You lower your rifle (But still hold on to it) and walk side by side with the cyborg who is surprisingly chatty, you also see it walks a bit irregularly, like it hasn’t been spliced together correctly.

“Alex will be most pleased to see you; you’ll be the first human here in months!”
“What happened to all the others?”
“Oh well most of them have been improved like m-m-m-m.” the cyborg hits itself in the head before he stops stuttering “Like me, sir.”
“Hmm, some improvement.”
“Oh well, its not so bad. Alex promises to give us a tune up when he gets the necessary time, he is only one man after all. Some assistants would certainly help.”
“So Alex is a surgeon?”
“Well he’s not really. I mean he didn’t start out that way at least, but he’s completely self taught and trying to learn more each day! Sure there have been some failures, but there’s also been success! Why look at m-m-m-m.” the cyborg hits itself in the head again while you just shake yours. You can see this is going to be an interesting meeting.

“So who were you before Alex…uh improved you.”
“Oh I was a regular military man who guarded this base with no real identity. Just a name and a number really.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m known as J-34 and I protect Alex!”
“That’s great… so everyone here is a cyborg like you?”
“Just about. Most military personnel were friends with Alex before being renewed, so they were happy to be improved. The GZS personnel weren’t so enthusiastic about the idea, in fact they were mad that Alex discovered their top secret project. They tried to stop him, but they were stopped instead. Alex saw that the project would be pointless in trying to perfect it to use in a war that was going to be over in six minutes. Better that it should be applied to those that would surely survive the aftermath of that same war. Here we are, I’m sure Alex will want to hear all about the outside world, hey maybe he’ll improve you too!”

You enter an office where a man sits at a desk pouring over technical manuals and medical books. Two more cyborgs armed with some sort science fictionish weapons stand by him. There’s no way you could hope to kill him without them killing you as well. He looks up.

“Ah a guest! Been a long time since we’ve seen anyone new…in fact I’m a little puzzled on how you even found this place, let alone entered it…you’re not GZS are you?” Alex says changing his pleasant demeanor in mid sentence.
“No! Not at all! I’m here because the Colonel sent me. He says you and he are friends. Here. Here’s his ring and a letter he wrote to prove it. He’d also given me a security pass so I could enter this place.”

Alex takes the ring and letter and inspects them both, before addressing you again.

“Well it looks like everything’s legitimate. I shall trust you. Though I’m not sure I trust the Colonel. I never did trust him. He only wanted to use me so I could get access to high tech weaponry, but instead I found much more here! Much more than I ever told him! Ha ha! I hear him trying to radio in, wondering if there’s anyone here, I’ve been ignoring him. He and his group of right wing loonies are unworthy of being re-made. If they think they’re true survivialists then they don’t need the gifts that this base provides. All of it is mine, I EARNED this place and it shall be I who ushers in a new era. Not GZS, not the government and not the fucking goddamn Colonel!”

Alex is obviously unhinged, you don’t know if he was always this way or got that way later, but it hardly matters, what’s of major importance is that you walk away from this meeting unscathed. You try to calm him down.

“Whoa hold on, I don’t think the Colonel or any of his right wing loonies would want to be re-made.”
“Nonsense, anyone with any sense of survival would want to be re-made if they new about what was being worked on here.”

You can’t help, but notice that Alex hasn’t done any improvements on himself…

“However, I can see you don’t share that same short sighted thinking that the rest of those Compound cronies do. You are worthy of being re-made! In fact I would like to start now, I’ve been studying up on some new techniques and I would love to test them out. I think I could do a really good job this time, there will definitely be less acc…er complications than in the past.”

This is just getting worse. Now this nutjob wants to work on you.

“Look, I don’t want to be re-made! I was just here to see if you were alive and scout this place out! Now that I’ve done that, I’m to return to the Compound!”
“Oh well now that’s going to be a problem…I can’t risk you telling him what’s here.”

You really didn’t want to hear that.

“Look, I’ll tell the Colonel that there wasn’t anything here, I can reason with him. You can even take my security pass to make sure I can’t get back in if you’re really worried. However, if he doesn’t hear from me, he’s only going to send more folks to this place.”
“And what of it? They wouldn’t be able to get in and even if they could, his weekend warriors would be no match for Cybernetic Evolution!”
“No, but they could just blow up the elevator trapping you down here forever, and you’ll never be able to leave to allow your genius to usher in the new era that you were talking about.”

That seems to relax Alex a bit, as always a little flattery goes a long way to ease an unbalanced mind.

“Hmm, perhaps you make some sense, and you seem like a trustworthy sort…very well. I shall arrange for you to leave. Give me your security pass.”
“Okay, and I’ll be needing the Colonel’s ring and letter back, so I can say I didn’t find anything here.”

You and Alex exchange items and he and his two cyborg guards escort you back to the elevator.

“Goodbye, perhaps if we meet again you will be more receptive to being re-made. It’s a harsh new world, and you’ll soon wish you had an edge to survive it.” Alex tells you before you leave.

“I’ll do alright.”

The elevator goes up and you’re back on the surface again where you make your trek back to the compound in just a few days. You notice there have been a few changes in the few days you’ve left. Namely there’s a still to make hooch. And you now have some working vehicles that been modified to run on hooch. The same still that people are making cheap booze from they’re also using it as fuel, which basically translates into the vehicles running on “garbage” given that’s what the booze is being made out of. Smells pretty bad, but whatever works. Though from what you heard some towns have been found to be running their vehicles on shit (animal AND human) so the smell could be worse. There’s been a couple deaths from some of the other recon missions, but for the most part everything else is normal.

Everyone’s almost surprised to see you come back, Marina’s happy, Harry obviously isn’t. The Colonel though wants to see you immediately.

Since you don’t owe any allegiance to some nutcase playing Frankenstein in an underground base, you tell the Colonel everything. You expect him to get mad at you, but he doesn’t.

“(Sigh) Alex always was a bit unstable; I always wondered why the army never gave him a section 8. Anyway, what you’re telling me doesn’t surprise me, though I wish you could’ve gotten away without giving up that security pass. It’s going to be harder to get down there now.”
“You still want to go down there?”
“Of course! What you think I’m going to let Alex slowly refine and build up his cyborg army? Who do you think he’s going to attack first? No, we need to get rid of him NOW. I suppose we could blow up the elevator doors to gain access. Not like we don’t have the means to do that.”
“Yeah, but don’t you run the risk of blowing up the entire elevator, and causing it fall and crash down the shaft? We wouldn’t be able to send anyone down there in an efficient manner. Let alone fighting off cyborgs who would cut us down with ease if we were trying to repel down the shaft or huddled together coming off the elevator, besides Alex might have left the elevator on his level given the recent visit of mine.”

The Colonel lets forth another sigh knowing that you make a good point, but frustrated as well.

“You’re right, so what do you suggest we do then? Sit and do nothing with our thumbs up our asses?”
> You suggest in containing Alex instead
Funny that you are about to suggest an idea to the Colonel that got you out of trouble with Alex in the first place.

“No, I think you do have a good idea about stopping Alex, I saw first hand how crazy he was. Maybe we can’t actually get to him, but we could contain him.  We blow up the elevator like you wanted to do and then dump explosives down the shaft, it should collapse things enough that they won’t be able to leave, and we won’t lose any people.”
“Ah, I like the way you think, but suppose they attempt get out, or rebuild the elevator or something?”
“Well, we could leave a permanent detachment there to keep a constant vigil. I mean the surface part of the base is completely usable. That way we get an early warning just in case anything does try to come out.”
“Interesting idea. Having two command centers would be a good idea, I was planning on expansion in the future, might as well start now. Should keep us alert as well. Can’t afford to get sloppy out here. Okay. We’ll go with that idea, and since you came up with it, you can oversee the operation. In fact consider yourself stationed there until further notice.”
“What?!”
“Hey I have to put someone there, you’ve done a good job so far and you have the best experience with the place so you can be in charge. Think of it as an honor son! I have a lot faith in you and I don’t have much in anyone.”
“Well thanks, but wouldn’t someone like Harry be a better choice?”
”Harry? Yeah, he’s got his uses, but I’d rather not have him in charge of anything important like this, no I want you and few others to go, in fact you pick them. I’ll let you know if I can afford to spare them.”
“Well then I pick Marina right now.”
“I expected that. Sure, if you can convince her to go. Just remember what you’re there for! Okay go pick out your team and gather what equipment you might need.”

You leave and tell Marina the situation immediately, she of course agrees to go with you, though she’s a little worried about being someplace with a bunch of cyborgs several feet underneath her, of course you’re worried about the same thing.

