Apocalypse Fanfic

[Zager]

Several meters into the shaft

"Fry the bastard," filtered the voice up into the shaft, as the team passed above them.

 

"Not him," Jon whispered. "Low ranker."

 

"Are you sure?" Tammy asked

 

Jon stared at her. [We don't act condenscending, you don't ever doubt my abilities. I was personally trained by one of the greatest psionics in existence.] he broadcasted into her mind

 

"Don't do that," she whispered harshly, twisting to stare at him. "I don't know if you're reading my mind or not."

 

[it's perfectly natural. And it's quiet, which is more than you can say for your whispers. These thugs won't be above emptying a marsec machine gun into this shaft if they have the slightest suspicion we're here.]

 

"I don't like it."

 

[Pity. It's the easiest of all the skills. I bet even a blank like you could learn how to do it yourself with a mindbender. I don't even need a mindbender to do it.]

 

"What the hell is a blank?"

 

[sorry,] he broadcasted. [it's psionic slang, it means a person who isn't capable of utilizing the powers of their mind. Let's keep moving, shall we?]

 

"That was weird, like listening to half a conversation," Pat commented, crawling along.

 

Fifteen minutes later

"Here," Jon whispered, for the benefit of Tinboy. "There's someone down there. From the cult of sirius, he's talking to somebody from Diablo. Oh dear lord, he's psionic! He's detected me"

 

Jon rolled to the side as a blast of gunfire tore through the aged metal, the bullets missed him by millimeters. Pat pulled a huge handgun out of his suit, and pulled the trigger three times. Three huge holes appeared in the floor ventilation shaft, and the gunfire abrutly cut off.

 

Patrick rolled over, arched his back, leapt up in the air and landed feet first on the floor. The old metal, weakened by the gunfire, gave away under the force and shattered. Everybody fell into the room below. Pat was expecting it, and fired twice more.

 

The diablo thug, crouching behind a desk, fell to the floor with shattered kneecaps. Tinboy, acting quickly, dropped Tammy to the floor, leapt up and smashed the mind bender out of the hands of the Cultist, before he could panic or mind control one of the biological members of the team.

 

Jon had his EM pistol out, and fired four shots into the door as it started to open. The thug behind it let out a groan and collapsed.

 

"Jon, Tammy, get what you need out of them," Pat shouted, as he leveled his gun at the door. "Tinboy, help me hold them off! We don't have much time before they bring up the heavy weapons."

[Mouse Nightshirt]

Matthew enjoyed scouting out the town undercover. Of course, few knew who he was, and under the disguise of a businessman, no one would ever be suspicious. As the air of the People Tube rushes through his hair, he felt liberated. Inside, he knew the fate of humanity, of Earth, and he would be there to embrace it, and to lead Earth into a new frontier.

He always referred to himself as Matthew while not in the Holy Hood of the Supreme Priest, and he always looked... different... as if there was no shadow of the true person he was. His eyes were more vibrant, his movements springier. Everything about him was more relaxed as Matthew. It was as if Matthew and Master were two different personas altogether.

Matthew arrived at Exit Strut 29B, and disembarked from the People Tube. A Phoenix Hovercar was waiting there, hovering inches above the grass. Matthew embarked, and they took off.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the Temple. As Matthew stepped in the door, his eyes instantly darkened. His steps slowed. An Initiate put his robes over him. Another opened the door to his office. Master stepped through.

 

"The raid is going ahead as planned tonight followers. Teams Cy, and Ia will be leaving on this mission. Everyone who is on these missions knows the peril they are in, but also know of the great rewards of success."

Master shifted his eyes from left to right. He sensed no fear, no lack of faith, no lack of determination.

A High Priest then came up, and whispered something into Master's ear. Slowly, a smile crept over his face.

"Free you say? When will this be so?" asked Master.

"Within the next few hours." Replied the High Priest.

"Ahhh, excellent. Make preparations for a re-integration. We shall celebrate their return with our successful raid on Marsec"

Master turned back to his loyal followers, his hair shining subtly in the lighting.

"Great news my followers! Our captive friends shall be released tonight! Let our victory be a celebration of their return"

At this, the whole Temple filled with cheering. The walls shook with excitement. The floor rumbled with pleasure. The roof shifted with relief. Finally, the Captive Few were returning to their rightful service of Master, and the Aliens.

 

A few hours later, the teams were ready to get going. All were fully equipped with the latest the Cult had to offer. Master decided he would go as well. As the hand on the clock moved to 20:00, the team moved out to door, into the people tubes. Marsec was about to suffer...

[The Veteran]

In the northern sector of the city Megapol was busy with an operation outside one of the cities largest warehouses and they had attracted a large amount of public interest.

Five megapol hovercars had sealed off the entrance to the warehouse and the officers were assembled around the buildings main doorway. Several of them had disappeared inside the building and had not been seen for several minutes. Now they had reappeared with a group of what seemed to be civilians but were marched towards the squadcars at gun point with their hands high behind their heads.

As the onlookers watched the twelve men walk to the squadcars it was clear that they weren't civilians. They all wore grey jumpsuits and some of them looked distinctly 'foreign'. Their eyes were larger, and darker than normal. Their bodies were spindly but gave the impression of concealing much more power than they seemed to. They all had short hair except one. This individual walked calmly at the head of the row with his hands neatly by his sides. His hair was long and had a slight ambience about it, almost glowing with a dull tone of amber.

If the next two men to arrive had not been so professional in their line of work then Megapol's audience may also have caught a glimpse of them, when they appeared in the warehouse's shadowy doorway. As it was the two men simply watched the vehicles depart fully loaded and the gathered crowd disperse, with a large amount of persuasion by the Megapol operatives. When the last stragling remnants of the crowd had disappeared the two men turned to each otherwith a mutual look of dissatisfaction and returned into the building, heading for the lower levels of the structure.

[Tammy]

Tammy pulled herself up into a chair, thankful for all the extra exercise she'd always made herself do to improve her upper body strength. By the time the man they'd come to see slipped silently into the room, she appeared to be sitting calmly and serenely beside Jon while Patrick and Tinboy held their guns leveled at the door and Diablo and Cultist thugs writhed on the floor.

 

Tammy looked at Jon, appearing to shrug off something she found distasteful, then nodded at him. Jon looked a bit surprised at getting her blessing to us his psi powers, but of course, he'd intended to do so with or without it. He then directed his attention to the man who had stopped in the shadows at the far side of the room. Tammy glanced at Patrick, remembering what he'd said about doing the talking, but it didn't seem he'd be in a position to do it. She took a deep breath and began to ask careful questions about the kinds of operations that were possible, without ever saying that she knew that it had been done there. She knew enough about gangs to know that they got pretty annoyed if anybody implied that they were involved in the illegal activities that everyone knew they were up to their necks in every day. She kept the questions hypothetical and discovered that Trigger would be having some pretty severe pain for a while, but that eventually it would pass. She was relieved, but then she saw Jon's brow furrow a bit as he cast a sidelong glance at her. He broadcast into her mind that it would have to wait, so she directed her gaze back to the mysterious figure across the room. After another deep breath, she began questioning them about the possibilities for her own condition without revealing that she was asking about herself. She knew better than to let a Diablo thug know that she couldn't walk. Again, it was obvious that they weren't telling her everything from the look on Jon's face, but she never let on that she suspected that he was being less than forthcoming.

 

After a few minutes of questioning, Jon's head whipped around toward the door, and Tammy's saw the door burst open followed by three Diablo thugs carrying guns. One was trained on her before she knew it, and her instincts kicked in before she even had time to think about it. She quickly planted a bullet in the man's hand, making him drop his gun. Killing humans had never been her favorite thing, but she wasn't too keen on being killed herself, either. Patrick and Tinboy took out the other two, and when they'd turned back around, their informant was gone.

 

"Time for a tactical retreat," announced Patrick. Tinboy quickly scooped Tammy back onto his back and they disappeared quickly into the hallway, running flat out toward the nearest exit. Tammy kept her eyes and her gun trained behind them, while Jon used his own skills to scan their surroundings for the safest route out. They finally found themselves outside again, only a short run from the hovercar. They barrelled quickly across the lack of cover, dodging one hail of bullets just as they leaped into the car and slammed the doors. Tinboy upped the throttle to max, and headed directly away from the X-COM base--no need to broadcast their affiliation to any Diablo members who happened to be watching. There would be trouble aplenty if the powers above Warlord found out what they were up to.

