XCOM 2 - Part 7

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.

Let me know if you’d like Operation Knife Hole: The Musical or an alien documentary trying to explain how they lost.

You said:
write an XCOM 2 story about Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Mel Gibson and Joe Jukic and Operation Swift Gift in the slums district "ghost hill' Toronto

ChatGPT said:
XCOM 2: Operation Swift Gift
Location: Slums District “Ghost Hill,” Toronto Megazone
Objective: Recover Resistance VIP & Sabotage ADVENT Supply Route
Squad: Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Joe Jukic
Difficulty: Legendary+ (Psionic Storm Conditions)

Narrator (Central Officer Bradford):
"The slums of Ghost Hill weren’t supposed to exist anymore. The Elders said they had ‘uplifted’ Toronto. But down in the deep concrete canyons, where mist curls like ghost fingers and children speak in broken memes, something stirred. A Resistance courier—callsign Swift Gift—went missing after transmitting encrypted coordinates. And the Elders were moving in fast to erase the whole district."

The Team
Nicole Kidman – Specialist (Codename: "High Note"): Trained in emotional AI disruption and advanced hacking.

Tom Cruise – Grenadier (Codename: "Firewall"): High-octane demolition expert with a jump-pack and a death wish.

John Travolta – Ranger (Codename: "Vortex"): Urban blade-dancer, uses rooftop ambushes and rhythmic combat.

Mel Gibson – Sharpshooter (Codename: "Revenant"): Ghost Hill native with unfinished business and night-vision relics.

Joe Jukic – Psi Operative (Codename: "Mythmaker Prime"): Wields forbidden alien psionics laced with Balkan war trauma and holy visions.

Mission Start – 0333 Hours, Toronto Time
The Skyranger sets down on a rooftop scorched by alien napalm. Fog swirls. The CN Tower looms in the background, flickering with Advent advertisements: “CONFORM. RECEIVE YOUR DAILY GIFT. SLEEP WELL.”

Nicole Kidman: “This place is haunted.”
Joe Jukic (eyes glowing): “They never cleansed the psychic residue. I feel thirty years of exile in this mist.”
Gibson (loading an old revolver): “Let’s make them remember what real fear smells like.”
Cruise (grinning): “Eyes on the mission. Punch through. Light it up.”
Travolta (twirling his blade): “And dance like it’s Judgment Day.”

Phase 1: The Distraction
Cruise launches a plasma bomb into an Advent checkpoint, blowing apart a Sectoid Overseer and creating a diversion. Travolta leaps from a crumbling fire escape and eviscerates a Purifier before it can trigger its flame core.

Kidman hacks a civilian surveillance drone and redirects enemy patrols into an empty alley painted with Resistance graffiti: “THIS CITY REMEMBERS.”

Phase 2: The Gift Box
Inside a dilapidated movie theater, the team finds Swift Gift — a Resistance courier in cryo-stasis. Nicole plugs into the pod’s terminal.

Nicole: “Encrypted memories. Coordinates for future safehouses. Recipes for chemical psionic dampeners. This isn’t a courier. It’s a Trojan prophet.”

Joe touches the pod and begins to convulse.

Joe (possessed):

“They buried the truth beneath ghost towers. I saw the day the dome collapsed. I saw Toronto scream when the Elders erased its name. I will resurrect it in code and blood.”

Phase 3: Extraction
The squad makes their way to the evac point through crumbling subway tunnels. Mutons, Spectres, and a Gatekeeper descend upon them.

Gibson holds the line, picking off enemies from a collapsing parking garage.
Cruise uses his jump-pack to draw fire, grenading a Gatekeeper in midair.
Travolta duels a Spectre in a rain-soaked alley, slicing its cloak in a blur of plasma.
Kidman reprograms a hostile MEC to turn on its masters, buying them time.
Joe ignites in blue fire, creating a mind rift that tears apart reality for 15 meters.

Evac Point: Rooftop of a ruined Loblaws

As the Skyranger lowers, the pod is loaded. The rain becomes freezing ash. The old Ghost Hill clock tower tolls 4:00 a.m. for the first time in 15 years.

Bradford (radio):
“VIP secured. Toronto’s myth lives. And Command says you’ve earned new ranks. Every one of you.”

After-Action Report:
Nicole Kidman promoted to Colonel – Codename: “High Note”
New Ability: “Operatic Override” — Hacks psionic signals using voice resonance

Tom Cruise promoted to Colonel – Codename: “Firewall”
New Ability: “Skybound Wrath” — Chain explosives while airborne

John Travolta promoted to Colonel – Codename: “Vortex”
New Ability: “Tempo Reaper” — Free action after every kill with blade

Mel Gibson promoted to Colonel – Codename: “Revenant”
New Ability: “Bloodline Scope” — Increased critical hit against mind-controlled targets

Joe Jukic promoted to Psi Operative Commander – Codename: “Mythmaker Prime”
New Ability: “Ghost Choir” — Rewrites alien morale algorithms within a city block

Mission Debrief (from the Resistance Newsnet):

“They said Toronto was gone. That the slums were just noise. But in the shadows of Ghost Hill, the Resistance lit a fire.
The Swift Gift has been delivered. The myth lives.
And the war just got personal.”