You pick out six more people of varying skills, but mostly people you were getting along with during your stay at the Compound. You don’t want to take anyone who you’re not going to get along with. The Colonel approves of your choice and gives you the okay, Harry looks positively jealous that he was passed over for you who just got here. In fact before you leave he tells you as much.

“You fucking little pissant. You think because you’re all chummy with the Colonel that you’re his fucking second in command now?”
“No, I…”
“You’re goddamn right no! If anything happens to the Colonel I’M in charge of this shit! You better remember that fuckhead! Because if you’re still on my list when that occurs, you best pray to God that I at least lube your asshole after I rip off your pink panties and before I shove my foot up it and make your colon my permanent fuckin’ sock!”

You’re a little bewildered by the logic of this comment, you almost can’t be sure if he’s threatening you, or flirting with you. You don’t feel like arguing with him though since it won’t accomplish anything, besides if any good is coming from this, it’s getting away from him. You and your team leave.

When you and your team get to the base in a few days, you’re in for a little surprise. A medium sized robot is patrolling the courtyard. Looks like your friend Alex also dabbles in robotics as well as cybernetics. You and your team hide behind the outer wall when you all catch sight of it. Apparently Alex didn’t trust you any more than you trusted him, and looks like both of you were right.

“Uh, what’s that?” one of your team members asks.
“It’s a robot, what’s it look like?”
“Well what’re we gonna do?”
“Kill it! Everyone open fire!”

You have no idea if your bullets are going to penetrate its armor, but you you’re going to try anyway. Everyone fires upon the robotic being, which begins to shutter and spark, but returns fire and a bright burst of light strikes one of your team members and completely incinerates him.

“Holy shit, get cover and keep firing!” you shout.

The rest of the battle doesn’t last too much longer, while your team continue to fire bursts at the machine while they dodge plasma blasts, you get enough time to toss a grenade at it and blow it to smithereens. Shards of burnt twisted metal lie all over the place.

“Come on we need to blow up that door, before something else comes out of the damn thing!”

You and the rest apply charges to the elevator door and run before it explodes. Just like you though, Alex doesn’t have the elevator on the surface anymore, it’s at the bottom, in fact its ascending right now!

“Dump grenades down the fuckin’ shaft!”

This action is followed by running far away from the elevator, a large explosion, and then a large crash and another smaller explosion. You ask for a flashlight and peer down the shaft. Its smoking mess and from what you can tell, part of the structure collapsed in on itself. Nothing is going to be coming out of there for a long time. You’re about to radio in and tell the Colonel the news when another signal breaks in, its Alex…

“So, that snitch told after all! I knew he wasn’t to be trusted! You can’t stop me! I’ll get out of here eventually! And I shall…”
“Got news for you Alex, you’re talking to the snitch right now, and you won’t be going anywhere as long as I’m here. Enjoy your underground prison.”

You switch to another frequency and tell the Colonel who seems pleased, he tells you he’ll keep in contact with you on a regular basis and send more people when possible, in the mean time secure the place and get settled in.

A few more weeks pass and eventually the initial nervousness disappears from everyone, Alex still breaks in ranting on your radio frequency every now and then, but you ignore him. In fact being at the base turns out to be more to your liking, there’s less people around, you’re in charge and you get to spend more time with Marina.

A year passes…

Not too much changes around the base (Which you now call Pandora which seems appropriate since you’re keeping in something that shouldn’t be let out!) a few more people are transferred here, supplies are delivered back and forth, but not much else happens. You get reports from the Compound every now and then, seems they’ve made progress with a few small towns that survived, but there are a lot of problems with lawless bandits running around. Reports have also mentioned strange mutated animals lurking about too. Sounds like they have everything under control so far though. The Colonel has the idea to trade with the towns and offer protection when possible. He hopes to get more people to join the Compound you imagine.

Your orders are still the same, just guard Pandora, and make sure no cybernetic horrors are coming out. Sometimes you wonder if you shouldn’t be doing something else, indeed Marina seems to think so. Sometimes you forget she’s been training in all this survivalist shit longer than you have and has that “tame the wasteland” spirit more than you do.
> You stay put
You decide that you got it made, why fuck with it? The rest of those at the Compound have to go on missions to fight bandits and go exploring possible hostile locations. You don’t need to do any of that. You’re in a nice safe isolated location where nobody ever comes except to drop off supplies every now and then. Even the fact cyborgs are trapped underneath you doesn’t bother you anymore. You continue your routine.

Four more years pass...

You and Marina are still together, but for some reason, you don’t seem as close anymore. It seems like she’s been getting distant in the past few years.

You still get the harassing radio rant from Alex every now and then just to let you know he’s still alive along with his robots and cyborgs. You’re guessing he’s been surviving on rats and roaches down there.

It’s been five years since you first joined the Compound and there’s been a lot more changes there at least that’s what you’ve been hearing from the people transferred to Pandora.

You get less and less reports from the Compound itself other than its undergone a name change and due to its inclusion of a few towns now, its called the Combine and the Compound itself is called Fort Justice. You know about how the Colonel has gotten sick and seems to be getting worse as more time passes and how the population rate is growing, but it’s slow. The major theory is the elevated levels of background radiation are probably affecting fertility. (You wonder about yourself and Marina since she hasn’t once gotten pregnant in the five years you’ve been together) There have been more people sent here, mainly people that aren’t “cutting it” anymore at the Compound. In fact you’ve been hearing some interesting stories. One man in particular called Roger has spoken to you quite frankly about what’s been going on at the Compound some of it a bit alarming.

“The fuckin’ Colonel? When he started getting sick that sonofabitch Harry started taking over more responsibility. Started doing shit HIS way, which was a lot more reactionary. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m not some faggot peacenik, I’m all about creating a new strong society, like how America SHOULD’VE been, but fuck man. I’m not gonna kill children for no goddamn reason!”
“What?! When did this happen?”
“About a year ago! I was on a mission to this small town called Lost Springs and Harry was with us personally. They had a fresh underground supply of water, so we really wanted to gather them into the fold. Talks didn’t go so well though, so Harry went nuts and shot the fucking mayor of the town! Then he proceeded to tell us to start killing all the kids if they didn’t submit to us.”
“And?”
“Well I refused to do it, and some of the others didn’t either. A few did though, and after a couple of kids were killed. The rest of the townsfolk pretty much fell in line. Harry left the ones who were willing to kill at his command to occupy the place. He made up a damn story to the Colonel about how he HAD to do it and left out the shooting kids though. And the Colonel gets sicker and sicker, and Harry gets freer reign. Shit, if the Colonel wasn’t still alive I think Harry wouldn’t even be sending some people here, he’d probably be sending them all to the city.”
“Wait, the city? There’s missions to the city? I thought those were stopped after the first few times that was attempted.”
“Not anymore! Harry’s been sending a few people on his shit list to missions on the city. Harry says that there are still important resources to be gathered from there. Its bullshit, ain’t nothin’ there except fuckin’ mutants and radioactivity! I probably would’ve got sent there, but I lost my arm in an ambush, and the Colonel said I needed to be taken off of active duty and sent here. There’s a real mean motherfucker loyal to Harry called Damon, who goes on the city missions to ensure nobody tries to go AWOL. He’s fucking nuts, he loves going into the city; I think he actually gets a fucking orgasm.”
“Where the hell is Harry getting all these new people, if he’s treating the towns so badly?”
“I told you he’s been press ganging some of them and most are so beaten by that point that they just go along with it, but he’s also been subduing some of the raider scum! That
Damon is one of those fuckers. Instead of killing them all like we should be doing, he’s been recruiting them into the Combine! These degenerates are usually the ones he uses for occupation since most of them don’t have any qualms about killing anything that moves and they’re used to terrorizing towns.”
“Holy shit, I’ve never heard about all this before.”
“I’m telling you, you’re lucky you got assigned here when you did, because you
would’ve been going to the city. The only thing keeping you safe is the Colonel who insists you stay in charge of this place; I don’t want to think about the day when the Colonel finally croaks. Shit, I might just leave and take my chances, one arm be damned. YOU might want to think about leaving as well, because chances are Harry’s going to be turning his attention towards you when that day comes.”
“I still don’t see what the hell I did to him, he’s hated me since day one.”
“Well, you got the Colonel’s attention and his respect. You got a command position of your very own base, and most importantly you got Marina. He’s always liked her. You didn’t know?”
“Well she did mention one time that he came on to her in the past, well anyway, it hardly matters why he hates me I guess. What matters is I gotta think about how I’m gonna deal with this problem in the future.”

Suddenly one of your assistants comes in and has something to report. Something you really don’t want to know after having been given the recent information by Roger.

The Colonel has died, Harry has taken complete control of the Combine and his first order is for YOU to return to Fort Justice for reassignment.

