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Here's a piece (one of the six now...) that I have been working on, and have on fanfiction.net, that I thought 'Why not post it on sofurry.' Be warned, there are no furries in _ THIS _ chapter. Next chapter will have them, and the same for the rest of the story.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Command and Conquer, despite how much I wish I did. EA does, despite all of my efforts of wishing it away from them.

Author's Note: For those who wish to know, this takes place more towards the end of the Third Tiberium War (campaign wise, around the part where the Commander is in Italy fighting the Scrin). The main character is from the standard GDI faction (for those of you who have played Kain's Wrath). Also, Star Fox doesn't show up until the next chapter, and it takes place after Assault but before Command.

A once powerful race developed the most powerful device the universe has ever seen and at the same time created the universe's most deadly poison. That mistake cost them their lives; and now it will soon take ours.

Chapter One: The Crystal

Master Sergeant Eric Johnson was running full force. His breath was loud in his ears as he ran through the rubble that at one time had been a suburban area of a city. He activated his jump pack and flew over a row of houses that barley even stood on their own. Johnson landed hard on some rubble and some of the collapsed. He fell off the pile of concrete and debris and landed on his right leg badly.

"Ah!" he grunted as he collapsed onto the ground and felt his right ankle twist, "Sierra Oscar Mike Uniform!" He pushed himself back onto his feet, ignoring the fresh scream of pain from his ankle. He started running again. As he ran through several former backyards, a shadow passed over his head, making him looked up. An Invader Planetary Assault Carrier was overhead, launching its fighters at some GDI forces in the distance.

'I hope it hasn't spotted me,' he thought as he quickly ran into one of the houses. 'I can't risk transmitting from here. The Invaders for sure will pick it up and then it's good-bye me...' he thought. He quickly brought up a 3D map of the surrounding area on his Heads-Up Display. He placed a Nav marker on the most likely route out of this mess and closed the map. The HUD displayed the marker off to his left. He quickly took in his surroundings. The house was charred up badly, and had some Tiberium growth along one of its walls. The place was completely empty. Not a single picture on the wall, or some trinket forgotten. 'Either these people were the smart ones, or this place has been looted...' Johnson thought, 'More importantly, I need to get out of here.' Johnson crouched down, shouldering his rifle, and started to creep out the way he came. He froze when five Invader shock troopers ran past the door without stopping. 'Ok, plan B was better anyway...' he thought as he turned around and started looking for another exit. Seeing an extra rickety stairway that just might take his weight, Master Sergeant Johnson went for it. He took each step very carefully, slowly easing his weight onto each step. After about five minutes of climbing the stairway, he moved through a small hallway to another stairway that lead up to an attic. There was a hole in the roof in front of the stairway, and there also was serious tiberium contamination. Avoiding the tiberium, Johnson carefully maneuvered his way to the hole, and climbed through it. Once on the roof he crawled along it to the gap between it and the next home. He looked up and saw that the carrier had moved on. Most of the Invader had also moved on as well.

"Incoming transmission," stated the armor's EVA AI.

"Ghost, If you can hear this, the Invaders seem to be moving towards area Romeo four. The Commander wants you to check that out. See what they are up to. Report what you find. If they are pulling back to their base, stay there and spot for our artillery. We might just win this thing yet. Good Luck, Harrison out," said Sergeant Major Tom Harrison.

"Objective complete. Receiving new mission data...Analyzing..." stated EVA, "Placing new Nav marker."

A new blue objective marker popped up on Johnson's HUD. Johnson opened up the 3D map and saw that the Nav marker was about two and a half klicks from his location. Johnson quickly memorized a route. He exited the map and looked around. There was no Invader visible. 'Those alien mothers are just like NOD. Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they ain't there,' he thought. Johnson pushed himself back onto his feet. 'I guess I have no choice. I have to catch up to those alien scumbags somehow...' he thought as he readied his jump pack.

He activated it and jumped. He sailed over the backyards of several houses and over another row of them, and landed in the middle of a street. He ran over to another house and ran through it. He kicked the rear door that barred his passage down and continued into the house's backyard, heading East (Inside joke; Weast! It's Weast, dang it!). He vaulted over a wooden fence and ran through a small alley between two houses. He looked around, again seeing no hostile presence. He sprinted across the street and ended up behind another house. He continued across the backyard until he had to stop because of an extremely large sized tiberium field. In the middle of the field stood and Invader Tiberium growth accelerator.

'If only I could get to that thing. Those things are only making our situation worse...' Johnson thought as he glared daggers at the building. He shook his head and looked for a way to cross the field without touching any of the dangerous substance. He checked and saw that his jump pack was about half recharged. 'I could wait and try to jump over or just try to walk around it... I don't even know if I could jump over the thing...' he thought.

"EVA, update maps, plot quickest route around with minimum tiberium exposure," Johnson said.

