The story begins immediately after the conclusion of the previous game. Following the death of Autarch Visari and the launch of a devastating Helghast counter-attack, Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko and Rico regroup with Captain Narville outside Visari Palace and make plans to evacuate Pyrrhus. They head for the mushroom cloud at the center of the city, where the few remaining ISA ships are gathering to extract their decimated ground forces, but Sev and Rico become separated from the rest of the convoy. Forced to fight their way out alone, they encounter heavy resistance as they pass through Helghast museums and other cultural centers in a city that is now a nuclear waste land. Upon reaching the extraction site, Sev and Rico disobey Narville's orders and proceed to rescue Jammer and her squad from heavy Helghast resistance. However, by the time they return to the pick-up site, they are too late, and can only watch as the final ISA ships depart the planet without them. With the ISA fleet heading home, Narville, Sev, Rico, Jammer and a handful of other surviving troops are marooned on Helghan.