TheDarkPlumber's XCOM Squad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Given our recent successes, we’ve become the go-to for any major alien activity.  The U.K. has seen a recent takeover in a minor city.  Their military (or what’s left of it) has done a decent job of checking the forces but they’ve deeply entrenched themselves in a large building complex.  We’ve been called in to “bust their bunker.”

  Chozo starts things off by approaching a car parked curbside outside the restaurant.  As he peers over the hood, he immediately sees three thin men in the dining area.  One rushes out a side exit into the alley somewhere, one busts through a door behind the counter into deeper, unknown parts of the building, and the last gets behind a table for some light cover.  “Shit, the building’s full of them.”  Knowing there was no place for subtlety, Chozo fired a heavy laser shot through the glass double doors, blowing them to tiny shards.  The Thin Man on the receiving end fared no better.

  Dany moved around to the alley, but couldn’t see him.  “Must’ve went deeper into the alley.  I’ll hang tight for you guys.”  Artemis moved to the opposite end of the car Chozo was knelt behind, setting up a defensive Overwatch.  Toby hustled past the both of them and crept underneath the window.  He cautiously raised his head and looked inside the lobby.  From his vantage point he could see inside the door the retreating Thin Man had left open in his haste.  “FUCK, it’s those big fuckers!”  he alerted as they began charging him upon sighting, getting back under cover and reaching for his heavy assault rifle.  Artemis fired a laser shot over Toby’s head through the window, but the Muton grabbed a nearby dining table and used it as a shield.  The table disintegrated but the alien was unharmed.  Caariosuma rushed behind a delivery truck parked next to the car the other two squad members were in and fired a quick pistol shot.  It hit the leading Muton, causing it to halt its advance and scream in anger.  The other stepped rushing and took cover behind the service counter.  Ruine took the opposite side of the truck tried shooting a few pistol shots through the window.  The pane of glass was knocked out by his rounds but none hit a Muton.

  The wounded Muton fired a heavy rifle shot back at Artemis, knocking her back.  “You okay?”  Toby screamed as he looked back behind him.  She had already scrambled back up and was in cover.  “Not really, but I’m still gonna give them hell!”  The one behind the counter then lobbed a grenade through the opening Chozo had created at the entrance, catching Chozo and Caariosuma in the blast. 

  “NO!”  Toby screamed as the smoke cleared.  Chozo got back up with a groan, his secondary armor having absorbed much of the hit.  Caariosuma was on the ground screaming.  Large sections of the truck were blown right off in the blast, so even if she got back up she was in poor cover.  “Caariosuma, are you critically wounded?”  Chozo shouted at her from a few meters away.  “WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL HELP?” Caariosuma was shaken, but she had gotten back to her feet. 

  “SHE’S PANICKING!”  Toby yelled.  During the chaos Ruine noticed the second Thin Man (the one who’d alerted the Mutons) slip out the side door on the left, far from the firefight.  He jumped clear on top of the building effortlessly.  “Dany!”  Ruine contacted her through the radio.  “The roof!  The one you couldn’t find, keep an eye on the roof!”  Dany, on the far right, looked on the roof and sure enough she saw one trying to sneak to the lip of the roof to fire from that vantage point.  Pulling out her side pistol, she dealt a quick headshot to the thing before it could cause serious danger to the front line members. 

  Toby threw his rifle to the ground.  “Fuck a bunch of this.” He popped back up and let loose a rocket blast into the counter, blasting it to shreds along with the wall behind it.  The wounded Muton fell in the explosion, but his partner was still standing.  “How the fuck did that thing live a ROCKET?”  Despite its otherworldly endurance, it quickly dropped to Ruine’s sniper.  Chozo blasted the last Thin Man on the roof to clear the immediate area.  With the fighting halted, Artemis rushed over and applied a Medkit spray to Caariosuma.  “How the hell did Toby not take a single shot in all this?”  Chozo wondered.  Toby, ahead of the group, laughed and picked his rifle back up.  “We haven’t even made it inside yet, don’t worry.  I’m sure I’ll take some bullets for the rest of you guys.”  Chozo noticed he was being polite, because in truth the squad was already hurting and there was a haunting reality to what he said.  Who knew what lay further in the building?

