Chapter Thirteen: Resonant Echoes
Shephard watched as the smoke cleared from the initial blast. Debris careened through the air as the full on assault against the walls continued with pulse cannons from gunships blasting down causing portions of the wall to burst into dust. The Striders were nearing the city as well charging their pulse cannons before letting loose. It was likely that the walls wouldn't hold much longer and already Combine dropships had managed to avoid their defenses and drop ground troops within the city. Shephard and his troops were already surrounded and were soon to be outnumbered as well.
There was something else then, something that tore the grizzled General's attention from the battle around him. He hear the swirling gears and watched as a shadowy monstrosity tore through the dust cloud sending his men scattering for their lives. Shephard grabbed at his binoculars catching a fleeting glimpse of the metallic monster that was now loose in the city. He watched as it cleared the debris cloud and let out a horrid metallic roar the likes of which he never heard.
Although the machine was more or less bipedal every so often it began to walk on its knuckles. On its shoulders were mounted two miniature pulse cannons although as the twisted metal behemoth fired off several rounds they seemed just as powerful as the cannon fitted to a Strider. Yet this was no synthetic, Shephard realized as he radioed orders to several nearby units with rocket launchers, this was simply robotics. There was no living element to this beast which began to howl as it tore into a nearby building with its bare hands. It swatted aside a soldier who was trying to scurry out of his way and Shephard winced as he watched the man's body impact a nearby brick wall. As the unit of rocket wielding soldiers turned their attention away from the gunships towards this new enemy Shephard found himself taking fire from a nearby fireteam of Overwatch.
It hadn't even been a full day of fighting and they were already losing. To make matters worse General Shephard and General Cartwright were the only two in command with most of the other Resistance leaders and all of the Templar leaders having gone AWOL. The Mayor, Emil Nemico, was also, unsurprising to Shephard, missing. The lack of centralized leadership in the defense of City 12 had led to low morale with some soldiers deserting. Most stayed though knowing that City 12 was their home and knowing that their children, who had been moved to a set of secure tunnels beneath the city, were counting on them.
Shephard hanged off the ledge of the roof. A smile appeared on his face when he heard the door open and the six Combine soldiers come stumbling onto the roof. He listened closely as they searched the area for any sign of him their polished black boots resounding off the concrete rooftop. One of them was close, Shephard knew, just a few inches from being able to see him. He reached up and extended his hidden blade hitting the Overwatch under the chin and cutting into its mask. A hiss of air emerged followed by a trickle of blood as Shephard hauled the screaming soldier from the rooftop and let him fall six stories to his death below.
The other Combine were moving now and Shephard had to act fast. He climbed down to a window in the building before any of the soldiers could see him as they frantically tried to figure out what was happening. He came back up the stairs toward the roof with his Pulse Rifle at the ready. Shephard kicked open the door and as he suspected all of the soldiers were peering over the edge of the building. Despite the masks that obscured their faces Shephard could have sworn he saw their surprise as they turned to see him opening fire and giving a war cry. One thirty round magazine of Pulse Rounds put them down without them getting off anything more than a frantic inaccurate hip fire with their MP7s.
Shephard had no time to revel in his victory. The ground was shaking beneath him. With horror appearing in his eyes he turned to see a nearby building collapsed. At first he wasn't sure what the hell had just happened until the smoke cleared and he saw the metallic menace from earlier moving away from the debris pile. The beasts body bore a small scorch mark, apparently it had been hit by a rocket. Whatever it was the Combine had given it incredible armor. Shephard saw another rocket swerving its way, to his horror the monster lifted up its paw and stopped the projectile sending it hurling away. It exploded a few feet from the monster leaving little more than some ash across the robots orange spherical eye.
Adrian Shephard dove indoors as a gunship buzzed the building firing in his direction. They were getting braver now, he knew, they were realizing that City 12 could not put up a good fight. The General dove back out onto the roof and grabbed his radio. He wasn't going to let the city fall without a fight... if the Combine wanted it they were going to have to take it from him.
