#fire motif on the gear

[flightybuttlass]

"how did you predict this?!" babes, Hangman all but outright said this would happen in his return promo

pov: you were mean to Hangman >:(

[marshy-berries]

can you draw (mcd) nana :3

nana! laurance long and short hair vers, nicole, and gender icon lillian!!! i’ll be getting around to the other requests soon hopefully!!! ><

sorry i just want to get my thoughts and hcs out XP

nana is more cat-like in my hc! shes got claws and slit pupils, and some light fuzz on her cheeks :3

laurance (laurence?) is just,,, i have a lot of thoughts. i love kind of viewing him as a character that came back just slightly *wrong*…

also just the scar on his eyes, idr how he went blind but thats there

i kept him a canon pretty boy… i gave him a baby face sorry,,, but i imagine him with a slightly longer face, the striking princely type ig?

nicole i just… she was one of my first girl crushes, and she deserves muscles!!! she be punching tunnels through the ground i mean?? idk y the gear motif just go with it

lillian! shes cool! idr much about her, but she was the ‘masked man’ that made the garmau laurmau love triangle really start on fire, right?

[leidensygdom]

yay ask box open! your designs are so lovely so I am very curious, how do your design choices for all three of your characters play into their lore?

AHHHH TY!! Oh man this is a bit of a dense question bc these guys' designs are very interwoven

Relé's is maybe the most straightfoward one, mostly because I haven't done his post-campaign fit yet. He's descended from a powerful fey and a minor air elemental deity, and his heritage actually caused him some major issues due to his physical body struggling to reconcile the divine power of both sides. Hence, the asymmetric crystal chunks, the tree-like branches- to represent the fey bits, and the cloudy hair, from his air genasi part. If you lookj closely, his belt and neck-piece have a shiny iridiscent crystal there. It's actually bismuth, from Urion- a bismuth earth genasi. His post campaign fit also includes some parts alluding to Yxala, like the brass gear with an orange X-shaped crystal. The X-pattern in the hanging cloth is also related to her.

Uri's design (pre-campaign on the left, during-campaign on the right) has a lot more going on. The pattern on the inside of the poncho is actually shared with the one Yxala had inside her cloak in her first design (done by @zephyrbug actually!), as well as the lil metal piece in the poncho- which Yxala also had in said design. Relent was introduced later on, but the crystals in the little hair rings are meant to be reminiscent of him. Their BBEG design has a few more allusions- Notice the gears as a necklace and earring. The X-shaped hair thingie for the ponytail also belonged to Yxala, and one of Relés branch is tied around one of the locs. Even the tail burning at the tip ties to Yxala- whose tail is on fire lol. Some of these details were actually also Zeph's idea, who designed their final boss look!!

I still need a clean ref for Yxala's post-campaign fit, but you can see a few things on the one of the right! The left was my first reference of her, and things have been adding ever since. The bismuth horn is meant to honor Uri, and she got it made after one of the BBEGs broke the original. She's also got a Relé branch tied around a braid, and another one to hold her ponytail. There are veins of bismuth and orange crystal in one of her arms and left side of the chest, referencing both Uri and Relent- (Who being an eladrin, does have an orange form!). These came up after she was resurrected after the final boss. She's also going to have one of these gear earrings when I get to her final design. Even the braids were meant to reference Urion. She ranged from braiding most of her hair at some point to just a few sparse ones, but it's still there.

Her armor design had a lot of callbacks too, including to characters outside the polycule, and a large wirey gauntlet also related to Uri's entire thing with wires.

So, um, yeah, these three have a lot of little reocurring motifs between themselves!! I can't wait to get the final references done >:3 Thank you so much for the question, and sorry for the wall of text!

[atefingersdagger]

Hunger Games Chariot Fashion (Districts 1-6)

Inspo for descriptions and depictions in art and fics

District 1: Gold, Gaudy, and Attention Grabbing

For luxury, there's platinum and diamonds, but gold is also timeless in terms of symbolizing. It stands out, is quite gaudy (which pleases the Capitolites), and mixes it with bright colors and jewels captures attention. Attention of which is very District 1.

Staples for District 1 chariot designs:

Golden parts

Diamonds and jewels

Royal, Ancient Egyptian motifs (as mummies were buried with their luxuries)

District 2: Architecture, Chainmail, and Metal

District 2 can be symbolized with metal for their weapon making. Silver is a rather obvious option. The chainmail can symbolize the warrior-like attitude the tributes have, their preparation for the Games, as well as their unfair advantages. But using architecture designs could symbolize the quarries and stoneworking of the district.

Staples and motifs for 2:

Architecture-like designs (drawings of flying buttresses, romanesque, brutalism, along with other building inspired looks)

Metal: Gold, silver, platinum, even rusting copper or iron could symbolize the harshness of 2

Chainmail/medieval armor

Designs of weaponry such as the knives on the dress pictured above

(Not pictured here) Ancient Roman motifs along with Viking designs to symbolize the warrior-like attitudes

District 3: Coils, Circuits, and Wires

Technology can be symbolized with coils and wires in reference to what connects one form of tech to another. Glowing/screen designs are also fitting. Circuitry as well to reference the inner workings of tech.

Circuits

Wires/coils

Glowing materials/designs

Keyboard buttons

Screens or holograms being utilized

District 4: Flowing Waves and Scales

Skirts/materials that flow like water or have an ombre design to symbolize that shallow vs. deep end of a body of water would work for District 4. Anything with scales to reference the sea life rather than just the water can be used creatively. Or anything that looks like a moving wave might catch the audiences eyes (think the fire effects Cinna used but instead to form wave and splashes)

Flowing fabrics

Water effects

Scales or other sea lide textures (such as fringes that look like jellyfish)

Ombre that looks like a shore leading to the ocean.

District 5: Solar and Shiny Suns

District 5 can be symbolized with anything that converts energy into power: solar panels, windmills, power lines, etc. Using symbolism for the sun/heat/light can also symbolize the district.

Shiny materials

Sun/solar

Windmill/spinning parts

District 6: Moto Jackets and Racing Gear

For transportation, it's easy to symbolize with something like tires or car parts (like that one time Lady Gaga literally wore a piece of a car for a photoshoot and red carpet). Motorcycle jackets/gloves and racing gear along with helmets would be good for the outlandish chariot looks. Anything spaceship/inside of a vehicle could be applied too.

Motorcycle attire

Racing gear

Parts of plans, trains, and automobiles (see what I did there?)

Spaceship like designs (H.R. Giger inspired designs)

Some of these examples are silly/outlandish to fit in with the Capitol, but I wanted to take into account creativity as well as some respect for the Districts and their labor. Along with some designs that might make the tributes feel more powerful rather than like laughing stocks (such as Cinna's designs for Katniss)

Next 6 Districts in a separate post!

[ghostiezone]

@intertexts im being haunted by pd parahumans au. officially

some Thoughts under the cut hehe

WILLIAM:

I like 2 think he wears a LOT of body armor especially if his power involves leaving his physical body vulnerable. i think he'd take every precaution possible to protect it w armor/the majority of his costume being darker in color. since his powers wouldn't require direct contact with other people PLUS he's really the only one on the team with close direct family members to protect with his identity, he'd keep the majority of his skin covered/concealed and use loose bulky clothes + the cape to change his silhouette. bold of him to have fire motifs in his costume design and not actually have fire based powers <3 I'm totally bullshitting the classification numbers but I think his breaker level would be higher than the master level since he doesn't always have the greatest control over the wisps (they do their own thing sometimes it's fine)

DAKOTA:

I REALLY like the idea that at first glance everyone EXPECTS him to be a brute. but hes not. he's just insane about martial arts training and has built up a lot of muscle because of it. has the least protective costume. VERY little armor on him, doesn't like the restriction/weight of armor. has a ton of scars from a combination of that lack of protective gear + putting himself in front of teammates in danger + the insane amount of training he does, basically pushes himself to the limit constantly. has a lot of big pockets in his pants, usually keeps things like extra bandages and snacks in them :] belt around his waist is like a karate black belt. doesn't wear shoes, keeps hands and feet bandaged basically at all times.

VYNCENT:

also keeps a lot of bare skin showing in costume, mostly on his arms in order to use his powers. has a lot of belts that look pretty useless/only for aesthetic reasons but uses them to hide a lot of little concealed weapons in case his powers backfire and he can't use them immediately. pretty well trained in melee combat. the most lax with his identity, but is still somewhat careful about it. the highest power rating on the team, but also the one with the least amount of control over his powers. it takes him a while to get used to using someone else's powers, so it's general knowledge among villains that you DONT want to fight him more than once in close succession (and if you do, to stall the fight/draw it out as long as possible because he can only use his powers in short bursts. gotta wear him out). he's the most comfortable with using williams and dakotas powers (and on rarer occasions, tide's) but still can't fully control them

SIDE NOTES:

- when asked who the leader of the team is, william will say it's dakota, dakota will say it's william. vyncent will say either of them depending on the day

- I like 2 think tide kind of takes the role of director piggot ? since she seems the most like their caretaker/mentor. except it's different with tide, he's a little more directly involved with them 1) because he genuinely cares about them and they care about him and 2) because he's also a cape, he can more directly kind of teach them the rules (?)

- ashe joins the team way later and there's a little but of strain because of it. this is mostly from william, who gets jealous easily and doesn't generally do well with new people (he defends himself by saying putting two masters on the team makes them unbalanced, really he's just a little jealous that ashe is master 8 and he's only master 5) HOWEVER. eventually they end up being the ones that hang out the most out of costume <3

- THINKINGGGGG A LOT. ABOUT HOW ASHE JOINS THEM BTW. I think I need 2 read more worm before I actually decide. learn how the prt responds to certain things. i.e. how does this kid with a villain dad end up on the wards (right now im considering a chariot situation where he originally joins as a mole . but then decides he likes them <3 this could also contribute to why william doesnt like him at firsr because hes the most likely to figure that out. )

- thinking a LOT about the leviathan fight. i don't exactly know how to put those thoughts into words rn but. tide gets OFFICIALLY sent to the leviathan fight bc of his water powers and i think maybe. they follow him when they're not supposed to. but then they get to stay because they're already there and the rest of the heroes are not gonna turn down more hands in the fight. (somewhat similar to the meatball planet situation)

- extreme ghostkicks codependency. that is all

[pillowfriendly]

27) What's their spirit tamagotchi? Or an animal you associate them with?

on account of my obsession with the living dead ability and using it to explode kethry whenever possible, ive given her the phoenix motif! requisite fire aesthetic coming from exporting dragoon's dragonfire dive and the suzaku sword.

keeping the bird theme for arcadion, as the reaper gear (her main DT class) is all dark and feathery too, so her ring name is blackbird :)

[stellari-s]

30 day twst challenge: day 18

favorite groovy card art?

for me it's ortho fairy gear ssr groovy! the glowing water lilies in a dark background, the purple glass wings, the striking but beautiful light pink fire-hair, and flowers that cover half his face makes this piece so enchanting to me 🩷💜

with how serene he looks with his position and expression, there's something very picturesque and sentimental (?) about it. but overall, i think i am also biased toward floral themes or motifs too! ☁️

[shallowseeker]

The inherent shame in loving angels: Dean & Castiel

I think 14x09 The Spear & 14x10 Nihilism have some marvelous built-in lines pointing to the guilt concerning angelic possession.

