Fanfic / XCOM: The Hades Contingency

XCOM: The Hades Contingency (FF.net; AO3) is the first story in Xabiar's fanfic series (unofficially known as the Xabiarverse). It is based on XCOM: Enemy Unknown (specifically, Enemy Within) with XCOM: Long War content and some XCOM 2 elements.

At the end of the year 2014, a town in Florida goes missing, with clear evidence of an alien incursion. In response, the secretive international body known as the Council of Nations activates the XCOM project, to protect Earth and its people against these alien incursions.

Leading it is a man known simply as the 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.

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 global conspiracy begins making its move to subsume and reshape the world in its image.

The story continues in XCOM: The Atlas Protocol, then in XCOM: The Advent Directive, and concludes in a fourth as of yet unnamed entry.

In December 2022, Hades Contingency has received a major revision, updating, rewriting, and expanding plotlines throughout the story, and polishing the writing, in order to bring everything more in line with the portrayals and level of quality seen in Advent Directive's most recent chapters. Future revisions for Atlas Protocol and Advent Directive are also in the planning stages, to follow up from changes to this story.

This fanfiction contains examples of the following:

• Adaptation Expansion:
  • As one would expect, the story as a whole delves deeper into the interpersonal relationships between XCOM's personnel; among other things, this gives each death an added impact, by virtue of how it affects the rest of the organization.
  • The Council of Nations and its members, as well as the entire geopolitical situation involving it and the rest of the world, is also given major attention, as a product of the Commander's contentious relationship with them.
  • Though Thin Men are regular combat units in practice in the original game, their intended role as alien infiltrators is given some more focus in the story. They're even revealed to have more human forms than the default bespectacled businessman, which allows one to kill an XCOM soldier in Hamburg.
  • 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 the terror attack on Hamburg before attacking Shanghai in the climax of the story, and when it does, XCOM is not alone: the Chinese, Japanese, Americans, Indians and Koreans (South and North) attack as well, working together to shut down the alien vessel, as well as repel the additional alien ground assault.
• Alternate History: Beyond the entirety of the War on Terror, Chapter 26 reveals that Yugoslavia never broke up in the 90's, though they became something of a pariah among the European nations. Until the attack on Hamburg, that is.
  • In addition, the Kim family was overthrown at some point by North Korea's current Supreme Leader, Iseul Gwan.
• Anyone Can Die: 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. Not even POV characters are safe from this; Paige, Shawn, Liam, Luke and Mira all die in the course of this story.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Zhang assumes a bigger role in this story; as part of XCOM's Internal Council, the Commander has him set up an intelligence division for XCOM, and large parts of chapters through this story, as well as its sequels, are devoted to their actions.
  • Similar to Zhang, General Van Doorn joins the Internal Council as XCOM's Deputy Commander after being rescued from the aliens.
• Bash Brothers: Chapter 8 introduces Adrian Francis and Abe Trapp, who have stuck together since boot camp. Abe dies in the exact same chapter.
• Bittersweet Ending: The alien dreadnought that attacked Hamburg is brought down, and XCOM is on the verge breaking into gene mods, MECs and psionics, while also leading a joint effort with other influential figures to curb the additional threat of EXALT. However, three of XCOM's best soldiers (two of them in a relationship) die in the process, and Ennor's earlier demise leaves the Commander with no allies within the Council, who begin making moves to assert their control over XCOM.
• Black Site: Prior to the alien incursion, the Commander was held in one of these in Colorado.
• The Chessmaster: Defense Minister Habicht reveals himself to be one when he manipulates both the German government and XCOM's Hades Contingency into clearing a path for him to take the office of Chancellor.
• Cold Sniper: Nero. Though in his case, it's not so much "cold" as it is "anguished and regretful."
• Consummate Professional: The Council Speaker is always objective and neutral in his interactions with others, including the Commander.
