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ADVENT: Enemy Within

Chapter 2: Dawn

Notes:

Chapter 1 has been completely rewritten. While it was passable before, I felt I could do better. It's now much shorter, but sets up the plot better.

Chapter Text

“Menace, ready to deploy!” Firebrand’s voice crackled over the comms, a hint of barely-contained anticipation noticeable in her tone.

The eagerness was understandable. Most of the crew of the Avenger, not to mention the squad about to be deployed, were all excited for the first mission the Commander of XCOM would direct in two decades. The milk run to pick up the hybrid magnetic power converter didn’t count. The Commander had barely spoken more than a few sentences throughout the whole thing—ADVENT forces had been so lacking that the squad had taken them out and claimed the converter before any real resistance could be put up.

No, this was the Commander’s first real mission. The Avenger might have been mobile again, but if XCOM wanted to be able to put up any sort of meaningful resistance then they needed a counter to the aliens’ psionics. No amount of combat training could account for a psionic enemy reading a soldier’s each and every action before they made them. Or worse, mind controlling that soldier and forcing them to turn all of that combat training right back against their comrades.

XCOM had managed to get the coordinates of an ADVENT facility dedicated to studying psionics. The aliens might have had a godlike mastery of the subject, but the human scientists who worked in ADVENT needed to understand it at some level to actually be useful. The data XCOM was planning to… liberate… from the facility wouldn’t be anywhere near the level of mastery the aliens demonstrated, but it would put XCOM on par with ADVENT at the very least.

“Go.”

The Commander’s voice wasn’t rough with disuse. Nor did she exhibit any obvious signs of having been in the aliens’ clutches for the last twenty years. To all appearances it was as though she’d been frozen in time. She looked almost exactly like she did on the day XCOM’s base fell. The only hint that she’d been captured at all was a sort of deepness to her eyes. An intensity. A sorrow.

The skyranger’s door opened, letting the four soldiers rush out towards the hanging ropes. Firebrand kept the vehicle steady in the air as they descended, only retracting the ropes and closing the bay once all four were safely on the ground.

“Alright, Menace!” Central Officer Bradford began. “Firebrand dropped you off outside their detection range, but they’ll catch on as soon as the gunfire starts. Once you go hot, you need to get inside and connect to the workstations as soon as possible so that Shen can hack their servers. We won’t have much time.”

All four soldiers gave their muttered assent, keeping their voices as low as possible while still being picked up by the microphones.

“The countdown starts once you’re detected,” the Commander calmly stated. “We’ve got all the time in the world up to that point. Scout out the area first. I don’t want there to be any surprises on this one.”

Four murmured counts of “Yes sir” were heard over the comms. All four of the soldiers were veterans to some extent. Whether it be from defending Resistance camps or being a member of the military before the invasion, they all were familiar with combat. They’d been selected for the mission due to their experience with infiltration missions like the one they were on in the present. They weren’t anywhere near the level of the Reapers, or even the operatives XCOM had employed at first contact, but they weren’t fresh-faced rookies barely out of basic training.

David Bailey was the team’s specialist. He’d been born in a Resistance haven, and had managed to hack a stolen ADVENT transmitter to divert a kill team away from his home for long enough that his family and friends could evacuate safely. Once he had verified that they were all safe, he’d joined XCOM.

Rachel Parks was the team’s sharpshooter. She’d presented her resume to XCOM rather… ostentatiously… when she shot out the tires of a moving ADVENT truck from a cliff half a forest away. She might have been an arrogant and self-centered gloryhound, but she followed orders and was capable of keeping quiet.

Courtney Johnson was the team’s grenadier. He was a study in subverted expectations—few who heard the name “Courtney” absent of any other context would immediately connect it to a burly black man. He kept his past fairly quiet, and to be fair to him, there wasn’t much to tell. He’d been a chef in a Resistance haven until he decided to join XCOM. And despite being a civilian for most of his life, he managed to keep up with the soldiers on the missions he’d taken before the Commander’s return.

Finally, Eric Cook filled out the role of ranger. He, more so than the others, specialized in stealth on an individual level. He’d helped set up some of the distractions that kept ADVENT’s attention while Gatecrasher extracted the Commander. But before that, he’d made his early life about shoplifting in one of the city centers. He was very, very good at what he did. Appropriate for one so focused on concealment, he was the designated squad leader for the mission.

“Spread out and stay hidden,” Cook ordered. They all had body cams, and Bailey’s GREMLIN was streaming video as well, but it would give the Commander a better overview of the situation if they weren’t clumped too close together.

