X-Com: Enemy Within Part #9

Part 9: Portent

XCOM Part 9: PORTENT!

Well, let’s use some of that funding to build a workshop next to the MEC lab.

The synergy should let us cut a few corners, save a few resources here and there when building expensive things.

And I guess we’ll blow most of the rest of it on another Satellite. Next time we’ll try to build a lab for Vahlen, too, speed up our research. Now, I’d better check on all the troops to see how they are…

Glad to see you’re doing so well.

Yeah, Hilda got crushed by that thing too and she’s going to be in here for a week.

Well, obviously your body recovers in almost no time at all, but how’s things upstairs?

*sigh* I’ve had a lot of shit to deal with, I’m glad we have a counsellor. Hey, Naomi…compared to the rest, we’ve changed so much we’re unrecognizable now. Do you have any regrets?

Fewer as time goes on. A lot of things that I thought mattered… don’t.

Yeah, we don’t get to choose what cards we’re given, but we get to choose what we keep, and what we give away.

TIME PASSES!

Well, we saw Willow in the Officer Training Room…

Hkk…how was it?

Don’t try to talk too much. It’s… really cheesy. It’s a fantasy movie about a hobbit who’s bad at magic and a Han Solo swordsman guy played by Val Kilmer trying to find a home for a special baby, and everyone wants to kill them. But there’s this one part…

The Val Kilmer guy’s best friend, a general, gets killed and his last words are to grin and say, “Win this war for me.” And I started crying because, I realize it’s like Allen’s talking to me…using this cheesy movie…

Oh… Cam…

It’s fine, it’s fine. Anyway…one of the last things Allen said to me was to consider this hot——…er, uh… to use what I’ve got as I see fit. These fast legs helped me run back and save your life on the last mission; be stupid to give ‘em up.

Yeah, those are good legs…

And I’m way better at dodging bullets now, too. Since I don’t want to get my head blown off…yeah.

Well, hkk, take care out there, okay, Cammy?

‘Course. You too.

We are finished building our Alien Containment chamber, Commander! All I need to do is put the last finishing touches on the Arc Thrower stun-gun, and we can begin live captures!

She called you Cammy? Haha, she liiiikes you. And she complimented your legs too!

Knock it off, willya? I already feel like Allen’s laughing at me from somewhere…heh…

Ahh, crap, I’m getting beeped! Time to get back to work!

The Office of Dr. Alicia Gomez, Therapist!

I can’t believe I froze up like that during the mission, Dr. Gomez!

It’s fine. You didn’t cost anyone their lives, and everyone else was there to back you up. You were just surprised by the intensity of the moment. Try not to assign blame to death; it’s not healthy. Oooh, I’m getting beeped…

Me too!

Commander, a strange report about humans fighting over what we believe is some sort of alien technology has surfaced. The battleground is only minutes old, and we must investigate immediately. We believe that the aliens have also been alerted to this.

Mobilize our best troops!

Already have, commander!

I’m going into combat with my therapist?!

Well, I am the next-best shooter. Think of it as a morale-boosting exercise. We’ll be just fine, I promise you.

Okay, you’re the most mobile of us all, Leroy, even more than me, somehow…so we’re counting on you being able to run up and shock an alien into unconsciousness. Any alien will do, but a talking alien like a Thin Man will be even better.

Sure thing, Cammy.

HEY! Nobody calls me that—

Except Princess?~~

Bar-Lev, back me up on this!

Forget it, Watkins. Once you’ve got a stupid nickname, it sticks. The genie cannot go back in the bottle.

All women, huh? Interesting.

I swear, I haven’t been playing favorites with the gender ratio. All the men just suck. Er, no offense, Watkins.

None taken.

The only promising male candidate I have so far is a guy who thinks he’s Hulk Hogan. Or maybe the real deal, he’s very convincing…

Oh, he was my 5 o’clock!

Okay, we detected movement somewhere past this blasted building. Gomez and Eva, take the roof to the left. Bar-Lev, take the right and get ready to use your field to shield me and Leroy as we go up to the door in the center.

While elevation has classically provided tactical advantages, Eva, it also provides a psychological edge. You should feel stronger than anyone you see below you.

Even if heights make me nervous?

Even then.

THIN MEN!

There are three of them. I can shoot and kill at least one of them, if I don’t miss. The gun tends to overheat between firings, though, so the rest will be on you.

I can sprint around one and give it both barrels with the shotgun. We shoot to wound the other one. Wounded aliens will be easy pickings for the arc thrower, so you run up right after, Leroy, and shock it. Eva and Gomez, you got a shot at the third on the left?

I do feel stronger! Just exhale and squeeze the trigger…

I did it! Enemy down!

Very good!

Now I’ll put a bullet into the foot of the one by Bar-Lev…

SSSSsssss!

Now’s your chance, go!

It is an Action Wada suit! Say goodnight, asshole!

Great! Alien captured, lethal force on everything else!

There’s a fourth Thin Man behind the cars to the right, Cammy, be careful!

I said—

YOU don’t get to call me that!

Can’t see the fourth one, it could come at us from multiple angles…

AAAGGGH!

Naomi!

I…I’m fine…this armor has a big hole in it, though. My turn!

Great shot! Okay, here’s the plan. Bar-Lev and I will continue down the street to the right. Eva, get onto the left side of the next rooftop. The rest of you will keep our avenue of retreat open, we know these damn Thin Men like hopping down behind us to cut us off.

A survivor! Okay, I’m gonna try to maneuver close to him…

Great, rescued by XCOM… Get lost…

There is a Thin Man hiding behind the trailer to the far left!

Not for long!

Hi!

Hey, you alright? Can you move?

…yes. But I’m not going with you.

This survivor might have been one of the aggressors in the fight between the humans; no way to know but to bring him in for questioning.

C’mon. We have someone with a very big stun gun and she’s not afraid to use it on you. Our cyborg would just sling you over her back like a sack of potatoes. Your choice: under your own power, or not. I guarantee the aliens aren’t going to give you a better deal.

…fine.