Now, I shall proceed to split the fight against Epsilon into multiple arcs.

Arc 1: Operation Gold Rush

[America/United Nations]

"Today, a new enemy has arisen. From the ashes of the communists, is a madman. His name, is Yuri, and his army, Epsilon. As sad as it is that we only have gone about a year since the last war, i'm afraid we must return to the battlefield. But together, we shall prevail! For today, is a day of infamy!"

[Empire of the Rising Sun]

"A new enemy reveals himself to our nation. He seeks to taint our sacred lands with his devious mind tricks! But he has made a foolish mistake, for when the sun rises, it shall be their blood that will be shed, for we will not stand by and idly watch such true barbarianism!"

All around the world...

"Stand up and rise, my brethren of Nod, for Yuri has come with the goal of oppression!"

"Here at Massivesoft, we are hereby making a healthy donation of money and research...immediately."

"We, Futuretech promise to help bring down this new menace!"

...great leaders gave their speeches, condemning Yuri's Epsilon faction.

For in this modern age, great leaders resolve conflicts with words...words like "War."

Together, the nations joined up, forming a new multi-national Special Region force...

The SFDI, or Special Region Defense Initiative, funded by many nations, including but not limited to; America, Europe, China, Japan, and many more, as the world united against this threat, whom not only had his own army, but the might of more than three quarters of the Soviet armada!

CALCULATING MONETARY FLOW...

CALCULATIONS COMPLETE. UPLOADING.

"Sir, our Chinese hackers have managed to crack the flow of Yuri's resource income...and...it's not pretty."

Epsilon was funded by two difference sources; One, a very grotesque one, was using those two weak to be used as soldiers, such as the elderly, were mind-controlled and fed into large Grinders, similar to Soviet Union's Crusher Cranes, except this one could harvest people, whom would then be used as resources for cloning vats or other things.

The second was that those whom were resistant to mind control were forced into slavery as miners. And there was a surprising high amount of these miners, all of whom were kept in large mobile jailhouses that doubled as ore refineries.

After about a week since Yuri revealed himself, Operation: Gold Rush was put into action.

The goal? Cripple Yuri's forces by cutting off their primary source of money and resources..

[Falmar]

Climber once again found himself inside a Century bomber, this time alongside the real Yuriko Omega, and of course, Tanya.

The former unnerved him, yes, but he'd have to deal with it, just as he had to deal with the extra weight of an M16 in his lap, complete with a suppressor. Looking out of the bomber's rear door, he could hear sounds of bombs being dropped on the Bioplants below, cutting off the mining plantation's power. Luckily for anyone being used as a fuel source, the containment pods were nigh indestructible by anything

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, the stage is set!"

All three put on gas masks, after hearing about Yuri's use of chemical gases as weaponry.

Once again, just like the siege of Italica, they bailed, landing out of the range of some sniper towers.

Cryocopters flew in, freezing the towers, allowing the commandos to silently(?) take out those towers with a single bullet.

How the Slave Miners didn't respond, nobody knows.

According to intel, the Slave Miners were equipped with motion detectors, and usually were armed with a single machine gun turret. However, their gun had a blind spot: Get too close to the front, and there's a risk of shooting its own body. Luckily, one cheeky bastard thought it was a good idea to give his workers a little workout, forcing them to follow him as he moved towards a fresh patch of ground covered in gold nuggets. Without hesitation, Climber immediately grabbed onto it. Doctor Zelinsky has personally helped him with upgrading his claw gloves, giving them a brand new ability; they became white-hot, allowing him to burn through the otherwise sealed entrance, and he slipped in.

It smelled awful, as prisoners were kept inside the Slave Miner until one of the active ones died, after which they'd be handed a shovel and forced out. At least they had the decency to give them just enough food and water to keep them alive.

Of course, when the warden sees Climber in his gas mask aiming a gun at him, despite the bulletproof glass, he falls out of his chair, screaming like a little girl. Yuriko floats in, shattering the glass with her psionic abilities, as Tanya vaults over the now-open window and smashes a large red button labeled "RELEASE ALL", before putting a few bullets into the warden's head.

With the psionic schoolgirl using her powers to translate the language Climber began to issue orders.

"Alright, everyone, REMAIN CALM! We're here to help you out, but we can only do so with your cooperation!"

One down, three to go.

Itami sighed. Honestly, right now he felt like someone was taking his spotlight time. And not only that, but his team had a new commando.

Commando Sovi of the True Soviet Union. His silent prayers went unanswered, as she was even more flirty than Rory.

