic energy arched off of him. His eyes darted around the room, trying to spot the thing. So far there was nothing.

The psionic detectors went off again, and the shield activated.

“Thadd?” Bradford had moved back, pulling Veer along with him. She was mumbling under her breath, worried about how the energy levels were growing.

Thaddeus’ eyes locked onto them. There was a tickle, a worm digging into that unsavory side of him, wanting him to lash out at them for taking so long to save him. Another test of their strength if they were worthy of having him once more. 

No, no, no. He closed his eyes tight. GO. AWAY. He took in and let out several deep breaths until he calmed down.

“Thadd?” Bradford repeated. He was hesitant to come closer.

He looked at them again before looking away. How to mention what has been bothering me without sounding crazy? He let out another sharp exhale. “I… don’t know how to explain… my—” He caught a shadow forming in the corner of his eye and felt something wrap around his shoulder that wasn’t there. He wanted to curse again but held his tongue. “My… outburst.”

Bradford followed where his eyes were going. He nudged Veer. Remember what I mentioned about the mind meld?

She nodded. Yes, let’s see if he’ll talk about it. “Try us.” Veer said.

———————————————

Hesitantly, Thaddeus explained his outburst. He tried to explain the entity pestering him since he had been freed. How it touched, poked, prodded, and whispered into his ear. At least it hated the Elders as much as they did.

Describing what it looked like was impossible. He never got a clear view of its ever-shifting shadow of a mass. But it described its face. Two halves. One stuck in a mad rictus grin. And the other half was frozen with a sorrowful look.

“And it’s currently whispering. Quieter than usual.” His eyes darted to his left. Part of it was there, a weaker presence than how it usually appeared.

To his surprise, the two were not too disturbed, to put it lightly. It was still a troubling development, nonetheless. Bradford explained how they knew. The unexpected mind meld when Thaddeus nearly killed him. But he couldn’t recall what it looked like but hated its twisted presence. 

Veer was an equal amount of intrigued and concerned. This was something else. It hated the Elders. So that just eliminated all of her earlier theories. She had to go back to the drawing board. 

“Well… that is… interesting.” Veer mumbled as she finished up her notes. Looking back at Thaddeus, she noticed how he was grimacing at his shoulder. Part of her wanted to reach out and probe his mind but had a feeling without making several contingencies that thing could latch onto that link and cause problems. 

She rubbed her face a few times as her mind wondered just what the thing was. “Dr. Marin and I are going to have fun trying to figure this out.” She mumbled.

A faint curse from Thaddeus and one of those sensors going off made her refocus.

“Thaddeus,” she spoke calmly but sternly, “keep your wits about you and stay calm. Whatever that thing is, it likes intense emotions.” She recalled that from her mind probing days ago.

Thaddeus looked at the thing once more before looking back at the doctor. He hoped she was right. It took a fair amount of willpower to ignore the thing to get himself calm again. As the seconds ticked by, the thing grew more quiet. It still lingered, but he could barely hear the whispers.

Oh great… That was going to be an on-and-off trial. He wondered how those future psych exams would go, as he knew digging into his fractured mind was sure to bring about unpleasant memories. 

“It’s… quieter. Still lingering.” He eyed his shoulder.

Bradford shook his head. “We will have to keep this confidential. All of it.” Another issue he knew certain individuals on the ship would be all too happy to pounce on.

“Agreed.” Veer said.

“Like the old days.” Thaddeus nodded. Control of information kept their organization from falling apart. 

With things settling back down, Veer shifted drafting her messages to the other doctors. Bradford was sending a memo to reinforce the confidentiality of the Commander’s treatment to all involved.

 Thaddeus let his mind drift again. He wondered how many on the ship he would recognize. Who survived the fall of XCOM? His mind further drifted back to the personnel in the Old Bases. So many good men and women were most likely dead. So many interesting characters, many who butted heads daily.

A soft chuckle left his lips. He wondered if this current XCOM was a band of misfits. 

But as his mind continued to drift, thinking of the conditions they may find the Sister Bases in if they wanted to salvage the old tech. He continued to pick at that wooden necklace; something crossed his mind. Sorrow. A sorrow that didn’t want to leave him as he focused on one of the Sister Bases.

His eyes drifted over to Bradford. They had a shared pain. Reflexively, his body trembled at the thought. He felt fingers run down both sides of his face. And then the whispers picked up.

Ask. Bring up the subject. Both of you are lonely souls. The more sullen voice spoke.

He sighed mentally. Dang it. Regulating his emotions was going to be a pain if that thing would show up whenever he would be off kilter. But its voice was alluring, pressing on that part of him that was painfully curious to hear what his old friend had to say.

His eyes drifted over to the doctor. But first… need the good doctor out of here.

“Dr. Veer.” Thaddeus said.

“Hm? Yes?” She glanced up from her tapping.

“Could you leave? For a while?” He asked. “Need to talk about some private things. And cut the connection.”

Veer raised a brow before glancing at Bradford. He shrugged. She simply nodded. There was a faint twinkle of purple in her eyes. “Done. I’ll still be in the Infirmary.” She got up and left.

Bradford looked at him. There was that sadness again, and annoyance whenever he glanced at his shoulders. And he noticed he was fidgeting with that necklace some more. He started moving over to the bed. I have a feeling he wants to—

“Jynn.” Thaddeus said, as plainly as he could. “Jynn Reeves.”

Bradford froze.

“I saw that memory. The Nigeria Base. You and a salvage team went there.” He said spoke softly. “You never got to tell her, did you?”

Bradford didn’t respond. He saw? He saw? How? How? His mind was racing twice over. One side was trying to figure out how Thaddeus knew and the other was reliving that day. It took some seconds before it clicked. It was obvious how. He looked away from him.

There was silence.

Teeth and fists clenched, Bradford forced that dreadful memory to end. “How could I?” There was a waver in his voice. “How could I?” He repeated as he sat on the edge of the bed. “She was my other boss. You know the rules. And then everything went to hell…”

A faint chuckle came from Thaddeus. He had a point. Rules and regulations. “Right, right. Still… if you got the chance then… would you have told her?”

Bradford was silent for a minute or two. His mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out. It snapped shut before he licked his lips and forced something out. “I… I don’t know.” 

That had crossed his mind a few times over the years, but he just never thought of what he would say or do.

“Hm.” Thaddeus looked away. His mind was picking away at some questions. And working to ignore that being prodding him to be more invasive. “If… If you had the chance now… would you tell her?”

“Now?” A bewildered scoff left his lips. “Thadd… she’s most likely…” He didn’t want to say it. All he could see was the dried blood and the scrap of her uniform and nameplate.

“You,” and Thaddeus emphasized that ‘you’, “and the rest never gave up hope for me. Who’s to say she, Kamon, and Elli aren’t still alive somewhere?”

“I… I…” He stuttered. That was the fixation. An unhealthy obsession to keep me going. For her… those scraps. If They do have her… He didn’t even want to finish the thought. Would she be in a state similar to Thaddeus? And then… would she accept him? “I don’t know. I don’t… I don’t think… I’d have a chance.”

Thaddeus placed a hand on his back. At first it was a few hearty smacks before it became more endearing pats. “Chickenshit.” He snorted. “Now I remember why Corvo liked to pick on that crush.”

He bristled with each pat. Even more so hearing Corvo’s name. “Of course, you remember that…”

Thaddeus just grinned. “If we find her. Shoot your shot. Sparks may just fly.”

“Maybe… maybe.” He was still unsure. And felt like she was most likely dead.

———————————————

Feeling terrible for bringing up such a sensitive and depressive topic, and wanting to get rid of that being whispering in his ear, Thaddeus asked about the ship and her occupants. Something to shift Bradford back into that information and communication role he was so good at. It took a bit before the man got rolling, but the changed topic brightened his mood.

Eventually, tiredness crept back in for Bradford as he struggled to keep his eyes open. It was time for him to get some rest. As he left, he sent Veer back. 

To her surprise, Thaddeus asked what they could do to get him out of the Infirmary and to his supposed Quarters. And have some more privacy so the workers wouldn’t notice him eying his “unwelcome companion” hovering over his shoulder. He was happy it was being more passive, but still annoying.

That was something Veer could agree with as she had a feeling he wouldn’t always keep his outbursts towards that thing inside of his mind.

The psychological tests began and went on for some hours. He cleared nearly all of them, but she wanted to do a few more tests and then run some things by the other doctors.

Within a day or two, Thaddeus was moved to his Quarters and was slowly catching up to speed on everything he missed during his 20-year imprisonment, the inner workings of the Avenger, and the blossoming worldwide Resistance with many Factions they needed to get to work together.

Though it would be a while before he was cleared for active duty, things were slowly coming back to him. Especially, old passwords. He started snooping around and inserting his input for upcoming raids and other operations. Bradford wasn’t sure if he should have been annoyed or thankful. He was leaning more towards the latter with each passing day as the input helped point out potential flaws and different strategies they could use. He could feel a decade of weight falling from his shoulders.

That being came and went with his emotional state, much to his chagrin. Some days, it was more passive than others. He loathed it nonetheless. Especially, the various bits of the poem it would recite.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

With access to a computer, he was finally able to find its origins. 

“Like the Elders, twisting and bastardizing someone’s work.”

He wondered how the thing even knew of the poem. Perhaps he had heard it in his youth and it plucked it from there? It didn’t matter. He just knew he needed to keep his guard up against the thing. He couldn’t wait to be rid of it. If they could figure out how to separate it from him. 

But he felt something. More or so, a lack of something. At least that thing isn’t whispering in my ear. He faintly recalled that wretched shadow and how it pushed and pulled on his emotions. He didn’t like it. The hell was that thing?

His eyes fluttered open, and for once he didn’t have to shut them. Looked like they had dimmed the lights. 

He looked around. He was still in the same room — the “Infirmary” was what they called it. He could tell he was in some smaller section of it due to the curtains and metal sheets surrounding him.

What facility is this? The tech looks advanced but off from the usual ADVENT or alien format. Did something happen at where he was usually kept and they had to use a more “off-the-grid” facility to treat him? No, that made no sense to him. What was going on?

He shifted back and forth, getting some feeling back into his numb limbs. As he tried to lift himself up, he felt a tug around his wrists. He looked down. Restraints. They had thick straps locking him down on the bed.

That’s… different. What? They don’t have the usual meds and psionics to disarm me? Part of his mind was wondering if the people currently holding him were even ADVENT since nothing matched the usual M.O., and he didn’t feel that oppressive psionic force in his mind. But that part of him, the rage buried within, snatched that thought and devoured it.  This is some plow. Another trick. Let’s see how long this game goes before They rip it from me again.

“Ah.” He hissed as a light blinded him. A worker was checking his eyes and making notes. He tried to bite them, but they quickly pulled away. He then spat at them.

“May need to get him a muzzle.” They grumbled as they cleaned their face. 

He only flashed his teeth in response. A wince followed as that headache pulsed and he felt a faint cold run down his spine. He did his best to ignore that latter. 

The worker continued to run some more tests until this Dr. Veer arrived. 

“How is he?” She asked, voice laced with weariness. She sounded older woman. And looked like one too as she came into his view. 

There was some gray in her brown hair that she had pulled back into a ponytail. Deep bags and many wrinkles accentuated eyes that had seen many things. Those eyes, there was an odd electronic twinkle he noticed in them. Why?

 As he questioned that, the doctor turned her head to one of the workers, and then he saw something that made his face twist into a scowl. It was partially covered by her hair, but he saw the faintest red of what he knew was some kind of  neural implant lining the side of her head. If he remembered correctly, only a rare few would receive those to enhance their work.

“Okay, so far.” The worker answered. “Word of warning, he will try to bite you if you come close. And he spat at me.”

“Don’t care to be polite to the Elders’ worms.” Thaddeus spoke.

Veer glanced at him before shooing the worker away. 

“You understand us. Good.” She was pleased a language barrier wasn’t going to be an issue.

She was already making mental notes, taking note of his expression and the faint tink of the restraints being tested. “We’re not ADVENT. We’re not working for the Elders. If you could take one second to look around at your surroundings.” She gestured around. “Not as pretty as their Gene Clinics or as visceral as the… facility labs.” She hesitated to mention the latter. 

He scoffed. “The looks don’t matter. Not the first lab I’ve been dissected in. Been in all kinds of labs. And I see your implants. Going to probe my mind? Tear it apart and rewrite things?” 

She narrowed her eyes, a faint spark of purple coursed through the green, before she closed them fully. “I have forsaken that life, long ago. If I could remove them, I would.”

He scoffed again. “Sympathy ploy. Doing this game again, huh?”

Just as he finished, a hiss left his lips as that headache grew. He didn’t hear the doctor’s soft rebuttal and her asking questions about what he thought they were going to “do” to him. His whole body trembled as if felt like someone ran ice down his spine.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright… Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay…

Instantly, Thaddeus froze. His eyes shrank to mere pinpricks as they darted around the room. Not that damn voice again.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. It finished its regiments of a fragment of a poem.

Ah! That honeyed voice spoke, excited. Soon that sad aw from its other half followed.

There was no trace of it in the room. Yet. Just the doctor — yapping on about something — and the few workers currently handling scans and the other systems. 

You’re still alive. Both voices spoke in unison.

Thaddeus held back a gasp. The cold sensation grew. He could feel it. That thing was right by him. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel those loathsome limbs touching his back, running up and down his spine before wrapping around his being in that strange embrace.

The systems took note of the slightly erratic changes in Thaddeus’ brain waves. Veer told the workers to keep note of that and any other changes. And ordered someone to get some painkillers in the IV. 

What a… marvelous turn of events. That honeyed voice tickled his left ear. Perhaps this place is your salvation? Or damnation? It stayed on the left for a moment before switching to the right and that sad voice. This could be reality. Or just another falsehood. Still, there was no trace of the thing. 

“SHUT UP.” Thaddeus suddenly snapped. His eyes locked onto Veer. Those implants. Must be those implants. “Out. Of. My. Head.” Each word was followed by an ever-increasing sneer.

Veer seemed barely phased by the sudden outburst compared to the rest. She took in a slow, deep breath, closing her eyes, before letting it out. “I doubt you’re reacting to what I’ve asked.” She had timed his zone out. About two minutes had passed. “The painkillers should take the edge off of your headache shortly. So again —”

Ah. A new doctor. That cold embrace began to pull away from him. He finally saw it. That shadow of wisps appeared in the corner of his eye before more coalesced into existence as a shifting cloud drifted over to the doctor. 

A long, twisted arm took shape as it raised a hand to touch the side of her head. Those implants. As it did so, faint wisps of purple formed. I sense her… capabilities. Blessed like you, but to a different degree. In a way, lesser to what you are, you will be capable of… again.

Its faces took shape. In a way, it seemed to split in half, allowing each half to hang on either side of her face. The question is… Is she friend or foe?

“SHUT UP!” He could feel that thing tug at his brain again. Tug at that rage. He wouldn’t let it. 

Again, Veer remained unfazed. She’d just have to take a new approach. No more questions. If that was what was making him zone out. 

One worker came over to the doctor and whispered something into her ear. She just shook her head, told them to contact Dr. Marin, and told them and the others to go attend to the others in the Infirmary. She also told them to inform Bradford and the others of the updates as soon as the trio arrived. 

Everyone quickly wrapped up their work before making themselves scarce.

Turning her attention back to him, Veer grabbed a rolling chair and moved it closer to the bed before sitting down. She didn’t say anything as she took a look at her tablet. Checking the latest data on his vitals. Those brainwaves and psionics. That was a new concern. Everything else looked good so far.

“I can’t assume what the Elders did to you…” And she could only guess. “But this isn’t a ploy. This isn’t some mind game. This isn’t some simulation.” She did her best to reinforce her naturally tired voice to sound more hopeful. “You’re out of Their clutches, out of the system. You’re in safe hands. Old familiar hands. We are XCOM.”

Doing his best to ignore that looming shadow creature that was just over her shoulder, Thaddeus listened to her, carefully studying her voice and mannerisms. She looked like so many of those scientists the Elders ‘employed’ to Their high-security facilities to slave away day and night on inhuman experiments. Those who struggled to maintain their humanity and rarely took the “reeducation” sessions looked dead on the inside. 

He noticed that creature’s face coming back together, and it was doing its touching thing again. This damn thing. How does she not notice it?

She sounds truthful, no? But is she truly? Hard to tell with these therapists. It then shifted to her other side. Or was it interrogator? Re-educator? Rehabilitator? They have so many names and roles that cross paths.

Each word tapped away at Thaddeus’ psyche. Picking at that perpetual distrust making it grow worse. And a chisel was chipping away at that lock, holding back the rage he didn’t want it to get at. 

“Shut. Up.” He spoke through his teeth. It was aimed at the thing, but also a little at her. 

She sounded truthful to him. But then again, those implants. That faint purple twinkle in her eyes. He knew she was a psion. Possibly the cause of that alien haunting him. But… he couldn’t feel that distinctive touch of psionics on his mind. She’s making it. And your senses are still dull. He quickly reconciled that issue in his mind. He wouldn’t drop his guard. But then she mentioned that. She just had to mention that. That chisel gouged deep.

“Keep that name out of your mouth!” He spat. 

Veer narrowed her eyes for but a moment. Her mind quickly reanalyzed what she spoke. She figured it out. “You may not believe me, but I speak the truth. We are XCOM.”

“Liar.” Nothing she said could convince him otherwise. Switch topics, don’t want to hear this crap. “So what’s wrong this time with me? With the system? With the suit?”

She only raised a brow. Now he was asking questions. An unexpected change. 

“Now you’re keeping your lips sealed?” He scoffed. “Not like I’ll remember the details when you put me back under. Just wish you all would mess up once and overdose me.”

She was about to speak until a worker came back in and rushed over to her. They whispered in her ear. “John, Corvo, and Shay are here, doctor. Updated on all things.”

“Good. Send them in. And make sure no one else comes in here. Unless it’s the other head doctors.” Veer said. They nodded and went away.

Thaddeus barely caught the whisper. Only one name sounded faintly familiar. And that voice seemed to perk hearing it. His memories were a blur, but he recalled a John that had been there since they got him out of that suit and then the face of the man bloodied with a crooked nose. A few more details for the latter came to his mind.

“I broke his hand.” He mumbled to himself. A chuckle slipped out. I wonder if he put in a complaint to the Elders for some form of recompense for that. I’d do it again.

———————————————

Some moments later, three people came into view. Two men and a woman. 

So he still lives. That creature was already hovering around Bradford. Eying him from head to toe and touching him. It pointed out his reset nose and the condition of the broken hand. 

You didn’t kill him. The two spoke as one, yet the honeyed voice was more displeased and the sad one sounded relieved. Good. They both returned to their “normal”. This is all… promising.  

Thaddeus ignored it.

He recognized Bradford. A faint grin crept across his face. There was a splint across the man’s nose that had blooming purple bruises. The grin grew larger when he noticed Bradford’s right hand in a brace. Still has the knife, though looks more secured. That would be an annoyance if he got the chance to get it.

Now the other two. He didn’t recognize them but took note of the man’s height and muscle mass. He’ll be tough to overpower.

Bradford noticed that grin. A brow of concern was raised in reply. Why was he grinning like that? It was pure glee mixed with malice.

“How is he, doctor?” He asked.

“Awake and responsive…  But…” Veer paused. How to put it in simple terms?

“But?” He gestured for her to continue.

“He’s rude, combative, belligerent. Ready to bite if you come too close.” Thaddeus spoke up, taking on a mocking tone. “I’m sorry, did you want to say that?”

That caught Bradford off guard. It felt so out of character for the man he once knew. Shay raised her brows. Corvo held in a snicker.

Veer just shook her head. “As you can see, he’s going to be a tough case to crack.”

“I see.” Bradford nodded. “How far have you gotten?”

“Barely scratched the surface before you arrived. He strongly believes we are ADVENT and believes this,” she gestured around them, “is a mind game.” 

“Not the first time you lot have done this.” Thaddeus growled.

“And he reacts rather poorly to—” She cut herself off. She didn’t want to agitate him again. Instead, she tapped away at her tablet before flipping it towards them. They saw it. The symbol of XCOM.

“Oh, heh, that’s going to be tricky.” Corvo commented.

“Very. Lucky we’re not wearing our uniforms with that on it.” Shay whispered.

“Hm.” Bradford grumbled. Looks like they had their work cut out for them.

He looked back at Veer. “Mind if I step in?”

“Go ahead, you may have better luck than I. I will be monitoring.” Before she would roll away, she showed him one last thing on her tablet. Thaddeus’ brainwaves and the psionic activity. Both were active and something was agitating them. He nodded. 

He stepped forward. “Thaddeus...” His voice trailed off. Where to begin?

“You know my name? Tch. Not that hard to get it. Besides America’s military files, you lot rifled through my brain repeatedly.”

Oh, no, no no! Suddenly, the voice chastised him. In a blink of an eye, it was over by him. Behind him. Embracing him once more. Listen! Listen! That gnarled hand snuck its way under his chin and grabbed it, holding it tight. 

Thaddeus froze for a moment, but pulled himself free. He cursed. That got him odd looks from the others.

See what you can learn. Are there holes that can be poked in this game? That hand was holding his chin firm again. No? Then this may be reality. Freedom. Yet… It dropped into a low whisper, hissing like a snake.  They need to be tested. Are they worthy of having you back?

Thaddeus wretched his head free from it again. His head snapped towards the doctor. That discolored left eye of his was glowing a brighter blue. “Out. Of. My. Head.” 

Bradford glanced at her. 

Veer closed her eyes as an annoyed, sad sigh slipped out. “He thinks I’m tapping at his mind. I’m not.”

“Hm.” Bradford mumbled. Part of him wondered what made him jump to that conclusion. He looked at Thaddeus. Those eyes were still filled with malice. How to pierce it. “Listen, we’re not ADVENT. We fight them. Been fighting them for a long time.” He only got a scoff in return.

Where to start? Where to start? Bradford’s mind was trying to reorder what he and Veer had gone over a few days before. Thaddeus’ current attitude was throwing him off.

The beginning. Let’s start with names and XCOM. Carefully like, Veer said. And the same with anything about family. He nodded at the small voice in his mind helping him regain his focus.

“Let’s start with names. You’re Thaddeus Seaver. No middle name. You preferred going by Thadd, if I recall correctly.” He said.

Thaddeus barely reacted. That was something so simple even a scrawny Sectoid could pull from someone’s brain with enough time.

“I’m John. John Bradford.” He pointed at himself. “Does that ring a bell?”

Thaddeus raised a brow in return. What was he playing at? “Same bastard whose face and hand I broke? Right?” He grinned as he asked that. Even more so when that voice poked at that terrible part of him that wanted to do it again.

Bradford’s brow twitched even more when he heard Corvo snort. “Yes… but it goes deeper than that. You know me. I’m an old friend from the past.”

Thaddeus winced, jerking his head to the side when he felt that creature’s fingers drag across the side of his face again.

Oh. Someone who knows you more… intimately? A wheezed laugh turned into a mad cackle. It’s been a while since They did that ploy. Ah, close bonds, ready to be torn to shreds again.

“Quiet.” Thaddeus hissed under his breath. He did his best to keep his voice low. He could tell no one else could see or hear the thing. He didn’t want to know what would happen if they thought he was losing his mind.

He refocused his mind on what Bradford had said. That route again. You bastards love retreading things. He hated to admit it, but that thing poking at his mind was right.  Despite feeling it was more tricks, he studied the man’s face and tried to match it to someone from the past. But those memories were distant. Nothing about his face or voice was recognizable to him. They must be slipping. 

Bradford watched the man’s emotions shift as he assumed the man was searching his thoughts. Pondering. Annoyance. Anger. Confusion.

After a few moments, Thaddeus’ face shifted back to annoyance. “No. Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Of course. Bradford knew this wouldn’t be easy. “Maybe you’ll recognize these two.” He gestured for Corvo and Shay to come forward. “Corvo and Shay Samaras.” He gestured at each one respectively before pausing. “Shay, what was your last name before you two got hitched?”

“Parker.” She answered.

“Shay Parker…” He let it roll off his tongue. “Right, I remember it now.”

“Age clouding that mind of yours, Johnny?” Corvo teased. “Need me to write down all the changed names and couples for you?

“Hon.” Shay jabbed him in the side, which only got a grunted laugh.

“Not the time, Corvo.” He replied tersely.

Thaddeus’ body shuddered. His vision went dark for but a second as shadows wicked past it. As it returned, he saw that the creature was now by the trio doing its usual “investigation” dance and already making comments on their appearances. He held in a reflexive sigh of relief. Now if only that thing would stay away or disappear entirely. 

Doing his best to ignore its comments, he looked the two up and down. Wait… maybe. Something about the bald one’s face. 

Something about Corvo was familiar. He had a certain noble, calm, but imposing look to him. That deep voice. And then that tease. Such a quick jab that got under the skin of Bradford. 

He studied his face some more. Those eyes were an icy blue that somehow contained warmth even, with the faint wrinkles at the corners. A faint crack-like scar with up from his left chin past the top of his lips. And then wrapping around the right side of his face below and above his eye was a nasty scar. What did you tango with to cause that? Something about all of it, minus the nasty scar, felt familiar. 

And then Shay. She looked more friendly than her husband, at first glance, but he could tell she was just as dangerous as him. Just from the quick jab she gave her husband, he saw how her muscles rippled against the tightness of her sleeves. Some of her black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, with some falling in front of her face as messy bangs. Her brown eyes barely had a wrinkle touching them. She bore no scars on her face compared to her husband. There were some on her arms. Looked to be shrapnel and bullet-related. None of that felt familiar, but her face did. There was something about that face.