 

"Okay," Tammy turned to Jon. "What didn't they tell me?"

 

"Well, your boy Trigger's going to suffer short term all right, but he doesn't need to be watching any sad movies anymore either. For the rest of his days, he will probably suffer pretty severe pain whenever tears from in those fancy new eyes of his."

 

"And me?" she prodded.

 

"Well, I didn't get very specific information," he dodged. "I don't think it's a good idea, though. You'd better stick with X-COM meds."

 

"Talk," she insisted.

 

Jon paused. "There's a better than even chance that your paralysis would be permanent if you go with their methods. Even if it works, you're going to go through torment that you cannot begin to imagine, not even after what you just went through. You won't be allowed painkillers because they'll have to monitor what is happening to your nervous system," he began and then stopped short. Tammy gave him a look that let him know he'd better continue, so he went on. "It's also probably your only chance," he added reluctantly.

 

Tammy spent the rest of the trip looking out the window lost in thought.

[Zager]

"What about cybernetics?" Patrick suddenly suggested, out of the blue, as they pulled into the base.

 

"Pardon?" Tammy said, snapping out of her reverie.

 

"Cybernetics. Get your legs replaced with cybernetic ones. The procedures relatively simple, a lot of people on the force were cyborgs. It's perfectly safe, they do it all the time, and the replacements are usually even better than the originals."

 

"Hmm, I'll think about it."

 

"You do that, I highly recommend it."

[Tammy]

As soon as they returned to the base, Tinboy hurried Tammy back to the medlab. She didn't really believe that nobody had noticed her absence, but perhaps she could minimize the damage by being back quickly. She knew TJ would be furious but that he'd forgive her for the same reasons that he'd be angry. She needed some time to think and maybe to talk to somebody about what to do. It was easy enough for someone else to talk about getting replacement legs, but she knew it wasn't going to be that easy a decision. She asked Tinboy if he'd do some research on the subject for her. He seemed momentarily puzzled when she asked him to check into how they looked and what sort of sensation ability she could expect. Not being human, he couldn't understand in any way other than an abstract way, but Tammy wasn't about to give up her beautiful legs if she didn't have to.

 

Tinboy deposited her in the bed, and she lay back and closed her eyes to think. "Thanks, Tinboy," she said softly, knowing that his extraordinary hearing would pick up what she was suddenly too exhausted to say more loudly. Tinboy acknowledged her thanks and then set off to find out what she wanted to know. Tammy found herself wondering why he was so willing to help her when even she had to admit that what she was doing was somewhat illogical. She didn't have much time to think about it, though, as she suddenly heard TJ come running into the medlab, upsetting the staff, and insisting that he knew that Tammy was back and that he was going to talk to her now. Tammy took a deep breath, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hold him back. Suddenly she realized that she desperately hoped that they wouldn't be able to. She needed to talk to him about what she'd learned.

 

Sure enough, after about another ten seconds, he came into view, looking murderous. "What kind of fool stunt was that?" he demanded before he was fully in the room.

 

Tammy found herself sighing contentedly for some reason. Knowing somebody cared could make up for a lot of grief. She opened her eyes and leveled them on her adopted "brother" for a couple of seconds without answering. Then she unaccountably began to cry against her will, and TJ's face softened instantly. "I'm sorry. I don't have any business taking your head off for doing something like this after you've stuck by me through all the crazy things I've done."

 

"No, no, I'm okay, and you didn't hurt me. If anything, I think it's sweet that you were worried. I just have to tell you some things, and none of them are very good for either of us. You might want to sit down," she said, putting a determined stop to her tears.

[Mouse Nightshirt]

A cold wind swept by the trees and buildings as Master and one of his elite raiding teams disembarked from the Valkyrie Interceptor. Master looked up to the top of the Megapol warehouse. No snipers. Safe. He idly thought for a moment about the great success of the recent raids of Marsec, and the equipment gained as a result of it. The Cult was now stronger than it had ever been before, and they were attaining what was previously thought as unattainable, the ability to crush X-Com like the heathen bugs they were.

 

The team progressed stealthily to the ground vehicle entrance. Only one guard was present, which one of the Snipers quickly disposed of. As he fell to the ground, Master smiled. They were already in.

 

Master walked over, and picked up the dead guard's key card. He swiped it through the panel in the entrance security station. The large doors begin to slowly retract, the inner belly of the warehouse becoming visible. The team entered quickly, closing the door behind them. Group Alpha broke off, and headed to the power sub switches, as Master and Team Beta began to sweep the building. A patrol guard came round the corner. Master ordered the team to hold fire; the sound of a shot would echo and reverberate around the building. The team took cover, as the guard walked past, whistling, "I'm a little teapot", as one of the Beta team muffled a snigger. A few minutes passed, before, all of a sudden, the lights went out.

 

Beta team put on their infa-red goggles, and moved out. The Megapol security team were shouting to each other, about where the lights had gone. Then the gunfire broke out.

 

When Master began to shoot, he felt as if he had been possessed, his body was on automatic mode. He didn't have to think before shooting. His actions were done, as if by magic. As he ran round the corner, his dual Plasma Pistols ready to fire, he ran straight into a Megapol security personnel, who stumbled and dropped his Machine Gun. Master pushed the barrels into the terrified human's face, who just stared back with eyes full of fear.

Matthew uttered, "Who do you worship?"

The fear-ridden soldier said with hesitation, "Err... No...one..."

"Wrong answer."

 

With that, Master pulled the trigger, and as the plasma bolts passed through the soldier's skull, brains and blood gushing out the other side, Master turned away, to find his next target.

 

Then came the explosions, as the Heavy Launchers were used. The mutilated and charred remains of the Megapol Security Corps lay strewn all over the blood soaked floor. After only 40 minutes of battle, the entire Security Corps had been wiped out, with only minimal injuries to the squad. A few minutes later, the hangar doors opened, as a fleet of Auto-Trans landed in the landing bay. It took 30 minutes to load on the cargo, before the team left a devastated building behind...

 

(Edited, line in fic previously said: "A patrol guard came round the corner. Master ordered the team to hold fire; the sound of a shit would echo and reverberate around the building.", which is quite funny when I think about it )

[The Veteran]

The skies of Mega Primus were black with smoke, it rose from one of the safest places in the city... The Megapol warehouse...

The nearby station had recieved a distress call almost an hour ago now but had soon after lost contact with the security forces there. No officers were free to attend the site as it had not been the only raid that day... A school, the mall and a large flier factory had also been attacked. All by the same organisation... The Cult of Sirius.

As Master returned to the Temple of the Millenium he was greeted by a High Priest, one of his more competent followers.

"Master," he said, "I have news from the raid of the large flier factory..."

"What were our losses?"

"Minimal Master, but our gains will prove endless. We met with no resistance, and XCom was not summoned. This stands as a pact with the company. If we provide them with protection from any rival organisations then they will support our cause and sever their funding of XCom."

"Excellent, find out who their rivals are and destroy them. What have we gained from the pact?"

"If you will follow me Master I will show you."

Without noticing the two men had already been walking for a short while and it wasn't long until Master reached the large double doors of the temple's main hangar.

The High Priest did not need to turn around to face Master as he had not turned his back on him the whole way. Through respect, fear and loyalty, Master's follower's never presented him with a view of their backs.

The priest touched a button on the wall and the large doors slowly slid open. A grin crossed Master's face and he turned to the priest slowly.

"Tell me, what was the effect of the incursions at the mall and the school? Did we gain any support?"

"Only a little Master but it is helping the people of Mega Primus to realise that XCom is no longer capable of helping them. Especially after the destruction of the senate by terrorists."

"Very good. And no children were hurt?" Master's voice was tipped with concern as he spoke this last question.

"No Master. On your request they were all left unharmed. Civilian casualties were also kept to a minimum at the mall. The troops understand that these missions were not for commercial gain but for local support."

"Good. Assemble the troops in the landing bay immediately. And have the troops ready all of those for duty in five minutes. Summon the other High priests as well. We fly again before the day is done... And tomorrow, XCom will be no more..."

