PROLOGUE - SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

"How the fuck did I ended up like this?"

That was the thought of the Volunteer of XCOM. He was sitting in a chair, naked, and hands cuffed to the table. His name was Dale Garand, a psionic sniper. He remembered about lifting the Ethereal ship away from Earth before it could create a black hole that would suck the entire planet in.

But it wasn't a black hole. He knew that much later.

That was when he gained conscious later, blinking to the world. When he looked up, he found himself somewhat surrounded by all the aliens. Before he could registered anything, he was knocked out cold. And here he was, in an interrogation room.

The door opened, and Dale was met with the sight of an Ethereal. What caught his eyes was that his apparel, a robe with a familiar green color. The green color of Central's sweater. If Dale remembered correctly, the Ethereals wore red, not green.

The Ethereal towered in front of him. He knew it was physically weak, but their psionics was supreme. He was waiting for any psionic attacks, knowing how merciless these things are.

But to his surprise, it asked. "What are you? Why do you have our signature?" And its voice was like Central, only with echoes.

Dale was thinking on how he should deal with this. "I'm Dale Garand" he played it cool. "I'm a Human who you and your kind slaughtered us into-"

"Slaughter?" the Ethereal interrupted. "Human? We've never heard of these Humans until a few days ago, and they launched an invasion on us!"

Now he was dumbstruck. Never heard of? Human invading? What's going on?

"Nevermind that" Dale replied "Now who are you?"

The Ethereal didn't answer. It still demanded the last question. "Why do you have our signature?!"

"I'm telling you nothing until you introduce yourself" Dale looked at the green sweater. There was an insignia on it, somewhat similar… "No, let me guess. You're the central officer of this base"

"That's too true to be a mere guess" The Ethereal spoke "Yes, my name is Central, and that's how I wanted you to call me…"

"Dale" Dale reminded.

"Dale. Now answer me. Why do you have our signature?" the Ethereal glared at him, even though he could not see the eyes due to the mask.

"This signature… you mean psionics? How come you not know?" Dale answered. "It was like your kind of thing here. I mean, you can mind control people, for fuck sake"

"Calm down… Dale!" Central ordered. He made a pause to recall the name

The door opened again, entering two guards. However, these guards shock Dale even more.

First, these guards were respectively a Muton and a Sectoid. They were wearing somewhat XCOM military gears that fit their sizes like a glove.

Second, the firearms in their hands were not plasma weapon. Instead, to his shock, they were using bullets, like how XCOM use it in the first few months.

And third, there were insignias on the apparel as well, but the cap that the Sectoid wore was the largest to see. He took a closer look, and gasped.

It was a logo similar to XCOM's, but this one had the H instead of X.

Slowly, he turned back to the Ethereal. "Central, what is this place?"

"We're in the HCOM headquarter. That stands for Human-Combat unit." Central informed. "We found you just a few hours after the first contact, wondering around the city. We could've kill you, but our radar somewhat picked you as ours. That's why you are being interrogate right now. Any other Human would be shot dead."

Dale grabbed his skull now. "You said the Humans attack?"

"Yes" Central said. "We've been waiting for any signs of contact. Then they began abducting people."

"So your government initiated the HCOM project to defend your kinds against the Humans" Dale followed through. He rubbed his head, his hair fluffed around. "Fuck. It's not a black hole. It's a fucking wormhole"

"Excuse me, what did you say?" Central asked.

"It doesn't matter!" Dale interjected. "I need to see the proof… Can I see a Human corpse? I need to see it if I want to believe all this"

Central was about to say no, but then sighed. "Come with me" He waved and left. Dale followed him, along with the two guards.

Central and Dale came into the operating theatre. A crowd of scientists in HAZMAT suit of various sorts were gathering around the table when they saw Dale came in. At that, they panicked and one went for the alarm.

"Stand down! He's under my custody" Central commanded. All the scientists froze and slowly resuming their business. He motioned Dale to the table. "Go ahead, Dale. Take a look"

Dale looked at the table, and he saw it. A Human, male, wearing a grey jumpsuit. The cuts bled red blood. Red Human blood. He would've vomit if he hadn't seen his teammates died before.

Opposite of him stood a Sectoid height scientist. "Are you… the head scientist here?"

"Why yes" the figure replied with a female voice. She took off the helmet, revealing a Sectoid with… hair that matched Dr. Vahlen's. "I'm Doctor Vahla. And congratulations. You are the first Humans to see this place alive."

"I'm sure there will be more seeing it alive, doc" Dale replied. His eyes were going places. He remembered how professional Dr. Vahlen could dissect. He sure bet that Dr. Vahla could do well as well. They soon walked into the lab. "And who was the head of the engineering team here?"

"That would be me" said a Seeker Drone, flying into the room. It… he seemed to have an extra len over his optic. "I'm Seeker unit R4-YM0. But you can call me Raymo."

"Raymond Shen…" Dale murmured. He felt like everything was familiar, but all different. Too different. He was hyperventilating, fast and hard.

Still, someone was missing. "Central… where's the Commander?"

"There's the Commander, Dale" Central pointed at the entrance. Entering the door was another Ethereal. This one dressed up so similar to the Uber Ethereal. The only different was the mask's insignia. Instead of the one representing the alien regime, this one was the H symbol. The symbol of HCOM.

This was too much to bear for Dale. Way too much for his mind to take. He then collapsed to the ground with a thunk.

So if you are wondering what this is about...

Well, I was surfing the web looking for XCOM pictures and drawings. Then I found these "HCOM" pics. It sparked my brain, and got me hooked for days writing down a plot

That doesn't mean other stories are abandoned. THey are alive as they are.

Anyway, NamThunder out. Enjoy.