-1Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.

(A/N: Hhgbh! Wonderful beta! KEEP CLAPPING.)

The Black Mesa Incident

Chapter Thirty: Vicarious Reality

Around the corner of the waterlogged pipe, light shone down through a gap in the ceiling ahead. It had been broken through by a fallen pipe, giving Shephard a convenient diagonal bridge to the room above. His boots slick from the water, it was more than a little difficult to make his way up the pipe, but he managed to clamber up by grabbing onto the ledge above. Throwing his electric companion over first, Shephard then latched on with his other arm and pulled himself up onto a walkway, having to squeeze himself through the guardrail to get onboard.

Shephard picked up his pet weapon and looked around. The repetitive noise he had heard from the tunnel was an automatic door beside him, struggling to close around some collapsed debris from the other side. A dead security guard, reminding Shephard of Otis, lay on the floor just in front of the doors, most likely dead because of said collapse. He didn't have any weapons. The walkway overlooked a whole host of pipes, although when he hard a chance to look at them further, he realised they were tubes full of wiring. He looked down to the tunnel he had emerged from and suddenly felt quite lucky for not having been shocked to death.

The walkway led off to some stairs on the right and the left. Left was blocked by some more fallen pieces of ceiling, so Shephard chose right. Up the stairs, another dead body, this one a scientist, awaited him. He was getting tired of seeing death, so he moved on, trying not to concentrate on the smell in the air. The words 'OBSERVATION AREA' beside a door around the corner didn't exactly engender good feelings from Shephard. If anything, they made him grip the creature in his hands tighter.

It squeaked in protest, and he looked down at it. Come to think of it, he had no idea how to use this thing. Thinking that he probably would have to before the day was done, he turned around, aiming it at the wall. He experimentally squeezed and pulled every part of the creature he could find, eventually, coming across the middle section of the creature, which, when squeezed, made it fire of a white hot bolt of energy. The scorch mark on the wall made Shephard nod and look down at the creature on his arm appreciatively.

Feeling somewhat safer, Shephard turned and walked towards the automatic door. It slid open with a low hum, allowing him entry into the dark, brown corridor beyond. It went on for quite some distance, windows on the left-hand wall allowing false sunlight onto the walls opposite. Shephard cautiously approached the window. Inside, he saw those creatures that emitted the high pitched hum randomly spread about the grassy, rocky area. But all of them were dead, yellow blood spilt messily over the shimmering grass.

A sudden movement beside him made him flinch, and he frowned as a shimmering light about the size of a tennis ball shot past him, stopping for only a moment in front of him before flying off down the corridor.

Shephard clutched the creature in his arms tighter and moved on. Inside the habitat on his right, he could see a square piece of rock face that rose up like a hatch. Further inside, Shephard could make out a secure metal door. That was the last thing he noticed as he reached the end of the row of windows, getting to the end of the corridor. Another automatic door like the one at the entrance stood before him. No sparkling light, nothing. His frown deepening, Shephard went towards the automatic door. Except it was anything but automatic. No depressurising hiss. No low hum as it opened compliantly for him. Just an angry buzz.

He tried again a few times before his jaw set and he fired the electricity alien a few times. Still nothing.

A teleportation echoed down the corridor to him, and he whipped around, weapon at the ready. Another two followed it in quick succession. He tried the door again. Nothing.

Checking he had a firm grip on his 'gun', he slowly moved down the corridor, his still damp boots clomping far too loud on the concrete floor. The familiar half-buzzing of the Race X electricity alien reached his ears, and he stood perfectly still.

Light tapping approached. He readjusted his grip.

Faster than he could have though, two of the small dart throwing creatures swung around the corner, sprinting straight for him. One on the right leapt, and Shephard jumped onto his back, aiming his weapon upwards. He fired as the creature flew over him, blasting it into the ceiling and leaving it there.

The other one, now at his side, sliced up into his leg, spraying crimson against the wall and windows. Shephard yelled in pain before ramming the weapon in his hands down onto the creature, crushing it into the floor before he opened fire. The creature exploded instantly in a flash of yellow liquid. The viscous substance stuck to his arms, and to the creature held there.

Slowly, he tried to rise, hissing in pain as his weight pushed down on his injured leg.

Come on, PCV…

He clutched the alien creature, fully aware that there was an electricity throwing alien around the corner in much better shape than him.

