Apocalypse Fanfic

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

Now the fight in the UFO was getting very intense and there were already two confirmed death and two casualties. One severe. Although the squads had all stormed the back of the UFO together they had become disorganised and split up.

"Can we get some cover over here?" shouted Tankman as Gamma squad struggled to find cover in the part of the UFO they were cornered in.

"Beta squad is on it's way but there's still a lot of resistance over here" replied Ki-tat into his comm. "I think most of the big ones are dead but we've got Brainsuckers popping out of corpses all over the place! The aliens must've been carrying some spare pods."

"Ok just try and get here quickly, one of my Squaddies is down and I think he's pretty badly wounded. He's not conscious and..." a burst of fire from Tankman's autocannon interrupted the link, "badly burnt too."

"Copy that, I'll have Ego come along to take a look at him." Ki-tat closed the comm link and turned to shoot at a brainsucker on the floor. It was already dead but that had never stopped Ki-tat before.

"Tammy" called Carlos into a link with his squad's sniper. "Tammy where are you? I need you up here to get these Brainsuckers off my squad. They're too damn fast for the rookies and I'm bogged down with wounded. One of the rookies and Dante is down."

"Yeah I'm trying to get to you but the only problems aren't just where you are" she replied sharply.

Just then Tammy's rifle firing severed the comm link at just the same time Carlos saw a laser hit the floor only a short way away. 'That must be her now,' he thought.

"Goddammit! Don't you things ever stay still long enough to die" shouted Warlord as he pursued a brainsucker across the floor of the UFO near the grav lift.

Warlord took out the brainsucker just as he received a private comm link request from a rookie on the bottom level of the UFO. "Um Warlord sir?" the voice said shakily. "I don't think the floor we're on is the bottom of this UFO..."

"What?" asked Warlord confused.

"A blue alien just came out of the grav lift but I think it must've come from below where we are. We've been looking up the whole time and we didn't see it until it was right up by us... We got it but it got James. I think he might be dead sir..."

Warlord silenced the comm link and slumped against a wall. It felt like a leather waterbed. It moved slightly, as if it were breathing. Warlord shuddered and moved away from the wall but his depression remained. He was done fighting and he began heading for the grav lift.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Doc France

Doc stared vapidly into space, studying the tactical overlay. As chief tactician, he would have one hell of a report to give to Warlord and Tactical Command. However, as Alpha Squad leader, he felt he had failed.

So many rookies dead. Others wounded. And what had he done to prevent this? Nothing. Instead, he had sat tight outside the double doors, "watching for a surprise attack." The truth was, he had gone chicken shit. All he could do at the moment was send Ego to help the other wounded, and the rest of the squad to gather the fallen.

He turned away from the smouldering wreckage, only to see one of his rookies talking with Warlord. They were at least ten metres away, but he could hear bits of their hushed conversation. The rookie was talking about Doc, he was sure of it. And it didn't sound good either. Doc thought he heard the word "transfer" several times on the rookie's part.

Warlord nodded his head, not in permission, but in acknowledgement of Crimson's plight. He turned his head to face Doc. The ensuing glare shocked the Squad Leader. Not from its scowling horror, but from the look of disappointment and grief in his commander's eyes.

Doc knew he did not deserve that promotion. He didn't even remember the announcement, he had been so drunk off his own witch's brew at Carlos' party. He was a disgrace to the rank.

He saw Ego helping a wounded rookie with a bloody, smoking hole in his armour. Not one of his soldiers, one from Beta. His bloodied callsign read "Rambo."

Ego pounded on the med-kit's interface, but Rambo was still coughing up blood, and green enzymes were still eating through his vital organs. The distinctive sound of a flatlined EKG pierced the air like so many screams the medic had heard in the past.

Ego collapsed, as if to cry. Yet no tears fell. He was beyond meaningless bawling. How many had he failed to save in the past? Too many to count on half a squad's fingers. It's not worth crying over spilled blood. Instead he closed the rookie's eyelids and radioed in to Valkyrie 2.

"Mouse, we have more wounded and dead. Valkyrie 1 is going to transport them back to base, so we'd appreciate you returning to transport materials. Over."

"Copy, Ego. I am about to land at Bravo. I'll return on the double. Over. And out."

Trigger overheard Ego's comments. More dead and wounded. And here was the great sniper, lying on a stretcher. He had hardly fired a shot and he was disabled. He looked down at his wound. Hardly a scratch he thought but he could not be sure. He was barely conscious and there was a fog over everything. He noticed he was missing Ultio, his pride and joy. The weapon Warlord had entrusted him with.

Warlord. He must be steaming mad. This'll be nothing like the shit the guys give me back at base. With that thought, Trigger slumped against the wall and stopped trying to breath...

Warlord emerged from the wreckage. He was glad to get out of that dark, twisted, evil place. He looked around.

He saw Doc's usual blank stare at the tac-spot, Ego hunched over a nameless dead rookie. He saw Gamma and Delta beginning to collect weapons, ammunition, and bodies. Rookies shaking in the shadow of the craft, lost children weeping for their mothers, sisters, dogs.

Warlord turned to see Mouse landing Valkyrie 2 behind him, just as Valkyrie 1 took off with a full load of casualties.

He felt something deep inside his chest. Failure. He had failed Doc, he had failed Ego, he had failed Trigger, and he had failed his men. Failure is something that every commander must face, yet Warlord was not accustomed to this pain.

He drew in a breath of cold night air, exhaled, and dropped his helmet on the ground at his feet.

********

END OF CHAPTER 3

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

CHAPTER 4

********

Instalment by tftd fan

"Ow! Take it easy" shouted Terror at a grouchy nurse in the medical bay. The room was full of wounded soldiers and he wasn't the first to be treated that day. The staff were all getting edgy by now and the surgeons were all still busy with Trigger's operation.

Terror laid in the bed after the nurse left, and scanned for the first time the room he was in.

It was a terrible sight. Extra beds had been brought in for the casualties. 'Twelve,' counted terror.

'This is just wrong' he thought with a hand on his head and tears in the corners of his eyes.

'How can we ever win with this many casualties after each mission?' he thought to himself.

Somebody approached and spoke to Terror. "So how are you feeling today son?" came a familiar voice. It was Ki-tat. "It looks your leg is going to be fine," he continued. "How does it feel?"

"Well sir, hopefully in couple of days I'll be operational again" replied Terror.

"That's good to hear, just look after it. You did well out there you know. For a first mission," his boss said calmly.

"Thank you sir. Maybe now I can get a bit of respect from the others." replied terror. He didn't noted that Ki-tat was in his uniform, hard as cardboard.

"Perhaps, son," said Ki-tat smiling. "See you later kid."

"Yes sir," said Terror as Ki-tat left. He was starting to like his boss.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Warlord

Elsewhere in the base, Warlord sat at his desk going over the battle in his mind, while his eyes were pointed at the after-action report. More rookies dead, most of whom he didn't even know their names. The face of the brainsucked rookie that he had killed haunted him. Not to mention that he could still feel the wall of the alien craft crawling against him. A knock at the door brought him back to the present.

