1 A Silent Graveyard
The birthplace of humanity Earth was once covered In deep blue oceans, and continents full of life.
Now nothing but a tomb world, filled with radiation and toxins.
Even the moon Itself was cracked, Its pieces orbit around what was left of It as they clashed with each other further shattering Into smaller ones.
While a graveyard comprised of destroyed space stations and spaceships surrounded the Earth.
The frozen corpses forever float silently in the void of space.
Amongst those corpses, a 240 centimeters tall figure silently Inched ever closer towards Earth.
It's barely visible at this point black, red, and white sci-fi-looking pattern camouflage-coated power armor full of dents, gauges, and holes.
He was covered In a layer of frost, his assault rifle floating by his right side.
Although one would say that the one Inside the armor was dead, the truth was that It was the complete opposite.
The man Inside wasn't a normal human being but a killing machine born and bred for war.
His numerous augmentations that made him harder to kill than a cockroach allowed the tactical artificial Intelligence inside his brain.
To control the nanites Inside his body to force the man's body Into a suspended animation.
While the armor life support systems supplied the man with the bare minimum amount of oxygen, energy, protein, fat, carbs, and calories stored Inside Its reservoirs to keep the man's body functional.
Suddenly the man's body started accelerating, the mother planet finally took hold of Its forgotten by history and time child, she was eager to return him to her sweet embrace.
As the man hurtled through the Earth's atmosphere, the flames of reentry enveloped him, casting a fiery trail across the toxic dust and radioactive storms-filled sky.
His environmental suit under his armor designed to withstand extreme heat and cold soaked up most of the heat.
But despite that the damage It received prior was tremendous so the man was being cooked alive.
Yet his power armors life-support systems did everything It could to keep him alive.
While the nanites Inside his body relentlessly regenerated his boiling organs.
With a thunderous roar, he descended rapidly toward the radio-active expanse of the once A*ian continent now nothing but a desert wasteland.
The desert landscape stretched out below, a vast sea of golden sands of nothingness under the scorching sun.
His descent was a controlled freefall, guided by the integrated chemical thrusters in his armor operated by his AI.
The air around him crackled with heat, and the view in his fully enclosed helmets-cracked screen shifted from the infinite black of space to the boundless horizon of the Earth.
The desert sands raced to meet him, and the tension grew as his AI prepared his body for impact.
With a resounding thud, the super soldier landed in the middle of the vast desert.
The ground shuddered beneath his powerful impact, and a cloud of dust and sand billowed outward.
Immediately his AI accessed his condition, countless red warnings flashed in his cracked crimson HUD view.
Seeing that its host's vitals were dropping rapidly, the AI pumped his body full of additional synthetic combat stimulants produced and stored in his cybernetic implants.
As the combat stimulants entered his bloodstream his vitals stabilized and slowly started improving.
The damage that the soldier suffered was horrendous, dozens of holes dotted his augmented flesh and mechanical nanocomposite skeleton with a ribcage that was one solid plate.
Half of his organs were destroyed but thankfully his additional organs artificially grown inside his body were still in barely working condition.
These combat stimulants juiced up organs were the only thing keeping the super soldier alive as his nanites worked overtime to fix the man's body as fast as possible.
Minutes, hours, and days passed.
Slowly the super soldier's torn muscles were reattached, his mechanical bones recombined and his organs regrewon.
As the super soldier's AI began to rouse him from his deep slumber, three post-apocalyptic-looking armored cars screeched to a halt at the glassified impact crater.
The doors flung open, and a dozen militants, clad in scavenged gear and armed with an assortment of weapons, spilled out.
"I can't believe it! It's an Orbital Insertion Strike Trooper!"
Exclaimed one of the militants, a man who had survived the nuclear apocalypse and developed the ability to filter radiation within his body and In turn achieved what all the rulers had always desired but that came at a terrible cost.
"Huh, please explain, Boss?"
Asked another militant who had been born after World War 3.
"These freaks of nature are the UNOE's war hounds. One of these bastards could wipe out an entire infantry brigade by himself!"
The boss explained, his voice tinged with fear as he cautiously examined the super soldier's motionless form.
"So, you're saying he could take on a bonebane by himself?"
Inquired the younger militant as their comrades descended into the crater with steel chains attached to one of their armored cars.
"Blah! He'd tear the bonebane apart, these freaks can even rip off an MBT's turret, you're lucky that thing's dead, or we'd be dead meat already,"
The boss replied, spitting a glob of saliva before freezing in place as a horrifying thought crossed his mind.
He remembered reading online speculation about these supersoldiers being injected with cutting-edge military-grade nanites then an Internet was still a thing.
Although there was no concrete proof to support the claim.
This was the only way to explain their undead-like characteristics, as they wouldn't stop fighting even after losing limbs or having fist-sized holes blown in their torsos.
"Damn it! Get out, get away from that thing now!"
The boss screamed as he raised his laser rifle and pulled the trigger but was a step too late, he saw the OIST grab his mans head with his armored hand.
Only to explode like a watermelon the next second after the super soldier gave It a light squeeze.
MC POV
As the headless militant fell to the ground the armed militants opened fire.
To their dismay, their laser beams proved utterly futile against my battle-damaged power armor.
My AI provided thermal, x-ray scans, and weapon specifications, down to the number of bullets in their magazines.
With the panicking militants marked by red holographic circles, I sprang into action, moving with astonishing speed.
I lunged at the nearest militant and delivered a right hook, causing the man's head to vanish.
"Damn it! Someone, get on the .50 cals!"
The boss yelled, prompting others to scramble into the armored cars, they quickly aimed the .50 caliber machine guns and squeezed the triggers.
Only to see their mangled bullets ricochet off my body, but despite that, they continued firing after all what else could they do?
In response, I grabbed my assault rifle, a weapon that no ordinary human could handle properly.
As I did a holographic crosshair appeared in my cracked crimson HUD view, as I pressed my rifles stock against my armored shoulder.
The militants got marked with crimson circles, and without hesitation, I pulled the trigger.
A 30 mm armor-piercing projectile exited my muzzle, Its mini chemical thrusters propelling and spinning the bullet at astonishing speeds while a red-hot cartridge got ejected to the side.
Instantly the bullet went through the militants armored vest, and the next second the high explosive payload detonated Itself ripping the man from inside out.
I continued to pull the trigger, switching between my targets with Inhuman agility, each shot killing a militant In a grotesque fashion.
Finally the holographic count next to my mag In my view reached zero, as It did I let go of my rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher allowing It to hang by my right side.
And pulled out my 20 mm pistol with a camera sight connected directly to my helmet just like my rifles from Its holster fixed to my right hip.
Only to see that all the hostiles had already been neutralized as I did I Inserted my pistol back Into Its holster.
With hostiles neutralized, my AI initiated contact with the UNOE's military on all known frequencies, following military protocol, simultaneously, I began Identifying the corpses.
While removing a relatively intact helmet and mask from a torsoless corpse, I froze for a moment.
The A*ian face I encountered could only be described as nightmarish.
The man had no hair, his ears and nose had atrophied, and his skin and muscles appeared to have melded into a horrifying and nauseating mess.
