Chapter 3

September 20, 2047, Yellow Zone Y1, Somewhere near Beijing, Asian Steel Talon Production Base (officially decommissioned), 0015hrs...

Conner awoke with a splitting ache in his head. This was hardly surprising since a few hours before, the exterior of the Titan was crawling with homicidal aliens and barely any humans were around. James was still either unconscious or asleep. Aliens patrolled the base, looking for any surviving Steel Talon units that were stupid enough to attempt any form of retaliation. Actually, it didn't matter; all were to few in number to pose a large threat. Conner and James were one of the lucky few to survive. Not for long though. The aliens would find them sooner or later, probably while flushing out the base.

They needed a way to escape, and Conner had to look for one. If he did not look now, he might not find it anymore. It was safer now, under the cover of night. He went to the rear of the cab and looked for a GD-2 rifle. After a while of searching,he found one and took it to the exit hatch. He found the hatch merely a foot off the ground,but the hatch had been compromised and was bent out of shape to the point where it took him a while to squeeze out. He crept out of the Titan and into the War Factory.He looked back at his once glorious titan to see nothing more than a wrecked piece of junk with a long bent pole instead of the magnificent ocher colored Walker that he had seen yesterday.He was startled to find a Seeker floating into the area, its scanner sweeping 160 degrees in front of it. Just my luck, he thought. Of all the Scrin units, a Seeker has to come here. It was slowly approaching the wreckage, and in moments it would pick up Conner, and release a wave of light plasma discs. Light though they were, a single disc could fell at least two soldiers standing side by side. As it approached,Conner ducked behind a pile of debris and silently crept away,ever wary about the seeker. No devastating wave of deadly plasma flew at him, and no aliens came charging into his immediate area.A good sign.Conner moved gingerly through the shadows, trying his best to not step on fiberglass or anything else that would give his position away.He moved closer and closer to the seeker when he looked on the ground to see a couple of grenades and c4-charges. A Commando was here. The commandos usually carried GD-7 assault guns which fired miniature railgun shots over short distances and he was looking for that kind of firepower. The GD7 was actually GDI made, but Steel Talon scientists had created a new GD7 with three morph modes instead of the usual two. He scanned the area and found it lying underneath rubble, with the dead commando's hand still gripping it, and the body lying not too far away and a large swarm of alien corpses littering the surrounding ground, meaning that he did not go without a fight. He grabbed the GD-7 and some extra ammunition clips by the side of the Commando. Almost immediately, the gun hooked up to his helmet HUD and sent a strange signal. A red light blinked on his HUD,followed closely by a short list of instructions. He followed the orders and headed towards his fallen comrade. From his helmet, he extracted a microchip that he inserted into his own. His gun suddenly began to morph. It was in testing mode. Its first morph was into a sniper rifle - the GD-7c, followed by a railgun cannon for heavy armor -- the GD-7b. Then it began to shrink slightly into its new mode, the GD-7a. Conner inspected it. It was an assault rifle but one with a slightly longer barrel and with an an ammo counter of five hundred. He looked at the tactical map that appeared on his HUD. The seeker was closing in on him. He panicked and looked around his rifle for the morph button. At the rifle butt, the were three buttons, 7a, 7b and 7c. Only b and c were lit up. His helmet immediately registered the sight and the display prompted him to press 7b.The gun morphed once more, turning into the railgun cannon. This leveled the playing field. He approached the Seeker which had yet to find the source of the metallic sound. A voice appeared inside his head.

'Charge the weapon before firing. Its works on kinetic energy. your movements will keep the whole gun powered.'

'Who are you?'

'I am your AI from the microchip that you just put in your suits helmet. I'll only be hinting you and giving you assistance when necessary. Now back to work.'

Conner aimed the railgun cannon and charged it. A second later it was primed. He let it loose. A tiny ball shot forward and attached itself onto the plating of the seeker. He lowered the gun and stared in disbelief. The AI screamed in his ear.

'Keep your aim! That's not the shot!'

Conner looked down at the rifle that was in his hands pointed at the ground. The barrel began to shine a bright white hue. He quickly aimed the railgun at the tank and waited. A moment later, the beam surged forward just as the seeker turned. Plumes of smoke rose from the Seeker's carcass and fire immediately engulfed it. Dull green Scrin slime oozed out of the gaping hole. It dropped to the ground,lifeless.

Conner heard another noise: the odd clicking sound that only alien insectoid units made. At the entrance of the War Factory, a Shock Trooper and two Disintegrators crept in on four legs followed closely by a Corrupter,its extremely bulbous body taking up the bulk of the entrance.It walked in,making strange clanking noises as the many weak,segmented body armor plates clashed with one another as the body twisted like a snake to observe its surroundings even though it seemed to have no eyes.They had noticed a blue blast and were investigating the cause of it when they noticed a Titan seemingly stuck to the wall of the War Factory. They noticed the entrance hatch of the titan was swinging open quite drunkenly. Conner could have kicked himself for his carelessness.

The Corrupter had weak armor and Conner knew it. With his railgun cannon still charging, he changed to his sniper rifle. He hit the dirt and spread his legs across for more support.He peered inside the targeting scope to find it already tracking the creatures and.He targeted the alien creatures first and fired. His first shot killed the first disintegrator,the scrawny four-legged creature with what seemed to be a plasma cannon infused in its body,followed successively by another two shots to the Shock trooper,a rather bulky creature with a bulbous body and a thick armor plate,toppling it and crippling the last disintegrator shortly afterward. He switched back to the assault rifle, ran to the side of the corrupter and peppered the side of it with small railgun shots, doing minor damage and resulting in a sickly black-green slime spewing from the many holes.The corrupter tried in vain to move its bulbous body in that cramped area.Conner sprayed another burst of railgun shots.Some bullets missed the creature and hit a large metal chain that held the war factory gate open.The metal gate creaked and went with gravity, crushing the alien creature and spraying more slime in random directions, landing on many surfaces and eating through them, giving off a semi-luminescent green steam that was visible even in the darkness and making an extremely loud noise that echoed throughout the entire factory.

Conner looked on and saw the portion of the gate that crushed the corrupter disintegrating and melting away, creating a berth around the hazardous creature. Conner turned around and walked back to the Titan.

Back at the Titan, Conner grabbed the mangled hatch and entered the titans carcass with much difficulty.He entered the cab to find James was holding a rifle pointed at his head. Conner assumed that he was just wary of any Nod spies around.

'Who are you? Take off your helmet trooper, try anything and your head will be a meter away from your bullet-ridden body.’

'Relax. Its me, Conner.'

‘Prove it.’

Conner tugged his helmet off to show his face with a scar on his forehead, showing James his true identity. James lowered the rifle and staggered onto his feet, with the words disbelief and uncertainty written in block letters all over his face.

‘C’mon, lets get out of this place before we get killed.’

‘No complaints about that.’

