Chapter Seventeen: Overwatch Inbound
Julian rushed into the medical bay towards Alyx and Theta. Despite her injuries Theta was already up on her feet coordinating the defenses of the soon to be besieged base. The Combine had not yet arrived and even when they did they would have soldiers to contend with. Hunter's Fall had a fairly small fighting force compared to some Resistance facilities but it still had several hundred soldiers and fortified walls to keep Overwatch out long enough to evacuate the civilians. Theta was barking into a communicator about doing just that, trying to get convoys organized when a young man, clearly a messenger of some sort, tried to interrupt her.
"What is it soldier?" Theta snapped and the man seemed to loose his train of thought and stutter over his words, "Spit it out dammit!"
"Scouts returned commander... there's well over five hundred that have landed so far and more. We've counted half a dozen Striders, almost a dozen Hunters and Hunter-Choppers headed this way."
"Do you have any good news?" Theta asked with a resigned sigh.
"No Commander," the soldier replied to the rhetorical question, "Dropships continue to land... We might be able to hold on if we all stand and fight, and I mean arm the civilians as well."
"What do you think Julian?" Theta asked as she realized he'd been listening.
"I think they've come for this," Julian said holding up the Apple, "Ressian was here for it. My guess is these guys are a Combine insurance policy."
"Why do they want it so badly?" Theta asked as Julian tossed her the sphere for her to examine, "I've heard stories of their power but they seem awfully desperate to get this one in particular. What makes it different from the others?"
"I was hoping you could tell me," Julian remarked, "From what you and Allison have both remembered I know the Apple played a part at the Temple. The Combine have known that my family has guarded the Pieces of Eden, they know I have my Father's chest of armor and weapons but time and time again it comes back to the Apple."
"Of course," Theta seemed to whisper.
She ran her hands over the cool metallic surface feeling the strange eerie energy of the device coursing from its core into her body. Desperately she tried to access the memories that were hidden from her. She tried to remember what made the device so important that her Father and his team were sent into the jungle to recover it from the Starseed Temple. The world around her seemed to fall away as she stared into the golden likeness of the sphere basking in the glow of its power. Almost like second nature her hands began to turn the metal along several carved grooves in it's surface. Golden light seemed to shoot from it as each turn was made. With no conscious idea what she was doing Theta twisted and turned until a brilliant flash of light forced her eyes to shut.
As the moment of panic passed she opened her eyes, they all did, to see a map of the Earth. It was holographic and hovering above the sphere. Every so often the map was marked with a golden luminescent dot.
"I've seen this map before," Julian admitted, "When I was put in the Animus by the Combine. Altair, my ancestor, he's seen this map."
"But they haven't seen this one," Theta said twisting the metallic sphere once more, the map seemed to shift color in the spectrum from gold to bright blue. Now blue dots marked areas of the continents of Earth.
"My Father told me that the Gold map marks the location of the Pieces of Eden," Julian remarked studying the unfamiliar azure projection of Earth.
"Then what the hell does the blue map mark?" Alyx pondered finally finding a place to join the conversation.
"The Temples," Theta gasped pointing to a dot that looked like it was in Laos, "where they kept the Starseed crystals, the ones my Father collected in the jungle!"
"The same crystals that caused the Resonance Cascade at Black Mesa," Alyx added.
"The Combine must want the crystals," Julian said connecting the dots, "But for what?"
"They could be trying to recreate the cascade," Alyx said, "Or worse, they could use the energy from the crystals in a more focused way, possibly to create a super portal."
"Super portal?" Theta echoed in confusion.
"We can't let them get these crystals," Julian said taking the Apple from Theta, "We-."
"We have to do more than that," Allison interrupted and all eyes went to her, she looked exhausted, disheveled and tired "We have to get the crystals ourselves."
"You look awful," Alyx said with eyes wide.
"I've been in the Animus," she admitted, "I've been remembering. The Starseed crystals were a source of power for the gods... If the Combine get a hold of the crystals a super portal will be the least of our worries."
"What do you suggest?" Julian asked.
"I suggest we go get the crystals and use them against the Combine in any way we can," Allison replied, "Even without the Apple it's only a matter of time before they put someone in the Animus with an ancestor that knows where the Temple is."
Shephard listened as the whirr of the Animus slowed to a halt and the screen retracted from in front of his eyes. He could hear the steps of the Combine guards as they approached but his eyes had not yet woken from the past. Images of ancient assassins and struggles for power on a world stage centuries old flashed before his aching eyes as they lifted him from the Animus. He could scarcely walk at first but soon he found his footing and his vision began to return to him.
