Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.
(A/N: Hhgbh? Does beta work. Much appreciated? Yes.)
The Black Mesa Incident
Chapter Twelve: Focal Point
"-IIIIIT!"
Barney landed with a thud. The ground was neither particularly hard or soft. It was just… there. He slowly got to his feet, his breath shaky as his eyes took in his surroundings.
"Oh… Jesus, Mary, Mother of God…" he sang under his breath.
He was on an alien world. Barney Calhoun, security guard, who liked nothing more than a beer with some macaroni cheese, was on an alien world. The sky was green and grey, and the landscape around him had the same colour motif, if a bit darker. He was on what he assumed was an island, because the ground just stopped a few feet ahead of him.
God, he felt dizzy. He felt he had the right, though. He was on an alien world, after all. What was it called, he wondered? Considering that it was probably scientists like Gordon and Dr Kleiner who found it, they probably just numbered it and that was that.
Stupid boring scientists. It was their fault he was on 'Alien World 5B', or whatever the hell crappy name they came up with. His legs feeling shaky, Barney walked over to where the island seemingly ended. The cut from where the soldier had sliced into his leg burned from the 'fresh' air, and Barney hissed. He paused.
Wait a minute. Rosenberg had given him a first aid kit. The security guard scanned the ground around where he landed, but found nothing. Come to think of it, where was the M4 he brought with him? He thought while he limped to the edge of the island, hopping every once in a while when he got tired of the pain in his leg. He was thrown to the ground pretty roughly… maybe the first aid kit and the gun had been thrown away in different directions. He'd probably find them littered around the area.
Which was great, except his frickin' leg was killing him.
Barney reached the edge and let out a loud exclamation when he saw nothing down below him. Just sky. Above, around, and below. Well, he meant to make a loud exclamation. All that came out was a whimpered 'momma'.
If he fell, he wouldn't hit anything. He would just fall forever until he hit left the planet. If this was a planet. If not, he would just end up floating in nothingness for the rest of his life.
Which didn't really appeal.
With a shake of his head, Barney backed away and decided to do some exploring. He had a job to do. The sooner he did it, the sooner Rosenberg would open one of those crackly green portal things, pull him back, and they would be on their way back to… alien invasions and military war zones.
Maybe I should take my time.
A bridge made of - well, Barney assumed it was the alien equivalent of rock – ran above his head, beginning up on the right hand side of the high cliff-face in front of him and curved around - held up by blue-ish white pillars - to the other side. There two caves on either side of the cliff-face where the bridge met it, and Barney could see the golden glow of the crystals Rosenberg had been talking about coming from a cavern on the right hand side. A seemingly random jumble of rocks lay beneath the right hand side of the bridge, and Barney figured they would make a handy climbing frame.
Barney checked his holster. The revolver was still there, held steadfast by the awkward way Barney had jammed it in there earlier. After a crick of his neck, Barney limped over to the rocks.
What looked like a tree was planted next to them. It was fleshy coloured, and looked like a question mark, just with a very sharp, pointed end. Deciding that admiring the shrubbery wouldn't get his job done any quicker, Barney clambered up onto the rocks that led to the rest of the bridge. Barney heard a low creaking noise, and turned in time to see the pointed end of the tree stabbing down at him.
"Holy Christ!"
The razor sharp point went straight through his already injured leg at the thigh. Barney screamed in pain. The tree withdrew smoothly from his leg and was coming down for another attack when Barney scrambled up the rocks and further, adrenalin and survival instinct overriding the gunshot wound in his arm and pulling him up until he was on the bridge the tree was well below him. Barney looked back at it. The tree was swaying idly in some imaginary breeze, his blood staining the tip of its blade.
His leg bled profusely onto the ground. It had been bleeding pretty badly before, but now… With a grunt of effort, he tore off some of the material from his shirt sleeve up to his bicep, and wrapped it around the hole in his leg. He tied a knot above the wound, and, after taking a few deep breaths, finished the knot with an almighty tug.
"HOLY! FRICKIN'! CHEESEBURGER! HAM!"
His voice echoed around the landscape. Barney lay on his back for a few minutes, staring up at the green-grey sky. Well, if nothing knew he was here before, they definitely knew now. And he was in such good shape to take on any huge alien monsters that thought he looked tasty.
Because he was Barney the security guard. And he was going to die on an alien world. Whoopee for him. Spilling blood on a whole new frontier. Gordon would be so proud. But Gordon wouldn't be proud of him lying down and taking death without a fight. No, Barney would poke Death in the eye, kick him in the nuts, and mess around with his face in a 'Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon' style.
