Pre Author's Notes:

I almost made this chapter over 20,000 words. Jesus Christ...

I usually wouldn't push it so hard like that, but the chapter was starting to get meaty for all the things that I wanted to include in it. Plus, I'm sure many of you already know that I prefer much chunkier chapters. Something that I can just sit down and comfortably read to keep me occupied for the better part of my morning.

Of course, I don't want reading to become a chore, especially for mobile readers, and thankfully, I realized just how much I had packed into it. It would be much more fitting to have the other half in a separate chapter for later, which I've gone ahead and done, cutting this chapter down to 10,000 and the next to a similar size.

The Frontier's Transhuman

Chapter 2

Dimensional Displacement

A loud, headache inducing ringing sounded out in Leader-Zero's ears as his consciousness slowly returned. After a few seconds, he noticed that his head felt extremely fuzzy, and annoyingly enough, the ringing still continued to persist - despite his brief attempt to shake it off as if it were somehow physically attached to him.

He groggily moved to get back up on his feet, before letting out a pained groan as his head pounded, as well as his body. His muscles cramped, aching everywhere in a way he hadn't felt in so long as it protested at his sudden movement. He wheezed to himself, not even able to clutch his body with his arms due to the foreign and overwhelming wave of fatigue that circuited everywhere throughout.

He acknowledged the fact that he would most definitely not be going anywhere for the moment, accepted it, and discarded the thought away without any real concern or worry. complaining about his current circumstances right now certainly wouldn't help. After all, time spent complaining about a bad situation is time wasted that could be put to better use in finding a solution to get himself out of said bad situation.

Despite being sore, uncomfortable, and unable to move his body, Leader-Zero was not about to give up so easily, and he focused on the next thing that would currently help him.

His senses, for example; more specifically, his sight.

For a moment, he had worried that he had somehow become blind, or that his helmet's optics weren't working. Waking up to pitch black darkness was alarming enough to make him believe that he was dead, but the pain in his body seemed to love reminding him that he wasn't there just yet…

But he might as well be if he dozed off again in unknown and possibly hostile territory. That was a good way to get himself killed out in the field, especially if he wasn't at peak, one hundred percent, combat effectiveness.

Like right now.

Certain that he wasn't yet deserviced, Leader-Zero tried opening his eyes. Keyword being tried, as his eyelids had felt like they were being weighed down with heavy sandbags.

After several seconds, and considerable effort on his part, his eyes finally fluttered open. With the advanced technology built into just his helmet alone, and the cybernetic augmentations implanted within his body to enhance his performance - his eyes included - it didn't take long for his vision to adjust. He blinked rapidly, his pupils constricting as his mechanical eyes quickly took in light once again. His helmet's heads up display painted his face in a hue of aqua-blue, providing vital information that he couldn't care less about at the moment.

However, what he did care about was the sight that greeted him as his vision came back into focus.

He noted that it was extremely dark, but despite that, he was still able to make out… stalactites?

Judging by how uncomfortable his back felt laying sprawled out against rough, uneven, rocky earth; Leader-Zero quickly deduced that somehow, he awoke in a cave or a tunnel of some sort. A rather concerning discovery, especially considering that last he recalled, he was on a mission to investigate an old, pre-war era, Eastern European apartment complex in the abandoned outskirts of City 17. A mission which he recalled, for all intents and purposes, had gone completely pear-shaped.

Leader-Zero moped silently to himself in irritation as memories of earlier swirled around in his head. He tried to get back on his feet once more, before promptly giving up as he winced in pain. It was a strange feeling, having his own body refusing to cooperate with him in such a way, becoming more of a hindrance than a help. Fine then, if that's how his body was going to be, then he would be content on just languishing around for a little bit longer - at least until he recovered enough strength so that he could move.

It wasn't completely all that bad though. At least the downtime gave him a moment to think up a plan for how he was getting out; plus, that dreaded ringing in his ears had finally dissipated as well, returning his hearing back to its original state. A plan and a level head - both very valuable things that he'd need to help aid him in the future.

Unless of course, someone found him in his severely weakened and vulnerable state, and decided to finish him off for good.

"Woah-ho-ho! Look at all this now!"

Leader-Zero instantly froze up when he heard the sound of another voice speak up in the cave, its owner obviously being male, judging by the tone. Someone must have entered while he was still unconscious, but the question was who?

Maybe it was the reinforcements that he requested from Overwatch, or maybe, it was more rebels…

He turned his head to identify the speaker, and - not surprisingly - his head throbbed a bit from the sudden movement. It looked like his mind was still swirling a bit, and it didn't help matters that he was still trying to comprehend the current situation. Still, doing his best to stay as rigid as possible, Leader-Zero slowly turned his head to the right; in the direction that the voice was coming from.

What he saw was not exactly what he expected.

As his head lazily lolled to the side, the soldier paused as his vision settled on the motionless body of a Metro Cop. She clearly wasn't the one speaking, if the cracked lens and unblinking eye staring right back at him weren't already enough of an indicator. No, looking further up behind the corpse revealed a man dressed in various shades of dirty brown, wearing a red tunic, with a bandanna over the lower half of his face; concealing his identity. He had worn leather gloves, bracers, boots, and even... a sword?

It was still a possibly dangerous weapon, sure... but what was a sword going to do compared to something like a modern day firearm?

Maybe he'd somehow woke up in the Quarantine Zone? He knew that scavengers were certainly the weirder and more odd bunch of what was left of humanity, but the sight was still very odd, even to an experienced soldier like him. At least, he hoped he was a scavenger… The ones he often ran into in the QZ were at least armed with small caliber weapons like pistols or submachine guns, meaning they weren't really a big threat to him, especially considering that he was protected by armor plating, plus the added backing of other Combine units in his squad.

"What the hell happened in here…?" The man asked quietly, his eyes roaming around the cave in wonder as he stood over one of the dead Grunts.