They walked out of the War Factory gingerly and skirted the shadows of buildings. At every turn, they would halt, drop and scan the perimeter. They crossed junction after junction, narrowly evading some Shock Trooper patrols. Conner and James suddenly ducked down behind some steel barrels. On the other side, two Shock troopers stalked up to the barrels, not realizing the potentially deadly weapon on the other side of the barrel. They paused and stiffened, as if alerted. Conner jumped backwards and sprayed a burst of railgun fire that tore through the Shock troopers. The AI spoke to Conner, 'You might need these,’

A 3-dimensional arrow pointed to the ground at the rifle scope. On instinct, he looked down to find two small grenades and a GD-1 with some extra clips. He immediately grabbed the ammunition and handed the grenades to James. The two soldiers headed towards the one place that did not have any Scrin presence. The hanger bays.

Three hours later...

They approached the entrance to find no aliens and found it barricaded with two Pitbulls with their machine guns pointed directly at them. In fact, the aliens disappeared an hour ago. Conner zoomed in and noticed two shadows behind the two machine guns. Switching to his unit scanner, he saw nothing but five blips on screen. Changing to heat scanners, he saw nearly twenty blips on this HUD. He immediately lowered his weapon and uttered the code Olly Olly Oxen Free on his comm channel. The five blips all showed acknowledgment signs on his HUD. From the shadows the hidden figures at the pitbulls emerged and switched on their helmet lights. They quickly led the two men into the main hanger, with two other soldiers taking their place almost instantly.
Inside the main hanger, he saw a fully functioning orca Dropship at the center of the massive hanger,its wingspan spreading across the entire hanger,covering most of the bay in shadow.Along the sides he could see the missile pods completely filled and armed,with the machine gun not too far away stowed underneath the gunner pod along with the other pod at the other side of the dropship. He saw a full platoon of men and women fixing the orca, loading supplies and standing guard. A battle hardened soldier approached them, a sniper rifle slung across his back. Another rifleman followed him. The man stood straight and immediately gave them a crisp salute.

'Sir! Corporal Watson reporting for duty sir!'

'At ease. Who's your CO here?’

'Right now, sir, that would be the two of you.’

‘Oh. Well then pack up the gunship. We lift off ASAP.'

‘Sir! Yes Sir!’

He immediately shouted orders at the survivors, with the soldiers instantly snapping to their assigned tasks. Conner inspected the troops as they did their task. They were all privates. Why do all the good soldiers die first? Conner walked outside and took the time to get accustomed to his new weapon. He switched to the cannon and took aim at the surroundings. No contacts. He further inspected his rifle, and found one last button underneath a cover which the previous commando did not notice as the sliding of the cover was still stiff. The button shone with a dim green light. On it were stenciled the words 7D. He pressed the button and his gun immediately morphed into an extremely short and stocky weapon with a wide barrel. He aimed the weapon and charged the weapon. He released the trigger,heat rippling along the sides of the jet black weapon and sending a large beam of pure energy at a Mammoth Tanks' wrecked carcass, obliterating it. Electricity crackled around the blackened hole.

Corporal Watson appeared behind him.

‘What the hell was that?’

‘I don't know. Its like some mini ION cannon.'

‘That is one hell of a cool gun. Sir, the Dropship is prepared for takeoff.’

'We can't go yet. Get two fire teams ready and get one man in each team to grab all the charges he can get.'

'Sir, yes sir!'

The corporal ran back into the hanger bay. Conner glanced at his weapon and morphed it back into the 7A. He slid the cover back on and walked into the hanger.

He saw two teams standing at attention with half their number holding GD-1 pistols and only two of them actually holding GD-2s. He immediately briefed them.

'Okay men, in order for us to get the hell outta here, we have to create a diversion. And I have a plan that will also accomplish our protocols. You four, team Alpha and you for team Beta. Alpha, you will go to the STCHQ and set up the charges at the mainframe computers. We don't want anybody getting their hands on our information. Beta, you will be going to the eastern armory and detonating the place to high heavens. This will draw their attention and allow us to escape. Clear?'

The soldiers shivered at the thought of the prospect of dying on the field when they were so close to escape. They grabbed their weapons and silently headed towards the entrance. Conner watched as he contemplated on sending new meat onto the battlefield and most likely to their deaths.

One hour later...

Private Harding opted to be leader of Alpha group and now regretted it. Throughout the past thirty minutes the other soldiers in his squad had done nothing but complain. He cursed under his breath as he led the team silently through the honeycomb of rooms of the Power Plant. They were close to the STCHQ. He led them through the main reactor, noticing with much relief that all was now quiet, with their weapons pointed at different directions, wary of any enemies that may appear any time. They then walked out of the other end of the power plant and saw the STCHQ overshadowing it. They sprinted across the small empty space and flattened themselves against the wall of the STCHQ, hidden behind the shadows. They crept into the building, seeing nothing lethal. They ascended the flight of stairs, still cautious. A sudden sound was heard. Within a second, they all had all crouched down and aimed their weapons at all directions, on the lookout for enemies. They slowly continued their progress up the staircase. The squad finally reached the top floor and slowly skirted the hallways which were filled with bodies that were scattered across the floor. They slowly stepped over the corpses. Private Harding looked down and noticed a GDI soldier on the ground, with his hair all disheveled. His helmet was across the floor, a couple of meters away. But what was awkward was that he was choked to death and not burned by plasma. His face stuck with the expression of seemed to be screaming. He looked at the next one. The other soldier instead was pinned onto the wall by a spear-like shard of Tiberium. The next few were also seemingly killed by methods that differed from the norm. They found a soldier whose skull and helmet collapsed from a punch that went through him. Another man was killed by plasma but in a manner where his body was sliced but not separated into two. Lastly were two men who were struck in a manner where they dropped their weapons and were thrown halfway across the hall with their chests caved in. They continued, obviously frightened that there was some new kind of alien of this capacity. The members, seemingly shivering despite their body armor insulation, policed the dead soldiers' weapons and headed along the hallway.

They entered the computer mainframe room and were immediately shocked. Standing before them was a large bipedal alien easily two and a half meters tall. They could easily discern it despite the darkness. It's back had a quiver-like unit which housed multiple tiberium spears. On one hand which was more like tentacles, was a wrist mounted device and on the other was a plasma weapon that had assumed the form of a sword. It sensed their presence and wheeled around, immediately lashing out with its tentacles. The members of squad Alpha had reacted just in time, dodging the first strike and retaliating with a hail of bullets from their own weapons. The being raised his hand, and the wrist device powered up quickly and fired a sliver of plasma at Harding. He threw himself aside and it missed by just a hairbreadth, which was too close. He fired a stream of bullets at the creature. Seemingly unfazed, the bipedal being, or foreman resorted to hand to hand combat, grabbing a Tiberium spear. It gave a shrill scream and surged forward, taking in bullets as if though they were droplets of water. The spear jabbed forward, stabbing the first man who could not get away in time, then using the plasma sword to lash out at another soldier, which sliced the armor, leaving a large opening in the plate but leaving him otherwise unharmed. Harding shouted to him, 'Plant the charges and get moving double time!'

