//------------------------------// // The end is nigh... don't say we didn't warn you! // Story: Prototype: Equestria & The Rise of Pariah // by The Joeker //------------------------------// Pariah… My name… My code, my operation, my designation. I was Project Crusade, now I am Project Pariah. It is all these things, it is my identity, it IS me. But what am I? Human? No. A virus? Quite possibly… Male or female? None, my appearance is that of the males gender however, so I guess... male. I consumed my first person within the first 20 seconds of my life, believe it or not. I remember vividly that I held a scientists finger… and broke it. Then I consumed him, my first words were. "Fuck, this is uncomfortable." words and ideas formed in my head, I had consumed one of the top government scientists. They cut the umbilical cord and put me in a cell, that was where I spent the first 5 years of my life, it was where I made my first escape, where I made my first real kill. They brought me out for exercises and I punched a hole through the guards chest and ran, consuming him and learning military techniques, moves, how guns worked, etc. etc. Another one, I consumed and used as a disguise to get out because of his balaclava, before I could leave however, they gassed me with a red cloud and I passed out. When I awoke it was back in my cell, the same smell, the same noise, the same wall, the same… hell, everything. I groaned and retched up last nights lunch, the guards DNA, heh heh. I laughed at the mortals, the humans as they scurried around me, trying to fulfil their 'purpose' in life, of which they said I am the finality of. I had no time limit to find mine, I could wait for eons if necessary, not that I'm that patient. Humans are on a strict time limit, time itself, mortality, death, these words mean nothing to me, as to me they don't exist, they don't affect me. They can't affect me. They're too scared to affect me. The scientist theorise that I'll stop growing, like stop as in not advance in looks or youth anymore at 18, after that my body will completely succumb to my viral nature, the guards tried to shoot me once, well, conspiracy theorists posing as guards, that's when I discovered my invulnerability. I tore those posers apart with my bare hands, consuming them, their minds were in total belief of what they thought, but what they thought, was real, I mean, I wasn't what they were expecting, then again, I'm not what anyone was expecting, the guard I consumed seemed to think I am the perfect incarnation of the 'virus' as they called it, it hasn't got a name yet, maybe I should be the one to name it, seeing as I'm its incarnation... I've always wanted a name. Then there was Mercer, Alex Mercer is- was the artificial release of the virus, he released it just to spite the world and doom it, and without the virus wearing his clothes he would've probably let it run it's course, it took out 80% of Manhattan's population after all, not including military casualties. Alex Mercer is dead, not when James Heller consumed him, no, but he died when he was gunned down by Blackwatch, the virus just took over where he left off, scrapped the canvas and made a new one, but then Blacklight, as is hi- it's real name started searching for the torn up, missing canvas and piecing it back together like Humpty Dumpty, when he did finally finish it, well, everyone believes he was blown up by the nuke, not me, I know the virus doesn't die, as long as there's a drop of viral paste left, as a defence mechanism, anything it comes into contact with is consumed, be it animal or human, if it's organic it's eaten for sustenance. This is from my own knowledge of my own virus, I mean all I am is… well, viral paste, albeit more solid viral paste than Mercer seeing as I was born like it, I don't even have any bones, I did, but by the age of 1 they were gone, replaced with viral biomass. Testing my limits was fun, I'll admit, lifting tanks and cars was good fun, then the look of surprise on the scientists faces when I threw it at the wall, if all my might was in it, that wall would've shattered, but they would've subdued me again. I can also mould my hands into things, a sword, a hammer, anything I will it to, the only reason I don't escape is they make me happy, I ask for something, I get it, barring release of course. I watch t.v play XB and PS, whatever I