He'd only done a few sessions but each session was at least eight hours. That long in the Animus's had already proved damaging to his mind though he still hoped that damage wouldn't be permanent. As far as he could tell nothing he'd learned had truly been useful to the Combine. They'd spent several hours visiting an ancient ancestor of his who was a Templar that defected and became an assassin for a brief time. Several more hours were wasted exploring the memories of his grandfather serving in the Korean War.
His most recent session had once again returned to that Templar defector in the 16th century. Briefly Shephard had come in contact with Ezio Auditore, a man he knew to be the ancestor of Desmond Miles. It brought the General little comfort knowing that he'd been acquainted with one of Desmond's ancestors. It mostly served to remind him that his best friend was gone, that City 12 had fallen and that the chances were slim that Shephard would ever leave there alive. Even worse were the prospects for a once free humanity. The hope that a refuge like City 12 gave to all those who resisted the Combine was without measure. With City 12 gone and it's children, soldiers and citizens in chains or worse things did not look good for the future of the once proud human race.
Shephard stumbled into his cell and listened as the massive steel door shut and bolted behind him. He slumped onto the slab of metal protruding from the wall that served as his bed. He lay there wallowing half-dreaming half-remembering as images flashed before his mind. A light seemed to be emanating from somewhere in the room. He wondered if his mind was truly that far gone as he opened his eyes to see Desmond Miles standing before him.
"What do you want?" Shephard groaned as he struggled to sit up. He rubbed his eyes hoping the phantom would vanish before them.
"I want to know why you're such a pathetic mess," Desmond replied, "I want to know why you've given up."
"I didn't give up," Shephard retorted, "We lost. I lost."
"Are you dead?" Desmond asked and Shephard shook his head, "Are you broken in spirit?"
"No," Shephard replied slamming his fists against the steel as his voice became more and more angry and more and more loud, "No goddamn it! I WANT TO KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THESE FUCKING COMBINE SCUM!"
"Than you have not lost," Desmond replied.
Shephard felt his fists relax as tears came streaming down his face. He wasn't broken. He couldn't allow himself, ever, no matter the bleak circumstances, to let the smoldering embers of hope ever truly die out. As he wiped his eyes he watched the phantom of his oldest friend fade from being. He half expected Combine soldiers to come pouring through that door having heard what he said but as the minutes ticked by none came. Adrian Shephard lay in his cell chasing sleep, haunted by memories and waiting with hope renewed to unleash himself on his captors.
Julian stepped out of Hunter's Fall in the HEV suit to find a full scale battle taking place. Six gangly Striders were on approach to the facility and though still fairly far away they still fired their pulse canons in the direction of the walls preferring to leave the personnel on the ground for the Hunter synths to mop up. Julian began moving towards the nearest Hunter synth, some hundred yards away and escorted by a scattered squad of Combine soldiers. The Overwatch around the Hunter were keeping their distance, likely hoping to avoid being cut to pieces by the synths flechettes. Julian took aim with his XM-8 popping the nearest Overwatch before they'd even noticed the quick moving orange-armored blur nearby. Other soldiers were up but Julian moved ahead of their bullets diving and rolling until he came up to one knee and lifted his XM-8. No round was wasted as six more Combine soldiers fell each with a red-stained hole in their helmets.
The assassin turned to the Hunter which had been trying and failing to hit him with its explosive flechettes. He unsheathed not one, but two, dark steel swords and leaped in against it head on. He swatted away its first barrage of flechettes, they sparked off of the cold Xenian steel of his blades leaving the Hunter open. Amazingly the steel cut right through one of the Hunter's legs. With his agape mouth quickly forming a smile Julian finished the Hunter by impaling it with his sword before running for cover as a Hunter-Chopper passed over head firing down toward him.
Julian had volunteered for the unenviable task of commandeering one of the choppers. The evacuation convoy of civilians had already departed Hunter's Fall leaving only a few hundred soldiers to defend the base. With few vehicles remaining in their arsenal Julian had suggested that they fly to the Starseed Temple in a Hunter-Chopper.
Something else caught the assassin's eye as the chopper turned for another pass. A group of quick moving soldiers on the very edge of his vision. These were moving too fast to be ordinary Overwatch and even at this distance Julian's sharp eyes could make out that their armor was quite different from the average Combine soldier. Julian dodged another fly-by from the chopper and scurried up a nearby tree to get a better look at the five fast moving Combine soldiers. He took out a pair of binoculars confirming what his suspicions had told him. Combine Synth-assassins.
"He's in the tree!" an Overwatch nearby cried out firing off a grenade launcher round from his MP7.