Looks like you’ll have to be thinking fast.
> You leave the Combine
Secession isn’t really a viable option. You simply can’t stand up to the resources Harry has, the only option is to distance yourself as far away as possible. Harry’s escorts will be here in a few days so you start packing immediately. Marina wonders what you’re doing.

“We’re getting the hell outta here! You think Harry’s gonna let me live? At best he might be sending me into missions into the city! Fuck that!”
“You mean we’re just leaving? We’re not fighting back?”
“What you think I like this? I mean I don’t want to leave, but if we stay, we’re gonna end up dead! Come on pack your shit.”
“I dunno. I can’t just leave everything. I mean I’m still friends and close to all these people, I can’t just leave them.”
“Look, I’ve actually gotten along with most of the folks here too, but I’m not sticking my neck out for any of them. Besides, if they’re smart they’ll leave too.”
“I can’t do it, I can’t go.”

You stop packing.

“What, are you fucking kidding me?”
“No, I mean I can’t do it. This is my life, this was my life before the bombs and it’ll continue to be my life afterwards. I can’t just leave, I mean we’re trying to re-build society…”
“Fuck society! Why can’t it just be me and you?”

Marina suddenly tells you a revelation you always had an inkling of, but never quite sure until today…

“You know why I liked you in the beginning? Because all those years we worked in that office I saw a man who worked hard in a mundane job yet had the potential to be something more under the right circumstances. I’m sure you remember I said something similar five years ago when I convinced you to come with me. Then you proved me right somewhat by volunteering and taking charge of this place. I knew I’d chosen right. I was in love with you.”
“Was eh?”
“Yes, was. In the following years of you taking command of this place you’ve shown no more initiative. You’ve been content to just do the mundane routine of running this place. You were doing exactly the opposite of what I first saw. You were squandering your potential.”
“So what was I supposed to be doing then Marina? Driving across the fuckin’ wasteland shooting up people, taking their shit, and declaring their town part of the Combine like Harry?”
“No, of course not. But you could’ve done something more. Like sending out your own exploration teams, or even going on them yourself. Maybe if you had, you wouldn’t be in this position now. You’d have better leverage to face Harry. Maybe he is a fucking dictator, but he’s accomplishing a goal.”

You pack the last of your things and start walking while Marina follows you.

“Yeah, some goal…Okay you know what Marina, fuck it. I gotta get outta here, and its apparent you’ve made your decision and I’m not gonna try to talk you out of it, because if you’re that willing to throw fuckin’ five years away just because I’m not the wasteland warrior that you dreamed up in your mind, then like I said fuck it. You’re not worth my time either anymore. I hope you and Harry have a nice life, I’m sure he’s exactly what you’re looking for. Hope for your sake though his obsession for you is a lot stronger than his vindictiveness.”
“Fuck you! It’s not that goddamn black and white! I don’t like fuckin Harry, and I never will, but…HEY! Don’t fuckin’ walk out on me!”

You storm out of the base, and Marina attempts to reason and explain, but it’s all bullshit to you. This whole thing was. Trying to “rebuild” society, yeah right. As if there was anything worth rebuilding in the first place. You’re done with this shit. You tried it and it was okay for awhile, but now its time to move on. Away from this and away from people.

You travel for a few days, and you expect Harry’s men to come tracking you, but nobody ever follows you. You get attacked by a few mutated wolves, and a few mad men here and there, but nobody from the Combine. It’s possible that you’ve done a good job of throwing them off, and Harry’s people aren’t skilled trackers, of course maybe Harry’s just glad you’re out of the way period. You briefly have an amusing thought, that Marina still had some sort of feelings for you and offered to be Harry’s girl in exchange of letting you live.

You decide to think that’s what happened, since you’ll never know for certain and you’ve always been prone to imagine dramatic movie like endings.

“Heh. We’ll always have Pandora.” You laugh to yourself as you distance yourself further away from Combine territory.


You decide that you got it made, why fuck with it? The rest of those at the Compound have to go on missions to fight bandits and go exploring possible hostile locations. You don’t need to do any of that. You’re in a nice safe isolated location where nobody ever comes except to drop off supplies every now and then. Even the fact cyborgs are trapped underneath you doesn’t bother you anymore. You continue your routine.

Four more years pass...

You and Marina are still together, but for some reason, you don’t seem as close anymore. It seems like she’s been getting distant in the past few years.

You still get the harassing radio rant from Alex every now and then just to let you know he’s still alive along with his robots and cyborgs. You’re guessing he’s been surviving on rats and roaches down there.

It’s been five years since you first joined the Compound and there’s been a lot more changes there at least that’s what you’ve been hearing from the people transferred to Pandora.

You get less and less reports from the Compound itself other than its undergone a name change and due to its inclusion of a few towns now, its called the Combine and the Compound itself is called Fort Justice. You know about how the Colonel has gotten sick and seems to be getting worse as more time passes and how the population rate is growing, but it’s slow. The major theory is the elevated levels of background radiation are probably affecting fertility. (You wonder about yourself and Marina since she hasn’t once gotten pregnant in the five years you’ve been together) There have been more people sent here, mainly people that aren’t “cutting it” anymore at the Compound. In fact you’ve been hearing some interesting stories. One man in particular called Roger has spoken to you quite frankly about what’s been going on at the Compound some of it a bit alarming.

“The fuckin’ Colonel? When he started getting sick that sonofabitch Harry started taking over more responsibility. Started doing shit HIS way, which was a lot more reactionary. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m not some faggot peacenik, I’m all about creating a new strong society, like how America SHOULD’VE been, but fuck man. I’m not gonna kill children for no goddamn reason!”
“What?! When did this happen?”
“About a year ago! I was on a mission to this small town called Lost Springs and Harry was with us personally. They had a fresh underground supply of water, so we really wanted to gather them into the fold. Talks didn’t go so well though, so Harry went nuts and shot the fucking mayor of the town! Then he proceeded to tell us to start killing all the kids if they didn’t submit to us.”
“And?”
“Well I refused to do it, and some of the others didn’t either. A few did though, and after a couple of kids were killed. The rest of the townsfolk pretty much fell in line. Harry left the ones who were willing to kill at his command to occupy the place. He made up a damn story to the Colonel about how he HAD to do it and left out the shooting kids though. And the Colonel gets sicker and sicker, and Harry gets freer reign. Shit, if the Colonel wasn’t still alive I think Harry wouldn’t even be sending some people here, he’d probably be sending them all to the city.”
“Wait, the city? There’s missions to the city? I thought those were stopped after the first few times that was attempted.”
“Not anymore! Harry’s been sending a few people on his shit list to missions on the city. Harry says that there are still important resources to be gathered from there. Its bullshit, ain’t nothin’ there except fuckin’ mutants and radioactivity! I probably would’ve got sent there, but I lost my arm in an ambush, and the Colonel said I needed to be taken off of active duty and sent here. There’s a real mean motherfucker loyal to Harry called Damon, who goes on the city missions to ensure nobody tries to go AWOL. He’s fucking nuts, he loves going into the city; I think he actually gets a fucking orgasm.”
“Where the hell is Harry getting all these new people, if he’s treating the towns so badly?”
“I told you he’s been press ganging some of them and most are so beaten by that point that they just go along with it, but he’s also been subduing some of the raider scum! That
Damon is one of those fuckers. Instead of killing them all like we should be doing, he’s been recruiting them into the Combine! These degenerates are usually the ones he uses for occupation since most of them don’t have any qualms about killing anything that moves and they’re used to terrorizing towns.”
“Holy shit, I’ve never heard about all this before.”
“I’m telling you, you’re lucky you got assigned here when you did, because you
would’ve been going to the city. The only thing keeping you safe is the Colonel who insists you stay in charge of this place; I don’t want to think about the day when the Colonel finally croaks. Shit, I might just leave and take my chances, one arm be damned. YOU might want to think about leaving as well, because chances are Harry’s going to be turning his attention towards you when that day comes.”
“I still don’t see what the hell I did to him, he’s hated me since day one.”
“Well, you got the Colonel’s attention and his respect. You got a command position of your very own base, and most importantly you got Marina. He’s always liked her. You didn’t know?”
“Well she did mention one time that he came on to her in the past, well anyway, it hardly matters why he hates me I guess. What matters is I gotta think about how I’m gonna deal with this problem in the future.”

Suddenly one of your assistants comes in and has something to report. Something you really don’t want to know after having been given the recent information by Roger.

The Colonel has died, Harry has taken complete control of the Combine and his first order is for YOU to return to Fort Justice for reassignment.

Looks like you’ll have to be thinking fast.
> You secede from the Combine
"Fuck off Harry, and take your Combine and shove it up your ass. We’re seceding.” You abruptly tell him over the radio, before announcing your intensions to everyone else in the base.