“Dammit.” A curse slipped from his lips. It was from his mind trying to drag a memory to the surface; broken and fragmented, as usual. And then that thing was poking at his brain. It had itself all wrapped around Shay. 

She seems familiar? I sense something from you. It said. What is it?

The memory was on the cusp of forming. Something from his time a XCOM. A visit to the Armory. It looked to be a surprise inspection concerning some prototype laser weaponry fresh from R&D. Just as Shay’s face came into view, the memory fell apart.

Thaddeus hissed. Another painful trickle in his mind. My mind’s shot or that doctor is doing something. 

He let out an annoyed snort.  “Are these names supposed to matter?”

Bradford held back a reflexive grumble. He cursed in his mind. “Yes. They are.”

“Not ringing a bell. Your ploy sucks.”

“Maybe titles will help?” Shay suggested.

Corvo nodded. “Worth a shot. Bring up the old and new.”

“Right, right.” Bradford mumbled. “Our titles while we were apart—” he paused as he glanced at Dr. Veer. She mouthed “carefully.” “We were a part of a military organization,” a mild sidestep for now, “I was the Central Communication Officer. I’m still that with our current organization. And the… Acting Commander.” The latter role was more than he expected. He questioned how Thaddeus and the others handled it back in the past without going mad.

He then gestured towards Corvo and Shay.

Corvo grinned. “I was one of the Drill Instructors at the Main HQ. Keep the troops in line, especially those Gene-Modded soldiers that were a little too eager to use their new abilities.” He said, holding back a laugh. But a tear was forming in his eye. “Ah, how many times did those with the leg mods drag you and the other Co-Commanders into the vents? They never stopped, even with the punishments we rolled out.”

The others snorted at the mention of that.

Shay cleared her throat, trying to stifle a laugh. “I was one of the Armourers. Keep our equipment maintained and detailed counts on all our supplies, and the soldiers properly stocked for their operations. Occasionally, I and the others assisted the R&D teams in their efforts in creating weaponry and reverse engineering the aliens’ plasma weaponry. Neat stuff.”

As they all gave their titles and how they performed their jobs, Thaddeus winced as a headache came on. More memories were surfacing. Still, they were scattered and foggy, but he could sense the basic context of them. They all dealt with XCOM. A few were slowly coming together, clearing up and revealing faces. Old co-workers. Old friends. So many died when the bases were attacked. Could these three be survivors?

Ah, remembering more or the past? That being took notice. In a blink of an eye, it was right back next to him. Prodding. Touching. Whispering. Oh! Is there a lick of truth in their words? 

He did his best to ignore it, but it was near impossible with its constant intruding making the headache worse. It intensified for a moment, as his mind recalled something that matched what Corvo had said earlier.

Thaddeus was walking the halls to that underground base. Half sleep deprived because of triple back-to-back operations, he still had enough of his faculties to stop and discuss something with one of the engineers when he suddenly froze. To those in the hall, they heard him curse and saw wrinkles suddenly appear on his uniform. To him, he felt someone’s arms wrap around his torso tightly before suddenly being thrust into the ceiling where another arm grabbed him by his jacket collar. And that arm tingled. He saw the culprit. Their skin had a faint shimmering, electric glow to it. A glow that matched their orange eyes, whose pupils shifted in size.

Afternoon Commander! Heard you needed some perking up!

The two clowns got a proper dressing down once he was back on the ground. They were lucky — especially the soldier with the Mimetic Skin — he didn’t attack them.

“Ah.” Thaddeus hissed. His head dipped down. It felt like forever before it came to an end. And the same with the others. Was it a true memory or an implanted one? He could tell. That made him curse a few times under his breath in English and Arabic; which only increased when that thing started whispering nonsense again.

Another vision of the past of XCOM. Truth? Or falsehood?

He ignored it. But his mind went back to how Bradford started part of the discussion. “I know what you’re skirting around.” His eyes narrowed. 

Bradford just gestured for him to continue. 

“XCOM. You bastards have tampered with my mind a lot, but I wasn’t born yesterday.” The harsh glare shifted over to Veer. “I know what you’re doing. The bullshit the Elders would always do.”

Less skirting around that. Bradford looked over at Veer.

She sighed and shrugged. “He thinks I’m using psionics.” She tapped at the side of her head. Each tap touched one of her covered implants.  “He noticed them.”

“And…?” Bradford didn’t think she was.

“I’m not.” She said. “Let’s not skirt around the subject anymore.”

“Right.” Bradford nodded. He then looked at Thaddeus.“Yes. We’re talking about X—”

“Keep. That. Name. Out. Of. Your. Mouth.” Each word was spoken through barred teeth.

“X…COM.” Bradford continued. A faint irritation slipped in. Part of him understood why Thaddeus was so aggressive, but another part of him hated being accused of being a liar. He would say it some more, even it if set him off. “We are XCOM,” Thaddeus was another to snap again, but he spoke over him, “not ADVENT, and sure as hell not a trick of those damn Elders.”

Thaddeus scoffed. “You’re doing a poor job of proving it.” Those eyes rolled a few times. “Let’s get this over with. Knock me out already. I’m not giving you the information you want. Just rip it from it already, or would that damage the ‘prized asset’.”

Another faint wince crossed Thaddeus’ face. He grimaced more as he felt that thing grab, if not, caress his chin.

It let out an annoyed sigh. That honeyed voice was still dominant. Awww, giving up so soon? They’ve barely begun.

“Just be quiet! All of you!” Thaddeus snapped.

Bradford cursed under his breath a few times. That outburst made no sense, as well as what he said before it. He looked back at Veer. “Figure out what he’s talking about, doc.” He then took some steps back and gestured for Corvo and Shay to follow a good way’s way to make sure Thaddeus didn’t hear them. They needed a new plan.

Dr. Veer got to work on trying to get an answer and poke some holes in his logic. He wasn’t biting, even if what she said made logical sense. She noticed a few spikes concerning his brainwave and psionic activity. Nothing too worrying, but she could tell there was something agitating him. She just wasn’t sure it is was their presence or something else.

“They’ve screwed with his brain something fierce.” Corvo said. 

“I think he’s recalling something. I can see it in his eyes for just a second before it disappears.” Shay had noticed that. “But he’s so damaged and defensive he doesn’t want to acknowledge it.”

“He keeps calling what we’re doing a trick or a ploy. Any guess why?” Bradford asked. Maybe if they could break his mind’s hold on that, they could get somewhere.

“Dr. Veer mentioned he thinks she’s using psionics.” Shay said.

“Hm.” Corvo mumbled as he tapped his lip. “Ah.” Something came to mind. “This reminds me of some of the people we’ve rescued over the years. Especially, the more psionically inclined people.”

Bradford thought for a moment until something clicked. “Yuri.” One of their Specialists they all had a feeling he was a potential psion but just hadn’t had the time to test that.

Shay’s demeanor dropped at the mention of one of their older operatives. He wasn’t a survivor of XCOM. “That poor man was a nervous wreck for months until we finally got Dr. Veer back on the ship, and then one of those Templars helped.”

“One of the special cases.” Corvo nodded. “We had to keep him in the prison block for everyone’s safety after the Infirmary incident. Even had to dress up some of the workers in ADVENT clothing to make him cooperate. Anything different would set him off thinking they were messing with his head to make him turn on his friends again.”

“And from what Dr. Veer and that Templar said, they had done that to him and some others. Brainwashed them just enough to make them think they were escaping only for them to give up secrets of their allies leading to some Havens being slaughtered and more test subjects captured.” Bradford shook his head.

Being reminded of that made it more clear why Thaddeus was being so hostile and belligerent. 

“There has to be something we can bring up that’ll get to him.” Bradford mumbled.

“Keep talking about the past?” Shay suggested. That’s all she had. 

Corvo shook his head. “He’s mentioned his mind has been rifled through. He would expect we’re just repeating what we’ve ‘seen’.”

“True, but!” She grinned. “Probing doesn’t always get the finer details of those conversations. Especially that human touch. How we’ve busted some ambushes over the years.” She loved how most of the aliens, and ADVENT, didn’t get the various human mannerisms from the cultures that still remained. It gave them one leg up in their fight against them. “We definitely had some inside jokes back then that may tickle his brain.”

“Hm… true, true.” He nodded. “And maybe we can bring in family. Didn’t he have a girlfriend too?”

“We are not bringing up her.” Bradford was quick to shut that down.

Corvo raised a brow. “Is that a problem? Was it a secret? Like…” He paused as he grinned and leaned down to get in his face. “Like your crush on Jynn?”

Bradford’s cheeks flushed. Though fingers curled into fists; he kept them at his sides. “No, Corvo. His fiancée is dead.”

That grin quickly disappeared as he pulled himself back. “Shit. I forgot.” Shay smacked the back of his head for good measure.

It took a moment for Bradford’s anger to simmer down. “It’s been some time since we been to the Haven in-between France and Italy.” He shook his head. 

What a shocking day that was. And a burden he was given to carry until they found Thaddeus. They had him now, and that burden felt oppressively heavy. He wanted to cut that anchor free, but knew the consequences could be dire. “Hm.” But a thought crossed his mind.

They gestured for him to speak.

“You’ve given me an idea. I’ll be back, but you guys start with his name and some things that happened in the past.” He turned on his heels and quickly left the Infirmary.

Corvo and Shay looked at each other and shrugged. 

“So what’s some of the most memorable thing that happened back at the old base?” Shay asked.

“I have some ideas.” Corvo grinned. “Let’s slowly roll into that.”

The two heading back over. 

———————————————

Thaddeus was giving the doctor a hard time. He noticed the two had come back and Bradford was missing. And that thing couldn’t help but point that out a few times.

“Tch. Has your boss run off?” He snarked.

Corvo just smiled. “No. He just forgot something. But let’s talk.”

“Thaddeus Seaver.” Shay starts. “Commander Thaddeus Seaver. Pretty quickly, you told us we call you Thad in private. You were pretty chill. Like the other three once we got to know you all.”

“But you all knew when to cut the shit and dress down any insubordination like the good Commander that you were.” Corvo jumped. “You and Jynn had a way with words, but you and Elli weren’t afraid to get physically involved when that extra layer of discipline was needed. Ha.” He laughed hard, causing tears to well up in his eyes. He had to recompose himself before he spoke again. “Aw man,” he wiped away the tears, “Shay, remember when he body slammed one of the Grenadiers that was in full kit after they snuck up on him Mimetic Skin?” 

Shay tapped away at her lip for a moment before her eyes lit up. “Yes!” She shook her head. He broke something the R&D team wasn’t too pleased to repair. But the idiot deserved it. And don’t get me started on those leg mods.”

Corvo let out a loud belly laugh. “I think all of them hated that the most. Especially Jynn, since she was the tallest. Got her head banged several times in those vents whenever one would grab her.”

“I think Elli got a guard dog to combat that and Kamon ‘borrowed’ one of the SHIV drones to be his guard dog.” She said.

“Heh, heh, heh, no matter how many rules we put in place, those Gene-modded soldiers love to pull pranks on the staff. And happened in the others basses when the three transferred out.”

At first, Thaddeus’ expression barely changed from the thinly veiled ire he held against them. But as they spoke, it dropped as a series of headaches struck him. 

That rictus grin of the being grew, feeling the pain. Sensing what was coming. Ah. Are more memories rising? Perhaps more truths? Then its voice switched to the more sullen one as it went to the other side of his face. Or lies. More of that doctor… that witch’s touch?  

More memories were rising from the depths of his damaged mind. Working to reassert themselves; correct the tampering and suppression that was done to them. Each thing they spoke of flashed through his mind. The little incidents here and there. Him having to discipline the most unruly and troublemaking with more physical tactics, especially those Gene-modded soldiers.

It all felt so real.

No, no, no. More tricks. More lies. He didn’t believe his memories. He wasn’t sure if he could trust them. Some details matched up precisely with what the two had to say. Others varied by a hair’s width on some details. 

“Shut up!” He snapped at them. Especially at the voice. “You’re lying!”

The two glanced at each other. Corvo rolled his eyes. The outburst didn’t stop them. 

Corvo continued to bring up more incidents, a few that were off-record, and then Shay brought up some specific operation incidents.

As they continued to tell their tales, the headache continued to hammer away at Thaddeus’ skull. He tried to tune them out. Ignore their lies as more of his “memories” came to the surface. But it felt so real to a part of him. And that being wasn’t helping. The voices switched back and forth. And each one switched back and forth on whether it was positive or negative. Was this thing trying to help him or make him worse? He assumed the latter, as he could feel his anger rising again.

Need to shut them up. He began to pull against his restraints, wriggling his wrists around slowly trying to find a spot that would let widen it just enough. None of this is true. He told himself. But part of him was starting to doubt that. 

———————————————

It took about ten minutes before Bradford was back.

“And the incident after the Newfoundland operation. That poor village.” Shay shook her head. Just one of the many places they had to firebomb to keep the Chryssalids in check.

“Oh, that.” Corvo shook his head. A faint glint of anger crossed his face. “Some idiots thought it was smart to rig up one of the Chrysalid corpses to spook Jynn just before she was being transferred to another base. The damn idiots poisoned her.”

“At least the medical team had some extra antivenom on standby.” Shay said.

“Right.” He nodded. “Though it was funny when she decked the idiot for his mistake.”

“And she nearly bit my head off when I had to restrain her when she went after the ringleaders.” Bradford jumped into the conversation. He shook his head, remembering the incident but chuckled. “She tore into them. Especially Beckart. Who knew she had a mouth like a sailor. ” 

Corvo let out a hearty laugh. “That antivenom treatment really messed were her system for some days.”

  As Bradford approached them, he had a box in his hands. It was a small clamshell box decorated with various plants and flowers. 

Ah, their leader is back. And he brings a gift.  The being took notice. It left Thaddeus’ side and whisked itself over to Bradford. Its hands were all over the box. What is in here?

“How’s the storytelling going?” Bradford asked.

Just as Corvo and Shay were about to speak, Thaddeus spoke first.

“Poorly.” He sneered. “Your tactics need more work. These ‘memories’ aren’t going to cut it.”

Bradford glanced at Shay and Corvo.

“I think they’re working. He’s just in denial.” Corvo crossed his arms. 

“Okay, then let’s get more personal. A time before XCOM.” Bradford said as he stepped closer to the bed and set the box down. He didn’t open it.

Veer shot him a look, hearing what he said. “Bradford…” She didn’t need to continue.

“I know what I’m doing.” He calmed her down. He knew he had to play his cards carefully.

“You and I crossed paths before XCOM. Sometime in the early 2000s. If I remember correctly, it was in Alaska or Greenland. Can’t remember, which but it was cold.” Bradford reflexively shivered, thinking about it. “It was a joint training exercise between the branches and a few countries, as the Brass liked for ‘those guys in Intelligence to get out and stretch their legs’.” He rolled his eyes but laughed.

Thaddeus winced. One that soon made him grimace. Not again. A strong memory was being dredged up.

Thaddeus’ eyes darted to the box and then to that thing was still poking at it, both halves of its obscured face were looking at him. Its mouths began to mouth. SHUT UP! He mentally sneered. It laughed, but stayed quiet.

 Bradford continued with his story. “If I remember correctly, you were a Brigadier General in the U.S. Air Force. You were a pilot at some point before being pulled. You never got a straight answer for that if I remember correctly,” he grumbled, thinking of the files he was given when he was selected for XCOM,  “and then your file had a lot of things blacklisted regarding that decision.”

Thaddeus’ grimace grew. That memory was cracking the surface. He could feel this was different from all the others. It was painful, but the pain felt less intense.

The memory. It was a memory that could never be tampered with or suppressed, no matter how hard the aliens tried. That decision broke and angered him when he received it. He never got a straight answer. Just he was barred from ever flying again and had a new promotion. Promotion. He scoffed in his mind. It was and it wasn’t. He just bit his tongue back then and continued on. He didn’t want to be discharged and bring shame to himself and his family.

“Back to the joint training.” Bradford got himself back on track. “We crossed paths throughout that training period and you were a mean Training Instructor. Remember you putting up with a lot of jokes about your hair.” 

Bradford looked at him. Currently, his friend’s head was completely shaved. But he could remember how his hair looked back during XCOM, back during that joint training exercise, so clearly. A semi-messy mop of black hair with a steak of white running through the middle. A trait he inherited from his mom.

“Skunk tail.” Bradford chuckled.

Dr. Veer stifled a snort.

Corvo snorted, and Shay held snicker in a snicker. They remembered hearing that a lot back at the old HQ.

“And I remember you putting a hothead in their place after they questioned your ‘girly’ tattoos.” Raising a hand, Bradford brought it towards the tattoo on his left wrist. The braided together rose thorny stems. He stopped as soon as he heard the restraints tighten and noticed those deceptively strong “atrophied” muscles ripple. Wisely, he pulled back his hand and gestured to it.

“You took off your hat and shirt to not get it dirty before the fight started. The guy cracked some more distasteful remarks, seeing the other flower tattoos on your sides, back, and neck that weren’t covered up per regulations.”

As he continued on with the story of the beatdown that followed and somehow Thaddeus avoided getting reprimanded, more memories struck Thaddeus. Just like when Corvo and Shay were sharing memories of their time with I’m at XCOM, but these felt less… tampered with. Less pulled at. Like the Elders had skipped over them as they weren’t so important. The headache was as bad as ever, but it wasn’t a constant stream of pain as the memories pieced themselves together. Part of him was doubting what was being said less and less. There was still a part of him that wanted to deny it, but it all felt so different compared to the others.

Engrossed by these odd feelings, he didn’t notice the being had come back to him. Sweeping behind him, it took him into that cold embrace. The sullen side let out a sigh. This pain is different. There is more truth than lies in what he says. Then the voices switched. That honeyed sighed a cackled. But are they still worthy to have you again? Can they truly protect you in the long run?

He looked at Bradford again, barely acknowledging what the being was saying to him. Just who are you? He was trying to match his face with someone from the past. There was a John slowly coming to his mind, but they looked nothing alike. The one in the past looked a little softer but serious as ever. And the man before him looked hardened, cynical like he had been aged in whiskey and pain.

Can they be the same man? They look so different. Sound so different. How many years did they keep mentioning days ago?

He nearly tuned the man out as he tried to recall that time gap until he heard the next subject Bradford brought up.

“Also, had the pleasure of meeting your cousins, all fighter pilots as that runs in the family. A tradition of sorts you told us.” Bradford laughed. More or so of what he was going to say next. He struggled to keep a straight face. “And how you would deal with them. A rowdy bunch. Especially when a few of them who brought up that you all should do some ‘oil wrestling’ for the local ladies.” He even did a little brow waggle.

Corvo choked on his spit, causing him to let out several pained wheezes.

Shay spurted before fully breaking into a laugh. “Are you serious?” It sounded unbelievable. “How come I’ve never heard this?”

“He hates it being mentioned.” Bradford tried his best to keep himself in check. ”Especially the photos from his teens.”

“No, way! There were photos!? Oh, I have to see those!” Even she couldn’t help but indulge in something embarrassing for the Commander.

Corvo sputtered more Several loud smacks followed as he beat his chest to get himself back together. “If they still exist.”

“Check the old archives.” Bedford said. “Faintly remember someone uploaded them as prank and were never properly scrubbed.” 

“Noted.”

Thaddeus hissed. Another set of memories struck him. This time the pain was more constant, like the ones from XCOM. Memories of his family, military life, operations he had been in, and more. Once the Elders greedily pilfered. But the feeling came in waves. Ebbing and flowing with no rhyme or reason. Shifting and reasserting themselves into proper order. Tethering themselves to that one strong memory of how he lost his wings and received his “promotion.” Something about those specific memories was fixing the others, clearing away the fog.

What is this feeling? Can’t make heads or tails of it. Everything about my cousins, my family, seems true. Their names. What are their names? 

He grasped at the memory of the ones who brought up that old pastime in their youth. It hurt for a moment before the pain quickly faded. He prayed that meant it wasn’t tampered with.

“Alan, Aslan, and Yusuf…” He muttered the names of three of his younger cousins as he lowered his head. More pleasant memories of them graced his mind. It was all bittersweet.

“Huh?” Bradford barely caught that. “Repeat that?”

“Alan, Aslan, and Yusuf…” He repeated louder. He wasn’t sure why he did that. “They always liked bringing that up. A choke hold of a headlock usually shuts them up.” He chuckled, recalling that. He was bigger than the three and always used that to his advantage. 

“Alan, Aslan, Yusuf…” Bradford quietly mumbled to himself. It had been ages, but the names sounded familiar. He repeated them a few times before his eyes lit up. That sounded right. “I remember that. You had to wait until you all were ‘off-duty’ before you could terrorize them.”

A chuckle slipped from Thaddeus. One he wanted to bite back and swallow it. You’re getting comfortable. Don’t get comfortable. This is still a ploy. Just that cynical and rage-filled part of him wanted to believe that. And that thing was prodding, but thankfully silent.

Bradford leaned back and mouthed to Corvo and Shay, “I think we’re making progress.” They nodded.

“Despite all the nonsense that happened during the exercise, we shared a few drinks and stories before parting ways.” Drinks. A drink sounded good right now to Bradford. But a low alcohol content so he could drink more than one bottle. 

I wonder if Warren and Kit have finished working on that cider with the science gals. A faint smile crossed his face. Something their resident mountain man and homegrown distiller had been experimenting with one of the science teams. Little to no content alcohol. Something for those who had issues with alcohol but still wanted the taste. And something for the Hybridized to enjoy. Wait… drinks… Drinks! That key detail! How could I forget?

“Actually, I was the one enjoying the drinks. I had a few beers. You stuck with water or some other kind of beverage. I thought you were strait-laced for the longest because of your position, and would be back on duty soon, heh.” He paused again. How wrong he was. “Turned out it was a family problem. Mom’s side. Made you cautious of the stuff and dislike those that abused it and made excuses for their actions.”

And you would kill me if you knew how badly I gave into the bottle when we lost. He grimaced at himself. 

Thaddeus winced. Another memory, the pain was short and before washing away. Another one barely touched. Perhaps the Elders despised such things?

Hm? That voice sensed something was different. There was anger behind the memory, but it tasted quite different from everything before. Not to the Elders, but… familial… What is it? It grasped at his throat. Speak it!

“Dislike…?” Thaddeus’ voice trailed off into a whisper. “Despise.” He hissed. An old anger was welling inside of him. “Hate.” He said a little louder with a trailing growl. “Damn abusive, sexist drunks!” Raising his voice, raising his head, he spat, but not at them. “Her entire family is a write-off ‘cept a few of them that cut themselves off from the lot.”

“You said as much.” Bradford nodded. Somehow, the anger on his friend’s face was different but familiar. The same anger that showed its head whenever something would remind him of that side of the family he disliked.

He let the moment linger until Thaddeus’ breathing became more stable.

“Going to continue your story?” Thaddeus spoke. His mind continued to teether back and forth on if this was real or just fake. Both parts of him wanted to entertain it. What else did this man have to tell? And that thing next to him was hungry to know more, too.

“I do.” Bradford nodded. “We didn’t meet again until XCOM was re-initiated.” He paused to gauge his attention. He noticed the wince and faint frown crossed Thaddeus’ face, but the man did nothing else. “Who knew you’d been the main boss of the operation? Still, find it funny I knew all four of you from different parts of my life.”

“The Council didn’t find it so funny. The stuck-up bunch.” Corvo just had to butt in. Annoyance was evident in his voice. “Especially you and Jynn.”

“Corvo…” Bradford glared at him. 

“Jynn… Jynn…?” Thaddeus said quietly to himself. That name sounded familiar. The memory hurt, and it hurt a lot as he pulled at it. “Jynn… Reeves… Childhood friends?” He muttered a question he meant to keep to himself.

“Yes. We have known each other since we were teens. She and her brother, Charles. We were close friends. Best friends really.” There was a warmth to his voice as he spoke about them. “The Council was worried about a ‘conflict of interests’. Took a lot of talking to get them off our backs.”

“They still gave you guys trouble from time to time.” Corvo said.

“When did then never?” Shay rolled her eyes.

“They liked testing. Wanted to make sure their funding wasn’t being wasted.” Bradford said.

“Some… of the members… were nicer than others.” Thaddeus spoke in a stilted manner as the pain was more continuous. This will be harder to parse. They ravaged these memories repeatedly. “I think that… Spokesman tried to play fair… same with Australia, Japan, Egypt, and the U.S.’s representatives. I… think.” Why did you add that?

“They were all… fickle in their own ways.” Bradford couldn’t recall everyone’s personalities but knew each one butted heads with each XCOM branch leader in a different way. Everyone wanted them to cater to them in a specific way, while ignoring how impossible it was. 

“But back to us meeting again.” Bradford didn’t want to dwell on that aspect of the past any more than he had to. “It took us a while to remember each other, but what helped jog my memory were your tattoos. You stopped covering the one on your neck up. You said it was too much work, and the concealer was making you break out.” 

He eyed that neck. The scar that wrapped around the back of Thaddeus’ neck and descended down his back. That tattoo didn’t exist anymore. He knew he was going to hate seeing that. Just what did They do to him?

Another wince, one less painful than usual. He couldn’t tell if he was pulling the memory pre or during XCOM. He recalled having to use concealer while he was with the Air Force. How he beat himself up not double-checking the no-go areas for tattoos. But before XCOM, he got shifted around to some other positions where they were a little more lax on him covering those tattoos. He wondered if those positions were preparing him for what was coming.