[Ki-tat Chung]

**********

As Ki-tat aproched the Senate Building, he raised his custom built Law Pistol. It was almost tradition that when you reach a leading status, you owned a customised weapon. When he reached the doors, he relised that Carlos and the hybrid had already disapeared in the maze.

 

"Great," Ki-tat thought as he took a turn left, then right, and another left and ended at a maintnance mover-lift.

 

Ki-tat decended into the lower level to come face to face with a pink humanoid. The creature was facing the other way, but some-how was able to tell he was behind him and started to turn around.

 

"Eat this" and with that, Ki-tat shot the creature in the head. But all it did was spit a glob of green goo straight at where his head was a fraction of a second ago if it wern't for his martial arts training. He did a hard kick at the thing's stomach and when it was on the floor, he fired at it five times.

 

"Maybe this isn't the best way--" Ki-tat said to himself before being interupted by a shot, screech and an explosion blasting him off the floor.

**********

 

"Hey, you're awake."

 

Ki-tat turned his head, painfuly, around to see Carlos grinning at him with parts of his face bandaged. He couldn't help but gape and stare.

 

"Hey, you arn't much better," Carlos said and handed Ki-tat a small mirror.

 

What Ki-tat saw was a scarred, young chinese man with bandages over his face.

 

"See?"

 

"Yeh, I see."

 

Ki-tat handed Carlos the mirror back and fell back onto the pillow. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again, he was looking at the doctor's face.

 

"Well, you have a few scars, but nothing too serious. You should be fine by tomorrow. All we need to do is remove those bandages in the morning and you should be able to leave, but prefferable, we want you to stay for aleast for another weel."

 

"Great," Ki-tat said. He thanked the doctor and told him tomorrow will be stared at the ceiling. He decieded to go back to his room. After all, like the doctor said, he was pretty much all healed.

 

"Hey Carlos, I'm going back to my room," Ki-tat said.

 

"Ok, I'll catch you later."

 

Ki-tat got off the bed and headed for his room. When he got there, he got changed and took the bandages off himself and did some kata forms before hitting the sack. Right in the middle of the excercise, he jumped. Klaxon alarm.

 

"Raid," the squad leader thought as he instinctivly reached for his armor and law pistol.

[Snikers]

POW!

The training target figure suddenly had a hole through his abdomen, right where the liver would be. The flash of the lawpistol shone on Snikers' huge black eyes.

Surrounded by humans.

A tic below Snikers' right eye twitched and he blasted a hole through the figure's neck.

Humans.

Disgusting vermin.

"Cockroaches." Snikers whispered. The pistol cracked again and the poor figure got a hole in his groin.

"Ou-uch" Some guy Snikers didn't know, some human, another of the millions of stupid unwashed soft hicks that infest this whole stinking city, crowed almost directly in his left ear. "Wow, I'm glad I'm not that guy"

Stupid, stupid fools, all of them, bunch of happy-perky socialists just pestering him, all friends-like - did they think he was retarded? Yeah, like a human would ever want to be friends - man, what a stupid friggin' word - with a mutant. Or as if he would ever want to be friends with them.

"Am I right? I mean, right through the groin! That's gotta hurt" The man was still talking, yammering, duckspeaking. Snicker resisted the urge to turn and put a bullet through his eye and instead snapped his gun into autofire mode. The bullets cut through the air and erased the wooden figure's upper chest. The lower section of the fake person's body fell to the floor with a clack.

"You know, you're pretty good with a lawpistol." The man said putting a hand on Snikers' shoulder, big toothy smile pasted on his face.

Snikers' lip turned away from his yellow teeth for a second before he regained his composure. He slapped a new agazine into his lawpistol.

Stupid, weak, soft, brainless mindless bugs. That's what they were, bugs, all just mindless insects going from one place to another thinking they're the gods of the universe, thinking they can just kick him and his kind around...the stupid weak humans back in the gang had their stomachs turned by him. They were small and weak, they were

nothing. Humans, they deserved everything they got. All the hurting, all the killing, all the raping and stealing and torturing and burning and all of it together, they all earned it. Nothing, no matter what they did nothing

could be done to rapay what they had done to him and his people. Getting kicked around, they weren't even allowed to procreate.

When he was being born the police burst into the building, of course procreation was illegal for hybrids so they just shot everyone on sight, no matter that his mother had been raped by some stupid human and left for dead in an alleyway, he only barely got away as someone carried him off, he didn't know who, he couldn't remember because when he was seven she got shot dead by some drunken hicks, drunken humans, just out looking to make asses out of themselves, that's just what humans did for fun it seemed, just a bunch of stupid scum-sucking

mindless brainless cowardly stupid -

A klaxon rang and shattered Snikers' thoughts. His head snapped up.

The man beside him looked around wonderously. "What's that bell mean?" He asked, fearful.

Humans.

Snikers' took the gun with him as he dashed out of the room.

[The Veteran]

All through Bravo base soldiers were abandoning their tasks and rushing to the hangars for briefing. They grabbed hold of what weapons and equipment they could, fearing a raid, and hurried through the base cautiously.

Ki-tat Chung, already armed, was scouting out every corridor and room he passed and when he saw a group of soldiers rush past him he came close to shooting off some reaction fire.

When the last few troops had arrived in the Hangar they realised that noone was there to tell them the situation since them commander had fallen prey to a Spitter's acidic spit.

As the soldiers began to talk amongst themselves and get altogether agitated, the klaxon ceased to sound and a man appeared from the Tactical Command center above the hangar bay.

"Well done for the quick response time everyone, but we shall only be requiring the pilot for the time being. We have detected multiple illegal fliers leaving the Temple of the Millenium. We didn't pick up on it sooner as they are all legal ships but we just checked the databases of the company that owns them and they were all stolen from them in a recent raid by the Cult of Sirius. A few minutes ago, the craft reached Alpha base and are bombarding it from the air. The craft there are still out of action from the Cult's last raid on the base and the soldiers can't escape the bombing. We don't know why the Cult has overlooked Bravo base but they seem to have turned all of their available craft against Alpha base at least for the time being. All pilots are to leave immediately and engage the enemy craft with full force. Damage to the city is acceptable but should be kept to a minimum. Squadron Leaders, you're all in total control of your divisions. That's all, and good luck."

With that the officer returned to the Tactical Command center and the hangar doors slid open revealing the steeply sloped launch tubes favoured by XCom for over eighty years. One by one XComs finest pilots piloted their finest craft out of the belly of Bravo base. The sky above the warehouse became a blur of red but all but one squad quickly dropped to the lowest height allowed for governmental craft.

From the Temple of the Millenium a man watched over the city. A tall, dark man. He watched as the craft of the Cult reached the site of Alpha base, and then he watched them start bombing. After a short while, he was still watching as a large corner section of the building collapsed. But only now did he see something that truly surprised him. Master saw his craft being approached by a wing of craft that he could identify even at the great distance he watched from. XCom... But Bravo base had been dissolved... He had been assured that Bravo base would be non operational by today! Maybe... was there another base? Or had he been misinformed? Betrayed by the worm of a man he had turned so many moons ago! Noone betrayed the Cult. For now he had to watch as an inevitable battle drew near in the grey sky of Mega Primus but he would see that snake destroyed come morning... The senate would pay dearly for the mistakes of a man who had betrayed them both...

[Zager]

"C'mon, we ain't got time for this," Pat said to Jon, leaping on board on groud cycle.

 

"Why?" Jon asked.

 

"Let's go provide some air support. I've got an idea. The car's still parked where I left it, we can be there in a few minutes."

 

As they sped out of the X-COM base, Jon commented. "Why is it that X-COM is spending more time killing humans than aliens? I think they've got a priority screwup somewhere. First diablo, now this."

 

Pat snorted. "Typical of us humans. Can't even cooperate against a common threat. Now, here's the idea. We're going to head to Sato's once we get the car?"

 

"Sato's? Why?"

 

"Nothing much we can do in a firefight, but Sato's got some powerful stuff in his back room. Stuff that could even the odds for us. We've got a cannon and a few missiles. The X-COM pilots got plasma cannons and state of the art tracking systems. Let's not kid ourselves, a patrol car ain't a hawk battle cruiser."

 

A few minutes later

The Megapol hover car landed outside of Sato's in the slums, and the two ran out.

