Some say the end is near

Some say we'll see Armageddon soon

I certainly hope we will

I certainly could use a vacation from this

Bullshit three-ring circus sideshow of freaks

Tool: Ænema


Confounding Variable

Chapter 1:

Unforseen Consequences


Sector 09

En route to Griffin Temporary HQ

15 May 2062

Along a two lane road in the middle of Sector 09, a single battered SUV was being pushed to its absolute limit. The driver behind the wheel felt like she was in a space shuttle re-entering orbit. If she had kidneys, she was pretty sure they would have been turned to dust by now.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" The passenger asked nervously as she thumbed the magazine release on her HK USP Compact to see how many rounds she had left.

She had eight.

MP7 eyes flicked down to the speedometer and saw it was struggling to reach 88kph. The temperature gauge was all too happy to go as far as it could into the red.

"Not without parts starting to fall off." She informed her scout.

USP clenched and unclenched her jaw as she tried to get her nerves under control. She almost jumped through the roof of the SUV when MP7 tapped her on the shoulder.

She slowly turned to face her team leader. MP7 jerked her head towards the back seat without taking her eyes off of the road. USP turned the rest of the way to check on their passengers in the back.

MP5 sat in the rear seat with G17's body laying in her lap, a fist size hole where the scout's core used to be. USP asked if she was okay, but MP5 made no indication that she was listening, she stared through the window at nothing. USP would have been convinced that she had taken herself offline, if not for the fact that she would occasionally stroke G17's hair.

USP turned back to MP7 and shook her head.

MP7 sighed, "We're almost back to base, when we get there, make sure they both get to the repair bay."

"What will you do?" USP asked.

"Feeder needs to know what kind of opposition we face." MP7 frowned, "even with me helping plan the defense, this will be a tough fight."

The two fell into a grim silence as the off-road vehicle's engine knocked as it drove down the road.

Ten minutes later, the SUV pulled through the security checkpoint of Griffin and Kryuger's last major stronghold in Sector 09, its engine now banging like a drum and smoke rolling from underneath the hood.

As MP7 slowed the vehicle she noticed that the base was already buzzing with activity. Combat echelons and maintenance technicians ran back and forth, carrying weapons, ammo, and other supplies.

USP was already out and calling for help with MP5 and G17 before MP7 had a chance to shut the engine off and end its suffering.

As MP7 climbed out of the driver's seat, she heard someone call her name. She looked around the madness around her and saw Feeder's adjutant, Lee Enfield, approaching.

"What's the situation?" The rifle doll asked as she got close.

Before she could begin, the sound of MP5's voice rang out.

The two dolls turned towards the commotion to see G17 get placed on a pushcart by two technicians. MP5 was arguing with one of the technicians while USP was trying to her best to calm the distraught team leader down.

"Supplies are limited," A technician explained as he looked at a clipboard, "even if she does have a dummy to spare, we can't waste the core on another scout right now."

MP5 shoved USP out of the way, grabbed the front of the technician's shirt and shoved him into the ground. She began yelling at the technician as she jammed her barrel into the poor man's neck.

"She's more than just a scout!" MP5 yelled, tears streaming down her face.

USP quickly moved in front of the doll and shoved the barrel of the MP5 in a safe direction. The technician retreated as quickly as he could.

MP5 glared at USP before wrenching the gun out of the scout doll's grip, then collapsed onto her knees and began to sob.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled between sobs at G17's covered body, "I'm sorry!"

USP got MP5 to her feet and moved her away from the area.

Without taking her eyes off the scene, MP7 opened a pouch on her vest, produced a sucker, unwrapped it, and placed it in her mouth before she turned back to Lee Enfield.

"Does that answer your question?" She asked as she rolled the sucker around in her mouth. "She lost her entire team, from what we could gather, it wasn't pretty."

Enfield's face gave nothing away, "Follow me, the Commander wanted to debrief you personally as soon as you returned."

The hallways of the command building were filled with both human and doll staff. MP7 remarked as much.

"The bulk of what remains of Griffin's combat forces, along with their leadership have gathered here while you were away." Enfield explained to MP7 as they pushed their way through the halls. "We were waiting on your intel before we finalized any plans."

They stopped at a closed office door, and Enfield rapped smartly on it.

"As you're about to see," Enfield told her as they waited to be called in, "the situation is evolving quickly."

The Commander opened the door and MP7's mouth hung open, only when the sucker threatened to fall out did she close it.

The Commander, or 'Feeder', as MP7 liked to call him, was usually a young and energetic man. He was always clean shaven, well kept and had a smile on his face.

The Feeder before her however, looked like he had aged twenty years overnight. The bags under his bloodshot and bleary eyes looked like they had bags as well. His uniform, which he kept clean and well maintained, was covered in sweat and coffee stains.

He let out a chuckle when he saw MP7's face.

"I imagine I look a little scary right now." He said as he turned to make his way back to his desk.

After a few steps, the Commander stumbled and Enfield sprang forward to catch him and haul him back to his feet. She helped him to his chair, which he sank into with a weary sigh.

