It appears that I have accidentally fell asleep after eating the whole apple pie last night. Add in the fact that I didn't managed to change clothes nor even clean myself with a shower pretty much ruined my entire morning the moment I woke up. Do not like the feeling of grime all over my body, ugh. I'd rather fight the Scrins with a shovel than to miss out on the showers. How do people even manage this? Shaking my head, I then sat up from my bed. The bed, that was littered with crumbs from last might's meal. Damn. Looking over to my side, I could see my cat peacefully sleeping on what remained of the Pie's Tray with some crumbs stuck on his mouth and whiskers. Looks like we shared the food, neat.

Reaching over, I gave his head a light scratch, which elicited a purr from him. Heh, what a baby. Giving him a one last scratch, I then decided now would be an ideal time to finish the Refinery and get the Barracks queued up. Well, right after a quick visit to the shower.

"Eva?" I called out as I made my way out the bathroom, feeling fresher than earlier now that I got cleaned up and have gotten a wardrobe change.

"Yes, Commander?" I heard her speak from, somewhere. Did the Conyard have well hidden speakers? Meh, thoughts for later. Got me a Refinery to build.

"Is the first module for the Refinery ready?"

"Affirmative, Commander. First Module is complete." Alright then, time to continue this.

I slowly made my way towards the Forklift and was about to hop in, when I remembered about the town from the night before. "Eva, is there anything that happened regarding the town that we found last night?" Really hope that the Tiberium spread didn't reached them. I don't think I could help them if they got Tiberium poisoning, with only a single power plant, a refinery that is currently under construction, a pending barracks, and a single construction yard. Wait, should I call them infected instead? Hmm... For some reason, I think I'm forgetting somethin-

Shit!

I forgot that Arknights, and Terra as a whole, has a Dollar Store version of Tiberium with Ion Storms that rain down rocks called Catastrophe! FUCK! Okay, okay. Calm down, just g-gotta calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Whew! Alright, I'm calm. Calm.

Calm.

...Zen...

"Commander?" Oops, forgot that was talking with EVA. "I-It's nothing, Eva. Just worried about the safety of the town from the Tiberium with us." Am I glad that Eva's an A.I. I don't think I could talk to anyone else if I broke down like that.

"The scans conducted by the Drone shows that the town is approximately 27km north of our current position. Additionally, it appears that the Tiberium from the Crater has temporarily stopped spreading. It is unclear on what could make Tiberium do this nor do I know for how long." Well, at least ROB upheld his end of the bargain. "I am also picking up strange energy readings coming from these black, semi-transparent crystalline minerals." She added, as a screen appeared before me that showed the aforementioned crystal. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that I was looking at some weird rocks. Only that these weird rocks is Terra's own version of Tiberium.

Originium.

Creative name, I know. But like Tiberium is any better, I would've much preferred calling it Ichor; like how the Brotherhood of Nod used to call it. Better have Eva up to speed about this, last thing I want to happen is us getting caught with our pants down. "...That's Originium, Eva."

"Originium, sir?" Hoo boy, I better grab a seat for this.

It took some time, but I now have Eva informed about the mechanization of Terra as a whole. From their tech, mobile cities, different factions and nation-states. All the way to Originium and Catastrophe. Well, from what I can still remember anyway. And I'm pretty sure most of my explanations were half-assed and in some kind of a weird nutshell. But Eva surprisingly managed to get a grasp of each subject easily, heck she even managed to make files out of the very important things I talked about. Like Babel's and Rhodes Island's interconnection, for instance. Thankfully she didn't questioned me on where I got all those information, last thing I want is another hour explaining my story to her. I still got a Refinery to built and a Barracks next, thank you very much.

I also had Eva experiment with Originium, write down the results and have it saved in the InOps Files. Though since we're lacking in the manpower department, she could only do so much. And thus, it had to be shelved for now until we get more people in our ranks.

Back regarding to the Refinery, it was finally almost complete. Carrying over the last module towards the pile, I got ready to book it as soon as I set it down. Now that I know what to expect, I'll have enough time to properly back away before I get covered by dirt again.