want I get, they even let me online so long as I don't divulge government secrets to the general public, which I don't, the things I do know would be to much for their lesser minds to figure out anyway. Then one day… it all changed... I was watching t.v as usual when my cell door opened,(don't ask what case I won't tell) I wondered if it was a malfunction or something, as one of my doors was on an electric lock and the other was a steel door and only the head scientist has the key. I checked it out and found both doors wide open, if this was a test or challenge of some sort, I was ready, I changed my hands into swords and advanced through the doors carefully, ready for anything that might pounce out at me. Anything that did would lead a very short life, and a possibly untimely death, my 'mind' was plaguing me with certain thoughts. I headed out and heard an alarm blaring, the base was on high alert... and I hadn't escaped before it went off... strange... I saw the scientists loading up the trucks and a commander walking through the corridor, I ran at him and he threw a smoke bomb at me, which I hid in for a second, I had grown immune to the gas now, and I jumped out and pounced. -Third Person POV- Meanwhile, outside the base. "Victor 1-1, where are you?" "I just saw Pariah and gassed him he's knocked ou- *static*" "Major?" *static* "Victor 1-1 respond!" Suddenly a door opened and he walked out with his radio, he held it up and shrugged, signifying it was broken. "Here's a new one 1-1, get on." said the sergeant and tossed him a new radio As they drove away they saw Russian MiG's blow up the base. Why had Pariah not killed them? He was not without his morals, being born like a human, but the only thing that remains human about him is his emotions. -4 years later- This war had gone on for 4 years, the End War, the Russians had attacked America and China was on Britain, all-in-all the world superpowers had their hands full. All those sandwich board guys were going around saying they told us so, and rightfully so. Most cities were destroyed in the first wave of the attack by bombings, except NYZ which had recovered from it's second viral outbreak, and was being used as a huge military outpost, where Pariah was undercover as a Major, and his codename was actually Pariah, also known as John Pearson. He had enjoyed military life so far and learned certain human values like... 'friends' which seemed petty to him but he made a few anyway, being careful not to get attached. To be honest the war is all he's ever known, he now had the mind of a soldier. He had fought on the Russian front for two years and the Chinese front for two, consuming some of them, and gaining much knowledge, he also met Heller, who was actually Alex Mercer, in disguise, who had killed Heller slowly after he consumed him by slowly consuming Heller's memories from the inside out, turning Heller into Mercer, Mercer decided to let the war wage, until they had wiped themselves out. They were about to ship out to Russia again for a big battle apparently the one to end all wars. As they were loading up a bright light was seen and Pariah looked up. A missile, not a nuke but... a big one, and another, and another, all heading to different places in America, he jumped off the chopper he was halfway getting on and stared at the one heading for them with his fellow soldiers, while the civilians were panicking and grabbing a few soldiers, telling them to get them out of there, the soldiers knew that there was no escaping this, NYZ was done for, they saw America launch their own missiles to China and Russia as a 'fuck you' Washington was hit first, then Chicago, then Illinois, then... New York. Everyone had resigned to watch the end come. Would Pariah and Mercer be the only survivors... maybe... Pariah closed his eyes as he felt the heat come and opened them as he watched everyone turn to skeletons and then nothing as they were vaporised. He got out alive obviously and headed to a military evac outpost in D.C which was under attack, he was sat in a makeshift hospital under the national Mall and saw it was as busy as a beehive, as the expression goes, he had obviously recovered his meat suit's damage from the blast. (This is basically Of Their Own Accord mission from COD novelised, for character building, skip if you want by going to -1 year later- ) "Pariah 1-1!" said