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Sneaky time!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BurningGray
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=XCOM%20Trooper%20Quest
Squad Info: https://pastebin.com/4KJN5HKK (embed) (embed)
Reader Made To Do List: https://xcom864106258.wordpress.com/
Peppermint’s Origin: https://pastebin.com/Y2XcJWJf
Commander Dossier: https://pastebin.com/GeGSVnyw

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>>3079175
>>Assign who you’ll lead in charge

Let's leave Rook in charge

>>3079175
>>Assign who you’ll lead in charge. (Specify)
Harita
first post for best girl

>>3079175
>Assign who you’ll lead in charge. (Sweet)
Sweet seems like he'd have a good head on his shoulders for this kind of thing.

>>3079175
>Assign who you’ll lead in charge. (Sweet)
>With Rook as his second.

>>3079175
>>Assign who you’ll lead in charge. (Specify)
Sweet. He can handle it

>>3079183
Wasn't Rook permanently denied a leadership role by Mommander ever again? I dunno how well she'd take us going behind her back about this kind of thing.

>>3079175
>Assign who you’ll lead in charge. (Specify)
Sweet. Rook sounds like he still isn't ready/shaken from his previous stint. Meanwhile Sweet I think we can count on to keep a level head and keep the kids in line.

>>3079175
>You spoke with Jimmy and they’ll be working with his team as support.

>>3079175
>>You spoke with Jimmy and they’ll be working with his team as support.

>>3079190
This. It was clearly explained already by Rook himself how he was given the talk by the Commander that he will Never be given leadership again, and that he only stayed because they needed people in X-COM. Trying to give him leadership here is worse than useless, as it means we're ignoring Rook's opinions and disobeying the Commander.

>>3079215
Rook still has command experience though getting the others to give them pointers if they needed help with running things or a 2nd opinion is a good option for keeping things within the squad.

>>3079175
>>You’ll entrust them to pick a sufficient leader depending on the mission.

>>3079175
>>You spoke with Jimmy and they’ll be working with his team as support.

>>3079175
>Assign who you’ll lead in charge. (Specify)
Harita

>>3079175
>Assign who you’ll lead in charge. (Sweet)
"Rachel... do what Sweet tells you when I'm gone."

>You’ll entrust them to pick a sufficient leader depending on the mission.

Calling the vote here, writing!

“Funny you should ask. You’ll be taking care of things until we get back, Sweet.” You say.

“Wow, really?” Sweet blinks a bit thrown off.

“Yep. You already keep an eye out for the squad and make sure everyone survives getting shot. Not that much of a far stretch already to lead.” You reason. “Hopefully we resolve things quick enough that you don’t have to deploy without us coming back, but knows how hard the aliens will hit us. Do what you have to do.”

You were really close to asking Jimmy to help you out, but you don’t want to put too much of a burden with that squad. Plus, Sweet’s always had a solid head on his shoulders. It seemed like a pretty straightforward decision.

“Well… alright then. You got it, Dozer. I’ll keep these yahoos in line.” Sweet gives you a thumbs up.

“Hey!” Naru and Rachel exclain in unison.

Yeah, they’ll be fine.

With everything hashed out with your team, some of the members of Strike-1 give their well wishes and good lucks before dispersing or lingering a bit to chat with some of the others. In particular Loki is still chatting with Harita and Naru is badgering Burnout a bit. Rachel’s just chilling off to the side, and when she sees you she smirks and jerks a thumb towards the bar.

“I will be making sure our equipment is sorted out.” Zhang nods to you before leaving for the armory.

Well, you have a bit of time before you’re going to be blindfolded and escorted out of XCOM HQ. Given the aliens penchant for psionic shenanigans and now human saboteurs, it’s smart to keep the troops still unaware of the base’s location.

But what to do with your bit of free time?

>Check up on Anna and see if she’s sorted out.
>Speak with someone from your squad. (Specify)
>Check the armory with Zhang.
>Head to the bar with Rachel. A send-off shot or two doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
>Other

>>3079445
>>Head to the bar with Rachel. A send-off shot or two doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

>>3079445
>>Check up on Anna and see if she’s sorted out.

>>3079445
>>Head to the bar with Rachel. A send-off shot or two doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

>>3079445
>>Check up on Anna and see if she’s sorted out.

>>3079445
>Check up on Anna and see if she’s sorted out.

>>3079445
>>Head to the bar with Rachel. A send-off shot or two doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

>>3079445
>Head to the bar with Rachel. A send-off shot or two doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

We can also talk about super cool emblems, or how about custom paintjobs?

>>3079445
>>Head to the bar with Rachel. A send-off shot or two doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Calling the vote here, writing!

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You know what, you’re not against hitting up the bar before going off on this mission. It would help set your nerves straight and help you with relaxing somewhat. The new responsibility is starting to settle in and liquor might get you in the right mindset. You nod to Rachel.

“Nice!” Rachel grins, motioning for you to join her at the bar. You oblige.

Having been the one getting served the booze lately, you begin to head your way over to behind the counter to return the favor. However, Rachel holds up an augmented hand.

“Allow me. After all, we wouldn’t want you to fumble the bottle before a mission. I’m pretty sure that’s some real bad luck.” Rachel reassures.

“Fair enough.” You relent, taking a seat by one of the stools once again.

“Besides, I needed to practice my fine motor functions anyways. Best of both worlds!” Rachel chuckles as she makes exaggerated ‘robotic’ movements with her augs.

You chuckle at that.

“You know, I never did get to say thanks for putting the time to keep an eye out for me while I was under.” You say, as Rachel snags some glasses and several liquor bottles.

“Hey, don’t mention it man. Like I said before, hospitals can be one hell of a bummer. Just doing my part after all to lend a hand.”

“Well, thanks anyways.”

Rachel chuckles at that as she begins to start mixing both of your drinks.

“All in all, I think things are going great for us, wouldn’t you say? I mean look at you, Dozer. A mere doorkicker turned XCOM Squad Leader turned secret agent man with a bit extra under his sleeves. And I don’t even need to say anything on my end.” Rachel points out as she begins to make rather precise and quick shakes.

>You agree, you feel satisfied at the progress made.
>It’s a bit hard to believe sometimes.
>Ask how Rachel’s been doing.
>Other

>>3079614
>>Ask how Rachel’s been doing.
I don't care about any romance options, only morale.

>>3079614
>>It’s a bit hard to believe sometimes.
I bet Dozer would never think he'd be in this position 5 years ago.

>>3079614
>Ask how Rachel’s been doing.

>>3079614
>>You agree, you feel satisfied at the progress made.

>>3079614
>It’s a bit hard to believe sometimes.

>>3079614
>Ask how Rachel’s been doing.

>>3079614
>Ask how Rachel’s been doing.
>Ask how Rachel’s been doing.

>>3079614
>>Ask how Rachel’s been doing.

Calling the vote here, writing!

File: XCOM Barracks 1.jpg (38 KB, 519x259)

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You watch Rachel do her thing for a moment, mixing the drinks like she were trying to save lives. A constant back and forth rhythm, and a quick one at that. The MEC trooper has to blow away hair from covering her eyes with how quick she’s shaking it. It makes you wonder...

“Rachel, how have you been holding up?” You ask her.

“Pretty good, all things considered! I’m feeling way better since Vegas, that’s for sure and-- oh don’t even give me that look dude. Vegas is old news, and it did me good in the long run. Really. I admit, wasn’t in the greatest place, but Uncle Shen gave me a chance and here I am-- shit!” Rachel had attempted to do a flourish but in doing so she accidentally crushes the drink shaker with her grip.

“Don’t worry about that. There’s a spare in the cabinet. I think” You wave away. “If the other troops get pissy, I’ll try and bring a shaker home.”

“Hah. Sure.” Rachel says sheepishly. “It’s real easy to forget my strength sometimes. The augs are hardcoded for a long of things, important stuff, like gripping things and pulling triggers or pins. Not so much programming for the flair, I guess.”

“I’m sure.”

Rachel has to yank the crumpled lid off to start pouring the liquids into both glasses.

“But seriously though, I really do feel glad I’m making a real difference this time. I’m not just some off-brand Engineer with a shield. Still love that alloy shield, but with how mobile the aliens are plus those grenades discs and Mutons have, it would’ve been a detriment. As a MEC? I’m a damn force multiplier. It’s worth the limbs, easy.” Rachel nods to herself.

There’s something about how she speaks, that topic of worth coming up once again. In the conversation. It was a major part of what really dragged her down before and it still seems to influence her calls. It seems to be doing her good but… is there more to it still?

>Press further.
>Leave it be.
>Other

>>3079738
>Press further.

>>3079738
>>Press further.

>>3079738
>>Leave it be.

>>3079738
>>Press further.

>>3079738
>Press further.

Energy shields in R&D?

>>3079738
>>Press further.

Calling the vote here, writing!

File: 1497653414092.jpg (42 KB, 356x392)

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“C’mon Rachel, what’s all this talk about not being useful?” You frown, deciding to press the issue once again.

You’ll get to the bottom of this, and chatting over a drink is probably the best time too get to it. Rachel pauses. She considers this as she starts to fill the glasses, pausing to take note of something missing with the drink. She looks around on her side of the counter, and then she peers into the fridge.

“Where the hell are the lemons?” Rachel mutters.

