The XCOM Viper Chapter 30, a x-com fanfic

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{All systems standing by. . .}

=Chapter 30, The Calm and the Storm=

(Mercy & Hawkeye's PoV)

{-static-}

{Rising wave of fear as Vipers reported to being seen destroying a-}

{Hundreds of Gene Therapy Clinics lie in ruin as several simultaneous explosions leave nothing but-}

{Advent informs citizens that any speculations of a 'Viper Rebellion' are nothing more than-}

{In light of this recent wave of confusing destruction from trusted servants of the Elders, we go now live to the Speaker…}

{It is with… deep distress… that I report to you all… that one of the daughters of the Elders… the very 'leader' of the Viper species, their 'Hierarch Mother', has been kidnapped by those dissidents, who would seek to lead us back into the unjust and warring ways of the Old World.}The Speaker said in a very 'saddened' voice.

{Earlier this morning, as she was preparing to make her speech to the world, declaring the beginning of a new building project, brushing away the ruins and ashes of the corrupted and abandoned remains of a once devastated city district, Traitorous individuals bent on an increasingly desperate course to destroy the trusted bonds between Humanity, and the Elders… violently attacked and abducted the peaceful recording session. With so few Peacekeepers, acting only as a peaceful envoy, our beloved daughter of the Elders, was threatened to force her own daughters to harm and destroy, all that 'we' have worked to achieve!}

{Yet, while over twenty thousand daughters of her species, answered her desperate plea for her own life… these Vipers only fight a halfhearted campaign, which has only proved the lengths these rebellious dissidents will go to destroy the peace and unity, we have achieved! I can assure you though, that 'all' of the Vipers are committed, to protecting and caring for humanity… and no matter what lengths these venomous individuals, bent only on hatred against those who only offer friendship and compassion, bringing only peaceful and-}

-Click-

She shut off the annoying view screen and lazily pulled her tail back up from over the bunk and curled it next to the pair of legs, belonging to her human who laid down in the same bunk she slept in and was given to her by her 'Hierarch Father', the one called 'Commander'.

Her human, Hawkeye, was currently lying next to her and softly stroking the top of her hooded head, and she hissing softly as she enjoyed the moment of peace they had following their successful mission. She in turn was holding his hand, softly stroking his fingers with her own, enjoying the softness of his skin, and inhaling his wonderful scent that she had recently… grown very fond of.

Many hours ago, they had professed their feelings for one another, and now that she had him all to herself, she was only interested in spending as much time as she could with Hawkeye. Their team was very tired after returning, and after returning they all promptly headed to their bunks and fell asleep.

Even now they were all snoozing in their bunks, Puppy snoring the loudest as she clutched an old worn blanket that was far too small for her.

Yet she and Hawkeye were last to sleep, and the reason was because they had gone to the Avenger's dining room to 'talk'… about their future.

They only talked briefly… because they were exhausted after the mission, but they settled on two things.

One, they decided to… as humans put it… 'take it slow'.

She had spoken to him about how, when a female Viper and a Male became life partners, they both mate at the earliest opportunity to affirm their loyalty to one another, and consequentially, bred the next generation of Vipers. It was a very important thing to her species, as females were easily swayed by males, and it was to ensure that no other male could try and steal her from her preferred male.

But, after talking about it, their current living conditions, and how they were still fighting a war, she agreed with him that… the option of… 'raising a family' was out of the question.

However, to cheer her up, because he had seen how sad she was that they couldn't 'mate' as she put it, when it was in her nature and her species' custom to do such an important act for her, he did promise that as soon as the war was over…

They would start a family.

The second thing they talked about, not nearly as important or hard pressing as the first but no less important, was sleeping arrangement. They both wanted to sleep in the same bed now that they were a couple, the only question was whose bunk would be sacrificed.

They chose his bunk, and so when they both went to bed, they climbed into her bed, and laid together in a warm embrace, where they still were that morning.

They were both awake now, not truly wide awake but conscious enough to be aware, and she was simply enjoying his warmth and gentle caresses to her body, and responding to them with her own gentle touches.

"So… how do you feel now Mercy?" He asked her quietly, being careful to not wake anyone.

