Member
Aleksander Slavik
Ascension Conflict
May 11lth, 2077
Outside Threshold-19 (AKA Kane’s Tower)
All TCN nodes successfully aligned. All Hubs online….. Tower energy levels at 7% and rising.
”Attention all units, an unidentified G.D.I. aircraft has entered the air space. I have no idea what, but do not let it take the TCN nodes from us. Do not let the infidels deny us our right to this tower. For Kane! For the Brotherhood!”
RRAAGH! I will burn them alive! Aleksander responded to the news. Infuriated by their repeated, and annoying, attempts to stop the Brotherhood from finally realizing its goal, Aleksander was pleased to see a few G.D.I infantry and a vehicle make landfall nearby. In a poor location as it would soon become apparent. Aleksander knew the rest of his battle group was fighting the G.D.I. bomber, but did not care. It’s not like he could burn it out of the sky, as much as he wanted to. The only thing to do at this point was to follow his orders as indicated on his HUD, which right now was to defend the southern TCN node from G.D.I. Intrusion. A few Zone Troopers and a Spartan Tank, not the ideal target but he isn’t theirs either. Capitalizing on them grouping together, Aleksander lobbed his last ‘Holy Water’ grenade. While on its own it does little damage, it spreads a particularly flammable substance which enhances the effect of his flames should they make contact. Moving quickly, he ran into range just as a Zone Trooper turned to see him and as the grenade found its mark. Following the plan he envisioned in his head, he set the Troopers on fire and turned to the Tank. Since the Troopers would be too busy dying from their armor and flesh melting, the Tank would have his undivided attention for the immediate future. As the turret turned to face him, Aleksander waited a brief moment before lunging aside from the cannon fire and retaliating with a brief burst of flames. Since the Tank had thicker armor, this took some time and Aleksander took a few hits but eventually emerged as the winner.
Aleksander turned back to the fighting elsewhere on the battlefield before seeing the G.D.I. bomber for the first time. It was a massive craft that must have took a lot of energy to maintain it's altitude, with all sorts of weapon platforms dotting its exterior. He only had a few seconds to be awestruck by the already faltering vessel (it was heavily damaged from the combat he missed) before a lucky strike from an Obelisk of Light hit one of the engines causing it to explode and plummet to the ground.
Tower energy levels at 100%. Activating……. 30 seconds. 29. 28. 27…. LEGION announced in Aleksander’s helmet. He turned to the colossal structure, so large that it could be seen for miles and miles. A violet tower made by the alien Scrin before they were driven off planet by a combined G.D.I./NOD force. It stretched far above the clouds that swirled around it, and he would bet that it would continue for miles above that. He noticed a hole forming in the clouds surrounding the tower and a violet light shining through it. …3. 2. 1. The light instantly disappeared, and for a moment everything was quiet. It was as if the tower sucked all the sound out of the world, before what Aleksander could only describe as ‘thunder striking the same place a hundred times in a second’ could be heard accompanied by a shockwave that swept him off his feet and slammed him against a wall hard. The tower was the last thing he saw before he lost consciousness.
Aleksander awoke some time later, just as his suit was rebooting.
INITIALIZING….CHECKING VITALS….ALIVE. CONNECTING TO LEGION…..CONNECTION FAILED. EVA FUNCTIONS OFFLINE. LOCATION UNDETERMINED. ORDERS: NONE. SUIT AT 74% INTEGRITY… INITIALIZNG REPAIRS...
” Fuck… where am I? Aleksander struggled a little to get up, still winded from the sheer force of being knocked into a wall. It took him a few seconds to realize that part of the trouble was because some….thing was grabbing his arm. He turned to see a figure with two human arms and a human torso/head, but that is where the similarities ended. It seemed to be half some kind of four legged animal. It took him to realize that the creature was half horse, a species that went extinct in 2065 due to the small amount of habitable land on Earth.
”Get off me unless you enjoy your flesh melting from your bones!” Aleksander yelled
The creature yipped at the outburst and stammered out a response. “I…I w..was just checking to see if you had a mark on your hand. I d-did’nt mean to cause offense.”
Aleksander eyed his hand, still covered in his armor, he felt an odd sensation of warmth emerging from the back of it. Removing part of his armor, he saw a familiar shape that shined a dim red the insignia of the Black Hand. He has no memory of ever getting a tattoo or branding, though he is relieved that whenever he must have drunkenly did so, it was the respectable symbol of the elite force.
So I have a tattoo on my hand. What’s that prove to you?
“It means you can enter that strange cave over there…”
” A fucking cave? Who cares? Last time I went a cave I had to kill some murderous robots that somehow remained operational after we shut the power down on CABAL, and while that was not necessarily a bad thing to do, I prefer it when it is flesh that melts rather than steel. “
“Well, the cave is the only thing around, seeing as walking anywhere else brings you back to the cave eventually. I was kinda hoping maybe you and the others could like find some food or something.”
” Fine. Guess there is nothing else to do, there better be something that I can vent my frustration on or I am going to come back and vent it out here on you and maybe a few others till I don’t feel quite so pissed off. Aleksander stated, igniting the pilot light on his flamethrower for emphasis before heading towards the cave.
It was only now that the absurdity of the situation dawned on him. Some sort of creature, not Human, Tiberium Mutant, or even Scrin, actually engaged in a conversation with him. Looking around he saw other strange creatures that appeared to also be sentient in their actions. He thought the Scrin were pretty foreign but at least he knows them. Everything here is completely alien to him, and he does not see any of his brothers with him. Despite being surrounded by sentience, he felt completely alone in this strange land, though that alone was not sufficient to deter him from his course. Perhaps some way back could be found in the cave, some way to ascend as he was denied some unknown amount of time ago.
Nevertheless, he walked in a way that showed conviction. As he neared the cave, he saw several individuals denied entrance from some unseen party or force. Thinking that the mark is apparently the key, he silently approached the crowd who seemingly sensed his mark and opened a path for him. He entered the cave with no resistance, as expected, and noticed several other individuals conversing further in though he could not yet make out individual features until his vision adjusted. He approached silently and waited silently for something to happen.