Maybe… Maybe this is all real. That angry and cynical part of his mind was growing quiet. It was still raging, refusing to believe everything that was being said, but the more logical and hopeful side of him believed he wasn’t in ADVENT’s hands. 

It took home to act as the anchor for the other memories. The voice commented. The anchor allows the others to reassert their truth, and there are similarities to what he and the others speak. It found it all so interesting. Its voice dropped into a low whisper. Hold onto that rage. A small insurance. Truth is spoken now, but all it takes is one lie to break the facade. 

“So, over the few years…” Bradford’s voice trailed off. He had to keep himself from talking about the inevitable assault on all the bases. He knew Thaddeus was all too aware of that, but he just didn’t want to speak it. “I got to know you better, despite the hell happening across the world. Same with the others.”

The faintest sigh slipped out from Bradford. The memories were painful for him. 

 “You explained the meaning behind the tattoos one late night, we got to unwind for a few hours. How they were all done by your…” He hesitated, a little longer than he wanted to. Just talk like she’s still alive. “Fiancée. She was a good artist.”

The others tensed, not expecting him to mention that. They expected the worse, but Thaddeus barely reacted.

“She was a great artist.” A faint tease came from Thaddeues. As quick as it came, sadness enveloped his face. 

“Right, right. Forgive my inaccurate description.” Bradford joked right back to try and liven the mood. A chuckle slipped out, but the man’s sullen expression didn’t change. Does he know? Or is that how he felt during the War when he couldn’t just whisk her away from danger? He wasn’t going to press.

“Your neck, I think what was on it was baby’s breath?” He wasn’t familiar with the flower and was hoping what was in the old archives was accurate. “A favorite of your mother’s and a way to remember her as—”

“Yeah, baby’s breath.” Thaddeus’ sullen mood barely changed. He grimaced as an old memory came forth. Why? Why? Why? “Cancer took her after I graduated from the Airmanship program and got my pilot wings?” How life could be so cruel. He was happy she saw that day and got to meet his fiancée and loved her, but why did cancer have to take her so soon? At least she didn’t live to die by the aliens… Damn… how much of my family did I lose? How many did I send to their deaths? He could feel that being tugging, whispering about the “cruelties of life” and the reckoning the Elders would face. He ignored it. 

“And you told us how you got into mass—”

“Got in massive trouble with my superiors, as that was a no-go area for tattoos. Had to cover it up.” Thaddeus finished the sentence. It had been said so many times before. But he could remember that dressing down that happened and he refused to get it removed. 

Bradford smiled. More positive progress. He hoped.

“Then the one on your left thighs that ran up the left side of your chest.” At least that one was mostly untouched. A little of that scarring on his back affected it. “You got it in—”

“In memory of a friend. A fellow pilot.” Thaddeus interrupted again. His face was pained. The memory was disjointed. Why can’t I remember their name? Their face?

“Right. If I recall correctly, they were… ginkgo leaves?” A faint nod from Thaddeus confirmed his guess. “It was his favorite plant, and you found it neat. Told us how he had one where the cuttings were passed down through generations. He gave you some. You didn’t have much of a green thumb and sent it to your parents and then when you met your fiancée, you gave the rest to her.”

Everything sounded right to Thaddeus. His mother loved the gift. His father jokingly said their house was enough of a greenhouse. And his fiancée was delighted to receive such a gift. Why can’t I remember their name? Their face? That was bothering him. 

“And then the big four. Well, big two, as your shoulder tats are mirrored.” Bradford chuckled.

He wanted to lean over and tap each side of his shoulder but knew touch was still a tentative thing with the man.

“Walking advertisement for your fiancée, who was your girlfriend when you got them. You were head over heels for her, from what your cousins would blabber on about.”

Fiancée. Fiancée… Why is she distant from my mind? The memories of her were distant. He struggled to drag a fraction of them to his mind; every second of it hurt. It was foggy, still distant, but he could see his love form. A heavier-set woman that was full of life. Why can’t I see her face? And her name… Why is her name distant? Why can’t I remember her name? Tears fell from his eyes. That was tearing at him. Mention her name. Please mention her name.

He closed his eyes tight as a wave  of pain radiated through his body. It only grew worse with that thing whispering in his ear. It was the sad half, joining in his pleas to remember her name.

Then that honeyed half was whispering disquieting thoughts that this was just subtle mental torture. That other side of him listening to that. Slowly clawing its way back. This was just the morsel of mental torture it had been waiting for them to afflict.

Bradford continued on, unaware of the inner turmoil building inside of his friend’s mind. He noticed the falling tears but chalked that up to what he hoped were more pleasant memories going through his mind.

“And the two thorny rose stems twisted together. One on your upper arm and the other just above your left wrist.” He noticed the straps strained for a second. Muscles contracted and relaxed. He was looking at them. Good. “Your fiancee’s favorite flower despite its dangerous prick. And your ‘engagement rings’. Interesting choice.”

Yeah… that’s correct. Thaddeus unconsciously nodded along. But her name. Say her name, dammit!

“You said you hated—”

“Anything on my fingers and a ring would be a nuisance on the job. I’ve seen someone de-gloved once and didn’t want to experience it.” Thaddeus cut him off. 

Something else that made Bradford smile. “Right. You said as much. But you two did come up with an alternative. One you could wear and hide.”

Ah! Finally, the box! The being was excited to see what it held.

That caught Thaddeus’ attention. He lifted his head.

Bradford shifted his attention back to the box he had placed on the bed since he came back. He opened, keeping the top half held in such a way to keep Thaddeus from seeing the inside. With his other hand, he pulled out something.

It looked to be a long black chain necklace at first, but there was another object attached to it. It was a pale brown, gnarled, and carved object with a few dark spots. It was looped onto the necklace through a hole at the are it bulged out and took on a faint diamond shape.

Thaddeus studied the object for some time before it fully hit him. 

No, no, no. Impossible.

The memories were flowing, painful, and sweet. A delightful surprise, she sprung on him before he had to go overseas. If only he knew he was being selected to lead XCOM.

Thaddeus cringed. He felt a tingle course around him before in his mind he heard something wet and rough rip apart. The being literally pulled itself apart. Shadows whisked and whipped about. One half stayed with Thaddeus as the other shifted over to Bradford. I taste the pain. The questioning. They used this against you constantly. The cruelest of tortures to one’s heart. Is it real or fake?

He tried his best to ignore the sad thing. They could never get this right. It always looked wrong when They messed with my mind. But this… this… is it? Wait… He paused as he studied it more. It was his. Wait no. It was her’s. His fiancée. No, no, no. The details. This is real. This is real.

It is! Real! Both halves spoke in unison.

“One of her oldest projects. A memory from her childhood home that burned down. Old driftwood earrings given new life to be turned into necklaces.” Bradford did his best to recall what he was told ages ago. He carefully raised it higher so it could be seen. He saw the shifts of emotion in his eyes. He hoped he wasn’t causing too much pain. “She was sure a talented artist from everything you showed us.”

“That’s...” Thaddeus uttered some words he couldn’t stop. He leaned towards it. He wanted to reach out, snatch it away from him. But a hard strain on his wrists reminded him he couldn’t. “That’s...” Why can’t I remember her name?

Bradford took notice. Should he? No, still too risky. His emotions are volatile. Instead, he dropped the necklace in Thaddeus’ hand and gently closed it. With that, he took a step back to the others.

“Let’s see how this goes.” He mumbled under his breath. He winced as he felt something tap on his mind. He glanced at Veer. She was looking at him. Eyes twinkling purple. She had a hand raised, blocking the side of her face near Thaddeus. He simply nodded.

You best hope he can’t tell that’s hers. Veer spoke in his mind. This emotional rollercoaster has been making it hard for me to gauge his vitals. His brain activity has been all over the place. And then there’s some psionic activity.

He sighed mentally. I know. But with how he’s been acting… it was worth the risk. And sorr— What about the psionics?

Thaddeus carefully rolled that necklace in his hand. The wood felt so familiar to him. Some smooth parts here. Nicks there. And the few areas where she had whittled it to get the shape just right. How he loved his wore it under his shirt whenever he could.

“Lauretta.” He whispered her name. It finally came back to him.

He ignored the sounds of the being pulling itself back together. He ignored it fully coming back over to him and wrapping him in the cold embrace once more. The sad half spoke, almost matching his pain. You finally call her name. How… How it sounds so sweet. So sweet. So sweet. 

Painfully, Thaddeus’ mind drifted back to the Old War. The few phone calls he would have with her when work and time permitted. How terrified she sounded tore at his heart and she was worried for him as she knew he was in the military. He wished he could tell her what he was doing. He wished he could send someone to whisk her and her parents away and bring her to one of the bases. But he knew protocols. Family didn’t get special treatment unless you had a good excuse. Even then, it was usually denied. All he could do was pray she could find a safe haven somewhere.

The rest of that rage died out as more tears began to flow.

The thing noticed. It did not speak. Yet, he could feel a shift in its strange being. That side honeyed side that liked to poke and agitate, felt sad. While that more sullen side felt more happy. Such a strange thing.

“So,” Corvo spoke in a hushed voice as nudged Bradford, “is that his or hers?”

“Hers.”Bradford whispered back. 

His eyes widened in shock. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’s worth the risk. Pray he can’t tell them apart.”

“Dandelion… where are you?” Thaddeus muttered. A nickname she liked. He continued to fiddle with the piece of wood. Nails picked at every little cut.  He almost felt like he could envision how she worked the wood.

“Hm?” But he felt something. A faint “spark” in the wood. The feeling was subtle at first until it grew more and more with each passing second. As his eyes refocused on the wood, he saw faint blue sparks and swirls coming into view around his hands. As they grew more visible, those sparks swiftly traveled up his arm, neck, and into his head. 

“The hell!?” He opened his hand to drop the wood. Instead, his grip only tightened around it as a memory took him. That discolored eye of his brightened and the other eye, in turn, was consumed by a glowing blue.

Hm… This is… different. The two voices of the being spoke before de-syncing. There was a shift in the personalities again. A ticking time bomb! Left for you, no one else. The side with the rictus grin began to cackle like made. The sad one wept.

This should be interesting. It nestled its head right on his shoulder and whispered. Another piece of the puzzle to your life. Wrapped in guilt. Sealed up tight. I taste the emotional turmoil that’s coming. 

Veer was the first to notice. Several notifications appeared on her tablet. All of his vitals were beginning to spike, with the most serious being his brainwave and psionic activity. “What…” She glanced up from her tablet to look at him and then back. She paused before looking back at him once again. She saw the psionic energy forming around him. “Oh, that is not good.”

The psionic detection sensors went off a second later. That alerted the others.

Bradford looked at Thaddeus. He blinked and shook his head. Where did those blue psionics come from? “What the hell?” He looked at Veer. “Doctor.”

She was on her feet and moving towards Thaddeus with caution. “I’m as stumped as you are. It’s not coming from the outside. It’s all him.” For a moment, she activated her psionics to see if she could glimpse what was going on only to quickly cut them off as a force rushed towards her. She recoiled just from how sudden it was even though it didn’t hit her; she took several steps back, nearly tripping over her feet.

“Veer.” Bradford moved to stabilize her.

She shook her head several times before she got her bearings again. “Thank you… Everyone, keep your distance. These psionics will not play nice.”

“It looks like he’s in some sort of trance.” Shay said. She noticed he was stiff as a board and his face was frozen in shock.

“Any ideas, doctor?” Bradford asked.

She shook her head. “I’m… hesitant to reach out again. Whatever is going on is… unpleasant. I’ll message Dr. Marin to see if he can bring up some dampening devices. We wait and keep our distance.”

And they did so.

———————————————

For Thaddeus. He was seeing disjointed memories. Not his, but his fiancée’s. Her time before, during, and after the war. She… survived? For a moment, his heart fluttered with joy. Or did she? But something didn’t feel right.

He saw how she lived in an ADVENT-controlled settlement for some time before some Resistance Cell liberated it before they were either going to be “processed” or shipped off to some city. That Cell whisked all who were willing away into the “untamed wilds” — the Elders so lovingly liked to call non-ADVENT cities and settlements — and to a Haven. It was a rough adjustment for many, but somehow Lauretta thrived. She swiftly became go-to person for all things related to homesteading, especially agriculture, despite her more “goth” look.

He saw she rarely took off her engagement necklace unless she had nights she was mourning him. She wondered if I was still alive. His heart ached.

And then he saw something else that made his heart ache more. Some years later, another man came into her life. His name was distant to him. There was a spark, a connection. But… she rejected it. Her feelings were mixed, she liked the man. He had a wonderful personality and great companion, but she still believed Thaddeus was alive, and just couldn’t move on until she had confirmation. The man took the rejection well. To her surprise, he wanted to learn more about her fiancé. She shared what she was comfortable with and it all helped him understand why she didn’t want to give up on him.

No. No. No. He cried in his mind and out loud. And then the worst came. He felt his mind breaking. Out of nowhere, her health began to fail. Nothing the medics could do could fix it. There was no Black Market they could access to get alien tech, nor did any of the current Factions exist at the time. The only way to treat her would be to take her to one of the ADVENT settlements with a medical center or one of the cities for the gene clinics. She didn’t want that. 

She died in that haven. Free from the aliens. 

The memory shifted to the man’s POV. He kept all her things and stored them away. Just in case he would ever cross paths with this Thaddeus.

If then flashed forward. He wasn’t sure by how many years. But he saw a familiar face. Bradford’s. Looked like his small team had stumbled across the Haven during one of their scouting missions for supplies and intel. It was a nice secluded place where they could catch their bearings. They did some bartering, helped them improve their defenses, offered some weapons training, and got their radio setup fixed. 

Somehow the man was speaking to Bradford when the conversation ended up on old friends and Thaddeus’ name was mentioned. The man asked if he was talking about Thaddeus Seaver. Bradford cautiously raised a brow but nodded. The man had Bradford follow him back to his shack where he retrieved the box and showed it to him. He told him who it belonged to. It took some time before it all clicked for Bradford. He was shocked. What were the chances? But that shock slipped into a more sullen mood. He asked the man about her. A nod confirmed his fears. How was he going to break the news to Thaddeus when they found him? If he ever would find him.

At first, Bradford didn’t want to take the box, but the man insisted. He said he would most likely cross paths with Thaddeus again as it sounded like his group had the means to travel the world, while he stuck to the Haven. Before he let Bradford return to his comrades. He showed him where Lauretta was buried under a strawberry tree. It was a simple marker that had her name and an epitaph. Per aspera ad astra.

———————————————

“No, no, no.” Thaddeus whispered a cry again. 

She was dead. He didn’t want to believe it. It couldn’t be true. But something about these memories felt so real to him. The Elders had never fabricated something like this before. 

This has to be fake. This has to be fake. This has to be fake. His mind spiraled.

Aw…. A painful imprint of a memory. Both sides of the creature sounded genuinely saddened and hurt. Barely aware of it, it wrapped around him tighter. Pressing its face against the side of his. It continued to speak in hushed whispers, laced with a hiss. The river always finds the sea. Yet… that sea… your sea… is… long gone.

“No, no, no.” Thaddeus whispered to himself. His mind was trying to ignore the creature.

The sullen voice disappeared as the more honeyed one took over. Don’t deny it! You can feel the truth as we can! Taste it! It hissed more. Do not deny what tears down and rebuilds. They did this to you. Those so-called Elders. It then took its hand, gently grabbed his chin, and directed his vision to the others. And these people saved you. Revealed to you the truth. Still… they need to be tested, if they are to be your… true salvation… and how this world is to be… liberated. 

Thaddeus tried to ignore it, tried to fight it, but its grip was strong and those words were enticing. They pressed and chiseled at his already fractured mental state to draw forth that rage buried deep within.

His mind worked to twist its words. Twist the memories, the reality he saw. This is fake. Not real. He ignored the being saying otherwise. Another fake. A setup by Them. They’re doing it again. It’s that doctor. That damn doctor and her psionics. Yes, yes, yes, yes. THAT.

“I think he’s coming back.” Shay said. She had noticed him blinking, muttering, and shifting his head.

“But the psionics are still going.” Corvo said. “And why are they blue?”

“Color is not important.” Veer said. She was still no closer to figuring out what caused it or how to stop it. “ Just keep your distance. The levels are still high. Hope Marin gets here quick. Contacted security too, just in case.”

In spite of the doctor’s warnings, Bradford had inched closer, but not too close. He was looking his friend up and down. The tears never stopped flowing, and he had the necklace in a death grip. “What caused this…?” The most obvious to him was the sensitive subject they treaded, but they should have activated much earlier. He felt terrible that he caused this. He just hoped this wouldn’t set them back. 

“What caused… no.” His eyes refocused on the hand clutching the necklace. Of all things. “I’m going to try something.”

“What?” Veer glanced up from her tablet. Her brow twitched. “John! I suggest you do—”

She was too late. 

Bradford had reached down and worked to pry open that hand. Just as he did so, Thaddeus snapped out of the haze. As he did, both eyes glowed brighter. Tears were still flowing down his face, but those eyes, those eyes, were filled with that rage again.

“BASTARDS AND YOUR MIND TRICKS!” Thaddeus snapped. The psionic energy around him sparked. A bolt shot from him and hit Bradford, causing the man to fall back. Several smaller jolts shot down his body and to his restraints and cracked the metal holding the bands.

“Shit!” Bradford cursed. His head spun for a moment as he tried to get his bearings.

“I gotcha.” Corvo got him back on his feet and away from the mess.

“Where. Is. She?” Thaddeus snarled. With a pop and a few metallic pings, he pulled one arm free from the restraints. “What did you do to her?” There was another pop and several pings. His other arm was free. Two more pops and pings followed. His legs touched the floor. Shakily.

Her. Everyone noticed that.

Bradford cursed. Did he pick up his hesitation when mentioning her? Did he recognize the necklace was hers? Or it’s something with these damn psioncis? 

“Where. Is. She?” Thaddeus repeated. He eyed each one of them. Who would talk? Who would he have to break to get some answers? 

With each passing second, his psionics were growing more erratic. An occasional spike followed when that being tried to speak to him.

Veer cursed as she felt a fluctuation in the energies. Dropping her tablet in a heartbeat, she outstretched her hands. There was a flash of purple in her eyes; the same colored energy erupted from her hands. Just as it did, just as that tablet clattered against the floor, a blue bolt of energy lashed out towards them. It cracked against the still-forming shield she threw up, splinting into a crackling spiderweb.

She held the shield for a few seconds until it suddenly burst with a ringing ping. She cried in pain as she was thrown back. 

“Veer!” Bradford yelled. Shay moved to get her.

Thaddeus’ eyes locked onto the fallen doctor. She was twitching, body twisting on itself in pure agony as that blue and purple energy fought for dominance. He hissed in pain as he felt something whip back at him, sending painful arching pain across his skull before it dissipated. I knew it. 

Now, she’ll know your pain… perhaps… press it further?

Bradford noticed Thaddeus’ eyes focus on Veer. He noticed those fists clenching. Shit.

His body moved on its own, pulling away from Corvo.

“John!” Corvo tried grabbing the back of his shirt, but he just missed him.

Before Thaddeus had a chance to strike again, Bradford was on him. The tackle was hard, causing both of them to crash into the bed — which, thankfully, had been locked down. He hissed, feeling that all too familiar bite of angered psionics strike him. He pushed through it.

Ah, this one again. The being unraveled itself from Thaddeus as the two fought. I wonder if he—

“Calm. Down.” Bradford fought to keep himself from yelling as he wrestled to get a grip on those fists. “Argh!” One slipped through. His nose was broken again.

HA! Again! It laughed. He has a knife. What damage can it do?

“He’s going for your knife!” Corvo said. Just as he was taking a step to assist, that psionic energy erupting from Thaddeus had grown stronger and forced him back. Instead, he switched to assisting Shay to pull Dr. Veer to safety. 

Dr. Marin finally showed up with some security. As they reached the back of the room, they quickly realized the situation was more dire than what they were prepared for. He had to leave to see if he could find one of their old Psi Shields, or prototypes, so someone could get close to the case.

Bradford’s eye caught where that free hand was going. One strap popped open. The time to be gentle was over. With a roar of anger, Bradford kicked Thaddeus’ legs from under him and slammed him to the ground.

The sudden slam disoriented Thaddeus long enough for Bradford to get behind him and put him in a choke hold. He tried talking some sense into him.

“Calm dow—FUCK!” The new position just made his face — nose — vulnerable to a series of bone-crunching headbutts. It only took two more before positions shifted again.

The voice continued to laugh. As the rictus grin reveled in the madness, the more sullen sighed whispered. Will he be able to break your rage? Will you listen? Or will you kill him?

The two men thrashed back and forth. One moment, Thaddeus had the upper hand with him trying to break Bradford’s face even more only for things to get turned around when he went for that knife again. Another moment, Bradford had the advantage just for a split second. He took his knife out and threw it over to Corvo. One less dangerous weapon on the field.

There was a loud, audible snap. A sharp pain surged through Bradford’s hand and arm. He cursed. Oh, for fucks sa— He held back a scream as Thaddeus kept crushing his right hand. He didn’t realize the pain was disarming him until he found himself flipped over and his back hitting the floor. 

As he tried to recover, several sharp stabs struck at his mind. He gasped as his pupils shrunk to mere pinpricks. The pain grew worse as he felt those psionics tear into his mind.

 He gasped again as Thaddeus’ hands wrapped around his neck and squeezed. And squeezed. And squeezed. Shit! How the hell is he so strong? He might kill me. 

“Tha—Thad… DeUS…” The words barely came out. “NOT…y—YoUR… ENemY… Fr-friEND…LIES.” His hands flew up to his neck, clawing at those hands, to make the choking stop. Well, hand, the other was broken. “FrIIEEN….DLIEs.”

The creature danced and weaved around the two with the shapeless shadow of a mass, as it observed the fight. As Thaddeus had Bradford pinned again and was choking the life out of him, it let out a long, dramatic sigh. What a pity… That honeyed said, disappointed. Weakness. Perhaps this “XCOM” is too weak for you to be truly your sal—

“Die. Bastard. Die. Die. Die.” Thaddeus ignored it. His voice trailed off into a near-hushed whisper as he squeezed harder and harder. A twisted smile crept across his face as he watched Bradford struggle. Watched those once irritated eyes fill with fear and struggle to stay open. If only I could inflict a fraction of the pain you all did to me, but Them losing you shou—

Thaddeus let out a cry of pain as another psionic snapback on his mind. It made the world pulse, causing his grip to falter for a second, but he quickly regained it. Was it that psion of a doctor again? That interrogator is ne—

There was another cry of pain. This time, it felt like something was biting at his mind. His grip held firm. What the he— The pain hit him again. And again. And again.

He barely noticed Bradford was mimicking his pain now — as well as his eyes were glowing with that blue energy — with each snapback and spike until he felt something different.

Oh? The creature took notice of this. It dropped to the floor, its mass spread over both. Shadows coalesced into twisted limbs and a coiling body. What do I sense now? What do I taste?

Like it usually did, it did its investigations. Hands, limbs, whatever it was touching everything and everywhere. A poke here. A prod there. But it noticed something different. Bradford’s expression. The man’s eyes darted between Thaddeus and it.

Oh? It drew back from a moment, shocked. Ooooooh! That grin grew more impossibly large. It moved closer to him and touched his face. Bradford tried pulling back. You can see me? Or sense me? A melding must be taking place.

How…. It took a breath. The mass oscillated. Interesting. It was… excited.

It shuddered again. Something was shifting and forming the accidental Mind Meld that was forming. Its other half began to weep. Despair. Despair. Despair.

The other half cackled. Another twisted and tied gift. This shall be interesting. It drew itself closer to Bradford, sensing he was the source. You won’t remember me when all this is over… Or will you?

———————————————

In-between the waves, Thaddeus was feeling the other mind connect to his. A pained one. Not as pained as his, but he could feel the years of anger and anguish hung heavily on this soul. Then the avalanche of memories hit. The cause of it all. He saw that day. The day XCOM fell. From another perspective. It was… Bradford’s.

He and Thaddeus were covering each other’s backs, trying to get the situation under control until another series of explosions separated the two. And before they could get back to each other, that upgraded Muton came down on Thaddeus and captured him. 

He saw how Bradford barely escaped the fallen base with his life. There was so much pain and guilt he couldn’t save anyone else. The constant thought plagued him for years. Were there any other survivors?

Things got worse for a few weeks before it all “stabilized” when he found some like-minded people. They kept to the wilds, avoiding ADVENT and the aliens as they fought back the best they could. Allies came and went over the years. He became more irritable and cynical. Even more so when from time to time they would encounter bandits running with the old colors of XCOM terrorizing Havens. He hated that.

The years continued. Little changed. Either his best friend, a fine bottle of alcohol, would kill him, or the aliens would. Part of him just wanted to… give up.

But one day, some of that cynicism lifted ran into actual survivors from the Main HQ and auxiliary bases one fateful day. At first, things were tense until some old codewords were used and he and another person remember each other. That’s when he learned XCOM was still alive. They were scattered, but still alive. Slowly rebuilding itself and building up the Resistance Cells across the globe. But they were still headless. Mostly headless. Dr. Shen and Dr. Vahlen were still alive. He couldn’t believe it.

A modicum of hope came back to him. He was in. And he was just what they needed to get XCOM organized again. It took some time for him to meet up with Dr. Shen’s part of the group, as traveling to different countries was always difficult with ADVENT patrols and checkpoints. And crossing the ocean. HA! That was impossible. But an odd fledgling Faction that came to be, the Void Walkers, helped. Seeing that old man face to face, and so many other familiar faces, brought more light back into that cold heart of his. 