Pamela Barnes's presence and subsequent blinding in Dean’s dreamscape is so, so fascinating. It implies that, despite what Dean says in The Spear, Dean is strugglingwith what the reality of Cas is and a new perspective on the brutal knowledge of what his presence means.

Take these lines from The Spear:

CAS: You seem good lately. Happy, even. [ Dean is getting gear from back seat ] You -- We have a broken tape deck, we drove this whole way without music, and you did not complain once. DEAN: [ Closes car door ] You know, I guess I'm just fired up. I mean, look. We got -- We got Jack back. When was the last time we had a big, no-strings-attached win like that? CAS: But now we have Michael. DEAN: I know. CAS: And, Dean we're taking a big risk going after the spear like this. DEAN: I know we are.[ Stopping Cas ] Listen to me. Michael conned me. Kept me trapped and drowning inside my own body. Now, when you and Sam were possessed by Lucifer, I -- I thought I understood, but I didn't, not really. So, yeah, if we get a chance to trap him, I'll take that, but I won't be truly happy until he is dead and I kill him. And now I have a chance to do that, so, yeah, I'm good. Let's go.

On the outside, Dean is happy. There's just one thing left to defeat, and then, maybe finally he can be happy. (We know from 12x23 that his happiness, the 'everything he's ever wanted' includes his makeshift little family: Cas, Mary, Jack.)

But Michael's possession left him psychologically injured. Angelic power and possession is on his mind. He's still struggling with the horror of what that felt like.

He does not mention the elephant in the room--that Cas not only know what's like to be possessed, but to possess.

///

Then, we see Pamela Barnes in 14x10 Nihilism, and yes, she's conspicuously dressed in Hell and wing motifs. Michael reminds us that it was Cas who pulled Dean from perdition, and then we get this:

(Flashback to Pamela's eyes being burned out) DEAN (looks at Pamela, whose eyes are now pure white): You're blind? PAMELA: Yeah, I've been blind for a while. Thank Feathers here for that one. CASTIEL: That was -- Dean, that was an accident. ♪ And I'm searchin' for a rainbow ♪

This is Dean's subconscious. It's taunting him that he's been blind...for awhile.

It's an ominous undercurrent reminding him that yes, he's loved Cas for awhile, and yes, that's blinded him to what Cas truly is. His subconscious is struggling and balking at the new perspective he has on Cas's human victims. Pamela was an accident, but Jimmy wasn't. Countless others weren't either.

He can't help but think about it, and he's desperately suppressing it. He loves Cas. But Cas blinded Pamela, like he blinded Dean. And Dean loves him anyway, and that's horrific, isn't it? He can't have that. They can't possibly deserve that happiness together. They're both here at the expense of others. It's frightening and ugly and drowning him with guilt.

Beyond Pamela lies the specter of Jimmy Novak. The ugly truth is that the third member of Team Free Will stripped a man of his free will so utterly.

And yet, Dean's subconscious is chanting, “I love you. I can’t help it.”

It's true what they say: love is blind.

[dynared]

I wanted to like EarthSpark. I think it does some interesting things. I really like Twitch, they somehow got me to enjoy Good Guy Megatron and I love Bumblebee’s almost meta characterization. But it just felt like a very weak show which never explored its concepts with any depth. That and the finale was a garbage fire. Oof.

Though I think one of my biggest problems is the weird disdain for humanity as a whole. Where you’re either part of the absurdly kind and accepting main family or stupid and/or evil. Where even the slightest discomfort with the people who dragged humans into a massive war they had no business with makes you despicable while the robots deserve to be treated well no matter how awful they are. I get it’s meant to be a bigotry allegory, but if I’m honest I just think it’s a really bad one. I’m not even a person who generally likes the human characters in Transformers stories, bar a few exceptions, but it really grinds my gears.

I also just get the really weird feeling from it that the writers aren’t comfortable writing for kids. So everything just feels dumbed down to an at times condescending level and feels weirdly afraid of interpersonal conflict beyond the first batch of episodes. Though I could be exaggerating. I’m kind of glad it got a second season since I think it can improve but I somehow doubt it will last long.

I don't want to hate Earthspark, or come off as a contrarian just because I like super robot stuff and don't like IDW stuff. I mean, there are things to like in Earthspark, but as I've discussed with a friend of mine, Earthspark feels like it's a bunch of characters in search of a plot. For better or for worse, I associated Twitch with Suletta Mercury because the two had that similar wide-eyed innocent energy and red motif, which endeared me to her almost immediately. I can take or leave Megatron as a more sorrowful/heroic figure, but at least he felt like he was genuine about wanting the kids to avoid the mistakes he made.

The problem is as characters, they don't really do anything. GHOST and Mandroid, as much as I adore Diedrich Bader's usually (he is the guy you want when you want a more Silver Age Batman) were not interesting villains because they weren't allowed to really do much besides be a blunt bigotry allegory, while at the same time, not really fitting the allegory. Readers of the recent Skybound comics know the kind of damage out-of-control Decepticons can pull, and humans aren't exactly being unreasonable in not wanting to deal with giant killer robots whom Earth's military has no reliable way of stopping, besides the goodwill of other giant killer robots, and a population that feels powerless. Considering Skybound has been implying such a situation horrifies the government into founding Codename: GI Joe specifically to combat the Decepticons, people are well within their rights to be scared. It's not a good allegory because most oppressed people don't have built-in chainguns!

The IDW era of Transformers stories, I presume as a reaction to the Michael Bay movies and the Unicron trilogy, did have a significant and notable hatred of the human characters. I mean, Cyberverse has a human in one scene. One. I think it's just using that framework to make your bigotry allegory, except the allegory doesn't work, and people have resoundingly rejected shows like Cyberverse.

As for your last point, I don't know if it's a case of the writers not understanding how to write to a children/family audience (if there's one thing kids hate, anyone hates, it's being spoken down to) or if they're just that adamant about hammering the life lessons to the detriment of everything else, hence the low stakes, flat villains, and blunt allegories.

I feel like most of my negative comparisons ultimately are based on the fact that the Skybound comics have proven that there's a better way to do this since those comics seem to be the first time since Animated that people writing Transformers stories get why people like mecha/super robot stories. And while I have no idea how the second season will turn out, I'm admittedly not expecting them to have learned their lesson. Then again, with the rumors that they want to get the live-action TV show going again, I imagine we're going to be in this weird sort of "leftover IDW" style writing malaise for a while since it will likely be years before enough Skybound comics are ready for a proper adaptation.

[moosh2727]

A Lyrical analysis of Jet The Hawk's theme "Catch Me If You Can" (Sonic Riders Zero Gravity remix)

(The lyrics are going to be in bold and slanted for easier understanding)

"No turning back We are born to dream In a world full of seeing What we never could reach"

Using the context of the second game, this first part is a reference to the ancient babylonians and how they waited for their engine parts to descend to earth. They witnessed so many shooting stars hoping that one day they'll find their engine parts to go back home. "Air time makes on the wind, I'd be Like life, right by Just a blur you see"

Hints of the first game can still be seen in this remix since "Air time" refers to one of Sonic Rider's core mechanics. It is also a general reference to how their Extreme Gear rely on air and how they are very fast.

"One mind, too wild Stuck in divinity Hawk tail, wing, claw Heaven sent a jessy A speed rush tweak To a melancholy victory Your chance, don't stand"

"One mind, too wild" can refer to how Jet is very egotistical, (but loveable) crazy kid and how he undeniably has a one track mind. "Stuck in divinity" HAS to be a reference to the Divine Wings, for those who aren't in the know, the Divine Wings also known as Babylon Garden is the Babylon Rouges/Babylonian spaceship that Jet and the other's rouges ancestors once inhabited. The lyric "Hawk tail, wing, claw" are all tricks in Sonic Riders. (thanks magical-pun-girl for telling me)

"Heaven sent a jessy" A jessy is an actual skateboarding trick and since the extreme gear (specifically the hoverboard-motif extreme gears) have a striking resemblance to skateboarding. Also, in Sonic Riders there's a trick you can do named jessy.

"A speed rush tweak" reminds me of the level Nightside Rush but I think thats just a coincidence. Again, correct me if I'm wrong but tweak might also be another trick you can do in the original Sonic Riders.

"Your chance, don't stand" Is pretty obvious, Jet and his gang are gonna beat you!

"Not one near My class of heat The rule of the wind Is to never get beat"

This whole portion just proves Jet's competitivity. He doesn't believe anyone will surpass him so when Sonic does occasionally, he is suprised.

"Don't hedge, don't hog You're put to test Like Jet, as hawk I'll rattle your nest"

The funny wordplay never ceases to make me smile. Most of the corny lyrics aside, "I'll rattle your nest" is another bird reference. 💚

"I never come down I'm high alone Bred from a genie With wings and throne"

Jet is always up in his head and constantly pushes away and belittles his teammates, you can tell that in his theme with the lyrics "I never come down, I'm high alone". It can also be how he loves to be in the sky and fly around with no one else on his mind.

"Bred from a genie with wings and throne" Is a reference to how the Rouges ancestors are genies and birds, including Jet's responsibility with being the air (no pun intended) passed from generation to generation.

"Jet-fire hawk The sky is me All for the speed I was born to be Born to be Born to be"

The word "Jet-fire" could be a another reference to Jet's name and his extreme gear. And for the rest, it showcases how Jet was born to be the leader of the Babylon Rogues.

"Catch me if you can There's no turning back Reach but never catch Catch me if you can You can't fathom that Wonders you can't have"

The lyrics "Wonders you can't have" could refer to the rogues being world renowned thieves. Meanwhile, the rest of the lyrics show Jet's and the rogues eagerness.

