#xcom geist
Text
An Unlikely Bond - Pt. 3 of 3
Parts: 1||2||3(You are here) - Links will be updated as the chapters are posted. Currently in the queue.
May be posted on Ao3 and FF.net later.
Content warnings for the usual language. Mental invasion. Violence via memories which includes murder(and faked suicide(it's more murder.)
Approx. 8.2k.
------------------
Moments later, they reappeared with another ping outside the Isolation Room to the Psionics Training Grounds.
Zhang roughly cleared his throat as he fought off the dizzying effects of teleportation. Something he strongly detested despite how useful the skill was. Just something about it his body did not like.
“Quickly, follow.” Geist was already beside the door to the Isolation Room. Raising his hand to the door, a bolt of purple energy leaped from his palm and struck the door. The next second, several circular patterns appeared on the door before several locks clicked and turned before it finally opened. Heavy purple mists tumbled and rolled out of the doorway, followed by streams of psionic energy.
Zhang’s nose wrinkled at the heavy metallic smell of Elerium and other alien metals that were psionic sensitive. He thought he would have been used to them by now, but he wasn’t.
Once both were inside, the door shut and locked itself.
“Sit there. Collar off. Don’t lower your defenses until I tell you to.” Geist gestured to the spot beside himself. A thick mat covered the cool metallic flooring.
Zhang simply nodded, sat down, and took his collar off. He shuddered, feeling his psioncis reach out and mingle concentrated psionic energy once it was freed from the collar. For a moment, it was intoxicating, just like when he awoke from his time in the sarcophagus to awaken his powers before it all subsided. So much power.
He kept his eyes trained on Geist and watched the man make sweeping motions with his hands, shortly followed by streams of psionic energy. The energy permeating the room swirled around them.
He could feel the subtle changes in the air, both physically and mentally. Priming the room with more psionic energy for the mental bridging that would take place, reinforcing the barriers in the Isolation Room, and he could only assume several more precautions were being set.
“Okay.” Geist returned his hands to his lap. He took in several deep breaths before he raised a hand and brought it towards Zhang’s head. “Lower your defenses. Open yourself to me.”
Zhang took in a breath before letting out a sharp exhale and closed his eyes. It took him a moment to still himself and lower his barriers. “Done.”
As soon as the word left Zhang’s mouth, he felt Geist enter his mind. He did several quick sweeps before he started to dive deeper into Zhang’s mind. He carefully sifted through the patterns and connections of his psionic signature. Purposefully pressing and testing the parts of his mind and powers the Elders had damaged. Even with the lowered defensive, Zhang’s psionics reflexively bite back in defense. He couldn’t find Their touch, nor any of Their creations. Nothing felt out of place.
Geist refocused his efforts to find that connection that had spontaneously formed between the two earlier. In a little time, he located it. It was faint, barely humming with any energy. He probed it, lighting it up energy before severing it and forcing a connection again. He did this a few times, much to Zhang’s growing discomfort, but with the last closure of the connection, Geist couldn’t find a source for this issue.
Geist did a little more probing before he began to recall his psionics. The patterns swirling in the air grew calm.
“This is… escaping me.” He let out a heavy sigh. He opened his eyes and looked at Zhang. “I’m not finding anything out of place. No touch of the Elders of their thralls.”
“Hm.” Not the news Zhang wanted to hear, but was expecting it. The only good news was the Elders were not involved. “Seems we may have to—HEY!” He felt a sudden surge of energy run up his spine.
“Hm!?” So did Geist.
The next second, both felt a strong series of tugs on their respective minds, ones that slowly pulled their powers loose from their body before a connection was suddenly established.
The surrounding energy wisps and orbs in the air seemed to jitter and jolt, sensing the sudden reconnection between the two.
“What are you doing now?” Zhang spat, but not at him, but towards the pain coursing down his spine and synapses.
“N-n-nothing!” Geist struggled to catch his breath as he too was caught off guard by the sudden pain. “This isn’t me.”
Before either could say another word, another surge of energy silenced both.
“Aaah…” Geist hissed. Raising his hands, his fingers fluttered around, catching control of the errant energies around them. “D-don’t… d-don’t do anything. Let me fix this.” He didn’t want to risk Zhang’s psionics becoming damaged once more from this strange phenomenon.
It took some time to stabilize the psionics around them, which alleviated some of the pain and pressure thumping against their skulls. But that sudden connection was holding strong. What was the cause of that?
“This may… this may cause more pain.” Geist warned before he delved back into Zhang’s mind since he could feel a majority of that pull was coming from there.
Barely scratching the surface, he found the source. A maelstrom of energy of swirling energy in a partially ordered structure of Zhang’s mind. Strands were erratically reaching out before collapsing back around the connection. The source of their pain.
“Let’s see, let’s see, let’s see.” He carefully weaved his psionics around it to figure out what was going on and find the right spot to sever it. As he came closer, he hissed as he felt a sudden pull once more and reach deeper into him. It reminded him too much of a Sectoid trying to claw its way into his mind.
Instinctively increasing his defenses, the pull only grew worse. That made no sense. It should have decreased.
He was beginning to regret his decision to keep this matter private. He should have pulled aside another top-tier psion, like Vixen. There was no time to find one now and it would be dangerous to leave this room with the state both of them were in. He would figure out this mess hopefully before it some sort of feedback would fry their minds.
Keeping his defenses high, Geist went back to examining this connection. The erratic nature of the strands and how they collapsed back into the connection between the two. How they were trying to break down his barrier. Why? Why? Why?
Hundreds of theories were running through his mind. What was it?
“Wait…” He felt something. Noticed something different. He noticed a pattern in the strands. It wasn’t entirely erratic, and they weren’t collapsing, per se. They were searching and attempting to weave something. “Wait… wait…” Weave.
His mind drifted back to what he was doing earlier, before all of this. Something he had been delving more and more into for the past month since its discovery had been noted in some of the psions interspersed with him delving deeper to better understand the Earth’s psionics and this Void, it all called back to.
“Could this be…?” His eyes fluttered open with excitement. A Psionic Bond forming? It’s quite different from the reports, but with Zhang’s current condition could explain the volatility. More thoughts race through his mind. Could it be? Should I? He was tempted to lower his defenses completely and let things take their natural course. But there were risks.
“Zhang.” Geist spoke calmly. “I’m going to try something. Don’t alter your defenses. Don’t react. Stay calm. Let the psionics flow.” He was decided. It was worth the risk.
Zhang just let out a grunt of pain.
It took him a few moments to still himself and let himself drop his guard. The barrier lowered tick by tick. They felt a surge of energy ripple across the connection several times before it finally hit its crescendo and calmed down.
Moments later, he felt most of the pain burning his nerves and pounding against his skull wash away. Now, it was just faint tingles as he felt an occasional pulse coming from the connection. It was slow, but progressing from Zhang’s side.
Better. He could faintly pick up Zhang was no longer in pain. Perhaps opening myself up more can help? It was another risk, but he was willing to take it. Void guide me.
A brief moment of concentration before he felt the concentrated energy of the room wash over and through him. As that happened, he felt his psionic power reach out towards Zhang and strengthen the growing weave. He could feel something growing. Something changing. Hm, yes, yes yes.
“Geist.” Zhang finally spoke. “What is—”
“Shh.” Raising a hand, he hushed him. “Wait.”
The two sat in silence. Geist kept a close watch on the growing weave.
As it inched closer and closer, he could feel the energies shift around and within them. It felt familiar to a growing mind meld, yet simultaneously different.
Slowly, he could sense Zhang’s growing confusion mixed with the irritation of being left in the dark. The sensations running through the man’s body and those synapses reworking themselves to accommodate this change. And then he picked up on his thoughts. “There’s always something with psionics. This damn cu— wait…”
“You sense me, don’t you? But deeper than before, yes?” Geist said. The excited smile he was wearing. Yes! Yes! This is unorthodox, but this is a bond forming!
Zhang didn’t reply. He didn’t need to. Geist could sense and hear it all. Thoughts and emotions were nearly unfiltered. His bewilderment and more annoyance. Was he purposefully being cryptic and how he could even reply to that? And then it clicked. Zhang was beginning to sense Geist’s growing excitement, which only confused him more.
“Dig a little, and you’ll soon figure it out.” Geist told him.
Still no reply from the man, but he did as he was instructed and only grew more confused. He could sense more of Geist’s emotions unfiltered and was beginning to pick up on the intricacies of the man’s unique psionic signature. And then he finally heard his thoughts. “Figured it out yet? Not exactly how I thought I would forge another psionic bond.”
Psionic bond…
Zhang’s shoulders slumped. “Seriously…?” Why? “You have got to be kidding me…” Throwing his head back, an exasperated sigh came out. Why!? Why Geist of all people? He knew there was always a chance of him developing such a bond with another psion, but Geist? The man was irritating enough. Just his luck for him to be his lucky partner. “We can’t stop this… can we?”
Geist shook his head. “No. Let it take its course. We can reestablish boundaries once it is done.” The man closed his eyes and took in a few deep breaths before letting himself slip into a deeper meditative trance.
Zhang cursed under his breath. But what could he do? Nothing. Now, was just thinking of the boundaries he was going to reinforce with the man.
He soon followed the same actions as Geist and entered a deeper trance.
Time ticked by as the bond between the two continued to form and weave their psionic signatures together. As painful as it all began, it all washed away, leaving beaming curiosity on Geist’s end and an eerie unease on Zhang’s.
Braid after braid, more and more of their emotions became plain to each other, as so did their thoughts. Their innermost thoughts. Ones that psions took great care to hide from others.
Raising a hand to his face, Geist stifled a chuckle as he felt a wave of embarrassment trickle over from Zhang’s mind as he saw the many thoughts, some colorful, on how he viewed him and his mannerisms. It was nothing new. He had heard it many times from others and would hear it many times more. Just a fair trade in kind for unlocking his true self.
Again, he felt that embarrassment shift between unease and shame as Zhang detected Geist’s thoughts on him. There was barely a negative thought about the man minus he needed to stop being so cagey and cold at times when he interacted with others, but he stood why. That checked past of his. But he found what Zhang did, turning on his bosses, to be a noble thing. He could have followed their orders or, hell, thrown his lot in with the aliens. A weaker man would have done that, and he was anything but that.
As the connection weaved deeper, memories began to flow.
It first began with more current events. It was fragmented and didn’t flow in any particular order. Debriefings. Training sessions and weapons tests. Chatting with friends. And a few on-the-field operations.
Then they slowly began to shift further down the line. Months to many years back. Just to the beginning of the world going to hell as the aliens began their invasion and then times before, most of the Earth was unaware there was intelligent, yet sadly, hostile life beyond our Solar System. The pure ignorance of bliss when their lives were less complicated.
But just as these memories were about to flow, Geist felt a sudden block.
“Hm?” Carefully, he reached out only to find a fierce wall holding back the tide of fragmented memories that wanted to flow toward him. There was a mixture of anger, shame, guilt, and frustration. “Zhang?”
“No.” Zhang spoke through his teeth. There was some anger, but not fully directed at Geist.
Oh dear, what now? He opened his eyes and turned to face Zhang. It didn’t surprise him to see a fierce expression fixed on him like a set of daggers. He just studied the expression. Why? His mouth began to open.
“No, Geist.” Zhang spoke curtly before a word could slip out.
Geist raised a brow. “You’re only making things more difficult by stopping this weave. It has to continue. It will continue despite your efforts. The memories must flow.”
“No. Not these memories.” Zhang said through his teeth.
“Not these memories?” Geist questioned, which only made Zhang’s hostile expression increase. He felt some of that anger be shifted to him and sensed one of his surface thoughts.
“Mùtourén. Idiot. He can’t be that daft.”
Geist only raised his brows more, lips pulling back as he bit his bottom lip out to keep himself from replying out of sheer offense. What has him more twisted up than usual? Just as he was going to dwell on the thought, he felt something slip through Zhang’s mental grasp that his own psionics were all too happy to snatch up.
“No, no, no!” He could feel Zhang desperately try to catch it, claw it back, and bury it. But it evaded him. Geist’s psionics refused to relinquish it.
