As the drop-ship neared Los Angeles, I went over the ground team roster one more time.
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Ground Team Roster:
Heavy Weapons:
Argatson, Tamunshin, Sarah Newman
All Purpose Weapons:
Archangel, Darkwind, Ashley Smith
Close Quarters Weapons:
Roll Fizzlebeef, Mr. Apple, Dash-
Gunmetal, The Chosen
Notes: All CCQ units are equipped
with a stun rod with the exception of
Roll Fizzlebeef who's focus will be
to act as a medic.
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The Skyranger landed in an empty plot of grass next to a road lit by street lamps. As it had descended the pilot witnessed a one sided firefight. "Hey guys, be careful out there. Citizens are running in the streets and there seems to be a lot of aliens down there."
"Good." Was all Darkwind had to say in return.
"Think I'll get a kill this time?" Asked Tamunshin out loud, trying to dispel the tension in the ship.
"You'll need to take the safety off your cannon this time I'd imagine." Laughed The Chosen. Mr. Apple and Dash Gunmetal joined in his laughter.
"Shut it morons" Archangel commanded with a frown. "Or should I inform the commander of your childish behavior?"
The trio quieted while Tamunshin looked away, embarrassed and cross.
The team feels the Skyranger touch down. Mario's HWP starts up with a quiet hum as the drop-ship's rear door comes loose and falls to the ground. Mario drives his tank onto the ramp and turns on it's headlights, spotting an alien against the wall immediately in-front of the back of the Skyranger!
Mario had blinded the alien. He called to the other ground team members it's location before moving off the ramp. He had just turned his HWP to the right a bit before he spotted another one.
He moved his tank oh so quietly towards the front of the Skyranger, spotting another one down the street under a street lamp.
Ashley Smith Grabs her smoke grenade and deploys it at the base of the drop-ship's ramp as The Chose lines up his pistol to kill the first spotted alien. He fires three times but fails to hit the little gray man. He crouches back into his seat as Argatson brings his auto-cannon to bear. "Here's how it's done." He sets his sights on the alien and fires a single armor piercing round. Just out of the lights from the rear of the drop-ship, a hollow sounding scream can be heard.
In the moments that the team waits for the smoke grenade to go off, they can hear the quietness of the night pierced by screaming in the distance. The sounds of the alien's weapons firing off seem to come mostly from a park to the north-east.
The Chosen moves out of the Skyranger once the smoke grenade fills the surrounding area with it's thick smoke. He spots the little gray man Mario had pointed out and fires at it quickly several times. One of his shots lands but the alien recovers quickly from it, getting The Chosen in it's sights. Ashley Smith jumps down from the ramp and covers the alien with automatic death. The alien collapses to the ground with a hollow sounding moan.
"Why do they have to sound so echo-y like that?" The Chosen remarks.
The rest of the ground team slips out of the Skyranger while Mario continues his scouting. He moves towards the far side of the closest building and looks around the corner, spotting yet another alien in the dark park.
Green flashes illuminate the darkness and scream towards Mario's tank, The first deflects off him but the second sinks into his turret. Warnings and errors light up his screen as he moves his tank back into cover.
"Crap I'm hit! Mario exclaimed loudly.
"How bad is it Mario?" I asked as I brought up a display of his systems.
"My turret is bugged, I cant shoot straight but I can still maneuver." He replied.
"That will have to do Mario, stay on your toes, your scouting is invaluable." I looked around the screens on my console. Everything else seemed fine but the screaming of the civilians was getting louder.
Mr. Apple makes way for the building across from the Skyranger's ramp while Darkwind moves towards the street to setup a sniper position. As he gets close to the door, several gunshots can be heard from inside. The door bursts open suddenly! He draws his pistol and aims it at the creature that came through. He stops himself from pulling the trigger in the nick of time as he realizes it was a scared civilian. The young man nearly has a heart attack and moves out of Mr. Apple's way.
"Keep moving, it's safer to the west of here." He told the trembling man who quickly dashed for the street.