PVT. James Ramirez, a friend of his as he was sat down at the back, James saluted. "Hey James, at ease Private." said Pariah and got up with a hand from Ramirez. "I thought you died man!" he exclaimed and hugged him, which Pariah had learned to return. "Yeah, I thought I was dead to! luckily I had set up camp just within the blast zone to establish communication with you and NYZ and was in the middle of gathering firewood when 'boom!' and you know the rest." he said. "Yeah, a lot of guys here are now lonely and broken with nothing left to fight for, Ivan's gonna have a fight on their hands." he said as they walked the base and he swapped his M9 for a M14 EBR and Pariah picked up a Desert Eagle so he could dual wield with the one he already had. They heard radio chatter around them as they walked the base, as they walked the main room a bomb went off overhead, causing some of the ceiling to spew dust and a little rubble. They headed through the hospital and passed soldiers sat against walls, some with bandages, they saw Corporal Dunn ahead and decided to see the next move. They saw some soldiers not in uniform, some crying some thinking, and there were body bags, at least 6. As they headed forward a soldier ran in with another soldier on his back in the firemans lift as they headed forward. Then a Ranger approached Dunn. "On your feet, we're Oscar Mike!" he said and threw Dunn a rifle, Pariah had a M16A4 Grenadier and two Desert Eagles. and Ramirez had a M4A1 Grenadier w/ Holographic. "Roger, 2-1 Actual out, Listen up! this evac site is getting hit hard! we need to buy em' some time, hooah?!" said Foley. "Hey! Foley! good to see ya." said Pariah. "Major Pearson!" said Foley and saluted. "At ease, I'm here to listen to your orders." he said and cocked his rifle. "Good, you heard, let's move!" said Foley. "All Call Signs, the EZ is under heavy fire!" he couldn't make the rest of the message out but he got the idea. "Overlord! this is Pariah 1-1, my squad were in NYZ and killed! I'm the only one left, but I'm joining Hunter to take back the Evac Zone! Parah 1-1 out!" he said over the radio. "Roger that Major, sorry about your squad but good to have you here, Overlord out!" "Wouldn't want to be anywhere else Overlord, John over and out." he said and ran along the trenches with the squad as bombs went off all around them. They saw a chopper evacuating soldiers and he shouted: "Good luck!" over to them. He saw a soldier get shot through the skull, another was gunned down. "They got eyes on us. Snipers, RPG teams, and heavy arms fire, top floor, 12 o'clock due west of our position." said Pariah. "Overlord, this Hunter 2-1 Actual, requesting air strike, over!" as he said that Pariah heard the things going on. "Move your men up! Go!" "Hooah!" "We're taking too much Fire!" "Incoming! Take cover!" They ran past a tank and kept moving. "Uh, negative Two-One Actual, all available air units are currently tasked with multiple casevacs along the Potomac. Proceed west to the target building and provide support, out." said Overlord. "Roger Overlord, this is Pariah 1-1, saying I'm heading there, hooah!" he said. As they headed to the Department of Commerce building, Rangers all around the field were getting killed by explosions. "Fuck!" yelled Pariah as one went off next to him. "You ok?" asked James. "Fine, Private, keep moving!" "Everyone move up, get out of the killzone! We gotta buy some time for those casevac birds!" said Foley as they exited the trenches. "Overlord, 2-1 Actual! We're screening west with no adjacent support, and friendly victors from BCT One are hauling ass past us, over!" said Foley. "We need support Overlord or we're mincemeat!" exclaimed Pariah "Roger. Brigade Combat Team One has already peeled off an LAV to provide suppression, over." "About damn time!" said Pariah They took cover at a wall and Ramirez thinned them with his sniper. "Hunter 2-1, Pariah Actual, this is Overlord. SEAL teams are maneuvering into position on the northwest corner of the target building. Link up with them on the top floor and eliminate enemy fire teams, over." "So we get SEAL support huh? better than nothing!" exclaimed Pariah as he fired from cover and hit some RPG's As they moved up to the front of the building an M2 Bradley IFV was firing at the upper floors, suppressing the enemy. "Fuck you!" yelled Pariah and jumped cover, shot