Allison felt a shadow moving over her. He heart leapt into action and her eyes leapt open. She thought she might see some sinister phantom, perhaps even a man in a blue suit but instead she saw Julian. He was sneaking away from her side. The sun had set a few hours earlier and they had only just laid down to rest. She collected herself mentally, yawned and pursued him. He stood on the edge of their encampment staring up, as he often did, at the cosmic ceiling of stars above their heads. He turned to regard her and took her hand as she sat beside him on a fallen tree trunk.
"I didn't mean to wake you," he said softly pecking her on the cheek, "I guess I just wanted to see the stars."
"There's more to it than that," Allison said pointing out the obvious.
"I used to feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself," Julian admitted, "But now I feel so weak, so human."
"It comes with age," Allison said, "You can't always feel as though you're immortal. If any human being in this world deserves to feel strong its an assassin, you've worked all your life to-"
"It's always come easy to me," Julian interrupted her, "Oh sure the training was physically exhausting but that's only because my Father was so serious about it. In a world controlled by hostile aliens I can forgive him for that. I never had to truly work for my talents and now I come to find I can break free of the pull of the Pieces of Eden, the very devices made by the gods to control mankind."
"They could be losing their power," Allison theorized, resting her head on his shoulder, "It's been centuries."
"Makes sense I guess," Julian agreed though his tone didn't seem sold on the idea, "For all my strength I still ran from City 12. I left them to die."
"You left them to live," Allison dissented, "You left them to protect me and to protect yourself after most of them had turned their back on the Assassin Order!"
"They were misled," Julian said defending the citizens of City 12, he paused afterward and then sighed profoundly, "I feel so unsure about everything. Where do we go from here?"
"To Hunters Fall," Allison explained, "We'll find some answers there, answers to how you break the power of the Pieces, answers to why I keep having such strange dreams... and maybe even answers on how to better fight the Combine. Now come on, let's go to bed, we need to get moving first thing in the morning."
Amber Cartwright had seen the thing but she'd barely believed it was real. The middle-aged female General had seen a great deal in her twenty plus years of fighting the Combine but this was unlike any piece of weaponry the Empire had ever built. It towered nearly twelve feet tall and wore several chunks of thick armor over its extremities and weak points that seemed melded to an original understructure. It was cutting a swatch of destruction through the city tearing apart the foundations of buildings and bashing aside whole squads not to mention the powerful pulse cannons it wore on its shoulders and the fact that with each armored gauntlet it wore was a powerful chain-gun.
She had ordered several dozen of her men to keep the war hound at bay while she took another group attempting to flank it. It wasn't easy though as night had fallen over the city and in the darkness it was hard to tell friend from foe. Already the jumpy men and women in her squad had almost ended the lives of several Resistance members who'd moved passed them. They could see the creature now though as it lifted a dumpster over its head and crushed three men to death with it before turning to deflect a rocket with its built in gravity gun. It was going to take several rockets from several different vantage points if they were actually going to bring down the beast.
One small team of her men broke off and headed for a nearby roof as Amber and the rest continued down the street before also splitting apart into two groups. Amber went with the first group and shouldered an RPG of her own as they quick moving behemoth smashed right through the wall of a nearby wrecked building and stood toe to toe with them just fifty feet away. She radioed for all the teams to fire and watched as rockets soared in from all around. The first two sailed past the bot and blew up behind it, the third was caught in its clutches by the grav-gun and then thrown back towards the rooftop where it had originated. Amber watched in horror as the creature deftly dodged with agility far above that she would have expected. In the end only one rocket hit home breaking off one of the creature's pulse cannons. This damage seemed only to anger the robotic beast and Amber and her team fell back a bit reloading their rockets and getting ready to hit the creature again.
A cold shiver crept up Amber Cartwright's spine as she fell back into the shadows and loaded another RPG. Something was amiss in the darkness. The chaotic sounds of the continuing battle, the swirl of smoke in the air, the constant pounding of pulse rounds being fired from both friendly and enemy alike all seemed joined together in a perfect storm. Yet there was something else there in the darkness and as one of her soldiers screamed out she became all too aware and all too afraid. The black skinned insectoid had killed one of her team and was stabbing at a second woman with a strange blue-steeled sword. Amber lifted her rocket launcher as the poor woman screeched and sputtered in her death throes, she yelled for the others to get clear as she fired. The rocket sliced like a blade through the night air but it missed the creature and just kept going.