  Dany, the only one in the alley, quietly made her way to the side entrance of the building, stopping behind a second delivery truck likely abandoned as it was being unloaded into the restaurant.  “Heeeeey Chozo buddy, it’s not the building we need to be checking.”

  The alley opened up into a small lot behind the restaurant with a motel with a small storage shed in front of it.  She saw two Mutons rounding the corner, and the one in front directed a squad of three sectoids to climb a ladder to the top of the motel.  The two Mutons then scurried to cover as Dany took a reaction pistol shot, which charred the shed but missed both of them.

  Toby ran behind a chunk of debris near the opening of the alley, and pinned down the closest Muton with a round of heavy suppressive fire.  Chozo then lobbed a smoke grenade into the alley, covering most of it in a heavy masking haze.  Dany used this opportunity to get behind a dumpster along the restaurant wall between Toby’s bursts, and fire a shotgun blast at the Muton Toby was suppressing after the next burst.  Her shots went astray, but she was relatively safe for now.

  The second Muton ran back to the motel and began to ascend the walls via the same ladder the Sectoids had.  Alone, the three sectoids were a problem, but with the Muton among them on the roof the squad was now at a serious disadvantage.  “Damn it, they’ve expanded their influence since we got the intel!”  Chozo cursed.  “That’s why they called the big guns!”  Toby said as he continued his assault.  The Muton began a volley directed at Dany, and she was alarmed when she realized she was being suppressed. 

  “Guys, I can’t risk getting out from behind this dumpster!”  Dany called out.  Smokescreen or not, these guys packed a punch, and one stray shot could spell disaster for the coming fight.  But as suddenly as the firing had started, it stopped.  “Glad to see you’re composed again, Caariosuma.”  Chozo congratulated the sniper on a clean headshot from hundreds of feet away. 

  “That frees up Dany, but don’t forget about those guys on the roof.  They’re all ready to rain defensive fire on her, and we need to do something about the last Muton.”  Caariosuma was back in the game, but she wasn’t the only sniper on the squad.  Ruine moved into position, firing a shot at the Muton from behind a crate near the opening of the alley.  He managed to wound it, but missed the headshot that put them down clean.  Chozo threw down another smoke grenade, effectively filling the whole alley with smoke.  “This should give you room to advance, Dany.”

  Dany nodded and made her way to a newspaper vending machine that the Muton was hiding behind.  At this point Toby had run out of ammo and needed to reload so his suppressive assault was halted.  The rooftop aliens all three fired at her, but with the smoke screen in effect they missed their mark wildly.  She then tore into the Muton as it tried to see what was making the noise with a point blank shotgun blast. 

  “Now we just need to break up that entrenchment of Sectoids.”  She reported.  Artemis had been climbing a pipe on the side of the restaurant, and as she reached the top began moving between cover until she could reach a reasonable shooting range.  “Not everyone needs fancy grappling armor,” she teased Chozo over the radio.  BAM.  A sectoid fell.  “Not everyone needs to be on higher ground,” Caariosuma snarked back.

  Alarmed, one of the Sectoids lept from the roof top and took cover behind the shed, firing a well placed shot at the unsuspecting Dany.  It hit her armor hard, but not hard enough to stop her from rushing it.  It had made the mistake of closing the distance, letting her lethal shotgun do all the work. 

  The last Sectoid followed suit, seeing as how the snipers neutralized the elevation advantage.  It scurried to the ground, trying to flank Dany but Artemis was still on the rooftop, halting it right in its tracks with a high powered laser blast.  

