History Fanfic / XComTheHadesContingency

* AnyoneCanDie: A moment's carelessness or unluckiness on the part of a soldier can mean someone's death, even if that character's been around for a while. [[spoiler:Not even POV characters are safe from this; Paige, Shawn, Liam, Luke and Mira all die in the course of this story.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The alien dreadnought that attacked Hamburg is brought down, and XCOM is on the verge breaking into gene mods, [=MECs=] and psionics. However, three of XCOM's best soldiers (two of them in a relationship) die in the process, and XCOM is placed under further observation due to the collateral damage of Operation Gangplank, with the Council sending an observer to report on their activities.]]

* PlayingWithSyringes: The epilogue reveals that [[spoiler:EXALT is participating in this, with Annette as the unfortunate test subject. They awaken her psionic powers this way.]]

** Everything pertaining to ''Enemy Unknown'''s ''Operation Slingshot'' add-on receives a significant expansion, particularly in terms of importance; Zhang becomes a member of XCOM's Internal Council, as head of XCOM Intelligence, and the Dreadnought is given a greater role as well, first showing up during [[spoiler:the terror attack on Hamburg]] before attacking Shanghai in the climax of the story. When it does, XCOM is not the only group attacking it: [[spoiler:the Chinese, Japanese, Americans, Indians and even ''North Koreans'' attack as well, working together to shut down the alien vessel, as well as repel the additional alien ground assault.]]

** On a more global scale, [[TheIlluminati EXALT]] is also this. Van Doorn was once dissuaded from running for office by Secretary General Christiaens (with the implication that he would've met an untimely end), and if Ali Ennor's testimony is any indication, they have compromised virtually every existing institution to such an extent that even the ''Council'' treads lightly around them; and by the time the Commander hears this, [[spoiler:he's already witnessed enough to prove the Australian Councilor's point, from Habicht's manipulation of the Hades Contingency to EXALT's "message" to the Saudi king.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]], but there are times when the Commander does lament his actions during the War on Terror, after seeing what happened to the Middle East and its peoples during his imprisonment. However, it really kicks into overdrive after Nero discloses to him that [[spoiler:Farida was pregnant when he executed her, especially since he knows he'd have gone ahead even if she had told him]]. This revelation elicits the [[TearsOfRemorse strongest emotional reaction ever seen from him]], and is what ultimately drives him to be better than the man he was during the war.

** Everything pertaining to ''Enemy Unknown'''s ''Operation Slingshot'' add-on receives a significant expansion, particularly in terms of importance; Zhang becomes a member of XCOM's Internal Council, as head of XCOM Intelligence, and the Dreadnought is given a greater role as well, first showing up during [[spoiler:the terror attack on Hamburg]] before attacking Shanghai in the climax of the story. When it does, XCOM is not the only group attacking it: the Chinese, Japanese, Americans, Indians and even ''North Koreans'' attack as well, working together to shut down the alien vessel, as well as repel the additional alien ground assault.

** [[spoiler:Luke has Mira detonate the bomb in his head to take out incoming aliens converging on his teammates during Operation Gangplank.]]
** [[spoiler:Also during Operation Gangplank, Mira ends up TakingTheBullet for Abby, pushing her out of a Thin Man's line of fire and managing to wound them in the process.]]

* LuredIntoATrap: XCOM's first post-Germany mission turns out to be this, as the aliens are revealed to [[spoiler:have sent [[TheBrute Mutons]] to lie in wait for the XCOM team. Only Liam and Marten make it out alive.]]

* MiddleEasternCoalition: The Caliphate was a union of several Islamic nations formed near the end of the 20th century. Its last leader, [[TheFundamentalist Caliph Abbas Hazeem]], ended up using it to further his own ambitions, turning it into a terror state, forcibly assimilating all independent Islamic nations under its banner and inciting attacks on the non-Muslim world. The War on Terror was the result, and the Caliphate as a political entity is no more as of the present day.

* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Council of Nations turns out to be this; instead of wholeheartedly supporting an alien combat force like in the video game and only backing out when said combat force does not perform up to expectation, they are divided into two camps: one that tolerates the Commander, and one that wants him gone. [[spoiler:And as Ali Ennor's assassination eventually reveals, the cracks run much deeper than a simple opinion on the Commander; enough so that Councilors are willing to kill one another, on top of Ennor himself willingly giving information on the ''entire'' structure of the Council to the Commander.]]

* PowderKegCrowd: Over the course of the story, the people of Germany grow into this, due to a series of events regarding the then-classified alien threat. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the Council - or, to be more specific, a sub-faction within it - is responsible for stirring up this unrest, in an attempt to remove the Commander from XCOM leadership and replace him with someone more to their liking. As described above in GoneHorriblyWrong, this plan doesn't exactly work out the way they intended.]]