"Fucking hell," Amber mumbled under her breath as her eyes darted to and fro to find the alien assassin and to find the rest of her team. She heard a muffled cry from around the corner and thought to rush to the rescue, instead she flanked around coming up behind the black skinned creature. But this was no ordinary Combine soldier, this was Ressian Malil. She spun on Amber stabbing and slicing and cutting so quickly and so gracefully and yet with such passion that Amber could scarcely keep herself back away from the blade. The strange alien eyes, filled with cold malice, peered down at her as she lay helpless. Amber reached for her rocket launcher but soon felt a cold steel blade against her throat.
"You're one of their leaders aren't you?" Ressian asked though she'd seen the insignia from her rooftop perch. She'd been tasked with keeping their new toy safe from harm, it had been her pet project after all to turn Alyx Vance's pet into a weapon of war, "End of the road."
"For both of us then," Amber spit, "Only I won't be the one left sucking Satan's dick in Hell!"
Amber pulled the trigger on her RPG and watched the alien's eyes go wide before it all went dark.
Theta felt so strange standing there in the body of a child. She peered through eyes that felt alien to her and yet she knew that they were her own. The world around her moved with a strange speed although her own movements seemed slow and distorted as she watched the players around her on the stage. Her parents were there with sullen expressions of worry, her Father was yelling. She felt tears well in the eyes of that child... her own eyes... she hated when he yelled. It wasn't her that he was angry at she knew, she saw the man, skin flinted man in a brown boxy suit with his hair halfway between gray and white. Her Mother was crying now and that was only causing more tears to swell in her eyes and further distort these phantasms of the past.
Things seemed to speed up around her once more and soon she found herself being led down the hallway. Her Mother was still there and wore a sad expression. The man who held her hand, to her horror, was not her Father but a sinister looking man in a blue suit. She felt a flash of pain though whether it was from the past or the present she couldn't tell, it was as if merely seeing him threatened to shatter her psyche. She couldn't focus on his face no matter how she tried.
Another flash of rapid speed and she was alone. No longer a child she now stood in a teenage body looking at the tubes, an endless room that stretched on forever in her mind. In each tube something grew, something that bore every bit of what she was, something that looked just like her. Something inhuman. A voice seemed to echo around her as her essence was once again poured into that little girl's body. She stood in the desert now.
"I'm taking her and that's final!" She heard her Father shout, his angry tone drove her to cling to him closely.
"She has done exceptionally well in the program Mister Eisley," the strange man beside her Father hissed, "All the other girls enrolled have been pulled."
"I don't care!"
"Your tone Mister Eisley, need I remind you that I could have you... terminated?"
"You think I care about my job? My daughter is what's important to me and if you think you can-"
"I wasn't talking about your job Mister Eisley," the man in the blue suit growled turning away and adjusting his tie, "She will remain in the program at my discretion, is that clear?"
"Yes," Theta heard her Father say, his tone was that of a man broken and alone, "Yes I understand."
Theta Prime woke from her dream unsure what to make of it. Her past had always been muddled, it had always been a mystery to her, to assume that these dreams were accurate visions would be premature. She lifted her hands to her face and felt that her cheeks were wet with tears. Whatever these visions were she could not deny their raw emotional strength.
She sat up in bed half expecting to see the sinister man in the blue suit materialize before her eyes at the foot of the bed. She curled her legs up out of irrational fear and felt a profound emptiness within. Were these just dreams or were they echoes of the past bouncing off the walls of her mind?
Ressian felt the crushing weight of the debris on her body and soon the pain of shrapnel lodged in her exoskeleton also became clear. She struggled to get her claws against the floor solidly enough to lift herself up out of the pile. Wood, plaster and dust poured off of her as she stood. She looked up to see a trail of blood glinting in the moonlight. An expression of surprise, although few humans would have identified it as such, appeared on her face. Had the noble General survived the blast? A survey of the area outside certainly led the injured, but not seriously wounded, alien to that conclusion. The assassin followed the trail of blood a few blocks noting that it became very sporadic as though the woman had at some point stopped to tie off her wounds. Ressian thought that perhaps she'd underestimated some members of this ordinarily weak species.