He could sense why he was so desperate. Grief, pain, and betrayal radiated off to if.
As it zoomed through their connection over to his side, he shuttered. More of those emotions came crashing through. They were heavy. And then he could feel a certain set of thoughts, thoughts Zhang was attempting to force back coming forth.
“It had to be done. He was a liability. It had to be done. He was a liability.” Zhang’s thoughts repeated and repeated, no matter how hard the man tried to stop them.
With the memory firmly within his psionics, Geist began to process it. Unfold the memory and all it held within.
Zhang physically shifted, lunging at Geist only for a surge of energy to paralyze him. “Stop!” He raised his voice. One last desperate plea for his privacy. Geist, more or so his psionics wanting this bond to continue, did not head it.
Another wave of emotions hit Geist, shutting out Zhang’s attempts to stop him.
He froze. “Oh.” He understood why.
It was an old memory. Many years after, Zhang was comfortable in his fairly high position in his Triad clan. He was given an opportunity to check on an old member of the clan who was an old friend of his. Kit was his name. A nickname as he had an affinity for an American treat by the same name. He had “retired” some years ago after a retaliation from a rival clan his family in the crossfire. Somehow, he transitioned himself into a more simple life and kept sparse contact with the Triad. But, someone heard down the grapevine they were a rat.
Zhang didn’t want to believe it. The man was loyal through and through. He never spilled his guts when he was accosted by some police after he and Zhang crossed paths one day and caught a bite to eat. He quickly offered to get the job done and his bosses were more than pleased to give it to him, as he would be thorough. He was always thorough. Reliable.
“It had to be done. He was a liability. It had to be done. He was a liability.”
Within a day, Zhang called Kit. Just a quick little chat to see how he was doing, to gauge if he sounded off or paranoid. Nothing sounded off, besides him sounding tired, which made sense for his age. Working that silver tongue, he invited himself over with the promise of bringing his favorite drink and the candy he loved.
One would think the cursory call would tip Kit off, hinting that they were onto him. For Zhang, it was another part of the test. Though it had been some time since he had been to the man’s place, it wasn’t the first time he had been to the home of someone colluding with the cops. Something would have been out-of-place inside or outside the home.
Days later, Zhang arrived at Kit’s residence. A fairly nice apartment block. He examined his surroundings first. Nothing looked off and checks beforehand by other members noted they only saw the occasional patrol roll through the streets.
With his surroundings checked, he headed to the level Kit called home and knocked.
Genuine pleasantries were greetings were exchanged when he saw his old friend. He did miss him. Much to his surprise, two other people were there. Kit introduced his new girlfriend — in his opinion was too young for him — and her brother, who was crashing with them due to falling on hard times but was pulling his weight. Much to Zhang’s relief, the two were leaving to do a grocery store run. But he kept it in the back of his mind both could have been undercover agents.
As the two left, and before he knew it, Kit snatched the drink from Zhang’s hands and ushered him to a more private room so they could catch up. As they entered, Zhang checked around, pretending like he was checking out the bookcase or admiring some artwork on the wall to see if any bugs or wires were around, and taking care to leave little to no fingerprints. Everything looked clear.
Booze pouring and cigarettes lit, the two began to catch up on life and how things had been changing in China. Just simply things and annoyances such as Kit’s neighbor’s kids kept knocking over his plant pots in the back. The man was trying hard to grow some herbs.
But as they discussed things, Zhang noticed the man would occasionally ask him how things were doing with the old gang in a roundabout way. Mainly he pointed at a new scar on Zhang’s hand asking how it got that or asked how someone in the clan they knew was doing, and if “so and so” was still alive or did their bullheadedness finally landed them in the grave. Zhang found that odd.
Ever since that gang war went sour, Kit detested any mention of his old life when possible and always tried to distance himself from any of those conversations. Zhang respected that and that was one reason why he kept sparse contact with him.
That was an immediate red flag for Zhang. He felt a part of his heart sink. Now he had to press more, but cautiously. He had to fake his “slip-ups” to see if that would make Kit ask more questions. As he did so, his eyes methodically scanned the room once more to see if anything was out of place. Again, everything looked normal.
Geist felt a flood of negative emotions strike him as Zhang plays this plot. It worked. Kit slowly started asking more questions.
“It had to be done. He was a liability. It had to be done. He was a liability.”
Out of precaution, Zhang continued to keep his answers vague to avoid potential problems and incrimination if there was a recorder he couldn’t find. Their chat kept going and going on until Kit mentioned a smuggling bust that caught three Triad clans. Except this bust hadn’t reached the news yet.
“It had to be done. He was a liability. It had to be done. He was a liability.”
That was it. That was all Zhang needed to hear. His demeanor turned cold and distant.
As Kit turned to refill his cup with more alcohol and he turned back, he froze, nearly dropping his glass. A stone-cold expression had replaced the once warm, jovial face of a friend. And then he felt it. Glancing down against his chest was the tip of a knife. All the color drained from his face.
Zhang only spoke two words to his friend. If he could call him that anymore. “How long?”
Kit stammered and stammered before it all spilled out of his mouth like an avalanche. Survivors from that other clan had found him again. Threatened him and his new life. He was afraid. He didn’t want to return to his old life for protection, so he went to the police. He told them bits and pieces, which slowly became more and more information over the months.
Zhang couldn’t believe his ears. The rumors were true. How could a man so loyal fall so low? He demanded details about what was told and who his police contacts were. Kit hesitated. Zhang pressed again.
“No! I’ll be a dead man!” Kit pleaded.
That knife shifted to his neck and pressed hard. “You’re already a dead man.”
Hearing those words, Kit knew he was done.
“It had to be done. He was a liability. It had to be done. He was a liability.”
The two soon struggle over the knife.
Another wave of negative emotions and energy struck Geist, causing him to double over in pain. They grew in intensity as the two struggled.
The coffee table flipped over. Papers and that good alcohol went flying. And so did that knife. Now the two were on the floor, each struggling to pin the other to gain the upper hand and get that knife.
Though Kit knew it was most likely over for him, he still pleaded with his friend for mercy to just forget everything they talked about. There was only silence(minus grunts) from Zhang. His mind was settled. He had a task to complete.
The silence only made Kit more frantic. A swift knee to the guts caused Zhang to cry out and lose his grip. He curled inwards as Kit stumbled to his legs like a wobbling goat to get the knife. By the time he got it and turned, he froze once more.
Zhang always kept a gun on him. His trusty FN Five-Seven. This time with a suppressor. It was firm in his hands and his finger was already tugging at the trigger.
Seeing that suppressor, Kit’s throat trembled as he closed his eyes for a moment. Even if he told the truth after Zhang figured him out, he was going to kill him? Wasn’t he? His grip tightened on the knife. Opening his eyes, determination filled them. A fearful one. He charged forward.
Four shots rang out.
“It had to be done. He was a liability. It had to be done. He was a liability.”
One missed but the others hit. Two to the chest and one to the head. Blood spray painted the ceiling. Kit staggered before hitting the floor dead. The knife clattered across the floor.
“It had to be done. He was a liability. It had to be done. He was a liability.” That maddened mantra only grew louder.
“Bèndàn. Bèndàn!” Zhang didn’t have time to contemplate what had just transpired. He quickly got to his feet and retrieved the bullet casings, his knife, and that bottle before leaving the property. He was quick to call his bosses concerning the matter. The job was completed, but not to his preferred standard. A place needed to be ransacked and torched ASAP. Two people needed to be intimidated, to be kept silent or disappear. And they needed their moles to keep the heat off of him and damage some intel. Also, they needed to scramble all their current activities, as they could be compromised. He would fill them in the details later.
Zhang went into hiding for a few weeks as the clan took care of what they could and the homicide case went cold. By the time he was nearly ready to be active again, he had two final loose ends to clean up. Collateral damage he was hoping to avoid.
The initial intimidations to keep Kit’s girlfriend and her brother silent were beginning to break. He had to fix that. They knew his face and perhaps knew too much if Kit had loose lips as he did with the cops. A little more murder would fix that. With the help of a few other clan members, they made it look like suicide for both of them. The girlfriend couldn’t live without him and hanged herself and her brother had nowhere to go next, drunk himself to death by stepping off a bridge into a watery grave.
“It had to be done.” The mantra finally came to an end.
As the memory came to an end, Geist gasped for air. How suffocating all the emotions were. He could still tell Zhang was still angry and sad about that day. And he could feel he was more guarded than ever.
He looked at him again. Looked like the sudden paralysis was gone and the man moved back to his seat. He studied that face. It was still laced with anger, and this time his lips twisted into a grimace as he barred his teeth. But he noticed a faint twinkle, faint trickles running down the sides of his face.
“See?” Zhang nearly growled.
Geist simply nodded. “I… I think I understand.” He paused, knowing he had to carefully choose his next words. “I’m going to take a shot in the dark and ask, are you afraid if I saw these memories of your past life, it would change my perception of you?”
“No.” He was short. “I don’t care what you or anyone here thinks of me. I rather keep those dealings private.”
“Zhang…” Geist let out a disappointed sigh. Despite how harsh his voice was, he could sense the truth underlying it. It was a half lie. “I do tend to look past your background, but I strongly believe viewing these memories will barely shift how I perceive you now.” He spoke truthfully. “Have you done distasteful things? I can only assume so with whatever trusted ranking you had in the Triad, but even some bad people can be good deep down.”
Zhang only narrowed his eyes. Geist could sense he wasn’t buying what he was saying. But he also sensed a subtle murmur. A part of him that believed.
Geist raised his hand to his face and tapped at his chin. How to make the man admit it? How to make him believe him and reopen himself? Those barriers needed to come down to let the memories flow and let this bond be established before it would force it. Did he have any of his own memories that he could share? Well, nothing to the disturbing degree of Zhang’s. He had no criminal record. He snorted. Mostly none. He had his fair share of trouble-making in his youth.
“Hm.” He tapped away at his chin. Maybe something from his early life. An intimate memory with family and friends? Or Maybe something from his army days before joining XCOM?
Maybe… maybe.. yes. That’s it. A particular one came to mind. One he guarded near and dear to his core and hadn’t shared with another he had bonded with.
“Zhang,” Geist looked at him again, “it may not be to the same degree as that memory I witnessed, but I share this with you.” As he spoke, he gestured a psionically imbued hand towards him. As he did so, a memory flowed down the connection to Zhang.
Zhang didn’t have much say in stopping it as his own psionics greedily latched onto it and began to unfurl the memory. As he did so, a stream of Geist’s emotions flooded into his mind.
Excitement, hesitation, fear, pain. A great deal of fear. It was suffocating. He gasped for air.
As his psionics picked through the sea of emotions, the memory became more clear.
It was one of the Labs. Within the room was a sealed chamber. There were two cold metal tables. On one slab was the dissected corpse of a Sectoid and on the other was one that looked modified like it was a stepping stone to that more troublesome Commander variant. Both of their skulls were cracked open revealing their massive brains and many implants the Elders placed within.
Sitting in some jury-rigged but high-tech-looking chair between the two slabs was Geist. A massive mess of cables ran from the chair to both of the alien corpses, connecting into various parts of their bodies and those implants. Additionally, a mass of cables were attached to Geist, most being on the head via a cap that was all running back into the chair.
Nearby, in PPE gear, Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Marin were giving instructions to their assistants for the experiment. Some were connecting recovered alien containers that held a psionically enriched elerium gas as they were beginning to pump into the chamber. Others were monitoring stations, watching the faint psionic activity in the Sectoids’ brains and waiting for the orders to stimulate them. Others were watching the machines that were administering a steady flow of pre-programmed Meld into Geist.
It took Zhang a moment to make sense of the memory so far, but he was able to quickly deduce this must have been one of the many experiments Dr. Vahlen and her team tabled with as they studied psionics. It looked so strange, almost barbaric to what they did now.
As the memory continued to play out, he could feel that fear in Geist grow more as that elerium gas flowed into the chamber. It spiked when he heard Vahlen give the orders to stimulate the Sectoids.
“Here we go.” Past Geist mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes, preparing himself for another round of pain.
