Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.

(A/N: Thank you, hhgbh! 'What for?' other readers may ask. For superb beta work of course!)

The Black Mesa Incident

Chapter Fifteen: Power Struggle

The first thing Barney saw upon turning the corner was an old fashioned explosive detonator box, complete with T-shaped handle on the top. Something about the old fashioned simplicity of it made him smile. The fuse lead from the box to a very secure, indestructible looking door on the left of the corridor he was now entering. The control panel beside it had been ripped from the wall, dangling by a few scarce multi-coloured wires. Obviously the military had tried the quiet way in before the big exploding way, which surprised Barney a bit. They were probably distracted by his arrival before they could blow the door up. He looked eagerly at the detonator but, rather than tempt fate, he let it be.

Which was a shame, because Barney enjoyed big explosions. He turned around and headed down the corridor towards the other side, where, at the end and on the left hand side, there was an opening leading somewhere else. Barney stepped out onto a metal walkway that went immediately to his left, his boots clanking against it as he walked. It overlooked a veritable lake of bright bluish green liquid, which Barney took to be coolant. It was almost overflowing onto the walkway, only just below it. Two complicated looking spires grew out of the ceiling like stalactites, going under the surface of the liquid.

Barney looked to the end of the walkway, where a bridge over to another walkway on the opposite side was. Or at least, should have been. The bridge looked like it had been destroyed somehow, and there was a gap in the middle that was far too big to jump over, and Barney had no desire to swim in the glowing stuff beneath him. Didn't look nice. There was a door in the wall behind it. Probably just where he needed to go, too. He noticed some barrels gently bobbing up and down in the liquid, and occasionally made out the word 'COOLANT' written on the side. It didn't do him much good, but there was that something in the back of his head that forced him to take note of it , before he headed back to the door with the explosives attached.

As he reached it, Barney sighed and shrugged.

"I guess I've got no choice but to blow it up," he said out loud to no-one. With relish, he slammed his hands down on the detonator, and watched as the spark travelled along the wire. Then he realised the door would probably explode quite violently, so he took cover in the corridor he had first come down.

He covered his ears from the explosion, and whooped with joy as he saw metal fragments and dust being blown down the corridor next to him. After laughing far too much for such a relatively small event, Barney went back around the corner and through the small, scorching hot hole that had been created in the bottom of the door.

Once through, he travelled up a ladder on his left and came up against some five or so headcrabs. With his M4, the ease with which he killed them almost filled him with a sense of euphoria. He was so used to those little bastards being pains in the ass that being rid of them so quickly was a treat. He went through a corridor in front of him and came out in a coolant observation area, stood on a platform that overlooked two entranceways to the left. On his right was a gauge of the coolant pressure, which was rather high right now.

First, he went into the doorway on the left, ending up in a small room that overlooked the lake of coolant, broken bridge and floating barrels included. A rusted wheel was attached to the wall, the words 'COOLANT LEVEL' pasted above it. With a shrug, he turned it the only way would go; left. After about ten minutes of solid turning, the wheel wouldn't go any further.

Barney looked out the window. No change. He grit his teeth, glaring down at the wheel as though it were to blame.

"Then what the hell was the point?" With a yell of frustration, he kicked the wheel. Suddenly, with a noise akin to a toilet being flushed, the coolant started to drain away. Barney smiled in satisfaction, although he wasn't sure if the lack of coolant in that room was a good thing or a bad thing.

More out of curiosity than a solid plan, Barney went out and headed into the second doorway he had seen, where an elevator not unlike the one he had travelled down from Dr Rosenberg's lab was waiting for him. Again, with a lack of options, Barney stepped inside and descended, ending up in a dark, dank airlock area. Both doors were open, and Barney stepped outside into the bottom of the now empty coolant tank. The floor was concrete with the occasional metal grate built into it, through which the glowing coolant could be seen.

