Mission Twelve: Operation Red Scythe

Barcelona, Spain - August 22nd, 11:45 AM

The GLF has made their move, and are planning to unleash their virus at one of those world summit meetings that seem to be constantly happening in games that involve terrorists. Of course, it's up to you to go in, kill the terrorists, find the virus, disarm the bombs, and rescue the princess before the timer's up. Ten minutes people, let's gogogo! (Keep in mind that this is a very generous time limit; you'll probably find the bomb with a few minutes to spare).

After pacifying the soldiers in the entrance/foyer area, start making your way through the museums, being careful of tripwires cast across the doors leading on. Although the terrorists think that hiding behind these priceless vases from ur-history might protect them from the patriotic might of your bullets, the joke's on them - you failed art history, and can't tell the difference between indescribably unique works of art and Pottery Barn clearance items! Ignorance is strength! Kill everything that moves.

You'll come up to a security room soon enough, with a highlighted computer panel on one of the desks. Disabling it is as simple as holding down a button, but you might want to break off early, because as soon as you start to work it, a bunch more enemies will pop out, and they'll be quite angry, for whatever reason. Make sure your team is nearby when you go to work, kill the enemies, then patch in the uplink. Unfortunately, it won't work, so move on out to the next set of corridors. If you take right turns when they're available, you should come to a small conference room with the first Intel Briefcase.

Parking your team here will let them fire at enemies while keeping them relatively safe from harm.

When you hit the courtyard, you'll come to the satellite uplink (isn't it the cutest little thing?), as well as the second Intel Briefcase, just nearby it. Grab one and disable the other, then head through the door that opens up. Shortly thereafter, the ominous music clues you into the presence of something bad, and indeed, the suspiciously specific intelligence that you receive indicates that the Legion virus is being stored in a nearby room. If you shoot the canisters it's in...you die. Keep your team back away from the door when you go in, shoot the enemies yourself, then bring your team up when you start to disarm the bomb, as doing so will, again, cause a number of enemies to start coming your way. A good place to park your team is directly underneath the windows of the translator's booth. When they're in position, click on the bomb for a split second, then turn around and aim down the hallway you came through. After taking out the two soldiers there, clear out any others in the area before disarming the bomb for real.

When the bomb's been eliminated, head down one of the hallways that's opened up to reveal the exit to the next part of the level.

Hostage Search

Time to get started on the old hostage search, now that you've removed the threat of sudden death. Say what you will about the GLF, they surely are inspired, what with their dastardly plot to set off a bioweapon bomb inside a building that they have no hope of escaping from. It would've been a pretty pyrrhic victory, to wipe out the world's leaders on television, but only to die themselves. Can't say it makes much sense.

About half of these signals are hostages, so you'll need to be careful when entering the room.

Anyway, head up the stairs and up through the small corridors and rooms that reside on the second floor. Just past the metal detectors, you'll come to the first major hostage, held in a room with other hostages and a bevy of terrorists. Sending your squad in first will probably wind up getting one or two of them killed, so prime them for a flash+clear on the door nearest the hostages, then open the door farther down the hall yourself. When you've taken out a couple of the terrorists, give the go code to your team and hope that they can finish the job. If you have any stun grenades, now's the time to use them.

When you've rescued the hostages, move on into the next hallway and open both closed doors there to find the third and fourth Intel Briefcases. From there, all that's left to do is head to the roof of the building and slaughter any remaining enemies up there. And you're done!