 

"We need a big bomb and some missiles, Sato," Pat said, runnning through the door.

 

"Pardon?" Sato said.

 

"We've got an emergancy, and we need some heavy shit. Anti-building stuff preferably."

 

"I've got some modified sonic wave cannnons in the back and a few cut down redemption missiles that should do the trick, but they're expensive."

 

Pat slapped down a number. "X-COM's account. Charge it here."

 

"So you're in X-COM now? That was a fast transfer."

 

"We weren't exactly given a choice in the matter," Jon stated.

 

"I see," Sato nodded. "Let's hurry, bring your car into the garage, the devices are fitted for standard hardpoints. Shouldn't be too difficult to attach them shortly."

 

"Wait a minute, what do you mean, anti-building work?" Jon said suddenly. "I thought we were going to join the fight at Alpha."

 

"I've got a better idea," Pat said, chuckling as he ran out the door.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Temple of the Millenium

"Master, we're picking up a strange transmission," one of the acolytes said. "It appears to be originating from a Megapol hover cruiser passing nearby."

 

"What is it?" he demanded.

 

"It appears to be some sort of song," the acoylte stated. "We've analysed it, and it would appear to be Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkryie. Wait, they're transmitting voice."

 

"Take a look out the window, I've got a present for you," Pat shouted into the radio, then depressed a button on the control panel. The cut down Redemption was as powerful as a standard missile, but Sato had cut back the fuel tanks immensely, so it could fit onto a hovercar, but you had to be right on top of the target to hit it.

 

"Sir, missile launch detected" came the shout, as the cut down Redemption slammed into the front of the temple. Fortunately, for the cultists, the armor held, and most of the damage was only superficial

 

"I've wanted to do that for a long time," Pat said, grinning widely.

 

"Me too, I hate those bastards," Jon said, with a vhemence. "Every time they provide support for the Mutant alliance, they invariably end up harming whatever we were supporting. These SOBs have this coming."

 

"Watch the radar, we want to get out of here fast, before their attack forces get back here to defend the temple," Pat said, as he launched their other Redemption missile.

[Snikers]

The walls, the floor, the ceiling rumbled. Snikers dashed down the hallway, finger inside the trigger guard on the lawpistol. The klaxon continued to screech like a banshee. It was exactly five octaves above the rumbling of the world around him and the sounds mixed into some bizarre harmony. Dust, dislodged by some unknown force, drifted downwards from the lights above Snikers' head.

He detected an unfamiliar noise and stopped dead. He backtracked two steps and realized it was a ventilation duct. It was rattling.

Snikers entered the central control room, arm snapping out and grabbing the person he instinctively knew was there. He pulled the technician by his shirt to within an inch of his own face and spoke in a clear, expressionless manner.

"What's happening." He demanded, mentally pressing the man's mind to show he was serious.

The technician was taken aback by surprise and the sudden appearance of the sectoid eyes. "Ah - wh-what? Er, I mean..."

Snikers pushed the useless boy away and took two steps towards the nearest terminal. The woman there was frantically smacking down keys at a rate of ninety a minute, attention riveted on the screen's information in front of her. Snikers, on the other side of the desk, unceremoniously leaned over the monitor and pushed the blonde's head back until her eyes were locked to his own.

"Info. Now."

"Snikers" The hybrid's interrogation was shortened by the shout of Alpha Base's commander behind him. He spun and preformed a perfect salute. "Sir"

"We're under attack. He need all available hands, so for god's sake don't bug them."

"Sir! Attack, sir?"

"You got it, rookie. Cult of Sirius is giving us a once over with their ships. They came out of nowhere and hit us before we could attack, a gestapo."

"Sir! Blitzkrieg, sir."

"Whatever. They're hitting the building on top of us with a few missiles and a few lasers, but Bravo's on its way. Our launch tubes were the first taken out. Look," said the commander, handing Snikers a small device resembling a personal television. On the screen was a shot from a camera on a neighboring building; the large government building above XCOM Alpha was being mercilessly pounded by some dozen or two heavily armed hovercars."

"Sir! From my experience in Psycke I can tell you that this is a very serious situation. I have seen such attacks before and the building will be destroyed before help can arrive, sir"

The commander gave Snikers a condescending look. "What? They can't destroy my base. Don't be ridiculous, rookie, remember who's the C.O. here. Now get out of here, you're in the way."

Snikers saluted crisply and sprinted as fast as possible from the control room. He was going to run for his room. Get everything he would need. If the commander changed his mind, he had to be ready; if he didn't, nothing in the future mattered.

[The Veteran]

Snikers placed the handheld monitor on the desk beside him before he left. Noone was watching it now, but if they had been they would have seen more than hovercars surrounding Alpha base. Another dozen Cultist ships had been present the whole time but only now did they rise from behind the base. These craft were not decorated as the rest of the attacking vehicles but instead sported the brightly polished red exterior, favoured by XCom craft.

At first it would have seemed to anyone watching that Alpha base had managed to free some of it's own craft after all. Alpha base however had not a single flight worthy vehicle before or after the attack as they remained out of action following the recent raid on the base. The craft were in fact fighting alongside the Cult's own, as that was exactly what they were. As an offer of peace, Mega Primus's leading large flier factory had presented the Cult of Sirius with seven Valkyrie interceptors and five additional Hawk gunships. All were fully armed and all were present at the assault on Alpha base.

As a Cult missile lost it's course, the dark organisation took it's first casualty. The missile failed to reach the warehouse but instead caught the tail end of one of the Cult's own hovercars. The missile however was not wasted as the hovercar veered sharply of course and finally found it's mark on a ground floor window. Inside Alpha base's conference room, a large assembly of administrative personnel including several high ranking officers was decimated by the ensuing explosion. Fire tore through the room and out into the halls causing a large section of the ceiling to collapse. The cultist hovercars that witnessed the impact immediately turned their attention to the weakened section of wall and almost simultaneously another four missiles tore through the side of the building, one entering the hole itself. A massive explosion tossed concrete slabs clean across the street and the seven stories of warehouse suspended above the conference room slipped away from the structure bringing adjoining sections of wall floor and ceiling crashing down after them.

Although the Alpha warehouse was an imposing structure, this was already the second major structural collapse and Bravo still hadn't sent craft to intercept the cultists. But now, just as the last traces of smoke began to dissipate there were craft on the horizon. hundreds of them there seemed to be yet ony a handful existed. Mostly hovercars and bikes and a small wing of gunships similar to those being fielded by the cult but nowhere near as large in number. Hanging back from the main body of aircraft flew Bravo bases sole Valkyrie, carrying with it the base's best tactical supervisors. Four in all, including the recently reappointed Doc France. From the Valkyrie, nothing could be seen of the battle through the smoke and the craft were flying too low to percieve much anyway.

"Take us up," said Doc as they neared the battle.

"We have orders from the squadron leader sir. We must retain this height until we are within one hundred meters of the building."

"I know pilot, but we need to see what the Cult has out there or we'll have no time to plan this until it's too late. Radio through to the rest of the squadron and confirm that the Valkyrie is detatching from the wing."

"Yes sir," replied the pilot.

The Valkyrie soon began to climb smoothly and the four men stared intently at the monitors in fromnt of them.

"Holy crap," said Bomb bloke as he recognised gunships and interceptors among the hovercars. "We're going to have to make fifty meters before we go up... If not we'll be cut to ribbons. And we need missiles locked onto the gunships before they know we're here or they'll be impossible to get to at all."

"Agreed, but we need to encircle them before we do anything else, and then we risk exposing ourselves before we're ready to attack at all..."

The three other men looked at Doc while he spoke and then back at the monitors once he stopped.

"Why bother surounding them? If we spread our forces too thin then we might as well turn around now." This was the first time Tankman had spoken and it took the others by some amount of surprise.

"You're suggesting a full frontal attack?" said Doc synically. "If we don't back up these actions with well made plans then you're right! We may as well turn around"

"Guys come on! Let's not turn this into something nastier than it already is! We're each here for a reason and we're displaying them perfectly. We have Doc for overall tactics, Bomb Bloke for the heavy duty stuff, Tankman for the close quarters fighting and me for large scale sniping" Trigger honestly wasn't sure why he was here but he figured it was Warlord's doing. What he did know though was that enemies are easily picked off when there's just the one to shoot. "For my contribution I say we need to split them up, and that relies on what everyone's said. If we stay down 'till fifty meters back and lock all missiles as soon as possible we can take down the gunships before they even know we're coming. Then Doc can encircle the rest of these vampires while Tankman drives in the stake! Our only chance is to work together. And if we can't do that... then why bother?"

