Uninvited Ch. 04: The Way Home

There were half a dozen dead Mutons littering the ground around the spire, and with a knot in my stomach I picked out three XCOM soldiers among them, lying face down in the dirt. A massive beast lumbered over the bodies, its heavy boots driving them into the mud. I had never seen anything like it before, it looked almost like an old nineteenth century diving suit, but with a glowing green visor behind which I could see the blurred figure of its alien occupant. It was covered in armor and exotic machinery, was it some kind of armored life support suit? It trudged forward as it fired a plasma cannon at what must have been the wreckage of a Sectopod. Unbelievable, the away team had managed to down the massive walking tank? Its chassis was the size of a damned truck, and the long, spindly legs upon which it perched in order to rain down shots at its targets were snapped and broken.

Return fire was emerging from behind the smoldering wreck, glancing off the armor of the advancing alien in splashes of glowing plasma. The away team, they were using the chassis as cover, Vi must still be a alive! I tried to contain my excitement and evaluate the situation, my eyes scanning the trees for more ADVENT. It seemed that this alien power suit was the only enemy standing between us and the away team, and it had them pinned.

If their advanced weapons could not bring it down, how could we help them, poorly armed as we were? The alien was focused on the trapped team, and it's back was to our squad. I examined the suit, and found what I assumed to be a weak point. On its back was a cluster of machinery, almost like a backpack, with a pump that could only be some kind of breathing apparatus. It rose and fell like an artificial lung, expelling noxious looking green gas.

"There, on its back," I whispered, "aim for the pump on my mark..." We readied our weapons, and the squad waited for my signal with bated breath. Our bullets had no hope of piercing its thick armor, but maybe if we could disable that machinery it would suffocate or power down, worst case scenario we would distract it and allow the away team to deal some more substantial damage.

"Fire!" I shouted, and we let loose, peppering the thing's back with bullets. I could hear the ping of ricochets, the rounds glancing off its heavy suit like they were made of rubber, but one of them hit its mark. I couldn't tell who had landed the shot, but the glass canister on its back that contained the pump cracked, and a stream of green gas shot out as if it had been under intense pressure. The alien reeled in surprise, then turned its attention to us, spotting our squad hiding in the treeline and beginning to lurch towards our position. It raised its heavy cannon and fired some kind of grenade, which exploded in our midst, splashing us with green gunk. One of the soldiers was coated with the stuff, dousing his torso and helmet in what almost looked like fluorescent vomit. It immediately began to give off acrid smoke, and I realized it was melting his ceramic plate armor like a plastic toy held under the flame of a lighter. He began to scream, falling to his knees and holding out his arms as if pleading for help, not knowing what to do. Garcia had been splashed too, though only with a few drops, but it began to eat through the plating on his arm and he scrambled to unfasten it. Some of the stuff had spattered my knee pad, and I crouched to untie it, discarding it on the grass as a chemical stink invaded my nostrils.

My heart pounded in my chest, I felt dizzy, light-headed. The burning soldier's wail grated at my mind but I diverted my eyes, there was nothing I could do for him right now, and the alien was coming towards us. I didn't know whether the tree stump would shield me from these acid bombs but it was my only option, and I hunkered down as I fumbled for another magazine, struggling with my ammo belt as my hands shook.

Garcia was a machine, he stood erect in a fighting stance, his rifle shouldered as he landed precise shots on the thing's visor. They weren't penetrating though, that face plate couldn't be made of glass, must be some kind of transparent polymer. The beast crashed through the broken trees, coming directly for us as I watched Garcia's resolve waver. He lowered his weapon and shot me a glance, we needed to retreat while we still had the chance. I nodded, bracing myself to run, but then the impact of an explosion rung our ears.

I peeked over the stump to see smoke billowing from the alien's back. It turned away from us, looking back towards the wreck of the Sectopod. One of the surviving members of the away team was perched on top of it, holstering a grenade launcher, its barrel leaking a trail of smoke. The alien fired at him, the shot straying wide, and the soldier hopped back into cover. There was a flash of movement as something sped out from behind the burning chassis, flanking left, almost too fast to make out. I glimpsed a familiar yellow and brown pattern, scales flashing under the light as the winding figure raced across the ground. No doubt, it was Vi.

