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witharsenicsauce · 2 years

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Chosen Stories From The War Chapter 47: More Broken Than Most

“You. Me. In private. Now.”

Senuna’s words had not left much need for interpretation. Kon-Mai had no choice but to obey as she followed the Commander to the nearby tent, away from Drakaina and Aisha who stood staring after her. She wanted to turn back and look at them, but even with her back to her, Kon-Mai could feel Senuna watching her every move.

Senuna opened the tent flap and stepped in, nearly letting it fall on Kon-Mai’s face. She stared at the back wall like it was a window, anger radiating off of her.

“Do you intend to undermine me?” She asked quietly.

“No, Madam.” Kon-Mai said quietly, trembling no matter how she tried to stop herself. Senuna wasn’t the Elders. Senuna wouldn’t hurt her.

Would she?

Senuna turned and met Kon-Mai’s gaze. Her blue eyes burned like a star. “Are you trying to make me look like a fool? I cannot have my own soldiers desert me, Kon-Mai.”

“I am aware.” Kon-Mai nodded. “That wasn’t my intention.”

“And yet you knelt.” Senuna hissed. “You knelt. Before her, like she was your leader.” Senuna crossed her arms. “We may be allied with the Horde, but I am still your Commander.”

“Drakaina is my mother.”

“I heard.” Senuna snapped. “I’m happy you’ve found her but my point still stands: you work for me. That is an XCOM insignia on your armor, and I sincerely hope it stays there.” Her eyes softened just the slightest bit. “...I know the pain you must have gone through without her. There are many from my old life I yearn to see again. I am in a similar situation to you…” She ran one hand over the other, lingering on her ring finger. “But as long as we are at war, I am your Commander, and you take orders from me. You do not bow to regional warlords.”

“She is not a warlord, Commander.” Kon-Mai protested. “She leads warriors that have crushed ADVENT as much as we have.”

“I don’t care.” Senuna hissed. “She. Is. Not. The. Commander. I. Am.”

Kon-Mai stiffened, sensing she wasn’t going to get any further with this. “May I interact with Drakaina?” She asked. “Not as my superior, but as a remnant of my past?”

Senuna’s eyes flared.

“Commander.” Kon-Mai said softly, using the voice she used when she needed to placate her Elder mother. “My life, my human life, was stolen from me. I remember so little, would you deny me even this…? The love of my true mother?”

With those words, Senuna seemed to falter, and her temper quickly cooled. “...you may talk with her, Kon-Mai. You may ride with her, even fight with her. But my orders shall always override hers.” She looked up. “...I’m sorry. You’re a good soldier, Konnie. I just don’t want Drakaina snatching you up from under me.”

“That will not happen, Commander. My brothers still remain under your command, after all. And I would never leave them.” She began to turn but then waited a moment.

The Commander waved her hand. “Good. Dismissed.”

As Kon-Mai slipped back out of the tent, Senuna pressed her fingers to her temples.

Malinalli was holding tight to Dhar-Mon’s hand as they stumbled into the open air. She gasped as they reached the surface once again, leaning over with her hands on her knees.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, still reeling from what they had seen down in the bowels of the mines.

It was Dhar-Mon who finally broke the silence. “We must tell the others.”

Malinalli nodded silently. She was biting her lip so hard, blood filled her mouth. “...We should have taken them with us.”

“We would have risked death ourselves.” He said, reaching for her hand. “The radiation surrounding those crystals would have melted us down with the poor souls in there.”

Malinalli said nothing in response.

Dhar-Mon grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close into a tight hug. “Let us return. Senuna must be made aware of what is happening.”

“And what is happening, Brother?”

The two of them looked up in shock as a lithe figure landed gracefully in front of them, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Dhar-Mon groaned. “You pick the worst times to join us, Brother.”

“Yes yes yes, my senses are truly impeccable, I can sense when something is amiss.” He chuckled. “But you two look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or several. What happened?”

Malinalli buried her face in Dhar-Mon’s chest.

“...Hey.” Gur-Rai’s smile faded. He looked past them at the mine. “...What’s in there, Dhar-Mon?”

“Treason and genocide.” He growled. “I shall explain on the way. Come, we must alert Senuna that Drakaina is not to be trusted.”

Deft hands traced through Kon-Mai’s long hair, weaving it into an intricate braid. Fine curls were swept aside and pulled tightly into coils that sat against her shoulders. The knot was intricate and familiar, and as Drakaina pulled on her hair gently, Kon-Mai almost felt like she was no longer Chosen.

“You always had such fine hair.” Drakaina chuckled. “It was so curly back then.”

Kon-Mai smiled as Drakaina mused on their shared past. “Tell me more about it. What was I like as a child?”

“You were quiet. Respectful. Always so obedient. Never questioned orders, rarely raised your voice unless it was a battle cry.” Drakaina pulled the braids forward so they fell over Kon-Mai’s shoulders. “There was no warrior better than you.”

Kon-Mai nodded, a warmth in her chest as she closed her eyes. “...I wish I could remember.”

“ADVENT buried your memories when they took you from me.” Drakaina gripped her shoulders. “But the imprint is always there. Nothing is ever really forgotten.”

“I remember a bit. I used to be able to shoot so well.” Her hand went to her lazy eye, trying to feel the difference between the two. “I do not know why they took that away.”

“Undoubtedly, to not step on the toes of your precious brother.” Drakaina hissed. “The Marksman, is it?”

“The Hunter, but he does not-”

“The Hunter was their ranged warrior. They built you in shortsightedness, not realizing that a true warrior needs to see the eagles flying as much as the blades in the grass.”

Kon-Mai stood and checked her reflection in the polished stone. Her hair had been pulled into four small braids, and then each pair pulled back into respective ponytails that lay over her shoulder. While she admired the simple design, Drakaina stepped around and reached up, pinning a green Elerium charm to the end of one, then the other.

“For luck.” She looked up with shifting, excited eyes at Kon-Mai. “How different you are now. But I have no doubt you will still honor us. Monkh.”

Kon-Mai hesitated. “...My old name?”

“Of course.” Drakaina said proudly. “I gave you that name. Do you remember what it means?”

Kon-Mai remembered seeing it written in old Mongolian script. The twirling characters carved into bone. “Eternal.” She finally responded. “It means ‘eternal.’”

“You are eternal, minii okhin.” She said assuredly, glancing back at Kon-Mai as she did. Her eyes were low and dark, and Kon-Mai could not read her expression as she spoke. “We shall avenge your violation at the hands of the invaders. Tonight their city will burn.”

Kon-Mai looked up at Drakaina in shock. “What of the civilians?”

Drakaina blinked. “Oh yes. They shall be spared, of course, and absorbed into our tribe. We shall need more hands, more warriors, to continue our fight.”

There was the rustle of movement outside, and Aisha entered the tent. “Khatun.” She bowed and looked over to Kon-Mai. “Jinong.”

Kon-Mai held up a hand. “There’s no need to bow, Aisha. You are still Jinong.”

Drakaina sucked in her breath. “...Well.” She chuckled. “Perhaps we can decide on that later.”

“What do you mean?” Kon-Mai asked.

“Now that you are here, you can retake your rightful place at my side.” Drakaina nodded. “And there is no need for Aisha to maintain the title of Jinong. You can always name her your Jinong when you take the title of Khatun, Monkh, should that day ever come.”

“You speak as though I am to stay.”

“Well I assumed you were. After all this time being separated, having just found you…” Drakaina pressed a hand to Kon-Mai’s cheek. “...Is this topic distressing to you?”

Kon-Mai reached for Drakaina’s hand and found her own cheek was wet with tears. “No, Khatun, I simply need some time…” She cleared her throat. “Perhaps to become reacquainted with the Horde, with my people. I’ve been away from it all for so long…”

“I understand.” Drakaina turned to Aisha. “Prepare my horse and hers. We shall go for a hunt.”

“Will I accompany you?” Aisha asked quietly.

“Of course you will.” Kon-Mai said quickly. “It was you who showed me my way home, Aisha.”

Drakaina looked sideways at Kon-Mai. “Already taking charge.” She muttered. “Like a true Khatun.”

“They’re not back yet?” Senuna put her head in her hands.

“Sunny, I’m sure they’re fine.” Bradford pressed a hand to her shoulder. “Dhar-Mon has come a long way, he’s definitely powerful enough to handle himself.”

“Himself and Malinalli as well?” She spat. “If they’re attacked and someone gets between them, she’ll be defenseless and he will be outnumbered!”

“Sun, she’s not defenseless, remember?” Bradford gave her a look. “Her powers-”

“Don’t lecture me.” She snapped, getting to her feet. “Those two will give me a heart attack by 120. I was happy when they found each other, goodness knows I could feel them pining from miles away and Dhar-Mon…Dhar-Mon needs someone to love him…” She trailed off. “...One day I’ll forgive myself.”

“Sunny.” Bradford came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. “He doesn’t even remember.”

“And that’s what kills me.” She admitted. “He doesn’t remember me. You. Moira or Raymond or Guillermo or-”

Bradford took her by the shoulders. “You did everything you could.” He assured her. “You tried too hard to save him.”

“I’m a mother.” She chuckled. “It’s in my nature.”

“Right. But you gotta let it go.” He pressed a hand to her cheek. “Maybe one day he’ll remember. Maybe we’ll tell him. But in order to do anything you gotta give yourself the grace of knowing you did what you could.”

Senuna hesitated, then sighed. “He’ll likely want to know soon. With Kon-Mai opening this bag of worms…” She groaned. “Just what we needed, old memories resurfacing, and knowing Drakaina she’ll try to convince Konnie to stay.”

“Well, we don’t know Drakaina.” Bradford sat back down. “You know the assault, you don’t have to go through with it. Call it off if you think it’s too risky.”

“No…” She leaned against the window and stared out over the steppe. “This is larger than petty feuds. This planet needs a protector, and it has to be us. Even if we don’t always get along.” She chuckled. “Reminds me of you and Volk.”

“Wrong. I actually like Volk.” Bradford chuckled. “Speaking of, we should touch base with him and the Reapers.”

“We should. Where is he now?”