Barney looked up. He could see the broken bridge so very high above him. With a dejected sigh, Barney looked around. There were four barrels that now lay randomly strewn about. Then an idea occurred to him that was so great, he could feel the heat from the light bulb above his head. He tossed his M4 to the floor so he could work quicker, and, with little time on his hands, pushed the barrels into place roughly beneath the gap in the bridge.

Ten minutes later he was done. Breathing heavily and sweating far too much, true, but he was done. He scooped up his M4 and rushed back up to the coolant levels room, turning the crank in the opposite direction as fast as it would go. For good measure, he kicked it when he was done, not wanting to upset his karma. The coolant levels rose, and Barney watched the barrels intently. He smiled when he saw them form a makeshift floating bridge between the two broken edges of the walkway.

His smile still on his face as he ran, Barney made his way back down the ladder, through the exploded hole in the door and back to the coolant tank, where, with no small measure of pride, he hopped from one barrel to the other.

As he reached the final barrel, a huge teleportation event occurred in front of him, the green flash depositing only one creature; the huge tank like thing that had been his final obstacle in that alien world. Barney remembered the seeking insect type things that dug into his back. They weren't particularly nice.

He leapt forward from the final barrel, going into a roll as he hit the walkway and aiming his M4 at the weapon/claw thing that was the alien's excuse for a right hand. With a brief prayer to the almighty Lord, Barney fired the secondary trigger. Answering his prayers, the weapon fired a grenade straight into the creature's weapon hand, blowing it to pieces and splattering yellow blood across the bridge of Barney's nose. He closed his eyes as the liquid hit, but quickly opened them again. The creature was writhing in pain, back-pedalling as it cradled its dismembered hand with its… claw.

Barney sprinted to the door, and it automatically opened in seeming slow motion. Barney yelled at it and slammed his hands on it in an effort to get it moving quicker, which didn't work, much to his annoyance. Finally there was a big enough gap for him to rush through, and he went in. The corridor was badly lit, and Barney barrelled straight into something, knocking whatever it was on its back.

"Sorry," he managed as he got to his feet, "didn't mean to-"

It was one of those electricity aliens. Like the one who had helped him back on the border world. It seemed ready to attack, so Barney put his hands up and wracked his brain for what the alien had said to him.

"Uh… Gar Jung. Gar Jung? Is that right? Gar Jung!"

The alien paused, tilting its' head curiously. It blinked.

Barney smiled and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, see? I'm okay, your buddy helped me. Gar Jung."

It seemed to be understanding, and lowered its clawed hands. Then it screamed, making Barney back up instinctively. It clutched at the thick green collar around its neck, which was beginning to glow along with the green bonds on its wrists and ankles. As suddenly as it started, the screaming stopped, and the creature looked back up at Barney. Looking almost apologetic, it rubbed its hands together, green energy glowing from between its palms.

"What? What're you doing? I'm a buddy! Gar Jung, remember? Gar Jung!"

It wasn't stopping, and its look of apology had become one of intense sorrow. Barney raised his M4.

"…sorry."

The creature closed its' eyes, and Barney fired. It flopped back limply to the ground, thudding dully to the ground. Barney stared down at the creature. It looked almost blissful. Like it was glad to be dead.

It was an image that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Barney felt like he had just shot a friend. He squeezed his eyes shut and forced the tears welling there back and away from where they came from. With a loud sniff and a wipe under his eyes just to be sure he was rid of any tears, Barney got to his feet and continued on down the dark corridor. He hoped to God that he didn't come across any more of those creatures. If he did, he would just have to run. There was no way he was taking any more of their lives. Because now Barney knew what they were.

They were slaves. He had no idea who to, but it was clear now. His friend back on the alien world had been free of those green manacles on the neck, ankles and wrists. All of the other aliens of that type he had come across had been wearing them. Barney closed his eyes. He had killed so many of them on his way here… and they had all been slaves.

He concentrated on his current task, knowing that he would have a chance to dwell on all of this once he was out, along with every other horrible thing he had seen and heard today.

