You immediately dispatch another team of medics in hazmat suits to Ashtown. Vivica insists on going since she's probably the second best doctor in the Alliance, you order her not to since you can't afford to lose her as well, not to mention she runs Fort Justice, but she's defiant and goes anyway. You also order Eden to not let ANYONE who wasn't already working there in, until this situation is resolved. You can't afford your major food source to get contaminated. You decide not to inform the rest of the Alliance towns, since you hope maybe you can contain this before panic occurs. You next step is to radio Alex, but as predicted you don't get an answer.

You soon get a report from Vivica,


"It looks bad. REAL Bad. Most of Ashtown is already dead or dying. Whatever it is, I don't think it's airborne. It might be the water supply. The only weird thing is, the children didn't seem to be affected…it's very sad though. We're going to have a bunch of orphans."
"Can't you do ANYTHING?"
"No, I have no idea what this is and I think it's too late anyway, uh there's something else I think you'll want to know…though I'm not sure how to say this…"
"Vivica just spit it the fuck out!"
"Well, uh…I tired to treat Ophelia, but I failed, her husband was already dead by the time I got here."
"…Vivica, I appreciate you trying to save someone I had fond memories of, but there's a whole town at stake…"
"I know, I know, but that's not what I'm getting at. Ophelia had a daughter you know. Her name's Laura. She's five. Ophelia told me before she died; she wanted her daughter to have a good home."
"Well of course! I mean we'll give good homes to all the orphans!"
"Again, that's not it. She asked for you specifically to give her that home. She said she said it's about time her daughter got to know her father anyway."

The surprises just keep coming.

"Excuse me?"
"Looks like you're this little girl's father…the timing is about right, I mean you did have that encounter with her five years ago. She's five and if I may say, I see the family resemblance, she doesn't look anything like Ophelia's husband, I mean granted he's dead right now, but…"
"Why the hell didn't she tell me? I mean I would've…"
"I asked the same question, during her final moments. She's said she was sorry she never told you before, but she knew you had other things on your mind and bigger concerns with rebuilding civilization and all. She always thought she would've lived in Marina's shadow anyway and by keeping Laura to herself it was like she still had a piece of you…sir I hate to break this information up since I know it probably really important to you, but what are we going to do about the town and Alex and everything?"
"Start evacuating the children to Base Pandora, the town is dead. I'll take care of Alex." You say grimly before disconnecting.

Armed and focused, for the first time in a long time you travel by yourself to the Shelter where Alex is at. You meet up with Vivica on the way, who tries to advise you to at least go in with back up, but you won't hear of it and tell her to continue on to Base Pandora. You also see Laura and some of the other orphaned children. They're obviously still upset about their parents dying horrible deaths. You approach Laura whose eyes are all red from crying. She looks up at you.

"Are…are you really my daddy?" she asks, obviously having been informed of the situation. Contrary to what Vivica said, you think she looks more like her mother, but yes there is a resemblance to you particularly the hair. Unsure of how to respond, you give a straight forward answer.

"Yes I am and I'll be home soon to take care of you." you stroke her face and get back in your vehicle and drive off.

You drive through Ashtown and see the dead bodies, by the facial expressions you get the impression it wasn't a pleasant one. Once again you think about going to see Ophelia's body, but you quickly decide against it. You'd rather remember her how she was the last time you saw her. Besides you'll always see her now in your daughter, plus you've got a score to settle with Alex.

You get to the Shelter and enter its foyer and surprisingly its elevator is at the top, looks like some modifications have been made to it as it looks as if the call buttons were there originally. You really don't care about any of it though, you're on a mission.

When you get to the bottom, you see the same modified call buttons near the elevator on this level as well (You can't believe the idiotic way GZS designs their Shelters though, effectively trapping their "customers" down here) You also see more dead bodies in various stages of decay, some look like they were dead long before Alex got here. Much of the equipment and place in general is in disarray, but you also notice some of it has been recently repaired. Probably by Alex no doubt.

You hear cursing coming from a nearby room, it sounds like Alex.

You check to make sure his assistants are not lurking around

You figure Alex is occupied, so you can check to make sure he doesn't have one of his assistants skulking about. You'd hate to confront him only to get shot in the back by one of them.

Unfortunately that's exactly what happens anyway. While you search for other enemies, Alex hears and sneaks up on you, shooting you in the back. You drop to the floor gasping for air.

"I always said you'd make an excellent candidate for remaking…trust me, I'm saving the Alliance, by doing this…" are the last words you hear by Alex before you fall unconscious and never wake up.