The Skyranger hummed into life as the newly-minted team, Menace, gathered in the hangar. Sunset had donned her quasi-skirmisher armor, including her grapple-hook, and was all but ready to go. Her machete was taking a bit of getting used to, attached as it was to the back of her armor, but it was designed in a way that made drawing and reattaching very easy.

All in all, she felt a lot safer than in the civilian gear she had worn during the last mission.

Jane was wearing her regular XCOM resistance armor, sunglasses and black cap. Her GREMLIN floated faithfully next to her, almost as if it had been with her all along.

Two more soldiers had joined them; Shintaro Katsu, who had been there almost as long as Sunset herself, and Paula Graca. Neither had a specialization yet, but they had ran the same drills with them over and over.

Sunset couldn't complain, both were a bit more focused than Otis had been, in her experience, and they had been out on a couple of missions together before. Unlike the previous times, however, she was really their superior this time around.

"Menace 1-4," Bradford called in as soon as they sat down inside the Skyranger and it had taken off. "This mission will take place in one of the abandoned cities; we are to meet two representatives. Each is from a different faction that we have deemed a credible threat to ADVENT. Your mission is to meet and escort the representatives to the meeting place, where XCOM will host the negotiations. The commander is currently engaged in communications with their leaders, and negotiations will depend on this mission going through without a hitch."

The screen inside the Avenger provided tactical information and visual aids as Bradford spoke. "You will be divided into two teams. Sunset will head Alpha Team. You will be meeting with the Reaper's representative. Team Bravo will be headed by Jane and meet with the Skirmisher's representative."

Sunset started. "Wait, requesting to switch—"

"Both teams will meet at the designated area with their assigned representative alive. Central out."

The screen went black.

"Crap."

"Everything okay there, Sunset?" Jane asked.

Sunset looked up to see the others were giving her amused looks. "Yeah, yeah," Sunset muttered. The chances of her knowing the Skirmisher representative were slim as it was. "It's just, you know… Reapers eat aliens."

The cabin went quiet.

"Say what now?" Shintaro asked.

"As in Sectoid sushi, yes." Sunset shrugged. "Not entirely sure how it started, but they hunt them down, then cook them. I've heard Muton shanks is a popular dish."

"Eww."

"When you say hunt…" Paula started.

"...I mean hunt," Sunset said, nodding. "Like game."

"Know anything about Skirmishers?" Jane asked.

Sunset hesitated. "Yes. They're ex-ADVENT, very tribal, honorable and loyal to each other. Good fighters."

"Huh," Paula spoke up. "Seems Central kept you well informed, but I still feel you're keeping things to yourself."

"No surprise there," Shintaro added. "You travelled with Central for over a year if I remember correctly. Did he tell you about them then?"

"Sort of," Sunset said. "I've just had run-ins with them… it was educational."

Jane and the others shared looks before leaning forward. Sunset couldn't blame them, usually they would all go mostly in the dark about things and XCOM had kept most soldiers under an intense training regime which had only allowed for select contact outside of the Avenger.

Most outside world information came from situations like these, where one or another soldier would have first hand experience of a location or encounter. The more they knew, the more likely they would be able to anticipate their contact's reactions.

"So… did you try any of that Sectoid sushi?" Shintaro asked, looking slightly disgusted if intrigued.

"No, even they admit it's an acquired taste," Sunset said. "And no, I didn't risk it. To be honest, it smelled awful."

"You actually saw them chop one up?"

"Yes."

"So what's the best part?" Jane asked.

"If you believe Natter… Sectoid loin is a delicacy."

Everyone contemplated this in silence.

"Any idea who the third party he mentioned was?" Shintaro asked, changing the topic. "We have cannibals, ex ADVENT… what could be next?"

They looked at Sunset, who glared back at them. "Templars. And no. I don't want to talk about them."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "I sense there's a history there."

"I said I don't want to talk about it." Sunset crossed her arms. "And they are not important right now."

"I guess that's true," Paula said. "But it would be nice to know why you don't like these Templars."

"It's a long story that I hope never to have to share," Sunset replied. "Besides, we're here, so let's jump a few hundred feet to the ground now, okay?"

The back of the Skyranger opened as it hovered over the city. It didn't take long for Sunset to start swearing the moment she saw the greenish mist that covered most of it. That could only mean one thing.

Shintaro gave her an amused look. "What?"

Sunset gritted her teeth. "I hope you like zombie movies," she said before jumping down.

The street they were dropped at was a sadly familiar sight: tall buildings and half-collapsed skyscrapers, street covered by a thin, greenish mist; desiccated bodies strewn around as they fled from small craters created by alien devices; cars either overturned, abandoned or destroyed, all inevitably covered in rust and vegetation and an eerie, heavy and oppressive silence.

Sunset was quick to activate her 'blood vision' as she had taken to calling it, the moment she was on the floor. Immediately she could see ruby-red lights around herself, and Shintaro, as well as a few other, smaller ones at the top of buildings as well as one behind a car nearby. The sheer size of human cities never ceased to amaze Sunset, nor did the amount of cars they used, although given the size of the things it wasn't surprising they'd want a faster method of movement.

