Chapter 3: Rooftop Rumble
Ethereal Vanguard Outpost, Musutafu
5 MINUTES LATER
Gordon looked up, having almost dozed off, upon hearing that his pursuers were now banging on the metal door in an attempt to break the admittedly strong steel lock. There were already pock marks starting to form with each strike. "Bang bang. You bang. I bang. We all bang... Christ. I feel like a broken record now. I'm getting vibes back to that... Buttrock monster back in the rocket test chamber..."
Gordon checked his weapons and made sure they were reloaded. "Alright, Alright. Now first of all... For a feather to be moving that fast and embed itself into concrete. I'd have to assume it's made of some kind of dense material that can withstand high velocities... and an impact like that... Wait, no, the feather wasn't made of carbon nano-fibers... It was just a normal feather. I don't know, I kinda wish I hadn't crushed it now." Gordon was alerted to a particularly loud bang on the door, producing a concerningly large crater in the metal.
"Oh yea. The cops. And that egg guy. Well then, you know what? Let's be positive about this..." Gordon approached the roof access door and placed one of his hands on the door handle. "-I'm going to pretend I live in a world where when I open this door, there is a fully fueled helicopter sitting on the roof, and the keys are in the ignition...and no ones around too. No mutants. No soldiers. Just Gordon and his escape chopper..." Gordon slowly began to open the door, keeping his eyes closed. "Annnnnd-" The light of the mid afternoon sun began to shine through into the dark room. Once the door was opened, Gordon found that the roof was- "-Empty... Great. Well, I suppose It was worth a shot."
It was a rather standard roof. Mostly old ventilation and AC systems lying about, no helipad unfortunately. It seemed as if the Ethereal Vanguard didn't use this roof very often as there were no defenses set up. "Even if there had been one, I guess I really don't know how to pilot a helicopter. I could have always taken one of those soldiers hostage downstairs and had them show me how to fly it. But I mean... Wait, hold on." Gordon turned around and locked the door to the roof in about the same manner as he did to the roof access room. "Okay... So what do I do now? I'm not living up here, that's for damn sure. Even if I wasn't being chased by freaks, I've already had my fair share of waking up on casino roofs, half my face sunburnt, dried whiskey in my beard, my pants missing. That's the kind of shit that got me banned from Monte Carlo."
The sound of wings flapping alerted Gordon to turn around, but he quickly found himself laying face down on the roof instead after receiving a hardy impact to his ribs, knocking the wind out of him yet again. The man in question pinning him down was Keigo Takami, or 'Hawks' as he was popularly known. He held Gordon against the roof, knocking his MP5 out of his hands and wrapping his arms behind his back, though finding it a bit hard due to the Long Jump Module getting in the way. Gordon, being absolutely hungry, sleep deprived and afflicted by both drug and alcohol withdrawal, wasn't exactly prepared to keep going either.
"Found your guy, Fat. I got him up on the roof here. He kinda looks like an orange ice-pop..." More Japanese. Though with the way Hawks was speaking into a radio, Gordon figured he had reinforcements on the way. Great, just in time too. Fatgum managed to breach the second door and gained access to the roof alongside the police squad. "This guy's a slippery bastard. Pardon my French..." Fatgum approached Gordon with his arms folded, before scanning the rest of the roof. "Where's Endeavor?" Hawks shrugged, now toying with Gordon's MP5, emptying the magazine. "Eh, still mopping up the squad in the lobby." Hawks pulled the bolt on the MP5 and ejected the remaining bullet, "You got quite the arsenal here my man. Where'd you get it from? JSDF armory maybe? Vanguard's been all over that scene lately."
Gordon shook his head and growled. "Christ! I. Do not. know. what. you. are. say-ing." Hawks, alongside Fatgum's eyes widened a bit. "English...? Oh boy. Where did you get the weapons?" Hawks asked again, in passable English. What kind of a question was that? He should know damn well where he got these weapons from! "What? I found them. Off of your dumbfuck buddies too. You guys really need to learn the difference between scientists and aliens. But I suppose the big bad Freeman should have just laid down and died then, right? Tell your Commanding Officer to sit on it, Khufu." Gordon would have attempted to spit in Hawk's face too, but he was drier than a bone when it came down to that department.