"Catch me if you can Catch me if you can No turning back We are born to dreamIn a world full of seeing What we never could reach

Air time makes on the wind, I'd be Like life, right by Just a blur you see

One mind, too wild Stuck in divinity Hawk tail, wing, claw Heaven sent a jessy

A speed rush tweak To a melancholy victory Your chance, don't stand"

I've already covered this part.

"Chaos in the emeralds Life is ephemeral What'cha gonna do? Nothing's perpetual"

This part showcases Jet's "life is short so I'll do what I want when I feel like it" attitude. "Chaos in the emeralds" Not only sounds cool, but is an obvious reference to the chaos emeralds.

"World domination Advanced technology Haven't got the interest In that form of glory"

This portion is a reference to Jet's dialogue in Sonic Riders "I haven't the slightest interest in world domination or advanced technology." This is also another showcase of Jet's selfish desires.

"Put me in the air And my speed will leave All in a shine Like a miracle weave"

This whole section just shows how much Jet loves riding, how he weaves through the air as his board shines. 💚

"I just won't stop The treasure's with me I said it before I was born to be"

You can feel Jet's devotion to being a thief and his confidence radiating off him with this part.

"Catch me if you can There's no turning back Reach but never catch Catch me if you can You can't fathom that Wonders you can't have Catch me if you can We are born to dream Nothing can't be done

Catch me if you can There's no turning back Reach but never catch You can't fathom that Wonders you can't have Catch me..."

Like stated earlier, The lyrics "We are born to dream" are about how the Babylonians dreamed of going back home and how Jet, Wave and Storm are all born into the Babylon species.

Thank you for reading my incredibly long autism-fulled lyrical analysis, this is my first time doing something like this so there may be a couple of mistakes.

[powderflower]

i think perhaps swerve will arrive with fire motifs on his gear 🙏🙏🙏

[etherealvoidechoes]

Hollowed Defiance - Chapter 27 - A Little Crossed Pt. 1

Back-to-back operations just like the old days. XCOM heads in hot to provide the Silent Striders some assistance with evacing the Haven under siege. But they're in for a surprise.

Hey all. Thanks for your patience. Life has been busy as always besides some /other things/occurring. So a fresh new chapter, working on more for this and the other fics still. And other fandom-related fics.

Also, a minor spoiler, this chapter is pretty self-contained with everything happening at the haven, I just felt like the next one is closely connected and the title would fit it too.

Also some bonus treats and this is more related to Ao3. It will be awhile before I have everything updated on Tumblr and Ao3. I have done a lot of revisions and cleaned up the older chapters. Probably still missing some grammar mistakes but hope I found all of the worst offenders and made my writing style more consistent. AND a bonus new chapter to slot in with the old ones. "Chapter 11: Retrieval"(posted on Ao3 so far). The rescue of Mox and a more "proper" introduction for the Hunter.

--

Ao3|| FF.net || Fic Hub

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Like an ordered flock of migrating birds, ADVENT dropships zipped across the night sky. Moonlight was snuffed out by rising columns of smoke.

The chatter of ADVENT soldiers and the rhythmic fire of magnetic guns filled the area as they invaded the Terelj-based haven. Strategically ordered pods of Stun Lancers accompanied by Trooper support worked to cut off fleeing civilians and their Silent Striders guardians.

The Silent Striders had grown used to the more frequent attacks in their territory, but this was different again. Their previous harasser was more animalistic, barely held in check by the accompanying Officer, Captain, or General, as he did his own thing to collect heads and occasionally used his own men as sharpening stones if they got in his way. The platoon of accompanying ADVENT soldiers did their best to stay clear of his path and do their basic search and destroy as they cleared the Haven. It was predictable, and the Silent Striders — with adequate forces — could hold them off as they evacuated most of the people.

But with this one. There was a sound mind behind this assault. One the Silent Striders hadn’t seen in months. Rapid adaptation. Ever since XCOM did whatever — as the finer details were still sparse —  to free their Commander from the alien’s clutches and damage that Psionic Network, though ADVENT’s military tactics were still fearsome, in many ways they had become predictable and slower to adapt. But not tonight. This new leader was quickly picking up the tricks the Silent Striders liked to use and finding ways to subvert them to tighten that noose.

Near the front lines of the ADVENT forces was the newest dealer of death, fiercely pointing to the next location a pod of Stun Lancers was gleefully swarming towards. With a quick glance, one could tell this leader was different from their peers. He was a least two heads taller than the standard ADVENT soldier, besides the more customized onyx-colored armor with red highlights and dark blue underarmor. Streamlined, but heavily reinforced, would best describe his gear. It carried the hallmarks of the blocky motifs of ADVENT, yet there looked to be the smoother, organic alien armor similar to the Muton’s incorporated into his fatigues. And his right arm stood out. It was armored revealing the skin tone to be a stark silver and gunmetal gray, it didn’t exactly look like skin as portions of it looked chitinous and others looked fragmented like tree bark.

“››THERE.‹‹“ A distorted bark echoed from his fully enclosed-helmet, as he pointed in another direction.  ”››Escape route of the irritants located. Khra! Khra! Cut them off. Remember the ratios 80/20 and 60/40. The Elders need subjects alive and barely mangled.‹‹” His voice was hoarse and gravelly. “››Including the Striders. Especially, them. Their brains need to be dissected.‹‹” 

With the order given, he continued his march forward with his surrounding entourage. “››Who has sights on their leader? The Elders want her.‹‹“

With another escape route for the civilians cut off, the Striders were scrambling to redirect and keep the others hidden.

“Shit, Fayruz!” A Silent Strider scrambled through a hatch into a crumbling perch, knocking over some ammo crates. “Another route’s been cut! Time to cut and run if those XCOM c—” 

“Bite that trap shut and get your gun back on the lines. ADVENT won’t kill themselves.” Barely raising her voice, Fayruz snapped back at her subordinate. Her eyes barely shifted from her scope as she pulled on the trigger to let loose a bolt of plasma at their unwelcome invaders. “You know how we operate. You know the orders I gave. We retreat when that point has been reached.”

There were grumbles and a faint “yes, ma’am” before they resigned themselves to restocking their reserves and getting back to the fight.

She raised two fingers to her headpiece. “Longeyes, Fives, Foil.” As she spoke, she scoped the landscape to find that ADVENT leader. “Do you have a clear shot on the snake?”

“Yes.”

“Window closing for me, rifle overheating, but yes.”

“Ready to take that head off.”

All three responded.

“Good.” Fayruz tapped her teeth as she watched the leader pause in his march and bark out more orders. “Perfect. Remember, fire at the same time. See if that will overload that AI and his senses.”

“In five, Fayruz.” Longeyes said.

“Good. Move once done. Immediately. I’ll be listening.” She instructed before partially cutting her transmission. As she did so, a loud hiss made her pull away from her rifle. Lips curling into a frown, she watched the slates to the vents slide wider to allow the visible jets of white smoke out. Across the energy cells of the jury-rigged rifle was crackling with yellow-green energy.

“Tch. Reaching your limit.” She cast a glance around the room at the rest of her subordinates. Several busted jury-rigged plasma rifles were scatted on the floor, several in the perch had switched back to their old magnetic rifles. “Just like everyone else.”

She glanced around the room once again, this time to take in the current stakes. Several walls were close to crumbling away into nothing, their ammo stores were nearly empty, and a few more of her men were wounded and were being carried out.

They better be here before ADVENT reaches the mark. Fayruz flared her nose. Despite how stubborn she could be on holding onto her territory, she had a faint feeling she would have to make the call to fully soon if she wanted her faction to survive.

“Everyone, we need to leave this perch before it’s fully compromised. Head to points, M, V, Z. If those are cut off, then you must—”

“Fire!” Longeyes voice caught her attention. Eyes back to her scope, she immediately focused on the ADVENT leader.

Those familiar hums of charging plasma weaponry filled Fayruz comms before three distinctive discharges rang out. Three bolts of plasma flashed through the air from three different angles all quickly homing onto the leader’s head.

The leader almost seemed obvious to his incoming death as those bolts inched closer and closer.

Until he suddenly thrust his off-colored right arm out and then up.

“››On me!‹‹“ He barked. 

As the words left his mouth, a couple of Stun Lancers rushed to his position. As they moved, the flesh on that arm before to splinter and break before layers and layers of “bark” formed and spread out into a shield-like shape. As he raised the shelf to cover the front portion of his face, the Stun Lancers leaped behind and to the side of him, intercepting the plasma fire. 

The bolts struck; energy surged and crackled. There was a cry of pain, a grunt, and the sounds of metal and bark snapping and reshaping. 

His reaction time was nearly perfect. Just a partial bolt snuck through and struck the left side of his helmet. A loud hiss could be heard as spiderweb cracks splinted across the impact site.

The impact of the one hitting his arm and the other hitting his helmet threw him off balance for a moment before he quickly regained his footing. 

“››General Cross!‹‹“ A Trooper was at his side immediately to help him.

“›› Cotalo.‹‹“ He pushed the Trooper away. Shifting his plasma rifle to one hand, his other went to the side of his helm to check the damage. “››Structural integrity of helmet: 73%. Shift yoke to the left side as added security. Depressurizing as added security.‹‹” As he muttered his thoughts, he adjusted the high-collar-like shielding to the left. “››A Lancer dead insured my survivability. Striders adapting again. Counter. Sending out rough coordinates of the trajectories. Find and kill those snipers. Burn them out.‹‹”

“You can’t be…” Longeyes muttered.

“Are you serious?” Foil said. 

“You have to be shitting me!” Fives couldn’t believe their eyes.

“No time to gawk.” That stern voice of Fayruz made them snap too. “You three start moving now.” She could already see the ADVENT pods breaking away from the main forces to where each was located. “If you can, set up again. Looks like we cracked that helmet.” 

“My plasma’s done. I’ll see if I can find another.” Fives said.

All three quickly worked to relocate before they were cornered and killed.

“How many working plasmas do we still got that haven’t burned up or exploded?” Uro, her second-in-command, couldn’t help but voice her thoughts on their comms.

“Uro.” Fayruz didn’t sound pleased.

“Thinkn’ we ought to take Bones up on his of’er for them weapons like his weeks ago.” She continued to speak her thoughts. There was a faint hiss from her before a more aggressive venting hiss and crackle came over the comes. “Dam thing is melting in my hands. His crew’s gear is—”

“Silence.” Fayruz sneered. “Do. No. Bring. That man up.” Partially, the cold aggression was from the stress of a situation and her natural dislike towards Bones. She barely tolerated the odd man despite his questionable, yet good intentions to be the liaison between her and Volk and some nearby Skirmisher clans. And part of her didn’t want to acknowledge Bones’ questionable higher-quality weaponry. All signs pointed to him having some people on the inside and she questioned how.