And now, with a single push of a button, I'll have the Refinery built.

*Beep*

I then higtailed outta there as fast as I possibly can. And not a moment too soon, the whole thing then started to unpack. Now that I was giving it a good look, the whole unpacking thing was really amazing to watch. Especially now that I wasn't running away from being crushed. Did I forgot to mention that the ground also shook? Yeah, the ground shook as I witnessed the pile of modules unfold and a building uprooted itself before me. I took a minute before it's transformation gave it its aesthetic look.

As the smoke and dust settled, in its place stood the GDI Tiberium Refinery and the GDI Harvester nestled inside it.

I feel, kinda feel giddy watching it from here. "Must... Resist... Urge..." I literally had to grit my teeth to prevent myself squealing from my inner fanboy.

Wide utilitarian and angular box-profile, two giant pincers-mounted plasma cutters used to harvest Tiberium, top mounted machine gun, impractical and exposed glassed cockpit. Yep, do not like the cockpit. But other than that, I enjo- no, love, the entire thing. This is every CC player's dream, to see a working vehicle from the franchise. I can only imagine my reaction when I see a Juggernaut or a Mammoth.

When the Refinery was finally built, there was this weird sense of vertigo as my senses seemed to extend towards the Refinery and Harvester. Like, I can now weirdly tell on how far both the Refinery and Harvester is from everything else. Not to mention I can now easily tell strong both the Refinery's and Harvester's integrity is. Huh, that's probably Neural Link working as it intended I suppose. Better do some more testing about this later on. At least now I won't be needing to check on my stuff every single time.

I approached the Harvester as it drove out of the Refinery, I can easily that the Driver was about to leave towards the Tiberium Fields and do his work as I (somehow) mentally ordered him to stop. Stopping just a meter away from the giant vehicle, I shouted for the driver. "Excuse me! Can you come down here?"

Wait, why was I shouting? I'm pretty sure I can just mentally tell him to get down. ...Actually, never mind. That's gotta be a bit too rude.

"Ah! Commander, you here to observe my work?" Huh, his voice seems a bit different from the one depicted in-game. Probably because they're real people, Dwane.

"Actually, I gotta check something first before we begin."

"Oh, of course Commander. Sorry about that, got a bit too eager to work." The driver exited the his glass cockpit and climbed down the ladder bolted to the side.

"It's okay, I'm just here to ask you some questions is all." I reassured the driver as he steadily went down the ladder.

"Aye." He said as he finally reached the bottom and turned to face me. "I hear ya, sir." Tall and sticks like a sore thumb, that's my impression to the man in front of me. The dark yellow BDU and white armor plates screams 'Shoot me' tactical wise in contrast to GDI HighCom officers, InOps specialists and agents who wore formal uniforms in blue and silver. Similar to the contrast between white Imperial Stormtroopers and grey Imperial Officers.

Other than that, well... He's muscular? Good looking despite operating a Harvester? I don't know what else to describe him...

"Lance Corporal James Ramirez, Assistant engineer of Tiberium Control, Logistics and Reclamation Groups, reporting sir." He recited as he gave me an accompanied salute. Wow, that's a mouthful. Also, RAMIREZ! Hehehe... Letting out a mental chuckle, I fixed myself up.

"...At ease, Lance Corporal. Now, what exactly do you do?"

I see him pausing as he got this thoughtful look on his face before facing me and answering. "I'm part of the Refining and Reclamation division, operating a standard variant of the TH-Liberator MkIII sir. Served me well so far and I don't mind the Machine Gun, but to be honest I personally prefer the Heavy variant. Might as well bring in some friends along, kinda gets boring in the field during harvesting operations." Putang ina... That was one hell of an answer. Jesus, now I know why Ramirez didn't speak during MW2.

"I-I, see..." I am really lost for words. "And how long have you been in the GDI?"

The lance corporal started contemplating and was counting fingers before settling with three fingers. ...Holy shit. Three years in a glorified cargo haul, the man has some balls and my respect. So they retain all of their experiences, and memories. How do they feel about me snatching them from their world and their families? Are they inclined to follow my lead willfully? Or is this just slavery with some extra steps?