Julian was already out of the tree and on the ground running toward the small fighting force of Combine soldiers. The young assassin weaved in and out of trees before leaping up to grab hold of a branch and using that branch to swing himself feet first into the nearest soldier. Out came the assassin's silenced USP, the quarters here far too tight to use his assault rifle. He popped the first two soldiers but had to duck behind the trunk of a nearby tree to avoid being hit by the others. He popped out of cover long enough to kill a third soldier but unfortunately it was also long enough for the four remaining Overwatch to get off a few hits of their own.
Julian fell back turning into little but a shadow to their eyes as he tried to find cover. He looked down at his armor and felt pain ringing through his body. Luckily none of the bullets had made it through the HEV suit, however several had managed to hit hard enough to cause bruising and some pretty serious pain. He steeled himself against such minor injuries and listened close to the sound of the Combine pursuit, of Overwatch boots hitting grass and crunching leaves, all but drowned out by the blades of the Hunter-Chopper overhead still searching for him. He rolled out from cover placing the ten rounds he had left in his USP exactly where they needed to be. Three fell dead, the last soldier fell but was only wounded.
"Combine has been upgrading their armor," Julian remarked as he took out his sword.
"Shit," the soldier said trying desperately to get to his gun as Julian lifted the blade, the soldier said no more.
Julian climbed up another nearby tree and pulled out his binoculars. Suddenly the night air was rocked by an explosion as the Strider nearest to the Eastern Wall of Hunter's Fall blasted its pulse cannon full power. As the smoke cleared Julian could see the Synth-assassins were nearby the newly formed hole in the wall. As fast as he was Julian knew he had no chance of catching up to them on foot. The assassin saw the spotlight of the chopper through the trees and heard the blades spinning and guns firing as it approached. An almost imperceptible smile appeared on his lips.
Emil Nemico fired the secondary charge of his AR2 vaporizing two female soldiers who rose up to stop them as they entered. He ordered his team of synths to split up. He and two others went one way while another group of two split off in another direction. Resistance soldiers swarmed in from all directions but the Synth-assassins were faster than they were. Emil often didn't even have to stop to fight back, his feet were quick and his focus kept steady by an endless supply of drugs. The suit wasn't just a machine, it was part of him, it fed him performance enhancing substances, healed his wounds, if he had any, and gave him the strength of five men and the endurance of ten. In fact Emil probably would have had the Apple by now if he hadn't spent the first two hours of battle slaughtering the perimeter patrols and the first wave of Resistance soldiers.
As he rushed through the corridors and cut aside his enemies with his sword he felt a tinge of disappointment. He half hoped he'd face resistance from Julian Miles. In his former life as a Templar Emil wanted to believe that he and Miles were something like rivals but in truth he knew that Julian was a far superior fighter. Now, with the synthetic enhancements the Combine had provided, he was betting the tide of that battle to be heavily on his side.
"Could they have evacuated with it?" the Synth beside him asked, she was female and bore a Greek symbol on her chest.
"It's possible," Emil admitted, "Have our forces caught up to the convoy yet?"
"They're trying but it seems most of the Resistance left with the convoy, only about half their troops were even left here."
"Smart," Emil remarked grabbing a nearby soldier by the hair and slitting his throat slowly, "Reroute six dropships and every Hunter-Chopper to the convoy's projected location."
Julian waited for the chopper to sweep low over the trees and positioned himself just low enough in the branches to not be seen, but high enough to attempt what he was about to do. He'd stripped off the HEV suit and put his assassin robes back on hoping that his lower weight would allow him to jump higher and farther. Wishing that he could have kept the suit with him the assassin lie in wait for the choppper. It was coming in now, he took a deep breath to center himself. Then it happened, in an instant his spring-loaded legs released their energy potential sending the leaping assassin into the air. Up he rose, his eyes never leaving his target as the chopper soared through the air. His hands reached out, his fingers grasped the steel of the miniature wings that housed the chopper's missiles.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he shimmied over to the side-door and began kicking at it all the while barely hanging on as the chopper flew. Luckily the Combine inside had caught on, the co-pilot opened the side door thinking to shoot the nuisance off of their chopper. Julian had other plans and swung himself into the opened door knocking the co-pilot against the other side of the chopper. Julian's swing only narrowly put the assassin inside the chopper, his head and arms were still hanging out the open door as the Combine soldier recovered from the blow. The assassin was quicker though and soon enough the Overwatch was shooting curses as he plummeted out of the door and to the ground below.