"Happy…" She answered simply, keeping her urges under control as his rubbing of her hood was very stimulating.

"I know that… but are you happy after everything that happened last night?" He asked her. "Your species' leader is with us, we're all on the same side now…"

"As I said… I am happy." She replied instantly, hissing softly as she slightly gripped his hand, slipping her fingers between his own. "Why you ask... are you not happy?"

"I'm just… curious…" He said quietly. "Why me?"

She looked up at him before smiling and planting a kiss on his mouth, keeping her lips there for several moments before pulling away and relaxing next to him again. "You gave me… hope… you were nice to me… perhaps it was just… because you were always there for 'me'." She said honestly. "The Elders… they didn't care… my sisters weren't there for me, even when I was with them. My Hierarch Mother was too busy for me… unless I was being punished… none made time for me, but you did. Even when others wanted me dead… you wanted me to live. I guess, that is why I fell in love with you… because you cared about me."

"You weren't any different than I am, sure you're not human but… you're still a living, thinking creature." He said quietly. "You have feelings, thoughts, worries and cares of your own… I only hate Advent, I don't hate 'you'."

She nodded in his embrace and snuggled closer to him. "And that is why I love you… my Hawkeye."

They continued to sit there, resting in the bunk.

Until…

"Alright, I call dibs on Hawkeye's bunk!" Puppy yelled out, causing them both to wake up suddenly and look over at the others who were just waking up.

"Nah little lady, dat bed be all mine!" T-Rex said loudly, pulling out two boxes from under his bunk, each stuffed with old comic books.

"Listen to you two, our buddies have only been together for half a day and the 'second' they decide to sleep together from now on, you all fight for the one empty bunk?" Eagleeye said loudly, stretching and getting up. "Have a little respect for the love birds…"

"Yea but Hawkeye isn't sleeping in his bunk anymore, why waste the space?" Puppy said innocently, holding her own box of junk and knickknacks she's collected from various missions.

"Yea brotha, no need to waste the space!" T-Rex said with a grin.

Eagleeye yawned loudly before sitting on his bunk. "Alright… fine…" He relented and pulled out his own box of stuff. "But if we're playing that battle, I call dibs as well!"

They watched all three of them start arguing over who would get to use Hawkeye's bunk space for holding their stuff. At the same time, Sharptooth had walked over to an intercom panel, punched in a call number, and seconds later the Commander's Voice was heard.

[What is it?]He said.

"Commander, we have a situation here, Hawkeye's moved into Mercy's bunk bed, and won't be using it anymore." She stated dully. "So we're trying to figure out who gets to use it for their stuff. Can you make a decision sir?"

[You know my rules Sharptooth, from highest ranked to lowest ranked, that means you decide.] He declared, before shutting the coms off.

She turned to them and grinned. "There you go, my bunk for my stuff!"

"Oh come on Sharptooth, you don't have any souvenirs or stuff to hold, let one of us use it!" Puppy complained.

"You're right…" Sharptooth sighed, before grinning at Eagleeye and T-Rex. "Give me your desert for a month and buy me a few drinks, and you guys can share it, deal?"

T-Rex chuckled as he put his comic book box on one shoulder. "You drive ah hard bargain little girl, but you got yourself a deal!"

"Eh, I can go a few days without a drink." Eagleeye said quietly.

"You guys cave in too easily…" Falcon whispered as he left to go meditate.

"Well what about me, I can't buy you drinks I'm not old enough!" Puppy complained as T-Rex and Eagleeye dropped their boxes onto the bunk below him and Mercy.

"Guess you'll have to suffer Puppy!" She said with a chuckle. "I love being a Colonel."

"Do you guys have to fight over my old bunk?" He asked.

"No, but I aint missing a chance to get extra desert and free drinks!" Sharptooth said with a grin. "Speaking of eating, I'm going to get some grub, come on Sharks, waters are open and I want the warm breakfast before they start serving 'maintenance slop'. Especially before the Raptors and Dragons get to it first!"

At that the others, including a whining Puppy, began leaving for breakfast behind her.

He and Mercy looked at each other before chuckling. "Shall we start swimming?" He asked.

"By all means… let's." She said with a smile, uncurling and getting down from her bunk with him, walking to the dining room with him by her side.

