News HL2RP² S3 Recap | ENTANGLEMENT

[Generally Fruity]

C14, Europe
Years of fighting have brought us here.

The Citadel of Bucharest dominated the Romanian skyline for the brief time it stood over the city's ruins. When it vanished into another world, it took with it the survivors of the Gene Worm infestation: an event that had, by that time, become known to outsiders as the Agora Valley Incident.

Lambda reeled from the spread of the infestation and the seeming disappearance of their allies. Meanwhile, the Advisor Triumvirate responsible for bringing the Worm to Earth rejoiced in the vast knowledge they acquired from their observation of the creature. With the rebel defeat in Agora Valley, the Advisors finally acquired that which they had been chasing ever since the beginning: a teleportation breakthrough.

Armed with new insights into interdimensional portals, the Triumvirate quickly regrouped in their last European stronghold: City 14, once Kaliningrad, an urban center built up into an impenetrable industrial powerhouse by its Administrator, Rosa Gully. There, defended by an Overwatch AI of Gully’s own design, the Advisors set their final plan in motion: construct a working teleport with C14’s Citadel, using the city’s industry and workforce.

For a time, fighters stationed in Agora Valley were considered killed-in-action. However, unbeknownst to outsiders, they survived the Citadel’s teleportation and awakened from the flash to find themselves marooned in another dimension, Overwatch and Resistance alike. Old enemies temporarily forgot the past blood spilled, and struggled together tirelessly to find a way out of the hellish place they called Dimension X.

The alliance was short-lived. In little time, Overwatch forces discovered a working teleport and endeavored to return to Earth while leaving the Resistance stranded, doomed to wander alien lands. It was only with the help of veteran leader Frank Steiner--and the cooperation of an elusive and well-dressed benefactor--that the Resistance was able to return to Earth using a derelict teleport device left behind from before the War.

City 14, Earth. Inexplicably deposited on a civilian train bound for Kaliningrad Station, the Resistance survivors found themselves back under the thumb of the CCA. It was a confusing and jarring turn of events, one that broke the resolve of many and forced many more to the fringes of the underground.

Today, the CCA exerts a desperate and ironclad authority over City 14 while the underworld brims with activity. It is an open secret that the Resistance has returned. The streets are hot; patrols are rampant, attacks and sabotage frequent. Public executions and mass counter-raids are ramping up. The Citadel lights up the night with its teleportation experiments.

It will not be long before the Advisors’ teleport is complete, and Dr. Breen’s cosmic promises are made manifest. All the same, the city is alive with alarms, guns, fires and flatlines.

The end of the old world draws near. Whatever happens, C14 will be the birthplace of the new.

Whatever happens, there will be blood.