"Does it really matter?" His partner replied beside him in a gruff voice as he held a burning torch up. With the new source of light, Leader-Zero was able to see that he too, wore similar leather garments with a bandanna over his lips. Though this one was instead equipped with a hood and a quiver on his back containing arrows, the bow to fire them held loosely in his left hand. "A whole bunch of valuable lookin' gear is right in front of us, practically begging to be stripped from these idiots and sold. I don't even know what half of this shit is, but it looks like it'll fetch us some pretty coin!" He said in excitement, looking down at the Grunt beneath them.

At this point, it was safe to assume that they weren't the reinforcements that he had requested, and that they were most likely anti-citizen scavengers. Possibly hostile too, considering their weaponry.

As archaic as it was…

Leader-Zero silently watched on as the swordsman hunched down, reaching for something that was attached to the Grunt's body. He straightened himself back up, slowly turning the object around in his hand as he closely examined it. With his back turned to him, Leader-Zero wasn't able to get a very good look at whatever the swordsman had unclipped from the Grunt. But he didn't need to see the object in order to know what it was that he held in his hand, especially after the spoon and handle had popped off with a loud clunk, and the lights inside of it shined red - followed by a low rhythmic beeping that rapidly picked up in speed.

Leader-Zero's eyes widened as he looked on in panic, before hurriedly turning the other way to hug the ground as much as possible, all of his earlier body pain completely forgotten as he braced himself for what was to come next.

The archer turned to his partner as he cocked a brow. "The hell did you just do?" He asked, eyeing the now primed grenade that he held in his hand.

"I-I don't know, I just thumbed it a little too hard and a piece just popped off."

"Well did ya break it? Why's it makin' that sound?"

"How the hell should I know? I'm just as clueless as you are."

"So you just pick up random shit that you have no idea about and you just expect things to-"

The expected explosion that came soon after shook the cave, causing rock and soil to fall from above as the area rumbled. He flinched as he heard stray shrapnel embed itself into the Metro Cop corpse nearby, and the rocks landed with a heavy thud around him, barely missing his head as he did his best to shield it with his arms.

After the small quaking had stopped, Leader-Zero took his arms off of his head, before slowly turning to look at the scavengers nearby. Or at least, what was left of them…

The swordsman that had primed the grenade and cluelessly held onto it had a good portion of his upper half torn to shreds from the fragmentation, the blast having completely decimated his left arm and leaving it hanging like a partially snapped twig. A partially snapped, meaty and boney twig...

The archer that was standing next to him hadn't fared any better, with his face twisted frozen into a haunting expression of terrified surprise and momentary pain. He could see the archer's hand twitch every now and again before eventually stopping.

Their blood poured profusely from the myriad of new holes in their bodies, the crimson liquid pooling beneath them and seeping into the loose dirt that covered the ground.

"Fellas! What the hell is going on over there?!" A somewhat gravelly and masculine voice called out, echoing from somewhere else within the cave.

Leader-Zero quietly sighed to himself as he let his head drop, his back returning to rest against the large rock that he had woken up on. This was the second time today that he had survived a nearby explosion, and the last thing that he wanted to do was get into more combat - especially considering the state that he was in.

Not to mention the fact that he had no way to properly defend himself…

Looking back down at the body of the lifeless Metro Cop nearby, he spotted her standard issue USP Match, held loosely in her right hand that draped limply over her torso. Without thinking twice about it, he reached over and grabbed the pistol, his fingers carefully wrapping tightly around the barrel as he pried it out of her grip.

He brought the pistol up to eye level, before ejecting the mag and inspecting the rounds inside - as well as slightly pulling the slide back to check for a round in the chamber. Thankfully, it was indeed loaded, his HUD telling him that he had thirteen shots of 9mm left; the weapon clearly having been fired by the previous owner before him.

Coming from a world that supplied its mass produced transhuman army with dark energy Pulse Rifles as standard issue, a pistol wouldn't have been his first choice in armaments. But considering the fact that it was the only weapon within arms reach, it would have to do. It was too risky right now to try and grab anything else.

"Hey, what the fuck is wrong with you assholes?! Are you two deaf, or are you both just ignoring me?! Speak up, answer me!" The voice angrily demanded as it got louder and closer to his position, along with the sound of multiple footsteps hurriedly rushing alongside to investigate the disturbance.

-O-

Bandit Leader was having a good week.

Emphasis on was…

The reason being was because earlier, his group of bandits had encountered a lone couple traveling down a path by stagecoach with no security or any form of self protection, and had promptly held them at blade point, forcing them to give up any valuables that they had on them. Turns out, they didn't really have much, so he simply killed the husband and let the boys have their way with the widow, before killing her as well, and then dumping their bodies in the bushes nearby. Not much profit there, but it was briefly amusing.

Then, they passed through River Village on the way to their destination. A quaint little milling village that sat on the banks of a river that flowed downstream. It was a small, comfortable community, where everyone knew their neighbors and their neighbor's daily routines. Routines, which were disrupted when he had his men threaten the residents and ransack their homes. Still, not much profit to be found there either, and they couldn't really afford to stay and mess around with any of the locals, lest a passerby stumble in and catch them in the middle of their illegal acts.

After leaving the village behind them in a poor state without a single care in the world, they trekked further and further up along the stream, the path becoming more beat as they got further and further from the nearest human civilization. Their destination? A cave that was rumored to harbor some unclaimed loot.

How did he know about it?

Through the journal of a porcelain ranked adventurer that they had recently roughed up, who had jotted down the location of said cave after completing a quest inside with his party, presumably so that they could return later and collect all the treasure left behind. The young greenhorn had made the mistake of cutting through the wrong alley by himself in order to meet up with the rest of his party, and now, he was left bruised and bloody in that same alley. No major wounds were inflicted - except to the young boy's pride probably - as he didn't want to kick the hornet's nest by killing an adventurer.

That being said, his party was sure to kick up a huge fuss when he showed up empty handed. If he even had the guts to face them after such an embarrassing turn of events. Just imagining the looks on their faces as they learned that their source of treasure was taken by bandits before they could reach it, and without any effort on his part, was enough to make him chuckle to himself.