"Updating... Updating... Update complete, plotting course... Course complete. Placing Nav markers now," EVA stated. A new green marker popped up on the HUD.

"How much exposure to tiberium?" Johnson asked.

"None," the monotone voice of EVA stated. Johnson faced towards the first marker, north of his position, and started running. He continued scanning the perimeter. The area felt too empty. 'They must really need those units at Romeo-four... There aren't even any Buzzers here...' he thought as he passed a house that had signs of Buzzers garrisoning it. As Johnson reached the first marker, another green marker appeared on his HUD. This one appeared directly to his right, directly across the Tiberium field. Johnson opened up a 2D map.

"Overlay this Tiberium field on the map," Johnson said. The map focused on his position. The area directly in front of him turned green.

"Add waypoint markers onto the map, and add in my jump distance," Johnson said again. The green marker was just on the other side of the Tiberium field. A red marker appeared just on the edge of the Tiberium field farthest from him. Johnson let a small smile appear on his face before he quickly dismissed the feeling and focused back on the mission. He quickly exited from the map and checked the status of his jump-pack. With a running start, Johnson jumped and activated his jump-pack. He arched over the Tiberium field and over a house that was ridden with the stuff. He flew over the field and landed safely on the other side. Johnson quickly scanned his surroundings and saw a new green marker appear on his HUD, this time Southeast of his position. He opened the 2D map again and saw that there was a gap in the Tiberium field. However, he would have to wait for his jump-pack to recharge. Johnson shouldered his rail carbine and scanned the area. There was an annoying feeling in the pit of his stomach.

'Something isn't right about this whole situation,' Johnson thought as he scanned the area. He checked the status of his jump-pack; about fifty percent charged. He looked back up. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed some movement. He brought his rifle to bear. A squad of Ravagers appeared. Johnson opened fire without hesitation. His weapon quickly cut through the Ravagers. They didn't even get a single round off before the last one fell. 'I love this advanced gear,' Johnson thought as he checked his jump-pack again; fully charged. Johnson let a primal grin grace his features.

"Chalk up another five kills, EVA," he said as he started running towards the Nav marker. Just before he reached the Tiberium field he jumped and activated his jump-pack. He sailed over the empty Tiberium field and into a small clearing. He crouched down again as another green marker appeared on his HUD. He scanned the area, and moved to the center of the clearing. Surrounded on all sides by Tiberium, Johnson didn't like where he was, and check on his jump-pack. It was only twenty five percent charged. 'Not good...'he thought, 'Wait... Oh man, how could I have forgotten that?'

"Eva, focus all energy on weapons and the jump-pack," Johnson said.

"Transferring energy to weapons and jump-pack," EVA said. Johnson checked his jump-pack and saw that it had jumped to fifty percent. It quickly climbed to sixty percent and continued at a rapid pace. Johnson focused his attention back on his surroundings. He scanned his surroundings one more time before he faced towards the green marker. It was towards the East. Johnson activated his jump-pack and sailed towards the next marker. He lands at the edge of the Tiberium field.

"Standard power distribution," Johnson says quickly, and he scans the area quickly and starts to run into the city.

"Standard power distribution," EVA acknowledged. Johnson ran into the city and made it to the first corner. He checked down the street he was on, and then checked the street that ran to his right and left. Seeing nothing, he quickly ran across the street and stopped at the corner of the street on the opposite he was on. 'Something doesn't feel right,' Johnson thought as he crouched down and started to move down the sidewalk. Before he even got two yards from the corner he just left, a Shard Walker moved down the street ahead of him.

"Crap!" Johnson said as he quickly opened the door to his left and dove into the building. He kicked the door shut quickly. He then picked himself back up and ran down the corridor straight (See, I can spell it correctly. Everyone keeps spelling it as 'strait' as in a narrow body of water that joins two larger bodies of water) ahead. He moved down the corridor with his carbine shouldered. Johnson turned left at the first junction, and took a right at the next junction. He came to a double-door. He busted through them and quickly checked the street he was on. He ran across the urban street and slammed into the building across the street. He slowly walked up the street. When he got to the corner at the next intersection, he peaked around the corner. Johnson counted four swarms of Buzzers and five squads of Shock Troopers. That didn't include the massive amounts of other Invader vehicles around the center of the intersection, a block away from his position. 'I think I'll need some back-up,' Johnson thought as he ducked back into cover.

"This is Ghost. Command, I have found were the Invader are rallying at. I think I see something in the middle of where they are standing. Hold on let me try and get a better view..." Johnson said over the radio as he peeked back out and zoomed in using the built-in binocular function in his helmet. He saw a small blue colored crystal sitting there on the pavement. "Command, there is some sort of crystal like stone in the center of the street. The Invades seem very interested in it," he said.

"Incoming transmission," EVA said.