And to do that, Barney decided he would have to get to his feet. So, with a heavy grunt and a loud curse that very few people in his life would have approved of, Barney heaved himself to his feet and limped onwards down the stone bridge and to the cave that was lit by the golden crystals.
He couldn't remember if they gave off radiation or not, but Barney erred on the side of caution and stayed as far away from them as he could as he walked. Feeling a little bit paranoid, he cupped his hand in front of his crotch. He would like to be able to have kids someday, if only to regale them with stories about how their Dad survived the Black Mesa Incident. Barney smiled. 'Black Mesa Incident'. He liked that. Maybe he'd write an autobiography when he got out.
The cave led to a dead end, opening up directly above his head. It got darker the further up Barney tried to look, but he could swear he could see a hole in the wall five feet or so above his head. But, since he wasn't a giant, Barney sighed and hobbled back out of the cave and back onto the bridge, following it around its curve and to the other, considerably darker cave.
Now this cave was tiny. He reached down to his belt and pulled out his flashlight, which was, to his relief, still there. There wasn't much to look at in there. There was a hole in the wall at ground level, almost like an air duct.
"What is it with me and air ducts today?" he muttered as he limped over to it and attempted to kneel. The best he could manage was to squat on his uninjured left leg and stick his right out straight. The 'air duct' cover had the texture of onion rings and the look of pretzels, brown material weaving in and out into a twisted latticework.
It snapped out of place easily enough, and Barney clambered inside, his leg helpfully causing him indescribable amounts of pain every time it came into contact with the floor. Which was, conveniently, pretty much all the time.
Rosenberg better have a six pack and an incredibly sexy hooker waiting for me when I get back.
The confining tunnel was lit by the yellow crystals as well, the structures coming out of the walls in clumps every so often. They weren't too much fun for the old leg to get over either, come to think of it. Barney turned a corner, and the tunnel had a steady decline before him that ended up being about 45 degrees. He grunted as he heaved himself around the corner.
Almost immediately, his hands slipped and he slid down the surprisingly slick surface of the downward angled tunnel. His panic overrode the pain in his leg, and Barney tried to spread his legs out to stop his rapid descent. The walls were just as slippery as the floor. Barney was suddenly engulfed in liquid that felt like water but tasted far worse. And he was still moving forward. He tried to surface but simply ended up grazing his hands against the roof of the tunnel.
His injured leg stopped him from swimming against the current, so Barney let himself relax and allowed the current to take him where it may. Within a few seconds, Barney's head was above water. The river was still going down, and for a brief moment, Barney felt like he was at a water park. If water parks used water that smelt like one part rancid water, one part mud and one part crap.
He landed with a noise that settled between a thud and a splash, the downward incline of the tunnel giving way to a more straightforward direction. The current was just as strong, however, and Barney still found himself hurtling out of control. He whizzed around a corner and saw light at the end of the tunnel. A smile crossed his lips until he saw realised where the tunnel actually came out.
Barney yelled in panic as he was launched from the mouth of the tunnel and into the air, following the thin waterfall down into the lake of brown liquid below. He splashed down with all arms flailing, the impact knocking the breath out of him. After a few moments to assess whether he was in fact alive or not, Barney surfaced with a loud gasp and swam over an island in the middle of the 'lake'. He managed to clamber out only using his arms, his leg stinging maliciously as it dragged against the gritty surface of the floor.
He lay on his back, taking in his surroundings as he tried his best to breathe. He was in a much bigger cave, almost a lagoon. The ceiling was high enough for it to be a mall. Another waterfall on the opposite side of the cavern from the one he had entered in spewed the same brown liquid, with, Barney assumed, the same lovely smell. Golden yellow crystals peppered the surface of the cavern, giving it an almost candlelit romantic quality. Except for the smell of shit everywhere, that tended to be a bit of a mood killer.
Then Barney noticed something. There was no exit. No 'air ducts', no openings, nothing.
"Fantastic," he said quietly, repeating it louder afterwards to confirm that this cave at least allowed echoes. He could have some fun with that while he starved to death in here.
He studied the room some more, still remaining on his back. The waterfall opposite the one he had entered from had a bigger tunnel. From the look of it he would probably stand up in there. If he could have reached it. It was literally eight or nine stories above him, which wouldn't have been a problem if the rock wall beneath it had allowed any kind of climbing. But from the looks of it, the wall was as slick and slippery as the stuff Barney had slid down earlier. The wall jutted out just beneath the tunnel entrance, too, which would mean Barney would have to do some mighty impressive gymnastics to get around it and into the tunnel.
So. Plan B.
Plan B being 'starve to death whilst amusing oneself with echoing voice'.
