Chapter 4: Rising Tide
A/N- I know it's been ages since my last update, I just ran out of ideas until last week, so here you readers go, have fun.
1540 HOURS CITY-17 SEWERS- SECTOR 56
"There was nothing you could have done, so don't beat yourself up about it"
Ada turned to face Leon, her shoulders slumped.
"I know, you're right, it's just that I feel that I could of-"
"Survivor's guilt."
Ada sighed, "Yeah, probably."
The sky thundered overhead as the group trudged in a sewer, knee-deep in god knows what, with rainwater sluicing in from the street.
Tanya, with her leg strapped and her hair lank and unkempt, limped into step next to Barney.
"Listen," she started, "I just want you to know that I-"
Barney sighed, "Tanya, just cut the crap, please, I'm not an idiot, and I know what you fucking did."
Ada, who overheard this last comment, muttered, "Oh shit."
With that, Tanya's heart rate quickened and she started to sweat, unnoticed in the pouring water from overhead.
Tanya, with her eyes wide, "Did?"
"Yeah, how you sold out the resistance, did you forget about that?"
Ada bumped into Ramirez, "uh-," She started.
"Ramirez." He helped.
"Yeah, Ramirez, can I trust you?" she asked.
"Of course you can." He answered.
"Good," she sighed, "because if Barney tries to hurt Tanya, can I trust you to protect her?"
'Why?"
"Can you just do that, for me?"
Ramirez, now disarmed by her looks and smile answered, "Well, yeah, uh, of course I can, ma'am."
She walked up further, and settled back into her place next to Leon.
A female rebel, Elaine, walked up next to Ramirez and whacked him on the back of the head
"You fucking idiot." She said.
"Ow!"
"So, were they captured" the Commander asked.
"Well, uh, they, well went " stammered Judder Page, a human adviser of the Combine, his body shaking, with his hair and clothes plastered to his body from the sudden torrential rain "over the e-"
"So you didn't." the Commander asked.
"I, ah, see." Judder's shoulders slumped, "no."
"BANG!"
The bullet went straight through Judder's heart, sending a large gout of blood, the dark, viscous liquid, splattering on the ground behind him, before it was washed away by the rain, like Judders life. He convulsed once, his life receding from his eyes, then fell limp on the ground, dead.
A combine soldier from Kill Team-4 came up to the Commander, "Sir, we have intelligence that our agent is now with the fugitives, and sir?" He said in the dull, autonomous voice all soldiers had, "and you might want to see this."
"While processing the accident we found this." The soldier threw forward a, of all things, an adolescent girl onto the ground in front of him.
Two Combine soldiers dragged the spluttering girl up, as she tried to shake the water out of her eyes.
"Little girl, what is your name?" the Commander asked.
She said nothing.
The Commander slapped her across the face, "What is your name?" he asked again.
Tears formed in the girl's eyes but she still said nothing, the commander fumed
Mouse stood there, held up, under the mercy of the Combine, helpless. MY NAME IS KALI!! Mouse yelled, but with her jaw locked up with fear and her eyes full of tears, she wouldn't, no, couldn't reply.
The Commander sunk his fist into her stomach.
"My………." This word came out in a rush, along with all the air in her lungs.
This word came out so softly that he almost missed it.
"C'mon girl, if you tell us we'll let you go."
Tears were running down the girls face, and her mouth was quivering, but she still didn't say anything.
The Commander gave up and raised his fist
The last thing Kali saw was a fist rushing towards her face, a blinding pain, then……………….nothing.
As Kali slumped forward in her captors grip, the Commander was giving orders, "Process and interrogate her at the Citadel…," the Commander thought for a moment, "Then place her in the Enhancement Project.
"Yes sir," one the soldiers croaked.
"Where is it…………..there!"
"beep"
"There we go," she whispered.
"clunk……….."
The sound of the manhole covering hitting the sewer floor echoed throughout the sewer.
The covering splashed and a torrent of water poured in the hole
"Okay, this is where we go up now," Yuri said in his flat, Russian accent, nodding at the manhole above.
Leon spoke up, "Uh, how do you know this is the right manhole?"
"Yeah, what if we end up in a bunch of Combine?" This was Tanya.
"The Combine never come through here, this whole place is deserted."
"Is there a reason why this place is deserted?" Ada now asked.
"Listen," Patrick argued , "We've come through here tons of times and nothing bad has happened, and I'm willing to bet on my life that nothing will go wrong this time."
Fed up with waiting, Yuri just hauled himself out of the manhole, "Clear!"
Barney went up next, "Clear!"
After a few seconds, Ada decided to go up next and quipped, "Damn! I was just starting to get dry."
With the parting comment, she pulled herself out, "Clear!"
As she went towards Yuri and Barney, she heard them talking.
"I just don't trust her," Barney said.
"Who, Tanya?"
"Yes, her"
"Well, we'll just have to keep an eye on her then, okay?"
Barney nodded, "Okay."
Ada turned to see Leon help Tanya out of the manhole, as she saw this she thought,
"This situation's going to explode soon….If not by the Combine, by us."
Patrick saw Elaine pull herself out of the manhole.
"Clear!" she called.
Patrick sighed with relief, holstered his rifle and went to pull himself.
Wait… a buzzing noise hit his ears and in City 17, that usually meant one thing.
"Shit," he breathed.
He hurriedly pulled himself out of the manhole and into the pouring rain of street level, then he hurriedly grabbed the manhole and clicked it into place.