We’ve received reports of a massive UFO found deep in some woods.  We didn’t shoot it down so the XCOM command has no intel in regards to what’s waiting for us; that alone is scarier.  This is one of the biggest ships we’ve seen; to this point we’ve only spotted ones this size dropping troops in major battles.  Many of our “main” squad is suffering from combat fatigue, so we’re calling up some of the lower ranked troops to relieve them.  The Landing Zone is in a trench-like rut cutting through the forest, which will give adequate cover but be tough to defend from.

  As planned, Chozo begins the approach.  It’s a long trek between the ufo and the LZ, as getting any closer would have been too much a risk.  With some relief, the immediate area ahead is clear.  Caariosuma settles in not too far behind, throwing out a battle scanner about fifty yards ahead.  Curiously that area is also deserted.  “Keep an eye on our right flank, team.”

  BeMess boldly makes a cut out of the trench Chozo had been inching forward in to the right side behind a tree.  She peeks out and confirms there’s nothing waiting to ambush them, allowing George to pull alongside her as he knelt behind a stump.  Artemis sticks close to Chozo in the trench as she awaits his orders.

  “Caariosuma, hang back with me.  The rest of you, fan out in the woods.”  They follow orders, slowly advancing unnoticed.  As Artemis reaches a thin tree atop a hill, she notices two of the jetpack aliens hovering ahead.  She fumbles for her sniper rifle but she wasn’t ready to start firing.  Chozo, still in the trench, looked up at her flimsy cover and threw down a smoke grenade to keep her safe.  Meanwhile, the rest of the squad began scrambling to reach the aliens.

  Dany was the first to get within firing range.  She pulled out her laser pistol and critically wounded one of the pair.  The injured alien flew behind cover, meaning it was going to be a bitch to finish off.  The other flew towards Artemis but lost sight of her in the smoke screen.  George, who had been approaching from the far right, saw his chance and let loose a round on the lost alien.  He managed to slow the alien with the bullets, allowing BeMess to get closer and fire a few pistol rounds directly beneath it.  The two overwhelmed the beast and it plummeted from the sky in an explosion.  There was no doubt they’d made their presence known now.

  “That’s one down!”  BeMess exclaimed as she holstered her pistol.  Chozo was quick to remind her of the angry, wounded alien still further ahead.  Dany shook her head.  “Sorry I was sloppy, I’ll clean up.”  Dany rushed forward, right into the alien’s line of sight.  He was ready for an advance, firing from his haven.  Dany was also ready though, nimbly dodging the laser burst.  She rolled behind a large boulder on the edge of another trench running perpendicular to the one Chozo was in that separated her from the wounded alien.  She couldn’t get a clean shot, but she had a shotgun.  She sent a blast of buckshot across the trench, managing to slice the alien as it attempted to flee.  It crashed hard on the ground.

  “Nice work,” Chozo commended as he pressed ahead further in his trench.  He stopped behind a fallen log, the UFO finally in view.  Hundreds of feet long, the craft lay almost innocently only a few meters ahead.  “Eaaaasy, team.  Check for stragglers on the right.  Caariosuma, back me up.”

  The right team made their way across the trench, stopping just outside the clearing with the UFO in it.  Chozo made his way to the ledge of his trench, just 10 feet from the UFO.  But as he got into the clearing, he saw two of the savage Mutons they’d encountered last mission. 

  “HOLY HELL, Caariosuma!  Two of those tough ass creatures we saw last time, on our left!”  Caariosuma raised her rifle and aimed right for one of their heads.  A well placed shot blasted it’s skull apart in a very critical shot, taking much of the pressure of Chozo.  Chozo immediately laid down suppressive fire as the other one instinctively took cover behind a tree.

  The rest of the squad began to close in on Chozo’s location as his constant firing kept the alien from acting.  Caariosuma took a shot at it, but the thing was sticking very close to cover and she couldn’t connect.  Chozo was getting concerned.  “Guys, I’m running low on ammo here!”  He cried out as he began a second barrage of suppressive fire.  “I need you all to finish the thing now before he gets loose; we’ve seen how much damage these guys can do!”