“Good news, boss!” A stressed, but more happy voice hoped on the comes.

“What is it, Yukon?” Fayruz said. There were only a handful of events that could qualify as good right now.

“XCOM’s ship is coming in hot!”

That was good news.

Fayruz didn’t have to look far before that Skyranger graced her eyes. Engines burning bright, moonlight that slipped through the smoke glimmered off that metal exterior.

“Finally.” Feyruz said. A few binds unraveled themselves from around her heart, but she knew things were far from saved. If she noticed them, so did ADVENT. She barked out a new set of orders. “Those that can, provide XCOM covering fire so they can get on the ground!” 

“Opal, get me patched through to XCOM and get the others set up on similar lines.”

—————————————————————

“Central. This is Stellar Echo. At the AO. The squad is being deployed as we speak.” The pilot spoke as she kept the craft steady. “Looks like the Striders are providing covering fire for me.”

“Reading you loud and clear, Stellar Echo.” Central replied. His eyes glanced from screen to screen, taking everything in. “Once all boots are on the ground, head to the coordinates that are being sent over first. You’ll be running civvies and injured Striders to another secure haven. Watch for any followers. Assume you don’t have the luxury of what Bones’ man did to City 22.”

“Affirmative, Central. Will keep my eyes peeled for any tails.” 

“This Haven strike is more ordered, like a Chosen is running the show.” Commander Reeves was already taking in all the information she could see. “Though none have been reported since the Striders called.”

Central couldn’t help but nod. “It is the Hunter’s territory, but we knew he’s out of commission right now.”

“For how long?” They didn’t know how long it took a Chosen to recover. Reports for each constantly varied.

“True.” He nodded again. “We should be patched in with the Striders momentarily.

Seconds after the words left his mouth, they had established their connection with the Silent Striders.

“Finally, your men have arrived Central. About time.” Fayruz spoke, barely a hint of happiness in her voice.

A faint chuckle left Commander Reeves’ mouth as she shook her head and silenced her mic. So many memories flashed through her mind. “Displeasure. Impatient. Grumpiness. Just like old times indeed.” 

“You’re welcome, Frost Owl.” Central replied, barely phased by her tone. She wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last. “The squad designation is Shatter. Six soldiers. We all should be connected by now.”

“Let’s see what they can accomplish. I believe you can see how dire the situation is?” Fayruz asked. 

“It’s a massacre.” Commander Reeves jumped in. “This strike looks to be more organized than the norm.”

“Exactly. They have their newest leader to thank.”

“Fill us in on that in a moment. What do you need my men to do…?” Commander Reeves’ voice trailed off as she was watching the action on the screens. Driving ADVENT off would not be an option here. “If you don’t mind me voicing my opinion, this Haven is lost. The best we can do is rescue and escort the civilians and any of your injured men out of here.”

Only a series of grumbles came from Feyruz. An astute observation that she didn’t want to acknowledge, but this was a losing battle. A sigh of defeat finally slipped from her lips. “Yes, that would be best. We’re running low on supplies and our plasma weaponry is overheating. We need to find any way we can to stall ADVENT. I can’t lose any more people.”

“Who’s the newest leader? I’m seeing several Officers that could be killed to disrupt some flow of information.” Central said as he had them marked for the soldiers to keep an eye out for.

“You can’t miss them. The tall one. Different armor.”

“Tall?” That both had the Commander and Central concerned for a moment before one of the Communication Officers and the ship’s AI found and isolated the leader.

“Okay, not a Chosen.” Central was relieved.

“They look interesting.” Commander Reeves muttered. “Orion, see if you can tap into the Psionic Network and isolate all commands given by this leader.”

“On it, Commander.” He responded.

As he did that, and she gave a few basic commanders to their soldiers to stay vigilant and keep close as they moved, she couldn’t help but find herself engrossed by the appearance of the ADVENT unit. She was getting that faint, yet deep feeling there was something about this leader that was familiar.

She tightly closed her eyes before pinching the bridge of her nose. “I would kill to have clear memories again.”

“Commander?” Central raised a brow.

She rolled her hand in a way of telling him “Don’t get too concerned”. “Having that feeling this one feels familiar.”

“Vestigial memories from when you were… connected?” He spoke the last bit in a whisper.

She closed her eyes tighter as a rumble in her throat slipped out. I’ll never be free of that. Opening her eyes, she glanced at him before looking back at the screen. “Yes and no. I don’t know how to put it. Feels almost closer.”

“Tapped in Commander, sending the information over to you.” Orion said.

A mix of feelings washed through the Commander’s body as the information came onto her screen. Her eyes focused on the leader’s credentials. 

“Field General Cross Murdoc. Designation: ADVENT PROXY(PXY) - M -  C1(II) - 01.” She read off the information. 

“Proxy? That sounds new.” Central said. The term didn’t ring a bell.

“Whatever he is, he’s looking to be one of a kind with his designation and high ranking.” Reeves noticed a golden motif of the Elders on one of his shoulder pads. Then she noticed something more troubling. Something that made a shiver go down her spine and the back of her throat ache. 

“And he’s processing a vast amount of information. Greater than the standard Captain processing and delivering commands to their subordinates. He’s taken note of our arrival, gathering information on what they have and where they are moving, but has yet to issue focused attack orders on us. Just continue forward and around. Find and cut off all escape routes.” 

“Wait, what?” Central took his eyes off the main action and looked at what she was looking at. Though he was still learning the finer details of the ADVENT language forced upon the Earth and the variations used specifically for more classified projects, the information that was being processed and released by this general was parsing too fast for him to read. “How are you getting all of that?” The harshest of glares made him want to take back that question. “Pretend I never asked that.”

“I will.” She rolled her eyes. “I see he wasn’t disturbed by what happened in City 22. Or they’ve managed to section off that part of the Network until it’s fixed for the region.” She soon began to mutter as she went back to deciphering the incoming and outgoing information from this Cross to see how they could counter him.

“Would you like to give orders for our soldiers to attempt to take out this General?” Central asked. “Cut the head, cause a communication breakdown to take the heat off of us and the Striders. Though that’s some heavy armor…”

“No, if the Silent Striders haven’t taken him out—” She paused. A thought crossed her mind. “Frost Owl,” she called out to her, “why is this General still standing?”

“General? Tch, looks different from the standard lot. More bloody annoying.” Fayruz grumbled. “We have tried. I can only assume inhuman reflexes with assisted AI like the Hunter, allows him to predict our shots. We finally, but barely, scratched his helmet before you lot arrived. That off-colored arm of his can form a shield that can block our plasma, and he ordered his troops to take several shots for him.”

“Hm, perhaps some pre-cognition like the Hunter?” The Commander mumbled her thoughts. 

“Just don’t waste your bullets.”

“Noted. Limited engagement with the General, buuuut…” She noticed a pattern in the information flow. “Those Officers and Captains, each a head of some pods, are handling more information than what they are built for. It is possible we can cause some minor disruptions by taking them out. It may even cause some negative feedback for the General” 

“One of my people noted that they become less organized if one of them is killed, but another quickly replaces the fallen, making the point moot.” Feyruz wasn’t convinced.

“Then we just need to keep the pressure on. Officers and Captains are more valuable than the standard units, it may cause this General to recall them to stay with the central strike force.”

“Hm, I’ll relay the information. If it doesn’t work, we’ll go back to our current tactics.”

“Understood. Every second counts.”

“Central, give the same orders to our soldiers, but reiterate the main focus is excavation.” Commander Reeves said. She took a moment to sink into her chair as her brain was beginning to struggle to process all the information. “Reiterate that strongly.”

“On it, Commander.” He nodded. 

“Shatter 1, additional orders. When you can, eliminate any Officers and Captains you come across. The goal is to cause information disruption. But keep your main focus on evacuating the civilians and assisting the Silent Striders.” He gave the orders.

“What for? We’ve got enough of the regulars and those Lan— FUCKING DIE ALREADY!” Raven had to pause as she body slammed a stubborn Stun Lancer into a wall before unloading on it with her Shard Gun into its chest. “Lancers, breathing…” Again, she paused to catch her breath, “breathing down our necks and you want us to bother with the red ones?” Raven said.

“There’s a small chance it’ll take some heat off of everyone as ADVENT loses some information with each death.” 

“If it’s information disruption the Commander wants…” She looked down at her forearm. Skulljack. Another joint idea from Dr. Tygan and Shen and their Foundry crew created after taking some of the alien’s hardlight technology to build the gauntlet and its blades. Supposedly, if used right, they would be able to tap right into the brain and the chip of the unlucky ADVENT Officer to get a glimpse into the network.

“Negative, negative.” Commander Reeves quickly interjected. “Unless you can isolate either. Right now, it would be too risky.” But she was silently sending orders for Tygan and his crew and their other data processing crews to be on standby if the chance came about.

“Understood. But if the opportunity arises…” Raven wasn’t exactly looking forward to trying out this untested device, but her blood was boiling to plunge it into a skull.

“Eliminating some of the reds?” Razor cocked his head to side a few sides as he was fiddling with the bandoleers on his chest, counting how many grenades and satchels he had left. “Should be easy like so. Yukon, you guys managed to plant those satchels I gave you guys and clear out?” He was speaking to one of the Silent Striders.

“Yes, but this better be worth the lives cost. 7 seconds out.” Yukon responded.

“Oh, it will be.” He darkly chuckled. “6…5…4…3…2…1…0.”

Several explosions went off across the haven, rocking the ground underneath them.

“Hot damn! Did you steal from Errol again?” Raven asked.

“Borrowed.”

“Well, if we barely had their attention before, we have it now.” Central muttered as he looked at the other screens, seeing the aftermath of the explosions. He couldn’t quite tell it put a dent in ADVENT’s forces as there looked to be more debris than bodies but could see the more fringe group of Troopers recalling themselves to the main horde with their chase route seeing cut off. Slowly, moving back. Maybe some Captains and Officers had been killed.

“Let’s get back on the clock!” Count shouted as she reloaded her Mag Revolver. “…3…4…5. Loaded. Strider and Owl and those Striders will be to the next area before we’re even there.”

“You all split?” Central had finally noticed the slightly smaller group.