Hawks and Fatgum looked at each other as If... well, as if Gordon was insane. Aliens? Scientists? What was this nutcase on about? "You have... no idea about the armory raids? At all? What about the Ethereal Vanguard?" Hawks tilted his head, tilting his hand as he tried to remember his words in English. Gordon sighed, trying to move his arms around. "No, I don't know about the 'Ethereal Vanguard,' what even is that? Some kind of emo band? What does it matter to you anyways? I thought you monkeys were hunting me?" What the fuck was even happening anymore? None of these people were from the US Army? "Is this some kind of a trick? Are they trying to lull me into a false sense of security and then...I dunno. Throw out another attack chopper to finish me off? Or just have someone come up behind while we're talking and pop my head like a grape? Maybe these aren't even mutants at all, just soldiers in advanced power armor that are just...really fashionable."
Gordon wasn't about to let himself be captured though, US Army or not. Managing to work his right hand in Hawk's grip, he pressed down on a button that activated the Long Jump Module. Its jets fired with a loud sound of pressurized air. Sending Gordon into a front flip forward, knocking the surprised Hawks off of him and just startling the rest of the Heroes and officers standing on the roof. Somehow, Gordon managed to land on his feet after all of that tumbling, maybe all those hours on the training course had amounted to something in the end. Without another word, Gordon unfurled the SPAS-12 from his back and opened fire. Fatgum responded by moving to protect the police officers with his body. The 12 gauge shells bounced harmlessly off of his fat. Hawks, meanwhile took flight and unsheathed his Feather Blades, looping around to Gordon's 12'oclock while Gordon was busy dumping lead at Fatgum.
"Bulletproof bastard. If I had a bayonet, you wouldn't be so safe right now, Eggman!" Gordon shouted, before ducking behind an AC unit and frantically reloading. Hawks bared down on Gordon's position, before attempting to deliver a strike from his blades, not intended to kill Gordon, but to incapacitate him for the time being. "Oh shit! No!" Gordon quickly blocked the strike, meeting Hawk's Feather Blade with his crowbar with a loud clang, now both were locked in a clash. "Agghhh! What are these fucking feathers made out of, man?!" Gordon asked, but received no answer. Suddenly, the feathers composing the blade spread out and surrounded Gordon's crowbar, ripping it out of his hands. "What the shit?! What kind of a fucking bird-" Before Gordon could finish, Hawks followed up his disarmament with a strike from his other sword. Ripping a pretty nasty cut through the chestplate of the HEV suit and sending Gordon flying over the various AC units.
Gordon shakily stumbled to his feet, his head throbbing with pain. Fatgum rushed towards Gordon in an attempt to envelop him in his fat to quickly subdue him. Gordon though, wasn't having any of it, and quickly used the LJM to leap back towards the far end of the roof. "No! That's close enough! Back it up-" Before Gordon could even reach the end of the roof however, Hawks managed to tackle him. Sending Gordon off of the side of the roof. Just before Gordon could fall to his presumed death. Hawks quickly grabbed Gordon's arm, the scientist dangling over the edge of the roof. "It's over, pal, drop your weapons. You're under arrest." Hawks was hoping Gordon would just give up now. Though that dream was ended quickly when Gordon unfurled his .357 magnum and unloaded a round directly into Hawk's left shoulder.
"Gahhh! Aghhh!" Hawks yelled out, blood now shooting from his shoulder, he rolled over onto his side, dropping Gordon from the edge of the roof. Gordon yelled as he fell, attempting to activate the LJM to slow his descent, but the module didn't seem to work unless Gordon was standing on flat ground... somehow. "Why did they design it like thisssssss?! Fuck you, Black Mesa! I knew I should've taken that job at Aperture!" Gordon shouted, fully expecting to die on impact. Instead, he felt an intense heat strike him and was sent him flying in a completely different direction. He still slammed into the ground, but at least it wasn't fatally. He had been saved from the fall, "Agh... hey, hehe-Hey! I'm not dead!" Gordon felt himself up to make sure he wasn't injured. "Yea! Not a scratch! I feel like I might have gotten burnt a bit during that fall, but I mean, I've been through worse. I'll take some burns over being a concrete pancake any day!"
"That's far enough, villain!" Gordon turned to see a tall, muscular man wearing a dark blue skinsuit, with what looked to be gloves and boots made of some kind of steel. Though it was hard to tell due to the fact most parts of his body were on fire. "Wait... didn't I just kill this guy? Goddamnit, I don't want to have to start confirming kills, I've managed to get this far along without turning into 'that guy,' but If I have to then- What's he doing? What's that glowing-?" With Gordon being lost in thought, Endeavor cocked his arm back, a fiery, almost javelin like object made of searing flames appeared in his hand.
"IGNITED ARROW!"