“Probably chatting it up with Drakaina.” Bradford sighed, staring out the window.

“Well. At some point we should remind him who the Commander is.”

“What else do you remember?” Drakaina asked as their horses strolled lazily across the plain. “I assume ADVENT completely wiped your memories of the Horde. Of me.”

Kon-Mai nodded, patting Nergui on the neck gently. “I had no memory of you for nine years.” She admitted. “At that time, Vox Abyzou was my mother.”

Drakaina practically hissed, startling her white horse. “A demon. A child-stealing demon is what she is. She took you and she took Volk’s son as well, tainting you both. And I fear the taint will never come away.”

Kon-Mai paused. “I…will likely be a hybrid forever.”

Drakaina nodded. “Well that, and the torture she put you through. I see it in your eyes, in the inky blackness of your sclera. She broke you, okiin, and I can’t fix you.”

Kon-Mai fell quiet, her hands trembling as she tugged the reins slightly.

“But we are all broken a little.” Drakaina sighed. “You are just more broken than most.”

“I’m glad you’re still here then, to fix me.” Kon-Mai turned and gazed out over the plains, closing her eyes. “...What of my father?”

Drakaina seemed to falter, looking at Kon-Mai with white eyes full of fear. Then she sighed.

“He was a rogue type. Came to us when the Horde was small. I had never allowed myself to be captured, and many of my early warriors were like him: people who saw through the alien’s lies. People who fled.”

Kon-Mai listened with interest. “Did he look like me?”

“Of course. You were a full five skin shades darker than me, Monkh, you had to get that from somewhere.” She chuckled. “He left after you were born. He never wanted you.”

Kon-Mai’s heart dropped.

“He said I should leave you in the plains to die. A child was merely a liability. And to think I almost listened.” She chuckled. “But I didn’t, and now you’re here. I bet you’re thankful for that.” Drakaina finished her sentence with a laugh.

Kon-Mai smiled despite the sick feeling in her stomach.

“Oh. I’ve upset you…” Drakaina reached over and took Kon-Mai’s hand. “You were a blessing when you came to me. And you are still a blessing now, Monkh. This I promise you.”

“Are you certain?” Kon-Mai felt like a child for asking.

“I am. Your presence with us is a gift.” Drakaina brushed some of Kon-Mai’s hair back. “Let no one tell you otherwise.”

As Drakaina rode ahead, Kon-Mai looked out at the plains once again. She blinked, and felt the cold night air hitting her cheeks as she sprinted through wet grass.

“You’re sure that’s what you saw?” Gur-Rai asked. "What I mean is--I mean I'm not doubting you!" “Except you are.” Malinalli snapped. “We know what we saw!”

“Alright, alright, don’t get all up in a fuss.” Gur-Rai sighed. “But you understand if we walk into the camp claiming that the caves are filled with ghouls and ghosts decrying the name of Drakaina, we might not get many people on our side.”

“The people must know.” Dhar-Mon said simply.

“I know they must know, Brother, but look at it this way. Your own priests were willing to string you up because the Elders commanded it. Authority has more power over humans than we like to admit.”

Malinalli hugged herself, her feet dragging on the rocky ground. “...So do we keep quiet?”

“Oh I’m not saying that.” He said, stroking over Tyche’s fluffy neck feathers. “We just have to be clever about this. Can’t give away our hand all at once. And to go all in now is just foolish.”

“We could inform the Commander.” Dhar-Mon said.

“It’s a start, but know what I suggest? We get our beloved sister in on this.” Gur-Rai said. “The Khatun likes her, maybe a little too much. If anyone can sneak a knife between those skinny shoulder blades, it is her.”

“What do I think of the Commander?” Volk took a swig of his vodka. “To be honest, Kaina...she’s a bitch.”

“I noticed.” Drakaina chuckled. Kon-Mai had retired to Aisha’s tent for the time being, so the two could get changed and prepare the evening meal together. Drakaina, in the meantime, had returned to her throne where Volk was waiting with a bottle of hard liquor and a need for gossip.

“Ever since she got out of that tank, she acts like she owns the whole damn world.” He swirled his drink in his cup. “Undermines my authority constantly.”

“She’s a legend.” Drakaina said, then held up her hand. “And legends are never like they say. You’re right to be wary.”

“I wish we hadn’t gotten split up in the chaos.” Volk admitted. “Wish you and I could have made the Reapers together.”

“Your path led you elsewhere.” Drakaina assured him, standing and moving down the long row of statues. “Mine led me to my ancestors.”

“Yeah…” Volk coughed loudly. “You know I didn’t even realize you were Buryat for the longest time.”

Drakaina was silent. “It still runs in my veins.” She assured him. “Diluted, yes, by seven generations. But it’s still there and it still calls to me.” She reached up and touched the boots on the statue of Ogdei Khan. “You wouldn't understand, Kostas.”

“Hey…” He chuckled. “I think I can take a guess.”

She shook her head. “It isn’t the same.” Her hand fell to her side again.

Volk pursed his lips. “I’ll say though, never expected you to have a kid.” He tried to change the subject. “I’m so sorry for what happened to her. What they did…”

“She might not remember now, but she will.” Drakaina assured him. “And Monkh is a good girl, very loyal. And the greatest fighter I’ve ever known.”

“Well she’s got half your DNA.” He paused at Drakaina’s obvious discomfort. “...Or not…”

She crossed the room quickly and sat, leaning over the arm of the chair so her face was inches from his. “This does not leave this room.” She hissed.

“I knew something was off.” Volk nodded. “You always said pregnancy looked miserable.”

“Indeed. Monkh, the girl who would become Monkh, was a wayward child I plucked from the steppe.” Drakaina elaborated. “We found her half dead in the snow, she looked as though she’d been running for days.”

“From where?”

“From an ADVENT city center? Or a haven that was burned? I honestly cannot say; she was thin as a twig and her feet were almost raw to the bone.” She sat back. “She spoke mostly Chinese when we found her, but in her fever, as she slept, she called out in a different language. Perhaps Japanese? It sounded so different.”

“Bit of a walk from Japan to here. Maybe she came from a city center in China?”

“She would not say, or maybe could not. It was all incomprehensible.”

“Did she have a name?” Volk asked. “Before Monkh, I mean.”

“Monkh was the closest thing we could make out. Obviously her name was different.” Drakaina shook her head. “But it does not matter anymore. Her name is Monkh now.”

“Actually it’s not.” Volk chuckled. “She’s not even human anymore.”

Drakaina glared at him, but did not protest. She sank into the bony frame of her throne, holding out her glass for Volk to pour her another drink.

It was like muscle memory, Kon-Mai thought, as she cut the meat into strips. Aisha was to her left, separating out some of the fresher vegetables they had taken from the convoy they had raided before. She seemed distracted but when Kon-Mai caught her eye, she smiled.

“It’s been a while since we’ve done this together.” Aisha said quietly.

“A decade.” Kon-Mai nodded. “I believe I taught you how to make bread…when we had wheat to spare.”

“Haven’t really made it since then.” Aisha looked back to the vegetables in her lap. “The ground is so hard now, everything we plant in it dies…” She shook her head. “No, sorry, I shouldn’t complain. Plus look at the food we DO have!”

“You’re an excellent hunter.” Kon-Mai chuckled. “I raised you well I see~”

“I learned from the best~” Aisha winked. “We should hunt together more often. I rarely got to go with you before and now…”

“Now we must make up for lost time.” Kon-Mai agreed. “Perhaps when we return home.”

“Are you nervous?”

“I am always nervous before battle.” She admitted. “But that fear is necessary, and I use it to ground myself, to reflect on what is most important.” She trailed off, images of her transformation still flashing in her mind. It took her a minute to right herself, and after that it took Aisha taking hold of her shoulder to bring her fully back.

“Are you alright?”

Kon-Mai nodded. “What is important is my family. Those I have sworn to protect…” Her lips quivered. “And you. I swore to protect you. And I am so sorry I failed in that.”

“No…no, Mai, no.” Aisha embraced her, curling into her arms. “Mai, you did what you could. It wasn’t your fault you were captured. It could have happened to anyone.”

“I know…” She pressed a hand to Aisha’s back. “But it is something I must live with, and remember.”

“Hey…” Aisha pulled away. “Let’s…finish the meal, ok? The ceremony begins at dusk.”

There were voices from outside, and the flap of the tent was brushed aside. “Jinong, the Chosen have returned.” The voice of a male warrior said.

“Oh!” Aisha stood, wiping her hands on a cloth and tossing it back onto the mat. “Have they met with the Commander already?”

“They wish to speak to their sister.”

He looked at Kon-Mai, and she stood, slowly.

“I believe I have some explaining to do.”

Silence hung in the air when Kon-Mai finished her story. Gur-Rai had been the first to notice the change in her, not just in her clothes and hair but in her mannerisms. She approached them as though she were younger, still a girl, still asking permission from her superiors. She was their little sister after all but…this was unlike her. She was unsure.

Malinalli was making direct eye contact with the floor, and Gur-Rai was scowling toward the leftmost wall. Only Dhar-Mon met her eyes, and he looked sympathetic.

“I understand.” He said. “After the loss of the Elders as our patrons, Sister, I understand why you desire to rekindle this relationship with Drakaina.”

“Would have been nice if you told us before announcing it to the entire clan.” Gur-Rai muttered.

“I know, Brother.” Kon-Mai said softly. “And I’m sorry I failed to. Everything happened so fast, and an answer was demanded of me, and…I got carried away.”

He shook his head. “Fuck it. I’m happy for you, sister.” He assured her, though his assurance sounded…forced. “You found your family.”

“Brother.” She chided gently, approaching him. “YOU are my family. That shall never change.”

“You sure? I’m awfully hard to handle~” Gur-Rai’s smirk hid a deep sadness underneath it.

“Hush now.” She pulled her brother into her arms and squeezed him. “You shall always be my brother. And I, always your sister.” She looked up briefly as Dhar-Mon joined the hug, embracing the two.

“There is still one important matter.” He spoke softly. “What we found in the mines.”