Barney sat up, keeping his injured leg straight while bringing his left one up. He rested back, putting his hands behind him on the ground. His hands suddenly flew off the ground, accompanied by a loud noise akin to a large balloon being suddenly inflated. With a yelp, Barney tried to get up, instead managing to put all of his weight on his injured leg and toppling over in a slightly ungracious manner.
After a few muttered curses, Barney got up and looked at the ground where he had rested his hands. A circular indentation about the size of a round kitchen table lay in front of him, raised slightly from the rest of the ground. It looked like a speaker on a stereo system. Experimentally, Barney picked up a rock and tossed it onto the fleshy coloured circle. Nothing. It just bounced over the tightly wound surface.
He picked up another rock and tossed it down at the circle with a lot more force. Suddenly, with that same inflating noise, the indentation became just the opposite, becoming a hump in the ground that fired the rock into the air. It flew up well past the entrance to the waterfall Barney was aiming for before toppling back down and into the brown goop of a lake below.
Barney smiled. Well, it was kind of a plan. At least he had something he could try and wouldn't just spend the rest of his life sat in a cave shouting 'echo'. He took a few breaths, and, with as little hesitation as he could muster, hopped on his good leg into the air, landing on the fleshy trampoline.
It inflated, firing Barney into the air. He whooped as the air rushed past his face and through his damp hair. He stopped just short of hitting the ceiling, and then gravity took hold.
"Whoa, whoa…"
The security guard manoeuvred himself around in the air as he fell before colliding with the ledge where the tunnel entrance lay. Brown crap-water poured into his mouth and nose, and Barney tried to hold back the vomit urge until he had clambered up. Once he done so, he opened his mouth and let loose. Afterwards, he felt a little bit better for having expelled the foul tasting swill from his body.
Hazel eyes studied the tunnel ahead. Crystals lit the entire length, and it seemed to stay the same size all the way. Barney would barely have to hunch to get down it. He kept a steadying hand against the wall as he limped down the tunnel, the loud noise of the flowing water drowning out his pained grunts.
The blood loss was making him dizzy as he rounded yet another corner a few minutes later. He stopped when he saw light filtering in above his head. Above him was another duct cover, and Barney effortlessly snapped it into pieces. It took considerably more effort to heave himself out. He was in another cave, this one with a fairly big exit out into the open air. Barney resisted the urge to check his leg. Chances were he probably wouldn't be keeping it if he ever got back.
Barney hobbled out of the cave, feeling like he would collapse at any minute. Which just made what lay before him all the more lovely. Green-grey nothingness lay below him. If there had been a floor, Barney could have called the area a quarry from the way the cliff-face curved around, starting from the cave that he stood in and extending around to the left in a semicircle. On the opposite side of the endless chasm was a small island which had no obvious way out on it. But at this point, Barney didn't really care what happened. Platforms floated effortlessly between him and the island like some perverse video game God had placed him in.
The platforms were fairly close to one another, and Barney was able to limp from one to the other without too many problems.
The last platform was just a large hoop, far bigger than the grey platforms on which he had been hopping to and fro. Two tall thin pillars stood on the far end nearest the island. Barney limped around to the pillars, suddenly aware of how thin the surface of the hoop was, especially when you were limping.
As he stood beside the pillars, resting against them gratefully, he saw that the island was too far away for him to jump, even if he had been in his prime. He sighed and was ready to sit down. That was that, then. Nowhere to go.
A loud noise assaulted his ears before he had much of a chance to do anything. Barney looked up and saw what looked like a huge stingray fish flying through the air, making a noise like a fighter jet. It came to a halt above the hoop, and simply hovered there for a few silent, painful seconds. Suddenly, bolts of yellow and white electricity lanced out of the bottom, striking the hoop in random places and one of the pillars at its' base.
The parts of the hoop touched by the electricity exploded after only a few seconds contact. Instinctively, Barney wrestled his revolver out of its holster. After looking between the creature and his tiny weapon a few times, Barney put it back. The base of the pillar exploded, and Barney hopped away in shock. The pillar toppled forward, and the very tip hit the island.
Barney smiled in sheer amazement. A bridge. That flying bastard had just given him a bridge. There probably wasn't a way off the island, but what the hell. He would still be the winner of this tiny little battle because the alien was a stupid moron. With an energy he didn't realise he still had, Barney hobbled excitedly over to the fallen pillar and started to crawl across it.
Seemingly taking no notice of his activities, the stingray jet was content to just continue blowing up the hoop.
In a dozen or so seconds, Barney was on the island. At a lack of what to do, Barney hobbled around a rock that would just about hide him out of sight if he crouched behind it. When he got there, the realised that the ground beneath him felt funny. Looking down, he found more of the onion ring air duct cover material.