Mr. Apple moved into the building and spotted another civilian inside holding a pistol. He was pointing it at something just past Mr. Apple's sight. He kept pulling the trigger but the empty gun only responded with clicks. Mr. Apple stepped forward and noticed a little gray man in the shadows across the room, growling at the civilian!
Mr. Apple quickly took aim and gun downed the alien. as the civilian dropped his empty gun and ran for the open door.
"Why is this happening!" Screams the man in dismay as he follows the other fleeing civilian.
"I'm not sure buddy, bet we're here to put a stop to it." Argatson says mostly to himself as he activates his flare and tosses it into the park. The flare bounces and springs to life, revealing one of the aliens that had been shooting at Mario.
Mario continues to skirt the buildings, peaking between them. He looks closely to his monitor for a moment as he moves the camera towards a street perpendicular to the one Darkwind was setting up on. "Commander... What IS that?" He points to his monitor at a two meter squared disk hovering a foot off the ground.
As he ponders, the disk rotates quickly. Three green flashes fly like lightning towards Mario's tank from the disc. One bolt hits his tank hard causing his video feed to go into static for a moment. Once it returns he moves back into cover again. "Aw hell. Commander Anya, I'm going to take an educated guess and call that the alien's version of a HWP. Mario makes sure his radio was switched on. "Guys be careful, that floating disc packs a hard punch!"
"Rodger." Replies Argatson as he takes aim through the window of the building he followed Mr. Apple into. He fires several shots at an alien in the park. A shot connects and the alien collapses into a heap.
Meanwhile The Chosen and Tamunshin move into the building next to the Skyranger. Through it's windows they spot another floating disk.
The Chosen motions for Tamunshin to head up stairs while he moves to the far corner to take cover. Tamunshin Nods and runs for the stairs. Moments later the first floor of the building erupts in explosions. Neither Tamunshin nor The Chosen respond to the concerned messages of the rest of the ground team.
"Commander, we just lost Tamunshin and The Chosen!" Yelled out Roll Fizzelbeef who was just outside the building.
I looked at my screen and saw that The Chosen's vitals had red lined, however, Tamunshin's had not. Her heart rate had gone up though. "Tamunshin is still in there, get a visual."
Roll Fizzlebeef peered through a window, trying to see through the smoke filled room. He spotted Tamunshin standing halfway up the stairs with her cannon pointed at the corner The Chosen had just took cover in.
"Commander, something is up with Tamunshin... I think she killed The Chosen!"
"Tamunshin, stand down!" I yelled through the radio receiver.
There was no response.
Dash Gunmetal got up to a corner of a building next the the street in front of the Skyranger. Mario had spotted an alien on the other side of it not too long ago. Dash turned it quickly with his pistol drawn and came face stomach with a little gray man! He reacts quickly and before the alien can raise it's gun he shoves the stun rod against it's forehead and zaps it into unconsciousness. "Fuck yeah! got another one." He cheers out.
An alien wanders into Mario's headlights from behind building separating most of the team from the park. Roll Fizzlebeef takes aim with his pistol and takes it down with expert precision!
Mr. Apple moves out of the building that he had cleared with Argatson. He finds himself in a cramped ally with another building. He moves around the back of the new building and peers in the window. It is a small home which appears to be empty.
Argatson takes aim and tries to take out another little gray man in the park but the distance makes it difficult with his weapon.
"Oh... Oh god! I-I killed him." The terrified voice of Tamunshin returns to the radio channel. "I couldn't stop myself! I.. Don't know what happened to me."
"You got pissed at The Chosen for making fun of you didn't you?" Called out Dash Gunmetal. "You wanted to show him who's boss." Heckled Dash Gunmetal before getting cut off by Archangel.
"Quiet Dash. Hang in their Tamunshin, just hang in there till the mission is over then we'll get you back to the base where we can talk things out."
"G-got it sir, I'll take cover on the second floor and assist with that floating disc thing." Replied a shaken Tamunshin.