And the treasure? By the gods did the cave have treasure! Various jewels and rare materials were scattered randomly on top of piles upon piles of coins - so much that there would need to be several round trips to and back again just to get it all out. Of course, it was strangely suspicious that there was so much, and that it was all just sitting in here free for the taking. Still, Bandit Leader wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. After all, there was no telling how long the cave would remain, as the world always seemed to constantly shift everyday, bringing forth a new set of problems to deal with.

Like right now, the same moment that he realized that his good week was finally over after a large explosion drew their attention away from their chest looting, only to find what remained of two of their men.

"Ugh, of course... I couldn't trust those fools to do anything right!" Bandit Leader loudly complained, kicking a stray rock over into the dark. "Not even staying alive was a simple enough order for them."

He had originally sent Bandit Archer and Bandit Swordsman to scout out the rest of the unexplored cave ahead, confident that they would clear out most of it without any real issue.

Oh how wrong he was…

By the time the rest of the group had caught up to the source of the disturbance, it was already too late. Both men were bleeding profusely from wounds that definitely couldn't be repaired from any healing potions they had. The giant scorch marks on their bodies and on the ground beneath them obviously meant they had blown up. But the real question was what could have caused their deaths?

Bandit Leader let out an exasperated sigh, before holding his torch further up in front of him, surveying the area. Judging by the fact that there was no one else alive in the cave aside from his group, his scouts must have killed themselves somehow. Regardless, whether it was from mishandling something extremely volatile that they had randomly found, or triggering a trap that had gone unnoticed, none of it mattered to Bandit Leader. He just lost two members, bringing their manpower strength down by quite a bit.

It's too early to deal with all this bullshit… He thought to himself as he rubbed his forehead.

"What do you want us to do, sir?" The voice of his second in command shook him out of his musings. He looked down, meeting the eyes of a short Rhea that looked up at him. A brief glance at him would probably tell most people that he was inexperienced and ill prepared for the perils of the world. The faded scar over his non functioning left eye would probably be enough evidence to say otherwise, if it weren't already for the fact that he was standing beside him as the second in command to a group of nasty bandits.

The remaining members of his group turned to him, silently asking the same question that Bandit Rhea did as they waited for him to give an order.

The bandit leader turned back to the scene laid out in front of him. Aside from the fresh corpses of his recently deceased scouts, he could also spot several more bodies littered about the cave. They were different, foreign, unique…

Several of them appeared to be wearing professionally made uniforms and armor, both of which he had never seen before in his entire life. The corpses wearing them seemed to be humanoid, at least, from what he could tell outwardly. The glowing blue eyes from their strange helmets certainly screamed enchanted to him.

Were they another group of adventurers? Some sort of newly discovered Non-Prayer Characters? The journal didn't at all mention encountering any other humans inside the cave.

Well regardless of whatever they were, Bandit Leader considered himself lucky that they were already dead. It was one thing to fight NPCs they knew absolutely nothing about, but it was another thing to fight said NPCs that had enchantments to their armor.

Bandit Leader eyed the bodies, staring at the remnants of his scouts once more, before dismissively waving the rest of his group away. "Just fan out and search the rest of the 'em. Grab anything you might see as valuable. I've had my fill of excitement for now, and I'd rather get outta here as soon as possible..." He said, walking over to a nearby rock and sitting down on it.

His words were directed to Bandit Rhea, who - as Bandit Leader expected - quickly nodded in compliance, stepping forward to temporarily take the role of leader while the rest of them moved to search through the corpses.

"Come on fellas, you heard the boss," Said Bandit Rhea, sheathing his sword and taking the torch that Bandit Leader offered.

The group of misfits all looked amongst each other, before shrugging and scattering off towards various parts of the cave. Bandit Leader would have normally joined in on looting like this, but considering the recently unexpected loss they just took, he decided that it would be best to sit by and keep watch for his men as they rummaged through satchels and pockets.

He was the leader… It wasn't like he'd be missing out on any of it.

Bandit Rhea glanced back at him momentarily, watching to see if he would change his mind and join them. After a few seconds of seeing the man furrow his brow and get lost in thought, Bandit Rhea stifled any concerns he had for him, and decided that Bandit Leader was just fine where he was.

More for us, I guess… The Rhea thought to himself.

As Bandit Rhea turned back to the rest of the cave, his gaze briefly passed over the remains of the two members that they had just lost, before finally settling on one of the new bodies nearby. An armored figure dressed in dull blues and grays, covered in a thin layer of dust and debris, sat with its back propped up against a rock; its unnaturally glowing aqua-blue colored eyes staring right back at him from their strangely shaped helmet.

A small shiver crept down his spine at the sight of it, but Bandit Rhea did his best to ignore it. Though he couldn't truly determine who or what was under it at a glance, it was still just a suit of motionless armor - its owner inside most likely long dead. Nothing to worry about.

It was with that notion that he slowly approached the corpse, before kneeling down, balancing on the balls of his feet as he closely examined it. "What a very intricate - if unnerving - looking helmet. It's a good thing you're not using it anymore. I'm betting someone would pay really well for whatever enchantments you've got in there." He gloated to the corpse. Obviously, it wasn't going to respond back anytime soon, and he laughed at the fact.

"I suppose you won't be needing it anymore," Bandit Rhea said with an easy smile. He rapped a knuckle against the helmet, giving it a few firm taps. "If nobody's home in there, you won't mind if I take it for myself?"

Silence…

He chuckled to himself in amusement, before reaching for the helmet. He rubbed his thumb along the surface, feeling the smooth details of it.

Whoever smithed must have known what they were doing. The last time he touched a piece of gear that felt this professionally well made, it was from a blacksmith back in one of the many capital cities that catered to the more experienced adventurers, and they certainly weren't inexpensive.