Both hand in hand.

(Commander's PoV, hours after alliance formed)

He finished typing in his last memos before tomorrow, when he registered a contact call coming in on a secured channel. Ensuring the door was locked, he turned to the view screen and waited, before watching the screen flicker and waver.

On the screen was the distorted image of the Council.

[Greeting's Council, I take it you have something to inform me about?] He asked politely.

{Indeed Commander, I am here to inform you, that I am most impressed by your recent… activities… as is Advent…} He said warmly.

[Thank you Council, Advent was completely unaware of anything happening, and didn't realize what was going on until it was too late… I must say, I'm impressed it went as well as it did. But I could not have achieved it without The Hierarch Mother's assistance, the intelligence she gave me provided me the edge I needed to counteract Advent's various 'Dark Events' and attempts to shut down XCOM's activities and the resistance movement!]

{That is indeed correct… and I pleased to see that this… endeavor has proved worthwhile. I had doubts in this plan you chose… and I had very high expectations of its outcome… and you have surpassed those expectations… with flying colors. Though the rebellion is only now being noticed, the actions the Vipers have taken within the past few hours, have already crippled much of Advent's infrastructure.}

As he watched several images of various destroyed power plants, facilities, buildings, and other things appeared on screen, spread across the globe in every Advent City.

{There are reports of power outages, mysterious cover ups, and rushed actions taken by Advent to hide the full scale of the rebellion you have started.}

[Yes, now that I've managed to carry out my plan Council, I can move on to the next phase… gathering the last intel we need before we can let the whole world know what Advent is doing, but before I can do that… I need a Codex for my operatives to jack into.]

{I will do what I can to acquire the data you need, but with the virus still affecting their military, Advent has kept the remaining Codex's hidden, at an undisclosed location, which I am still attempting to gain access to. Until I can acquire the information, your mission is to resume hitting Advent wherever, and however you can. Continue gathering the truth Commander… but be careful from here on out…}

After that he leaned forward, and he knew that the Council was being very serious.

{Advent… is up to something… I can report that nearly five hours ago, hundreds of transports launched from various warehouses and facilities, heading to an unknown location… but what is odd is that they all left for the same destination, at the exact same time. There appears to be some new command structure that I have… as of yet… been unable to infiltrate and gather intelligence on.}

{Until next time… Commander…}

The screen turned back to normal, showing the X-COM logo.

[Lovely… so Advent is up to something now that they've lost their last link to me.] He muttered to himself, before returning to the computer screen he was working with before.

As he continued to examine data he's received from the various resistance cells, mostly concerning how many Vipers and genetically modified Vipers have joined the resistance ranks, he watched on the cameras Amalie approaching his room.

Moments later the door opened and she slithered in, looking tired and slightly dizzy while upright.

[You alright Amalie?] He asked nonchalantly.

In response, she slithered over to his desk, opened her two earing pieces, and slid both stuffed sharks onto his desk. "You almost forgot these…" She hissed softly but tiredly.

He glanced at the sharks and moved his claw to turn 'Sharky' toward him. [Your right… in the rush to get you out… I completely forgot to put them inside SHIV's compartment for safe keeping.] He said. [Thanks Amalie…]

She hissed warmly at that and moved to sit next to him in what 'would' have been his chair, and began gently rubbing the top of his Gremlin's frame. "You know… while I was… 'under the knife' as you put it… I saw your real body in that 'full body recovery pod'."

[Don't try anything… until 'I' wake up, nobody is to touch my body besides Tygan.] He said instantly.

"Aww…" She said sadly. "And here I was hoping to… what is phrase… 'let you have your way with me'?"

[Can you please let me work?] He grunted. [It was hard enough keeping you a secret from 'everyone'… there were moments I almost let it slip… you didn't exactly make it easy for me either. Laughing like an evil genius from a comic book?]

"Well, excuse me… I thought that's how the 'bad guys' are supposed to sound!" She hissed sarcastically. "I thought it sounded convincing."

He shook his gremlin slightly before moving through more mountains of data. [So how do you feel?] He asked, more gently.