On his way to the power generator control room (which was handily pointed out by signs on the walls), Barney passed by a small gap in the wall with a guardrail in front of it. It overlooked the walkway that the huge alien had been standing on. But it wasn't there anymore. He decided that it must have gone back home. Barney found the power generator room with little trouble just off to the side of that guardrail, where he found another thin, wide observation port overlooking the pool of coolant. In front of him were two sets of green and red buttons, the red on both lit up.

He pressed the green buttons simultaneously. Slowly, the pillar opened up, forming a long triangular shell around the center of the pillar. They started to spin around, faster and faster until a blinding flash of light made Barney looked away. When he brought his gaze back, there was a glowing sphere of light in the middle of each pillar. He took that to mean the generator was working again.

Barney made his way to the guardrail and vaulted over, in no mood to walk over the dead body of an innocent, sentient creature. He couldn't even look back at the door where it had happened. He just hopped from barrel to barrel and made his way back to the office area where he had first been attacked by the soldiers.

The dam area with the walkways had become much more active, feeling like a light shower of rain as he walked in front of the flowing water. It felt good, and he took a moment to remove his helmet and let the cool water wash over him.

After a few seconds, he slipped the helmet back on and continued on back to the office area. Thanks to the generator, it was much better lit now, revealing every crappy detail about the supposedly white painted offices. Paint cracked and hung from the walls, ceiling tiles were missing, tables were missing legs… overall, one hell of a place to work.

He passed by a cracked window without looking into the office. Something big and brown suddenly smashed out of it and struck him in the belly, knocking him back down the middle corridor and into the wall. Barney's grip on his M4 slipped immediately.

The one armed alien burst through the rest of the window, and stared down the corridor at Barney, one thing on its mind. If it even hada mind. Slowly, with its one clawed arm, it picked up the M4 at its feet. With nary a squeeze, it crushed the metal until the gun was bent in the middle at a right angle. It tossed the gun away and charged towards him. Barney scrambled to his feet, fumbling for his revolver. He brought it up and around, cocking the hammer back as he did so.

Just as the creature reached him, he fired a bullet directly into its face, blowing through a cheek. It's head whipped away before slowly coming back around to look down at him. The hole in its cheek didn't seem to dissuade it. Up close, Barney could see just how ugly the damn things were. Four tiny red eyes with a pointy toothed mouth that opened vertically rather than horizontally. On its large chest was another idly hanging third arm, with only two small claws growing off it.

The creature brought its left arm up round about its head. Barney unloaded the remaining three bullets from his weapon into the creatures' belly. Undeterred, the creature swung its' arm down and swatted him forward. He collided with the thin outer wall of one of the offices, leaving a sizeable dent in the fragile structure. The revolver slipped from his grasp as he turned around in time to see the huge left hand whipping around to meet him again.

He crashed backwards through the wall, sliding over the surface of a desk and into the wall of that office. Dust clouded his vision as he struggled to his feet. The already cracked window of the office he was in smashed inwards as the creature charged through, going straight for him like a bull. Barney dove off to his right and out into the corridor, slicing his bare arm – from bandaging his injured leg in the alien world - on the shattered glass below.

Cursing the lack of safety glass, Barney scrambled to his feet and ran, the creature following and closing fast, which was surprising and terrifying considering its bulk. Barney reached the small room where he had surprised the soldiers. Beside the metal door he had rammed down, Barney could make out the blowtorch the soldier had been using, its user's hand still lightly grasping it. The tank of gas was attached to it, stood up in the corner of the room. A quick glimpse at the dead body of a soldier gave him everything else he needed.

As he turned on the gas, the monstrous creature smashed through the small wooden frame of the entrance to the office, towering over him like an enraged bear. Barney dove for the blowtorch as the creature came after him. He whipped it up and around into the mouth of his hunter before flicking the lighter he had taken from the dead soldier. He shoved it into the monsters mouth, lighting the blowtorch. It blew a hole through the creatures' head, and it died with almost no noise, interrupted in mid-roar. It threatened to collapse on him, so Barney rolled out of the way.