The rifleman nodded and activated the detonation charges. Just as they were placed on the ground, the soldier grimaced in pain. He looked down with a blurred vision to see a small shiny green thing sticking out of his already broken chest plate. Suddenly, everything went black.

Harding was left with another private. He quickly tossed a grenade at the creature, who tried to attack it, creating a temporary diversion and raced to the window, grabbing the detonator from the fallen soldier. Attaching to their rifles a hydraulic cable launcher and firing a cable at the nearby command room which stuck out from the main structure, they instantly jumped out of the building, with their guns hooked onto the lines and soon the cables unraveled and they went lower out of relative danger, leaving the foreman behind them. The grenade exploded, throwing shrapnel everywhere. The creature bled a black green slime, which dried and sealed the wound quickly. The Foreman moved to the window, watching the two figures disappear into the night sky on equally black cables. In a fit of rage, the foreman sliced the lines, and watched the two figures plunge into the darkness below.

Harding got back onto his feet. The hard landing did not do anything to him. He regained his footing on the building roof and stared at the bipedal creature. The soldier beside him, private Avery, crouched down and scanned the area, ready to kill. Harding drew out a small console and pressed a button. Moments later, flames engulfed the top floor of the STCHQ, effectively burning the foreman. From that distance, they could still hear the shrill scream of the foreman as the flames licked its body and scarred it. They watched in amazement as the creature could withstand bullets that could have destroyed at least ten shock troopers and yet just by flames was brought down. They stared as the STCHQ lost a full level. The soldiers quickly hit the floor. Harding grabbed his binoculars. From all the other entrances, he could see large metal men flanked by quadrupedal creatures swarming to the STCHQ.They had completed their task, now all they had to do was to get the hell out of here and back to the hangar. They headed to the nearest exit, to find one of the metal men approaching them unsteadily. They ducked behind the chimney of a power plant, prepared to come out guns blazing to kill the alien swarm. Sweat rolled down Harding's already furrowed brow. His grip on the rifle stiffened as the imagined creatures' footfalls echoed in his mind. He grabbed his GD-1. Turning around to see the metal man disintegrate in a swarm of silver knives, he saw the heart of the swarm: the purple orb. He aimed and fired three successive shots, unfazed by incoming death, and found that all landed on its target, effectively destroying it. The swarm disintegrated into thin air, and gave the two greenhorns a moment of peace. As they jogged away from the STCHQ, they heard a secondary explosion. The eastern armory was destroyed.

Private Jenkins wheeled around as a strange noise filled the interior of the armory. He backed up against the corner of the wall, keeping his pistol leveled. His other squad mates had been killed by strange quadrupedal beings with laser cutters as weapons that were fused onto their bodies. They were now looking for him. He looked around. His helmet lights shining around the dark and unlit armory. On the rack to his right, he saw a dark thin object. He grabbed it and examined it. A GD-4. The GD-4 CRAW Shotgun (Close Range Assault weapon) was the perfect weapon for this sort of place. He hastily cocked the shotgun, only to realize that there was no ammunition inside. He searched the rack for the shells, sweat rolling down his face and his breath fogging up the screen of his helmet. He groped around the darkness, with his helmet facing the only entrance point to the aisle. He grabbed a small spherical object and took it. A shotgun shell lay in his hand. He inserted it into the weapon from the side and cocked the rifle once again. His foot moved slightly, kicking a small metallic object, sending rolling across the floor hitting more items. He turned his gaze to the ground, realizing that the shotgun shells were scattered across the floor,with a dead GDI rifleman sprawled across the floor. He picked up an additional eleven shells and placed them into the shotgun, his gaze now fixed on the only entrance point. The scuttling noise seemed louder. His heart raced as adrenaline rushed rushed around his body. His innate senses told him to rush forth and kill the creature, but his intuition contradicted, convincing him to let the creature find him. He immediately switched off his helmet lights. The section of the armory was enshrouded by darkness again. Jenkins quivered in fear. The noises were moving closer and closer. He kept his aim forward. He heard what sounded like footfalls.Taking careful steps forward, Jenkins was careful not alter his aim. The creatures' legs suddenly appeared in front of him, lit by a sudden burst of blue which carved a rough C on the ground. It halted. Jenkins took the opportunity and leaped forward, pumping two rounds out of the shotgun, sending twenty-four pellets zipping through the air. The creature (Disintegrator) screeched in pain as the many pellets tore through its skin. It collapsed onto the ground in a pool of dark slime, revealing six more creatures. Jenkins in a fright, closed his eyes and pumped all the rounds at the incoming creatures. As the last shell case hit the ground, Jenkins looked up again, to see mangled bodies replacing the alien creatures. He regained his senses, reloaded the shotgun and cocked it and continued down the path. He heard a loud boom followed closely by a mild tremor.

As he reached the main door, he heard the noise that the aliens made, only this time it was more of a cacophony. He hit the dirt and peered out the door to see swarms of aliens converging on an unknown location. He waited till the bulk of the force was gone before walking out, only to bump into one of the metallic entities. He scurried backwards, staggered onto his feet and fired two shots at the being. The being split into a million metal shards and flew into the kill. Jenkins panicked. He loaded another shotgun shell and unleashed half of the shells on it, spraying seventy-two pellets at the being. The Buzzer swarm paused, and Jenkins fired repeatedly,blasting every knife back with small balls that took even more shards with it. Jenkins fired another two shots at the purple orb at the center of what seemed to be the creature's heart. This time what went forward was a slug, smacking the orb right in the center. The first shot ricocheted off the orb, first making it shimmer silver before shutting off. The second shot penetrated the orb, shattering the inside. The entire swarm then suffered a spasm, all vibrating in unison, then all the shards shattered. Jenkins looked at the sight in shock when he heard another sound. He looked up to find a sliver of plasma headed for him. He attempted to jump aside, but to no avail. The sliver struck him on the leg, melting it away. Jenkins screamed in pain,with blood gushing out from the wound to be evaporated by the immense heat. He quickly took out the detonator.The square console felt a very faint cold.He felt empty and weak. With whatever strength that he had left, he mustered it and jammed the button. He suddenly felt an awkward sensation on his skin. It felt cool at first, then suddenly superheated to sky-rocketing temperatures. He screamed as the flames engulfed the poor private. The Eastern armory had changed from a seemingly untouched building to thousands over thousands of fragments of rubble and debris.

Conner stood on the observation deck of the hanger bay's control tower. He saw two plumes of smoke rise from the east and the north. The two diversions were created. He squawked on the comm channel, 'Alright men, prime the engines and get ready to dust-off.'

