The year was 2024

I walk through the old and grayed town square that was once the remains of small town souring through the buildings that were left in embers still fresh from the passage of time. It was only recently when the attack occurred that wiped out most of the earth. It had taken place just a few years before, but the shock of the missile strikes had left the memory as fresh as the day it happened.

The military was on all-out war with china that has spread through the world and pulling all nations into the throws of combat. The reason it started it all was the discovery of an ancient power source found in the marina trench in the pacific. An alien power source of that harnessed the powers of dark matter and nuclear energy into an amplified state. The United States was the first to discover it in 2015 experimental seismic mining technique had discovered the remains of an ancient machine. Three years later and the United States became the ultimate super power rivaling any force with advanced weapons and armor and energy. It was soon after that other countries have attempted to make similar advances. It was only a matter of time before with the combination of advanced tech and an ever expanding population that one side would begin to think they could take over and keep the power to themselves.

I cursed myself for allowing this to happen it was creation, the subatomic aniahlater equal to power in the atom bomb with such destructive force to rival that of a nuclear warhead. It had similar effects to a nuclear missile save for the fallout which has oddly enough faded due its power. "self-contained subatomic destruction to maximize damage but limit on impact", I thought the idea to prevent it from making an area inhabitable was a good thought, at the very least what was left of mankind( if you could call it that) could rebuild from past destruction. I continued to walk through what was left of the abandoned town, now a smoldering ruin of its former self. I walked into the charred ruins of the nearby building. A rustic home with what looked like a bluish exterior from what wasn't burned or covered in soot. I decided to make a safe haven for the night (god knows I needed it knowing my insomnia. You never get used to having to constantly be on guard unless you're like being a night owl). I checked my supplies for anything I might be running low or already out of. Aside from my ever present katana which I never left without it I also had.

3 days of rations (comprising of military ration packs some, bottled water, and a protein bar)

A 32. Caliber revolver with six shots (been hoping to get it modified at the next town)

A spaz 12 shotgun with the image of a dragon on one side of the guns stock and an angel on the other

A random grenade(hard to sleep when you realize the damn pin looks like it could fall off if so much as touched)

Some stim packs (five in total)

2 revival kits (an invention designed to stop death when injected. Basically a specially designed form of Nano bot)

Flashlight with fresh batteries (I should really look for one of those neat little vault boys wrist gauntlets I heard so much about)

Some painkillers

Ammo (14 32. Cal. Rounds for the magnum and 18 shells for the shotgun along with a few custom rounds like hollow points)

Along with some old junk I found (namely scrap and pieces of an old bike)

Finally 3 flares and a pair of night vision goggles and binoculars.

I looked around the house for anything useful and pulled some scrap put of an old toaster along with finishing an old combat knife that a good solid chunk of it gone save for part of its edge and the serrated teeth found an old ammo box that held some ammo containing 6 32. Rounds and 4 clips that I think might belong to a sub machine gun( I didn't have one with at the time but wanted to hang on to it just in case) after looking through the rest of the building I was content with finding the ammo and some scrap metal to sell. I proceed to set up an early warning system. I set a trip wire in front of the door way with a grenade(if it doesn't blow then I don't know when) and placed a few nearby cans in smalls stacks, the noise being enough to wake me up and have gun trained on the person who walks through. I looked at my watch it was 10 pm I decided to get some sleep and head out in the morning.

The following night I thought I heard the small 'twang' of the tripwire being pulled; I hid behind what was left of an overturned table to wait and hear the sound of the grenade going off. Unfortunately the blasted thing didn't go off "figures it wouldn't go off" I whispered to myself, shortly after I heard the clatter of the cans stumbling about, it was enough to wake a drunkard from his stupor. It was all I needed to locate my attacker. I pulled out my magnum not wanting to waste a slug from the spaz until it was necessary as soon as I had the shadow of his head in my sights I pulled the trigger. Crimson spray and bits of brain matter splattered all over wall and the bandit dropped dead on the spot. I sighed in relief I hadn't missed after the last time I nearly got my head shot off by a scavenger who tried to attack me. I quickly rummaged through his gear for anything I could use. I found a few bolts to a crossbow and the crossbow itself (lt looked custom made but was in fairly good condition despite being no longer than my half the length of my forearm) along with a stimpack and proceeded to go outside after I looked at the grenade trap I placed and saw that fucking thing didn't even loose the pin "well might as well take it with me and get a few credits or caps.

