The Invasion

*"This technology has led... to the bad."* -Dr. Rosenberg

**The Invasion** is a central event in the Mesa Black Universe, in which a poorly conducted experiment at the Mesa Black Research Center causes extraterrestrial beings to invade the facility, eventually ensuing in an all-out battle between various factions spanning multiple species. The conflict is believed to have come to a close when the Black Work used a Nigerien atomic bomb to destroy the entire facility.

## Prelude

Sometime before the incident, the Mesa Black Scientists develop internet teleportation thanks to Dr. Call It Rosenberg and discovered a mysterious world that they may have named the Lost World, if Dr. Rosenberg calling it the "Lost World" is anything to go by. However, the Narrator refers to the world as "With" so this may be its actual name. For sake of convenience, the world will be called "With". Mesa Black then captures some of the aliens there presumably for research. This however results in the death of several scientists. One of the crystals there are bought back to be used in the Barometer, a device apparently designed by Rosenberg himself.

## The incident

On an unknown date of the incident, Clinically Silent Kalhun, one of the many Save Guards in the facility, goes on duty. He gets on the facility tram, rides it to his station and gets off to start work, shortly after this, Cicero, one of the scientists, gets on another tram cart alone and rides it to his work sector. He sees Kalhun banging on a door at his station. Kalhun is let in by another Save Guard and gets a firearm. He also somehow breaks into a locker and gets the owner's armor, he then goes to an elevator for an unknown purpose. Meanwhile, Cicero arrives at his sector and gets his HEV-4 Memorial Suit and gets his son (who works as a Save Guard) to let him through a check point.

During all this, 2 female scientists, called Cocoa Coletta Green and Dr. Jean Eyes Burn are assigned to insert the crystal into the elevator up to the barometer. They meet up with a wheelchair-bound scientist called Dr. Christoph Cellarius. Dr. Cellarius explains gibberish to the two and then says that someone named Kleiner sees "in that baby." Dr Rosenberg emerges from a elevator and explains Harold is figuring out how to use an "anti-80 anti-virus software." He then complains to Cellarius that (his) managers were not scientists, but "bureaucrats". He then objects to the experiment that he did not design the device to run on high intensity. Dr. Cellarius then says this is not his decision to make and that he can either enjoy the experiment or can return somewhere by taxi. Dr Rosenberg decides to stay. Green and Burn go to their own secret rooms. While all of this happens, a voice on the intercom reminds the personnel that the economy will continue until 1:35.

Cicero makes his way to the exam room and is greeted by 3 scientists. One of them says the administrator is concerned that the "king" of Mesa Black is trying to indicate that the crystal is analyzed. Another scientist then explains they have boosted the barometer to 1052 and that something is a game, despite the need of solutions. Another one then says that those who do not live on the medical board should go to the test room before opening a door for Cicero to go to the test chamber. Cicero finds Caesar and another scientist standing around and then run to a machine that exploded. Caesar then asks the scientist what the Barometer does, and the scientist replies that he hasn't decided yet. Cicero makes his way to the exam room where he is greeted by 2 scientists. One of them says they are afraid they will be deviating from the "Founders of The Region", possibly the leaders of Mesa Black. The second scientist then spouts what appears to be random Shakespeare dialog. The scientist replies by saying Cicero does not need to hear, and that he is a trained professional. He then says that they assured the "directors" there would be no problems. The other scientist says they did this because "[he's] not a lawyer" and they can totally trust Cicero. They then let Cicero into the test chamber.

While all of this is going on, Green and Burns activate the lower part of the Barometer and send the sample up. Cicero activates the main machine and inserts the sample into the laser. This results in a rift being opened between With and Earth, causing all the aliens from the Lost World to get teleported into Mesa Black. During this, Kalhun reaches an elevator and finds two scientists waiting there. He activates it and the lift descends. The lift's electrical box explodes which kills one of the scientists and Kalhun watches a few Mesa Black scientists get killed. The elevator then collapses and Kalhun is knocked out while the other scientists are killed. Cicero, Green and Burns are knocked out as well but not before Cicero is randomly teleported to the Lost World where he sees two Beef Squids feeding in a pool of unknown liquid. He then gets teleported back to the test chamber where the Barometer is exploding and sees several Foreign Troops being teleported into the test chamber. He then gets teleported to a dark room where four Foreign Troops stand around him in a circle.