Endeavor hurled the flaming arrow towards Gordon, faster then he could've hoped to dodge even if he'd been ready for it. It struck Gordon directly in the chest, sending the confused scientist flying back into the treeline, now with a massive scorchmark buried into the chestplate of the HEV suit. Even though It took the brunt of the damage, Gordon could still feel burn wounds developing underneath the armor plating, the compacted metal transferring the heat to his skin. A beeping sound emitted from the suit's internal computer.
"Warning, Extreme heat damage detected!"
"Emergency! Seek medical attention!"
"Ogh... Shut up...! I thought I shut you off..." Gordon wheezed and stumbled to his feet. "That hurt... that hurt really bad. Like a jet engine or something..." Gordon coughed and gripped at his chest, wincing in pain at the likely 1st or 2nd degree burns he had just received across his torso. Meanwhile, not intending to let up on Gordon, Endeavor's arm exploded into a roaring inferno before he slammed his fist down into the dirt. Fissures began to form from the impact point, spreading rapidly like the very Earth itself was beginning to collapse. Gordon had very little time to react, seeing the ground now starting to glow and pulse with heat.
"HELL MINEFIELD!"
"What the fuck?! The ground's caving in! No!" The ground erupted into a wall of flames, towering high above Gordon, all stretching around him, intent on trapping him. "Holy son of Fourier, I'm gonna get baked in here!" Gordon began to run in circles around the ever shrinking ring of fire he was finding himself in, trying to find a way out. He could feel like he was about to pass out from heat exhaustion. Using the LJM, Gordon made a dash for a small slit of land that hadn't yet erupted and made a harrowing leap, just barely managing to escape before a wall of fire torched him.
Free from that danger, came even more danger. Though Endeavor believed he had trapped Gordon and let his guard down, merely awaiting for the flames to dissipate. Sure, it nearly set the forest on fire, but an armed Villain that just shot a Pro-Hero needed to be dealt with, and that called for drastic measures, no matter how heavy handed they seemed to be. Endeavor was alerted to a loud clank sound at his feet, he glanced down to see a frag grenade had landed right in front of him. "Oh shit!" Acting on reflex, Endeavor kicked the grenade off in a random direction into the woods, having little time to process that, before a bullet cracked past him. Gordon was now on his left flank, popping shots at him with the Glock 17.
The grenade exploded, obviously not harming Endeavor nor Gordon, but the blast shook Endeavor up ever so slightly, enough for Gordon to fire a shot that slipped by his defenses and grazed Endeavor, managing to strike his left ear and rip a decent chunk off, showering the forest floor with blood and bits of destroyed earlobe. "GAH! MY EAR! YOU BASTARD!" Endeavor clasped one hand over his now bleeding ear before producing a shield of fire in front of himself, blocking the rest of Gordon's gunfire.
"Out of the fire and into the- more fucking fire! Fucking goddamn Johnny Storm- How about you cool down, asshole!? I'm sick of people trying to immolate me today! I'm not a fucking heretic!" Gordon turned to see a glint off in the distance, before a sniper's bullet slammed into the badly damaged chestplate of the HEV suit, leaving yet another deep pockmark. And scaring the daylights out of Gordon. "Agh! No! No! No! Snipers are too much! Fuck you! I'm done!"
Gordon, not even caring about Endeavor anymore, sprinted for some kind of cover, any kind of cover for that matter. The shot came from a Vanguard sniper, alongside a whole new squad of reinforcements moving into the area. The entire factory was just erupting into chaos, with Fatgum, having tended to Hawks, now fighting with the reinforcements.
Endeavor was left with the choice of fighting Gordon or the now ever increasing threat. Whatever their decision was, Gordon's was far different. "Yea...Y'know what? You all look really busy, so I think we should just reschedule our meeting for... I'll just give you a raincheck. No, no, don't call me, I'll call you, bye!" Gordon grabbed whatever he could and made a mad dash into the woods. Being too distracted with the advancing Ethereal Vanguard, none of the Pro-Heroes could stop him either.
And so, Gordon ran. For quite some time honestly, he wanted to make sure that no one was following him. Crossing rivers, old trails, through thickets and brambles. Eventually, he grew exhausted and stopped by an old river, panting with his hands on his knees. "Okay... Okay... I think that should be far enough... But then again... with the US Army or... whoever they were then, ugh... Apparently the other side of the fucking planet still isn't far enough." Gordon plopped down onto the edge of the river, before crawling to the bank on his hands and knees. "Alright... well, this isn't exactly sanitary but... the water's flowing... I guess I'll bank a 50/50 on cholera... Those are some decent odds..." Gordon scooped up some of the cold river water and carefully began to sip some of it from his gloved hands.