Argatson Moved back in-front of the window and lays down some cover fire, trying to take out as many soft targets as he can. Ashley Smith moves up to the corner of the park that was near the Skyranger and scans the scene while Darkwind, Mario, Dash Gunmetal and Sarah Newman move down the street to try and flank the park.
"I see another alien right around the corner from you Mr. Apple. I think I have a shot..." Said Ashley Smith quietly.
Ashley Smith takes aim and fires at the alien but the shot comes up short and hits the wall to the right of it. Roll Fizzlebeef, meanwhile, had gotten his sights on another alien in the park. He plugs a bullet in it's head from a formidable distance away.
Archangel had moved up into the building with Argatson to assist him with picking off targets in the park. As he moves up to the window however the floating disc nearby rotates and fires off a large plasma bolt, blowing out the wall next to archangel, forcing him to scatter for cover.
Tamunshin moves up to a window on the second floor of the building she is in. She has found a position with a good view of the floating disc in the park. She growls at the thing and takes aim with her cannon. "Chew on this asshole!" She calls out angrily. As she speaks the floating disc rotates again, firing as she does. The recoil of the heavy cannon pushes her away from the window as it bursts inwards. Her shot however had gone off target because of her instinct to dodge the shot.
The alien that Ashley Smith had fired at had turned around and returned fire towards her. Only a quickly timed crouch saved her from joining Steve and Razorwire. Mr. Apple stepped out from his cover and filled the back of the little gray man with bullets before stepping back into cover.
"Thanks Mr. Apple, you saved my skin." Said Ashly Smith with relief.
"No prob girl." Said Mr. Apple as he restrained the urge to make a comment about putting a cap in it's ass.
Mario carefully follows the street around the far building and turns left. On the left was the alien infested park, on the right was a small building with a bare grass plot behind it and a garden beyond that. A green flash comes out of the garden towards Mario's tank as he spots yet another alien.
"Lots of these buggers out tonight! Careful guys." Cautioned Mario.
"I see it." Called out Roll Fizzlebeef as he raised his pistol, firing off a few shots towards the garden.
Darkwind however had not been far behind. She takes aim from the street and squeezes the trigger. Taking down the alien with extreme accuracy. "Hope he burns in hell..."
Argatson, on the other side of the park, Stepped out of cover to quickly get some shots off at the floating disc. He barely hit it once before it rotated and fired at him multiple times, taking out his cover.
"Fuck those things fire quickly!" He yelled out as he moved quickly to some cover that still remained.
"I got it!" Assured Tamunshin as she carefully placed the last high explosive round of her heavy cannon.
The shell flew true and hit the floating disc directly but it emerged from the smoke still hovering and looking for it's aggressor.
Sarah Newman had taken to getting to the second floor of the building at the corner of the two streets. She found the perfect window to take out the second floating disc from. As she opened it she noticed a green flash from the floating disc she sought to ambush! The ducked and was pushed back by the wall next to the window exploding inwards. She steeled her nerves and got up to place a carefully aimed rocket right up it's ass. The rocket flew gracefully to it's target and made an impressive explosion. But the floating disc remained.
She ducked back behind cover to rearm her rocket launcher as Mr. Apple and Roll Fizzlebeef work together to flush out and take down a little gray man that had been hiding behind the floating disc in the park
Sarah Newman grunts as she lifts the heavy rocket launcher over her shoulder again. "Just die already!" She calls out as she moves up to the hole in the wall again and fires another well aimed rocket, hitting the floating disc directly. The rocket explodes in a fiery shock-wave, The floating disk shudders for a moment and explodes into an even larger ball of flames leaving only smoke and destruction where there was once a machine of terror.
"Guys, keep at it! They can be killed! I'll head over in a second..." Sarah Newman sit and leans against the wall of the room to get a breather, feeling she earned a bit of rest after taking down such a difficult foe.
Hope renewed Mr. Apple, Argatson and Tamunshin redouble their efforts. Mr. Apple slipped out of cover to fire at the floating disc, causing it to turn and fire on him. The green blasts filled the area near him in holes. It was a miracle and a testament to his quickness that none managed to hit him directly while Argatson and Tamunshin continued to hammer the floating disc with their heavy hitting armor piercing rounds. Sparks fly from the floating disc as Tamunshin Carefully places another shot. The cannon round leaves a hole in the top of the disc and it shudders for a moment before erupting in a huge ball of flame and shrapnel.