“Yes, I'm not quite clear on that.” Gur-Rai admitted, prying himself from Kon-Mai’s grasp. “But from what I gleaned-”

“There are people trapped down there.” Malinalli admitted. “We could sense them, but there’s like…something blocking it. Like we saw it through a curtain.”

“There was much pain.” Dhar-Mon admitted. “The suffering of a thousand minds, but I have no way of knowing whose, or if anyone is truly down there.”

“If there are people in there, we can’t just leave them.” Malinalli insisted. “They’re alive, at least some of them. The mine is operational, and new people go down there every day! More people could get hurt.”

“This is impossible.” Kon-Mai shook her head. “The mines that are headed by Drakaina? She would never put her people at risk.”

“Maybe they aren’t her people.” Gur-Rai muttered. “Much easier to send slaves to die.”

“The Horde does not own slaves. We-they do everything by hand.” Kon-Mai avoided his eyes, catching herself as he glared at her in shock.

“Horde or not, there are people dying down there.” Malinalli insisted. “And we need to bring it to the attention of the Commander.”

“They may need to hold on a bit longer.” Kon-Mai muttered. “For I hear the hooves of horses.”

A horn sounded from outside.

“And we are going to war.”

Summary: In this chapter, Kon-Mai inquires to Drakaina about her old life. While Drakaina tells her stories about her birth and her father, she later reveals to Volk that these were lies: Drakaina found Kon-Mai as a lost child years ago, and she is not Drakaina’s biological daughter. There is much speculation about what Malinalli and Dhar-Mon found in the mines, but Gur-Rai promises to help them get to the bottom of it--and expose how Drakaina is behind it all.

Happy Halloween everyone! I’m glad to finally get this one out for your guys, health issues are a real bitch so thank you all for being patient with me! Next chapter? We’ll be getting into the Final Battle.

BIG thanks to @grace-kohai for being my lovely beta reader and also the most patient human being in existence. I love you bestie!

#xcom #xcom the chosen #xcom assassin #xcom hunter #xcom warlock #assassin #hunter #warlock

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factorialsotherfandoms · 3 months

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Hopefully this is legible... A few thousand words of xcom au notes! With mini summaries of each of the missions. Plot details are marked with *, the Hunter/Warlock/Assassin H/W/A respectively, and egg plot E. I am... not reformatting for tumblr so good luck. Using tumblr's apparent system... 1 layer of number indicates an operation (AKA actually played mission). 2 numbers deep are things about the mission. And the bullet points are things done between missions.

This has major spoilers for XCOM2, but also I absolutely fucked with the plot to do my own thing and add in the Eggs. Also I've added drama to some sections (for example, Philza and the Ender King, though I don't specify that's what it is). It gets more detailed the further down you go

Operation Gatecrasher *

First prong - BBH, Fit, Roier, and Foolish blow up a monument to the Elders on the anniversary of the invasion. This serves as a distraction for the other half. Using info provided by a spy within the Federation they rescue Felps

Second prong - Forever & Philza sneak into a research facility in the same city, using the cover of the cover of the explosion.

Operation Gasping Apollo

Philza, Roier, Missa, and Fit

Sent to disable a psionic transmitter in the sewers beneath a city. This is being used to mess with the brains of particularly psionically sensitive people. They don’t know why, but it is a problem

* Felps wakes up *

Lost and Abandoned * A

Have been asked to facilitate a meeting between the Reapers and the Deserters. The first is a faction of stealth-heavy alien hunters who live in cities which were hit by biological weapons causing people there to become zombies called ‘the Lost’, and eat the flesh of the enemies - aliens and artificially produced Federation workers - they kill. The second is a group of non-human former Federation Workers who have broken their programming and fled to form a group in opposition to their former employers. The two groups hate each other, but the Order needs both of them to work together.

Team One - BBH and Max. Bad and Maxo meet up with Bagi, who has been sent by the Reapers. They make it to the rendezvous with relative ease.

Team Two - Roier and Jaiden. They meet up with Walter Bob, the Deserter representative. This goes less smoothly, as they run into a Federation Worker with a flamethrower. The flamethrower blows up, and the explosion draws a swarm of Lost to the area. Still, they make it to the meeting point.

The two groups meet up, the Order’s people keeping an eye on Bagi and Walter Bob. The two have personal and negative history, but are interrupted by the Assassin. Bagi shoots her over Walter Bob’s shoulder when she approaches in stealth. The two bond over her - Bagi’s people face the Assassin, while Walter Bob’s are harassed by her ‘brother’ the Hunter - as the group try to keep everything under control and flee. At the last moment the Assassin catches up, grabbing Walter Bob as he tries to get onto the helicopter - having stayed to protect Bagi’s back - and teleporting him away.

Bagi joins the Order as a representative and liaison to the Reapers, resolving to hunt for Walter Bob as thanks for him saving her. She repays her debts.

Operation Witch Fall *

A videocall with Spreen, discussing both what his resistance cell needs and getting reports on activity in the local area. Towards the end, where Missa and he are catching up, the call is interrupted by an ADVENT broadcast, announcing a crackdown. The Order realises that there are enemies coming for Spreen and his camp, but struggle to get back through to him because of the broadcast and signal jamming (Tubbo will reverse engineer it for new protections later, but this takes a few weeks). They start heading over with a group kitting up to help, but can hear the attack starting before the radio is shot and cuts out.

Philza, Missa, Fit, and Foolish. Roier desperately wanted to come, but is still injured from the previous mission.

The group manages to save most of the group who were still present, and it’s a really horrific fight, but Spreen is gone. Not a corpse, gone. It is a lot of enemies that they clear up as best they can, and people suffer for it. All of the armed people from the haven were dead or kidnapped by the time people arrived.

Rescued people are helped to join other cells the Order has contact with nearby. They don’t know much of what happened, and a fair few are kids or otherwise non-combatants. Missa is a bit clingy and they in return, but it is fine.

Tina & Bagi on a covert ops mission locate Walter Bob

Operation Sacred Prophet *

Location of Walter Bob is tracked down.

Philza, Tina, and Jaiden. Tina is a covert specialist who found the place, and is showing the others - Philza as medical, Jaiden as one of their sneaky knife sorts. They manage to get in and out without being fired on.

Walter Bob returns to his home and the Deserters, but not before clearing things up with Bagi, and revealing some information about Tazercraft - the pair were actually the ones who suggested the Deserters get in contact with the Order. The two had actually saved Walter Bob when he first broke his programming, and got him safely to the group. No, he hasn’t seen them since. He’s sorry. He misses them.

Delivery of advanced weapon parts from a mysterious contact

Operation Hammer Storm

BBH, Roier, Missa, and Maxo sent to retrieve ‘therapy dissemination files’ from a train a local resistance cell caused to crash. While outside of the city limit it’s close to inhabited areas of Guadalajara, so 3 Spanish speakers just in case. BBH is here to actually hack the tech and get the info out of the train’s computers. Missa starts getting a taste for shooting turrets, it goes without injuries.

Operation Sky Valley A

Jaiden, Foolish, Philza, Fit, and Tina go raiding resources. Resistance cell took out a transport out in the wilderness and have taken what they want, then handed over the coordinates for the Order to pick over the remains. In desperate need of money and parts, so send a team. The Assassin shows up part way through the mission, causing problems.

BBH, Foolish, and Maxo sent out to try find where the Assassin is based

Operation Star Hawk

Get a message from Mike, via the deserters, and much faster than they normally manage messages at all. The two were helping a group take readings in one of the Lost Cities, trying to work out what the pulses going on were. However, they were caught by the Feds and split up. Mike got out, but couldn't find Pac, and… Well, at this point it’s serious enough he’s willing to come out of hiding to get Pac back. The message is pre-recorded as Mike’s already gone back to look for Pac. If they’re willing, he’ll meet them there.

Philza, Fit, Jaiden, and Roier join Mike there

When they get there, Pac is still on his feet, hiding but fighting. There’s a second combatant with him, and also the engineer operating the equipment. All three get out alive, but not without severe burns after new MEC units are deployed. There’s a lot of injuries from burns to explosions to vipers crushing people’s chests to Lost scratches.

All three end up staying with the Order - the other combatant is Vegetta, while the engineer is a generic background NPC. Vegetta knows a couple of people and has been running his own operation, but given he mostly just funds it he’s happy to stick around and be more useful. Both Pac and Vegetta have injuries already, various people sent on the mission got hurt too

Brazilians minus Cellbit reunite and it’s very tearfilled and dramatic and such

Their spy leaves details of some sort of facility in the Eastern US. Investigations begin, but have not yet sent people to it.

Operation Dragon Song * A

BBH, Foolish, and Maxo are caught and ambushed by the Assassin while looking for her. While they did get the information needed, they’re trapped and fled into a Lost City to try to escape. It’s a struggle to get to evac and Foolish is severely wounded, Maxo a fair bit.

Vegetta and Foolish first meet recovering from injuries

* Aypierre manages to finish the research on the brain implant removed from Felps. While most of the data is corrupted, it reveals that his brain was being used to run combat simulations and process various tactical datas for the Federation. A network of unconscious brain supercomputers linked together and running combat tactics for every single Federation guard, “peacekeeper”, etc, causing their superhuman seeming response times. The data however is heavily corrupted, so Aypierre suggests getting Tubbo to make a device that can be used to read the data from one still attached to a Federation Worker - the end which receives the conclusions, not the processor part *

Tina & Maxo sent to go look for a fabled resistance group somewhere in France. Maxo volunteers as Bagi is injured from the last mission and he knows of them.

Operation Glass Sentinel

Missa, Mike, Pac, Vegetta, and an extremely exhausted BadBoyHalo

Sent to protect a transmitter. It’s sending data between two resistance groups, vital research data, but they need to make sure it stays intact to finish. A little way into guard duty it is indeed attacked. They sufficiently protect it.

Tina & Maxo succeed in making contact. The French group don’t send anyone just yet, but are now talking with the Order and allied to it. Tina got hurt, though.

Operation Wailing Feast W

Missa, Philza, Pac, Mike, and Roier

Sent to rescue civilians and operatives when a cell is attacked. Basically everything goes wrong and Pac very very nearly dies as a Faceless triggers multiple explosions in a row. The Warlock shows up during this mission, mind controlling Missa for a time.