He grinned again. This day was the oddest mix of dumb luck and incredibly bad coincidences he had ever come across. With a kick of his good leg, the cover crumbled, and Barney lowered himself down into the hole. There was a drop into the cave beneath. His arms were shaking. He was out of breath. With little more than a startled gasp, Barney's arms gave way and he fell, landing on his right leg and toppling over into a heap on the floor.
His jaw clenched from the pain, and Barney tried to take in his surroundings. His vision was blurry. He put it down to blood loss. The same yellow glow surrounded him, and he took it he was in yet another cave. Damn, this place was repetitive.
He heard movement ahead of him and tried to get himself to his feet. Every movement was an effort. His vision didn't clear as whatever it was came closer, but he recognised the outline. It was one of those red-eyed green-electricity shooting things. He reached for his gun, but it was jammed pretty tightly in the holster. The creature got closer, only a foot away from him now. Barney managed to wrestle the gun free and swung it around to face the alien. He tried to squeeze the trigger, but he couldn't find the energy. He kept on trying, squeezing for all he was worth.
A gentle two fingered hand rested on the weapon, bringing it down an away from its intended target. The creature moved around him. Barney felt its spindly hands hook under his armpits and pull him away. The sweet velvety blackness of unconsciousness gradually consumed him.
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There was a choir singing somewhere. An all male choir from the sounds of it. Barney wasn't really a fan of choirs. Give him some Rolling Stones any day.
Wait… wasn't he on an alien world? Why would there be male choirs here? His eyes burst open and he sat up. He was wet. In fact, more than wet, he was drenched. Completely and totally drenched to the bone. But that wasn't really what was occupying Barney's attention.
That would have been the alien sitting directly opposite him, knelt like a samurai before him. It was watching him intently, its two eyes, one on top of the other, focused on him.
"Holy Christ!"
Barney scrambled back out of the pool of water he was sat, reaching fruitlessly for his weapon. He saw that it had been placed on the other side of the cave they were in, far behind the creature.
Said creature had since risen to its feet. It put its hands up defensively. Then it spoke, its almost completely hidden mouth making the head move almost imperceptibly.
"Gar jung. Gar jung."
A frown wormed its way onto Barney's face, and he gave a moment's pause. "What?"
"Gar jung," it replied soothingly. Its low growl of a voice definitely sounded masculine. Not only that, but it almost sounded like he was trying to calm Barney.
"Uh… you can speak?"
It just blinked and tilted its head.
"But not English. Okay. So you're not gonna hurt me," he asked, mentally slapping himself for asking the alien another question. He pointed a nervous finger towards the mouth of the tunnel behind the creature. "Uh… I'm just gonna… yeah…"
Barney got to his feet, and then froze. His leg. He looked down and saw dried blood around the hole in his pants and the torn bandage he had improvised from his shirt. But… no wound. Nothing. It was completely gone. In a flurry of frenzied motion, Barney checked all the other cuts, grazes and bruises he had acquired since the whole mess started. The bump on his head from the elevator crash. The bruises on his elbows from hitting that soldier in the face. The cuts on his hands from grasping at the tunnel walls underwater. Everything was gone.
He looked at the alien in amazement, who had a look on his face that bordered on pleased.
"You… did this?" Barney breathed.
Although it probably didn't understand the exact words, it got the meaning, and nodded to the pool of water Barney had been bathing in unconsciously for the last God knows how many minutes or hours. The male choir noise was coming from the bright, glowing water. It looked like a Jacuzzi in the ground.
"Wow. It even got rid of my stiff neck." He smiled at the alien. "Thanks."
Although its mouth was below its' face and pointed downwards, Barney was certain it smiled back. The alien got to his feet and went over to Barney's gun. As though picking up a sacred object, it lifted it with two hands and delivered it to him, offering it like a sword to a legendary warrior. Barney took it and put it in the holster, wondering whether he should bow and saw something in Japanese or something.
The alien got to his feet and walked to the opening of the cave. When Barney hesitated to follow, it looked back at him and waved him over. Feeling a little bit anxious, Barney walked over and stood next to him, wondering what kind of place the alien called home.
He gaped so wide, his mouth almost hit the floor. There it was. The machine that Rosenberg had sent him to power up. And this alien thing had brought him here! It was in the middle of a smallish quarry area, the cave opening he stood in about two stories above ground level, but very reachable thanks to the large rocks that acted like steps to and from it. Barney looked over at the alien.
"Uh… thank you."
Again it just smiled, as though it understood his meaning if not his exact words. Barney clambered down the rocks, and noted with some small sense of pride that the alien was following him. Obviously he made quite an impression, although he was hard pressed to guess how. He hopped skipped the last few steps and landed enthusiastically on the ground. Damn, it was nice to be able to jump again.