She circled around the bulky alien faster than it's suit could track her and hooked one of its legs with her powerful tail, throwing all of her considerable weight into pulling it out from under the beast. It struggled for balance, then toppled onto its face. Vi hissed like an agry cobra, flaring her hood in rage and unloading her plasma rifle into its back at point blank range. The complex machinery smoldered and melted, sinking into the chassis, until finally the face plate burst in a flood of green liquid and the alien pilot flopped limply to the ground. It crawled for a moment, its small body thin and disheveled, then appeared to collapse and lie still.

We cheered and ran to meet Vi, lowering our weapons and waving in greeting.

"Vi, you're ok!"

She snapped her head around to look at me, an unfamiliar ferocity in her reptilian eyes. I faltered for a moment, confused.

"Vi, what's wron-" Before I could finish my sentence, her long tail whipped out to slam into my belly, lifting me off the ground and throwing me backwards. I landed hard, the wind knocked out of my lungs by the blow, and rolled over onto my side trying to catch my breath. The rest of the team aimed their weapons at her, backing up, unsure of how to proceed. I wanted to tell them to hold their fire, that something must be wrong, but all I could do was wheeze as my empty lungs sucked at the air.

Vi hopped backwards, her weapon still trained on the alien suit. It shuddered, jerking unnaturally, then pushed itself off the ground to rise to its feet. The pilot lay discarded on the ground, but somehow the half ruined suit was moving under its own power, acidic fluid leaking from its melted visor. It stumbled towards Vi, raising its fist to throw a punch at her, but she was too fast and dodged under the blow. She slithered out of range as my squad opened up, and I struggled to my feet, training my rifle on the suit and trying to steady myself. Another grenade hit it, showering us with dirt.

"Too damned close!" Someone shouted, but I couldn't tell who. I saw flashes of green light penetrate the cloud of smoke, someone in the away team had a rapid fire plasma cannon. They belted it with fire, Vi and my squad joining in, the danger of friendly fire forgotten as we tried to bring the thing down.

Finally the smoke cleared, the suit was still standing but it was leaning forward, its arms hanging lifelessly as sparks shot from its joints. It seemed to be disabled, but Vi approached it cautiously, her tongue flicking the air. She slammed her tail into its back, whipping it with an audible crack, and the empty shell fell forward to lie immobile in the dirt. She spat what might have been a curse, then turned her attention back to me.

She covered the distance between us in a second, and brought her large head down level with mine, rubbing her cheek against my face affectionately. My squad seemed to have forgiven her for her alarming behavior, and lowered their rifles. Garcia jogged over to where the soldier who had been splashed with acid had fallen, stepping around the puddle of still smoking liquid cautiously. He tried to lean close enough to check his pulse, but couldn't reach, so he crouched and took his rifle by the barrel to poke him.

"I think he's dead," he called back to us, standing and shaking his head. "We can't move him like this regardless."

"Stand back," one of the away team soldiers shouted, raising his grenade launcher and aiming it at the alien spire. We moved away, taking cover behind some trees as he fired, the apparently fragile emitter exploding in a shower of electric blue sparks and buckling. It fell to the ground, and I felt the hairs on my arms settle as the electromagnetic field dissipated. "We have to get back to the Avenger," he continued, "the longer they have to wait for us the more people will die, get moving!"

"What about the bodies," Garcia started, "we can't just-"

"No time, move, now!"

He hesitated, then turned to jog into the forest, the remaining soldiers following behind him. Vi called me, chirping her alien name for me and gesturing that I should follow.

We jogged through the trees, my heart pounding in my ears and my breath ragged, the away team seemed to be having even more trouble in their heavy armor. Vi could have covered the ground in two minutes, but paced herself in order to slither beside me, her long body undulating as she wound between the tree trunks. I heard another dropship roar over our heads, flying low, the engine exhausts shaking the branches above us. Would there even be anything left when we arrived at the ramp? What if they had been overrun during our absence?

As we emerged from the forest near where the Avenger had set down, we were met with a scene of carnage. ADVENT mechs and troopers were piled around the defensive wall at the end of the cargo ramp, Mutons and Sectoids littered the grassland. The defenders had been thinned, that much was obvious, but it seemed as if the dead and injured had been dragged back up the ramp. What defenders were left waved to us, turning to call up the ramp. Only one of our SPARKs was still standing, its chest piece was melted through but it was still able to heft its massive cannon, jerking its head around mechanically as it scanned for enemies. My earpiece hissed to life, the Commander's voice coming through clear and steady, now that the alien weapon had been disable there was no interference.