[Snikers]

Snikers hurriedly threw open his locker and dumped the contents out onto the floor. Another loud rumble resounded through the base and the ground quaked for a split second under his feet.

Snikers snapped open his pack and quickly grabbed from his meager posessions what he felt he would need. The worn Psycke uniform, kept in secret, went into the bag. He brushed away his other clothes and selected the CDs that held his favourite works of literature. Stuffing them into the pack, he added to them two fistfuls of plasma power packs. He reached into a white sock and pulled out a hidden shank - a crude knife he had made when he was ten. It was low-tech, but still deadly when used effectively. he tucked it into his boot, making a quick check at the door to make sure there were no spectators.

He noticed the XCOM backpack was only half full with these, but he had never had much to his name. He grabbed the beret from the XCOM dress uniform out of the pile of clothes and snapped on a pair of black goggles. It wouldn't do to leave part of his uniform behind, and the goggles were the best protection he had access to.

Shouldering the pack, he dashed out into the hall. He had barely put a foot out the doorway when some not-so-distant explosion nearly deafened him and a shockwave threw him to the hard concrete floor.

Shaking it off, Snikers bounded to his feet and shot a look down the hall, where the blast had originated. The walls and ceiling were badly cracked. Fifty feet down, the man from the training room was looking panickly around, still on his elbows and knees. In the split second Snikers was watching the enitre hallway collapsed in a tremendous cloud of dust.

Snikers smiled and sacrificed a second to tip his beret at the dead man. Dashing down the hall, he turned a corner and nealy collided with a group of assorted pilots and soldiers.

"What was that? What was that?" Some rookie that had apparently dodged the screening was rambling, still on the floor from the blast.

The highest rank, a squaddie, turned towards him. "Shaddup, rookie" He looked over at Snikers, his upper lip curling slightly. He could tell that behind the wide black goggles sat the evil eyes of a hybrid. "Base won't last, no matter what the boss says. Best to get out of here," he shot, words fast as a machine gun.

Snikers saluted. "Sir! Should I go with you, sir"

The squaddie could have laughed out loud. "I'm not going to order you do anything, because I doubt I have to. Feel free to leave whenever you want." He snidely replied.

Snikers followed the group as the moved at a sprint through the hall towards the elevator. As they passed the hallways to the stores, Snikers hesitated.

All that elerium in there'd be worth a pretty penny, Snikers thought, slowing to a walk.

No one's guarding it. No one would notice if a dying base lost a few stores of Elerium...

Or Psi-clone - purely to sell, of course.

The ground shook again. The rookie wailed loudly. Snikers slowed, and soundlessly scampered down the path towards the stores, halfway across the base. Being behind the group, no one was able to notice.

[Zager]

Resonance frequency achieved, flashed up the message on the jury rigged monitor. Pat thumbed the button next to it, pumping up the power on the sonic wave cannon. A segment of the wall of the Sirius temple turned to dust and collapsed, as he reaimed the cannon, and set it to resonance search again.

 

Sonic wave cannons functioned by rapidly shifting sound frequencies on their target, until they found the natural vibrating frequency, the resonance frequency. Then, a brief burst of power and just about anything would break apart.

 

"Alpha's cracking," Jon noted, checking another monitor.

 

"Hope they get out in time. There's a lot of people in there. Bloody hell, I've got a contact on the radar."

 

"Looks like a hovercar, I'll deal with it," Jon said, as grasped the handles of his mindbender. "Get me close."

 

Pat nodded, and shifted the Megapol patrol car's position so they went around the building, and intercepted the Sirius car as it flew by and started firing with an autocannon.

 

At this distance and speed, finding a mind was extrordinarily difficult, but Jon prevailed. He could only maintain contact for a second, but it was enough. Just heighten this part of the personality, surpress another, and Bob's your uncle.

 

The pilot screamed for a second, mindless panic boiling up in him, and jerked at the controls. The hovercar smashed right into the side of the temple and exploded.

[The Veteran]

*One hundred meters, I need orders now or the craft will begin to rise!*

"Guys?"

As Mouse turned from the controls of the Valkyrie to the four soldiers behind him they raised their attention to him. They all knew that the voice over the comm had come from the leader of the wing they were flying with. It was Doc that spoke first, and almost immediately.

"Stay down! All craft! Until fifty meters. The hoverbikes need to change course to come up behind the main body of the Cult's forces. Have all craft with missiles lock them onto the Hawks and Valkyries. After that, get them locked onto the hovercars."

Mouse had switched the comm over to address all of the vehicles in the air and those that had already begun to rise immediately descended again.

"I want the six Hawks under my direct control, can you switch them over to my personal comm?"

"It's done," said Mouse working quickly. Bomb Bloke turned away from the three other men and spoke into the comm he was wearing around his neck.

"I need at least fifteen hovercars under my control too. Select the best we have and patch me through to them," said Tankman retrieving his own comm from his jacket.

"Done," said Mouse again after a slightly longer pause.

As Doc and Trigger remained watching the screens they saw the first craft begin to rise up from between the massive structures of Mega Primus. Then for the first time for a long while Trigger spoke again.

"Bomb Bloke I need one of your Hawks missiles, can I take it?"

"Only if it doesn't require taking it off course. These guys are heading straight for the middle of the cloud! Turning away now would lose the advantage we have..."

Trigger switched the monitor to a satellite view of the city and saw the Hawk's wedge shaped formation driving steadily westward. They were still maintaining low level flight so far, presumably at the request of Bomb Bloke which Trigger wouldn't question. Switching his comm to the frequency of the Hawk furthest from the enemy craft Trigger spoke directly to the pilot.

"This is only a temporary change of command but I need you to do as I say just once and quickly, ok?"

*Sure, I was told of the temporary change. What are the orders?* replied the pilot.

"Switch your missile lock to the Alpha base people tube to the South of the base."

"What?" challenged the pilot.

"It's ok, there's noone in it I checked the satellite tracker. It shows XCom vehicles and personnel. Now fire at the base of the central support when I give the order. The second from the base that is."

"Whatever you say," said the pilot doubtfully, changing his missile lock.

"Fire" yelled Trigger attracting the attention of all five of the Valkyrie's other occupants, pilto and co-pilot included. The Hawk let off it's missile with a roar of flame and clinging to the ground it tore along the city streets only meters above the road traffic and feet below the flyers. As it turned the corner of alpha base the Hawk's pilot patched his craft's camera through to the Valkyrie which was still hanging back from the main body of attackers.

Doc, Bomb Bloke and Tankman all turned their attention towards the monitor in front of Trigger and in the Valkyrie's cockpit Mouse switched the tactical overview to show the same footage. The people tube that exited Alpha base warehouse on the sixth floor ran in a horizontal line of transparent blue and four supports could be seen before the tube entered into the adjacent flier factory. As they watched now, the missile was coming close to the target support and before anyone was able to react the support shattered under the incendiary in a ball of flame and shattered glass.

The tube flexed slightly as if writhing in pain and then the entire length of the walkway cracked and fell. The supports either side of the explosion were crushed by the weight of the walkway and not until the destruction reached the fourth support by the flyer factory did the tube finally sever and fall.

AS the five men in the Valkyrie watched in horror the tube made for the ground and the battle underneath it's moving shadow completely left their minds. Not until Doc saw the satellite scan of the tube taken by Trigger did his horror leave him but when it did he was overcome by wonder. Suddenly catching on to Trigger's scheme he saw that a sniper was indeed as important in a dogfight as in a battlefield. As the tube fell Doc watched in awe as the Cultist vehicles scrambled to escape it's wake. Not all were successful however and it seemed to him that at least four hovercars were caught beneath the flaming wreckage of the falling tube.