He gave a nod of thanks as he reached into his desk, and produced a pack of cigarettes. He tapped one out, lit it, and took a long drag which he held in before exhaling.

Enfield glowered at the man, but said nothing.

"Alright," the Commander said finally, "let's hear your story."

MP7 rolled her sucker around a few times before giving a quick version of the report, and by the look on Feeder's face, nothing she said was surprising. To Feeder's credit, he waited until the end to ask questions.

"And you verified that Commander Kirov's forces are out of the picture?"

MP7 nodded, "That's correct Feeder, we went to Kirov's outpost and found it overrun. I personally verified his KIA status, I can send you a picture if you like."

The Commander winced and shook his head, "That's not necessary."

"Commander Kirov was supposed to make up the bulk of our heavy weapons," Enfield informed her Commander, "we are perilously short of firepower as is."

MP7 rolled the sucker around again as she watched Feeder give a weary nod of agreement. He pulled a tablet from one of the drawers and drummed his fingers on it before he placed it in between himself and MP7 on top of the desk.

She looked at it with curiosity, and saw it had a map of their surrounding area. There was a blue square in the middle of the map denoting their location. She then saw thick red lines, and large X's where the enemy was.

Their blue square was surrounded on three sides by a sea of red.

"Where did you say the force that attacked Kirov's outpost was?"

MP7 slowly reached out and tapped the one place on the map that wasn't red with her finger.

Feeder nodded, "And how large was this force?"

MP7 looked the man in the eye for a long time before answering, "We stopped counting after seven hundred enemy units, and it was a very diverse fighting group."

"Thank you MP7, that will be all, grab a bite to eat and some rest, I'll need you to help us plan our defense." MP7 stood and nodded.

She made her way to the door, and paused before she turned back, "Feeder, may I make a request?"

The Commander nodded.

"MP5's scout was taken offline before we could save her, and the technicians didn't seem like they were going to give her a replacement core. Do you mind…"

He gave a weary smile, "I'll make sure G17 is operational within the hour."

MP7 nodded in satisfaction and left.

As soon as the door closed The Commander turned to Lee Enfield, "Link up with the other adjutants, and let their commanders know we have a fight coming our way, we need every combat team operational within the next two hours, and send word down to the maintenance technicians that G17's revival is a top priority."

Enfield nodded as the Commander continued.

"Make sure what's left of our logistics division has their birds topped off and ready to depart as soon as I give the word. Begin evacuating critically wounded and nonessential personnel, along with their security details to the secure sites we picked out." He took another drag off of his cigarette.

"Tell them that if they haven't gotten an all clear signal after seventy two hours, assume the worst and act accordingly, make sure they know that there probably won't be any help coming if they are forced to wait the seventy two hours."

He paused and stared at the ceiling as he watched the smoke from his cigarette spins around by the ceiling fan, "Put out a general order to everyone who will be defending the base, if we get overrun, fallback point will be at the logistics area, helos will try to evacuate everyone they can."

Enfield made a face and looked over to the Commander, "Do you think such an order will be necessary?"

The Commander returned her stare with an expressionless one of his own, "Do you really think it won't?"

Enfield froze for a half second before she nodded and said, "Orders have been sent, sir."

The Commander nodded and gave her a bleary grin, "Thank you Lee, now if you don't mind, I'm going to try and get a quick nap, we have a long day, and an even longer night ahead of us."


- Armory -

USP adjusted her pistol belt and patted her spare magazine holders. She was glad to have a full complement of ammo again. Though the armorer wasn't thrilled to part with a full complement's worth.

She hoped that she didn't make him too mad.

She was debating on going back and offering to bring the armorer something to eat when she saw MP7 walk through the doors and straight to the armorer in question.

After a brief, but heated argument, the armorer threw his hands up in the air, and began stacking boxes of 4.6mm onto the counter. MP7 grabbed the boxes with a sarcastic thanks and moved to a pile of crates and began pulling empty magazines out of her vest.

USP moved to help, but stopped short when she noticed someone studying MP7 closely. He was a tall, skinny, and pale middle aged man in a business suit and tie. His dark colored hair was shaped in a crew cut that had a pronounced widow's peak, and he was carrying a briefcase.

The man turned to face USP. The corner of his mouth turned into the hint of a sneer. The man straightened his tie, and exited the armory. She thought about chasing after him, but decided not to at the last moment when an overwhelming sense of foreboding washed over her and rooted her to the floor.

MP7 called out to USP who, after one last look at the spot the strange man was at, she turned and ran over to her team leader's location to help her start loading her magazines.


It was just before dawn when the first scouts were found sniffing around the edges of the base. Griffin hunter/killer teams were immediately dispatched and the scouts were handled without incident.

Despite this early victory, the mood in the base was grim, the occupants inside knew what was coming next, and the only option they had was to sit and wait for the inevitable assault.

They didn't have to wait long.

Less than two hours after the initial contact Jaguar mortars began to land just outside of the walled perimeter of the fence. The Sangvis mortar units ranged their shots and quickly went to work raining down fire on the defenders within.