"Come in."

"Sir, Squad Leader Ki-tat reporting as ordered, sir."

"Come in, soldier."

Ki-tat moved into the office and saluted stiffly. He never did like the military protocols that the commander was a stickler for. Warlord returned the salute and looked Kitat over. He was obviously nervous and uncomfortable.

"At ease, soldier. Do you know why you're here?"

"My performance during the battle, sir?"

"Exactly. What were you thinking, sending your sniper in as a scout? You know better than that"

"I made a mistake, sir. I'm not going to make any excuses."

"You're damned right you made a mistake! This isn't Joe Bob's Pizza Delivery. A mistake here gets people killed. You're damned lucky that Trigger survived. He's still down in med bay in surgery. The docs still aren't sure if he's going to make it. If he does, I highly recommend that you apologize to him. And if he punches you in the nose, I don't want to hear about it."

"Sir, yes, sir."

"Have a seat, Ki-tat. What the hell is going on with all the squad leaders? You people are making rookie mistakes, and that's not like you. I've got squad leaders sitting around in a battle, not doing anything. I've got squad leaders sending snipers on scout missions. I've even got squad leaders firing incendiary rounds at point blank range. What is going on?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Go ahead."

"To put it bluntly, it's you."

"Explain."

"We all know that you're a born soldier. You live for this. It's your purpose in life. The problem is that we are not like you. We have lives outside of soldiering, fighting, and killing. We don't enjoy battle like you do. You expect us to be just like you, and it's not going to happen."

Warlord sat back in his chair, thinking about what Ki-tat had just told him. Was he pushing his soldiers too hard? Or not hard enough? He knew that it was difficult, if not impossible, to push someone to be something they're not.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Is that all?"

"...Yes, dismissed. Tell everyone to take the night off. Even base security. I'll call in some favours and have an outside contractor watch the base for tonight."

"Sir, are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. You people deserve it. First formation is tomorrow at 1100 hours. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

"Yes, sir"

Once Ki-tat left, Warlord headed down to the surgical ward of the med bay. As he walked through the door, he spotted Tammy watching the surgery through the big observation window that looked over the surgery ward. She looked nervous and worried.

Warlord had noticed a bond developing between her and Trigger for a couple of weeks now. Not so much of a romantic bond, more like a big sister and her kid brother. She was usually quick to defend him when the other soldiers started poking fun, which seemed to be their favourite pastime.

"Any word?"

Tammy spun around as if a gunshot had gone off. She snapped to attention and saluted quickly.

"Sir, sorry I didn't hear you come in."

"Relax, I just came down to see how he is."

"They're still working on him. The explosion shredded his armour and drove pieces of it into his body."

About this time, the head surgeon came out of the surgery ward.

"How is he?"

"He took extensive damage to the upper and lower torso, neck, face, and head. We were able to get everything put back in place, but some things were beyond repair."

"Like what?"

"His heart, and his eyes."

"What are his options?"

"Medical discharge from X-Com."

"What are his other options?"

The doctor looked down at the floor, then looked back up with a strange gleam in his eyes.

"There's a new procedure that S.E.L.F. claims to have perfected. The government has not approved it for the general population yet, though. I've seen it done, and I can do it, but not without permission."

"What is the procedure?"

"Cybernetic replacements."

"Robot parts?"

"Exactly. Artificial hearts have been in use for a long time already, that's no problem. As we speak, the surgical team is implanting in. The eyes are the tricky part. S.E.L.F. claims that their cybernetic eyes make an enormous improvement over the standard human variety."

"I've seen the way some of the new model androids shoot, and I believe it."

"I have a set of the eyes that S.E.L.F. sent over for me to evaluate. I can begin the implant procedure now, with your permission."

"How well will he be able to see, if we don't do this?"

"With corrective lenses, he might be able to read a book, if he holds it close enough and there's enough light. Anything beyond a few feet will be blurry though. It would be like living the rest of your life in a permanent fog."

Warlord thought about it, and thought about the pride on Trigger's face when he had assigned him as a sniper. There was no way he was going to take that from him.

"Do it. On my authority as X-Com Bravo Base Commander."

"It will be done, I'll notify you when we've completed the procedure."

As the surgeon turned back to the surgery ward, Warlord looked over at Tammy.

"I've given the base the night off. Why don't you get out of here for a while?"

"If it's alright with you, sir, I'd rather stay here."

"He's going to be fine, Tammy."

"With your permission, I'll stay here until he comes out."

"Suit yourself. Since you're going to be here, let me know the minute he comes out."

"Yes, sir."

As Warlord left the med bay, Tammy turned her attention back to the window into the surgery ward.

"Come on, Trigger. Hang in there..."

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

The heart monitor in the med lab had redlined almost fifteen minutes ago and the medics were quickly running out of time to finish the implant. Trigger lay motionless and Tammy remained at the window, other soldiers periodically passing.

Finally there was a reading on the monitor and a spasm ran through Trigger's lifeless body as it tried to reject the robotic heart.

After working for a further half an hour, the medics left the room and Trigger lay sleeping. In a deep, dark, lonely sleep. The head surgeon told Tammy that Trigger was stable and she could sit with him if she wanted to stay. She did and she sat watching the heart monitor for a long time not even knowing what it meant.

It was almost two hours before Trigger regained full consciousness and by now even Tammy had had enough of the drama. But still she did not leave. As Trigger awoke, the first, and only thing he could see, was Tammy by his side now fast asleep.

Trigger called to Ego to find out what was happening but he was greeted instead by the unfamiliar face of the head surgeon.

"Oh shit," he said as he realised who had arrived by his bedside. "What happened and... how bad?"

"Very I'm afraid," the surgeon replied sitting down by the motionless Tammy. "You've got a robotic heart and as you'll by now have noticed, your eyes are no good."

"What? What about my eyes?" replied Trigger pulling himself up the hard medical bed.

"Whatever you can see now," began the surgeon "is all you're going to be able to see... But," he added quickly, "Warlord has approved a cybernetic implant that should give you back your vision. It'll be as good as new... Better even." The surgeon found that he believed himself so he let the words roll.

"What's going to happen then?" replied Trigger anxiously.

"We're preparing to operate now. We were actually ready to do it just as you came around."

"No." said Trigger sharply.

"I'm sorry... Would you like some rest? We could always do it in the morning. It may even give my staff some time to rest." The surgeon regretted the last statement but Trigger seemed not to hear it. Either that or he simply ignored it.

"No, I mean... no," said Trigger trying to focus on the room around him. I want to be allowed out of here. I don't want the implant."

"Do you want to leave XCom?" asked the surgeon. "That is another option you may wish to consider if you don't like the sound of the surgery..."

