Plot
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Alphonse Harding is a former operative of the Covert Operations Initiative (COI), implied to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. When Harding discovers and kills a squad of COI agents in the forest he lives in, his former superior, General Charles Burkin, attempts to call him back for an additional job. Despite Burkin's attempts to convince Harding that he owes him for the squad that he killed, Harding retorts that Burkin owes him for the several "last jobs" he had him perform past his retirement, demanding that Burkin pull his agents back. When Burkin refuses, Harding begins to carry out a series of raids on the COI agents stationed there, using a tunnel system to escape his pursuers. After Harding carries out several raids, Burkin opts to call in a demolitions squad to destroy the forest, angering Harding.
Later on, a COI agent named Byron Ford contacts Harding on an abandoned COI communicator frequency, offering intelligence on the developments of Burkin's manhunt in exchange for being spared, to which Harding agrees. He continues to raid the camps the COI puts up, destroying their equipment and killing their personnel, with Ford informing him of the deployment of riflemen, an attack chopper invulnerable to conventional firearms, and shock troops with armor.
After several additional raids, Burkin, with support from the United States government, declares Harding unfit for duty, adding that he will be executed at the earliest opportunity, with Ford later informing that Burkin is "calling in every favor he's got" against Harding. After further raids, Ford then informs that Burkin is also preparing the attack chopper for deployment, also revealing that he has been piloting it, implying that his family is being used as leverage against him. Byron also directs Harding to a COI camp with heavy artillery as to give Harding a fighting chance.
Using RPGs, Harding downs the chopper, rescuing Byron from the wreckage out of gratitude. He then removes a tracker from Byron, allowing him to escape undetected with his family. Afterward, Burkin declares that he will finish his manhunt of Harding, but Harding is once again able to destroy more COI equipment and kill more COI personnel.
Unable to take any more losses, Burkin concedes to Harding and pulls back his forces, though not before warning Harding that more individuals will attempt to attack him, and that Burkin will no longer be able to protect him. Harding replies that it was never his job in the first place.
Some time later, Harding recounts in his diary his discovery of additional abandoned COI camps, and writes how he feels less of the COI's influence, hopeful for his future.
Support Group
In a free expansion, called Support Group, surviving members of the COI forces hunting Harding come together in a support group, and recount particularly odd or sardonically humorous incidents they were involved in, which then inform the themes of the nine challenge levels in the expansion. [10]
As the player completes levels, the stories become increasingly unbelievable, [13] with the survivors regaling the others tales of Harding "falling out of the sky," "walking through fire," and "punching someone's head off," with the last story being reflected by an in-game power up allowing Harding to kill enemies with a single punch or thrown weapon.
However, the session is interrupted by General Burkin, who states that Harding never existed, dismissing the idea of an "invincible" soldier killing hundreds of COI soldiers as impossible. After the player completes the final level of the expansion, Burkin later clarifies that he intends to testify in front of Congress that Harding never existed. He consequently threatens the COI survivors to supply corroborating testimonials, or else he would have their families tortured, to which the survivors concede.