• Crazy-Prepared: The Commander is perhaps the foremost example of this trope; all of XCOM's contingencies, written by him, explain the necessary procedure in the event of betrayal, engagement against hostile human forces, or even countries joining the aliens' side.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The mission in Haiti ends up being this. Liam and Marten are the only survivors, and the Zeus Contingency ends up having to be enacted.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Mira was once a captive of the Caliphate during the War on Terror, along with her husband and her teammates. All of them died, while she was the subject of surgery that removed the skin from her face. Suffice to say, there's a very good reason she unreservedly approves of the Commander's past actions.
• Darker and Edgier: In large part, this is due to Adaptation Expansion concerning the impact of a full-scale alien invasion, but many factors are also changed regarding how XCOM, the Council, and the nations themselves are run, putting everything in something of a morally gray spot.
  • In some aspects, the world presented here is also bleaker than that presented in the video game. The foremost example of this being the War on Terror, which led to the near-ruin and subjugation of the Midde East, and to greater persecution against Islam.
• A Death in the Limelight: In Chapter 36, we're introduced to Gianna Herring, an engineer under XCOM. She's one of EXALT's spies within XCOM, and her POV scene has her executed as part of XCOM's purge of all spies in its ranks.
• Doorstopper: At ~450k words (expanded from ~270k after the 2022 Edition), this story is fairly respectably sized, being bigger than even literature juggernauts like A Storm of Swords, which is "only" 424k words long. Atlas Protocol and especially Advent Directive are even longer.
• The Dreaded:
  • The Commander's reputation paints him as this, by virtue of the atrocities committed during the War on Terror.
  • On a more global scale, EXALT is also this. Van Doorn was once dissuaded from running for office by the Secretary General of NATO (out of concern for his life), 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, 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.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Paige and Patricia catch a glimpse of Thin Men in a camera feed in Chapter 5, a good seven chapters before XCOM finds them on the battlefield.
  • Chapter 30 sees the brief appearance of EXALT's Elizabeth Falka, posing as an aide to Habicht.
  • More of an Early-Bird Mention, but in Chapter 32, Shen asks the Commander if he can have his daughter Lily move to the Citadel, out of concern for her safety.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The early chapters attempt to pull off Gameplay and Story Integration by coming up with a dynamic in-helmet HUD giving cover indicators and hit percentages. It gets quietly abandoned in later chapters, and the 2022 Edition removes all examples of Gameplay and Story Integration entirely.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Commander is always referred to as such, with his real name never given.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • The Commander is even more disgusted with the UN for wanting to have Zhang Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves after defecting from the Triads with the alien artefact.
  • He also finds the aliens' targeting of civilians simply for its own sake abhorrent. While he wasn't above doing so himself, it was always either in order to achieve a military objective or their unfortunately being collateral damage.
• Explosive Leash: Luke Warner is revealed to have one of these, implanted by the Chinese government for running over a son of a diplomat, and programmed to go off after one year of service with XCOM. He has Shen create two detonators (one for him, one for Mira), and it goes off during Operation Gangplank.
• False Flag Operation: One of the ways XCOM executes the Hades Contingency, by means of actively disguising themselves as Thin Men to engender public mistrust towards the aliens.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: 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 the 2022 Edition removes them entirely.
• George Lucas Altered Version: As stated above, Hades Contingency's 2022 Edition is this, rewriting the story and world-building to be more in line with developments in Advent Directive, as well as changing some aspects that are deemed to be unfitting with the wider story's current level of quality. A few examples of the changes brought on by the revision include:
  • Rewriting and expanding the background elements surrounding the War on Terror and the Caliphate. Notably, this updated portrayal can already be seen in more recent chapters of Advent Directive and The XCOM Files.
  • Greatly expanding on humanity's geopolitical situation at the start of the story, as well as the Council and EXALT's roles in it.
  • Removing the Gameplay and Story Integration elements from the early chapters, as they are absent from the rest of the story and its sequels.
  • Expanding EXALT's role in the story ahead of Atlas Protocol and its eventual revision, as well as reimagining the organization itself.
