Ranger
Chapter 43: Seeker
By Wanderer D
Sunset leaned back from the GREMLIN. The message had just been sent, and she had managed to get some rest, sleeping through the night. Thanks to Suns—Sunny One's foresight, it had been easy enough to hook Jane up to some of the old equipment, and then hook that up to the GREMLIN, which monitored Jane in turn.
Thanks also to Sunny One, and the chems, she had had enough willpower left to cast a simple blood magic spell to heal Jane's internal injuries. It was simply accelerated cell-regeneration, so she didn't need to maintain it after the initial casting. By the time the magic ran out, it would have done its job.
Then, she had crashed after brushing off the top of another stretcher. She had been too exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally to even try to send the signal the previous night. Trusting the GREMLIN to alert her if anything went wrong, she had fallen into a deep slumber and had woken up late the next day.
Jane was still asleep, but her breathing was easier, her pulse stable, and her skin now looked much more healthy.
It would still be a few hours before anyone would be there to pick them up, however, with ADVENT being on high alert and relatively close to their location, it would take probably even longer, and it appeared as if the prolonged activation of the lab and the secret entrance had slowly jumpstarted other areas of the facility.
As such, she had time to burn, and re-reading Sunny One's letter only made her sad that she had not met this other version of herself.
She started by investigating the room. This was clearly the old Lab, as the video had clearly shown the place years prior, clean, sterile and full of equipment. Most of it was missing, with what could only amount to the things nailed to the floor as left behind.
An interesting thing, however, was the next room. A huge, thick glass container of some sort was at the other side of the entrance. Two large metallic arms were halfway extended from both sides of the container, and it was clear that it was designed not only to whistand damage, but if the devices on the corners were any sign of it, whatever (or whoever) was inside could be eliminated in several ways.
She had heard Galahad speak of Dr. Vahlen's experiments, and figured out fairly quickly that she was in the alien containment area. It had everything from completely sealed containers—half melted from the inside out, as they had no-doubt enabled the contingency protocols before leaving.
The autopsy room was there, a large glass room with several cameras that were plugged into cables that disappeared into the metal ceiling above, and several devices that emerged from that spot, including welding equipment and saws, all hovering over a large metallic table in the middle.
Sunset was about to leave when something made a noise. She frowned, looking around more carefully, and noticing a fading glow of some sort in the corner of the room. Walking towards the blinking orange light, she found herself standing over a sealed emergency trapdoor. When they had come in, some of the systems must have activated, and now it was ready to be opened.
She looked around. There was nothing else. Shrugging, she was about to turn around when she heard it again. A whisper, almost like words, but indistinguishable from each other. She activated her blood vision and looked down, but she couldn't see anything.
She took a step back. The blinking light suddenly a lot more threatening than she had conceived. She had left her weapons in the other room, not expecting this to be here. If something was alive…
Gulping, she turned around moving as silently and fast as she could towards the exit into the other room. That's when she heard the trapdoor hiss open. Eyes wide, she turned around, ready to bolt or fight.
But there was nothing there.
Sunset slowly took a step back, then another, heart beating hard. She didn't dare take her eyes away from the hatch. The fact that nothing was coming out was even more unnerving. Her spell still detected nothing, other than the accelerated workflow as adrenaline kicked in again.
She slid back, carefully, so that she wouldn't bump into something. She was almost there… she'd bolt into the other room the moment she was lined up to the door, close that one, and bunker up.
Step by slow step, feet sliding carefully, she risked a quick glance before returning her eyes to the hatch. She was almost there…
The door was just a few feet away from her now, and Sunset took the chance, turning around to sprint, but the moment she did, something materialized in front of her. Metallic, with glowing yellow slits functioning like eyes, and metal tentacles.
She barely had a second to gasp before the tentacles were wrapped around her and the front of the machine opened, spreading toxic fumes around them.
Sunset's gasp turned into a choking cough, and she could feel the tentacles squeezing what little air she had. She struggled desperately, trying to fight the growing need to draw breath. Her head felt light and her lungs felt like they were burning, but if she did…
A squeeze from the metallic tentacles made her take a short, ragged breath and she felt like her throat was on fire. Her eyes teared up. She couldn't see, or think! She wasn't strong enough to break free.
The fight slowly died from her limbs and amidst the dark miasma that was surrounding her, the only thing she could make out were the glowing eyes.
'Not… like this… not… without saying…'
A loud, familiar sounding explosion.
The tentacles released her and she collapsed along with the machine, barely keeping herself upright. Someone grabbed her under the arm and pulled her away.
The toxic haze was gone, Sunset's breath returned in painful gasps and raspy coughs. She turned away and threw up black-tinted bile. She could barely see anything, but she sensed something moving next to her.
She flailed, until something grabbed her arms. "Sunset!"
Sunset started at the sound of her name, calming down enough to take something soft being pressed into her hands. A cloth of some sort. She quickly used it to wipe her eyes, nose and mouth. "Wha…"
"Sunset… are you okay?"