"Glad to see you away team, get your asses to the ramp ASAP, the engines are idling and we can lift of as soon as you're inside. The battleships will be in range within six minutes, and I'd rather not be here when they arrive."

Our ragtag group jogged into the open, making our way towards safety, but the soldiers manning the walls pointed and shouted. They started to fire at something behind us, and I turned my head for a moment to see what it was. Adrenaline flooded my body and my eyes widened as they tracked a Berserker charging towards us.

"Berserker," I shouted, out of breath as I started to sprint. "Fucking run!"

What should we do? We were so close to the ramp but it was coming at us impossibly fast, a freight train of fury and muscle, froth dripping from its jaws like some kind of rabid dog. If we turned to fire we might not be able to bring it down before it reached us, but could we get to the ramp in time? Our feet pounded the ground as we neared the wall, the soldiers defending the ramp urging us on and waving.

I felt a searing pain in my back, and my feet left the ground, my stomach turning as I tumbled head over heels and landed in a heap to roll a few feet before coming to a stop. God, I had definitely broken some ribs. I looked around, trying to get my bearings, the Berserker had barreled into us and scattered us like bowling pins, it had skidded to a halt and was now turning for a second pass. I tried to raise my rifle but the pain was too intense, I couldn't move, when I tried the corners of my vision darkened and my consciousness threatened to slip away as the agony overwhelmed me.

One of the away team solders rose to his feet and aimed his cannon at the monster, but it tore it from his hands, hitting him across the chest with it like it was a baseball bat. It roared in anger, looming over him and silencing his scream with a swift punch to the face. Its fist sank deeper into the ground than a human skull should have permitted, and when it brought its hand back up it was dripping with gore. The soldiers defending the ramp peppered it with bullets but it shrugged them off like mosquito bites, turning its attention towards me. I was helpless, I couldn't get clear as it strode over to me.

It raised its fist, but in an instant it was sent reeling. Vi launched herself at it like a furious Valkyrie, using a heavy coil of her tail to slam its face like a medieval flail, and it staggered backwards more from surprise than the force of the blow. It roared at her, its odd mandibles opening to spray foamy saliva, and it threw a punch at her. She dodged it, moving faster than it could track, and rushed to flank the creature. It tried to intercept her with a vicious elbow strike, but she ducked under it and wrapped her tail around its neck like a noose, climbing up onto its back and starting to choke it. She applied all of her strength, her liquid muscles tensing like steel cables beneath her patterned scales, using so much force that I could hear her tail creaking. The Berserker clawed at its neck, closing its fingers around her chubby body and trying to tear her free, but she tightened even further.

It bucked and struggled, but it couldn't shake her loose. Both of the aliens were strong enough to pulp a human easily, and watching them battle eachother was like watching two titans throwing punches. Their combined weight alone would have crushed a car as if it were made of cardboard. Vi had an iron grip, but I could see that it wasn't enough. I watched her fragile, hypodermic fangs unsheathe as she unhinged her jaws, their ivory surface flashing white in the sun as her hood flared wide. She plunged them into the Berserker's shoulder, lingering with those long fangs embedded in its pink flesh. The beast roared and struggled, Vi latched onto it like a limpet as it thrashed and spun, trying to pull her loose. Vi held her ground, she must be emptying her venom sacks into the thing, flooding its body with toxic poison.

The Berserker seemed to slow, drooling more profusely, its violent struggling waning as it stumbled and fell to a knee. Vi uncoiled and leapt from its broad back to watch it cautiously as it heaved and twitched, finally falling to the ground to lie still.

"Vi," I called, the effort of raising my voice sending a wave of stinging pain through my chest. "Help me, I can't..."

She rushed to my side, hesitating, afraid to lift me as she looked me over.