"I feel… 'almost free'…" She hissed warmly. "I no longer have to… listen… to the Elder's commands… obey their orders…"

[You only traded one 'puppeteer' for another…] He commented, no longer paying attention to the data as she grew more tired.

"Perhaps… but… at least this time…" She hissed, before gently holding his gremlin, and moved it over to sit on her mid body, where tail met torso. "I 'chose' my puppeteer… and even if you would sever my strings my friend… I would still obey your 'every' command…"

Without his permission, he felt her lift him up and go to lie down on the bed.

"Can you please… sing me a lullaby my friend… I am very tired and… I love hearing you sing…" She hissed warmly.

He let her slide onto the bed and sit there with him, before relenting and began playing a song, singing it to her to help her fall asleep.

[Little child… be not afraid… the rain pounds harsh against the glass… like an unwanted stranger… there is no danger…]

[I am here toniiiight~]

He registered her hand softly rubbing his gremlin's frame, stroking it lovingly and affectionately.

[Little child… be not afraid, though thunder explodes and lightning flash, illuminate your tear stained face… I am here toniiight~]

[And someday you'll know… that nature is so… the same rain that draws you near me…]

(Falls on rivers and land… and forests and sand… makes the beautiful world that you see…) She began singing alongside him, though her voice was tired. (In the morning…)

They sang for several minutes, until the lullaby had lulled Amalie into a peaceful, gentle sleep.

But he was still singing until the final verses.

[In the morning…] He whispered as he gently pulled himself out of her embrace. [Everything's fine in the morning…]

He turned to her and saw her looking very peaceful and happy in his bed, breathing softly as her tail curled up under the blankets.

[The rain will be gone in the morning…] He sang softly as he pulled the blanket onto her and covered her up. [But 'you'll' still be here… in the morning…]

Sighing softly, he moved closer to her face and, with great care… used his Gremlin's claw to peck her on the cheek.

[Good night Amalie and… 'thank you'… for telling me the truth…] He whispered, more to himself than to her. [And thank you… for saving me… I love you as well… my 'friend'.]

With that he turned back to his computer and resumed working, looking at data and cataloging what Central sent him.

=Later=

He floated into the command center with Amalie behind him.

"Commander, good to see you sir." Central said. "While you were away, the various resistance cells have had their numbers increased thanks to the Vipers joining our ranks."

"As I informed you in our your 'interrogation' Central…" Amalie stated sarcastically. "Speaking of which, your next interrogation should be soon, I have much to tell you before the information I have becomes… 'outdated'."

"Yes, with your approval I'll begin debriefing the Hierarch Mother about the intel she has on various Advent facilities we can hit, as well as information about those 'special projects' we didn't hit when we had the chance." He said, walking over to the holo globe. "Also, several of Amalie's Vipers have remained under cover, working in Advent Cities across the globe to gather intel alongside our inside people. When we go to hit a location inside the cities, they'll be able to provide us detail on the exact patrols and composition, prior to hitting them."

"Furthermore, if it becomes necessary, my daughters can smuggle one of your 'operatives'… I think you still have a 'covert operative' in your service?" She hissed curiously. "Should you find a need, they can smuggle your operative, into the city, and hide her among the populace until she needs to strike. They will assist her in reaching her target, but it will be up to you to extract her when the time comes."

[Good, we can begin assassinating key targets like Advent High Council leaders and infiltrating key facilities with her help.] He said, examining the globe and seeing several intriguing targets.

"My daughters are currently establishing a base for us to use… but until that time comes… I have… one last offer to… 'give you' my friend. Once they are set up, I will make contact through your communications, and I will guide us there to pick up the cargo and gift." Amalie said with a grin.

[Well at the very least…] He began saying, before several alarms began flashing around them.

"Sir, the South African resistance cell is contacting us, emergency frequency!" A deck hand declared.

"Patch them in, let's see what's up!" Central said.

The globe changed to show a soldier talking to them from what looked like a run-down building, that was caving in around him.

"X-COM… DO YOU HEAR ME?" The soldier yelled, his voice panicking, almost desperate to speak. "We're under attack, we repeat… under -bzzzzzztstz- Can't hold out… -bzstztszzzzt- New… Advent General… He's unstoppable!"