An infirmary is finally built, resources to do so having been a struggle

Thankfully a long break until the next mission. Some people probably take it off.

Operation Patient Rose

Get a message from a cell near Chicago, saying they think they’ve tracked down useful data - as another group are gearing up to investigate the facility they’d been pointed at. Groups are rearranged. This is more time sensitive so goes first, while the others get some extra time to eat/sleep/plan in.

Roier, Maxo, Pac, Mike, Missa.

The exact data they’re being sent for is ‘Implant Connectivity Audit’ which, given the info about Felps’ implant, is of definite interest. They do manage to get it, though at one point Roier’s aim is off and one of his frags has shrapnel which hits and injures Pac. Mike is pissed at that, but as well as the info did also manage to steal some cash from the Feds while hacking. Rats were busy. Missa and Maxo mostly just kill things.

Some coordinates are found in a supply drop, the encoding clearly indicating they are from someone who has been feeding them insider information from the Federation for years. If it is not Cellbit leaving them, then it is someone pretending to be him to fuck with people.

Operation Flying Moon * A

Leaves immediately after Patient Rose. Following some coordinates sent by their spy, not really sure what to do with them.

BBH, Philza, Foolish, Fit and Jaiden

They investigate the facility at the coordinates. There’s many corpses in green goo, both outside of the facility waiting and inside being processed somehow - with varying levels of flesh remaining. The Assassin shows up to cause trouble. Through various trials like blinding with dust and getting stuck, Philza manages to grab a vial at the centre of the processing, and the group runs.

Following their success, the French send a delegate to join the group. This turns out to be Etoiles.

Operation Banished God H

Maxo, Philza, Foolish, Etoiles, and Vegetta

Sent out to collect supplies from a Lost City. The Federation are also seeking the same supplies, so it’s a game of tagging and airlifting them faster than the Feds. Hunter shows up and causes problems, at one point stunning Vegetta and ripping a little information out of his brain. He is left intact and alive rather than kidnapped, but it’s still a bad time. Etoiles also gets fucked up.

Operation Smoking Paramore

BBH, Tina, Foolish, Bagi, and Walter Bob joins them from the Deserters as they want some things from here too. A scientist of theirs has been kidnapped, so time to kidnap them back.

Have to get her out of a van, but it is a success. Not a whole lot occurs here.

Tina and Bagi go out to hunt assassin just as Pac and Mike get back

Operation Fire Killer

Philza, Missa, Roier, Etoiles, and Fit

Sent to recover a “Viral Diffusion Summary”. Philza is on hacking duty as BBH hurt and Mike just got back from covert ops. Arrive on abandoned train tracks, and notice a ping on the comms of a resistance agent trying to contact the group. Roier manages to track them down and they offer a delivery. It’s mostly slums with a really obvious high-tech building in the middle. They get the information and get out.

Random NPC engineer rescued from an abandoned theme park

* Finally finish the Proving Grounds, which was paused to finish the infirmary, a place for Tubbo to deal in testing more dangerous and complicated equipment than the basic weapons lab. *

Operation Blessed Chant * A

Maxo and Bagi get ambushed while out hunting for the Assassin. Trapped in a Lost City. Info gets safely recovered, but both Bagi and Maxo end up severely wounded. It’s a very long chase to get to a point Niki can meet them, full of Federation Guards with flamethrowers and zombies. Bagi has extensive and serious burns. Maxo has a major gunshot wound and some smaller burns. Both pass out as soon as they are relatively safe.

Jaiden and Fit are sent out to search for the Hunter

Operation Steel Witch W *

BBH, Philza, Pac, Mike and Etoiles

Attack on an allied rebel haven. Everything is very on fire by the time they arrive, camp surrounded by scrubby forests. The group split up to protect as many civilians as possible, the Warlock being present. They first meet berserkers, a form of alien with exposed muscle, short and muscular, with extremely good melee capabilities (combat ones trained to, anyway). They clear as quickly as they can, and find a majority of people are hiding in a ruined Church. Etoiles takes a particularly nasty hit while protecting people, but with Pac and Mike forces the Warlock to retreat. Like most things it is weak to sword in face and electrocution by robot. Camp is no longer safe, but civilians are. IronMouse was the leader of the group, scatters her people between other groups and joins the Order.

Armour upgrades are completed

Jaiden and Fit complete their mission safely

A Psi Lab is built under IronMouse’s oversight, a place for her to train her psionics - those demons, like she is, have naturally, but she has trained into combat powers.

Operation Knife Prince *

Receive an emergency communication from an unknown source. Given its encoding, it’s their informant, and somewhere in the ruins of Ottawa. Very little information is received before the line is cut, only a tracked location. It’s probably a trap. But they can’t not go.

BBH, Foolish, Pac, Mike, and Roier agree to go look, all knowing it could well be a trap. Pac believes it is Cellbit, Roier hopes it is Cellbit, Mike doesn’t believe but wants to keep Pac safe, Foolish doesn’t believe but wants to spring it anyway, BBH doesn’t really care but a medic is needed and he’s free.

The infiltration point will also be the evac, as there are no other safe places even for the wires. Foolish sets himself up on a nearby balcony to cover and protect it, with Mike convincing Pac to cover the next area in. BBH and Roier push further in towards the signal and find… Well, Cellbit, unconscious and surrounded by Lost. BBH doesn’t have the stuff to treat him there and then, so carries him back. Roier provides cover as they retreat, as do the others as they hit each group. Everyone gets out, Cellbit waking somewhat on the helicopter while being treated but definitely ending up in the infirmary for a bit. He’s released in time that the army group can have a sleepover complete again.

Jaiden and Fit return.

Maxo, Slimecicle, and Missa are sent out to find the Warlock’s stronghold

* Tubbo complete the ‘skulljack’, an experimental device to hack brainchips while they’re still attached to the brain *

Operation Tomb Valley *

Foolish, BBH, Pac, Mike, Tina, and Jaiden are sent on an assassination run - to kill a Federation Army Field Commander. Reports have him in the tunnels under a city. Tina is an assassin primarily by trade, Mike has been given the skulljack. The fight is done in subway tunnels. Jaiden and Tina go to hunt the commander while the others cause distractions.

Mike uses the skulljack on a Federation officer-ranked Guard. He gets the data for Aypierre and some extra to sell on the black market, but it also summons a Code Monster. He tries to shoot it, but when it is hit it duplicates - Jaiden notices and manages to take out one half, while Foolish the other. It leaves only one corpse, or rather a weird electronic device which contains what looks like a partial spinal column made of steel, with ‘nerves’ of thin, green-tainted metal.

Pac gets badly hurt by a Muton. Though he stays on his feet, the similarities to the mission where Pac nearly died cause Mike to panic, reflexively shooting and killing the thing. Pac manages to calm him down not long after.

Jaiden is the one to land the final blow on the Commander, actual target of the mission, but Tina shot out his ankles first. So he couldn’t run, allowing Jaiden to catch up and stab.

Following that they do manage to get Pac and Mike to go for some therapy, though under the circumstances there’s a limit to its effectiveness

Maxo, Missa, and Slimecicle return from their task. Slimecicle was somewhat injured, bad enough to need treatment and time out but not too severely

Weapons upgrades

The Warlock finally puts the information from Vegetta to use. His spy is caught, but not before she severely injures one of the engineers in the process. Damage is repaired, spy executed, and engineer in medical. W

Research to get EMPs through Federation tech shielding is completed. Missa’s gun is refitted to take anti-tech bullets (still work on flesh, but bonus damage on tech).

Cellbit is cleared for field work

Operation Gilded Shield

Informed about a crashed train by allies. They don’t have people to make use of it, but if we take anything give a cut for the info.

Roier, Maxo, Philza, Missa, Etoiles, and Fit.

There’s a lot of weird purple stuff around, implying intense psionic field in the area. Missa continues his hot record on taking out turrets, even easier with his new bullets. Missa, Philza, and Etoiles take light damage from grenades, but the mission is completed without anything majorly serious. Shove it under a cold tap and bandage and rest a few days sort of burns.

Pac and Mike are cleared for duty again

Injured engineer recovers

* Completion of the ‘Shadow Chamber’, another new research lab. This one is designed so that Aypierre and Tubbo can work together on particularly dangerous research, such as examining the vial Philza recovered from the blacksite *

Pac and Mike are send out together to find the Hunter’s base

* Aypierre and Tubbo complete research on the vial. It is human DNA, specifically DNA matching to a number of missing civilians. They are unclear of the purpose at the moment, but it seems to be… Liquified biological matter, specifically liquified human corpses. There are some matching bits of DNA across everyone in the sample, though it is unclear what that DNA does. Or what this is being used for… *

Pac and Mike complete their mission. Mike is, however, captured. Pac ends up in the infirmary for a significant time, mentally dealing extremely badly with both the separation and the circumstances of Mike’s kidnapping.

Operation Jagged Reckoning A

Allied group gets in contact with a lead on some information. They collected it to trade, but their base was compromised and the information left behind.

Roier, Missa, Philza, Etoiles, Vegetta, and Jaiden are sent to recover “Remnant Disposal Report”, which with the new knowledge of what is in the vial becomes a lot more disturbing. Philza is briefly mind controlled by a Priest in service to the Assassin, but Jaiden manages to kill it and thus free him before he attacks anyone. Between them, Etoiles, Jaiden, and Roier kill basically everything, Assassin included damn her respawns.

A defence matrix - system of automated turrets for use if ship is attacked while on the ground - is installed

* research completed on the Code “brain”. They find partial coordinates and evidence of a ‘something else’ beneath it, but the code reactivates and starts wiping their computers. Aypierre explodes it before it can wipe everything, and gets to work on looking into what data remains. They need more “brains” to get the coordinates properly, so on future missions people make sure to collect them *

BBH and Foolish are sent out together to sabotage Federation plans.

BBH and Foolish return

BBH, Foolish, and Bagi are sent to find a way into the Assassin’s base

Operation Dying Reckoning

Message from France. It’s not Antoine’s main base, but one of the smaller camps elsewhere in France is under attack. BBH, Foolish, and Bagi are expected back anyday, and most of the usual suspects are gearing up to go take the Assassin out. Pac volunteers and it's not… A good idea, but it’s the first time he’s asked for something since Mike was kidnapped, and he’s physically fit, so… Fit goes with, to keep an eye on his bestie.

