X-Com's Finest (An X-Com 2 play through)

Operation Frozen Pyre (Elsa)

The Captain looked around. Where IS Zalewski?

As if on cue, Zalewski ran in and saluted while gasping for breath. "Zalewski reporting in sir!"

"You're late."

"Just finishing the last touches on my assignment sir!"

The Captain paused, "Assignment?"

"Sir, you asked me to be useful and see if I could put this robot together out of a box. Well, to be frank sir, I don't think all the pieces were there, and I don't even think they were all for the same bot, but I did as you asked sir!"

Just as the Captain was about to ask further, a screeching noise emanated from the hallway. As everyone watched a monstrosity shakily flew into view. Now a normal GREMLIN is a support droid, not uncommon, and used for a variety of tasks depending on the programming. It generally has quad thrusters that allow it to levitate or move about on multiple axis simultaneously. A pair of front mounted sensors allow it to survey its surrounding and various implements allowed it to interact with the environment.

The GREMLIN that greeted the Captain was anything but. That didn't stop Zalewski from beaming.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce Bastion!" The GREMLIN screeched as some internal gear grinded and the droid careened into the door frame. "Its gyro seemed to be a bit out of whack but I fixed it." The droid righted itself, overcorrected, then careened into the other side of the door frame. "There was a small issue with the internal power source, but I corrected that too!" The droid suddenly stopped in midair, dropped two feet, then snapped back into action just before it hit the ground, returning to an unstable orbit around Zalewski. "I've made improvements to its targeting system with the additional parts I found in the box!" One of its sensors was a triangle that seemed to limit line of sight to a 30 degree angle, and the other sensor looked to be pointing straight at the floor. "And it flies faster than any droid working!" One of the four thrusters looked to be bolted on backwards, and another looked to be nothing more than a piece of scrap metal.

Zalewski looked back over at his droid as it screeched loudly once again. "Isn't Bastion the best thing you've ever seen!?!?"

The squad sat there in silence other than the tell-tale sound of Bastion's thrusters trying to keep it afloat. The Captain finally found his voice.

"When was the last time you worked with electronics Squaddie?"

Zalewski thought a minute, "In second grade! We had to make a battery out of a potato. It was a great experiment! Until my potato exploded anyway..."

The Captain and the rest of the squad stood there in disbelief.

"I see you're speechless! THANKS! So what's the job Captain? Me and Bastion are ready to go!"

***

OPERATION FROZEN PYRE
Pubentz – Cpl Combat Med Support
Zalewski – Squaddie Support
Van Dyke – Squaddie Grenadier
Pritchett – Squaddie Sniper

The squad set down on the edge on an industrial park. Their target was a computer terminal on the far side of the meat packaging plant in front of them. Pubentz took a quick look around, and pinpointed a pair of alien grunts standing next to the factory. She was about to mention it to the rest of the squad when the SCREECHING of the Gremlin brought the conversation to an abrupt halt. They all turned and stared at the monstrosity that was floating uneasily next to Zalewski.

"If you don't shut that thing up, I will do it for you. Permanently."

Zalewski looked offended and turned to his pet Bastion, "It's ok, Bastion, they don't really mean that." He tried to pet it reassuringly, but the droid simply wasn't able to hover in one spot for over a second and Zalewski kept having to follow until he finally grabbed it with both hands. "You're just not appreciated. I know, we'll show them..."