at the upper floor hitting a few enemies and ran at a window, diving in and slitting a soldier's throat with his two fingers. "All right! BCT One's LAV has them suppressed! Get ready to move on my mark! Ready! Go go go! Move up! Move up!" yelled Foley. Pariah, as he fired at enemies, saw James dragging an injured soldier to cover. "What are you doing kid?" he asked, killed the last few and turned killing a few in the next room, suddenly an enemy was on the buildings steps, aiming for Ramirez before a burst fire hit him in the chest, neck and head. "Ramirez! Move up and stay out of that LAV's line of fire!" yelled Foley as Pariah put the M16 on his back with a strap and pulled his Desert Eagles out Under cover fire, they entered the Department of Commerce. "Move up! Go! Go!" said Foley, Pariah came up from behind and shot two enemies by the door and got his rifle, killing three more enemies, he shot one in the head, and in the leg three times which finished him and one in the chest and Ramirez and the marines took the rest out. "Use your grenade launchers! Move in!" said Foley. As Pariah thought it was over he walked forward and was hit in his armor with a bullet, he turned and saw enemy soldiers on the balcony, he backed up and shot them before diving behind cover next to Ramirez. "Shit!" said Pariah and huddled against the cover, leaning out to shoot every now and then. He stood up and ran at the balcony, used a desk for a height advantage and pulled himself up, crouching and tagging them, he hit one in the head, and another he sprayed their chest. "Tangos down." he said and jumped down by the hallway entrance. They passed the lobby into the hallway. "Overlord, this is Pariah 1-1 Actual, be advised, we are inside the building." said Pariah. "We are now heading to the upper floors." said Foley. "Roger, Overlord copies all." They engaged hostiles in the hallway, in a courtyard. "Fuck! no breaks for us." said Pariah and shot at the enemy blindly from the hip, killing about 2. "Tagged em'!" he exclaimed with a small laugh of victory, suddenly a bullet flew over him and hit the cover above his head. "Woah!" he laughed and leaned forward because of the impact, he stood up and held down the trigger, firing multiple burst shots and killing the last few. "Fire team has been suppressed in Section One-Alpha." "And it was a doozy." said Pariah "Solid copy, 1-1 & 2-1 Actual." They headed to the stairs and headed up. "Overlord, this is Pariah 1-1 Actual, we are nearly at the mezzanine." "Tell the LAV from BCT One to hold their fire, over." said Foley. "Copy that, 1-1 & 2-1, good hunting boys." said Overlord. "You heard the man, no mercy." said Pariah to the men behind him as they headed to the balconies. Pariah walked across the balcony weapon first and turned left sharply and gunned down three hostiles. They took cover behind a wall and Ramirez took out the last hostile and they moved on. "Hostiles suppressed in Section Two-Echo." said Pariah. "Roger that, 1-1." They moved up a pile of rubble up to the fourth floor, the damaged Capitol Building was seen out in the distance. "That's the freakin' Capitol Building, man." said Dunn "We'll pay the bastards back." said Pariah as they moved up. "Hunter 2-1 and Pariah 1-1, be advised, hostiles on the southwest corner of the fifth floor are hammering the evac site, over." "Roger Overlord, Pariah 1-1 moving to assist." "Solid copy, Overlord. We are Oscar Mike to the fifth floor with Pariah, out." They engaged more hostiles on the fourth floor and on a balcony across them, Ramirez planted C4 on a SAM site sitting outside just after the men pulled the tarpaulin and destroyed it, and the hostiles were eliminated as Pariah had his Desert Eagles and blasted 4 tangos in the chest, sending them flying. He got ammo from a drop and got his rifle, and shot in the window with Ramirez, taking out the 5 hostiles. "Enemy fire team eliminated in Section Four-Charlie." said Foley "Copy that, 2-1." They headed up the stairs to the fifth floor. "Overlord, We're on the fifth floor, proceeding to the southwest corner." "Copy that, Hunter 2-1." said Overlord. Shadows were seen across the hall. "I got movement." said Dunn, Pariah and Ramirez ran and caught three of them and Pariah killed them off. "Watch your sectors, check those corners." said Foley. We moved in the next room and Ramirez took out the 2 