Chapter 1
Several years have passed since the Ceph had invaded New York City. And now one man is on a mission to end their threat. Prophet, formerly known as Major Laurence Barnes, the wearer of the Nanosuit 2.0. He has made it his mission to stop the threat of the Ceph, and in order to do so, he searches for the most powerful of all, The Alpha Ceph.
The journey hasn't been without sacrifices. Three members of his squad have been dead for year, killed in his initial encounter with Ceph. During the invasion of New York, he was infected with the Manhattan Virus, which the Ceph created to destroy humanity. In order to save himself he gave his Nanosuit to a young dying marine named Alcatraz. In order for the suit to fuse with Alcatraz, Prophet killed himself. But his mind remained within the suit, and in time his memories were downloaded into Alcatraz, and Prophet was reborn.
Now permanently fused with his Nanosuit, Prophet continued to upgrade his suit with Ceph technology, becoming more machine then man with each one. Now he relentlessly pursues his quarry. But he's not doing it alone. He's last remaining squad member, Sergeant Michael Sykes, aka Psycho and fellow Nanosuit wearer, has helped him in his search.
Prophet claims that the Alpha Ceph showed him a vision, after he had tapped into aliens mind. A vision of a world burning. And the key to this world is a portal.
Prophet has sworn to stop the Alpha Ceph before this becomes a reality, and he has to find it before it grows too strong. But the Ceph seem to have disappeared from the world. Everyone believes that the threat is over, something Prophet refuses to believe. And he has now tracked the Alpha Ceph to one location. Siberia.
"This is it." Prophet said.
"Say again, boss?" asked Psycho.
"This is it," Prophet repeated. "This is where the Alpha Ceph will be."
"What makes you so sure?" Psycho asked.
"I can feel it." Prophet stated coldly.
"Terrific." Psycho said sarcastically. Psycho had begun to worry about Prophet's mental health the last several months. His drive to find the Alpha Ceph was all he seemed to care about.
They continued to trek through the forests of Siberia. Armed to the teeth with the most advanced weaponry. Prophet carried his Predator Bow, custom built to be the perfect hunting weapon. Along with a Typhoon, a weapon that fired 500 rounds per second. It was the pinnacle of weapons engineering. For back up, Prophet also carried two hammer handguns.
Psycho carried a Gauss Rifle with a scope. He also carried a SCAR assault rifle, with a scope and grenade launcher for attachments. And for backup, two AY69 machine pistols.
Add in a handful of explosives and these two were a couple of walking armories.
They then found what Prophet was looking for, a cave deep in the forest.
"In there, let's go." Prophet directed.
"Right behind you." Psycho replied.
They entered the cave, which widened out into a larger area. Dark as can be. Prophet turned on his nanovision while Psycho turned on his night vision.
"I don't see anything, Prophet." said Psycho. "Maybe it's another dead end." He suggested.
"No," insisted Prophet. "This is the place, I can feel it."
They continued deeper into the cave, weapons at the ready. All remained silent. Until a an electronic sounding grunt came from the darkness.
"Hide." Ordered Prophet, and with that they both ducked behind boulders and activated their suits cloak.
They both lied still, as two Ceph stalkers entered their vicinity. Eyes scanning, blades at the ready.
Prophet got his bow ready, while Psycho took out his knife. There were both ready to kill the stalkers if they were noticed.
After several tense moments, the stalkers left.
"Still think we're in the wrong place?" Prophet asked Psycho.
"Ok, so maybe you were right." Admitted Psycho.
"Huh," chuckled Prophet. "Maybe?"
"Shut up," Snapped Psycho. "Let's just get this over with."
They continued deeper into the cave, until they notice a blue light at the end of a tunnel. They edge ever closer to it. And there they discover, a portal. Guarded by a small army of Ceph. Everything from Grunts to Pingers, it's clear the Ceph want no one near the portal.
Prophet could feel the Alpha Ceph's presence, but couldn't pinpoint where it was for some reason.
