“We’re heading into Mexico for this next mission. Our covert operative has uncovered the location of a rather sizeable Exalt cell operating out of one of the factories here, but they haven’t been able to discover what they’re doing in there. We need you to move in, ascertain the nature of their operation and disrupt it as much as possible. Central out.”

The communication cut off as the Skyranger came into view of the vast, sprawling industrial complex. Smoking chimneys emitted intermittent glows of intense heat as furnaces churned away in the night air, their employees either blissfully unaware of the operations taking place in the nearby buildings, or bribed into ignoring them. Twisting its engines towards the ground, the military transport craft descended in the empty parking lot of one of the abandoned warehouses, the rear hatch opening within seconds of landing.

The troops sprinted down the exit ramp, taking up positions behind the security booth and peering over at the dimly lit building opposite them. In spite of its superficially old and outdate appearance, the interior of the building was awash with movement and the noise from within was audible even from this distance. From end to end, the structure covered well over a mile of ground: whatever Exalt was doing in there was massive.

Already alerted by the sound of the landing Skyranger, a trio of Exalt soldiers had hurried towards positions of cover behind a stationary forklift. Two of them dove to safety, but the third took a bolt of concentrated plasma to the face, his body tumbling to the ground as Maj. Prophet lowered the sniper rifle.

“Nailed it. You’re up Pepper.”

Stepping around the side of the security booth and levelling his heavy plasma cannon at the cowering Exalt operatives, Lt. Pepper unleashed a flurry of incandescent green blasts into the side of the forklift. At first it appeared as though his shots had left the Exalt forces entirely unscathed, allowing them enough time to line up a shot on the XCOM squad...

… right up until the moment when the heavily damaged forklift detonated in a fountain of flaming metal shards, spraying pieces of the hunkering Exalt pair over a wide radius.

“Nice. Move up team.”

Cpt. Paul kicked off the move across the open expanse of the roadway, the team’s resident assault expert covering the ground in mere moments, the genetic modifications in his legs allowing him to vault straight up off the pavement and onto the roof of the two storey building. Landing with a loud ‘clang’, he set off in search of a skylight in order to scout out the interior of the warehouse.

The rest of the squad followed across the road, save for Maj. Prophet who remained behind to cover their approach. Only when the rest of the team was securely in place did he sprint across to join them.

“Any sign Paul?”

“Not yet, I see a skylight though, moving into position now.”

Peering in through the windows of the warehouse, the team could see very little past the stacked boxes. Pushing open the front doors, Lt. Pepper and Col. Pink swung their weapons to face within, scanning for any sign of movement as they moved inside.

“In position; heavy activity inside the warehouse, seems like there’s something wrapped in cloth running up the center of the structure; I can’t see much, but whatever it is, it’s big. Really big.”

“Strike one,” the voice of Central came in clear through their headsets, “we’re getting massive heat signatures coming off whatever’s under that cloth, there’s a very real chance that it could be alive; perhaps some sort of Alien specimen we haven’t seen before. Exercise extreme caution!”

“Bigger they are, the harder they fall.” The mechanical voice of Maj. Lover rumbled out of his metal chassis, the MEC suit filling the doorway behind Pink and Prophet.

“Even so Strike one, don’t take any chances; clear out the Exalt forces and find out what they’re keeping in here.”

“Roger Central, we’ll send these suit-wearing-bastards scuttling for home.” Lt. Spokle checked the sights on his plasma rifle one last time before the squad stepped into position to attack.

“Uh, guys, it looks like the target object is… moving?” The voice of Cpt. Paul crackled over the radio, “The Exalt troops are going nuts, running around like crazy trying to get away from it; now would be a great time to OH SHI-“ The voice was abruptly interrupted by a deafening sound from within the warehouse. The XCOM squad had to clasp their hands over their ears, save for Maj. Lover who simply adjusted the volume of his ear enhancements, hunkering down at the noise.

A moment later, shouts of horror and confusion were audible as the noise ended, replaced with the sounds of rending metal and a resounding series of grunts that heralded the release of whatever Exalt had been confining there. Up on the roof, Cpt. Paul was thrown backwards a hefty distance, crashing down on the corrugated iron as he aimed his alloy-cannon at the limb protruding from the ceiling.

He had to blink a few times to be sure he wasn’t seeing things. There, sure enough, was a colossal arm. The clenched fist had punched its way clean through the wrought iron rooftop, easily large enough to crush an entire tank in its grip, and was in the process of reaching around to find something to grip onto. Without hesitating, Cpt. Paul unloaded a shell from the alloy cannon into the exposed wrist.

A small chunk of blood and sinew spraying across the rooftop rewarded his shot, but by the time the flesh had hit the iron, the damage was already healing. Before he’d even had a chance to let out a curse of disbelief, the skin had completely sealed over, as though the wound had never even happened.

“Son of a bitch!”

From inside the building, the rest of the squad could barely see over the chaos of streaking plasma bolts. The Exalt team within had sought the fastest way out of the building, and for some of them, that was the front doors… exactly where the XCOM team had been waiting for them.

Though they were able to cut down waves of the panicking traitors, the team was no closer to getting inside to see what the Hell was causing all the commotion.

