THE COURIER
—Arcturus Pit, Day 2 Early Morning—
The Cell Block, now that he could see it once he’d entered, was rather spacious. Nothing was really cluttering the room at all, save for the aliens that occupied it. Additionally, he could see that the room had a second level, as there was a balcony platform which revealed an entire new floor of cells, some also filled with prisoners.
A few heads started to perk up when the prisoners caught sight of Blake, one or two captives moving to the bars of their cells to watch the courier literally tip-toeing his way along the wall over to the left door. He was doing great. There was no possible way those dumb brutes would notice-
A soft three-beat hum emitted from the door when it sensed his approach, some kind of audio queue to acknowledge it had been open (likely because it was an important door. Probably), which drew the attention of the aliens in the room. The two brutes turned before the grunt did, and the left one let out a short bark.
“Hey, it’s that dog!” The grunt yipped, pointing at Blake excitedly, as though nobody else had taken notice. He was the last to do so.
The room inside of the now-open door was a long one with a table making up the center of it. Dried blood and other vague juices stained the tabletop, a testament of the Banished’s uncleanliness. There was even a large skeleton that sat in the center of the table, which seemed to be some kind of oversized pig. It was easily twice the size of a supermutant, so evidently the brutes had eaten well recently. Several basic throne-like chairs were situated inside, and links of sausage (or just straight-up intestines) hung from lines on the ceiling, one or two dripping with blood. The stench of meat was overpowering, though it wasn’t a sour one. Unclean as they were, the Banished didn’t eat rotten meat.
David produced nothing of note. These machines seemed very, very primitive to everything else he’d seen the Banished using. Almost like this entire area was, somehow, disconnected from the Banished. Sure, there were brute corpses, but everything else from aesthetic to technology to experiments had...
A human touch.
The computers were long dead, and the box monitors didn’t so much as flicker. The clunky keys his fingers danced on clicked loudly in the echoing silence of the laboratory.
However, he did notice a faded paper with a set of letters that didn’t seem too faded. It was sticking out from under the side of one of the keyboards, and once retrieved, the keyboard would have preserved the page’s integrity from the decay present in the lab.
‘It’s beautiful. We never thought it would work here, and certainly not on the jiralhanae, but this alliance has proven to be useful in every aspect. Once it’s done, I... WE... will have what we were brought here to do. Our success guarantees a return home, through that Nexus.
But.
I don’t think I want to go back anymore. My wife and daughter will miss me, sure. But I can live with it. I like it here, in this place. They don’t care HOW I get my results, and back in the U.S. that was always in my way. Always slowing me down. Always stopping me.
And they wanted to stop me. Stop US.
Not anymore. With my strain, we can control’
The rest of the paper, which hadn’t been under the keyboard, became illegible.
Kazaaak was successful in guarding the door. As it turns out, nothing was coming through it. The short cave tunnel beyond remained empty and dark.
RUBIKIS ISLAND
—Tiberium Woods, Day 2 Early Morning—
They discussed amongst themselves how to respond to the Warden’s offer. It was quickly agreed that, yeah, it was probably a trap - but Copen and JULIAN were ready to spring it, for wildly different reasons.
“You’re both suicidal,” Matthews huffed.
“Marine, did I give you permission to bitch?” the corporal seemed done with the private’s input. That seemed to shut him up in an instant. Willis turned his attention to Copen. “The captain wanted you to have support. So you’ve got it. I’m not letting anyone walk into danger alone on my watch.”
It seemed it was decided. So after any other following words to say, the group of five set out for their original destination as the sky grew just a bit lighter still.
The apex was an expansive complex unlike those previously seen on the small island. It was situated right at the head of a large cliff face, leading to a sheer drop into crooked rocks and waves at the bottom. A massive wall was constructed all around the apex, the same size as the walls at Grakken Prison simply in much more abundance. The outer wall had two sniper towers positioned on either side of the main gate, sniper jackals already situated in their perches. Beyond the first wall lay an array of prefabs before it ended at another enclosed giant wall. This second layer was wrapped around the actual landing platforms, as well as what could be interpreted as a warehouse of some kind, all perched at the highest point of the terrain, making the apex seem more like a fortress than anything.
The group stopped at the edge of the trees, taking all of this in. A group of ghosts, five or so, sped on by down the way, taking a route cut out through the trees further into the island, likely leading towards Arcturus Pit.
“We step out, and those snipers pick us off,” Matthews warned. “I told you, it’s a trap. There’s no negotiations here.”