* GoneHorriblyWrong: [[spoiler:Ali Ennor and his Council faction's plan to discredit the Commander by destabilizing Germany ends up being co-opted by both the aliens ''and'' EXALT, who take advantage of the chaos in their own unique ways. It results in the aliens attacking Hamburg, Germany leaving the Council and XCOM executing the Hades Contingency in response... only for it to be co-opted by [[TheChessmaster Defense Minister Habicht]] to remove all obstacles to becoming Chancellor of Germany. [[FromBadToWorse And then it's revealed that he's a high-ranking figure within EXALT's European branch.]]]]

** Expanding EXALT's role in the story ahead of ''Atlas Protocol'' and its eventual revision.

** As far as changes to specific characters go, changing the Silent Sniper's identity: from the Commander sneaking off to participate in important missions, to a full-fledged character of his own, known as [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Nero.]]

* OperationBlank: The random operation names are still here from canon. The original edition even had the Commander snark at some of the more bizarre or lame ones.

*** Chapter 27: The Commander ends up facilitating negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Council to raise the Saudi oil margins from their pitiful post-War on Terror values, and manages to help land a favorable deal for the Saudis - one that can set them on a proper path to begin reconstruction efforts. [[spoiler:The next day, EXALT sends King Dhul his daughter's corpse, in full view of the Commander and Van Doorn, before inciting attacks and conflicts all over the Middle East and reverting the deal, [[AllForNothing plunging the country (and the entire region) into renewed internal conflict.]]]]

*** Chapter 30: A meeting between the Commander and Ali Ennor ends in what appears to be a hopeful note, with XCOM gaining a valuable ally within the Council in its Australian representative. [[spoiler:Then his car explodes as he prepares to leave with his family, killing all of them... with the added implication that the Council will use it as a pretext for additional oversight and restrictions upon the Commander.]]
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: The Commander himself had shades of this, pertaining to the Council and the United Nations; it is revealed that one reason he was willing to go to the lengths he did during the War on Terror was because he was certain that they would assist in rebuilding the Middle East, as he considered them to be ''better'' than he is. As he catches up to the world after his original incarceration, however, the wool is pulled over his eyes.

* {{Doorstopper}}: At ~270k words (expanded to ~450k with the 2022 Edition), this story is fairly respectably sized, being bigger than even literature juggernauts like ''[[Literature/AStormOfSwords A Storm of Swords]]'', which is "only" 424k words long. ''Atlas Protocol'' and especially ''Advent Directive'' are even longer.

Leading it is a man known simply as the [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Commander]]: a man infamous for his acts during the War on Terror, acts which led to the ruin of an entire region. Though the world at large believes him executed for his crimes, he has been kept imprisoned for nearly a decade by the Council as a contingency, in the event of an insurmountable threat to the world, and is now freed to act as the tip of the spear against the alien threat.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The original edition has gameplay mechanics like percentage to hit indicators or cover indicators be the result of an augmented reality heads-up display in XCOM's helmets. These elements are later quietly dropped from the story, and removed entirely in the 2022 Edition.

** Introducing/setting up characters first seen in ''Atlas Protocol'' and ''Advent Directive'' ahead of time, such as Herman Diederick, Ian Powell, [[spoiler:the Chronicler]], [[spoiler:the Ravaged One]] and [[spoiler:Zar'Chon Ravarian]].

** Similar to Zhang, General Van Doorn joins the Internal Council as XCOM's military advisor after being rescued from the aliens.

** Everything pertaining to ''Enemy Unknown'''s ''Operation Slingshot'' add-on receives a significant expansion, particularly in terms of importance; Zhang becomes a member of XCOM's Internal Council, as head of XCOM Intelligence, and the Dreadnought is given a greater role as well, first showing up during [[spoiler:the terror attack on Hamburg]] before attacking China in the climax of the story. When it does, XCOM is not the only group attacking it: the Chinese, Japanese, Americans, Indians and even ''North Koreans'' attack as well, working together to shut down the alien vessel, as well as repel the additional alien ground assault.

Leading it is a man known simply as the [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Commander]]: a man infamous for his acts during the War on Terror, acts which led to the ruin of an entire region. Believed dead by the wider world, he has been kept imprisoned for over a decade by the Council as a contingency, in the event of an insurmountable threat to the world, and is now freed to act as the tip of the spear against the alien threat.

However, as he catches up with the world around him, he soon finds out his mission is more complicated that it seems; beyond the alien threat on the horizon, there are those within the Council who oppose his appointment, willing to look for any motive to strip his position away from him. And amidst the nascent upheaval, a nebulous conspiracy reaching across the entire world begins making its move to subsume and reshape the world in its image.

* OperationBlank: The random operation names are still here from canon, with the Commander snarking at some of the more bizarre or lame ones.

* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Council, just like in the [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown video game]]. ''Unlike'' in canon, the Commander immediately (successfully) attempts to figure out as much as possible on who is running the Council and how it works.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The main reason why the Commander was so loathed was because he was willing to use the same terror tactics the terrorists were using right back on them and theirs.