After a few more steps, a yellowish green ball bounced around the corner to him, trailing a tail of yellow ooze behind it as it went. It landed silently beside Shephard, who only stared at it for a moment before leaping for the window beside him. The explosion from the alien grenade knocked him through the window and into the habitat beyond. He impacted with a ridge of mud and rock, rolling down it at such speed that any attempt to control it went badly. His grip on the bug weapon loosened, and it went flying from his grip as he collided with the grassy floor.

Struggling to breathe, Shephard tried to push himself to his feet. He heard something heavy land in front of him, and looked up to see the alien looking down on him curiously, vertical eyelids blinking over its' one large yellow eye. It had crushed Shephard's electricity bug, yellow blood still squirting as the alien moved its' foot from side to side.

It watched silently as Shephard struggled to his feet. The voice that erupted from the creature's sweaty, tentacled mouth made Shephard paused.

"Mub, mub, mub ku ku."

Shephard clenched his teeth. "Same to you."

He brought his machete up from his boot, aiming for the creature's head. It easily grabbed the clumsy blow with its' larger left arm. Shephard looked up into the face of his enemy, and whipped his left hand around, latching on to the creature's tentacled maw. He yanked down, pulling himself up and launching a head butt at he creature. His helmet collided with its' eye with a squelch, and Shephard saw some yellow liquid spurt out from the creature as it released him, stumbling back.

Shephard scrambled to his machete and launched it at the creature's lower right arm, hitting the wrist and releasing the electricity bug it held there. As Shephard went for it, he heard another teleportation behind him, and turned to see a completely new monster bearing down on him. This was one was about the size of two polar bears, tan coloured, and had purple tiger stripes on its' back. Four pointy legs supported a stumpy body, the featureless head poking out of the top like a worm from the ground. Two arms stood out the front, similar in appearance to the legs. Finally, a tail in the same theme as he other appendages grew from the rear, completing the package of one ugly motherfucker.

With a pig-like snort, it seemed to notice him and clamped its' front claws together. Much like the Xen electricity aliens, it gathered electricity from seemingly nowhere, except purple. Out of the corner of his eye, Shephard watched as the electricity alien on his left blindly lumbered over towards him. He waited until the creature in front of him released its' energy blast, and dove to forward, putting his hand over his head in what he was sure was a futile gesture.

The small purple orb of energy shot across the habitat and collided with the electricity creature without a noise. Shephard looked back over his shoulder, and saw the creature clutching its' now glowing it stomach. It' eye whipped up to look at Shephard before it exploded into dozens of fleshy yellow pieces, spraying him in blood. Another snort from in front of him have Shephard his cue, and he quickly got to his feet and rolled for the electric bug gun from his fallen enemy. Rolling, scooping it up and aiming in one smooth movement, Shephard unloading everything the creature had on the giant alien opposite him.

Blue energy danced around the creature as the bolts hit it, and for a moment, he thought he was going to have to dodge another blast. But then, with an alarmed grunt, the creature exploded, much like its' supposed comrade had done. With a relieved exhalation, Shephard relaxed and lay on his back. The creature in his arms squealed in protest and wriggled violently in his arms. Feeling tired anyway, Shephard was in no mood to be fucked about with, so he just tossed the creature away like baseball.

It flipped in midair, landing on its' spindly feet before coming towards him. What was once a mere annoyance suddenly became a little more dangerous, and Shephard got to his feet, the angry noises coming from the creature doing nothing to calm his nerves. After a minute long gargle, it leapt out at him. Shephard crushed it to the floor with the wrench. He looked down to the crushed weapon beneath him.

"Huh."

Somehow, he had expected it to be harder. Kneeling down, he picked up his machete and slipped it into his boot holster. The leg cut was feeling a lot better. Not that he would like to go on the Boot Camp obstacle course anytime soon, but it would get him through this hellhole well enough. Shephard smiled at the fact that Boot Camp still seemed worse in his head than this place.

Shephard had to duck his head down to get under the rock face hatch, putting a pointless arm on it as he did so. The door, thank Christ, had a simple two buttoned control panel. He pushed the green button, and the door opened. Inside, an elevator platform took him up barely four feet to a metal door above him. It slid open without protest, and Shephard stepped through into the pure white light of the room beyond, enjoying the light blues of the walls and shining greys of the tables. Dark and grimy could only be dealt with for so long before you got tired of squinting.

Inside some glass observation cubicles, Shephard saw several of the creatures he had come across, and in some just rocks with moss on them. Although, Shephard was sure it was very special moss. These scientists wouldn't waste their time with just anything, no. But something did catch Shephard's eye in the next room.

