You lower your rifle (But still hold on to it) and walk side by side with the cyborg who is surprisingly chatty, you also see it walks a bit irregularly, like it hasn't been spliced together correctly.

"Alex will be most pleased to see you; you'll be the first human here in months!"
"What happened to all the others?"
"Oh well most of them have been improved like m-m-m-m." the cyborg hits itself in the head before he stops stuttering "Like me, sir."
"Hmm, some improvement."
"Oh well, its not so bad. Alex promises to give us a tune up when he gets the necessary time, he is only one man after all. Some assistants would certainly help."
"So Alex is a surgeon?"
"Well he's not really. I mean he didn't start out that way at least, but he's completely self taught and trying to learn more each day! Sure there have been some failures, but there's also been success! Why look at m-m-m-m." the cyborg hits itself in the head again while you just shake yours. You can see this is going to be an interesting meeting.

"So who were you before Alex…uh improved you."
"Oh I was a regular military man who guarded this base with no real identity. Just a name and a number really."
"And now?"
"Now I'm known as J-34 and I protect Alex!"
"That's great… so everyone here is a cyborg like you?"
"Just about. Most military personnel were friends with Alex before being renewed, so they were happy to be improved. The GZS personnel weren't so enthusiastic about the idea, in fact they were mad that Alex discovered their top secret project. They tried to stop him, but they were stopped instead. Alex saw that the project would be pointless in trying to perfect it to use in a war that was going to be over in six minutes. Better that it should be applied to those that would surely survive the aftermath of that same war. Here we are, I'm sure Alex will want to hear all about the outside world, hey maybe he'll improve you too!"

You enter an office where a man sits at a desk pouring over technical manuals and medical books. Two more cyborgs armed with some sort science fictionish weapons stand by him. There's no way you could hope to kill him without them killing you as well. He looks up.


"Ah a guest! Been a long time since we've seen anyone new…in fact I'm a little puzzled on how you even found this place, let alone entered it…you're not GZS are you?" Alex says changing his pleasant demeanor in mid sentence.
"No! Not at all! I'm here because the Colonel sent me. He says you and he are friends. Here. Here's his ring and a letter he wrote to prove it. He'd also given me a security pass so I could enter this place."

Alex takes the ring and letter and inspects them both, before addressing you again.

"Well it looks like everything's legitimate. I shall trust you. Though I'm not sure I trust the Colonel. I never did trust him. He only wanted to use me so I could get access to high tech weaponry, but instead I found much more here! Much more than I ever told him! Ha ha! I hear him trying to radio in, wondering if there's anyone here, I've been ignoring him. He and his group of right wing loonies are unworthy of being re-made. If they think they're true survivialists then they don't need the gifts that this base provides. All of it is mine, I EARNED this place and it shall be I who ushers in a new era. Not GZS, not the government and not the fucking goddamn Colonel!"

Alex is obviously unhinged, you don't know if he was always this way or got that way later, but it hardly matters, what's of major importance is that you walk away from this meeting unscathed. You try to calm him down.

"Whoa hold on, I don't think the Colonel or any of his right wing loonies would want to be re-made."
"Nonsense, anyone with any sense of survival would want to be re-made if they new about what was being worked on here."

You can't help, but notice that Alex hasn't done any improvements on himself…

"However, I can see you don't share that same short sighted thinking that the rest of those Compound cronies do. You are worthy of being re-made! In fact I would like to start now, I've been studying up on some new techniques and I would love to test them out. I think I could do a really good job this time, there will definitely be less acc…er complications than in the past."

This is just getting worse. Now this nutjob wants to work on you.

"Look, I don't want to be re-made! I was just here to see if you were alive and scout this place out! Now that I've done that, I'm to return to the Compound!"
"Oh well now that's going to be a problem…I can't risk you telling him what's here."

You really didn't want to hear that.

"Look, I'll tell the Colonel that there wasn't anything here, I can reason with him. You can even take my security pass to make sure I can't get back in if you're really worried. However, if he doesn't hear from me, he's only going to send more folks to this place."
"And what of it? They wouldn't be able to get in and even if they could, his weekend warriors would be no match for Cybernetic Evolution!"
"No, but they could just blow up the elevator trapping you down here forever, and you'll never be able to leave to allow your genius to usher in the new era that you were talking about."