"No! I don't want the implants! I'm not leaving! I just want to get out of here! Now" Trigger shouted. With what remained of his senses, Trigger spun himself about and tried to stand. He fell to the ground and winced at the pain. Quietly he began to weep.

Tammy was by now wide-awake but until now she'd said nothing. "I think you'd better leave," she finally said to the surgeon.

With a nod the surgeon left and the room was almost silent except for the quiet sobbing of a ruined sniper.

"My eyes... They're all I had that made me different to anyone else... That made me better... Now what do I do..." Trigger was kneeling by his bed with his head on the floor.

Tammy sat and wondered how she could possibly help but how could she? What did she really know about him? Or what he was going through now? She thought about what she would want, and with that she sat on the floor by Trigger and simply held him.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Doc France

'Well, here's to another wonderful mission,' Doc thought, sipping a mug of lager. 'Those rookies died because of me, and I'm sitting here enjoying a beer!' He threw the mug against the wall, bits of ceramic and head flying randomly with a dulled shatter. He leaned against the keg.

The door opened. It was dark, like a cave, but Tammy could make out Doc's hunched form in the corner, alongside a barrel of brew.

"How much for a cold one?" she whispered into the darkness.

Doc looked up, red-eyed, with a wan smile of recognition. "It's on the house." He reached over, grabbed the first bier stein his fingers met, and promptly placed it under the tap and began pouring. Tammy crouched on the opposite side of the keg.

"How's Trigger?"

"They had to replace his heart with an artificial one. They had a little difficulty with that, but..."

Doc waited patiently, closed the tap and handed Tammy the stein. She drank it voraciously, half-finishing it in five seconds. She cleared her throat.

"...but his eyes are the real problem."

Doc heard a sniffle.

"His eyes are so bad he's almost blind. He can't even serve in X-COM with that low vision, let alone be a sniper. So Warlord did what's best and ordered his eyes be replaced as well."

She began to sob. Doc reached across the keg and gave her a light squeeze on the shoulder.

"He... he... won't accept the implants... He's just too damn proud to accept that ch... choice."

She tried her hardest not to cry, and nearly ended up choking herself. Doc wiped a silent tear off of his cheek.

Tammy cleared her voice and wiped away her held-back tears. "I just want him to be okay. If it means he leaves the service for good, then that's what I want. But I don't want to see him hurt."

Doc spoke cautiously. "I've noticed lately you've been taking a form of... attachment... to Trigger."

There was dead silence for five minutes. Tammy finally spoke.

"I came home from college for vacation when I was 19. I wanted to see my family, and I was so happy to see them after so long. But not a day went by when my little brother and me weren't at each other's throats. We got into some piddling argument about... I can't remember anymore... but I said something that made him storm out of the house and jump into his car. He sped off... and I never saw him again."

She continued. "It was getting dark, and it was beginning to rain. I guess he turned a corner too sharply, and he slammed right into another car in the other direction. The Nano-tech's told us that he died instantly. But they didn't tell us his body was so mangled from the wreck that he couldn't even donate tissue."

"I never forgave myself for what I had done to my little brother after looking after him his entire life."

There was another deathly silence.

Tammy finished her beer. She held the stein up to the light and saw the detailed inscriptions and paintings on the side.

"This is very pretty. Is it yours?"

Doc looked over at it. He grimaced. "That was a wedding present from Ego."

She saw the inscription on the bottom: 'Sean and Beth - 2079' The pictures were of farmlands of old Bavaria and Alsace; cows grazing in sunny pastures and fields of barley waving in the wind.

"I didn't know you were married Doc, I've never seen a r..." She stopped herself, all too late.

'All good things...' Doc thought to himself. He remembered happiness, the joy, the anger, and the misery. 'Some stones are best left unturned. I haven't lost anyone like Tammy or Kilam, I lost someone because of my own shortsightedness and forgetfulness. I let her down, and she left me.'

With that, Doc stood up and walked out, leaving Tammy alone in his dark, beer-reeking quarters.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Tammy

Tammy sat in the darkness for several minutes before she realized that Doc was gone. She thought for a moment about going after the one who had so stupidly put Trigger in that position, but she decided that in her current state of mind, she'd probably do something stupid. Instead, stumbling a little with exhaustion and misery, she made her way back to Trigger's side for another night in an uncomfortable chair. Maybe this time, she'd say the right thing....

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

"Trigger?" said Tammy softly as she returned to the med lab for the second night running. "Are you awake?"

There was no answer. She walked over to the bed but it was too dark to see anything. She sat down and stared at the uncomfortable bed, waiting for her eyes to adapt to the dark. Then she laughed. Quietly, involuntarily, she laughed. The thought that within a few minutes she would be able to see in the blackness around her when Trigger could see less in the daytime than Tammy could now...

"Trigger?" Tammy's sight slowly turned the black room into hundreds of shades of grey and she could just make out the bed in front of her. Empty. "Trigger?" She stood up and turned on a light by the side of the bed. He was gone.

Warlord was standing in an office in the higher levels of the warehouse, which concealed Bravo base, and staring out into the night sky. He'd been there for what seemed like hours, staring out across the city. Everyone was sleeping, he thought. Even the gangs weren't out tonight. Yet here he was standing at a window after midnight. And why? 'I have no idea...' he thought to himself.

Just then the door behind Warlord opened and the owner of the warehouse entered the room. "Excuse me sir," he began, "you really shouldn't be..." he was silenced.

"If you're going to start telling me what to do you can just leave now. I've had a bad day, a bad night and it's likely to start all over again in a few hours time..."

"All the same sir, this is a restricted area. Only employees of the government may..." He stopped speaking as he caught side of Warlord's face. Not because he recognised him as a member of XCom. But because of the smirk that was plastered across his face.

"Employees of the government? Is that right?" Warlord turned to face the owner of the warehouse who was clearly feeling intimidated by the man in front of him. "Just get the hell out of here ok? I'm in no mood for you, or you're business or anything else in this godforsaken hole of a city. Do you understand me?"

"Well excuse me but..."

"Get out" screamed Warlord as he brought his fist down onto the desk infront of him.

And he was alone again. He sat on the floor with his back against the window and put his head in his hands. He would stay there all night.

"Trigger! What the hell are you doing" Tammy shouted more angrily than concerned.

"I'm learning to walk with a broken leg... Now you can either help me or you can leave me alone." he replied surprisingly sharply.

"What?" Tammy was taken aback by this outburst. "What are you trying to do? Come back inside where it's warm and let's talk ok?"

"No. I'm done talking. If noone else can help me then I guess I just have to help myself."

Tammy was standing a good few meters away from where Trigger was sat but she could make out their surroundings by the starlight above them.

Trigger was sitting on the highest edge of Bravo base's roof, staring into the street below. Tammy had found him simply by luck. The security teams were all on break for the night so she had looked everywhere for him before she found him out on the roof.

"Whatever you're thinking, we can work something out... But not if you don't come inside now, before you hurt yourself..."