Roier, Missa, Vegetta, Fit, Pac. Baghera joins them there.

There are soldiers from the camp still fighting when they get there. One, a duck-woman named Baghera, joins the five sent. She’s not the leader of this cell, but was doing other work for Antoine nearby and thus came over to help. She does end up unconscious when a berserker punches her in the face, but is generally very helpful. No civilian casualties and this group still has living guards, so they decide just to relocate. Baghera asks to come with.

Baghera gets permission from Antoine to remain with the Order despite Etoiles already being there as envoy.

* Data extracted from the code’s “brain” is decrypted. Within the data are files revealing that the Elders, the leaders of the aliens and thus the Federation, are diseased and dying via some sort of rapid muscular degeneration. They’ve been experimenting on various races in hopes to find a cure, and humanity is just next on the list. Data is fragmented, however - Aypierre suggests skulljacking a Code, and Tubbo has an upgrade to do that with ready *

A Federation vessel discovers the Avenger on its way to pick up BBH, Foolish, and Bagi - the first sign they have been ambushed. They manage to get away, and make all haste towards the pickup point…

Operation Damned Breath

Bagi, BBH, and Foolish were ambushed while seeking a way into the assassin’s base. There are a great many Federation soldiers between them and evac. They manage to fight their way through, but at the cost of a lot of blood. From all of them.

Operation Shadow Tomb * A E

Using the information obtained from those three, an assault on the Assassin’s base of operations is put into motion. Shadow Chamber indicates that there will be Codes present, so they also bring the Skulljack to try to get that data.

Philza, Jaiden, Roier, Missa, Cellbit, and Etoiles are on the mission. You were never going to convince Cellbit not to be. The entry route leads to some sort of storage room, where everyone can sort their kit out after the vent crawling. As they progress further into the complex, they find all sorts of weird tech.

* Early on they find the first Code. Philza uses the skulljack on it, getting the data for Aypierre. When it is killed by the skulljack, however, a humanoid with white hair and a full face mask teleports in and starts attacking. It teleports every time it is shot, and is a nightmare to take down. When it dies, however, Cellbit observes a psionic ‘imprint’ - the ‘ghost’ of one of the alien leaders, none of which have been seen in over 10 years, almost being pulled from the figure, screaming as it is and then exploding into a small shockwave. Others on the mission noticed the shockwave. Philza also heard the screaming, and was the one to connect the figure Cellbit saw to the Elders, as one of the very few people with personal experience with them. As it plays host to another being, they name these ‘Avatars’ *

Further in, they find a bunch of cells. These have clearly been broken out of, and there are dead aliens scattered about. Surely this will not be relevant later? (It will be relevant in a few bullet points)

The group clear the facility, ensuring they are not followed. In the final room they find some sort of teleportation device, a heavily stylised, golden statue of an Elder looming over it. It takes them to another room, one which looks like an alien version of a very large gym. At the far end hangs some sort of metal slab, pulsating with psionic energy. As they enter it glows, and from it emerges the Assassin. She congratulates the group on making it this far, and attacks.

The fight with the Assassin consists of repeatedly killing her, only for her to respawn from the metal slab. It is heavily resistant to damage, but they work on slowly chipping away at it whenever they can. Eventually the metal slab is so damaged that it shatters upon her respawning, at which point the Assassin congratulates the team and kills herself. This time, she stays dead. Jaiden got the final shot.

About mid-way through the fighting, Missa and Roier were distracted by noticing a pair of children hidden amongst some of the equipment. Just as they spot them the two jump out, aiming small swords - styled after the Assassin’s own - in her direction. The two grab the children, forcing them back from the fight - both are skilled, but still only kids. While appearing human at first glance, both clearly have a significant amount of alien traits. Neither speaks, but both are insistent on joining the fight. It is only when the metal slab is finally shattered that both of them relax, revealing they are seriously injured. They initially resist treatment, but Philza is called over. Once they are treated, both fall asleep. The decision to bring them back to the Avenger for proper medical treatment is made, with the intent to find them safe homes.

Etoiles steals the Assassin’s very fancy swords for himself.

* Discussions occur around the white-haired being covered by skulljacking the Code. Between them, Cellbit, Felps, and Philza confirm it was definitely an Elder which exploded when the body was killed, however it did not look like one. Due to the nature of the mission the corpse could not be recovered for testing, but current theory is some sort of possession so that the Elders can physically interact with the world despite their illnesses. *

* While they’re being treated, one kid gets very attached to Roier and Jaiden, while the other to Missa and Philza. What exactly the children are is not clear - unlike a hybrid, the combination of human and alien DNA is far from natural - but they do heal up. While they cannot speak they can write - they do not initially have names, rather numbers, but are named Bobby and Chayanne respectively. Talking with them reveals they were the Assassin’s apprentices, who used the chaos of the attack as cover to escape, intending to try to kill her and run away. They call themselves Eggs, not children, but are not sure why. Both are allowed to pick some clothes and toys from a box of supplies intended to be delivered to one of the allied camps with children. The initial plan is to take the children to Philza’s faction, as both seem familiar with English. This, however, fails when upon trying to leave them, both children psionically latch onto the adults they became attached to. Study of the bond by Cellbit - largely via comparing it to Pac and Mike’s - reveals the children to have started ‘feeding’ from the adult’s psionic fields. It’s not dangerous to the adults, but is required for the children to grow. It does also allow the children to project thoughts into their adults’ brains, though unlike with Pac (and the missing Mike) this is only one-way, and requires conscious choice to. The adults become vaguely aware of the child’s presence, able to track them down and ascertain if they are conscious or not, but cannot directly communicate via the bond. Discussion with the children reveals they aren’t sure what this is either, but they were scared of being left without the adults who saved them and so reached out and grabbed on. Adjusting to having kids on the ship is a nightmare, but these two are very used to dangerous things they should not touch and so the equipment is safe, at least. *

Elerium researched. (This is about when Cucurucho takes over torturing Mike, and Mike is very nearly killed)

Operation Starving Gaze

Allies in Columbia get in contact about an alien transmitter relay in the sewers, being used to induce illness in the local population. Due to the causing illness it is very high priority, despite the Order having very few people uninjured and ready for combat; with nobody else with proper medic training even close to available, Philza walks out of the infirmary and into his armour, for example. And due to the transmitter causing very sudden and violent symptoms in people, an actual medic is needed.

Philza, Fit, Pac, Tina, Vegetta, and Mouse are on the mission.

The moment they arrive in the tunnels, the group is immediately being shot at. Philza takes most of the fire, and Mouse is working overtime to fight off constant psionic attacks. Spectres knock Philza out and make puppet versions of him twice, each time needing killing to get him back up, and leaving him with tiny bleeding wounds everywhere where the nanobots ate through his skin to get inside and copy him. There are multiple cases of aliens critting their shots, causing huge burning wounds, in a few cases the new metallic armour design making things worse. They get to the transmitter, Pac starts disassembling it, and a sectopod shows up. It’s tall enough to break through the roof of the sewers and back into sunlight - with the firefight ongoing the team manage to hack it and disable it for a few minutes so they can focus on the aliens and transmitter. Once they have done so, Vegetta and Fit start shredding its armour, leaving Tina a clear shot to get in and hit the generator. Everyone is tired and badly injured - Philza and Mouse both pass out on the way back - with the only redeeming aspects being a) no deaths b) the transmitter is now disabled and c) the hole the sectopod made in the roof meant Niki could pick them up from right there, instead of them needing to manage to climb the ladders out.

Operation Sky Song

A very senior ranked Federation scientist is spotted in Kaduna. A team is put together to try to kidnap them, to interrogate for information. Failing that, to kill them and disrupt Federation research in doing so. However, still very short of people.

Roier, Jaiden, Missa, Etoiles, Maxo, and Baghera sent. (Bobby is very upset both his parents are going)

Mission is relatively simple, but hard. In the middle of a high-security district, causing its own problems. Upon sneaking into the building where the scientist is working they are interrupted by a Sectopod. Trapped in a building with it many people take serious injuries from its lasers, meanwhile in the time it takes to get it down the group are attacked on both sides by Federation workers. In the chaos Maxo knocks out the scientist, though just leaves him to one side while they deal with the crisis. Roier ends up carrying him, as heavy wounds are affecting his vision. Jaiden helps him and the prisoner to evac, the others following. Everyone requires extensive medical treatment after. Roier, Baghera, and Maxo are the worst off, but the doctor and Aypierre working through the night to get everyone treated enough to leave them. There’s barely redeeming things here, the information they gain is sellable on the black market but not relevant to the group.

There is news about Mike. Pac and Fit go to find him.

Pac and Fit return at the same time a resistance team contacts the group about a Federation supply cache. It’s believed to contain medical supplies and given current circumstances are badly needed. Both happen at the same time, with Niki dropping off the Rotting Whisper Team, covering the Dragon Prince Team, then once they are safely back going to pick the others up. Most people are recovered enough to be out of medical (its been a while), but not to fight.

Operation Dragon Prince

Pac, BBH, and Philza go to rescue Mike. Somewhere in Australia.

Mike is rescued! He is held deep in the facility, a long way from where Niki dropped them off, but the trio manage to get in and out without engaging in any combat. This is despite the reported presence of a Code.

Operation Rotting Whisper

Foolish, Cellbit, Vegeta, Jaiden, Mouse, and Baghera on a supply run!

It’s in a Lost City, and said Lost are visible even from the helicopter they are swarming so much. Vegetta has anti-tech grenades with him, which prove vital in keeping a sectopod at bay. One of the crates of supplies is lost when a burnt out car explodes, but the rest are recovered. Mouse secures most of them, while Jaiden is constantly both being shot at and killing things. She asked to be equipped with more advanced armour after Kaduna, limiting her movement somewhat but saving her life in this instance. Baghera also proved extremely proficient with grenades, using them to bait the Lost away from supply crates and injured teammates rather than purely to attack.