Blood vision was the only one of her bloodspells she could keep up an almost indefinite amount of time. Sunset had a massive reserve of magical energy, which had grown considerably with constant practice and strengthening exercises… it also regenerated over time, and this spell in particular used so little of it that by the time it would make a small impact, her reserves would have been refilled… a much different scenario from other magical spells, be it her natural pyromancy or even basic levitation.

Equestrian high-level spells would leave her incapacitated most of the day, if they were possible at all, and she was more than happy to not use them for now.

"What do you mean zombie movies?" Shintaro asked.

"Oh, you'll see," Sunset said as she started walking down the street.

"Menace 1-2," Bradford's voice came through the comms. "Proceed to the first set of coordinates, Firebrand and the second team will go ahead to the next drop point."

"Detecting increasing biological signatures in the area ahead," Dr. Tygan said.

"Then I'd say we're in the right place," Bradford added. "Stay sharp out there, just because the city was abandoned, doesn't mean it's lifeless. Let's see what the Reapers have to offer, you should be meeting your contact here soon."

"They're already here," Sunset said, just as the heartbeat behind the car revealed itself.

"You have good eyes, XCOM," the woman said, "My name is Elena Dragunova, follow me."

Sunset and Shintaro followed after Elena a block down, to where Sunset was slightly disgusted to see the head of a bug-like alien roasting over a fire. She'd never seen them without the exoskeleton herself, but that was probably the remains of one of Bradford's infamous Chryssalids.

"Feel free to eat if you haven't," Elena said, watching Shintaro turn green and heave. When Sunset's reaction didn't change, she rolled her eyes at her before tilting her head and frowning. "I think I remember you, Bradford's kid, right? You were at that meeting a few months ago. I thought I saw you loitering next to one of the cages back at camp."

That started a series of choking sounds from Shintaro, who still wouldn't face them, lest he look at the roasting head.

"Not exactly his kid, but yeah, I travelled with him for a while," Sunset replied, giving her a dirty look. "I know Central spoke to Volk, is Natter still around?"

Elena's face hardened. "She's dead, last year."

Sunset bit her lip and sighed. "I'm sorry."

Elena turned. "If we have nothing else to discuss, let's get going."

"Is it just you coming, or is the rest of your gang here following as well?" Sunset asked, falling into place behind Elena.

"You do have a good eye." Elena smirked. "No, they'll stay behind, we'll meet your Skirmisher as agreed, one-on-one."

"Good." Sunset said, then, "Speaking of which, who are we meeting from the Skirmishers?"

"We don't know much about him other than his name. Mox," Bradford replied.

This drew an angry growl from Elena. "Mox?! Pratal Mox?"

"You have a problem with that?" Sunset asked, looking at her.

"His death squads killed a lot of my people at the beginning of this war!" Elena hissed. "You would dare do this?"

"It's not like Reapers haven't hunted down Skirmishers for nibbles," Sunset snapped, earning a glare of her own.

Shintaro, caught in the middle, slid back out of the way as both women walked up to each other, neither backing down.

"I'm sure there is plenty of blood on both sides," Bradford interrupted the glare, sounding slightly exasperated. "That's what this is about, burying the past and working together."

That was all that was said for a time. They moved quietly, from shadow to shadow, cover to cover. Reapers were notorious for their ability to blend with their surroundings, and were it not for her blood spell, Sunset would have lost sight of Elena more than once. Eventually they saw one of the machines that had crashed into the cities.

"We can still detect trace amounts of radiation," Tygan said into the comms. "I can't help but wonder what they looked like and their initial purpose."

"We were there, doctor, trust me, you're better off having missed it," Bradford replied.

It wasn't long after they had left the camp and were making their way through the city that they saw their first Lost shambling around an abandoned-looking building.

"I hate those things," Sunset muttered.

"Those things..." Bradford gasped. "They still look like people! We don't have any intel on them."

"That's surprising," Elena replied, looking at Sunset with a slightly bewildered expression. "What was human died years ago… only the taint of the alien survives now."

"XCOM hasn't fought any so far," Sunset said in response to Elena's look.

"These creatures' DNA has mutated past anything we could still classify as human," Tygan added to the radio chatter. "Perhaps a result of continued exposure to the alien radiation… but why would anyone expose themselves to that… I cannot imagine."

"When the governments of the world fell, a lot of people were starving and returned to the cities to scavenge… they did not heed the warnings," Elena whispered bitterly.

"Sunset, anything you want to share?" Bradford's voice sounded particularly annoyed.

"The Lost are… something that ADVENT doesn't want anyone to see… they send squads of ADVENT Purifiers… they're… like troopers but with flamethrowers, I haven't seen any so far outside of the old cities."

"Any additional intel you think would be useful to know before we encounter them, other than 'I hope you like zombie movies'?" Bradford asked.

"You were listening?"

"I am always watching my troops on missions," Bradford replied dryly. "And I'm relaying this information to Jane as we speak."

"Well, do you like zombie movies?" Sunset asked.

"No."

"Me neither."

"I hate to interrupt this father-daughter-like interaction," Elena said, "but if you don't have anything productive to add, we should get moving. They're not human anymore, and a shot to the head will take them down."

"They are also attracted to loud noises, so any large explosion will draw their attention," Sunset added.

"It seems like we'll have to tread carefully," Bradford concluded, "I'm relaying this information to Bravo team. Carry on with the mission... and try to not draw their attention."

"It's always easier said than done," Sunset muttered.