“Yes’m. Strider’s been itching for a good perch. Owl’s old, but has some speed. And his faint ‘psi’ powers are picking up where the pods are going to move to so, he’ll dodge ‘em.” She explained.

“Hm.” Central’s eyes shifted to the two that split. The Silent Striders’ escort was decent, but it was still dangerous they didn’t have the varied firepower of the rest of the squad. “Get moving and keep these split-ups to the minimum.”

“Oh, shit.” The near-silent exclamation left the Commander’s lips.

“What now?” Central looked at her.

She simply pointed at the screen. “‘Voss. Voss. Voss. The Silent Striders spent their explosives ammunition hours ago. Where is XCOM? Where are they now? Where is their Grenadier? Where are those medics? I want them. 70/30. Alive or dead. At least one must be captured alive. I’ll do it myself, if I must.’”

“Shit.” He understood. “Team, keep on moving. You’re about to become priority targets!”

—————————————————————

Shatter 1-4 and their Silent Strider cohorts started moving again to catch up with the compatriots. It didn’t take long for them to notice the increased heat focusing on them. It seemed nearly any pod they crossed that was capturing or executing unlucky or engaging the Silent Striders, would immediately switch targets and focus on them. Especially, those pesky Stun Lancers. 

“Fuckin’ heeeeeeell rrrrrrgh.” Raven growled as that medspray from Sol’s Gremlin, Paprika, burned through her lungs as she sputtered back to conciseness. It took her a few seconds to get back on her feet and get her gun. She readjusted her singed armor before repeatedly kicking a dead Lancer at her feet. It had been a “mutual kill”. “I am going to hate red and blue with a passion after this.”

“Not sure I have enough another to handle another volley of those guys.” Sol muttered as she was getting the only surviving Strider back on their feet. “Trying to keep the best saved for any of us that go down, but… had to tap into some of it with the hit you took.”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks. Let’s keep mov—”

“››XCOM there!‹‹“ Looked like more had found them. A hail of magnetic fire came down their way. So far, there were no crackles of energy from hot lancers.

“Oh, for FUCK’S sake.” Raven was hastily reloading her Shard Gun as she rushed for cover.

“Don’t need you going down again!” Sol, was dragging the barely alive Strider into cover.

“Razor!” Count shouted as she laid out covering fire.

“Give me a second!” He was scrambling for cover as he was searching for just the right grenade. “Maybe this one? Which way’s the wind? Which way’s the wind?”

“Just throw the damn thing!” Count and Raven yelled.

“HOLD YOUR BREATHS!” 

Razor had pulled two of his Gas grenades and threw them. The grenades bounced a few times and rolled in the midst of the Trooper pod before they exploded, erupting into a thick, sickly yellow cloud of gas.

There were several choked gasps. Three Troopers hit the ground. Lifeless. The others retreated and looked for another route around. 

“That’s… some… breathing… room.” Raven let out a sigh of relief. 

“We need to keep moving. Hopefully, Owl and Strider are still there and are off to the other area.” They all started to get moving once more. 

“They’re at the location, safely. One you guys are a few klicks from. Marionette Owl is getting people stabilized before the Striders move them to evac for Stellar Echo. Frost Owl and her surviving crew are moving to the location as we speak to meet up.” Central said. “Update, you may only have one more location to rescue civilians. The other two have been lost.”

A few curses came from the squad but was to be expected. 

“Shit, meant for that to be a regular and a gas.” Razor grimaced as he caught up with the others. “Still have some regulars, two incendiaries, a few proxy mines, and satchels.”

“Don’t matter. It’s giving us cover. Hope that gas spreads further and keeps them stalled.” Raven said. “Wonder if you can get your hands on that more potent stuff I’ve heard has been showing up on the Markets.”

“No.” Razor’s tone immediately became serious.

“Fine with overpowered explosions, but not gas?”

“I heard that stuff melts bodies. Not messing with it. Nor the people that make it. Lunatics.”

“Coward.” She joked.

“Do you guys always banter during combat? The Silent Strider, still hobbling despite Sol’s treatments, questioned.

“No.” Raven said.

“Yes.” Razor said.

Count rolled her eyes. “I’m scouting ahead.” She picked up her pace.

“It helps with the stress. Even in… moments like these.” Sol sighed.

“Sounds like my mates, to a point.” The Silent Strider chuckled.

“Heads up team, you have more closing in on your area.” Central said. “Triple-time it.”

“We’re moving, have a lot of debris and fire to get through, Centy.” Raven talked back, somewhat playfully.

“Less excuse—”

“Move now!” Commander Reeves cut him off. “General Cross is rapidly closing in on your position! We’ve lost sight of him on the screens.”

“Oh, you have to be shitting me.” Raven grumbled as hastened her steps.

Razor moved over to Sol to give her a hand with the injured Strider.

As they were closing in on their location, passing through a partially collapsed corridor(mainly using it for cover), there were a series of faint green lights shimmered through the smoke-filled window of another burning building.

“The end is clear. Hurry up.” Count said as she kept a lookout. “See the point. Last bastion of freedom. Commander and Central. Any eyes on that General?”

“Negative.” Central said. “Still looking.”

“He’s somewhere and still active. The flow of orders has barely stopped.” The Commander said.

The three-story ramshackle house was still standing despite part of it being on fire and a horde of ADVENT soldiers being mere minutes from bearing down on it.

“Hey SS, some of your people still have plasmas?” Raven noticed the green lights in up ahead. She was already at the exit and keeping an eye out for more ADVENT like Count.

“Huh?” The Silent Strider looked around. The green lights grew in brightness for a moment. “Huh, maybe some do. We should all be spent now and back to the magnetics.”

“Any superior firepower is better than nothing.” Raven mumbled. “Plasma cracks through armor better than our stuff.”

As Sol, Razor, and the Silent Strider continued down the corridor, the Silent Strider couldn’t help but feel something was off.

“With all the action, those lights shouldn’t be so bright… or should be near critical… constantly flickering a cracking.” They mumbled under their breath as they watched the lights. As they continued to mumble, the lights started to glow brighter and brighter suddenly. There was no hint of flickering or visible energy crackling around.

“Wait…” Something just wasn’t right. “Shit!” It clicked.

“You need to move!” The Silent Strider managed to get out of Razor’s grip, knocking him into and through a weakened wall, before shoving Sol to the ground. Just as he did so, the sound of plasma weaponry discharge rang through the air.

Count nearly shrieked as hot plasma zoomed past her face. The Silent Strider wasn’t so lucky. The bolt of plasma hit them square in the face. They didn’t even get a chance to yell, as the mere impact knocked them off their feet as the heat seared their flesh. The smells of burning flesh, fabric, and metal filled the air.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Razor yelped as he had just the luck to land in some fire and was desperately trying to put himself out.

“Oh, oh, go-, oh go-, oh go-—” Sol eyes were fixed on the fallen Silent Strider. Her mind had seen many things over the decades, but it had been forever since she had seen the damage plasma could do to human flesh in the heat of battle. What wasn’t burned to the bone was melted. And the smell. The contents of her stomach were screaming to meet the ground. Through a series of concerned beeping, Paprika was urging her to get up and move.

“What the hell!?

“Who the hell was that!?” 

Both Raven and Count had their weapons trained on the window the plasma bolt had come through while moving to nearby cover. There we no more green lights.

“There’s no Mutons or Vipers here, right?” Raven asked.

“None, none. Purely ADVENT in this Haven please.” Central said but he was double checking to make sure they didn’t miss a call for reinforcements.

“Well then wh—”

Two glints whipped out from the smoke in that window. Two glints bounced off the ground and ticked off some fallen metal roofing.

“Oh, you have got to be—” Raven was done.

“Less yap! MOVE!” Count thought her complaints could wait.

The two moved from their respective cover as fast as they could before the grenades went off. Before either had a chance to double back, the familiar crackle of lancers caught their ears. Both cursed.

“You two run, now!” Central barked the orders. They didn’t hesitate to listen. “Sol, you need to get on your feet now!” He ordered her next. She was still panicking. 

“Shit, who could this be?” Central mumbled as he was digging through all the information they had. No alien units were there. Just ADVENT. He then heard the Commander muttered. He glanced at her. Those eyes were fixed on the information stream from the General Cross.

“‘XCOM and Silent Striders are thorns. Haven cleansing is only at 77.48% efficiency. Vaoss. Vaoss. Vaoss. Black mark on my reinstatement. Tsk. Tsk. Their ship has been evading our trackers. Will order scouting parties to sweep the surrounding region.’” Commander Reeves said and only seemed to be more taken in by this information trance. “‘Targets located. Separating. Strider was alert, ‘saved’ two of their comrades, but was not alert to save themselves. Demolition specialist separated, but currently a fire hazard. Cautioned approach. Separating the other two. Stun Lancers sweep them away. Medic isolated. Frightened. Has one of those drones XCOM uses. Unit designation Specialist. They could be useful. Capturing.’”

“Oh, shit.” He realized who was. Then he noticed the video feed. That onyx-armored figure jumped out of the building and landed. “Sol! Get on your damn feet and run! It’s the General!” Still no response from her besides that stammering.

Cross landed on the ground with a solid thud. He let his plasma rifle fall to his side before he pulled a baton from his side. With a simple flick, he extended it to its full length “An XCOM Specialist. You look like you know something.”

“Laney!” Central barked again. He started calling out to the others nearby, but Count and Raven were still dealing with their chasers, with Count getting cornered and pulling out a Flashbang followed by a Needle grenade and letting both go off too close to her. Razor had finally put himself out and was having a standoff with some Troopers. He was pulling several pins in such a way that if they downed him, they would die too. Looked like they understood his gestures and warnings well.

“I wonder how long it will take you to break?” Cross’ grip tightened on the baton, causing arcs of white electricity to appear before he sprinted towards her.

Cross was mere feet from crossing the threshold of the corridor before he suddenly stopped, throwing up his shield arm to protect his head. 

A hail of magnetic fire rained down on him, causing him to stumble back. Just as it felt like there was a brief window to move, two plasma bolts cracked through the air. One hit his shield, causing part of it to splinter and shatter. The other him square in the chest before he could shift his arm, knocking him off his feet. Just as he was about to recover, one more shot rang out. Magnetic fire this time. It found its target.

Black shards from his helmet flew around. Cross cursed as his head was thrown back. He was off-balance for a few seconds before quickly rightening himself and moving to cover before the next hail of bullets could strike him.

“Heh, he, he he! Loving this new scope!” Strider’s giddy little giggle was almost a relief to Central’s ears. “Nice shot. Frosty.”

