//------------------------------// // Section Five: Route Kanal Pt. 2 // Story: Half Life 2: Episode X // by Kapwnage //------------------------------// "Alright, Twilight. Watch out." Gordon said, raising his crowbar. "What are you doing?" She asked. "This wood, its either going to collapse everything above us or safely make a way out." "Why are you doing it then?!" "Its the only way." He whipped his crowbar at the thin wood planks and splintered them into shards. Twilight recoiled back at the wood splinters threatening to stab her. As he broke one of the last remaining planks, the whole shipment of vehicles being suspended above for weather protection collapsed on top of them. It stopped just enough to not crush them both. After trudging on his knees, Gordon made his way under the vehicles. The canal was drained of its river-water, dried up from the drought. Muck and waste littered and mixed with the dirt on the ground, making disgusting sloshing sounds as they walked through it. "Blurp- Wuup" Twilight's hooves got stuck more than once. "Do you want me to carry you?" Gordon said, raising an eyebrow. Twilight shook her head and gagged. Gordon stopped dead in his tracks, looking up. Twilight, who was not paying attention, ran into his legs and jumped. She looked curiously at him as he watched the overhang above them. "What is it?" She asked. "Barnacle." "What's a 'Barnacle'?" "Just don't ever touch this." He pointed at a drooping, pasty yack of slime hanging from an oddly shaped red and brown blob attached to the overhang. It's deformed lips had sharp teeth that twitched and slowly nipped at the chilly air. Twilight gagged again at it's disgusting stench and appearance as it burped out small fragments of bones. A crow was gladly pecking at the rotting waste next to Gordon. It bolted off but was yanked back as the barnacle wrapped it's long, sticky green tongue around the base of the bird's body. It flapped it's wings and pecked at the nasty appendage. The weird blob shot out another, smaller, set of spiked lips that stabbed at the crow. It squawked, fell limp, and became fully enveloped in slime before it was sucked into the sagging mouth. Twilight finally puked up her contents of her stomach. "That's what happens when you touch it." Gordon pulled out his pistol and tapped the trigger sending three bullets into the thick of the ceiling creature. It also puked up digested material, along with the bird's already decaying body. They passed a sewer entrance in which a man was pushed up against the bars of the rusted sewer door. He was badly bruised and beaten. He cried for help but was quickly silenced by a bullet in the back of his skull. . Behind him were two metrocops coming out of the sewers. Gordon quickly reacted by sending a barrage of bullets inside the sewers. Around the corner, a group of officers were set up with a combine barricade and a combine pulse rifle, always gotta be the combine pulse rifles, he thought. They spotted him and began firing into the only cover Gordon was behind. "Don't turn the corner!" Gordon demanded. "I'm surrounded." "What do we do now?" Twilight whined, afraid of defeat. "I got this, don't worry." He jumped the small metal barricade he was hiding behind and bolted for the only opening towards the sewers. The gunner had noticed his quick sprint and fired at him, Gordon couldn't count how many bullets he had just taken off of that stupid move. His whole side burned of pulse damage. Twilight watched from behind the rusted doors as a wounded Gordon Freeman sprinted down the sewer canal. The sewer line led to a drain-pumping room that refugees had turned into a base camp. A dirty, stained red couch was littered with blood from assassinated citizens. They must have been attacked last night by raiding parties, Gordon thought. The room had little light other than what came from the drainage opening. Tables flipped over and more pistol bullets flew in his direction. The deafening crack of the pistol in a small room left Gordon disoriented and confused. He took cover behind a crate, throwing his arm around and shooting blindly. He had managed to hit the first officer in the knee, and the other in the chest. They fell in pain, paralyzed. He took this time as an advantage and kicked one in the face as he was on the ground. The other had already died of shock. Gordon nodded, satisfied at his accomplishments. "Oh, maybe I could grab a weapon?" Twilight asked. "I don't feel protected here." "Just leave it to me for now." "A-lright then." He saw a ladder leading up to behind where the Metropolice group was, but he decided to look around first, maybe loot some ammo. A pack of medical surges neatly were packed in crates, which he jabbed in his ribs. Soon, the cool hardening liquid filled his bullet wounds. "Station 12? Station 12 do you hear me? Station 12 please respond! We heard Station 10 go down and out! Station 12 are you there?" A radio buzzed, the static made it hard to understand. He continued by climbing the ladder and carefully planted a bullet into a gas-filled barrel. It exploded just as he dropped back down in the hole, and fire engulfed the whole squad of Civil Protection. They waddled around in their burnt suits and flared their arms wildly. Gordon quickly jumped back up the ladder and hit the remaining enemies with his crowbar. Twilight, seeing the opportunity for safety, she galloped into the open canal and ran straight for the sewers; following Gordon's route. She made her way up the ladder as well, but jumped behind a barricade as soon as more bullets zoomed past. "More of them, down there. I think I can-" Bata-bata-bata, the pulse rifle went off as Gordon squeezed the trigger. Combine arsenal never failed to amaze him. Ar2 rounds pierced the armor of assaulting squads. The screams of radio chatter filled Twilight's ears as more and more bodies tumbled down. "Gordon, look out!" She yelled, seeing more of them approaching from a bridge, obviously made by recycled scraps. She saw more gas containers set up to blow the bridge, so she waited for them to pass over it, and used her magic to set the barrels on fire. They exploded, throwing dead bodies of metrocops around. Even though quick thinking, she was never this scared in her life. More pistol fire whizzed past her ears, cutting them. She recoiled in pain, this time letting Gordon finish them off. He had burned through a significant amount of rounds until each and every enemy had fallen dead. Bloody, torn up exploded bodies laid around. Most had bullet holes, some on fire. Some even had fallen from the bridge above. Gordon and Twilight had managed to stop the incoming horde. She had finally come out from hiding. "I-I-I" Twilight squeaked. "I've n-ever killed another li-living thin-g before-" She began to cry. Gordon patted her head and set down his weapon. "Look, we can get through this. Go what I go by: If they want to kill you- you kill them. That's how that works." He sneered, noticing that hadn't helped in this situation. "We- Its-" She sighed and wiped the dirt and tears from her face, "This is not how we solve things in Ponyville. Equestria. Anywhere. We never have had problems like this." "Twilight, I know you are confused and a bit torn up, but you need to pull it together. Its going to be harsh for awhile until we get to Eli's and can send you ponies home." "O-Ok." "Can you be strong about this now?" "Yeah, s-orry. I've been holding it in too long." "You can't have a nervous breakdown like this every time we kill something, there's going to be a helluva lot of killing from now until you leave." "Ok, ok. I'm settled down now, sorry. I just wish I had never teleported here." "I've had to fight a giant metal tentacle monster, kill thousands of crazy jumping dogs, take at least half a million bullets, go through billions of headcrabs, fight zombies, and take down a giant blue robot by-my-self. If you think this is hard- you haven't seen Black Mesa. Now let's go!" Hl2:X COMIC