Then again, it wasn't wise to cheap out on potentially life saving gear when one put themselves in constant danger. If one wanted to survive and make a name for themselves in the Frontier through the adventurer's life, they had to spend a hefty amount of coin. The adventurers knew that, and the shopkeepers definitely knew that - judging by the price of things like weapons, potions, and of course, custom tailored outfits and armor.

He glided his hand across, until eventually, his fingers felt the change in material near the back. Assuming that it was an opening, he grasped it firmly, before attempting to pull it off.

Despite his struggles, the helmet would not budge an inch, much to his annoyance, and he only ended up pulling the body closer to him.

"Ah geez, you're a heavy fella' ain'tcha?" He grunted, grabbing the body by the collar and hefting him forward to get a better look at the back. To his surprise, he noted that the helmet didn't seem to have a good opening point for the wearer's head at all, almost as if it was somehow sealed in. In fact, looking over the rest of the body, Bandit Rhea couldn't find a single outside zipper. Maybe it was obscured under all the armor?

"Someone clearly doesn't want you out of uniform, my friend." He said, before laying the body back against the rock and putting his hand under the chin piece, searching for some sort of hidden clip or latch. After finding nothing, Bandit Rhea gave up with a sigh, opting to instead stare directly into the glowing eyes, trying to see underneath.

"I wonder what secrets lie beneath that mask of yours..."

He looked down at the body to see what other goods it carried, before he realized that it had something firmly gripped within its right hand. He stared down at the small object pointed up towards him, having no clue what it was.

He wouldn't get the chance to find out as his life abruptly ended in a bright flash…

-O-

"I wonder what secrets lie beneath that mask of yours..."

The bullet that was fired from the pistol made its intended mark; right between the eyes. A clean shot is what Leader-Zero had heard others call it in passing. A phrase that he couldn't say he really quite understood. If anything, it was the furthest thing from clean, with the scavenger's head violently snapping back as a spray of skull fragments, blood, and brain matter shot out the back, spilling onto the ground of the cavern. The body collapsed on top of him a moment later, with an expression of last-second realization.

Leader-Zero knew that he had a major advantage against the enemy, in that they didn't know he was still alive. When the small one in front of him lifted him forward, he could clearly see where they all were and what they were up to while he was being inspected. What he managed to see was a bunch of poorly trained men wearing an assortment of medieval era gear that would have been completely ineffective compared to modern armor systems designed by the Combine, and even pre-war bullet proof vests for that matter.

Honestly, these men were all acting too lax in such an environment, especially with the quality of gear that they had on hand.

With all of their backs having been turned when he sprang his attack, Leader-Zero had caught the rest of the scavengers scattered around the cave by surprise, causing them to jump as the shot rang out and echoed, bouncing off the stone walls. The following shots were extremely effective, with several of the men already collapsing to the ground with freshly bleeding holes.

The last one had gotten up off the rock he was sitting atop of and tried to charge at him with a mace of some sort. Of course, he didn't get very far before Leader-Zero had fired three rounds into his chest, causing him to fall flat on his back.

The cave was silent a moment later, the aftermath being evidence enough to any outsiders about what had occurred inside.

Leader-Zero kept his pistol trained on the last body, carefully watching for any motion. After about ten seconds had passed, he slowly lowered the gun, flicking the safety on with his thumb. He looked at the fresh cadaver laying on top of him, before heaving it off with a grunt. With the weight of another person being removed, he was able to sit upright again, allowing him to survey his surroundings.

There were now several more bodies scattered around inside the cave. The unresponsive Civil Protection team, his stabilization team, the rebels, and now this ragtag group of anti-citizen scavengers looking to scrounge up the unused gear left behind. Death was everywhere, leaving him alone as the sole survivor.

It was a good thing that he had a helmet on, otherwise, he'd probably be retching at the stench of decay all around him.

Could he even still smell…?

Leader-Zero shook his head, pushing the stray thought aside and simultaneously bringing back that annoying pounding in his head. A pounding, which he was quite eager to get rid of as soon as possible.

With a bit of exertion on his part, Leader-Zero pushed himself up, rising from the solid and frankly uncomfortable ground beneath him. The aches in his body had definitely lessened during his brief combat encounter, probably in part due to the adrenaline that he was feeling wear off - but that didn't mean they were completely gone.

He looked around the cave for anything that could help him. With the torches extinguished, Leader-Zero instead had to rely on the night vision of his helmet. Scanning the room left and right, his attention was drawn by a small hue of teal light, which stood out like a spotlight in contrast to the otherwise pitch black darkness of the cave.

Looking closer, Leader-Zero realized that it was the other Grunt that had his gas tank blown up, and the teal light that glowed from him was actually emanating from a small health pen clipped onto his belt. Glancing back down at the info displayed in his HUD, he could see that his stimdose had taken a hit from the earlier explosion, but his bodypacks had held up relatively well.

He trudged his way over, with each step being slow and heavy, taking him quite a bit of effort before he finally stood over the motionless body of his former ally.

Bending down, Leader-Zero unclipped the syringe from the belt, priming the needle before injecting it straight into his arm. The effect was almost instantaneous, with the pounding in his head and the aches in his body becoming dulled as a warm sensation flooded him, making the soldier feel a bit more rejuvenated as he stood a little taller. It was a massive step up from his previous state of being.

He let out a sigh of relief, before discarding the empty syringe and looking back down at the body.

The heat from the gas tank's flames must have been extremely hot, as it had melted part of the Grunt's mask a bit over one of his lenses, obscuring part of it and rendering it unusable; while the other side had been severely cracked, allowing a sizable piece to break off and reveal what was hidden underneath.

The pale and leathery skin was pigmented gray, evidence of how rarely a soldier was seen outside of their combat armor and uniform. One eye was still covered by the blue lens, while the other was missing entirely, having been detached from the faceplate and leaving only an empty eye socket with several mechanical wires sprouting out of it. Part of his surgically embedded metal implants could be seen on his forehead, purple bruising and dried blood around it from the recent damage he'd sustained.

