Prologue

2nd Lt. Nathan Frost walked slowly into the massive room that contained the facility's power cores, his carbine rifle at the ready. He scanned the room, but to his surprise, it was empty. Just to make sure, he flicked on his IR vision, but the room really was empty. Pulling out his Mine Launcher, he quickly fixated mines next to each power core to detonate them as their sheaths exposed their sensitive energies. Once in place, he hurried to the console in the back of the room. "Let's see here… Here we go!" he whispered triumphantly as he heard the cores open up wide. He quickly triggered the mines and he watched with a grin as the cores exploded and sputtered loudly before finally dying out.

Energy surged through the cables suddenly and all Frost could do was watch in awe. His friend, Specialist Pitney, radioed in such static, but came loud and clear. "Nathan, it's gonna create a massive EMP blast which will destroy your bio-mods. You hear me, Nathan? It might kill you." Nathan looked down at his arms, bio-engineered mods pumping with cybernetics and raw power running through them. He had been using these bio-mods for months against the Republic, and now they're going to be destroyed. He felt something tugging at his mind, but he couldn't figure out what. "Nathan, you there? Over." Pitney sputtered with concern. "Copy that. Stand by." he replied. He closed his eyes and reached for the controls on the back of his neck. He fiddled with them for a few seconds in panic, but managed to turn them off. Suddenly, he just about fell asleep. He felt "off" in his mind. It seemed nice and peaceful until a massive explosion jolted him back to reality and his human instincts finally kicked in. He looked up at the growing EMP blast building rapidly in front of him, turned and ran for his life.

"The whole place is gonna blow! Hurry!" Pitney yelled over the comms. Frost didn't waste any time doing that. He gunned a few Republic Elites and several weak soldiers as he ran past, but he knew he couldn't stop. Those mods were a part of him, and he wasn't going to let them be destroyed now. Not if he could help it.

He tried to use his Reflex Boost then shook his head; he forgot he turned his mods off. He felt fear, helplessness, and weakness.

Human. As he should be.

"Nate, you're almost out! Keep up the pace! Hurry!" he heard Pitney shout. He WAS hurrying as fast as he could. "…30 seconds to core breach." the computer spat in a robotic voice. '30 seconds?' he thought, 'Don't have much time…' Nathan made it to the first room of the facility and proceeded to kill its inhabitants that failed in a final act of defiance to kill him. With that, and a deadly EMP blast following close behind, he sprinted out the door and out of the facility.

It wasn't before long that he could see the rifle fire of his fellow Coalition soldiers and sighed with relief. "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" he shouted as he ran. A few Republic helicopters began to escape, but that was the least of their worries. After a short run out of the facility courtyard, Frost stopped to turn and look at the building behind him. It was on fire, things were falling apart everywhere. Then, the building started to glow a bright white and blue and exploded brightly with a massive EMP blast that enveloped everything within 5 miles. When the light had dissipated, helicopters crashed to the ground with loud smashing and screaming which died quickly. Nathan looked down at his mods, saddened as they sparked weakly and he felt pain running through his nerves. He looked up at his success: the final battle had been won. The Coalition soldiers around him, including Pitney, cheered in victory. They turned, and began walking.

"That last electromagnetic blast took out all electronics within a five mile radius. None of the choppers or APCs are working." Pitney reported.

"Who needs 'em anyway…" Frost muttered depressively.

"Hey. Nice work man." Pitney said and smiled.

Frost turned and smiled back. "Thanks." They shook hands and they kept on walking.

"You know we're, uh, fifty miles from the nearest Coalition base." Pitney peered to look at Frost for a response.

"So, we walk."

Little did they know that there was more than just the Republic out there…and that was only the beginning of their troubles…