Bradford wasn’t too thrilled to find himself thrusted into the role of Acting Commander after getting up to speed on everything, but most felt like he would be best for the job since he worked closely with the main Commander and the others. He made everyone refer to him as Central. Made the job somewhat easier. But thinking about those Commanders… He got mixed stories on what happened to the others. Killed. Captured. Missing. There was no straight answer, except for Thaddeus. He could remember that day clearly. 

That’s when he heard a theory the Senior Staff had been keeping under wraps. A theory that sounded so far-fetched. A fool’s errand. But the way ADVENT worked, how those mind-linked soldiers could quickly turn any fight in their favor. Especially, XCOM’s old tactics — how they had to switch to guerrilla warfare and on the fly tactics to survive. There was no way the Elders were directing that. Someone else had to be. Someone They had captured. Commander Thaddeus. Or one of the others if they weren’t killed.

The theory sounded insane. So far-fetched. But it made sense. Bradford became obsessed with it. It kept his mind together — most days for better and worse — and he focused on rebuilding XCOM from the shadow of what it had become.

The years ticked by. They worked on the Avenger. They spread out, setting up Resistance Cells and bolstering Havens. They gain more allies. Meet various Factions — friend or foe. And learned more sickening truths about ADVENT.

Then there was one excursion to one of the Sister Branches. Africa. Nigeria. One “close” to where the Avenger was stationed. Probably the only one they would be able to access in years. But that excursion… it hurt him.

Thaddeus could feel an overwhelming amount of sorrow course through the memory.

He saw Bradford standing in the desolated remains of that base’s Mission Control. Bodies, human and alien, scattered and crushed by the debris. Many rotted or desiccated. But he was standing in one spot. His rifle hanging slack by its strap as he was holding something in his hands. Rectangular and black, attached to torn dark blue cloth. Fingers were slowly rolling over the bloodstained text. It was a nameplate. Reeves.

There was no body nearby that wore her uniform. Scans revealed no traces of her DNA under the debris. But all around him on the ground was blood. Dried, brown blood, and a lot of it. Scans revealed some of it was her’s. Most likely… she was dead. Tears were falling from his eyes.

It took one of his allies, a close friend, to get him moving and back on the task. But he was hurting for the rest of the day. One drink turned into several. It got worse once they got back to the Avenger. 

That landing pad was looking mighty tempting some days. It took a knock-down drag-out fight with Corvo to snap some sense back into him, a lot of therapy, and some newish young blood that joined XCOM sometime before his latest depressive mood. They smacked some hope back into him.

He got better. But that pain never left him.

———————————————

Thaddeus felt his eyes snap to as those memories finally released him. Blinking his eyes several times, those pupils bounced around, not looking at anything in particular.

“What the…” 

That rage-filled part of his mind didn’t want to believe what he saw. It was another trick. All of it. But the other part of him could tell this was all too real. Especially that sorrow. A lost love. It felt all too real.

The creature had pulled itself away from the two. It hugged itself. It tore at itself. It’s mass shifting, splitting, and reforming itself several times. Both sides cackled in pure insanity. Both sides wept, consumed by grief. The pain. The sorrow. It is all… ecstasy!

The vice grip around Bradford’s neck began to loosen. The man gasped for air and sputtered several times. He was just on the verge of blacking out.

“Damn…” Bradford croaked. Way too close. He pressed his head back against the cold metal floor and closed his eyes for just a second. His head was spinning. His heart was pounding. It hurt to breathe and the blood running from his nose down the back of his throat didn’t help. And what the hell was that thing? His eyes looked around for what he knew he saw and felt earlier, but couldn’t see it. But he could hear faint laughing and crying. Log it for later. He closed his eyes again and took in deep breaths.

Just as it felt like his heart was no longer trying to escape his chest, he felt those hard thuds again. But these were different. Sluggish. Off-beat. Coming from the outside. And he heard sobbing.

 He opened his eyes and raised his head. Slowly.

It was Thaddeus, beating at his chest weakly with his fists. Tears were streaming down the man’s face. His eyes were closed tight and his lips were twisted into a sad grimace. 

“No, no, no, no, no, no.”  Thaddeus quietly sobbed.

Bradford blinked a few times. The hell now. First, the man was trying to kill them, kill him. Then, that weird thing creeping about. And now this. The mood whiplashes were confusing him.

“It’s you… It’s you…” Thaddeus said. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

It’s you. It’s you. The words repeated a few times before it clicked for Bradford. Was he finally remembering?

Hushed whispers and careful boot steps caught Bradford’s attention. His eye glanced over. Two guards were coming over. One was holding one of those Psi-dampening collars. A third was following with Dr. Marin in tow who looked to be holding a needle.

Shit! This could make him snap again. He quickly flailed his broken hand around, fighting through the pain. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” The words came out hushed but strong. They stopped. “Back off.”

“Sir?” One guard said. 

“John,” Marin looked at him like he was crazy, “this may be our only chan—”

“Now!” Bradford said through gritted teeth.

They backed off.

Bradford slowly worked his way from under Thaddeus, somehow getting the man to stop beating his chest and move off of him without causing a commotion. Slowly, he raised himself up. His lower half was numb.

“Ah…” He rolled his jaw a few times. He was thankful it wasn’t broken. He leaned on his good hand and looked at his friend again, sitting across from him.

The man looked utterly broken. Thaddeus had a vacant stare. Those eyes were wide open and trembling. His lips quivered as continued to repeat he was sorry with “she’s dead. Lauretta’s dead” interspersed every now and then.

Bradford let out a sharp exhale. He moved closer. Hesitantly, he placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. With a blink, those eyes snapped onto him. “I’m…” What could he say? “I’m sorry, buddy. I’m so sorry.” 

“Why?” Thaddeus asked. “Why? Why? Why? Why?” Each one became weaker and weaker until he just broke down sobbing again.

Not something he could answer. He asked the same question many days. 

Bradford pulled on that shoulder a few times until he got Thaddeus to budge. The man fell into his chest and just continued to cry. Bradford wrapped his arm around him. It just felt like the right thing to do.

They stayed like that for hours. The others refocused on securing the room, putting up some psionic shielding for future incidents, and helping Dr. Veer. The psionic attack on her being had come to an end, but she wasn’t doing too well.

Bradford just continued to comfort his friend. He never uttered a word.

Despite his mind and senses were still in a haze from the sudden meld and asphyxiation, he was picking up something was lingering around them. His eyes darted around, trying to see it, but nothing was there. Occasionally, he heard a whisper. One that made his skin crawl.

Ah! The grief. The sorrow! The creature laughed, too close for comfort. Bradford shuttered as he felt many limbs touch and wrap around him. Ties that bind. Drink deep of it. This XCOM has proven itself… for now. More trials and tribulations will come in the future.

Bradford’s eyes darted around again. For a second, in the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the creature. That face shifted between that grin and the crying one.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. It whispered its leitmotif before disappearing. 

Bradford felt part of his body relax as he felt that agitating alien presence leave. What the hell was that thing? He had dealt with several psionic nuisances — and he assumed it was one — but nothing like that. It was a strange malevolent presence that was trying to be… encouraging. Either way, he didn’t like it. 

The image of the thing was slipping from his mind despite his best efforts to keep it. He just hoped he could remember something so he could tell Veer. 

———————————————

It felt like forever before Thaddeus finally grew quiet. He was out cold. With the help of Corvo and Shay, they got him off Bradford and back on the bed. Per protocol, they restrained him again, much to Bradford’s annoyance. They needed to take those precautions just in case.

Once that was done, they got Bradford up and over to a free bed to get his injuries checked. Another broken nose and hand again. Strangely, his hand was already healing. The bones had been reset. Scans indicated psionic energy was at work, which only confused the medical team.

Bradford quietly told off Dr. Marin when he wanted to put a collar on Thaddeus. He felt like this would cause more problems than help, but to get him to shut up, he told them they could use them if things changed.

Dr. Veer was out of commission for the rest of the day as her body and mind were still reeling from the psionic attack. But she gave some instructions on what they should do and that she wanted detailed notes and recordings if they got Thaddeus talking again before she was escorted from the Infirmary.

With his injuries treated, Bradford discussed a few things with Corvo and Shay on what they should update the other Senior Staff with regarding the Commander, and what topics they might bring up with him once he was awake. Once that was done, he dismissed them.

Before he would take his leave, Bradford went back over to Thaddeus. He looked calmer. His face remained damp; his lips trembled faintly. His heart ached for his friend.

“The Elders did a number on you in more ways than one.” He shook his head. “And… something else.” 

Just as he was about to leave, he felt something under his boot. Looking down and shifting his foot, it was the necklace. He bent down and picked it up. He let it dangle in front of his face. His eyes carefully studied the unassuming piece of driftwood.

“Is there something special about you? Or was that a coincidence?” 

He glanced back over at Thaddeus. Should he?

“It couldn’t hurt.” He hoped. 

Taking a step back to the bed, he dropped the necklace into Thaddeus’ hand and gently closed it.

“Rest well, friend.”

He then asked about the implants. Again, nothing much had changed on that subject. They were still stumped. All attempts to draw force open the hidden ports and draw out the tendrils failed. Any attempts to cut into them also failed. Seemed the areas would react and reinforce the skin and underlying muscle leading to several broken scalpels. 

The same could be said about the golden implants and their ports. The only thing they had discovered so far was least 80% of the materials used were wholly alien in origin. A mixture of what they knew the aliens brought to earth — Elerium — and some completely unknown.

Still nothing great, but it was something for them to keep an eye out for. He shared with them that the Void Walkers were still looking into it. It looked like it would be one of their “long” investigations.

As they were continuing their discussions, slowly shifting over to what information Bradford would share with Thaddeus once he was awake, something a worker said caught their attention. 

“He’s waking up!” 

Music to everyone’s ears. Bradford was fairly annoyed when they told him to stay back, but relented when they said it was best not to overwhelm him. So he watched from a distance.

———————————————

Thaddeus was slowly coming to. A grunt here. A moan there. He shifted about in the medical bed. His whole body felt heavy to him. His ears twitched as he picked up the increased chatter from the doctors and workers. Another grunt and hiss escaped him.

I’m still alive? Guess they worked quickly enough. Dammit. He wasn’t thrilled by that. But he noticed something.

My mind’s more clear. Less of that oppressive fog. My limbs are heavy but I feel like I’m not sedated… Protocols are still being missed.

He wasn’t sure what that meant, but part of his mind felt like he could take advantage of it. It was a subtle, cold prod at that bottled-up rage.

He grimaced as he felt something touch his face, specifically one of his eyes, and forced it open. It was like a flash-bang went off as a blinding light was shone into it. As quickly as it happened, the same thing occurred with his other eye.

“Pupils are dilating normally.” Dr. Tyler said. 

As soon as the other eye was released, Thaddeus’ eyes scrunched together tightly before opening them once more.  It took a few blinks to make the after images disappear. As his vision evened out, his eyes darted back and forth to take in the new location when a face wasn’t in the way.

Hm… The aesthetic looks off. But don’t They have numerous facilities They ship me to?

He spotted some familiar faces. Dr. Tygan and Dr. Tyler. Well, familiar glasses for her. All the other faces were foreign to him. 

Their clothes also look… off. Hm, more tricks. That simulation. They want me to feel comfortable. Make me slip up. I’ll make them regret it. Cause some damage. Maybe even take my o—

He winced. He wasn’t sure if it was in response to his blood being drawn, or some tender area being poked, but something was slowly prodding at his brain. It felt like an ice-cold vice was slowly being wound around his skull. As suddenly as the pain grew, it began to fade as a faint hum tickled the inside of his mind. That coldness never left.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right… Because their words had forked no lightning they…

A voice spoke. Or was it two? It sounded like it was two speaking in unison with a faint echo and warble to it. One, honeyed and silvery. The other was taunt and brittle.

Where did that voice come from? It didn’t sound human. His eyes darted around, left to right. No one’s mouth matched the words. Nothing looked out of place. No one new had entered the room.

He slowly swallowed. His fingers twitched, trying to curl. Mind games… Putting me on edge. Possibly stress testing me too?

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Those eyes darted around again. Still no source. He didn’t like it. Something about these voices he didn’t like. Especially the words spoken. There was something at the back of his mind that told him he had heard those words before but couldn’t recall when.

Another glint of pain made him close his eyes. Blood roared in his ears, muffling everything around him for a moment. As it all came back to calm, he heard it again. That cold feeling grew around him.

Ah! The honeyed voice spoke, excited.

Aw… The taunt one spoke, saddened.

You survived your awakening. These humans did well. Both spoke in unison.

His eyes snapped open. What the hell… He saw it. Or some abstraction of it. 

Over at the entrance of the cordoned-off room. Just by the curtains as a set of workers were entering and leaving, there looked to be a shadow. A mass the shifted and wafted like smoke hung in the air. Those that came and went passed through, disturbing the mass, but did not react to it. 

What the hell… Thaddeus’ mind struggled to comprehend what he was seeing. For a moment, he felt like some part of it was taking shape. Was it a head? Hand? Torso? But as it would coalesce, it would fall back into that shifting smoke. This was entirely new to him. But whatever it was, he didn’t like it. It didn’t feel like how the Elders or their psions would touch his brain, but he could sense something was wrong with it.

These people are… fascinating. Near unquestionable dedication to saving you. The shifting mass spoke. As it did, it started to move. A faint humanoid shape came to. Or was it serpentine? It didn’t matter. Whatever it was, it moved with the grace of a dancer. It weaved back and forth between each person like a winding, swift stream. As it reached someone, hands would form — long, delicate, wrinkled things — and those hands touch and stroke each face. No one reacted.

You are saved by familiar hands. Or is it all lies? Another trick? Another trial to break you?

Thaddeus wearily watched the wretched thing. Why was no one noticing it? He wanted to say something, call it out, but his throat and mouth of his barely worked. A croaked grunt came out. Dammit… He didn’t like it. Its presence was just wrong and something about it was prodding a part of him that needed to stay bottled up.

You’ve been getting testy again. Affecting Their Children’s work. That ichor of my deliverer can be… dangerous. Such a risk He took, but it brought you(all) more time. And finally, it has borne fruit. Here… you… are!

For a moment, Thaddeus lost sight of it as someone blocked his vision, but as soon as he blinked, a wisp of smoke whipped from the left side of his face. Then he felt it. A cold embrace, many arms wrapping around his whole being. Then a single finger touched the underside of his chin before slowly stroking all the way down his neck. Then he felt something set down on top of his head. He went stiff. His heart raced; someone made note of that. It felt like the world was slowing.

What the hell is this thing? A twisted freak of an Elder? Something worse? He forced his eyes to move, to try to see what this thing was. His eyes froze. It was still a shifting distorted mass, but something began to take shape. The lower half of a face; skin twisted and taught. One with a rictus grin revealing needle-sharp teeth.

So what do you think? The mouth matched the words. The honeyed tone was stronger. Are these people, this XCOM, potential allies? Ghosts from that age-old past risen anew in this era of deceit?

Thaddeus blinked. The face and wisps were gone. But one for a second. He felt a shift. A hand grabbed his chin and held it firm, while a finger traced its way down the side of his face. It was on his right and now this half of the face looked… sad. Like a tragedy mask.

Or is it a trial? That lie again? The bittersweet dream of freedom to break your spirit? Again? To break this World? The sad tone was stronger.

He tried to ignore it, but there was a strange allure to its words. It was clouding his mind, pulling at those negative thoughts. Drawing forth that unbridled hate, that rage he had for the Elders. His eyes darted around the room, eying each person. Another… trick?

Ah! Shifting back to his left, it licked its lips. Yes, yes, yes! Let it grow! Let it fester! That honeyed tone took over before shifting back to the sad one. Lose yourself to that rage.

With that firm hand holding his chin, the being shifted his head back and forth so he could get a better view of the room and all in it. Someone noted the movement.

Who shall be struck first? Who’s the weakest link? The cascade to the floodgates?

There were so many to choose from. Who first indeed? Thaddeus’ fingers twitched.

Oh! The thing playfully gasped again. The fingers dug into his chin before gently moving his view to the left. He looks important.

Over to the left were Bradford, Dr. Tygan, and Dr. Tyler.

Perhaps drawing him over here by striking a lackey? It suggested. 

“Hm…” Thaddeus let out a grunt. Maybe… 

 He has a knife. That can cause some… damage.

 If he could have, he would have grinned. He liked the suggestion. It was suicide, but he liked it. 

For now, he just carefully studied the doctors and workers as they tended to him. He barely acknowledged them as they moved, poked, and prodded him. He was looking for the slightest slip-up in the charade he could take advantage of. 

Some time later, the bed was raised, and they readjusted him. 

As all of this was happening, he started concentrating on his limbs. A twitch here. A finger curl there. With some effort, he could move his hand. 

Not too high. Want to catch them off guard. He noticed how they noticed his movement. They said something about muscle atrophy. He paid no attention. Can I move my legs? Can I make a fist?

———————————————

“So?” Bradford asked as Tyler came over. His eyes occasionally glanced over at Thaddeus. The man looked both distant and annoyed.

“He’s aware of his surroundings, but is not speaking.” She said. 

“Any clue why?”

“There is the possibility his mind is struggling to process his surroundings.” She suggested. “New surroundings, new faces, new smells,” she gestured all around him, “new everything, really.”

“I get it, I get it.” He shook his head.

“Additionally, it has been 20 years since he’s been in the ‘care’ of the Elders. It is possible, They have tampered with his mind.” Tygan said as he came over.

A sharp exhale left Bradford’s nose. Not something he wanted to think about. That was something they learned about the First Generation ADVENT soldiers, specifically the humans converted into Hybrids. The Elders had a process that could break minds, and remove and rewrite memories. Hell, they did to the non-Hybrids. A few of their former ADVENT personnel reported having blanks in their memories or false ones implanted. Could They have done that to Thaddeus?

“You guys tested for any of that?” Bradford asked.

“That’s not really something we can ‘test’ for, especially when he was unconscious.” Tyler said. “Besides, that would be more Veer’s area.”

“We did notice edited markers pertaining to his synaptic connections and nervous system.” Tygan said.

“English, doctor.”

“What he means is either the Elders did some psionic tampering to his mind or Thaddeus is a latent psionic. Or both!” Tyler said.

“Hm.” He wasn’t sure what to make of that. He was hoping for more of the latter than the former, but the latter could be worrisome too. “Don’t recall him…” He paused, his mind was recalling a faint memory. Raising a hand to his chin, his nails picked at the stubble. “Actually no. Towards the end of the War… I think Dr. Vahlen had been pestering him, and the others, to run some tests down in the Psi Labs but he was drowning in work.” He nodded to himself as the memory became more clear. “May have to pull at Dr. Marin’s brain to confirm that.”

“I can check the archives to see if—”

A hoarse angry roar pierced the relative tranquillity of the Infirmary. A yelp was followed by several shocked shouts, and various items clattering across the room.

“Calm… calm down!” Someone said.

All eyes snapped to the disturbance. Several people were backing away. Someone was on the ground, clutching their face and cursing. Flecks of blood decorated the floor. Medical supplies were scattered across the floor.

It was Thaddeus. Breathing and body equally shaky, he to a step out of the bed. One arm was raised; the fist was covered in blood. Shaking, enraged eyes darted around the room, noting each potential target that was in the way of who he wanted. With his other hand, he started ripping out the IV lines connected to him. Someone tried to stop him from doing that. He struck them dead in the face, sending them crashing to the floor.

“What the hell.” Bradford said. Part of him wanted to jump in and stop him, but he needed to think of a way to disable him while causing little to no harm. 

I’m being a little too eager, but time’s not on my side. And that thing was prodding him to get started. Let’s see what damage I can cause before I’m put under again or the blood loss gets me… Let the blood loss get me.

He opened his mouth, but only a hoarse wheeze came out. Mentally, he cursed. He struggled to clear his throat. It felt like that part of him was glued shut from the lack of use, but with a little force, those muscles started to move. What came out wasn’t English. 

“››Y-you all are… are slipping.‹‹” From a parched and under-used throat, the words came out stilted. Those rage-filled eyes continued to scan to room. Who’s next? Who’s next?  “›› Let’s see the dent…. I can make… before all goes dark.‹‹” A twisted grin crossed his face.

“What did he say?” Tyler was frantically typing away on her tablet to call up security.

“Sounded Arabic… I have no clue.” Bradford said. He faintly recalled the Commander could speak more than one language. “Why is he so hostile?”

“I think I would be if I were in his shoes.” She said. “He’s been locked up for 20 years and now he’s in unfamiliar surroundings and most likely more ‘free’ than he’s ever been. And who knows if he was conscious during that time!”

“I get it.” What to do? What to say? Could he ever understand them if he was speaking Arabic?

“It’s remarkable he’s able to stand so soon.” Tygan spoke his thoughts. As soon as he said that, Thaddeus began to falter.

A solid pulse wrapped around Thaddeus’ skull, making him grunt. His stance wavered as the shakiness in his legs grew until one gave way. He caught himself on the bed before he hit the ground. A pool of blood was slowly ground around his feet.

Time is ticking. That being whispered in his ear. Get to that prize. Lure it. Before all goes dark.

Someone tried to get close to him, but a snarl made them back away.

Tygan silently cursed as he noticed the torn-out IVs. “We need to get him back down before he causes more harm to himself.”

“I think that will be easier said than done, doc.” Bradford said.

Again, someone tried to get close to Thaddeus. They crouched down and raised their hands as they spoke in a calm voice. 

“Hey, hey now. We’re friendlies. You’re in good hands. Safe hands. Not the aliens. Not the Elders.”

It seemed like their attempt was working. Thaddeus’ terse breathing was slowing, and those eyes were jumping around less. That curled fist was relenting. 

But just as they took a step closer…

WHACK

“SON OF A —”

“Back off!” 

He struck again. Another broken nose added to the casualties. And this time, he spoke in English.

“Oh, shit.” Bradford noticed something different. The look in Thaddeus’ eyes was growing more intense. He was dropping lower to the floor, each leg shifting further apart, and his hands flexing open. Next thing, the man let out an angry roar and lunged at the unfortunate worker. He was going to claw and beat their face in. Dammit.

 He needed to act now. 

“Thadd!” Bradford yelled as he sprung into action. Before the madman could get their third strike in, a swift tackle took him off the worker. They crashed into the gurney, tipping it over. Everyone nearby scattered.

Oh! He came to you. Perfect. The knife. That being goaded.

They tussled on the floor. Bradford tried talking some sense as he struggled to get a hold of his hands — hands that tried to get that knife — and pin him down. No words were piercing that rage; it just seemed to make him angrier. Bradford was struggling in general as the fight continued on. To his utter shock, Thaddeus had a great amount of strength. Something that shouldn’t have been possible according to the doctors’ examinations. 

Muscle atrophy, my as—

There was a loud, audible snap.

“Ah!” Bradford gasped.

He felt something bend and break in one of his hands. The next thing he knew, he was on his back and felt a solid strike against his face. Repeated strikes.

“Die! Die! Die! DIE! DIE! DIE!” Thaddeus screeched, like a mad banshee. Seemed like he had completely forgotten about the knife and wanted to get down and dirty with his fists. 

Hm. More personal. The voice was now dower before becoming more excited. Slow results, but will still get the result. 

The beatdown felt like it went on for ages before it stopped suddenly as quickly as it began. Security had arrived, and they pulled him off of Bradford. Which only resulted in the fight escalating again. It was like Thaddeus’ strength knew no bounds.

Someone managed to drag a disorientated Bradford away from the fight before the tussle fell back on him. They got him to the other side of the room and on a bed. A quick examination revealed a broken hand, a broken nose, and a possible concussion.

It took security collectively pinning him to the floor and a doctor administering some sedatives to finally subdue Thaddeus. Even then, it took almost 10 minutes for him to finally pass out. He was struggling and spitting curses and venom the entire time.

The being lingering near him didn’t help. It voiced its disappointment but felt like there would be another time to strike. To test. It was curious how they were working to save him and were being as gentle as possible with Thaddeus. 

Maybe this is your salvation. Yet, we do not know… Yet. Till you wake again. It began to fade. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

———————————————

“Get him restrained to a bed and monitor his vitals! Goodness.” Tyler brushed some loose locks out of her face before readjusting her glasses. She was inputting a whole list of orders and new protocols when dealing with Thaddeus. “That rage…”

“He thinks we’re ADVENT. Ah…” Bradford said with a faint hiss. One doctor was treating his broken nose, and another was resetting his right hand. And then he had a killer headache. He wondered if they had any of those advanced nanomachines so he wouldn’t be out of commission for too long.

“I heard.” She nodded. “What they did to him… I fear his mind is damaged.”

“Mm…” His throat trembled in agreement. This was a setback he wasn’t expecting. Really, he should have expected it. His unhealthy fixation on getting their Commander back blinded him from the potentially nasty truths. “There has to be a way to convince him we’re not them.”

“That would be for Dr. Veer to figure out, as that is her expertise.” Tygan said as he took a seat near them. “I’ve updated her on the current happenings.” 

“Maybe we can get the Templars involved?” Tyler suggested. 

“No. I feel like that would make it worse.” Bradford objected. “A psion’s touch could make him spiral. He may think it’s one of the interrogators, a Sectoid, or one of Them.”

“True…” Tyler sighed. “But the same could be said about a Veer.”

“She doesn’t tap her powers without asking or if it’s an emergency.” Bradford said. And he was glad she was the type of psion that asked before going poking around someone’s brain.

“Maybe…” Tygan tapped his pen against his tablet.

“What, doctor?” Bradford asked.