You get a mixed reaction of apprehension, while a lot of them aren’t too fond of Harry, they still like living with basic necessities, something that becomes apparent in the weeks to come. There are a number of problems from the beginning.

First of all, you’re an isolated community and while that has its advantages, it also has its drawbacks, meaning the instant you tell Harry to fuck off and die over the radio, you’re no longer getting any supplies of any kind, you’re stuck with what you have. Medical supplies are scarce as it is; now they’re non-existent. Forget about getting new ammo too.

Food is a bit of a problem, (Water isn’t, the base has its own water recycling and filtering system, fortunately it’s on the surface rather than underground) since you were getting a majority of that from Fort Justice. Some hunting is done in the surrounding wilderness. It becomes a major problem though when Harry sends an invasion detachment and cuts you off from even doing that. It’s not even like you can start farming even if you had the means since the inside of the base is completely paved (as well as harboring a deranged doctor and his cyborgs)

The only thing that prevents him from completely taking the place is the fact he’s spread a bit thin in other areas of the Combine with keeping control of other towns and you’re pretty well fortified. Doesn’t mean he can’t continue to harass you, and he can keep supplying his people. You can’t. His people are somewhat more battle hardened as well. Not that you’re saddled with a bunch of non-combatants, but anyone that’s still following Harry willingly has been indoctrinated with a little more fanatic conformity, which is a great thing to have in a soldier. So great, you wish you had more people like that.

A couple months after the initial siege; most people are ready to throw you to Harry’s men in exchange for mercy. Marina and few others stand by you, but its mob rule. You’re overwhelmed, disarmed and thrown to the invasion force outside.

All that still stayed loyal to you are immediately shot as traitors. The ones that turned on you are merely beaten (and a few of them shot to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again)

You and Marina are taken back to Harry. He gets a sadistic pleasure out of having you beaten in front of Marina. He attempts to give Marina one last chance to submit, but she refuses causing him to slap her upside the face and then start to rip off her clothes. You yell out, but are promptly beaten by Harry’s guards again. Unfortunately for all his bravado Harry’s unable to get it up. He tries like hell since he wants you to watch, but for whatever reason, his attempt at rape is a complete failure. Knowing the end is near anyway, Marina laughs at him before he smashes her skull against the ground yelling and screaming at her whole time.

He then kicks your bloody body and blames you for having to do that, you spit out a gob of blood and some teeth.

“Enjoy your fuckin’ empire, you limp dick bitch.” You groan.
“FUCK YOU, YOU GODDAMN PIECE OF SHIT!” he replies back, grabbing his pistol off the table.

 Harry then ends your existence by emptying his gun into you.


Funny that you are about to suggest an idea to the Colonel that got you out of trouble with Alex in the first place.

“No, I think you do have a good idea about stopping Alex, I saw first hand how crazy he was. Maybe we can’t actually get to him, but we could contain him.  We blow up the elevator like you wanted to do and then dump explosives down the shaft, it should collapse things enough that they won’t be able to leave, and we won’t lose any people.”
“Ah, I like the way you think, but suppose they attempt get out, or rebuild the elevator or something?”
“Well, we could leave a permanent detachment there to keep a constant vigil. I mean the surface part of the base is completely usable. That way we get an early warning just in case anything does try to come out.”
“Interesting idea. Having two command centers would be a good idea, I was planning on expansion in the future, might as well start now. Should keep us alert as well. Can’t afford to get sloppy out here. Okay. We’ll go with that idea, and since you came up with it, you can oversee the operation. In fact consider yourself stationed there until further notice.”
“What?!”
“Hey I have to put someone there, you’ve done a good job so far and you have the best experience with the place so you can be in charge. Think of it as an honor son! I have a lot faith in you and I don’t have much in anyone.”
“Well thanks, but wouldn’t someone like Harry be a better choice?”
”Harry? Yeah, he’s got his uses, but I’d rather not have him in charge of anything important like this, no I want you and few others to go, in fact you pick them. I’ll let you know if I can afford to spare them.”
“Well then I pick Marina right now.”
“I expected that. Sure, if you can convince her to go. Just remember what you’re there for! Okay go pick out your team and gather what equipment you might need.”

You leave and tell Marina the situation immediately, she of course agrees to go with you, though she’s a little worried about being someplace with a bunch of cyborgs several feet underneath her, of course you’re worried about the same thing.

You pick out six more people of varying skills, but mostly people you were getting along with during your stay at the Compound. You don’t want to take anyone who you’re not going to get along with. The Colonel approves of your choice and gives you the okay, Harry looks positively jealous that he was passed over for you who just got here. In fact before you leave he tells you as much.

“You fucking little pissant. You think because you’re all chummy with the Colonel that you’re his fucking second in command now?”
“No, I…”
“You’re goddamn right no! If anything happens to the Colonel I’M in charge of this shit! You better remember that fuckhead! Because if you’re still on my list when that occurs, you best pray to God that I at least lube your asshole after I rip off your pink panties and before I shove my foot up it and make your colon my permanent fuckin’ sock!”

You’re a little bewildered by the logic of this comment, you almost can’t be sure if he’s threatening you, or flirting with you. You don’t feel like arguing with him though since it won’t accomplish anything, besides if any good is coming from this, it’s getting away from him. You and your team leave.

When you and your team get to the base in a few days, you’re in for a little surprise. A medium sized robot is patrolling the courtyard. Looks like your friend Alex also dabbles in robotics as well as cybernetics. You and your team hide behind the outer wall when you all catch sight of it. Apparently Alex didn’t trust you any more than you trusted him, and looks like both of you were right.

“Uh, what’s that?” one of your team members asks.
“It’s a robot, what’s it look like?”
“Well what’re we gonna do?”
“Kill it! Everyone open fire!”

You have no idea if your bullets are going to penetrate its armor, but you you’re going to try anyway. Everyone fires upon the robotic being, which begins to shutter and spark, but returns fire and a bright burst of light strikes one of your team members and completely incinerates him.

“Holy shit, get cover and keep firing!” you shout.

The rest of the battle doesn’t last too much longer, while your team continue to fire bursts at the machine while they dodge plasma blasts, you get enough time to toss a grenade at it and blow it to smithereens. Shards of burnt twisted metal lie all over the place.

“Come on we need to blow up that door, before something else comes out of the damn thing!”

You and the rest apply charges to the elevator door and run before it explodes. Just like you though, Alex doesn’t have the elevator on the surface anymore, it’s at the bottom, in fact its ascending right now!

“Dump grenades down the fuckin’ shaft!”

This action is followed by running far away from the elevator, a large explosion, and then a large crash and another smaller explosion. You ask for a flashlight and peer down the shaft. Its smoking mess and from what you can tell, part of the structure collapsed in on itself. Nothing is going to be coming out of there for a long time. You’re about to radio in and tell the Colonel the news when another signal breaks in, its Alex…

“So, that snitch told after all! I knew he wasn’t to be trusted! You can’t stop me! I’ll get out of here eventually! And I shall…”
“Got news for you Alex, you’re talking to the snitch right now, and you won’t be going anywhere as long as I’m here. Enjoy your underground prison.”

You switch to another frequency and tell the Colonel who seems pleased, he tells you he’ll keep in contact with you on a regular basis and send more people when possible, in the mean time secure the place and get settled in.

A few more weeks pass and eventually the initial nervousness disappears from everyone, Alex still breaks in ranting on your radio frequency every now and then, but you ignore him. In fact being at the base turns out to be more to your liking, there’s less people around, you’re in charge and you get to spend more time with Marina.

A year passes…

Not too much changes around the base (Which you now call Pandora which seems appropriate since you’re keeping in something that shouldn’t be let out!) a few more people are transferred here, supplies are delivered back and forth, but not much else happens. You get reports from the Compound every now and then, seems they’ve made progress with a few small towns that survived, but there are a lot of problems with lawless bandits running around. Reports have also mentioned strange mutated animals lurking about too. Sounds like they have everything under control so far though. The Colonel has the idea to trade with the towns and offer protection when possible. He hopes to get more people to join the Compound you imagine.

Your orders are still the same, just guard Pandora, and make sure no cybernetic horrors are coming out. Sometimes you wonder if you shouldn’t be doing something else, indeed Marina seems to think so. Sometimes you forget she’s been training in all this survivalist shit longer than you have and has that “tame the wasteland” spirit more than you do.
> You do something
Well there’s nothing stopping you from sending your own exploration detachment teams, there’s nothing stopping you from going yourself either. As far as you know, nobody from the Compound has bothered scouting past Base Pandora, you figure it’s as good of place as any…

“Okay I want two scouting detachments of four. I’m going with one of them. We’re just going to go a few miles from this place and then come back. It’ll give us a better lay of the land in case of an attack and it’ll keep our skills sharp as well. The rest of you guard the base as usual.”

