Arthur C. Clarke Was Right

It turned out pretty soon, that this was, judging by the immediate impact on everyone's daily lives, the more terrifying option. Getting mugged, robbed or stabbed in the back alleys of Detroit would still inconceivably be the more preferable option to what we are facing right now. It all started in Cologne on one dark and rainy night.

Pacetti panted heavily, and his breath formed a swirling fog in front of his eyes. It was raining literally sideways and visibility was limited to epsilon, which equals to zero as much possible without being zero. Skyranger had dropped the team nearby toppled police car and another abandoned, battered display of German automotive industry. Orders were clear: find out, what happened to the German recon team just a few hours ago, quite soon after reports of mysterious metallic bulkhead-like projectiles rained down from the skies. Pacetti was leaning on a bus stop and noticed the wet pavement was glistening with uncomfortable amount of someone's blood. The course of action was to secure the warehouse building straight ahead and he took cover inside the bus stop, and that's where he found the source of all this blood beneath his feet. Judging by the armour - or what was left of it - this was one of the German recon team's members, split up like the sky on a severe thunderstorm, as if it had exploded from the inside. Pacetti had to think of something completely different in order not to throw up right there and then.

Pacetti: "I have no idea what this guy has encountered, but there you are. Enjoy the view."

X-Com Central: "Roger that. Proceed with caution, this is starting to look messy."

Three other squad members proceeded to the windows and advanced past the police car and a garbage disposal truck to the windows. They were lit, after all, albeit very dimly so. Pacetti rushed to the door and kicked it down, taking immediate cover behind the crates right at the door. Volkov, Tamashita and Larsson followed through their respective windows, securing their firing arcs. The source of the light was a lone workshop ceiling lamp, hanging very low, and there seemed to be a hulking figure standing behind it, just barely visible. Pacetti's heart skipped a beat as the silhouette struck his mind: the figure was motionless, but armed with a large pistol and a hand grenade.

Pacetti: "Drop your weapons, now!"

...

Tamashita: "Looks like he's in a great deal of shock. I suggest we keep him pinpointed and try to disarm him first. This does not look or feel any good."

Pacetti: "All right, Volkov, we got you covered. Approach him and try to disarm him. Go."

Volkov advanced towards the figure, that was visible only chest down due to the lamp hanging very low. No reaction, none at all. Volkov reached the figure, slowly grabbed the lamp hood and turned it towards the figure. "Oh my god, look at h..." BLAM! The figure's face seemed like it was under heavy degeneration process, like a zombie. In an instant, it had raised the pistol and blown Volkov's back of the head across the floor, followed by heavy scuttling from behind the crates further down the warehouse. The figure, which now obviously was to be recognized as another German recon team's member, fell down in a lump, like a puppeteer letting go of the strings. Two small and scrawny figures with unusually big and ball-shaped heads emerged and started shooting something green from their weapons. Larsson had exactly zero seconds to react before his chest armour and anything beneath turned into a pulp. The green plasma sure looked fancy, but it was nothing to do any closer business with. Tamashita hit the deck while the top of the crate disintegrated in a green spray and splinters. Pacetti shifted his aim, squeezed the trigger, and the other of the assailants toppled back and fell down. Lifeless, if the analogies for terrestrial life apply to these beings. Tamashita lurched around the cover from the left side and made the other figure meet Earthly steel at  a high velocity, just a second before getting hit in her right side.

Pacetti glanced quickly to the right and noticed, that third one had circled by far right behind the piles of crates and had hit the Japanese doctor square on her back. Spraying bullets in the enemy's direction, he hit it with two or three and it fell. Heart pounding like a rampant elephant, he tried to observe the rest of the warehouse, and things started slowly to settle down.

X-Com Control: "Team, report! Team, report!"

Pacetti: "Others down, three enemies down. Looks like the end of the action to me. I don't know what is going on or what are these lifeforms, and I don't want to spend here any longer than necessary."

X-Com Control: "Okay, head home with the fellows."

The thought of scraping his fallen comrades up from the scene made Pacetti throw up.