Location: Earth, Avenger
Time: 1705 hours

The Skyranger approached the landing pad of the Avenger, its engines powering down slowly, allowing it to commit its landing, as the Commander slowly approached the vehicle. The doors of the Skyranger opened up, allowing the men within to step out of its confines, however, not all of them were standing on their own. Half of the squad were leaning on their teammates, due to the various injuries they had suffered. Plasma burns, bullet wounds, and heavy blunt damage coated the wounded men, while the Commander sighed at the sight, as the medics rolled into the hangar and began to take the wounded men off of the soldiers hands.

“Master Sergeant, Report.” stated the commander firmly, keeping his tone professional.

“We managed to eliminate the enemy stronghold, luckily without any casualties on our side, Sir.” Stated one of the wounded soldiers, who was being supported by one of the medics. Heavy burns stretching across his right leg, plasma having burned through the W.A.R. Suit and Plated vest, leaving both of them in chunks of molten metal.

“That’s good to hear, Colonel. I hope you’ll recover soon.”

“Yes, sir.” The captain said, snapping his arm into a salute to the Commander, before being escorted to the med bay by the medics, leaving the Commander to rub his temples.

“Another wounded soldier...If this keeps happening, then there will be fewer people to lead the squads.” muttered the Commander, as a engineer approached him in the hangar.

“Commander, we have finished construction of the Psi Lab.”

“...Very well, I believe I already know of a few possible candidates who show promise.” said the Commander, looking over at the Rookie who just had one of his wounded squad members taken off of his hands.

“Good luck, Gunnery Sergeant.” I said to the woman being carried away by the medics, before beginning to head to the living quarters of the Avenger.

The Avenger, a giant flying machine first used by the aliens which had been reclaimed by the Xcom project after the aliens abandoned it. In truth, I found it to be a grand machine, considering what it was capable of doing all on its own. But despite that, I still felt uneasy on it, even if the living conditions were better than anywhere on the ground. The entire thing of it being built by aliens made me uneasy. But before I could further indulge in my paranoia, I was interrupted by a little girl giving me a hug.

“Hey Brother!” She chirped out happily, making me smile.

She was one of the refugees we had taken in due to unfortunate circumstances which lead to her being a wanted criminal by ADVENT. Thankfully the Commander had let her on board, a decision I would agree with, considering she had helped raise morale among all the soldiers, she was a reminder of how things can get back to being once we take back the world. Despite us not being related by blood, the two of us seemed to bond over a lot of things, and eventually, she had started calling me her brother.

“Hello to you too, Sis. What brings you out here?”

“I heard you got back from your first mission and I wanted to give you a surprise hug! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Its only been two days.” I said with a smirk, making her pour.

“Two days IS forever!” She said in as if it were obvious, before looking at me again. “Can we go and pla-”

“Rookie!” a voice spoke up from behind me, making me turn around and give a sharp salute to the Commander.

“Sir Yes Sir!” I responded quickly, as the Commander approached me, his hands behind his back.

“At ease, I have a assignment for you.” The Commander told me in a professional tone, staring at me with furrowed eyebrows.

“Already, Sir? Its not even been--” My questioning was cut off as the commander spoke up “Not a mission, Rookie. You’re going to be part of the psionics program, the first candidate in fact.”

“...Uh...I...I don’t know what to say, Sir.” I said, speechless. I was going to be a part of the psionics program, the first candidate much less. It was....Surprising, to say the least.

“Then don’t say anything. I want you in the Psi lab in 5.” the Commander said, before turning around and beginning to walk away, leaving me deep in thought, which was once more interrupted by my sister poking me in the back and looking at me sadly when i turned around to face her.

“Does...That mean you’ll be gone again?” she said, looking up at me with those big, teary eyes, making my chest tighten.

“You...Well, Its on the ship, so you can still come and visit me, I’m not going anywhere, alright?” I said, petting her on the head and giving a hopefully comforting smile, making her dejectedly say “Ok...”

“Hey, cheer up. Atleast I’ll still be on base.”

“But...You can’t play with me.” she said, looking down. I couldn’t just let her stay like that so I thought about it...

“I’ll see if they can let you play with me sometime, alright?”

“Ok...I love you, Brother.”

“I love you too, Sis.”

Its been Three days since I was made part of the Psionics program. They had denied access to my sister to enter the lab, due to possible unforeseen consequences it could have upon the training program. I had argued with them on the topic, but they had refused to budge on the topic, forcing me to begrudgingly accept it. As much as I hated the fact I couldn’t see her, I understood their fear. This is a new project, and they wanted to take as little risk with it as possible until they understood it further. But just because I understood it, didn’t mean I had to like it, and I was very vocal about my dislike.

