The issue with the MLRS is made somewhat confusing because of what they did in Tiberian Sun. I was personally referring to the Hover MLRS, which seems to be more a mobile SAM as well as a SSM launcher. Generally, I've never heard of such a thing in real life. While it's possible to have a vehicle like that, there's the issue of tracking a fast moving fighter compared to ground vehicles. It's probably more expensive to produce a missile that can more or less guarantee a hit in air than one for ground targets. So while their portrayal in Tiberian Sun is probably not the most realistic or practical, I'm following it for the sake of canon. My fault for not making that clearer in the previous chapter.

Chapter 11: God Helps Those That Help Themselves

Wilhelm downed the homemade beer with the rest of his troops. Laughter surrounded him as the mutants celebrated their victory. The beer tasted like shit but no one was sober enough to care anymore. Wilhelm joined in dancing, showing off a more lighthearted side for the first time since his transformation. His first major operation had been a success and the other Forgotten leaders didn't appear to be ready to tan his hide for what casualties there were. The only people that were pissed was GDI, who were currently dealing with the fallout of letting such a massive Nod base remain so deep in their own territory. That wasn't Wilhelm's problem though. He wasn't part of GDI anymore.

The result of the battle hadn't been pretty. A crater sat at the site of the former Nod base, burying any tunnel system that might have been there. The explosive had been some kind of Tiberium-based bomb, so while not technically a nuke, was a close relative. Interrogation of the few prisoners hadn't revealed anything yet, though Wilhelm doubted the Nod troops would break. The Forgotten wasn't adverse to inflicting physical pain but that would have been pointless here. For now they were simply deprived of sleep, food, and water. If that didn't work, they would most likely be executed. The Forgotten were not signatories of the Geneva Convention and neither was Nod. His conscience remained quiet after seeing everything Nod was capable of and the painful lives of his fellow mutants.

The celebrations spanned the entire base. If Nod wanted to take revenge, right now would have been the best opportunity. However, the few troops unlucky enough to be on guard duty would hopefully provide enough of a warning. Wilhelm allowed himself to relax and slumped down onto one of the many coaches pulled outdoors. In a moment of clarity he thought about how much of his old self was gone. Like most other normal humans, he had had a prejudice against mutants. They were a different people, dirty, desperate, and sick. Now, he felt far more human than before his own infection. The emotions here were raw, genuine, and intense. These people, by fighting for survival, had united and discarded so many vices. Their existence was far more fulfilling than the one he had before. No matter what his old life could offer, there was nothing he'd trade his current life for.

When the next morning came, Wilhelm lay limp on his bed. The hangover pounded at his head and he did his best to fall unconscious again. His attempts were soon interrupted as Elijah walked in. The other mutant was also paying for last night's escapades but hid it well.

"Wilhelm, some GDI commander is asking to speak with the man responsible for the attack."

"Tell him to go to hell," Wilhelm replied.

"You have the makings of a fine diplomat," Elijah said dryly. "Get up and get over there. This is part of your job now."

When Wilhelm made no movement, Elijah walked over and began dragging him. After a few feet Wilhelm gave up.

"All right, all right. Bloody hell, if all this commander wants to do is yell at us for not 'informing' them of the base, I swear I will tell him to go to hell."

Elijah dropped his leg, letting Wilhelm stand. He stumbled along, getting used to walking once more. By the time Wilhelm was before the screen his head was clear enough to acknowledge the angry face staring at him.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he said nonchalantly.

"Yes," the GDI officer said. "As I explained to your subordinate, the GDI and the Forgotten are supposed to be allies. Thus we require an explanation as to why, if the Forgotten had located such a massive Nod base, you did not inform us."

"Because you would then demand to know how we found out and thus potentially compromise our source," Wilhelm replied. "That's ignoring the possibility of a leak on your end."

"Are you suggesting there's a traitor in GDI?"

"Why not? It's not like GDI hasn't had its own security problems."

It felt somewhat odd to be the one using such arguments, especially since Rachel had Elijah had used the same when he first joined. Still, it did feel nice to put down GDI's arrogance. He felt somewhat ashamed that he was like this before.

"And you people don't?"

