(Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and the Half-Life series.)
Infinity
By: RoboAngel
Chapter 9: To the Surface and Beyond
The giant mammoth alien glared down at Ed and FIDO. "I am the Warden," said the mammoth's voice inside Ed's head. His voice was deep, powerful, and menacing. Just the very sound of it made her head pound she couldn't help but cradle her head in pain.
Just then, the pain began to lighten and the Doctor's voice soothed her head. "I'll hold off his telepathic power with my own. You can still hear him in your head but you won't feel any pain. He's the one who is maintaining the connection between Earth and their world," he said.
"Thanks," she said in her head.
"So, I see that you have the Doctor by your side," said the Warden.
"You know him?" asked Ed.
"I know of him. To my superiors and me, he is a menace and a nightmare. But to the people we control and rule over, he is a savior and a hero," said the Warden, "To tell you the truth, he is like you right now. A scientist in the wrong place at the wrong time but still fighting for what is right and damn hard to kill. You two are a thorn in my side."
"Sorry for being such a nuisance and by the way, I'm an engineer," said Ed with a smirk.
"Whatever…I should've killed you and the rest of the Infinity team myself instead of letting the Centipede Queen do it," said the Warden.
"So you're the one controlling them?" asked Ed.
"Yes I thought that if I took that youngster that you are so attached to while you were distracted I could lure you to the Queen's lair and become a meal for her, since she is always pregnant with hundreds of larvae," said the Warden.
"That explains the intensity of his telepathy," said the Doctor, "He's the one who is controlling all of these creatures rampaging White Peak but by thought. He has a very deep connection with them so if we kill him we kill the creatures on Earth."
"That's a bit extreme," protested Ed.
"Yes it is and I always try not to kill my enemies, I prefer to persuade them out of their wrongful ways and hope for the best. But after what I've heard of him, the Warden is not the persuasive type so we have no choice," said the Doctor.
"Yes, the Doctor is right. I'm not easily swayed by words and lectures, especially now from space dust inside a fog watch who must rely upon a woman to protect him," said the Warden and then gave a sinister laugh, "Since you're only human and can't regenerate like the Doctor, killing you and your mangy tin dog will be easy because in this world I am a god!"
"Bastard's going to pay for comparing himself to Jesus and God!" said Ed and ran towards an army jeep for cover with FIDO following behind her. The Warden gave out a triumphant roar from his trunk and began shooting lightning bolts and energy balls all over the place from his spikes. "Have any bright ideas Doc?" asked Ed in her head, "How about I spray some Essence of Doctor from Calvin Klein at him like the Queen?"
"I might hurt him but I can't kill him," informed the Doctor, "His life force is connected to the wormhole he is maintaining. I can't exactly absorb infinity out of him now can I?"
"It's Plan B then," said Ed and looked around for inspiration. She saw some grenades on the jeep seat and took one. She sneaked a look from her cover to see where the Warden was, the Warden had his right side towards her which was perfect for her plan. She aimed her shotgun at a certain area on his side and shot a few rounds into it, blue blood started to bleed out of the bullet holes on the Warden's side. The giant mammoth screamed out in pain, a few rounds from a shotgun alone were not enough to kill him but that wasn't Ed's plan. She looked down at FIDO and ordered while pointing at the Warden's wounds, "Sick 'em boy!"
FIDO obeyed and leaped from the army jeep and onto the Warden's back. FIDO opened his mouth and revealed a set of sharp metallic teeth moving rapidly and sounding like a chain saw. FIDO sunk his head into the Warden's wounded side and began to cut open a massive hole from one of the bullet wounds. The Warden screamed out in pain once again and tried to shake FIDO off of him but FIDO held on and continued to cut deeper into the Warden's side. Once he was deep enough he took his head out of the now gaping hole of a wound and yelled out, "It is finished ma'am!" FIDO then jumped off the Warden's side and ran back to the jeep.
Ed was now running from the jeep and towards the wound with her hammer in one hand and the grenade in the other. She jumped up and latched onto the edge of the wound with the hook side of her hammer. She popped open the grenade and threw it inside the wound. She unhooked herself from the wound and rolled onto the ground, away from the Warden. She got up and ran back to jeep where FIDO was waiting for her. The Warden looked right at her with his blood red eyes and she could tell that he knew what was going to happen next to him.
"It's…It's impossible for such a simple human like you to kill me like this!" said the Warden angrily, "But don't be so smug human! This is only the first wave, others shall come before me and they will be far more powerful than me! Before I die I shall warn my superiors of you, the Engineer, and they'll make sure that everyone and everything you love and cherish on this planet will suffer and die along with you!"
Just then, a flash of light appeared from the Warden's wounded side and Ed and FIDO took cover as guts and blue blood splattered all over the place. When the rain of blood and guts finally ceased, Ed and FIDO stood up to look at the carnage. The Warden's body was lying on the ground but a good majority of his side was gone leaving only an even bigger gaping hole. Ed and FIDO checked themselves over to see if any of the gore splattered onto them. Ed smiled and said, "Clean getaway from a messy kill."
"Emma, wow!...I mean geez…How could you?…How did you?...Wow, Em you're a real terror!" said the Doctor in amazement.
"Thanks," said Ed with her smile now a smug look.
"I could kiss you right now!" said the Doctor.
Ed's expression then turned from smug to surprise. "I'm sorry what did you just say?" said Ed, making sure that she heard correctly what the Doctor had just said to her.
"N,nothing!...Nothing at all!...Um, good job!" said the Doctor awkwardly.
"Okay then," said Ed unsettlingly but just then the Warden's body lit up in bright blue light and more bolts of lightning started to shoot at every direction from his body. Ed and FIDO ducked for cover behind the jeep. "What's happening now?" asked Ed in her head.
"The Warden is being sucked back into the wormhole!" said the Doctor.
A bolt of lightning struck the jeep and it disappeared in a flash of bright blue light. Ed looked around for another hiding place but couldn't. She then saw that another bolt of lightning was coming for them. Ed held onto FIDO and shouted out, "Hold on!" The bolt struck them both and all Ed could see was darkness once more.
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Ed thought that she was back in the black void before she had met the Doctor for the first time, but when she realized that she and FIDO were standing on something in the void this time Ed knew that she was somewhere different. That was when she heard the all-too-familiar sound of a lighter snapping open, they turned around to see where it was coming from and saw the Chain-Smoking Assistant standing before them lighting up a cigarette. He took a long drag from his cigarette and breathed the smoke out while he looked at them for a few minutes. He then dropped the cigarette onto the black ground and smothered it with his shoe. "Hey there kiddo," said the Chain-Smoking Assistant, "I'm impressed with the work you've done back at White Peak."
"Umm…Thanks," said Ed awkwardly.
"In fact, others besides me are also impressed with your work and they have sent me to offer you a job," said the Chain-Smoking Assistant and lit another cigarette. "Besides," he said after blowing out the smoke, "I think you're unemployed right now so I decided for you and said yes. Oh and please keep the suit and dog, since you created them I think you should keep them. No telling when you're going to need them."
"What job? What are you talking about?" demanded Ed.
"I'm afraid your job description is confidential," said the Chain-Smoking Assistant, "but don't worry, when the time comes I'll tell what you are needed to do. So until then get some sleep, you look like you need it…See you around kiddo."
"No wait!" cried out Ed and reached out for the smoking man. And just like that, the Chain-Smoking Assistant disappeared right before her with the embers of his cigarette the last thing before Ed and FIDO were once again plunged into darkness.