As the Griffin T-Dolls dodged the falling shells and tried to find cover, Sangvis began the next stage of their assault.

Waves of Goliath units floated towards the walls as Griffin defenders tried desperately to incapacitate the floating bombs before they got close.

Machine gun nests and sniper teams fired as fast as they could, braving the nonstop mortar barrage as they worked. Scores of Goliath units detonated early, taking their fellow units with them, but more took their place until the first few reached their destination.

It would have been almost comical to see a trio of Goliaths pause in front of the reinforced steel and concrete wall, almost as if the semi autonomous bombs were trying to comprehend what stood in front of them.

With a deafening blast the Goliath's detonated in unison, blasting debris and shrapnel inwards. The smoke cleared to reveal a hole large enough to easily fit a Manticore.

More detonations rocked the base and then the mortar fire stopped as the first Griffin air units began to lift off, carrying mission critical assets from the fighting as fast as they could.

As the base defenders redeployed to cover the breaches in their perimeter, the first mainline Sangvis units began their attack in earnest.


- Griffin HQ Flightline -

MP7 reloaded her weapon as the last Ripper fell to the concrete. She rolled the sour sucker around in her mouth as she frowned. They had finished repelling yet another wave, but Sangvis forces had punched through their defenses too quickly for her liking.

She had been given command over what was left of a few echelons that had been operating near her, but it had been too little too late. The base's command center had been overrun within the hour and the survivors had been pushed back to the airfield.

Her musings were cut short by a series of explosions from a different part of the base.

"All echelons!" The Commander's voice barked over the tactical channel, "Northern perimeter has been overrun, possible ringleader in the AO, all combat capable units move to the evac site!"

MP7 looked around as she finished her reload and made a quick count of who she had available.

MP5 and G17 were with her, along with USP. The only additional T-Doll left standing was SPAS-12, who was busy scavenging spare shotgun shells from her deceased dummy links. SPAS-12 stood and frowned as she processed what the Commander said.

MP7 opened a direct channel to the Commander, "Feeder, do you copy?"

"I read you MP-7," came the Commander's voice, she noticed he sounded out of breath, "what's your location?"

"Still on the western entrance," she told him, "But we're under strength and low on ammo, we can't reliably hold this position any longer." As she said this, MP7 motioned for the dolls to begin moving towards the evac site.

"It doesn't matter anymore," the Commander's tone was grim, "Sangvis units are-" a burst of automatic gunfire cut him off.

"Sangvis are pushing the evac site." He told her, "Come to my position, the last helos are leaving!"

"Understood," MP7 said as she sent a series of commands via the Zener network, "we're moving to you now."

MP7 gave USP a nod and they were off at once. As they ran past a burnt out building, MP7 noticed they had an extra member, M249.

"I'm surprised to see you here," she told the tagalong machine gunner as they ran, "I thought your echelon was with one of the other Feeders."

"My echelon was with Commander Laurent, they were wiped out, I'm the only one left and I'm out of dummy links," M249 explained, the belts of 5.56 she had draped around her neck clinked as she ran, "and you guys are running towards the only ride out of this place."

MP7 felt the sucker crunch between her teeth. The loss of Commander Laurent was yet another massive blow to the Griffin leadership.

"Try to keep up, we're going to make sure we don't lose anyone else from the Command teams." MP7 told her

"Works for m-yowch!" A bolt of plasma lanced just over M249's head, forcing her to drop prone as more bolts were aimed her way. She shouldered her weapon, and swore.

"Jammed!" She yelled.

The rest of the team scrambled to find whatever cover they could. MP7 and USP dove to the driver side of a nearby vehicle, while MP5 and G17 managed to crouch behind an airplane tug. SPAS immediately moved in front of M249 to block two more plasma rounds with her ballistic shield.

MP7 peeked over the hood of the vehicle to see multiple Sangvis moving towards them between a set of hangars, Aegis units with shields lumbered towards them with Vespids in the back. M249 was laying on the ground behind SPAS trying to be as small a target as possible while she cleared the jam.

SPAS-12 set her feet and braced her shotgun on top of the shield. The shotgun barked again and again as she unloaded nine slugs as fast as she could in semi auto into the Aegis units, causing them to stop and bring their own shields up.

"Reloading!" She shouted as she pulled one of her speedloaders off the back of her shield.

"Got it!" M249 yelled triumphantly as she moved next to SPAS and opened fire.

"USP, mark the targets for us, MP5, take G17 and hit them from the right side, you're my sacrificial lamb!"

"On it!" MP5 as she activated her barrier generator.

MP7 sprinted around to the left of the targets, who had all hunkered down behind the stalled Aegis units, who were slowly advancing forward despite the barrage of M249's and SPAS-12's suppressive fire.

"Hey!" MP5 shouted as she ran from behind cover, "over here you rusted out clankers!"

The Vespids turned and engaged the small doll, their plasma bolts smacking into her barrier and dissipating.

"My turn."