The Combine were very thorough when it came to their cybernetic augmentations, sparing no expense in ensuring that their brainwashed killers would be the perfect enforcers to suppress other beings without a second thought, all in the name of the Universal Union.

The killing of humanity, both literally and figuratively.

Leader-Zero simply stared down at the corpse, becoming slightly perturbed at the sight. His fellow soldier used to be a human being. A living, breathing, person - with dreams, aspirations, goals, and their own free will to decide for themselves.

He used to be human...

Leader-Zero vigorously shook his head at the sudden intrusive thought, having no idea where that line of thinking had even originated from. He - like so many others amongst the Combine's ranks - were deadly weapons. Machines meant to serve their benefactors in any way possible. Their bodies, an offering into the great unknown to discover the next phase in human evolution, sacrificing their humanity and morality as a stepping stone forward towards unlocking the secret to immortality.

After all, the problems of the mind were not the problems of the soul…

So when Leader-Zero noticed the internal conflict starting to formulate within his mind like a brewing storm, he knew that he needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

Two fingers reached up to the headset built into the side of his helmet. "Overwatch, Leader-Zero reports stabilization team deserviced - condition sundown. Anti-civil activity contained. Requesting sector grid perimeter codes and skyshield extraction."

He waited for a response to come back, but there was nothing but static on the other end.

"Repeat, this is Leader-Zero, reporting stabilization team down. Requesting current sector grid perimeter codes and reserve activation."

This time, nothing but silence.

The lack of response was strange and somewhat worrying. The Overwatch AI was usually immediate in their replies to OTA soldiers on the ground. Full communication was vital to ensure that orders were properly carried out and that everything was running smoothly. The fact that it didn't speak back either meant that something was cutting off his communications, or that he was no longer in range. The latter should've been impossible though. No matter where on planet Earth you were, the AI was perfectly capable of communicating with other soldiers all across the globe, all at the same time.

Unless of course, he was off-world…

Was that what had happened? Had he been teleported to an unknown world outside of Combine control?

His hand fell down from the headset, loosely hanging to his side as nothing came through. The bleak situation was already becoming worse. His team was dead, he was stranded in unknown territory, and any calls for help were met with radio silence. There wasn't much else for him to do. All he could really do was wait, and try to keep his thoughts from straying too far. But that would require something to distract him, and those distractions were usually in the form of carrying out orders, or focusing on keeping himself alive.

Apparently the distraction that he was hoping for would be in the form of the latter, as the soldier was suddenly knocked out of his quiet brooding when he felt a large pain on the side of his head - a heavy smack reverberating throughout the cave as something smashed against his helmet. He groaned as he slammed into the ground, before looking back up at the culprit that had snuck up on him.

The last scavenger that he had shot was apparently somehow back up, and he looked furious; rightfully so. The holes in his body were bleeding profusely, splotches of red growing larger by the second. His breathing was labored and heavy as he bared his teeth at him in a snarl. While he struggled to lift his mace up to deal a second blow, he was hacking and wheezing, most likely on death's doorsteps and giving it his all as a final send off.

Leader-Zero must have hit him in one of his lungs, because he did not sound like he was breathing properly.

Leader-Zero quickly raised the pistol up again, before the angry scavenger kicked it out of his hands, the last shot firing and the slide locking back as it emptied, landing far away into the darkness of the cave. With the only weapon out of his hands, the bleeding scavenger grinned cynically at him, giving up on using the mace and dropping it in favor of using his fists.

"Not so tough without your little toy now, huh?" The wounded man asked sarcastically, spitting out some of his blood onto the soldier that he pinned beneath him. He gave a pained laugh, his chest rippling with every inhale and exhale that escaped through his bloodied and gritted teeth, before beginning to slam down in a barrage of wild haymakers, unconcerned with the harm he brought to his own hands every time his fist collided against the futuristic armor. "You made a big mistake thinkin' that you could fuck with my party and get away with it!"

Leader-Zero raised his arms in front of him, doing his best to block as many of the oncoming hits as he could. To be honest, they weren't really harming him, but the scavenger was out for his blood, determined to finish the job he'd begun, even if it meant injuring himself further.

The soldier was effectively trapped underneath, but he knew he needed to do something to put distance between them and find a weapon he could use. That's when it hit him…

The mace!

Leader-Zero blocked one of the oncoming blows, before reaching both hands out towards the scavenger's face. Once he grabbed on, he forcefully jammed his thumbs into his eye sockets, causing him to cry out in agony as he tried to remove his grip from his skull. After sufficiently blinding and disorientating the enemy, he reached for the fabric of the tunic and yanked it down towards him, delivering a devastating headbutt. The scavenger cried out in further pain, as he was thrown off, falling back against the ground.

Quickly getting up, Leader-Zero decided he wasn't going to give the scavenger a chance to fight back as he reached for the mace that was dropped nearby. He was prepared to end the threat, and he'd make sure to do it properly this time.

After all, it wouldn't do to leave a job half finished.

The mace that was hefted up was, by all standards, an ordinary mace. A wooden handle with a leather wrap and a spikey blunt steelhead. Nothing about it really stood out to him, but the consistent scratches signified that it had gone through some history and seen some battles. Not that any of those particular details mattered to him.

All he needed to know was that it was a weapon, and that it could kill.

"Enforcing stability on primary target." He said robotically, pulling his arm back as he prepared to deliver a devastating blow to his attacker.

The first swing swiped across the scavenger's temple, snapping his head to the side with a meaty thwack as he keeled over with a yelp, his knees buckling beneath him and giving way from the searing agony of his skull being bashed.

"Don't resist."

The second swing was brought down as he tried to get back up, knocking a few teeth out from his mouth and shattering his jaw as his head slammed against the ground.

"It's almost over."

The third swing smashed through his skull, and the repeated swings after made sure that he wouldn't survive.

By the time Leader-Zero had stopped, there wasn't even a head left. Just a messy, pulpy, completely unidentifiable, red mush of what was once a human being...