  • Introducing/setting up characters first seen or mentioned in Atlas Protocol and Advent Directive ahead of time, such as Herman Diederick, Ian Powell, the Chronicler, the Ravaged One and Zar'Chon Ravarian.
  • 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 Nero.
    • Expanding on the Commander's perspective and backstory, setting up a character arc leading all the way to Advent Directive's current portrayal.
• Gilded Cage: The Commander's "cell" in the prologue is more easily comparable to a mansion; it includes a living room and kitchen, complete with a nice view of Colorado's mountains.
• Godzilla Threshold: EXALT is revealed to have a secret weapon to employ when humanity itself is at risk of extinction: the Chronicler, a very old human psion powerful enough to fight the aliens head-on.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Ali Ennor's plan with Germany, originally intended to force change in the country and prime it to defend itself against the alien invasion, ends up being co-opted by both the aliens and EXALT (who take advantage of the ensuing chaos in their own unique ways) and disrupted by XCOM (who were convinced it was a plot to destabilize a Council nation). It results in the aliens attacking Hamburg, Germany leaving the Council and opening a dialogue with the aliens, and XCOM executing the Hades Contingency in response... only for it to be then co-opted by Defense Minister Habicht to remove all obstacles to becoming Chancellor of Germany. And then it's revealed that he's a high-ranking figure within EXALT's European branch.
• Great Offscreen War: The War on Terror, which took place in North Africa and the Middle East, and ended around a decade before the events of the story. Several characters (the Commander, Mira, Van Doorn) fought in it, and no one remembers it fondly, especially since it led to the collapse and exploitation of the Middle East.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Several prominent XCOM characters die doing this:
  • Shawn takes on a swarm of Chryssalids to protect fleeing civilians in Hamburg, and ends up converted into a zombie for his trouble.
  • During Operation Gangplank, Mira ends up Taking the Bullet for Abby, pushing her out of a Thin Man's line of fire and managing to wound them in the process.
• He Who Fights Monsters: It is noted that at one point during the War on Terror, the Commander's MO shifted towards escalating brutality, in retribution against the Caliphate. This was a consequence of his wife acting behind his back, unwittingly leading to the deaths of several of his teammates, and nearly ending his own, for which he executed her.
  • Given his later acts against figures like the American Vice-President and the Russian President, it ends up painting a picture of a man thoroughly consumed by his mission, until he was convinced to turn himself in.
• Hidden Villain: For most of the story, the Ethereals are this. Not knowing about them, XCOM initially speculates that the Sectoids could be the master species... until an Ethereal breaches the Commander's mind in his sleep.
• Hope Spot:
  • In Chapter 22, during the alien attack on Hamburg, Shawn sees a woman climbing out of a pile of bodies, and is briefly hopeful at the prospect of saving at least one person. She turns out to be a Chryssalid zombie.
  • Two brutal ones happen in Act III:
    • Chapter 29: 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. 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, plunging the country (and the entire region) into renewed internal conflict.
    • Chapter 32: 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. 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.
• Horrible Judge of Character: 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, he realises they had pulled the wool over his eyes.
• It's the Only Way to Be Sure: The Zeus Contingency involves calling in an air strike if certain circumstances (such as a Total Party Kill) are met.
• King Incognito: As the Commander is believed to be dead, he poses as a former subordinate who defected in response to him going too far, which has the added effect of helping explain the similarities in method to anyone curious enough to ask. He reveals his actual identity to Van Doorn in their first conversation, however.
• The Lost Lenore: Luke's wife was accidentally killed by a teenager in a driving accident. Said teenager was also the son of Germany's Chinese ambassador.
• Lured into a Trap: XCOM's first post-Germany mission turns out to be this, as the aliens are revealed to have sent Floaters, Mutons and an upgraded Outsider to lie in wait for the XCOM team. Only Liam and Marten make it out alive.