The alien assassin climbed atop a nearby roof surveying the area. Barely an hour had passed since the blast at least as far as she could discern. A wave of panic coursed through her as she scanned the horizon for Dog or War Hound as she had taken to calling him. She had an alien name for him as well but despite her off-Earth origin she had to admit she liked the sound of it in English. It had been her idea to rebuild Alyx's friend as the human race's worst robotic enemy but it had led to her current unfortunate assignment. She had been tasked the baby-sitting the brute and making sure it was not destroyed in battle and didn't commit any friendly fire. She looked down at her wrist console and noted that the EMP device located there had been smashed in the explosion.
Ressian sighed. She was not looking forward to having to explain this hardware failure to the General. The Combine had appointed a slug-like alien, one Yvolslog Urwel, as the strategist and conqueror of City 12. She had not enjoyed her first meeting with the long-lived alien leader. Though she knew not their proper name she knew that the General's species lived for centuries at a time often spinning themselves cocoons as they got older only to emerge renewed and be capable of living another century or two. Along with Overwatch and Combine Elites Yvolslog had ordered thousands of troops teleported in from the Borderworld. The Xenian residents long ago gained their freedom from the Combine when the Nihilanth was killed but now more and more of them were being recruited or enslaved once more into the Combine's army. Ressian liked to pretend the reason was because it was easier to enslave them but she knew the truth. The number of humans was wearing thin and those that were available were getting older.
She heard a roar that seemed to stretch across the city and witnessed a massive seventeen story building come tumbling to the ground. Another roar soon followed in the silence after the storm of debris. With a resigned sigh she headed off in War Hound's direction hoping to catch up to the beast before a Resistance rocket could find a kink in his armor.
Emil watched as the man stumbled out of the camp in search of a tree to urinate on. Nemico turned his back to Cheng as the man, who seemed entirely oblivious to the world around him, relieved himself. The sun wasn't even risen yet but the camp would be up and moving soon. Already Julian had stirred although the young assassin currently seemed more intent on making breakfast for the group. That was precisely the opening that Emil Nemico needed to do his deed. He hopped down from the tree and unsheathed a combat knife approaching quietly until he was right behind Cheng. He grabbed the man and forced the blade against his throat placing his hand over the man's mouth to muffle any noise he might make.
Emil spun the man around seeing Cheng's eyes grow wide when he realized who he was dealing with. Cheng looked as if he was about to scream but Emil had the blade to his throat in an instant quelling the man's excitement. Cheng took several deep breaths as if to calm himself before Emil took his hand from Cheng's mouth, the blade remained near his neck however.
"What are you doing here?" Cheng whispered.
"Never mind that," Emil said producing a small vile of poison from within his bag, "You owe me Cheng, you owe me and the Templars a lot of money and you are going to do me a favor. You're going to kill Julian Miles."
"But he saved my life before," Cheng said, "And I've helped your thugs before and they said my debts were-"
"Do you want me to kill you?" Emil asked, his eyes flaring with intensity, "You are going to poison him with this, put it in his food or drink. If you don't do it I will kill you. In the confusion, as he dies, you will grab the chest from within the wagon. The heavy wooden one with the emblem of the Assassins Order on it."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Cheng said feigning ignorance, "What Assassin's Order? What chest? What-"
"You may be young and naive Yin but you are not stupid," Emil scolded, "You will do this for me or I will kill you."
"You'll never get into the chest without a key," Cheng tried.
"That is my problem," Emil retorted handing the man the vial and wearing a wicked grin, "That is yours."
Emil watched the man waddle away toward the camp. The first rays of the sun were just coming over the horizon and other than Julian and Cheng only a handful of others were awake mostly because their young children had awoken them. When Julian began screaming and ranting due to the effects of the poison confusion would ensue and create the perfect opening. No one would suspect Cheng of any foul play either and few eyes would be upon him as he made his way back to Emil.