“This is something we should run by Veer first, but what if we bring familiar faces for Thaddeus to see?”

Bradford pondered on that for a moment before shaking his head. “Doubt that since he tried caving my face in.”

“You look and sound different.” Tyler pointed at him. “20 long years living on the fringes has aged you more than some others. As well as that scar on your face.”

Bradford opened his mouth before biting it shut. He looked away. Painful memories were coming to the surface. Those years roughing it with his outfit of misfits hitting ADVENT whenever they could, mulling over the bitter defeat of XCOM, and drinking his nights(and days) away, before they crossed paths with some old friends that set him back on the right path. Those years… he didn’t miss. The damn bottle… It’s a miracle I still have a liver and my mind is still intact. He took a deep breath and let out a long, annoyed hiss. She had a point.

“We’ll figure something out.” Tyler said. She gently patted his thigh, noticing his pained expression. “There have to be some old personnel here the years have been more kind to.” 

“Mh hm.” Bradford nodded. “Let’s keep it to the ones that don’t have loose lips.”

“I was going to prioritize Senior Staff first before everyone else.” Tygan said, with a faint chuckle.

“Good.”

Their conversation continued for about an hour as they discussed other issues and possibilities they would have to account for when Thaddeus was awake again.

To Bradford’s relief, they had some advanced nanomachines they could administer to treat the fractures and potential concussion. In a few days, or less, his hand and nose would be like new, and those headaches should be gone in a few hours.

Once their conversation was over, Bradford left to make his rounds and placate the crew as news of what happened got out. Some were understanding. Others questioned why they were keeping a madman on the ship. And the worst was mocking him. 

“So this is the great, infallible Commander you and the others always talked up.”

How he wanted to kick their asses, but he let his mouth do the work. A quick dress down and reminding them that Thaddeus had been through hell just like them. Really, what he had gone through was perhaps worse than all of them combined. So, of course, he wasn’t going to be so trusting. 

He even pointed out how some of them reacted when they had been rescued from ADVENT prisons. They were trusting at first. Hell, some of them thought it was a ploy to get their hopes up and cause them to slip up and spill some critical information again before the veil on the ruse was pulled and they were captured once more.

That shut up most. But the murmurs continued. 

———————————————

Some days passed. Thaddeus was still out, partially sedated. The excitement and blood loss from that day had taken it out of him.

But they were going to use that to their advantage. 

During those days, Bradford met up with Dr. Veer several times. It was a mixture of him needing some sessions as the dark thoughts were encroaching and a bottle of wine and whiskey sounded mighty fine at all hours. And then to discuss how they would approach Thaddeus in trying to convince him they weren’t ADVENT.

They scoured the files of all personnel aboard the Avenger and any on the ground at locations near where they were. Narrowing it down to those were personnel from 20 years ago was easy, followed by those who were stationed a the Main Base. But there was an issue. Most looked different, like him. Only a handful looked like they aged gracefully or didn’t look like a shrapnel or a Berserker had rearranged their face.

“Of course, you look mostly the same, Corvo.” He wasn’t sure if he should laugh or roll his eyes. 

Corvo Samaras was one of the Drill Instructors back during the Old War and was now one of the Tactical Training Officers; he wore a few other hats to keep XCOM running smoothly. Despite the man’s sometimes cantankerous personality — and he was a pain in his ass many days — he was a reliable man. 

“And same with Shay. Hopefully, she’ll temper you when we talk to Thaddeus again.” He was more than happy to see she would be a familiar face and hopefully a calming presence. 

He shot a message off to them so they could meet later. 

Dr. Veer and he found a few more Senior Staff, some of the doctors and scientists, and a few soldiers that Thaddeus could potentially remember. The latter three would be a last resort. He was hoping the Senior Staff would be enough.

Once that was done, the two went over potential subjects they could use to convince him they weren’t ADVENT and what news of this New World would be safe to share. 

Veer was quick to bring up they should be careful if he decided to mention Thaddeus’ late fiancée or any family for the matter. Bradford wasn’t even thinking of bringing up his family since that was a touchy subject for most of the survivors. And he dared not bring up anything about her. But, if he had to, he would keep the details of her being dead under wraps. He knew how much Thaddeus loved her and knew that news would tear him apart. 

As more sensations turned on, he could perceive his surroundings. Everything around him shook and rattled. He felt himself being lifted a few times and each time he was set down there was a solid thud. They were never this rough when moving him around. He was a prized asset. 

And then their voices. It was always muffled in the Stasis Suit, but he could tell whoever was handling him sounded rushed. Almost panicked. 

“Bring him over here!” An older female voice said. “And everyone else, clear out! I want this place as sterile as possible!”

“John, you need to get yourself checked out.” A male voice said.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” A male voice gruffly replied. “Barely a scratch.”

“Barely a scratch? They got your back! You’re freakn’ bleeding!”

“For the love of… Get your butt over there and get treated, John! You were shot, for God’s sake!” The female voice chastised him. 

“Doctor Tyler…” 

They nearly got into a cursing match until she reminding him, “you want to be alive when we pull him out?” That silenced him.

As he listened, he noticed they all sounded… human. That was different.

Some rebels found where you were keeping me? Or is it another fault in the system? Another screw-up with my health? Hope the feedback kills me this time.

If there was another fault with his health, he knew They would do everything to keep him alive. All the experiments and modifications. What was even left of him?

He felt the movement come to a slow stop before he felt himself being lifted once more and moved.

“Carefully! There’s potentially decades of atrophy to contend with!” There was another voice. Male. He sounded much calmer and more level-headed than the others. 

“Wish we had more time.” A young female voice said. There was some faint stress in it.

He then heard the faint clicking. Must have been the connection ports on the suit.

Hm. Human. One who values their life since they’re having to remind everyone of my state. Come on, eyes, get that sensation back already before they suppress it fully…. Wait… that’s off.

Though his body felt numb and distant from him, he could tell the usual suppressants to keep him down weren’t flowing through his system. Recalling the clicking, he waited for his body and mind to be taken from him again. But nothing happened. But that faint buzzing in the back of his mind didn’t fade.

“I don’t disagree. But as it stands now, we risk losing the patient if we don’t being the removal procedure immediately.” That male voice spoke again.

Something is wrong. Catastrophic level. Must be dire if they are slipping up and missing steps. I may have a chance before one of the Elders shows up… Come on body…

Exerting what strength he had, his eyes scrunched together several times until they cracked open, only to slam shut due to a bright light. He went through the same motions again, this time opening his eyes more slowly so they could adjust. As they did, everything was a hazy blur before his vision cleared. Red glass greeted his eyes as well as a silhouette on the other side of it. He could feel the person touching the mask, clearing it of the liquid and fog on the outside.

Older male with glasses. And a young female. Don’t recognize the faces. Thaddeus made notes in his mind. But why should he care? Not like he’d remember any of them again once he was back under.

“Okay, all non-essential personnel have been removed. This place isn’t as sterile as I would like, Tygan.” Dr. Tyler said. “I wish we had more time to prepare. Who knows if the Elders have been keeping his immune system healthy?”

Thaddeus heard someone faintly curse in the background before muttering that never crossed his mind.

“I don’t disagree, Tyler. Do you have the injections prepared? Just in case…?” Dr. Tygan asked.

“Prepared and maintained months ago. Have to see if I can get the Medical team to make an isolated suite for him once we get him out of this suit.”

“Good. A wise plan. Let’s also send any and all vitals monitoring data currently being pulled from the suit to the team.”

He felt another click, followed by a twist and a lock to the side of the helmet.

“We’re ready.” The young female voice said.

There seemed to be a pause as Tygan was examining something. 

“Good. Then let’s get on with it.” The gruff male voice was closer than before.

“John…” Tyler nearly hissed. “You should be in the Infirmary. That patch-up isn’t—.”

“I’m fine, doctor.” But a stifled grunt following that statement said otherwise.

Tch. Someone’s stubborn. Thaddeus chuckled in his mind. With how militant they are, would guess they’re an Officer, but don’t have that flanging voice. Unless the Elders are trying to make ones that sound more human.

And he got his answer as the man came into view. Another human. Older. Face matches the attitude. Can’t say I don’t like it. 

Tygan’s hand moved around the helmet, one sitting dead center on the helmet. There was a click, then a high-pressured hiss as air escaped.

If he could have hissed, he would have as the faceplate to the helmet was removed and the full unfiltered light hit his eyes. And the pressure change made his ears popped. And that buzzing sensation spiked for a moment.

More protocols are being skipped. Yeah, something is wrong wrong. That buzzing is getting stronger. Feeling the feedback. They didn’t disconnect me properly.

“Remarkable.” Tygan said.

“Just like 20 years ago...” Bradford said. There was a faint waver in his voice. A mix of excitement that the Commander, his friend, was alive. But also pain as memories of the past came to the forefront of his mind.

“Move back, please.” Tyler nearly shoved Bradford out of the way.

He grumbled before continuing his thought. “… we were still calling it a war back then. We had no idea what was coming.”

It took some time for the pain in Thaddeus’ ears to fade; the buzzing stayed the same. As it did, his eyes fluttered open, nearly sealing shut again as another bright light shined in them. With a few blinks, he adjusted to all of it.

“His pupils are dilating and tracking just fine.” Tyler said. “And… hm.”

Now he had a better look at her. All of them, but he focused on her. Pale to fair skin. Black hair. And she wore red-tinted glasses that were hanging halfway off of her face.  She looked to be the only one wearing a face mask. Looked like someone cared.

“Hm?” Tygan pressed.

“You’ll see.” She took a step back.

Tygan’s eyes lit up before he leaned in. “I see.”

Shock was apparent on Bradford’s face. Tyler had to put a hand on his chest to keep him from leaning in too far. “What the hell? These scars… His eyes… His eye.”

Though it had been 20 long years since Bradford had seen Thaddeus last, he remembered the Commander’s scars. Three slashes on the left side of his face. Got them in a knife fight. Two were just on the corner of his lips, bother starting from his chin and one nearly going to his nose, and the third was the corner of his jaw going halfway up his cheek. And the other scar was on the right side of his face. Scattered scars caused by a glancing bullet. They started at the corner of his jaw and went halfway up and across his cheek.

Yet there were new ones. A vibrant red slash of a mark trailing across the bridge of his nose and face. Bradford’s mind quickly figured the Muton that nearly cracked his skull open caused that when he was captured. But the other one was shocking. Twice over. His eyes. Both eyes had a few dark red scar-like tears underneath them. And his left eye… the sclera of his left was pitch black while the iris was blue and glowing. The other eye looked normal, with a light hazel brown iris.

“Doctors…” Bradford turned to them.

“It’s not an immediate worry.” Tyler said.

“But it has been noted.” Tygan added. “Let’s see his other vitals. Lily. Tyler.”

“We’re monitoring.” Both answered in unison.

Guess the Elders didn’t warn them that They did a number on my face. Sometimes he wondered if he still looked human.

Feeling that buzz in the back of his head grow, Thaddeus closed his eyes tightly as the faintest of grunts came out. For a moment, everything went black as a memory forcefully shoved itself to the forefront of his mind. Memories of the past. The War with the aliens. XCOM. The main HQ. What was happening around the world.

It all flashed by at a sickening pace. He could feel the old stress reverberate through every part of his body.

Ugh… the feedback.

As quickly as it all came, it faded. The world and his vision came back.

“… response from the cerebral cortex. Good. Prepping for cranial intrusion.” 

He barely caught the words of Dr. Tygan as he came to again. But what he saw next caused another set of memories to come crashing in. The device the doctor had raised, activated, and brought to his face, reminded him of what had happened 20 years ago when the aliens had him.

They had him. Body immobilized in some alien surgery table. There was an Elder there. Or were there two? It didn’t matter. The Elder was scouring his mind, keeping it subdued as they gave instructions to a Thin Man. It held a device just like the doctor, more alien in design. They brought it to his face, opened his mouth, and inserted it. The moment he felt it pierce the back of his throat, he felt his mind fully being arrested from him. His prison for the next 20 years.

His mind stayed on the memory for an uncomfortable amount of time. He was barely conscious of what this Tygan was doing but could feel he was examining his mouth and making incisions.

“… I’ve managed to identify the connection. Different from the standard practice… Preparing to make the final incision.”

Thaddeus felt the cold metal touch his tongue and press further back before it suddenly stopped.

“These readings are getting really erratic.” Shen said, voice laced with concern.

“Of course they are. These—” Tygan said. Before he could continue, Tyler butted in.

Tyler cursed under her breath. “I’m seeing some sort of feedback on his nervous system. Pathways across his brain are lighting up. The abrupt removal from the System must be the cause…”

“There is that possibility, too. These implants were never designed to be removed. Especially his…  We are risking severe—”

“No Plan B here people.” Bradford cut them off. “Do it!”

As Thaddeus came to again, the doctor had another similar but different colored device in his hand and inserted it. He felt a pinch and then a pull. With that pull, he felt a surge of electric pain course through his body as whatever it was was pulled out. As it passed the threshold of his mouth, he felt the oppressive buzz in the back of his mind disappear. His thoughts felt… freer. But only for a moment, as more memories came crashing through.

They jumped back and forth during those long few, painful years of the War and the World submitting to alien rule. The cities wiped off the map. The millions killed. The peace treaties. The formation of this ADVENT. The bases under attack. The explosions. Fires. That smell. That Muton that rushed him. He barely deflected two strikes before the third found his face. The whole world came crashing down that day.

Then his mind flashed forward. To his imprisonment in this Tactical Network ADVENT used. It jumped from ADVENT soldier to soldier, their viewpoints as they oppressed the world. Then his mind jumped again. To several instances when the Elders would pull him from the system, from out of the suit to experiment on him and pull at his mind. He spiraled down, down, down.

“Doctors!” Shen yelled. The vitals looked worse.

“This was a possibility… the feedback is growing worse.” Tyler said tersely.

Thaddeus let out a yell. His back arched as he rose from the table as that strangled yell came out. It sounded sounded like two beings were screaming as one. Something inside was breaking. Then everything went black.

That startled everyone.

All the vitals spiked before they crashed. His back hit the table with a hard thud. A long eerie beep filled the room as the doctors worked to bring him back.

“No signal…” Shen said.

“No, no, no…” Bradford muttered. How he wished he could do something, but it was out of his purview. “Come on Thadd, you can beat this.”

For Thaddeus, everything was still dark. Like a void had swallowed him. Body, mind, and soul. But he felt something. Something reached out to him. It felt familiar, but cold at first. As it enveloped him, it became a warm embrace.

No. He felt his voice in his mind. A series of his voice in different tones and then another. One that sounded more alien as it had a wispy echo to its voice. Now is not our time to die.

He could see it, faintly piercing through the darkness. A ghostly four-armed form reached out to him. He felt something click and connect in his mind and body, weaving together that something that broke just as everything went dark.

It is not our time. Stay strong. Endure as I have. Endure till we meet again.

Then he felt more connections. Other voices. They sounded both human and alien. He too could feel them reinforcing what the other was doing to his body and mind. No. It is not time for you to perish. Let his work be for naught. Let their work be for naught. Rise again, human. Rise again, Ethereal one. This world still has a chance at freedom. Before the Broken One finds and consumes your world.

Then he felt one more. Or was is it two? Either way, they were cold. Very cold. Like the deep abyss of the ocean. He felt this connection sweep around him, drowning that warm embrace as it touched his body in several places. Then something caressed his head. A whisper soon followed.

The ichor flows. I taste the pain. He tastes your pain and the same with your world. The voice shifted to the other side of his head. Will you embrace and choose life? The voice shifted again to the other side. Or find release from your torture in oblivion? 

He felt this voice grow closer until he felt those other connections suddenly snap at it and push it away. 

Away with you. Sad, twisted thing.

Before it was fully pushed away, it parted with one last thing.

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

As the feeling surged through him, it all faded. The world was coming back. Thaddeus let out a series of pained gasps.

 That eerie, droning beep was replaced by a more steady one. The tense atmosphere in the room had faded.

Thaddeus’ eyes fluttered open again only for him to close them. Or attempt to as a hand forced them back open.

“… pupillary response normal. Vitals stabilizing. Procedure complete.” Tygan said. A smile graced his face.

A faint grunt left Thaddeus’ lips as soon as the doctor’s hands were off his face. He slowly shook his head. It took him a moment to realize he could somewhat move. He was usually more immobilized than this.

“Told ‘em  it would take more than that to keep you down.” Bradford said. He shifted to look at the man. A faint smirk graced his face. Just who was he? “Welcome back… Commander.”

Commander? Does he know me? He couldn’t recognize the man’s face or voice. No, no, no… this could be an elaborate trick by the Elders. Wouldn’t be the first time They forced a “rescue” scenario in my mind to break me.

Thaddeus studied his face as long as he could, trying to connect him with someone from the past but nothing ever clicked before he passed out again.

“Let him rest.” Tyler said. “His vitals have stabilized, but his neural pathways are quite sensitive. I’m picking up faint psionic readings too.”

“I will, doctor.” Bradford rolled his eyes. “I’ll pay a visit a few hours after you guys have moved him. Need to prep some things for him to read.”

“Sounds good and—” She paused as she caught what he meant. “Not so fast with that.”

“What now?”

“We will have to piecemeal that information. He’s been stuck in that prison for 20 years. We have no idea what his mental state may be. Hell, we don’t know just exactly what the Elders did to him besides the theories!”

Bradford wanted to roll his eyes. “I know. I’m not going to share sensitive information with him. I know how that could make him spiral. It’s just the basics. I’ll have Dr. Veer go over it and talk to you.”

Tyler opened her mouth before slamming it shut. “Fine. Fine. I’ll be waiting for her contact. And get your butt to the Infirmary so they can treat your wounds.”

Bradford was about to talk back, but a solid shove from Shen cut him off.

“I’ll make sure he gets there!” Shen said. “Come on uncle~” She said. She faintly giggled when Bradford told her to watch the shoving. “I’ll keep you guys in the loop as I go over the details we pulled from the suit.”

“Thank you, Shen.” Tygan said. “We will be out of your Workshop shortly once the team gets here with the gurney so we can more him to the sterile room. Once we have removed the patient from the suit, we will be sending it down to the Labs. Your workers can collaborate with mine.”

“Got it, doc!”

With a few more shoves, Shen got Bradford out of the room and upstairs to the Infirmary before heading back to her Workshop. As she reached the Workshop, the doctors were moving the Commander out and up to the Infirmary.

———————————————

The Infirmary. They had cordoned off some space in the back to act as the “sterile room” for the Commander. 

At the moment, they were moving from the gurney onto a more advanced medical bed. They connected various tubes and wires to the suit to take his current vitals before disconnecting everything. All was looking good.

Now they just had to remove him from the Stasis Suit. They hoped this task would be much calmer than what had happened when they removed the chip. Thaddeus was still unconscious.

Much to the doctors’ annoyance, Bradford was poking his head in now and then while he was getting his gunshot wounds treated. Eventually, Tyler relented and told him he could enter after his treatment was done, he was fully sterilized and wore some PPE. She figured since he knew Thaddeus well, perhaps he would pick up if anything was off with his body that the files they recovered from old Archives wouldn’t tell. He had pointed out the scars and discolored eye earlier. 

And perhaps this would keep the Acting Commander calmer and keep him from interrupting their work.

“Lift him carefully. We still don’t know the level of atrophy his body has suffered.” Tygan said.

“Let’s get the bottom section of that helmet off.” Tyler said.

With a few clicks and some more hissing, the bottom half of the helmet opened and began to disconnect.

“What the…” Tyler noticed something interesting. “Tygan, get over here.”

“Hm?” He came over and peered over his shoulder. Both brows raised. “That is… unexpected.”

“I’ve never seen something like this. Or the implants.”

As she was pulling away the bottom half, there were several tendrils connecting Thaddeus to several ports inside of the helmet. They looked organic, a translucent fluid dripped from them as they faintly wriggled. And then, towards the back of his head, there was something faintly golden. Until the helmet was removed, she couldn’t get a better look at it.

“They line up to the ports one would find on an ADVENT Hybrid.” Tygan took note.

“Correct. Still, I have never seen anything like this. How are we going to remove this? I don’t want to cut them just in case that could cause issues.”

“Hm.” Tygan examined them for a while longer. “Continue the removal process. Perhaps they will disconnect once enough tension is applied.”

Tyler just nodded and continued.

As she did so, the tendril tensed, pulling back against her for just a moment before releasing their grip on the helmet. As they did so, they retreated back into Thaddeus’ flesh, sealing the hidden ports like they never existed.

“Full body scans are in order once he’s out of this. And let’s check the data banks for any info on these kind of implants.” Tyler said.

Bradford entered the room just as Tyler had pried off the helmet and they were starting to open the suit. He didn’t catch what they had initially witnessed with the tendrils, but noticed something more shocking to him.

“What the hell is wrong with his neck?” 

Wrapping around the majority of the back of Thaddeus’ neck, partially creeping towards the front, was a massive gnarled scar. The flesh was a mix of red and pink tones. That wasn’t there 20 years ago. If he recalled correctly, a tattoo was there. Flowers. He couldn’t recall the type of flowers, but he remember they were flowers there in the past.

“And what the hell is that!?”

Then the other thing that caught his eye was more concerning. One just below his shaved hairline. It was raised, metal, and golden. It took the shape of a segmented diamond. In the center of it was a circle with a more traditional-looking connection port which was quickly covered by flesh once the helmet was fully removed.

“Calm down, John.” Tyler was not in the mood for his outbursts. “We don’t know. We are taking note of it.”

He quieted himself and just watched.

As they began to remove the suit, Bradford nearly had another outburst as he witnessed the tendrils connected to several hidden ports across his back and there was another similar segmented diamond implant just at the top of his spine. But this one was different. It was raised like the other, but underneath and intersecting some points was a black base with a dark blue outline that took the shape of an inverted triangle. At each point of the triangle, there were three insertion-style ports. These did not cover themselves in flesh once the tendrils retreated, instead, a golden cover appeared over them.

As they continued to remove the suit, a similar implant was found at the base of his spine, but the triangle underneath the diamond was right side up.

Prying the rest of him out, a few more hidden ports were found across his chest and limbs, but nothing like the implants on his back.

“What the hell did They do to you?” Bradford spoke his thoughts as he watched the doctors examine Thaddeus’ back. What he thought was only a scar on the man’s neck extended all the way down his spine. Was his back broken when he was captured? What were those implants for? Many negative thoughts ran through his mind. 

He shook his head. He didn’t need to dwell on the negative. That would just drag him into dark places. Instead, he focused on the tattoos. 

His eyes bounced from tattoo to tattoo. Taking note of each on that survived. “At least your other tattoos survived.”

The first he noticed was a vine of fan-like leaves trailing up from his left thigh to his left side. Then there were two twisted rose branches full of thorns wrapped around his upper right arm, and the other was just above his left wrist. And the last were two on each shoulder. Three abstract elongated diamond eyes encircling a small star underneath. 

It made him smile. “Her handiwork survived.”

“Everything is looking good, according to the preliminary scans.” Tyler said.

“This is remarkable. His body is in good condition despite the years in suspended animation.” Tygan said.

“He looks thinner.” Bradford noted. “He’s lost some muscle mass.”

Tygan nodded. “That was expected. The muscle atrophy is not as dire as we initially assumed. Once he’s awake and more lucid, we can gauge what therapy he will need.”

“Any clue on the implants.?” He asked.

Tygan shook his head. “Nothing matches what we have in the archives. I’ve never seen this during my time with ADVENT. Same with other personnel who worked ‘behind the scenes’. ”

Bradford grumbled at that. “Hm, take some pictures. I want to see if the Skirmishers know anything about this.” They were the first faction to cross his mind. Former ADVENT. They would probably know the various implants the Elders used. Especially the higher-ranking soldiers.  “And the Void Walkers, they’re great at finding the obscure.” Another faction that dealt with information and resources trading. They had a knack for getting near-impossible information. For a price, of course.

“Of course. I was thinking the Skirmishers could be of assistance.”

The physical examination continued for a few more hours.

Someone finally ushered Bradford out of the Infirmary and to his Quarters for a well-deserved nap. The adrenaline from the operation finally started to wane and they did not want another patient to work on.

———————————————

A few days had passed. Thaddeus was still being kept in the Infirmary. They wouldn’t be moving him until he woke up and they could do some psychological exams.

He was still out. His eyelids would move. A limb would twitch. And some murmurs would leave his mouth, but he didn’t wake up.

The examinations continued through those days. A few were to see if they could cause those hidden ports and tendrils to emerge. Nothing they did could force them out but they noted each location with great accuracy.

Besides the physical tests, they ran some blood tests. His immune system wasn’t neglected, but they still gave him some boosters so he could acclimate to the Avenger and her crew with minor discomfort.

As they sequenced his DNA, comparing it to his old one recovered from one of the old data centers, they noticed there were some changes. With several focusing on his nervous system and synaptic connections. Dr. Tyler wondered if that was why she noticed the psionic activity when they were removing the chip from him. She passed the information over to Dr. Marin and Quinn. That was their expertise.

So far, it didn’t look like alien DNA had been inserted, but more thorough sequencing and scans would be needed.

Bradford’s inquiries with the Skirmishers lead nowhere. None of them had seen implants like that. The implants they, their kin, and the aliens had were rarely ever hidden and they knew nothing about the diamond ones.

He was still waiting for a reply back from the Void Walkers. They supposedly had a lead but wanted to double-check it. Bradford was a fine client. They didn’t want to lose him if their information was poor.