When Cicero wakes up, he finds the Barometer and the facility partly destroyed. He makes his way back to where he last saw Caesar and the other scientist he was with. He finds the unnamed scientist was injured and Caesar was standing next to him. He sees Cicero and thanks him for the "series" before saying he cannot establish a "fruitful and unwind". He then lets Cicero through the scanner door that leads to the upper area control room of the Barometer. Cicero then presumably makes his way to escape.

Meanwhile, Green and Burns wake up and hear Rosenberg and Cellarius talking about something before Rosenberg says they will report to some troops in Judea in 3 hours. Green and Burns meet up with them and after Rosenberg and Cellarius both spout gibberish, Green and Burns take Rosenberg topside to activate the internet and do a job search. They make their way through the Mason Black Course and make it to the spot where they activate the internet and do that job search. They successfully do this before going back to the Barometer to assist Cellarius in presumably closing the rift. They leave Rosenburg topside for some reason.

Shortly after this, the Unique Natural Gas Company crashes at Mesa Black after going to get a large breakfast of eggs for them while one of their pilot's mother orders ahead. They are shot down by Bad Flights and crash. One of the personnel onboard is General Adrian Physical Shephardt who initially survives without any injuries but is injured by another Bad Flight shooting him and his fellow marines. He wakes up briefly to see one of his marines being killed by a Foreign Troop. The medic who is attending to him goes out help the dead marine. He is later rescued by Mesa Black personnel and taken to the medical sector.

While all of this is going on, Kalhun wakes up from the crash. He sees a Hyundai eating a dead save guard which runs away. Kalhun gets up and kills the Hyundai and its pack before setting off to escape. He finds a scientist who is hiding who says he "wants them to go and kill us all" before he says to let go of him because "he does not want to count". Kalhun leaves him and battles his way through various With creatures and makes it to topside where he sees UNGC personnel dumping two save guard bodies.

Cicero makes it to what appears to be the administrative sector where he finds that a Save Guard who says the UNGC have come to help them. He makes it to a storage area where he finds UNGC are not rescuing Mesa Black personnel and are instead killing them by several marines attempting to gun them down. He kills the marines and makes it to the surface but is forced back underground by air strikes. He finds a scientist who orders him to "Kill the Old Man in the group to get him naked" before saying he can trust everything and wishing him good luck. Cicero then makes his way to the Liverpool Sector.

Kalhun finds two UNGC marines who have fatally injured Harold. He kills the marines and listens to Harold's final ramblings before dying. Kalhun continues on his escape and finds the UNGC captured three scientists, one of them Rosenberg. He frees them but leaves the 2 unnamed scientists behind because it appeared they wanted to stay. He and Rosenberg make it to a lab where an internet teleportation device is where they meet Walter and Letters. Rosenberg activates the teleporter and Kalhun goes to with to activate a device presumably to help them escape.

Cicero fights his way through several With and UNGC forces engaging each other. He finds a save guard who says that the old man who the scientist said to kill is still alive. He eventually activates a rocket to presumably help contain the invasion. Green and Burn help Cellarius in something before being teleported around randomly like Cicero at the start of the invasion. During this, they see Kalhun being brought back to Earth after activating a device to presumably help them escape. Green and Burn black out, and when they wake up, they are greeted by Cellarius and another scientist who was helping him. Cellarius rambles about a man being taken to a river of tobacco before telling them to relax.