• The Medic: Abby is the most prominent Medic in XCOM's roster throughout the story until she accepts Zhang's offer to join XCOM Intelligence at the end.
• Middle Eastern Coalition: The Caliphate was a union of several Islamic nations formed near the end of the 20th century. Its last leader, 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.
• My God, What Have I Done?: 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 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 strongest emotional reaction ever seen from him, and plays a large role in making him strive to be better than the man he was during the war.
• Never Found the Body: After Gangplank, it's noted that Liam's body has yet to be found, if it ever is at all.
• New Meat: Abby averts this trope; while she's never had experience on an actual battlefield prior to joining XCOM, she's no hindrance to her teammates during combat assignments; the Commander even makes note of her capability to pull herself together during her very first mission.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Downplayed on the "hero" part, but the Commander is very much guilty of this regarding his activity during the War on Terror; not only is one of the world's major religions (Islam) suffering unearned persecution as a result, but his actions played a large role in allowing other nations to thoroughly exploit the resources and people of the Middle East.
  • To his credit, however, he does attempt to help them when the opportunity presents itself, even if EXALT ends up throwing a wrench in his efforts.
• Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: 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 several sub-factions. And as Ali Ennor's assassination eventually reveals, the cracks run much deeper than simple things like their 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.
• Offing the Offspring: To his credit, he was not aware at the time, but Farida is revealed to have been pregnant when the Commander killed her. What makes it even worse is the fact that even if he knew at the time, he would have likely killed her anyway, and then rationalize it away, something which even he admits to himself.
• The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Council plays this role initially, like in canon. Unlike in canon, the Commander attempts to figure out as much as possible on who is running the Council and how it works. He doesn't see much success until Ennor's assassination.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Nero.
• Operation: [Blank]: The operation names are retained from canon. The original edition even had the Commander snark at some of the more bizarre or lame ones.
• Playing with Syringes: As of the epilogue, EXALT is conclusively established to be participating in this, with Annette as the unfortunate test subject. They awaken her psionic powers this way.
  • As Atlas Protocol later reveals, they have also done the same to the Furies.
• Pretentious Latin Motto: Vigilo Confido. This is XCOM, after all.
  • As the 2022 Edition reveals, EXALT has two: Exalta in Divintate Homines (Exalt the Divinity of Man) and Nam Omnes Homines (For All Mankind).
• Powder Keg Crowd: 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. 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 force the world to take more drastic steps to prepare for the aliens by baiting them into making a direct attack, in the hopes of scoring a major victory. As described above in Gone Horribly Wrong, this plan doesn't exactly work out the way they intended.
• The Purge: A non-villainous example occurs at the end of Act III: the Commander, Van Doorn and Zhang conduct a sweep of spies and infiltrators within XCOM's personnel. While the Commander and Zhang initially intended on executing them all, Van Doorn convinces the former to send them back except for EXALT's own spies. Those, he gives his blessing to execute them.
• Sequel Hook: Several things are left to set up Atlas Protocol:
  • After Operation Gangplank, XCOM is on the verge of tremendous advances: the secrets of MELD have been cracked, paving the way for MECs and gene-modded soldiers, and Patricia is all but outright stated to be XCOM's first psion.
  • EXALT remains a looming thread on the horizon for XCOM, especially since they're now the two main opposing sides in a shadow war for humanity's future. And as the epilogue reveals, they are making contact with the aliens, as well as conducting research into psionics; they have already awakened Annette's own powers.
    • On the subject of EXALT, the origins of the Chronicler remain a major question mark.
  • Similarly, the Council is not remaining idle; Ali Ennor's killer remains unknown, and an investigation has been opened to determine who is responsible. And in regards to XCOM, they are sending Major-General Diederick to take over as the Strategic Commander of XCOM, relegating the Commander to Tactical Commander in an attempt to undermine his influence.
  • Finally, it is all but outright confirmed that something else is present on Earth, and the Ethereals' operations on our world are all tied to it.
