Major-General Robert Knight let out a soft groan of approval as his overworked body slipped into the luxuriously soft leather of his armored limousine. While GDI Military Command had been less hectic since the destruction of the Scrin Control Node in Ground Zero and Kane's subsequent disappearance, it was still a difficult day.

Kane…

Knight hated the man of course, Kane was an insane terrorist and war criminal, but it was because of him that he had met her.

Kirce…

She had been with him since North Carolina, but it had not been till after Cairo, that their first symptoms of love had broken through.

"Commander, you did it! Thank god, if that missile had been launched millions would be dead!" She had turned away from the vid-screen and was now looking in his eyes, her beautiful green eyes were happy yet tired and he said

"I couldn't have done it without you Lieutenant," He had replied. Kirce, for a moment had smiled and he smiled too, and kissed her on the lips. It had been a magical kiss and for a single second, all his worries faded away, Kane…Tiberium…Death…Once they had broken apart, she had fallen into his arms and they had simply stood their, reveling in the renewed safety of the people and their newfound love.

The journey was moving smoothly, and threw the darkened windows; he could see the APCs that made up his escort. Security had been stepped up after several major assassinations in GDI High Command; his former Superior Jack Granger was amongst them.

Dozens of bodies were lying on the street, the majority was GDI riflemen, so much blood… the burned out husks of Nod Raider Buggies and GDI Predator Tanks, darkened the sky with black smoke.

Granger's mangled body, surrounded by a Nod Shadow Team, he had killed four of them before succumbing to his wounds…Sandra Telfair's incinerated remains, the Black Hand had been there and Marcion was most likely watching with a smile on his face.

A horn blared and Knight jumped, startled by the sudden sound, he had been jumpy ever since the battle at Ground Zero. Boyle, Redmond Boyle, GDI's Former Director had offered him the Liquid Tiberium Bomb, Knight had refused and ordered a company of GDI military police to arrest Boyle. Boyle had been executed two weeks ago; his last words were not appropriate to be printed in the newspapers or told of over the radio waves.

He had cursed at his foolishness when the battle for Ground Zero had begun, the Rift Generator had fired and slaughtered hundreds of his most loyal troops and had done billions of credits of damage to his base. The Scrin had destroyed the 3rd and 4th Tank regiments and turned the Guards Regiment into slaves, with the psychic powers of their "prodigies". It was then when he felt the slightest temptation to use the bomb and destroy millions of lives and any hope of reclamation that GDI had for Italy.

It had been one of the few battles he had commanded from the front lines; he knew his men needed to see their leader, GDI's Golden Boy, Slayer of Kane, Humanity's last hope. He had nearly vomited when he had seen the remains of his troops, they were dirty, tired, and scared, but Knight and had taken immediate control. He had settled on a ridge and planned to pick off the prodigies despite numerous protests from his subordinates, Granger and Kirce herself.

He had been disgusted while crawling through the piles of dead bodies, and had nearly been discovered after a Nod patrol had driven through the massacre site, turning the dead bodies into a macabre imitation of a pancake. He had finished however and had set up his sniper rifle, and had it trained on the prodigies. A hard booted foot had tapped him lightly in the ribs.

He looked up and saw two young Nod militants, barely out of their teens. Their guns were ancient, perhaps from the 20th century, and poorly looked after. They didn't speak, but motioned for him to stand. He complied and stood, waiting for them to kill him. The two had exchanged glances and the one on the left, had begun to reload, the other had turned and left the scene.

They had underestimated him; Knight had taken dozens of courses on hand to hand combat and silent killing. He had grabbed the barrel of the gun and knocked out its owner with several punches.

The militant had been carrying a knife, long and sharp. Knight drew it from its cover and leaped onto the back of the retreating Kanite, Knight had stabbed the militant in the neck, and then his stomach. He retreated up the slope and returned to the sniper rifle.

He had won of course; Knight was good at winning, good at slaughtering misguided people, who were dead just because of where they were born. Ground Zero had been more difficult even than the assault on "Temple Prime".

At least Temple Prime had had a silver lining, after GDI's "victory" he and Kirce had made love to each other on the couch of the link room. A thin and weak smile broke onto his handsome features as he recalled the event.

Her lips had been so soft… her body, while it looked flat in her dull gray uniform was surprisingly round and attractive, their love-making had been long and passionate. It had happened after nearly every mission after that Hamburg…Stuttgart…Berne.

A high beeping noise sounded and Knight reached forward and touched the flashing button, a video screen detached itself from the car door and lit up. A woman appeared on the screen. She was Director Rios, the new leader of GDI, Knight knew very little about her or her abilities, but she couldn't be worse than Boyle.

"General Knight," She said, she sounded like she was speaking to the media, as if she were trying to impress him "Kane has surfaced," Knight sat up immediately.

"Where was he?" He asked coldly.

Rios blinked several times and said "General, he came to us, he has turned himself in. He has the Tacitus,"

"When's the execution?" Knight demanded

Rios met his eyes and replied softly "General, you misunderstand me; he has come to us and made a bargain,"

"What was the bargain, the Tacitus in return for a ridiculous amount of money or a house in a sunny place with no Tiberium? Or did he offer you several terms in office, the support of the yellow zones is a valuable card indeed," Knight was out of line but cutting a deal with a mass-murdering freak was insane. Director Rios frowned and her eyes turned cold.

"General Knight, due to your distinguished background and the unpayable debt the People of the World owe you, I will overlook that insubordination. Kane has offered us a way to channel Tiberium, to make it recede but not destroyed, so we can continue to use it as an alternate energy source,"

"Director Rios, General Jack Granger, my former superior and friend died believing that Tiberium must go for humanity to survive. We must not grow dependent on it or allow it to stay. I may be overstepping my opinion but almost everyone else in GDI believes that too, I believe that Tiberium must leave, if I had a different opinion I would have used the Liquid Tiberium Bomb like Boyle had ordered,"

She shook her head and said "You may have a point there but that is not my decision to make, and that's not why I called you. What do you think of Major Parker, he will be the commander of the unit guarding Kane,?"

Knight stayed silent for several seconds "Parker is an idiot, he will stay loyal to his commanding officer, no matter what orders he receives from anyone higher on the chain of command. If he was with Nod, he would be sponging Kane's back right now and chewing on Tiberium. Who is his commanding officer?"

Rios replied "Colonel Louise James, do you know her?"

Knight sighed and leaned forward, catching Rios' eyes "Rios, if you think that James and Parker will follow any orders pertaining to Kane, you are insane. Good Night" Knight turned off the video screen before she could protest and told the driver: "Lieutenant Kirce's apartment step on it,"

Knight leant back into the soft leather and felt in his pocket for the engagement ring, his fingers located it and he let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully, things would turn out as he hoped they would for once.