XCOM 2 - Part 6

XCOM 2: Operation Knife Hole — Promotions Ceremony
Location: Avenger Warship, Resistance High Command Deck
Status: Alien Psionic Uplink Network — Disrupted. Earthwide Mental Liberation — Commencing.

Narrator (Bradford's voice):
“Operation Knife Hole wasn’t just a mission. It was a turning point. For the first time, we saw that the Elders weren’t invincible—just desperate. And the squad that brought them to their knees? Four legends. Each insane in their own way… each irreplaceable.”

The Avenger’s main hall is packed. Resistance fighters from all continents gather. Smoke from celebratory cigars coils into the high ceilings. A battered Advent banner hangs upside down behind the Commander’s podium.

Tom Cruise – Promoted to Colonel (Specialist) — Codename: “Firewall”
Citation:
“For disabling the alien uplink using only a portable drone, a grappling hook, and a half-eaten protein bar. For running vertical along a magnetic wall while plasma bolts flew past him. For diving into a psionic storm and saying, ‘I do my own hacking.’”

Commander:
“You didn’t just break their system, Tom. You rewrote the rules.”
Tom (smirking): “Let’s make the sequel louder.”

John Travolta – Promoted to Colonel (Ranger) — Codename: “Vortex”
Citation:
“For slicing through Muton elites with balletic precision. For disarming a bomb while beatboxing. For psyching out a Viper with pelvic thrusts and convincing an Andromedon to defect… temporarily.”

Commander:
“You dance like a killer and kill like a dancer.”
John (finger guns): “Saturday Night Fever’s back. And it brought plasma swords.”

Mel Gibson – Promoted to Colonel (Sharpshooter) — Codename: “Revenant”
Citation:
“For maintaining overwatch for 11 straight turns without blinking. For shooting an Elder Avatar mid-monologue. For terrifying a Sectoid into surrendering by reciting lines from Braveheart with blood on his face.”

Commander:
“Your madness? Tactical. Your accuracy? Divine.”
Mel (lighting a match off his teeth): “Freedom’s a sniper rifle. And I’ve got range.”

Joe Jukic – Promoted to Psi Operative Commander — Codename: “Mythmaker Prime”
Citation:
“For channeling ancient mental energy to sever the alien collective’s dreamlink. For psychically rewriting the Knife Hole’s psionic anthem into a Resistance anthem. For entering the mind of an Elder and planting false memories of its own irrelevance.”

Commander:
“You didn’t just fight them, Joe. You made them question their existence.”
Joe (eyes glowing faintly): “They dreamed of domination. I taught them nightmares.”

[Final Words from the Commander]

“Earth’s freedom doesn’t come from bullets alone—it comes from imagination, rebellion, and courage. Operation Knife Hole proved we have all three. These four operatives turned a mind-control network into an act of defiance.
From now on, every city that breaks free will sing their names.

Raise your glasses.

To Cruise. To Travolta. To Gibson. To Jukic.

To the Resistance.”

Thunderous applause. Drones record the moment. Somewhere in orbit, an Elder screams as its propaganda feed is overwritten by a Travolta dance loop.