One of XCom's Hawk pilots had to switch his missile lock as one of the enemy Valkyrie's was obliterated by the initial explosion and another three had lost their targets as it fell. Now as the tube lay still and smoke filled the air Tankman could be heard shouting wildly into his comm. As the men continued to watch the screen they saw fifteen missiles converge on the Cult's wing of large flyers and seven more smaller rockets intended for the hovercars. In the smoke all but Doc were unaware that the Hoverbikes to the West had now finished closing the circle about the Cult flyers and his comm now sounded.

*We're in position and moving to attack*

"Let's go" Bomb Bloke yelled into his own comm watching his Hawk's begin to rise. Five of the vehicles instantly fired their first missile and then all six fired their second.

Switching to their smaller weapons, the more agile hovercars under Tankman's command now also began their onslaught into the midst of the fray. Plunging headlong into black coils of smoke and dust the hovercars opened fire on whatever lay behind the veil of darkness laid down before them.

Still watching from the Temple of the Millenium, Master watched on with ever increasing vigilance. Suddenly as he stood tall and proud atop his headquarters he became aware of an impending danger. As he stepped down from the temple's roof to return to the command centre he sensed a few nearby who opposed him, yet he sensed within them a considerable danger.

Master returned inside at a walking pace to be greeted by one of his Acolytes. "Master, we're picking up a strange transmission," he said. "It appears to be originating from a Megapol hover cruiser passing nearby."

[Snikers]

Another blast somewhere nearby shook the entire base. Snikers was thrown against a wall, barely managing to

stay upright. He checked to see if the beret was still on his head as he continued to the stores.

Perhaps this was a bad idea?

Nah. I never have bad ideas.

The klaxons still blared and the red lights still flashed. Snikers ignored them, intent on his goal.

Snikers knew he would have to cross through the vehicle repair bay to get to the stores. Ordinarily this would be

no problem; but the bays had just one thick door between the hangars and the outside, with all its gunfire glory.

The door opened, Snikers took a look to survey the scene before entering. The room was in bad shape. Metal girders

were twisted, the door in the roof rent and badly damaged. A few fires spotted the room, offering the only light other

than that managing through the slightly apart door above. The lights had been destroyed.

Can I risk it? Should I turn back? Another explosion, close this time, sent Snikers sprawling onto the

catwalk. A section of roof in the corner of the room collapsed a hundred feet to the floor in a cloud of dust.

No time to think. Act. Snikers jumped to his feet and headed down the catwalk.

He stopped dead in midstride, near the end, so near, so far. The shaft of sunlight from the roof exposed a gap

in the metal catwalk - something had smashed through, leaving a space ten metres across at least.

Snikers looked for an opportunity and found it. A long length of electric cable hung dejectedly from the ceiling,

swaying in the rumbling of the base. It was six feet above Snikers' head... Snikers didn't know if it was still

powered or not.

But if I pull this off, think of the money... Snikers put a foot on the railing and steadied himself. If he messed this

up, he'd miss the catwalk and fall at least fifty feet to concrete below.

He pushed off with his feet, arm outstretched to grab the cable. His short sectoidian arms strained...he barely caught the

cable with his right hand.

Don't touch anything, this may just be looking to be grounded. With effort, Snikers swung himself over the

opposite side. He was aided by another close by blast that shook the bays and sent him directly over the dimly lit

target. He let go and landed directly on the catwalk.

Snikers had forgotten to take into account that the catwalk was on its last legs, and while the hybrid wighed little

even with the pack, 60 kg is a weight that was too much for these last legs to bear.

A tearing metal sound split the air as the catwalk suddenly tilted badly to the side. Snikers dropped to a ready

crouch position as the section inexonorably began to fall.

It was Snikers' day for jumping. As the catwalk reached a forty-five degree angle he desperately leapt for another

flight of metal stairs, leading to the side with the stores. He flew off the dying platform, experienced a brief feeling

of flight, and grabbed the railing of the stairway, smashing badly into the side. His face, specifically. A sharp pain

and feeling of a warm wetness on his upper lip told him he had broken his nose.

With a grunt Snikers heaved himself over the side. In the twilight he felt a need to collapse and lie gasping for air,

but forced it down.

Gotta make a beeline for the stores, man, he thought, forcing himself up off his knees. And after that

I gotta be out of this place before she comes downa round my ears.

[bevan]

"Oh s**t"

As a part of the wall from the warehouse in front of Bevan left the side of the building and deposited itself across the road in a cloud of smoke and fire, Bevan had no choice but to ditch his stolen Turbo Bike. With the destruction in front of him and the Diablos behind him he made the decision to make a dash for the warehouse he was sent to. Grabbing his power sword and plasma gun from the already bullet filled bike, he made a run for the entrance, calling someone on the way.

"WHERE THE F**K ARE YOU, I HAD SOME DIABLO PUNKS TRY ME AT THE MALL AGAIN, YOU WERE SUPOSED TO MEET ME THERE"

"Hey Bevan, what are you doing?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I CALLED YOU TO THE MALL, DO YOU THINK I WAS GETTING GROCERIES, ARE YOU F**KING TRIPPIN!"

"So what are you bitching about this time?"

"THE CULT IS ATTACKING THIS WAREHOUSE IM NEAR AND IM TRAPPED, CAN'T YOU HEAR IT?"

"So that's what that noise is..."

"LOOK PSYKO IM AM THIS FAR FROM BITCH SLAPPING YOU... GET DOWN HERE AND HELP ME OUT"

"Well I would but you didn't say the magic word"

"GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE, NOW!!!!!!"

"OK, OK I'm pretty close, just hang on..... god damn it. Out"

A HE shell smacked into the ground as Bevan ran past, it tore a hole in the ground and threw Bevan a few metres.

"GET HIM" the Diablo thug yelled, sending another shell into the side of the warehouse. M4K bullets tore up the ground near Bevan as he threw himself to his feet and made a full sprint towards the entrance, counting the distance in his head, all the time bullets landing just short of his feet. fifty.......... forty........... thirty.......... twe....

a shell landed behind Bevan and exploded, sending him soaring through the air almost the rest of the way.

"Yeah that got him" said the punk with a big smile on his face as he ran towards Bevan's motionless body

"Now to get the reward...."

As the punk reached for Bevan and grabed his arm he was met viciously by a rather large hunting knife, while the punk's face might not have been to happy with the meeting Bevan was, his bright green eyes gleaming at the sight of the defeated foe. It was at that time the gunfire started again and a rather heavily modified Hovercar appeared from around the side of the warehouse and started playing dot-to-dot with its laser and the rest of the Diablo punks. The car landed and several Psyke troopers exited the vehicle, fighting off the Diablos and throwing Bevan into the car before getting in themselves and leaving the scene, filled with smoke, craters and corpses, followed up nicely by a Prophet missile.

"WHAT THE F**K TOOK YOU SO LONG?" Bevan yelled quite viciously to the people inside the vehicle.

"Me and the guys were getting something to eat, and it's nice to see you too" Psyko replied in his usual sarcastic voice, messing up Bevan's platinum coloured hair.

"Thanks guys" Bevan finally said, somewhat more relieved to find Psyko in the car.

"I was meant to go to that building today, a new job" said Bevan

"Well if you stopped messing about in the Diablo turf maybe you could have got inside" said Psyko, still sounding sarcastic

Bevan backhanded Psyko across the face, making a rather satisfying slapping sound.

"What was that for?" asked Psyko, rather suprised by the attack.

"You took too long" Bevan replied calmly "now we need to check that building, I had a message delivered to my desk saying I should report there, I was supposed to be there 20 minutes ago"

"Bevan you know as well as I do that warehouse will probably fall apart when and if we get inside, with all the shooting going on we barely got there to rescue you, I don't think we could get back there without being blown out of the sky"

"Would it help if I said the letter was from XCOM?" Bevan asked dangerously with a wild grin on his face

"..." Psyko ran his hand over his bald head and goatee, his deep blue eyes as big as plates as he was thinking about the idea. He knew it would be dangerous with the building under attack and the elite troops possibly still inside.

"OK you two are coming with us" Psyko pointed to the two troopers who were listening in on the conversation "Do not engage any XCOM personnel. Any injured XCOM troops are to be evacuated to the hovercar and inform any uninjured that we are friendly and there is transport waiting for them outside if they need evac. Bevan, you and me will head to the stores and pick up some goodies. Driver, get a retreival squad down here ASAP tell them we are waiting... let's go shopping boys"

[Snikers]

I sure wish some of the guys from Psycke were here to help me with this...