With that she snapped her weapon up and sent a barrage of 9mm into the chest of the closest Vespid. The Sangvis doll rocked back into one of its comrades before falling to the ground. That caught the attention of her teammates who all turned to engage MP5.

MP7 took advantage of their exposed flank and opened fire. Two more Vespids fell to concrete, their heads ventilated by the armored piercing 4.6mm rounds.

At the front of the group, one of SPAS's slugs punched through the head of a Aegis unit the same time M249 blew the leg off another.

The rest of the Sangvis units went down quickly after that.

"Come on!" MP7 ordered as everyone reloaded, "We don't have much time left!"

The group continued their sprint to the evac site. The closer they got, however, the heavier the fighting was. By the time they were close enough to actually see the evac site, the entire rag tag echelon was either on their last mag, or close to it.

"Feeder!" MP7 yelled over the comms as she saw two UH-60s sitting on the helipads, their blades spinning, "we're almost there, what's your status?"

"We're ready to take off as soon as you're on board!" He yelled back, she could see muzzle flashes from Enfield's rifle coming from the side doors as she tried to keep a wave of rushing brutes from overrunning the aircraft.

"Understood!" She told the Commander, then to her team, "let's go, ride's waiting!"

The team formed up into a delta formation and fired as they ran, carving a path through the sea of Sangvis units.

G17 slipped in a puddle of either coolant or blood, and narrowly missed being taken out a second time by a Jaeger. MP5 brought her weapon up and emptied half of her magazine into the sniper.

As USP helped her fellow scout back to her feet the helicopters began to lift off.

"Feeder!" MP7 cried in dismay, "don't leave us!"

"The pilots aren't listening to me!" The Commander snarled, "set this bird back on the fucking ground!"

"It's too hot!" The pilot's voice was heard over the channel, "we're getting the fuck out of here!"

The two helicopters lifted into the air and began to bank away from them.

"Oh, you're trying to leave so soon?" A new voice asked over the comm link, "We can't have that, can we?"

"Who transmitted that last?!" Someone yelled over the comm.

Before anyone could answer, two small missiles streaked up from the ground, and MP7 watched in horror as they sped towards the retreating helicopters.

The first rocket struck just behind the passenger area and detonated, sending the flaming wreckage hurtling to the ground. The second rocket destroyed the tail rotor of the Commander's helo and sent the bird into a spin.

"Yeah! How's that for fireworks!" The mysterious voice shouted in glee.

"Feeder!" MP7 shouted as she watched the bird spiral down.

The UH-60 struck the ground nose first, collapsing the cockpit and briefly standing straight up. The blades dug into the ground and shattered, sending large chunks of shrapnel flying. The fuselage slammed back into the ground and rolled onto its side before coming to a rest.

Without a word, MP7 sprinted as fast as she could to the downed bird as her teammates struggling to keep up. She approached the wreckage and began searching for the Commander.

She found Enfield, who looked critically damaged and wasn't moving. She saw various other human personnel, all dead.

Then she found Feeder.

His eyes open, staring up at the ceiling of the Blackhawk, his neck bent at an odd angle. His arm was missing at the elbow, she could see bone and torn muscle where it used to be, and there was a large chunk of metal embedded in his chest.

That's when MP7 noticed she was covered in blood and coolant from the casualties inside the helicopter.

She heard someone call her name, but they sounded far away. She reached out, and closed the Feeder's eyes, it was the least she could do.

Someone grabbed her shoulder and yelled at her. It was USP, she had a panicked look on her face. MP7 turned to see SPAS grabbing Enfield's body, but not Feeder's.

USP tugged and grabbed her arm, leading her out of the helicopter and away from the area. MP7 shook USP off, wiped her hand clean, and grabbed a sucker from the special pouch she kept them in.

As she unwrapped the candy, her processors worked overtime to try and figure out what was going to happen now.

For the first time since she started working for Griffin, she was at a loss. After today, there was no way Griffin would be able to stop Sangvis now.

With a shake of her head, she rallied her echelon, and began to formulate a plan to sneak away from the incoming Sangvis forces.


Unknown Location

16 May 2062

70 minutes prior to 'Resonance Cascade Event'

About fifty kilometers north of where Griffin fought their doomed final stand, the inhabitants of an off the books research facility went about their work, oblivious to the world around them. The group consisted mostly of science personnel with a platoon sized security force that was composed entirely of veteran military forces.

The facility was actually an old underground military base built in the nineties that had also played host to a weapons research facility during World War Three. After the war, it had been abandoned when the area surrounding it had been designated a yellow zone and bordered one of the more active red zones in Eastern Europe.

Sometime later a private research company out of Moscow had a project that needed to be kept away from the White Zones. So the abandoned base was purchased by the company and equipped with everything it needed to complete its mission without its inhabitants ever needing to step foot outside of it.

The research facility attached to the base was completely gutted and rebuilt with the best scientific equipment The Company could afford. Which transformed into a need to secure government funding.