Once a human being... He thought as he quietly looked over his handiwork. Leader-Zero stood motionless above the body, staring down at the gore pooling below him with a strange feeling of disgust and shame creeping up his back.

He couldn't believe that he had just done that to another person, but he did. He was the one that caused it. As a consequence of his actions, a human life was snuffed out, by his own hands.

But why did he care though? He never did beforehand.

Leader-Zero was involved in raids that wiped out entire resistance cells, rounding up any anti-citizen survivors and summarily executing them with absolutely no problem at all. So then, why did he start feeling something now, and towards this nobody that tried to kill him?

If anything, the people he's killed and oppressed so far were horrible, rebellious, naysayers undeserving of any mercy or sympathy as they relied on their archaic base human instinct.

Anti-citizens, the ones that resisted their glorious benefactors who saw the disastrous state that humanity as a species was in, and offered them the solution that they didn't know they were wishing for. By becoming universally united through radical change.

Of course, the first step to becoming universally united was by expunging human instinct, which slyly and covertly compelled humans away from the solution they so desired…

He took a deep breath inwards, inhaling as much air as possible through his mask as he tried to steady himself.

Again, the soldier felt a horrible pain lance through his head, not unlike the previous pain he felt when he was smacked by the mace. The aforementioned mace dropped out of his hands as he went to clutch his skull and collapse to his knees.

The sudden pain that surged through his head was so intense, that the only coherent thought that he was able to form in his mind was one single word.

Torture…

It was pure torture that went on for what seemed like hours, though in reality, was most likely only just a few seconds… so far.

He tried his best to hold off his cries and shouts as best he could, but the searing pain burning throughout his head felt akin to lightning striking his temples, electrifying the chamber that contained his mind and scorching it as if molten lead were being poured directly into his brain. Soon, he couldn't contain it anymore, and he let out a loud roar that might have strained his vocal cords. Without thinking, he began banging his head against the ground in a futile attempt to alleviate the pain, each blow accompanied by a flash of fiery white in his vision that he could spot through his blurry and tear filled eyes.

After a few seconds of constant head banging, he began to feel sick, like he wanted to throw up. He hurriedly disconnected the airtight ring seal on his helmet, before ripping it off his head and throwing it aside, uncaring of any possible contaminants in the air as he barely registered its bounces echoing throughout the cave.

He wanted to throw up, and he tried - he really did - but the emptiness in his stomach wouldn't let him, and it felt like a knot was being twisted and punched repeatedly from the inside.

His fingers balled up into fists, clenching till his knuckles were white, and he could hear the material struggle to contain his hands as he pounded the dirt beneath him. He clawed and scratched at the hard, cold ground beneath his fingers, desperately trying to do anything to distract him from the suffering that he was enduring.

In the midst of his agony, his fingers touched something damp and slick, causing his hand to slip out from beneath him. He weakly raised his shaking hand, holding it up in front of him to inspect what it was that he had just slipped on. Blood, mixed with the soil and dripping off his glove.

Behind it, the headless corpse of the man he had just…

Murdered...

Leader-Zero held his hand out to him, as if to ask for help or just plead for forgiveness, crying for it all to stop.

A single bloodshot eyeball stared back at him from the broken pile of bloody skin, skull fragments, and brain matter.

Blurry images flashed rapidly in the labyrinth maze he called his mind as he hunched over. Parents, school, training, survival, co-opting, augmentation, killing, and lastly… a mysterious man in a blue suit with a disturbing grin.

Who was he?

Leader-Zero didn't know what to make of the discordant cacophony of muddled images within his head, or when and how he ended up curled on the ground hugging his knees and shivering, but all was finally calm and silent in the cave; almost deafeningly so.

He decided that he welcomed it.

Silence was good…

Silence was peace…

No more questions…

No more vague answers...

Just silence…

-O-

After an indeterminate amount of time had passed, Leader-zero finally - albeit very dazedly - pushed himself back up. He could sulk all he wanted, but there was a time and a place for that sort of thing, and it definitely wasn't in a cave full of dead bodies. Although he felt that he could be excused for the unusually slow start, especially considering whatever torment he just experienced.

Usually whoever was in charge of his stabilization team would order everyone to refresh and resolve, avoiding the cognitive dissonance that came with soldiers every once in a blue moon, but no one else was around to order or threaten him into doing so. He knew that he could do it himself if he so wanted to, but… why would he?

The shackles were broken, and for the first time in his life, he felt free.

Free and aimless…

He could think about what to do later. Right now, he needed to get going, lest more scavengers decide to show up out of nowhere and overwhelm him.

He looked around, seeing that the scavengers were most likely here to loot the treasures inside the cave, along with whatever gear his teammates had dropped. He contemplated simply leaving and not turning back, before realizing that he could use all of their gear for himself.

That, and the fact that if anyone stumbled upon the scene, they'd be outfitted with dangerous technology that they'd have no idea how to work.

The thought of someone else besides him getting their hands on Combine technology was mildly concerning.

Nearby, he spotted the glowing blue lenses of his helmet laying on its side. He walked over to it, before picking it up and putting it back over his head, clicking the airtight seal shut around his neck with a familiar hiss as filtered air flooded the inside. With the safety of his head protection secured again, Leader-Zero moved to begin stripping the gear off his teammates, before his boot bumped into something on the ground.

Looking down, he saw that it was a decently sized burlap sack. Nudging it once more, he heard the sound of metallic jingles and clinking within the bag. With his curiosity peaked, he undid the string that tied it close, before looking inside. Once he saw its contents, he couldn't help but furrow his brows.

Instead of basic survival necessities like he was expecting, the bag turned out to be halfway filled with colored gems, shiny silverware, and coins of various types. Of course, these were scavengers. What else would they keep in a bag like this? Still, it was a strange set of items to collect, considering that they were all pointless knick knacks that served no real purpose - save for maybe the coins somehow.

He didn't know why, but… something in the back of his mind told him that it'd be a good idea to take the bag and its loot.