You half expect Marina to come with you, but she’s content on staying behind to help look after the base. She looks at you admiringly though that you’re taking the initiative. She tells you she loves you and that she can’t wait for you to get back. You like the fact she’s got confidence that you ARE coming back this time around.

You and your team leave and start exploring. Base Pandora really was in a secluded location, most of your trek is through a small unspoiled woods, eventually you get to the end though after about a day. You notice the Geiger counter is clicking a bit more. Not a lot, but enough to be a little unsettling. Using some binoculars, up ahead you see a single run down farm house (the farm itself also looks run down and hasn’t been up kept in years). Just then you see a few vehicles also approaching up ahead, you tell everyone else to pull back into the woods and keep down while you do likewise. You continue to look as the vehicle park nearby the farm house and figures begin to get out. All of them are wearing robes and carrying automatic weapons over their backs. You also see them dragging what looks to be a few hapless prisoners with them as they enter the structure. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that these folks aren’t the nice type.

“Oh shit, these guys look prepared. Who do you think they are?” one of your team asks.
“How should I know Reggie? When we moved into Base Pandora it’s not like we got a welcome to the neighborhood letter from every nearby freak within a few miles of us. If I had to guess and judging by the robes, they’re probably some doomsday cult. Probably one that was building up a stock pile of shit even before the bombs hit. Got some interesting vehicles though.”
“So, what’re we going to do?”

What to do indeed. You definitely need to wipe these cultists out since it’s possible you could have trouble with them in the future if they start wandering in your direction. They also have vehicles that could be of use and probably other supplies as well. You could radio in and wait for reinforcements, but the prisoners you just saw them take in might be dead by then.
> You get reinforcements
It’s a brutal world and it just got more so. Rushing in outnumbered, isn’t likely to save anyone and most likely going to get you killed. You radio in for reinforcements and keep an eye on the farm in the mean time. Later when the darkness comes you see a group of them come out with torches, form a circle in a nearby plain and begin chanting. You count ten of them altogether Soon two more come out with one of the prisoners from earlier. She’s bound, gagged and naked; you know what’s going to come next.

Reggie and another one in your team wants to do something, but you insist that they do nothing and to keep quiet. It’s all over soon anyway, as you see them sacrifice the poor girl for whatever outlandish beliefs they hold. You take first watch for the night. The next day your reinforcements arrive…both of them.

“What the fuck? I asked for at least five more people!”
“Sorry, but that other recon group you sent also ran into trouble, in fact two of them are already dead, and we had to send a rescue team to fetch the other two since one has a broken leg.”
“Oh that’s wonderful.”
“So should we call this off?” one of you team asks.
“No Vivica, we’re going through with it, but we’re going to employ some stealth, they had three prisoners, I get the feeling they’ll be doing the same ceremony they did last night.”
“Are we going to attack them now then?”
“No Leonard, I don’t feel like fighting a bunch of fanatics armed with machine guns in an open plain with no cover. And we can’t just start firing on them from here, we need to wipe them ALL out as quickly as possible without them having a chance the regroup, fortify or any of that shit. We’re gonna sneak into the house and ambush the whole fuckin’ cult while they’re doing their little ceremony.”

You wait until night and sure enough they all come out like you thought, then come the others with the prisoner. That’s when the six of you quickly sneak through an overgrown field towards the house. You get to the stairs when Reggie and Leonard break off towards the area were the cult is performing their ceremony.

“I can’t just let them kill another! We can take ‘em now! They’re off guard!”
“Reggie get the fuck…shit!”

Reggie and Leonard begin firing, the fucking idiots aren’t even taking cover, they’re going head long in like they’re stupid ass action heroes. You and the others lay down some cover fire, but it’s not enough. Reggie and Leonard are cut down after killing a whopping ONE cultist and not even saving the hapless girl, who’s shot instantly. The cultists start spreading out, moving forward, and circling around you at the same time, they’re also better shots than you too, as they’re carefully aiming rather than just firing in the general vicinity. After seeing another one of your team members go down, you and the rest fall back into the house itself.

The inside of the house looks like something out of a horror movie, there are skulls and bones littering it, along with it blood stains everywhere.

“Holy shit! What’ve we gotten ourselves into?” Vivica yells.
“Shut the fuck up, I hear something…like crying…it’s downstairs.”
“What about the cultists?”
“Well it’s the same plan, they just know about us now, let’s hope we can still get ‘em in a good ambush.”

You and your team members spread out in the house, you head down into the basement, which looks more like a small temple layout. You see a young woman in a cage, and when she sees you her eyes fill with hope. You hear the cultists stomping around upstairs and some gunfire, at which point you try to find a good place to hide.

A bunch of footsteps run down the stairs, you wait in anticipation…closer…closer…

NOW!

You pop up from your spot and begin firing, you kill six of them before they can even react, and the remaining two barely get off some wild shots before you splatter them as well. Still breathing heavy among the dead, you finally hear some good news.

“Hey! Are you still alive down there?” Vivica shouts.
“Yeah! What’s going on up there?”
“We got a few of them, but I think most of them converged on your position though.”
“Of course they did, I’ve always been popular.” You reply.

You release the girl in the cage who’s very thankful. She mentions her name is Ophelia and she’s from a place called Ashtown which is far from this place. She says the cultists came storming into her town specifically trying to capture young girls; they took three before they finally were driven away, and unfortunately Ophelia was one of the three. You tell Ophelia your story; she seems to think you’ve got the right idea about going about things.

“I think I’m going to tell my people back in Ashtown that we need to start getting better organized as well, and I’ll be sure to tell them all about you and how you rescued me! Maybe we’ll see each other in the future.”

You and your team search the farm house which just like you thought was stocked with all sorts of goodies. You’re going to have haul some of it back, but you decide that you could also establish another base of sorts here after it was cleaned up. You’d also like to establish more of a relationship with this Ashtown. So you allow Ophelia to take one of the vehicles for her to drive back there, she certainly doesn’t have a problem with that!

Before heading back you put Vivica in charge of the place and tell her you’ll be sending some more folks to help get this farm up and running. Not bad for a first try.

Four more years pass…

It’s been five years since you joined the Compound and things are going fairly well for you, the farm house has been converted into a way point to Ashtown, with which you have good relations with and is now producing food. You are no longer solely dependant on the Compound for supplies which might be just as well…

You get less and less reports from the Compound itself other than its undergone a name change and due to its inclusion of a few towns now, its called the Combine and the Compound itself is called Fort Justice. You know about how the Colonel has gotten sick and seems to be getting worse as more time passes and how the population rate is growing, but it’s slow. The major theory is the elevated levels of background radiation are probably affecting fertility. (You wonder about yourself and Marina since she hasn’t once gotten pregnant in the five years you’ve been together) There have been more people sent here, mainly because they hear about how great it is in Pandora as opposed to the miserable place Harry has made Fort Justice since he’s been getting freer reign of the place as the Colonel continues to get sicker.
In fact you’ve been hearing some disturbing stories from others who have come here recently. Ranging from needlessly violent occupation of towns, sending people on dangerous unnecessary missions to the city, and recruiting desert scum into the Combine! People are saying Harry’s going nuts with power.

One day, one of your assistants comes in and has something to report.

The Colonel has died, Harry has taken complete control of the Combine and his first order is for YOU to return to Fort Justice for reassignment.

Harry’s just plain gone completely nuts if he thinks you’re going to do that.

Speaking of nuts, that same day after you convince everyone in seceding from the Combine you get a radio message from someone who’s been quiet until now.

“Well well, it seems you’ve got a problem on your hands.”

It’s Alex. You’re guessing he’s been surviving on rats and roaches down there.

“What the hell do you want and how do you know what’s been going on?”
“How do you think? I’ve been listening in on all your incoming and outgoing radio transmissions since you betrayed me and trapped me down here! I must say though, you probably did the intelligent thing. And your progress with establishing your own separate territory has been intriguing…but I can tell you right now, you are going to need help with your current problem, a problem I will be willing to help with if you’re willing to talk.”
“Alright, I’ll play. What’re you proposing?”
“There are still a lot of those high tech weapons down here that you were coming to get when you came here five years ago. I’m sure they would be very useful in your up coming war with Harry, and don’t tell me there isn’t, because I know you aren’t going to run or meekly follow his orders to return. You’ve obviously set your sights on higher ambitions than just following orders and survival. I’ll be willing to give them to you, in exchange for my freedom.”
“Oh that easy huh? How do you propose we go about this? I send people down there to retrieve them while your death machines ambush them as soon as they enter?”
“It would be kind of hard for that to happen since all my cyborgs are long dead and my robots have fallen into disrepair…I’m basically alone down here. You were guarding nothing!” Alex laughs.