Enthused, Barney excitedly strode over to the machine. It was a collection of the largest yellow crystals standing on a small circular metal platform that he had ever seen, all pointing upwards. A C shaped protrusion hung back away from the crystals, attached at the bottom to the platform. Cables led from the platform to a shiny metal box about the size of a treasure chest. Barney walked over to it and studied it. A layer of safety glass covered the controls beneath, which looked remarkably simple for a device which performed tasks that Barney held no doubt were incredibly complicated.
There were two dials a few inches apart, with two black screens above them. On the screens was a green circle divided into quarters, reminding Barney of the radar screens he had seen in so many movies. One the left green circle, a cone of red light covered the upper left. On the right circle, a similar cone covered the lower right. Barney sighed. He still wasn't sure what to do.
A grunt from his erstwhile companion attracted his attention.
"Yeah?"
A two fingered hand rose, and the creature pointed over to Barney's left. There, a small portable generator about the size of a small fridge sat idly, waiting for someone to push the magic button. Feeling excited again, Barney bounded over and found the rather large on switch. It thrummed to life, and Barney's heart began to beat faster. This was really happening. He was going to switch this baby back on, get back to Earth and escape this hell. The C shaped protrusion moved forward with a mechanical hiss, covering the top of the tower of crystals. His alien friend studied the machine from a distance with a healthy mix of caution and awe.
He went back over to the control panel, where the layer of safety glass had lifted with a high pitched beep. After a quick study of the control panel again, he smiled. Two yellow arrows had appeared on the screens hanging idly at the bottom of their respective circles. Using the dials, Barney guided the arrows to the cones until they were at the base. The arrows each beeped affirmatively as they reached their targets. Two thin spires on either side of the crystal structure started flashing red at the tips.
Barney took that as a good sign and smiled at his friend. But his attention was elsewhere. He was staring off into the sky. Barney followed his gaze, and his eyes widened when he noticed something coming towards them. It was coming slowly, but it was coming.
The alien looked at him and pointed to the cave on ground level on the other side of the small quarry.
"Kar tak! Kar tak!"
Barney looked from the alien to the cave and back again. "What? Why?"
His friend pointed upwards, and looked like he was about to speak again when a screeching noise interrupted him. It was coming from the creature approaching them from above. A high pitched screech that hurt Barney's ears from this distance. He looked up at the creature. It had a head that severely outsized its' body, which was barely as thin as a twig. It had a huge brain. That was all Barney could think of for the way its' head was so huge and the body so tiny.
Incredibly thin and spindly arms thrust outwards to the creatures' sides. Slowly, it brought them together, putting its' twig-like hands into a praying position. A ball of yellow energy shot out and hit the ground beneath Barney and his alien friend, sending a cloud and chunks of ground into the air.
His friend again pointed to the cave, repeating his warning. Barney tended to agree, but had a variation on the plan. He grabbed the alien by his arm and pulled him along with him as he ran to the cave, his friend all the while protesting. As they reached the cave, explosions of energy following them all the way, the alien slipped from his grasp. Barney turned and watched as the alien backed up out of the mouth of the cavern. With a look of sadness, it rubbed its' hands together, summoning the green electricity Barney knew was coming. He rushed forward.
"Don't-!"
It fired at the ceiling, caving it in and blocking off the entrance. Barney fell backwards to avoid the falling rocks and debris, squinting as the dust stung his eyes. The noise subsided, and Barney got to his feet. The rocks were too big for him to move. He could hear the noises of battle on the other side. Pained grunts and bodies rolling on the ground, desperately trying to avoid enemy fire.
Why had it done it? Why-?
Then Barney realised. It was buying him time to get back home. And not just the lab, but out of Black Mesa itself. It was defending the portal equipment so he could get home.
And just like that, the alien invasion didn't seem so simple anymore.
Barney turned and ran down the cave. It had caved in at the other end as well, although whether that was because of his alien friend or something else, Barney didn't know. He could see another level above him though, and the collapsed rock provided a handy means of reaching it. He climbed up numbly, his emotions drained from watching a new friend kill himself in such a way.
Feeling ever so slightly paranoid, Barney pulled the revolver from its holster and checked how he was doing ammunition wise. He had a full tank, so to speak. With a flick of his wrist, the barrel slid back into place, and he continued onwards. As he went along, the cavern twisted and turned every which way, reminding him of his supposedly aimless wanderings in Black Mesa. The occasional headcrab really helped to sell the nostalgia as well.
Eventually he came to the end of the tunnel, but a curiously placed hole led down a drop into another cave below. Opting to keep his good health for as long as he could, Barney lowered himself down to the ground.
