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It was right on top of her before she could react, but she didn't play by the rules any more. A burst of Psionic energy threw the chryssalid back just one meter, but it was enough to get the rifle up and firing. Aim, Burst, Recover, Resume... She repeated the mantra in her head, blowing chunks of cauterized chitin off the chryssalids insectile face. Her fingers twitched slightly, but no noise left her mouth.

The mutons fell back, taken by surprise by the ease she had dispatched their feral dog. She stepped over the body of Nick, her dear old friend, without a care. She'd seen worse. Aim, Burst, Recover, Resume. A muton fell over, clutching at its side, trying to keep in guts that weren't there any more. One roared in defiance of death, but death cared little, and he caught another burst of plasma under the chin as he pounded on his chest.

"...My god." Whispered Central through the radio, but she couldn't hear it. "What is she?"

The mutons knew exactly what she was. They called her Klengaku. It was not a phrase used out of respect, nor was it one of hatred. It wasn't driven by anger, or envy, or pride, or even humility. It was driven by fear.

And it meant God.

The last muton tried to run, but found that it was more difficult than normal. Confused, he tried to turn, but his legs didn't want to seem to obey him. It was so strange how far away they seemed, it thought as the darkness overtook it, and the tread of human boots neared.

Then something smashed its skull into the ground, and walked on.

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[And then I was like, 'oh no she didn't!' But she DID!] Misha's silent laugh was loud enough to make Shizune's ears ache, but she smiled at her stupid story anyway. These little mundane moments were at once the bane of her existence and the moments she lived for. It was fun climbing to the top, but people rarely realize how fun it is to be back on the ground after you climbed the proverbial mountain.

[How crass of her. But I'm still more shocked you were able to tempt her into that sort of thing anyhow. Suzuki wasn't the one I would have pegged for a lesbian.] Misha grew more prideful than she should have.

[I'm a master at this sort of thing. And anyways, she's always been a total lesb-] Shizune noticed the whole room grow painfully still, even Misha's customary loudness vanishing in but a second.

The principal stood in the doorway, ancient and bearded, the way a principle ought to be, by her fathers logic. Quietly, he signed; [Miss Hakamichi, my office, please.] She felt a thrill of fear as she rose up from her seat, but she obediently followed the principal. She went over anything that she could have gotten in trouble for... Cutting in line at the cafeteria? Feeding the pidgeons even though the signs said not to? 'Accidentally' dropping powdered Ex-Lax into the tea in the unused classroom? It was probably that one. They know. She screamed internally. She was dead!

But when they got to his office, the principal didn't follow her inside. Instead, he turned and locked the door. And instead of her father, a bald man in a suit sat with his legs crossed. [Miss Hakamichi?]

[Yes?] If it were possible to stutter in sign, she would have done so.

[What do you know about aliens?]

(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)

AN: Computer is running out of charge. Planned on writing more, but I can't today. I'll post more tomorrow. Until then, teaser!
OPERATION: FALLEN TITAN (part I) | Yamaku
Mistakes
Realization
Still Night

Miss Hakamichi, the Council requires-
I AM THE COUNCIL.

Nice to see some action once in a while here.

The Previous Day...

"Good evening, Commander. As you may know, multiple nations around the world have recently made contact with machines of hostile, extraterrestrial origin. Due to the ongoing extraterrestrial threat, this council of nations has decided to activate the XCOM project. Commander, you have been given complete control of XCOM headquarters, and the resources of the world are at your disposal. Win or lose, the actions you take here will have drastic effects on the future of humanity-"

"Who gave that woman a gun? Why would you give a woman a gun? Are you trying to get all of us killed?!"

"Commander, you will be expected to deal with multiple races-"

"Like I care who's a foreigner or not!"

"-as well as soldiers who are both male and female-"

"You can't pay me enough to let a woman carry a gun around and assassinate us. The Feminist Nazi Whores are probably working with the aliens!"

"-But we assure you they are all the most highly trained special forces available the world over."

"Bullshit."

"The fate of the world rests on your shoulders..."

"Like always."

"...And those of the men and women under your command."

"The expendables. Disposable heroes. I like."

The giant shadow on the screen seemed to deflate. "Look, commander, if you do this for us, we'll give you a hundred dollars."

Kenji thought for a moment. "Throw in a PS3 and you have yourself a deal."

The shadow nodded. "Good luck, Commander. And remember... We will be watching." He said ominously, and the screen blinked out.

"Sweet, now I don't have to pirate Persona 4!"