"What? You think I'm going to jump don't you?" Trigger laughed. "Screw that... I'm just trying to make out the senate... I don't even know which direction it's in... The furthest I can see is the Sirius building down there. Everything else is just black..."

"Well whatever you're doing out here, it can wait until morning. Please come inside." Trigger turned to Tammy and even without his sight he could tell that she really did care. He could hear it in her voice.

"Ok. I'll come inside but I'm not sleeping on that wooden piece of crap again... I'm going to sleep in my own bed tonight and I don't care who tries to stop me." he said to Tammy standing shakily up.

"You can't get into your room, it's all locked up and you don't have the code to get in anymore."

"They changed my access code? Were they really that sure that I wasn't going to live?" he said in partial horror.

"No it's not that. They were just trying to keep you from doing a Carlos on us" They both laughed but neither one meant it.

"Well where can I sleep then? I'm serious about that bed. It's like a big bag of bricks... Only less comfortable." Tammy laughed again. This time with a little feeling.

"Come on," she said taking Trigger's arm. "We'll find you a bed somewhere."

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Warlord

The longer Warlord sat there, the madder he got. Lately, it seemed as if nothing was going right. The formula that had worked for him for his entire adult life was failing. Ever since his first day in basic training, he had learned that when things weren't going right, you weren't training or trying hard enough. For the most part that had held true. Up until now, at least.

He had soldiers not living up to his expectations, making bad decisions in combat, and in general not performing up to standards. So he did what he knew worked: push them harder. Make them better by sheer force of will. Only this time it seemed to be backfiring. Instead of coming together, the brutal training regimen was tearing the organisation apart.

"Enough! If I sit here and keep thinking, I'm going to drive myself nuts. Even worse than I already am..."

Warlord knew that talking to himself was a bad sign. Time to go call on an old friend, Jose Cuervo. Warlord headed back down to the vehicle maintenance bay and grabbed the first available Blazer Turbobike. These vehicles had been almost completely phased out in the early days of the organization, but a couple were still waiting to be picked up.

As he cranked the engine, he could feel the raw power course through him.

"Time to go turn my brain off for a few hours..."

As he waited for the bay doors to open, he felt a rough hand grab his shoulder.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?! You can't take that bike"

Warlord turned to the tech that obviously didn't know who he was talking to.

"And you're going to stop me? Boy?"

The tech recoiled as if he'd grabbed a handful of molten lava, and sprang to attention.

"Sorry, sir! I didn't recognize you, sir"

"Don't let it happen again."

As he rode away, he thought about how he had treated the tech, and the building manager. Both of them were just doing their job, and he had verbally bitten their heads off. He was spoiling for a fight. Not a gunfight with the aliens, but a good old-fashioned fist-fight. And he knew just the place.

As he pulled up outside Hurricane's, he could see every kind of lowlife in the city glaring back at him. There were thugs from Diablo all over the parking lot, which made sense, as this was their turf. One of the bigger gangsters started toward Warlord.

"You got the wrong place, soldier-boy. But I'm feeling generous, so I'll just take your bike and let you leave."

Several of the others straightened up, watching carefully. Warlord took his time getting off the bike.

"I'll tell you what, pansy-boy. I'm feeling generous too, so I think I'll accept your apology, and let you buy me a drink. How's that sound, jackass?"

The thug looked as if he'd been slapped. He obviously wasn't accustomed to having anyone talk back to him, let alone insult him.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life."

"Is that so? I suppose you're gonna try to teach me the error of my ways. I hope you have insurance, 'cause you're gonna need it."

Warlord was interrupted as the gangster swung at him. And the war was on...

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

As Tammy woke up after her second rough night in a row she saw Trigger still sleeping peacefully beside her. She got out of her stiff chair and left her quarters locking the door. She figured it would be some time since Trigger woke up. Especially since he'd been sleeping so roughly lately.

As she walked down the corridor she saw two of Bravo bases squad leaders walking together and talking about Warlord. It was Doc and Ki-tat.

From what Tammy already knew, Ki-tat, Doc, Tankman and Ego were all having problems at the moment but rumours spread much quicker than the truth and she didn't yet know whether to believe what she had been told.

She walked behind the two squad leaders for a long time but heard very little of what they were saying. She soon reached the rec room and she walked in and left Ki-tat and Doc to go wherever they were going.

"Hey Tammy, what have you been doing with yourself? I haven't seen you in here for days," came a voice from one of the couches in the centre of the room.

Tammy looked over to the voice. It was Kilam. He had probably been in the rec room all night, thought Tammy but she didn't really care so she sat down and replied. "Hey Kilam. Hey do you know what's up with Ki-tat? I just saw him talking to Doc and he looked a bit..." Tammy paused, "hastled?"

"What? No I don't know. I know he got in a bit of shit with Warlord over Trigger but he hasn't said anything about it so I try not to ask..."

Tammy grunted an acknowledgement to Kilam and thought about the mission. It was his fault... No doubt about it. If Ki-tat had of just stuck to his orders... No, it wa no good dwelling on that. Everyone made mistakes. Admittedly not usually this big but she tried to forget as well as she could. "So how's your leg firming up then?" she asked Kilam.

"Fine, turns out it didn't even need a graft. I think it was more from friendly fire than anything else. The docs say I should be up and running again real soon." Kilam had been one of the lesser casualties from the UFO raid but his injuries were minimal and he was almost fully recovered.

"Good..." said Tammy with little feeling. She trailed off and started thinking about Ki-tat again. She couldn't not think about him. However hard she tried.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Ki-tat Chung

"Damn it! That Warlord." Ki-tat said to Doc as they passed the rec room.

"Look, maybe now's a good time to star-"

Ki-tat interrupted. "No, I am not going to drink. What I need is..........."

"Rest?"

"Maybe." Ki-tat sighed heavily. "Or maybe I need a good, close friend."

"A girl?"

"Ki-tat just stared at him. After a few moments, Ki-tat left for his room.

Back in his living quarters, Ki-tat thought about it really hard. Finally he made up his mind and headed towards the intercom and dialled the code to dial outside.

"Hello?"

"Erm...hi Teresa."

There was a silence.

At Hurricane's in Diablo slums Warlord was still staring at the gangster who had threatened him.

Within moments, the gangster was on top of Warlord. After about half a minute, both the gangster and Warlord rolled away from each other and were staring down each other's gun barrel.

"Get out of my way, you low life scum."

"Well, well, why don't you, cadet boy?" the gangster spat right back at him.

As they looked down each other's firearm for a while, they heard a siren in the distance.

And judging from the pitch, Warlord thought, it's heading this way.

At that moment, Warlord twitched slightly, and that was all that the gangster needed. He immediately kicked the X-com commander's custom law pistol out of his hand and picked it up.

"Now why don't you leave peacefully? With out your bike. I'm still feeling generous," said the slug.

