//------------------------------//
// Section Seven: Hunter Chopper  
// Story: Half Life 2: Episode X 
// by Kapwnage 
//------------------------------//





"Revvvvvvvvvvv" The Combine hunter chopper charged it's pulse cannon. "Takatakataka" It fired blunt rounds at Gordon, but seemed to ignore Twilight.

"What is that thing?!" Twilight yelled, hiding under a chunk of concrete.

"Trouble!" Gordon said, dodging out of the way. They slid down the greasy slope, splashing into a small stream of water. Concrete littered the canal system from fallen buildings. Fences stuck out of the ground for no apparent reason; all in all it was a huge mess.

"There!" Gordon pointed to a blue door, barricaded by barrels and metal sheets. Twilight used her magic to throw the stuff out of the way.

They both jumped into the doorway and down the stairs as the chopper kept firing. Rounds busted into the walls with a "Crack!" and shrapnel flew everywhere. Gordon ran back up and slammed the door shut, bullets still flinging through it. He went back down and met up with Twilight. They jumped down the latter and climbed under the railing to more sewers. The wet slime under Twilight's hooves made her yack.

Far ahead down the tunnel, a small puddle, and to the right of it a slope which was coated in grease and dark sludge. Barnacles had grown down the slope and blocked their path. But the human and pony had an advantage. In the puddle were two rusty explosive barrels. Twilight looked at Gordon, who picked up the barrels and slid them down the oil of the drainage canal. She assisted by picking them up as well, but she threw them instead. The barnacles instantly found them and wrapped their green appendages around them. Two even fought after one.

Gordon pulled out his pistol and shot at the barrels caps. One began to spark and busted into flames. It set the other off, but not exploding. Surely enough it would blow soon. Gordon watched as the barnacles continued to literally fight for their death. At last, a small tick and it exploded in metal and barnacle guts followed by whatever they had been digesting. Warm sickly green liquids squirt out and spoiled the water below.

"Yuck." Twilight said, spitting on the ground.


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Traveling through the sewers, they had to complete this step one more time, followed by more drainage canals. Barnacles had littered the ceilings all over and blocked the doorway in the corner. Gordon repeated his technique and exploded more barrels when they grabbed them up close. By the end of the journey in the sewers, Twilight was almost completely green and covered in the sticky goop. Bits of flesh from the barnacles digested prey hung from her already muddy, bloody, and soaked fur.

Ahead was the door out, they both bolted back outside into the sun but the Chopper had been waiting for them.
"Veeewwww" It charged. Pulse rounds imbedded into Twilight's flank. She screamed in pain but had to keep moving, so she followed Gordon on the canal sidewalk. Gordon pulled open the door and ran inside, Twilight following very close behind along with a barrage of searing hot pulse bullets. The hunter couldn't fit into the deep canal, thankfully.

Twilight limped closely to Gordon's side as they slowly creeped down the long hallways of the wet canal. The smell of dried oil and must made Twilight sneeze and Gordon cough violently. Wood blocked the way, followed by explosive barrels, so Gordon took precaution and slowly removed the wood with his trusty crowbar. Pushing the barrels out of the way, they crept past but were stopped suddenly by even more wood. This time, it led into a warm room in which held food and a somewhat of a shelter. He broken down the wood and peeked inside. A man, civilian, refugee, jumped down from a perch.

"Get in here, hurry!" He yelped, but quietly. "Civil Protection is on to us! We're tearing up the railroad, covering our tracks. Looks like you're going to be the last one through. Be glad you're not the one they're looking for! Poor bastard doesn't stand a chance."

"He's talking about you, Gordon." Twilight said, but was hushed.

"Sounds like they're calling every CP unit in City 17." The man growled. "Now they're filling the areas up ahead with manhacks! You'd better get going before they sweep through here."

Twilight, annoyed of the dark, walked into the room behind Gordon. The man was too busy looking out the eye-slot of the door to pay any attention to his obvious delusions. The man hadn't eaten anything in days and was drinking dirty sewer water. He tried his best to filter it, but headcrabs had even laid their young in the water, who knows what he had ingested.

An eerie metal clanking sound was heard down the hallway, opposite side of the metal door. A mechanical screech filled Twilight's ears and she scrunched up her face in confusion. Gordon, worrying, had no clue what these were either.

"Oh shit! Too late!" He dived for a lead pipe and jumped out of the way of the door.

Metal crashed through the door, blades spinning on both sides rapidly. A mechanical hum and screech filled the room and echoed off the cement walls. Easy enough, Twilight picked them up with her magic and threw them at the walls. They crunched under the pressure.




Missing, and wasting bullets, Gordon put away his pistol and pulled out his crowbar, batting at them with the dull side. He had shattered one of the red lights on one of them, and it glowed a sick orange followed by rapid blinking. The blades slowed down and it started to float on emergency power. Obviously, Gordon had hurt it badly though wasting time, it gained its lost energy and became red again. The dying, robotic sound had turned back into a deathly hum once more. The refugee busted three of them, the last one went flying into Twilight's bullet wound. It tore into her skin and ripped her flesh very clean, like a massive paper cut. It stung so bad, it became numb. She cried and bucked at it, crushing the thin metal the manhack was made of. 

After calming down, the man leaned against a wood support. He threw down his weapon and sat down. "Thanks for your help." He sighed, "Look, it isn't safe here, I'll give you some supplies to get you going, then you really gotta go." Gordon nodded.

Twilight sat away from the dirty water, despite how desperate she was to clean the wound. She tried to stay out of view of the man, in the shadows, but for whatever reason even if the man did see her, he gnored her presence. Maybe he was going insane? The man put his head in his knees.

Gordon picked up some health charges, and jabbed them into Twilight's side, above her cut/wound. She squealed, but instantly was in a bliss of relief. An insane pressure had been released and he pulled out the device after injecting the contents. Her wound suddenly filled up with a lime green foam that soothed and felt very pleasing.

"Be careful," Gordon warned, "supplies are low."

"YOU be careful." She pointed to his kneecap, a metal shard had pierced through it, like an arrow. "You have an arrow in your knee!"

"It's just wood, relax I can't feel it."

"Wh- You can't feel it?!"

"No, the suit, biotic and medical foam including pain relievers."

"Is it the same stuff you just stuck in me?"

"Yeah."

"So what do we do now?"

"We get out of these canals."







*Note: looking for prereaders! Will update again, extremely soon! Expect it within 24 hours of this one. Comments are appreciated! The more you guys support, the more I dedicate. :3*



Hl2:X COMIC