Dominic Lockhart spat on the sterile floor, his eyes darting across the high-tech bay. "Still a circus," he grunted, but as he turned to bark orders at his men, there was a sharpness in his step that hadn't been there in years. Deep down, past the scars and the bitterness, Lockhart was a soldier who thrived under competent leadership. Working for Robert—a man who actually stood on the front lines—was a hell of a lot better than taking orders from a boardroom suit in a Manhattan skyscraper. He'd never admit it, but for the first time since the Lingshan Incident, he felt like he was on the right side.
"Move it! Hargreave wants those samples in the centrifuge yesterday!" Lockhart roared. The C.E.L.L. Operatives hauled crates of glowing flora and mutated beast-tissue toward the labs with mechanical precision.
Two weeks of accelerated construction followed. With Robert's Polymath expertise and the combined genius of Hargreave and Rasch, the mountain didn't just house a base—it became the foundation for CryNet City. Gleaming white towers of carbon-nanotube composite rose above the treeline, powered by "Chaos-reactors" that hummed with a stable, electric blue light. Thousands of summoned personnel—scientists, engineers, and even regular civilians from the Crysis world—began to populate the streets, turning a frozen wasteland into a high-tech utopia.
But the real power shift happened when Robert tapped the System's terminal once more, spending a massive hoard of points.
Five pods hissed open in the center of the command deck. Out stepped Raptor Team.
Aztec and Jester stepped out first, their Nanosuit 1.0 muscles rippling as they checked their surroundings. They looked like they'd just been yanked off a transport plane. Psycho followed, his jaw dropping as he stared through the massive reinforced windows at a sky with two moons and a forest filled with bioluminescent monsters.
"Bloody hell," Psycho muttered, his eyes nearly popping out. "Did we take a wrong turn at Lingshan and end up in a damn fairy tale? Is that a dragon or did I have too much moonshine?"
Nomad remained silent, his visor scanning for threats with cold professionalism. Beside him, Prophet stepped forward. Though he was back in his original 1.0 suit, the data from his future self seemed to linger in his mind. He looked at Robert, then at the sleek, terrifying perfection of Robert's Nanosuit 2.0. He knew exactly what that suit was capable of—and what it cost to wear it.
Prophet snapped a crisp salute, and Nomad followed suit instantly.
"Commander," Prophet said, his voice deep and steady. "Reporting for duty. I don't know how we got to this 'Continent,' but I see you've already won the ground war."
Aztec and Jester just shared a confused look, their heads spinning as they watched a C.E.L.L. VTOL fly past a mountain peak where a flock of Slyzards was circling.
Robert returned the salute, the silver plates of his arm hissing. "Welcome to the new world, Raptor Team. Get your suits calibrated. We've got a planet to map, and the locals don't use radios—they use magic."
In the central command hub of CryNet City, the holographic map of the surrounding unclaimed territories pulsed with high-definition topographical data. Robert stood before the assembled Raptor Team, his Nanosuit 2.0 catching the sterile overhead lights.
"Our preliminary sweeps of the local fauna have turned up biological signatures that shouldn't exist in our database," Robert said, his voice deep and filtered. He swiped the display, projecting a blurred image of a Wyvern soaring over the northern peaks. "They resemble creatures from fantasy myths. Dragons, or things very close to them. We need a tactical deep-dive into the region to confirm their capabilities and 'Chaos' saturation."
Prophet and Nomad snapped a synchronized, professional salute. "Understood, Commander," Prophet said, his expression unreadable behind his visor. While his tone was military-grade, the data-stream in his neural interface showed an unusual spike in curiosity. Exploring a world where the laws of physics were replaced by legend was a mission unlike anything in his Delta Force training.
Aztec and Jester, however, exchanged a glance. After surviving the Lingshan incident only to be resurrected in a world of monsters, they weren't eager for a second casualty report. "We'll stick to the shadows and keep the Cloak Mode at maximum," Aztec muttered, checking his weapon's energy cells. "I didn't get a second chance just to end up in a lizard's stomach."
"Are you kidding?" Psycho interrupted, a manic grin splitting his face as he slammed a fresh magazine into his SCAR. "We're going dragon hunting, boys! This is better than any damn simulation. I want to see if their scales can stop a sabot round!"
Robert nodded, his own Polymath mind already analyzing the speculative biology of the creatures. As the team prepped their gear, the Crysis System updated his interface.
NEW MISSION: THE DRACONID SURVEYObjective: Track and engage an apex aerial predator.Reward: 5,000 Credits / Blueprint Unlock: Gauss Rifle Attachments.
"Stay sharp," Robert commanded. "In this world, the stories are real. Let's see how they handle Nanosuits."