Last time we've left our heroes (altough I'm using this word only in the broadest sense), the team just met for the first time. Their initial equipment sets were assigned, and everyone was waiting for the first mission.
It's nearly two hours later.
GTX2GvO is hanging around the cafeteria,
Kugerfang installed himself in the lounge and presently is going through the third level of
Halo 16 on
Ybox 180 and
Tervez shut himself inside his quarters (for all we know he's watching
Snakeman porn there; not that anyone is going to risk checking...).
Capo decided to take a nap inside his own quarters,
Paco is going through an intense workout at the gym and
The Chosen is presently the sole occupant of the shooting range, fine-tuning the scope of his sniper rifle.
Feeling little need and even less desire for such activities,
Eagle of Fire took residence in the armoury and meticulously disassembled, cleaned then reassembled both of his guns, muttering something about Megapol's manufacturing standards.
Everyone's activities were brought to an abrupt halt as
a series of warning klaxons went off throughout the base. A calm female voice announced over the comm system:
"Warning! Live alien specimen located in the city! All X-Com personnel prepare for immediate departure! Repeat: Live alien located!"
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Everyone rushes to the armoury. Unsurprisingly, Eagle of Fire is already there and finishes clasping the final clip of incendiary ammo onto his belt just as the first of your enters the room.
After exactly one and a half minutes of frantic scramble, all of you finish donning the armour (miraculously, nobody wore their helmet backwards) and enter the vehicle bay.
The Wolfhound APC has warmed up its engines and is ready to roll, when Kugerfang makes an unusual obervation.
Kugerfang: "Holy crap, this thing just needs black paint and fins to be called a
Batmobile!"
Incidentally he's quite correct, as the latest Batman movie did use a modified Wolfhound for this purpose. Despite the overall ridiculousness of the idea - or perhaps thanks to it - the name sticks.
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(Cue "Charge of the Batmobile")
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The building we've got to clear is a Government-owned warehouse in the eastern part of the city. It takes our team two minutes to arrive, and less than 30 seconds to deploy from the vehicle.
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Remember: Don't get hurt!
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14:02:16 Okay, that's the warehouse. What it's like, everyone can see. Since there is no real command structure within the team yet,
Paco takes the charge for the moment.
Paco:
Eagle, watch the secondary lift!
Chosen, cover us from the top level! Everyone else to the main lift - now!
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The Chosen moves only a few meters before spotting the first alien strolling around the top level of the area.
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He immediately enters firing stance, but the alien noticed him too!
As TC is busy sniping at the creature, the thing lifts a bizarre organic-looking weapon and fires something next to our sniper!
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The Chosen: The grenade seems to be a dud. Lucky me...
TC is quickly proven wrong as the "grenade" unfurls itself revealing an incredibly ugly four-legged creature that immediately launches itself at him.
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Fortunately
Capo is quick on the draw and shoots the thing not a moment too late.
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TC: Whoa, that was close! Thanks for the save,
Capo.
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Another alien emerges from the lift, almost exactly like the one which attacked
TC a moment earlier, followed by the first alien we've seen 17 seconds earlier on the top level of the warehouse. The scuttling creature is blindingly quick, but
GTX2GvO manages to nail it before the little monstrosity attacks anyone.
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Seeing the amount of gunfire directed at it, the blue alien seems to decide discretion is the better part of valor and runs back into the lift.
Tervez mind-scans the creature. It seems this particular breed is called
"Anthropod".
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He then tries to mind control it, but before he manages to do it, someone else's bullet erupts through the creatures' cranium in a shower of splattered brain matter and bone fragments.
The troops search the warehouse for the next few minutes, but it seems those were all the aliens in the area.
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Unfortunately, the eggheads in biochem research haven't yet worked out all the kinks from the Bio-Transport module, so we can't transport the dead aliens back to the base for dissection. To prevent contamination Eagle of Fire piles the dead creatures into an empty storage crate then fires several rounds of incendiary ammo inside, burning the carcasses to charred crisp.
As the team moves out, the APC's communicator bleeps with a message from Major Damage.
Mjr Damage: "There is some indication the Cult was connected with this attack. I suggest you search their temples before returning to base. Don't expect them to cooperate - in fact, don't even expect them to not try killing you."
GTX2GvO: No way... them again?
Kugerfang: Eh? What Cult?
Eagle of Fire: #He probably means Cult of Sirius.#
The Chosen: Yea. Those kooks who believe the Aliens are gods.
Paco: Human idiocy never ceases to amaze me.
Capo: What makes them so stupid to believe this bullshit, anyway?
Tervez: Probably something in the water.
See you tomorrow, same X-Time, same X-Channel!
PS. Sorry for dividing this into two posts, I'll have to remove the 10-image-per-post limit.
EDIT: Now it's 30-image-per-post.