“Huh, the sensory overload worked. He’s not invincible.” Fayruz added. “Keep track of him!” She barked at her people. “He does not catch wind where we are evacing the last groups!”

“’Vaoss. Snipers. Nest of insects. Clever. Tsk. Tsk. Sloppy me. Black marks are sure. New orders: TEAR IT DOWN.’” Commander Reeves continued to read his transmissions. “‘Structural integrity of helmet: 52.089% and dropping. Otherwise, minimal injury. Backing off. Searching for another opportunity. The Grenadier… Orders: Back off from him. Too close. His payload would affect me and the Specialist. The other two… Sniper support one? Predictable. The other with the revolver? Self-damage with two grenades and purposefully set off the self-destruct system on the Lancers weapons? Intriguing. Her status? Alive, but heavily injured. Good. Press their medical supplies. Isolate if you can. That one deserves capture too. Choice DNA for that strong ill’isha in the face of death.’”

“Nice shot Strider and… Striders.” Central did his best to hold back a chuckle finally noticing that. “Laney—Sol, you back with the living yet!?”

Sol was still stammering. Her eyes were transfixed on the dead Silent Strider.

“Have her Gremlin zap her if she’s still out!” Owl joined in. Override code: Zeta 10-10. Small little shock, bring her back to senses.”

“Did not know that. Giving it a shot.” Central found a way to send the orders to Sol’s Gremlin. The next second, Paprika let out a little buzz before pulling itself close to her chest and letting out a small burst of electricity. 

She let out a shriek before batting it away. Her churning stomach finally won she vomited for a few seconds. Clutching her chest, she looked around. “Oh, god. Sorry, buddy.” Her Gremlin let out a few beeps. It wasn’t offended.

“Back to your senses?” Central asked.

“Sorry, Central.” She apologized to him as she got back on her shakes legs. ”It’s been… ages since I saw plasma do that damage. It was just so—”

“Sudden. I know, but keep your wits.” He understood all too well. “You all need to regroup. Head to where the others are before Cross gets the jump on you again. And looks like Count will need some patching up Sol. Hope she can still hear.” He was already submitting an updated brief to the medical team on the potential injuries that needed to be treated if all made it back alive.

A series of explosions and a building coming down nearly had everyone on edge again until Razor came back on the comms. Just him tossing the grenades he accidentally armed in his standoff. He was mostly fine minus the burns.

With that heat mostly cooled down, Central turned his to the Commander who was still engrossed by Cross’s transmissions.

He knew calling her name wouldn’t work. Instead, he stepped behind her chair, bringing his arms around and down on her shoulders, and gave her a hearty shake.

“‘—pod of Troopers lost, but the Officer survived with injuries? Acceptable. Find your way back, stick to the shado—’ Wha— What!?” Commander Reeves snapped too, bristling like a startled bird(and if she had hair, it would be as puffy as their plumage). She looked around until she noticed Central step back into view. “Not again.” She sighed as she rubbed her temples.

“Lost you to the information, but if you weren’t talking, we would have lost Sol.”

“Mhm.” She didn’t like that. “There’s an oddly… pleasant familiarity with his thought process.” She wished it were the opposite. There was a shakiness to her voice. “The whole process really. It’s like I’m—”

He silenced both their mics for the moment. He offered his hand to her. She gladly took it. “Back in the system? Your old prison.”

“Yes. Like my brain is wired to want this information streaming in and through me again.”

He gave her a reassuring squeeze. “That’s not gonna happen.”

“I can only pray and hope so.” She sighed. That fear would always linger at the back of her mind.

“Weeeeeell aren’t you alone.” Raven nearly sang as a red armored treat crossed her path. An Officer. And one that was injured. “Central, get the teams ready!”

That caught the attention of Central and the Commander.

“Oh, no. That could be a trap. Raven, do not engage! I repeat do not engage!”  Commander Reeves yelled.

“Crap, out mics.” He scrambled to get them back on.

“Show me that lovely skull of yours.” Priming the Skulljack, she rushed the Officer.

“Raven, do not engage! That could a tra—” Central was too late.

The dazed state of the Officer made it easy for Laney to disarm them before ramming the hard light blade into the back of the chin and right into the brain. 

“Shit!” He quickly shot off a message to Tygan, but was more than relieved to see someone on his team was keeping close tabs on the operation. 

“We have complete access to the ADVENT Psionic Network.” Tygan said. “I have dedicated our systems to processing the new data, but we will need to work fast. It’s only a matter of time before they detect our intrusion.”

“Make it quick, this guy’s heavy and the Jack is heating up!” Raven said. She selected the large intel cache and was waiting for when it was okay to let the deadweight drop.

“They better not be able to trace this hack back to us.” Commander Reeves said. 

“We implemented a safety cutoff if they—” He suddenly stopped.

“What is it?” She asked, but saw the red screen appear on Raven’s gauntlet and words in all caps. INTRUDER DETECTED.

“Shit!” Raven’s Skulljack gave out and the Officer dropped to the ground. She jerked her hand back, shaking it as smoke rose from the now sparking gauntlet. “That’s hot.”

“Commander, ADVENT cut the data transfer, but we blocked them from tracing the connection back to the ship, but not the solder. Something is coming their way.” Tygan said with utmost haste. “Scanners are detecting incoming psionic activity.”

“Ah, dammit.” Central was already looking for what headache they would have to deal with next.

“Raven, you need to move—”

Before Commander Reeves could finish her sentence, a strong psionic ping rang out mere feet from Raven, followed by several other high-pitched sounds. The bright purple light washed out the screen for a few seconds before they saw what came through.

“What the hell is that?” Both Raven and Central said.

Just mere feet from Raven was this semi-transparent golden-yellow female figure, featureless face save for a pair of glowing, white eyes, and a plume of a black, smoke-like substance flowing out of its head resembling hair. Its body seemed to be in constant flux; like parts of its body were glitching to sustain its existence from where ever it came from.

“Move, it has a Beam rifle!” Commander Reeves noticed the more dangerous item it held.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Raven finally noticed and moved before a beam of energy struck her. As she dove behind cover, took a moment to get her Shard Gun, and looked back. The being had disappeared. “What the… anyone catch—”

A psionic ping rang out and in a flash, that being was next to her again. 

“Shit! No, no, NO— AAA—!”

Raven was barely back on her feet, but as she turned, that beam struck her in the back. All air escaped her as she crashed to the ground. Her vitals crashed.

“Shit! The rest of you stay sharp. This threat can teleport! Have your Gremlins scanning for any sudden psionic activity.” Central gave the rest of the squad more information on the new threat as that psionic ping rang out once more and it was gone.

“Commander, from the information I’ve been able to decipher, that appears to be the ‘Codex’ responsible for safeguarding the alien data stores.”

“Codex. We have a name.” Her eyes watched the screens and scanners, but there was no hint of the thing. At least the group was back together and heading to their final destination but had some Troopers hot on their tail.

“Hm?” She noticed a change in General Cross transmissions. She felt herself being drawn to it again. “Hey, hey.” She tapped Central a few times.

“Hm?”

“Shake me again if I get lost. Something’s different. He looks to be in pain since the arrival of that Codex.” She said before she began to read it. He was about to stop her, but it was too late. He just kept an eye on her, the screens, and the scanners.

“Incoming Priority Transmission… from an Elder.” That was a surprise.

“What does it say?” Now Central wanted to hear this.

[ELDER:] ” ››PROXY Cross. Effective immediately, you are to withdraw from the field. Your sortie is over. You have done well despite the arrival of outside factors.‹‹”

[CROSS:] ”’ ››With highest respect, Elder Ororos, this cleansing is not done. I have

[ELDER:] “‘››That is now irrelevant. Your lessers will take over. You, a valued asset to Us, cannot be lost. The data guardian will dispose of the insects.‹‹“‘

[CROSS:] “‘›› ‘Eadto… Data guardian…? Network intrusion. Explains the feedback I am receiving. Vata. Vata. Vata.‹‹“

[ELDER:]  “‘›› A minor intrusion. The data will be recovered. Now, I repeat, withdraw immediately. There is a ship waiting for you—”

[CROSS:] “‘››Request denied. Partially illogical.‹‹‘“ 

Commander Reeves paused in her translation as she reread what she had just spoken.

“Did he just… ignore a direct order?” She said.

“It looks… it looks like it.” Central nodded.

There too was a pause in the transmission. 

[ELDER:] “‘››How dare… WHAT. WHAT!? Are. You. Damaged?‹‹’”

The Elder was just as shocked.

[CROSS:] “’››Chip status: Sound. Your logic: Vind’eadto’ill. My logic: The arrival of the data guardian can be used as leverage and acquire more combat data. Receiving broken data from the guardian, it killed one of XCOM and is closing in on the others. Let’s see how they react. Leverage and wipe them out. Ish’no? Then the opportunity is lost. Combat data lost. I want to understand the enemy. I will not vo’ish now. Can fight through the feedback.‹‹‘”

[ELDER:] “‘›› That accursed language. Maker… CROSS. YOU ARE TO WITHDRAW IMMEDIATELY. I WILL ASSUME—‹‹‘“”

The Elder’s transmission was suddenly cut.

[CROSS:] “‘›› I will accept all punishments once done. Now, I must strike.‹‹‘“

“And looks like he just cut off that Elder. I can’t imagine he’ll live longer.” Central shook his head.

“Nor can I— wait…” The Commander finally noticed something. ”Cross has been using some Fragmenta language here and there. Explains that ‘accursed language’ remark. I wonder why that choice of language?” 

Before she could dwell on that longer, the psionic scanner alarm went off. She looked back at the screen just as Sol’s Gremlin was marking the area.

On a smoldering roof, above the squad, that Codex reappeared with another ping. This time, its beam rifle was missing from its hands.

“Why is it unarmed now?” Commander Reeves didn’t like that.

“Doesn’t matter, team, shoot that thing!” Central said.

“Need a better angle and some cover from those Troopers!” Count said as she was moving to get a better shot.

“Can’t give another volley, our location is compromised. The Silent Striders are starting to pull out.” Strider said. “Finding a new perch and Owl’s on the way to you guys. His Gremlin has a charge it can set off on that thing.”

“We got you covered.“ Sol said as she pulled the pin from her Smoke Grenade and threw it near them.

“Last of my mines and satchels!” Razor said as he threw what he had left past the smoke and headed for cover to reload his Mag Cannon.

The Codex watched where the group was moving. Its attention focused on the two closest to each other. The Codex let out a few sounds as its form continued to glitch before it raised its hands.