Emil watched fairly closely although he kept a good distance from the group watching and waiting. He saw Yin Cheng make his move pouring the vial into Julian's canteen while he wasn't looking before moving quickly away. Emil felt satisfied especially when he saw Julian lift the canteen to his lips before the assassin continued to gain more fire wood. Emil felt anger swelling within him when he saw Cheng rush toward Julian and fall to his knees as if begging for mercy. Feeling betrayed Emil dropped down to his bag and got out a silenced pistol and attached his sword sheath to his belt before leaping back into the trees and moving closer to the camp.
It was his fault, he knew, he had been far too trusting of the scientist's cowardice. It made little difference now, though the assassin probably managed to avoid a lethal dose from the few sips of water he took Julian would no doubt be impaired by it. Even now Emil could hear the cries of confusion ringing out. The deed, even if incomplete, had still been done but now he found himself as the one who would have to retrieve the Apple.
Emil could see the wagon now and despite the fact that several of the group were gathered around it he dropped down from the trees anyway and crept inside. They were all focused on Julian who was now vomiting violently and babbling as they all gasped in horror. He felt a smile on his face as he rummaged through their belongings and supplies and soon came across the chest in question engraved with the emblem of the Assassin Order. The crafty former Mayor of City 12 wondered whether he would give the orb to the G-man or perhaps deliver it to Ressian Malil, alternatively he might keep the object for himself. With his mind brimming with possibilities and crawled into the drivers seat of the carriage.
"He's trying to steal the Piece of Eden!" Cheng yelled pointing in Emil's direction, most eyes of the group remained with Julian as many didn't even know what a Piece of Eden was. Alyx and Allison did and both turned to see Emil Nemico. Alyx leapt to her feet and rushed for the carriage which was already beginning to move away. Allison waved her on as she fumbled in her things searching for her specially designed HEV suit and hoping she could get into it in time.
Alyx sprinted a break neck pace catching up to the carriage and leaping onto the back of it. The terrain around them was rough as Emil took the carriage off the trail and out into the forest. Alyx came dangerously close to flying off and nearly got knocked aside by several trees. She was agile and strong enough to hold on and she crawled up to the roof staying low to avoid being struck by branches.
She soon reached the drivers seat and leapt down atop Emil. The man pulled the reigns to stop the carriage but his actions were far from controlled with Alyx raining down punches atop him. The carriage veered and toppled onto its side as the horses whinnied and screeched to a halt. Emil broke free of Alyx grasp and tried to get his sword but Alyx dove for him with her hidden blade extended. Emil grappled with her for a moment kicking at her legs and pushing her back until fell from the carriage. She had been overpowered but she wasn't out.
Alyx landed on her feet and drew Jara's kris, now hers, and waved her opponent on. Emil had his sword out as well a beautifully crafted long sword that was clearly the work of Templar craftsman. It's white steel flashed out cutting Alyx's left shoulder and narrowly avoiding stabbing into her arm as she tried to dodge. She dodge the next swipe-stab combo with ease and batted aside another few attempts with her kris.
The morning sun was adding more and more light to the fight as the minutes ticked by. Emil would try several attack patterns and motions which Alyx deflected though she had little time in the flurry of calculated assaults to mount any offense of her own against the man. Eventually she decided she would have to make her own opening. She went in for an attack and let her sword get hit out purposely wide right. Emil stepped within her reaching thinking to drive his sword straight through her. Alyx side-stepped his blade and bashed her right shoulder into his face while also stomping on his foot and kneeing him in the stomach. She had to retreat as he reset his sword but she had scored her first blow.
Emil came on fast and hard with his attacks leaving Alyx to defend herself from a flurry of flying metal that left her using both hidden blade and kris to save herself. She couldn't keep it up forever though and a ploy like her last one wasn't likely to work again. Emil Nemico became more physical now using his greater size and physical strength to force her back before he did something she definitely didn't expect - he ran.
Emil rushed for the carriage hoping to get to the chest inside and mount one of the horses. Instead he found himself propelled through the air. He felt his ribs hit hard against the trunk of a tree. His head was spinning and the breath had been knocked out of him as he rose to his feet and turned to regard Allison Rogue. Another pulse from her gauntlet sent him face first into the next tree trunk breaking his already bloody nose and leaving him flustered. Suddenly he was the one overpowered, suddenly he was the one with a knife to his throat.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now," Alyx growled holding her hidden blade against the side of his throat and her gun to the back of his head.