"All Hunter-Choppers, reroute to sector 08129 Delta Charlie, the convoy may be carrying the Apple," a voice reported over the inter-com as Julian pushed the now dead pilot out of the cockpit and took his place. The assassin knew he was on a tight schedule. Chances were good that Allison and the others had already made it to the evac location in the mountains they'd selected just before he set out. Still he couldn't let the opportunity pass. His knowledge of piloting this kind of chopper was limited to a few lessons in a simulator Shephard and his Father had developed years ago in Clearwater. He managed to bring up the computerized targeting system. He raised the altitude of the chopper and dipped the nose down firing off several guided missiles at the nearest Strider. The first two impacted with little or no visible damage, but the third peeled up the top of the Strider's shell and tore up its mechanical innards. Julian opened fire with the pulse gun on the front of the chopper, the pulse rounds burrowed into the Strider quickly bringing it tumbling, slamming, into the ground.
Cheers from the soldiers on the ground went up as Julian turned the chopper back toward the city.
Theta cocked her shotgun before blowing aside another Combine Overwatch who tried to get into the room. Despite their best efforts they still hadn't made it to the evacuation location Julian had picked out before heading off to get them a ride. The Combine had infiltrated the base now and despite the fact that many soldiers had remained to defend the city things had dissolved into chaos relatively quickly. Alyx stood beside her with Allison and another Resistance soldier and the scientist Cheng taking cover behind an overturned metal table as more and more Combine soldiers attempted to break their way into the room.
There was a reason, she knew, why they wanted to get in. This room served as a hub, an entryway that splintered off into half a dozen corridors that led to medical supplies, food stores and most of their weaponry. Hunter's Fall hadn't seen any heavy duty action in a while and many soldiers had kept only secondary weapons with them at all times. With some soldiers now unable to get to their arsenal it made any possibility of victory even more remote.
"We can't stay here," Alyx said noting that Theta looked very tired, "You're exhausted and Julian won't be able to wait forever."
"I never thought this place would fall," Theta growled as she reloaded her shotgun.
"Is there an exit we can use down here?" Allison asked.
"No," Theta admitted, "We need to break through this door and push out and up. We're not far from an emergency lift, but we need to get passed all the soldiers out there."
"Shit, dive!" Alyx yelled grabbing Theta and diving behind the metal table as the sound of tearing metal and percussive explosive rocked the chamber.
Overwatch stormed into the room before the smoke had even cleared, their helmets allowing them to easily see in the smoky room. Theta popped up and fired at the swarming shadows, blood splattered through the mist as two soldiers dropped. Alyx pulled the woman down as the Overwatch began to fire.
"You'll never win that way," Alyx said pulling the pin off a grenade and chucking it to the far side of the room.
"Shit, shit, shit!" the nearest Overwatch shouted just before an explosion once again rocked the room.
"NOW!" Alyx shouted just as the loud bang turned into nothing but ringing in her ears. She pulled out her AR2 and fired off a dark energy grenade watching as it bounced from soldier to soldier clearing out five, then six, then seven, their bodies rose from the floor in an effervescent white glow and then vanished. More were already flooding into the room but as they entered Alyx and Theta mowed them down. As Theta and Alyx ducked behind the table to reload Allison and the other soldier popped out and began firing on the new wave of Combine until finally there were no more. The smoke cleared and the adrenaline wore off.
"Anyone hit?" Theta asked.
"Aye," the female soldier replied grabbing at her neck, "It's not bad. I think I'll be okay but you better leave me here."
"What about you Allison?" Alyx asked noting that she was wincing.
"I think I caught some shrapnel when the door first blew," she replied uncovering a small but fairly deep cut on her left arm, "I'll be fine. Cheng?"
"My ears are still ringing, I-" the scientist replied as Theta and Alyx checked him and found no wounds.
"I'll send a medic your way," Theta promised the female Resistance soldier as they left the room and emerged into the corridor.
"More Combine," Alyx said pointing toward the soldiers heading their way, "Where's this lift of yours?"
"Just past them. A grenade could clear out the whole lot."
"Way ahead of you," Alyx said gesturing for Allison, Cheng and Theta to find cover as she pulled the pin on another grenade. By now the Overwatch were in visual range and had begun to open fire as Alyx's grenade hit the ground and rolled to their feet. The explosion that followed sent deafening reverberations through the metallic walled corridor. It didn't matter though, soon enough they were in the lift on the way up to the surface.
"That was close," Alyx said breathing a sigh of relief.
"We should have taken that soldier with us," Theta said kicking the wall with clenched fists.
"She wanted to remain behind," Alyx countered.
"I know," Theta admitted relaxing noticeably, "I just, I've been awake for so long, and with my injuries... I'm running on pure adrenaline..."