"Ghost, by whatever means possible get that crystal, Tiberium or not. The Invaders like it, so we want it. Get that crystal at all costs. We will send in support to distract them. Command out," said a voice over the radio.

"Objective complete. Incoming new mission data... Analyzing...New objective marked," said EVA, as Johnson thought, 'Are they crazy?! How in the world can I get that thing when an army is standing in my way?'

"Mine is not to reason why, mine is but to do or die" Johnson muttered to himself as he prepared to run out there and grab the crystal.

"Incoming Electromagnetic Pulse. Stand-by," informed EVA. 'Ok, so I only have to deal with the infantry. That is much better,' Johnson thought. The EMP burst smashed right into the middle of the group, disabling all of the vehicles around it. Johnson then burst from cover, firing at the Shock Troopers. While running as fast as his legs could take him, Johnson killed two squads before the remaining could turn around to face him. He then swapped his aim over to the Buzzers, eliminating them before they could close the distance between their position and Johnson. After killing the Buzzer swarms, Johnson refocused his aim onto the Shock Troopers. He killed one more squad before he ran past the remaining two squads, all the while dodging their fire.

He reached down and scooped up the crystal. It fit in the palm of his hand, about the size of a fifty cent piece. Johnsons then shifted his aim towards a deactivated Reaper tripod. He placed the crystal into one of his pockets, which had dog tags of GDI infantry, and then grabbed a packet of explosives. He quickly slammed the explosive onto the Reaper tripod and bolted past it while he thumbed the detonator. The Reaper exploded, and came crashing down onto two disabled Devourer Tanks, a Seeker, and one squad of Shock Troopers. Johnson continued running as fast as he could.

"This is Ghost, I have the crystal. I need Evac, now!" he yelled into the radio.

"Receiving new mission data...Analyzing...New Nav marker placed," EVA informed Johnson. A new blue marker came up on his HUD. He quickly opened up a 2D map and saw that his Evac was about one and a half klicks away. Johnson then noticed the fact that none of the Invader had been shooting at him. He looked behind him and saw that they were actually chasing him, and not shooting at him. 'Life is full of mysteries. And this is one of the stranger ones,' Johnson thought, 'but hey, I'm not complaining.' Johnson continued to run as fast as he could until he ran into a Tiberium field. He saw the other side of it and quickly activated his jump-pack. He flew over the Tiberium field and landed hard on the ground. Johnson quickly threw himself to his feet and started running again.

His right ankle was starting to scream in pain again at the abuse it had suffered. Pushing himself past the pain, Johnson continued to run at full speed. He stole a quick glance behind him, the Invader were getting closer. Johnson checked his jump-pack and saw that it wasn't charged. He continued to run as fast as his legs could take him, dodging around random objects in his path and small Tiberium fields. Eventually his jump-pack was charged, but the Invader were so close, that the few remaining Shock Troopers were able to keep pace with him using their blink packs. Johnson dove to the left as he past dangerously close to a Tiberium field. All of the sudden he felt heat growing from the pocket he placed the crystal in. He looked down real quick and saw the there was light shining from it. Johnson dismissed the mystery for now and quickly opened up a 2D map. He saw that the Evac team was only three fourths of a klick away.

Johnson got on the radio, "This is Ghost, I have several Invaders on my tail. Can anyone get me some back up?"

"Ghost, this is Fire team Echo. We got yer back," A voice, with a slight drawl accenting it, said over the radio.

"Good to hear from you Echo. I've have several infantry and armored vehicles after me. They used to have a Reaper Tripod, but I took care of that for you," Johnson replied.

"Why thank ye kindly for that sir," the voice said, "It was mighty nice of you to think of that fer us. We'll take care of the rest. We have a few snipers who 're wantin' to take care of those Shock Troopers on yer tail. If ya could run straight fer just a bit longer, they'll take care of 'em."

"Roger, wilco," Johnson replied, as he started to feel the burn of running through the adrenaline of what was going on. Johnson used his jump-pack one more time until he was about half a klick from Echo's position. Johnson heard the bodies of the Shock troopers fall before the sharp cracks of the sniper's fire. Johnson took heart when he heard the cracks and pushed himself to run faster than before. He was within an eighth of a klick from Echo when a shadow passed overhead. A Mothership was sitting right on top of Echo's location, along with two Planetary Assault Carriers and four Devastator Warships.

"Echo, get out of here! There is a-!" Johnson yelled over the radio before he was cut off the Mothership firing its main gun. The blast hit Echo team, dead center. It was obvious to Johnson that the entire team was dead, but that thought quickly left his mind as some of the blast was heading right for him. He slid to a stop, turned around and started running, but he knew even with his jump-pack the blast would over take him easily. The shining, and burning, coming from the crystal in Johnson's pocket all of the sudden became unbearable. Johnson then suddenly blacked out before the blast reached him.