"Three minutes."

How can they- Huh?

"Hmm?"

"..."

"I'm sorry, but how long have you been serving again?"

"It's been a long three minutes and fifteen seconds, sir. Normally Nod Scorpion Tanks would have already been harassing the base and hunting for me. Kinda surprised I'm still alive for almost four minutes."

That was both oddly enlightening and mind boggling. After a few more questions, I ordered the corporal back to his Harvester and had him continue on with his designated work.

So the units are apparently sentient, and not some blank summons that repeats their pre-coded quotes. They got personality and is not trapped to always say the same quotes. They got names, and psych profiles.

Don't know how to feel about this. Jesus, ROB you're really making me a contradicting mess. Well, better get started on the Barracks next. Hmm, I wonder how much funds do I have left? Wait, do I even use funds? What do I even use the funds for? "Eva, do I- we even use funds?"

"Due to the nature of our current predicament, we allocated the extra refined Tiberium that is normally sold and sent towards Blue Zones, for our manufacturing use." Oh right... Refined Tiberium is used as a manufacture war material and a power source. Not to mention that most of the GDI's (and subsequently, also now mine) infrastructures heavily depends on the power generated using Tiberium, despite having a goal to eradicate all of Tiberium. Ironic, like what Palpatine from Star Wars once said.

"Well, the more you know." I muttered under my breath which I'm pretty sure Eva heard loud and clear, but decided not to comment about it. Good. "Eva, begin building the barracks." I ordered as I went towards the forklift to begin working.

"Building."

Letting out a sigh as I entered the Forklift, I then gently pressed the power button. Moments later the engine came roaring to life. Letting it sit for a moment, I then drove out the Conyard while whistling a random song. This gonna be a looooong day.

Up north of the building GDI base, lay the small, quaint town of Belory. A town that gets its livelihood from farming and trading with travellers and merchants that pass by. 'The town itself may have seen better days, but that's alright.' Thought most of the townspeople, living a quiet life out here that Catastrophes seemingly hit less than others. Though it's no special, as other better places are hit less or not at all. One of which, it being Seista.

Small and quaint, indeed. With incidents and fights rarely occurring, the people living there has no trouble living their lives without worry. But not all of the populace enjoy the peace and quiet. Near the center of town, placed right at a corner of a street leading towards the Town hall, lies a house. That's it, just a house. Nothing more grander than that. Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes.

"But I'm telling you, it's true!" A yell came from inside the home. A man, somewhere around his late-twenties seems to be arguing to his friend. "I know what I saw, a Green flash right over down south!" He pressed on, with him pointing a finger out a nearby window. This man, is Filipp Zakharov. Born here in this town, he was raised both by his parents. An Ursus, who grew up with a simple life in a simple town. Which in turn made him both a thrill and a glory seeker, much to the whole town's chagrin.

His friend on the other hand, let out a sigh as they listen him ramble about some 'green flash accompanied by green lightnings' despite how absurd that sounds. "Uh huh." His friend replied absentmindedly, as he took a sip from his mug. "And you're telling me this, why?" He asked as he gave Filipp a side glance. This young man is Hubert Pacocha, a Kuranta that came from Kazimierz. A few years back, Hubert's parents decided to move from their own home due to the increasing numbers of bounty hunters running around their town. Something about lost treasures or something. Hubert never really cared, just glad that him and his family manage to leave unscathed. Took some long travels before his family finally settled here, with Hubert and Filipp meeting each other in the local inn for first time. After some few drinks and a few stories shared, the two easily hit it off and became close friends.

"Cause no one believes me!" Filipp reasoned. Ever since the last incident concerning about some wild canines only for it to be just the local forager looking for food, the townspeople's respect for Filipp has dropped significantly. Not to mention that this wasn't his first blunder. "Come on, man! Ya gotta believe me!"

"And pray tell what do you want me to do?" Hubert asked his friend, an eyebrow raised. "Go out there to prove that something dangerous exist in the woods only for it to be not a major concern?" Hubert's scolding answer has really damped Filipp's sails on that one.