"Mood swings," Alyx nodded lifting her pistol as the lift came to a halt and the door opened, "A little longer," she promised, "you can rest on the chopper."
"You really think that man of yours can pluck a chopper right out of the air?" Theta asked as they rushed headlong toward the mountains with the sound of enemy gunfire at their rear. Suddenly the sound of distant helicopter blades echoed through the air - Allison just turned with Theta and smiled.
They still had a good distance to go but they managed to cover it fairly quickly. Unfortunately they were being followed. Alyx had never seen Combine soldiers sporting such speed and as they neared the evacuation point and turned to face their enemies the reason became clear.
"Synth-assassins," Alyx yelled, "Can't we ever get a break?"
"You have the Apple?" Julian asked appearing in the doorway to help them in.
"I kept it safe," Cheng said sheepishly, "Well really they kept it safe."
"You did fine," Julian assured the man as he returned to the cockpit.
"Hurry," Alyx reminded him, "We were being pursued by synth-assassins."
"I was hoping you would have dealt with them," Julian joked as the chopper got off the ground, as soon as he had enough altitude he dipped the nose down and prepared to fire at the oncoming Combine assassins. He fired off the choppers remaining missiles and held in the pulse trigger. Two of the assassins fell dead. Explosions rocked the ground below felling trees as pulse rounds lit up the sky. Still the synth refused to die. Julian's eyes went wide when he saw the synthetic killer leap into the air clearing the chopper's last missile and somehow avoiding the pulse fire stream to land on the chopper's nose, "We've got a problem!"
"What?" Alyx asked but soon she saw for herself as the synth-assassin was prying his way into the chopper digging his sword around in the door while holding onto the top of the chopper with one hand. The door was open soon and Alyx fired her AR2, several bullets impacted the synth but did nothing.
"You're coming with me!" Emil yelled reaching his hands for Alyx while knocking aside Theta as she attempted to reach her shotgun.
Suddenly Emil's attention was drawn away from Alyx, away from Allison who was trying to draw a pistol from its holster, away even from Julian who he knew was piloting the chopper. The golden sphere consumed his attention as it left the man's lab coat pocket. He recognized the bumbling young man as Yin Cheng. Was Cheng trying to use the Apple against him. Emil felt the sting of pain as Alyx drew a small knife and stabbed into his armored abdomen. His synthetic armor and healing would take care of any minor wounds he knew as he reached instead for the now glowing orb. He could see in his peripheral vision that Alyx had managed to get her pulse rifle up at him - he didn't care, he was already holding the Apple, he tore it away from Cheng. Alyx fired the secondary trigger but to her terror the dark energy grenade didn't vaporize Emil's synthetic body, instead it launched him out of the helicopter and lurched the helicopter backward.
Just like that he was soaring, falling, crashing to the ground, but in his hands he was clutching the Apple of Eden.
"Cheng! What did you do?" Theta growled as Julian struggled to regain control of the spinning chopper.
"It was as much my fault as it was his," Alyx said trying to calm her, "Julian we need to go back, that synth has the Apple."
Julian shook his head to clear the dizziness as the chopper finally stabilized. He took the chopper for a low sweep of the forest braving pulse rifle fire and even flechettes fire from Hunters to search for the body of the synth-assassin. The Combine had taken Hunter's Fall entirely now, what flames of Resistance remained had been all but been completely drown out.
"We can't stay here," Julian said, "We've got limited fuel and its only a matter of time before the Striders get this far in, we won't last long against them with just our pulse cannon."
"Okay," Theta agreed. Her eyes grew sad as she watched the smoking besieged terrain that used to be Hunter's Fall grow more distant.
"Now we really do need to get to that temple first," Allison said.
Theta lay back against the wall of the chopper as Alyx and Allison struggled to get the door to close properly. She wondered if there would even be enough fuel in the chopper to get them all the way to Laos. Her thoughts soon returned to Hunter's Fall and to that abandoned soldier she left bleeding in the entryway. She'd known that woman, that soldier, Sarah Branson. Theta had often assigned her to anti-zombie patrols when the Combine would shell the area around Hunter's Fall. So many of her closest friends, her comrades, her sisters and brothers in arms, were dead now. All because of that Apple, all because of a device that was now in the hands of the enemy despite their best efforts.
Her entire life was now up in smoke, at least the parts of it she could remember. And with it went her only tool to discover her past, the Animus and the blueprints on how to build another one. The only thing she'd managed to retain was Alyx but in this situation even Alyx's olive eyes and beautiful face were small comfort amidst larger tragedy. She looked out a nearby window watching the sunset while resting her head on Alyx's shoulder. With tears in her eyes, exhausted and injured, Theta fell asleep.