He got an acknowledgment light from Watson. He switched on the controls for the hanger bay and pressed a button and before long, the hanger bay doors creaked and opened. He raced down the flight of stairs and back into the main hanger. Everybody was inside, now all they had to do was wait for the two teams. He inspected the ORCA Dropship. It was in working condition, and they managed to weld the Pitbull's Machine gun onto the floor of the passenger bay and the James was inspecting the wolverine that was attached onto the Dropships clamp. Conner walked to the entrance which still had the two guards. He stepped over the pitbull, maintaining a slow and steady speed, so as not to make a sound. He boosted the magnification on his helmets viewscreen. About a hundred meters away, two men were running backwards with their guns spraying rounds at the alien creatures. Conner knew that something was not good. He walked back into the hanger and entered a room that he had been to earlier while the teams were creating the diversions. In it were rows of jump-jet packs. They even had helpful diagrams to help any rookie who found a use for them, which would prove beneficial to this operation. He grabbed a one, secured it onto him via a connecting port on the back of his standard issue rifleman armor and sprinted back out of the hanger after ordering the two guards to follow suit. When they appeared once more, he ordered them to prepare in case of emergency to get out of the base. Over the comm channel, he repeated the same order, 'Everybody get one jet-pack. We need to be ready in case of any hiccups.'

Acknowledgment lights flashed. He then activated the pack, sending him flying high into the sky. He boosted the power through his helmet and rocketed towards the two struggling troopers.

Harding and Avery ducked behind the wreckage of a wolverine. Slivers of white-hot plasma raced across the sky, melting whatever that they hit into slag. Harding retaliated, sending a full clip of bullets at the incoming horde. Avery found a small hole in the armor. He immediately jammed the nozzle of his shotgun through the hole and began pumping rounds through the wolverine. The aliens wondered where all the fire was coming from as no one was in plain sight. They heard the sound of a gun cocking and before long, two Disintegrators collapsed. The cocking was heard again and again, each time sending more creatures to the ground. A Shock Trooper walked forward, its outer shell absorbing the bulk of the shotgun pellets. It sent a large disc flying towards the wolverine. The impact sent the wolverine a meter back and melting through most of its armor. The Shock Trooper stumbled, still in pain from some of the still oncoming penetrating bullets. As the Shock Trooper readied its second shot, it heard the noise of jet engines, only much quieter. It looked up to find two small jets floating in mid air with gold armor around it. A blue speck appeared, followed by many more. It stared in amazement, only to realize later that its front right leg was torn off. It collapsed.

As the railgun shots hit the alien creatures, Conner began maneuvering. He circled them, changing his aim every now and then, pelting them with uncountable numbers of railgun shots. The ammo counter read 147. Not much ammo left till I reload. He continued barraging the aliens with railgun shots, while they tried in vain to shoot him down. He sent the prearranged signal. Seconds later, two more men appeared in the sky, flying high then flying low and scooping up the two privates. Conner sent another signal as well. This time the ORCA Dropship appeared from the hanger bays. Its pilot seat occupied and the gunners armed with missiles and machine guns. They came in guns blazing, mowing many aliens who were stupid enough to stand their ground. Conner and the other two riflemen flew upwards. The passenger cabin doors opened up, showing eight men inside with another on the main machine gun. They flew in and released Harding and Avery, sending them into the cabin. They attached themselves onto the wolverine, acting as cover fire.

The ORCA dropships engines roared as it flew across the night sky. It was almost out of the Steel talon base. The pilot suddenly flipped the aircraft around, the gyroscopic pilot cockpit and the engines turned about and sent the ORCA dropship flying backwards. The two gunners immediately processed the reason why that was done. Gaining on them were a trio of Stormriders, relatively tiny alien craft which looked like tiny floating discs. Underneath their wings were odd looking devices which they soon found the purpose of. From the devices, torpedoes of pure plasma energy raced forth, gaining distance rapidly. Conner registered the sight and replied by spraying a burst of railgun shots at the incoming projectile. The bullets raced forward, closing in on the torpedo. The found their mark, sending the torpedo into a large explosion in mid-transit. The Stormriders then changed back into their usual weapon, which Conner did not really appreciate. The Dropship darted left and right, sending the men and women in the passenger cabin flipping around. It dodged the other two torpedoes by a mere few meters. It was soon dodging multiple slivers of plasma. The two men in the weapon pods fired their machine guns and releasing two rattlesnake missiles. The Stormriders began dodging them, as well as taking multiple well-aimed shots, but they merely bouncing off their hulls with shiny shimmers of silver. As the dropship exited the base and flew off into the horizon with the Stormriders pursuing, the sun began to rise, its rays illuminating everything. The Stormriders suddenly swerved slightly and reoriented themselves, only to be greeted by the two rattlesnake missiles. They impacted on one Stormrider,which sent it crashing into a mountain. The other two began firing bursts of plasma bolts, causing the pilot to maneuver wildly.

James and Conner, both at the wolverine, began helping them. Conner changed his rifle into the railgun cannon, and using the targeting reticule on the Stormrider. The tiny metal ball raced forward and attached itself onto the stormriders hull.Conner aimed the cannon.It fired, but missing the stormrider who had anticipated the attack and dodged the shot even as it arced to hit it.James on the other hand activated the wolverine and fired the dual machine guns and releasing the mini rockets which snaked forward leaving plumes of smoke and missed the first stormrider which had dodged in time.the machine guns on the other hand which were used to great effect, sent the other stormrider into some of the mini rockets,but only to be stopped by the invisible shield around the stormrider.Corporal Watson who was inside one of the weapon pods,locked onto the stormrider. He muttered under his breath, 'go to hell you alien bastards.'The next moment, another two missiles flew and hundreds of bullets sliced the sky.

The pilot had a small feeling of epiphany on what had appeared on his radar. The radar had shown a nearby city, Beijing. He redirected more power to the engines, hoping to get out of this mess. The ORCA dropship moved faster, sending Conner slightly off balance. He gripped the wolverine even tighter and sent another burst of railgun shots at the Stormriders. They were only seven kilometers away from Beijing's anti-tiberium walls and away from the anti air turrets situated there.

'AP bullets should be more than a match for them.' The pilot squawked over the comm.

'Just get us there in one piece.' Conner replied.

The pilot surged forward, closing the distance between them and the city. Plasma continued to rain on them. Suddenly an explosion took place. The pilot stared at the damage report, one of the ORCA fanblade stabilizers exploded and melting slag was dripping off the wrecked engine. The ORCA dipped slightly to the right before righting itself.

Inside the cabin, the soldiers prayed for a safe return and hoped for revelation. James were one of them, abandoning his post for a few moments, while the man at the machine gun attempted to blast the Stormrider out of the sky.

The Dropship passed the walls of Beijing and into the tiny blue zone, with the Stormriders just after. The AA guns sprang life and criss-crossed the air with tungsten bullets, ripping through a Stormriders armor. The vehicle spun and crashed onto the street below, sending a few cars flying and skidding across the roads and finally crashing into a torn down factory.

The other Stormrider flew in for the kill, sure that it would not miss its prey in confined spaces. The pilot fought the controls to bring the Orca dropship through the cityscape, dodging buildings and attempting to bring the dropship back up with the stormrider right on his tail and spewing plasma all over the place. Another sliver of Plasma hit the afterburner. Plasma splashed across the surface, melting it away. The Orca Dropship now had another problem.the Pilot looked at the statistics screen and saw another issue. They were running low on fuel due to the sudden exertion on the afterburners. The pilot panicked while trying to control the dropship.