"Calhoun, if you can hear me, hurry up! The battery's almost out of charge!"
That was Dr Rosenberg. How the hell could he hear Rosenberg? Barney turned and realised he was in the first cave he had wandered into, the one attached to the bridge. And there was the golden portal, hanging just off to the right of the cave entrance in mid air, which would, of course, mean a flying leap of epic proportions from Barney.
Not to mention the giant bastard of a monster standing with its' back to Barney in the cave entrance, watching the portal. That could cause some problems too. Christ, the thing was built like a bear, only three times as sturdy. It had black armour on its' torso area, head, and ankles, not that it looked like it needed any. The left hand looked like it was some kind of weapon, although Barney had no idea what that might be. So far he thought he had just been fighting wildlife. But there seemed to be something deeper going on that he couldn't begin to figure out without at least a dictionary. The other 'hand' was just three pointed claws in a triangular formation. Lovely.
"Calhoun! We're running out of power! You must do it now!"
He sighed. "Coming."
The huge alien tank whirled around at the noise and growled. It lifted its' left arm and fired the weapon that it had attached in lieu of a hand. Barney heard some high pitched bursting noises as three small red objects flew out at him. They buzzed like insects as they came closer.
Barney dove out of the way, turning the leap into a forward roll. He doubled over as the insect things pounded into his back. He shook his head.
"Okay… so they follow you."
How fun.
He scrabbled to his feet and sprinted straight at the monstrous thing before him. Instead of firing, it swung its' right arm back and looked about ready to swat him away like an annoying bug. As it brought the tree trunk of an arm around, Barney dove down and forward, sliding between the creature's legs and out the other side.
"Calhoun!"
Rosenberg sounded incredibly desperate. Barney got to his feet as the alien turned and he ran to the edge of the bridge, pushing himself off and towards the glowing yellow light before him. He heard the alien fire off a few more shots before he descended into the light.
Then everything went green.
For a few sweet seconds, Barney was alone. Floating in nothingness. And as long as it didn't last, nothingness was fine. Nothingness felt good compared to the crap he'd been dealing with recently.
His vision flashed green again, and suddenly, he was back in Dr Rosenberg's lab, landing with an inelegant thud on the platform below. Rosenberg, oblivious to any discomfort on Barney's part, continued his work behind the windows of the control booth he was stood in. The noise of the teleporter began to die down as he shut off the machine whirring above Barney's head.
"Good job, Mr Calhoun. We began to worry when you didn't come back for some time, but it looks as though you were able to get the device operational."
Barney got to his feet and walked over where Rosenberg was working. Instantly, he had no idea what the good doctor was doing on the control panel, other than 'important stuff'.
"So how long until we get out of here?" Suddenly, Barney remembered something. "Uh, Doc…"
Rosenberg seemed reluctant to speak at first. "The signal we're getting is very strong, but I'm afraid I have some bad news."
Barnet put up a hand. "Doc."
"The power reserves were just enough to open the field for your trip to the border world-"
"Doc!"
"Yes?"
His voice was slightly pained as he spoke. "I gotta pee."
"Oh. I see. All right, follow me, I'll take you to the bathroom."
Rosenberg took him out of the lab and into the hallway outside, where two doors on the opposite side had the male and female symbols. With barely nod, Barney dashed inside. Once he was done, he went outside to find Rosenberg and the balding Walter Bennett waiting for him outside. Bennett nodded to his crotch, and after realising what he meant, Barney sheepishly did up his fly.
"Thanks." He looked to Rosenberg. "So, Doc… what were you saying?"
"Um… yes. I have some bad news."
Barney sighed. "Okay, what do I have to do?"
"Well, you see, the power reserves were just enough to open the field for your trip to the border world. If we plan on leaving the teleporter open long enough to calculate a safe exit point, and allow enough time for everyone to go through, someone will have to go to the lower level and retrieve another power cell. A few of our colleagues went down awhile ago, but," he looked to Bennett, concerned. "We haven't heard from them since. I can only fear for the worst."
He sighed, looking very desperate. "I hate to keep putting you in this position, but surely you must realise that if someone doesn't go down there then none of us will get out of here alive. Besides, you're the best equipped to deal with any dangers that may be waiting."
Barney nodded in reply, knowing the good scientist was right.
"On the bright side," Rosenberg added, his voice going up an octave in a forced attempt at being happy, "Bennett was looking through one of the old storage lockers and found a helmet!"
As though unveiling a prize-winning sculpture, Bennett brought his hands from behind his back and awarded the helmet to him.
"Oh," he said blankly, taking the helmet. "Good."
They didn't move, apparently expecting something more.