“Exactly how much longer do I have to stay here and sit my happy ass down until you can let me see my sister again?” I spoke out in a loud tone, ensuring that they heard every word.

The intercom beeped, and the voice of one of the scientists spoke up “Only a few more minutes. Then we’ll provide you your new equipment and then you can go back to your own living quarters.” their answer left me groaning, before I turned my attention back to the book that was in front of me. It was of the files they had gathered, and it detailed the effects of the psionic abilities and how to achieve them, as well as other possible ‘Abilities’ that could be achieved through learning from it. Some of them were...Rather interesting, but I had been forced to learn a single one, at least until I had memorized it, as well as the accompanying 28 pages of instructions. It went into intense amounts of detail, but at least I was done with it. Currently, they were adding the finishing touches to...Something. I wasn’t made aware of what it was, but they had told me it was important.

The reason they also had refused to let me read it outside was because of a ‘psionic amplification field’ that was in my cell, which allowed for people to achieve psionic abilities at a accelerated rate. Making...What they explained to be weeks or even months of training take only days, as well as being set up so people keep their focus on their training, instead of outside activities. Plus, it stopped any...Mishaps.

“Aaand done.” The voice over the intercom spoke out, before the door opened, and allowed me outside of the cell I had been contained to for the past few days.

I took a deep breath, appreciating every lungful of air I breathed in, and then turned towards the scientists who were standing nearby. “Thank god I’m out of the cell, I swear, you people built it to be as boring as death. Now, you mentioned new equipment?”

“Yes, it’s right over there, on that table. The Commander had set it up to fit your preferences.” One of the scientists spoke, motioning at a table, which had rather impressive looking stuff on it.

“You have been provided with a Stasis Vest, A Mindshield and a Skulljack, as well as a Personal Combat Sim for Superior Perception. You have also been armed with a Plasma Lance, according to your personal preferences, and a new type of armor the engineers have just finished manufacturing. The Icarus Armor.”

The entire scope of the equipment made me whistle, as my eyes traveled over each piece, I stopped at the Plasma Lance. It was a beautiful piece of machinery, and had some extreme upgrades added to it, a Superior Scope and a Superior Expanded Magazine. Next to it, were multiple magazines, lined up one after another. And as I picked one of them up, looking it over, one of the scientists spoke up.

“Oh, and your weapon also has been armed with Talon Rounds, as per standard issue.”

“Holy hell, you REALLY don’t take this lightly, do ya?” I asked, completely astounded by the equipment I had been provided. But as I took it all in, I stared at one piece in particular. “What’s this.” I muttered out loud, picking it up. It looked...Odd, and had swirling blue colors on the end of it. Not to mention it looks extremely advanced, better than most standard issue assault rifles. It looked similar to the Psi Amp I had seen in multiple pictures but...Considerably more fancy.

“Oh yes, We haven’t informed you yet. You have been provided with a Alien Psi Amp, which was what we were actually waiting for to be brought in. It's a top of the line Psi Amp, and is by our calculations, roughly 4 times as efficient as the standard one.” The scientist spoke calmly, making me go bug eyed.

“You’re arming me to the bloody teeth!” I spoke out, staring at them. One of the scientists spoke up in response “Of course. Due to your new abilities, which few of our soldiers are able to counter, you have been provided with not only the Mindshield to prevent mind control, but also the top of the line equipment to assure you are well armed and protected. You are the first Psi Operative we have and loosing you would be a devastating blow to our forces.”

“...Damn...” I said, staring at it all, then rose the Psi Amp up, putting my hand onto the glowing, almost hypnotic glowing orb it had, and my hand began to gather it all up, making me panic as unfamiliar energy filled my body and mind making me pull my hand back from it and jerk it away, unfortunately, making a blast of psionic energy go through the glass of my holding cell, obliterating it, and then striking the glowing orb at the top of my cell.

As I stared at it in panic and shock, it began to swirl around chaotically. And at the worst time, the door to the Psi Lab opened and my sis was at the door, a smile on her face, which quickly disappeared “Hey!--Uh...Brother?”

“GET OUT OF HE--” I shouted at her, only to be cut off, as the Psi Amplifier collapsed in on itself and turned into what looked like a black hole, were it not for the blue tint and angrily swirling tendril-like limbs of psionic energy.

It began to pull me in, but I gripped onto the metal table, making all of my equipment fly into the swirling mass, however, as I stared, my sister was sent flying, and began to get pulled into it due to her small mass. I didn’t think about my actions, as I let go of the table and jumped, trying to grab her and throw her out of the way, but it was much too late, as we were both sucked into the portal, while I held onto her tightly.

“Its going to be okay...”

Then, Silence.

Author's Note

This is my first story on Fimfiction, and in fact, the first story I have made ever. Hopefully, its not crap. Criticism is appreciated!