The moment he inhaled that metal-tainted gas, pain ripped through his body. Zhang felt it too. Geist’s brain; his nerves felt like they were being set on fire as the powers of the Sectoids’ and their lingering thoughts sputtered to life and flowed into him. The intensity only grew as that elerium gas continued to fill the chamber and rolled over the corpses.
Purple whips and pops of psionic energy crackled through the air and around him.
Minutes passed for the experiment, and the pain only grew worse. It had barely reached the 10-minute mark when Vahlen was about to pull the plug as she noticed Geist’s heart rate was becoming irregular.
“Keep… k-k-keep going.” Geist spat out between waves of pain.
“Are you sure?” Vahlen was hesitant to listen. Your heart is—”
“Keep going.” There was determination in his voice. “Th-t-this feeeeeels different. I-i-in-ncrease the power!”
Vahlen was hesitant, but told them to raise the power. Slowly.
As the memory continued, Zhang could sense there was more fear in Geist that this venture would finally kill him, but another sensation was flooding his system. What was it? He was hesitant to dig until he felt several pushes from Geist’s connection. Curiosity.
He could feel that sensation bubbling deep within as something was shifting inside of Geist. That power was on the cusp of being released within him. Power that the Earth, that something from beyond the veil, was ready to let him in.
The psionic energy within the chamber began to grow. The air filled with wisps, sparks, and crackles. Warning notifications and Warning klaxons suddenly went off. Shouts from those handling the Sectoids mentioned their systems were being overloaded. Before they could react, their systems were overwhelmed. The equipment fried, sending out plumes of smoke and sparks. The same happened back in the sealed chamber. Sparks shot off and smoke rose from the skulls of the Sectoids as their implants were overloaded. The same began to happen to Geist’s chair as the man let out a scream of pain before going dead silent. His vitals dropped.
Vahlen immediately pulled the plug and ordered for the chamber to be cleared of gas and opened now.
Geist didn’t hear anything of this. He was somewhere else.
For a second, Zhang felt like he was Geist. Temporarily pulled from this world and into another. A free-floating void.
He could feel Earth’s natural psionic energy wipe away and replace what had been pulled from the Sectoids. A once-tainted power was made pure.
Then he felt something else. Several if not hundreds of presences. They felt… benevolent.
You are worthy.
A chorus of voices spoke. At first, he thought it was the Elders, but they didn’t sound like those bastards nor feel like them.
“What the hell.” He muttered as he became more engrossed by this memory. He never experienced this as his psionics were unlocked, from what he could recall. Nor did he hear stories from the other psions of something like this happening.
Just as he was becoming engrossed by this oddity, he felt something else reach out to Geist. This one felt closer to Earth. Closer to the Base. It was more gentle as it probed over Geist. A moment later, a stream of energy entered him. Geist’s lungs sputtered back to life.
Just in time. What a risk taken, but this experiment has finally borne fruit. This is a good sign for us. The next step in humanity’s evolution. Now to refine it to be less dangerous.
He could hear this being’s thoughts. There was a faint echo to it.
Hm. And another potential Host with how your synaptic connections are growing and resonating. Time to plant a seed.
He felt that presence flow more energy into Geist before it left as suddenly as it appeared.
The next moment, Geist just felt something click within his being and he was back in the labs like he had never flatlined.
Half of the gas had barely vacated the chamber by the time Vahlen and her cohorts had entered. They were checking his vitals, shocked to see how they had suddenly bounced back, as they were undoing his restraints to free him from the chair.
“Si— ! Si— ! Are you there? Are you okay?” Vahlen was doing her best to stay calm.
“I’m… ngh,” Geist paused, voice wavering. A wave of energy shifted inside of him making his head throb. “I’m… okay. Fine, really. More than fine.”
As the last of the restraints and cables were undone and that cap was removed from his head, Geist told them to stand back as he shifted to his feet.
His movement was unstable as he raised himself up. The world was spinning. Just as he took a step forward, he felt a surge of energy rip through him, causing all his nerves to fire off. His eyes ignited a bright purple. A gasp escaped as he fell to his knees. Someone moved to assist him but quickly backed off as psionic energy began to swirl around him.
“Wait… wait… Yes.” Geist muttered. He tapped his fingers against the metal floors before pressing his palm against it. “Yes, yes, yes.”
Confidence flooding his system, he lifted himself back up. He looked around, paying no attention to the awe-stricken faces as he studied the energy flowing around him. He raised his left hand, and with a mere thought, he formed an orb of bristling energy. He raised the other hand, with a mere thought, the surrounding energy swirled around it and into another orb.
“My God…” Dr. Marin was the first the break the silence.
Vahlen dropped her tablet. Her jaw was slack before a wide, excited smile formed. She was bouncing with excitement. “We’ve done it! We’ve finally done it!”
The others soon matched her excitement.
Zhang watched as Geist tested his newfound powers as the Science team worked to clean up the area. “So he was one of the first, if not the first?” He noticed Vahlen’s “finally” comment. But that could have been how quickly Geist was showing his capabilities. Either way, watching this memory was…. amazing. He didn’t know what to think, what to say. Geist nearly lost his life, unlocking his potential.
“How are you feeling, Si— ?” Vahlen spoke.
Wait. Zhang felt something was off with her words.
“How are you feeling, Si— ?”
Before he knew it, that part of the memory replayed, putting more emphasis on the partial blank.
Geist softly laughed, which only made Zhang look at him. Why was he laughing? “You missed this the first time.” Geist explained. “But were probably more engrossed by my near death and unlocked potential to notice Vahlen calling out my name.”
He studied his words. “Vahlem calling out my name.” Name… Zhang’s eyes widen. He can’t be showing that to me. “Wait… are you?”
Geist nodding. He raised his hand and with a wave of two fingers; the moment repeated.
“How are you feeling, Silas?” Vahlen said.
Silas. That was his real name?
“I share a great secret of mine with you. Geist said.
Zhang stared blankly at him. He had no reply, he just let his and Geist’s psionics take over to continue the memory.
Vahlen walked around Geist, waiting for an answer. She watched as the man spawned several psionic orbs and effortlessly rolled them through his fingers before letting them all disappear into faint wisps of smoke.
“I’m,” Geist paused as he tilted his head back and forth as he rocked on his heels, “feeling fine. Better than fine.” He smiled. One so familiar to Zhang. “And please, don’t call me that anymore. It’s just not…” He let out a long hm as he tapped his chin. “It’s just not fitting anymore. That old man is dead, buried under the sea.” Seemed like that philosophical side of him was already appearing.
Vahlen raised a brow before she looked at Marin, who was equally confused. She was already making notes for a physiological evaluation. “Okaaay. Then what shall we call you?”
Geist let out another long hm as he paced back and forth. What to choose for his psionic baptism? As he paced and paced around the good doctors, he took glances at their tablets to see what they were writing about the successful experiment and him. Then he saw it. His name, full name. Silas R. Leland. And then that callsign. Geist. Geist. Yes, that feels right.
He stopped his pacing in front of the doctors and cracked his signature smile. “Geist. That shall do. I have been reborn anew.”
“Well,” Marin paused as he snorted, “that’s an easy switch.”
“Geist it is.” Vahlen simply nodded.
The memory came to an end.
The two sat in silence.
Zhang was still digesting all he saw. What was revealed to him. The pain and near death Geist went through, whatever his otherworldly encounter was, and then his name. His real name.
“Why show me this?” Zhang broke the silence.
Geist let out a snort. “Do I even need to answer?” A little sarcasm came through his voice. “Do what you will with the information.”
Zhang wrinkled his nose for a moment before relenting. This memory didn’t match his own memory that slipped through the gaps, but it didn’t take a genius to realize Geist shared something he kept guarded. Faintly, he could sense what transpired deeply affected him and changed him in more ways than one. Those encounters. What was that? He was faintly familiar with the theories Geist had lodged in the database about this Void being connected to Psionics, but couldn’t recall anything about him making note of possibly being contacted by other beings.
Did Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Marin know? Did Commander Reeves know? If not, there had to be a reason why he was keeping them in the dark.
“You are… very trusting.” Zhang said, nearly mumbling under his best.
There was more silence between the two. Like Geist could sense he wasn’t done.
Zhang let out a gruff sigh as he shifted uncomfortably. He knew what he needed to do but was still hesitant. Yet, he found himself slowly relinquishing his death grip on his memories and letting them trickle through that connection once more. “And maybe, so should I.”
Geist only nodded in return. He felt words would ruin the moment. He could feel the flow between the two of them flow uninterrupted once more.
More moments and more intimate memories flowed between the two until their psionics were satisfied and gradually shifted back to them, feeling each other’s emotions. But it was different this time. They were entering an odd resonance of sorts, as they pushed and pulled on their senses and they became more in tune with each other.
It continued for some more time before it all naturally faded away. There was no more pain. No flow of errant emotions. No more rushing energy. There was still a connection. Faint, but still there. A connection that had deeply changed the two.
“Is it finally over?” Zhang broke the silence.
“I believe so.” Geist said.
“Do all psionic bonds form like this?” He was curious.
“No, buuuuut…” Geist bit his tongue for a moment. How to explain why this went so strangely. “I believe the circumstances of your still healing psioncis cause this bond to form in a much more unorthodox way.”
Zhang snorted at that. He felt that was an understatement.
“I’m been studying this phenomenon for some time and it seems to be a more gradual development as one psionics will naturally find another they resonate with.” Geist. did his best to put it in simple terms. Then he started to laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Seems like yours wanted to skip several steps and mine was more than happy to help with that!”
“Just my luck.” He shook his head. “So, where does this put us?”
Geist was silent for some time. His eyes shifted all around the room as he tapped at his chin. “Most likely we’ll be fielded together more often. Relations wise as I sense that’s what you mean, hopefully, we can still be acquaintances.”
Zhang’s throat trembled as he took down a hard swallow and mumbled under his breath. Lovely, just lovely. My life is changing again. “New things to adjust to. Again.” He tried his best not to be annoyed. As Geist sensed within him, he meant something else. He could sense there was something behind acquaintances. “And maybe… Just maybe.” He paused as he dug deeper into that meaning. Tapping at their newfound connection.
Geist raised a brow, feeling the dig.
“Eventually friends.” Zhang’s face was plain.
Geist’s eyes lit up with surprise. Was he hearing things? Especially with all those negative thoughts the man had about him since this began and up till now?
The next moment, cracks of an evil grin crept across Zhang’s face. “I’d hate to have to kill you for what you’ve seen. Don’t think the Commander would like that.”
It took a moment for Geist as he was still processing the friend comment and then had to process the next set of sentences. But once he did, he couldn’t help but laugh and roll his eyes.
“Nor do I think the Commander would like your brain fried so I can keep my secrets.” He made his own little threat.
The two laughed.
“Speaking of Commander.” Geist’s posture began to relax as he leaned back on one of his arms. “Does Reeves know what your handler has been calling her under her breath?” He caught a glimpse of a memory of one of the private meetings Zhang would be called to from time to time. At first, he couldn’t make sense of the Mandarin until something clicked, and the language became clear to the racist slurs that the handler was calling Commander Reeves shocked him.
Zhang bristled for a moment, remembering those words all too well. “She already knows. Has known for a long, long time.”
“Really?”
Zhang nodded. “She’s waiting for just the right moment to say something in Mandarin to her.”
“Oh, ho, ho!” Geist laughed. “To be a fly on the wall when that happens.”
“Now, If I may ask…” Zhang paused. Should he ask? He barely had a second before he felt a few tugs on that psionic connection; almost like Geist knew what he wanted to say. “Why the name change?”
“Ah, that.” He had been waiting for the question. “It’s hard to explain but, I don’t feel like Silas Raphael Leland anymore.” He nonchalantly waved his hand. “In a way, that man died for Geist to be born. But there is a sliver of him is still alive,” he paused, tapping at the center of his chest with his free hand, “deep within.”
“Hm.” Zhang listened intently. He wasn’t sure he fully understood him, but felt he could grasp the concept to some extent. So far he wasn’t feeling like to himself. Somewhat. Ever since he went through the gene mod procedure, he felt differently about himself. And then unlocking his psionics only amplified that feeling but not to the extent he rejected his identity. “I’ll make sure to keep it a secret.”