RPG scumbags and Pariah moved into the next room, taking out 2 mobile tangos and taking cover. We could hear a Ranger on the radio "Hunter 2-1 needs support." "We are leaving!" "Take out that BTR!" Pariah got up and blasted the enemy with repeated bursts, eventually all the hostiles were dead. "All Hunter units, I have a visual on the enemy's crow's nest on the southwest corner. Move forward and clear it out." said Foley. "This is Pariah, any other units in view of the crows nest, concentrate fire." We moved through the halls and saw a wall which we climbed and moved to the left, eyeing the crows nest entrance. Pariah threw a grenade at the wall, it bounced off and exploded, and they heard the enemies screams. They saw arms legs and head everywhere and Pariah executed them with his Deagle. "Overlord this is Hunter Two-One Actual. We have secured the enemy's crow's nest on the southwest corner." he said as Pariah moved from body to body pointing his gun and shooting where the head is. "Overlord copies all. The evac site at the Washington Monument reports several transports away, but they are still vulnerable. Can you provide support from your position, over?" "Yeah, we got shitload of Javelins over here and-" he cut off as he hoisted a soldier's body off of something it was slouched over. "A 50. cal rifle, which I'll man." he said and rolled the body out of the way, taking position. "We'll dig in and burn through their ammo! Out! Scan for targets to the south of the Washington Monument!" said Foley and Pariah directed the rifle. He shot one who was crouched and aimed the rifle just in front of a running guy and fired, killing him as he ran, he took out the rest accordingly. "All callsigns on this net, this is the Washington Monument Evac Site! We're holding our own but have glassed enemies to the west and are taking fire from that direction!" "1-1 & 2-1 be advised, you have enemy foot mobiles converging on your position...stay frosty." said Overlord "Hostiles in the perimeter! Open fire! Open fire!" said Dunn. "Keep em' off me, I need to reposition!" said Pariah and put the rifle on his back. "Taking fire! Taking fire! Foot mobiles in the perimeter!" said Dunn. Pariah got on a window and fired at the enemy, taking each out with a burst, one jumped the barricade as he reloaded and swung for him with a rifle butt, Pariah dodged and tripped the Ruski up, sending his face on a spike. "Hunter 2-1, Pariah 1-1, this is Overlord, recommend you clear outta there...I see a mass of foot-mobiles converging on your position..." said Overlord. "Hell no! I ain't leaving the men!" said Pariah and shot a couple last enemies before manning the sniper again on a wall and providing support for some troops. "Negative negative! I have eyes on enemy armor and helicopters advancing on the evac site from the south and southwest! Ramirez, use some of this ordinance to take out the enemy vehicles! Move! Ramirez! Take out those vehicles! The evac site is taking heavy fire! Enemy vehicles are closing in! Take 'em out!" Ramirez and his team grabbed Javelins and fired on enemy helicopters and BTRs, providing support for the evac site. "Hunter 2-1 and Pariah 1-1, you've bought the evac site valuable time! Well done! Now get your ass to the roof ASAP...you are in danger of being overrun!" said Overlord as Pariah shouldered the rifle with a spare strap. "Roger that, we're headed to the rooftop! Everyone, move out! Get to the roof and RV with the SEAL Team! Move! Move!" shouted Foley as they legged it. They began to evacuate from the crow's nest. A Ranger blew down a door with a shotgun. They headed up the stairs. At the second set of stairs, a Russian crashed in from the door and attacked. Ramirez killed him. The team moves around the balcony and climbed up the rubble to the roof. "We're out of time! Go!" "Hostiles closing in!" "We got Ivan on our ass!" yelled Pariah and turned and shot a few rounds. "Move up! Go! Go!" "There's no time! Get to the roof! Go! Go!" yelled Foley. They reached the rooftop where a Black Hawk was waiting. Russians were seen coming up from below and they jumped on, Ramirez mounting one gun and Pariah the other. "Hunter, this is Dagger Two-One. We are in position at the LZ on the rooftop, what's your status?" "We're on our way. Hostiles following close behind." said Foley. As they took off, across from them, a Russian