“No way you’re going to weasel your way out of this over lemons.” You cross your arms.

“I know I know! It’s just, this drink needs a slice of lemon to complete it. And what else is there to say about it, really? I just wasn’t pulling my own weight and now I am. Seriously, where are the lemons?” Rachel starts to dig through the other cabinets.

“Rachel…”

“Look. You found your place in XCOM like that.” She snaps her metal fingers, which spark for a moment. “And my position? The one where I can keep people safe with a shield? Yeah it had its moments but it really didn’t work at all in the long run.”

You frown a bit, you were going to bring that up but she beat you to the punch. She sighs and gives you an apologetic look.

“Sorry, sorry, didn’t want to be a downer again and-- oh thank fuck there it is!” Rachel triumphantly pulls out the little plastic tray of lemons, she immediately reaches for a knife. “Hold on, cutting things finely is still a work in progress.”

You do so, waiting patiently as Rachel carefully slices up the lemon into wedges. Her hand shaking a bit and actually missing the first time around, but she gets it. Satisfied, she plonks a wedge on the rim of each glass. The drink is orange, really orange. It’s girly as all hell.

“Finally, perfect. Drink’s not the same without it. It’s like not having an olive in a martini, utter sacrilege...” Rachel murmurs as she hands you your drink.

“It’s definitely pretty damn well shaken and not stirred.” You muse, not minding the drink.

“Yeah, haha…” Rachel trails off for a moment in consideration. Holding her drink. “My thing, it uh, all kinda goes back to why I even rocked a shield in the first place. I wanted to make sure nobody else got shot and the bad guys would shoot at me instead. While I’m in a MEC suit? Every single E.T.’s gonna be blasting me and not you or Harita or anyone. Simple. I’ll gladly take the bullet every time, er, plasma bolt.”

You idly adjust the lemon in your drink.

>That’s damn brave of her.
>You can understand that but you want to make sure she doesn’t push it.
>Admit you’d do the same thing.
>She doesn’t need to push herself so hard.
>Other

>>3079881
>That’s damn brave of her.
>You can understand that but you want to make sure she doesn’t push it.
>When that radio com went out over Vegas? One of the elders got into my head and I did not even fucking notice because I was too concerned about you. Don’t go draping yourself over barb wire for others unless you absolutely have too Rachel.

>>3079881
>You can understand that but you want to make sure she doesn’t push it.

>>3079881
>>That’s damn brave of her.

>>3079881
>>You can understand that but you want to make sure she doesn’t push it.

>>3079881
>That’s damn brave of her.

>>3079881
>>You can understand that but you want to make sure she doesn’t push it.

>>3079881
>>Other
>"You and your MEC are far too valuable to just be a bullet shield. If you really really want to be mobile cover I'll ask the Shens if a MEC Shield is even possible."

>>3079963
I like it

>>3079881
I can also support >>3079963

>>3079881
>>You can understand that but you want to make sure she doesn’t push it.

File: MEC_ONE_FOR_ALL.png (5 KB, 64x64)

5 KB PNG

Come to think of it, doesn't she already do something similar to Long War's One For All perk, activating defensive posture and essentially becoming high cover anywhere?

Calling the vote here, writing!

>>3079987
Would also like to know for my/the pastebin.

>>3079963
*bullet magnet. Ack, where is my coffee ?

>>3080020
You're writing a pastebin?

>>3079987
Good question! She and all other MEC suits have One For All, it's just never been used so far.

>>3080023
>https://xcom864106258.wordpress.com/
I keep confusing wordpress and pastebin, meh.

>>3080025
Ah, you're the todo-list anon. Good to see you're actively updating it.

>>3080028
>To-do list: update to-do list
If you see anyone making unfunny jokes, that's prob also me.

“I get you, just make sure you don’t push yourself so hard, alright? You and your MEC suit is far too valuable to just be a bullet shield. If you really want to be mobile cover, why don’t you ask Shen to make you a MEC shield or something. Really become a proper walking fortress and all of that.” You say.

“Shit, now that’s a good idea!” Rachel laughs. “Straight up become THE WALL. Though, I’ll be honest, the Kinetic Strike Module really sings to me. I dunno if I can go back after punching the hell out of things. Tough as hell call.”

“Both certainly have their merits.”

“Yeah.” Rachel smiles. “I’ll be sure to keep it on the downlow, but honestly, you’re one to talk. I may have been the one to suggest chucking you at the UFO but you’re the madman who actually agreed to it!”

“Guilty as charged. Still.”

“I’ll try. But when I’m interfaced with a MEC suit…” Rachel trails off and shakes her head. “Anyways, I’ll go and handle myself and try not to get into too much trouble. Just say the word and I’ll stomp out those cheap suit wearing EXALT goons no problem.”

“I can drink to that.” You chuckle holding your girly as hell drink up.

Rachel raises her own drink back.

Like all drinks of this type, it’s actually enjoyable to consume. There’s a nice tang flavor to the mix with only a light burn from the alcohol, barely noticeable. That in and of itself makes this a very… very dangerous drink. The lemon does help round it out.

“This is pretty good.” You comment.

“Thanks, trying to come up with a name for it that somehow has MELD in the title. Still workshopping some names for it and-- oh fuck right!” Rachel snaps her fingers once again causing more sparks. “Before I forget. Do you think you can find out how the rest of our old squad is doing? You’ll actually have the chance to try and contact them.”

The thought of your old squad quickly springs to mind, times good and bad all mix together into one hell of a nostalgic cocktail. You’re practically jump at the idea but… reality hits.

“...I don’t about that, Rachel. I’d love to catch up with Charlie and the others, but it might break opsec.” You frown.

“I know, but, maybe you don’t have to contact them? Just find out how they’re holding up. Hell, go look up their social profiles. Jillian always did love taking selfies in her combat kit and shit.” Rachel muses.

Tempting, but if EXALT did somehow find you out there’s always the risk they’d trace to your squad and… well… they got enough on their plates. You are in a Covert Operation after all.

>You’ll look into contacting the old team.
>It’s better not to contact them, even if it is a bummer.
>Other

---

>>3080025
(Good to hear you're still at it!)

>>3080079
>You’ll look into contacting the old team.

>>3080079
>>It’s better not to contact them, even if it is a bummer.

>>3080079
>It’s better not to contact them, even if it is a bummer.

>>3080079
>Just look them up then clear the search history. It isn't like Exalt has any master hackers or anything right?

>>3080079
>>It’s better not to contact them, even if it is a bummer.
If only Dozer and Rachel knew what Charlie has become..

>>3080079
>It’s better not to contact them, even if it is a bummer.

>>3080079
>It’s better not to contact them, even if it is a bummer.

>>3080079
>>It’s better not to contact them, even if it is a bummer.

Rachel turned into a giant robot so she can't psychic doomguy/girl with you

>>3080079
>>Other
>"After we stamp out those hackers in Switzerland. I'll ask Anna about it while she is on the team anyway."

Calling the vote here, writing!

You let out a long sigh, your mood dropping a bit. There’s a lot of things you want to say to the old team, and the idea of speaking to them is oh so tempting. But you have a mission to accomplish, a team to lead, and to take care of.

“I… don’t think that’s a good idea.” You have to force your words out a bit, being an absolute buzzkill as you do so.

Rachel deflates a bit at that and nods.

“Yeah, you’re right. It just sucks. I miss them, y’know?” Rachel shakes her head, taking a long swig from her drink.

“Same here.”

“What really gets me sometimes is that for the folks who didn’t make it… we weren’t even there to see the funeral y’know? But, we can’t dwell on it. No more being a downer.” Her firm words are clearly for herself more than anyone else.

“It’s a way more enjoyable side of you.” You muse

“Screw you too.” Rachel rolls her eyes.

You and your buddy chat for a while, killing the time and enjoying your drinks. The conversation isn’t even particularly noteworthy, but it’s nice. Nothing wrong with shooting the breeze. Eventually, you look at the time and frown a bit. As much as you’d like to keep taking it easy, duty calls.

“Well, times up for me.”

“Lame...” Jerks her thumb downwards a few times. She smiles at you again, having recomposed herself and holds her fist out to you. “Stay safe out there, Dozer.”

“You too.” You reply her and bump fists. The little things.

You hoist up your duffelbag, and turn to leave, making your way to check the Armory one last time before leaving the base. As you arrive, the rest of Wraith-1 is present. All packed up and ready to go. Interestingly, the other members of the team are all wearing interesting looking coats, all handed over from the Armorer. Well, everyone except Anna. The Armorer seems to be cursing to herself as she wanders to the back, the comm’s analyst looking a bit sheepish. The group notices you approach.

“There you are Dozer, we were wondering when you’d show up.” Loki teases.

Anna spots you and hastily throws up a salute. “Sir!”

“At ease there Anna, no need to be so formal. I just got a drink before heading off.” You shrug. “Interesting jackets you guys are wearing.”

Anna relaxes, looking even more sheepish again. Still excited though.

“The jackets are extra protection.” Zhang explains. “It has some rudimentary alien alloy padding. The material is rather versatile, it seems.”

“No shit?”

“The only downside is it will pick up in a metal detector, but should provide much needed ballistic protection alongside a kevlar vest. Should be sufficient against ballistic weapons.” Burnout adds.

At least your squad isn't completely naked during transit.