“Thank you.”
The conversation continued, shifting back to how they would handle their newfound bond and the boundaries they would set. Zhang gave him friendly, but stern warnings for Geist not to overstep them, especially when it came to training, and Geist promised he would do his best to respect that.
As they began to wrap up their discussions, Geist informed him we would have to inform the Psionics team and Commander Reeves of what happened. He was free to join him or go on his way.
Zhang thought about it for a moment. Better to bite the bullet now and be there when Geist told all, instead of being called to a meeting at another time. He joined him.
“Wait.” Zhang grabbed his shoulder just before they were about to leave the chamber. “Back when you flatlined and visited that place. You were visited by something.” To think he had nearly forgotten about that. “What was there?”
“Wondered when you were going to ask about that.” Geist turned to face him. “The Void. At least a part of it. I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t the Elders. Some sort of ‘higher beings’? I can only presume that are connected to that place. I believe they faintly had something to do with my psionics being unlocked and the rest was the Earth’s natural energies finally resonating in my being.” He tried his best to explain. “Except for the other being that touched me. That one was much closer to home.”
Zhang listened intently. More concerning and confusing nonsense. There were more aliens out there with psionic power that most likely dwarfed their own. At least they seemed nice. “Closer to home?” He questioned that statement.
“Just think of what I mentioned some time ago when we had a chance meeting with the Commander.”
Zhang furrowed his brow. Why did the man always have a roundabout way of telling him these things? It always seemed like he wanted him to work his brain. He searched for his thoughts for the last time they crossed paths with Commander Reeves. His eyes dropped to the floor, bouncing from tile to tile as he processed information until his eyes abruptly went wide, nearly bugging out of their sockets. “That being you sensed within the Commander.”
Geist grinned. “Bingo.”
“When are you going to talk to her, I guess, them, about that?” Zhang said. He could only imagine the revelations that would unfold once that happened.
“In due time. I’ll just know when the time is right. There’s a reason why she or he hasn’t revealed itself to us, especially once the Psionics Division was truly established.” Geist could wait. He didn’t want to push his hand or luck.
As they left the Isolation Room and Psionic Training Grounds, Geist said he would leave out some key details of how it all began, so Zhang didn’t look irrational. Zhang thanked him.
Little did Zhang know that day going forward, he and Geist would become close friends.
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
alright fine i'll buy the annete "fucked up and evil psionic terrorist" durand STL i made, because she's a vibe
really need to figure out if i wanna make the furies (her three besties and favorite henchmen) or just finally buy a van saar box and kitbash 'em (XCOM 2 templar helmets look a bit van saar, y'know?)
#and then i've gotta figure something out for exalt goons and more 'blackwater/pinkerton'-esque voord#as for why she dresses like a sl*tty wizard...well y'see most omega-level psions tend to be...eccentric.#ann solo dresses like a pinup girl. geist dresses like a different version of sl*tty wizard. annette? no shirt. leather and vinyl. cape.#xcom#heroforge#28mm scale#annette durand#foundation paradox
30 notes
·
View notes
Text
rules — shuffle your “on repeat playlist” and list the first ten songs, then tag ten people
Thank you for the tag, @mystical-salamander ! Have some synthwave, TV soundtracks, and trailer music. Sorry about the SPN jumpscare. It's in a playlist for XCOM 2's Avenger mobile base, and I'll have you know it's a perfect fit, tonally.
Reframed Future - Schlepp Geist [genuinely good stuff]
Planet F - Moritz Hofbaur
Beacon (feat. Dimi Kaye) - Volkor X [sampled quote is from the radio drama Earth Abides]
Scrap Metal - Dominic Lewis [drastic tone shift time!]
Cherry Blossoms - Dominic Lewis [I am obsessed with 2:30 to 3:15]
Signals - Timecop1983 [back to synthwave]
Exoplanet (Alex Stein Remix) Intara, Alex Stein, & Third Person
Luna (Extended Mix) - Ann Clue
The Grateful Undead - Christopher Lennertz
Life on the Frontlines - Epic Score
No-pressure tagging: @theres-whump-in-that-nebula @befuddled-calico-whump @gettiregretti @allroseshave-their-thorns @samati @suchanadorer @usedkarma @boxoftheskyking @mossywriting @nonhumanhottie and you if you wanna play
#tag game#text#music#ah gods this makes me feel so boring#i will be tracking down all related posts#i want to hear ALL the good things
56 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hey, I know he's kind of new to the story but I have a question for our dear Geist: what made you pick Carthage as the sort of Home for the Templars. Is there a specific reason or did it just catch your fancy?
Geist is, frankly, flattered that you chose him, although he tries not to show it.
“Carthage is a historical monument.” He says proudly. “It was the center of one of the greatest maritime empires the world has ever known. An empire that might have turned the very coarse of history, with a general strong enough to bring the Romans themselves to their knees.” There’s a window overlooking the seaside, and he gazes out over the shore. “Aside from that, I love the old stones. I can feel the stories and lives of so, so many people written in these ancient roads. I can picture their lives, their hopes and dreams, their sorrows. In a way, walking these ancient ruins reminds me I am human.” He clears his throat. “...And I’ll be honest. The weather here is lovely.”
5 notes
·
View notes
Photo
26-27 January 2020
Discord dressed as Geist, both characters voiced by John de Lancie, finding a deceased XCOM trooper Fluttershy on the battlefield. He is now super pissed.
#drawing#art#my drawing#my art#mydrawing#myart#mlp#mlp fim#my little pony#discord#fluttershy#draconequus#pegasus#blood#xcom#xcom 2#geist#john de lancie#crossover#fan art#artists on tumblr
5 notes
·
View notes
Photo
#xcom 2#xcom 2: war of the chosen#war of the chosen#wotc#xcom#chosen huntr#chosen assassin#chosen warlock#elena dragunova#pratal mox#geist
90 notes
·
View notes
Text
Plans
The second she steps outside again Cecily is running at her full speed. Tatiana kneels and catches her with ease.
“Hey,” she coos, cuddling her daughter to her chest. “Have fun playing?”
Cecily nods and starts to chatter excitedly about her activities. As she does so Nathaniel catches up with them and when Cecily finally reaches a lull, he apologizes for letting her run off so quickly to greet her.
She assures him that it’s fine and they quickly get caught up in a conversation about their kids. They wander back over to Bill and Eliza as they do, allowing Cecily to have an extended playtime.
Only when Cecily runs off once more to tackle John do they finally realize how distracted they’ve become. He brings Cecily back over and presses a kiss to Tatiana’s cheek. They share a few parting words with the two Templars and Eliza, then head back inside.
Geist catches them before they can get far. Tatiana tenses immediately, though she does not try and find a way out yet.
“I don’t want to be a bother, but I don’t want to insult you two later,” he starts. “But what exactly are you to each other?”
Tatiana relaxes minutely. “What do you mean?” she asks.
“Are you married?”
She and John share a glance, left unsure how to answer for too long a moment. They had rings, but no question had ever been asked, much less an answer given.
“Dating, technically,” Tatiana says at last, glancing back to Geist. Her left hand twitches closed for a brief second.
“It doesn’t really matter what we call ourselves now. No one would know otherwise,” John adds.
That makes Geist pause, something turning in his mind that fortunately lacks the unease of his machinations so far in their stay. “If you had the chance, would you get married? Have the celebration, and everything?” he asks.
John looks at Tatiana again, who just gives a slight shrug in response. “I don’t see why not.”
Geist claps his hands together excitedly. “If you ask Billiam, he’ll probably cry and happily plan something for you. In fact —”
“If this is another ploy to convince me to join, I will leave and make sure no one speaks to or about your Templars again,” Tatiana warns lowly.
Geist pauses, then raises his hands in surrender, visibly calming down a bit. “This is an offer of kindness,” he assures. “And Bill is such a hopeless romantic, he needs something to lift his spirits.”
“We’ll think about it,” John says. “There are more important things to deal with first.”
“One night of celebration won’t get in the way of stopping the Elders.”
Tatiana shoots Geist a tired glare, and that seems to be enough to get him to back off for the moment.
“Just offering,” he says again before splitting off to check in on the rest of the base.
Tatiana sighs the moment he’s gone, all the tension finally leaving her shoulders again. “I hate to admit it, but he has a point,” she muses quietly.
“At least we know they’re capable of looking after Cecily we do organize something,” John adds, shifting Cecily in his arms at her mention. “But we can decide in the morning.”
#xcom#kid au#one shot#sendtoarchives#brain is not cooperating so this oneshot is ending here#tatiana mercier#bradford#cecily#geist
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
thinks about Elena and Mox: (◡‿◡✿)
also me: but what about Volk and Betos: (◕‿◕✿)
Reapers and Skirmishers together in general: (ʘ‿ʘ✿)
#dres muses#i ship very little in xcom 2 but man... catch me always shipping the reaper and skirmisher u get#I KNOW IT'S A 'ENEMIES TO LOVERS' KIND OF TROPE BUT#LISTEN#let me live#if there is anyone in the known galaxy that can stop/and or kick volk's ass it's betos or geist#and he probably is a sucker for both
11 notes
·
View notes
Photo
BY THE WAY I LAUGH AT MY OWN JOKES
#xcom#xcom 2#passing wind#for my followers geist has amnesia. that's his backstory. he's a resistance leader with amnesia
5 notes
·
View notes
Photo
#NewVember Day 9: #Geist, Leader of the #Templar faction in #XCOM2 #WarOfTheChosen.
1 note
·
View note
Text
An Unlikely Bond - Pt. 2 of 3
Parts: 1||2(You are here)||3 - Links will be updated as the chapters are posted. Currently in the queue.
May be posted on Ao3 and FF.net later.
Content warnings for the usual language. Accidental mental invasion. Part three is where they're violence via memories which includes murder(and faked suicide(it's more murder.)
Approx. 2k.
-----------------------
Days had passed since the incident. Zhang had pushed it to the back of his mind but was still actively avoiding interacting with Geist, though he knew he needed to apologize for his outburst.
Seemed like it was just his psionics acting up and not Geist pulling some psionic trickery to guilt trip him for the psionic training sessions he had been skipping out of spite.
But he still wanted to stew on what had happened. It all just felt off in a way he couldn’t describe. He was sure he felt Geist’s touch on his mind when the voices started, but there was barely a trace of his touch when searched. Maybe it was just another odd quirk of psionics, or Geist had learned a new trick he wasn’t sharing. No. Geist had his quirks but believed the man wouldn’t tempt his luck with the Commander, keeping something like that secret with how some soldiers and staff were weary with the psions at the base.
————
The Hazard Course. The favorite place for all Gene-modded soldiers to put their more physical mods to the test.
Zhang was assisting Training Officer Conrad, per Commander Reeves’ request to put the new round of Gene Modded soldiers through their paces. Specifically, the ones with the “Muscle Fiber Density” leg mod. Zhang didn’t mind assisting, as it gave him something to do around the base and kept his mind occupied. It was time to scale some cliffs.
“Come on y’all! Y’all can’t keep up with the old man?” Conrad heckled the soldiers that were falling behind Zhang, who was close to the top of the cliff face and was about ready to step off, completing another circuit. He had barely broken a sweat.
A few shot back that they were still disoriented as they were either freshly out of the Gene Labs or were still getting used to the new sensations coursing through their bodies.
“Tch! Tch! EXCUSES!” Conrad wasn’t having it. “And he was leaping bounds like a jack rabbit right out of the tube with 3 other mods in his newly tweaked SYSTEM! What’s y’all’s excuse?”
Zhang was back on the ground floor before he jogged over and leaped up to the platform Conrad was barking his remarks from. He let out a few chuckles and shook his head.
“Go easy on them. It took me some time to warm up before I was ‘leaping like a jackrabbit.’” He said.
Conrad silenced his mic quickly. He smirked. “They don’ need to know that. Besides, when those pheromones and adrenaline kicked in, you were hopping all a‘bout. And you were still movin’ faster than them with two of those mods conflictin’ for a bit.”