The feeling of lifegiving hydration after at least a full day without anything to drink activated a survival instinct within him and he just plunged face first into the river, sucking what felt like gallons of the water down. So much so that he began to vomit the water back up onto the riverbank. Despite that though, God...did he need this. Gordon stumbled to his feet and started up the hill overlooking the river. "Okay... so now... I need... I need some sleep..." Gordon staggered his way over the crest of the hill, feeling like he was about to just pass out on the riverbank.
That was, until he heard a sound off in the distance. Obviously, this was the forest so he expected to hear wildlife everywhere, but this sound was unlike anything he had ever heard before. It sounded like a wolf's call almost, but higher pitched. "That...doesn't sound like...good...Goddamnit... Can't I at least get five minutes?" Gordon grabbed the SPAS and began to make his way towards the noise, wanting nothing more than to just put it off for the day, but he knew he wasn't going to get any decent sleep with some kind of boogeyman running around in the woods near him.
He heard the noise again, this time closer. "Ooooooooooooahhhh" Gordon mimicked the sound, moving ever so closer. Cresting a fallen tree, he found the source of the racket. It was... unlike anything he had ever seen before, and considering all he'd seen in the last couple of days, that was saying something. The creature was lying in the middle of a clearing, it possessed an outer shell that resembled that of a crab's, but it was blueish-green, almost like some beetles. The carapace was riddled with bullet holes, from which some kind of whitish grey fluid was leaking out profusely.
Obviously this 'animal' was dying. Rounding the front but keeping his distance, Gordon could see that the animal's front was softer looking with mottled grey skin, possessing two, blue compound eyes, though they looked foggy and almost like a pair of lights fading in and out. Once the creature got a good look at Gordon, It unleashed a sort of guttural, electronic roar and began to twitch violently, but it was so injured it couldn't move. Still, Gordon leapt back in fright. "Jesus! Okay!"
Gordon kept his distance but continued to observe the dying animal, though he was beginning to wonder if this thing was even an animal in the first place. "This could be like a... land crab. Like one of those jungle crabs. I don't know though. I don't see any claws on it... Well, whatever it is, apparently something got to it before I did... I guess I could count my blessings. I don't think I'd be able to wrestle this thing down with my bare hands." Gordon noticed something odd was jutting out from the creature's back, several pieces of... rebar...? yes, it was rebar, deeply imbedded into the carapace shell. "Wow... You're just... Fucked, aren't you? Well... I'm not a veterinarian, so, uh... I can't really help you, but..."
Gordon looked around and sighed. "I can't leave you like this, so..." Gordon approached the front of the animal and jammed the barrel of the SPAS-12 against its soft face. The animal wasn't even reacting at that point, just giving off more, soft sounds, breathing hoarsely. Two shots was all it took to completely destroy the face of the animal. Shooting more of that fluid everywhere, including on Gordon's suit. "Eugh... Christ. Well, you're welcome. I won't charge you... for... the service..." Gordon trailed off when he began to observe the insides of the animal through the hole he blasted into its skull.
It was almost like wiring and circuitry, albeit still shrouded in a organic shell of mystique. "What...? I don't Okay, what the fuck is this? Why does the land crab have computer parts in it... Goddamnit, I'm too tired to think about this. If I had something to cover this bastard with I'd just analyze it in the morning, but I already know this place is going to be swarming with carrions. Yeulch... I'm going to bed..." Gordon departed from the 'land crab's' corpse and began to search for a decent, safe place to sleep.
His search turned up very little at first, until he managed to spot a small shed standing among the trees... almost unnatural in its convenience. "Oh! Yea, that'll do fine. Anything to escape from the weather, honestly..." Gordon sluggishly made his way towards the shed, entering and finding that it was...empty, weirdly enough. It had shelves and all of the hallmarks of a regular shed but it was empty. "Who builds a shed out in the middle of the woods with no house around...? That's just stupid. I don't know. I'd probably be questioning this more if I weren't so damn tired. Whatever, It'll make a decent shelter for the night..."
Gordon doffed the LJM on the floor alongside his other weapons just so he could sleep without 20 lbs. of weapons jutting all over him. He figured it was best to just keep the HEV suit on, since donning and doffing it was a pain as is. The only thing he kept in his arms was the SPAS-12, Gordon sat down and laid back against the far wall facing the shed's door, the gun's barrel pointing in front of him and one finger on the trigger. Closing his eyes, he began to drift off to sleep... the first... semi-regular bout of sleep he's had in two long, confusing days...
To be continued