“Shame it isn’t particularly fashionable.” Loki sighs. “Nor is there a jacket that comes in Anna’s size.”

“I’m working on it!” The Armorer barks from the back.

Anna looks apologetic.

“What extra kit are you bringing along anyways?” Zhang asks.

>Arc Thrower.
>Alloy Plating.
>Medikit
>Other

---

For reference since I forgot to add, Zhang's bringing more Gauss Ammo, Loki's bringing Explosives, Burnout's bringing Battlescanners, and Anna is bringing her general comms equipment.

---

>>3080243
>Medikit

>>3080243
>>Medikit
If no one else is bringing one, we should at least have one emergency heal

>>3080243
>>Medikit

File: Sleepy Naru.png (133 KB, 985x809)

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>...Well, voting slowed and it's waaay later than I intended. So I think I'm gonna call it here for tonight and get some sleep while votes come in. Loadout might make or break things after all. Still, it was nice that we got a full run this time around with no temporary breaks! So until next update...

Thanks for playing!

>>3079738
I wonder why non-combat-capable prosthetics were given augmented strength and trigger-pulling programming.

>>3080243
>Medikit

>>3080244
By the way, did Mommander give us any pocket money or are we completely out of funds?

>>3080272
>By the way, did Mommander give us any pocket money ?
No, just a bunch of MRE's.

>>3080243
>>Medikit
I assume we can go into a apothecary to buy bandages and stuff, but walking into a hospital with gun wounds not so much.

>>3080342
And that's where Zhang's underground knowledge comes into play to get us a mafia surgeon.

>>3080336
I'm sure Zhang could sell those off to the local black market to get us some funds

>>3080243
>Arc Thrower.
Never leave home without it.

>>3080271
Emergencies. There's more MEC pilots than there are suits, and they're still trained soldiers. If there were some sort of, I don't know, "base defense," wouldn't it be good for them to be able to use firearms and grenades to defend themselves? Especially if they are cut off from getting to the suits.

>>3080243
>>Alloy Plating.
Armor is simply logical for Assault and the leader, especially if we're going to use less advanced equipment all around this time.

>>3080243
>Medikit
Someone has to bring it.

>>3080243
>Medikit
Someone has to bring the damn thing.

>>3080243
>>Medikit

>>3080271
If the MEC suit is rendered immobile by damage, you want Rachel being able to defend herself outside of it. That said, maybe a cool gun arm a la Metroid would be nicer than a prosthetic in such a circumstance.

Calling the vote here!

>>3082010
Nah, gun arms are always worse than simply guns. Less mobility, space constraints, recoil, inconvenient maintenance, hard to upgrade, tactically inflexible.

>>3083071
However, guns hidden in retractable arms are the best of both worlds, Trigun style.

>>3083071
>inconvenient maintenance
Unless you can screw off the gun or unblot it easily
>Hard to upgrade
See above
>Less mobilty
You can't climb trees but thats about it. Depending on your arm strength you onnly need one arm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Xl1H3Vj1e7k

>>3083071
>>3083653
>>3083779
Gun attachments, that way the gun can be changed without removing the arms. Remember, standardization is your friend when making something modular!

File: XCOM Covert Ops.jpg (133 KB, 1600x940)

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“I opted for bringing a spare Medikit. Just in case one of us gets shot.” You say.

That, and you don’t actually know just how well everybody is at first aid besides Sweet. Of course you know how to bandage yourself up alongside over basic first aid, but with the advent of the lifesaving Medikit, you’re a bit rusty. Last thing you want to deal with is injury. There’s enough going on.

Zhang and the others nod in approval as the Armorer makes her return, holding out a smaller sized jacket out to Anna who eagerly takes it. She puts it on, and frowns a bit.

“Er, it’s still a bit too big.” Anna says hesitantly.

“Best you got!” The Armorer grumps, before spotting you. She mutters something and walks to the back room of the armory again. In no time, you are given your own jacket.

You appraise the piece of clothing for a moment. At a glance it really does look like your run in the mill type of jacket. Utilitarian and practical sure, but by all accounts nondescript. Nobody’s going to bother you. When you feel the fabric however, it’s only then that you feel the alien alloys sewn within. It’s the same weave material as the alloy platings which you are pretty damn familiar with.

When you slip it on, it’s even rather comfortable too. No need to worry about it restricting your mobility in any way. It ain’t Carapace Armor, but you’re glad to have it. This’ll do just fine.

“Wha-- What’re you all standing around for? You’ll get your weapons whenever you’ll get them. Good luck and all that.” The Armorer mutters motioning to be dismissed.

“Ma’am!” Anna says gratefully.

“Well,” Loki looks about the small group. “Despite the fact we all look like a bunch of hoodlums… Shall we take our leave?”

With a nod you and the rest of the team leave, heading not for XCOM’s hangar but the main maintenance access tunnels in XCOM’s mech bay. Not to be mistaken with the MEC Repair Bay. The main hub of XCOM’s logistics where fresh resources and supplies are brought in from the outside world. Already waiting for your group at the base’s access tunnels is one of those little transport cart. The driver, a blueshirt, holds up several blindfolds.

The group looks among each other.

It isn’t exactly the grandest start to XCOM’s first covert ops mission, that’s for sure.

(Part 1 / 2)

File: Denver Airport.jpg (164 KB, 900x598)

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What follows is the start of your squad’s long commute to Switzerland. First being led out, blindfolded, out into the surface and into a van. The only thing you can guess from your other senses is that you’re in a mountainous region with lots of trees and fresh. Which means that could be basically be anywhere. You remain blindfolded the entire drive until you group stuck on plane in an nondescript military airbase, and flown to a proper civilian airport in Colorado of all places before heading to your actual destination of Switzerland.

You wonder idly if XCOM HQ is in the Cheyenne Mountains or somewhere else, but being blindfolded for most of the trip before the airport while also inadvertently dozing off here and there had made it essentially impossible to guess. That’s probably for the best.

Currently, you and the others have just arrived at Denver International, and are waiting in the terminal for your flights out of the country. The others have changed out to mundane clothes except yourself, given you didn’t really have spare clothes given your recruitment. Anna at the moment had stepped away.

Everyone was of course given basic cover identities and passports for the normal flight, a reasonable amount of spare funds, burner phones, and the other essentials a spy would need. At first you thought getting cover identities and the like would be pretty neat, until you actually opted to take a look at the provided passport in your hands. It’s an American Passport with your face on it but the name…

“...John Smithson?” You mutter aloud, incredulously. Confused at how… generic your name is.

“At least your name is passable. Mine is ludicrous.” Loki mutters, holding up her passport. “Beatrice Tucker. Who in the world in this day and age names their daughter Beatrice?”

“We’ll just call you Bea if that makes you feel any better.” You smirk.

“I’m grateful.” Loki rolls her eyes.

“I have been made an Chinese American citizen.” Zhang furrows his brow. “Francis Lei. I… know absolutely little about America.”

“What about you?” Loki asks Burnout. “Did you manage to get something reasonable?”

“Luc Laruens.” Burnout mutters with a shrug, though everyone can tell the Scout is oddly not particularly fond with the alias.

“Why the long face? That seems like a completely fine name.” Loki wonders.

“I just find it ironic that I am under disguise as a French citizen when I am not one anymore. That is all.” Burnout shrugs.

“Ah. Apologies.” Loki

Burnout just lights himself a cigarette, even though the terminal is a no-smoking zone. You would advise against it but… there’s barely anybody in the airport.

“Aliens sure have dropped the interest in flying...” You comment, looking about the airport.

Boarding call is pretty soon, but there’s still a short window of time before you leave America.

>See if you can gleam more about America’s situation.
>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
>Just wait. No need to seem suspicious this early.
>Other

>>3084906
>>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
Paranoia rising...

>>3084906
>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
>Ask the others if they can see how the country is doing while we are looking for Anna.

>>3084906
>>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.

>>3084906
>>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.

>>3084906
>See if you can gleam more about America’s situation.

>>3084906
>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
>>See if we can grab a newspaper or three for the flight

>>3084906
>>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
>Does the airline provide newspapers on the flight ?

>>3084906
>>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
>>See if we can grab a newspaper or three for the flight

>>3085233
>Does the airline provide newspapers on the flight ?
The closest thing airlines provide is a monthly self-published travel magazine. If you want a newspaper, buy one at a newsstand before boarding.

>>3084906
>>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.

>>3085248
I'd imagine that they would have to make flying more appealing after the aliens appeared, and thus alter their services. But ok, buy a few.

>>3084906
>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.

>>3084927
This.

>>3084906
>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
Speaking from experience considering I live near it DIA is absolute shit

>>3086298
Including shit airlines, or only the airport itself ?

>>3084906
>>Look around for Anna, she’s still not back yet.
We promised to look after her, that also means making sure she doesn't get in trouble in the airport.

And buy a newspaper if we can while we're at it, it'd be nice to see what media writes about the aliens.

Calling the vote here!

>>3086315
Speaking specifically to the airport. Most of the airlines I've flown there are fine.

Deciding it’s best to keep tabs on everyone, The last thing you need is Wraith-1 somehow getting in trouble before you even arrive at Switzerland. That would just be a catastrophe. You stand up.

“I’m going to go find Anna. Do any of you remember which direction she went?” You ask your teammates.