The scientists themselves were exhausted. They were close to a major breakthrough, and under immense pressure from The Company to produce results. As a result, they had been working nonstop for weeks on end. The only breaks they took was to refill their coffee mugs, and, on occasion, eat.

Even then, the science staff talked about their work. They spoke in hushed and excited tones about the strange things they had seen, and stranger samples they had collected.

The guards, on the other hand, were bored. The local ELID infestation had been cleared away ages ago, thanks to Griffin's presence in the area, and they were so isolated underground that only the security personnel knew of the war being waged between Sangvis and Griffin.

They rarely received visitors, but the most frequent one was a man they dubbed 'The Suit'. They called him The Suit because whenever he would show up, he always wore the same blue suit with a tie he constantly seemed to adjust, and always carried a briefcase. Whether The Suit was from the Kremlin or The Company was yet to be determined.

Today was one of The Suit's inspection days.

He arrived as he always did, without warning and with little, if anything to say. He was met topside by the Captain of the guard, Commander Vadym, and immediately began his inspection. The only time he spoke was to ask the scientists questions about the progress on their research. He spent half the day traversing the narrow corridors to visit most of the major labs inside the facility.

After the inspection was over, Commander Vadym dumped The Suit onto the nearest Security Sergeant to escort him back up to the surface.

Unfortunately for Sergeant Kafka, that was him. He had been in the break room and watched his lunch, a leftover casserole he had made the day before, spin slowly in an ancient microwave when Vadym called him over the radio.

Kafka ignored the call and continued to watch his meal cook. He was about to reach a crucial moment in the microwaving process. If he took his meal out too early, it would still be frozen like the Siberian tundra in the middle, too long and…

"Sergeant Kafka!" This time the voice came from behind Kafka and he spun around in alarm.

There in the doorway stood Vadym, and rage distorted the features of his potato shaped face. Behind Vadym stood The Suit who looked the same as always, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Yes, Commander?" Kafka asked innocently.

"Did you not hear me call you over the radio?"

Kafka shook his head, his own features the picture of innocence, "Why no, Commander, I did not."

Vadym jabbed a finger in Kafka's direction, "Get off your lazy ass and escort our visitor back to the surface."

Kafka was about to protest on behalf of his meal, but the sound of a muffled pop told him everything he needed to know. The casserole got too hot and exploded. A second later, the microwave dinged, but to Kafka, it sounded like a death bell.

Guess I'll grab something from the vending machine. He thought glumly to himself as he stood. The Suit watched impassively as he put his gear back on.

Ten minutes later they were riding the elevator to the surface entrance. Kafka watched the numbers tick down on the display on the wall and yawned. Normally, nothing was said on the elevator, but today was different.

As the neared the surface, The Suit sat his briefcase down, adjusted his tie and cleared his throat.

Kafka turned to the man, surprised he had made any sound at all.

The Suit studied him for a time and spoke, "Eventsss outside this facility have taken an, hm…unfortunate turn. Prepare for…unforeseen consequences."

Before Kafka could respond, the elevator slowed to a stop, the doors opened, and The Suit picked up his briefcase and left.

"What a weirdo." He muttered to himself as he pushed the button to begin his journey back underground.

He made two stops when he got back to the main level of the facility. First he went to the vending machines for a snack, then to the break room to clean up his forsaken meal.

Clean-up complete, he took his security vest back off, sat down at the table, and opened his snack. Vadym entered the break room before he could take his first bite.

"What are you doing here?" Vadym asked, "They're about to start the experiment in the test chamber, move your ass."

Kafka glared at Vadym and thought about sending his fist through the potato faced Captain's nose.

Instead, he tossed the snack in the trash, put his vest back on, and left.

In all honesty, he had forgotten about the experiment, and protocol dictated that a member of the security staff be there in the event something went wrong, someone was injured, or someone tried to steal company secrets.

It took him ten minutes of navigating the winding corridors of the facility to finally reach the observation room that overlooked the testing area. As Kafka entered, he traded a few greetings with the science staff.

He made a point of stopping to chat with the cute research assistant, Ivanna. She giggled at a joke he told and asked if he wanted to catch a movie sometime.

This was a very important code phrase which informed Kafka that she wanted to find a quiet place somewhere and…discuss science.

He assured her that he always had time to catch a movie with her. She gave him a knowing smile and turned back to her work.

After that, he traded glares with the head researcher who was running the project. The man was in his sixties and was also trying to catch a movie with the research assistant. The fact that Kafka had succeeded where he had failed was something that Kafka took great pleasure in.

"We're ready to begin." Someone announced.

Kafka turned his gaze down to the test chamber where a member of the science team, clad in a bright orange biohazard suit, had finished calibrating a large machine that had a complicated name Kafka could never remember.

"The new power source is hooked up and ready to go." The scientist's voice announced through the speakers in the observation room.

The head researcher muttered something to the man next to him, then leaned forward and keyed the intercom.

"Very well, begin the experiment."

The scientist in the test area gave a gloved thumbs up and activated the machine. The machine began to slowly rotate and occasionally emit green sparks. It picked up speed and the sparks were so frequent that the entire machine turned into a strobe light. With a loud crackle of energy the machine created one final brilliant flash of light that left Kafka momentarily blinded.