Sunset coughed, gulping saliva past her burning throat and managed to rasp out, "Been better." With another cough, she fell onto her butt and looked up at Jane, who was leaning heavily on one of the many examination tables in the room with one hand, while the other held Sunset's shotgun. She half-chuckled, half-coughed. "Nice to see you're up."
Jane shook her head. "Can you get up?"
"Y-yeah," Sunset muttered, putting her shaking hand on the edge of the table and pulling herself up. "Wh-what the hell was that?"
They turned to look at the twitching mechanical squid that Jade had shot at close range. Occasional sparks and sizzles emerged from within the joints of its carapace. It had thick armor, but not thick enough to survive a close blast from a Shard Gun.
"No idea," Jane said, wincing as she pushed herself away from the table, but she seemed well enough to walk. "But whatever it is, it almost killed you.
"No shit," Sunset muttered, fighting the urge to break into a coughing fit. She followed Jane into the other room, smacking her fist on the pad that closed the hydraulic doors behind them. "We… we need to arm up."
"Well, here's your shotgun," Jane said, passing her the weapon. "Your sword is in the weapons bag."
"Ugh, we should have brought our armor… I'm just glad I snuck my grappling hook here."
Jane laughed, then winced, placing her hand on the side of her torso. "Ouch… we need to secure the area…" she muttered, setting up with her equipment. Soon her GREMLIN was hovering over them, ready for action, and she held her weapon at the ready.
Sunset had secured her harness on, and her sword was strapped to her back. After drinking some water, she felt a lot better, and a quick spell made her blood flush the toxins quicker. She turned to find Jane giving her an odd look. "What?"
"No… nothing. Anyway, what do you suggest?"
"We should fortify this place, maybe move equipment so it covers the entrance to the lab?"
"Not a bad idea but—" Jane's eyes went wide and she ducked, with Sunset following suit. "I heard something…"
Sunset could hear it too now. Something… whirling? And humming. What—her eyes grew wide as well when she saw what could only be described as a flying saucer pause at the garage door as if it was glancing inside the lab, before moving away.
She shared a look with Jane, and shook her head slowly, motioning with her hand towards the Alien Containment door.
Jane nodded silently, as Sunset slid her backpack off the table and put it on. There were medical things they could need inside, as well as Sunny One's letter and video, after all. The pair moved towards the door, crouching all the time, and pressed the pad to open it.
The moment it did, they heard whirring sounds outside and the wall where the exit to the parking lot was exploded, making them both cringe. The flying saucer started flying in.
"Run!" Sunset shouted, putting words into action as she followed Jade into the other room. She closed the door behind them in what she knew was a futile attempt to slow down the unknown enemy, but didn't stop to ponder its effectiveness. There was only one way out now.
They had just reached the hatch when the second door exploded. She took a shot at the thing, clearly denting and penetrating the armor, but unlike the other one, it didn't stop. The flying saucer hovered in, stopping in midair to transform into some sort of arachnid or fish-like form with a long, serrated tail emerging from within.
"Gogogogogogo!" she urged Jane, who took a glance at the thing, and quickly lowered herself down the hatch, sliding down the emergency ladder as fast as she could in her injured state.
Sunset didn't attempt a second shot, quickly jumping in and pressing the pad to close it above her as a beeping sound emerged from within the saucer-turned-metallic-fish. She caught sight of something blinking green being thrown at them just as the hatch closed.
She was sliding down when the explosion shook the room above and tremendous heat wafted down past her, making her eyes tear up again. The force of the blast almost made her lose her grasp, but she managed to slide down with some control until she landed rather heavily next to Jane.
At the base of the stairwell, a long dark corridor stretched into the darkness, only broken by the occasional remote blinking of still functioning lights.
With the path above inaccessible, this was their only way out.
"Well… shit."
o.0.o End Chapter 43 o.0.o
Can’t say how glad I am that Jane is doing better! I guess that tentacle was a leftover of Dr. Vahlen's experiments. But I know they can do it.
Cyberdisk?
The old seekers, and how you could cheese them with a good ranger. Still, oof that those are still about, and those things, where was a good heavy when you needed a shredder rocket.
8817333
I believe so. Those things were tanky, from what I remember. 16-20 health, and when transformed into their "attack" mode, they look deadly as all f*ck.
feralinteractive.com/data/games/xcomenemyunknown/images/aliens/cyberdisc.jpg
Edit: different link used. previous one supposedly didn't work.
8817360
Image link is broken.
8817341
Ah the old enemies make an appearance.....were they all trapped within the facility?
Or abandoned by ADVENT cause they were no longer needed?
Death-fishy
8817371
Are you on mobile? Because some images don't work on mobile.
cyberdisks are so easy to take down
the Cyberdisk was one of the coolest enemies they had in xcom...was kinda sad it didnt come back in xcom 2.
8817324
Not leftovers. The tentacle is a seeker. Mechanical stealth infuiltrator/assasin of the aliens. Those and Cyberdisks couldn't be caught, only their wracks.
8817473
I know, that’s why I said a leftover, I suppose a wreck that she somehow managed to fix can’t imagine how it could be activate otherwise after 20 years.
A seeker and a cyberdisk? Those girls are getting a 'best of' track from the first game here in their tour of the original base.