  At this point various squad members were getting within range.  George was the first to arrive, but his assault rifle had nowhere near the precision required.  Caariosuma fired another fruitless bullet from behind cover.  As Chozo’s laser rifle began sputtering in a way that meant a heat sink discharge and replacement was necessary, he urged his squad once again to do anything at all to stop this thing.

  “What are they firing at?”  BeMess asked George as she skid into an alcove behind him.  “How can you miss the bloody thing?!”  George asked back.  “ Chozo’s lasers are making it hard to see, and I can’t see shit from this alcove.”  “It’s a behind that tree a little to the left of Chozo’s lasers, you’ll have to step out of your alcove an-“ the crack of a sniper rifle roared over the constant whir of lasers, and a terrifying moan bellowed from the tree as the Muton’s body tumbled backwards, skull split open.  Chozo ceased his firing, reaching for a spare heat sink. 

  “BeMess, you took that thing out clean.  That was a hell of a shot.”  [it was a 28% chance to hit, and the only way to kill it in one shot is with a critical hit].  BeMess chuckled before taking refuge back in her alcove.  Chozo finished loading his laser rifle and gathered the team around a slope that would take them right to the door of the alien craft.  “We have no idea what’s inside.  Stay close and let’s be smart.”

  Dany was the first in position, climbing the ledge and then slowly making her way along the hull of the craft, clinging to the wall right next to the forcefield-like door.  Chozo appeared at the foot of the ramp facing the door.  “Any clue how to open one of these?”  He approached the door, and suddenly the forcefield dropped.  “Jesus Christ!”  He  jumped back as three jetpack aliens burst through the door in flight formation.  One immediately exploded as Dany placed a point blank shotgun spread into it as it passed.  Artemis, crouched beneath the ledge, popped up and incinerated one that was looking to collide with Chozo, its charred body whizzing past Chozo having been knocked off course before it exploded a few feet behind him.  The last one u-turned and flew back in the ship.

  “So, uh, yeah…  good work team.”  Chozo mumbled.  He pulled out his rifle as he made his way up the ramp, but Dany stopped him.  “He’s right on the other side of wall.  Let me try something.”  She pulled out some strange gun.  “You gonna taze the thing?”  Chozo looked at her.  “You know that’s crazy risky.” 

  “Oh come on, you’re right there.  A big, strong man like you can protect me if I go wrong, right?”  Chozo reluctantly nodded, and Dany jumped through the doorway and let loose a chain of electricity from her device.  The short range was a huge drawback, but up close was Dany’s specialty.  The jetpack on the alien began to short circuit, and the thing fell limp to the ground at Dany’s feet.  “Let’s push this to the side for now, the research team will have a field day playing with this thing.”

A German shopping plaza has been destroyed.  Initial efforts to rebuild the damage caused by invading forces were progressing well over the two month period from the first attack, but the second attack has left the construction crew either abducted or dead, with their equipment and vehicles scattered throughout the plaza and the sides of buildings gaping open and heavily damaged.  Clearing this area out will be very tricky and we’ll need to be constantly on the lookout for enemy vantage points.

  Dany leads the way, walking through the opening in the wall and taking cover behind a bulldozer.  Immediately she spies two Thin Men hunched over a corpse to the right.  They scatter, one to the right behind a shed and the other farther back in an alley.  Rayne follows close behind Dany, stopping to take cover behind some iron beams a few meters back.  Caariosuma falls behind Rayne, taking cover on the opposite end of the long beams.  From Caariosuma’s end she could see the closer Thin Man and easily dispatched him with a laser pistol blast.  Toby ran into the open plaza with no cover, confident in his armor and let loose a heavy round of fire aimed in the direction of the remaining thin man, but the considerable distance between them caused his bullets to fly astray.