"I can offer you what's in the chest," Emil tried to reason, "The Apple can be yours if you help me, if you join-"
"You are responsible for the death of Desmond Miles," Allison said shaking her head, "And you're responsible for the death of Jara Aldi."
"Don't kill him!" A voice shouted and all eyes turned with surprise to see Julian jogging up to the scene with his young face still gaunt from heaving up his breakfast, "Don't waste a blade on this bastard."
"Why would you spare me assassin?" Emil asked truly perplexed, "You of all people have reason to kill me."
"I know why you've come here," Julian said, "I know that if you fail to get the Apple you will be in trouble with more than the Templar Order."
"You've won," Emil admitted, "And what you say is absolutely true. If you will not let me take the Apple than perhaps I could join you. The Templars have already abandon me and all of City 12, they were likely in league with the Combine. They had foreknowledge of the attack. If you won't kill me than let me join you."
"No," Julian replied flatly, "Death is too easy a way out for you but I couldn't bear to have a piece of fucking scum like you on my side. So you'll be a pariah, you'll turn back from here. If I ever see your face again though, trust me there will be nothing recognizable left of it."
"I have no choice then," Emil responded despondently and in that moment he did look truly defeated in every way.
"They will not stop looking for the Apple," Emil admitted as he took his bag and began moving away from them, "Despite having so many of the other pieces they seem utterly obsessed with that orb in particular."
"Will you go back to City 12?" Julian asked although he truly wasn't all that interested.
"I'll go where they won't find me," Emil said mounting one of the horses, he took one last look at every one before riding away. In his heart Emil Nemico knew the truth, there wasn't anywhere in all the world, perhaps in all the Universe, that he would be safe. He had risen to power, a meteoric rise to the top during which he'd hoped to break down the power structure of the Assassins. He'd seen himself as a nemesis, an archrival of Julian, the equal of the young assassin in battle. The truth was far less glamorous than the romanticized fantasies that had once filled his naive mind.
Theta felt as though the jungle around her was breathing as she floated in the blue mist of that place. It was so strange there, the light seemed to transcend all. A pinprick of plasma-blue illumination stood elevated in the exact center of the room undisturbed by the chaos going on around her. The Maldragons had gotten close to finding it though she had little idea what it was she knew that it had been the Apple that had led them here.
The world around her faded away as another memory was deconstructed and a new one was put in its place. She was back in her childhood body or at least she assumed it was her body. She saw the man before her, it wasn't her Father but his dark skinned face was warm and friendly and covered in a five o'clock shadow. He was ranting and raving about something as he stood before the whiteboard which bore endless scribbles like some sort of complex formula or equation. A woman entered the room then carrying with her an even younger child, a girl of no more than three. The woman was beautiful and to Theta's mind she seemed familiar not just from her past but from her present as well. The feature's of that face were not alien to her entirely.
"Azian," the unshaven faced man said in a surprised voice, "I thought you were getting her tested!"
"She scored above average," the woman admitted setting down her toddler aged daughter, Theta studied the little girl who smiled at her and she found herself smiling back, "But they say she isn't fit for the program, I just don't get it, that damned fool seemed so interested in her... our mutual friend. How are you doing Eli?"
"Running over some calculations before the test tomorrow, we've got a very odd sample," he said with a sigh sitting down beside her, "I just hope Gordon and the boys don't mishandle this one, if my calculations are correct we've got a potential mess on our hands. I've tried explaining it to the Administrator but he wouldn't have it."
"That's Breen for you," Azian replied with a helpless chuckle picking up her child, "My shift is done, I'm heading home. Should I tell Barney to hold the tram for you?"
"I'll be along then honey," Eli replied turning back to his calculations, "See that little Miss Eisley finds her way home as well."
"Your Mom's been looking for you sweetie," Theta heard Azian say to her.
Theta felt the waking world around her reappear once more. Another night and another dream with more hauntingly familiar faces more fragments of her forgotten past echoing in the darkness.