That seems to relax Alex a bit, as always a little flattery goes a long way to ease an unbalanced mind.

"Hmm, perhaps you make some sense, and you seem like a trustworthy sort…very well. I shall arrange for you to leave. Give me your security pass."
"Okay, and I'll be needing the Colonel's ring and letter back, so I can say I didn't find anything here."

You and Alex exchange items and he and his two cyborg guards escort you back to the elevator.

"Goodbye, perhaps if we meet again you will be more receptive to being re-made. It's a harsh new world, and you'll soon wish you had an edge to survive it." Alex tells you before you leave.

"I'll do alright."
 
The elevator goes up and you're back on the surface again where you make your trek back to the compound in just a few days. You notice there have been a few changes in the few days you've left. Namely there's a still to make hooch. And you now have some working vehicles that been modified to run on hooch. The same still that people are making cheap booze from they're also using it as fuel, which basically translates into the vehicles running on "garbage" given that's what the booze is being made out of. Smells pretty bad, but whatever works. Though from what you heard some towns have been found to be running their vehicles on shit (animal AND human) so the smell could be worse. There's been a couple deaths from some of the other recon missions, but for the most part everything else is normal.

Everyone's almost surprised to see you come back, Marina's happy, Harry obviously isn't. The Colonel though wants to see you immediately.

Since you don't owe any allegiance to some nutcase playing Frankenstein in an underground base, you tell the Colonel everything. You expect him to get mad at you, but he doesn't.

"(Sigh) Alex always was a bit unstable; I always wondered why the army never gave him a section 8. Anyway, what you're telling me doesn't surprise me, though I wish you could've gotten away without giving up that security pass. It's going to be harder to get down there now."
"You still want to go down there?"
"Of course! What you think I'm going to let Alex slowly refine and build up his cyborg army? Who do you think he's going to attack first? No, we need to get rid of him NOW. I suppose we could blow up the elevator doors to gain access. Not like we don't have the means to do that."
"Yeah, but don't you run the risk of blowing up the entire elevator, and causing it fall and crash down the shaft? We wouldn't be able to send anyone down there in an efficient manner. Let alone fighting off cyborgs who would cut us down with ease if we were trying to repel down the shaft or huddled together coming off the elevator, besides Alex might have left the elevator on his level given the recent visit of mine."

The Colonel lets forth another sigh knowing that you make a good point, but frustrated as well.

"You're right, so what do you suggest we do then? Sit and do nothing with our thumbs up our asses?"

You suggest in containing Alex instead

Funny that you are about to suggest an idea to the Colonel that got you out of trouble with Alex in the first place.

"No, I think you do have a good idea about stopping Alex, I saw first hand how crazy he was. Maybe we can't actually get to him, but we could contain him.  We blow up the elevator like you wanted to do and then dump explosives down the shaft, it should collapse things enough that they won't be able to leave, and we won't lose any people."
"Ah, I like the way you think, but suppose they attempt get out, or rebuild the elevator or something?"
"Well, we could leave a permanent detachment there to keep a constant vigil. I mean the surface part of the base is completely usable. That way we get an early warning just in case anything does try to come out."
"Interesting idea. Having two command centers would be a good idea, I was planning on expansion in the future, might as well start now. Should keep us alert as well. Can't afford to get sloppy out here. Okay. We'll go with that idea, and since you came up with it, you can oversee the operation. In fact consider yourself stationed there until further notice."
"What?!"
"Hey I have to put someone there, you've done a good job so far and you have the best experience with the place so you can be in charge. Think of it as an honor son! I have a lot faith in you and I don't have much in anyone."
"Well thanks, but wouldn't someone like Harry be a better choice?"
"Harry? Yeah, he's got his uses, but I'd rather not have him in charge of anything important like this, no I want you and few others to go, in fact you pick them. I'll let you know if I can afford to spare them."
"Well then I pick Marina right now."
"I expected that. Sure, if you can convince her to go. Just remember what you're there for! Okay go pick out your team and gather what equipment you might need."