Whew, he thought.
He stood up and looked at every at everyone, standing between 2 ruined apartment blocks waiting for him, then he looked at Elaine, who he really liked and knew Elaine felt the same way, even if she tried to hide it.
Patrick shook his head, those thoughts were dangerous in situations like this, made you do irrational things, "Guys!" he yelled, "I think we've got comp-."
"crack"
A blinding pain blossomed in his knee-
"crack"
-and them his abdomen in quick succession
He collapsed to the ground, now realizing he had lost his bet with fate.
Elaine screamed as Patrick fell.
A bloody hole in his blown-apart knee, another in his stomach, blood spurting and seeping from his wounds.
The rational part of her knew he wasn't dead, no, not by a long shot, with his screaming, moaning, his clawing at his knee and stomach.
"Crap, c'mon people!" Yuri ordered.
Elaine turned to Yuri, then to Patrick.
Yuri shook his head, "No you can't, its not worth it!"
Elaine stared at the group, then at Patrick.
"Maybe not to you," she muttered.
Elaine made her choice.
"Here we go..." Ada thought.
Elaine ran, as everyone else quickly ducked behind cover, bullets whizzing around her, slid to Patrick's side and hoisted him up.
"I can always rely on you, can't I?" Patrick spluttered, blood coming out of his mouth.
"Where is he?" Barney yelled.
Ada peered around the corner, "Uhhhhhhhhh, 3rd building on the right, 2nd floor, center window."
"Gotcha." Barney slowly leaned around the corner, then opened fire, bullets chewing away at wood and brickwork, causing the sniper to go behind cover.
Ada saw Elaine and Patrick make it to safety.
"whew," she thought..
Barney ran dry, ducking back behind cover, then suddenly, without warning, Leon took his former place, and one-handed aimed and fired his grenade gun.
The resulting explosion took out the center window, surrounding brickwork and, of course, the Combine sniper. Then the roof of the room collapsed on top, ruining any chance of survival for the sniper.
Barney, irate, turned to face Leon, "You had a grenade launcher?"
"Apparently."
Elaine threw aside the used morphine syringe and bandaged up his blown-apart knee.
Patrick's moans intensified, the pain already starting to break through his morphine-induced high.
Elaine swore, now remembering something about combine sniper bullets, they started to blossom and expand out.
She reached into her medkit and pulled out a thick leather glove, put it on and with no other choice stuck her hand in Patrick's stomach wound.
Her entire hand and wrist made squelching sounds as she felt around muscles and organs then, finally she clasped the bullet.
Elaine slowly pulled her hand out of Pat's stomach cavity, well aware that this was doing more damage then good to him but it was better then the alternative, she had experience in these matters. Then out her hand came, clasping the bullet, sticky with blood and gore.
Patrick's eyes were starting to roll back into his head, his skin was feverish and shoulders twitching.
"Just hold on," she muttered.
Elaine put the bullet, now looking like a razor-sharp rose, in her pocket and grabbed her last morphine syringe from her medkit. She pulled of the plastic cap, tapped the mixture then injected it straight into a vein.
After several seconds, Patrick's shoulders stopped moving and his eyes rolled back into their normal position.
Elaine was pulled out of her own world by Leon, "Elaine, is he gone?"
Elaine blinked a couple of times then replied, "No! He's not, we just need to get him to a medical facility and he'll be fine!" she snapped.
"clack"
Elaine turned and found herself facing side-on into the barrel of a pistol.
"What the-" Elaine said, staring at the would-be shooter, Tanya.
"Tanya, what the fuck?" Leon asks, wide-eyed.
"Come on!" Tanya snapped, "that was just a sniper, but yous all know that their coming."
"So?!" Barney yelled, "do you suggest we just leave him to die?"
"No, I suggest we cap him right now." Tanya suggested, clicking off her gun's safety-
just as Ramirez snapped, bringing up his SMG to Tanya's head, "Back off."
There was several seconds of silence, only broken by the pouring rain everywhere and Patrick's slight moans, he was apparently unaware of his predicament thanks to his reinforced morphine-induced high.
The rain pooled on the ground, dripping down stoic faces, splashing off exposed guns and generally annoying every living creature in its path.
Yuri glanced at Barney, who did a 'see?' gesture, to which Yuri just nodded.
"Come on," Tanya pleaded, "he'll only slow us down."
No, fuck off," Ramirez roared, "I've known Pat for over 15 years and I'm not just going let you cap him right here."
"Tanya, step the fuck down, or I will shoot you as well." Barney snapped.
Tanya's finger depressed on the trigger.
"click"
"You do it, you die," Ramirez hissed.
"Step down Tanya!"
Tanya's finger depr-
"Fine."
Tanya pulled her gun away and dropped it on the ground.
"Have it your way."
His eyes slowly opened, his body full of weariness, but this quickly wore off when he realized, or more likely, did not realize where he was.
"Huh? Where am I?"
"Missssssssster Shepard, why back so sssssoon?"
Adrian Shepard looked up and saw G-Man.
"Oh crap."
Adrian looked out a window and just saw black.
"Ohhhhhh crap."
"Now Missssster Shepard did you would think I would jussst let you die like that, did you? Not after I invesssssted so much in getting you out of Black Messsssa alive, it had ssssomething to do with your ability to "adapt and ssssssurvive against all oddsssss" I believe.
"Now we have nothing to wasssste but time."
Adrian finally realized where he was, the same Osprey that got him into this whole mess.
"Great, just great."