He blinked multiple times and as his vision returned, he saw that there was now a large green and orange orb floating in the machine.

"Containment field's holding, everything looks stable." The scientist in the test room announced excitedly, "adding the sample material now."

He then placed a small golden crystal into an open slot in the machine. The orb shuddered, and turned into a small sun. More bursts of energy crackled throughout the test chamber and the orb started to rapidly change shape.

"Containment field is starting to fail!" The scientist yelled, "I'm shutting it down!"

The head researcher slammed his fist onto the microphone button. "No, keep it open!"

The scientist turned to stare up at the viewing area, "Are you insane?" He asked in disbelief.

"If you want to keep working here, you will not shut down that device!"

Kafka looked over and saw that the head researcher's jaw was clenched tight and sweat had started to bead on his forehead. As he turned to look back down into the test area he saw that the orb had started to expand every time it pulsed. It had also started to shift from green to purple then back to green.

Prepare for…unforeseen consequences.

Kafka stepped over and clamped his hand down onto the head researcher's shoulder.

"Shut it down." He commanded.

The researcher whipped his head around to face the security guard, a crazed look in his eyes.

"Absolutely not." The researcher said, "If we stop now, we'll be set back by months."

"I don't give a shit, shut it down now, or I'll find someone who will." Kafka dug a thumb into the pressure point near the researcher's clavicle.

The man's knees buckled slightly but he didn't relent. Another flash lit up the test area as the orb continued to morph its shape.

As it did, the orb threw out more bursts of energy. Panels flew off the wall as electrical systems overloaded. Technicians ran around the observation room in a panic as they tried to get the situation under control.

"Sir, the containment field has almost collapsed!" The scientist's panicked voice crackled over the speakers.

Kafka shoved the man out of the way and pushed the intercom button, "Shut the machine down, now!" He ordered.

But it was too late. A tremor rocked the facility hard enough to throw Kafka and several others off their feet. With an ear splitting screech, the orb exploded in a brilliant flash of green and white light.

Alarms wailed as the ground began to rumble and shake nonstop. Meanwhile, the orb was flashing like a strobe light and Kafka heard more sounds accompanying it.

Chaos reigned in the observation room. Scientists ran to different instruments and called out the readings. Others ran to grab first aid kits to help with the ones that were injured by the initial tremor.

Kafka heaved himself back to his feet and peered down into the test area. He looked first at the orb, it now pulsed a steady yellow green, with tendrils of electricity constantly flowing out of it.

Alarms rang out through the facility as researchers began to call out damage reports. The lead researcher began barking orders to his staff as they tried to figure out what just happened.

A burst of gunfire came from somewhere else inside the facility and everyone froze. Kafka ran to a nearby phone and began to dial the number for the security control room.

"What are you doing?" The head researcher asked.

"Something's gone wrong," Kafka explained, "we may need to initiate the Sarcophagus Contingency."

Several of the scientists and technicians stared at Kafka in horror. The Sarcophagus Contingency was an emergency failsafe that was originally put in place in the event that an experimental disease was accidentally released among the underground population.

Upon implementation, the facility would be completely locked down for thirty days. Nothing in, nothing out. After that time, a biological team from The Company would be sent out to investigate the facility and rescue any survivors.

"You're out of your damn mind." The head researcher growled and began to move towards Kafka, who casually placed his hand on the holster flap for his duty weapon as he pressed the last number on the phone. He swore when the phone remained silent. He pressed the switch hook and waited for a dial tone.

Nothing.

A yell from down in the research area drew Kafka's attention away from the phone, he peered down below in time to see the scientist below grab something that had leapt at his head.

The scientist threw the thing across the room. It landed on its back, growled as it attempted to right itself. Its entire underbelly was a giant maw full of teeth that shrieked and growled in frustration as it flipped back over onto its legs.

The thing looked like a mutated crab.

Or, an amused voice said in the back of Kafka's brain, a reanimated frozen turkey.

After it righted itself, the angry Butterball turkey raised its front legs towards the scientist, and screeched again before leaping. The scientist threw his hands up to catch it a second time, but missed. It impacted his head with such force that the man was sent flying onto his back and lay motionless as the thanksgiving dinner coupled with his head.

Kafka turned to make his way down to help the man when a burst of light flashed through the observation room.

"What is that?" Someone asked in astonishment as Kafka recovered from his recent bout of blindness.

As his vision returned, he could make out a blurry shape at the far end of the room. It was about waist high, but each arm ended in a large scythe-like appendage and had a cluster of spikes in the center of its head.

The creature let out an evil hiss as it swiped at its closest target, Ivanna. She collapsed on the ground and let out a blood curdling scream. The creature jammed its arm into the technician's throat, who's scream turned into a gurgle and then fell silent.

The thing turned and sprinted towards the head researcher who scrambled to get away, but was too slow. The creature was on him almost immediately. It jumped up and tackled the man to the ground. As they fell, the creature buried its arms in its victim's back. Once they were on the ground, it began to slice him to ribbons.