Wilhelm leaned forward. "My people hate Nod. You people are comfortably sitting on your asses back in the blue zones and the nicer parts of the yellow zones. You haven't had to face our hardships and thus those of you who feel your society has wronged you can and will turn. We hate Nod because we blame them for our situation, while your traitors blame GDI."

The GDI officer glared at him but seemed powerless to actually do anything. This confirmed Wilhelm's suspicion that the man before him was nothing but a bureaucrat, not someone who could actually make any decisions.

"Look, if you people have a problem on how we operate, then take a close look at how you people operate. GDI allowed this to happen by letting such a large Nod base continue operating in your own goddamn territory. Keep that from happening again and this will be the last time you'll have to deal with us showing you up."

Before the GDI officer could respond Wilhelm terminated the link. He'd had enough of GDI's posturing. When the consequences arrived, he'd deal with them. Life was too short to constantly worry about what might happen. Wilhelm walked out of the radar facility and stretched. It was one of those rare days when the sun peeked out from the storm clouds above. The light was a refreshing change. He only hoped it would be there when he got home.

Mutant Encampment+

The cheering and waving surprised Wilhelm as his convoy entered the encampment. Not only were the usual guards there to greet them, but workers and even children crowded the trucks. Many of the younger mutants offered mock salutes and the soldiers were perfectly happy to return them. As Wilhelm finally stepped down, dozens of men and women came up to shake his hand. When he reached Gerald, the older man took his hand before embracing him. Wilhelm stiffened slightly but accepted the greeting. The look in Gerald's eyes were a mix of pride and worry. Wilhelm smiled and shook his head.

"There is no need to worry about me. I'm still young. I can still be a little reckless."

Gerald nodded. "That may be true. But for the sake of all us, try not to be too reckless. You have our feelings to consider after all."

"So I do. So I do."

The Frenchman let him go as he continued to make his way through the crowd. When all the others had had an opportunity to congratulate him, Wilhelm spotted the one person standing off to the side. Standing at the door of the clinic, Grace watched the proceedings intently. Her focus was spread equally amongst the returnees so she didn't notice Wilhelm as he approached. When she finally spotted him, Wilhelm almost thought she would run away. However, Grace remained still and waited for him to come before her.

"Doctor," Wilhelm greeted.

"Wilhelm."

"Congratulations."

Grace nodded, her way of accepting his words. However, nothing else came forth.

"So, may I ask who's the father?"

A small smile appeared on Grace's face. It wasn't a humorous or amused smile, it was just one of those women often had. All in all, Wilhelm concluded that it was a cute smile, even if he didn't know what it was for.

"There is no father," Grace finally said.

Wilhelm coughed. "What?"

"There is a father, yes, but not directly," Grace clarified. "Artificial insemination."

Wilhelm's jaw didn't drop open, though on retrospect it should have. He stared at Grace for several moments before coming to terms with her words.

"Why?"

"An experiment. To hopefully allow other mutants to also have children. You know how abysmal the survival rates for children are. Count yourself lucky you've never had to deliver a baby born to mutant parents."

"I see. So what exactly is different, if you don't mind me asking."

"The sperm and egg were prescreened to find ones whose genetic material hadn't been corrupted by the Tiberium. Those genes are far more robust compared to the others and stand a far greater chance of surviving in this environment."

As he thought it over, what Grace said made sense. Still, the entire thing felt rather off. Grace easily picked up on his uneasiness.

"You don't approve?"

Wilhelm sighed. "It's, different. I was raised in a rather devout Lutheran family, so the idea of creating children isn't something looked well upon. But I understand this. And in all honesty, I don't see anything artificial or wrong about it. Either way, you don't need me to approve of it."

"No I do not," Grace agreed. "But you're right. This is very different. And different can be good too."

"So it can. Still, congratulations."

This time the response was far warmer as Grace allowed him an honest smile. "Thank you."

With this final welcome, Wilhelm settled down for a long rest. This place was his home now. However, though he was more or less on vacation, there was still plenty of work to do. Trenches had to be dug for new pipes and various pieces of equipment needed tuneup. The activity was a nice change of pace compared to running and shooting.

"Interesting words you had for the GDI officer," Elijah said to him one day.

"Is that coming back to bite me in the ass?" Wilhelm responded.