You’re pretty skeptical about this little tale, but if it’s true, those weapons would certainly help.
> You believe Alex
The chance is too good to pass up. You’re going to risk believing Alex, of course everyone else isn’t willing to do so. You had a hard enough to convince them to join you in seceding from the Combine; you can’t really press this issue as well. There’s nothing else for it, you’re going to have to go down there yourself. You just ask someone to make sure the ropes and pullies are stable for you to descend down the elevator shaft. Now Marina loves your bravery and willingness to take risks, but even she’s a little apprehensive about this idea. You’re determined to do this though.

“Marina, if something goes wrong and I get killed, then get yourself out of here, and head to Ashtown. There’s no reason for you to stick around and get yourself killed as well, or worse.”
“Nonsense! I’ll fight for what you accomplished here whether you’re still around or not! But that’ll be after I go underground and take care of whatever metal bastards killed you!”

No point in arguing with her, she’ll do it anyway just like you’re going underground anyway and that’s probably why you love her. You give her a kiss and descend.

When you finally reach the bottom, you’re standing on top a pile of scrap. Part of it looks like it was moved in an attempt to clear it at one time, so you are able to squeeze through the previous elevator entrance.

The same corridor you stepped through five years ago is remarkably dim now, you see a few steel husks lying on the ground. A lot of course are cyborgs, so decaying flesh is also present. Looks like Alex was telling the truth so far. Eventually you find Alex brooding in his office which is in complete disarray. Alex himself is very pale and a lot thinner than when you last remember him.

“Hey! There you are! See, I told you I wasn’t lying.” He states when he sees you.
“Yeah I can see that, what exactly happened?”
“Oh there were complications…psychotic episodes…power problems…lack of more equipment and extra help…does it matter? I utterly failed. I watched my creations die one by one over the months and years due to my own lack of skill…and I thought I was going to usher in some sort of new era…yeah right.”
“Alex, I’m surprised to hear you talk like that.”
“Yeah? Well being prisoner here gives you a lot of time to think. Sometimes people go mad in captivity, I think in my case it did me some fucking good. I should’ve trusted the Colonel, he was my friend. He wasn’t going to do anything to me. He trusted me, and now he’s dead and I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.”

While Alex’s speeches of redemption are intriguing, you really want those weapons.

“Alex, where are the weapons?”
“…huh? Oh yes. The weapons. Please, don’t let me stop you. Go down the corridor make a right and enter the second door. You’ll find all you need in there. They were all tested out and work well. One of the few things GZS helped design that wasn’t prone to failure.”

You leave Alex to his brooding, and follow his directions; you soon come across a room with the weapons, or what’s left of them. There’s not the great arsenal that Alex made out there was. He most likely used most of them when he was creating his robots and cyborgs. You’re disappointed, but still it’s better than nothing and the few that are here will help.

You collect what you can for this trip, when Alex enters the room.

“So, now that you have what you’re looking for, are you going to keep your word?”
“Well…ah fuck it…what the hell. Keep in mind though people are going to be pretty mistrustful of you. Don’t expect a warm welcome.”
“Didn’t expect one.”
“Good, now grab the rest of those weapons, so I don’t need to make a round trip down here.”

You and Alex come back up with the weapons (and their power cells). The confidence level increases in everyone, you delivered some cool weapons and you braved going into the “dreaded” underground of Pandora again. They’re definitely more inclined to follow you more loyally now. Alex makes himself useful by using his technical skill to build and set traps in the surrounding wilderness. You radio Vivica to let her know what’s going on as well, she’s behind you and will make sure to send a few people to harass Harry’s men when they decide the lay siege to Pandora. Everyone spends time preparing and organizing for the battle that’s sure to come.

A month passes and sure enough Harry’s men come thinking its going to be an easy victory, but it’s a slaughter. Many are killed by the traps Alex set, the rest are fried by the laser and plasma weapons.

A couple more months pass and another invasion force arrives, this one better prepared and much bigger. More reinforcements show up armed to the teeth and despite the rugged terrain that prevents cars to come to this place, they managed to find some dirt bikes which whiz around Pandora while the riders nimbly dodge your fire while they toss grenades at (and sometimes over) the walls. You still have the advantage obviously, but they’re doing a hell of a lot of damage to Pandora now.

The siege is now in full effect, fortunately you’re fairly well stocked to hold out, and Vivica’s men manage to get through sometimes with more supplies. Sensing that this is not going well for him and costing him a lot more time, man power and resources than he wanted to spend, he orders a final push.

People armed with rocket launchers come this time, and with a few volleys, Harry’s men finally breach the walls of Pandora and storm into the place.
> You make a break for it and regroup at the farmhouse
“Fall back to the farm house!” you shout as you mow down another dirt biker.

As your people begin to escape you look around for Marina in the chaos, and then you see her fighting multiple enemies converging on her position while she attempts to retreat.

You rush towards her to back her up and then you’re blown back by an explosion. You slam up against a wall of one of the barracks, other than some minor pain and some scars you’re going to have you aren’t harmed, however your heart is when you see Marina lying bloody on the ground. She isn’t moving. Ignoring everything else you run to her, you kneel down to pick up her body, she grabs weakly on to you, but she’s in bad shape.

Alex then grabs you by the shoulder

“Hey! We got people firing on us; and in case you didn’t notice you told everyone to fall back!
“You! You’re a fucking surgeon! You fix her! Save her! Save her NOW!” you shout, picking her up and shoving her into Alex’s arms.
“Wha…I…” Alex realizes you mean fucking business so he takes her, but asks about you since he notices you’re grabbing another nearby gun.
“What’re you doing? You gotta get outta here! You can’t fight all of them!”
“GO! I’m giving you fucking time!” you order Alex pushing him away and charge into battle firing two weapons in hand.

You kill a lot of them, but you’re outnumbered and outgunned at this point. You eventually fall to a hail of bullets and die. Marina follows you soon afterwards on the retreat back to the farmhouse.


The chance is too good to pass up. You’re going to risk believing Alex, of course everyone else isn’t willing to do so. You had a hard enough to convince them to join you in seceding from the Combine; you can’t really press this issue as well. There’s nothing else for it, you’re going to have to go down there yourself. You just ask someone to make sure the ropes and pullies are stable for you to descend down the elevator shaft. Now Marina loves your bravery and willingness to take risks, but even she’s a little apprehensive about this idea. You’re determined to do this though.

“Marina, if something goes wrong and I get killed, then get yourself out of here, and head to Ashtown. There’s no reason for you to stick around and get yourself killed as well, or worse.”
“Nonsense! I’ll fight for what you accomplished here whether you’re still around or not! But that’ll be after I go underground and take care of whatever metal bastards killed you!”

No point in arguing with her, she’ll do it anyway just like you’re going underground anyway and that’s probably why you love her. You give her a kiss and descend.

When you finally reach the bottom, you’re standing on top a pile of scrap. Part of it looks like it was moved in an attempt to clear it at one time, so you are able to squeeze through the previous elevator entrance.

The same corridor you stepped through five years ago is remarkably dim now, you see a few steel husks lying on the ground. A lot of course are cyborgs, so decaying flesh is also present. Looks like Alex was telling the truth so far. Eventually you find Alex brooding in his office which is in complete disarray. Alex himself is very pale and a lot thinner than when you last remember him.

“Hey! There you are! See, I told you I wasn’t lying.” He states when he sees you.
“Yeah I can see that, what exactly happened?”
“Oh there were complications…psychotic episodes…power problems…lack of more equipment and extra help…does it matter? I utterly failed. I watched my creations die one by one over the months and years due to my own lack of skill…and I thought I was going to usher in some sort of new era…yeah right.”
“Alex, I’m surprised to hear you talk like that.”
“Yeah? Well being prisoner here gives you a lot of time to think. Sometimes people go mad in captivity, I think in my case it did me some fucking good. I should’ve trusted the Colonel, he was my friend. He wasn’t going to do anything to me. He trusted me, and now he’s dead and I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.”

While Alex’s speeches of redemption are intriguing, you really want those weapons.

“Alex, where are the weapons?”
“…huh? Oh yes. The weapons. Please, don’t let me stop you. Go down the corridor make a right and enter the second door. You’ll find all you need in there. They were all tested out and work well. One of the few things GZS helped design that wasn’t prone to failure.”

You leave Alex to his brooding, and follow his directions; you soon come across a room with the weapons, or what’s left of them. There’s not the great arsenal that Alex made out there was. He most likely used most of them when he was creating his robots and cyborgs. You’re disappointed, but still it’s better than nothing and the few that are here will help.