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[The XCOM project?] Shizune quirked an eyebrow. She'd seen the news reports of odd meteors, but everything seemed hush-hush and she tuned it out. But this man was saying that something bad was about to happen, and she was a 'candidate' for 'the XCOM project'... Whatever that may mean.

[We have confirmed that the devices fallen from the sky recently are extraterrestrial, and we have reason to believe that a invasion of sorts will be taking place quite soon. We saw your physical transcripts. Fast, agile, a good eye behind those glasses... With a little bit of training, you could be the best soldier in the project.]

[I'm deaf.] She pointed out. [I can't be in the military.]

[Have you considered implants? We would pay for them. We've already enlisted a few members who would be disqualified from a normal military contract.]

Shizune's scowl could have caused solid granite to sublimate. It was very clear what she thought of 'fixing' her deafness.

[We could also accommodate you in other ways.] The bald man (who called himself The Spokesman) admitted. [You already wear glasses... We could easily rework a helmet and faceplate to have a small computer to translate speech to text...]

[You have a lot of money.]

[I am a representative of a council of nations that includes all five of the riches countries in the world, and the suppliers of most consumer goods. Anything made by man today, we can get to you within the hour with little effort.] He bragged.

[What's the catch?] Shizune was more than a little suspicious of a man who, in a brightly lit room on a sunny day, still managed to have a face wreathed so deeply in shadow as to obscure his features.

The man gave the impression of very deeply wanting to say there was no catch (and indeed, there wasn't one as far as he was concerned; He was willing and capable to give Shizune her own private heaven if she would sign the papers,) but, in the end, decided that she wouldn't believe him anyway. So he pulled up the worst aspect of XCOM he could think of, which wasn't difficult.

[You'll have to follow... The Commander.] His dislike of the Commander was evident.

[Who's the Commander?]

[...A highly capable, highly trained, tactically brilliant, strategically masterful madman.]

Shizune thought for a moment. [How crazy is he?]

[Last night, he ordered one hundred and thirty three dominos pizzas directly to the top secret headquarters of a black ops platoon that officially doesn't exist. And he didn't leave a tip.]

[What a monster.]

[He really is.]

[I'm sorry, Spokesman, but I can't join something that just sounds so crazy.] Besides, Shizune hated contracts. She left without another word, dodging into the hallway without looking at the suit, striding confidently past the principal. He turned to watch her leave, mouth opening. Something inside her twitched and she launched herself to the side as a sticky substance launched itself from the back of the principals throat and splashed where she was standing a minute ago, immediately evaporating into a sickly green cloud of toxic gas.

She spun and ran at the principal, leaping up on the wall and using it as a platform to dodge the next splatter of poison, landing on the other side of the thin hallway. The principal blinked in confusion, and with her adrenaline pumping the false eyes pained onto a second pair of eyelids looked painfully obvious. Her fist slammed into his gut, but he slapped her back, his hand more like a semi than a open palm. She landed with a thump on the floor, azure eyes locked with the disturbingly reptilian eyes of the principal of Yamaku. She watched him draw out something white and bulbous, with a unnatural green glow emanating from the barrel; a gun of some sort. He aimed it at her chest, smiling thinly.

Suddenly his head exploded. The suited man raised a cloth to cover his face as the principals neck exploded into a font of blood and poison. He looked wryly at Shizune, still laying on the floor, panting. [Care to reconsider? They usually come in groups...]

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The Nurse frowned, poking at the reptilian corpse with the tip of his foot. The poison had long since dispersed, but the body was starting to stink horribly, and people would investigate. That wasn't good. His employer wanted him to keep Yamaku out of the fight until they could more appropriately utilize the Gifts the aliens had brought with them. Shizune Hakamichi joining the puppets was unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected, but the rest might still be turned to the right side.

He'd have to throw this out somewhere. He grabbed the Thin Man under his armpits, and snuck away with the body to the nurses office, and the hidden closet of air-tight body bags, and a few other things. His employers would want to study the corpse, and he'd have to come back for the fragments of the plasma rifle later.

The EXALT operative vanished, just like the principal, just like the student council president, and just like the conspiracy theorist. The war had begun.

The man gave the impression of very deeply wanting to say there was no catch (and indeed, there wasn't one as far as he was concerned

So having to fight murderous aliens is not a catch?

Shizune unlocks her potential in a single day? Coming from someone who has raged endlessly at Xcom EU on impossible, I'm pretty sure it take almost 2 weeks in a big pod... thing for anyone to even get close to unlocking their psionic powers. And she does it in a day?