The surviving soldiers from the Haven cleansing found themselves recovering in the Infirmary for a few days. Especially, Avril “Count” Mead. Her little desperation stunt with a flashbang and needle grenade combo damaged her ears, and she was going through a series of treatments to fix that. Their access to Meld was tight as most of it was being used on Manson, who was still alive much to everyone’s surprise. If he pulled through, it would be a miracle if he wasn’t fully paralyzed.

For the time being, XCOM waited for some joint Resistance Orders to be completed and for those soldiers to gather their rest, as they did a few low-stakes raids and Haven visits to restock on supplies. Once they had brought their stores back to acceptable levels, they would finally be making their way to North America to meet the Templars at last.

————————————

It was another day in the main Workshop for Shen, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

So far, no one needed her. The ramp leading outside would be opened for a couple more hours as the Avenger was currently in the air heading to South Africa to make one last stop for some Black Market deals before making their “long trip” to North America.

Commander Reeves didn’t need her. Bradford didn’t need her. Tygan and his team didn’t need her, as they quickly found out they needed some improved tech to better dissect those Codex brains. And no other team needed her assistance.

“Been a while since we’ve done some exploring, huh ROV-R?” She was working on her Gremlin. “With this place up and running with few hitches, and those upgrades that Bones provided should provide some security, we should be able to access some of those dormant alien systems…” 

As she spoke her thoughts, they dropped into a low mutter. Her lips moved a little more like she wanted to speak more words but nothing came out. Memories of how they first found the Avenger and worked to get it operational. The blood, sweat, and tears poured into this machine to make it fly once again for the Resistance. The lives lost. “Let’s see if you two can play nice. No more cryo pods and those ‘eradication’ fail-safes have been disabled.” She and others had a great deal of fun taking care of those problems.

She fiddled with her robot buddy for a few minutes before he suddenly sprung back to life without her reactivating him.

“Okay, eager, I see.” She placed her tools down as she watched him fly around a few times before pausing. He flinched a few times before suddenly an array of sparks covered his entire chassis like he was letting off a discharge before flying over to the monitors that were also glitching. 

“What the…” Shen cautiously watched her robotic companion. A few more sparks shot off as that screen on ROV-Rs head filled with static. “I didn’t touch those capacitors…” She mumbled, but she wasn’t so sure with what she was attempting to access and tweak. Just as she was about to grab her tools, something on the monitors caught her eye. “Huh…” She cautiously followed. 

As she came closer, she paused, noticing the screen on ROV-R’s head raise and sync with the monitors.

“Maybe a system feedback, things have been— What the?” Just as she was attempting to theorize the issues, something new popped up. The screen flickered from the XCOM screensaver over to something new. It was black and red. A strange UI-like screen she had never seen before when hacking into the ADVENT networks despite sporting their colors. This didn’t even look like the more alien UI systems. More human.

As she studied the screen, she noticed the bottom left of the screen looked like an “eye”. Before she could study it longer, the screen distorted again and changed to something else. A location. A factory. And a series of coordinates.

“Shen.” It was Bradford coming in on her earpiece. “We’re getting some kind of interference up here. Seems to be hitting us across the board.”

The young engineer was so enamored by what was going on, she nearly missed him. “Working on it. Working on it.” Though his voice was distant as her mind was still trying to make sense of what was going on, that switch in her mind was clicking. This needed to be solved quickly. She looked at ROV-R, at the screens, and back at him. Somehow, this weird interference started with him when they were going to delve deeper into the ship’s alien systems. Maybe the connection was still flowing through him? 

Moving closer, she examined her companion. It took some finagling to get into his systems, as this signal — she quickly deduced — was causing some interference. But once she did so, her brows repeatedly raised before scrunching together as she was combing through some code and files.

“Huh.” Her fingers tapped against ROV-R’s chassis nervously. Something was off and scarily explained why he turned himself on. “Something triggered your remote uplink, but how is that possible? No one knows these systems…” Minus Bones and his man, Von Tron, but she highly doubted either would do anything like this after the threats Commander Reeves gave. She, Dimitri, and the rest of the tech team had done a full system upgrade and partial reformat after that gift, and the security upgrades were robust like a master locksmith. More protection against potential ADVENT hacks, especially from those Chosen.

No, and much to her worry, this had to be something else. 

As she was about to take a deeper dive, ROV-R began to make pained sounds as more sparks arched across his chassis and he fidgeted. The screens with those strange symbols and coordinates also began to glitch out.

Shen cursed, quickly biting her fingers that had been zapped. 

“Shen, power readings just spiked.” As Bradford said those words, the lights in the Workshop began to flicker. “Wh—t the hell is g—ng on down the—e?” Each word grew more distorted until all the lights went out. Then the ship shuttered. That hum to the ship was gone. It was eerily silent. 

“Crap!” Shen lost her footing but was quickly able to grab onto a nearby table. “Did that kill the engines? That killed the engines…” Just as the sinking feeling was about the set in, she felt the ship shutter again. The lights weren’t back on, but that faint hum to the ship was back. Good, we’re not going to fall from the sky.

Getting back up, she moved over to the computers to figure out what was going on and make sure there was no damage to the engines or anything else on the ship. The monitors flicked on one by one showing, a new image.

“What the…” She muttered as she looked around. A faint red illumination caught her eyes. Those monitors were still on and now there was something different on the screens. She studied it for a second before gasping. “Dad?”

————————————

Commander Reeves was in her Quarters going over some information just before she planned to take a nap when the whole system outage happened. She was locked in her room for some time, as she couldn’t quite remember how to bypass the door before the power finally came back on.

“Central!” She called out from the stairs. Those feet were swiftly cutting down the stairs. She quickly noticed how the nerve center of the ship was bustling with more activity than usual. Several consoles were down and she noticed the Maintenance crew was busy prying open some of the doors leading to the room. “What the hell just happened?”

“Commander, I have no clue. It’s not Bones or his guy.” He looked up at her before shaking his head. “And I’m too old to start believing in ghosts.” He mumbled that under his breath. “From what Shen told me for the interference and power spike, a signal, someone from the outside accessed her ROV-R to access the ship’s system. And if they can do that…”

“W-What?” Feet crossing in front of each other, her hand firmly grabbed the railing to keep herself from greeting the floor. That didn’t seem possible. Especially with the new security they had, thanks to Von Tron.

“She and the rest of the Communication crew are working on double-checking to see if there are any more backdoors and she’s investigating the signal. She’s got some coordinates. Looks to be a factory of sorts.”

“Why does stuff like this always happen just before we’re about to jump continents?” 

First, they were still recovering after those back-to-back operations and new units they had to prepare for future encounters, were trying to finish their last errands in the region before heading to North America to meet the Templars, and now someone, most likely ADVENT, had found a way to hijack their ship?

“You know how it goes. Also, she mentioned to me…” Central paused as he looked around. His mood seemed to immediately darken as his lids dropped low and his lips pulled into a thin line.

“Spit it out.”

 “She saw an image of her father and some of his schematics for something. Can’t say what with how corrupted the image it, but looks mechanical.”

“Dr. Raymond?” Commander Reeves’ eyes went wide as her brows raised. That explained the mood. “Why? And the schematics?”

“No clue.” He shrugged. “But like me, she got to thinking, her father would be one of the few who would know exactly how this ship functions. So perhaps, this is someone who knows how the late doctor worked. Found some of his work from one of the Old Bases’ Information Centers.”

“Hm…” She tapped her lip. “Perhaps some of the old engineer staff from back in the day? I know we had a lot of bright minds the doctor personally picked.”

“It’s all too possible, but something doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t think they would have done something like this. Especially, when we were flying.” Central was happy those emergency systems kicked in when they did. He did not want to find out if the Avenger could float.

“Right. Right… We’ll have to investigate the signal fully when we’re back in the region. But I do want Shen to work on what she can right now. We need to be prepared for the worst.” They just didn’t have time to do it now since they had a meeting with the Templars coming up soon. 

“I’ll let her know.” He nodded. “Also putting in a request with Volk and any others to see if they can find anything suspicious.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

Commander Reeves stuck around, slipping on an earpiece until all systems were checked and the ship was no longer in code red. Checking on each section of the ship, she learned the currency condition of the crew. Nearly everyone was fine, minus a few bumps and bruises from the sudden stop. A few were spooked and were halfway geared up to repel incoming invaders thinking they had been tagged by a UFO. The Maintenance and Engineering crews were hard a work resetting systems to get everyone going again. The failsafe systems on some of the high-security doors and bulkheads were proving to be difficult, but within the hour most would be open again.

“Hey, Commander.” It was Shen. “I need you to come down to my Workshop. If you have a moment.”

“I’ll be there shortly, Shen.” Commander Reeves knew this had to be important. Quickly wrapping up and finding an open route down to the Workshop, she left.

————————————

As Commander Reeves arrived at Shen’s workshop, she was surprised it was rather quiet. She was expecting to see it full of engineers but quickly figured most were around the ship, helping get things back in order.

As she continued deeper into the room, she noticed what looked to be a pair of those ADVENT MECs were on some nearby worktables. They always had a few on the ship to rip apart for parts and valuable metals before selling the rest, but she faintly recalled some “special” ones had been brought back from Elena, Yoko, and Reaver’s covert operation to investigate ‘rouge’ mechanical units roaming a remote, rural area.

As she came closer, she noticed something was off about these robots. What struck her first was the smell. Rust. With a few whiffs, she could taste the metal. Grunting, she roughly cleared her throat and did her best to get rid of the taste.

“Why do these look old?” Walking around the tables, she saw how rusted, if not decayed, they were. Then another thing struck her. Their heads. A skull-like appearance. That wouldn’t sit well with the human populace in the cities. And then she saw something else.

“Why are these riddled with bullets?” The reason was all too obvious as she recognized the damage from magnetic gunfire that pierced deep. She needed to go over that report again.

“Commander Reeves!” Like a rabbit, Shen popped up from behind one of the tables; so did ROV-R. She hadn’t noticed she had come. At the moment, she was cracking open one of the access panels to the MECs and putting in several wires that were going over to one of her computers. 

“Shen.” Commander Reeves nodded.

“Sorry for the mess, but I think I may have found a partial source of how that signal accessed the ship’s systems. The programming in these bots matches the coding in the signal…”

“These are the bots retrieved from the covert operation’s investigation, right?”

“Yep.” She nodded. “Elena and the others said they weren’t too friendly and they couldn’t find who was making them. I’ve sent a few photos to Dr. Sighn, to see if he can ID the creator.” That explained the bullet holes. Reeves just wished it wasn’t so excessive. “But there’s something about this coding architecture that’s similar to the old XCOM HQ and the MEC programs my father was working on.”

“Wait, what?”

“It’s a lot to explain, but I’m double checking, but a lot of this coding has similarities to that and then some of ADVENT’s coding in the early days of the regime.” She paused as her shoulders dropped, and a few cables fell to the floor. A small sigh slipped out. “Which also has traces of dad’s hard work.” Something she hated to acknowledge. “Out of precaution, I’m running this on an isolated system, just in case. Don’t want any more power surges.”

“That is… worrying. I don’t like that… I really don’t.” Commander Reeves just shook her head. She knew the aliens had pilfered whatever tech they didn’t destroy when they struck the old bases, but they could possibly have their hands on some old data that could breach the Avenger’s systems at any time. They needed to get to the bottom of this fast. If only they didn’t have to leave the continent in a few days. 

“I want this to be your priority work for now and see if you can work on a way this can’t happen again. Especially, as we’re heading to North America.”

“Planned on doing so and working on that.” She nodded. 

Commander Reeves watched Shen throw herself back into her work and bounce her thoughts off her robot companion. Always the dedicated sort. But as she did so, Commander Reeves could pick up the worry and sadness in her voice. How couldn’t she? This involved her late father.

She moved over to the side of the table to have a better view of her. “Hey, Lily.” Commander Reeves spoke softly. “When we’re done with meeting the Templars in America, we’ll be back to fully investigate this. I promise.”

Shen wrinkled her nose, not too happy that the investigation would be delayed, but they had deadlines to meet. Yet, that promise reassured her. “Thanks, Commander.”

With that, Commander Reeves made her way back to the Bridge. 

It was a few more hours before all systems were checked and they could safely fly once more to reach their destination in South Africa. 

———————————

More days passed since the encrypted signal incident that nearly caused the Avenger to drop out of the sky. They had made it to their new location and set up shop for the few days they would be there before leaving once more. Some crew were still jumpy from the incident even more so once word got around of what the possible cause was. 

Fingers were pointed at the soldiers who brought back the scrapped robots; somehow it roped in the Hybrid crew that had nothing to do with that covert operation, as usual. Accusations soon followed but the more level-headed crew broke it up and verbally beat into the instigators’ heads XCOM’s usual protocols. As always, precautions were taken whenever they brought back foreign technology and objects. Just how was any supposed to suspect whoever the creator of those things knew XCOM’s systems and coding?

 But the murmurs didn’t die. Still suspicious, if not outright paranoid, a few decided to volunteer to help out the local Havens, do Black Market runs, or scavenge the local areas for some time. Better to plant their feet on the ground and not die falling from the sky in a metal coffin. Commander Reeves okayed the assignments with some disdain. She didn’t like an excessive amount of crew on the ground unless necessary, but she wasn’t in the mood to get another message about someone starting a fight, especially when they targeted any former ADVENT personnel, soldier, or experiment. Them being off the ship should calm their nerves and bring some well-deserved peace to the ship. 

The departures would give her some time to review some profiles and histories to see if it was time to dismiss some before they compromised everyone’s safety. Not that they would care if she gave them a dressing down and kicked them from XCOM. Several still questioned why she was even the Commander and felt the other Senior Staff fit the role better. Some still questioned why they even put a questionable amount of nearly unquestionable faith in her hands even if most knew her from back in the day. Even with her putting in some miraculous work despite her health issues and incidents, it all felt too good to be true. She had to be a plant by the aliens. A ticking time bomb of a sleeper agent that would cost the Resistance everything. A plant. 

Jynn was about ready to lash out at the next person who whispered that but had been steadying her tongue. The crew didn’t know half the truth and it would be some time before they would learn the whole truth. She just knew the utter chaos that would occur as soon as that information got out. If a few had already tried to kill some of the Hybrid crew over the years, she just knew there would be attempts on her life as those maniacs would blame her for everything the aliens did.

———————————

Shen, her crew, and the other technologically skilled new were busy around the ship. They cleared the Avenger’s systems of any further intrusions and double-checked all backdoors. 

Shen was still investigating the signal, but was learning a great deal of the coding was based on some of the Old XCOM Base AI tech and some prototype AI. She searched the old archives but found any information dealing with the prototype was still corrupted. That just raised more questions than answers. Just what would they find at those coordinates when they came back to the region? 

For now, Commander Reeves put that to the back of her mind. An infinite docket she felt she would never complete. But soon, she was about to check one concerning thought off the list. One that had crossed her mind before operation “Frozen Nocturne”, and she had nearly forgotten about it if she hadn’t reread her notes.

Her utter lack of connection ports on her body compared to the standard ADVENT Hybrid.

———————————

14:08. The Main Lab.

“Is this… entirely necessary? Commander?” Mox asked.

Down in the main Lab were Jynn and Mox. She had requested for him to come down so she could pick at his brain as well as allow her to have a more “hands-on” viewing of connection ports to compare against herself. They had several ADVENT Hybrids they could use, but Jynn wanted a live subject and one she could ask more personal questions.

At the moment, and with his explicit permission, Jynn was carefully examining Mox’s head. A hand would tilt it back, side to side, and down to get a better look at those ports that lined his jaw. A finger would trace the metal and inner rings. Then they traced the surgical scars from his chin to the back of his “ear.” There were eight ports in total.

As she did that, her eyes would occasionally glance at a nearby monitor that contained X-rays of various Hybrids to show just how deep those ports went. She felt her jaw ache. 

“Hm? Sorry, Mox.” Jynn sighed. She hadn’t noticed she may have been getting a little too touchy during her examination. “I just needed an up-close look at your ports.” She released her grip on him before turning her finger to her face. “Hm.” Still nothing. Not even a subtle bump in the skin.

With his head free once more, Mox craned his next side to side before rolling his jaw a few times. He noticed a growing confused, if not concerned expression, on her face as she ran her fingers across her face several times. Mimicking the same movements she had done to him moments ago.

“If I may ask,” Mox paused, hoping he wouldn’t disturb her mood, “you seem troubled. What did you seek to find?”

She froze like a deer caught in the headlights. Her eyes closed tight. She knew the question would have happened. How to explain it so she didn’t sound crazy? No, he’ll understand. He and those like him would understand more than anyone.

 “I’ve… noticed.” Gesturing her hand slightly in a circular motion, she searched for her words. “I’ve recently noticed that I’m ‘missing’ some changes that should be apparent on my body since my imprisonment under the Elders.”

Mox thought for a moment. His eyes lit up before returning to a more calm expression. “Ah. I believe I understand, you should,” he gestured to his face before gesturing towards her, “have something smiler to the connection ports like mine.”

“Exactly. Really, I should look similar to you, too. The only thing we’ve noticed have been,” she rolled up her sleeves showing those segmented diamond marks on her arms, “these. And they’ve been randomly appearing and disappearing.” 

He raised a brow. Those marks looked odd. He had no clue of what they could be. “I understand the Elders alter all They touch, but you were most likely required to be unaltered minus the necessary maintenance.”

“Mox, the information They ran through me…” She paused to catch her breath. She could feel the back of her throat throbbing and that urge to scream growing within. Keep it together. Scream in your pillow after this. She took him several deep breaths to steady her. “The information They ran through me 24/7 through the years should have left me brain dead. I have to have modifications of some kind.”

In a way, she was glad that hadn’t happened. She could only imagine her own reaction to learning of that violation when they pried from that suit. How far would she have spiraled? And then the others’ reactions? The fabled Commander that had spent so long looking for was now a Hybrid? More alien than human?  She could already hear the disparaging comments from those few hecklers on the ship and envision the mutiny that would take place. We’re not serving under some Hybrid. How can she be even trusted? Probably has some sleeper code in that brain. She dies or we’re out. 

“Ah.” He only nodded. “My apologies. I retract my statement.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know. Most don’t know.” She sighed. “And don’t let the others know about this. There’s still some distrust with some on the ship and if they learn exactly how the Elders used me…”

“My lips are sealed, Commander.” He nodded, making the motion of zipping his mouth. A little chuckle followed. He enjoyed having the opportunity to use human saying and motions.

“Call me, Jynn. You don’t always have to be formal.”

“May I use Reeves, instead?” Part of him felt Jynn was too casual.

“Heh, that’s fine.”

Still waiting on the others, her eyes wandered around the lab until they fell on that old prison of hers. The Stasis Suit. I swear I’ve been picking up something from it since I came down here.

Her mind lingered on it for a while longer until a report crossed her mind.

  “Before the others get here. And if you don’t mind. When we rescued you from that ADVENT prison, they found you in a suit similar to that.” She gestured to her Stasis Suit. “Why?”

“Ah that,” Mox glanced at the suit before looking back at her, “I was stubbornly enduring Jax-Rai and her interrogators for days before they finally threw me into one of those suits. It was to disable me and my mind to be more susceptible to psionic manipulation.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “It was near timeless. Like one is floating in an abyss, unable to reorientate yourself. Barely aware that your mind is being pried at. Your memories are being sorted. If I still had my chip, it would have been worse.”

“Oh.” So those suits did have something in common. Were there any more people out there trapped in similar suits and plugged in somewhere?  

Before her thoughts could consume her once more, she heard familiar chatter growing closer.

“She and Mox should be down here already.” Hearing Bradford’s voice caused her emotions to ease for a moment before nervousness crept back into her lungs, knowing the doctors would be with him.

“Ah, Commander Reeves.” Dr. Tygan greeted her. Following closely behind him were Bradford, Dr. Marin, and Dr. Quinn. The latter two were carrying a few psionic detection devices. 

“Glad you all are finally here, so we can begin.” She put on a smile. How she wanted to get this quickly over before the negative thoughts crept back in.

“In a moment.” Tygan nodded. He walked past her and heaved over to his computer. It took a while before he had several files and scans of her pulled up before giving her his full attention once more. 

“Commander, I would like to apologize that I didn’t,” Tygan paused for a moment, “we didn’t, catch this sooner.”

“I’m not sure if we would have ever made the connection to the lack of cybernetic implant besides that chip we pulled out.” Quinn said as she and Marin set the devices on the examination table.

“Going over the data concerning your genetic makeup, the lack of significant change for so long is… concerning, to put it lightly.” Marin added. “Personally, I believe the Elders would have fully unleashed your psionic potential to aid Their Psionic Network.”

“Please,” Jynn let out a sigh, “don’t beat yourselves up. You all were struggling to keep me alive for weeks once you pulled me out of the suit and then the various incidents… We just haven’t had time to process everything that’s happened.”

They all agreed on that.

“Now, I hope this wasn’t too short a notice to investigate this issue. I know nearly all teams are still investigating that Blacksite vial, but research has slowed from what the latest reports tell?”

“Yes, that.” Tygan shook his head. “Research has slow. There’s a vast amount of data we continue to pull from the vial, but it is all too much for our current systems. Shen and her team are researching a possible solution.”

“I think I received the brief earlier, but they’re currently running some ideas for another room to build.”

“From what she has told me, yes.”

“I’ll that we get the space cleared and the room will be a priority build.“ She looked at Marin and Quinn. “Sorry, that may delay the finishing touches to the Psi Labs.”

“It’s fine. We’ve been able to start some testing with one of the chambers completed.” Marin nodded. “The first volunteer is Yuri as he’s been showing signs of psionic potential ever since he joined.”

“Back to the other room.” Quinn said trying to redirect the conversation. “It may also help us with investigating that chip.”

“Chip?” Jynn raised a brow, wondering if more secrets could be pulled from that chip that was once in her skull.

“The chip from the operation, Commander.” Bradford said.

“Oh, oh!” The failed extraction of Dr. Vox. Her eyes quickly found that alien chip on Tygan’s desk suspended in a similar containment field that housed her chip. She noticed there was another chip there. It looked similar to hers, but less complex and partially broken. It must have been the late doctor’s.

“It bears a striking design… similar to what ADVENT had my coworkers and I design all those years ago. But its origin is entirely alien. Metals foreign to our solar system and nothing matches what the aliens have brought to the Earth.” Tygan couldn’t help but look at it.

“Hm,” Jynn tapped at her lip, “is it possible that the Elders were having your team recreate.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t recall the Elders sharing such a design with us.” Tygan mumbled. 

“If so, the question would be why?” Quinn said. 

Jynn thought for another moment before a flood of information flowed through her mind. Her eyes glazed over, as her lids lowered until she had a more disconnected to near apathetic look.

 “The original knowledge and technology on how to make them had been lost.” She began speaking in a near-monotone voice. “It was a near-perfect design, but from what they recovered from the original creators, the Zudjari, but several tweaks were needed to work on humans and Their forces and Network. A singular grand design would be perfect, but each species is different and so fickly. The Elders do not have the time to tinker and tamper just yet.” She paused. “The arrogant fools.” She let out a dismissive sigh. “So They are forced to settle on lesser designs. A civilian model for those in fields that need to be closely monitored, influenced, and fed upon with a few more complex designs for more “trusted” individuals”, but eventually all of mankind would have a chip. One designed for their ADVENT forces with more complex designs for more important units, which allowed a higher degree of free will but still constrained by the Elders. And one designed for me that mimicked the origin chip as it thoroughly robbed and subverted me of my free will to serve Their whims.”

She continued to ramble on, covering the attempts at designing chips to go into their alien forces and the complications and mentions of attempting to replicate something called “Mosaic.”

Everyone just looked at her than each other.

“Where is all of this coming from?” Quinn cast a glance at Marin.

“I don’t know. She hasn’t had an episode like this, though she did mention something happened during that last operation.” Marin pulled out his tablet and searched through his notes.

“And why hasn’t she been tested for that?”

“We’ve been busy and still waiting for the Communications Team to replicate the information from that General to put it in front of her.” 

“Give me a second.” Bradford let the two doctors squabble as had made his way over to her. He waved his hand in front of her face a few times, but she was deeply engrossed in her thoughts.

“Please don’t slap me.” He mumbled. He placed his hands on her shoulders before giving her a hearty shake.

Jynn rambled on for a few more moments before her voice trailed off. She blinked for a few seconds before life returned to her face. “Huh? Wha—What?”

“Lost you there. You started rambling.” Bradford explained.

“Crap.” She buried her face in her hands. 

Taking a minute to recompose herself, she let off a sigh more dramatic than she wanted to be as she shook herself out of Bradford’s grip. 

“OKAY. Let’s get back on track. Forget about the chip. Back to the lack of connection ports and other bodily changes, modifications, etc.” Her eyes drifted back over to that accursed suit. She felt her skin bristle at the mere thought of having to move closer to it, but she needed to.

“Of course.” Tygan nodded as he headed over to where it was kept and opened the case. As he began to remove the helmet, he beckoned Marin and Quinn over to take the main body over to the tablet and open it up.

Jynn made her way over to Tygan, steering clear of the other two to avoid the suit. But once she made it over to him. She grimaced. A familiar psionic tingle tapped at her skull. Whispers were forming. Great. That little zone-out must have let Them get it. 

Before handing it over to her, Tygan removed the red visor, revealing the inside. The inner area was littered with potential areas for connection ports. She could only imagine the ports that handled data, biological functions, and what else the Elders needed to do to her.

With the visor removed, Tygan turned and offered it to her.

She nearly backed away, but with a hard swallow, she took it from her hands. Her grimace grew. That knocking and whispering were growing louder. She swore she could see faint purple wisps wicking off the helmet. And from Tygan’s raised brow, maybe he could see it too. 