You leave and tell Marina the situation immediately, she of course agrees to go with you, though she's a little worried about being someplace with a bunch of cyborgs several feet underneath her, of course you're worried about the same thing.

You pick out six more people of varying skills, but mostly people you were getting along with during your stay at the Compound. You don't want to take anyone who you're not going to get along with. The Colonel approves of your choice and gives you the okay, Harry looks positively jealous that he was passed over for you who just got here. In fact before you leave he tells you as much.

"You fucking little pissant. You think because you're all chummy with the Colonel that you're his fucking second in command now?"
"No, I…"
"You're goddamn right no! If anything happens to the Colonel I'M in charge of this shit! You better remember that fuckhead! Because if you're still on my list when that occurs, you best pray to God that I at least lube your asshole after I rip off your pink panties and before I shove my foot up it and make your colon my permanent fuckin' sock!"

You're a little bewildered by the logic of this comment, you almost can't be sure if he's threatening you, or flirting with you. You don't feel like arguing with him though since it won't accomplish anything, besides if any good is coming from this, it's getting away from him. You and your team leave.


When you and your team get to the base in a few days, you're in for a little surprise. A medium sized robot is patrolling the courtyard. Looks like your friend Alex also dabbles in robotics as well as cybernetics. You and your team hide behind the outer wall when you all catch sight of it. Apparently Alex didn't trust you any more than you trusted him, and looks like both of you were right.

"Uh, what's that?" one of your team members asks.
"It's a robot, what's it look like?"
"Well what're we gonna do?"
"Kill it! Everyone open fire!"

You have no idea if your bullets are going to penetrate its armor, but you you're going to try anyway. Everyone fires upon the robotic being, which begins to shutter and spark, but returns fire and a bright burst of light strikes one of your team members and completely incinerates him.

"Holy shit, get cover and keep firing!" you shout.

The rest of the battle doesn't last too much longer, while your team continue to fire bursts at the machine while they dodge plasma blasts, you get enough time to toss a grenade at it and blow it to smithereens. Shards of burnt twisted metal lie all over the place.

"Come on we need to blow up that door, before something else comes out of the damn thing!"

You and the rest apply charges to the elevator door and run before it explodes. Just like you though, Alex doesn't have the elevator on the surface anymore, it's at the bottom, in fact its ascending right now!

"Dump grenades down the fuckin' shaft!"

This action is followed by running far away from the elevator, a large explosion, and then a large crash and another smaller explosion. You ask for a flashlight and peer down the shaft. Its smoking mess and from what you can tell, part of the structure collapsed in on itself. Nothing is going to be coming out of there for a long time. You're about to radio in and tell the Colonel the news when another signal breaks in, its Alex…

"So, that snitch told after all! I knew he wasn't to be trusted! You can't stop me! I'll get out of here eventually! And I shall…"
"Got news for you Alex, you're talking to the snitch right now, and you won't be going anywhere as long as I'm here. Enjoy your underground prison."

You switch to another frequency and tell the Colonel who seems pleased, he tells you he'll keep in contact with you on a regular basis and send more people when possible, in the mean time secure the place and get settled in.

A few more weeks pass and eventually the initial nervousness disappears from everyone, Alex still breaks in ranting on your radio frequency every now and then, but you ignore him. In fact being at the base turns out to be more to your liking, there's less people around, you're in charge and you get to spend more time with Marina.

A year passes…

Not too much changes around the base (Which you now call Pandora which seems appropriate since you're keeping in something that shouldn't be let out!) a few more people are transferred here, supplies are delivered back and forth, but not much else happens. You get reports from the Compound every now and then, seems they've made progress with a few small towns that survived, but there are a lot of problems with lawless bandits running around. Reports have also mentioned strange mutated animals lurking about too. Sounds like they have everything under control so far though. The Colonel has the idea to trade with the towns and offer protection when possible. He hopes to get more people to join the Compound you imagine.

Your orders are still the same, just guard Pandora, and make sure no cybernetic horrors are coming out. Sometimes you wonder if you shouldn't be doing something else, indeed Marina seems to think so. Sometimes you forget she's been training in all this survivalist shit longer than you have and has that "tame the wasteland" spirit more than you do.