As Warlord slowly backed away, he was discreetly probing the mind of the Diabloist.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Warlord

The gangster's mind was soft, easily probed and manipulated. It was painfully obvious that the punk had absolutely no psionic defence capabilities, let alone attack capabilities. The thug also had pretty atrocious reaction times. Warlord's face showed a grin.

"What are you grinning about?" The thug demanded.

"Nothing, you win. You want the bike? Here you go."

With that, Warlord flipped the keys to the bike at the gangsters face. Instinctively the thug's hands moved to catch them, which earned him a hard kick in the stomach. As the gangster doubled over in pain, Warlord lashed out again, this time connecting with the man's nose. There was a sickening crunch as the fragile bones of the nose disintegrated. As the thug collapsed, Warlord retrieved his pistol as well as the Diablo gangster's.

"Boy, I must be getting rusty in my old age..."

As he turned toward his bike he heard several footsteps behind him.

"That's far enough, soldier-boy."

Warlord looked around at the 3 other gangster's that had come to their friend's aid. None of the three looked very happy. All were armed, but none had drawn their weapons yet. Warlord turned around, his pistol drawn, but out of sight behind his back.

"Something I can help you gentlemen with?"

"Yeah, you can go ahead and come with us. Save us the trouble of tracking your ass down later. The boss doesn't take kindly to people beating on his kids."

"His kids? He looks old enough to take care of himself, as long as he's more careful about who he picks a fight with."

"You don't seem to understand, soldier-boy. That's the boss's son. Which means that the boss is going to want your head when he finds out."

"Well, that's just too damned bad. I'm kind of attached to it. I'll make you boys a deal, though. You turn around and walk away, and I'll consider forgetting about this whole thing."

The gangster's laughs sounded almost genuine.

"That's real funny, soldier-boy. I'm almost going to regret killing you, but not quite."

"Maybe not, but you're definitely going to regret f**king with me"

Almost before the words were spoken, Warlord raised his pistol and pumped several shots into the fuel tank of one of the gangster's turbobikes. The fuel tank erupted in a fiery explosion sending the gangsters scrambling for cover. Not wasting any time, Warlord cranked the bike and sped off. Not long after that, he could hear the sound of a Phoenix hovercar lifting off.

"Well, hopefully it doesn't have any w-"

Warlord was cut off mid-sentence as a missile ripped a crater in the road just a few feet from the turbobike.

"So much for that idea..."

Warlord cranked his bike to the maximum speed, but the hovercar was closing fast. He would need a miracle to get out of this one...

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

*All pilots scramble. Illegal flyer detected. Repeat, illegal flyer detected. * The comm system echoed throughout the base as hovercar pilots scrambled to their vehicles. Several hoverbikes and at least one hovercar were having a firefight near one of the cities shadiest slum areas. Some land based turbobikes had also been detected nearby.

"Come on! Come on! Let's go" Shouted the flight leader for the hoverbike wing as he lifted his bike off the floor of the hangar.

Engines roared into life everywhere and the hangar was full of noise. As the last engine spluttered to life, the hoverbikes rose as one and entered the city.

On the other side of the city Warlord was starting to feel that he had really underestimated the thugs from the Diablo slums. That was a mistake he was going to regret, but first he had to get back to Bravo base.

A missile skimmed past Warlord barely missing his own bike and laser beams flew all around him. Unable to return fire Warlord increased his bike to full speed and began to put some distance between himself and the gang. Warlord risked a glance behind him and quickly ducked to avoid a very accurate shot from a laser cannon. When he turned around again he had to swerve sharply to avoid debris from the missile, which had just embedded itself in the side of one of Mega-Primus' Large flyer factories.

'Oh man... All I wanted was a bit of fun,' thought Warlord as a huge explosion tore out the factories lower floors behind him. He looked behind him again and saw a hoverbike burning on the road. Probably destroyed by the collapsing building.

The other vehicles behind Warlord slowed down for a second but quickly picked up speed again.

Warlord dodged down an alleyway and weaved his turbobike between boxes and bins. He noticed two hoverbikes still on his tail, he couldn't be sure about the other bikes and the Phoenix.

As he reached the end of the alleyway Warlord was greeted by a hail of laser fire from a hovercar. He veered sharply to the left and out onto the main road. One of the bikes behind him was caught in the hovercar's crossfire. It burst into flames and slammed into the side of the Phoenix as it turned to pursue Warlord.

'Shit! Are they still coming?' thought Warlord as he turned around and saw the dented Phoenix close behind him.

Warlord turned around again and saw a small cloud of hoverbikes approaching him, which he instantly recognised as the XCom human defence wing. They were kept by just in case of any civil disorder or similar events. 'Yes!' thought Warlord as the bikes approached but was cut short by a plasma beam scorching the air to the left of his path.

It suddenly occurred to Warlord that he was on a decommissioned turbobike and noone knew where he was. They weren't here to help him! They were here to shoot him! 'I am having such a bad week,' thought Warlord as he tried to reach the XCom frequency on his bike.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Alan

Tinboy was sitting at his computer terminal, adding a few finishing touches to the ufo type 3 training simulator map, when the alarm went off. He grabbed his standard issue sidearm and ran towards the hanger bay.

Tinboy raced through the hangar and swung into the pilot's seat of phoenix Seven, one of the two assigned usually to gamma squad. He set the comm to monitor all frequencies, and started running through the pre-flight checklist. Engines: 100%. weapons: 100%. flight systems: 100%...

Most of the phoenixes had already been launched, he would be one of the last to leave the hanger...

the pre-flight complete, he hit the throttle and the phoenix shot straight up, and out into the city.

As Tinboy approached the target coordinates he saw his destination in the distance. The sky over the slums was a writhing mass of red. "Damn those stupid aesthetic regulations" Tinboy grumbled. Because of those, all combat craft were required to be red, making it nigh on impossible to tell friend from foe. He was going to have to rely on the phoenix's sensors.

The comm was lit up with chatter. "Phoenix One, this is hoverbike Five- ... -There's one on my tail! - ... -Three, this is Nine - ...". He was about to flip his comm back to squadron frequency when he heard, "All X-com craft - ... - Warlord - ... - Turbo bike Three-nine-two... - ". The message was coming in over one of the old, disused combat frequencies. He set his comm unit to squelch all the other transmissions.

"All X-com craft, this is Warlord on Turbo bike 392. Tag me as friendly, I repeat-".

Tinboy toggled his comm, "Commander, this is Tinboy. Message received. I've got you on sensors, and I'm on my way. Do you need evac? Over". While he spoke, Tinboy tried to send a data burst to the other x-com craft. The transmission failed, someone was jamming the squadron frequency.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Warlord

In his office in the upper levels of the Senate Building, Senator Harding watched the battle below with indifference. Moments later his advisor walked in.

"Sir, it has begun."

"Excellent. Now, let us hope that your 'friends' in Diablo are as trustworthy as they are greedy."

"Sir, I have one question. How did you know he would show up at that particular bar?"