helicopter fired its missiles but missed. A Ranger fired a Stinger and shot it down. Dagger Two-One took off and flew towards the Washington Monument. "Overlord, this is Pariah, we are on the chopper and away, we linked up with the SEALs, what is the current Monument situation? over." "Negative 1-1, they're still pinned down by infantry and light armor from the World War 2 Memorial. Doesn't look good from here, over!" said Overlord. "Shit... tell them to hold on Overlord, we'll give them fire support!" said Pariah "Overlord, we'll do what we can from the air, out!" said Foley to reinforce my point. "First wave of civilian transports are delayed. Reaper Two, proceed with second-stage evacuation. Authorized personnel only." Dagger Two-One flew towards the WWII Memorial. "Dagger Two, SAM launch! Break left break left!" said Dagger Two-One. SAM missiles were launched from the WWII Memorial, Little Bird Dagger Two-Two was shot down. "Overlord, Dagger Two-Two is hit and going down!" Dagger Two-One flew over and around the WWII Memorial. Ramirez had a shot of them and Pariah covered the forces on the road, he shot a group of them harassing the troops when Dagger did a 180* and left him facing the RPGs. "RPG teams at the World War 2 memorial...pull that trigger till they don't get up." said Dagger. "Roger!" he yelled over the machinegun fire as he blasted the positions, dagger did another 180* and Ramirez fired. Ramirez fired the minigun and obliterated everything at the Memorial, spraying at RPG teams and light armor vehicles. "Hammers Two-Three, Two-Four, and Two-Five are on the way. Ground units at LZ four, fall back now." An enemy Havoc took off from the Memorial. "Enemy gunship lifting off twelve o'clock, War Memorial." Pariah shot it's pilot and sprayed it's cockpit, taking it down. Ramirez continued to wipe out remaining enemies at the Memorial. "This is ... Two-Five at LZ one! ...(unclear)...I can't...we can't carry any more people! We're gonna have to leave some of them behind!" "Take as many as you can, and then some Two-Five!" yelled Pariah, he wasn't like Mercer, he saw human life as valuable, flawed but even Mercer and him were flawed... "Dagger Two, the Washington Monument is taking fire from the main road!" "On it!" said Pariah and blasted the main road, eliminating the enemies. "Overlord to all units, Evacuation Order April, I repeat, Evacuation Order April! Everyone get the hell outta there!" "Get your ass on that transport now! We are leaving!" SAM missiles were launched from the John F. Kennedy Department of Justice, shooting down Little Bird Dagger Two-Three and damaging them. "Overlord, we're hit, but still in the air. We've got a massive SAM battery at the Department of Justice...we're going in!" said Foley as Pariah and Ramirez fired at the RPGs inside the building. "We're losing attitude control!" "Hold it together pilot!" shouted Pariah. "Take us up! If we're going down, we're takin' those SAM sites with us!" said Foley. "Hell yeah! James, lets do this!" said Pariah. Dagger Two-One flew over the roof of the building. Ramirez and Pariah fired at the SAM battery, but the Russians launched their missiles. "SAM launch! Hang on!" Dagger Two-One was hit and started to spin towards the ground. "We're hit! Mayday mayday, this is Dagger Two-One. We are going down at grid square Papa Bravo 2..."and the copter crashed... -1 year later- As General Pariah prepared to test run a new way of delivering troops behind front lines, he was nervous even though he is not human. He hadn't used his powers because he wanted to know what it felt to be human, he was going to test his powers here, Russia, he was testing a new drop strategy, and he wasn't getting extracted until the invasion, he was told it was likely a one-way trip, but he needed to use his powers again, and seeing as the U.S have no allies in this part of Russia he could go wild, test some new viruses maybe? pave way for the invasion? "Ok, you're strapped in, good look Pariah 1-1." said Overlord. "Thanks Overlord, although I get the feeling you enjoy this..." said Pariah. "Maybe 1-1, maybe, but that's for me to know, and you to find out, over." he said as he was about to be dropped, the pilot shouted. "Alright you unlucky bastard! we got 10 seconds!" he yelled, "9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 ,3 ,2 ,1, 0!" he yelled and Pariah was dropped.