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

Operation Last Gift

Van Dyke looked over at the Chief Engineer once again, "We are NOT done here." Shen sighed again and nodded as Van Dyke walked out of the room. Before Corbin could leave, she was interrupted by the engineer, "The Two Towers you say?"

Corbin nodded.

"Hmmm...ok. I'll be there shortly as well."

Corbin looked over her paper, looked up at Shen who was now preparing her GREMLIN for battle, shrugged, and headed on to her next assignment.

***

Corbin found Pritchett in the barracks, deep asleep in her bunk in the back of the room. Corbin paused. What was the protocol on actually waking a team member? Did she simply shout out loud and wake the trooper up? Did she gently shake Pritchett until the trooper woke up? Maybe she should pour a bucket of water over her head? Corbin hadn't a clue. In the end, she decided to shake Pritchett.

Just as she was about to touch her, she was interrupted, "OOoooo, I wouldn't do that." Pubentz was leaning against the door frame studying the situation. "Pritchett is a little on edge recently. Especially after her bout in the med-ward. I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen if you do that. I'm guessing the results would be somewhere with us finding you in the med-ward, or the morgue. I give the odds 50/50. Maybe 60/40 now that you know."

Corbin nodded slightly and stepped back a few steps. It was like trying to figure out how to catch a snake when a realization struck her and she turned back, "Wait a second, you're Pubentz!"

Pubentz just stared. Stating the obvious did not get her excited.

"You and Pritchett are needed for briefing!"

Pubentz nodded, "Figured as much. I'll take care of this. Why don't you stand....over there." Pubentz pointed to a spot towards the front of the room where she could see Pritchett, but had the protection of several bunks between Pritchett and herself.

Pubentz had pulled out her command console and spoke, "Program – wakey, wakey – setting 2, target Pritchett." There were a few seconds of silence before the soft whirr of Pubentz's GREMLIN could be heard. The GREMLIN levitated in the room where it spied Pritchett and slowly made its way over.

Corbin watched in fascination. It was almost like the GREMLIN knew it had to perform the program, but was reluctant to do so. Whether because it thought the action was not exactly nice, or it feared the consequences, Corbin wasn't quite sure.

The GREMLIN slowed and dropped down right next to Pritchett's head, the soft whirr nearly in her ear. Pritchett tried to bat it away mumbling, "Go ...way.....hav'n...sknnn i yet...."

The GREMLIN paused and turned once more to Pubentz. Pubentz frowned, looked at her datapad, and pushed a button mumbling, "Stubborn thing...."

The GREMLIN turned back, lowered itself back to Pritchett and let loose a high voltage electrical shock.

The screaming rage of profanity that came out of Pritchett's mouth was only matched by the ferocity of the swing from Pritchett's fist. That fist, of course, was attached to a very large knife that Pritchett slept with underneath her pillow. The knife made contact with the robotic torturer, and sent it careening across the room where it hit another bedpost and rebounded to the floor. The GREMLIN didn't take long to recover however, and had begun to rise but Pritchett was faster. She had jumped out of bed with a death wail and a single intent – to kill the destroyer of dreams.

Seeing the end of her hard work in process, Pubentz jumped into action. While her and Pritchett had history in the past, she wasn't about to let that history lead to the destruction of her hard work. Pritchett was so intent on destruction that she never saw Pubentz coming. Pubentz quickly and easily brought Pritchett to the ground in a well-rehearsed throw. The landing was rough, stunning Pritchett, and sending the knife skidding across the floor. As Pritchett finally got her bearings and focused on Pubentz, Pubentz smiled, "Good morning sunshine!"