He paid close attention to the soldier as the signal began fading.

"Can't hold out…. Will TRYAAAA -tsassssssssssht-"

The screen became pure static at that moment.

[South Africa, what's going on!] He yelled as Central and the bridge staff tried getting back the signal.

=Meanwhile in South Africa, at that terminal=

"South Africa, what's going on… COME IN SOUTH AF-"

-Pignag- as the computer terminal was shot.

(Window View)

Sevearal MEC units marched forward in line formation, weapons firing rapidly as another row of MEC's marched in step, fifteen feet precisely behind them, weapons ready and armed. Behind that line was a third line of MEC units at 'exactly' fifteen feet behind, following the second line and scanning constantly in every direction.

(Aerial View)

As the rows of MEC units marched, through the ruins and destroyed remains of once human civilization in the jungles, all that could be seen were wrecks of destroyed positions, bodies of both humans, genetically altered Vipers, and regular Vipers lay at their positions.

Arms holding weapons, bodies cut in half by plasma weapons, limbs missing as their bodies were smashed by the unrelenting, uncaring automatons that were the 'thousands of MEC units, all marching in complete step in a direct path.

Behind the last line of MEC units were several Sectopods walking in standard low profile, their primary cannons on standby and letting the MEC's move on.

As it approached an abandoned building, a Sectopod marched on straight through it, tearing a whole in it as it and the others next to it continued to march, crushing foliage, ruins, and bodies under each of their massive and heavy footsteps.

The weapons fire continued endlessly, with each MEC firing in sequence so that when one reloaded, another fired, keeping the deadly barrage up as they continued to obey their orders.

Every time one locked on 'any' kind of movement, the location was relayed and any MEC within visual range of the target, opened fire and obliterated it. Most of their shots hit leaves, but the occasional shot would hit an innocent animal that had been trying desperately to escape the carnage and chaos that 'was' this unstoppable wave of mechanical death.

Then, all the MEC's stopped moving in unison, and all weapons fire ceased as well.

As one the horde mounted their weapons and entered standby mode.

(Resistance soldier's PoV)

He looked through his binoculars as off in the distance, the wave of MEC's stopped firing and stood motionless.

He breathed heavily as sweat fell from his forehead in droves, expecting the assault to resume.

"They've stopped…" He whispered to his buddy.

"What does that mean, they've given up?" She asked.

"No… they just 'stopped'…" He said, reaching for his communicator. "Quickly… go, we must go now! All survivors, regroup at Haven's home!"

He said on their comms, and he and his friend grabbed what weapons and ammo they had, and ran under the cover of the ruined village building, to the center building that served as 'Haven's Home'.

They ran into the building, up a flight of stairs, and into the main room where all the other survivors were gasping for breath, clutching weapons and looking desperate.

"Unstoppable… 'they're'… unstoppable!" One African said quietly, clutching his arm as it bled.

"Never have I seen such a coordinated attack, not even by the Hiearch Mother 'or' Father…" A genetically modified Viper said coldly, reloading her weapon. "Their strategy… is without flaw…"

"How surrounded are we? Do we have any way out of this trap?" He asked as he joined the group.

"Completely surrounded." An Asian girl said bitterly. "There's at least six-hundred of them surrounding the village in a full unbroken circle, and another two thousand forming a second circle surrounding the first at least sixty meters away. Each circle is backed up and complimented by ninety Sectopods, with half of them armed with new Anti-Air weaponry. We'd have to break through both to even have a 'hope' of getting away…"

There was silence as the gravity of the situation hit them all, they weren't getting out of this alive.

Not one of them.

"Did Thomas manage to contact X-COM?" Someone asked.

He shook his head quietly. "I think he managed to break through for a moment… but the building was hit seconds after… his position was overrun before any of us could try and reinforce."

"That's it then… we're doomed…" Someone else said bitterly. "Been nice knowin y'all!"

"You humans are sssssure easy to submit to death!" A Viper hissed, but she too looked sad.

"Oh yea, not like you have an idea on how to get out!"

"We don't care what happens to us…" The other Viper said, walking over to glare at the human. "Our Mother said… that we must be prepared to die with you, and for you… if you are to accept 'us'… and so we are…"

"Enough… Julie, can you transmit a message to X-COM?" He asked.