"Check his record. Soldiers are creatures of habit. He's been arrested out of that bar eleven times for various charges including drunk and disorderly, assault and battery, assault of a police officer, and resisting arrest."

"Well, hopefully, you won't have to deal with any more embarrassment from him after tonight."

"It's not the embarrassment of getting him out of jail that bothers me. Hell, half the senators in this building do far worse on a daily basis. The problem with Commander Warlord is that he doesn't follow instruction well. He rarely accepts what he is told at face value. His constant digging has become increasingly worrisome to me. He found our double agent in the research labs, and with alarming speed, concluded who placed her there. He is a threat to operation Omega, and that, I will not tolerate."

"What happens if he survives this hit?"

"Then we recruit more capable parties for the next attempt."

"What happens if he figures out who's after him?"

"And how, pray tell, would he do that? There are only two people that know exactly what's going on. I'm one, and you're the other. The rest are pawns. They know about their individual parts, but have no concept of the whole."

"Yes, Senator."

Meanwhile, Warlord was screaming through the streets on his turbobike, the Diablo hoverbikes in hot pursuit. Several of them had been picked off, but there were too many for the X-Com fliers to handle easily. Suddenly, and idea hit him. Doing in excess of 140kph Warlord made a hard turn into the underground parking area of the Recyclotorium. Screeching to a stop, Warlord drew his Lawpistol.

As the first hoverbike came roaring in, Warlord put two rounds into the rider's helmet, knocking him backwards off the bike. Warlord ducked as the hoverbike flew past without a rider and smashed solidly into the turbobike that had brought him this far. He watched with dismay as the fuel tanks of both vehicles ignited, turning them into a horrible twisted mass of metal.

"Great, now I get to fight on foot..."

Warlord dove for cover as laser beams began to shred the lower level of the building.

"Damn, these guys are playing hardball..."

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Alan

Tinboy saw Warlord's turbobike skid into the underground parking area of the Recyclotorium and the handful of hoverbikes that were following him. Two of the hoverbikes made it into the parking area before Tinboy opened fire. One hoverbike exploded in a huge fireball after a direct hit from a janitor missile, and another weaved a trail of smoke as it dived out of control towards the ground. As the pack of remaining hoverbikes turned to face the new threat

entire sections of the slums were ablaze where hover vehicles, both Diablo and XCom, had crashed into them. Thankfully Diablo's casualties far outnumbered XCom's.

Mouse nightshirt scanned for targets. He didn't have to look far as there were still plenty to choose from. Mouse knew the drill, hang back and provide fire support. The brunt of the fighting was to be left to the dedicated interceptors. Mouse, in his Valkyrie was to stay back, as his craft was primarily equipped to be a transport vessel. His targeting computer beeped to indicate a lock on and he sent another janitor missile into the fray.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

The recyclotorium's klaxon sounded as soon as the first hovercar was spotted. A badly damaged Diablo phoenix had found its way into one of the buildings landing tubes and was probably already in the building.

* All personnel evacuate the building. Repeat, all personnel evacuate the building, * the same message echoed through every corridor in the base.

While the Evonet staff proceeded to evacuate their building, the fight outside continued to rage on. Tinboy hade decided that everyone else had forgotten about him, as he was trying desperately to prevent any more Diablo vehicles entering the recyclotorium. The rest of the hoverbikes were still shooting it out at the slums with the main bulk of Diablo's forces.

As Tinboy swung his Phoenix around and took a shot at another Diablo bike Warlord appeared in the bottom of the Recyclotorium and tried to watch the fire fight above him without exposing himself. As the hoverbike came crashing down near Warlord he dodged back inside behind a pillar and watched the explosion wrap around him.

"Ok men. We're responding to a raid by Diablo. Stay under cover and keep gunfire down to a minimum. We don't want any damage to the building or it'll come out of your pay! Let's go," the Megapol strike force flooded into the Recyclotorium and took up their assigned positions.

Raids on private organisations were the responsibility of the Mega Primus police force and not of XCom. This is how Warlord soon came to find himself surrounded by Megapol officers, all in full combat gear.

Feeling insignificant and recognising the Megapol insignia, Warlord lowered his weapon and was now relying on Tinboy and the hoverbike wing to keep him safe. At least this time, he thought, the people pointing the guns are on his side.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Ego Terrorist

Ego stepped out of his medical bay office and saw several young rookies running down the corridor, he wondered how many more would die until the alien threat had been ended.

"Hey," called Ego.

The three rookies just ran on. The last one, a woman, saluted but didn't stop.

"Fine..." Ego looked down the corridor as the rookies ran on. "What is going on?" Ego half turned to the nurse. "Eve, I'm just going down to the command centre, shan't be long."

The nurse nodded. "Okay, I'll keep an eye on number three."

Ego nodded and started down the corridor, he slowly picked up the pace as a sense of emergency came over him.

As Ego walked through the doors to the command centre he looked about for anyone he knew but only saw the day shift crew moving about frantically, something was up. "YO! CAN ANYBODY TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON??"

The room fell silent, as the eyes all turned to the doctor...

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

After spending most of the morning in the rec room Tammy had finally headed back to her quarters to see if Trigger was awake. Bravo base being the secondary XCom outpost in Mega Primus meant that there was often little work for them. Alpha base would usually undertake four or five missions between two of Bravo bases excursions. For this reason Tammy rarely had anything to do and like the rest of the team spent a lot of time in the rec room between drills and other various base functions.

As the door slid open Trigger looked up from a book and greeted Tammy.

"You can see me?" she asked quite surprised.

"Well I knew it would be you anyway but I'm doing a lot better today. I've been trying to read and although it hurts like he11 I've been able to get a bit of focus back." he replied cheerfully.

"So you're getting better then? How much can you see now?"

"Don't get too excited it's not getting any better now. And like I said it's extremely painful."

"So the surgeon was right then?" she replied disappointedly.

"Unfortunately..." Trigger looked away and a brief silence followed.

"You're reading..." said Tammy trying to sound optimistic.

"Yeah just..." replied Trigger. Another silence. "Tammy?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Well sure... What kind of a favour?" Tammy replied curiously.

"I need you to take me to the sanctuary clinic. I can't get there myself. Not in the state I'm in."

"Why do you want to go there? Have you decided to accept the implants?" asked Tammy.

"No. I'm not having implants. That I am sure of... No, I just want to look at another option. I'll explain on the way," he said. "If you'll take me?"

Tammy thought about it but she couldn't exactly say no. "Sure, let's go."

With that they both left Tammy's quarters and headed for the people tube.

Near the slums in the south of the city, the fire fight between XCom and Diablo still raged on and inside the recyclotorium Megapol officers were fighting a battle of their own against the gangs that had found their way into the building.

"Are you ok sir?" said Tinboy as Warlord pulled himself into his Phoenix.

"Yeah I'm ok. Let's get out of here ok? They can handle the rest of the fight on their own.," said Warlord.

