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

X-COM 2: Reaper Rendevouz

Corbin looked over at the Commander, his head on the desk hands on his temples slowly rubbing. "You think they will actually show?" The Commander, without lifting his head, simply shrugged and kept rubbing. At the moment, he really didn't care.

***

Svagerko and Pritchett walked slowly forward through what looked like a deserted city. Mummified human remains littered the place in moments of terror. It looked to be a modern-day Pompeii. Svagerko held her sword at the ready and looked over at Pritchett, "This looks NOTHING like the simulation..."

Pritchett walked forward carefully, her sniper rifle at the ready, "Not at all." A brief howling wind whipped through the street sending sand and grit straight at them. The pair averted their eyes briefly, and when they looked up again, they stared at a figure not 10 feet from them. Wielding a nasty looking sniper rifle and a pink/purplish camo leather armor, the Reaper appraised the two. "Next time, you two should simply start throwing grenades. I think there are some people here that didn't hear you. Now come on, you've already awoken the horde, and we have to move." She looked around as the two just stared at her. "Now."

She didn't wait for them, and began to move. Svagerko looked over at Pritchett, "The what?" Before Pritchett could answer, a group of humanoidish creatures came bursting out from an alley. Svagerko stood at the mouth of the alley, shotgun in hand and proceeded to unload shell after shell into the creatures. As the last one fell, Svagerko knelt down to take a closer look. They were humanish in appearance, but the eyes showed a dimmed intelligence, almost animal in nature. When she knelt back up, she felt a hand on her shoulder and she shook slightly. Solis talked quietly, "The horde, the lost. They were once human, but were left here since the first invasion. The things left behind...converted them. We must move."

A bit more warily, they headed towards the rendezvous point. A few blocks away, there was suddenly a howl that seemed to emanate from all around.

"The horde. They have found us. We must hurry. Now!" Prichett looked over at Campbell, "Are you sure they didn't simply just home in on her outfit? I think I'm going blind." "NOW!"

The trio busted through a long abandoned building, passing by the mummified remains of a mother trying to shield a child from whatever danger they were hiding from. The lost came at the trio, Campbell and Svagerko readily dispatching the groups as they showed. As Campbell reloaded her pistol, she looked over at Solis, who had yet to fire a shot. "Wait a second, why haven't you done anything." Solis looked back, and with the utmost serious expressions responded, "I can't afford to get my outfit dirty, now come on."

The Skyranger was waiting at the rendezvous point, and the trio trotted to the waiting drop lines. As they strapped themselves in, Pritchett looked over at Svagerko, "Well, that really wasn't too bad..."

Solis replied, "This is just the beginning. You have yet to face the full force."

***

Gunner continued down the deserted alleyway, her minigun trained straight forward, ready to take out whatever may be unlucky enough to step into her field of vision. The alleyway was tight, too tight for her tastes. There was nowhere to move in case something happen. And it would happen. It inevitably did. Her finger resting on the trigger, she smoothly made her way out of the alley and into the middle of the street.

Just then, something slid up right beside her, "Boo.."

Gunner shot off a couple of rounds into one of the mummified corpses, disintegrating it into the wind as she re-composed herself. Her brother smiled happily as he walked by, obviously pleased with himself.

"You know, people might actually like you if you weren't such a jerk."

"I'm not a jerk."

Form the darkness of a nearby store, there came a voice, "From the little I just saw, you definitely qualify as a jerk. I thought she was nice. I would have gutted you like a pig without even thinking."