It flew into an abandoned section of the residential sector. The ORCA Dropship swerved in the small area while the pilot tried to regain control. The surviving Stormrider flew and prepared to fire another plasma burst. Conner just then had a psychotic idea. We cannot not fire any weapons in here in fear of destroying the buildings and harming people, so... Conner released his grip on the wolverine and immediately started up his jet pack. He flew straight and slammed into the Stormrider. It tried in vain to shake him off, veering here and there. He blasted it open with a burst of railgun shots, to find nothing more than plain alien meat, or maybe genetically enhanced meat. The stormrider jerked as it reached this new development. He grabbed even tighter onto the hull of the Stormrider. Conner took a grenade that he picked up at the steel talon base, primed it and lobbed it into the hole. He jumped off shortly after, neglecting to activate his jet pack. That could wait. The grenade detonated within the stormrider. The alien ship exploded in a burst of green and silver and crashed into the ground.

The ORCA dropship entered an open aired abandoned GDI airfield. The pilot could not keep the Dropship flying. He ordered over the Comm channel, 'Everyone get out; this is gonna be a rough landing.'

All the men and women who survived grabbed their jet packs and flew out of the cabin. They grabbed onto the wolverine, releasing the manual clamp and activating their jump packs, slowing down the wolverines descent of about a hundred meters off the ground. The last private and corporal Watson followed shortly after. The pilot ejected himself out of the ORCA dropship and released the parachute. The Dropship smashed onto the runway and exploded in a large flash of orange. Molten metal flew in all directions and metal shards whizzed through the air. As he floated down, he could see the last Stormrider explode with a small speck jumping off it. Before he landed on the ground, all strength left him and he blacked out.

Conner saw the ORCA Dropship crash and explode and the wolverine with ten riflemen stabilizing its descent. He then remembered something that jabbed the inside of his mind. You are free falling! He activated the jet pack and slowed down considerably. He then saw the pilot and the parachute. He landed on the ground, his composite armor absorbing most of the shock. But still his legs ached as he stood up to realize that there was a large crack on the pavement that he had created by his sudden landing. He regained his footing and walked unsteadily towards the wolverine. The riflemen all sat beside the wolverine, some lying supine on the ground and two cheering esctatically. On top of the Wolverine stood James, the sun behind him shining brightly now. He looked calm and serene for a man being trapped in a three ton vehicle with nothing more than the armor on his back. Conner turned around. In the distance, he saw a small convoy of GDI vehicles. Finally, some human support.

Chapter 2

September 19, 2047, Yellow Zone Y1, Somewhere near Beijing, Asian Steel Talon Production Base, 1157hrs...

The troops were still traumatized by the carnage and the losses sustained. For the past few hours, the factories in the Steel Talon base creaked and groaned as they worked tirelessly to rebuild the damaged vehicles and create more ammunition. As all the whirring from machines continued, James and Conner sat in the Titan, celebrating their victory in the comforts of a foot thick armor plating of the battle-worn titan. Suddenly the comm channel beeped. Conner switched it on.

'General Pierce wants the two of you at HQ now.'

'Understood.'

They had to cut things short. They were supposed to be at the barracks now but nobody would care where they were, but since the barracks was so close to the command center, the general would expect them there fast. Conner seized control of the Titan and started up the engines. The tank sparked back to life. Conner had brought the Titan through many places before while he was under training, but the car park of the Steel talon HQ was a first. No time for formalities. He needed controls for more fluid movements. He slowly eased his Titan through the office buildings located at the southern end of the base, the only place left unmarred by the battle. He looked around. Left, right, left, right, stop. Wait for it, OK. Left, right, left, right. Conner had finally managed to bring the Titan between the office buildings on a road meant only for official vehicles, patrol cycles and Pitbulls. Along the way he crushed a patrol cycle or two along the way and broke plenty of decorative flower pots. He stopped at the first step just outside the building. At the base of the building, stood a man flanked by Spec ops troopers, his chest high and his hair neatly tucked under his hat. General Pierce did not flinch even though the Titan stopped just in front of him, and neither did his bodyguards. As Conner and James got out of the Titan and walked up to the General, they did their best to make themselves look neater, mostly by straightening their uniform and wiping the blood that smeared onto them during the course of the battle. They stood at attention, and saluted the general. He returned the greeting and spoke to them.

'Ah, Hunter and Higgins. You two were a real morale boost today, did you know that?'

'Sir yes sir!'

'You two did very well today. I would like to congratulate the you personally since not everyone can take on two Avatars in one battle and still come out victorious, even though they were already quite battle-damaged. You men have nerves of steel. James, that stunt you pulled was also good, taking out the missile racks on the stealth tank. Smart. You two are the type we need to win this war. I am promoting the two of you to sergeant. We need heroes, gentlemen. And if you try that idiotic thing again, I will demote you to a point where you will be lucky to pick up the droppings of those tiberium fiends,' gesturing at the Titan crammed between two buildings and and the wreckage of the patrol cycles.

He handed them each chevrons which they wore on their shoulder plates, showing two chevrons and a GDI symbol at the bottom. He then gave them a crisp salute and dismissed them. Conner brought the Titan back put, breaking more pots on the way out and narrowly avoiding smashing the arm cannon into an office building nearby.

'Thank the Lord!' James muttered, but Conner shot him a dirty stare.

September 19, 2047, Yellow Zone Y1, Somewhere near Beijing, Asian Steel Talon Production Base, 1126hrs...

The sentries were getting bored. The aftermath of a battle is always the worst as the people now mourn over losses and get stuck on clearing the roads of the dead bodies of their fallen comrades. The walls surrounding the base were thick concrete ones that the sentries stood on guard with sophisticated sensor equipment to detect any approaching enemy. It was here that A very minor battle took place which paved the way for the Nod attack. During and before the battle, the sentries there were massacred for the undetected arrival of the Vertigo Bombers.

September 19, 2047, Yellow Zone Y1, Somewhere near Beijing, Asian Steel Talon Production Base, 0356hrs...


In order to maintain secrecy, Nod had to sneak in Shadow Teams to take out the sentries at the time. The Shadow Teams sneaked in and silently stabbed the first squad with Nod combat knives, then using their pistols with silencers on the next. They placed explosives on the various detector towers and called for the Vertigo Bombers. But amidst the silence, gunshots sounded and one after another Shadow collapsed to the ground. The remaining few ducked into the shadows, vanishing instantly, safe from the sniper. Another patrol suddenly appeared and spotted the team. They rushed forward, guns blazing. The Shadows fired bursts of bullets from their strange advanced pistols, killing most of them. The last man had managed to reach the alarm when he looked up, barely making out shimmers in the clouds under the moonlight. Bombers. He sounded the alarm and turned around. The enemy squad was missing. To his immense surprise, he found a bullet embedded in his chest. He looked up. Quite suddenly, everything went black. He added to the twenty GDI soldiers on the ground. The only remaining Shadow, ashamed that he had failed his mission to keep the assault unnoticed, pointed his gun at his head. No prisoners for GDI. Kane will not be pleased. He hesitated. He did not want to kill himself.