What made it funny, though, that she would openly flirt with EVERYONE (except Myuu, and visibly less often with flatter females) in the now renamed 3rd Special Forces Team (3SFT, pronounced 3-SOFT).

As for the current situation, they were on their way to Italica, as a situation had arose there.

None of them expected to see a Soviet Conscript there, let alone a bunch of bear women armed with bulky AKMs.

That, or the dangerously implicative amounts of empty vodka bottles.

"Greetings, comrades, for I bring the finest vodka in the land!" The conscript (whom wore a crown) excited cheered, greeting what should be his sworn enemies. Hell, even the guards were confused when he first approached the walls of Italica in a bear-pulled wagon.

But the main reason they were here was because, well, they were the only ones with experience in fighting dragons.

Apparently, they brought a hitchhiker, a Dark Elf named Yao Haa Dushi, from the Kingdom of Elbe, whom sought the help of the "Men in Orange and Blue" after hearing tales of how they fought off a Flame Dragon, which had taken up residence not far from where her tribe had been living until the aforementioned dragon had suddenly awoken fifty years too early, catching them off guard before they could move to a safe distance like they always used to.

What none of them knew is that a few days after Yao left to go find these men, the dragon had already been driven out...

"All have been accounted for, and all the Slave Miners have remained intact. We have some minor injuries, but it's nothing a few band-aids won't fix."

"Roger that. We are chrono-shifting Sudden Transports to your location."

After ushering in the ex-slaves into the newly warped transports, they watched as all but one Sudden Transport drove off into the forest, where they would be able to safely reach a nearby outpost.

The commandos got into the last hovercraft, as Engineers commandeered the Slave Miners, driving them back to Italica, where they could be dismantled and studied.

And thus, Operation Gold Rush was off to a smooth start.

Database

Grinder- Not to be confused with a Soviet unit of the same name. Monstrous structures capable of harvesting anything from tanks to even flesh, grinding them up into raw resources for usage by Cloning Vats or War Factories.

Crusher Crane- Soviet tech building. Functions similarly to the Epsilon Grinder, except it can only grind vehicles or ships. Also serves as a repair structure, as it has repair drones for fixing vehicles.

Slave Miner- Large heavily armored mining unit. Piloted by a somewhat sadistic warden, it carries slaves around, whom are given shovels and forced to dig. The slaves can be rebellious, and if freed, will gladly fight for their saviors, with the power of shovel-whacking goodness. Usually equipped with either a machine gun turret or a single high-powered cannon.

"You ever wonder what happens to those whom got sucked into a Chrono-vertice? Trust me, it ain't pretty. Sometimes you come back. Other times, you get dumped into another world."

CHRONO-VERTICE DETECTED.

A large hole in the fabric of time and space appeared, as a group of four Apocolypse Tanks from a forgotten era rolled out, followed by four tanks with builds similar to that of an WWII-era Mammoth Tank.

However, instead of the usual red armor and the hammer and sickle, the four Apocolypse Tanks had the symbol of the Allied forces, and blue armor plating.

"This is Horseman One, where the hell are we?"

"I'm not quite sure..."

"Holy crap, are those Super Tanks?!"

DELETING SUPER TANK AI.

ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.

"GREETINGS, HORSEMAN FOUR."

"What the hell, amigos?"

"DO NOT BE ALARMED."

"I'm pretty sure that we have every goddamn right to be alarmed."

"WOULD IT HELP IF I TOLD YOU THAT THE ALLIES ARE IN THIS WORLD?"

"Maybe."

"GOOD ENOUGH. ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF."

"I AM THE BULWARK. AND I HAVE AN IMPORTANT TASK FOR YOU."

Many tales described the Embodiments as proud warriors, others portrayed them as devious pranksters.

They weren't completely wrong.

Author's notes

Muahaha! Nobody will ever find my totally obvious reference to Here We Go Again!

Haha, but I did it quite cleverly, didn't I? Shout-out to TMDF-Artyom for giving me an idea that would make such a reference possible!

On an unrelated note, am I the only one who thinks that the voice lines for the Slave Miner sound a lot like Pete from the Mickey Mouse franchise?

At this point, i'm starting to think I should've killed off the dragon during their first encounter. But oh well. We're all here for explosive action, aren't we?

...But seriously, if an object is removed from a timeline, then said timeline is overridden, can they still exist?

Also, there was something I was gonna put down here but now I can't remember...damnit. And I think it was important, too.