The facility was tucked away just outside of one of the city centers, far enough away that ADVENT could use it freely without attracting attention from the civilians, but close enough for reinforcements to be there in minutes. It was hidden from sight by a fairly dense forest. Cook was grateful for the sheer amount of cover available, but winced at the dry twigs littering the forest floor. Moving silently was going to be difficult, albeit still doable.

“Two turrets at the front entrance,” Parks cooly reported, looking through the scope of her sniper rifle. “No movement yet.”

Well, it was the middle of the night. And ADVENT hadn't yet had enough time to adjust to the Commander’s rescue. So the lack of security wasn’t that unexpected.

“Head around the corner to the left,” the Commander ordered. “The trees are closer to the building on that side. Use them as cover and keep hidden. There will be guards somewhere.”

Carefully, the squad moved from tree to tree. As the Commander had told them, they were taking it slow and steady. Two members of the squad were on overwatch while the other two moved, ensuring that a sudden appearance of a guard wouldn’t blindside all of them at once.

The facility building itself was fairly standard, as far as ADVENT buildings went. It had that same modular, glossy artificiality that saturated the puppet government’s constructions. Admittedly, it was slightly darker than the friendly-looking gene therapy clinics or the more frequented buildings in the cities, but that was just because ADVENT didn’t feel the need to disguise their true colors out here.

As the squad rounded the corner, the Commander spoke up again.

“Parks. Once you’ve got the right angle, take a peek through the window to the left of that door.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Most of the squad hadn’t even noticed the window before the Commander started speaking. She had sharp eyes. And, admittedly, the benefit of being able to see through all of their body cams at once. Still, it was those sharp reactions that had let her hold off the aliens for as long as she did.

No one with a working brain blamed the Commander for XCOM’s initial defeat. Sure, some younger, hotheaded idiots in the resistance would occasionally grumble about how XCOM was making such a big deal about a Commander who’d lost, but anyone who actually took a minute to sit down and check the disparity between the forces would be struck by awe at just how long the Commander had held out.

Commander Emilia Araceli could rightly be considered one of, if not the greatest military leader in all of Earth’s history.

Under her direction, the squad moved onwards. Finally, they paused to let Rachel peer through her scope, keeping watch around her while her focus was so narrowed.

“Three ADVENT,” she said. “Two troopers, one officer. I can’t tell what rank, the insignia’s obscured, but the armor is definitely red.”

She paused for a moment, sweeping her rifle from left to right in small increments.

“They’re patrolling a big open space inside. Plenty of desks and workstations. Looks like the primary lab.”

She finally let her rifle down and stepped back into full cover.

“Continue the loop around the facility,” the Commander said. “Like I said. No surprises.”

All four of them were quick to obey. The back of the building was curiously unmarred by window, turret, or door. There weren’t even any cameras. ADVENT’s complacency was a sight to see. All of them knew that would change as ADVENT and their alien masters readjusted their tactics to account for the Commander actively working against them, but XCOM would milk the lax security for as long as they could.

The treeline was a bit further away from the walls on this side of the building. Glancing at the door that was apparently mirrored on both sides of the facility, Cook brought up their extraction plan.

“There’s enough space here for Firebrand to set up the evac point,” he said. “Once we grab the data we should be able to rush out that door and take off. The turrets from the front won’t see us here.”

“Firebrand, I’ve sent the coordinates. Be ready for the evac,” the Commander said in lieu of any real reply to Cook.

The full loop of the building hadn’t revealed any other guards. But for a facility like this to only have three ADVENT units guarding it? Even considering the lax security in general, that beggared belief.

“Right,” the Commander began. “Head back around to that door. Parks, you’ll open fire on the officer. Try to take him down in one shot. The rest of you, I want you right outside that door, ready to shoot. Bailey. When the team breaks concealment, send your GREMLIN ahead to begin the hack while you help finish off the troopers with Johnson and Cook. Once all three are down, Parks will head in to join the other three and you’ll all stay alert for any more troops in the building while Shen downloads the files. The moment she’s done, all of you break for the evac point. Firebrand, start heading in as soon as they break concealment, I want you ready and waiting. Everyone got it?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then move.”

The squad began retracing their steps towards the first door they’d scouted, moving with a greater ease now that they knew the area marginally better. From tree to tree they flitted, none of them making a single errant noise as they moved from cover to cover. They were back on the other side of the building in no time, without any incident. But things were about to get a lot more exciting.

Cook, Johnson, and Bailey crept across the open space towards the door while Parks kept the patrol in her sights. Cook and Johnson took up their positions on either side of the door, while Bailey pressed himself to the wall right next to the window. It would be shattered when Parks fired, letting his GREMLIN fly inside.