You collect what you can for this trip, when Alex enters the room.

“So, now that you have what you’re looking for, are you going to keep your word?”
“Well…ah fuck it…what the hell. Keep in mind though people are going to be pretty mistrustful of you. Don’t expect a warm welcome.”
“Didn’t expect one.”
“Good, now grab the rest of those weapons, so I don’t need to make a round trip down here.”

You and Alex come back up with the weapons (and their power cells). The confidence level increases in everyone, you delivered some cool weapons and you braved going into the “dreaded” underground of Pandora again. They’re definitely more inclined to follow you more loyally now. Alex makes himself useful by using his technical skill to build and set traps in the surrounding wilderness. You radio Vivica to let her know what’s going on as well, she’s behind you and will make sure to send a few people to harass Harry’s men when they decide the lay siege to Pandora. Everyone spends time preparing and organizing for the battle that’s sure to come.

A month passes and sure enough Harry’s men come thinking its going to be an easy victory, but it’s a slaughter. Many are killed by the traps Alex set, the rest are fried by the laser and plasma weapons.

A couple more months pass and another invasion force arrives, this one better prepared and much bigger. More reinforcements show up armed to the teeth and despite the rugged terrain that prevents cars to come to this place, they managed to find some dirt bikes which whiz around Pandora while the riders nimbly dodge your fire while they toss grenades at (and sometimes over) the walls. You still have the advantage obviously, but they’re doing a hell of a lot of damage to Pandora now.

The siege is now in full effect, fortunately you’re fairly well stocked to hold out, and Vivica’s men manage to get through sometimes with more supplies. Sensing that this is not going well for him and costing him a lot more time, man power and resources than he wanted to spend, he orders a final push.

People armed with rocket launchers come this time, and with a few volleys, Harry’s men finally breach the walls of Pandora and storm into the place.
> You continue to fight
“Keep fighting the bastards! Pandora will never fall!” you shout as you mow down another dirt biker.

In all the fighting though you begin to worry where Marina is, you look around for her in the chaos, and then you see her fighting with multiple enemies converging on her position.

You rush towards her to back her up and then you’re blown back by an explosion. You slam up against a wall of one of the barracks, other than some minor pain and some scars you’re going to have you aren’t harmed, however your heart is when you see Marina lying bloody on the ground. She isn’t moving. Ignoring everything else you run to her, you kneel down to pick up her body, she grabs weakly on to you, but she’s in bad shape.

“Keep fighting to rebuild civilization…its still worth it…” she says before losing total consciousness.

 Alex suddenly comes up to you.

“Hey! We got people firing on us; you need to get the fuck outta the open!”
“You! You’re a fucking surgeon! You fix her! Save her! Save her NOW!” you shout, picking her up and shoving her into Alex’s arms.
“Wha…I…” Alex realizes you mean fucking business so he just nods and runs with her to one of the few undamaged buildings.

You’re blind with rage, you begin charging into battle trying take out as many of these motherfuckers as you can, its quite possible with your actions alone you turned the tide, but you are still just one man, and you nearly get yourself killed, if it hadn’t been for Vivica managing to get a few people from Ashtown to help out, and they arrive just in time.

Ophelia shoots a Combine soldier who was sneaking up on you. You turn around to see her, you nearly don’t recognize her decked out in battle gear.

“Told you, you’d see me in the future.” She says and runs off to clean up the stragglers running away.

The Combine is pulling back. You’ve won, but at a high cost.

When you return to check on Marina, you find her dead. Alex explains there was nothing he could do for her. You ask to be alone which he complies. You spend the rest of the night alone with Marina’s lifeless body weeping and vowing revenge.

The next day, you come out with one focus. To assault Fort Justice. This will never be over until Harry is dead. You need to strike now when he’s weak.

A lot of people are wondering if you shouldn’t wait to regroup, but you won’t hear of it, you’re determined to do it now and everyone who’s in fighting condition is coming with you.

In a couple days you and your small army arrive at Fort Justice. You half expect to die this day assaulting the place, but once again destiny is with you. Fort Justice is experiencing a minor authority problem. You can take the scum out of the wasteland, but you can’t make them disciplined soldiers. The last defeat has shattered morale, and apparently some are starting to question Harry’s orders, while others aren’t willing to die for him. The gate is wide open and parts of the place are in flames.

You walk in relatively unopposed. Some fighting occurs, but you’re looking for Harry and when the loud mouth shithead sees you, instead of confronting you, he runs for the trapdoor to the underground. You immediately run to cut him off and shoot him in both legs. He falls and grabs for his pistol, but you take careful aim and blow his hand off, he screams in pain when he sees his fingers all over the ground.

A kick to his face follows, and then a stomp, and another, and another. You don’t stop until his face looks like tenderized hamburger. He tries to act defiant by trying to give you the finger with his good hand, but you take it and break the motherfucker along with the rest of his hand.

“This is for Marina and the rest of the deaths you caused.” You say, before blasting his mushy bloody head into mushy bloody pieces.

Now its over.

You collapse by Harry’s body, spent and drained. Alex goes over to see if you’re alright, but Ophelia tells him to just make sure all the enemy are either dead or running. Ophelia takes you to a barrack and puts you on a bed and tells you to rest, which you do.

“I did it Marina…I got him…” you mumble while falling asleep.

The next few weeks consist of rebuilding. Rebuilding everything. Fort Justice. Base Pandora. All the damage Harry caused. Word gets out to the Combine occupied towns about their current situation, with no centralized authority figure anymore, the Combine dissipates as wasteland scum flee and return to the outlands where they belong. The townspeople of those places are very grateful for your help, and you’re now in charge of everything but you take no joy in any of it, or anything. You’re numb. You go through the motions, but you’re basically in a daze. All your thoughts are of Marina, you feel empty without her.

If it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t even be alive right now. You would’ve died in a big mushroom cloud death. You start blaming yourself for not being able to save her, you start thinking about suicide. Everyone gets a little worried about you. Vivica starts radioing in wondering about your condition, Alex (Who’s quite familiar with mental breakdowns) attempts to talk to you, but it’s Ophelia who turns you around, though not immediately, but it’s her actions that become the turning point.

Late one night, as you wallow in the emptiness, Ophelia visits you. You expect her to tell you not blame yourself for Marina’s death again, but she doesn’t. Instead she talks about the time when you saved her from the cultists and how grateful she was that day and how she would’ve almost done anything to repay you for saving her life.

“Mm…well you repaid it already. You saved mine back at Pandora.” You say wishing to be left alone.
“No, I’m saving it now.”

Ophelia begins to remove her clothing, something that takes you completely by surprise. You feel you shouldn’t, you know you shouldn’t, but maybe it’s feeling of loneliness, maybe it’s the feeling of confusion, or maybe its just plain hormones, and you give in to Ophelia’s advances. And for that one night, the emptiness within you disappears.

The next day Ophelia is gone leaving you a note saying she’s going back to Ashtown and tells you that you shouldn’t give up on life since you have so much more to change in this new world.

When you think about it, Marina saved you, so you could carry that goal out. She always did see the potential in you to do great things.

With this new perspective, you begin to return to normal, though there still was a little piece of you that died when Marina did. You’ll never completely be the same. Life goes on though.

Five more years pass…

It’s been ten years since the bombs dropped and civilization is starting to rebuild itself again…well somewhat.

Hard to believe you would’ve become any type of leader trying to rebuild civilization. Marina might not be around anymore, but obviously her influence on you still is and always will be as you follow her dream of rebuilding civilization again.

You’re still running things from Base Pandora, which is now the unofficial head of the Atomic Alliance. The towns formally under Combine occupation are included, but are now treated as equals rather than glorified labor camps, though getting everyone to agree completely on anything still remains a problem. Fort Justice is now under Vivica’s command and the Farmhouse, now known as Eden is a fully functional agricultural community. (It supplies food as well as biofuel for vehicles now) After that one night with Ophelia you don’t see her anymore, but last you heard she had a baby and got married to someone in Ashtown. Good for her.

Other than political disagreements, everything has been going fairly well; raiders are still a problem, but much less than in the past. For the most part people are pretty happy living in your territory.

One thing that’s been debated among you and some of other leaders, are the few GZS Shelters the Alliance has stumbled across over recent years. No effort has been made to open them, but they’re all sealed shut by their main computers. From what you know by reading some of the GZS documents found in Base Pandora (and Alex who definitely has some knowledge of GZS protocols) the Shelters weren’t supposed to open up until the central computer determined that sufficient amount of time had passed and the surface deemed safe. Apparently the computers still think the surface sucks. (And that assessment wouldn’t exactly be wrong)

Most of the other Alliance leaders say that some sort of contact should be made with them. You get the impression some of them might’ve done it anyway, it’s just you have most of the equipment that makes it a lot easier.
> You open them up
At one time you thought about actually buying one of those things, sometimes you even wonder how things would’ve been living underground completely oblivious to what’s going on the surface. Things might’ve been a lot easier…or maybe they wouldn’t. You’ll just have to wonder about the road not traveled.