Shortly afterwards I saw two other bandits outside in the neighborhood. One was tall and had the common scavenger grade armor while the other had what looked like old combat gear (albeit there was gaping hole in the side of it which would have been like a bull's-eye to a sniper. I put on the night vision goggles and slowly crept towards the bandit in combat armor and quickly grabbed him by the throat and plunged the broken combat knife into his side where the hole was. I kept his mouth shut as I plunged the blade into his ribcage and slit his neck with the serrated teeth. I opted out to ignore the other bandit and grabbed some of his friend's ammo and quickly left the ruins of the town. I checked my watch again. It was 2 AM "good thing I'm an insomniac on the most part and I'm headed to town" I said to myself. I was mentally kicking myself at how I'd probably have to keep going till morning with only four hours of sleep that night. At least I got a few more hours of sleep before I got there.

Getting to the town of gear heart:

It was 8AM when I finally arrived at a trading post a paid the owner some scarp for a quick nap and rested for two hours I woke up and decided to pay for a meal and transport to gear heart. I listened to the radio as I ate some flambéed fox (or rather charred dog meat of some variety) and was suddenly met with a crucifiers broadcast.

"and so so with the fires of the phoenix we shall all rise from the ashes of the dead world bringing our faith as a shining beacon of hope to all those whose have struck by misfortune. Praise to the lord who bathes us in our holy light and guides our path. And may the guns of our guards as the swords of the nights of old strike down nonbeliever's and blasphemers with a rain of holy fire."

The barkeep switched the broadcast to another station. "thanks" I said " I was getting tired of that religious bull crap" he gave me a nod in agreement "yeah the crucifer broadcast are just a bunch of bullshit religious nutjobs who want everyone 'be in gods good faith' and all that other shit. "well I must admit they do help ease the stress of life in the wasteland for those who still believe in god…of course they'd no sooner shoot you for not accepting their faith as soon as look at you. Plus they have zero tolerance for ghoul, androids, cyborgs, or mutants." I replied "yeah there real motto should be 'if you aren't completely human your as good as dead to us' fucking basterds" he said. I gave a small nod as I sipped on some coffee and check my map looking for where the best path to gear heart would be. I decided to wait and pay for a transport to take me there. As I was waiting I noticed some others waiting as well.

One was a tall man wrapped in tan sand colored cloth carrying a gleave on his side and wearing small brown shades and light pale pants and green vest. He was a nomad (I wasn't sure of what clan he was from but it looked like he was with the sand striders.

Another was a woman dressed completely In a dusty black biker gear with a two shotguns on her back and akimbo style 9 mm glocks on her sides most likely either a bandit who was more or less well off or lucky to find those items or was a talon mercenary she had the classic bandit style Mohawk which might have suggested her to be the former.

Another was a tall lanky man dressed in head to toe with black with most of his features obscured with his outfit save for his solid black round spectacles and a mass driver sniper rifle on his back. Along with what might look like a mini gun barrel poking out of coat. I decided to keep an eye on him during my trip to town (along with my revolver on standby in case he turns out to be an assassin and his target happens to be on the transport)

There was another woman who I immediately recognized as Nicole "heartbox" Browne who was gear hearts local mechanic and trader (I was hoping of finding her so as to get some modifications on my handgun) she had brown hair with a thin but strong body and had an artificial arm designed for engineers she reminded me a lot of her mother Moira Browne.

Lastly there was me Conners "cosmodian" Nightman. I wore a blackish-blue business suit with custom modifications (such as it being made to be as tough as Kevlar) black gloves and combat boots with an unbuttoned black overcoat. I also had my katana at my side should I run out of ammo for my revolver and/or shotgun. I had a lot to contend with being I was often times the in the crucifiers hit list of the week. Good thing the people who go after me are as about as crazy as I am to id actually have some difficulty. More often than not it's because of the bounty on my head (eight million credits to one who kills me and brings in my sword as proof) that scares off people. Someone who has a bounty that high would have to be dangerous.

The transport finally arrived to take us to the city. I was talking with Nicole over how the modifications to my gun would be like along with a few other modifications id like to have on my gear (such as thermal vision for my night vision goggles). I began to read from an old book while I waited to get the city. It was a fairly large transport, most likely from a capitol, I could tell from the tank like exterior and the "more or less exquisite" interior. I kept eyeing the man in black, I recognized him as the guy who tried to blow my head off back in snipers paradise (an old city that is a camping ground for ambushes) I noticed his glasses had a small crack on the right lens, most likely when I knocked him out. I ignored him since fighting in the transport was illegal unless you were willing to go through a storm of bullets flying at from every direction. He paid no attention to me either and continued to read my book as I waited. It was only a fifteen minute trip to get there by transport (by foot it would have taken 2 hours).