Zhang tilted his head back and forth, trying to remember the day. Some details were faint since so much had happened since then. “True… Still, it’ll take them a bit before they’re running circles around me.”
“Tch, heh, heh. I’ll think about it.” He wouldn’t. “Now get back in there!” He unmuted his mic. “Do I need to get Corvo to whip y’all slugs up to speed?”
A collective groan could be heard, but that made everyone pick up the pace.
Zhang just rolled his eyes. What a character the old instructor could be.
He leaped off the platform and headed back over to that wall. With a coach and spring, he was already at the 8-meter marker and assisting whoever was failing to clear their first jump fully.
It took a few more rounds before most of the fresh batch could clear their first jump without missing it by a few inches or botching the landing, but as the training continued, all were growing confident in their new abilities.
Another set of rounds was done and Zhang no longer had to assist anyone and just kept a careful watch as the soldiers made their ascent and helped or playfully sabotaged each other.
Zhang had parked himself on the second-highest overhang and was watching a few soldiers make a race out of their latest round of climbing.
“Heh, youth.” He chuckled to himself as he watched them.
Taking a moment, he had his fingers around this neck, checking his psi-dampening collar. His eyes flashed purple for a moment. “Hm.” Everything felt in order. The collar was sitting just right. No new dings with how training was going today. And that faint, barely irritating disruption was sitting at the back of his mind. Good. Nothing to worry about.
He smiled to himself. Digging his fingers into the rocky soil. Legs kicked back and forth as he took in the fresh, hot canyon air. He was content.
He watched the soldiers go on, making mental notes here and there. He would pass on to Conrad what each one had to work on. Some were still hesitating, stepping off the ledge, which was causing them to fumble their landings.
“Have to get over the fear of heights.” He noted.
As he made these observations, he didn’t notice a faint static sensation grow in the back of his mind that was slowly shifting to a more familiar psionic tug. One tug, two, three, he finally noticed as it shifted into a skull-splitting series of thumps, causing him to hiss in pain. A hand flew to his head and the other quickly dug into the ground.
The blood between his ears was pulsing with a near-deafening ring. “What… the?” His collar was fine. What was going on?
Concentrating, he searched for the source, only to find a blur of sensations shifting within his mind and psionics.
Another sharp piercing sensation hit his mind, making him hiss again. He felt a shift in the sensations. A connection began to form and so did a voice. One all too familiar to him.
“Geist.” He growled. “Not this again.”
Just as he had finally pushed the incident to the back of his mind, all the rage from that day came rushing back.
Grinding his teeth, he worked to still himself and his infuriated thoughts. “Calm, calm. Don’t need an outburst.” He was glad no one noticed his hissing. “Let’s see what he wants.”
It took a moment to steady his mind and refocus his psionics, as this connection was still causing him pain.
“Strings, patterns, weaves…. Hm.” Geist was muttering under his breath. “Just when I think I figure it out, it proves me wrong. A new leaf emerges. A new petal unfolds. The tides wash away the sands, erasing my expeditions but revealing something new. Something exciting.”
Zhang continued to focus on the connection. So far, he was only picking up Geist and no one else like last time. He was having difficulty making sense of the cryptic words Geist was speaking but could figure out it didn’t deal with him or training.
As quick as that anger came, it was disappearing. Maybe it was his psionics messing up again and not Geist forcing a connection to him.
He let out a disgruntled sigh. Was this a sign of his psionics becoming unstable again? How were they going to get this fixed?
“I yearn for the days I was not given this curse.” One of the few times he lamented this psionic potential being found in him.
But no time to lament. He wanted to see if he could close off this connection before it caused him more problems. He still had training he needed to assist with before he could pay Geist a visit.
As he focused on the connection to sever it, Geist’s voice grew louder in his mind.
“More weaves and patterns across the Earth. A mass expanse. Everything is connected to, flowing into and out of a Void. One flourishing with life and another devoid of it. A gap. And…” Geist passed. As he did so, Zhang felt a surge of power in the connection. “Hm… hm?” Seemed Geist did too.
There was a pause before Zhang felt a tentative touch, Geist’s touch, reach out and flow through the connection. It quickly overpowered Zhang’s attempts to close it off, causing some psionic feedback, much to his frustration.
Dammit. Zhang mentally recoiled, but did his best to keep the pain under control. For the moment, he held back his power to avoid any more feedback.
“What is this? I’m in the isolation chamber. There should be no connections to anyone but the Earth and Void.” Geist almost sounded confused, if not concerned, as he searched out this connection to its source.
But as Geist reached the source, he paused again. “Wait…” He weaved his way through the connection again, carefully picking the familiarity of the strings to this mind. “Z-Zhang?”
Just ask Geist made the discovery, their connection was abruptly cut.
A whirl of psionic swirled inside Zhang’s mind before it all finally snapped.
“Gah!” He gasped, lurching forward. He barely stopped himself from tumbling forward. “What the hell?” There was always something strange going on with psionics.
“Hey!” Someone called out. “You alright up there?”
Figures I’d slip with those growing backlashes. He shook his head a few times before letting out a gruff snort. “I’m fine. Feedback from the adrenal glands.” A little lie.
Zhang craned his neck back and forth as he gave it a good rub. He could feel his mind and psionics slowly ordering itself back in place after the spontaneous psionic connection again. His mind lingered on Geist’s connection. The man seemed just as surprised as him as he had discovered the connection.
“Hm.” He chewed on his tongue. Why was there always something wrong with psionics? He needed to find Geist. This couldn’t wait.
Pushing himself off the ledge, one last rush of adrenaline ran through his system before he touched the ground. He made his way over to Conrad first.
“Something just came up.” Zhang made a simple gesture towards his head. “Have to go.”
“Ah, gotcha. Go on and get!” Conrad simply nodded.
————
Zhang was halfway through the base before he felt a familiar psionic ping in his mind before a more audible ping rang out around the corner. The next second Geist came around the corner. The man looked a little frazzled as his eyes twinkled with purple energy. There was no dampening collar in sight.
“There you are!” He exclaimed, quickly hushing himself in order to avoid drawing too much attention.
“I was heading to you.” Zhang paused in his tracks. A brow was raised. He was half waiting for the Bases A.I. to go off, mentioning the psionic activity. “Did you..?” He felt like he didn’t have to explain.
Geist swiftly nodded, like his head was going to fall off. “Is this what happened days ago? Collar on?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “Though this was somewhat different. More painful on my end.”
Geist paced around him, finger tapping away at his chin and mumbling under his breath. “What could this be? What could this be?”
So far, nothing was ringing a bell in Geist’s mind. This just made him worry more, which increased his pacing. He turned his attention back to Zhang. The man’s puzzled look didn’t help ease his mind. He reached his hand out towards his hand, psionic energy jumping between his fingers. Wait, no. Not here. Not safe for the others. He cut his psionic energy for a moment and just let his hand fall on Zhang’s shoulder.
“I feel I need to explore your psionics. See if They are planting seeds of madness. Isolation room. No time to tell the Commander and Psi Division.” Geist said.
At the mention of Them, Zhang grimaced. It had been some time since those Elders had touched his mind again with Their bids to make him betray XCOM. Did They have new tricks up Their sleeves? Better to find out now than before, he was an unknowing thrall. “Teleport away.”
Geist tightened his fingers on his shoulder. Psionics energy flowed from him to Zhang before faint wisps appeared around the two.
The next second, they disappeared with a ping.
2 notes
·
View notes
Note
Go grocery shopping with, go to ikea with and go clothing shopping with... Dumpling, Titus and Dekster Alternatively 6hours roadtrip (no Radio), 6 Hour flight, 6 hour train journey with... The three leaders of the XCOM 2 factions.
IKEA shopping with Dumpling- Ikea is a great place to hang around in and not buy anything in, unless you specifically went to Ikea to buy something
Clothes shopping with Titus- Great fashion sense, knows how to get good quality stuff without spending too much
Grocery shopping with Dekster- won’t ask for too much snacks and Dumpling would have asked for a complete cake compared to dekster’s sunflower seeds
Road trip with Volk (no radio)- a 6 hour drive is too much without music, Volk is the most interesting of the bunch so hopefully that would keep me from going insane
Plane trip with Betos- I hate the process of going to go to a flight and being in the flight but it’s not as bad as the road trip option and Betos is a great person in my eyes
Train trip with Geist- I’m left with this I just hope nothing happens in the trip
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
c&c scenes [4/18/2022]
[Subject to change as I work on the faction subplots.]
Green - written
Orange - partially written
Red - not written
Bold - done
Italics - edits needed
Post-Tutorial/Gatecrasher - written - April
Power Converter - needs edit and additional of morning glory gag start
Post mission relationship building - partially written
Soldier funeral - partially written, needs edits
Commander nightmares - written
Breakfast sequence - needs edit
First Mission - written
Central nightmares - needs edit
LnA - written
Meet Reapers - partially written
(Resistance Comms - written
Proving Ground) - written
Mission to get Mox back - partially written
Tygan chip reveal - written
Meet Skirmishers - unwritten
[SKIRMISHERS] Assassin has found Betos's camp - unwritten
Alien hunters - unwritten
Central injured- (partially?) written
[Skirmishers] seek refuge - unwritten
First Retal - partially written - May
[Skirmishers] adjust to refuge-- unwritten
More commander nightmares - written
Garbage night scene - written
Meet Templars - partially written
Sleepover - written, needs edit and addition of Commander knitting
Blacksite - written, needs edit - June
[REAPERS] Commander overhears a plot- unwritten
(Shadow Chamber - written
Vial analysis) - written
[REAPERS] Volk discusses w Central and Commander. - unwritten
Fishing scene - partially written, needs 300 words to vahlen route and menace 1-5 route written
[Skirmishers] help with locating and killing Assassin / (Assassin killing) - unwritten - July
Commander sick - written
[TEMPLARS] Commander and Geist get friendlier. - unwritten
// Forge mission // ? - written - August
[REAPERS] The attempt to mutiny happens and is successful/is not. - unwritten
[REAPERS] success: the new leader makes first decisions based on faction relationship score w XCOM. [FIGURE THIS OUT] / Not successful: Volk exiles the mutiny source. - both unwritten
Sparring scene - written
Skirmishers fight to claim new base - unwritten
Warlock avenger defense ft. Templars - unwritten, add hot dog gag here
Resting head on shoulder to sleep scene - unwritten
(Prototype analysis) - written
[REAPERS] Volk proves leadership. - Unwritten.
Return to HQ scene ft. Geist - unwritten - Sept
Skulljack Officer - unwritten
(Codex Brain analysis) - written, needs edit
[TEMPLARS] Commander remembers. - unwritten
Sectoid/Advent scene - unwritten
(Hunter killing) - unwritten - Oct
Birthday scene - unwritten
Psi Gate Mission - unwritten
(Psi Gate analysis) - written, needs edit
Dice scene - unwritten - Nov
Warlock killing - unwritten
Holiday scene - unwritten - Dec
Skulljack Codex and Avatar encounter - unwritten
(Avatar analysis) - written, needs finished
// Advent network tower // ? - unwritten
Pre leviathan scene - unwritten
// Leviathan // ? - unwritten
Post leviathan scene - unwritten
62 scenes total-- 30 written, 32 unwritten, 8 scenes need edits. 8 scenes are partially finished/written.
Current word count: 34,354
Estimated word count: 62k+
0 notes
Text
Chosen Stories From the War #9: Mourning Has Passed
“Bhandasura.”
The old, withered alien let his robes drop to the floor, the cold searing his frail body as the air hit his fragile skin. He turned to face the woman in the bed, glowing copper under the fluorescent lights. “I am here, Abyzou.”
She reached out one of her long, taloned hands toward him, and he drifted closer. He knew she could see him despite their lack of eyes. He took her hand and pulled himself closer to her, hovering over her body.
“I dreamt of them.” She whispered in his mind, her forehead in the crook of his neck. “Our children.”
“Which ones?” He asked, reaching for her bony fingers. They were cold to the touch. “You cannot sleep without your blankets, Zou.” He said as he pulled the coverings up around her body. “You’ll catch a chill again.”