Burnout points down a ways. Nodding in thanks, you set out to find your team’s support specialist. You stroll past the various shops and other stores, selling all sorts of convenience items and basic necessities at… actually non-extortionist prices this time. You’re confused for a moment, after all airports usually mark up practically everything, but once again chock it up to the aliens.

If nobody’s opting to fly around out of fear from being shot out of the sky by a plasma cannon, nobody can get ripped off in an airport. That might be one of the few good things that’s come out of this invasion, really. The strangest thing is besides XCOM interceptors and other military aircraft the aliens have yet to shoot down airliners. You’d think the aliens would do that and control the skies. If they can blast out Ravens reliably, than civilians plans would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Another enigmatic choice from the aliens’ war plans…

This has only piqued your interest further in current world affairs. While still on the search for Anna, you stop by a small newsstand and pick up a couple of newspapers. A few headlines catch your eye as you purchase the papers. Some are particularly amusing such has ‘Celebrities as Possible Aliens’ (which gives you a hilarious image of a Thin Man wearing a wig and dress) or ‘Burger Prices Increase Due To Cow Abductions’ (Possible but most likely an excuse to raise prices for profit). But most are rather sobering, such as slow aid efforts in Las Vegas or the rise in missing person reports.

At least you’ll have something to read on the flight over.

With newspapers purchased in hand, you continue onwards, trying to spot Anna. Thankfully you don’t have to keep looking for much longer. You spot Anna sitting in a cafe. At a glance, she seems like quite the composed and professional individual. She’s wearing a pair of aviators and a bomber jacket, sipping a cup of coffee. She looks cool and in control.

However, that lasts for basically as long as the glance does. Observing her further, she’s really anything but. She’s sitting on a higher chair and her legs are just dangling off the edges, swinging back and forth. Her head bobs along to a silent beat, listening to music on a pair of earbuds, and her lips twitch ever so slightly with a look of, well, someone trying to look cool. By actively trying to look cool she, well, doesn’t.

She’s odd but she’s not the most eccentric person you’ve seen in XCOM. You head over to meet her. When Anna spots you she is mid sip of her coffee and nearly drinks too much too quickly.

(Part 1 / 2)

File: Xcom_Anna_P.png (246 KB, 436x800)

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“Hey Anna.” You greet her.

“Oh! Hi Doz-- er--” Anna coughs, quickly correcting herself yet somehow still saying your nickname. She pops out an earbud to hear you. “I mean, heya John!”

“What’re you doing here? We’re leaving soon and I’ve been looking for you.”

“Sorry! It’s just been ages since I got a chance to visit a coffee shop, and I’m taking the opportunity to do so before our business trip.” Anna says, very obviously hinting that business trip is something else. She’s clearly enjoying herself.

Getting a bit of recreation before the mission starts, that’s fair really.

“Just give me a heads up next time before you head out. I’m supposed to make sure you stay safe.”

“It won’t happen again!” Anna says hastily finishing her hot drink, which is a challenge for her.

You idly look at the time on your burner phone. You still have like twenty minutes before boarding. This might be a good time to get to know Anna further, come to think of it.

>Tell Anna to relax and just chat with her a bit. You got some time to spare.
>Have Anna wrap it up so you both can head back. You don’t want to miss the flight.
>Other

>>3087172
>>Have Anna wrap it up so you both can head back. You don’t want to miss the flight.

>>3087172
>Tell Anna to relax and just chat with her a bit. You got some time to spare.

Let's aim to be back with the ground around 5 minutes before

>>3087177
>ground
group

>>3087172
>Tell Anna to relax and just chat with her a bit. You got some time to spare.
Understanding our team will probably be pretty important for this mission, and we really don't know Anna too well.

>>3087172
>Chat with her on the way back.

>>3087172
Seconding >>3087200

>>3087172
>Tell Anna to relax and just chat with her a bit. You got some time to spare.

They probably still have 30 minutes of boarding time. We've got time.

>>3087172

Supporting this: >>3087200

>>3087172
>>Tell Anna to relax and just chat with her a bit. You got some time to spare.

>>3087172
>>Other
>Ask her if she can hack under duress, e.g. when there are enemies nearby or there is a firefight going on. Also ask to what extent she has received stealth and first aid training.

>>3087172
>Tell Anna to relax and just chat with her a bit. You got some time to spare.

>>3087172
>Have Anna wrap it up so you both can head back. You don’t want to miss the flight.
>>3087200
+1
>>3087723
Please no talking about violence in the airport.

>>3088158
>>3087723
>Other
>Ask if she has any experience defusing a BOMB!

Calling the vote here!

>>3088158
>Please no talking about violence in the airport.
I was told it was nearly abandoned. and Dozer knows how to lower his voice.

>>3088351
I get nervous when I can't get an inappropriate song out of my head, like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFAFA3B3CWU
Plus less people makes lip reading easier, we can still be spied on right now, and I'm paranoid.

You gauge the time. Ehhh, you got a bit of spare time to chat with Anna. This is an opportunity to get to know what is essentially a new team member. You haven’t had plans to replace any of Strike-1 any time soon, so this is a pleasant change of pace. If time gets short you can always walk and talk. Anna is also going to hurt herself if she tries to shotgun the coffee so you hold a hand to stop her.

“Easy there,” You say as you opt to take a seat with her. “No need to rush things. Just relax. I wanted to chat with you a bit anyways, partly to get to know what you’re capable of but mostly to ask what you’re doing here. I walked passed another cafe along the way to find you, why’d you pick this one?”

“Er, well, I was people watching sir.” Anna says sheepishly relieved to not have to scald her tongue. She sets down the cup and raises her aviators to speak with you.

“People watching? There’s not that many people to watch in the airport. Also you don’t have to just call me sir.”

“There were some people here si-- John,” Anna corrects herself again. “They were all a small group that were just about to board. It was nice, and then they boarded. I really don’t get much of a chance to people watch back at work. It’s fun, and it helps keep my mind sharp.”

“I wouldn’t have thought people watching would help with your work.”

“It… kinda doesn’t? But I like to think it does! Being an analyst means you constantly have to sift through all sorts of data and put things together into something that logically makes sense. People watching is the same, in a way. Figuring out people is like sifting through comms signals, it’s all piecemeal, like what clothes they’re wearing, body language, and so on."

Anna takes a sip of her coffee, savoring it this time around. Tiny sips, but the liquid is slowly but surely being drained away.

“I think I see what you mean. I take it you were part of some intelligence agency prior to XCOM’s recruitment then?”

“I’m a Navy girl, actually. I worked in SIGINT. I was originally aiming to be a navy pilot. Pilots are cool after all. It didn’t go so well but whatever, soldiers and operators are way cooler now and-- er-- anyways- I gave intel work a go and here I am. I apparently just had a knack for comms and E-warfare. Which makes sense given, I’m in XCOM after all!” Anna grins, puffing her chest out quite proudly, it doesn’t last long. “Well, sort’ve. XCOM kindasorta found me… aha.”

Anna goes back to sipping at her coffee, staring into the dark liquid. Her recruitment is either clearly some embarrassing story of some kind or something similar. XCOM tendency to poach personnel from literally anywhere remains true.

“I see…” You wonder what to ask her.

>Find out what her general skill set is.
>Ask about how she got recruited into XCOM
>Politely point out she’s trying a bit too hard to be cool.
>Ask her something else (Specify)
>You should start heading back.

>>3089158
>Ask about how she got recruited into XCOM

>>3089158
>>Find out what her general skill set is.

>>3089158
>Ask about how she got recruited into XCOM

>>3089158
>>Ask about how she got recruited into XCOM

>>3089158
>Ask about how she got recruited into XCOM

>>3089212
>>3089218
>>3089227
>>3089281
Is it wise to be talking about XCOM in the middle of a public, albeit mostly empty, area en route to a secret special op mission?
>>3089158
General skill set

>>3089158
>Find out what her general skill set is.

>>3089158
>>Find out what her general skill set is.

>>3089158
>>Find out what her general skill set is.

>>3089158
>Find out what her general skill set is.
>Politely point out she’s trying a bit too hard to be cool.

>>3089158
>>Find out what her general skill set is.
>>Politely point out she’s trying a bit too hard to be cool.

>>3089305
Read >>3088351 again. If both lower their voice, there is nothing to be heard. And some general info about xcom is bound to get out eventually. I don't think all the survivors of Vegas were mindwiped, Skyrangers/Ravens being seen in the sky, etc.

Calling the vote here!

>>3089604
fair

>>3090103
Your caution is valid though, but Dozer and Anna can find a way, like passing notes backand forth.
(by the way, do we have commbeads on this mission or is that too conspicuous ?)

You’ve never really worked so closely with a specialist such like Anna, so getting an understanding now on how best to use her skills would be beneficial in the long run. That, and you’re just naturally curious to see what she’s capable of.

“What’s your general skill set, Anna?” You ask, keeping your voice down. It’s not too difficult to have a quiet conversation and there really isn’t enough people to listen in. Still, there’s nothing wrong with some healthy cautious paranoia.

“Well, I’m a comm’s specialist!” Anna replies quickly, straightening up at the chance to explain her worth, she then lowers her own voice as well, “That means both in handling and monitoring all sorts of communication. Be it intercepting messages and e-mails, tapping into surveillance footage, monitoring networks, or jamming radio comms, I’ll make sure that our signal can’t be stopped!”

