Awesome / XCOM: The Hades Contingency

• Chapter 3, XCOM's first encounter with the aliens, sees resident rookie Abigail Gertrude in her first ever combat engagement. She scores the killing shot on two Sectoids, and although there were some moments where she was close to panicking, she's able to keep it together throughout the entire mission. Several of her teammates compliment her on this, and even the Commander (who had been observing through their armor cams) is positively impressed.
• Chapter 5:
  • Despite the possibility of friction due to his background, resident Cold Sniper Nero quickly proves his worth as a member of the team, being the first to spot aliens on the move and saving Patricia from a Sectoid that nearly got the drop on her.
  • Patricia herself is no slouch either: she knocks out a mind-controlled Ivan before he can kill any more of their teammates, and saves Pete from the remaining Sectoids and Drones, alongside Paige.
• Chapter 22: A few understated moments with Shawn, during the invasion of Hamburg:
  • He is the first to figure out that there are Thin Men cleverly hidden amongst the fearful populace. He couldn't intervene in time to save Cortez, but if he had never connected the dots, the squad could've lost more soldiers to a single Thin Man.
  • His Dying Moment of Awesome: Shortly after first encountring the Chryssalid zombies, he sees a few of the things chasing after fleeing civilians. What does he do? Charge in. He kills the Chryssalids, saving people he never knew in the process, but sadly, the final Chryssalid pins him down, and no one is able to save him.
• Van Doorn is a walking moment of awesome:
  • His very first scene has him and his security detail being ambushed by alien forces. He wastes no time in formulating a plan to hold them off. He and his men succeed in holding out long enough for XCOM to arrive.
    • And after XCOM arrives? He fights an Outsider in close quarters. The Outsider loses.
    • When all's said and done, and their team ends up being rerouted to fend off the alien attack in Hamburg, Van Doorn is eager to help, even in spite of whatever his superiors may think.
      "I am Peter Van Doorn. I do not give a damn what they want. Matters of significance require my presence, and I do not follow orders blindly. It's time that they remember that. That they remember the Nightmare of Abbas."