Inside the city of Gear heart:

I made my way out of the transport station with Nicole making our way to the cities tech district. It was a rather interesting area resembling the in some ways to the orders stronghold with Chinese-American influences I noticed an old vendor selling miscellaneous items and figured I'd look around afterwards. I walked into Nicole's shop the "the warehouse punk shop" bit of a bizarre name, but then again Nicole was Moiras daughter and she was a bit of an odd one(last time I did her a favor I almost got blown t kingdom come with a mini nuke). I asked her If I could get modify my handgun to use pulse rounds. I was planning on doing some hunting for a crystalloid whose hide is tougher than steel. Along with an upgrade to my night vision goggles to allow for thermal as well. She told it be ready in a few hours and I decided to wander about the city while I wait.

I made my way to the misc. items vendor an sold some scrap metal for a few credits along with a magazine for a XK10 mass driver sniper rifle (a single clip was worth a small fortune. Being as much as 40k credits for one magazine). It was nice to have some spending money after I paid Nicole for the modifications. I bought some revolver ammo and a two pulse round designed for revolvers and some pop-rockets for my spaz 12(the damn things can blow up in your hand if you're careful) I remembered the grenade in my pack and decide to get rid of it (it was most likely a dud at this point). I walked over to the shady part of the town in the slum district and found a smuggler. "so anything new in the black market" I asked. The smuggler replied with a smug grin and said "it just so happens that found a power core to an DX11 v.2 incinerator cannon." this immediately peaked my interest since the incinerator cannons were the rarest along with the most powerful weapons in the wasteland. I decided to buy it for two hundred thousand credits when I suddenly saw the sorry shape that it was in. it was almost completely wrecked, but fortunately it still worked. I sold him same of the rifle clips I found along with the grenade for a few credits. The guy was definitely a cheat. I walked off to bring it over to Nicole who'd have a fun time fixing it. Before I turned the corner I heard a loud bang from behind me, I quickly look behind me when I saw the smugglers body strewn about in a bloody spray. "NOW it decided to go off" I thought as I saw other people gather around what was left of the body, everyone was trying to collect what wasn't blown up that he had. I picked up some credits that weren't damaged and managed to get back some of it that I lost and headed back to Nicoles shop. "At least the damn thing didn't go off when I had it with me" I thought to myself as I let out a sigh.

I was nearing the warehouse punk shop when I noticed a crucifier patrol team and I cursed under my breath. "Fuck of all the times they show up. I hope they didn't harass her." I couldn't walk into the shop with my normal outfit, it was too dangerous and I didn't want a firefight on my hands. I picked a disguise from my visual image modifier (VIM kit) and went looking like one of Nicole's traders brining in a new shipment and walked past the patrol.

Inside I removed my disguise and delivered the core. "Ooooooh what do we have here" she said giddily when I opened the case that it was in. "A DX11 v.2 incinerator cannon power core" I said happily it was in rough shape, but with her skill it could easily be repaired in a few days. She walked off into the room nearby a handed me my night vision goggles and revolver. I picked them up thankfully and tested them. The thermal was excellent and tested one of the rounds on a target in the nearby shooting range, blowing it apart on contact. I had an evil grin on my face upon seeing the effectiveness of the pulse shot.

I decided to head towards the local bounty station for anything willing to go after. Inside were several contracts along with the weekly hit list.

Target #1: A tall man dressed in black with no identifying features save for and XK11 mass driver sniper rifle on his back and a triangular hat. Highly armed and extremely dangerous. Last seen near sniper paradise.

Target #2: a nomad from the sand striders who have attacked trade caravans for week near the city of stonewall seen In the normal clothing of the nomads (rapped In tan colored bandages with and colored camo) last known location unknown.

Target #3: a crystalloid that has been seen near the gear heart industrial district, repair depots, and power plant still at large. Responsible for forty-three deaths in the steelworks and repair stations. High- risk high-reward for anyone who can kill/capture the crystalloid and bring a piece of its hide as evidence. WARNING: HAZRD GEAR REQUIRED BUE TO RADIATION FROM TIBERIUM CRYSTALS.

I decided to go after the crystalloid seeing it as an immediate threat to the city itself as well to help keep the tiberium from spreading. The crystals were an excellent energy source but extremely difficult to contain, and crystalloid were living tiberium crystals that spread them to whatever they made contact with. I borrowed some hazmat gear and made my way towards the power plant where I most likely thought it would be at.