You take it all in, that is pretty useful. Perfect for an op like this

“So… you can hack stuff pretty well then?” You frown at your own rudimentary follow up question. It’s very clear your lack of technical expertise is showing.

“I can hack certain things, but I’m no master hacker. I can get into networks and stuff sure but I’m more defensive with e-warfare.” Anna explains, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to for example, get into the bank’s internal systems unless you give me some sorta prior access, which I have some equipment for that, but I should be able to infiltrate and jam enemy comms just fine.”

“Comms focus then, got it. We’re still not sure how extensive our enemies are, we just know where it happened. For all we know it could’ve just been a staging point or the whole bank is in on it.”

“Right. We’re going to need to figure out just how secure the bank’s servers are, which shouldn’t be an issue for me. If we’re really lucky, the bank has free complimentary wifi, that would really makes things interesting for me.” Anna grins mischievously, she lowers her shades over her eyes to accentuate her point.

The closest example you can give to yourself with that smile is when you see a flimsy wooden door you can easily kick down. You’re a doorkicker through and through and it echoes right in with your mentality. Hopefully you can change gears to think more sneakily. One thing does stand out with Anna though.

“Hey uh, don’t take this the wrong way or anything but you might be trying a bit too hard trying to be cool.”

“I am!?” Anna gasps.

“Yeah, the more you try the more you aren’t. It has to come naturally.”

“H-how are you supposed to do that? Could you tell me? You and the rest of the team are all really cool!” Anna looks hopeful.

“Er, I wouldn’t know. But you shouldn’t be trying to go the extra mile to compare yourself to us, we’re all in the same organization after all.”

“I suppose…” Anna looks a bit glum, but that doesn’t fully dissuade her. “I guess I just have to do my job extra hard to keep up with you guys!”

“Sure, that works.”

(1 / 3)

You chat with Anna for a little while longer, and learn further just how peppy she is. Besides being a HUGE audiophile she thinks pretty highly of Strike-1, and her desire to contribute lines up with Bradford’s explanation of her. Eventually you have to wrap the chat up since time is of the essence.

You don’t have to yell for the flight attendants to hold the doors open, but it's a bit too close for comfort. The others were prepared to delay the plane as long as possible, but you save everyone the trouble. When asked where Anna went, you covered for her and said she was practicing her analyst work. Anna appreciated the assistance.

Upon boarding the flight and taking to the skies, you once again are given a newfound appreciation for just how fast the Skyranger is. What would’ve been two hours tops is an over ten hour flight. It’s first class sure but It’s still really slow. Try as you might, you really do feel like sitting duck in the air.

The others settle in as you’d guess they would. Zhang spends most of the time in contemplation, Anna listens to music, Loki abuses first class privileges for all of it’s worth, and Burnout spends most of his time sleeping so he can ignore his desire to smoke.

The flight is not all bad. There’s food, drinks, in-flight entertainment, those complimentary neck pillows and other conveniences. So at least you’re kept comfortable in that aspect. Morale would improve if Skyrangers provided alcoholic drink cart...

To occupy yourself, you focus on going through the newspapers when you aren’t just napping or whatever. America’s passiveness is your focus. It just doesn’t make any sense to you. Finding out why the United States isn’t rearing for a fight doesn’t take long. It’s not that Americans aren’t wanting to blast aliens… they just can’t. The aliens aren’t some easily understood enemy, and what information that is realized scares people. Vegas didn’t help either.

It isn’t like blasting away at terrorists hiding in caves across the world, or other major powers with clear battlelines. It’s an enemy with such overwhelming firepower that can swoop anywhere and there’s nothing nobody can do about it. Or so they think. There might be something else going on behind the scenes, but you can’t be sure with just newspapers.

You can’t help but feel frustrated and angry at how helpless the newspaper articles make everything seem to be. It’s probably the same for the rest of the world. Just dread constantly lingering as people warily look to the skies. If only folks could see humanity WAS fighting back, and it wasn’t all hopeless. The world really does need something to rally behind…

Like XCOM.

It's a crazy thought, but it sticks in your head nonetheless. Maybe XCOM should reveal themselves to the world in some capacity? Security risks be damned. If humanity could see there’s a force kicking alien ass, maybe folks won’t start to give up hope or worse, start to sympathize with the aliens.

Maybe…

(2 / 3)

...Maybe not. You’re not the Commander.

You finish working your way through the newspapers in the first few hours, but you still have a LOT of time to kill. You kinda regret not snagging a book or something.

There remains some options to spend the rest of the long flight, of course. The last thing you want to do is let your mind linger to just how horrifically vulnerable you are to a UFO. Having run AWAY from being vaporized by UFO plasma cannons has still not sat well for you.

Once you land in Switzerland it’s going to be all work on the operation. You doubt you’ll really have any free time, unless it’s a stakeout or something.

>Brush up on the mission details.
>Try and improve your psionic state.
>Just try and relax for the rest of the flight.
>Other

>>3091869
>>Try and improve your psionic state.

As for rallying the world, maybe some some guncam footage of a Raven shooting down a UFO getting "leaked" might help.

>>3091869
>Try and improve your psionic state.

>>3091869
>Try and improve your psionic state.
I hope this isn't a trap option that makes us a bright beacon for the ayys' psionic sensors

>>3091869
>Try and improve your psionic state.

>>3091869
>Just try and relax for the rest of the flight.

>>3091869
Other

Talk with Loki, shes best girl after all

>>3091869
>>Try and improve your psionic state.

>>3091869
>>Try and improve your psionic state.
dont fuck up a roll guys

>>3091869
>Try and improve your psionic state.

>>3091869
>Try and improve your psionic state.

>>3091869
>Brush up on the mission details.

>>3091869
>>Try and improve your psionic state.
Psionics is a game-changer, and it's something only we can do

>>3091869
>>Try and improve your psionic state.

>>3091869
>Jerk off

Calling the vote here! Next post will be the last post for this thread!

>>3091867
>Finding out why the United States isn’t rearing for a fight
America only picks easy fights.

>>3092362
I think this can be included in the psionic rehabilitation

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If you’re going to be stuck in this plane for a while longer, best to put some time to use. There’s really not that much details on the mission to even peruse anyways. It’s just a general gist of things, and goings on in Switzerland and information on the banking firm. You’re not really interested in doing completely nothing and wasting good time, so you decide to try and gauge where you are with your psionic abilities.

You’ve really put it in the back of your mind since the mission, having to deal with picking your mental state piece by piece. You’re still feeling it now, but it’s thankfully not as bad as before. No staring off into space or sleeping for a disturbingly long amount of time. There’s still some lingering sluggishness.

Calming yourself, you try and do your best to mentally reach out to the Gift, taking note to not start actually glowing on the plane. It takes a while to actually get into the right mindset again, a combination of little factors slowing the progress. The turbulence of the plane, trying to not give yourself away, and your own natural doubts for the mission ahead are some to name a few.

Your Focus levels are better than before, but not by much. Rest has whittled away at the fatigue and the energies within you are slowly refilling, but it’s nowhere near combat ready. You could do some simple things with the Focus you currently have, you suppose, like Swapping small items in front of you or gleaming into someone's mind for a few moments, but that’s it. You’re going to need to do something about that, get that Focus back again.

What follows for the rest of flight is you… trying just about everything to increase your Focus. That raw and tactile mental power that is transformed into what you want. From meditation, to mental exercises, to having your anger take its place, you try everything you can think of to regain that inner strength within you. It’s not easy. The first few hours only serve to be frustrating.

As you and the other passengers get your in-flight meals, of which there’s only a short handful that isn’t part of your team, you realize you may be going about this the wrong way. You realize as you eat the passable fish meal before you that you are trying to go against the stream, so to speak. Psionic energy is all around you, even a mile up in the sky in the plane. You are trying to create something from nothing, and that’s not how it works. It’s one of those major laws of physics, the specific one slips your mind.

Focus is… is… argh, you don’t even know where to start! It really feels like you’re a child stumbling about in the dark with psionics, but you are the ‘expert’ dammit. The closest you can even describe to Focus is still just that simple fuel analogy.. When you had emptied your tank, you had lost that control and when your mind started to take the brunt of that… it could’ve really screwed you. Lucky that it didn’t.

(1 / 5)

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You still don’t even know how your anger even relates to your powers, if at all. So much to consider, and so little time…

But, with nothing but time on this flight, you manage to figure out a system of speeding up on regenerating your Focus. A combination of meditation and your time spent with… yoga of all things. Obviously you’re not doing those absurdly challenging poses on the plane, that’d be silly, but the idea of ‘stretching’ comes to mind. Using your own psionic imprint, your ‘soul’, you manage to figure out a way of casting your mind out into the psionic energies around you in an effort to absorb and transfer that energy into Focus. Like a fishing net. It’s slow, tries your patience, and It’s… really really silly describing it… but it works.

You are starting to build a decent amount of Focus once again. You still wouldn’t feel comfortable using it in a fight, but you have enough power to start casting some abilities. Still got a long way to go before a full tank, so you make a mental note to put time away for more Focus regen.