LorSquirrel wrote:Shizune unlocks her potential in a single day? Coming from someone who has raged endlessly at Xcom EU on impossible, I'm pretty sure it take almost 2 weeks in a big pod... thing for anyone to even get close to unlocking their psionic powers. And she does it in a day?

You forget.
It's Shizune if anyone is stubborn enough to do it in one day, it's her

Good point. Now I really want to have her as one of those super characters you can unlocked by typing in they're name.

Oh I can't wait for Emi and Rin MEC trooper team.

And Lilly should be a Sniper

NotSoClassy wrote:Oh I can't wait for Emi and Rin MEC trooper team.

And Lilly should be a Sniper

And make sure to give Lilly Hyper-Reactive Pupils.

UltimateShammer wrote:

NotSoClassy wrote:Oh I can't wait for Emi and Rin MEC trooper team.

And Lilly should be a Sniper

And make sure to give Lilly Hyper-Reactive Pupils.

I allways use depth perception on my snipers cause they almolst never miss, but I might be getting too analytic and missing the joke here

AN:

NotSoClassy wrote:Oh I can't wait for Emi and Rin MEC trooper team.

And Lilly should be a Sniper

I have other plans for Lilly, Hanako, Emi and Rin. Of a sort... Well, ok, I don't know what to do yet with Hanako and Rin, but I know for certain exactly what I'm going to do to Emi and Lilly. It's not a happy story for either of them, nor is it a short one in Emi's case. Remember, though, this being Xcom, anyone can die...

LorSquirrel wrote:Shizune unlocks her potential in a single day? Coming from someone who has raged endlessly at Xcom EU on impossible, I'm pretty sure it take almost 2 weeks in a big pod... thing for anyone to even get close to unlocking their psionic powers. And she does it in a day?

They also don't usually get plasma weapons in a day, or meet mutons, or chrysallids, or even find out about psionic powers until the raid on the alien base...
In case it's not quite obvious, that's a preview of a few months later. This is a fast and furious XCOM game (Mostly due to Shizune not entirely following the games rules), but things still take months to get to that midpoint.

Mirage_GSM wrote:

The man gave the impression of very deeply wanting to say there was no catch (and indeed, there wasn't one as far as he was concerned

So having to fight murderous aliens is not a catch?

It's part of the deal. In order to be a catch it would have to be at least somewhat hidden, no? Besides, the Spokesman is... Not quite as normal as most people.

_____________________________________________________Updoot incoming__________________________________________

The base was too far underground for quick access, by design. The high-speed elevator took two full minutes to reach the top level of the base proper, which also seemed to be the fourth level from the bottom. The elevator opened into an expansive room of blinking lights and blue and orange computer displays, men and women in green sweaters running about. Everyone had a bright gold badge on their chest, except for security, which, like the man standing next to her, were dressed in pastel blue body armor, with bright blue baseball caps, that in Shizune's opinion made them look not unlike giant easter eggs with blocky machine guns.

She had excepted the Spokesman’s offer, upon which he had produced a single sheet of paper. He watched her read it, twice, to make sure she understood. There was no fine print. No hidden messages. No legal jargon, really, to her surprise. It said, quite simply, in just about as many words, “I will fight to the best of my ability against the Alien Invaders (capitalized) or any Enemies of the Council of Nations (likewise), Until such time as I have perished, died, or otherwise become completely incapable of any combat upon the councils behalf whatsoever. I will not betray my squadmates in any way to my understanding, and I will accept all superiors above me as superiors and listen to their instruction.”

She promptly signed the paper and was whisked away in a violet car, which she was explained looked as much unlike a government vehicle as possible, to the point where someone had written “Wash me” on the back window. She had been taken to a airport, flown around the world, and was now standing sixty eight hundred thousand feet below the rippling grains of the American Midwest.

It bears mentioning that she had quite a sense of disorientation, as this had all somehow happened in the span of a few hours, if a few was sixteen.

Still, she stepped out of the elevator looking only slightly rumpled. Living with Jigoro Hakamichi was like a training in surviving odd situations, and Misha even more so. If she hadn't been so numb, she might have questioned why everyone was rushing, or why she was steered, not to a orientation room, or a barrack, but to an armory.

There, she was equipped with a large blocky rifle, surprisingly comfortable-if-heavy body armor, and one fragmentation grenade. She was told that to use the grenade, press the red button, and throw it. To use the rifle, point and shoot it. To use the body armor, get shot.

It was then that she screamed very loud, and the armorer almost dropped the frag grenade.

[What what what?! I can't go out there right now! I don't know anything!] She desperately signed to a very confused armorer.

“What?” He said, which was completely useless.