Another long gap

Further armour upgrades are researched, providing power armour to the group. A significant upgrade and without the obvious weaknesses of the previous sort.

Rumours are uncovered. Philza, Etoiles, and BBH are sent to try to find a way into the Warlock’s Base.

Operation Shadow Wheel H

Informed of “Mechanical Process Designs” being transported by train. It’s known to have a particularly complicated electronic lock, but reports say it’s not actually very well defended. With Mike just about recovered, it’s chosen as a good mission to check he can still serve in an active combat role. It is also mostly biological aliens, not robotics, so the team takes a lot of poison.

Maxo, Pac, Mike, Baghera, Slimecicle, Foolish

There are a lot of Chryssalids, the horrible little poison bugs which turn corpses of anyone poisoned into incubators for more of them. Still, they are pretty easy to deal with - Pac baits them close, and keeps attacking them with his knife. Unfortunately the Hunter reveals himself, shooting Slimecicle with tranquillisers. Maxo manages to get him up pretty quickly, while Baghera, Pac, and Foolish clean up, and Mike hacks into the crate to steal the blueprints. While Slimecicle needs observation until the tranqs are out of his blood, the only other injuries are general scrapes and bruises.

Flares in the desert lead to the recruitment of Mariana. Or, rather, rerecruitment; he had been on long term investigations for the last two years. He reunites with Slimecicle in the hangar and, well, you know how they are. Niki was not impressed.

Philza, Etoiles, and BBH complete their mission. As the route is unlikely to be compromised, it is decided to wait for an opportune time to attack. They also find some potential information about the Hunter’s Base. Slimecicle and Mariana are sent out together to see if they can find an entry route.

Months of following train routes and dispatches from the site with the vial finally pays off with finding another facility, one linked to the one with the DNA jar. It is decided to attack both that and the Warlock’s base at once, so as to stretch enemy forces thinner.

Operation Rotting Wail * W E

Using Philza, BBH, and Etoiles’ information about how to get into the Warlock’s base.

Philza, Etoiles, Pac, Mike, Cellbit, and Baghera

Entrance is some sort of sorting warehouse again. Pass through more storage, into a set of cells. All empty. A patrol catches at the far end of this. Cleared up, then press around to where the patrol came from. Leads to a MEC recharge station full of enemies. First injury is Cellbit caught when a purifier explodes. Weapon repair room is dead end, double back. MEC bay to some sort of clean room. It's full of chryssalids, quickly taken out by overwatch and bladestorm. Reload, heal up, and head out.

Beyond is similar to before, but has a sniper platform. Unfortunately, no snipers. Missa would have liked it a lot. Clear enemies, Warlock arrives. Could daze 4 people in a go in a brain hop. Baghera gets mind controlled just as everyone gets up, Pac dodges like a champ. Baghera breaks out of it after hitting Mike, but ow. Mike heals himself. Take it and its adds out, take out the plate, Philza just takes the Chosen out, reflexively shooting it as it respawns. Warlock speaks of the Elders being near and everywhere and finally hearing them clearly as he turns to stone and explodes.

At the end of the fight, a little girl comes out from where she was hiding, not far from the plinth. Unlike Bobby and Chayanne she is in kiddie sized armour with her hair in cute braids, and uninjured. Having seen Mike do healing she grabs his hand, and drags him through to another chamber. The others follow. Inside they find a heavily injured boy, strapped to a table. Mike only carries one medkit so does first aid while calling Philza to help. Given the room is small, he just passes the medkits over and backs out to give space. Pac and Cellbit get the restraints off, while the girl drifts over to guard the door with Etoiles and Baghera. She writes them a message - in French - explaining that the boy was being used by the Warlock as an experiment. She, however, was the Warlock’s daughter. 01 - Chayanne, she thinks they know him as? - had been dreaming of them, so she knew they would help. Baghera promises to help her too, and the girl is just… very, very confused. Because her brother is the one who needs help, not her. But, thank you from stopping the Warlock from hurting her brother even more.

Pomme and Richarlyson, as they are quickly named, are brought safely back alongside other stuff from the mission. Pomme gets a checkup and Richas gets actual medical care.

Operation Pungent Father * E

At the same time as Mission Rotting Wail, a group is sent to investigate the facility. Specifically it is known as a ‘Forge’

BBH, Foolish, Roier, Missa, Maxo, and Fit

The entire area around the facility is purple, like leaked psionics. Getting into the facility is not too hard, but it is full of vipers who crush a lot of ribs and BBH has a panic attack at one point.

Inside there is a big white room, one which Maxo enters first, Roier close behind. Maxo is immediately distracted by the toddler curled up hopefully only asleep next to some sort of… big white stasis tube. Maxo scoops up the little one, Roier keeping watch, while the others deal with the stasis tube. Inside they find a thick, protective suit, wired in and slightly psionic-tainted. Inside of that they find what looks like a young lady in her late teens, deathly pale and entirely unconscious. BBH confirms she’s alive, while Cellbit bats off the psionics fucking with her. Upon getting her out many alarms went off, so Fit blows up a wall and drags everyone out of there.

Trump and A1 are rescued! Trump glues to Maxo. A1 drifts towards the Quackities, very easily scared and dissociated most of the time. ElQuackity gets uncharacteristically protective of her. Research begins on the suit she was in, but it is somewhat hampered by being disconnected and the fact she’s a living person and they cannot just cut her up or anything.

Aypierre and Tubbo finish their analysis of the remains of the first Code the group killed. Due to the heavy damage and significant corruption they needed a few more to get the full data, and have been slowly piecing it together. They have managed to pull out a set of coordinates, consistent across all Codexes and seemingly a point of origin? It is put on the list to investigate once time and persons allow for it.

Operation Severed Hammer

Allies in Mexico ask for assistance in rescuing a contact who had been caught feeding them information. She escaped into the old subway system, but was trapped. With the split teams only being back a few days, had it been anything other than a rescue mission the Order would have told them no.

Jaiden, Vegetta, Missa, Roier, Mouse, and Baghera

Get in via one of the old stations, where a train was still parked from 10 years ago. Spotting enemies on the train an ambush was set, but it failed to take them all out; a spectre set its bugs inside Vegetta. They managed to get him back up quickly, but it was unpleasant. There is also a strange new alien, something organic with psionic tentacles which exists in a giant, white, armoured, mechanical shell, only opening to attack. Unfortunately it exploded upon defeat, both severely injuring Baghera and preventing study.

Once the contact is located, it takes time for an evac route to be cut through - Federation Employees chasing the contact keep coming and coming, until finally Niki finds a close enough opening. The engineer and Baghera leave first, while the others clean up.

Mariana and Slimecicle return successfully, though Slimecicle is injured. Given the large number of injuries and the fact the uninjured senior members are preparing for dealing with stuff from the Code, the Hunter’s Facility is not attacked immediately.

Operation Crypt Hand * E H

Investigation of the coordinates from the Code. Cellbit wanted to come, but is still recovering and also needed on the ship. No idea what might be there - there are no buildings - but going to look.

BBH, Foolish, Fit, Pac, Mike, and Jaiden

First thing of note is the ruins of a farm and its associated buildings, and chryssalids. These are killed, and the group just follows the obviously worn path deeper in. Annoyingly, the Hunter shows up - this was a higher priority, but given Mike’s history with the Hunter this is a problem. They continue pressing in, until they find some Federation barricades. Beyond those the ground turns more purple, just like at the facility with Trump and Allie. In the centre there seems to be some sort of Gate? Psionic well? Portal entrance? Pac gets closer to take readings, and is poisoned for his efforts - given the severity of chryssalid poison, BBH heals it up fast. They press a little closer still, and another of the orb aliens appears - coming out of the structure, so likely Portal is correct. Wanting to steal the entire portal, the group kills everything; BBH and Pac are both injured when the Orb (now named Gatekeeper) explodes, causing Mike to panic - given the extra stress from the Hunter, too. Pac calms him down, but the Hunter knocks them both out with some sort of gas grenade - while BBH checks on them, the other three chase the Hunter off.

After the fighting is done, and Pac and Mike wake up, they work on securing the Gate for transport. While doing this, Fit is interrupted by something pulling on his trousers. He looks down to see a child holding out a notepad - ‘Spreen is dead. My condolences, or congratulations? You did not seem to like each other very much.’ is what it reads. Looking, there’s another two children hiding nearby too. Pac and Mike are left with the strong arms of Jaiden to finish sorting out the Gate, while the other three check on the kids. They call themselves triplets, and talking a little reveals that Spreen was imprisoned with them for a while. He was forced to bond with the kid with the notepad - Spreen had named him Ramón when that happened, but ignored the others - which led to horrific consequences for them both. While Spreen was not kind to the kids, he did also sacrifice himself to get the three out. BBH realises one has demonic heritage, and resolves to keep an eye on that one, so Foolish works on cheering up the third.

Gate is eventually recovered, and three more children - Ramón, Dapper, and Leo - are brought back.

Vegetta adores Leo just as Foolish does, whilst BBH adores Dapper even more than the other kids.

Ramón sticks to Fit, though it takes a while for Fit (or any other adult) to realise Ramón has bonded to him, due to Fit’s extremely low psionic ability. Ramón says he prefers it that way. No chance of a repeat of what happened with Spreen, but the kid can still feed. Fit is confused but learns to love him. Just a little slower than the others.

While Philza and Etoiles are running deliveries with Niki, a Federation vessel tracks down the Airship. Unlike last time, the airship is shut down. Aypierre, Tubbo and Mike (Pac is severely wounded from the last mission and barely conscious in the infirmary so cannot help) try to get it back up. There’s some sort of device emitting pulses which prevent them from taking back off. Mike leads a group to try to take it out.

Operation Spider Giant

Mission to take out the device and enable the Airship to take off again. Tubbo is manning the turrets from inside the ship, otherwise people are fighting wherever they can.

Mike takes everyone both present and physically capable out to sort things out.

There are just constantly huge numbers of aliens and Federation employees, constantly attacking and making progress really slow. People get shot - in Fit’s case severely - but they make it to the device, disable it, and get back to the ship. The Federation keep sending even more people even then - it was a huge attack - but as soon as everyone is on the ship they take off and get as much distance as they can.