No, he’s noticing my hesitation and grimacing. Barely a moment for those reassuring thoughts before those detection devices chimed in about increased psionic activity. So her eyes and mind weren’t deceiving her. Great. Hope they increased the shielding down here. She took in a deep breath before focusing on her thoughts. “Yeah, I can hear You all.” She hissed. The psionic wisps grew more vibrant. “Shut the hell up.”

Mox raised a brow at Jynn’s sudden cursing, but hearing the chimes from the detectors increase, he finally noticed the psionic energy wicking away from the helmet. That still puzzled him until his mind focused on that inflection of that “you.” “Is she? Is that?” Mox gawked before looking at Bradford. The man nodded. Pained, worried eyes said yes.

“Keep this between us.” Bradford said sharply.

“My lips are sealed.”

Jynn fiddled with the helmet some more, looking at it from every angle she could and feeling the inside. She even touched her face, trying to find the possible corresponding ports, but still nothing.

“Hrm.” She bit the inside of her cheek. There was one thing she could do, but she didn’t want to try. A gruff sigh slipped out. But she needed to do something and just not fiddle with the thing for an hour. “Let me try something.” 

Raising the helmet high and over her head, she slowly brought a piece of her prison back down on her face.

So far nothing was happening until the bottom half of the helmet went past her nose.

“Hm?” Tygan noticed a few points along her jawline, similar to Mox’s, quiver. As the helmet inched closer and closer to contact, the skin began to open up, nearly peeling back, revealing faint glints of something shiny underneath. Possibly metal.

“That is… intriguing.” He took notes. As that helmet inched down and down, he then noticed something was moving out of those hidden holds. A bundle of small tendrils.

 “Wait.” Thoughts nearly engrossing him, Tygan realized there were more pressing matters. “Commander! Wait!” Lurking forward, his hands flew to her face to stop her. He was too late.

As the bottom of the helmet fell into place, Jynn felt something click. Several things click all around her head. Then she felt that all too familiar and unpleasant surge of psionic energy course through her body as her head jerked back, gasping like something had grabbed her throat and was squeezing it. The world was spinning. The concerned voices of her compatriots were fading. The world went dark.

———————————

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” A soft, female voice echoed in her mind.

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” The voice repeated, almost beckoning her. It sounded familiar. But one she didn’t like.

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” The calling of her name continued

[Now you’ve done it. Wake up before They get us.] She felt another voice in her mind, but this was much deeper than the other. Like it came from within her. Almost sounded like her, but more distanced and methodical.

“What… the… hell…” Jynn struggled to force herself awake. Her mind felt heavy and numb. As she came to, she looked around her. It was a hazy darkness. The Lab was gone. “What the hell?”

“Commander Reeves. Jynn Gresham Reeves.” That beckoning voice called out once more.

“Oh, no.” This time she recognized it.

“Commander Reeves.” It beckoned her again. “Lost child.”

“Angelis…” She knew the name of this one. This Elder. Dammit, why now? So far she didn’t see Them, but she was hesitant to turn around.

[Our mind is compromised again. Still compromised. That’s why. However, this slapdash test would have most likely led to this outcome. We should have waited until those Psionic Labs were completed or our union with the Templars was established. The psionic security that would have brought.] She heard the deeper inner voice again, but its words were harsher.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She snapped. She needed some quiet. Some time to think.

“Reeves.” The sudden harshness in Angelis’ voice as the other Elders flowed through her made Jynn’s blood run cold. Before she knew it, the ghostly visage of Angelis and the others began to form in front of her.

“Reeves.” The calmness returned to Angelis’ voice and was accompanied by a chorus of other Elder voices. She was front and center. “Come back to Us.” The gilded robe shifted before the Elder produced a hand and extended it towards her. Reeves backed away. “All will be forgiven. Let this pointless madness end. Bring this world back in order.”

[Tch. A flawed order. Questionably and inefficiently run with so many escaped creatures, pathogens, and mutated non-native life You all let run free, no? But there are more pressing matters, no? Ones that need to be completed so you can flee to Your next conquest and let this world be consumed, no?] 

“No, no, no.” She barely noticed the inner voice’s criticism of the Elders. Feeling her chest tighten as her breath escaped her, it took a great deal of strength to move back and away from that hand. Where is that helmet? If I pull it off this should end? Yes, yes, yes. Her hands flew to her face in search of the helmet but only found skin. This couldn’t be real.

[Our physical body is out cold. This is all mental. Focus.] The inner voice spoke.

“Sh-shut up…. S-s-hut up. Sssshut up…” Jynn struggled to utter those words as she felt herself grow more lightheaded with each passing second.

“You serve a higher purpose. To lead Our armies against the One Who Will Consume All.” Angelis reached out to her again. This time, Jynn felt a strong pull on her mind and body before something tried to worm its way in. They wanted in. “Come back to us, to your rightful place, and you shall Ascend.”

The sensation, that violation, made something in her snap.

[Good. There you go.]

Eyes igniting with blue, that psionic energy surrounded her before Jynn suddenly thrust her hand out. A pressure-like wave of psionic energy erupted from her. “BACK OFF!”

The Elders hissed in pain as They backed off. But several muttered there was still the promise of the “Ascended One” within her.

“Such anger.” Angelis kept a calmness to voice. Barely disturbed by that “child” before her throwing a tantrum. “Why such anger? Please, stop your fruitless rebellion and return to us. We can return what has been lost to you.”

As Angelis said this, the psionic vapors around her swirled together before a shimmering projection coalesced together. In it were four people. Johanness, Mali, Charles, and her. She and her family. Everyone was alive, healthy, and looking happy… in some ADVENT city. And they had the gall to put her in a uniform that looked similar to what she wore back in the day but sporting the ADVENT colors and that golden insignia of the Elders those Chosen bore. Even in this ‘vision’ of Theirs’, she was forever a pawn mean to control the Earth.

Her eyes twitched.

[Oh. Careful now. Don’t snap. We know how They get.]

“Anger…?”

At first, Jynn was shocked to see the projection. How she longed to see the faces of her family alive again. But then something inside of her snapped again. She could feel her blood boil. Her eyes glowed brighter.

“You…”

[Don’t. Calm down.]

“You dare… You have the audacity….”  She bit at silent words, partially heeding that silent voice inside of her to carefully choose her next words.

[Calm down before you do something illogical!]

Her nostrils flared. Caution? She didn’t care. “You dare mock their… You have the audacity to mock MY memory, of my family!?”

She lashed out again, throwing forth another pressure wave followed by several darts of psionic energy. The projection scattered and fizzled out. The darts stung at the Elders. They hissed in pain before several stretched out their hands to form a shield.

“SHAMELESS BASTARD! You know exactly what You all have done! Done to the Earth. Done to me. So cut the bullshit and self-righteousness! You’re no grand saviors, you are liars! Hiding your true nature from all!”

[Death wish, huh? Though illogical, in this situation, I cannot blame us. This will not be pretty. Hopefully, the others get the helmet off in time. And shields boosted.]

She kept throwing as her rage burned on.

The chorus grew silent. Angelis retracted her arm back into her robe.

“So be it. We’ve tried your ‘human’ way.” As Angelis spoke, her voice mocking her former approach. Her voice began to shift into a harsher one. Her visage too began to change at the center of her helmet opened showing swirling yellow and purple energies. “You force Our hands. SUBMIT.” A torrent of psionic energy erupted from the helmet and quickly ensnared Jynn like a spider’s web. 

She let out a cry of pain, finding her psionics quickly subsumed as every part of her mind screamed in agony as the Elders forced Their way in.

“SUBMIT AND YOUR FRUITLESS RESISTANCE WILL NOT SUFFER LONG IN THIS WORLD. SUBMIT AND BE RECLAIMED. SUBMIT.”

With each passing second, more and more of that raw energy poured into Jynn. She could feel Them ripping into her mind. Looking for where she was. Weaknesses to this Resistance. Her mind felt like it was on the brink of collapsing. Until the surge of power suddenly stopped.

The Elders let out a collective hiss of pain.

“Wha—What?” Vision blurred, but slowly coming through, Jynn felt that web of psionic energy unraveling. As her vision continued to stabilize, she saw the Elders’ power flowing around the faint outlines of a psionic shield encompassing her and someone else. Between her and the Elders with a hand outstretched, was another ghostly visage of something more akin to a human. She couldn’t make out what they looked like, but seemed to be wearing some sort of armor.

“TEMPLAR!” The Elders hissed.

“Trying to force her back like this won’t work out for you all.” This Templar spoke with a male voice. “Really, it would do more damage. I swear I’ve heard through that psionic vine that one of your own warned you about that repeatedly, correct?” His voice held a teasing smugness. “But,” the man shook his head and shrugged, “you all didn’t learn a thing Dhay-Vol’s creation.”

[Huh. This is a highly unlikely variable. What are the chances? But a boon nonetheless.] That inner voice commented.

One of the Elders roared with anger as all increased Their power. “SILENCE! YOU LOWLY CREATURE!”

The Templar grunted as he brought forth his other hand. “Touched a nerve, didn’t I, Ga’rox?” He chuckled, which only got another angry bellow in response.

Jynn just watched, in awe at everything that was unfolding. Just who was this man? A Templar from what the Elders angrily bellowed. If this, then this Templar had power, but she could tell he couldn’t hold forever against this collective might of the Elders.

[This can’t hold forever. We need to leave.]

“Right.” For once, Jynn agreed with this inner voice. “Just how?” She looked around. It was just a black void filled that surrounded them and cutting her contact with the Elders was never simple. It always felt random.

“Give me a moment, and I will be that key you need.” The Templar said in between grunts. Slowly, he backtracked towards her as he kept his focus on maintaining the shield.

“How? And just who are you?”

“A friend.” He said. “And like this.” Once he was closer to her, freeing one hand, he raised it towards her face and tapped the center of her head. “Now, wake up. You still have work to do, Commander. We’ll be meeting soon.”

As soon as that finger touched her head, Jynn felt her mind suddenly go still before she let in a racked gasp. There was a sudden release of her own psionic energy radiated throughout her body, burning away every string, every touch of the Elders.

The Elders let out angered cries. It felt like a surge of swarming hands trying to cling onto the last vintages of those strings of web they clung to Jynn’s mind to keep her in that mad Void, but the work of that Templar and her energy shut Them out. The connection was severed. They were silenced.

———————————

The next thing Jynn heard were the voices of the others in the labs and their hands fussing all around her. Around that helmet that wouldn’t budge. She could feel the floor underneath her legs and someone holding her up.

I’m back! I’m back. How her heart could skip a beat out of sheer relief and joy. But that tightness in her chest returned as she felt tugging on her face. I’m back… I’m back… I can’t hear Them, but…. but... Shit! 

Her hands flew to her face, and she pulled on that helmet. There was the faintest of releases around her chin as it budged. With another firm grip and strained pull,  she barely felt the pain from those tendrils being torn out of those ports as the helmet finally came off. Without a second thought, she lugged the chucked thing across the room.  It hit the wall, putting a solid dent in it before crashing to the floor.

Her chest rose rapidly as she looked at that devil helmet, ignoring everyone’s questions of concern and prodding at her sore chin. Can’t do that again. Too risky. 

“We need to move.” Suddenly, her lips moved on their own. A part of her brain remembered those Elders had rifled through it. “We need to move. We need to move. We need to move.” She continued to repeat the phrase.

A tight grip on her shoulders and a firm shake made her stop. “Jynn! Snap out of it!” It was Bradford.

She stared at him blankly for a moment. Then that brow furrowed. Her lips twisted into a sneer and her eyes glowed a vibrant blue. “Idiot!” Raising her hand, and without a second thought, she struck his face. “Move the damn ship! They know where we are! The Elders dove into my mind!”

The room went silent.

Bradford was stunned. Both at her smacking her and what she just uttered. Part of his mind wanted to question it, but he could see the fear and anger in her eyes. That fear for everyone’s safety and anger at being violated again. He released his grip on her and quickly got to his feet.

“Yes, Commander.” His brain just flipped to “on duty” as those fingers were already moving to his earpiece. “Bridge, this is a code, Black. All personnel to their stations and get everyone and all essentials aboard in 15 minutes or less.” At the utterance of that code, the ship’s AI set off the klaxons and gave the warning to all aboard and outside the ship.

As he moved to leave the room, he paused and looked back at them. “Watch her.” He then left.

———————————

That code Black had thrown the Avenger into a frenzy. It was a mad dash to get nearly everyone and the essentials onboard, having to ditch some crates at their site, but they managed to get in the air just as those long-range scanners picked up a UFO gunning for their location.

The Avenger would spend the next few hours playing a dangerous game of hide and seek as UFO activity picked up across the region as they slowly made their way North to calmer skies.

During one of its supply runs, the Skyranger would eventually retrieve the personnel who were not on the ship and wished to return. The news of this latest incident only solidified for the more suspicious crew that something or someone on the Avenger was compromised and they rejected coming back until the problems were taken care of. Bradford was working triple-time to keep the cause of this incident under lock and key. He had enough on his hands and did not want a riot breaking out on the ship.

For the next few hours, Bradford kept his eyes on those scanners to keep track of UFO activity and any increases in ADVENT activity. As things were looking calmer, he had rescinded the code Black alert and shifted gears to planning optimal routes to pick up their stranded personnel and re-secure some supplies.

Once that was in a state he could comfortably hand off to a subordinate, Bradford made his way to the Infirmary. It was a fairly safe guess the Commander would be there after all that transpired and he knew the doctors would want to find out just what happened and these “hidden” ports, but Jynn wasn’t there. Nor were Dr. Marin and Dr. Quinn.

He then headed back to the main Lab. The trio of doctors was still there, going over all the information recovered for the incited and examining that Stasis Suit with a more scrutinizing eye. Gathering the flecks of blood and tendrils that remained inside of that helmet.

 But Jynn wasn’t there again.

“Where the hell is the Commander?” Bradford asked, voice tense. It felt like a vein was bulging on his head.

They didn’t know.

“She was in no mood for testing.” Dr. Marin said.

“And did not want to go to the Infirmary for the minor injuries.” Dr. Quinn added. She then explained it took Mox restraining Jynn so they could make sure there was no damage to her face, as there was some discolored blood seeping from those hidden ports that had nearly sealed themselves back up.

“I know Mox is with her. He suggested they leave and take a ‘cool down’ walk.” Dr. Tygan said. Finally, something useful.

Mox. Find Mox and he would find her. She should be in good hands. Bradford shook his head. Easier said than done, but he had a lead and left to search.

It was a solid two hours combing the ship and trying to keep things low-key as he heard the occasional disparaging comment about the “Commander’s slipping mental state” before the smart idea of sending out a memo to all staff to ask where the Commander and Mox were. How he wished he thought of that before he started.

It didn’t take long before he got a message from Shen. 

“The Shooting Range?” He questioned.  She still wasn’t fully cleared to be handling guns just yet. Why?

———————————

Bradford was down in the Workshop within seconds. He expected to hear those all too familiar sounds of gunfire. Instead, it was eerily silent. He visited Shen first. 

Before he could speak, Shen pulled him aside and down before speaking in a hushed whisper.

“Word of warning, she looked super pissed and kicked everyone out when she and Mox arrived.” She said. “I’ve heard very sporadic gunfire. I think they may be dissembling and reassembling the guns.” 

“Hm.” Bradford bit the inside of her cheek. He expected that, but was worried about how volatile Jynn was. Some mild relief washed over him, hearing the most likely activity that was going on. “Thanks, Lily and keep anyone from going down there.” He said before making his way down to the Range. 

“Wait.” Shen grabbed his shoulder.

He looked over his shoulder. “What is it?” 

“I’ve made some more progress on that signal and got word back from one of our contacts that did some scouting. It’s an old, old ADVENT factory somewhere between Russia and Mongolia. It’s completely off the grid and run down, but something’s still there. We’re looking to see if we can find any reports on this facility in ADVENT databases, but so far, nothing. I’ve sent some information over to Dr. Sighn as he partially recognized the designs of the old MEC models there.” She gestured to the tables where some of her workers were pulling them apart.

Bradford raised his brows. He wasn’t expecting progress on that so soon, but it dealt with Shen Sr. “Alright, alright. I’ll see if I can shift some more manpower over to that. Keep up the work, kid.” Before leaving, he tussled her hair, which got an annoyed “hey” before a hard slap greeted his bad shoulder. A small yelp slipped out as his back arched.

Taking just a few steps down the range, he heard those familiar sounds of a magazine box being ejected, pins and other metal pieces being pulled and laid out with a few thinking against each other, the receivers or stock being pulled, and more sounds. 

“››2 minutes. 45 seconds. Tch. Your hands are shaking. Focus. You’re slipping. Work faster.‹‹” Mox barked.

Bradford raised a brow as his mind was trying to translate what the Hybrid barked out. “Is he… scolding her?”

Just a few more steps down and he saw everything.

There were several weapons — old, new, and ADVENT(disabled) — laying or leaning on some nearby crates. Sitting at a table in the middle of the room was Jynn. Though her eyes were intently focused on tearing apart the ADVENT rifle in her hands, one could see the rage burning within her still-glowing blue eyes. Despite her forceful movements, as if she wanted to throw piece after piece at the wall, all the parts were meticulously laid out across the table.

Standing just to the side of her was Mox; arms crossed and intently watching her, nodding at her increased finger work as within a few seconds, the rifle was fully dissembled.

“››Mhm. 3 minutes. 15 seconds. Could be better.‹‹“ Mox moved from one side of the table to another, making note of all the parts and pieces. “››Your mind follows standard Kracsad instructions well.‹‹“ His throat trembled with a slight growl as he acknowledged how he and his people were made. So much tactical and combat data was imprinted on their minds. “››Records for a full field strip and reassembly are under 7 minutes, sans the usual maintenance. Now, put it back together.‹‹“

With barely a response, Jynn began to reassemble the weapon.

Bradford kept a brow raised as he walked over to them. He wanted to speak, to speak to Jynn, but could see and feel that anger radiating off of her. Faint blue psionic energy wafted around her. He was still wondering why it was blue compared to the usual purple. Just another thing for the scientist to figure out.

He looked at Mox. The man gave him a slight nod and raised his hand. He understood. Wait.

Just the sounds of parts sliding and clicking back together filled the room until finally, the magazine slotted in. The weapon was “primed.”

“››Hands off.‹‹” Mox said. As soon as the gun touched the table, he picked it up. Giving it a look over, he shifted it from one hand to the next before instantly shifting into a firing stance. He tested everything he could on the disabled weapon before lowering it.

“››5 minutes and 55 seconds. Good.‹‹“ He walked back over to a crate with other ADVENT weaponry and placed it in there. “Which weapon would you like next?” He finally switched back to English.

“Commander. Jynn.” Bradford felt like now was better than never to interrupt. He moved closer. He got a better look at her face, specifically her jawline caught his attention. There was still some blood seeping out of those hidden ports. A little orange in that red and something else that gave it an odd shimmer. “How are yo—”

“One of the Mag pistols again.” Jynn just ignored him. “I was sloppy with the wiring and want to work on that.”

“As you wish.” Mox went to go fetch one of them. As he passed Bradford, his neck tightened, his lips pulled back into a grimace as he glanced at the floor. Moving his hand to his throat and keeping it horizontal, he made a quick “maybe not a good time” gesture.

Bradford let out an annoyed huff. One more try could hurt. “Jynn, come on t—”

“And get one of the Mag rifles too! Need to kill two birds with one stone.” Again, she ignored him. “Don’t forget those schematics!”

“Hm.” Bradford’s brows knit together. Looked like he would have to play the long game.

A minute or two later, Mox came back with the weapons and schematics requested and placed them before her.

“Would you like me to time you?” He asked.

“No. This is more of a memorizing exercise to get this wiring right.”  She said as she grabbed the pistol and began to take it apart.

With that, Mox turned and gestured to Bradford to go over to one of the shooting range stations before moving there himself. Once Bradford was there, Mox looked at Jynn once more before looking at him.

“How is she?” Bradford broke the silence first.

“Upset.” Mox stated plainly. Reeves has told me very litt—.” He paused before glancing over his shoulder to look at her. A few seconds of silence passed before he nodded. “She has told me very little, but she has permitted for me to share that, yes, the Elders did contact her.”

For a moment, Bradford wondered why he paused before it became painfully obvious. What he heard next made him exhale sharply through his nose. He could recall her visceral reaction of ripping off that helmet, uttering they needed to leave, slapping him when he snapped her out of it, and explaining her freakout.

“How long have you two been here?” Bradford asked next.

“A few hours. It was my suggestion after a ‘cool down’ walk. If we stayed in that Lab for a picosecond longer, I feared she would have attacked the scientists.” Mox said. Faintly, his left brow twitched. 

“Let me guess, they wanted to run tests on ‘that’?” He tapped at his own jawline, marking where those ports were.

“Surprisingly, no after they treated the damage. But their chatter about the increased psionic activity resonating from the Stasis Suit, eventual testing on the ‘hidden’ ports, and something about some crystals resonating with all the activity was getting to her.” 

Bradford digested the news. He could only imagine the increased agitation that scientific chatter was causing her. Removing her from that situation was wise. “Thank you, Mox.”

“My pleasure. Doing this,” he gestured to Jynn and the surrounding weapons, “is a common way some of us Skirmishers like to destress. In-between a ‘forced habit’ and there is something comforting knowing every inch of your weapon intimately.” The “forced habit” was said with air quotes and heavy sarcasm which got a snort out of Bradford. Programmed habit.

“Glad to see it’s working for her.” Bradford chuckled. “Has she eaten? Have you eaten?”

Mox shook his head. “The thought of food has not crossed my mind as you know us Hybrids can go a little longer without it.”

“Right, right.” He nodded. “But not her. Don’t need her slipping into old habits. I’ll be back with some grub and drinks.” He started to leave.

“Non-alcoholic.” Mox insisted.

Bradford waved him off. “I know. Wasn’t even thinking of that kind.”

It took about 20 minutes before Bradford was back with refreshments. Jynn was now in the middle of working on the Mag Rifle and was still ignoring him hard,  but just pointed to a clear spot on the table to put the food. Mox on the other hand, gladly took a sandwich and some water.

Bradford wasn’t going to leave until he got a verbal response from her, so he made himself busy talking with Mox while the man occasionally checked the Commander’s work by test-firing the reassembled guns and fetching her another.

It was time to pick his brain and refresh his mind on how ADVENT and the Freed Hybrids thought. 

Their discussions shifted from ADVENT weaponry care and Skirmisher clan life. Bradford was more interested in the weaponry care as he rarely ever saw a dismantled rifle out in the field, but Mox explained it was a “safety redundancy” for teams that would be out in the fields for weeks to months at the time where there could be no chance to restock via Dropship or ADVENT outpost. Yes, faulty hardware would be quickly replaced, but it was good to know how to perform diagnostic checks and quick repairs on the field.

The talks lasted for another few hours before Mox excused himself to go relieve himself. With Mox gone for some time, Bradford found himself a chair and planted himself near, but not too close, Jynn.

Keeping his mouth firmly shut, as that rage had died down, he could sense a faint tenseness to the air that a mere spark would make it explode again. And those psionics were still visible. Fainter now, but visible. He watched her take apart one of the older guns, an AK-47. Something the crew kept around partially out of nostalgia as it was near useless against ADVENT armor compared to their old conventional weapons and no magnetic weaponry.

A few more parts snapped into place, the rifle hit the table with a hard thud as she let out an annoyed huff.

Closing her eyes tightly, those lips curled on themselves as she took in a sharp breath before letting out another strained yet annoyed huff. Her eyes opened once more, she looked at him.

“You can be a really stubborn bastard, you know that?” Irritation laced her words.

Bradford raised a brow. What a way to start a conversation. ”We have that in common. Most days.”

Her brows twitched, those fingers tightened around the frame of the rifle as her eyes glowed brighter and brighter as that blue psionic energy grew more vibrant around her, whipping around like a roaring fire. 

Bradford shifted in his seat. One foot ready to take off.

Those eyes grew brighter and brighter before she snapped them shut. Her fingers released that death grip on the rifle. Her shoulders fell. Raising her hands to her face, a muffled scream came out for a solid minute. The energy slowed down to a mere flickering flame before fully dissipating. She took in several strained breaths to temper herself before finally uncovering her face.

“Sorry… I… I don’t want to talk about it right now… or for a while… or… ever.” Though irritation was still prevalent in her voice, she seemed calmer.

Bradford settled back down in his seat, but one foot was still turned. Her eyes were still blue.

“Jynn. It’s ok—”

“But I really pissed off the Elders.” Seemed like she wanted to talk.

“How so?” He wouldn’t let the opportunity slip.

Jynn bit at her bottom lip, drawing some blood, as her eyes darted all around the room. What to tell him? Some details she didn’t want to mention right now. “Called out Their trickery and peace bullshit if I return to Them, for starters. And lashed back with my psionics. They really didn’t like that. They ensnared me with Their psionics and riffled through my brain like it was an open book. They want me back, badly.”

Bradford felt a tightness in his neck. “But you broke free before They stole too much info.”

Flinching, as she bit down on her lip far too hard, she licked the area a few times before letting out nervous laughter. “Heh, heh, heh. No.”

That tightness in his throat grew. “No?” Just how much of their information was compromised?

She nervously laughed again. This time she drummed her fingers on the table. “Somehow, someone else helped me break free from Their grasp.” She explained.

He gave her a puzzled look. “What?”