Tinboy was reluctant but knew when it was time to blindly obey his commander without question, and this was very much it. "Yes sir. We're going home," said Tinboy as he swung around the Phoenix and headed for Bravo base. "Fancy a burger?" said Tinboy without thinking.

"Why the hell not?" replied Warlord.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Warlord

As soon as the hovercar docked at Bravo base, a Megapol security detail dispatched by the Senate surrounded the vehicle. The officer in charge, a lieutenant that looked a bit old for his rank, stepped forward, looking very nervous.

"Commander Warlord?"

"That's me."

"Sir, I need you to come with us."

"Why?"

"Sir, Senator Harding wishes to speak with you."

"He's got my number and my address."

"Sir, I have orders to bring you to his office."

"Nothing personal, son, but I'm not going anywhere. I'm tired, I'm dirty, and I want to take a shower. Maybe after I get out I'll feel like meeting with the senator."

The Megapol officer sounded irritated, but it was impossible to see his face through the combat helmet he wore. He obviously had not counted on this. Nobody ignored a senator!

"Sir, you will come with me now, or-"

"Or what? You'll shoot me? Beat me up? Tell my mommy? I don't have time for this crap."

The lieutenant was starting to get mad. He wasn't used to people ignoring his orders.

"Well, son, what's it going to be?"

"Sir, you will come with us right now."

"For the last time, that is not going to happen. I'm going to my quarters. I'm going to take a hot shower. And then I'll decide whether I feel like talking to Senator Harding. If you feel like waiting, feel free to do so. You and your boys can hang out in the rec-room."

With that, Warlord turned and headed for his quarters, leaving the lieutenant stammering and looking like a fish out of water. He moved like he was going to grab Warlord, but was stopped by Alan.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. He's had a bad night, and is still spoiling for a fight. The rec-room is down that hallway if you want to wait for him."

The officer turned to his men and they boarded their Wolfhound APC and left the building. Alan shook his head, knowing there was going to be he|| to pay for this stunt.

In the APC, the "lieutenant" removed his helmet and contacted the Senator's aid.

"Is it done?"

"No, sir. He wouldn't come with us."

"What do you mean, 'he wouldn't come with us'? You had 7 men besides yourself there, armed, and you couldn't bring in one man?"

"It's not that simple, sir. He had a pilot with him, and they were both armed."

"You are truly pathetic. eight to two, and you backed down."

"Sir, I don't think you fully appreciate the caliber and capabilities of the target you assigned us. I fought beside him when he led his assault against X-Com. That man and 11 team members killed over 50 security personnel and trained X-Com combat personnel. He fought those men to a standstill. I was the only other team member to survive that raid."

"Do I understand you to say that you are scared of Commander Warlord, and that you wish to terminate our contract?"

Jack Thomas swallowed hard. A contract of this type, if terminated, usually ended up with all of the "expendable assets" lying in pieces in the recyclotorium.

"No, sir, we will fulfil our end of the bargain. However, this operation will be run as I see fit. No more interference from you."

"Perhaps you feel you are being treated... unfairly?"

Jack swallowed hard again.

"No, not at all... It's just easier to run an operation when I don't have any outside influences."

"Mr. Thomas, the operation will proceed as per our discussion. I will maintain overall control, and you will follow orders. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

Jack terminated the call and swore violently as he leaned back against the inside wall of the APC. Shortly thereafter the APC disappeared into a slum building on the opposite side of town. The "Megapol officers" shed their uniforms and threw them into the incinerator. A maintenance team was already at work sand blasting the Megapol markings off the side of the APC. He had tried to warn the senator's aid that Warlord would not be an easy target to take...

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

"So you mean you're just going to waltz in there and ask these guys to make you new eyes?" Tammy said to Trigger looking puzzled.

"No, not quite." he started. "Thirty years ago the sanctuary clinics won the right to legally copy human body parts from the original patient in order to replace injured limbs and occasionally organs... I'm going to ask them..."

"To clone your eyes?" interrupted Tammy. "Are you insane? You cannot clone your eyes! This technology works on arms, legs, lungs, not eyes"

"How will I ever know if I don't ask? Besides they can do it. I know they can. It's just a matter of whether they will..."

Tammy grabbed hold of Trigger's arm and spun him around. "Trigger, you are not doing this. If that's what you want to do... then I don't want anything to do with it..." The amount of feeling in Tammy's voice surprised even her and she let go of Trigger's arm.

Trigger stared deeply for a while trying to make out the expression on Tammy's face. "Fine," he said after a while. "I'll go alone."

As he turned to walk away, Tammy stopped him again. "Look, you can't go alone and you know it. Are you really serious about this? This is what you want?"

"Yes," he said softly. "Yes it is."

"Then I'll go with you... I just..." Tammy hesitated. "This is a bad idea Trigger." They started walking again and Tammy continued. "You said yourself they may not even do it. Doesn't that mean anything to you? It may not be safe"

"Look, imagine what your life would be like with no eyes? Can you do that? As a soldier it would be he||. As a sniper... It's indescribable... The pain isn't even the worst thing. It's the thought that I can never do what I was born to do. Even when I was a kid I had the skill to do what I do now. Did... My eyes were the only thing that ever made me feel good about myself and now look." Trigger turned to Tammy and took off the shades he'd been issued by the medical staff. Even with his limited vision he saw her cringe. He quickly put them back on. "I'm doing this... One way or another I'm having my eyes back. Not implants, not replacements, my eyes. If that means I have to hold the surgeon at gunpoint then goddammit that's what I'll do..."

Tammy kept walking but started thinking about how much Trigger had changed since the last mission. He was different now. Everything that had made her want to take him in had gone. Replaced by anger, fear and pain. She wanted to help but she was beginning to feel like it was already too late.

"You know the worst thing?" said Trigger in the silence. "Not being able to see the things that people like you and me take for granted every day... The moon at night, the sunset in the evening, the sunrise the next morning... And you... The one person who's stuck with me all this time... And I can't even see your face..."

Then it struck her. He hadn't changed. He'd just matured. His life had moved so fast in the last few years. A degree before he could even legally drink and now this. He wasn't even eighteen years old by birthright but suddenly he seemed older than she felt herself... They walked together in silence.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Alan

The Diablo craft were by now all either retreating or flaming wreckages and with Diablo retreating, the comm jamming stopped. Mouse nightshirt checked his sensor board. Most of the x-com vessels were still bright green dots on his radar, only a few hoverbikes had been lost. There were a handful of flashing dots on the screen indicating search and rescue beacons. Some of the pilots had had chance to bail out and their grav-chutes would have carried them to earth fairly safely. Mouse swung the Valkyrie around and headed in to pickup the downed pilots. The slum district wasn't going to be a safe place to be for a while.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by Warlord

The following morning, the city was buzzing with construction vehicles cleaning up the wreckage from the battle the night before. Warlord sat up on the edge of his bed and flipped on the television.

"-details are still sketchy, but apparently last night, members of the gang Diablo attacked a rival gang member, resulting in the vicious battle that ripped through our city. We'll give you more details as they become available. This is Cynthia Mitchell for Eyewitness News."

