XCOM 2 Part 3

Title: Operation Poisoned Shroud — XCOM 2 War Journal
Featuring: Tom Cruise, Ron Woodward, Mel Gibson, and Joe Jukic

Setting: Inside the Resistance Medbay. The squad is bruised, coughing from poison exposure, and bandaged. Outside the window, toxic green clouds still hang over the war-torn city they barely escaped. “Operation Poisoned Shroud” will go down in XCOM history as a psychological and biochemical nightmare.

TOM CRUISE (clenching his jaw while getting stitched up):
That gas... it wasn’t just poison. It was like fear, hallucination, rage—all bottled into one. I saw myself in Vanilla Sky... but I never signed that contract.

RON WOODWARD (hooked up to a portable IV, laughing wheezily):
I thought I was back in my old apartment, high as hell, chasing an invisible raccoon with a bass guitar. Turned out, it was a Chryssalid.

JOE JUKIC (serious, one arm in a sling):
You were screaming “drop the beat, motherf***er” while swinging your grenade launcher at empty air. That gas messed everyone up.

MEL GIBSON (calm, intense, barely touched by the poison):
It’s war, boys. Psyops. Biochem terror. They’re testing spiritual resilience now, not just armor. The aliens are playing God, and I don’t like it.

TOM (eyeing Mel):
You moved like a ghost out there, man. Didn’t even flinch when that Viper King dropped from the roof.

MEL (with a smirk):
I’ve seen snakes before. Some of 'em wore suits and lived in Hollywood. This one just had a tongue that needed cutting.

RON (coughing up greenish phlegm):
Did anyone not hallucinate Bono handing them a glowing orb?

JOE (quietly):
...Bono offered me forgiveness. Said all debts were canceled. Said Lucky Diamond had found peace. Then I got slapped by a Faceless.

TOM (grim):
This was their test. They didn’t want to win the fight—they wanted to see what broke first: our minds or our lungs.

MEL (nodding):
And we passed. Barely. Joe’s hack on that psi-beacon saved us all. If that signal had gone through...

JOE (weakly):
It would've lit up every ADVENT patrol within fifty clicks. Lucky I still had my firewall code from Sarajevo.

RON (grinning):
You’re a wizard, Jukic. I owe you a beer. Or a detox cleanse. Probably both.

MEL (placing a hand on Joe’s shoulder):
The poison didn’t kill us. That means we’re immune to their mind games. But next time—they’ll bring worse.

TOM (staring toward the window, haunted):
Operation Poisoned Shroud wasn’t a mission. It was prophecy. They’re not just here to enslave us... they’re here to corrupt us.

JOE (slowly standing up):
Then we don’t just fight with weapons. We fight with will. Soul. Brotherhood.

RON (raising his IV bag like a toast):
To the Resistance. And to whoever keeps giving us the wildest mission names.

ALL TOGETHER:
“To the squad.”

As the medbay lights flicker from an incoming EMP burst, the squad prepares for their next operation. The war is escalating. But so is their bond.

Coming Soon: Operation Righteous Thief
When hope dies, legends rise.