You see no harm in making contact; they may even have useful resources to trade and might appreciate knowing that the surface is exactly the hell on Earth that they might think. Plus the rest of the Alliance leaders seem pleased that you’re agreeing with them. Maintaining good relations to keep everyone happy is always a sure way of keeping the Alliance stable. Even Ashtown makes mention of a Shelter nearby that they’ve been debating about whether to contact or not. You organize how to go about this, since you don’t want to make enemies unnecessarily.

It doesn’t take long to open up the Shelters and bypass the computer elevator systems with your help. First contact with most of the shelters is a very large surprise for its inhabitants, though a lot of them seem really grateful. Apparently GZS Shelters weren’t built very well, you hear reports of how inhabitants had to improvise and constantly repair various things. Alex tells you he isn’t surprised.

“The main reason why I outlived my cyborgs when I was…uh…indisposed… was due to having faulty GZS equipment. Granted they made a lot of good stuff, but they had a terrible habit of cutting corners. When I think about it, I really can’t believe I thought I was actually going to DO something with them, probably wouldn’t have even lasted in a real fight…still it would’ve been interesting…my God I can’t believe I used to think things like this…like…I dunno…”

Every now and then Alex talks like that. Probably wondering about his own road not traveled. It creeps people out though, however it doesn’t prevent him from being a good doctor. You almost get the impression he feels like by being a good doctor and patching folks up real well is sort of like his “penance”. One he feels necessary to do until the day he dies. This line of thinking becomes really noticeable within a few weeks of the Shelter openings.

The Shelter near Ashtown is in bad shape. From the reports you’ve heard some sort of weird “social experiment” was going on down there which resulted in some sort of catastrophe. There are many dead bodies and broken equipment. Many of the people are sick and infected with something, and they aren’t in very good shape to go anywhere. Looks like they’ve been slowly dying. In fact the Mayor of Ashtown, Carlos, is taking the hard line stance refusing to let the ones that went down there to come back up, for fear that they will infect his town. This isn’t a popular decision, so he’s hoping you can send some sort of medical team to help since Ashtown doesn’t have the experts you do. Carlos says that he’ll formally join the Atomic Alliance if you get him out of this jam. Alex insists on going to help.

“Please, let me go help. I’m the best doctor in the Alliance. I…I need to do this. I need to help these people…” Alex says almost in a begging fashion.
“…Well alright Alex, but you’re taking one of those biohazard suits! Who knows what the hell those people have, and I really can’t risk losing my best doctor.”

Alex thanks you profusely, and gathers a couple of his assistants and all the necessary equipment before leaving.

A couple weeks pass and you get a report from Carlos. He mentions that Alex has determined there is nothing contagious about whatever the Shelter people are infected with, and the Ashtown citizens are allowed to come back up and return. Alex is still working on the problem though and it might take awhile, he requests for more equipment, which you allow Ashtown formally joins the Alliance. You personally go there to welcome them in.

It’s strange that you’ve never actually been to Ashtown before, given a lot of your dealings with it. While you’re here on business you think about Ophelia, and that one night. A night that possibly saved you from committing suicide, given the downward spiral you were in at the time. There’s a few times you thought about going to see her to thank her…but then you think how she has a family now and it would just be too weird.

A month passes and you suddenly get a call from Alex on your radio.

“Alex? Where are you?”
“I’m in the Shelter. I managed to rig the computer to transmit a signal! Now I can talk to you directly! Great huh?”
“Uh yeah…what’s going on over there?”
“Oh, nothing much. This place is pretty fascinating; I’ve been trying to figure out what was going on down here. This one diary was really interesting”
“Alex what about the people?”
“It seems there was this guy called Elliot who had a lot of weird ideas, he was a doctor…” Alex says seemingly oblivious to your question.
“Yeah, I know the type. ALEX WHAT ABOUT THE FUCKIN’ PEOPLE?”
“Oh yeah…the people. They’re okay…I guess.”
“You guess? What the fuck Alex, don’t you know?”
“Well, uh y’know... this isn’t an exact science, and I’m still trying to figure some things out…I went to Ashtown recently for some more supplies, but I think I need some more higher qulity equipment from you, its getting kind of complicated down here…”
“What the fuck Alex? No, you’re not getting anything else! We’re not an endless supply of resources! Now you work with what you got and I better hear some progress soon!”
“…work with what I got…yeah…story of my life…” Alex says and disconnects.

Another week passes and this time you get a message from Carlos, he doesn’t sound well, but he does sound angry.

“…we ally with you and this is (Cough) what happens? We’re all sick and it’s (Cough!) all you and that doctor’s fault! He contaminated us! YOU contaminated us! The town is Uhhh…”

There’s an old saying, that a scorpion, no matter how well you take care of it or treat it, its nature will always be to sting you. And that’s just what happened.

Shit.
> You do not take chances, purge EVERYTHING
You’ve got to keep this quiet and you’ve got to keep whatever this is from spreading. You quietly call the most loyal and capable soldiers under your command to meet you immediately. You explain to them what needs to be done. Any still living Ashtown inhabitants must be killed, and the entire town burned to the ground. Alex must also be killed and the Shelter rendered inaccessible forever. You tell them to keep you informed at all times.

The strike team is sent in the middle of the night in Hazmat suits and tons of hardware. Everyone in Base Pandora wonders what’s going on, but due to the more military mindset here, people know not to ask too many questions.

Eventually you get a message from one of your soliders.

“Uh sir, it looks like most of the town is dead already, I don’t think it’s airborne, because it doesn’t look like the children were affected…”
“Are you sure about that? Just because they look sick doesn’t mean they aren’t. They could be carrying.”
“Sir?”
“…I said kill everything Sergeant…”
“But I think…”
“DON’T THINK! JUST DO IT!”

The Sergeant disconnects and you can only imagine what happened next, but you don’t really want to. A little while later you get another report. It’s the Sergeant again, he sounds very hollow.

“Sir…it’s uh over. Alex is dead…he didn’t even put up a fight…we’re putting the explosives in Shelter entrance as I speak…should implode and bury the Shelter from being accessible…”
“Very good. You’ve done a necessary thing Sergeant.”
“…no I haven’t…goodbye…”

You hear a gunshot on the other end followed by a bunch of other voices shouting and dead air. Your official report to the Atomic Alliance (Because it’s not like you can completely cover this up) is that a ruthless gang of raiders completely destroyed Ashtown as well as the Shelter and that you’re sending squads to go hunt them down.

This isn’t really a satisfactory answer, but given how far away Ashtown is from the rest of the Alliance towns nobody really questions it. At least not initially.

Over the past few months you’re noticeably distracted, and can’t concentrate on anything. You’re constantly thinking someone’s going to investigate, or one of those you sent on the mission is going to blab (Now you wish they all blew their brains out) your behavior starts becoming a bit erratic as you give out strange orders to cover up things you think are going to lead to your exposure. You constantly rationalize your orders as attempting to keep the Alliance from falling, since you’re convinced that everyone knew what Alex did, you’d be blamed for incompetence for allowing it to happen and without you running things you just know the Alliance wouldn’t survive.

However something like this couldn’t be covered up forever. Eventually someone gets suspicious of your behavior which leads to rumors, which then in turn leads to investigating. Eventually the truth comes out. The Alliance citizens are appalled, in fact if you hadn’t proceeded with your extreme plan and just come out with the truth about Alex’s actions in the beginning you might not have been hated quite so much.

You displayed poor judgment, by allowing Alex to go about his own devices. Strike one.

You ruthlessly had children killed to possibly contain a contagion. Strike two.

You attempted to cover all this up and lied about it. Strike three.

This type of behavior makes you look like deceitful murderous tyrant, something the Alliance towns had enough of under Harry during the Combine regime. People are calling for your blood, and your immediate resignation of Atomic Alliance leader, in fact you might be imprisoned…or worse. You’ve lost all support.

By the end, you’ve barricaded yourself in an underground room in Base Pandora with people telling you to give yourself up; of course you have no intention of doing that.

In your last moments as you point the pistol to your head, you think about Marina, and how it all would've been easier had you died with her and how you tried to rebuild civilization even after she was gone, but just failed without her around, however once again you rationalize.

“Yeah…they all united against me…I kept them united… then Vivica will certainly take power…the Alliance will live on…I didn’t fail…Marina…I didn’t fail…”

Your delusional thoughts come to an end with a door burst open, and a bullet to the brain.