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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4989028" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 8 (June 2, 2008)Chapter 23“Will he be all right?” Catalina asked.  “He’s too stubborn to die,” James said, as he opened up the X-COM medikit and drew out a small object that looked like an implement of torture; a multi-pronged syringe, with three cylinders that each culminated in a long steel prong.  “Let me worry about the Russian.  I need you to use that thing,” he said, indicating the motion sensor riding in Cat’s hip, “to see if there are any more of them coming.”Catalina nodded, and turned to join Jane in keeping watch along the street.  The fire from the two destroyed cyberdisks had faded away; there really wasn’t much left of the things after they exploded to burn for long.  But the smoke hung in a pall over the street.  Vasily was propped up against the wall of the alley a few feet from where he’d fallen.  James had run over to him as soon as Jane had destroyed the second alien drone, and with Cat had dragged the fallen Russian into cover.  The shot had blasted the armor protecting his chest, and James could smell the familiar stink of charred flesh beneath that, but either Vasily had gotten luckier than Buzz had back in the Utah mountains, or X-COM’s armor had gotten better, for he was still conscious, and even able to cough as James turned back to him, armed with the medical device.  James swore that the Russian’s eyes widened slightly as he got a good look at it. “I… fine, Doctor,” he said, trying to get up.  He managed to shift slightly, even that faint movement causing a lot of obvious pain.  James had to fight back a chuckle.  “Just hold still,” he said. He’d worked on the new medikits himself, and he’d seen them tested but it was still something else to plunge the three needles into Vasily’s body, to see the fluids start to glow slightly as they mixed, the alien compounds seeping into the injured man’s tissues and reprogramming them, accelerating his own regenerative powers by a factor of a hundred.  James had practiced medicine for many years, and a part of him still couldn’t believe what he saw as the bleeding stopped, and bits of black char fell away to reveal smooth, pink flesh beneath.  Vasily grunted, then gasped, and blinked.  “That…” he said, at a loss for words.“Yeah.  Can you get up?”He accepted James’s hand, but once on his feet, he found that he could stand without support.  “Situation?” he asked, reaching down to pick up his armored vest, which was now much the worse for wear.  “You know as much as I do.  Let’s go ask Catalina and Jane what they’ve found.”They didn’t have to go far; the two women were standing about forty feet down the street, almost to where the dead men—recognizable now as SWAT troopers—were scattered around the quiet helicopter.  A man was visible inside the chopper, his forehead leaned against the plexiglass window, right where an alien blast had perforated it—and him.  Buzz was poking around in the wreckage from the cyberdisks, but they knew from their last encounter with them that he wasn’t likely to find much left behind.  “What is it?” Vasily asked.  The building in front of them had a driveway that slanted down into what looked like a parking garage below.  Catalina was working on the motion detector, adjusting the dials underneath the display.  “Not sure.  Thing is acting up a bit,” Catalina said.  Vasily touched earpiece.  “Ken, anything on sensor?”Ken’s voice returned quickly.  “I’ve tapped into the local law enforcement network, and I’m working on a local news channel chopper feed.  Looks like another station’s defying the military ban on air traffic.”Vasily swore and looked up.  “We on TV?”James bent and examined the bodies of the SWAT members.  “Dead,” he said.  “Not sure, but it looks like some sectoids might have gone into the some of the buildings in your area,” Ken said.  “Some aliens in buildings,” Vasily said.  “we may need sweep.”“All right, let’s go,” James said.  Jane had started down the ramp into the garage; Buzz followed, with Vasily and then James after.  A sedan lay askance at the bottom of the ramp, its hood crumpled where it had impacted a concrete support pillar.  A few more dark shadows were visible within the garage, but the area near the entry looked otherwise deserted.  Catalina, lingering behind in the street, lifted the detector and cursed.  “Wait!” she exclaimed, hurrying after them even as Jane lifted a hand at the bottom of the ramp, motioning for those behind her to halt.  “For <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />’s sake!” the British agent hissed, careful to keep her voice down.  Jane retreated from her position.  “Get back,” she said.  “Aliens.”“I could have bloody well told you that!” Catalina said, indicating the sensor.  “What happened to teamwork?”But Jane didn’t get a chance to respond, as Buzz pointed and yelled, “Over there!”  His warning was followed by a loud explosion as a car suddenly went up deeper in the garage, and a loud screech echoed off the cavernous walls in its wake.  “They know we here,” Vasily said.  “Take cover!” he warned, even as plasma bolts started lancing out of the shadowy depths of the garage toward them.</blockquote>

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