Shrugging, he began to use the sack for his own needs, stuffing it to the brim with grenades, ammo, loose armor, pouches, and healing syringes. At this point, the bag was starting to become full, and even a slight bit heavy. Luckily for him, his augmentations were more than enough to compensate for the added weight that he had to shoulder.

Leader-Zero eventually made it to the last of the corpses - the Ordinal that led his stabilization team on their mission that went horribly wrong.

The captain, like most other Combine units, didn't even act human. And yet… Leader-Zero couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him as he stared down into the dull lenses of his helmet. He had a life before the Combine's occupation, and after their arrival…

Well, it really couldn't be called living in any way shape or form.

The radio in his backpack still seemed to be in decent condition though, and even if contact couldn't be established outside the planet - if he even was on a different planet - it'd still be wise to take whatever he could. Though he never really understood how to work the comms packs the Ordinal units used, seeing that he was never programmed like them, but it was still worth a shot. He unstrapped the bag and remaining satchels from the Ordinal, clipping them to his own body.

A shine on the body's belt caught his attention, and looking closer, he realized that it was two undeployed Manhacks. Tools that only the higher ranking units were authorized to deploy in the field, but considering his current situation, authorization be damned.

Plus, judging by the state of the Ordinal, he wouldn't be needing them anymore, and he was certainly unable to tell him otherwise.

After about thirty minutes, Leader-Zero made his way to a tunnel that he assumed would lead to the cave's exit. Before moving any further though, he paused for a moment, stopping to turn around and take in one last view of the sight before him. Nothing but dead bodies covered in blood and completely looted, left behind to rot in an old cave.

Their story would never see the light of day.

The rebels had certainly put up quite the fight, and even the scavenger that had gotten the drop on him as well. Fortunately, he was the one that came out on top, even though the outcome of the small skirmish was quite unpredictable and left him feeling strangely different.

He made to begin the trek out, before all of a sudden, the cave shook, causing the soldier to pause as he tried his best to steady himself and avoid falling. The rumbling sounded like it came from behind the wall at the back of the cave, and it was getting increasingly louder…

Suddenly, a large centipede-like creature burst through the solid rock wall with ease.

It was easily at least ten meters long, with a large thick armor shell that functioned like plates overlapping each other. A single pink colored eye stared directly at him as the mouth opened up, revealing several rows of massive, sharpened teeth. Its maws were wide open, clearly hoping to make him its next meal.

The soldier decided that he didn't want to become food today, and that staying was definitely no longer an option, before making a break for the exit.

The centipede monster gave chase as he made his way through the seemingly endless maze of tunnels. With how many twists and turns he was taking, it was a wonder that he hadn't yet run into a dead end.

He glanced behind him as he heard the monster crawling ever so closer, extremely determined to catch and devour him. Despite the narrow size of the tunnels, the monster was extremely fast, carving a new path through any obstructions with ease just to catch up with him. Weaving around corners and clumsily dodging stalagmites in an effort not to trip would only work for so long, and if he didn't do anything to fight back, it would eventually reach him.

He unholstered the pistol on his thigh before aiming it behind him, firing wildly in an attempt to hit the giant monster.

The bullets pinged ever so lightly against the hardened armor, bouncing off and having no effect as it quickly got closer. Luckily for him, the last shot out of his pistol had managed to hit it directly in its open mouth, barely slowing it down, but causing it to hiss at him in anger as it recoiled back slightly.

The flesh inside its mouth wasn't protected!

Discovering its weak spot gave him a brilliant idea, and he hurriedly reached for one of the grenades clipped onto his belt, before pressing down on the core and priming the explosive for a nasty surprise. Briefly glancing behind him, he tossed the grenade back into the ever closer beastly jaws, his legs not stopping for a second as they carried him towards the bright light at the end of the tunnel ahead of him.

The cave's entrance! He was so close!

Leader-Zero heard the muffled explosion as the grenade detonated behind him, causing the creature to shriek in pain as the cave shook heavily once more. He didn't need to turn around to know that he had just greatly angered the monster. It was pretty obvious by the rumbling and angry screeching behind him.

He flinched as a small rock thudded against his shoulder pad, before hitting the ground and shattering. At first, he didn't pay it much attention, on account of the angry monster chasing him - but then he quickly realized what was happening. The cave was collapsing around him.

Structural integrity rapidly decreasing!

He had seen fear in the eyes of those that he had often gunned down, and he had heard panic from the Grunt that blew up. Right now, he was feeling both fear and panic at the same time; an entirely new experience for him. At least his heart was pumping, as that meant he was still alive…

Nearing the entrance, his eyes narrowed in determination, and he pushed as much energy as he could into his legs, his calves burning in protest. The light outside was blinding, but he couldn't care less as he dived to the ground. As he roughly collided with the dirt, Leader-Zero turned around, watching as the monster skidded against the ground, causing the cave to collapse on top of it and burying it under rubble as it echoed one final death rattle.

He lay there on his side, panting and staring wide eyed at the now sealed off entrance as the kicked up dust slowly settled all around him. After watching to make sure that the monster wouldn't break through the rubble and reveal that it was actually still alive, Leader-Zero closed his eyes, catching his breath as he let himself fall back against the ground.

That was even worse than the antlion nests…

He attempted to stifle a tiny chuckle at the thought, which despite his best efforts, he couldn't, and surprisingly, he let himself laugh. First, it started out small, like one would hear in response to a comment heard in passing. Then, it steadily increased in volume, and he felt his chest begin rapidly shaking - until eventually, he couldn't hold it back anymore, and he laughed to himself like a madman locked in an asylum hearing a joke for the first time in years.

Why was he laughing to himself? He didn't know. Maybe it was out of relief from having survived the whole ordeal, maybe it was out of disbelief that he compared it to antlions, or maybe it was both, and he was just thankful to still be alive…

The sound of birds chirping sounded out, causing him to open his eyes as he stared up at the clear blue sky above him. Turning his head to the side, he was met with the sight of a lush, vibrant green forest; its trees calmly waving in the gentle breeze that washed over him, comforting him as the corner of his lips twitched up just the tiniest bit on his face.