"That's a lot of squid, boss." Said Psycho. "What's the plan?"
"That portal is the key to everything, I know it." He said. "We have to close it."
"Are you fucking crazy?!" Said Psycho.
"Maybe." Prophet replied. "But aren't you as well?" And with that Prophet cloaked and headed down towards the portal.
Psycho sighed to himself. "He's not wrong." He said as he followed suit.
Ever so slowly, the two of them sneaked their way through the Ceph blockade. Strategically stopping every once in awhile in order for their cloak to recharge. Their target, one of the portals power supplies. A large enough explosion and the whole thing shall destabilize.
Meter by meter they moved closer, but then all of a sudden a small EMP burst went off, temporarily knocking out their suits.
"Oh no." Said Psycho.
And the next thing they know, they were surrounded by Ceph.
With dozens of plasma weapons aimed at them, it seemed over.
"It looks like this is going to be a piss poor ending, boss." Said Psycho.
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Replied Porphet, who wasn't going to go down without a fight.
With lighting quick reflexes, Prophet drew his bow and fired a thermite arrow at the one of the portals power cells. A few seconds later, kaboom.
In an instant the portal destabilized. It began to suck in anything near it. All the Ceph were sucked in, and Psycho lost his footing and was nearly sucked in but Prophet grabbed him.
"Gotcha!"
Prophet held on to a nearby rock with all the strength he and his suit could muster.
But even with the suit, he was failing. The rock started to crack.
"Come on, come on." He said to himself, hoping the portal would close. But it was no use. The rock broke and Prophet lost his grip.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Both men screamed as they were sucked into the portal. Which then collapsed into itself a few seconds later.
All Prophet could see was black. And from that black emerged the Alpha Ceph, ready to strike.
At the next thing Prophet knew, he was punched awake by Psycho.
"Oi!" He yelled as he hit him across the face. "Wake up sleeping beauty."
Prophet's suit rebooted as he regained his composure.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Don't you remember? Asked Psycho. "We got sucked into a wormhole, no thanks to you."
Prophet looked around, scanning the surrounding area. They appeared to be be on a shore of shorts and it was night.
"Good news is, we stopped the aliens," Said Psycho. "And look," he gestured towards a pile of weapons. "We didn't lose all of our equipment."
"That is good." Said Prophet as he got up and picked up his bow.
"So what now?" Asked Psycho.
"We need to figure out where we are." Said Prophet as he continued to pick up his equipment. "We seem to have been teleported to a different part of the globe."
"Then let's get moving." Replied Psycho as he finished picking up whatever weapons they had left.
Having resupplied, the two made their way into the woods nearby. It wasn't long until they saw lights in the distance atop a cliff they where standing on.
"Civilization." Said Psycho. "We saved it."
Prophet observed the city more closely. "Something's not right." He said nervously.
"What do you mean?" Asked Psycho.
"This city, it doesn't look like any city I've seen," he explained. "It looks old, like 1930's or 50's old. But it looks like it has Asian influence."
"Do you think that portal sent us back in time?" Asked Psycho.
Prophet then looked out onto the bay near the city, and out there he saw a statue that looked like the Statue of Liberty. But this statue looked like a young monk holding a staff. He also noticed the city was covered with vines.
"No, worse. This isn't our Earth. I think... We've wound up in another reality." He concluded.
"Fuck me." Psycho said quietly. "What do we do?"
"We figure out want kind've environment we're in." He decided. "Let's recon the city, but in a low profile. We can't attract attention to ourselves."
"Got it boss." Psycho responded.
Then Prophet felt a twinge in his head. A familiar feeling.
"GAH!" He yelled in pain. He fell to his knee.
"Prophet!" Psycho ran up to him. "What's wrong?" He asked concerned.
Prophet got up, clearly shaken. "Their here," he said, a touch of fear in his voice.
"Who's here, Prophet?" Psycho asked him.
Prophet looked at him. "The Ceph..."