Hmm. I've been writing Ruben's first post in my head, and it has occurred to me that his most prevalent weakness is that he only knows how to follow orders, and there is no clear chain of command in the crossover world. Subsequently, he can't make independent decisions (or has never needed to) and will be incapable of performing in combat without a CO on the field or in contact (since that's how XCOM works anyway). I'm thinking maybe free will is something that is stripped away when you join XCOM? Or maybe it's just as simple as he's never been trained how to do that? Either way, one of the immediate problems will be him trying to locate a CO and taking direct orders from them.

So what I'm wondering is, could there be a way for either Bradford or the Council to contact him through a screen or something? The XCOM research division is crazy good at future technology, and maybe Vahlen could take a signature from the magic circle and research it to find a way to connect to Arcade. My plan is for Bradford/the Council to explain that Ruben will have to make independent decisions now, rather than constantly give him instructions or anything. I can set the length of time until completion of the connection, since XCOM can research whenever they want, so it can either be handled immediately or after the first mission. I imagine it'll be difficult to work with him if he only follows orders, which would make his first mission more difficult and would probably make his allies dislike him, but I can use that to develop his character. Trying to make people like a character that they initially don't gives plenty of room for growth.

In fact, I think I like the "Needs orders" weakness more than "Authoritative," since authority is the last thing XCOM operatives have. Some Arcade allies would be fine with telling a rookie what to do, but I doubt any of them would accept orders from him, and that would just overly complicate things immediately with, frankly, a bunch of lame arguments with other characters not wanting to be bossed around. Heh, maybe a character could get a little power-thirsty and start taking advantage of him at first?

tldr; 1. Can I find a way for XCOM to contact Ruben, and 2. Can I change Ruben's "Authoritative" weakness to "Needs Instructions?"

[@Holy Soldier][@Etherean Fire]