The psionic scanner alarm went off again. Sol’s Gremlin let out panic beeps.

 “What the hell is —” Commander Reeves scanned through all the transmissions from ADVENT to see what was going on. She saw the repeated message: “STAY AWAY FROM THE RIFT.”

“Guys! You need to—”

The next second, a roar of energy ripped through the air, as a mass of purple energy swirled all around Sol and Razor. 

“What the hell?” Sol did not like the eery feeling that drowned her senses. “Paprika, come on!” Noticing her Gremlin was stunned, she quickly grabbed it and kept moving.

“Nice light show, now smile— huh?” As he pulled the trigger on his Mag Cannon, Razor found it empty. “What the hell? I just reloaded this thing?”

“That thing has psionics?” Central said. It barely looked organic.

Commander Reeves on the other hand nearly jumped out of her seat as she yelled. “Get out of that Rift now!” She hadn’t seen a psionic Rift in years and who knew those things had grown more dangerous.

It took Razor noticing the energies of the Rift growing more chaotic before he moved. Just as he dived out of the thing, it collapsed on itself before exploding throwing out some debris. 

“How the hell is my cannon empty? I just reloaded?” Razor growled as he pulled himself to cover. He was getting dangerously low on ammunition.

“Knock, knock, knock.” Mag Revolver raised, Count pulled the trigger. “3, 2, 1.” Fan Fire.

Each shot rang out. One whizzed right through the Codex’s form as it merely shifted to avoid the fire, but the other two struck its head. It shrieked as it fell back for a mere second before it shifted a few more times to reappear standing up.

But as it did so, it let out several sounds as it rapidly shifted around, its form distorted and split in two before reforming into one. As it did so, that split shifted with a psionic ping on the ground and reappeared near Count and the others. This one had a Beam rifle in its hands. One actively charging and pointed at Count.

“Are you kidding me!?” Count whipped around as fast as she could to shoot at the thing, causing its shot to go wide before she got back into cover.

“That thing can split? Or did another one of those things come through? Tygan, any ideas?” Central did not like the idea of a self-replicating foe.

“That is outside my expertise as we have lost direct connection to the Psionic Network, but scans are showing this ‘clone’ is sporting similar damage to the ‘original.’”

“It ‘fragmented’.” Commander Reeves said.

“You sound a little too sure about that.” Central said.

She simply gestured at the communications transmission. “What the General said. Seems to be a defense mechanism in response to damage, but it can’t keep it up forever risking a critical error to the data it stores and protects. At least he’s telling his forces to keep distance since two are out right now.” That would take some pressure off their soldiers.

“How many more times before it’s done? Anything we can do to keep that from happening?”

She simply shrugged. No answer from the transmissions. “Taking a guess, needs to be a hard, lethal shot. Or if anyone has any of those Bluescreen rounds. ”

“Shit.” None of them did. 

As Central was seeing if Fayruz could spare any of her men, which was slim as they themselves were pulling out and making sure the last of the wounded were out. Hearing that, he informed the squad the final location was scrapped. The new order was to survive as long as they could until Stellar Echo was back. 

The squad did their best to deal with the two teleporting nuisances that seemed to dodge their shots with ease. As one would teleport away, the other would either fire their Beam Rifle before the squad could reposition, or set off another one of those Psionic Rift. Any chance one of them got caught in the roof would mean lost ammo and they were running near dry.

“Dammit!” Razor cursed as he caught just on the edge of a Rift and he finally managed to hit one of the Codices. Thankfully, it didn’t split, but the Rift cost him his potential to deal heavy damage. “I’m OUT!” Just as he got out of the Rift, Razor angrily threw his Mag Cannon at the Codex, which only teleported away before it could hit. “Of all days to not have my pistol.” His eyes darted around the battlefield searching for a weapon. Any kind of weapon. 

“Razor!” Sol called out. “You can have mine!” She threw it to him.

“Thanks, shit!” He had to dive back down as a beam of energy headed his way, but quickly scrambled to get that Mag Pistol.

“Marionette Owl, ETA to the others?” Central asked.

“Nearly there.” Owl responded. “Crossed paths with Lancers, nasty buggers, but a Flashbang let me escape through some tight squeezes. Sending Nostrumo ahead of me. She’s programmed to zap one of those things plaguing the others once in range.”

“Nice thinking. Strider, your status?” 

“Nearly all these roofs are compromised. I’m on foot, heading there, but there’s still a lot of forces on the ground.”

“Keep your eyes peeled, but move fast. The others are just about dry.”

As Central was contacting Fayruz again, Commander Reeves focused her attention back on that data transmission.

“Hm, things may cool down to a point as General Cross is giving orders to start securing bodies and not give chase to the fleeing forces. He’s not happy at the less-than-ideal success rate of his sortie.”

“Barely good.” Central said. Maybe that would allow Strider and Owl to move more freely. “I would say a dent is better than nothing, be we lost an operative and could potentially lose more if these things aren’t killed.” 

“Wait…” She noticed something had changed. That odd thinking of Cross popping up again. And those words. “Target isolated. Capturing Specialist.”

“Specialist? SOL, YOU NEED TO MOVE NOW—”

“AAAARRRRRGHH!!” 

Too late. 

Sol felt a sharp stab to her back before electricity coursed through her body. It was a never-ending torrent of pain as she screamed until she no longer could. As the faintest of whimpers left her mouth, her vitals dropped as she hit the ground. Before her Gremlin could react, he stabbed that shock baton right between its eyes, and another high course voltage caused it to blow up in smoke. A smoldering wreck crashed to the ground.

“Target secured. Drone lost, but the shell can be studied.” Cross let out a proud chuckle. “This will please Ororos.”

“Shit, Sol!” Both Count and Razor were about to fire on Cross before the Codex reminded them to pay attention.

Cross dragged the unconscious Sol away from the ensuing chaos. As he raised himself back up, he grunted and stumbled. “This close to those guardians is causing more disruption. But there’s a chance to gain another subject. The risk may be worth it.”

He was studying the fight, watching to see how he could get Count as she had caught his attention earlier. Just as he saw an opinion as one of the Codices was about to open another Rift on top of Count, an angry buzz caught his attention.

“The other Specialist’s Gremlin.” He reached for his rifle.

Before he could draw it, Nostrumo whipped around the building, pausing for a moment to take in data, before swiftly flying over to the Codex with the growing psionic power. As soon as it was next to the thing, it let loose its last Capacitor Discharge. 

The Codex let out a series of shrieks as its form distorted and it grabbed its head. With a final shriek, its form imploded and all that was left was a black brain-shaped case that clattered to the ground.

“Thank you, little buddy~!” Count sang as she focused her fire on the one still pestering 

“Intriguing. Its form disappeared and left that.” Tygan commented. 

“Tygan, save your science for later. Need to other one dead and the General gone before you can start dissecting.” Central said.

“Cross is retreating.” Commander Reeves said.

“What?” Central looked at her with his brows furrowed.

She just pointed at the transmissions. “He was seeking to capture Count, but Nostrumo killing that Codex caused feedback he can’t ignore. He’s grabbing Sol and retreating.”

“What!?” Count was already turning on her heels to stop him. “We need to get So—”

“Leave her. We have more pressing problems with that last Codex, and if it duplicates again…” Commander Reeves cut her off. She didn’t need to explain that further. “There’s a chance we’ll be able to rescue Sol another day.”

“Shit.” Count cursed under her breath and turned back to fight the Codex.

“If I had another grenade.” Razor too cursed as he took potshots at the Codex when he could.

The remaining Codex disappeared with another ping before reappearing on the rooftops again. Beam Rifle missing from its hands.

“It’s going to open another one of those Rifts!” Razor was already moving. “And with how angrily Nostrumo’s beeping, it’s a big one.”

“Always moving out of shot! Always!” Count was looking for just the right angle. 

The air around Count began to distort.

“No, you don’t.” Strider said before a shot rang out. He finally found a perch.

The Codex shrieked as the shot struck its skull. Its form began to distort as it shifted through various stances as it struggled to keep its form together and keep the flow of energy to that forming Rift.

The distortion began to fade. But suddenly began to stabilize as its form looked splitting.

Another shot rang out, hitting it dead in the skull, again causing it to let out its death screams as it contorted once more and its form imploded, leaving behind another one of those cases. The energies of that forming Rift fully dissipated.

“Goodnight.” Feyruz said.

“Finally…” Razor let out a sigh of relief, but didn’t let his guard down.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Count mumbled as she rushed over to Razor to check on how he was doing. She gave a good kick to what remained of the Codex, only apologizing when Central scolded her, saying they needed what remained intact.

“I see I missed the party, but I have the meds.” Owl finally arrived and immediately with his two remaining allies.

“Thanks, Frost Owl, for the support.” Central said. He was surprised to hear her voice on the comms. “Thought you were long gone by now with how you were no longer answering my calls.” 

“I was looking for a gun since my plasma blew up while I was talking to you.” Fayruz replied with a gruff snort. Central just rolled his eyes. “Besides, it wouldn’t be unfair for me to cut and run with you losing two of you men and the risk of the others being lost.”

“How kind of you.”

“Once we reestablished ourselves and licked out wounds, we’ll keep an ear out for any nearby prisons holding an XCOM operative.” Feyrez offered.

“Thank you, we can use all the help we can get.” A mild bonus to a pyrrhic operation.

“Shatter squad, regroup and head to the evac, ASAP. General Cross has pulled out, but ADVENT is still active.”

“We need to get Raven’s body.” Count said. “Can’t leave behind another.”

“Negative. It’s too dangerous. And from this partially corrupted transmission from Cross, it looks like they retrieved her body.”

Count only cursed. 

The squad retrieved their gear and the remains of the Codices before regrouping and getting themselves to the Skyranger. They had a little trouble but were able to escape full-blow engagement with the remaining ADVENT troops sweeping the area.

“Tygan, have your teams ready to study those Codices on arrival, AND,” Commander Reeves didn’t mean to make such a dramatic pause but an important thought crossed her mind, “have psionic shielding constantly active. Already ordered Shen to have psionic containment ready for the handoff as soon as the Skyranger touches down.

“My team is already preparing for their arrival, Commander. Hopefully, studying these beings will provide some insight into the aliens’ ongoing plans.” He responded before cutting his transmission.

—————————————————————

Jynn took a few moments to go over any more after-operation information and issue a few more orders before slipping down her chain. She could feel a headache coming on.

“Oh, those pills are wearing off.” She could feel a palpating pain blossoming against her temples.