Over course of the mission, Maxo and BBH - both still injured - end up coming out to help defend, as aliens get into the ship. Inside is cleared out, those two take up positions where the aliens had snuck in. Massive panic hours for the Brazilians. BBH worsened his injuries, as did Pac who ended up having to fight inside the airship.

Analysis of Allie’s suit is completed, and generally about the children. They realise that the children are ‘grown’ from the DNA of some of the civilians - Maxo is depressed to discover Trump uses a fair chunk of Dan’s DNA - forcibly combined with alien DNA. It is not a stretch to realise that the Federation Workers are also grown from genetically modified human DNA - the ones who wear the full masks, anyway. The purpose for them remains unclear at this time.

Operation Winter Shield

Federation radio transmitter tower is being used to send out orders to Federation Workers, including spying information. Upon finding out about this, a team is sent to destroy it.

Mariana, Slimecicle, Maxo, Mouse, Cellbit, and Vegetta go.

As they make their way to the relay, Slimecicle spends most of his time stealing supplies from various buildings around the place. While it starts out funny it gets very dangerous very fast - they go from joking to Cellbit nearly being killed in a single very powerful and well aimed shot, saved only by his psionics wrapping around himself instinctively and at the last second. He still takes a very serious injury, Mouse having to feed him the hand of a Federation Worker she kills to get him healed enough to get back on his feet. She is also hurt, and they stumble through together. At the transmitter they discover something called an Archon - a flying alien fused with technology. Mariana acts to distract, letting Vegetta, Maxo, and Slimecicle take out the transmitter while protecting the still severely injured Cellbit - Mouse is helping guard him - but in doing so takes a heavy hit from both a Sectopod and is set on fire by a Purifier. Still it is taken out, and everyone gets out alive.

A long time of odd jobs, but nothing especially important. Just a lot of healing.

Operation Demon Song

Contacts inform the Order of a scientist they want to interrogate, who is currently travelling through Ibadan. If they cannot capture him for interrogation, then kill him to prevent him getting his research finished.

Roier, Philza, Missa, Etoiles, Maxo, and Vegetta

Everything is very white and clean and minimalistic - even the clothing stores. There are also a lot of roads crossing over each other, providing a lot of vantage points for Missa to snipe from. Pigeons jumpscare the group. Philza, Missa, and Etoiles take the upper path, Roier, Maxo, and Vegetta a lower one. Vegetta gets spotted by a civilian, who freaks out and calls for the Federation Security Forces. And thus fighting begins - Roier takes responsibility for kidnapping the target, while the others cover him. A pond provides complications via cutting off the obvious route to where Niki is waiting with the helicopter, but everyone does manage to get out uninjured.

Tubbo finally manages to get plasma weaponry functional. It is not all of the weapons the group uses yet, but a lot of them.

Operation Dismal Paramore * E H

With most of the group well, an attack is finally launched on the Hunter’s Stronghold.

Philza, Mariana, Slimecicle, Pac, Mike, Cellbit

The layout remains very similar to the previous ones. This time they do also find a “Clean Room” - similar to where Trump and Allie were discovered - though the tube is empty this time, and a big bay full of Federation aircraft. Pac gets set on fire at one point, which nobody is especially happy about, and Cellbit has his psionics turned against him by a Federation Psionics specialist, knocking him out for a minute or two. Injuries remain minor, but annoying, that early.

This time upon entering the Chosen’s Chamber, they find three children. One very small girl is lugging a rifle twice her size around, trying to set it up to shoot the Slab which permits the Hunter to respawn. Mariana immediately jumps up to help/stop her, finding it a good sniping place for himself too. The other two children hide when told. With significant teamwork the group take out the Hunter, his last words being to state that he has finally discovered what fear is.

Pickup is delayed by a few hours, the group stuck tending their injuries and chatting with the children, due to an emergency call from Brazil where one of the allied havens is attacked. However I’ll summarise stuff for the Eggs here, so it’s together, despite them only coming back after the other mission.

Knowing how this goes, now, the children are taken back. The others are thrilled, Chayanne, Dapper, and Pomme saying they think this is all, but… They used to have more siblings. Either the others are dead, or have been asleep for a very long time.

The girl with the rifle attaches herself to Mariana and Slimecicle. The other two children - Tallulah and Tilín - prefer to stay away from the fighters. Tallulah is enchanted by Wilbur, to his worry and confusion, while Tilín was extremely close to Allie before they were forcibly split up, and so ends up with the Quackities (later, when Luzu shows up, he will get very attached to him too).

Operation Iron Beast

Allied Haven in Brazil attacked. All combat Brazilians are either doing spy work (Bagi) or on the other mission.

Missa, Roier, Etoiles, Fit, Jaiden, Foolish

More of this haven is made of brick than the group are used to. However it has saved the lives of none of the guards, thanks to the presence of a couple of sectopods. At one point the Federation bomb a petrol station that some civilians were sheltering, triggering a chain of explosions and killing a number of people. Roier gets poisoned, Foolish heals him, it ends in a mini fight because Missa was significantly more injured - and that was the only medkit. Missa does not hear it, being on a roof sniping. At one point Fit gets yeeted off a roof by a Faceless, much to his displeasure. Missa snipes most of the enemies, while everyone else hunts burrowing chryssalids. It’s… a very depressing mission, even moreso than when Spreen was kidnapped simply because there’s very, very little they can do. Some people are saved! But it feels really bad.

Tubbo manages to get the sniper rifles working using plasma technology

Operation Gasping Spark

Allies find a lead on data concerning the use of Psionic Restraints, something that is of interest - Cellbit learning to do it to someone, else generally developing something to protect against it, would be helpful. Cellbit is, however, injured, so cannot go.

BBH, Foolish, Mariana, Slimecicle, Vegetta, Maxo

There are contacts hiding in the area, willing to pass on info and supplies to the Order. It is a slums district, and such things are not uncommon in them. Maxo and Vegetta both get doused in acid, but with only one medkit between the group they have to find water to rinse it off - leading to bad burns. BBH gets the data with relative ease, but is hit so hard with a stun baton he is knocked out, and does not recover consciousness until on the flight home. It goes even further to hell from there, most of the group being set on fire by a purifier. Seeing BBH not coming around even once that is dealt with, Foolish takes command. He signals for Niki, and orders Vegetta to evac BBH - the helicopter has proper medical supplies. He orders Maxo out very soon after, noticing the man struggling to both hold his gun and to comprehend instructions indicating he might be going into shock. Slimecicle and Mariana hunt down the remaining enemies; Foolish watches their backs, taking out anything that tries to sneak up on them.

Tubbo gets plasma working with the submachine guns, and then the guns rangers carry (they mostly use knives, which plasma is less helpful with)

While running chores on the surface, a firefight is noticed. The group find a man being chased by Federation sorts, and save him. He turns out to be Luzu, a friend of Quackity’s from before the trauma that caused his amnesia, and also acquainted with a couple of the others. Significant player in the early resistance who slipped into the shadows. As thanks for the rescue, he gives information about a Facility he was on his way to blow up when he got caught…

Operation Haunting Night E

The facility Luzu mentioned. Don’t expect much here, but good to get rid of these things.

Luzu, Missa, Roier, Fit, Cellbit, Jaiden

Plan is to get in, plant explosives, and get out. It’s in the middle of a desert, near an abandoned petrol station. The Order have learnt and nobody uses that for cover. Still they sneak in, only to find some truly fucked up Viper - male, larger, with ice breath and so fast it can manage to attack everyone in the time it takes them to draw their weapons. It is hard work to take it down, relying on Jaiden’s reflexes every time it passes, Fit’s grenades blowing up all its cover, Luzu’s little AI buddy working overtime, and Missa and Roier being… Disturbingly in sync to kill it. Missa does also get set a little on fire by a Federation Purifier, but he has survived worse.

Cellbit sneaks in the back to check the Facility for information while Fit uses his other grenade to blow up a wall and get in to plant the explosives. With fighting ongoing for the others, Cellbit finds a number of corpses… And another child. One of the children who vanished, presumably, though they are critically ill. Cellbit gets the little one out, while Fit plants the charges and everyone else escapes.

They take the fucked up Viper corpse with, and to his horror Mike… Doesn’t recognise it, but recognises it as something he would have designed while experimenting with Meld and genetic modification in the war. While it has all his hallmarks, nobody (himself included) remembers this. Felps reasons it must have just been a thought experiment, especially as Pac doesn’t recognise it either, and Cellbit points out Cucurucho probably ripped it from his brain. This does not make him feel better.

In time the child recovers, clinging extremely hard to Cellbit - they had instinctively bonded with him as soon as he touched them, they were so badly starved and injured their soul acted the only way it could to survive.

* Aypierre and Tubbo finish analysis of the Gate found with Ramon, Leo, and Dapper. It is revealed to be a portal, yes, but one locked behind specific DNA and psionic signatures. They do this by sending Tubbo’s Tubbling into the gate to spy. They know about an electronic signal, so use a code brain to activate it. It shows bits of clearly alien architecture, on a massive level implying it is the alien’s base - not just Federation, but their leaders. They send the Tubbling deeper in to look closer, but due to not having the correct signatures it is kicked out. The second, organic signature is missing, and a feedback loop sent it out. Tubbo ignores responsibilities until the Tubbling is repaired, but Aypierre keeps going. He theorises they need one of the bodies of the creatures that come when Codes are skulljacked… *

Operation Damned Stroke *

Receive news of a crashed alien ship in Brazil. A group is sent out to secure it and to see if there’s any information to be gained from it.

BBH, Foolish, Jaiden, Fit, Slimecicle, Mariana

The ship crashed such as to take part of the roof off an old abandoned cafe, one already derelict and with trees growing through it after ten years of neglect. Upon the group reaching the ship an alarm sounds - BBH hacks the controls to shut it off, while the others attack the aliens inside. Unfortunately a sectopod was on the ship when it crashed. When it stands to defend itself, it destroys a significant part of the ship. It also critically injures Mariana. Slimecicle is injured (though less badly) protecting him while BBH heals.