  Chozo looked the situation over.  They were cutting through the middle of the plaza, confronting two aliens on the right behind some small sheds and buildings.  On the left was a massive building with many of its walls knocked down and windows that could be used to fire on the squad if they didn’t proceed carefully.  “I can’t get any good cover if I come in after you guys.  Dany, you’re our close range specialst.  Think you could run over there and use that shotgun of yours?”  “On it, Major!”

  Dany dashed forth.  The Thin Man had retreated a bit further in the alley, pressured by Toby’s fire.  So he didn’t see Dany dart across the field, and the last thing he saw was a shotgun barrel as Dany quickly peered around the wall and blasted him.  The Thin Man flew back, but a venomous cloud sprayed from his wounds.  “Damn it!  It released some sort of gas!”  Dany choked out.  “Hang tight, we’ll keep you safe girl!”  Chozo promised as he took Dany’s original spot behind the bulldozer.  Ruine got in a sniping position behind a dumpster along the left side of the wall. 

  Seeing that the immediate threat was dispatched, Chozo cautiously made his way to a section of the left building that still came up about three feet before opening into a gaping hole.  He crouched behind that and then peered inside.  To his uncomfortable surprise, the inside was abandoned.  “Caariosuma, send a recon cam in there.”  She complied, throwing one deep into the dark building.  Her scan brought up nothing but debris from the explosions though.

  “Check your asses, everyone.”  Toby warned as he got into cover further down the middle behind an alien pod.  Dany moved behind a crate about thirty feet to Toby’s right.  Ruine quietly settled behind Chozo and viewed the inside intently with his scope.  Rayne pulled in the center of the plaza, backing up the more experienced units.

  A low rumbling was heard from inside the buildings.  “Wait a minute waitaminute… what’s making that noise?”  Chozo asked.  Ruine looked around the inside, but Toby started firing immediately.  “Up on the third floor!  WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE THINGS?”  Ruine fumbled with his sniper trying to find where Toby was firing, but Chozo saw the horrific outlines of a hulking beast when Toby’s shots lit up the night.  There were two man sized aliens, only they were incredibly thick, more like bears.  “They’re fucking tanks!”  Toby bellowed, surprised one had taken his bullets with no problem.  Chozo fired a laser rifle shot upwards, but missed both of them.  Caariosuma fell into cover next to Toby and fired a precision laser pistol shot on the third floor. The tank-like alien dropped as the other looked over in shock. 

  “At least they’re not invincible.”  Caariosuma noted.  Dany started to work her way over, still woozy from the venom, but Chozo told her to keep in cover.  “No where over here is safe considering that thing’s vantage point, stay back keep an eye on our right flank.  Rayne, stick with her.”

  Dany got into position behind a second bulldozer a bit ahead of the squad, moving towards the side facing the building.  Rayne moved next to her on the rear side, forming a somewhat secure perimeter.  “Guys, it’s moving!”  Dany said as she fired a reactive shot with her laser pistol into the building.  It hit the alien, although it hardly seemed to hurt it.  It continued from its room, jumping down to the second floor and heading behind a counter.  It then fired a massive green laser blast right at Ruine, hitting him from an incredible distance. 

  Ruine screamed, the energy blast eating through his armor and knocking him off his feet.  Chozo looked back to check on him, but Ruine waved his hand dismissively and slowly got back up.  “I’ll… stay in back.” Ruine forced out, retreating behind an iron beam pile much further back from the squad.  Chozo laid down suppressive fire, barraging the alien’s position with laser fire not with aim to hit, but simply keep him from moving into a better position while the rest of the squad got closer to compensate for the difficult of firing onto higher elevation.  Caariosuma lingered behind, trying to hit a sniper shot but narrowly missing. 