Three tubes of water stood against the wall, complicated control panels beneath them flashing and bleeping as their maintained the thin, long green monstrosity inside. The third tube had smashed, spilling water and one of the creatures across the floor in front of him. Curiously, Shephard edged towards it. It didn't seem to be making any aggressive moves as the electro… thing had, so that was good. Cautiously, he picked it up. It was about as big as a rocket launcher, and just as heavy. The lime green of the creature reflected the pure light of the labs with a glint that made him wince a little.

The mouth at one end of the creature, combined the handle like spines that protruded from near the 'head', convinced Shephard that this was a weapon of some kind, however unclear the instructions might have been. With his newfound (he hoped) weapon mounted on his shoulder, Shephard moved forward, entering another room that went off to the right.

On the right-hand wall, two windows looked down into a tall red room. He could see some reddish coloured creatures stuck to the ceiling, roughly the size of a barrel, with what looked like along, silvery rope dangling from it. A red button in front of him stood before a lens in the control panel pointing upwards. Not seeing the harm in activating a lens, Shephard pushed it. The lens flickered to life, and so did a holographic image of a scientist in front of him. Shephard brought his weapon to bear, but quickly calmed and allowed it to lower. The scientist, one of the few Shephard had seen with a full head of hair, scratched his salt-and-pepper curls as he looked down at a clipboard.

"Ah yes, Walter… we were finally able to successfully detach one of the Barnacle creatures from its' point of gestation." Shephard glanced past the flickering hologram and into the room. Those things hanging from the roof would be 'Barnacles', then. The scientist continued, oblivious to Shephard.

"As before, we were still only able to caress the creature into latching on to organic materials." The scientist looked down at his clipboard again, scowling. "Unfortunately, the Administrator has called me down to the Anomalous Materials lab this morning for an important experiment," - his tone seemed to indicate just how important he thought the experiment was - "so I don't have any time to further my analysis. Take specimen number Eleven Seventy Six and log anything else you can find."

The hologram deactivated itself, and a door on the other side of the room slid open, allowing Shephard into a dim, crimson lit room. With a cautionary glance back at where the hologram had been, Shephard went inside. Lined up with three on each side, display booths with various different specimens sat, proudly lighting their captives for any scientist - or visiting soldier - to see.

In the last booth, Shephard saw the number '11 76' flickering on the digital display beneath. Inside, one of the pillow sized creatures sat inside, the mouth end squirming nauseatingly. His nose wrinkled in a disgusted scowl, Shephard reached down and picked it up by the other end, finding a convenient hole to place his hand inside. Surprisingly, it wasn't as warm or sticky as he had been expecting. In fact, it felt almost militaristic inside. Frowning, Shephard turned the creature round and inspected the hole.

He shook his head.

"Scientists…"

They had replaced the innards of the rear of the creature with metal and leather, making it resemble a weapon more than ever. Inside, Shephard found a handle not unlike the one on the Displacer. The similarity made Shephard wonder about just how separate these sectors of the facility were.

Shaking the thought from his head, Shephard moved on, Barnacle hanging from his left hand while propping up the alien rocket launcher on his shoulder with his right. Through the next door, Shephard found a lift that took him to the red room he had observed from above. Slowly, he edged his way through the maze of still tongues, and tried not to spasm instinctively when he felt the tongues flickering against his arm or leg.

He made it to the other door, and went through. After passing through two more lab rooms, Shephard came to a broken walkway crossing a chasm he had no desire to fall down. It wouldn't kill him, but it sure as hell would take his PCV suit a long time to heal. And the idea of sitting around and being alone with his thoughts was not something he relished. The gap was far too big to jump. He frowned as he looked around.

The room was lit green, although it wasn't coming from any light bulb. Taking in the room, he saw strange red growths dotted all around the room, green blobs growing out of the middle of the growths. It looked like the walls had radioactive zits. He walked to one, curiously running a hand down it. His Geiger counter wasn't blaring, so the green stuff wasn't radioactive. It felt spongy but not too pliable, like a stress ball or eraser.

The long green creature on his shoulder made a noise and strained to reach the green blobs with its' mouth. With a shrug, Shephard allowed the creature to reach the green blob, and watched in amazement as it swallowed it hole. The odd thing (comparatively speaking, of course) was that it didn't seem to swallow. It just seemed to store thing down its' gullet for some later use. Then Shephard recognised the green blobs. They were grenades, like the one the electricity alien had thrown at him earlier. He let the creature feast on all the blobs they could reach.