* One of the enemies on the ship was another of those white haired humanoids which was summoned when Philza skulljacked the Code. This time the body remains intact, and was brought back to the airship. Aypierre and Tubbo abandon their other research to examine it. Now they see another, it looks suspiciously like Allie and Memory... *

Autopsy complete on the Viper King, proving Mike’s fears of it being a design sucked from his brain during his torture. He is now extremely worried about what else might be out there.

Bagi is injured on a sabotage mission with Tina.

Operation Falling Bell

Part of the alien communications system is discovered under Dijon. The local resistance operatives do not have the skillset to disable it themselves, and so pass the information onto the Order. Due to a very small access point only three people can be sent. As Pac e Mike are the experts on this sort of thing, they are sent to handle it with Baghera as support.

While the mission starts off simply enough, it quickly goes to hell. A spectre gets into Pac, and then the fake Pac formed by its bots shoots Baghera badly. Mike sends the rats to hunt down the spectre, pointing out the location to allow Baghera to take out the source of the problem - when it is killed, Pac is able to be roused easily and the false Pac dissolves. No sooner is he up, however, as a sectopod finds them. It severely wounds Pac before Mike can manage to redirect the rats from scouting to hacking it - but they do get it shutdown. Unfortunately with only three of them they cannot manage to destroy it before it reboots. Tazercraft fully synching themselves to the point they can process twice as fast is the only reason the three get out alive when a second sectopod appears. They do manage to get the transmitter disabled, and Baghera gets everyone out, but with the injuries and everything it takes Tazercraft a few days to let go of each other enough to have independent thoughts again.

* Aypierre and Tubbo complete their autopsy of the “Avatar”. They discover that it is an artificially created person, using a base of human DNA, fused with alien sorts. Following a horrible suspicion, they discover that the children they have been collecting are the same - indeed, made of missing civilian DNA. After thinking of this and testing them, Trump is revealed to be made using Dan’s DNA, though the rest nobody anybody knows. Confirming Chayanne as the eldest, they show him the corpse. He confirms they were another of the EGGS, though they died years ago. With a little putting things together, they work out that the children are being created for the Elders to possess, thus escaping their fatal infections. Hence the ghost of an Elder when the first was killed - presumably the second too, but nobody was psionic so only got the shockwave. It is also revealed that the DNA and psionic markers for opening the gate are held by the children, but given their young age they are not able to hold it alone. Need someone to buff them, and also work together. Going through the gate seems necessary, taking the fight to the Federation finally… But, it must be done carefully…*

* Reports from elsewhere reveal that the kidnapping has been massively sped up, to the point where ‘normal’ civilians are noticing the pattern and getting suspicious. Time is absolutely of the essence. *

* It is agreed that attacking the Federation base needs a distraction - and a good one at that. There’s some disagreement about what it could be, until Wilbur is like. I’ll do it. Give me the Theory Bros and three days, and we’ll get you a video not only proving the Federation are performing so many crimes on people, but also have it ready to upload. Which, Fit knows the radioing bit, just get him to the Global Network Tower. We stir up unrest with the civilians, lure a lot of the Feds out, then attack while they’re busy *

Nobody has better ideas and it’s actually a good one, so they arrange to try to get into the Network Tower on the night of the next major address. Significant planning is done with allied factions, ensuring they are ready for both if rioting begins or if not. In the first case, to steer rioting into something actually constructive. In the second, to protect themselves as the crackdown for pulling off the transmission will be hard.

Mission Bloody Wail *

Wilbur’s video is complete, with the aid of Maxo, Foolish, and BBH. Cellbit and Bagi also get super into helping collate the evidence, while Philza keeps dumping more video recordings on them to use. The others also help out, providing translations into as many languages as possible and lending their faces to voiceovers, interviews on what they saw, etc. Now it’s done… Just a case of getting it broadcast. Fit knows radios best, Pac and Mike there to deal with getting into the computer system in the first place, Roier bodyguarding.

Fit, Pac, Mike, and Roier

Niki drops them on repair walkways near the top of the World Broadcast Tower. The four systematically fight their way across to the radio station proper, taking out enemies as they go. Upon getting inside Roier and Pac deal with keeping swarming enemies off the group, while Mike gets Fit into the system and Fit gets everything broadcast properly. Mike adds a little extra signal, causing it to transmit a shockwave knocking out any tech-based alien forces nearby. As designed the broadcast cuts into the Federation address. Niki sweeps by to pick the group up as soon as the video is over - she otherwise hovers nearby picking off anything that tries to come close.

Wait for rioting to start, which it does, and then for the Federation to crack down hard. A lot of people are sent out to provide aid to those rioting, but it is far too much for them to cover when they need to deal with the main base too. Local factions take point on organising riots into something constructive, as arranged.

Mission Leviathan *

And then all that is left to do is to assault the Federation Base. Mouse leads people providing extra psionic juice to the EGGS so they can open and keep open the gate. As all of their parents are on the mission and so receiving the psionic power least directly, Dapper and Chayanne take responsibility for organising the EGGS. Dapper is also their magic expert, while they are used to doing what Chayanne says and getting info from him.

BBH, Foolish, Cellbit, Missa, Philza, and Etoiles (Crow video recording everything as well as individual photographs)

The EGGS open the portal. The team find themselves inside some sort of very sealed facility.

Some sort of lab. Two very young, mostly human corpses are laid out on examination tables, having been opened up and dissected slightly. Closer looking reveals alien features. It is theorised these may be more failed EGGS. The group pass through, taking out the enemies with minimal injury, and taking plenty of recordings. In the corridor to the next room a group of MECs spot them. Again, this is taken out relatively cleanly.

Another lab, more corpses, these ones older. There’s also vials of DNA - human, alien, and various species of earth around (Cellbit took samples ofc). Full of faceless, though Foolish and Missa pick them off easily. Cellbit lines up the other enemies and rips through them with his void lance. After clearing the room they regroup, and press on.

In the next corridor, they find an Archon and its friends breaking out of… something made of glass. They approach only to find a glass… human enclosure? There’s a “garden” with a swingset, a double bedroom, a single bedroom with walls covered in children’s drawings, a kitchen, a dining room, a lounge full of kiddie toys. All ruined, all in styles and fashioned long out of date. Later discussions think it must be where humans kidnapped pre-invasion were studied, and also it is proof just how long the aliens have been active.

As the squad approaches the human study enclosure, a team of stun lancers approach from the left. While those are easy to deal with, not so are the pair of sectopods escorted by heavy MECs. Both BBH and Missa take heavy injuries as the group adjusts to account for them. They manage to get one Sectopod down, but the other shoots Missa and leaves him in a critical condition requiring emergency treatment to survive. As the one with the anti-tech weaponry, they especially focused on him. Foolish takes out the Sectopod while BBH and the others dance with the MECs, screaming at Philza to treat Missa. He manages to get Missa stable, then sends the Crow to heal everyone from the extensive injuries that fight left. He manages to get Missa conscious, but it takes another two medkits to get him back on his feet, and there were limited numbers of them in the first place… One of them comes from BBH’s Ghostie, just to make sure both Crow and Ghostie have at least one equipped for further emergencies.

Etoiles runs after the final MEC, which leads him to… A very narrow slot between two high doors. As he is looking at it, another possessed Avatar appears. It pulls them through into the next room with psionics, to fight on its terms. This one has a glass ceiling, revealing that they are not on the Etheral’s home planet as expected, but instead deep, deep beneath the sea…

Before they really have time to process that, another 3 fully possessed Avatars appear. Among them is one who singles out Philza. Seeing it repeatedly trying to possess him, Cellbit sticks close to Philza, extending a shield over him. Dealing with it allows the others time to prep, but as even with assistance Philza keeps getting panicky, they do prioritise it - Philza manages to kill it himself, but it is a team effort. By the time it is down the other three have summoned in other aliens, fully puppetted and attacking. Foolish is poisoned badly by one of these, and BBH uses his last medkit to heal the poison. Doing this is immediately followed by Missa taking a series of four really nasty hits, sending him to bleeding out again. BBH is right with him, but has no medkits left. Philza has to run across the very large atrium to get in range and stabalise him. With absolutely no medkits left Missa is left on one hit. He just about manages to raise his rifle and take out the Avatar hunting him with a head shot, before tucking himself between three walls and focusing on just protecting himself. Philza stays close to distract any enemies taking a fancy to him, and keep an eye on him. The fight falls into chaos, with Etoiles leaping between enemies with his knife and covered in their blood, BBH going a little trigger happy, and Foolish sitting there with his pistol shooting upwards of ten aliens a round. Cellbit attempts searching for a consciousness other than the Elder’s inside the Avatars, hoping the EGGS they once were survive, but finds nothing. The children they used to be have been completely eradicated during the possession process. The floor is coated and sticky with blood as Foolish takes out the final Avatar not with his rifle, but his pistol.

As soon as the final Avatar falls, there is a massive psionic shockwave, destabilising the entire facility. Foolish, BBH, and Cellbit take the time to slip into the next room, killing all of the Elders they find in stasis awaiting their EGGS to be complete there, before running. Etoiles helps Missa up and keeps him steady as they all run back for the portal. There are horrific injuries all around, but Missa’s are by far the worst. Philza and Cellbit guard the gate for the others to get through, shooting the few aliens that manage to chase them and only going through themselves once the others are safe.

Chayanne upon counting everyone through has the EGGS drop their psionics. Even with the help they collapse into exhausted puddles. Everyone is so so tired, and the people who went away are badly hurt, but they are together.

With the deaths of the Elders and destruction of most of their facilities, the Federation crumbles under the weight of constant attack. Cellbit and Roier slip away one day, coming back lighter than they have been for a long time. Not long after the remaining Federation news channels announce that the Cucuruchos have been murdered, and graphically ripped apart - perhaps even eaten. Tina and Bagi follow the example with less eating, leaving for some weeks to pick off senior remaining members of the Federation. In its dust no government remains, causing its own problems. Rebuilding must then begin.

#qsmp x xcom #cellbit and roier deserve a honeymoon of going to murder cucurucho gdi #hopefully this makes sense I skim read it but I also know what it should say #I take questions!

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