“I grow so hot at night.” She said. “The fevers get worse and worse.”
“Which ones did you dream of?” He asked again, turning over to gaze at her. She was thinner than him and Camazotz, but her mind glowed deeply red with psionic power, greater than theirs combined.
“The youngest ones.” She said. “Vox Prima. And Vox Zagre.”
He was silent still.
“Do you believe the rumors?” She tossed away the covers and rose, hovering off the ground, her delicate feet never touching the floor.
“If they were alive, we would know.” Bhandasura tried to assure her, but he could feel her getting worked up. “Zou-”
“If they are alive, they wouldn’t betray us, would they?” She clasped two of her hands together, and let the others hang, fidgeting in the air. “They would come back.”
Bhandasura was silent for a moment.
“Because if they did...if they betrayed us…” She fell silent, and he could hear her thoughts. She was screaming deep within her mind, screaming in fear and anger.
“...Why would they?” Bhandasura asked. That was a stupid question. He knew why. But Abyzou did not.
Suddenly, she turned on him. “Vox Nergal has been disobedient!”
“He...has been struggling.” Bhandasura held up his hands. “We all struggle, do we not, Zou?”
“Do you know who does not struggle?” She lunged towards him, her claws out. “The Ascended Ones, Bhanda! They do not struggle! They simply exist! They SIMPLY BE!” She lifted her claws, clenching her fingers in open fists.
“But we have not ascended, Abyzou.” He reached for her arms and pulled her close to him.
“If Dhar-Mon turns on us…” Abyzou said, laying her head on his shoulder “I want you to tear him apart. Make him feel the pain his Beloved Mother feels.”
Bhandasura felt his barely beating heart grow heavy.
“Promise me.”
“I promise.” He pressed a cold, lanky hand on her bony back. “I love you, Abyzou.”
He heard her giggle.
.
.
Malinalli stood in the doorway of Commander Senuna’s quarters. She was still getting ready for the day, sitting on her bed in a silk nightgown, her hair back in a bun. Malinalli wondered how she managed to tie her hair so neatly when she had so much of it…
“Good morning, Molly.” Senuna looked at her with glittering eyes.
“Good morning, Madam.” Malinalli saluted her. “I’m sorry for intruding…”
“Nonsense! You are welcome any time!” She stood―well, practically leapt―from her bed. “Pardon my indecency!”
“It’s okay…” Malinalli stepped inside. “Have you...gotten a team together for the Stronghold mission?”
“I have, actually.” Senuna let her hair down, the white locks spilling over her shoulders like water. “After a...friendly chat with Geist, he’s agreed to lend us a couple of Templars for the mission! We’re going to stop off at Carthage to pick them up, and then we’ll head straight for Italy.”
“Oh…” She nodded. “And…?”
“Let’s see...Well, Tiwaz. After his good work on the Hunter case, he’ll be there.”
“And a hacker?”
“No, I want to save them for a special occasion. Besides, I think the Templars will have that old coffin of his in their clutches before the Warlock can curse my name!” She giggled. “Oh! I will be sending a medic down. After what happened with Gur-Rai, well, you can never be too careful!”
“Oh…” Malinalli said again. “...Um, would you like me to be the medic unit, Madam?”
“Absolutely not.” Senuna nearly cut her off with how quickly she whirled around. “I’m planning to send Lothar, but I would send Tygan himself down there before I put you into the line of fire.”
Malinalli felt desperation, fear and a deep anger rising in her chest. “Madam...can I ask why?”
“You can ask.” Senuna crossed her arms. “But I have my reasons, Malinalli.”
“The Warlock and I...have a connection.” Malinalli began.
“I know you do, and that’s partly why you are not going.” Senuna turned her back on the young nurse and began to rummage in her closet. “How can I trust that you would be safe, with your emotions clouding your judgement like that?”
“But I could get him to...we might not even need to fight him!” Malinalli protested. “If I was there, he might just leave! With us.”
“We tried that with Kon-Mai and she tried to kill herself.” Senuna snapped.
“Kon-Mai and I weren’t bonded! She had no reason to listen to me! Dhar-Mon does!” Malinalli clasped her hands, like she was praying. “Madam, I’m begging you. Please.”
“Then beg.” She said. “It won’t change my mind.”
“What got you out of the tank?” Malinalli cried. “People who cared about you. People who were there to help. We can’t go in as an invasion force.” She held her arms out, and Senuna turned to look at her. “We need to go with the intent to help. And to heal.”
Senuna looked Malinalli in the eyes for a moment. Her expression was unreadable, but for a moment she smiled. “...You have your heart set on this.”
Malinalli nodded.
Senuna sighed, leaning her head against the closet door. “I was like you once. Heart so full of love…” She pulled her white cloak out and smoothed it down. “...I will put you on the mission. But. If you are injured…” She raised a brow. “The Warlock will be the one fearing my wrath.”
“I’ll be extra, extra careful, Madam!” Malinalli bowed. “Thank you! Thank you so so-!”
“That’s enough.” Senuna giggled. “Now, go get ready. You’re deploying soon.”
As Malinalli ran off, Senuna watched her with tears in her eyes.
.
.
Dhar-Mon opened his eyes, his head clouded and his skin still burning. He pressed a hand to his forehead, unable to tell if he was actually feverish or if that was just the warmth of his own body.
He rose to his feet, his attendants hanging outside his door, waiting for him, but always keeping him at arm's length. Dhar-Mon tried to disguise the pain in his body, how much he wanted to crumble as he walked, but each step he took made his limp more pronounced.
How desperately he wished for her touch, the warmth of the palm of her hand. He closed his eyes and put a hand over his chest. Dhar-Mon could feel each breath she took. The blood in her veins. The fire in her soul. Even now their heartbeats were as one.
“Malinalli.” He whispered, waiting for the universe to carry his call to her.
“Dhar-Mon!” He could hear her excited voice as though she was standing beside him.
He smiled. “...Are you well?”
“Oh, yeah! I’m feeling great!” She hesitated. “...XCOM is coming.”
“I know.”
“And...I’m coming with them.”
He gasped. “...You? You’re coming here?”
“Yeah, the Commander is letting me come along!” She sounded almost scared.
“...You know my Stronghold?”
“Uh, well..” She coughed. “...It’s in Italy.”
He sighed. “You have much to learn, little phantom. How will you find me?”
“Well I figure Italy isn’t that big so...just pick a direction and fly. If you see water, you’ve gone too far.”
He chuckled. “Do you know the City of Vatican Hill?”
“Vatican City? You live in Vatican City?!”
“Yes. The Apostolic Palace is the center of my stronghold.”
“I...You live in the Vatican?!” He could hear her laughing.
“What is funny about this? It is a great palace with many defensible-”
“No, no, it’s not funny, just…” She giggled again “that’s so cool.”
“...I see.” He hoped she couldn’t feel him blushing. Or smiling. “When shall I expect you?”
“In half a day. We’re stopping by the Templars first.”
He growled. “They are accompanying you…?”
“I know you don’t like them.” She sounded sympathetic “but the Commander insisted and...”
“It is fine.” He sighed. “Their presence is irrelevant, either way.”
“In that case, I’ll...see you in a bit?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “It will be nice to speak face to face.”
“Agreed!”
He felt her presence leave him, and thus straightened himself up and called his priests into the room.
*“At the 18th hour of the eve, bring the townspeople to the courtyard.”* He said. *“Tell them I have a message for them of great importance. About the future. And the Elders.”*
.
.
“Is Geist angry?” Malinalli said, leaning over to Tiwaz. The two followed the Commander down the ramp, trailing behind her as she stepped off the Skyranger and approached Geist with a smile. Geist, in contrast, stared at her with a look more bitter than bile.
“When is Geist NOT angry?” Tiwaz chuckled.
“I heard he meditates.”
“Maybe he needs to do it more.” Tiwaz straightened up as Senuna looked back at them.
“These are two of my best.” She smiled warmly. “Zachary ‘Tiwaz’ Clotilde, and Malinalli Zúñiga.”
Geist barely acknowledged them, and from the glint in Senuna’s eye, Malinalli wondered just what the Commander had said to Geist to get him to agree to the mission.
He gestured behind him, and three feminine figures stepped forward. “These three are the finest family I have to offer. The Harbingers of Dawn and Rebirth. Our Shieldmaidens.”
“Harbingers of Dawn.” Senuna looked thoroughly impressed as she gazed upon the three women. “What are your names?”
The first one who stepped forward had hair like obsidian, tied back tight behind her head in several looping braids, and skin the color of the deepest earth. A dark silver crown adorned her forehead, denoted with blue gems that matched with the intricate face paint she wore around her eyes. Her Templar robes looked ornate: black leather and deep blue silk
“I am Lawahiz Ahmad.” She said. “You will refer to me as Iabet. I am the head of the family of Harbingers.” She gestured to the girl beside her. “This is Saibh Ó Heidhin, but our name for her is Siv.”
The girl they saw beside her looked no older than 17, and her amber eyes were illuminated with a fire only matched by the blazing auburn color of her hair, which clashed against her pale skin. They could only see her face briefly though, as it was covered by the bright yellow hood of her Templar cloak. She looked up at them with annoyance, and seemed to roll her eyes. The woman on her left nudged her and said something in...Latin? Siv only grumbled.
“And finally…” Iabet’s eyes lit up with love as she looked at the last woman. “This is Luana Tornicasa. Tornike.”
The woman pulled down her purple hood and...took the XCOM soldiers by surprise. Despite her olive-tanned skin, she had bleached blonde hair that hung to her shoulders and thick, plump lips painted conspicuously purple. Beside the other Templars, she looked like a Barbie doll. But the look they saw in her soft, cold blue eyes as they gazed into them, told both Malinalli and Tiwaz that Tornike was not a woman to be fucked with.
“They are perfect!” Senuna clasped her hands together. “Are you three ready for an adventure?”
Geist turned to the three women. “You will be hunting the Warlock.”
Siv’s eyes lit up, only for her smile to fall as Senuna spoke up. “He is to be brought in alive if possible.”
“Why?” Iabet demanded. “We have no respect for that monster.”
“He’s not a monster-” Malinalli began to say, but Tiwaz quickly shushed her.
“I know this is quite hard.” Senuna smiled, a gleam in her eyes. “You all have been victimized by him more than once-”
“He has KILLED people!” Siv screamed.
“Well, I mean, haven’t we all?”
Siv pulled her hood down slightly so they could see her scowl. “If I should ever see him, it will be when he is writhing in agony at the tip of my blade!”
“Habe tus lingua!” Tornike lightly struck Siv on the back of the head. “Tu sic despiciens censenda est la Comandante.”
Malinalli strained her ears, barely making out the garbled, almost-Latin that Tornike spoke. Granted, Malinalli didn’t speak Latin herself, but she was also pretty sure “la Comandante” was Spanish.
Tornike looked to Iabet. “Perhaps, mia moglie, the Commander’s wishes would be wise to fulfill. After all, should we kill him, he will never have a chance to answer for his crimes.” She smiled. “Maybe a hundred years in a cell is a far more fitting punishment than immediate death.”
Malinalli wanted to protest, but this time she was smart, and kept her mouth shut.
Iabet thought for a moment. “...You are right more often than not, habibti.” She smiled. “If the Commander wills him to be captured alive, then I shall oblige.” She glared at Malinalli. “But my attacks shall not be gentle, and if he comes toward me, I will defend myself.”
Malinalli looked away and Senuna cheered, oblivious to her discomfort.
“Amazing!” Senuna stepped aside and gestured to the Skyranger. “Well, all aboard! Next stop, Vatican City!”
.
.
The Warlock stood still as his servants cloaked him in his ceremonial robes. They were simple: a deep, royal purple color with silver embroidery in Etheric words and symbols around the cuff of the sleeves, and hem of the robe. Underneath he wore only his black, mesh undersuit, fastening everything with a silver belt.
He looked down at his servants and, for the first time perhaps, noticed their faces. They may have been human once, but the scales on their cheekbones and their lizard-like eyes told him they had been taken long ago. Their sharp claws grazed his arm, and he turned to look one woman in the eye. She was beautiful once, but now her skin was scaly, causing her hair to clump and thin.