"No, no," said Elijah. "We all just find it hilarious. All of us have wanted to tell GDI to go to hell from time to time, but that's the first time I've ever heard of anyone saying it so bluntly since the alliance was formed."

"Having a hangover helps."

"I bet. So, what's your next big project?"

"My what?"

"You know, the next trick you'll pull out of your hat."

"I don't have one. I don't think I've had one since I came here."

That earned Wilhelm a slap on the back. "You need to learn figures of speech. But seriously, what's going on in that little head of yours?"

"How can anything be going on if I have a small head?"

"At least you have a sense of humor now," Elijah said dryly, "though if you're not going to answer, then don't run around in circles."

"You think I have an answer?" Wilhelm said. "I've been trying not to think too hard."

"But you wouldn't want to disappoint your fans, do you? Everyone's waiting for your next miracle."

"I've been lucky so far. I wouldn't call anything I've done miracles."

"Now don't go around saying that, you have to keep up the image! After all, you've given people here hope and someone to look to."

Wilhelm rubbed his chin at the thought. "That's something, at least. Well, I have an idea I want to try. But that'll have to wait until I talk with the engineers."

The other mutant grunted as he continued to dig. Like the rest of the soldiers, he did manual labor here while on break. And like everyone else, Elijah didn't complain. He shared everyone's sentiment about getting shot at after all.

"So what are you going to do about that GDI supply convoy coming in today?" Elijah asked.

"I'll do my job. What, are you suggesting I hide?"

"Spare the thought. I was simply curious as to whether you had something up your sleeve."

Wilhelm grinned. "Is that why you asked if I had another miracle coming?"

Elijah snorted. "Of course not. One would hope your next miracle isn't for appeasing GDI's sensitive ego."

"Good point," Wilhelm conceded. "But no, I'll just do my job, meet them, and coordinate the unloading of supplies while Gerald is standing behind me making sure I don't screw up."

Elijah paused for a moment and looked at Wilhelm. The younger mutant continued to work but stopped as the stare began to unnerve him.

"Uh, something wrong?"

"Hardly. It's simply impressive how far you've gone since joining us. You've built quite the life for yourself."

"Yeah well, like I keep saying. I've been lucky."

The digging went on for a while longer before they completed this stretch. Wilhelm returned to his room and immediately settled down to more work. Profile updates for the project had increased since Rachel's death, forcing him to find others to help with the work. Still, the project overall was picking up, possibly helped by the attention around Rachel's death. Despite all the pain her demise had caused, it at least provided the seed for something else.

One of the new additions to the project were letters children wrote to those working on it. Many were addressed to Wilhelm, but others were for mutants who interviewed or worked with the children. Wilhelm did his best to read and respond, but there was so much to do. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. The work was never ending, but sitting still and doing nothing wasn't something he was good at either. A break finally came when the GDI convoy arrived.

Pulling on his jacket, Wilhelm walked out to meet it. Other soldiers followed and stood by as the trucks came to a halt.

"You intentionally trying to goad GDI?" one of the soldiers asked him.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

The mutant pointed to his jacket. Looking down, Wilhelm smiled. The green eagle was still there.

"Well, it's their fault if they get offended. After all, this is my jacket."

His fellow soldiers laughed before turning to the GDI officer. When they saw his combat dress, most of them froze. The man that stood before them had a star on his shoulder, marking him as a general.

"Private Feydrich, I presume?"

"That's right," Wilhelm replied, "though I'm not answerable to GDI anymore."

The general nodded thoughtfully. "That's been made quite apparent. Mind taking a walk with me?"

Wilhelm raised an eyebrow at the request but nodded. If GDI really wanted to start something here, being a general wouldn't protect him from his friends.

The two walked away from the rest of the commotion. The general remained silent until they were a good distance away from everyone else.

"The name's Jame's Langley. I'm the head of GDI's special warfares division."

"Covert ops?"

Langley shook his head. "The special forces and special warfares division are separate. Our area of operation is conducting conventional warfare through unconventional means."

"What?"

The general cracked a smile. "We don't do cloak and dagger. We blow things up like any other force, just with different tools."

"Ah. So?"

"The operation you conducted against that hidden Nod base would have fallen under our purvey. At least the way it was conducted would have been."