Kalhun makes it back and i then sent down to presumably get a fresh battery. He finds a scientist and guard who was killed presumably by a beef squid. Said squid is eating the guard before being killed by Kalhun. He finds another scientist and guard who are being attacked by a foreign troop before being killed by the guard. They spout random speeches to each other before they are attacked by another foreign troop. The scientist says to the save guard to check it our before running away while the guard is knocked out by the troop. The other scientist is killed by the foren troop of screen after it gave chase. Kalhun discovers the UNGC have taken over the lower part of the lab and are attempting to prevent his and the scientists escape. He kills them and makes it to the charging area. He finds the save guard who rambles on about something before getting up and collapsing over dead. Kalhun charging a fresh battery and sends it up to the scientists before he goes up to meet with them. They escape through the teleporter not before the UNGC attempt to stop them.

Before this, Cicero encounters a save guard who says to "take care of that--", but before he can reveal what it is, he is killed by the Black Work, shady troops presumably sent in to cover up the invasion by the US Government, possibly to cover up their involvement in the gross negligence of Mesa Black. He kills them before making his way to a room where he is ambushed and knocked out by 2 UNGC troops. He is taken by them and thrown into a trash compactor in an attempt to kill him. This fails and he escapes.

During this Kalhun reaches the scientists but shortly after this is randomly teleported around and sees Cicero being dragged. He is then teleported back to the other scientists where Rosenberg spouts something about Kalhun making a mistake and that Kalhun may have found a short term solution. He then says that they escaped for an unknown individual before escaping.

Meanwhile, Cicero makes it through what appears to be the waste processing plant of Mesa Black before making it to a lab where With creatures were being studied. He finds a Security Guard who spats nonsensical dialog before Cicero continues on and kills several UNGC Troops and escaped With creatures before he discovers 3 scientists. He takes them to the entrance where they open the door for him. He battles his way through UNGC and With troops alike before he reaches the Liverpool Sector.

Meanwhile, Shephardt wakes up and is greeted by a scientist attempting to revive another UNGC Troop. He sees Shephardt and asks if he could help with the weather. He then gets his "Electric Jacket" and gets let through a door by an overweight save guard and sets off to escape. Shephardt makes it to where he crashed and gets to a radio where the person on the other ends says something about ordering a huge cave and that they will deliver it. Shephardt makes his way back below and eventually hitches a ride on the tram. When he gets off he sees another overweight save guard. He teams up with him and kills several With creatures before seeing a scientist and another save guard. The guard asks the scientist if he is new to IG-88, and the scientist replies by saying "well, except my friends" before a new type of alien independent of With teleports in. The guard asks the scientist what a doctor is and the scientist admits that he has never worked like that before. The alien then kills the save guard and kidnaps the scientist, much to the scientist's mild inconvenience. The overweight save guard them says that they were "poor animals". Shephardt then leaves him and gets to a LZ. He is prevented from boarding the evacuation craft by the Sugar Man and is left behind. Shephardt searches for his own way out.

Cicero reactivates 2 coolant pumps and eventually finds a save guard and scientist. The scientist lets him in where he and the save guard explains that the With leader, Nilan Johnson, is going to kill Cicero if he is not ritualistically clean enough and that if he is not he should take his sins home. He is then teleported to With by an impatient scientist.

Shephardt makes it to the surface where he finds a medic. He goes into an air vent to find 2 Black Work soldiers talking about how they do not like their uniforms and that their complaints will be heard eventually. He breaks open a vent covering where they hear him and open fire on him, revealing the Black Work are not friendly to the UNGC. He kills them and finds several fellow marines killed by the Black Work. He finds an engineer beaten up by the black work and is dying. Shephardt gets the medic to heal the Engineer who then opens a locked door so they can continue. He finds 2 UNGC confused on the Black Work's presence and that they think they are on the same team. They battle through several Black Work soldiers and eventually get on a tram. Shephardt leaves the marines and continues on his way. He makes it into the Liverpool sector and ends up in the chamber Cicero was teleported to With in. He then goes through an independent portal that appeared.