“You okay?” Bradford noticed her mutter.

“Medication wearing off. Headache, no, soon a migraine is coming on.” She grumbled.

“Want me to call the doctors?’

“Help me down to the Infirmary,” she extended her hand to him, “it’ll be faster.”

It took a few pulls to get her up, and once she was up, Jynn found herself leaning on Bradford.

“Oh, I am going to be bedridden for a few days.” She had a sinking feeling that would happen.

“Stay positive, maybe a few hours.” He said.

“No, days. I can feel it in my bones. My throat still freakn’ hurts. Manuke, manuke, manuke.”

“Rude.”

“I was calling myself a moron.”

The conversation grew silent as they made their way down to the Infirmary. Once Jynn was admitted and the doctors worked on her, their attention turned back to how the operation when.

“Now this is pointed at Jody…” Jynn warned Bradford before taking in a sharp breath. “I want to wring her neck and tan her hide, manuke!” As she cursed, her Cajun Southern accent fully came through. “Darn girl just had ta use that con’tra’tion on the Officer. Allons! Let me strike the lone Officer! Oh, no! A tataille emerges and much rracas for all!” She let out a slew of other curses before finally calming down. “Bless her damn heart… sincerely, but also, you idiot.”

Bradford, and any listening in, was doing his best to keep a straight face. He understood her frustrations and disappointments, but sometimes how strong that accent would come out would catch him off guard. “Yes, snrk, right, heh.” He turned to clear her throat before looking back at her. “A mild positive is that we know the Skulljack works, but needs more tweaking to avoid triggering more of those Codices.”

“Agreed.” She nodded.

“And see if we can use those upgrades Bones provided for future endeavors.”

“I wonder why…,” Jynn paused, “his gift was a surprise. Our teams are still looking at it, so of course, Tygan didn’t account for that.”

She noticed Dr. Chalsa come back around with her tablet in hand and Gremlin hovering over her shoulder.

“How am I looking, Chalsa?”

“Elevated adrenaline levels again and those neural pathways are active again. Picking up faint… faint psionic activity.” Dr. Chalsa said. Almost hesitant to mention the psionic activity.

“How long am I staying?” Jynn just wanted answers. She would moan and groan later.

“Overnight at the most.”

“Not… terrible. But may change once I explain why I suspect those pathways are active.”

“You… you know why they are active.” Chalsa raised a brow at her before looking at Bradford. He just raised his hands in defense.

“I was looking at communications data from an ADVENT General. There was something about the data, the way he spoke and processed the information that just… entranced me. That’s the best way to describe it.”

“Like your brain is still wired to want that information Network streaming in and through me again.” Bradford recalled what she said.

“Thank you… John.” She did not want to be reminded of her words.

“That is… intriguing. And concerning. I’ll fill Dr. Marin and the others about this.” Chalsa was already updating the others and Jynn’s health history. “You know exactly what that means, yes?”

“Tests? Yes. Better now than later when something in me snaps again.”

“Jynn.” Bradford shook his head when she said that.

“You know it’s true, John.”

Bradford stuck around for a few more hours until Skyranger was back and he had to make sure the handling of those Codex brains went properly. 

Until sleep called her, Jynn wrote out a report to the best of her ability on what she could recall when she wasn’t so enthralled by the information coming from General Cross. She wondered if they would meet that specialized General again and any more of those under the designation PROXY.

“Need to put some feelers out with the other Factions if they’ve heard anything with the designation PROXY. Maybe those Void Walkers know. Knowledge is their business.” 

[thistaleisabloodyone]

The thrones in Starry Love are interesting - Kazuma's sitting in a throne of swords, Hokuto has a prominent broken clock face behind him, Riku's seems to be a sun with fire motifs, Shogo has a bookshelf, Takahide is surrounded with musical instruments and gear, etc.

Maybe when I'm less exhausted I can ramble or something.

[captainbobbin]

Oh don’t worry they did find me well-

Though because of your cat Isa art I was wondering what animal you’d view Saïx/Isa as more. Personally I see him as more of a rabbit considering 3ds days has

Whatever this claymore can be called-

That claymore is called Bunnymoon! Saïx gets that in Days if you equip him with the Mystery Gear, which is said to "draw forth its wielder's personality". I think it's really charming and actually very telling of Saïx's character tbh - that deep down he's a kid that grew up far too soon, that looked to the skies and romanticized space and travel (the rocket) and also is fond of soft and cute things deep down (the rabbit). While the alternate weapons level of canon-ness is dubious at best, I really love how much each weapon shows off aspects of the characters they equate to. The name of Saïx's weapons are very interesting, but Bunnymoon and Just Desserts are very much faves of mine haha

The rabbit motif also comes from the tale of The Rabbit In The Moon, which is an Asian folktale; in said tale, if I remember correctly, a rabbit offers all it can to help a beggar in need, and then offers to sacrifice itself by walking through fire. The beggar turns out to be a god of the sun, and carves the rabbit's likeness into the moon, and so the dark spots on the moon are meant to represent the rabbit's noble nature. Which. feels very fitting to me in a lot of ways haha. There's also Saïx's hair lowkey looking like floppy bunny ears lmao. I like the rabbit connection and I think its a super interesting angle but I tend to relate him to other animals!

Theres obviously the wolf/werewolf motifs and I am always a sucker for that. I'm a gay furry that likes big hairy beasts what can I say. Werewolves 100% do it for me and I really like writing Saïx as wolfish - a pack animal that struggles with such a lack of familiarity around him and so lashes out and forces itself to work so independently, much to its detriment.... I love that Saïx's journal text in KH2 talks of him having a 'savage nature' and, in my writing and lfotr especially, I often characterise Saïx's ability of Berserk as its own thing, a sentient part of him, a werewolf-esque part of his personality that he consciously can understand and interact with almost. Everyone in my chat will tell you tho that I very much have a catboy Isa agenda lmaoooo. Listen. Listen. it stems from the werewolf angle but hear me out. He deserves to purr when he's happy and comfortable. He deserves to knead biscuits on those he loves as he gets comfortable and fall asleep against them. He needs to show affection by gentle headbutting as he goes past. He needs attention, and will hunt for you and bring you gifts, and he should secretly enjoy being petted and that man is a cat hahaha

[team-jpde]

Hello thar, Meinos Kaen here with another installment of JPDE - Behind the Music, where we dive into the work and process that went into making the tunes for JPDE - Sonata of Fire. Today we're touching upon the very first song you hear upon playing the game... Courtesy of JoJo from PlotTwistStudios!

It's not just the first song, but it's pretty much the very first thing you'll notice whenever you boot up JPDE. There's no splash screen, there's no preamble with logos or anything, you click on the .exe and BAM! You're hit with the title screen but before even that, your ears catch the strings as they hit...

It's a tune that promises adventure! Excitement! Friendship! And a little bit of trouble along the way! It's also a tune that you're going to see re-used and transformed many times in the game, because JoJo knows how to do leif-motifs. The original track, though, it's all about being the anime intro for JPDE.

I went back and looked at the email exchange: I was very specific about making this be structured like an anime intro, despite it not having vocals or, ya know, an animated intro to go with (at the time). This were my growing pains as a producer/director, as I started to slowly realize I would never be a rap star... *sniff*

Jokes to the side, giving people clear instructions and help them translate your thoughts into something creative is hard. It's a skill in and of itself, that requires patience and practice. It's especially hard for music because if for art you can make some chicken scratches, with music you can only use your words to convey your wishes.

Fortunately I've always lucked out and worked with incredibly talented artists, so JoJo created an amazing track that became the foundation of so many others... It was a journey in and of itself. It helped jumpstart the musical identity of JPDE and put my butt in gear into being a better team lead. So, thank you Advance, Advance!

P.S.: (wow, this video is OLD, isn't it? The logo nowadays is completely different, there's so much more stuff that could be added and even Peach is different... Something to keep in mind.)

[possumcollege]

For the ask game: 8, 14, 30!

Old projects I've lost interest in:

I only really have two big projects, Crittertongue and Dinosaur Sheriff. I've been writing DS since 2008 and there are only 3 complete issues but my enthusiasm for it is still going strong. Crittertongue has just been more sustainable since they're shorter, and the narrative structure allows me to do more with it amidst my work and parenting duties.

If anything, I lose interest in themes. I grew up watching a lot of action movies and shows, reading stories with a lot of combat, explosions, gnarly kills, bizarre anime weapons, honorable or hyperbolic violence. While I still like dope fight scenes, action, giant monster fights (💚) in my media, I've lost interest in using it as a major fixture of my own work. There are more interesting forms of conflict than the kinds a character can address with a sword, and the guns in my life are quiet more often than not. A gun has more narrative weight for me as a threat, as a desperate thing. They lose their teeth when they become punctuation. So while my work does feature the odd scrap here or shots fired there, I try to keep it tailored more to the purpose it serves rather than engaging in it for spectacle.

Growing up as a boy, there was kind of an ever-present background of casual violence that really stressed me out. Like I was fucking up by not fighting more, but when I did get physical, I was overreacting. Fetishizing the capacity for violence feels gross to me. Anyway, that's about as close to an answer as I have there.

Motifs:

I try to keep my environments simple even when they're large and rambling, but I am mad for surface texture, patina, weathering, "beausage." I love when an artist can make something look hard or sticky, fuzzy or beaten up with linework. Environments where nothing looks new are like candy for me. Cam Kennedy drew a number of Boba Fett comics that I read to pieces in middle school and his line work created such beautiful texture, amazing eye-feel (gross), and visual interest that really tied characters into their environments. Learning how to balance out that kind of thing feels therapeutic for me. I hate the greebled massing of shapes and textures to make things look more dramatic or technical or interesting. It's very noisy. I really prefer more functional, practical shapes, and keeping things repeatable without turning my brain to soup or my wrist to dust.

I apply this most often to characters' clothes. Designs where a character is always covered in elaborately layered straps, belts, sashes, gear, armor... stuff give me a hot brain. Do they sleep in it? Where do they put it? Do they pile 3 satchels, a cape, a sword belt, two pistols, and a rucksack in the corner when they have to poop? Their pants are duct-taped at the ankles, do they re-do it every morning or just live in the pants? Is that an answer? Yes. Answered. I'm great at this.

A piece I think is underrated:

Dinosaur Sheriff is definitely under-utilized in my portfolio and the first art was done while I was a young, sleep-deprived college kid, but I'd still love more folks to get to read it. I think it's gotten better with every issue but havent had the resources to complete, print or distribute it. 😑Ffff... I'm working on it.