The rest of the staff abandoned whatever it was that they were doing and ran for the door. The creature stood back up and swiped at a passerby. Its arm sliced through the woman's torso with ease.

It then turned to face Kafka and let out a series of distorted barks before it launched itself at him. The thing leapt up to attack, arms extended, but one of its legs smacked the desk Kafka was standing by mid jump and tumbled to the floor next to him.

Kafka drew his weapon and fired multiple rounds into the creature before it could regain its footing. The creature let out a pained wail as its whole body convulsed and one of the spikes launched out of its head.

As it struggled to stand Kafka placed his pistol's sights between the thing's eyes and fired two more times. With a pathetic whimper, it convulsed and died.

Kafka took a moment to catch his breath. He turned to look at Ivanna, or what was left of her. Her lifeless eyes gazed up at the ceiling and her face was still contorted into a scream. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

A burst of automatic gunfire echoed from somewhere in the facility. He groaned and rose to his feet. He keyed the shoulder mic on his radio but nothing happened.

He looked down at his radio, and to his surprise, saw a small brown spike sticking out of it. He looked around in confusion and saw that the creature had a deep hole, other than the one he had put there, in its head where the spike used to be.

Apparently, the damn thing could actually fire the bony spines out of its head. He briefly wondered if they were some kind of new creature made with collapse fluid. It wouldn't surprise him, they experimented with things like that a lot.

It didn't explain how they teleported though.

He tried the phone again, but still got nothing. He was in the dark and on his own. Kafka needed to check in at the nearest security checkpoint

Every level of the facility had at least one security checkpoint with its own landline and small weapons locker. Each locker contained weapons, extra plate carriers and radios, along with spare ammo and individual first aid kits, or Ifaks.

Destination in mind, Kafka left the observation room and entered the now abandoned corridors of the facility.

As he walked the quiet halls, gun in hand, Kafka continued to run his plan through his mind. He would need to round up what was left of his security team and seal the facility. Of course, the surviving civilians would also need to be rescued. The main security room also housed the facility's contingent of automated combat units; those would need to be activated if they wanted to have a real chance at fending off these new…threats.

And then, then, they would get the facility secured.

It was a good plan, a solid plan.

Which means, Kafka thought to himself, it's probably doomed to fail.

Kafka tensed as he approached this level's security office. The door stood open, the office abandoned, and the security glass had a line of bullet holes from a burst of automatic fire. On the ground were two dead scientists.

At first glance, Kafka couldn't see what had killed the unfortunate members of the science team. A closer inspection revealed that they both had been attacked by the mutated crab-like creatures.

Kafka frowned as he noticed that both bodies were riddled with bullets. That raised a few questions.

Did the security staff turn on the science team after the incident?

He hoped that wasn't the case.

Kafka opened the door to the security office and swore. Three more crabs lay dead on the floor and at the other side of the room was the security officer that had killed them. The officer was slumped against the wall. His hand still clutched his service pistol, the slide locked back.

Kafka felt a pang of remorse at the loss of one of his team members, but continued with his work. First he located the weapon's locker. He punched in his code and was rewarded with the sound of a lock disengaging.

Unfortunately, the locker had already been raided, but there was still a single AK-105 left, a few spare magazines, along with a plate carrier.

Moving quickly, Kafka donned the armor, and then loaded the weapon. The bolt slid forward with a satisfying clack and Kafka couldn't help but to grin at his immediate change in fortune.

The grin faded immediately as the dead guard twitched at the sound the weapon made. The guard let out a muffled groan as he stood that slowly crescendoed into an agonized wail that rang off the walls.

The reanimated guard continued to scream as he shuffled towards Kafka, arms outstretched. Panic started to take hold in Kafka's mind as he slowly backed away from the thing that had used to be his comrade.

The bones in the guard's hands had stretched and morphed into long, sharp claws. He could see where the fingertips had split open and stained the claws with blood.

The creature let out another anguished wail, and he could swear he could hear it trying to talk to him.

The creature swiped at Kafka with one of its claws but missed and stumbled. Kafka finally snapped out of his horrified trance, brought the rifle up, and fired a burst directly into the thing's chest.

The zombie went down with another scream that left Kafka's ears ringing. He fired another burst at the creature's head. The force of the rounds ripped the crab like creature apart and the zombie slumped back down to the floor.

Kafka felt his knees begin to shake as he tried to process what had happened.

From one of the nearby corridors, Kafka heard a muffled scream like the one the guard had made, followed by another, and another.

Kafka swore and sprinted to the elevator. He could hear the moans and wails of the zombies as they drew closer. He swung around as another anguished scream rang out closer than the rest.

From one of the adjoining corridors a zombie in an orange biohazard shuffled into view.

'The technician from the test chamber.' A disconnected part of Kafka's mind pointed out.

Kafka's pulse skyrocketed at the sight of the poor technician turned zombie. The thing turned to face the source of the noise, and Kafka could see dried tracks of blood that had fallen down from where the Headcrab sat.