As his pet weapon dined, Shephard noticed there were more of the green blobs on the other side of the walkway. He looked down at the Barnacle.

"Organic materials…" he quoted, remembering the scientist hologram.

He waited for the green creature to finish with a loud, squelchy gulp before aiming the Barnacle in the correct direction. He felt around for a button in the redesigned interior, and eventually felt a lever that seemed to depress into the handle about as wide as the handle itself, like the brakes on a motorcycle. Shephard aimed the creature more precisely at a blob on the other side, and squeezed the 'brakes'.

With a slurp, a thick grey tendril shot out across the room, latching onto the blob without delay. Before Shephard could even smile, the creature had yanked him off his feet and pulled him off his side of the walkway. He fell down into the chasm with a yelp, holding on with his single hand for dear life. The creature held steadfast against the weight holding it down, and pulled him all the way up the other side and onto the walkway.

Shephard looked impressed at the creature as it tried to eat the green blob. Eventually finding it distasteful, it spit out the green goop with a barely disguised 'Bleah' noise.

With a smile he felt was becoming far too rare these days, Shephard continued on through the next door.

The huge zombie that charged through the crates in the next room made Shephard stumble awkwardly onto his rear. He brought the green shoulder creature down and aimed it straight into the super-zombie's stomach mouth. And that was when he realised he didn't know how to fire the damn thing. Panicking, he squeezed and pulled everything he could until he pulled a spine on the right-hand side of the creature. The zombie exploded in a sea of green, drenching Shephard from head to toe. At that moment he couldn't have been happier to be wearing a gas mask. Because he didn't want to know who exploded zombie mixed with alien grenade tasted like.

The green creature purred satisfactorily, and Shephard gave it what he felt was a well deserved pat on the head before resting his head back and simply lying on the ground.

Corporal Adrian Shephard. Twenty Two years old.

And covered in goo.

With a grunt, he heaved himself to his feet, wiping off whatever he could before scooping up the Barnacle and continuing around the corner and through the next door.

A corridor awaited him looking exactly the same as the habitat observation area he had been in before. But a light source coming from around the bend clued him in somewhat that things may not be exactly the same. The he heard that low, rib-shaking wail that filled the air and made him wince. Shephard readjusted the creature and moved forward. A flashing hazard sign sat on the ground in front of him, barely reaching waist height. Although it wouldn't stop anyone, its' yellow and black striped meaning was clear: under construction.

Although that was fairly obvious from the fact that the corridor was missing after the barrier. Shephard poked his head around, looking out into the habitat beyond. It was far larger than the one he had been in earlier, both in height and width. It was quite a sight.

And so were the two giant green snake things that rose out of two holes in the ground. A single thin red eye sat wedged above a long black beak. Yeah, the beak that could crush him in an instant had his attention somewhat. One was much closer to him than the other, and was actually the only one that could reach him. The other was at the far corner of the room. He looked down the pathway that would have someday been encased in walls and a ceiling to make a corridor. At the far end (which really was quite far when there was a giant monster next to you), Shephard could see another piece of corridor mirroring the one in which he stood.

Shephard looked to the tunnel and then to the monster, which had its' back to him. With a shrug, he just ran for it. The tentacle monster whipped around at the sound of his first footstep. Shephard turned in mid-run with his 'rocket launcher' and fired in the creature's face as it brought its' beak down on him. The alien grenade exploded messily against the monsters' face, and it quickly retracted. It shook its' head in an almost spasm motion, like a dog sneezing.

By the time it had recovered itself, Shephard was to far out of its' range. He pointlessly dove over the barrier there and rolled to a stop, the over-reacting gesture making him feel safer nonetheless.

With a deep breath released, Shephard continued on down the corridor. Only to come across a locked door. He considered backing up and blowing it with his newfound 'ultimate weapon', but thought against it. It would probably just make a mess, and since he was still dripping in a substance he never wanted to think about, a mess was something he didn't really want.

So, feeling a little dejected, Shephard walked back to the habitat and stepped outside, knowing he was well out of the creature's range. That didn't stop it from glaring across the room at him, however. Shephard was tempted to make some sort of rude gesture at it to make himself feel better. Instead, he looked around the habitat for an alternative exit.