'Why can't I just run away from all this fighting and violence?' he mused aloud. Slowly, he lowered his pistol and prepared to fly off in his glider. He holstered his pistol and opened out the wings. He winced at a sudden searing pain. A bullet had pierced through his light armor. He landed on the ground with a thud. From a far distance away, atop a sensor tower, smoke trailed from the barrel of the sniper's GD5 rifle.

Approximately eight hours later...

The sentry took out his binoculars and peered through the scopes. It was something he did automatically. An Ion Storm was 5 kilometers away and approaching, a dark, frightening mass of clouds. He looked underneath it to see lightning striking the ground beneath, throwing up rock and sand, leaving the ground scarred and desolate. Winds swept the sand into dunes, which were immediately struck by lightning. A storm like that could wipe the base off the face of the tiberium-scarred earth. This was definitely induced by aliens. He saw a few through numerous skirmishes with them, as well as through simulated battlefields. He notified the commanders about he massive Ion Storm. Within the hour, all the speakers blared: All personnel prepare for mass evacuation. Within moments, armories and depots began clearing the ammunition and equipment while the aircraft began evacuating the commanders in convoys. The first one dusted off with ten V-40 Ox transports and six Orca Dropships and Gunships. An hour and a half later, the second convoy left the ground. The last convoy was still loading when the sentries saw something fall out of the sky. From afar it looked like the size of a Predator Tank, slowly enlarging to a size of two Behemoths, debris trailing in its wake. A red glow had appeared around the meteor, like a fire shield. It was not going to land near the base, but it might be bringing unwanted guests. They sent a a code 5 warning throughout the base, a tad unnecessarily. As it hit the ground, a massive quake shook the earth and the ground beneath them trembled and quaked, and a mushroom-shaped dust cloud raced for the sky. The sentries almost fell off the walls in shock. One drew his binoculars and peered through. The crater impact pummeled the ground at minimum twenty-five meters deep and a kilometer across. Tiberium shards were flung all over the place, and could be seen growing on the crater itself. A tiberium field. The commanding officers ordered a small task force to secure the site and look out for anything suspicious. In truth, they were as curious as the soldiers they dispatched. Such an asteroid was only seen months ago, and they all brought bad news, but recently GDI had confirmed that there would be no more aliens. A small group of soldiers immediately headed for depot and got into their respective vehicles. One by one, Pitbulls rolled out of the base followed by RPCs (Rocket Personnel Carriers) and Wolverines. Two Titans brought up the rear. The task force was probably enough to handle a small Nod force and reinforcements at times. Ten minutes went by when the comm channel beeped. Captain Probe answered. It came from a Titan's pilot.

'Sir, there seems to be no sign of life here.'

'I want you to check and recheck. I want to make sure that this thing does not have any kind of item or creature that this god-forsaken planet (not exactly true) does not need you hear me?'

'Sir, yes sir!'

The task force reached the crater and observed the surroundings. Nothing out of the ordinary. An RPC opened up and two squads of riflemen and missile troopers got out followed closely by a group of engineers from the other RPC. The soldiers fanned out and switched on their HUDs. Smoke was still coming from the asteroid. Heat scanners were useless. When they first switched it on,they were practically blinded by the sudden flash of red. They were in front of something that just burned up on entry of earth. Captain Probe spoke clearly on the comm channel.

'Switch on helmet lights, protect the engineers.'

On his helmet HUD, he could see a brief look of the area. His men were spread out slightly thin.They slowly made their way down the crater. Private Clinton took step after step down, unsure the whole time. The smoke was clearing. He stepped on some loose rocks. Within seconds he slipped on the crumbling rocks and was sliding his way down. The back of his armor burned as the armor abraded with the hot ground. He nearly burned his back when he came to a sudden halt. He had reached the bottom of the crater and the asteroid was only six feet away from him.

'Clinton, are you OK?'

'I'm fine sir. Just steaming hot here.'

'Maintain your position we'll reach momentarily.'

Clinton switched on the tiberium radiation scanner on his helmet. The whole screen flashed red. The entire meteorite and the crater was radioactive . He slowly took a step back and moved his hand on his back. Even underneath his combat gloves he could feel the singe of the heat on his back armour. It was so close to have been burnt during the fall. He heard an eerie clicking sound. He turned around and swung his rifle around. Sweat rolled down his face and into his eyes. He looked around, saying, 'Guys, don't play joke with me here. I ain't joking here.'

No Reply. He felt stiff. He was about to speak when he screamed with much fright. A giant bug; easily the size of him, was directly in front of him. It launched blue shards at him from what seemed to be its mouth. He rolled aside against the crater wall and aimed his rifle, firing before he actually took aim. Suddenly, more of those four legged creeps were firing at him, and he ran along the crater wall, trying to find a foothold in the steep wall, still firing, at the same time screaming into his helmet mike.

'Help! Giant bugs! Ahh! Somebody save me! somebody-'

Every man above stopped, listening to his cries followed by white noise. Some even chuckled. A month ago in Brazil some guy put a tarantula in his bunk and that was what he screamed. Then he stopped talking and the whole thing got more complicated. An immediate hush fell over the group. Captain Probe broke the silence.

'All units, secure position. I want a squad down there now to figure out what happened. All others watch their backs.' The squad closest to the crater started down carefully. They were alert, searching for anything abnormal, and couldn't find any.

'Nothing here sir.' The squad leader informed the captain.

'Keep looking.'

A foot was sticking out behind some debris. A military-grade boot.

'We saw something,' the squad went over. 'Its Clinton, sir. He got nailed by... a shard.'

Clinton lay face down with a blue shard sticking in his back. His rifle lay nearby. The squad leader scooped it up as Captain Probe went down with his squad and some engineers.

'Too dangerous down here. We're going up.'

'Stay down!' commanded commander Richards from the GDI base

'Why- sir, this place is too dangerous. I will not risk another soldier in my squad to die so that you can see what is inside this rock.'

'I am your commanding officer and I want you to follow my orders.'

'But sir-'

He could not complete his sentence. From the craters of the meteorite, white-hot discs of plasma rained down upon the unsuspecting GDI forces. Captain probe wheeled around, and watched in horror as half of his squad got sliced into sagging piles of meat by a large metal floating humanoid easily the size of a person. They assumed the form of a vague silverish man, but when attacking, they would break off into tiny razor-sharp knives, leaving a single floating purplish orb behind, and then rejoining it after killing its prey.

'Aliens! ten, eleven and one o'clock!' he shouted to whoever was still alive and listening.