Julie looked at the transmitter and sighed. "I've done all I can, I've compiled all the data we managed to gather and sent it to X-COM, but they are jamming our signals… it will go… but it will take time for the transmitter to punch through the jamming signals and for the transmission to be sent."

"How long will it take?" The Viper asked hopefully.

"Ten minutes… at 'least'…" She said.

"So then we hold… we hold this position for ten minutes!" He yelled courageously, causing the others to look at him. "This may be the end for 'us'… but we can at least give X-COM a chance to win! We'll make sure Advent remembers… the South African Resistance Cell! If they want this transmitter blown up… then we'll make them pay for it with so big of a repair bill… it would make 'Bill Gate's' wallet cringe!"

At that all the humans beleaguered, defeated, desperate looks turned to smirks, while the two remaining Vipers merely looked confused.

[RESISTANCE FORCES!] A loud mechanical voice boomed loudly.

Instantly all of them grabbed their weapons and took up positions near the windows, some heading upstairs, while some went downstairs.

He was among those that went downstairs, and he took up a position near the closed door, peeking through the cracks outside.

[YOUR DEFENCES ARE BROKEN, YOUR FORCES SHATTERED, AND YOUR REMAINING SURVIVORS TRAPPED!] The voice declared. [MAKE PEACE WITH YOURSELVES… FOR YOUR END IS NEAR… BUT KNOW THAT YOUR ENEMY IS NOT WITHOUT MERCY. HE WILL GRANT YOU… A 'SOLDIER'S' DEATH… PREPARE YOURSELVES!]

There was silence as he waited, awaiting the heavy marching of hundreds of MEC's taking steps in unison.

Instead… all he heard was one sound.

-Tsssssst plunk-

"What's that sound?" Julie said, trying to peer through the crack of her boarded up window to see.

He listened more carefully.

-Tssssst plunk-

"It sounds like… a Sectopod… a 'single' Sectopod." He said.

"Why just one, why not 'all' of them?!" A Viper hissed fearfully over the coms.

-Tsssst plunk-

"Because they know, we can't escape… so they aren't risking any more damage to their forces…" He said to them all.

"How much longer on the transmitter?" Someone yelled.

"Eight minutes!"

-Tsssssssssssst Plunk-

The sound of the stomping footsteps was loud now, he could feel the ground shaking with each step the Sectopod was making, he could tell it was almost on top of them.

Each moment he expected it to crash through one of the buildings, or march down a street, but still all he heard were the footsteps.

"Ready everyone…" He called out, and heard weapons being reloaded and primed.

"Steady…" He said bravely.

His hands shook as the footsteps became even louder.

-Tsssssssssssst Plunk-

"Steady…" He repeated, trying to keep his hands still and trigger finger ready.

-Tsssssssssssst Plunk-

-Tsssssssssssssssssssssst Plunk-

The footsteps stopped, and they all waited with baited breaths.

"Six minutes…" Someone whispered, their voice barely heard over the coms.

His sweat was pouring down his face in droves.

"Where are they…" He whispered angrily. "Why don't they just-"

-KSSSSSSSST POOOOOOOOOOW-

The sound of a Plasma Beam ripping through concrete sounded above them, and over the coms and even above them, they heard the sound of dying humans, screaming in pain as the entire building shook from the force. Rubble poured down outside and he looked around to see that a section of the wall behind him had been blasted as well by a huge beam of Plasma.

"IT'S BEHIND US!" Someone managed to scream, before plasma rained down on the screamer, silencing them.

He and Julie ran to the hole and looked outside to see the Sectopod sent to destroy them.

It was massive, over twice the size of a normal Advent Sectopod, heavily modified with various armaments on its main body. Along the sides of its chassis were four miniature plasma weapons, designed to act as anti-personnel weaponry. Its underside carried a plasma launcher while its main body hosted the standard beam cannon that all Advent Sectopods were armed with. Along its back were two small cylinders that glowed blue, while several aiming beams were constantly moving around and searching for targets.

It was a monstrosity, nothing he had ever seen even came close to the firepower that this Sectopod was sporting.