• The Stinger: The epilogue plays out like this, showcasing Annette Durand's perspective as EXALT awakens her psionic powers.
• Synthetic Plague: After research on the Sectoids, Vahlen immediately works towards exploiting their genetic uniformity by creating a virus specifically tailored to their genome. As of the end of this story, it's still a work in progress.
• Take Me Instead: After the Caliphate's downfall, the Commander offered himself up to the UN in exchange for the freedom of his men. They took him, then proceeded to capture and execute his men anyway, adding yet another entry to the list of grievances he has against them.
• Taking the Bullet: Mira does this for Abby during Operation Gangplank, taking a shot to the chest and another to the throat before dying.
• Taking You with Me:
  • During Operation Gangplank, Luke and Mira both do this to several aliens. Luke's is more successful, though Mira does manage to wound the offending Thin Man, softening it up for the rest of the team.
  • An arguably greater one happens just a few chapters earlier: Ali Ennor, the Australian Councilor, is killed by means of a bomb planted in his car as he leaves his meeting with the Commander, and given the preparation this assassination would require, as well as the overall secrecy of their meeting, the only plausible culprits would have to be within the Council itself, something which Ennor knows as well. In response, he holds on long enough to give the Commander the coordinates to a box he hid away, as well as a password for the laptop within. Said laptop contains all the information on the Council of Nations, from current members, staff and possible successors, to all of their documentation on operations, meetings, everything that comprises the organization.
• Til Murder Do Us Part: Prior to the events of the story, the Commander had a wife, Farida, who worked with him during the War on Terror. At an unspecified point, she seemingly acted behind his back, resulting in the deaths of several of their team. In response, he interrogated her, then executed her.
• Title Drop: XCOM's Hades Contingency is a plan to retake nations that switch to the alien fold by false flag terror attacks and assassinating their leadership.
• The Unfettered: There were very few lines the Commander was unwilling to cross in order to win the War on Terror, and retains this attitude in the alien war.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Luke's current stance on his murder of the Chinese ambassador's son.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Habicht manipulated the events of the Hades Contingency to secure the position of Chancellor of Germany for EXALT. And as the "sole survivor" of the cabinet, he's likely to gain a not-insignificant measure of support.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 10, UFO Assault: Large Scout, has Paige, one of the main POV characters at the time, die during XCOM's first contact with an Outsider, establishing that no, even POV characters aren't safe in this story.
  • The climax of the Germany storyline (Chapters 20 to 24) qualifies as a Wham Arc on its own right:
    • XCOM is sent to retrieve General Van Doorn, whose convoy is under alien attack, and while they do succeed, it is quickly revealed that the aliens have also launched a full-scale terror attack on the city of Hamburg.
    • In Hamburg, the aliens set the Chryssalids loose for the first time, and the full capabilities of the Thin Men are revealed, which claims the lives of countless civilians and several XCOM soldiers (Shawn being among them).
    • The mission is seen as a failure by the German government, which withdraws from the Council and begins negotiating with the aliens, prompting the Council to authorize the Commander to finally initiate the Hades Contingency and instigate a coup against the standing German government to bring the country back to XCOM's side... which is promptly co-opted by Minister Habicht.
  • Chapter 30, For All Mankind, is a two-fer:
    • There is an active human psion (the Man in White), fighting the aliens for an unknown motive.
    • Chancellor Habicht is revealed to be a member of EXALT.
  • The epilogue, Realignment:
    • EXALT opens a dialogue with the aliens. In addition, the Man in White (formally known as the Chronicler) is working for them.
    • For long-time readers, the 2022 Edition also reveals a major change from the original: The Director of EXALT is an entirely new character, with Saudia now being the commander of the Bastion fortress in Antarctica.
• Wham Line: Chapter 30 has a big one, not by nature of what is said, but by who is saying it.
  Chancellor Habicht: "Exalta in Divintate Homines".
• Your Days Are Numbered: Luke only has one year of life left at most, courtesy of the Explosive Leash implanted by the Chinese.