  The tank stayed bunkered down, wary of Chozo’s constant suppressive fire.  Caariosuma waited patiently, then fired as she noticed its frame peek out over the counter.  But even a marksmen like her couldn’t nail that shot. 

“Fuck this!  I’m not gonna keep wasting ammo when we’ve got an injured squadmate!”  Toby said, pulling out the rocket launcher he carried with him every mission.  Command generally disapproved of needless explosive kills, as they ruined the bodies and prevented further study, but Toby felt this was a special case because this was far more dangerous than command had any time to prepare for.  He fired a shot into the building, sending a fiery explosion that rocked the whole room.  The tank was propelled backed and hit a wall hard, its charred body motionless.

  “Good call Toby.”  Chozo commended as he reloaded his weapon, depleted of energy from constant firing.  The immediate threat dispatched, Dany moved back to the right side of the plaza, using her grappling hook built into her suit to climb to the second floor of that building through a large opening created from some sort of explosion.  “Glad there are so many Toby’s fighting for the aliens.”  She teased.  “Probably why they’re fucking winning this war.”  Toby fired back.  Rayne entered the building from the first floor, giving the squad excellent coverage of the right side.  Dany moved ahead and claimed a window overlooking the far right side of the plaza.  Nothing but pallets full of cinder blocks.  “Right side looks deserted.  Stay sharp Chozo.”

  Ruine stumbled to the bulldozer where Dany and Rayne had been hiding behind before making their way into the building on the right.  “Caariosuma’s not the only one who can do recon.  Might as well do something while I’m hanging back.”  He threw his recon camera ahead of the squad deep into the room of the building of the left.  “Hm… nothing’s showing up… wait.  Fuck.”  Toby looked over at Ruine, concerned.  “Getting some weird audio feedback… There’s a room in the far left.  That’s probably got something in there.  Hopefully not something as tough as these guys, Toby’s out of rockets.”

  Chozo made his way a room underneath the overpass connecting the two buildings, getting into position for a counter-strike.  Caariosuma made her way next to him, and Toby hung back outside.  Suddenly, the rumbling on Ruine’s camera intensified.  “You guys hearing that?”  He asked Chozo, who should have been closer.  “Hearing something.  But are you sure it’s in this room?”  “Shit, if it’s not near you guys it’s probably on the second floor.” 

Dany got on the radio.  “On it.  I’ll take the overpass to the left side, you guys meet me there.  We should be able to flank whatever’s lurking.”  Dany moved to the door connecting the two buildings, and cautiously opened it.  Rayne caught up with Dany and took cover on the left side of the door frame.  “Toby, neither of us see anything.”  Rayne worried.  Toby made his way to the second floor and burst into the room, not needing to use a door since he blasted it to bits earlier.  “Hm, you’re right.  Nothing.”

  Chozo had went ahead and swept the room Ruine initially thought the feedback had come from.  “Nothing.”  Caariosuma thought for a moment before offering her conclusion.  “Well, it’s either outside in the alley or on the third floor.  Chozo, we can check that if Dany, Rayne, and Toby can do the upstairs.”  “Fair enough” Chozo agreed, jumping out a window that led into the alley.  Caariosuma followed, getting behind a crate a little behind Chozo.

  Dany started on the third floor, Rayne close behind.  Toby was about to cut back to join them, but he heard something through a gap in the wall.  “Chozo,” he whispered.  “They’re definitely in the alley.”  Toby then leapt fifteen feet from the second floor into the alley below.  Alerted by his grunts, two Thin Men (who had been waiting to ambush Chozo and Caariosuma) turned their attention to Toby.  But Toby had been cooking a grenade and threw it as he was falling, allowing to it explode before the Thin Men even knew what was happening. 

  An African general’s convoy was overtaken by an alien assault while traveling over a suspended bridge.  He’s okay, but needs an escort to the emergency evac ship since he’s such a high profile target.  Which means this might be one hell of a tough mission. 