Mr. Apple went wide eyed as the red hot shrapnel filled the wall next to him and the wall of flame dispersed only inches away from him.
"YES! We did it guys!" Tamunshin cried out as she celebrates her first kill. She is met with silence though. A moment passes and she remembers what had happened only minutes before.
The team finishes searching the area for aliens while Archangel and Rolls Fizzlebeef approach the staircase below Tamunshin.
"I didn't mean to guys. r-really I couldn't stop myself!" She pleaded as she trained her heavy cannon on the stair case.
"We need you to toss your weapon down the stairs Tamunshin." Directed Archangel.
"But I...I didn't do it! I DID NOT MURDER HIM!" Tamunshin cried out.
"I watched it happen Tamunshin, please don't make us hurt you!" Roll Fizzlebeef called up.
"S-Stop accusing me! I didn't want too!" Tamunshin breaks out into tears.
"Archangel, Roll Fizzlebeef, stand down. This is the commander speaking. Tamunshin listen. You don't want to hurt anyone else tonight right?" I called over the radio, watching her vitals closely. Her heartbeat was rapid and she was close to a nervous breakdown.
"No commander, you gotta believe me!" She shouted through the radio, her hands trembling as she tried to keep the heavy cannon aimed straight.
"Alright, I believe you. Now I want to get you back to base safely so we can have a nice peaceful talk so we can get to the bottom of this. I wont judge you." I tried to calm her down.
"Y-You'll ship me off to prison... or worse! I won't do it! Please just leave me alone!" Tamunshin was about to go into hysterics.
"Tamunshin listen, we're dealing with aliens here. They've brought weapons against us we cant even comprehend yet. If you drop your weapon right now and rejoin the team I promise you that the best minds money can buy will figure out how to help you. You'll be a free woman, no one needs to get all upset about this. I'll be there personally to get you back to your personal quarters OK?" I tried to give her the most reassuring voice I could give. Something weird happened. Tamunshin wouldn't have just fired on someone who slighted her like that and her psych tests were well above normal.
A trembling voice came across the radio quietly. "R-Really?"
"Really. Throw down your weapon and we'll help you. You and I both know things are not what they seem right?"
A tense moment passes before some metal clicks can be heard. A heavy cannon clip brick lands at the bottom of the stairs with a heavy thud. Another tense moment passes and quiet crying can be heard over the radio. Another loud set of clicks and metal on metal scraping can be heard. A single heavy cannon round rolls down the stairs loudly followed by Tamunshin's heavy cannon crashing down the stairs loudly. followed by a much quieter thump against the floor above. Archangel and Roll Fizzlebeef move quickly.
"Guys, be gentle and walk her to the Skyranger. We're all friends here." I direct over the radio. I can hear an audible sigh in the command center as the crisis comes to a close. I turn off my headset for a moment and I turn to my fellow officers. "Get me the best damn psychologist in the field."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
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I hope to entertain my readers (you guys
) with this story and make it into more than just a "here's what I did on x-com today". I want to make somewhat believable characters that grip my audience in suspense and drama. I could have written the major part of this post as "Tamunshin came under alien control and shoots The Chosen. and then she got better." but I wanted to incite emotion.
I find that the best writers are the ones that make the connection in the reader's mind and makes them "feel". It is my hope that I can do this to at least one person. I don't have much practice or experiance but I've always had ideas. Please let me know if you enjoy this dramatization of a simple game. Or even give me constructive criticism, I am certainly no famous author who is above such a thing. Let me know if I put too much detail into one thing or too little into another. The more feedback the better!
Also. Is Commander Anya Snow becoming too much of a Mary-Sue? I always worry about this because "she is my character" and I might not notice if I'm making her too perfect or not.
Author
Topic: Anya's x-com LP - UPDATED! Augest 17th (Read 92355 times)