“We’re all in position,” Cook reported for the squad.

“Good. Parks. Wait for the patrol to be in the open relative to the doorway, then open fire. You all know what to do.”

“Yes sir,” Parks replied.

Time seemed to dilate around the squad. They’d been given the order to go hot, and simply needed to wait for Parks’ shot. Parks herself was laser-focused on the patrol. The angular, crimson helmet of the ADVENT officer hadn’t left the center of her scope since she got the order from the Commander. The patrol was moving in a wide circle on the inside of the room. She just needed to wait until they cleared those last few desks…

Bang.

The crack of her sniper rifle split the silence, followed almost instantly by the thud of the officer’s body crumpling backwards. Dead. She was good.

Before Parks had even managed to shift her aim to the next enemy, more gunfire rang out. An assault rifle and a cannon blurred together into a cacophony of noise. One of the troopers fell instantly, but the second staggered. Orange blood was dripping off of him, but he was raising his magnetic rifle towards the now-open door.

One last burst of gunfire put an end to the third ADVENT soldier’s life. Bailey had sent in his GREMLIN, and still had time to take aim at the survivor.

“In, and stay on overwatch,” the Commander repeated, her voice somewhat more clipped. The mission was going a bit too easily for her gut to accept. “Shen, status?”

“There’s a lot, Commander. I’m trying to get it all but it’ll take a minute.”

“You heard her,” the Commander told the squad. “Defend the GREMLIN. Firebrand, how’s the evac looking?”

“ETA two minutes,” the pilot replied.

“ADVENT comms activity increasing,” Central cut in. “Reinforcements have been sent. Probably were already in the transport for this quick of a response. They’ll arrive in a few minutes. Be ready, Menace.”

Silence fell on the squad again, save for the tiny humming of the GREMLIN as it floated above the workstations. All four soldiers had reloaded their weapons, one at a time, ready to shoot at anything that moved.

Bailey’s head shot up as a new sound reached him.

“Footsteps. Left hallway.”

The squad moved, ensuring they were in cover relative to where the enemy was coming from. There was more than one set of footsteps, but it was too muddled to make out exactly how many.

Three more ADVENT troopers burst into the room. Two died almost instantly to the overwatch ambush. The third dashed forwards, managing to make it to cover behind a desk before the bullets reached him. His mag rifle discharged, and Cook hissed out an aborted curse as splinters from the desk he was using as cover showered over him. That had been far too close, in his opinion.

Sliding out of his cover, Cook ignored his survival instincts and dashed towards the enemy, mentally bemoaning his lack of a shotgun. It would have been easier to simply unload a round at point-blank range. But he had other options.

Letting his gun drop, he wrenched out his machete and slashed downwards as he rounded the corner of the desk the trooper was using as cover.

With a gurgling cry, the trooper fell, dead.

Sheathing the machete, he returned to the rest of the squad.

“Commander?” the young voice of Chief Engineer Shen asked. “Still downloading, but the inventory list here says that the first door on the left in the hallway towards the front is a storeroom. Can you have Menace grab a few Psi Amps before they evac? Having an example would speed progress by a lot.”

“Approved,” the Commander said.

“What do they look like?” Cook asked as he began advancing down the hallway in question.

“It’s got a circular grip, with two prongs…” Shen began. “Look for a dumbbell handle with no weight attached. They should be pretty obvious.”

Johnson and Cook reached the door Shen had mentioned, opening it and carefully peeking inside. Thankfully, it was empty. And among the clutter of filing cabinets, lab supplies, and other junk, a shelf proudly displayed a rack of Psi Amps. Johnson started towards the shelf, but was interrupted by Central.

“ADVENT dropship’s almost there. Hurry it up, people!”

Both Cook and Johnson grabbed two amps each before rushing back to rejoin the squad.

“Firebrand?” the Commander asked. It wasn’t quite to the point of being snappy, but she clearly was demanding an immediate answer.

“Ready and waiting,” Firebrand reported.

“Shen?”

“Almost there!”

When Cook and Johnson made it back to the main room, they found that Parks and Bailey were already creeping towards the exit. They were still maintaining the overwatch over the GREMLIN, but both were ready to go. And in short order, the grenadier and ranger joined them.

“Got it!” Shen finally cried as Bailey’s GREMLIN began to dash back towards him.

The squad didn’t waste any time, turning and sprinting towards the evac point. Out the door, across the grass, and—

They grabbed the dangling ropes.

Safe.

As they strapped themselves back into their seats, they all let out heartfelt sighs of relief.

“Mission complete, Commander,” Central reported. “No casualties.”