  We spread out onto a safe stretch of highway.  Ruined cars and bits of concrete litter the way.  Plenty of cover, but advancing could be tough if there are recon scouts from the alien forces looking for the general.  We reach a soldier left behind and he tells us if we can reach the general his men can escort us.  The general however is much further down the bridge trying to save some of his men. 

  The squad advances cautiously.  Once everyone’s in position, Caariosuma throws one of her recon scanning devices very far down the street.  A moment of silence, and then four thin men appear on the camera, two on either side of the highway.  “Should be far enough for us to keep them divided…” Chozo muttered.  Caariosuma held up her hand in caution.  “Careful, they’re in defensive positions.  No way you’ll be able to get in firing range without startling them.”  “Aretmis, get over and help me then.” 

  Chozo snuck ahead, keeping his head low and darting behind cars.  There was a large red van parked so that it took up two lanes, and Chozo made his way to the hood of the car which faced the right side.  He peeked his head over, causing the thin men to immediately dart out of cover.  But Artemis, who had made her way an overturned truck on the far right, blasted one with laser fire, melting it instantly.  Chozo did the same to its partner. 

  Toby and Caariosuma started working towards the left side.  Unfortunately, the bridge had sunken heavily in certain segments, and the two thin men were standing dozens of feet below them.  The squad had their positions, but they weren’t able to fire on them without advancing.  “We’ll see if we can’t get the jump on them guys, you all keep on heading to the general.”  Toby told Chozo.  Everyone followed Chozo’s lead, with Rayne and Ruine hunkering down beside Artemis on the right as Chozo continued heading down the center past Caariosuma and Toby.

  As Chozo approached, one Thin Man shot a venomous cloud at Chozo.  He started gasping as the fumes entered his body.  Caariosuma took this opportunity to line up a shot as the second Thin Man immediately retreated further back.  She killed the one that shot the cloud, but the other one was running too far. 

  “Fuckin… not today,” Chozo choked out as he stepped out of the cloud obscuring his vision.  Eyes stinging from the mist, he still was able to spot the Thin Man making a sloppy retreat.  “Rookie, get up here and get him!  Artemis, get me an anti-toxin spray.”  Rayne rushed behind an open car door and fired her rifle at the retreating Thin Man.  He was a fair distance away, but from the elevation she was at it was an easy shot and the alien dropped to the ground in an explosion of toxic fluids.  She brushed the hair from her face and looked smugly at Chozo, who nodded his approval as Artemis applied her treatment to him.  Toby hustled over to the right side, as it turned out the left side was inaccessible due to massive gaps in the bridge from explosions or tremors. 

  Chozo shuffled down a concrete slab that made a makeshift ramp between the lowered segment of the bridge.  He met up with the general, who reported that none of his men made it with the exception of the one they’d seen earlier.  But two Thin Men saw Chozo make his way down the ramp, and leapt to a much higher stretch of bridge that hadn’t been lowered further back.  “Shit, they’re going to be hard to hit from back here!  General, stay in cover!”

  Caariosuma came running from the far left to a fallen concrete block on the lip of the dip in the bridge.  “No time to line up a shot!” She gasped, catching her breath as she knelt down.  “Someone get over here!”  Rayne was already on her way before Caariosuma had even finished her sentence, and took a crackshot from across the wide chasm.  Surprisingly, the Thin Man erupted into a poison mist, signifying its death.  “Hell of a shot, Rayne!”  Chozo said as he blasted a laser through the window of the SUV the general had been hiding behind.  Rayne giggled quietly as she reloaded her weapon.  “Get out of here!”  Chozo told the general as the last Thin Man in sight burst open. 

  The general scurried up the concrete slab back to the squad.  Toby raised his hand to his brow in salute.  He then lowered it and screamed to his squad “back this god damn hero up!  Fan out, take defensive positions!’’ He yelled, blasting his heavy assault rifle at a thin man who fell from the sky only fifty feet away.    Everyone started making their way back to the LZ, but there was a decent stretch of highway between them. 