He looked to the left. Another two soldiers melted from a single disc of plasma. He rushed forward. He still had five men and a group of tanks left and he did not plan to lose any more to extra-terrestrial beings. He fired burst after burst of bullets at the floating orb which was currently unprotected. The knife-like creatures few back and surrounded the orb, seemingly impervious to the damage sustained, flew at captain Probe. He took slightly more careful aim and with a final careful burst, hit the alien orb. The swarm halted, disoriented. The purple light shimmered before turning blue, then black. The orb then shattered into what seemed to be alien machine debris. The swarm of knives dispersed, disintegrating into air. He darted to the right and dodged a plasma disc by a mere hairbreadth. He joined his squad.

'Where are the engineers?'

'Two got out sir, the rest are those few piles of meat there.'

'Give 'em hell!'

The soldiers formed a small square and opened fire on the incoming creatures. One of the metallic swarms were headed their way. He felt the tension. In its form, the orb was in the center. He opened fire. As the bullets raced through the air, the metal knives all converged on the orb.the bullets ricocheted off the knives, sending some of them flying off, deactivated. The riflemen fired their bullets at the orb. The knives detached themselves and as one, protected the orb. As it neared them, more and more knives landed on the ground. Suddenly captain Probe saw an opening. He immediately fired a stream of bullets at the light. All the bullets reached their target. The orb dropped exploded. The knives shattered shortly after. They sprinted as best they could back up the crater wall, only to be shocked at what they saw next. The Pitbulls were mostly turned into melting slag, and the pilots pierced by multiple shards of blue tiberium. The Wolverines and Titans were either heavily damaged or inoperable. The men got into the last surviving operating Pitbull. He jammed the accelerator and sent the Pitbull rolling off into the distance. The other men where in the navigator seat, the two passenger seats and the last two stayed at the gunner seat,one operating the gun while the other changed its ammunition if necessary. The navigator looked back, activated his helmet normal display, magnified the view of the crater and practically turned into a pillar of salt. The fog cleared completely. The meteorite had completely split in two and thousands upon thousands of creatures crawled out of its surface. The meteorite had a somewhat honeycombed structure and had some sort of bipedal creature trapped in tubes. Gas escaped from the tube as it opened and the creature stood tall. It stared at the man with its main, dark eye. A chill ran down the soldier's back. He looked up. UFOs inbound. The aircraft shot plasma bursts at the Pitbull, which it narrowly dodged time and time again. Corporal Alexa turned the gun around and jammed on the firing trigger. 30mm rounds flew by the hundreds at the alien aircraft followed by a couple of missiles and then bullets again. The vehicle shimmered a purple hue and returned to normal, unfazed by what would have already shot down three venom attack helicopters. Captain probe drove the Pitbull to his best ability, which was just enough to evade another hailstorm of plasma. Alexa continued jamming the trigger until the gun finally overheated and stopped firing. Sweat rolled down her cheeks from within her helmet. She grabbed her GD2 assault rifle,leaving the safety of the machine gun off and in unison with the other soldiers, fired at the aircraft. The aircraft merely flew straight, absorbing the damage it had sustained. They knew that it was futile, but kept trying anyway. Alexa accidentally nudged the machine gun trigger, sending a small burst of bullets at the vehicle. The bullets flew true and hit their target.this time the vehicle swerved and reoriented itself. Alexa hopped back into the gunner chair and fired streams of bullets at the vehicle,hoping to destroy the vehicle.In the distance, they saw the GDI base.The switched on the comm channel and shouted, 'We need air cover immediately!'

From the GDI base, commander Richards heard the Pitbull crews' cries for help and quickly scrambled three Orca gunships to aid them. The Orca gunships dusted off and moved to the pitbull's location. As they neared it, a white flash whizzed past them, followed by another and another. Suddenly, one of the Orca gunships exploded. The others took evasive actions, with their. 50 caliber chain guns blazing. They found their mark. The first pilot launched his missiles. The projectiles snaked towards the alien craft, impacting with a thunderous explosion. As the smoke cleared, the aircraft still flew properly but the shimmer had vanished and smoke was visible on the vehicle's left wing. The other Orca unlocked the safety on his missiles and prepared to fire when the tail exploded in a sudden burst of energy. The Orca plummeted to the ground, with the pilot safe after ejecting himself, only to get struck by lightning just after. The Ion storm had arrived, practically opaquing the sky. The last Orca launched two more missiles at the aircraft which was charging straight at it. The missiles impacted and fire swallowed the craft, only to be absorbed and dissipate, with the aircraft still intact. It fired twin slivers of plasma and the last orca exploded. On the ground, the convoy was half way during lift off when the Ion storm shot down an Orca Dropship. Flames billowed from the skeleton of the wrecked aircraft, and the men inside completely fried by the lightning. Fire teams grabbed hoses and extinguished the flames quickly and prepared for any unwanted surprises as the convoy quickly landed. At first it seemed quiet, but with the Ion storm above them, they were unsure. Something broke the silence: A man's scream.

A blackish green liquid was covering him. From above, alien aircraft identified as 'Stormriders', the same as that harassing the Pitbull a few miles away suddenly rained goo on them. All of a sudden, the man began mutating. His hands stiffened and gave a sickly green glow. His chest sprouted tiberium crystals and within a minute, he had transformed into a tiberium incarnation of a human. The man lost all sanity, reduced to nothing more than an animal who's prime instinct is to kill. It got on all fours, and pounced on a nearby GDI soldier that was still recovering from vomiting due to the Ion storm. It used its hand, which turned into a crude tiberium sword and stabbed him, injecting the goo into him as well. But on the contrary, instead of mutating him, the alien mutagen killed him. The aircraft began circling the base, shooting the soldiers at random, mutating or killing many unfortunate GDI soldiers that came in contact with the mutagen.

Conner and James rushed to the vehicle bays as the scream was heard. They got into his Titan and attempted to blast the fliers from the skies. Conner aimed his railgun up in the sky and rotated his head to fire just in front of an incoming vessel. He timed it to its speed.

Three.

Two.

One.

'Fire.'

The railgun shell rocketed its way to the aircraft. The shell sliced a hole it a wing and it spiraled down, smashing into a War Factory. The ceiling gave way.

Other Stormriders flew into the gathering storm and vanished from sight. But they had done their damage. The mutants now made up 50% of the original number of soldiers. Some climbed onto the Titan cab and began puncturing its armor with shard blades. The machine gun atop the cabin was first priority. It was ripped off in a second.

'Uh Oh.' James moved towards the hatch, and saw two tiberium shards puncturing the hull. He aimed his GD2 assault rifle and fired twin bursts of bullets. The shards cracked and the Tiberium incarnate staggered and fell off the side of the moving vehicle. Conner fired a shot at another group of Tiberium mutants. They exploded and tiberium crystals flew in random directions, puncturing assorted items from oil barrels to wrecked vehicle plating. Conner walked his titan to the second ring of the base, on patrol for any more beings that needed to be destroyed.

Commander Richards stood in the command room of the ICCC. To his left, lieutenant Crea exclaimed, 'Sir! I am picking up some really large energy anomalies within the vicinity of this base.'