...what am I thinking? No I don't.

Snikers ran through the general stores, coming up on one locked box. He smoothly drew his plasma pistol and destroyed the lock. Throwing open the crate, he grabbed handfuls of psiclone and stuffed them into his backpack. The drug being sold at first opportunity, suplies were low and Snikers could fit the enirety into his pack. Looking about, Snikers grabbed a duffel bag. Dropping it open on the ground, he filled it with Elerium 115, zipped it up and took out another duffel bag.

Struggling to run out of the stores with twenty kg on his back and and 12 kg of duffel back over each shoulder, it was hard to keep balance with the shaking of the base. Running into the vehicle bay, he took the stairs a little too quickly, slipped and rolled to the bottom. Shaking away a fog forming in his brain, he shakily go to his feet and stumbled forward.

A janitor missile impacted on the vehicle bay doors above. A huge piece of metal fell and plunged through the floor inches to the left of Snikers. He was thrown off his feet, the duffel bag on his left coming off and slipping into the hole.

Snikers crawled on hands and knees to the edge of the hole, one arm swinging down to grab the bag's strap.

No! That must be thousands in Elerium, slipping away... Snikers readied himself to jump through the hole; a dangerous idea, but for money anything is possible.

A Cult of Sirious hovercar was struck in the air above, 40mm rounds slashing through its side and windshield, exploding the engine. Two tonnes of metal dropped straight down, crashing into the vehicle repair bay. Snikers heard the sound as it ricocheted off the bay doors and looked up. He pushed himself backwards as the entire car made a gaping pit in the floor where he had been a moment before.

Elerium's unrecoverable now. Snikers, wasting no time on the past, reshouldered his backpack and remaining duffel bag and made his way as fast as he could to the other side of the bay.

Back in the main hallway, Snikers rounded a corner and knew he was gold. One more turn and it was a straight 200 metres to access lift.

Outside, a Cultist Valkyrie Interceptor got a moment of relief and a lucky position. At short range it unloaded its entire arsenal into the front of Alpha Base. The pilot watched happily as an entire section fell to the ground.

A huge rocking vibration threw Snikers right off of his feet and shoulderfirst into the wall. He felt a sudden shrieking pain coming from the joint but rolled over despite it, training and experience coming first.

The entire ceiling collapsed at the corner, debris and dust flying and exploding outward. A small peice of metal zipped along at a blur and stabbed into Snikers' right shin.

He reached up with his left hand and pulled himself up, every move a struggle. He suddenly felt unbearable agony coming from his right shoulder, the one with the duffel bag, the one he had landed on. He had to transfer the duffel bag to his left.

He took one stepped and exclaimed a rare cry of pain as he landed on right foot. Blood seeped out from under the still lodged shrapnel, but Snikers realized the leg would support his weight. Picking a piece of wood off the ground, Snikers set it between his teeth and limped forward. Wouldn't do to bite off his own tongue.

[The Veteran]

"It's happening too fast" said Doc in dismay.

"It's ok, the Cult is losing it's craft at a massive rate." called back Mouse.

"How much do they have left?" asked Bomb Bloke.

"They have only three valkyries left and four Hawk's. Their Hovercars are being annihilated, they've only got twelve left. The only craft that have survived in numbers are the hoverbikes and they're no threat at all..."

"What's the status of our fleet?" Doc asked Mouse.

He keyed another scan into his console and replied "We've lost six hovercars and ten hoverbikes but only one large flier. It turns out the Cultists are only trained with minor skirmishes with light craft..."

"In that case wouldn't it be a good idea to get our bikes out of there? They can't be doing much surely?"

"I know you're one for big things Tank but they are actually being quite effective," replied Doc half grinning. "It's a good point though. How could we use it to our advantage?"

"Why don't we use it to stage an ambush?" said Trigger for the first time in a while.

"That would be the obvious plan but how do we do it?" enquired Bomb Bloke.

"Well... What large fliers do we have free around here?"

"Free! Have you looked out there? None of them are free but I could get us a few if I thought it was a good idea... Carry on," said Bomb Bloke.

"Hovercars would probably do for what I'm thinking. Does anyone remember the Battle of Hastings? 1066? I think that's the one... Anyway, the defenders were on a hill and couldn't be defeated by the attackers, so the attackers feigned retreat. When the defending army had moved off the hill to pursue them, the attackers turned around and attacked again. Winning them the battle."

"Where's the hill?" asked Tankman quite seriously.

"There is no hill tank, it's metaphorical right?" said Mouse who was now enthralled.

"Exactly, imagine that that the hoverbikes are the attackers. The Cult is defending. If the bikes retreat and there are no other XCom craft in the vicinity, the Cult is bound to pursue them. But how about if there are XCom craft there? They just can't be seen..."

"So what? We hide some hovercars?"

"Precisely! All retreats are best made at low level flightpaths, so it shouldn't be hard to conceal a few large fliers behind the buildings further up the road to Bravo base. When the bikes pass these craft they can turn around to attack any pursuers."

"Then the heavy craft can emerge from behind the buildings and finish the job off... That's not a bad idea... Not bad at all. Bomb Bloke? What can you get us?"

"I'm on it. I'l see what I can do..."

"I'll check on some of the hovercars. All of mine are still operational."

"Do it Tank." Doc turned to where Trigger was still watching various cameras and viewscreens. "If this works, you could be in for something big. And Trigger?"

Trigger looked up at Doc.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry... I'm sorry for sending you in first, I should have known better. I know you're ok now but if you ever need anything, just ask."

Trigger sat in silence and nodded smiling slightly.

[Zager]

"Sell all my shares in X-COM immediately," Pat said to his stockbroker, talking over his cellphone as their car landed in front of the remains of Alpha base. "I have a strong hunch that the share price is about to drap severly."

 

A short while later

Pat shoved aside a steel beam, as the X-COM force began hunting for survivors.

 

"Two men, trapped in an air pocket about thirty feet down over here," Jon called. He was holding onto his mindbender and looking for the signatures of the survivors minds. "I switched them to unconciousness," he continued. "Their air will last longer that way."

 

"Get over here and get digging," an officer called over to some X-COM soldiers. The men saluted, and headed over with their rescue equipment.

[bevan]

As the Hovercar was approaching the base the occupants watched as XCOM craft engaged and started annihilating the Cult craft, which caused a diversion that allowed them to land.

"We better wait for the backup inside, its getting pretty nasty out here" shouted Bevan as a Cult Hovercar came crashing down next to their Hovercar in a big fireball as they landed.

"Let's move out ladies" shouted Psyko as the Hovercar landed. With that the small squad of men made their way towards the entrance of the building but stopped as another Psyke Hovercar landed, they waited as another team came running towards them.

"Its about time" mumbled Psyko as bits of debris from the building landed near his feet.

"Sir, we are the recovery team you asked for, what are our orders" asked the Psyke soldier leading the squad as he performed a nice salute infront of Psyko.

"Head to the stores and scavenge anything you find useful, inform any XCOM personnel that we are friendly and there is evac if they require it."

"Sir yes sir" replied the team as they entered the building and searched for the stores. It wasn't long before they ran into a geeky looking guy with glasses, possibly a scientist of some sort. As he threw himself at the team pleading for help he was probed by one of the Psionic Psyke troops for information and then told to go to the Hovercars out the front.

"I discovered the location of the stores from that person, follow me" the trooper said calmly as he led the teams through a series of rooms and corridors to the stores, pausing briefly as they encountered and probed a few more geeks along the way.

"This is it...." stated the trooper as they came to the stores, eyes as big as dinner plates.

"Fill your bags and armour up with what you want, make sure you grab some alien goodies while you are at it" said Psyko as he let out a small giggle. Like kids in a candy store the troops rushed around, pocketed everything and bagged the rest until the bags were almost bursting and they could hardly walk.

"Lets get out of here" said Bevan. A huge crash in a room nearby snapped the troops back to reality as they started moving back towards the entrance. As the team burst from the entrance a Cult Hovercar came around the corner but was quickly dispatched by the Hoverbike escorts that Psyke sent to cover the Hovercars as they were landed.

"We need to take off soon" shouted the driver of the Hovercar as Bevan threw his souvenirs inside the vehicle.