"Uh… thank you."
Rosenberg, now satisfied, smiled and nodded. "Here, I'll lead you to the access elevator that leads to the power generator. Follow me." He took him across the room and opened some very secure looking doors, revealing an elevator that looked like it was designed for descending into mineshafts. "Ah, here we are. Down this elevator is the old power generators that we used to service this lab. You should find what we're looking for down there. Once you've found a new power cell, make sure it's fully charged and then send it up the freight lift. Good luck."
Trying to hide his sigh, Barney nodded and walked into the open elevator. With an awkward smile and a nod, Dr Rosenberg turned and walked back into the hall, discussing something or other with Bennett as he did so. Barney pressed the big green button on the control panel sprouting from the ground, and the elevator jerked to life, almost making him fall over.
As the elevator trundled down the red light shaft, Barney concentrated on trying to get his new helmet on instead of focusing on the sizeable gap between the wall and the elevator in front of him. The way the elevator swung about didn't particularly help, either. The helmet fit rather snugly, actually, which was odd for him because he usually had to order the bigger sizes for his larger than average head. The elevator came to a stop in front of metal doors that mirrored the ones upstairs.
He opened them and suddenly found out what happened to the colleagues Rosenberg had sent down. A security guard lay face down on the ground before him, alongside a scientist lying on his back. One of those bull… squid things, with the two legs and mouths with red tentacles, was feasting on the scientist's innards. It had its back to him. Barney pulled out his revolver and pointed it straight at the creature. He cocked the hammer back, which made it turn in alarm. Upon spotting Barney, it let out a loud roar and made to charge him.
Barney had to unload three bullets into it before it gave up and died. Once it was indeed confirmedly dead, Barney blew out a long breath and slipped the revolver away, aware in the back of his mind that he only had a few bullets left. He walked to the right from the elevator entrance (he didn't know why, exactly) and came to two gaps in the wall. One was a thick chain linked fence, but was obviously made of a metal much stronger. The next gap led to a little corridor with a door at the end. The light above it flickered on and off, indicating a power failure of some sort. So that would mean that Barney would have to turn on one power generator in order to charge up a battery down here and send it up there to turn on the power generator up there.
Barney hated everything at that moment. Every single thing in the known universe, he just hated. Then it passed, and he resolved to move on with a sigh. The noise of something teleporting in sounded from behind the door, and Barney rushed to the fence to see into the room.
"What is it?"
It sounded like one of those electricity aliens. Barney frowned. He had no idea what he would do if he came across one of them. Before, he just saw an ugly-ass alien. Now all he could see was a person who had saved his life twice.
"Don't worry, sir, I got it!"
Gunshots rang out, and the creature died before it could even fire. Barney had never felt simultaneous relief and sadness before. Relief that these fellow humans were alive, sadness because something potentially friendly was dead.
"But… these creatures… they're everywhere! What are we going to do?!"
"Calm down. If we don't get this power cell charged, none of us are gonna-"
Another teleportation noise rang out, and this time, the electrical discharge was almost immediate, hitting the security guard and impaling him to the wall. The scientist with him screamed and ran. Barney tried to knock the fence over, but it didn't even move when he shook it. When he tried the door, as expected, it didn't budge, only making a negative beeping noise. Angrily, he slammed his palms against the door, making it clang loudly. Feeling better in himself but annoyed because now his palms hurt, Barney wandered out of the tiny corridor and to where the large elevator was. He'd have to go to the power generator, wherever that was, and if any of the doors would even open for him.
A noise from his left attracted his attention. He walked out into the hallway and looked in that direction. There was a door at the far end, the sign above it reading 'COOLANT EXCHANGE ACCESS'. Sparks flew from the lower left hand corner, and Barney knew instantly what it was; a blowtorch. Which would mean soldiers would come pouring through it any second. And here he was with… Barney counted his bullets and groaned.
Three bullets!
His aim wasn't that good. And even if it was, what if there was four of them? God, was he screwed. With a crick of his neck, he decided to go out fighting anyway. Hopefully he'd manage to take them with him so Rosenberg could send someone else down who wouldn't get killed. That was, of course, assuming that these were the only soldiers in the whole complex.
The blow torch was nearly at the bottom of the right hand corner, and, after taking a run up, Barney charged at the door, timing it so that the blowtorch reached the bottom just as he collided with it. The door creaked back surprisingly fast, crushing some hapless soldier behind it. Three more soldiers looked on in surprise and anger.
Four soldiers! I called it!
The soldiers cocked their weapons.
Well done, Barney. Now you can die.
