Right. I am going to begin posting the chapters of this fanfic here for your enjoyment. Here is chapter one, I will add the rest of the chapters on a weekly basis until I am caught up with Fanfiction on posting (which is likely, since I don't write on a schedule.) Enjoy!
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(Bradford’s POV)
0420 hours local time, xcom HQ, LOCATION CLASSIFIED
The Commander was tired. That was obvious.
The blonde-haired man who led XCOM had Dark circles under his eyes from constant alerts at all times of the night. Bradford himself looked no better as he handed the slightly shorter but more slender man a cup of coffee.
“Thanks, Jeremy”
Bradford winced. “How many times do I have to tell you my name is classified for my reason?”
Commander Mark Johnson Grinned and held his arms out wide. “I have to have
some fun, don’t I?”
Once again, Bradford was struck by the disregard the director showed for conventional military tactics and protocol. He socialized in the Barracks when he was off hours. He was on first-name basis with many of the engineers. And, strangest of all, he made swat tactics with six men work against 2 to 4 alien squads at once.
But then again, the commander himself was pretty unorthodox. Only sixteen, with no military background save for an online masters in military history from Oxford, he had seemed inadequate to Bradford when he first stepped off the Skyranger. But here, again, he surprised by only losing 3 men in the 6 months he had been in charge. He had earned Bradford’s – and the rest of xcom’s – respect by killing 4 aliens when the Base had almost been overrun. 2 of those had been after he had tackled an engineer to save her life, losing his leg to a Muton in the progress.
“So, Bradford, what is the crisis of the hour?” The commander’s steady tenor voice took Bradford out of his thoughts. He shook his head. “We have a Large Scout over the Eastern United States. Looks like it’s headed towards New York. Raven-4 is en route to intercept.”
“Excellent.” the Commander stated, “I can’t wait to see what Gramp’s and Oppenheimer’s new plasma cannon does.” Bradford suppressed the urge to chuckle. The Commander had a seemingly endless arsenal of nicknames he used as shorthand in conversation and while in command. The soldiers often took up these mantles as their call-signs. “How long until contact?”
“About thirty seconds.” Bradford replied.
The engagement was brief and very one-sided. Doctor Valhen’s new weapon had performed above expectation. Then again, The UFO’s have been a lot bigger lately, and the aliens had followed suit.
“Prep Squad Bravo to clear the crash site, strip it, and put up a new Taco Bell.”
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(Percy’s POV)
0520 hours, Camp Half Blood, Long Island, New York
Percy Jackson was bored.
Sure, for once in his life, nothing crazy had happened for a year (unless you count the crazy alien paranoia, which he most certainly didn’t.), but that was part of the problem. No big bads, just college in New Rome with Annabeth.
“Something wrong, Seaweed Brain?”
Speak of the devil, Percy thought. “Just bored. Who knew I would miss something trying to kill me.”
Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, was sitting in front of Long Island sound, staring at the sunrise. He always loved this time of day, when the soon just started to grace the ocean with its gentle rays.
“Come here,” Annabeth said before bringing Percy into a huge hug. “I for one am glad we get to spend more time together.”
“Heh, that is true. I miss adventuring with Grover and Tyson, though”
“Aw, you didn’t miss me?”
Both of the demigods turned to the newcomer, who was standing cross-armed as he materialized in front of them.
“Jason!” Annabeth shouted in surprise as the son of Jupiter Fist-Bumped Percy. “How are the shrines going?”
“Slowly, but I think I will finally have them all by January. You guys married yet.”
Percy turned a deep scarlet. Before he could form any scathing remark, however, the trio was interrupted by a massive roar.
“What in Zeus’s name is that?” Percy shouted.
“Whatever it is, it’s headed for the Lake,” Jason yelled. He pushed his glasses up his nose.
“Come on, then!” Annabeth yelled.
As the trio reached the lake, the campers were stirring, getting out with various weapons in hand, many still in the outfits that the slept in. Chrion had his bow unslung, shouting orders. Just as they reached Chrion, everyone looked up and gawked. An honest-to-gods, disk-shaped UFO was on fire, and crashing right over the camp. It soon passed, and a small plume of smoke went up a ways of.
Annabeth turned and stammered to Chrion. “That… I… that must have been an illusion of the mist, right, Chrion.”
The Centaur had a grim look. “I am afraid that was very real, child. We must find out who these intruders are, and, more urgently, why they crashed. Jason and Percy, the crash is three miles away. Leave the Pegasus and walk, please, but do so quickly. Try not to engage, and good luck.
The two boys nodded, and set out into the woods, their hands on their respective weapons.
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Two hours later
The boys were in top condition, but even then, the thick foliage and dim morning light lead to a long trek.
“Why exactly could we not take the horses, again?” Percy complained.
Jason formed a response, but it left him when he saw movement. “get down!” he whispered.
Several feet in front of them, three lumbering creatures stumbled into a creek ahead of them. The boys ducked behind a fallen tree, and looked down from the crest of the hill they were on. All thoughts of these being monsters faking the alien act (hey, it had happened before) were dashed when Percy saw these creatures. Two of them were wearing a green armor and vaguely resembled a collector’s toy his mom had been forced to sell by Gabe. Their lumbering hands held strange rifles that were glowing a green color. The third alien had no weapons, was twice the size of the other two, and had a blood-red armor.
“Holy Hades, those are real aliens” Jason voiced under his breath. The aliens must have heard something, as they started moving towards their hiding spot. They looked at each other. Percy was not keen to take on the obviously combat-ready aliens, but there was no way they were going to avoid a fight. The green men were almost on top of them.
Please let me get back to Annabeth, Percy silently prayed as he reached for his pen. Before he could do anything, however, a loud roar announced the arrival of an unknown jet with strange markings.
Who is insane enough to take on aliens? Well, besides us. The jet seemed to anger them, and they made their way down the creek, as the jet landed at the foot of a waterfall the creek ran down 200 yards away.
Percy’s jaw dropped as the strangest soldiers he had ever seen poured out of the jet and engaged the green aliens with their own green weapons. A man with what can only be described as Rambo’s dream laser gun took cover behind a tree and poured a volley of green light into the red alien. A sniper shot at the red alien as well and then took a second shot at one of the green aliens, who promptly collapsed with a gaping hole in his chest. A dude with the same rifle as the alien took cover and shot at the red alien. Then a bona-fide mech ran up and punched the red alien, sending its corpse flying. A sixth guy ran behind the other green guy and shot him twice with a fancy shotgun. With all the aliens dead, the two boys stared at the soldiers and then at each other.
What just happened?!?!
“Tangoes cleared” laser Rambo said. The soldiers then seemed to pause as it listening to someone… then turned their weapons onto the teens.
“Unidentified Civilians,” the mech said robotically, “put your hands on your head and stand out of cover. Failure to comply will result in the use of lethal force.”
What else were they
supposed to do?