...You really wish you had someone else that was also Gifted to work with, but this journey continues to be one you are taking alone. If only you could’ve saved that psionic prisoner in France…

Come to think of it, does Anna even know about your powers? You’d guess so given she’s your squad’s comms support but… you’re not 100% sure. Something to check with her later. You’re about to walk over to her seat to ask her until the seatbelt sign lights up above your seat. The plane’s preparing to land. Before you even realized it, you’ve arrived! You didn’t even hear the airline pilot chime in of your arrival in Zurich.

“Are you alright?” Burnout asks, who had been sitting next to you the entire flight as you grab your carry-ons.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Did I look… obviously off?” You say, slinging on your duffel bag.

“You seemed like your mind was… elsewhere. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Well you’re right, it was.”

“I see. Was it helpful?” Burnout pauses to look longingly towards the exit, eager to light up a cigarette.

“Overall.”

Burnout nods, and you join him and the others as you disembark from the plane. Zhang seems rather sluggish, the jet lag having hit the Gunner while conversely Anna’s looking rather upbeat and excited to see what Zurich is like.. Loki meanwhile remains rather imperious with a neck pillow around her neck and…wait a minute is that a freaking makeup kit in her hands?

(2 / 5)

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“The makeup kit was complimentary in first class, if you’re wondering.” Loki grins, as she notices your confusion. “In fact, they even offered pyjamas of all things. Who would’ve thought?”

“Wait really!?” Anna gapes, sounding disappointed, “I should’ve asked for some! Maybe I shouldn’t have listened to the flight the entire time...”

“Don’t worry.” Loki reassures her. “I made sure to get a set for myself and you as well, Anna.”

“Wow, thanks Beatrice!” Anna says, clearly happy at the generosity.

“Please don’t call me that name…” Loki groans.

Anna’s about to say something, but you can’t help but interrupt...

“You can’t be serious. They gave out free pajamas and makeup kits?” You say.

“Oh yes.” Loki smiles that smile of hers. “I think it’s a rather nice change of pace from wearing those tight fatigues we usually wear. My old occupation may have taught me to deal with living in difficult conditions, but that doesn’t mean I’d remain so if given the option.”

“Rather frivolous.” Zhang comments.

“Oh shush, let a woman enjoy herself.” Loki shakes her head.

“Yeah!” Anna agrees, immediately jumping to Loki’s defense.

Appreciative of the assistance, Loki offers her another neck pillow. Anna happily takes it, snugly slipping it on. You blink.

“...How many of those did you get?” You say.

“Enough. Something to make Skyranger rides more bearable for the future.” Loki winks, and walks ahead.

Your group makes your way through the well appointed , the place being rather sparse of folks similar to Denver’s airport. The place is clearly fancier, and cleaner in comparison. Checkout goes through without issue, and soon enough you are assigned your ‘rental’, so to speak. A nondescript grey van provided by Council much like the safehouse you’re going to be heading towards. Large enough to house your entire group with equipment within. Zhang nods in approval, Loki is a bit disappointed.

Burnout opts to drive, more relaxed with a cigarette between his lips, and your group piles in and enters the city properly. Zurich is, just as pleasant and pretty as all of the travel shows and internet pictures have shown the Swiss city to be. The mountain air is fresh and with it being a bit of a ways into June, the weather is just perfect overall, and the skies are clear and sunny. You could almost forget about the whole alien invasion out here in this idyllic city.

Almost.

Little things linger. Curfew is still a thing, and your police experience has made you take note of a lot of cops on standby in major cities and patrolling the streets. Not many folks are out about in the streets. Stopping near a shop you see it’s closing time is much earlier than you’d expect. Things like that. You do see a lot of older people out and about though, who clearly could not give less of a shit that aliens could abduct them at any moment. Honestly, you appreciate their stubbornness.

(3 / 5)

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As Burnout pulls up to your safehouse destination, you can’t help but begrudgingly nod in approval of where the Council picked the place. At first you had assumed they’d picked the extremely obvious location of some warehouse in the industrial part of the city, the exact first place you’d check. Instead, the locale is a small office building.

Shopf Paper Inc. A papermaking company, the whole business comprising of an office with an adjoining storage facility for the paper you’d guess. The building itself is empty but a few cars had been parked previously, all provided for use in the operation. With the blinds drawn and the lights on nobody would be the wiser. The attached warehouse should have more than enough room to house heavier equipment or that MEC suit if you had chosen Rachel to tag along. Naturally, paperwork and the like had been provided.

All and all, a solid location for stealthy operations.

“This will suffice.” Zhang says.

“I like it!” Anna agrees as you and the others hop out to investigate your new safehouse.

“Well, we won’t be sticking around long,” You say as you fish out for the keys to the front door from your bag, “Well unpack our things, double check if our gear arrived, and I want to start casing the bank. The sooner the better.”

Your group murmurs affirmatives when you enter the office. The place is a bit dusty and there’s only a few computers, but it’s an office through and through. If somehow people came to investigate the place it shouldn’t be too hard too to make it a solid front.

Really, the only downside is this place would be absolutely TERRIBLE to have a shootout in. The long line of windows at the front is barely defensible at all and you count multiple easy entrances. Hopefully you don’t get raided as this would be a nightmare to effectively defend.

The others spread out to explore the place and get their things set down, and you opt to head to the head office. There should be so sleeping bags provided so- you stop as you open the door.

Someone is in the head office.

(4 / 5)

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He’s a caucasian man wearing a simple two-piece beige suit.. Late 30s to early 40s. Greying hair and balding, with distinct laugh lines on his face. At a glance he’s completely forgettable otherwise, looking like your average business man who could blend into a crowd of businessmen. The main thing that stands out is the strange yellow pin on his suit, an image of a man with a blindfold over his face...

He was currently playing a game on his phone until you arrived, one of those matching puzzle games that are the rage. Honestly, he looks… rather benign.

You still tense up, ready for anything.

“Oh!” The man looks up as you enter. “I didn’t hear you come in! This game is just so mesmerizing. I’ve been waiting for you all.”

He’s German.

“I see....” Alarm bells ring in your head, but you keep yourself reserved. Maybe he’s just a paid off civvie. “...Do you work for the office?”

“This place? Not at all! Though I am affiliated with the organization that owns it, like you.” He chuckles, setting the phone onto the dusty desk, garishly colored little blocks fill the phone’s screen in neat rows.

The alarm bells are klaxons now.

“Don’t tell me…”

“I think it’s better if I did. You can call me… hm…” He thinks for a moment before slapping his knee. “...How about Andre! Yes, Andre works. Wouldn’t you agree?”

You don’t reply, you’re just about ready to throttle the man and save the entire team the trouble. You don’t.

“...Stoic type. I see. Very interesting.” ‘Andre’ muses. “Well, no matter. I’ll just say it anyways. I work for the Council and I’m present to… observe.”

Andre smiles and his phone lets out a chipper and childish jingle.

"Oh wunderbar, more free gems!"

…

God fucking dammit.

---

>...And with that, I’m calling the thread here! That was a REALLY last long post and I might've went overboard, but setup is setup! The real intrigue starts next thread so until next time… thanks for playing!

Oh boy, a supervisor. So far I wouldn't be opposed to him taking a fast walk down a long cliff.

Please ask André about his combat skills next session in case aliens or Exalt attack. Or is he just a bureaucrat ?

Also, https://xcom864106258.wordpress.com/
while not so important or noteworthy, is more than a To do list. But call it what you will.

I hope Anna hacks his phone before the eggsalt shark gets to it

>>3093613
If he has any brains he has either a VERY secure phone or no Council stuff on it.

New thread soon!

>>3093689
If it gets hacked it can be used as a wiretap to listen to any conversation nearby. Maybe Anna can do something about that.

>>3093993
If it is less work for you, you could also continue in this thread.

>>3094040
Not a bad idea seeing as they were also dumb enough to be hacked by EXALT.

>>3094042
It is admittedly a bit of a hassle to go through the motions of putting up new thread, but it also gets bump priority and what I've been doing the entire time. Then again, this is /qst/ so maybe that's not really that big of a deal. I could keep going on the same thread if people don't mind that.

>>3094061
Wouldn't it eventually be forced out of page 10 due to bump limit? With /qst/'s slow speed you would probably need to make a new one every two weeks instead of every week. Whatever solution works for you.

>>3094061
I know GermanSchteel does it and it works fine for him, but no pressure, you decide.

I think I'll give running on the same thread a go. I've done it before several times already due to how scheduling had went and it seems alright. So I'm going to start writing now!

>>3094078
Also /qst has a bump limit of 1000 for some eldritch reason.

>>3094293
eggcelent

Office Safehouse, Zurich, Switzerland,

“Hey Dozer, we just checked the storage part of the office and everything’s-- uwah!”

Anna is startled, and rightly so. She poked her head in to give you a heads up and was surprised that there was another person in the building. The rest of your team had moved quickly, rushing forward to pull Anna out of possible harms way, your team bursting into the room to see the smiling Andre.

It doesn’t take long for your team to share the same immediate suspicion of the man. Andre doesn’t seem to mind giving the others a nod of acknowledgement before turning to tap away at his phone. The Council agent seems more interested in playing games on his phone than paying attention to you! That really ticks you off.

You take a shaky breath and compose yourself. It’s mostly successful.

“...We were not informed someone like you would be here.” You say as calmly as you can.