Eventually, his eyes fell on the tentacle monster in the corner, his gaze wandering up above its' head. The wall had somehow broken at that point, leaving quite a sizeable gap. Inside, Shephard could see an air duct, the side broken and the resulting hole big enough for a person to slip inside. And, as though a sign from heaven, some of the green blobs that the Barnacle so enjoyed latching onto were spread randomly around the rocky walls inside.

Shephard pulled out the Barnacle, aimed, and fired. It took only a few seconds for the tongue to whip out wetly, yanking Shephard from his feet and over the clueless tentacle creature's head. He let the Barnacle detach itself from the obviously bitter green glob and dropped to the floor of the vent. Inside, a dead soldier stared up past him, mouth slightly agape. Whatever it was that had attacked him, he had obviously seen it coming. And been more than a little confused.

After closing the soldiers' eyes and offering a silent prayer (he wasn't religious, but it seemed like the right thing to do), Shephard crawled over the body and through the noisy metal of the air vent.

The vent cover at the end of the twisting maze didn't cause much trouble for the business end of his boot, and Shephard stepped out into a large maintenance room. He was stood on a walkway that ran along the left half of the room, overlooking the right. In the wall above the walkway opposite, a huge ventilation fan whirred away, the vent cover looking more fragile than the one Shephard had just kicked down. At the midway point on the wall beside him, the walkway had collapsed, a dead soldier beneath the fallen metal. It wasn't far down, so Shephard just let himself drop.

On the right side of the room, some barrels and crates were interspersed with medical supplies and ammo. It was shame he wasn't carrying anything that needed ammo, aside from his holstered Desert Eagle. And the ammo for that was becoming so rare, it might as well have been one of the creatures he was holding, or the Displacer dangling down by his hip.

An army radio sat on a green metal crate tempted Shephard for a moment, but then he reconsidered it. Black Ops were most likely listening to all of their standard frequencies. It wasn't worth the risk simply to comfort himself that there were in fact soldiers like him out there. Although after what he had seen soldiers do today… he wasn't sure if he would be comforted by their presence.

The radio crackled to life, regardless of his ambivalence.

"X Ray Zulu, are you there? We need backup in Waste Sector!" Gunfire roared in the background, followed by a scream.Then Shephard heard the most shrill wail he had ever experienced. It sounded like a huge eagle. "Some sort of… worm creature! Tower and Eddie are down and I've lost contact with the rest of the squad! We need backup now! Now, dammit, n-!"

And with that, the radio went dead. Shephard looked around, searching for signs that would lead him to the 'WASTE SECTOR'. All he could see was the fan. The door leading into the area was blocked by the fallen walkway, and he was damn sure he wouldn't be able to move it by himself. He climbed up a ladder beside the walkway and to the fan. With delicate movements, he placed the Barnacle and 'rocket launcher' down on the floor before lacing his fingers between the gaps on the vent cover. Then, with a firm tug, he brought the large sheet of lattice-work metal from the frame.

All that was left was the incredibly breeze being sucked towards the fan and being blown into the vents ahead. Shephard slipped out his wrench and tossed it into the fan. With some sparks, it flew straight out again, tossing itself across the room so fast that it would have torn through Shephard had he been standing a little to his left. He picked up his Barnacle and rocket launcher before sliding down the ladder. Needing to get his wrench anyway, Shephard moved to the far end of the room, turned, and aimed the rocket launcher.

He fired two explosive globs at the fan, the second breaking one of the blades. But Shephard was aiming for the rotor. With the third blob, he managed to blast the fan from its' hinges, knocking it back down the vent. With a satisfied nod, he picked up the fallen wrench and made his way back to the vent.

The fan had fallen back at such an awkward angle, Shephard had to toss his weapons through the tiny gaps available before he could squeeze through. Blackness awaited him in the surprisingly spacious vent beyond. He switched on his night vision goggles. Still nothing.

With a grumble concerning 'shoddy workmanship', Shephard continued cautiously into the blackness. He bumped into a few corners before he slipped onto his back, and didn't stop sliding. Wind rushed past Shephard's face, carrying the scent of sewage with it.

Shephard sighed. Sewage. Things were looking up.

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(A/N: Well, as much as I don't particularly enjoy Xen in the game, I hope I did enough justice for you Xen fans (all three of you :P). If I didn't, I included 'Vicarious Reality' as well, as a sort of 'begging for forgiveness' package. So everybody's happy!

Anyway, reviewing time!

Next Chapter: Pit Worm's Nest)