-1Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.
(A/N: Repeated thanks to hhgbh for beta work!)
The Black Mesa Incident
Chapter Thirty Two: Gonarch's Lair
Gordon stepped silently out of the flashing maelstrom and onto moist, solid land. This island was far bigger than the one he had just been inside. A cave stood in the distance, a yellow-blue light glowing from inside luring any passer-by towards its' warmth. He looked around. Behind him, the island simply ended, going off into the nothingness around him. The 'sky' was a greenish-grey this time, making everything just that little more dark and shadowy. It didn't bode well, honestly.
Two crab creatures drew his attention in front of him, the pair side by side as they crawled towards him, their long claws raised.
He couldn't help but feel a little amused. If this big bad monster was guiding him through these portals, then surely it would redirect somewhere with a more dangerous threat?
Why did he instantly regret those thoughts?
The right hand crab leapt at his head, and Gordon ducked and whirled around, swinging the butt of the shotgun around with him. He caught the crab as it sailed over him, knocking it across the island and under what looked like a tree. Except instead of leaves or branches, there was just a giant pointed hook making up the tip. As soon as the crab touched it, the hook sliced down, impaling the miniscule alien to the floor.
Gordon made a note not to go near them. The whereabouts of the second crab occurred to him, and he turned around, blasting it back in mid-leap with the shotgun.
He looked down at the little body for a moment before pushing his glasses up his nose and continuing forward to the cave.
A loud, animalistic, primal wail sounded from the cave ahead, making Gordon duck his head with its' sudden volume. A sort of heavy gallop echoed from the cave, making Gordon cock the shotgun and swallow loudly, backing up a few unconscious steps as the noise grew louder.
Then, a mushroom shaped, four legged creature emerged from the cave, stopping at the mouth to look straight at him - if it even had eyes, that is. It was indeed shaped like a mushroom, but with a flat top and a bulging, fleshy sack dangling from the body where the stem would be. The four legs were more like angular, pointed claws, and Gordon doubted they would put the creature in much good stead on dry land. Which was probably why the ground here was so moist.
The crab creature's natural habitat. And this was their mother.
Gordon looked to the green, dull sky, eyebrow cocked.
Touché, big bad alien.
The creature wailed again and charged at him. Gordon unloaded blast after blast from the shotgun on the giant crab creature, the pellets sparking uselessly against the top of its' shell. It moved surprisingly fast for something so large, and managed to reach him in no time, covering the last distance with an impressive leap that rammed straight into him. The impact knocked Gordon across the island and onto his back, the shotgun flying off from his grip and to the side.
Resting on his elbows, Gordon propped himself up and tried to get to his feet. The creature was upon him before he could even straighten his glasses. It stabbed down claw after claw on his head, and Gordon wormed his way this way and that as he tried to avoid the deadly blades. He tried not to look at how big the holes in the ground were where the claws at hit it.
Teeth clenched, Gordon pulled out the revolver and pressed it to the creature's sack, now bobbing up and down above his belly. Then something small and white dropped from it. Then another. Gordon frowned as five miniature, almost foetus like crab creatures crawled up his arms and chest, each one barely bigger than the palm of his hand. He tried to ignore them and fired into the sack, blowing a hole straight through it.
The monster wailed, backing away from him with surprising speed before turning and heading for the cave. Yellow blood trailed out of the sack beneath it, giving Gordon something to follow. With that worry gone, he grabbed the mini crabs and crushed them in his palms. It was like crumbling prawn crackers.
Now at the mouth of the cave, the creature turned and spurted something out of a hole on the top of its' head. The blob of white liquid flew up into the air before gradually coming back down on him. Gordon rolled away and heard it splatter against the ground where his head had been, the acid fizzling away until it had melted a sizeable hole into the ground.
So it could spit acid, and it could make irritating little crab things. How nice. One of the little creatures bit the back of his neck, and he ripped it off him with a pained hiss. He crushed the creature under his HEV boot.
Irritating, and they stung.
Gordon looked up at the cave. The creature had gone, and the galloping was getting quieter. He collected his shotgun and followed, using the Long Jump to skip considerable parts of his journey. Inside the cave, he saw yellow crystals exactly like the ones he had experimented on back at Anomalous Materials. Amazing how everything came full circle sometimes.
The cave bent off to the right, coming out at a small open area before another cave on the right. Gordon reached the exit of his cave as he saw the shadow figure of the creature disappear into the entrance of the other. Minding the hole in the ground that was covered by nothing more than web, Gordon leapt after it.
He quickly caught up with it in the increasingly dark cave, flicking his flashlight on when it became impossible to see anything. The unmistakable shape of the crab mother waddled away in the front of him. Thanks to the Long Jump, he was well and truly catching up with the creature now. With one final jump, he leapt at the wall just beside the creature, using it a kick off point to get onto the monster's flat top.
Almost instantly sliding off, he managed to get a grip on the very edge of the top of the creature. As he clung to it, he prayed that his host didn't decide to spray acid on him. Because as strong as his opticians had said his glasses were, he didn't remember them saying anything about alien mother monster acid.
It became a redundant worry as he suddenly felt a sensation of weightlessness, and realised that the crab mother had leapt off a ledge. Gordon let go of the creature as it tumbled, having no desire to be caught underneath it when it landed… whenever it landed.
Then they both hit the ground, the creature sliding down the incredibly slippery ground beneath them. Gordon could see the entrance to a chamber in front of them, the yellowy-green of the walls putting the creature in silhouette. The monster managed to keep itself still on the slope with its' claws, waiting for him halfway down the slope. Gordon didn't really have the luxury of claws, and he doubted even the crowbar would be much use in the thick mud beneath him.
So he pulled out a grenade as he slid towards the creature, pulling out the pin with his teeth as he slipped underneath the sack. With a loud grunt, he shoved the grenade up into the hole in the sack that the mini-crabs had come from. When he reached the ledge, he plunged the shotgun into the mud, hoping it would give him some leverage to stay while he figured out a way of getting down.
The bright walls were too slippery to climb down, but there was a web halfway down the cylindrical chamber which would allow him to get down to the ground below without much trouble. Resolved, Gordon started to pull the shotgun out.
And then the grenade exploded. The crab mother let out a magnificent, dying wail as it stumbled about in the tight confines of the tunnel it stood in. After colliding with the walls a few times, it collapsed to the ground and started sliding towards him. Gordon managed to pull his shotgun free and leapt for the web just as the tank size monster flew over his head. They landed on the light, sticky material at the same time, the creature's weight having significantly more effect than Gordon's.
It tore instantly through the web with a resounding rip noise, plunging them both to the ground just a few feet below. But the creature didn't stop there, instead ploughing through the ground and down below. Gordon landed just next to the hole it had created, the ground beside it breaking away as he hit it.
All Gordon could see was a bright blue light beneath him, and as he fell into it, he saw the familiar flashing of another portal consuming him.
If this 'single powerful being' wasn't careful, this teleporting thing could get really old, really fast.
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(A/N: Hope there weren't any fans of 'Pit Worm's Nest' who desperately wanted to see it in written form; as soon as the idea of Shephard using the Displacer popped into my head, there was little I could do to shake it.
Anyway, this is the last of the double chapters; from here on out its' singular instalments all the way. As most of you know, things will get just that little bit more epic from this point on.
So, review!
Next Chapter: Foxtrot Uniform)