Shizune screamed again, a painful and unregulated sound that was at least six times worse than someone who could hear doing the exact same thing. [I'm a high-school student! I won't stand for this-this draft!]

“Has someone gotten Miss Hakamichi her helmet yet?” Asked Central from behind her. She noticed the Armorers gaze and followed it to the man silently (actually, that was wrong, if she concentrated she could feel the slight vibration in the air on her more sensitive parts) mouthing instructions to the armorer, who rushed off.

[Who are you? Are you in charge? I demand to speak with whoever is in charge!] The man, in a green sweater like everyone elses, tie meaningless and almost fully obscured, hair cut short and sporting a headset that seemed to be ripped directly off of a Xbox, looked as confused as Shizune felt.

“I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're trying to say...”

“She is trying to speak in sign language,” buzzed a severe-looking woman in a labcoat behind him; the amazing Doctor Adriana Vahlen. “But I'm afraid I do not speak it.... So to speak.”

“Ha ha, Doctor.”

[What are you talking about? Why am I here? I can't understand any-] Something large and hard crashed down on top of her head. She thrashed about and tried to fight it off, the infinitesimal vibrations of “normal” conversation continuing.

“Keep her still!”

“Stop forcing it, you're going to hurt her!”

“I can't get it on!”

“Here, I'll help- OOF!”

“Are you alright, Bradford?”

“Dammit Central, take a kick like a- GACK!”

“Heh, now who's taking kicks?”

“Zat looked painful...”

“Doctor, your help please?!”

“I would, but I prefer to stay behind the front lines.”

“Goddamn Labrats...”

“I take offense to zat, Corporal.”

“Goddamn Labrats...” Muttered Central, finally getting the helmet fully onto the girls head. Dr. Vahlen shook her head. “It's on backwards, let's turn it around.” Some struggling ensued, meaning several new bruises for both Central and Corporal Jameson, Armorer.

Finally. “Miss Hakamichi?” The message obviously got through to her, as she launched into a great flurry of signing that had even Dr. Vahlen lightly rubbing her temple in a attempt to keep up.

“Miss Hakamichi...”

The signing slowed and stopped, Shizune crossing her arms and looking at the three with a glare more deadly than her rifle.

“Miss Hakamichi, zis specific helmet has been extensively modified to allow for casual communication across all languages without ze need for... Implants.” Dr. Vahlen had never understood herself why that was such a bad thing for Shizune's specific fraction of the population, but then she was also the sort of person who looked forward to the technological singularity. “It is, of course, fully removable, but we ask zat you have it or ze visor, which is still in production, on you at all times. Ze faceplate is prescription, tventy-sixty...” Dr. Vahlen launched into a massive explaination of the helmet that was quite possibly completely unneccessary.

About half a hour later, Shizune had figured out, without any sort of help from the constant text scrolling across the screen courtesy of the good doctor, a (admittedly simplistic) manner of accessing a few important functions.

ONE: The helmet could be connected to a canteen for mid-battle hydration, implying she would either be wearing this armor for long periods of time, or that they thought she was already the kind of person who calmly strolls through the bullet storm to plant her fist in an alien eyeball. This was done by clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, and the helmet would produce a small tube.

TWO: The cushioning responded to force, puffing up upon impact to the outer shell.

THREE: Pressing her tongue to the back of her right cheek activated a small menu of simple commands and acknowledgments, as well as a bank of words and as a last resort, letters. She pressed one of the small sentences at random.

“Will-do, commander.” Buzzed a very robotic sort of voice. Dr. Vahlen, thankfully, grew quiet.

“I-got-X-rays-crawling-up-my-flank!” Buzzed Shizune's helmet.

“Moving-at-the-speed-of-death.”

“He's-dead.”

“I'm-fine.”

“It's-raining-death-over-here!”

Central put a hand to his forehead (“Cow-cow-cow-cow-She-soon-ey-shi-she-shun-a-ba-ba-he-h-h-i-moonlight-this-helmet-tickles” {“She's already found ze speech database! Astounding!}). This was going to be a long war.

Karnewarrior wrote:
To use the body armor, get shot.

Not much to say about this chapter, outside the fact I found that line very amusing.

sixty eight hundred thousand feet below the rippling grains of the American Midwest.

Apart from not being a normal number this would be well within the earth's mantle^^°

[I'm a high-school student! I won't stand for this-this draft!]

I know you're not really going for writing in character here, but... This strikes me as something Shizune should have expected given the "recruitment process."
And she forfeited the "I'm a high school student" argument when she signed the contract. She should have brought it then.

Okay. Those little phrases at the end were pretty funny. But other than that. Not much to say on this part.