Part 40: MIND BULLETS!!!

Part 40: MIND BULLETS!



We may be on to something, Commander. Our latest candidate is… different. We’re picking up levels of psionic energy unlike any we’ve detected in previous tests.



Ever since mankind first looked up at the stars, we have wondered what lies beyond. So very few have dared to look inward...



The depths of the human mind hold more secrets than we can possibly imagine. How ironic that the means to defeat our enemy comes not through weapons or machines of war, but from within. And if we have succeeded... we will have gained a glimpse of what we are to become. We will have created something... extraordinary.



BLAAUAUUUGGHHH!
Er, uh…



YAAAIIIIGGH!
Oh! Uh… do you… are you alright?



Ahh… ahh…



Actually… yeah. I feel great.



Whoah. This is awesome! I’ll never need a flashlight again! Ha ha ha ha ha! Sweeeeeet!



Awww, what the hell? I go through over a week of testing and I got nothin’? My willpower’s almost as high as Cam’s.
Sorry.
Bah. Not your fault. I guess I’ll just have to content myself with having other superpowers like seeing people through walls and giving attacking sectoids brain aneurisms.



Hmm, looks like your handle on your powers is pretty basic, for now. You’ll have to practice in the field, but for starters you should have no problem just making their nervous system go nuts.
Yeah, but can she read minds?
Feels more like… smelling minds. There’s stuff wafting off of you and it feels like… stuff.



Holy crap, talk about good timing. Cam, I know you’re still groggy after a week and a half of testing, but there’s a huge UFO landing out there and we need to take it out now before it starts abducting people!



Mmm. After this mission I’ll get tested next. Hugo should be tested too.
Heh heh. I already have the ability to read the mind of my kid, as all moms do. If I get psychic powers beyond that, it’ll just be a bonus.
I’ve got some sort of psychic lure grenade that might draw the enemy into our midst…maybe. Hrm.



Anybody remember when we were normal people? It seems so long ago.
You mean, do I remember when I was a petty spy and couldn’t rocket-jump or lift cars, Zhang was just a criminal, Monique was a fashion designer, and you were just a failed game developer without a girlfriend?
…okay, good point.
Yeah, those days sucked. I was old back then!



And I’ve got nothing to be nostalgic for.
Oh. Sorry! Sorry.



Oh my GOD aliens are actually mutilating cattle! I thought that only happened in the movies!
They must be running out of biomass for their experiments after we blew up their base. We’d better stop them before they start sending horrible minotaur-aliens after us.
Actually, that would be pretty fucking sweet. I always wanted to kill a minotaur. I’ve already slain a medusa.
…what kind of work did you do before XCOM tapped you?



Bugh! Don’t step in it. Guh. I think I see a meld canister to the notheast.



Mectoid and Sectoids to the northwest, coming out of the ship!



There, you’re smoked! Get closer. Yoko, try to hit the Mectoid with your EMP bullet! Latisha, take out one of the greys!



Got it! It’s helpless, but not for long.



Niiice arc on that bloodspray.



Right, I’ll try thinking at the other sectoid really hard… Rrrrr… RRRRRGHHHH!!! RRRRGGGGHH!



IT WORKS! Hahahahaha! I HAVE MIND BULLETS!
That’s telekinesis, Cam.



It’s re-arming. Zhang! Get your ass over here, you’ve got anti-armor weapons!
Coming, coming!
Me too! Huff, huff…



There, now it can’t counterattack. Someone get that meld before it self-destructs.
On it, on it!



It’s running!
You missed.
Aaah, screw shooting, I have magic powers. I’ll slow it down by willpower alone!



Thank you, Cam. Perfect line-up…



Woo! Great job, Yoko!
Heh. Thanks.



Oh, SHIT! Seekers! Leroy, get your butt over here NOW!
I’m on the opposite side of the ship! Gah! Coming!



LEERROYggggguuuchchhh…
MOM!



More incoming! Look out!



Get the FUCK off my mom!



Hhkkk… thanks… now I know why you hate those things…
Mom, get to cover, fast, there’s more incoming.



Can barely walk… but can… grapple…



Well, don’t leave me out here in the middle of nowhere! *sigh* Coming!



FUUUUCK! AUGH DAMN YOU!



Time to return the favor. Leroy, you and me flank that sectoid and blow it away, take that shield down. Zhang and Mimi, finish the big boy!



Hope this works…



Got it! Punch that fucker into the ground!



Mectoid weakened.



ELBOW STRIKE OF DEATH!



Christ, Cam, your face is almost hanging off. You need to take better care of yourself. Let me patch you up.



Here’s the rest of the meld. You alright, kid?
Gggg… owwwww! Mental powers don’t make you immune to plasma. Must remember that.



AHA! There’s the other seeker. You die now!



It keeps dodging our attacks! HELL!



THERE! Finally.
Do you ever miss?
The last time I missed, Allen died.
Oh. Uh… sorry…



Here, there’s the bridge, probably more Sectoids in it. Let’s use this beacon, try to draw them out into our kill zone.
Good thinking.



They’re not going for it. I can sense at least one behind the wall… Breach?
Fuck it. Breach!



Three of ‘em! Let Cam and me take point, we have brain spikes!



OWWWW! They’re frying my brain! It HURTS!



Get OUT OF MY HEAD! G— Everything. Is. Normal.
AAaah, shit! Brain spikes don’t make us immune to mind control! I’m coming!



Got the controller, hit the other one!



Here goes.



Got him! Is that all?



NO! Got some kind of huge Super-Muton over here in red, with wolverine claws! Get over here NOW!
Holy shit, there is a Minotaur-Alien! Haha!
Capture it if you can, team… we’ve never seen one like that.



Ha! They’re being drawn to the beacon. I think its noise must be driving them crazy.
Try to weaken it. We’ll stun it once it can’t move too good. Kill the rest.





That just made it mad, it’s coming for us!



If this doesn’t work, let it pound me, I can come back from almost anything.



AAAAH! It didn’t work! Oh SHIIIIIIIT—



Got it. Phew. What an asshole. It just wouldn’t STOP.



Good job. Successful test of the mimic beacon, our improved Arc Throwers, Cam’s psychic potential, and overall, your teamwork ability.
I bet Dr. Vahlen is just itching to get her calipers on that thing’s brain.
It felt no fear. We could use that trait on our, shall we say, less-courageous team members.



Leroy, Queen asked me something, so now I need a favor from you… *whisper whisper*
What are you talking about?
Never you mind!

TO BE CONTINUED