*“What is your name?”*
She looked up at him in shock.
“What is your name?” He repeated, this time in Italian.
She hesitated, but perhaps it was the sincerity in his voice that set her at ease enough for her to mutter, softly, “Oinone.”
He held a hand to her chin and lifted it so his eyes met hers. “Hide your gaze no more, Oinone. Today is a sea change.”
He stepped out of his quarters, where his priests were waiting at attention. *“We have summoned them, Madron.”*
*“Excellent. Make sure no one is left behind.”* He looked at each and every one of them. *“This is a message for all.”*
.
.
Kon-Mai’s eyes followed Gur-Rai as he spun in the swivel chair at the edge of the room. Every time she tried to close her eyes, that god-awful squeaking would distract her and catapult her right back into conscious thought.
She got up from her lotus pose. “Will you stop that?”
“You should try it, Sister.” Gur-Rai dragged his foot along the ground to slow himself. “It’s very relaxing.”
“No, thank you.” She growled and leaned her shoulder against the window, staring out at the orange-painted clouds.
“What troubles you?” He asked.
“Have you heard? They are taking three Templars.” She growled. “Three.”
“Our brother is quite a beast.” Gur-Rai lifted his arms in an exaggerated shrug. “They’ll need it.”
“What if they kill him?”
“They have a job to do. If he dies, he dies.”
Kon-Mai turned on her brother faster than he could blink. “How dare you?”
“You’ve seen the two of us, Kon-Mai.” Gur-Rai growled. “We were never best buddies, and I’m certain he’d be better to see me hung at the gallows now that I’ve abandoned his precious cause.”
“He is our brother.” She insisted.
“Then perhaps he should have acted like it.”
“You speak for yourself, Brother.” She snarled. “He could be cruel, but he could be kind had you only taken the time to see it. Instead you purposefully antagonized him, knowing you would earn his wrath!”
“Ah yes, I wanted to be psionically mindfucked by discount Thanos.” Gur-Rai sneered. “That is the only possible explanation. Not that he was a raging dickbag. No, he was never wrong. I’m the bad guy, like fucking always.”
“Did I say that? Did I say he was never wrong in his actions?!” Kon-Mai took a step towards him. “No, you twist my words, Gur-Rai. Our brother is wrong on many things and absolutely moronic in the concept of others. But I gave him a chance.”
“And you think I didn’t?!” Gur-Rai hissed, baring his teeth like a cat. Kon-Mai actually startled, backing up against the window at this show of aggression.
“...I did not see it.”
“Because you weren’t born yet, sister. I tried to buddy up with him but he rebuffed me each time. He didn’t WANT us there, Sister, we were rivals. Rivals for the Elders’ affection, if that’s what you could even call it. He wanted it all to himself. In fact before you came out of the tank, he resented you.”
Kon-Mai stared at the ground.
“He doesn’t want you to protect him like a mother hen. At this point, I’m sure he’d shoot down the Avenger himself if he knew we were on it.” Gur-Rai took a breath, shaking out his muscles to try and force them to relax. “He hates me, Sister. I tried. That’s just how it is...”
“...I apologize.” Kon-Mai closed her eyes. “I wasn’t aware you felt that way.”
“Nah…” He crossed his arms. “...Sorry if I scared you.” He mumbled, his voice barely audible.
She met his gaze again. “In any case, the Commander has assured me she will try and bring him back alive. I trust you, Gur-Rai, that you are telling the truth about his actions.” She approached him again, but this time slowly and gingerly. “But if he should arrive at our ship still living, perhaps you will consider giving him a second chance?”
Gur-Rai’s upper lip twitched in a scowl.
“Brother.” She took his hand. “You are my family, and so is he.”
“Sometimes I wonder how we’re related.”
“Gur-Rai.” The way she looked at him immediately shut him up. “Have we not all suffered at their hands…?”
He blinked, turning to Kon-Mai with a look of disbelief. “...Never thought I’d hear you say that.”
She reached back, gingerly touching the skin on her shoulders. “...Do you think I enjoyed their punishments?”
He could have cracked a joke about that being kinky but...it had hit a nerve. He looked away. “I was in too much pain of my own to really think about it.”
“We have all been hurt.” She whispered. “But I do not want us to hurt anymore. Perhaps, with XCOM, we could finally be a family.”
He sighed, cringing at the thought but...she had that look in her eyes. Lil’ bitch could make herself look like a kicked puppy when she wanted to.
Gur-Rai nodded. “Fine.”
She smiled. “I knew I was right to have faith in you.”
“Sister.” He said as she let go of his hand. “With everything we three have been through, why do you insist on treating us like your little ducklings?”
Kon-Mai paused, examining the question in her head. It seemed to have struck a nerve, because a look of great discomfort twisted her face for just a moment.
Then she shook it off. “Because someone needs to keep you two in check, and it certainly won’t be Dhar-Mon.”
.
.
Malinalli looked out the window of the Skyranger. The rolling green hills creeping up on them felt so familiar, it was as though she’d walked them herself, even if she’d never been to Italy in her life.
“Pretty, huh?” Firebrand mused.
“It’s beautiful.” Malinalli blinked. “It reminds me of Oaxaca…”
“Then I think you’ll like it here.” Firebrand gestured to her. “Okay, pretend I have no idea where I’m going, because I don’t.”
“You don’t have a GPS?”
“I do, but I turned her off because she’s a cunt.” Firebrand winked at Malinalli from inside her helmet. “I’m told we headed for Rome?”
Malinalli focused on the ground below her, then at the skyline. “...Keep heading north, then about 20 degrees west once you reach that one big hill.”
Firebrand held the chopper steady, looking back at her passengers. “How y’all doin’ back there?”
“Fine!” Tiwaz called.
“Not fine!” Siv shouted. “This soldier is a moron! Why did we have to bring him?!”
“Tiwaz is good at his job.” Malinalli assured her. “He helped neutralize the Hunter.”
“Plus, I play a warlock in Dungeons and Dragons, so I have inside knowledge of our target.” Tiwaz said, partially joking. But only partially.
“See that big white thing there?” Malinalli pointed to the west.
“Yeah, the big tower?”
“Yes!” Malinalli put her hand over her heart. “Head for the palace!”
“Vatican City. Of course it is.” Firebrand laughed. “We shoulda fuckin’ known all along, really! Ain’t he known to be a drama queen?”
“Oh absolutely.” Iabet stood, her seat belt clinking as it fell loose. “You can drop us off here.”
“Pardon?”
“I said here, outside the gates.” She pointed to Malinalli. “Stay at the back, Medic. WE shall handle the Warlock.”
Something told Malinalli that arguing would put her in a bad situation. However, much she wanted to protest, she forced herself to swallow her nerves as she nodded.
The Skyranger’s doors opened up and five cables descended.
“Good luck, ladies!” Firebrand called as the soldiers began to drop.
.
.
The city was silent.
He noticed, as he went to the balcony and looked out, that the subjects were beginning to gather in his walls, milling about, whispering, waiting.
Waiting for what?
Two of his priests came up behind him. *“Should we sweep the streets again, Madron?”*
*“No.”* He held a hand up. *“Give them time, they will come of their own accord.”*
*“And if they do not come?”*
Dhar-Mon sighed. *“...It matters not. They shall hear my message either way.”* He looked down, and the people began to kneel, looking up at him like a god.
No. Not a god. Their fear was apparent.
He was the monster in their home.
.
.
They raced up the empty street, Malinalli huffing just to keep up with the much more in-shape Templars. They were like machines, not stopping for any interference.
“Where are all the people?” Tiwaz asked, his grenade launcher thumping against his back.
“Perhaps they are smart, and stayed in their homes.” Iabet mused. “As long as they aren’t in our way, it’s not our problem.”
Malinalli stumbled slightly, almost falling, but she righted herself in time to hear that distorted voice screaming in Etheric for them to stop.
A coalition of ADVENT troopers held out their hands to stop them. Tornike pushed to the front and decapitated the first one. Before Tiwaz could even think of launching a grenade, Siv had moved in and skewered one more, sending him and Iabet was locked in fisticuffs with the third. With a glowing punch, her hand went through his chest, and he dropped to the ground.
“Mom!” Siv cried out, as one priest she had slashed came out of a stasis bubble, and was now on top of her. Iabet turned but, losing attention on the one she was fighting, was struck with a blow to her shoulder that made her stumble.
Tornike, though, jumped in to rescue Siv, who was on the ground kicking up at the priest as they tried to beat her with the but of their rifle. They flipped it over and shot just as Tornike pulled her shield and redirected the blast, before slamming into the priest head-on. They stumbled backward into a lamp post, and Tornike took the priest’s head and slammed it into the wall until they fell limp.
“Thank you, Momí.” Siv said to Tornike as she stood. “We’re going the right way.”
“How do you know?” Malinalli put her hands on her knees, coughing.
“I play video games. Where there are enemies, that’s where we’re supposed to go.”
They turned down a nearby side street, running alongside the warm stone walls, when then all of a sudden Iabet halted and hushed them. Tornike cursed in Vulgar Latin and Tiwaz blew a whistle.
“That’s a lot of people!”
Malinalli poked her head out from around them and gasped. The Vatican’s courtyard was absolutely packed with people. She could hardly see over their heads, but was able to faintly make out the armor of ADVENT priests stalking on either side of the ring.
“...That way.” She whispered. “That’s where we need to go.”
“Hey.” Tiwaz hissed to Iabet. “Malinalli needs to get closer.”
“Absolutely not. We are going another way.” She turned around. “Come.”
“You don’t understand…” Malinalli wrung her hands. “I think I’m supposed to-”
“Medic, stop being ridiculous and follow me.” Iabet snapped.
Malinalli watched as the three Templars walked back down the path they came, then looked up at Tiwaz.
“I have to get in there.”
“How come?” Tiwaz looked down at her. “We’re going to get to him either way.”
“I think he’s trying to show me something.” She said. “I can feel him.”
“Your mind-bond thing?”
“Yeah…”
He smiled, pulling up the hood on his jacket. “I’ve always wanted to do a covert mission!”
She smiled and pulled at her braided bun, letting her black curls fall down over her sigil. “Follow me.”
They hugged the wall, looking for an opening into the crowd as the ADVENT soldiers drew closer. One old woman shifted slightly, and Malinalli wedged herself into the opening, pulling Tiwaz through with her. They stumbled for a moment, but the tightness of the crowd kept them from falling over.
Someone shouted something in Italian, and they looked up to the balcony and she gasped. “It’s him!”
Tiwaz looked up, squinting. “I can barely see him.”
“I need to get closer!” She looked around, but no other opening presented themselves. The Warlock stood there, in silence. Like he was waiting for something.
Or someone.
“I got it.” Tiwaz crouched down. “Get on my shoulders.”
“What?!”
“Get. On. My. Shoulders.”
“No...we’ll be spotted, I can probably...if the crowd would just-”
“Get on my shoulders, you fucking shortstack!”
Malinalli laughed, then she complied, climbing up and sitting with her legs on Tiwaz’s shoulders. He stood up and she wobbled a bit, but once she steadied herself, she looked up and raised her arms.
“DHAR-MON!”
.
.
Dhar-Mon felt his body shudder. That voice, he knew it. He knew it was her. But this time it sounded so close…
He looked down. There she was, those bright blue, sometimes green eyes staring up at him from within the mass of people. Far at the back, but he could see her clear as day.
He saw her smile, then she covered her mouth. “DHAR-MON! I’M HERE!”
Dhar-Mon smiled. This was it.
“Citizens of Rome.” He bellowed, his voice hard and loud. His priests looked at him in mild surprise as he stumbled through the speech in Italian, rather than Etheric. “You will recall the events of these past days. It has been difficult for you. For your families. For me. Many have died, and they did not have to.” He raised his arms. “This bloodshed could have been prevented.”
All eyes were on him. Dhar-Mon was shaking so much he felt his knees would buckle. He could no longer stop the tears as they began to flow. “It hurts to know what has happened to the people of this beautiful land, this beautiful planet, under the care of the Elders.” He looked around. “And it becomes ever clearer to me, you are not happy as things are.”