Wilhelm nodded. "Ah. So, are you here to browbeat me too?"

"That would be rather pointless," said Langley. "While most of the other high ranking officers would never admit it, the entire operation was very impressive. Thus I came here to meet you."

"For?"

"To recruit you, in a manner of speaking."

Wilhelm stopped. "What?"

"The alliance between GDI and the Forgotten is extremely tenuous. Neither side trusts each other, and for good reason. However, there have been exemplary examples of cooperation, all of them resulting in Nod being laid low. While your operation was a success, consider how much easier it would have been with air support or even an ion cannon strike."

"Easier, maybe. GDI has too many layers of command. An operation of that size is almost certain to be detected."

"True," Langley agreed, "if the operation was undertaking through the usual command channels. But that's where we come in. The special warfares division is designed to accomplish major strikes without an encumbered bureaucracy. We have stockpiles of ammunition, weapons, supplies, vehicles, everything needed to conduct a major operation. And because we have everything, there is no need to request force transfers through regular channels. We just move our own things instead."

Wilhelm was slightly speechless at the thought. He'd never heard of such an entity within GDI that had so much autonomy.

"And what makes you think I want to be recruited?"

"I don't expect you to sign up to GDI again or anything," said Langley. "However, the Forgotten have fighting qualities GDI does not possess. Your individual soldiers are on average far tougher than the infantry GDI trains. Your weapons are just as good as anything we have, maybe even better. And if the reports are correct, you people have managed to field a personal railgun. Your ingenuity is impressive, to say the least. Combine that with the force projection GDI is capable of, and Nod doesn't have anything that can stand against us."

"So you're saying GDI and the Forgotten should cooperate more."

Langley shook his head. "No. I'm saying the forces you command and whichever other mutant division you trust and the force I command should cooperate more. There's no point in involving the rest of GDI. They react too slowly to things anyways."

The proposal before him was the last thing Wilhelm expected the GDI general to say. In fact, against all preconceptions, Wilhelm found himself respecting and even liking this officer. The world was certainly becoming stranger.

"Your idea sounds fine in principle," said Wilhelm, "but do not assume such an agreement would allow you or anyone else in GDI to give orders to us."

"Perish the thought. I'd prefer any field commander for joint missions to be a mutant, at least initially. That way, my forces can learn the ropes and gain some experience in unorthodox methods. Though I'd prefer the second in command to be one of my troops, since they would know more about our equipment and tactics."

"I see. And I presume you have a target you want to test this mode of operation on?"

Langley smiled. "Contact with the Kodiak is currently down. They're in a region with heavy ion activity, resulting in field command falling to me. I on the other hand was involved in another operation, one not related to McNeil's campaign. My own operations weren't directed at Nod's major bases or leaders. Instead, I was working to dismantle their support networks."

"Which is something we try to do all the time."

A nod. "I think you can see why I think cooperation would make the missions much easier."

"I do." Wilhelm sighed. "All right, for now I'm willing to go along with this little scheme. After I get some more details, I'll decide whether to commit my troops to this."

"Fair enough. You'll have the basics before I leave. I'll expect a decision within three days."

That statement signaled the end of Wilhelm's vacation. The general's aide provided him with a disk that outlined the locations of the bases and brief descriptions. Wilhelm couldn't help but be impressed. The Forgotten traditionally had better field intelligence, yet he'd never seen any of this before. In fact, some of the locations were surprising. A few of the larger towns Wilhelm knew to have both mutants and humans living there. The neighborhoods were segregated, but Wilhelm was still surprised to see Nod had safehouses and caches in such places.

The other Forgotten captains of the settlement were soon gathered. Wilhelm laid out the proposal to them and put forth his approval. Issues were raised but no one offered serious objections. They trusted him enough to go along with this for now. With that taken care of, Wilhelm's troops began preparing for another mission. They were seen off by the civilians, all expecting the soldiers to return from another great victory. Wilhelm could only sigh, as he doubted anything spectacular would happen this time around. However, one particular civilian had another reason for seeing them off.

Wilhelm rod at the head of the convoy in a heavily modified humvee. While he loaded his things, Grace stepped forward and tapped him on the shoulder. Surprised at her presence, Wilhelm was a bit slow in responding.

"Uh, hi, uh, doctor. Did you need something?"