Now what? first these alien aircraft start mutating the men and turn them against each other and now this! He strode to Lieutenant Crea's seat and gazed at the screen. He looked at the scanners. At the center of the grid map, the outlook of the base gleamed a shiny blue hue. The anomalies shone in red at only one place. The ICCC compound. He looked out of the view screen. At the large main entrance of the ICCC glowed a minuscule orb of light. As he looked carefully, he noticed that the orb was expanding. Soon it was the size of a man and growing. Suddenly, a vague misshapen shape of a metal man appeared from the sphere. He turned his gaze at a petrified GDI soldier nearby. The poor soldier shivered with his hands barely gripping the rifle. Within a blink of an eye, Commander Richards saw the nearly impossible until now. Within those few seconds, the metal man disintegrated into many tiny metal shards, sliced the man into shreds and returned into its metallic humanoid state while more metal men came out from the sphere that had expanded to a very large extent, and following the metal beings were gigantic quadrupedal bugs that were easily the size of a small car. Suddenly, a large disc of white-hot plasma emerged out of what seemed to be one car-sized being's eye-slit (it had only one; a vertical, and purple-glowing), flew up five stories and burned through the glass screen of the command room, melting through GDI equipment, the lieutenant and almost hitting Commander Richards. As he scanned the area, he saw the corpse of lieutenant Crea sprawled over the floor. He grabbed a GD1 pistol from her side pocket and slowly walked out of the room. He cautiously walked down the hallway. Eerie noises bounced of the polished walls. Aiming his pistol at the door, he slowly inched his way to the door. Grabbing the handle, he pushed it open slightly and looked down the staircase. At the bottom of the stairs he saw the knife swarms slicing through a squad of distraught riflemen. He unlocked the safety on the pistol and slowly descended the flight of stairs, keeping his aim straight. he turned to see a giant bug with its foreleg crushing a soldier's chest. Commander Richards took aim. He fired shot after shot, all of them piercing the insects outer shell. The 'Shock Trooper' (as it was identified) turned its gaze to him and fired a disc of plasma out of its very eyes. Odd. It fires a long disc out of a vertical slit?

The commander sidestepped and fired another few shots which sank into the creatures flesh. Dark green fluid spewed out of the holes. The creature collapsed to the ground and writhed. Richards fired the rest of the clip on the creatures eye and the legs. It seemed to screamed (it was clicking) and finally fell silent. He changed his clip and picked up a soldier's assault rifle and ammunition clips. The swarm had gone down and out. He followed down the zigzag which were the stairs.

He was shocked when he came out. He saw fires all over the rooftops of the buildings. To his left, the barracks were in flames and the soldiers getting cut up to oblivion. He took a few more steps forth, taking aim and shooting another shock trooper to the ground with both weapons. In front of him, a squad of men came from behind a flaming building, possibly a storage structure.

'Sir, we are here to evacuate you.'

'Where are you taking me from here?'

'Sir, there is a convoy leaving the base out the side entrance'

'I'm staying with my men'

'Sir we have to-'

The men froze. They stared blankly at commander Richards. He turned around to see a gigantic tripodal being towering above them with three large tentacles swinging at random directions. Its only eye staring at commander Richards. The men fired their guns at full automatic burst, spraying bullets at the gargantuan creature, while quickly running for cover. But they were not doing any noticeable damage. A tentacle swung in their direction, with two prongs at the tip. In between the two prongs, small waves of energy formed and arced.Beams of plasma fired, slicing an overturned Pitbull that two riflemen hid behind into two and eradicated them from the surface of the Earth. The tentacle charged up again. Commander Richards led the remaining men and aimed their rifles at full automatic burst at the tentacle. The creature fired yet another blast of pure energy,killing the last two men and injuring Commander Richard in the shoulder.Blood gushed from the massive wound. Commander Richards collapsed to the ground and made a vain attempt to get up on his feet.The creatures tentacle charged energy yet again but before it took aim,a large beam of blue energy pierced through its outer shell.Commander Richards fixed his gaze on his rescuer, which turned out to be none other than Conner.

From within the Titan, Conner readied another railgun shell to fire at the Tripod-mounted being.It reoriented itself and aimed all three tentacles at the titan. Conner aimed for the eye

The shell whizzed through the air and slammed into the center of the eye. the creature writhed from the sudden pain, its tentacles flailing about wildly and the beams set loose, cutting swathes through the buildings and the ground, narrowly missing Commander Richards, who was hobbling towards the Titan. James opened the hatch and was about to jump off the titan to help him when he saw the worst. Commander Richards continued hobbling to the Titan,not caring about the surroundings. When he was a few meters away from the titan, he saw James flailing his arms, beckoning him to turn around. He turned around slowly, only to realize that he was too late. One knife followed by another pierced through his lightly armored commander uniform. He gasped and choked. More knives pierced through him and within moments, the great commander had turned into a pile of bones and flesh. James winced at the horrific sight. The knives regained its humanoid shape and walked uneasily towards James. James slammed the hatch shut and yelled, 'Conner get the titan moving! We've got company and I don't think you'll want to meet them!'

James sent the Titan moving backwards while Conner took control of the main cannon to destroy Commander Richards' bane.

He locked on the target.

'Fire'

The cannon whirred as if it was about to fire when a flash of blue light flooded the area, followed by a sudden distinct hum. The titan suddenly shut down. It stopped dead in its tracks, and the metal man, or buzzers, being named after the distinct noise they made when attacking, was gaining on them. Conner pronounced clearly on the reboot voice scanner system, 'This is Conner Hunter identification number 341654, Steel Talons Platoon 16, Titan division.'

The Titan slowly came back to life, but it was already too late. Just before the vehicle began walking, a 'Reaper Tripod', (so named for its devastating efficiency and it being the icon of Reaper-17's arsenal) the very one that neutrelised the Titan, fired blue plasma cutter beams that sliced the locomotors, keeping the Titan immobile. Conner closed all hatches and activated the one last resort that he never used before: the adaptive armor. He activated the it and instantaneously, the Titan's armour turned a silvery grey, protecting it from any noticeable damage. Conner looked out of the viewscreen to see the Reaper Tripod target its three tentacles. They charged and fired simultaneously, hitting but not damaging the walker. Conner looked at the adaptive armour status bar. The generator could not take another blow like that without overheating. He immediately aimed the arm cannon and with effort, hit the Tripodal being. Suddenly, the Titan was struck by a seemingly unstoppable force. Its hydraulic pistons fought hard to keep the Titan standing but the sheer raw power sent the Titan crashing into a nearby building. Conner could still aim the cannon, but the screen was now covered with slowly growing spots of tiberium crystals, hampering his view. The creature stomped away, firing yet again. A Pitbull exploded in flames. Conner backed away from the cockpit and headed to the miniature personnel area, where the crew could only barely lie down in without banging into each other. James was unconscious because of the supercharged tiberium Reaper Tripod blast and had suffered a major cut by falling debris with blood oozing out of his left temple area. He took out a medical kit and sealed the wound. Conner went back to the cockpit to find the polarized view screen crawling with insects easily his size. He saw them clearly but wished that he could'nt. He could only wait for the fight to bog down now...