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

Operation Dragon Shield

***

The driving rain whipped into the Skyranger as soon as the doors began to open. It was cold, screaming, and rather wet.

The Ranger hit the ground with a wet squelch, hit boots sinking into several inches of mud before he'd even moved yet. Pubentz landed right next to him, splashing water in all directions as she pulled out her caster and looked around for threats. The Ranger looked down at the growing wet stains across the side of his pants, "Are you kidding me? You just got me wet!" Pubentz didn't even glance at him as she moved forward into the driving rain.

Gunshots could be heard in the distance and the squad gathered inside the remains of a mostly destroyed home. The roof had been torn apart and one wall had been demolished leaving a nice defensive barrier for the squad to take cover from both incoming gunfire as well as the rain. Next to it was the supporting garage, and the Ranger's instinct told him there was an alien in there somewhere. Slipping next to the garage's side door, he slowly opened it, only to find the alien had slipped out the far side. Its intentions to remain hidden were for naught as the Ranger spotted it through the far window.

With silent communication, the rest of the team dispersed, Zalewski and Gunner slipped to the front of the garage door where cover the team's flank. Day, Pubentz and Halverson took cover behind the barricade. As the trio settled in, they spotted three more aliens, a codex, and two sectoids towards the direction of the objective.

Ranger Van Dyke looked at the team, his sights directly on his prey, and Pubentz gave him a nod. The Ranger took the shot, and with a simultaneous flash of lightning, sent the alien to the ground. Gunner almost smiled at the coincidence before chaos broke loose.

The trio of aliens in front of them suddenly rushed them. Day saw an opportunity and unloaded on one of the sectoids, which seemed to do nothing but piss the thing off. Halverson, seeing an opportunity to take out this crackling and screeching Codex aimed and fired. The shot connected, but there was another flash of lightning and suddenly there were two codexes.

"We've got more incoming!" Pubentz aimed and fired taking out one of the grunts running into the garage. "Zalewski! Gunner! Make sure...."

***

Pubentz hid wide-eyed under her bed, doing her best not to make a sound. Fortunately, she had help in the form of her teddy bear Patches whose foot she had nearly swallowed. The hard stomping of the alien's boots around her bed moved to her closet whose door was nearly torn from its hinges. There was some rustling, followed by a brief silence and then a series of unintelligible whistles. She could only hope the alien was finished with its search and would move on.

She'd heard the screams from her parents downstairs just minutes earlier. If the alien found her, she knew bad things would happen. The alien stopped at her window briefly before ripping the curtains down. The sound made her flinch as the remains hit the floor less than a foot away from her position. The alien turned around. Its erratic breathing grew louder as it came towards her position. A knee hit the floor and it slowly dropped to peer under the bed...

***
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Ranger Van Dyke screamed as he tore through the rain and past the pair of codexes. There was a sectoid he was looking for and he found it behind a fence concentrating in that alien way to screw with people's minds. This would not be the first time he'd seen it, the dead give-away was the glowing eyes of course, and Pubentz was not going to suffer that indignity. As the alien concentrated, the tell-tale humming of the ionic axe was the last thing it heard as the Ranger separated its head from its body, the alien blood mixing with the incoming rain.

Pubentz shook her head just once. "...you cover the flank! We need the support there for a few more! GO!"

A sudden purple vortex surrounded the trio sitting at the barricade. Day looked around when his gun didn't fire. "Uh...."