Filipp's earlier expression has vanished and is now opting a more crestfallen look. "I-I just want to prove to everyone that I'm not crazy nor an idiot, you know?" He answered, his small fuzzy ursus ears twitching a bit.

"Look, Filipp. Even if I wanted to, I'll most likely end up getting lost in that forest more than anything." Hubert reminded his friend concerning about the dangers of the southern woods. For a long time, the southern forest has been thick and hard to travel that even made some experts in forest hunting a difficult time. Most of townspeople were warned to never venture too deep into the woods lest they lose their way out and subsequently get lost.

"I-I mean, we're just going to follow the road and look for something out of the ordinary." Filipp reasoned back. "Please? As a friend?" 'Ugh, might as well accompany him lest he gets himself killed.'

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Hubert nodded as he finally gave in. "...Fine, I'll come with." He may not like this, but it's better than his friend getting in danger. "But only if someone with experience in traversing through the forest comes with us." He added.

"Yes!" Filipp exclaimed, his arms raised in victory for finally having his friend agree to coming with him. "Don't worry, friend." He said as well placed a hand on Hubert's shoulder. "You won't regret this."

'I'm already regretting this.'

It's been a few hours, but I now finally have a working GDI Barracks! And I already have a Riflemen Squad finishing training in the next few minutes! Hell yeah, no more mister lonely for this guy!

Currently, I'm leaning over the railings that appears to be overlooking over the whole barracks talking over to the guy seen walking around on top of the railings in game. In-game, he appears to be wearing the standard issue GDI rifleman BDU along with the standard GDI GD 2 rifle, not to mention he also got that same iconic GDI color scheme that really makes them stand out. And we're having a pretty good conversation, all things considered.

"Look, sir. Big breasts may be nice and all, but they provide no tactical advantage whatsoever. Which in turn proves that Flats is more superior in a firefight." Who knew that I'd find a fellow degenerate weeb in the GDI?

"Agreed. But you also have to remember, T H I C C thighs saves lives." Oh yeah. After being cooped up in my own home due to the pandemic with barely to no social contact with anyone else besides the people I meet online, the people I hand over my payment for the bills, the people that works in the local supermarket that I buy my monthly supplies from, and my favorite mail delivery man. This is a very much needed change of pace.

The guy that I was talking wholeheartedly agreed as he nodded sagely. "Of course, sir. That's why most of the female medics we get all got that huge, mouth watering thighs." He said, making me snap my head towards him. 'Nani?'

As I was about to inquire more details about the T H I C C thighe- I mean, about the medics, the blast door number 2 opened as it lowered to the ground. From inside, a group of heavily armed men with rifles came rushing forth.

"Welp, looks like we'll have to cut this one short. See ya later, Will." I bid the guy a farewell as I went towards the ladder, intent on greeting my first squad of infantry.

"Don't worry, sir. I had fun with our talk, I'll be looking forward to our next one." This guy... Snapping him a finger one last time accompanied with a grin, I then went down the ladder to greet the new men.

Professional and armed. That's what crossed my mind as I finally took a good look on them. Though, the color scheme really has to change. They'll be spotted from a mile away if they tried fighting in the color orange. My senses also seemed to have increased and extended towards this men, with me now knowing where exactly they are.

One of the soldiers saw me walking up to them and snapped to a salute, the others following soon after. "Riflemen awaiting orders, sir!" Professionals, indeed. Eesh, the way they saluted me seems a bit imposing. A quick glance at his shoulders showed me his rank, and another to his right chest showed me his name. Sergeant Hargreave, a nice name. Better give them a professional courtesy.

"At ease, men." Nailed it! They did as told. "Sergeant Hargreave, have your men follow me for now." The sergeant nodded as he gave a firm "Yes, sir." before turning to his squad.

"Riflemen, move out!" Ooh... I think I just had an orgasm. Now with the Riflemen squad following me, I had them follow towards the the other side of the base. On the other side, laid a pretty thick woods that thankfully hasn't changed by Tiberium yet. Like, no joke. If you changed the time into night, made it cloudy, and added a fog this place would've looked like it came straight out of a horror film.