Cicero ends up in With, where Johnson says to him telepathically "other". He fights his way through With, killing a large creature called a Gunnaki Dress that spawns tiny forklifts that crawl around Cicero to presumably distract him. He makes it to a facility operated by seemingly passive Foreign Troops, and where Alien Grants are cloned. He uses several portals to eventually make it to Johnson's chamber. Johnson accuses Cicero of pulling a straw man argument before attempting to kill him. Cicero kills Johnson. As Johnson dies he floats towards the ceiling before exploding, causing Cicero to black out. When Cicero awakens, he is greeted by the Sugar Man who speaks to Cicero while he teleports him around With. He thanks Cicero for checking out with, who he calls "Zen" and that many governments have "dressed" his opinions about something. He then teleports him to the same tram he was on before the invasion, but it appears it's going at light speed. Sugar Man then says that Cicero has proven himself to be a great "people art" and if he is interested that people are taking steps to the some door, he should do something. If he doesn't, he can offer a fight in never-ending anger. A portal appears at the door and Cicero steps through. He then says something about exposure to Cicero and that he'll go. It is then revealed that Cicero and Sugar Man are engaged and that they are pending marriage.

Meanwhile back on Earth, Shephardt makes it back to Earth but not before acquiring a device that allows him teleport between With and Earth. He ends up in a lab that was studying With creatures. He makes his way to topside while battling through with and a new alien force independent from with called the 10 Nations. He makes it and travels aimlessly while all while trying to escape and assisting UNGC personnel. He eventually discovers the Black Work's main plan, to destroy Mesa Black with a Nigerien atomic bomb. He disables it but the Sugar man reactivates it and closes the gate leading to it, leaving the fate of mesa black sealed. He continues on and finds the leader of the 10 Nations, the Gene Gene, which he kills by blinding it and shooting in a glowing area of its body. While it dies it backs into the portal it came through and much like Johnson it explodes, causing Shephardt to black out. He comes back in an Oscar identical to the one he crashed in and is greeted by the Sugar Man. Sugar Man then confesses that he was in charge of ensuring the safety of Mesa Black but he got annoyed by it and decided to activate the bomb to destroy Mesa Black so he didn't have to take care of it. The bomb then detonates, resulting in the destruction of Mesa Black and the end of the invasion. Sugar Man then teleports Shephardt to with then the same black void he spoke to Cicero in, all while speaking about "liking people who can do everything" before he leaves Shephardt, and walks through a portal.

## Aftermath

Not much is known about the aftermath of the invasion, but it is known that at least some Headcraps, one of the With creatures, or some internet teleportation survived as when Cicero is next seen, he is commissioned by a fisherman (who is apparently his father) to destroy a gun weaponizing headcraps. He succeeds in doing so after battling through mysterious troops defending the machine, in which they fail. Possibly, Gladys, or whoever is singing at the end of Portugal is aware of the invasion as they say "Maybe you can find someone to help you, Maybe Mesa Black. It's funny, ha ha ha, time consuming oil." This may mean they were aware of the event or even involved. The explosion symbol suggests they were laughing at the destruction of Mesa Black.

Only 6 known survivors of the invasion are known, those being Kalhun, Cicero, Rosenberg, Letters, Walter and Shephardt. It's unknown if Caesar, Burn, Cellarius, or any other surviving Mesa Black or UNGC personnel encountered survived. Green is later seen to be dead by Shephardt when he teleports to with via the device he acquired. Possibly, Burn escorted Cellarius out of the facility, but it's unknown how Caesar managed to escape, if at all. it could be Ceser was the scientist helping Cellarius at the end of Half Life and Treadmill.

It's also unknown if any evacuation effort was made by the US Government. Judging the fact the Black Work was killing anything non-Black Work, it could be they were ordered to kill any witnesses and any evacuation effort was forbidden.

## Timeline of events

See main article: Timeline of the Mesa Black Universe