“That’s understandable, my presence here was very much voted on at the last minute.” Andre explains, tapping away, “The Council’s official reasoning was that EXALT is everyone’s problem and XCOM needs the extra assistance…. My assumption is that they don’t trust your group enough to deal with EXALT alone.”

“...” That does sound about right.

“In fact, when I had arrived the previous occupants of this safehouse had unpleasantly bugged every single inch of the office and all of the vehicles. I took the liberty of removing all of the equipment that I could find.” Andre shakes his head, motioning to a cardboard box in a corner.

You nod to Burnout who investigates. He holds up the box and it’s filled to the brim with tracking equipment.

“The good news is it can be used for the operation, so it’s not a complete loss!” Andre chuckles.

“...Why would you do that?” Loki mutters, glaring at Andre.

“Because it’s rude, wasteful, and fosters a bad relationship. I wanted to try and fix that.” Andre answers simply. “I’ve about XCOM’s previous experience with the Council. I want us to work… well together.”

You can’t tell if the man is honest or had set up this whole pitch to get into your head. The idea of someone from the Council actually being helpful is extremely alien to you. He isn’t even being immediately antagonistic either… except for his attention being seperated with that mobile game he’s playing…

>Remain suspicious of the man.
>Give him the benefit of the doubt.
>Ask what your team thinks.
>Other

>>3094387
>>Ask what your team thinks.
team huddle?

>>3094387
>>Ask what your team thinks.

>>3094387
>Give him the benefit of the doubt.

>>3094387
>Ask what your team thinks.

Calling the vote here, writing!

“...Andre was it? That’s what you wanted to call yourself?” You say, frowning.

“Yes?” He replies.

“We’re going to step outside for a moment and… convene over your arrival.” You say as nicely as you can. With another nod the others start to step out into the main part of the office.

“Very well, do take all the time you, I will keep myself occupied.” Andre gives you a friendly smile before hunching over to stare at his phone.

“You really enjoy that phone game, don’t you...”

“It is absolutely addicting, I can’t help it.” He gives you a sheepish look.

You can’t help but watch the man for another moment or two. step out of the room and leave the door open just enough to keep an eye on Andre. Your team is already starting to talk among themselves, placing one of those rolling office dividers in the opposite end of the office, by the doors that lead to the storage section. You join them.

“What do you guys think of ‘Andre’?” You ask them.

“...This is bad news written all over.” Loki quietly fumes. “The man is a literal coiled snake waiting to strike.”

“He seemed oddly friendly…” Anna frowns.

“Too friendly. He went out of his way to give himself more leverage to look approachable, but the entirety of the circumstances say it’s all planned out. I do not trust the man. ”

“Perhaps that may be the case, but if the man did manage to find all of those bugged electronics in this office he would be a useful asset for the mission.” Zhang reasons.

“You cannot be serious, Zhang. You actually want to work with that sneak?” Loki blinks in surprise.

“We can use him. It would be a waste otherwise.” Zhang shrugs.
“The monitoring equipment is legitimate, and it’s true that the would be very useful. I would need time to confirm if the equipment was planted in the office prior.” Burnout says.

“If I could get a hand on his phone for a few minutes I could check how truthful he is.” Anna adds.

“I doubt this Andre would leave any sensitive information on that phone. Nor do I doubt he’d want to have anyone take his phone.” Zhang comments.

“Alright, settle down." You hold a hand up and look among the team. "I need your guys stances on him. Give him the benefit of the doubt or keep him at arms length?”

The votes are mostly decisive. Loki remains extremely suspicious of Andre, Zhang suggests to use him as an asset, Anna is willing to give Andre a chance, and finally Burnout opts to also allow Andre an opportunity if he can confirm how truthful he is with the bugged equipment. You take it all in, thank your team, and walk back.

“How did the discussion go?” Andre greets you as you step in.

>You don’t trust the guy at all. You’ll be keeping him away as much as you can.
>You’ll give him a single shot. Just one.
>He’s not going anywhere until you confirm he’s telling the truth with the bugs or his phone. It will take time.
>Other

>>3094513
>>You’ll give him a single shot. Just one.

>>3094513
>You’ll give him a single shot. Just one.

>>3094513
>>You’ll give him a single shot. Just one.
Eh, in this line of work it's not that surprising we have a spy working with us to catch other spies. Overall, at the very least we're all on the same side here, as far as we know anyways.

>>3094513
>>Other
>Bluntly ask if he can briefly hand over his phone to confirm his story.

>>3094513
>You’ll give him a single shot. Just one.

Calling the vote here, writing!

“We’re going to give you a chance, Andre. But you’re only getting one. We didn’t get any warning which isn’t helping your case right now… but you’ve one of the first seemingly reasonable Council agents we’ve dealt with in a long time.” You say to the man.

This is the first time you’ve dealt with a Council agent who was reasonable for the very first time ever, actually. He doesn’t need to know that however. Andre smiles again, and quietly chuckles for a moment, standing up and slipping his phone away.

“That’s good to hear, it would have been a waste of everyone’s time if we had to be at ends with each other. But you are wrong on one particular thing, ah…”

“Dozer.” You say immediately. You have no plans on telling him your actual name any time soon.

“Dozer, while I do work with the Council I’m as associated with them as much as XCOM is.” Andre taps that yellow pin on his suit, there’s a hint of pride to it as he does so. “I understand your sentiments.”

“What organization do you work for then?”

“Nothing that’s relevant to the mission right now, but suffice to say we’re not trying to stomp on your toes. If you really wish to know I can explain, but we have a lot of work to do with investigating this EXALT group. That, and I’d like to get to know the rest of our little team. Do we a designation?”

“Wraith-1.”

“Splendid.” Andre starts to leave the room.

Hrm.

>Hold up. Andre needs to explain what group he works for.
>Leave it be. Best to focus on the mission
>Other

>>3094670
>>Leave it be. Best to focus on the mission

>>3094670
>Leave it be. Best to focus on the mission

>>3094670
Do we have a way to contact the Commander? Seems the kind of thing that we should report in.

>>3094670
>>Leave it be. Best to focus on the mission

>>3094670
>>Leave it be. Best to focus on the mission
>>Get in contact with our x-com contact

>>3094704
You do, but it's time consuming! I'll elaborate further on how to contact HQ when it comes up.

Calling the vote here, writing!

As tempting as it is to grill Andre for every scrap of information to get a better read of the spy, you realize he’s not wrong. It would take time and frankly you don’t want to waste that.You’ve got a lot of work to do. You let Andre pass.

The others have been waiting, taking seats on chairs or on desks. You run a hand through your hair.

“We’re all going to play nice with Andre, alright?” You explain to the team.

The reactions range from begrudging to optimistic, but your team as a whole complies. Andre doesn’t mind the initial doubts one bit, used to it you’d guess. Going from there, you quickly get Andre introduced to the rest of the team and what their specialties are. Given Andre’s clearly using a pseudonym the others only say their nicknames and their cover identities. It’s an interesting little topic within XCOM, but here it’s just practical. The less you know about each other the better.

Things go smoothly until it’s Anna’s turn.

“Hannah Palys. Support specialist.” Anna says cooly, before you can gape or comment Anna quickly follows it up. “Spelled with two Hs in Hannah and Papa-Alpha-Lima-Yankee-Sierra for the last name, just so you don’t get confused.

She sneaks you a wink. That’s… quite the cover name. Andre doesn’t seem to take note, nor does he seem to care.

“And do you have a callsign like the others?” Andre asks her.

“I- uh-” Anna stops, and that professional air she had going for a few seconds runs into a brickwall. The others glance over to her.

Does she not actually have her own nickname? Is that a think that Mission Control doesn’t do in XCOM?

…

It sounds like a Bradford call through and through. Anna’s floundering a bit and it looks like she needs a hand. You decide to give her a nickname on the spot, you never nickname yourself after all, that’s just not how it works.

>Siren
>Radar
>Dispatch
>Operator.
>Other

>>3094813
>>Other

Delphi

>>3094813
>Siren

>>3094813
>>Siren

>>3094813
>Operator.

>>3094813
>Delphi

>>3094813
>>Operator.
Means many things.

>>3094813
>Delphi

Calling the vote here, writing!

“Her nickname is Delphi.” You interject.

Anna is thrown off for a second, but she quickly nods along.

“Yep! That’s my nickname.” Anna says nonchalantly, idly brushing her hair aside like it isn’t any big thing.

“I see, fitting.” Andre nods. The others seem to share the same sentiments. When Andre looks away for a moment, Anna flashes you a big thumbs up. Heh, good to know you picked a fitting name for her. “Well, with introductions out of the way I suppose it is my turn. While my main objective is to observe how you all will conduct the operation I have the benefit of having contacts within the country, some in this city.”

“That’s awfully convenient.” Loki comments with bemusingly.

“It is, that is why I was picked.” Andre replies back without missing a beat, continuing to sound as reasonable as he can. “I can pull a few strings to help make this operation smoother, but I can only do so much. I don’t want to use up all of my favors here.”

“What contacts do you have?” Zhang asks, leaning forward.

“I’ve helped sort out some corruption charges with the city’s police chief, I’ve had affiliations with a black market seller that has a front in the the city, and I’ve had a few lunches with one of the local politicians. Say the word and I can speak with any of the three. I’m only going to be comfortable with using one of my sources.” Andre holds up his fingers as he speaks.