"Alright, this seems good enough." I then gave the Sergeant a look as he in turn gave one back as he and his squad stopped beside me. "You see that tree over there, Sergeant?" He looked over to a pretty thick tree that I pointed at before looking back to me with a nod of confirmation. "Well I don't want to anymore."

"You heard the man!" The Serg- Hargreave shouted over to his squad as he took aim, the others following in suit. "Light 'em up!" What happened next resulted in the tree having it's lower trunk ceasing to exist.

Normally, gunfire would've ruptured someone's ear at this range. Very much so if it's the person's first time hearing it without any ear protection, much less from 6 rifles firing simultaneously. Instead of having my ears ringing from the loud gunfire, I barely even flinched! Thank you very much, ROB! I still hate you, though.

"Ceasefire!" I either have a really loud voice or they got some good hearing to be able to hear me over their guns. Oh wait, Neural Link. A quick glance to the tree proved that we have abused it too much, as it's thick trunk is nothing more than a huge missing chunk of wood. It would've fallen over already if it weren't being held at its branches by the other trees surrounding it. "Good work, boys."

"Thank you, sir." Hargreave replied.

"Sergeant, switch all your rifles to burst. Open fire at any tree with a single burst shot. Then move on to another."

And they did just that with great accuracy. Like, 20/20 accurate.

At first, each rifleman fired at the nearest tree to them and continued, while some moments two or three would hit the same target, it still confirms the theory that each rifleman would never shoot at the same target when ordered to or when they're in a certain situation that calls for it.

That means they still had some form of Individuality.

Ramirez and Will did confirm that they had a unique set of personalities and self-awareness of their existences; Ramirez's an exception though because he is one unit and Will since his not even a proper unit..

The Rifleman Squad is one unit with 6 members. This is a good change from the game, as squads would always focus fire on a single target in game, never having the option to fire at will as an individual member of a squad.

This must be the more realistic touch to it, the squad can still be flexible while acting as one unit.

Coordinated fire is good and all but not all the time.

I ordered the squad to stop again and let them relax for a bit although they don't appear to be tired at all.

"Now, I got some questions for you boys." I told them, turning my entire body so I could see the squad better. "Ya'll won't mind?"

"Not at all, sir." Came the squad's Sergeant reply. "Fire away." I nodded as went over to what questions I'll be having them answer.

"Alright, first question. How much ammo do you boys still have?" I went for the most important one first, considering resources are a bit low right now. A soldier from the back stepped forward, this one a bit smaller than Hargreave. A quick glance at both his rank and name, Private Andrew. "Alright, private. What do you do in this squad?"

"I carry and handle most of the squads ammunition, sir!" Wow, he's really going in strong. "As of now, we expended one-fifth of the ammo we started with." Hmm. Now that I'm giving him a much thorough look, he's definitely different than the standard riflemen. His pouches are larger, entire physique is bulkier, not to mention carrying a large pack. From a realistic standpoint, this is pretty much given that someone should be carrying the squad's ammo.

"Thank you, private." He gave a salute before falling back in line. "Alright, second question. Directly aimed at you, sergeant." The man seemed to straightened himself as he braced for the question.

"Sergeant, I'll give 2 very simple scenarios. You have 3 Rifle squads, 2 Missile Squads, an Engineer, a Guardian APC and a single Orca for air support. You are task to capture a compound defended by six automated anti-personal turrets divide to three entrances and two platoons' worth of soldiers only armed with rifles and two vehicles armed with anti-personal with weapons."

"Perform reconnaissance and locate power source to hack turrets, if need be deploy Orca's entire armament if heavily defended or too deep in enemy stronghold and destroy power source then mount a frontal assault at the least defended sector. Mount up the missile squads to the Guardian and rapidly destroy enemy vehicles, Guardian will support Riflemen Squads to clean up the rest."

So far so good, he knows basic tactics and strategy. Can he adapt though.