"Open Fire!" He ordered, and trained his rifle and fired desperately at the Sectopod.

Throughout the building, what few survivors were still alive fired their weapons, focusing on the main chassis, yet their weapons did not seem to faze it, as each shot fired hit a blue shield that was protecting the Sectopod's body.

It simply stood there for a full twenty seconds, letting them waste shot after shot, as if amused by their attempts to fight back, before it trained its anti-personnel weapons and fired off a barrage of at least, sixty plasma bullets per second. The barrage ripped apart the building, and above he heard what might have been Trever screaming in agony, before the scream became a gurgled mess of silence.

"Hyaaaaaaaaaah!" A Viper screamed, and he watched as the Genetically modified Viper leapt at the Sectopod, landed on its main body, and fired point blank with two weapons held in each hand.

The shield protecting the Sectopod held though, and in response it trained the anti-personnel armaments at the Viper, and opened fired.

Yet the Viper reacted quickly, leaping off and letting loose with a volley of acid from her mouth, and dropping several acid grenades.

The acid had absolutely no effect on the shields, and with precise aim, the Sectopod fired and shot the Viper clean through mid-drop, cleaving her into two halves. One half landed on the floor above, while the other landed directly in front of him.

It now trained its weapons on him and Julie, and while he managed to take cover, Julie was not lucky or fast enough.

She tried to hide behind a wall, but as she did it fired a barrage of plasma bullets, and ripped a clean hole into her chest. She had a look of shock at seeing the floor through her chest… before she fell forward, bleeding profusely.

"How much longer?" He screamed over the coms.

"Two minutes!" The last Viper screamed in fear.

"We need to buy two minutes, everyone, spread out, do what you can to buy us two more minutes!" He yelled.

"I'll get those two minutes, if its last thing I do!" The Viper screamed. "FOR MY HIERARCH MOTHER AND FATHER!"

He leaned over his cover and resumed firing at the Sectopod, while the Viper above had leapt down and fled behind the Sectopod, firing all the way and trying to draw it away from the building.

It worked, it was forced to turn around to keep its weapons trained on the Viper, allowing him time to head upstairs to see the carnage that had occurred.

Bodies everywhere, rubble everywhere, but the transmitter was still safe and tucked away in the corner.

At that second he heard the Sectopod firing, and looked to see the Viper taking cover behind a tree, which miraculously held against the plasma storm.

Yet while it held up against the plasma weapons, it did not protect against the metal foot 'of' the Sectopod, which stomped forward, using the plasma barrage to keep her pinned. Instead of ending the fire, it kept it up until it raised its foot and crushed the tree beneath it, and with it, the Viper, who barely managed a scream of fear, before she died, unable to flee from her spot because of the plasma fire.

He tried to reach anyone on the coms, but he was alone, and as he saw the Sectopod turn toward him, train all its weapons at him, he knew he was done.

"You want a piece of me?" He yelled defiantly, picking up a fallen weapon and opening fire. "YOU WANT A PIECE OF MEEEEEEEE?!"

He fired and fired, holding down the triggers of both weapons until they emptied their clips into the shields of the Sectopod, which sat there and took all his weapon's fire.

Until his weapons were dry.

Then it trained its weapons on him.

[No… I want… 'no pieces' of you…] The voice from before declared, before it powered up its main cannon… and fired.

(?'s PoV)

It looked at the evaporated remains of the last resistance soldier, and looked up at the transmitter in the corner.

It was registering a signal being sent, in thirty seconds.

He checked to ensure that all his units were still jamming the transmission.

Then he ordered them to cease.

Without further delay, the transmitter registered the source of the jamming signal broken, and immediately sent its signal.

Behind him another Sectopod marched up, registering the end of the battle.

[Mission accomplished… 'E.C. 1'?] The second Sectopod requested.

[Yes… mission accomplished… 'C.X. 2', X-COM has received the 'intel' the resistance fought desperately to send.] He stated. [X-COM will 'fear' us now… all… according… to plan!]

They both looked at the transmitter, and waited for it to declare 'Upload Complete', before firing and destroying it.

[All according to plan.] They both recited once again.

=To Be Concluded in 'The Second XCOM Viper'=