Arknights - Ground Zero

Prelude: The Doctor

I've never had a... normal life growing up.

My Father was a renowned scientist. He had made his name known with several theses on new medical applications and operating procedures. If things had gone on like normal, he could've made a name for himself in the books.

On the other hand my mother was religious, very much so. She always talked about her faith and went to church regularly. She was compassionate and kind to a fault and had always took care of me and had my back when things were rough or dark.

My father wanted me to continue after his footsteps in the scientific field and become even greater than him and maybe one day make a great break through in the medical sciences. My mother wanted me to learn her faith and keep walking down the road of Christ.

Suffice to say, my life was difficult. Both my parents had completely different ideologies. One was science and the other spiritual.

I eventually took after my father. At a very young age he brought me into his research office and began teaching me about physics, chemistry and medical herbs and drugs. So, over time I adopted his way of thinking. My Mother was saddened by it but she accepted it and supported my scientific endeavors. She would always be looking onto me in the shadows making sure I was ok and doing well. From time to time she would partake in dialogue with me and challenge me on my beliefs. I would always side on the way of science and tend to correct her on her "God."

Life was fine, until that is my mother got cancer.

The news killed me and my father. My Father's associates immediately began treating her, but nothing worked.

My father would see her from time to time and would scold her out of his anger and sadness of her dying. He would say, "Where is your God now! If he is so great why can't he keep you with us."

On the final day. I went to see her, crying as I held her weak hands.

She told me, ""Do not hate God for this,

we all have to die at some point. Just please, love like he did for us."

My father had a tendency to be distant and cold. Even when I was with him he seemed far away from me as if I was another instrument for him to use towards his endeavors.

When my mom finally died, it was like he wasn't even there. He began drinking and became silent.

I lost him entirely a few months later. He just locked himself away entirely.

I started working again after I got away from my father and attempting to heal from my mother's passing. That's when, IT, happened: Oripathy.

An infection that hit world wide. A substance known as Originium was discovered and was proven to be an effective means of energy.

However, after so much time of using it, problems began popping up. Catastrophes and large amounts of damage began stock piling over time and eventually society collapsed and would eventually restore as well.

Nomadic civilization and the use of predicting Catastrophes has allowed humanity to continue on despite these set backs. 

Then there are the infected.

Long term exposure to Originium has caused mutations to pop up in humans through Oripathy. Strange combinations of Human and Animal features and of course death. 

Humanity began to persecute the Infected. Beatings, becoming second class citizens, stripped of human rights, and murders.

Whether it be fear or simply getting their frustration out, the infected were hunted down. Many of the scientific community, such as myself began looking into a way to cure Oripathy when it first broke out.

However, over time, many gave up and just started trying to survive.

But I persisted.

I wanted to help people, carry out my mother's wish of loving people and attempting to prove to her even now that I loved her.

Through my time researching and traveling, I got married.

I met a woman named Kal'Tsit. She was an infected who was persecuted and I rescued her from the slums of her city. She was a researcher like me, but once she got infected she was cast out and treated like scum.

Once she returned to her lab and the two of us began our research, we fell in love.

Others began joining us and we formed a group called Babel.

Over time things were simple, until a counter group called Reunion popped up.

A bunch of Infected got tired of being killed and treated horribly so they created their own militant group and began fighting and killing humans to get back at all their suffering.

Eventually Babel created their own fighting force to counteract Reunion and all the other violent groups. 

We had to find more research and resources to continue our search for the Oripathy cure.

Other infected started joining our ranks and we also made allies with other groups like Penguin Logistics and Rhine Lab.

But these growths didn't come at a cost. Some information was guarded by terrorist or rival groups. With the Infected on our side plus their added strength from their infection and arts abilities, we began strikes on these groups for their resources.

Over time, I became obsessed with finding a cure: My wife was infected, her life was like a ticking time bomb waiting to end. My mom was already dead and I didn't want to go through losing someone else I cared about.

I started acting like my father more: I had become cold and distant from everyone else. Time had went on, and the more groups we attacked the more operators we lost.

Kal'Tsit came in one day and confronted me on my actions.

She told me when was I gonna stop sending people to their deaths just to get a bit more information for a cure or for supplies. I didn't care, I just wanted to keep the few people we had alive. Even if just a few died to keep the living going, the risk or price was worth it. I wanted to keep her safe, to keep her close.

We got into an argument and we eventually got divorced.

I hated seeing her go. I knew she didn't want to, but we did it. She was hurt to see me act like someone else, but I had to keep everyone alive. Or, so I thought.

One day, we had a mission to meet one of our informants for new information in the city of Chernobog. It was a routine scouting mission and the informant requested my presence. I left our new Nomadic City and group rebranding, Rhode Island, and set for the city.

Everything went find until a claymore in the next room went off and I was sent flying across the building.

I suffered severe damage and was rushed into a botched medical room where I began being operated on.

My vision began to blur, and suddenly... I died.