"Three minutes soldiers, we can't wait, get your asses onto that ramp," the Commander blared through my headset. Vi hissed in frustration, and decided to pick me up regardless of my condition. I bellowed in pain as she cradled me in he arms, turning towards the cargo ramp as the engines of the Avenger flared with a blue glow, a hot wind blowing over us and rustling the grass. It looked like everyone else was able to walk, and they rushed towards the ramp as the great ship began to lift off. The remaining soldiers clambered up the ramp as it left the ground, Vi speeding towards it as she carried me. It passed head height relative to her, and she spat her fury, head waving back and forth like a cat trying to judge distance. We had seconds, once the Avenger was clear of the ground the landing gear would retract and it would speed off into the sky at a hundred miles per hour. Garcia leaned over the lip, calling down to us.

"Come on, jump! Jump for it!"

Vi snarled, lowering her body and coiling it like a spring. She released the energy contained within her sinewy muscles, propelling us into the air like a rocket. At the peak of her arc she threw me, and I was weightless for a moment before slamming down onto the ramp, Garcia gripping me by the shoulder strap as I wailed in pain. Had Vi made it? My heart skipped as I noticed she wasn't on the ramp. No, I saw her claws digging into the metal, hanging on the lip of the door. Could her arms even lift the weight of her massive body? We were high off the ground now, the ship would be accelerating in moments, please God don't let her fall now, not after all of this.

She heaved herself up onto the ramp, grunting with the strain of it, and once her tail found purchase she raced towards us. She took both me and Garcia in her coils, ramming us against one of the massive pistons that raised and lowered the cargo ramp. She crushed us against it, almost making me pass out from the pain, winding around us to secure us as the ship's engines roared and the ground below us diminished. Wind battered us, blowing in my ears like a gale and tearing at my clothes. I could feel gravity clawing at me, threatening to throw me loose of the ship, but Vi's tail kept us firmly secured.

The Avenger gained altitude, passing through a layer of clouds, and I started to feel the sweat on my cheeks beginning to freeze. Garcia had his eyes closed, muttering something under his breath, whether it was a prayer or a curse I couldn't hear it over the rushing wind. Vi heaved, dragging herself further inside the ship with all of her strength. I noticed that the soldiers who had remained in the bay were braced against whatever was secured to the ground, unwilling to close the ramp as long as we remained. The nearest was leaning against the hull beside the door controls, and he reached out to take Vi's hand, doing his best to help her as she dragged herself towards him. She found purchase, wrapping her fingers around a pipe that protruded from the wall, releasing her hold on the piston and catching us in her tail before we fell. Her grip was tight, and she used her steely muscles to pull us behind her, the soldier slamming the door control with his fist and the ramp behind us beginning to close with a pneumatic whir.

It sealed with a hiss, and we fell to the floor in a heap, this final burst of pain enough to make me lose consciousness.

CHAPTER 3: LINE OF DUTY

I awoke in the sick bay, lying in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of my arms. I tried to move, but I was weighed down by something, and the needles were sore where they pierced my skin. I looked down at my body to see Vi's huge head resting on my legs, her eyes closed as she slept. Her long body trailed off into the room, passing under the curtain that divided the beds. I was hooked up to monitoring equipment, and my muscles ached, as if I had been lying still for too long. My ribs hurt when I breathed, but it was a dull and distant pain. I moved my arm, wincing as the intravenous drip tugged at my skin, and prodded the sleeping Viper.

Her eyes slowly opened, and she peered at me with her yellow pupils, blinking sleepily. They widened, and she rose up to full height on her tail, her hood flaring wide with happiness and she hissed my name in her alien language. She made to pluck me from my bed and hold me in her arms, but hesitated, and settled for an affectionate nuzzle to the face instead. The nurse on duty pulled the curtain aside to enter, stepping gingerly over Vi's tail and standing beside the bed with a tablet computer. She was a blonde woman, probably in her thirties, clad in a white uniform.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Sir."

"How long was I out," I asked, my mouth dry and my throat sore.

"About three weeks, we had to put you into a medically induced coma, you were suffering from a cerebral edema and internal hemorrhaging due to trauma to your thoracic cage." She rolled her eyes as I shot her a confused glance. "You hit your head and broke your ribs, which caused internal bleeding. Your shattered ribs damaged your soft tissue and pierced your lung, causing your chest cavity to fill with blood. It was touch and go for a while there, we almost lost you. I don't know many people who have weathered a punch from a Berserker."