Murmuring. People began to raise their voices in fear, but he held up a hand.
“But there is no need for tears anymore. The time for mourning has passed.” He raised a hand and wiped the water from his cheeks. “And now is the time for blood. The time for retribution, for judgement.” He clenched his fist. “By my honor, I judge ADVENT and the Elders GUILTY of MURDER, GENOCIDE, AND HERESY! AND BY MY HAND, THEY SHALL SUFFER THEIR PUNISHMENT!”
His priests, utterly stunned, were completely unprepared as he lunged for them. He grabbed the nearest priest by the neck and tossed him back through the double doors, across the hall, where he slammed into a wall with an audible crunch. The other one couldn’t even react before their head was slammed into the balcony rim. They tried to raise their weapon to defend, but Dhar-Mon slammed them down again, lifted them up, and flung them from the balcony into the crowd of people who were now screaming in confusion and excitement.
Malinalli was cheering, and the commotion knocked her down from Tiwaz’s shoulders and she came rolling to a stop, picking herself up and sprinting into the crowd. “DHAR-MON!”
He met her eyes, and she his. They were deep purple and bright as the moon.
She held out her hand, up toward the palace. He stared down at her. She blinked up at him.
“Malinalli.” She heard his voice in her head. “Come to the Basilica of Saint Peter, to the Altar of Gold. I shall meet you there, and there I shall leave this place. With you.”
Malinalli covered her mouth, and for a moment she dissolved into a flood of emotions. “OKAY!” She coughed and closed her eyes, shaking uncontrollably. “Okay, Dhar-Mon! I’m coming!” She took off through the sea of people, and he too sprinted down the palace hallway.
“I’m coming!”
“I’m coming.”
.
.
His soldiers were, at first, no trouble. They still bowed when they saw him. Soon, though, the alarm was raised, and his soldiers began to do what they had been programmed to from the start.
They were not there to keep others out. They were there to keep him in.
Most were no trouble, and even more still surrendered to his might, but Dhar-Mon was not a stealthy man, and clomping through the palace was not helping him achieve his goal of getting to the Basilica quickly. As he turned a corner into one of the antechambers, three priests emerged, guns drawn.
*“Stand down, Madron.”* One said. *“We do not wish to hurt you, but if prompted to, we will.”*
He growled. *“As your Chosen I order you: let me pass!”*
A couple of them faltered, but the one who had spoken stood their ground.
*“You are not yourself.”* They said. *“We cannot call you our Chosen.”*
*“I am not the same, no.”* He said. *“I have been enlightened to the crimes the Elders have committed.”*
*“You are brainwashed, Madron.”* His priests raised their guns. *“The humans have brainwashed you.”*
*“No. The humans have opened my eyes. We have all suffered under the tyranny of the Elders. And I shall remind you as such.”* He raised his hands, and-
Cried out in pain. They had fired. Fired their guns. On him! He fell to his knees, gasping. That bullet must have hit his rib…
*“Destroy the sarcophagus.”* One priest said to another. *“If he dies he shall merely regenerate. We cannot let that-”*
*“Stop!”* One of them cried.
The three priests turned as the Warlock disappeared out the door.
.
.
The front of the Basilica was already swarming with troops. Tiwaz loaded a grenade in his grenade launcher, and Malinalli stepped behind him as they began to close in on the two.
“By order of the Elders, stand down.”
“Eat shit.” Tiwaz said. “You have no power here.”
“We will not hesitate to use lethal force.”
Malinalli looked around, desperate for a way through, but the wall of priests was impenetrable. She could not fail Dhar-Mon now, not after coming so far.
She heard footsteps behind her and raised her hands. She could barely use her psionics in a fight, but she’d fight with bare fists and teeth if she had to.
Then a voice behind her said “Duck.”
She did, and so did Tiwaz, right as a storm of purple lightning descended from the sky, striking down upon the bodies of the priests who stood in their way. A few evaded the storm by ducking just as they had, but many others were fried, screaming as their flesh burned.
Tornike fell to her knees beside Malinalli, who jumped to her aid as Siv dashed past them, yellow blades of psionic energy glued to her fists and a battle cry on her lips.
“I am alright.” Tornike insisted.
“Let me get a stim…” Malinalli got out her adrenaline pen but Tornike held up her hand.
“I said I am alright.” She smiled. “Go to him, saghirti.”
Malinalli stood up, just as Iabet appeared from the dust and clouds, blades of energy in her fists and a smile on her lips.
“On my mark…” Iabet raised her first. “...NOW!”
Siv launched at those priests like a bat out of Hell, shrieking like a banshee as she locked her sword with the gun of the one closest to her. They pushed back against her, but were distracted by the clunk of a grenade falling behind the platoon. As it exploded, Siv jumped back and glared at Tiwaz.
“Sorry!” Tiwaz cried.
Iabet jumped into the fray and cut down the priests that were beginning to move in on their position. Malinalli began to stand up, until the ground began to shake and she dropped into a crouch to keep from falling over. A pink light filled the windows of the Apostolic Palace and Malinalli gasped.
.
.
Dhar-Mon fell to his knees, stumbling down the hall. A blinding flash of pain caught him only for a moment, and then…
“The Elders.” He said out loud. “They are...silent…”
He closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind. “Malinalli…”
“I’m here!” Her voice was clear as crystal.
“They have destroyed my sarcophagus.” He said.
He heard her gasp. “We have a chopper! I’ll get you out, I promise!”
“I am coming.” He got to his feet slowly.
“You’re injured…”
He forgot, she could feel that pain… “It is only a flesh wound. I will be fine.”
“I’ll call in Firebrand!” She insisted. “...Dhar-Mon, how close are you?”
“I am on the second floor, one more flight and I shall-”
“I’m coming in!” She cried.
He smiled.
.
.
Malinalli got to her feet. “Tiwaz.” She said loudly. “I’m going inside!”
“No!” Iabet cried. “Medic, let us make it safe first!”
Malinalli ignored her. “I need someone to cover me!”
“Medic, I will stop you!” Iabet, snapped as she turned her attention to the priest who had put one of the others into stasis. She slashed at them, but they kept jumping back and evading her blades.
“You look a bit busy!” Tiwaz cried as he lifted his gun to his hip. “Go ahead, Molly! I got you covered!”
She smiled at him, took a deep breath, and pushed off. She sprinted faster than she thought she ever could, jumping and weaving in between soldiers and priests who tried to jump in her way. One reached out to grab her, she ducked under their arms. Another fired on her and she dove to the ground, sliding briefly like a damn penguin, and then the soldier was quickly reduced to shrapnel as Tiwaz lobbed a grenade at them.
Finally, her hand touched those ancient metal doors. She was so small that, initially when she slammed against them, she bounced right off. The doors seemed sealed.
“No, no no no…” She put her hand to the doors. “I didn’t come this far to be stopped by you!” She closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips against the door, and shoved.
.
.
Dhar-Mon pushed through the wall of soldiers blocking him. One of them fired, but the bullets flew into the air, only grazing his cheek, leaving a deep cut, but he disregarded them and fled to the stairwell, bullets hitting the wall behind him.
He was panting, but not from exhaustion. He had never felt this free before, this alive. It felt like he was being called toward her.
Finally, he came to the marble corridor that led to the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.
.
.
By herself, the door budged, but only slightly. Malinalli’s brow was dotted in sweat as she tried to shove the door open, becoming more and more panicked with each passing second.
Then, she felt another shoulder up against the door, and the metal gave way.
Tiwaz smiled as the door swung open. “Go get him, Tiger!”
She laughed, mumbling a thank you as she dashed down the aisle, just as the tiny door on the left side burst open, and the Warlock came stumbling out, stopping just in front of that giant golden altar.
They locked eyes, Malinalli behind a row of pews with the sun at her back, Dhar-Mon framed with the ancient sculpted artwork of humans long dead.
“...Malinalli…”
She smiled. “Dhar-Mon…”
Their eyes met, and here they were. In person, for the first time. She was even more beautiful than in his dreams, and she was floored by just how elegant he looked, without the fancy psionics. When he was just Dhar-Mon.
He took a step towards her. “I am so glad...to finally meet you…”
She smiled, tears pouring down her cheeks. She could hear Iabet screaming at her as the Templars ran up the stairs just behind her, but the sound of their raucous didn’t matter.
Malinalli held out her hand. “Come with me.”
Dhar-Mon took another step forward and stopped.
“Dhar-Mon?”
He brought a hand to his head, staggering back a bit. “Malinalli…”
“Dhar-Mon.” She could feel her heart racing, and something blooming in the center of her forehead. “What’s-” Then her mind erupted in fire, and she bellowed in agony.
Dhar-Mon doubled over, crying out in pain. Behind her, Malinalli heard Iabet scream, and the room was lit up with a flash of blue.
“I never expected this from you.” A deep, bone-shattering voice said behind her as she stumbled forward, crashing into the pews. Malinalli felt a chill, and definitely did not want to turn around. But she did.
She knew it wasn’t really...them. It was an illusion. But she could feel the immense psionic power radiating off this being, like this creature was everything in the universe all at once.
And it wanted to kill them. And it could.
She turned back as she heard Dhar-Mon whimper. He was barely standing now, leaning against the altar in an attempt to remain standing. He lifted a hand to cover his mouth and immediately gagged violently, and Malinalli saw a spray of blood explode from behind his palm. He fell to his knees, blood dribbling from his eyes, nose, mouth and down his chin.
“Dhar-Mon!”
Dhar-Mon coughed violently, vomiting up a torrent of thick, viscous red fluid. He tried to stand again, but his limbs were as weak as dry twigs, and his skin was like glass, ready to break at any moment.
He looked up at her, his eyes wide with horror. “Mali…”
Then his eyes rolled back and he slumped, motionless, against the altar.
“You are a failure.” The Elder behind her said, as it left in a flash of dark blue. “The Chosen are no more.”
Malinalli could hear screaming, but was unsure if it was her own voice or someone else’s voice. She literally leapt over the pews, crawling across the floor to get to him. Despite him being twice her size, she lifted him in her arms and reached around to the back of his head, searching for the chip she knew was killing him.
“SOMEBODY HELP HIM!” She screamed. “CALL THE SKYRANGER!”
“Iabet to Avenger, we need immediate evacuation!” The Templar called over the comm. “The Chosen is...”
Malinalli’s fingers grasped the chip, and with a resounding snap, she yanked it from his skull. He spasmed briefly before falling limp.
“Nonononono!” She pressed her hands to his face. “No please, please Dhar-Mon! Stay with me! Stay with me!”
Stay with me…
Stay...
.
.
.
.
(Hello all. Hope quarantine is going well for you. As of now I’m starting to feel better, so next chapter should be out on Wednesday as per the schedule.)
Archive: https://chosenstories.tumblr.com/
#xcom#xcom 2 war of the chosen#xcom 2#xcom the chosen#xcom warlock#chosen warlock#chosen stories#chosen assassin#chosen hunter
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Templar’s apprehension vanished in a moment, replaced with a cool veil of calm that she was infuriatingly known for. “ – A wise thought, Commander. Unfortunately, you would never be granted audience, not whilst the Templars officially refuse to ally with XCOM so long as you assist or associate with Skirmishers. At least, that is the current reasoning.”
She blinked. Then swore under her breath. “Granted audience – Oh. Don’t tell me. Are the Templars run by council?”
Kingsley was already burying her face in the palm of her hand as Feng’s humourless smile reached her lips and her head dipped in a brief nod. She pinched the bridge of her nose, even as the paladin confirmed what she already had.
“Three bishops, two paladins – and Geist himself.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” she muttered into her palm before dragging it off from her face and pinning Feng with a flat look.
MORE CH39 PROGRESS. Templars continue to be annoying to Kingsley, more at 11.
2 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
cateringharianciputat
0812-9979-7960 CATERING HARIAN CIPUTAT, TANGERANG SELATAN TERBAI
stressedsinglemomcharlotte
a stressed single mom trying to raise her 7 kids
mathewrob-blog1
Mathew Rob
choomnivoro
Trophy Hunter and Cannibal Culinarian