The three soldiers together formed a triangle in front of him. Barney swiped his legs through those of the soldier on his right, knocking him onto his back. The security guard launched up towards the one in front of him, leading with his head and smashing his helmet into the soldier's nose. He collapsed forward with the soldier, landing in a heap with him while the left-hand soldier fired at where he once was. With another vicious head butt of his helmet, the Barney managed to knock his playmate out and stole his M4 from him rolling away from the body. Firing at the stood soldier blindly. He managed to catch him in the shoulder before slicing through the soldier's head and felling him.
By this point, the soldier he had tripped up was now on his feet again, his face such a shade of red it matched the beret he wore. Before he could even get his weapon up, Barney had fired a few rounds into his ankle, knocking him over again. Barney finished the job first on the cursing beret wearing soldier, then on the unconscious one who he had been head butting not a few seconds before.
Barney's legs suddenly turned to jelly, and he collapsed into a sitting position on the floor. He blew out a shaky breath. He had gone in with nothing and killed four highly trained soldiers.
Because he was Barney Calhoun. Security Guard.
Damn, survival felt good sometimes. He heaved himself to his feet and went for an explore. As he walked, he tentatively (and curiously) tapped on the surface of his helmet. No cracks. He was impressed. They really built these things to last.
Just off to the right of the little corridor he had been fighting in was an old office area, age-old papers strewn about the floors with thin broken glass in the windows that were supposed to give some semblance of privacy to the workers there. A few of them even had desks inside, although they had certainly seen better days. Barney smiled. This place sure had been done on the cheap. The walls looked incredibly thin, like Barney could run through them if he tried.
He had to admit, it sounded like fun, but it would have to be one of those things he never got around to trying.
Priorities, Barney, priorities.
In a room near the offices, Barney found a display that was a measuring device of some kind, starting red on the left before gradually fading through orange, to yellow, and finally green on the right. Above it in big black letters read the words 'AUX POWER'. Barney nodded in silent understanding and moved on.
A few minutes of wandering through dark, badly lit corridors later, Barney came to a wide metal walkway that led into a huge expansive area. On his left was something that had all the makings of the business side of a dam, water pouring through large holes all along the top. The walkway led to a wide entrance on the opposite side of the area. Diagonally above him on the left were two more entrances on opposite sides. Judging by the grooves in the wall leading from where the walkway was now and up to the two entrances, Barney guessed there was some way to mechanically move the walkway up and down between the two. And knowing his luck, he would need to find it himself.
With a sigh, he continued on, eventually coming to a small room with a red ladder than led up. There were some military crates in the room, and when he heard military radio chatter coming from the room above, Barney scooped up a grenade from an open crate. He climbed up the ladder as quietly as he could. The next floor didn't cover the small room, instead having a guardrail that would prevent anyone on the upper floor from falling down, and also to watch anyone or anything in said small room.
Hey, Barney didn't design the damn place.
On the opposite side of the room, two soldiers stood in front of a radio, struggling to get it to work. Barney pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it. It landed behind them on the metal floor far louder than Barney had hoped, and the two soldiers turned around. Barney leapt down off the ladder, and the grenade exploded.
One badly burnt body flew over the guardrail and down in front of Barney, crackling as the flames flickered from the clothes on his body. Barney climbed up the ladder one handed, searching with his M4 for the second soldier, who undoubtedly had the bright idea to run away from the grenade. Barney stepped off the ladder and discovered the soldier obviously hadn't, because his boot was now digging into his scorched arm.
He blew for a long time as he walked away, half because he had avoided another huge fire fight, but also because the smell of the dead bodies made him more than slightly nauseous, and if there one thing he wasn't going to do over the course of this whole crap fest of an incident, it was throw up.
Because only sissies throw up.
Barney walked on down the only corridor available to him, not feeling at all ready for anything that awaited him.
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(A/N: Yup, I changed the name back again. The other story called 'The Black Mesa Incident' seems to have fallen by the wayside, but even if it comes back, I figured people know the difference by now. Hell, a third novelisation has come up while I've been away (although I wouldn't call mine a novelisation as such; it's way too unprofessional for that), which I look forward to reading and reviewing as soon as the opportunity presents itself – apologies to Spymaster E (if you're reading this), I'll get to it as soon as I can!
But yeah, anyway, back on topic:
Gasp! Another update! And so soon! I've been neglecting my Half-Life readership lately, and for that I apologise. But I'm now firmly back on the saddle, and updates will be far more regular (I can hear Hhgbh growling in frustration now at the extra workload ;)). Whether it's something in the water or just anticipation for Episode 2, something has once again sparked my interest in these three guys' separate struggles for survival.
Speaking of which… Shephard is coming. And he will kick ass.
And finally, to wrap up: Review please!
Next Chapter: Power Up)