“A Templar… I think that’s what the Elders sneered when he showed up. And then there was someone else. Or something…”

“Templar?” He questioned. That sounded far-fetched but they were still learning about that mysterious faction and their ticks. “Something else?”

“That’s what They growled.” She explained the ghost-like psionic projection that appeared in between her and the Elders, breaking her out of Their ensuring grip. “And the other thing…” She paused. Should she even say it, she wasn’t sure if, during that whole ordeal, she just wasn’t going mad. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there was this other voice, like mine, trying to get me to keep my head on straight. Didn’t heed it too much after what the Elders pulled…” Her voice slipped away not wanting to think of that projection.

Bradford’s eyes narrowed as he listened. He wished she had given more details about the armor, but understood the pain and chaos would have had her ignoring those details. But perhaps showing an image of Templar armor could help her memory. And then the other thing made him raise a brow.

“Maybe you’re subconscious?” He suggested.

“Maybe?” She shook her head. “It felt too aware to be that. I’ll… bring it up with Marin and the others.” She sunk back down in her chair as a sigh slipped out. She wasn’t looking forward to all the testing that would be happening soon. Her hand went to her face and pushed at one of those hidden ports. She winced. There was something there now, a faint bump under the skin that was tender.

“Hm.” He had no more suggestions. Noticing her poking at her face, he nudged that tray of food over to her. “Stop poking and tear into this..”

She hadn’t noticed she was biting again and shyly smiled. She picked up the sandwich and took small bites.

As she was halfway through her meal, Mox had finally come back. She thanked him for his company and for helping her stay as calm as possible before saying he was dismissed. He nodded and made an offer if she needed him again for something like this, not to hesitate to ask. He left.

Jynn finished the rest of her meal in silence before asking him what the time was.

23:12.

She wisely decided it was time to turn in for the day. She needed to restore her energy before she could worry about the incoming mountain of maddening tests and questions she would have to endure for the next few days if not weeks.

With Bradford’s help, they cleaned up the Shooting Range before leaving. Just as they were about to reach the stairs, and before he knew it, Bradford found firm arms wrapping around his chest.

“I’m so sorry.” Jynn’s voice wavered for a moment.

“Sorry for what?” He asked. “Ignoring me? It—”

“For slapping you. Yelling at you. Especially the slapping part…”

It took a moment, but it clicked. “Jynn, it’s oka—.”

“Hush. Just accept the dang nab hug, you git.”

 A snort slipped out. He wisely shut up and just let that hug last for as long as she wanted.

Once he was free, they continued their walk to her Quarters.

———————————

Back in her Quarters, Jynn decided to take a shower before hitting the bed. Knowing Bradford was going to make sure she went to sleep, she gave him orders to prepare her schedule for tomorrow and to add some questions she would have for their future discussions with the Templars. She wasn’t going to forget about that highly unlikely chance meeting in that mindscape.

As she gathered what she needed before going to her bathroom, she found one of Bradford’s clothing stashes and snatched a shirt.

He called her out, asking what she was doing and if she was the reason some of his shirts had gone missing again. She told him she found his shirts to be comfy, even if they engulfed her still thin frame, and liked the smell. Something about the smell helped comfort her stressed mind. He only responded with a raised brow before turning quickly turning his attention back to what he was working on to hide a blushing face.

With clothes in hand, she headed to the showers. It didn’t take her more than 10 minutes to shower and come back out in more relaxed wear. She went over to where Bradford was. He was diligently typing away. She noticed he hadn’t changed yet, but figured he wanted to do his nightly rounds once she was asleep. 

“How’s it looking?” She asked.

“Good.” He nodded. “Nearly done. Had to stop and deal with some info from our contacts. Reports on the areas compromised, which ADVENT most likely pulled from Laney, but no casualties.” He shook his head. Hopefully, they could find her before more info was pulled or she was killed. “And some more leads.”

“Hm, expected, but good. Any updates about the signal from Lily?”

“Yes, traced the signal back to an old abandoned ADVENT factory somewhere between Russia and Mongolia.”

“Hm, so we’ll be heading there once we’re done in North America.” She mumbled. “Put in a request with Volk to see if his crew can do some scouting, since that’s close to his neck of the woods. I would include Fayruz, but with the Silent Striders’ numbers thinned, I know she doesn’t want more attention from ADVENT right now.”

“Already done.”

“And schedule a meeting sometime soon with the Senior Staff before meeting with the Templars. Need to discuss,” she paused as a sigh slipped out, “what happened today and more things about my questionable health and what the hell the Elders did to me.” It was a discussion she didn’t want to have but knew leaving the crew in the dark would be a bad idea. At least most of the Senior Staff understood what she was going through. Just a handful were more judgmental since they didn’t have the same rapport with her as the others. “Maybe in a day or two?”

He nodded. “You want to do that so soon?”

“Better get it done now than never tell.” She said. “And everyone’s been keeping their lips shut on the more concerning info about me. They deserve to know, especially if the Elders sink their psionic talons back into my mind and control me.”

“Jynn…” He shook his head. Not something he wanted to imagine.

“It’s a risk. You and those who know aren’t always around to notice and snap me out of it. More of the upper staff knowing would help. Better them than a massive slip-up happening and the whole crew finding out.”

“Right… You have a point…” He didn’t want to admit it but she was right. “Former ADVENT staff, especially the soldiers and experiments have a hard enough time… If they found out what the Elders used you for…”

“There would be a mutiny.”

His typing came to a halt as grumbling came out. “It took forever to get Alberich and his gaggle of loons to stop trying to poison Maurice and some others… and that picked back when Mox joined. And to think we’ll be adding some more Hybrids to the crew soon… The trouble they could cause.”

She wrinkled her nose at the mention of the name. “Exactly. ”

“I’ll get on it.” He got started drafting the message. “And that reminds me some talks need to be had with those troublemakers. For the ones that come back to the ship.”

Jynn rolled her as she sucked air through her teeth and made a few annoyed clicks. In a way, she didn’t mind if that group was shifted to the role of bolstering Havens and Cells across the globe, but knew they would be too much of a liability. She could see them having loose lips to get the formerly ADVENT affiliated killed if they could get away with it.

Jynn lingered over his shoulder a little longer, giving her input here and there, until Bradford finished and ushered her to bed.

As she got settled, he pulled a chair next to her bed and sat down.

“Tomorrow’s going to be so busy.” She grumbled as she fluffed, more or so, punched her pillows. She paused for a moment, and looked at it, before grabbing it and pushing it against her face. 

She screamed and cursed for a few minutes. Bradford did his best to not make a single snicker.

Once the screaming stopped, she dropped the pillow from her hands and let out a more relaxed sigh.

“Feeling better?” He asked. The corners of his mouth were twitching. “Your eyes are nearly brown again.” Looked like the last traces of her psionic energy were cooling down.

“Somewhat.” She shrugged. “Gosh darn, I want to shoot something, but this will do.”

“Hopefully, in a few weeks, you’ll be cleared to handle small arms on the Shooting Range. I’ll set up all the Elder targets you want.” He grinned.

A faint smile appeared on her face. That sounded good. “Hold you to that.”

It took her some more time to get settled before she was finally lying down, but found herself tossing and turning for minutes. Her mind just wouldn’t turn off. In a way, she was terrified of falling asleep. Would there be nightmares? What if those Elders dragged her off to the hellscape again?

Flipping over again, she looked at Bradford. He was still there, one leg crossed over the knee of the other as he was looking at his tablet. 

“John…” She called out to him. There was a waver to her voice.

“Yes?” Hearing the shifting of sheets, glanced up from his tablet. He saw she was sitting up again and beckoning for him to come over. Getting up, he turned his tablet off and tossed it in the chair before going over to her. Just as he was within arm’s reach, she lurked forward; with a firm grip on his arm, she pulled him down and wrapped herself around him.

“Jynn!” He wasn’t expecting the sudden grab and the equivalent of a Viper coiling around him. He struggled to break from her grip until he heard sniffling and felt his chest grow wet. Crap.

“Sorry… I… I.” Her grip on him only tightened. “I really need this. I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to sleep.” Her voice broke down into crying whispers. “I don’t want to sleep.”

He stopped struggling. Instead, he did his best to slip his arms from her grip to better embrace her. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I won’t leave.” That explained everything.

It didn’t take long before she completely broke down and just cried into his chest and occasionally made mention of the Elders potentially bothering her again and pulling Their twisted tricks. She let slip out about what They did in that brief meeting. The promise of returning her family. It made his blood boil. He just held her tight and did what he could to keep her calm.

Even once she calmed down, tiring herself out from all the crying, her sleep was restless. She constantly tossed and turned, occasionally waking up with a startled yell before passing out again just as quickly. It took a lot of reassuring words and squeezes from Bradford before she had some semblance of rest.

Bradford felt like he could finally breathe a sigh of relief when she had a solid two hours of no movement. 

He took a risk getting his tablet. It took some delicate finagling, removing her lobster grip on his arm, but he was able to get up and fetch his tablet. With it in hand, he sent out some messages to the Senior Staff about his delays for the morning as his whole schedule was going to be thrown off, making sure Jynn got some decent sleep. And then he needed to sleep. Once the messages were all sent, he checked up on some information about whatever was going on around the ship. Everything was looking good.

As he was double-checking the internal network for any more updates, he was thinking about finally getting up to go take a shower himself. As he scrolled through updates and messages, those lids grew heavy. He barely had a chance to fight the growing tiredness before the tablet slipped from his fingers. It all hit him at once and he was out like a light. The day’s excitement had finally slammed into him. And the Commander’s bed was comfy.

They had a limited time window to infiltrate and extract Mox during a shift change and before another convoy arrived. There was a faint chance that he would be moved again once it arrived.

Looking at the coordinates, the prison facility was just on the edge of the Assassin’s territory bordering the Hunter’s. Not great. The latter rarely cared for the borders of his siblings if it meant the hunt would be interesting. So there was a risk either or both could show up if a single alarm was raised.

It took around an hour to assemble the squad that would be up for the task. To Bradford’s surprise, Elena found him and in a way politely demanded to be put on the team. Not exactly having time to ask questions, he let her join. He had a feeling she wasn’t sneaking on just to put a bullet in Mox’s brain. Too risky.

Before she left, he asked if she knew the name Marrow. The name sounded familiar but couldn’t recall crossing paths with Reaper, especially if they were one of the “wayward ones”. She liked to keep her distance but trusted whoever this Marrow was would be a boon to their infiltration.

Once the team was assembled, the Skyranger was blazed out in the dead of night. It would be a few hours before Gargoyle and the squad arrived at the coordinates. 

—————

The ADVENT Prison Facility. All roads leading to it were light for the early morning hours. It was still twilight.

The main courtyard of the facility was nearly bare. Only a few cars and prison vans populated it, as well as some patrols.

“Patrols are looking light, just like the reports said.” Iris said as he peered through his binoculars and double-checked his tablet. “Wish we were a little closer so I could sample their system to pre-prepare my cracking tools for those cells. That will take the longest.”

The squad had arrived at the second set of coordinates. A hill not too far from the prison. It had some decent tree cover which would keep them obscured from any air patrols. So far, the Reaper wasn’t there.

“Outrider.” Sol called to her as she was double-checking her medical supplies. “When’s that Reaper supposed to arrive?”

She was sitting, scope trained on the prison. She was counting the patrols, memorizing their routes. Especially those MECs. “He’ll be here soon. A Reaper is never late.”

“‘A Reaper is never late’.” Count repeated in a mocking tone as she fiddled with her revolver and its armor. “Are you guys always so pompous? 2… 3… 4… 5…”

Outrider didn’t even acknowledge her.

“The Reaper will be there. Just be patient.” Central spoke over the comms. On his side, he was monitoring all motion trackers though it would be near useless against a Reaper’s stealth. 

A few minutes passed. 

There was a rustle from the leaves above before a branch cracked and something hit the ground with a firm thud. All turned with this weapon raised before quickly lowering them.

“You all arrived right on time.” A muffled male voice spoke. “The name’s Marrow.”

The tree-dropping surprise was a Reaper. Had to be the Reaper as he had a uniquely dark red cloak. And at a glance, one could see why Volk had some disdain for them. Alien tech was evident on their gear. His mask bore some resemblance to a Stun Lancers helmet, though fully encased with additional filters attached to the side. And his sniper rifle was wholly magnetic though the blend looked to blend between ADVENT and Alien tech.

“You guys love making your entrances.” Count commented.

“For the love of… Volk.” Outrider suddenly hissed under her breath before cursing her leader. Abruptly, she got up before heading over to them. “You’re one of his men.” She jabbed at his chest.

“Well ‘ello to you too, Elena.” He pulled away from the jabs, but his voice sounded unfazed.

“That’s Outrider to you and he can choke on it.”

That made everyone curious.

“The hell is you two’s problem?’ Blackout asked just what everyone wanted to know.

“Outrider, cool it!” Central was already getting ticked by the sudden bad blood. “Iris, patch him in.”

Outrider huffed. “Fine. We do fight for the same cause.”

“Exactly. And I won’t bother you.” Marrow said.

Once, Marrow was patched into their comm-link, he gave them details on everything he was able to discover from his scouting. Including a sample of the security network for the prison cells that made Iris all too happy to get Daedalus to prepare the cracking keys.

“We maybe have an hour or less before security picks back up. But this job should be in and out. 30 or less.” Marrow said after showing the layout of the facility.  

“Everyone got that?” Central asked. “He’ll be taking point.”

“Affirmative.” All responded.

“Let’s get to business, then.” Marrow tapped his helmet a few times before double-checking his riffle. “Follow close and avoid taking any out. We don’t want any alarms raised.”

—————

The squad swept down and to the prison, using the rising sun to their ADVENT to get past the guard towers.

Once inside, they carefully navigated the main courtyard and past a side building to avoid the patrols. Marrow and Iris used their combined hacking skills to set off innocuous sounds or alerts to redirect the positions of the more infuriatingly stationed guards so they could slip past them.

In about 10 minutes, they were inside the main building, and within a few more minutes, they were in the holding area.

They quickly spread out to check out who was in what cell. Most were empty. A few continued some unlucky people — civilian, refuge, etc.— who had to be quickly hushed. With their crunched time limit, they were sure they could rescue all of them but recorded what data they could. 

But one contained someone in a stasis suit that looked fair to similar to the one the Commander was found in.

“Who the hell is that?” Blackout asked as she peered as far as that hardlight security door would let her.

Iris was over there in a heartbeat checking the door’s terminal for details.

“That’s most likely our target.” Marrow said as he came over. “Special prisoners get that suit.” He hissed.

“Yeah, it’s him.” Iris confirmed. Has all of Mox’s information. Creation date and designation details. Desertion date. Capture date.” He rattled off the information. He was already firing up his hacking tool.

“Let me assist. Sometimes the security on these doors can be finicky.” Marrow lent a hand.

It was taking some time, but the hacking was going well.

Then several loud bangs echoed from the distance. At least four ADVENT guards cried out in pain. A car exploded. And then there was another smaller explosion that rocked the building, causing the lights to go out for just a moment. Gunshots.

The alarms to the Prison went off as soon as those lights came back on.

“What the hell was that?” Just about everyone asked.

“Some other resistance group trying to spring someone?” Count rushed over to the door leading back to the main hall to see if anyone was coming. 

“Stay sharp Menace, ADVENT is on high alert now and is scrambling for that source. dropships will be inbound before you know it.” Central said. “We’re scanning the surrounding area for the source. Not seeing anyone in the surrounding are—”

“Hello, XCOM.” An all too familiar deep voice graced their ears. “Mind if I ruin the reunion?”

“Kon-Ris.” Outrider hissed. 

It took a moment for their scanners to find him. He was where the squad had initially arrived. That same hill. He was now moving towards their location.

“Dammit.” Marrow cursed under his breath.

“Tipped him off when doing your scouting?” Outrider couldn’t help but throw a jab. 

“Really? There was always the risk he or any of them would show!” He snapped back. “Fuck it.” Refocusing his attention, he brought out a small pronged alien device before ramming it into the terminal. A second later, the terminal, as well as the other ones, screen malfunctioned before every hardlight door shut off. The other prisoners leaped at the chance to escape.

“That’s… useful.” Outrider said. She was impressed despite how alien the device looked.

“Someone get Mox. Sending the coordinates to your new LZ. You have 10 minutes and counting.” Central said. “And get those civvies to follow orders.

Sol pushed her way past Marrow and Iris to get into the cell. With a quick once over, even popping the helmet off for a split second to ID him, she picked him up. 

With him secured, and most of the civilians wrangled, they made their leave. Except two of them didn’t care to listen and made a break for it on their own. Forcing their way past Count, and somehow getting past the Guards entering the building, who were now fully focused on XCOM seeing where the two prisoners came from, they didn’t make it far.

Two more gunshots rang out. Two faint thuds could be heard.

“Soft targets. No fun.” Kon-Ris remarked. “But they mean a great deal to you, don’t they, XCOM. Commander Gresham?”

“Ignore him and find a way out.” Central said. 

The squad was pinned in the holding area. More Guards were pouring through the main entrance.

“Our exit’s blocked!” Count said as she and Blackout were trading firing with the Guards. “2… 1… Cover me! Reloading!”

“Not for long.” Outrider pulled out Claymore. Her eyes looked for just the right place in that horde of enemies to throw it.

“I see we’re on the same wavelength.” Marrow too had pulled out a satchel. But he was moving towards the back of the holding area. “I suggest everyone stay back about, hm, one cell length.”  He said as he went to a cell adjacent to the back wall and planted it.

As he exited it, Outrider threw the claymore in the middle of the swarm barreling down the hall. As soon as she landed and had it in her sights she pulled the trigger. 

The explosion rocked the building and collapsed the hallway.

As that happened, Marrow set off his satchel, taking out a chunk of the back wall.

“We need to move, now!” Marrow was on the move.

“Iris, throw this smoke!” Sol quickly tossed the grenade to him, doing her best not to drop.

He caught it, pulled the pin, and threw it just ahead of Marrow. As soon as it popped, the rest of them followed the Reaper.

“Oh, that’s clever.” Kon-Ris commented watching the carnage. “Real clever. I like that.” Then he noticed the white smoke clouds billowing through at the grey smoke. He was already changing the vision of his scope. With a few adjustments, that smoke was nothing to him. “But that’s not enough.”

It was a mad dash avoiding gunfire from both ADVENT and the Hunter and the missile spray from any MECs as they used what few buildings they had as cover as they headed for the LZ was more open than they would have liked. Iris quickly went to work to subvert any MEC he could to take the heat off even if the Hunter cratered its chest moments later.  Outrider used a few more of her Claymores to keep their backs mostly cleared of followers. 

In the chaos, most likely breaking from fear, they lost two more prisoners from arrant gunfire. 

“Shit!” Blackout yelled as a burning pain erupted through her right calf. Shotgun clattering to the ground, her body followed, crashing into the pavement. “No, no, no.” Blindly throwing her hands forward, her fingers dug into the pavement, tearing the tips of her gloves, as she barely pulled herself into cover just as another shot rang out and a small crater formed where her head once was. 

“Nearly nailed ya. But the leg will do, for now.” Kon-Ris darkly chuckled. “Thought you Rangers were supposed to be speedy type? As slow as paranoid Secto—.”

A hail of bullets shut him up.

“Put a sock in it.” Outrider was the culprit.

“Elena.~” He said her name in a singsong voice. “Wondered when you would give me some attention. Your really risking your neck for this forming Captain? Has, as you humans say, ‘hell frozen over?’”

Iris was by Blackout sides within seconds. “How you doing? I may not have Sol’s touch but spray does the work.”

“It’s a through and through. Just get me back up.” Blackout hissed.

In a minute, he got her patched up and moving again.

“Menace, your time’s nearly up. dropships are nearly there and there’s a convoy heading your way.” Central updated them. “Gargoyle’s at the LZ.”

Seeing the Skyranger arrive made them double their haste the best they could. Marrow used a claymore in-combination of one of the fuel storage tanks near the last set of barricades they were passing to give them a wide berth. As soon as the last person was way from it, he set it off. The ensuing explosions destroyed that corner of the facility and forced ADVENT to back off.

One of the prisoners let out a cry of pain as they tumbled over that last barricade.

“Shit.” Count cursed. She quickly doubled back and worked to get them back to their feet, but one of their legs was injured. “Come on, come on. We’re nearly— FUCK!”

Another gunshot. This one was accompanied by the sickening sounds of bone cracking and flesh splattering. Blood covered Count’s face.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” She dropped the dead prisoner and ran.

“Oops. Missed.” The Hunter quipped. “That was supposed to be for the one that likes counting her bullets. Tsk, tsk, humans are so clumsy aren’t the— Shit!”

A hail of bullet fire shut him up.

“Silence, Skinner.” Marrow sneered. He was at the LZ, gun trained on the building the Hunter was once perched on. He watched the tall bastard, slink off the roof and behind one of the armored escort vehicles.

“Ah!” Kon-Ris hissed, pressing his hand against his lower stomach. As he pulled back, he noticed orange blood. “You actually hit me…” A grimace turned into a grin. “Maybe you Reapers can shoot after all. Unless that alien tech is assisting you, Marrow? You’re one of his men aren’t you?”

With time bought, the rest of the squad made it to the LZ.

Sol with Mox was the first to hook and ascend, followed by a still frazzled Count who shoved the prisoner Blackout was helping out of the way. Once she was up, Blackout and Iris helped the surviving two prisoners aboard.

“He seems to know you.” Outrider said as she was hooking herself in. For once, there was no judgment in her voice.

“You know the bastard, he knows everyone that causes enough trouble for the Elders.” Marrow said.

Hooked in, the two ascended. Just as they reached that ramp and were stepping aboard. Marrow went down. He let out a cry of pain as a shot pierced his leg. And before anyone knew, it another shot severed his cable, causing him to plummet.

“Bingo.” The Hunter grinned.

“No!” Time felt like it slowed down for Outrider. Not again! In vain, she reached out, fingers grasping at the sleeve of his coat, but his arm slipped right through her grasp. 

Marrow bounced off the ground, body flipping once, before rolling to a halt. “Hells…” He groaned. He was still conscious.  

“Someone cover me!” Outrider was already working to reverse the mechanism so she could repel.

“Menace, you’re out of time! Reinforcements have arrived!” Central yelled. “Gargoyle, get moving!”

“On it.” Gargoyle acknowledged. 

“No!” Outrider yelled. “We can’t leave him!”

“Leave me!” Marrow yelled. “He’s coming. There’s no time.” He could hear that distinctive metallic zing of the Hunter’s grappling hook, followed by that ping of a teleport. “I knew the risks. You’ve got your man. Go!”

Another psionic ping and the Hunter was mere feet away from Marrow. He looked up and waved.

Outrider let out a howl of anger as she drew her Vektor rifle and fired at the Hunter as the Skyranger pulled out. Someone had to pull her in as they closed the ramp.

“Tck, if she wasn’t so icy towards you earlier, I would have thought you two were lovers with that roar of anger.” Kon-Ris said as he finally made it to Marrow. “You humans and emotions are just fascinating. Especially her. I see why the Elders despise the human condition so much.”

“Go to hell.” Marrow spat. 

Placing a foot on the leg he shot, Kon-Ris gradually applied pressure causing Marrow to squirm until he began to yell.

 “I'd be lying if I said I didn't like your style. Marrow? Was it?” He grinned knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. “The Elders want me to kill you right now, but I want to pick that brain of yours. Maybe your capture will get the attention of that bone-wearing freak boss of yours. Wouldn’t that be a fair compromise, my Masters?” He gestured to Marrow as he looked up at the sky like They were there. “And I’m just dying to face him again. How’s his legs?” 

“Pi’ker’tut!”Marrow cursed.

Kon-Ris dramatically gasped as he clutched his chest. “Oooh, a Mamba clan curse? Fraternizing with the local Skirmsher clan, are we?”

Just as he was kneeling to pick up his prize, he paused. His eyes darted around as a familiar wave of energy radiated in his skull. The next second a psionic screech ripped through the area as a pillar of that immense energy crashed down mere feet from him.

As it dissipated, he saw all too familiar form rising to their feet. And a sword was being drawn.

“Brother.” Jax-Rai said with a low growl. “My men.”

“Hey, sis.” He just grinned. “What took you so long?”

—————

The Skyranger’s flight back was mostly uneventful, minus dodging an ADVENT Intercepter or two.

Outrider was still boiling with rage. Count questioned why she even cared about him with how sour she was as soon as she laid eyes on Marrow.

Outrider tersely explained despite their differences in technology philosophy. He was Reaper through and through. And then it was Kon-Ris who did the deed, twisting that sadistic knife of his once more when victory was assured. She wanted that Chosen dead more than anyone.

Nearly home, they did get one surprise. A broadcast from the Assassin.

“XCOM. You finally deciphered my patterned movement of that loathsome traitor. I congratulate you.” She sent. “Your show of loyalty will be your downfall, but I cannot fault you for mounting a rescue for an ally in need. It would dishonor us both to deny your success.” 

Once back at the Avenger and landed, the medical team was already there to whisk Mox off to the Infirmary to pry him out of the suit and see what his current condition was as well as check on the surviving prisoners. As soon as they were cleared, Central wanted to know why they were there so he could figure out how to best handle their relocations.

The squad eventually debriefed. Central had a little heart-to-yelling talk with Outrider. He had several questions for her he quickly realized would only be answered with his next walk with Volk. Hopefully, the loss of Marrow wouldn’t sour the man’s mood.

Yet, with Mox saved and a few prisoners liberated, Central saw the whole operation as a success. There was good news to deliver to Betos and the Commander.