We’ve landed on a street just outside a Japanese cemetery.  Japan sent reports of heavy hostile activity, but we don’t see anything just yet.  Let’s just hope our mission through a cemetery doesn’t leave us in one. 

  Chozo crosses the street and crouches beneath the low wall that fences in the cemetery.  Past four rows of tombstones he sees a group of three Thin Men huddled over a poor human corpse.  One of them glances up and sees Chozo’s silhouette blocking out some of the light from the street lamp.  They scatter, with two jumping over the towering eastern stone wall into an alley on the left while the other takes cover behind a pillar deeper in.  Chozo uses his new laser rifle to place a pin-pointed shot into one of the thin men in the alley as it pokes its head up, and Caariosuma nails the second one as it tries to line up a shot on Chozo.  Artemis runs down the street to the right side of the cemetery gate, and then fires at the thin man crouched behind a pillar.  The assault rounds barely miss, blowing chunks out of the concrete cover he was behind.  Dany gets next to Chozo further left and fires off a laser pistol shot from behind the low wall; she misses but blasts apart the alien’s cover completely.  With no cover, Toby is free to get beside Dany and unleash a round of heavy assault fire into the defenseless creature, killing it near instantly.  Rayne covers the left side of the gate and sets up an Overwatch.

  It does not take long for a couple of jetpack aliens to hover over and investigate.  Rayne fires off a round at the one in front as nears the body of the Thin Man about 80 feet out, but it was on high alert and shifted out of the way in mid-air.   While they were busy dodging Rayne’s fire, Artemis used the distraction to jump over the low wall to the far right and take cover behind a tombstone near the entrance.  But as she was trying to single out one of the flying foes, she noticed three more behind a statue in a raised plaza in the center of the cemetery.  “Ooooooh fuck guys, get over here NOW.”

  Rayne quickly moved to the opposite wall of the gate and shot bursts at the scouting party she first saw.  This time she managed to do solid damage to the mechanical monster, allowing Artemis to cleanly take it out.  Caariosuma took Rayne’s former place at the left wall and fired a charged laser blast from her pistol, taking the other scouting member down.  Chozo moved up one more row of tombstones, and fired a laser shot at one that was hovering behind a platform holding up a giant statue.  The resulting explosion from the jetpack alien startled its comrades as they flew dozens of feet into the air and retreated.  “GIVE THEM NO QUARTER!” Toby screamed as he gave pursuit, firing his heavy rifle into the air.  Alas, it was to no avail, and even Dany missed a shotgun blast from close range as it zoomed up and away. 

  A sudden explosion, and the one Dany had been firing at fell out of the sky.  Caariosuma lowered her scope and smirked.  Rayne moved deeper into cemetery behind an obelisk and fired at the remaining alien as it retreated to the far left of the cemetery.  The rookie was still having trouble hitting airbourne targets from a distance.  Chozo moved into the left field and then flashed a laser rifle blast its way, knocking it out of the sky.  “Well shit Chozo, if I had a laser gun I’d have been able to do that.”  “You gotta earn this bad boy.”  Chozo laughed as Dany and Artemis splintered from the group to cover the right side of the cemetery. 

  As the squad was fanning out, Toby heard a clattering from a nearby shed.  “Fucking noises in a fucking shed in the edge of a fucking cemetery during a fucking alien invasion,” he cursed under his breath before waiting on the outside of the door.  Closer now, he could definitely hear whisperings in a tongue he couldn’t understand, and it definitely wasn’t Japanese.  He slowly pushed the door open, which caused the two Thin Men operating on an abductee to bolt out the back door of the shed.  Caariosuma, who had been watching Toby, blasted one as it ran through the alley.  The other one tried to double back and surprise Toby, but Toby was not a man who was easily surprised.  His rifle lit up the shed and splattered the Thin Man everywhere.