"What if you have to extract an objective from inside the compound?"

"Two phases, first phase is to attack the furthest entrance from the objective and cause enough diversion to attract defenders from other posts to focus on defending one point, severely weakening their flanks and the other entrances. Second phase, use the nearest entrance to the objective with the Guardian APC mounting the Engineer and a Rifle squad as escort and rush to extract the objective. APC's armor is enough to withstand hits from Anti-personal turrets but if need be, deploy half of Orca's armament to destroy Turret and save half to support APC for exfil."

Wow... That is a well thought out plan, if not very obvious. I mean it's a sound plan, better than what I could cooked up, but there are a lot of holes in it. I guess that's GDI doctrine.

The point is my units are actually capable of Independent Actions, grasp tactics and adapt when the situation demands it.

This is good news on my part; I don't have to micro-manage every unit step by step in all of my operations. I can do both macro and micro or however I like. I don't have to babysit them all since they still have the semblance of a good, professional and trained armed force.

I should probably start making designations before I make something bigger than a battalion.

"Sergeant, mind giving me your rifle?" He easily handed me his gun, with no questions asked. And- Woah... I expected a lot of things from the rifle, being lighter than it looked was not one of them. I gave the rifle in my hands a good, proper look and the way it feels while musing over in my mind.

The GD-2 is the standard issue rifle in almost every branch of the GDI Armed Forces. With a detachable box magazine that can hold a hundred rounds with an integrated under-barrel grenade launcher. It is the pinnacle of balance between a weight of a SMG, the versatility of an Assault Rifle and the firepower of a LMG. Hmm...

"Sergeant, is it possible for you and your squad to have your rifles customized like say, a Red Dot Sight?" Now that I'm looking over each of their guns, none of them seems all that different. The sergeant in question merely scratched the back of his head.

"Well, sir. Only special units like the Commandos get to customize their weapons. Not to mention, without an armory we won't be able to do anything to our weapons and armor, upgrades or not." Well, that certainly burst my bubble.

"I see." Hmm, now that I think about, it is getting a bit dark. "Alright, here's your gun back. Have your squad perform a patrol around the base till o-nine hundred, after that get some rest. The Watch Tower will take it from there." Did I forget to mention that I also got a Watch Tower built? It's nestled between the Refinery and the Power Plant. I got queued while building the barracks and I got it built while I was training the Riflemen.

Sergeant Hargreave gave a salute before him and his squad left to do their orders.

As they left, the fatigue of the entire day finally hit me and I almost fell to the ground from how much tired I was. I used up my remaining energy and wobbled over to the Conyard towards my room.

Right before I entered my room, I queued up 3 additional Riflemen Squads, 2 Missile Squads and 2 Engineers. Once I got the appropriate amount of units in training, I finally entered my room.

*Meow*

Oh shit, almost forgot about Boris! Now that remembered that I didn't gotten my cat fed all day has really brought me enough energy to properly move again. As I was about to go out, I noticed something on my table that wasn't there this morning.

Walking over, I noticed it was two bowls, a jug of milk and a can with a Blue sticky sign on it. Picking up the can first, I read what the sign was written.

"Here's some cat food and some milk for your cat!"

ROB, you are a god damn life saver. Quickly opening the cat food and dumping the whole content onto one of the bowls, I then set down the bowl underneath the table as poured the milk in the other.

Boris wasted no time as he leapt off the bed, sped towards the bowl, and proceeded to gubble down the entire thing. I then gently laid the bowl with milk beside him, before putting the milk in the mini fridge. Huh, perfect fit.

Giving my eating cat a glance, I yawned before heading towards my bed. As I laid there, I could feel my consciousness finally entering LaLa Land.

Author's Note: Hoo boy! That is a wrap! Finally gotten the third chapter out. Not to mention, that last part felt a little rushed. Also, should I make a small Omake featuring Dwane with different the characters of the game or nah? Like, I already gotten him and Team Rainbow's bare bone reactions to one another. Like Dwane being someone who knows all about them and wanting Lord Tachanka's autograph while Rainbow would be more confused about everything about him.