Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
X-COM: Frontlines (An XCOM x Girls Frontline Quest)
- Thread starter NuclearNickel
- Start date
- Crossover
NuclearNickel
smug.jpg
- Location
- Bootes Void
"How's XCOM....holding up, so to speak?" You ask tentatively, adjusting the folder under your arm and clearing your throat a bit. Bradford seems to, somehow, become even more somber at these words. He sighs wearily, shaking his head. It almost seems like he was waiting for this to come up.
"Poorly, to put it bluntly. We had a commander. We traded him for the girl.
"Traded? You handed him over to-"
He turns on you.
"No. No we didn't. We wouldn't give a single one of our own up to these bastards, no matter what gain we could get from it. Especially not him."
You nod, not even fazed. You've seen people snap before, and Bradford wasn't too bad when he did, it seems.
But you had the creeping, cold suspicion that he was greatly restraining himself. You almost thought his ability to do that had been worn away by all the stress, and that the slightest push would send him into some seething rage. You've that before as well. Great men laid low by time and pressure.
Bradford wasn't that kind of man, hopefully.
"Got it. But you said you traded him. What do you mean?"
"Well...."
He stops, leaning against a wall. It seemed like he was doing it less to give you time to process his next words, and more to brace himself for the repetition of something tragic.
"It was a raid. An enemy raid. Our allies in I.O.P had been made, and ADVENT was coming down on them from all sides. I.O.P's security, and the last vestiges of an actual military on Earth were all at this compound. Earth's 'military' was nothing but a handful of various infantry groups supported by a couple of tanks. The only aircraft we had was one of I.O.P's executive helicopters that we put an M249 in."
"Seems more formidable than what we have now."
"It was."
"And ADVENT?"
"Estimates from what limited recon we performed showed that it was roughly the size of the force that brought down Germany."
If you had been drinking anything, you were positive you would have spit it all over Bradford's face.
"I.O.P was that much of a threat to them?"
He nods.
"They were making the only things that ADVENT truly feared. The girls. You've heard of them I'm sure."
"With how many resistance fighters are spreading myths about them? Hard not to know of them."
"Well....those myths aren't exactly all false."
He makes a face, almost a confused one. Like he's asking himself a question, or as if he's just been asked one himself and he's trying to puzzle out the answer. the look goes away after a moment, but you file it away mentally.
"But, as I was saying, the commander....he wanted to personally see to the extraction of I.O.P's last remaining asset personally."
"The girl we have."
"Yes. He was the last man standing at the facility when it went down."
"ADVENT got him?"
"No....he died ensuring we got her here."
"I'm....sorry to hear that.
A brief silence befalls the two of you.
"She's probably waiting to meet you now. I wouldn't keep her waiting, she has the attitude of a spoiled princess almost. A very regal, noble one, but a spoiled princess nonetheless."
Bradford walks away with those last words. Leaving you in the hallway just outside your "office" as it was labled.
[] Go in now.
[] Go somewhere else.
-[] Engineering
-[] Medical
-[] Central command.
-[] Research department.
"Poorly, to put it bluntly. We had a commander. We traded him for the girl.
"Traded? You handed him over to-"
He turns on you.
"No. No we didn't. We wouldn't give a single one of our own up to these bastards, no matter what gain we could get from it. Especially not him."
You nod, not even fazed. You've seen people snap before, and Bradford wasn't too bad when he did, it seems.
But you had the creeping, cold suspicion that he was greatly restraining himself. You almost thought his ability to do that had been worn away by all the stress, and that the slightest push would send him into some seething rage. You've that before as well. Great men laid low by time and pressure.
Bradford wasn't that kind of man, hopefully.
"Got it. But you said you traded him. What do you mean?"
"Well...."
He stops, leaning against a wall. It seemed like he was doing it less to give you time to process his next words, and more to brace himself for the repetition of something tragic.
"It was a raid. An enemy raid. Our allies in I.O.P had been made, and ADVENT was coming down on them from all sides. I.O.P's security, and the last vestiges of an actual military on Earth were all at this compound. Earth's 'military' was nothing but a handful of various infantry groups supported by a couple of tanks. The only aircraft we had was one of I.O.P's executive helicopters that we put an M249 in."
"Seems more formidable than what we have now."
"It was."
"And ADVENT?"
"Estimates from what limited recon we performed showed that it was roughly the size of the force that brought down Germany."
If you had been drinking anything, you were positive you would have spit it all over Bradford's face.
"I.O.P was that much of a threat to them?"
He nods.
"They were making the only things that ADVENT truly feared. The girls. You've heard of them I'm sure."
"With how many resistance fighters are spreading myths about them? Hard not to know of them."
"Well....those myths aren't exactly all false."
He makes a face, almost a confused one. Like he's asking himself a question, or as if he's just been asked one himself and he's trying to puzzle out the answer. the look goes away after a moment, but you file it away mentally.
"But, as I was saying, the commander....he wanted to personally see to the extraction of I.O.P's last remaining asset personally."
"The girl we have."
"Yes. He was the last man standing at the facility when it went down."
"ADVENT got him?"
"No....he died ensuring we got her here."
"I'm....sorry to hear that.
A brief silence befalls the two of you.
"She's probably waiting to meet you now. I wouldn't keep her waiting, she has the attitude of a spoiled princess almost. A very regal, noble one, but a spoiled princess nonetheless."
Bradford walks away with those last words. Leaving you in the hallway just outside your "office" as it was labled.
[] Go in now.
[] Go somewhere else.
-[] Engineering
-[] Medical
-[] Central command.
-[] Research department.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
What's I.O.P? Can't be Institute of Physics.
So ADVENT hasn't had the Commander hooked up to the psionic network running their troops...
[X] Go in now.
Azecreth
Giant Monster All Out Attack
- Location
- United States of America
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I.O.P are the guys who manufacture T-Dolls for the good guys. Or rather, did. Before the ayys showed up to take over.
AnonymousRabbit
Rabbit Faced
[X] Go in now.
Bite the bullet
Bite the bullet
Nottheunmaker
Altman be praised
- Location
- USG Ishimura
[X] Go in now.
Get the meet and greet done, then go fight aliens.
Get the meet and greet done, then go fight aliens.
Exterminatus
Tsukumogami User
- Location
- Southern California
[X] Go in now.
NuclearNickel
smug.jpg
- Location
- Bootes Void
Hmm....s'pose this is enough to work with?
Alright then.
Called.
Alright then.
Called.