You stay put

You decide that you got it made, why fuck with it? The rest of those at the Compound have to go on missions to fight bandits and go exploring possible hostile locations. You don't need to do any of that. You're in a nice safe isolated location where nobody ever comes except to drop off supplies every now and then. Even the fact cyborgs are trapped underneath you doesn't bother you anymore. You continue your routine.

Four more years pass...

You and Marina are still together, but for some reason, you don't seem as close anymore. It seems like she's been getting distant in the past few years.

You still get the harassing radio rant from Alex every now and then just to let you know he's still alive along with his robots and cyborgs. You're guessing he's been surviving on rats and roaches down there.

It's been five years since you first joined the Compound and there's been a lot more changes there at least that's what you've been hearing from the people transferred to Pandora.

You get less and less reports from the Compound itself other than its undergone a name change and due to its inclusion of a few towns now, its called the Combine and the Compound itself is called Fort Justice. You know about how the Colonel has gotten sick and seems to be getting worse as more time passes and how the population rate is growing, but it's slow. The major theory is the elevated levels of background radiation are probably affecting fertility. (You wonder about yourself and Marina since she hasn't once gotten pregnant in the five years you've been together) There have been more people sent here, mainly people that aren't "cutting it" anymore at the Compound. In fact you've been hearing some interesting stories. One man in particular called Roger has spoken to you quite frankly about what's been going on at the Compound some of it a bit alarming.


"The fuckin' Colonel? When he started getting sick that sonofabitch Harry started taking over more responsibility. Started doing shit HIS way, which was a lot more reactionary. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not some faggot peacenik, I'm all about creating a new strong society, like how America SHOULD'VE been, but fuck man. I'm not gonna kill children for no goddamn reason!"
"What?! When did this happen?"
"About a year ago! I was on a mission to this small town called Lost Springs and Harry was with us personally. They had a fresh underground supply of water, so we really wanted to gather them into the fold. Talks didn't go so well though, so Harry went nuts and shot the fucking mayor of the town! Then he proceeded to tell us to start killing all the kids if they didn't submit to us."
"And?"
"Well I refused to do it, and some of the others didn't either. A few did though, and after a couple of kids were killed. The rest of the townsfolk pretty much fell in line. Harry left the ones who were willing to kill at his command to occupy the place. He made up a damn story to the Colonel about how he HAD to do it and left out the shooting kids though. And the Colonel gets sicker and sicker, and Harry gets freer reign. Shit, if the Colonel wasn't still alive I think Harry wouldn't even be sending some people here, he'd probably be sending them all to the city."
"Wait, the city? There's missions to the city? I thought those were stopped after the first few times that was attempted."
"Not anymore! Harry's been sending a few people on his shit list to missions on the city. Harry says that there are still important resources to be gathered from there. Its bullshit, ain't nothin' there except fuckin' mutants and radioactivity! I probably would've got sent there, but I lost my arm in an ambush, and the Colonel said I needed to be taken off of active duty and sent here. There's a real mean motherfucker loyal to Harry called Damon, who goes on the city missions to ensure nobody tries to go AWOL. He's fucking nuts, he loves going into the city; I think he actually gets a fucking orgasm."
"Where the hell is Harry getting all these new people, if he's treating the towns so badly?"
"I told you he's been press ganging some of them and most are so beaten by that point that they just go along with it, but he's also been subduing some of the raider scum! That
Damon is one of those fuckers. Instead of killing them all like we should be doing, he's been recruiting them into the Combine! These degenerates are usually the ones he uses for occupation since most of them don't have any qualms about killing anything that moves and they're used to terrorizing towns."
"Holy shit, I've never heard about all this before."
"I'm telling you, you're lucky you got assigned here when you did, because you
would've been going to the city. The only thing keeping you safe is the Colonel who insists you stay in charge of this place; I don't want to think about the day when the Colonel finally croaks. Shit, I might just leave and take my chances, one arm be damned. YOU might want to think about leaving as well, because chances are Harry's going to be turning his attention towards you when that day comes."
"I still don't see what the hell I did to him, he's hated me since day one."
"Well, you got the Colonel's attention and his respect. You got a command position of your very own base, and most importantly you got Marina. He's always liked her. You didn't know?"
"Well she did mention one time that he came on to her in the past, well anyway, it hardly matters why he hates me I guess. What matters is I gotta think about how I'm gonna deal with this problem in the future."