I really have to comment on the writing in this chapter, it is always good, but here it had me tense throughout the entire segment involving Sunset's standoff with the cloaked alien drone. This might be one of my favorite chapters yet.
Shit, cyberdisk and seekers. Probably were in some kind of sleep mode, either leftovers from capture missions, or perhaps deliberately left behind after the enemy sacked the place as a boobytrap for any returning X-Com forces.
8817529
You know, that is a good thought, I had assumed they were simply a leftover of the evacuation, but if they were left there intentionally, might it be that Sunset and Jane's location was just broadcast to the alien's all over the planet?
8817409
They are... If you have at least some armor and decent weapons. They are effectively naked though, so no dice.
I hate Cyberdicks, seriously they are hard to hit and when folded up they have insane damage resistance.
No rest for wicked even at home.
Seekers are nasty. Cyberdisks on the other hand aren't that difficult to deal with. Shoot them a few time to lower their life a bit and the moment they go in attack mode, shoot even more and if there is a couple of them, a rocket does wonders.
the
Everyone’s talking about the best of the first game stuff, and I’m sitting here, wondering how Sunset would react to an original sectoid.
8817398
No. Not sure what the problem was. It works fine now.
I'm with the others expecting this to be a deliberate seeding of mechanical enemies as a trap for any X-Com units that return.
Here's to hoping they don't find a sectopod. And that something like a Gatekeeper wasn't left behind as the machine commander.
8817645
a good tactic is analyzing the map you play on and using your faster soldiers as scouts while finding good postions for your snipers i literally once did an entire missionf illed with cyberdisks and shit with a single sniper
8817529 Ooh. Wow. I don't know what it is about your coment that made it click, but I get it now. Actually, it was when you said mechanical that it clicked. After all, this is a better place to store a S.P.A.R.K., and it explains why the aliens got rid of all mechanical units except Andromidon suits and sectopods. If we really did adapt Julian from an alien A.I., they would only field robots that have high defences against hacking. Everything else goes to ADVENT.
8817783
But that is the final boss of the mission. And Mr. Artificial Incompetence will be in the robot alien, making it so much more fun.
8817454
Gatekeepers fulfilled largely the same role.
8817673
A cyberdisk alone isn't that bad, provided there aren't a lot of other enemies around so you can focus fire on their dodgy and damage resistant asses. Two is problematic, and a shitstorm if you don't have a rocket available.
Let the next round begin!
And the plasma grenade spam begins. That's the Cyberdisk I remember.
8817966
maybe but they arent as interesting design wise.
Appropriate, considering that it's currently containing an alien.
Welcome back, Jane. It's good that you were here to witness Sunset experimenting with tentacles.
I was always a bit of a bigger fan for Xcom Enemy Within, so seeing a Cyberdisc brings back some memories. Not all of the good. I want to get into Xcom 2, but the overall global progress bar seems too fast for me. Maybe I'm just too slow for the game.
>Landing a shot on a Cyberdisk
>Using a shotgun
Wow! Shimmer!
Cyberdicks; fuck those things.
8818879
Your scan priority should be Resistance networking, leapfrogging Towers when you can for cheaper New Contact costs and the continent bonuses. Not also means more cash, but should be easier to reach the plot Blacksites (tho i think it' attempts to be randomly "two away" from any current links you have). The bonus 'rumor' scans are the least priority, as they're generally not worth the time for how much resoruce they yeld: basically only if you can't afford to get another area networked/tower'ed should you bother, unless it's something you actively critically need. Made that mistake of trying to get any and every rumor scan, nearly ran out of time in easy. Once I learned that, i can beat Classic with only a few pips on the doomclock.
Damn Alien Frisbee
8820236
Hear Hear!
well ...
that shouldn't be there
first Jean' now 'Jade' ... you have a thing for typing her name wrong, don't you?
8819285
Yeah, well, she missed a point blank shot vs a Viper before. It's all random.
Congrats, Jane, you are now blood sisters with a magical alien.
So some of the aliens odd robotic units still remain, wonder what else is still left
The majority of my XCOM playtime since EU's launch in 2012 has been with Long War (a mod for Enemy Within for those unaware). As such, it brings me so much joy to see things like the old XCOM base and classic annoying enemies like the Seeker and Cyberdisc. I doubt there are any organic aliens still lurking in the HQ after twenty years, but I hope one or two more old favorites (read pains in my butt) show up.
I didn't comment on it in that chapter, but I'm excited to see what comes of this Julian and any potential for SPARKs, and I'm loving the kind of little tweaks you're making to what I remember of XCOM 2.
Damn... This artificial enemys sure last long... Over 20 years they are still in fighting condition...
Maintenance issue aside, that is very impressive technological endurance!
The mechanical enemies make sense, I doubt Elerium is running out of battery lifetime with only two decades passing by.
But I wonder how critical the Templer Ship really was, perhaps it really was a devastating losing of material, troops and logistics option, not to mention the transportation and leadership lost.
The elder don't repopulate or at least not sufficient enough, so it might after all be a near fatal blow to their efforts, making it a necessity to take Earth slowly over time, instead of their brute force approaches of the past.