“Paul, the fuck’s going up there?”

“SHE’S SO FUCKING BIG, HOW IN THE-” the transmission cut off once again with another resounding boom, leaving the Squad to guess at what was going on. Cpt. Paul meanwhile had just witnessed something he definitely hadn’t been expecting when he stepped off that Skyranger.

Before his stunned gaze, the owner of the titanic arm had made themselves known, having torn their way through the roof of the warehouse like it was made of tissue paper. Though she was still sitting down, the blinking woman was positively monolithic, making the beefy Captain look like a shotgun-toting insect by comparison. Iron and concrete permeated her hair like flecks of dandruff as she shook her head, a tired groan escaping her chest as she continued the process of waking up.

As it turned out, the ‘cloth’ that had been covering her was nothing more than the suit she was wearing. If he had ever doubted their psychotic dedication to their job before, Cpt. Paul was convinced by the simple fact that they had custom-made a God-damn suit, vest and tie for this woman! She even had scaled-up glasses tucked in beneath her thick mop of black, shoulder-length hair.

“Guys! I think now would be a very good time to abort!”

Turning on his heel and sprinting for the edge of the roof, Cpt. Paul felt a rush of breeze overhead as the giantess slapped her hand down in front of him, palm open. Levelling his alloy cannon, he unloaded another blast into her flesh, sending another fresh spray of blood across the roof. A moment later though, as before, the wound closed up and vanished, seemingly even faster this time! Tensing his legs, Cpt. Paul vaulted into the air as the fingers closed beneath him…

… and let out a shout of panic as he collided with the palm of the woman’s other monstrous hand.

“Slow down cricket,” She said, her deafening voice ringing in his head as her fingers squeezed tight shut around him, “we’ve only just met.”

The words echoed throughout the warehouse as the XCOM team finally breached the interior of the structure. They froze, stunned by the sight before them. Amongst all the chaos of Exalt scientists, soldiers and workers attempting to exit the building, two objects loomed in front of the squad…

Feet. Stretching from the floor almost to the ceiling, the toes were scrunched tightly together in mid flex, each heel slowly sliding to either side of the warehouse as the rest of the titanic figure’s body woke up.

“Oh man, that ‘aint right, that ‘aint right at all!”

They raised their weapons as one to open fire, but with a rumbling groan and the shriek of twisting metal, the giant woman lifted her knees, obliterating another huge chunk of the ceiling; she was standing up.

“FALL BACK!”

Debris and rubble rained down on the team as they double-timed it out of the warehouse, heading directly for the Skyranger.

“Strike one!” Central’s voice crackled through the radio again, an urgent tone in his voice, “You are not equipped to handle this target, we’re sending interceptors to give support, retreat to the Skyranger and get to a safe distance; if the circumstances chance, we’ll send you back in to-”

The rest of the sentence was drowned out by a thunderous ‘BOOM’ as the team skidded to a halt outside the building. One of the towering woman’s feet had slammed down in the road between the squad and the evac craft, cratering the pavement under her weight and causing every nearby building to shudder. A single upwards glance confirmed how hopelessly outgunned they were.

Though she was dressed just as smartly as the rest of the Exalt goons, save for her bare feet, this woman was no mere brainwashed lackey. Despite her lack of armaments, the sheer physical size was enough to render any armour useless, and as Cpt. Paul had discovered, the genetic modifications she’d undergone at the hands of her creators had made her virtually impervious to everything, from small arms to heavy weapons.

“Split up!” Col. Pink spun his hand in the air and took off down the street, the team rapidly dispersing so they couldn’t all be obliterated at once. In that instant though, only one of the troopers was facing their demise. High up in the air, well past the reach of the ground lights, Cpt. Paul struggled in absolute futility against the crushing grip of the colossus, the moon glinting off her glasses as she rolled her shoulders, stretching out her muscles and letting out the wakeful sigh of someone well rested.

“Ahhh… I see those smart little ants have brought me breakfast; how kind of them.” Her fist opened, fingers sliding about to pinch around Cpt. Paul’s waist. The moment his arms were free, the assault specialist brought his alloy cannon to bear, emptying the entire clip directly into the woman’s face…

… she smiled. Having fully adapted to the ammunition, her skin wasn’t even scratched by the projectiles. Cpt. Paul gulped.

“That’s sweet; you think you have a chance. Though in my experience, you don’t taste as sweet as you might think.”

Tilting back her head, the woman’s lips parted with an audible ‘smack’. A wave of humid breath rolled out across Paul’s face as his limbs thrashed about, trying to dislodge himself from the vice-grip of his executioner. He didn’t expect to survive the fall, but anything was better than this. However, as he found himself dangling over the cavernous maw of the dark-haired giantess, he knew his number was up.

With a cry of despair he plummeted between her lips, landing with a wet ‘splat’ on her tongue. Sliding about trying to reach his pistol, he found himself being flicked across to the side of the nightmarish interior. Like a hard little nut, Cpt. Paul was brought into position between the woman’s molars, barely being given time to raise his arms in defense before they came crashing down on him.

The chewing sounds from outside were utterly horrific.