Suddenly one of your assistants comes in and has something to report. Something you really don't want to know after having been given the recent information by Roger.

The Colonel has died, Harry has taken complete control of the Combine and his first order is for YOU to return to Fort Justice for reassignment.

Looks like you'll have to be thinking fast.

You leave the Combine

Secession isn't really a viable option. You simply can't stand up to the resources Harry has, the only option is to distance yourself as far away as possible. Harry's escorts will be here in a few days so you start packing immediately. Marina wonders what you're doing.

"We're getting the hell outta here! You think Harry's gonna let me live? At best he might be sending me into missions into the city! Fuck that!"
"You mean we're just leaving? We're not fighting back?"
"What you think I like this? I mean I don't want to leave, but if we stay, we're gonna end up dead! Come on pack your shit."
"I dunno. I can't just leave everything. I mean I'm still friends and close to all these people, I can't just leave them."
"Look, I've actually gotten along with most of the folks here too, but I'm not sticking my neck out for any of them. Besides, if they're smart they'll leave too."
"I can't do it, I can't go."

You stop packing.

"What, are you fucking kidding me?"
"No, I mean I can't do it. This is my life, this was my life before the bombs and it'll continue to be my life afterwards. I can't just leave, I mean we're trying to re-build society…"
"Fuck society! Why can't it just be me and you?"

Marina suddenly tells you a revelation you always had an inkling of, but never quite sure until today…

"You know why I liked you in the beginning? Because all those years we worked in that office I saw a man who worked hard in a mundane job yet had the potential to be something more under the right circumstances. I'm sure you remember I said something similar five years ago when I convinced you to come with me. Then you proved me right somewhat by volunteering and taking charge of this place. I knew I'd chosen right. I was in love with you."
"Was eh?"
"Yes, was. In the following years of you taking command of this place you've shown no more initiative. You've been content to just do the mundane routine of running this place. You were doing exactly the opposite of what I first saw. You were squandering your potential."
"So what was I supposed to be doing then Marina? Driving across the fuckin' wasteland shooting up people, taking their shit, and declaring their town part of the Combine like Harry?"
"No, of course not. But you could've done something more. Like sending out your own exploration teams, or even going on them yourself. Maybe if you had, you wouldn't be in this position now. You'd have better leverage to face Harry. Maybe he is a fucking dictator, but he's accomplishing a goal."

You pack the last of your things and start walking while Marina follows you.

"Yeah, some goal…Okay you know what Marina, fuck it. I gotta get outta here, and its apparent you've made your decision and I'm not gonna try to talk you out of it, because if you're that willing to throw fuckin' five years away just because I'm not the wasteland warrior that you dreamed up in your mind, then like I said fuck it. You're not worth my time either anymore. I hope you and Harry have a nice life, I'm sure he's exactly what you're looking for. Hope for your sake though his obsession for you is a lot stronger than his vindictiveness."
"Fuck you! It's not that goddamn black and white! I don't like fuckin Harry, and I never will, but…HEY! Don't fuckin' walk out on me!"

You storm out of the base, and Marina attempts to reason and explain, but it's all bullshit to you. This whole thing was. Trying to "rebuild" society, yeah right. As if there was anything worth rebuilding in the first place. You're done with this shit. You tried it and it was okay for awhile, but now its time to move on. Away from this and away from people.

You travel for a few days, and you expect Harry's men to come tracking you, but nobody ever follows you. You get attacked by a few mutated wolves, and a few mad men here and there, but nobody from the Combine. It's possible that you've done a good job of throwing them off, and Harry's people aren't skilled trackers, of course maybe Harry's just glad you're out of the way period. You briefly have an amusing thought, that Marina still had some sort of feelings for you and offered to be Harry's girl in exchange of letting you live.

You decide to think that's what happened, since you'll never know for certain and you've always been prone to imagine dramatic movie like endings.

"Heh. We'll always have Pandora." You laugh to yourself as you distance yourself further away from Combine territory.