"Take the stuff over to the other Hovercar and tell them to take off" shouted Bevan to the recovery team, "We will stay here and wait for survivors if there are any" said Bevan as he shooed the other team away.

"We are only going to wait for survivors for a little bit" said Psyko as he gave Bevan a little push.

"OK just a for a little bit" agreed Bevan.

[Snikers]

Snikers saw a humanoid figure at the end of the long hallway. The lights were flickering and there was too much

dust in the air to be more of a sliouhette, but the split second image made him wonder.

What fool would still be hanging about in this dying base? Who would be so suicidal as to hang around this long?

They obviously can't be as competent as myself.

The front lobby was collapsed. He couldn't get out of the vehicle repair bay without a vehicle, and although a Hoverbike

was still parked there, even if he could hotwire it rising out in the midst of the cult would be suicide. It was obvious

he couldn't climb out the windows safely either.

Snikers shifted the duffel bag over his good shoudler. Sweat had soaked the beret that was somehow still on his

head. If I can't get out from the sides, and I can't get out from above, then my plan has already been made

for me. Snikers smiled wryly. He had always considered himself rather omptimistic.

He looked up and found himself at his destination. ALIEN CONTAINMENT MODULE - AUTHORIZED ADMITTANCE

ONLY.

Snikers' only limitation is that he was a rookie. He swept his card through the lock for the module. The light flashedd

red and the door didn't open. Apparently he was not authorized.

A Hovercar fifty stories above, slow to notice the XCOM craft retreating, fired another Missile into the roof of the

XCOM warehouse. Seventeen tonnes of cement, mortar, and steel crashed through several floors and crushed a

battered desk four metres to the left of Snikers. He didn't flinch as he fished in his pocket.

On the way down to the bottom floor Snikers had taken the liberty of relieving several corpses of their access

cards. First he swiped through the access card of a human rookie - he had a suspicion humans would have access

androids and hybrids didn't. Next he swept through the card of a late android Squad Leader. Despite his rank the

leader was not authorized either.

In a rather, to him, futile attempt Snikers swept through the card of a man he had found in a lab coat. Snikers

was unaware of the fact that biochemists have unlimited access to the alien containment, given that their work

more often than not needed a specimen. The light turned green and the door unlocked.

Snikers stumbled inside. The smell of acrid smoke from damage and raw sewage pervaded the air. Snikers' feet

thudded on a metal grate; the reason for his presence.

One thing Snikers had picked up from simple eavesdropping is that the alien containment had to lead into the seage

system, for obvious unsavoury reasons. However one could not really trust more often than not wild aliens to properly

use facilities, so the answer was that the entire floor of the alien containments were one grate leading directly

to the sewers. The result was very pungeant smelling but living aliens.

Several of the cages had been smashed open by falling debris. Snikers coughed in the smoke and looked about

cautiously. His plasma pistol was out.

He heard the sound of a breathing spitter and cautiously moved forward. His life would hinge on the next few minutes.

He saw the pink silouhette. It had its back to him. He stomped his foot on the ground and yelled.

"Hey! $#!^balls! How'd you get in here, you get caught #$%*^@%ing off on duty?"

The spitter of course couldn't understand a thing Snikers said, but it knew the sound of food. It whirled - but Snikers

was faster. As soon as it exposed its acid filled belly, Snikers srayed plasma into its abdomen. The pink skin exploded

outward, spilling onto the grate and spilling smoke. The dying Spitter rather feebly waved its hands in Snikers'

direction in a desperate attempt to kill. Snikers was a good metre out of range.

Snikers jumped onto the corpse and swung the duffel bag full of elerium angrily downward. The weaked metal

collapsed under the attack and Snikers, bag, and corpse dropped into extremely dirty and sticky water. Sniker

heaved himself up onto one of the walkways on either side of the tunnel. He began to crawl when he realized he could no longer feel the

leg with the metel lodged in its shin.

Snikers could have benefitted from less employment of the 'need to know' proceedure. He was ignorant of the

fact that he was not the only one to think of escape from the alien containment through the sewers. To prevent

alien escapes security systems were installed in the area directly underneath the alien containment. Now, due to

the damage to the base all Plasma Security Systems were offline. Online, however, was the door designed to

shut off all avenues of escape.

Ten metres down the sewer tunnel Snikers saw a metal slap lowering from the ceiling. He jumped to his feet -

and his injured leg gave out. It was like trying to stand on a rubber band. Snikers reached out with his hand and

dragged himself along the slimy floor. His cracked shoulder shrieked in agony but he paid it no heed.

He could make it without the Psiclone and Elerium. That was definite. He would have to make it with the

bags, however. That, too, was definite.

The door was halfway. Snikers was not. Blood flew in fine sprays from exhalations through his broken nose. He kicked

with his good leg in a desperate attempt to push himself forward. The door was a scant forty centimetres off the

floor when Snikers could push the duffel bag of Elerium underneath the steel to a safe haven beyond. He also sung

his backpack off his shoulder and tried to use the inertia to have the pack follow the duffel bag, but it was caught

by the door halfway. Jammed underneath, a hard shove freed the pack to beyond the door.

The lowering metal brushed Snikers' beret as he pulled his upper chest through the doorway. As he tried to pull the

rest of himself through he was caught - the metal was pushing down on his waist. The pressure into his spine was

becoming painful.

Snikers clawed at the walkway, but there was nothing to grab on to. He felt as his spine cracked as one would

crack their knuckles. Snikers kicked out with his good foot. Through a performance of flexibility he swung it forward

(stretching a muscle painfully as he did so) until the heel was on the safe side of the door. Pushing with his leg, Snikers

managed to swing his lower body through the remaining centimetres under the door. With both legs out of the

doorway, Snikers was on his side. With a jerk he freed his waist from the doorway and it clamped down on the

floor, brushing his belt as it did so.

Snikers sucked huge, gulping breaths into his lungs. After two minutes, though, his arm found its way through the

loops of the bags holding the Psiclone and Elerium.

He was still alive. He was still conscious. He knew he could move, now that he was under the durable sewer tunnel

and could move at his own pace (it was rather doubtful the Cult would bother to raze the sewer systems under XCOM's

property). He knew a safe place he could stash these, a place no one knew of. And he could make it. And after that,

he would report to one of the remaining bases...show he was still alive, and get some much needed medical tratment.

He had to move now though. XCOM would not check the sewers for at least and hour, but if he was caught with

the equipment he had liberted from the stores XCOM would take it for their own uses. A smile on his face, he began

to drag himself along the oily walkway.

[The Veteran]

With the last remnants of Alpha base crumbling into dust the last of the Cultist crafts left to pursue the fleeing XCom hoverbikes.

Already along the road to Bravo base, the XCom craft were beginning to turn on the cultist vehicles and now, the large fliers rose up from behind the buildings flanking the ambush.

Without even time to think the cultists were massacred. Their own pilots working against them, many of the smaller more agile fliers in the group swerved viciously to avoid the onset, slamming into some of the larger cult vehicles. Immediately they lost three large fliers and over seventeen smaller vehicles, mostly hoverbikes.

When Xcom's hawks and Valkyries appeared behind them, the cult was all but doomed. A spray of laser and plasma weaponry tore into them and any craft with remaining missiles released them now.

Within minutes the ambush was over without a single Xcom casualty. The disorganisation and panic in the Cult ranks had proved more effective than any amount of rockets could but the city had payed sorely. As the last Cultist gunship came to rest in the side of a nearby recycling plant it shattered and fell, covering the street below in over twenty stories of debris. Also caught in the crossfire had been numerous appartment buildings and a new government development meant to serve as air defense against alien raids. It was completely destroyed along with millions of dollars of real estate lining over three miles of urban sprawl.

XCom had been defeated in all but statistics. The damage done to the city would have to be paid for from already low funds and Alpha base was lost.

Xcom had already lost the alliegance of at least one large flier factory. That was obvious from the cult's new craft. Now they would have to undergo steps to prevent the same happening with numerous other organisations.

Worse than all of this however, the Cult had achieved a greater victory than ever before. Xcom had been annihilated and it was the Cult that had delivered the blow. No amount of government interference could decieve the city now and all would know how helpless their protectors were.

Xcom had reached it's highest point but fallen to it's knees. Now only time could tell what the future held...