Warlord flipped the TV off and headed for the shower. Obviously, the senate's spin-doctors had already gotten to the media. Oh well, so much for the public hearing the truth. It was probably better that way. If they knew half the things that went on in the city they'd probably riot and throw the current government out on its collective ear. He shrugged and stepped into the hot stinging spray from the shower. This was going to be a long day... He was having a lot of those recently.

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

Instalment by The Veteran

As Tammy woke up this time she noticed Trigger was already gone. The two of them had spent the previous evening waiting for a surgeon in the Sanctuary Clinic's reception and had slept the whole night in their chairs.

Tammy groaned and pulled herself out of the hard plastic seat. 'Three nights in a row,' she thought. 'sleeping in a chair... All because of Trigger.' She didn't think it bitterly so much as ponder it thoughtfully.

The waiting room was significantly less crowded this morning than it had been last night but there was still a significant number of people waiting for treatment. Ever since the government had begun funding XCom less than a year ago the sanctuary clinic and other such organisations had been growing steadily poorer and only the most critical patients were permitted immediate treatment.

Tammy approached the information desk and asked where Trigger had gone. She was given a room number a few floors away from where they were and was told that she was expected there.

She walked into a room where Trigger lay on his back with a surgeon examining his eyes. As Tammy entered he turned around to face her.

"Ah, good morning. Your friend here told me to expect you. Please take a seat." The surgeon spoke with a bold voice of authority and indicated a seat across the room.

Tammy sat down. "Is he sedated," she asked the surgeon.

"Yes, it would be extremely painful for him if I was to carry this out while he was conscious. All non-vital body functions have been ceased and he can feel nothing." replied the surgeon calmly.

"Oh, ok. So what's the verdict?"

The surgeon rubbed his forehead and gazed into Trigger's eyes. "There's nothing I can do for him..." he replied glumly. "The tissue is too badly damaged. I may be able to restore partial sight in the left eye but cloning is out of the question. As I believe you thought it would be..." he said turning to Tammy.

"Yes, I did," said Tammy feeling that a reply was expected of her. "What else is there we can try?"

"There's nothing but implants and, from what I gather, that's out of the question... When he comes too all I can do is offer him a little patchwork. He won't have even half of his previous vision but... It's all that can be done given the extent of the damage..."

When they left the surgery a few hours later they were both tired, hungry and exhausted.

"How are you feeling then?" asked Tammy.

"Not bad. Considering... At least I can see a little better now." he replied.

"Is it much better?"

"Well I can see just about well enough to walk alone but I think I best take it slowly. It's been a few days since I last tried to cope on my own..."

As Tammy listened she heard only emptiness in Trigger's voice. He had accepted the surgery as the new retina was cloned from his own but still he couldn't see well enough to do what he loved. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him but she knew she had no idea what it was really like for him.

"Well," she said to him while they were walking back to Bravo base, "we may have missed the sunrise, but if you want we can be back in time to see it set..."

She saw a smile crawl onto Trigger's face and he nodded silently with his eyes to the ground.

"I would like that," he said. "I would like that a lot."

********

END OF CHAPTER 4

[Apocalypse Fanfiction]

CHAPTER 5

********

Instalment by Carlos the Jackal

Carlos was in his quarters. The soft glow of a plasma screen cast a soft glow across the otherwise unlit space. He stared up at the blank ceiling. The past few days had not been easy on Carlos, post mission. And that's what it had become in conversation about the base, 'The Mission'.

The base seemed almost empty, less than 50% of quarters were occupied, counting scientists and engineers. A lot of recruits that he got aquatinted with were no more, and more of his closer friends either were still in hospital or limping around the base. And burning into his head forever was watching them bear Trigger away body crushed and ruined, blood-soaked, holding in his own intestines, his sightless, blistered eyes boring into Carlos's own.

The battle, for Carlos, was a bitter blow to his faith in himself and the organization he fought for. He had not shot a single alien with the deadly plasma pistol he had bore, and the thick organic walls had made his tracker useless. His team had relied on him to track, they believed it when he said it was clear. Carlos had seen his friends and fellow soldiers alike brought down and he had killed nothing. And yet, somehow he had ended up commanding the scraps of his squad, simply because there was hardly any other senior personnel standing or reporting.

Most of the surviving recruits had been relocated to base Alpha, and a few hardened troops from there had been transferred to Bravo, but not nearly enough. Too many people had quit, and word had gone around, recruitment from trained government and military personnel had plummeted, civilian recruitment requests remained the same, but even the basic crash course training took over two weeks.

Carlos had been like a ghost around the base, watching, listening. He'd overheard Ego and Doc talking, and understood exactly what they were talking about. Was this place going to be viable anymore? They were so understaffed, Warlord was employing Marsec security staff simply to bulk up security. Warlord had done what he could with the slice of the pie his overseers in Alpha gave him, but the Alpha commander had spread his resources too thin. As well as understaffing, underequiping and understaffing Bravo, the commander had designated Warlord as the chief liaison for the Senate, and so it was Warlord who drew most fire from the senate when things went wrong.

Carlos knew that the power structure was far from transparent in X-COM, this he had become keenly aware. Just who was the Alpha commander?, only Warlord knew from here. And the Alpha soldiers were tight-lipped about it, but otherwise friendly, even respectful. Alpha may have helped bring the UFO down, and secure the area, but it was Bravo that went in. Carlos had made an acquaintance of one of the Alpha lieutenants, Jessie a striking woman with brown eyes. She had told Carlos that the commander is rarely seen, and it was a Major Haggith who ran Alpha day to day under him. The Major himself was an enigma, but the Tridents that were tattooed into the Major's biceps gave away one of his old professions. X-Com aquanaut.

Carlos had one last piece of information. Since the second alien war, X-Com was never disbanded, but was maintained throughout the chaos following as a low-key governmental force. The director, now most likely commander was, and remains almost completely unknown, answering covertly only to the President of Mega-Primus. Harding, a vocal opponent of the President may well believe Warlord is the true administrator of X-com, disguised as a subordinate. Harding knew something. Harding was playing his own secret, shadow-games.

Factions and shadowy conflicts, was it normal politics and corruption, or was it something to do with the aliens. X-Com was indeed countering the alien threat, but was it a cover for something else, something even more worse than the escalating alien conflict. "What are we fighting for?" thought Carlos "I can almost taste the Deus Ex Machina, the over-lord control and manipulation". Carlos had a theory, and he would meet Harding. Carlos rose from the bed, he was fully dressed and fully armed, but he tucked a concealed butterfly knife under his thin kevlar vest. But first he had to meet someone, a meeting he'd put off far too long. A high ranking member of the Mutant Alliance and possibly, if Tasman Enterprises were correct, his last close blood relative.

Carlos made the call. He heard her voice for the first time. She agreed to a meeting. Carlos exited his quarters.