Barney was so tired from the running and fighting he felt like he could throw up. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink since this day began, and only God knew what time it was now. For all he knew it could have been two days since he'd last had breakfast. That thought wasn't something that made him happy, so Barney walked out into the corridor he had first entered into from Rosenberg's lab and headed to the door into the power cell charging room. His arm stung from the cuts the broken glass had made, and with a wince and a hiss through his clenched teeth he noticed some of the glass had become embedded in his skin.

Something for Rosenberg to tend to later, he resolved. Right now he just wanted out of his hellhole of a place.

The door now opened for him, and Barney entered the room. On his left was a small slot that only something like a medium sized old fashioned TV could be pushed through. A red button lay beside it, and Barney figured it was to transport the power cells up to the lab above.

On his right was a large chain link fence, behind it some contraption Barney hoped would charge up a power cell. There was a door made of the same material, a badly bleeding and sweating security guard sat in front of it, crouched forward. He barely registered Barney's presence until he was crouched beside him, trying to see how severe his wounds were. Judging by the amount of blood he had lost to the concrete floor below, he was probably a goner anyway. But Barney wasn't about to let anyone else innocent die.

He smiled upon seeing him, the gesture looking like it took a momentous amount of effort. "I was hoping you'd show up. You've got to get this power cell," he nodded to an orange metal box shaped thing beside him, "charged and back up to Dr Rosenberg. I'd help, but…" He clutched his eyes shut and looked like he would vomit for a moment before looking back up at him. "I'm hurt pretty bad."

"It's fine, it's fine. Just… keep quiet. Save your energy, huh?"

The guy didn't seem to hear him, almost talking to himself at this point. "You can probably push the power cell through the fence and into the charging station behind me. Let me see if… I can get out of the way."

And then he tried to get up. Barney did his best to stop him and just lift the guy himself, but the injured guard wasn't having any of it. Amazingly, he got to his feet.

"Ah… hell…"

The security guard fell, and Barney caught him. After lowering him down to the ground, Barney checked his pulse. Dead. He bowed his head and moved on to the power cell. It was surprisingly heavy, so he settled for simply pushing it through the fence door and into the charging machine. There was a little platform on the ground jutting out of an alcove at the bottom of the machine, the red light from inside casting a hellish glow onto Barney's blood soaked hands as he pushed the cell onto the platform.

There was only one button on the huge piece of machinery, so he pressed that with as much force as he could, more than a little anger powering the blow. The platform hissed as it moved the cell into the charging zone within the machine. With some loud humming noises and some flashing lights, the cell was charged up and deposited back out of the alcove by the platform. Again calling on his emotions to fuel him – because nothing else could at the moment – Barney managed to push the power cell to small slot of an elevator and pressed the red button beside it. With an affirmative ping, the platform within the slot started the journey up to Dr Rosenberg's lab, taking the power cell with it.

A few minutes later the machine pinged again, confirming that the lab people upstairs had received it. Barney sighed, his eyes on the dead security guard. He would have thought that after he had accomplished this he would feel better. Like it had been worth it.

Right now, he just felt nothing.

He walked slowly back to the elevator that would take him to Dr Rosenberg and got inside. It was a long, loud journey. He remembered how he had been worried about falling through the gap on the way down, making jokes to himself and trying to see the humour in order to get himself through the debacle. But, after everything that had happened, after knowing that he had shot and murdered his way through dozens of innocent aliens… he just felt tired. Not sad, not regretful.

Just tired. So very, very tired.

As of that moment, Barney Calhoun just wanted to go home.

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(A/N: And there you go. Barney's journey is almost complete, folks. He's on the home stretch. Land ahoy. But don't be sad, because Shephard's on his way! And, as I said, he will kick ass.

Anyway, reviews please!

Next Chapter: Apprehension)