The technician started screaming again, and this time Kafka could actually make out the muffled words.

"H̸̨̥̣͛̍̋̄̇̔̏͘̚ȩ̷̡̛̲͈͍͙͔͉͖̪͔̖̘͔̊̔̀̓̅́̀̔͑̕͝͠ͅl̷̡̩̙͖͈̪͔̼̞̇͆̉̋̔̒̽͂̉̒̈́̃͝͝ͅp̴̡̡̛̪̞̤͔̝͈̈́̋ͅ ̶̨͉͙̪̺̙̅͆̽͒͐͌̀̔̈̄̃͜m̸̡̛͈̙̑̾̎̾̇̐̅́̃̉͒̍̀͘e̸̹̟̖̝̟̞̜̼͉̯̊̽̒̈́͋̇̊̋̀͠!̶̹̗̘̪̗̥͕̪͙͖̏́̃̓̔͝ ̵̝̎͐̈́̀͊̆͗͋̍͂͆̚G̶͈͕̜͚̀͜ŏ̵̡̨̫̖̗͖͚̜̣̏̓͊́̄̏̃͆̿̀̚͝d̷̖̜̝̣̝̙̣̞̳͓̦͒̈́̇͂̃͌ ̴̧̣̤̱͕͖̜̮̓̿̿̍̍͒̈́͋̑̈́͌̈́̂͑h̵̛̲̹͚̘̰͇̺͈̋̿̔̒̐͛́͌̽͝͠e̶̡̨̳̯̘̫̯͇̞̘̮̺̩̤̠͒̀l̷̝̭̗͖͙̼͔͂̀͋̄̊̆͑̿̒͝͝ͅͅp̶̩͌̿̊ ̶̡̨̠̠͖̘̣̪͖͓̰̹͈̠͎́̓̏͗͐̆̿̂̋͋̒̑̇̍̅m̷̘̫̦̫̪̜͆̂̿͊́̂̓̽̕e̷͓̞̜̦͉̽́͂̓͆̓̇͂̓̂͊̂͘͘ͅ,̸̗̝̘̇̽̽̍̆͗͝ ̴̢̢̥͙̹̭̎͜p̶̱̘̻̘̝̬̲̪͚͙̌͌͂́͋̽͐̒̽͊̓̓͒̋͆l̷͍̠̱̎̔̐̀̾͐̍͜ė̴̛̩͓̤͉̤̦̬̓͋̋̽̊̐̎̒̆̋̕͝á̶̢̢̞̙̖̠̓̾̒͗͒s̷̨̺̟̭̻̪̼̃͊́̓̃͊̔̆̚͘è̶̲̘̟͕̰̦̀̄͛͆̍̒̔͂͆̕̚!̵̛̜͙̲̗͚͓̩̏̅̊͆̾͛̚"

Kafka's entire body felt like it had been doused in ice water. On pure reflex, he brought his rifle up and fired. The technician staggered backwards as the rounds tore through his chest, but kept coming.

Kafka adjusted his aim and put the next burst dead center on the Headcrab. The zombie fell, like a marionette with its strings cut and Kafka let out a sign of relief.

A fresh wave of moans and screams tore through the facility just as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Kafka threw himself inside and slammed the button to the surface level with his fist.

As the doors slowly closed, he could see a mob of the zombie creatures shuffling his way. Kafka slumped against the wall and struggled to regain his composure.

His mind began to race as the elevator began its ascent to the upper levels. His top priority now was to seal the facility, if any of those things got out…

Kafka shuddered at the thought of a city overrun with hoards of screaming zombies and creatures with scythes for arms.

The elevator dinged and Kafka shouldered his rifle as the doors slid open. In the center of the room that led to the outside world, a single man in a security uniform stood facing the door that led to the outside world, his weapon was at his side.

The door was open.

Kafka swore and ran to the man, "What the hell is wrong with you, shut that fu-"

Kafka stopped as he noticed the creature on the guard's head. It snarled and turned to face him. He jammed the rifle into the creature's skin and fired.

The creature exploded into meaty chunks and the guard's headless body dropped to the ground, his weapon clattered to the ground.

Kafka looked down and saw that the weapon was a Saiga-12. A semi automatic shotgun. He slung his own rifle across his back, grabbed the shotgun and searched the dead guard. He came away with three full magazines of shotgun shells.

Finally, Kafka turned to the large vault style door that led to the outside world. He had to squint his eyes as he faced the sunlit entrance.

Now all he had to do was reseal the door, then find the nearest military installation and let them sort this out.

No sooner than he finished the thought, a howl came from outside. Followed by another, and another.

Kafka blinked and could see black shapes shuffling into view from the outside. The air around him filled with the howls, growls, and snarls of the zombie creatures.

There had to be dozens of them, and they had clearly breached containment.

Kafka gritted his teeth, tightened the grip on his shotgun, and moved towards the mob of creatures.

He had work to do.


A/N: I told you I'd write another Half Life xover, and for better or worse, here it is.