"Just something for you to think about," said Grace. "You remember that project I told you about?"

Wilhelm nodded, getting the hint. "You saying I should participate?"

"I am. All things considered, you're still one of the healthier people around. Who knows what you might have to offer?"

As he set down his bags, Wilhelm sighed. "I don't find anything wrong with the procedure. I honestly don't. But there is one thing I consider important, and that's being there for my children, if I ever have any. That is one tradition I firmly believe in."

"I see. It's an admirable one too. But don't forget about the project. If you do find someone, it can help you screen your sperm and her egg so that your child has a greater chance of survival."

The way Grace spoke almost made Wilhelm blush. The doctor was no prude and to have a woman talking about this to him was something new. Finally, he nodded again and Grace walked off, her task done. Two other mutants jumped into the humvee moments later and Wilhelm left the matter for another time. He had a mission to lead.

By tradition, his forces moved to the Forgotten's staging base before going to conduct formal operations. This time, the stopover served an additional purpose. While the rest of his troops checked up on equipment, Wilhelm walked over to the war factory. The engineers were waiting for him.

"Good day, all," Wilhelm greeted. "How's the work coming along?"

"Slowly," the lead engineer replied. "What you proposed is not exactly easy. After all, the Wolverine's structure was never designed to absorb the recoil."

"Neither was the human body," Wilhelm replied, "and I'm not dead yet."

The engineer nodded. "We've strengthened the frame in the arm and the joint. Circuits have also been added to increase power for the railgun, but the tests haven't been promising."

"What's the problem."

"It still takes too long for the capacitor to charge," another engineer said. "As with the personal railgun, this one can only shoot once about every five seconds."

"Which is why I only asked you guys to install the railgun on one arm," said Wilhelm. "The chaingun on the other should help offset that."

"There are other problems as well," said the lead. "Power, for one. To be honest, the Wolverine really wasn't designed for this kind of thing."

Wilhelm looked at the engineers. They were all talented and smart. Each had their area of expertise, whether it be electrical engineering to software engineering. If they believed the task was impossible, it was unlikely anyone else in the Forgotten could succeed. Taking in a deep breath, Wilhelm asked them.

"Can you do it or not?"

The lead grinned. "We can. However, we're going to have to design our own Wolverine with a different power supply and control system. The result being it'll take a lot longer to be able to create production models. The process for creating a Wolverine just won't do for this."

"All right," said Wilhelm. "How many retrofits do you have done anyways?"

"Twenty two."

"Enough for a mechanized company," said Wilhelm.

"Yes."

"Good enough. We won't be using them just yet, but I'd like to have them ready just in case."

"Of course."

With that taken care of, Wilhelm bid the team good luck and left. This latest side project might help the Forgotten down the line, but it wasn't yet ready. For now, he had to focus on the present.

The positioning was fairly simple. Wilhelm had made contact with the mutant leaders in the town and informed them that his troops would be moving through. The request wasn't unusual, nor was it common. How the Nod cell reacted would determine how they would eradicate it. The last stop before they reached the town was at a seemingly backwater GDI base. There wasn't much in the way of heavy equipment, only a single Titan and a few Wolverines. However, the underground told a far different story. Wilhelm was the only one permitted to enter but what he saw was unlike anything he'd ever seen.

"Over there we keep our other Wolverines. We have around twenty right now. As you can see, we rely a lot more on mechanized infantry than full armor."

"If there's urban fighting, armor won't do much good," said Wilhelm. "What about air support?"

"There's a small airbase around thirty kilometers from here. If we need any precision strikes, we call them up and illuminate the target."

"And how many troops will GDI be committing to this?"

"Thirty."

That wasn't a lot, but Wilhelm had only brought about eighty.

"All right, let's hear what your general has for us."

"This way."

They returned topside and Wilhelm called the other mutant commanders over. Inside one of the bunkers was a fairly small command center. A door off to the side hinted at a far larger facility underground, but the GDI officer simply gathered them around a table.

"The town itself is split between a mutant and human neighborhood," said the officer. "There's a good deal of tension so we're not surprised Nod managed to sneak a cell in. Which means this has to be handled a lot more delicately than simply going in and knocking down their doors."

"What's the general's plan?" Wilhelm asked.