“Fair enough, we might need it.” You say. “Speaking of which, since we’re all present now. It’s time to start with the intel gathering. There’s six of us and a lot of ground to cover. We know where the source of the hacking took place. The Riniker Bank.”

“Ah, I know that one. It is not one of the major banks in the city, but it is large enough and has enough infrastructure to have shuffled our collective stolen funds. Either there is an account or accounts that is currently holding or have held our money. ” Andre says.

“For all we know it could be in some nondescript offshore account.” Loki frowns.

“As nice as it would be to find the money, our goal is learning about EXALT. If we can apprehend or ID any of the members affiliated with the hack, we’ll have a foundation against them.” You reply.

“Some of us should get an initial scout of the bank.” Burnout suggests.

“We’ll also need to setup all of our equipment! Everything we brought along is already in the back.” Anna chimes in. “I’m going to stay here and get things on my end prepared.”

You nod and Anna goes to unpack her things.

“I will check to see if my contacts are around, let them know I might need a favor or two.” Andre says, excusing himself to make phonecalls outside. The others relax at not having to deal with him for now.

“How shall we divvy ourselves up to start things off?” Zhang asks you.

(1/2)

(It’s time to decide who goes where! Anna and Andre are already assigned to things at the moment to make things less convoluted. A few more may be mechanics introduced as things go on, depending on how crunchy I want to make investigation. We’ll be going in ‘Turns’ which denote stretches of time that will shift as applicable to move the plot along. Wraith-1 and EXALT will be operating and doing things simultaneously so there’s a chance for overlapping and stumbling into each other.

People that are assigned to do tasks will obviously take time to complete, currently there’s no immediate deadline but that likely will change very soon.. The more time you spend in the mission will likely alert EXALT at worst or delay you from fighting aliens with the rest of XCOM at best.

I’m going to be gauging just how interested you guys are in doing this stuff. If you all are not feeling it rest assured it’ll be streamlined! This is actually a bit of experimentation for possible Command scale activities which you guys may do in the future!)

>Who will case the bank? (Assign)
>Who will help with setting up the Safehouse? (Assign)
>Other Order (Specify and Assign)

>EXALT Awareness: None.

Loki, Zhang, Burnout, and Dozer are available for tasks.

>>3095003
>>Who will case the bank? (Assign)
Loki, Zhang, Burnout, and Dozer, I find setting up much less important. And splitting the party...

>>3095003
>>Who will case the bank? (Assign)
Zhang , Burnout, and Dozer

>>Who will help with setting up the Safehouse? (Assign)
Loki

>>3095003
>Who will case the bank? (Assign)
Loki and Dozer

>Safehouse
Zhang, Burnout

>>3095003
>>Who will case the bank? (Assign)
Loki and Burnout
As the two with the most scouting and infiltration experience, they're most suited to scout out the bank and not cause any troubles. While people might want dozer here just because he's the team leader, this isn't the best place for him to be in since he is 100% not suited for it at all. In fact players might only make things worse by voting to do weird stuff they could roll for.
>Who will help with setting up the Safehouse? (Assign)
Dozer
Firstly, Anna is currently doing the entire process all alone, and having another person, especially a strong and fit one would make it go much faster. Also, as the teamleader with no experience for any kind of spying or this kind of fieldwork ,but plenty of body strength and stamina, he can help Anna to setup the equipment to create a command center faster and get the electronic systems online for indirect field support for things like comms security, hacking and other gadgets that can be deployed in the field. Besides, this is exactly the sort of stuff the team leader will need to use to properly coordinate an entire team over large areas when split into smaller teams, so getting to know it is only logical.
>Other Order (Specify and Assign)
Zhang: Getting to know the local underworld for places like the black markets, information dealers, etc.
With Zhang's background, he is a special asset that shouldn't be left untapped. His experience gives him unique perspectives and connections that could be used to scout out the illegal side of the world to get clues and locations ready to be used in case 'other ways' are needed.

>>3095003
>>3095040
This, as it says what I wanted too while getting creative. Also better explanation.

>>3095040
>In fact players might only make things worse by voting to do weird stuff they could roll for.
Scaremongering fallacies are idiotic. I am a professionsal.
>since he is 100% not suited for it at all.
Trolling outside of /b is a reportable offense

I'm getting pretty tired so I think I'm going to leave this update running overnight. Going to use the time to iron out some ideas.

Thanks for playing!

>>3095078
Bold and creative idea. Respect.

I wonder if get to follow different POV's this mission.

>>3095003
>>Who will case the bank? (Assign)
Loki, Zhang
>>Who will help with setting up the Safehouse? (Assign)
Burnout, Dozer

>3095003
>3095040
supporting

>>3095009
>>3095033
>>3095227
Have you guys forgotten Zhang is super notiicable? Like that was his entire mus in picking him. If he’s part of the stake out he’s going to draw a lot of attention. He really shouldn’t be seen unlless he had too be near that bank. Doubly so if eggsalt shark hacked the city’s security cameras as since he’s former triad he’d likely be on thier watch list.

Literally anyone else can go, but zhang

>>3095003
Supporting >>3095040

>>3095003
>Who will case the bank? (Assign)
Loki and Dozer

>Who will help with setting up the Safehouse? (Assign)
Burnout and Zhang

>>3095003
>>3095040
I'll also support

>>3095040
>>3095003

Supporting.

>>3095451
i was planning for him to be a decoy, draw attention from something we dont want noticed

>>3095451
>since he’s former triad he’d likely be on thier watch list.
That would be a gigantic list at best. I don't think we have to worry about him. And. X-com doesnt recruit criminals except Zhang which is e extremely rare exception. Exalt won't suspect.
>his entire mus
The what ?

>>3098316
>The what?
He misspelled malus, as in the opposite of bonus.

>>3095003
>>3095040
support

>>3095003

>>3095040 Supporting this

Calling the vote here!

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Just a heads up, there will be an update today, I just am currently ironing on specifics on the strategic mechanics still!

There's a lot more things to consider than I realized but I think I've got something after using mechanics from both current XCOM games, the XCOM board game, and other things as well! Juuust a bit hesitant until I'm as close to 100% comfortable with the rules as possible.

Want to keep things as minimally frustrating as possible while still being That's XCOM Baby. That's probably impossible but dammit I'll try.

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“Alright. Game plan.” Your team pays attention as you lay things down. “Loki, Burnout, you’re on casing duty. Keep your head down and get a gist of the place but don’t cause any trouble.”

“Not coming along?” Loki asks.

“Nah. You’re both are our first sets of eyes and ears. I have a more important job to do.”

“We’ll be back tonight.” Burnout affirms, the pair taking their leave.

You don’t have to say anything as Loki heads over to a cork board with hanging car keys and snags one. Reluctantly, Loki sets her neck pillow on a desk before she exits the office. She had been wearing it the entire time.

“Zhang, I hope you don’t mind this one, but I want you to get the lay of the land of the local underworld. Andre’s got a contact sure, but you’re our most unique asset for this. Prod for clues and any possible points of interest that can be used if we need… ‘other ways’.”

Zhang regards you for a moment. He doesn’t outright shoot it down for starters, but the man is inscrutable for a long moment. You would say you couldn’t read his mind… but you very much can and had prior thanks to your Gift. He lets out a long sigh.

“Very well. The language barrier may be an issue, but I will make it work. I will return sometime tomorrow and ensure nobody follows me.” Zhang doesn’t leave immediately, entering the storage room. Catching a glimpse inside, you see several military cases. He’ll be gearing himself up then. Fair. You leave him be.

“So what are you going to do, Dozer? What’s your important job?” Anna asks curiously.

“I’m helping you set up.”

“Huh?” Anna blinks.

“What’s wrong? I’m not going to have you set up all of our equipment all by yourself. Besides, it’s best if I lay low and get an understanding of all of the equipment here.”

Anna lights up at that. Surprised and thankful you’re staying behind. Glimpsing in the storage room there’s a lot of gear back there. Anna also probably assumed you and others were just going to outright head out and do spy stuff while she was stuck doing set up. Not if you can help it. You roll your shoulders and prepare to do some heavy lifting…

---

>Rules time! Please read this pastebin to understand the rules and mechanics for this Covert Op.

https://pastebin.com/nEyww8Q7

>So, before we start all of the dice rolling, do you guys wish to switch perspectives? Options are casing the bank with Loki and Burnout, following Zhang to investigate what criminal underworld Switzerland has, or seeing Anna’s perspective as she and Dozer set up. Also specify if you wish for Dozer to use his Focus. Dice resolution for other tasks will always happen after vignettes.

>Casing the Bank.
>Investigating Underworld.
>Anna’s Perspective.
>None.

>Use Focus? (Specify what Task)

>>3103154
>>Investigating Underworld.

and no focus, yet

>>3103154
>>Investigating Underworld.
I wanna see more of mah boi Zhang

File: Casual Future Fashion.png (583 KB, 708x1000)

583 KB PNG

>>3103154
>>Investigating Underworld.

Save up that Focus.

>>3103154
>Casing the Bank.

>>3103154
>Investigating Underworld
Save focus for now

>>3103154
>>Anna’s Perspective.

seems like investigating may be winning but im gonna go against the tide here

>>3103154
>>Investigating Underworld.

>>3103154
>>Casing the Bank.

>>3103154
>>Anna’s Perspective.