The wildlife going about their day, the wind rustling leaves, and the water splashing nearby made for a very peaceful atmosphere. He was most definitely not in City 17 anymore.

Wait… water splashing nearby? That could only mean one thing…

A waterfall.

The soldier promptly pushed himself up, ignoring the dull aching in his legs as he spotted the beautiful stream flowing freely down into a river, the water sailing over the edge and sparkling magnificently through the air before splashing down below; collecting into a small pool beneath the fall itself and creating an almost crystal clear spring.

He immediately dropped to his knees next to the stream, frantically taking off his helmet and gloves to begin splashing the cool liquid against his face. He even went so far as to drink it from his cupped hands, although his instincts were screaming at him to do something to somehow filter and purify it. He didn't really care though, as it was clear, honest to God, clear water!

Leader-Zero was desperate for this.

The Combine had drained most of the oceans on Earth, horribly disrupting the water cycle and making it comparable to something like the American Dust Bowl. Most of the remaining ocean water had been tainted with dangerous bacteria, leeches or Ichthyosaurs, and the water flavored, desiccated sustenance ration bars that were handed out by the Combine were completely untrustworthy - with rumors even going around that there was something put in it, to make one forget.

Of course, having no other choice, he'd still been forced to drink it anyway.

But here though, the water was most certainly clean, looking like it was ripped out of some sort of fantasy book. He could even see himself in the reflection!

A sight which was enough to make him pause as he watched the water ripple beneath him. Mechanical sunken blue eyes stared back at his unnaturally pale and hairless complexion. He ran a hand down his face, feeling the smooth 'skin', before it reached a small bump on his throat. A tracheal vocoder sat where his vocal cords had been surgically removed, the piece of Combine tech standing out in contrast to the near white color of his skin like his cranial implants.

The image was almost enough for him to instinctively take a step back, but he shook it away, reminding himself that the advanced alien technology was more for his benefit than anything else. Not that he could remove it or even live without it in the first place.

He continued to splash water against himself, soaking his face and clothing. It wasn't really necessary, but he needed something to focus on. His mind couldn't help but wander on how others would perceive him if they ever saw him without his helmet. Would he even appear approachable to most? No, probably not. He'd just keep the helmet on for as long as possible.

After all, the soldier underneath the armor didn't matter at all.

He pulled the sack nearby closer to him, reaching out a hand as he dug around inside. He pushed aside gems, coins, and trinkets before firmly grasping a leather canteen that he managed to scrounge up from the scavengers. Popping the cork, he submerged the canteen under the water, filling it up as much as possible until the bubbles finally stopped rising to the surface. He pulled it out from underneath the surface, taking a moment to hold it up to eye level and watching as the cool liquid slowly dripped down his hand - before he stuffed it into one of the miscellaneous satchels he had.

After ensuring that he had enough water for whatever journey lay ahead of him, he reached for his gloves and helmet resting nearby, before briefly dunking them under as well, being careful not to get any water inside as he gave them a quick rinse to wash off any contaminants.

After a quick splash, Leader-Zero put his helmet back on, the ring seal easily clicking back into place with a hiss. He grunted as he slowly stood back up on unsteady legs, stretching out every muscle in his body and letting out a small sigh of satisfaction as he regained his balance.

Before dropping the sack and nearly collapsing again as a sudden wave of fatigue hit him.

It seemed like all the action of today took a lot of energy out of him, even after using a stim injection. As much as it pained him to admit it, Leader-Zero was incredibly tired; both physically and mentally.

But he couldn't stop and rest now. Not yet anyway. Not at least until he was somewhere safe and out of the wilderness.

With a tired sigh, Leader-Zero hunched down to pick up the contents that spilled from the bag, quickly gathering them up, before haphazardly shoving them back in. While picking up the scattered loot, a small glimmer out of the corner of his eye caught his attention - his gaze flicking over to a small object partially buried beneath the soil.

Curious, he leaned forward to get a better look at it, and discovered it to be a silver chain that carried an aqua-blue pendant; the gem it held in the shape of a teardrop.

He carefully scooped it up by the chain, dangling it out in front of him, before bringing up his other hand and gingerly running his thumb across the surface, wiping any leftover dirt from it. The polished gem seemed to glow almost ethereally in the sunlight as he gently traced over the smooth lines in the stone, admiring every little detail in fascination. He could even see his reflection in it as he tilted his head.

It was-

"Pretty…" Leader-Zero quietly whispered to himself, completely enamored by the shiny piece of jewelry held out in front of him. Another strange new experience for him, considering that he had absolutely no idea what compelled him to speak with nobody else around to listen to him. Though he had yet to even realize that he had done such a thing - on account of him being so easily distracted.

However, he did realize that standing around and staring at things wasn't going to get him anywhere closer to safety.

He clutched the pendant in his fist, before stuffing it into one of the satchels that hung off his belt, and resumed gathering the rest of the loot. Once everything was back in the sack, Leader-Zero hefted it up, slinging it over his shoulder with ease.

He turned to look at the river that flowed down stream, eyeing the rough dirt path that trailed alongside it. Civilizations liked to be close to a source of freshwater, didn't they? Without waiting another moment, Leader-Zero started walking down the trail, making sure to watch his step and not trip over any loose stones or pebbles on the ground. He did keep his Pulse Rifle gripped in his right hand just in case.

The last thing he wanted was to be defenseless while exploring new and unfamiliar territory…

Author's Notes:

Not much to say about this chapter. Our protagonist wakes up alone in new lands, kills a bunch of bandits, and narrowly escapes a Rock Eater; somehow - most likely accidentally - killing it all by himself through sheer luck. Considering how many adventurers it took to bring down a Rock Eater in the slaying quest of the Year One manga, even though it was much bigger, it's still a rather impressive feat.