"A full incursion is impossible, considering the urban setting. It would also anger the civilian population and risk more of them joining Nod. Especially if mutant forces were involved."

"The reasons are all good and fine," said Wilhelm. "What is the plan?"

"Disguise all of your troops as GDI, performing a police action."

The plan was conventional, was understandable, and was a complete surprise to the mutants. As a former GDI soldier, Wilhelm saw through the concept the quickest.

"None of my troops have formal GDI training," he said.

"Not a problem. We'll be embedding our own soldiers in the units. They'll handle interactions with the locals and other procedures."

Wilhelm grunted. "A good idea too. So what else do we know about this cell?"

"Small. Probably less than a dozen men and women, but incredibly well funded. They have two safehouses, one in the richer part of the human neighborhood, the other in the poorer part. Most of the weapon caches are hidden in the poorer part of town."

"How used to a GDI presence is the local population?"

"Small patrols assist the local police from time to time, but nothing major."

"So over a hundred GDI soldiers suddenly showing up isn't going to go unnoticed."

The officer nodded. "Nor will eighty mutant soldiers showing up. Are you going to bring all of your men with you?"

Wilhelm nodded. "I want to see how that Nod cell reacts. Do you know all the members?"

"Most. But we're fairly sure there's a sleeper agent too, in case something goes wrong."

"Would the Nod agents know what it is?"

The officer shook his head. "Unlikely."

"So we can't guarantee rooting out the entire cell. Unfortunate. By the time we get done with the next target, this sleeper agent might have reestablished the cell here."

"Depends on how fast we move," said the officer. "We can do all this in a week."

"Not fast enough," said Wilhelm. "Give us the names, locations, and some of your troops as guides. The local mutant leaders can probably find a way to tail them. Then we take them individually. We'll take the safehouses after we've gotten the ones we know about. All this can be done in two days."

"And the ones we don't know about?"

"A team can stay behind. The mutant leaders can rely any gossip that reaches them about people acting strangely. After that, the team can pick them up for questioning."

"The tactics you're proposing are very similar to secret polices tactics."

Wilhelm nodded. "Unfortunately, we don't have any other alternatives. If this wasn't an urban setting, we could take out the entire cell with a strike. But as you've said, a direct attack won't go over well with the human population."

"This might do the same thing," Elijah said. "If people suddenly go missing, especially if they're not mutants, the other humans might suddenly become suspicious. The move has to be public. It has to be shown that it's GDI taking action."

"Which is where the uniforms come in," said Wilhelm. "Teams of five soldiers each should be enough to subdue each target. Backup teams can be standing by if there's trouble. To the civilians, it'll look like a GDI police action."

"The local police aren't going to be happy we usurped their authority," said the GDI officer. "Especially since we're military."

Wilhelm sighed. "Do you have contacts within the police that can get warrants and the like?"

"Yes. But that's why it's going to take a week."

"Still too slow. Something might slip in a week, especially if we're working through the system. I thought the special warfares division worked around the system?"

"We stretch the system for our needs, but we don't actually break it."

"There has to be a way," said Wilhelm. "God knows what it is though."

Elijah snorted. "God might know, but that sure as hell doesn't help us."

Suddenly Wilhelm looked up. His face remained blank for several seconds but a grin was quick in coming.

"God does know, and he just told me."

End of Chapter 11

I'm stuck on names. Specifically, what the mutant encampment should be called. And since this thing has been running so long, I don't even remember if I gave it a name before. Any suggestions would be welcome, though they should make sense. The settlement is in France after all.

All of you know about the "shift" GDI undertook, simplifying their ground troops by the time Tiberium Wars comes around. Well, here's my take on how it all started. A certain general recognizing that the investments GDI have been pouring into their weapons systems have not been properly paying off and learning from those that don't have the luxury of spending billions to produce new weapons technology. While I'm not suggesting Langley is responsible for the demise of the walkers, he is pushing GDI to use robust and conventional weapons in unconventional ways instead of using exotic technologies that might break.

As for my other stories, this is the only one of sufficient depth to actually bother finishing. I've given up on working on multiple posted projects at once. That's just not bloody possible. Oh, and I of course welcome comments, questions, and other such things. They're what drives an author forward.

Z98