komoto
Newbie
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2006
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 0
Perched still, high above a cobbled street, Alyx looked around for Combine. She could hear one nearby, but couldn't see it. To escape the alien-engulfed city, she had been traversing roof-tops for the best part of an hour. This was the end of the line though, she had to get down to ground level to proceed back to base.
Alyx decided the coast was clear and turned her back to the road ready to climb down a steel drain pipe. As she was turning a Combine Soldier appeared in the corner of her vision. It's sudden presence made her jar up in shock. With her leg half over the wall, 30 ft above the Combine Soldier, she remained frozen stiff. It hadn't noticed her. It had walked right up beneath her and then stopped. As the Combine turned to face away from the wall, Alyx jerked forward shifting her weight onto the leg she still had on the roof and then forward allowing her to roll away from the ledge. Her heart racing, she now lay completely flat, facing the sky with her arms to her sides and hands flat against the concrete. The chattering, distorted noises the Combine Soldier made suggested that it had noticed her jolt for cover. Logically, she decides that she should have stayed still on that ledge; the Combine wouldn't have looked up and seen her, or heard her. Though logic doesn't really take predominance in your mind when your ass is 30 ft in the air above an alien soldier carrying a Pulse Rifle. Alyx heard a loud clunk across the street near the next building she was going to make a run for before the Combine appeared. The Soldier heard it too. It instantly broke into a steady paced run towards the source of the sound.
The pulsing sound of a Scanner high above, now emerged. With the Combine soldier on the other side of the street she decided that now was the best time to escape the roof-top where she had no cover. If the scanner spotted her, reinforcements would shroud the streets in minutes. She saw the Combine Soldier reach a dark alley between two old buildings and stop. It slung it's gun over its shoulder and pulled an electrified baton from it's holster which instantly lit up on the tip with an audible buzz. Knees bent the Combine slowly stepped forwards; the darkness of the alley consuming it as it proceeded. It was made still visible only by the blue tip of its baton held at head height.
Alyx ran to the edge of the flat, dusty roof, her feet sliding to a halt just before the edge. Dropping to her knees she lodged her left foot into one of the steel rings binding the drain pipe to the wall. With her balance on the vertical edge of the wall gained, and her hands hooked on the corner of the roof: in one decisive motion she pulled out her her foot, transfered her hands to the pipe and slid down the building. The palms of her hands hit hard on every imperfection in the pipe as she slid. Even with her fingerless leather gloves for protection, the pain in her hands from thashing against the steel rivets was to much; she let go early and pushed herself away from the wall, falling 10 feet until her boots finally hit hard against the ground. She braced herself, knees bent and hands in front slapping against the floor on impact. She kept her chin high and forward - as a child she learnt the hard way that if you drop a great height and have your chin positioned too low, it bashes hard against your knee caps. That evening she lost two milk teeth and the ensuing blood from her mouth made the whole learning experience look allot worse than it really was for her. Unlike the other kids she played with at a young age, she never grew out of her street acrobatics and never stopped learning the hard way. It was, perhaps these traits which later meant she not only survived the disaster of City 17, but became a valuable member of the rebel faction.
Like a cat, she had landed the fall silently, upright and with little force. Without a thought, Alyx turned and scanned the street for threats. The increasing intense volume of the Scanner, now close-by got her attention; her reaction being to jump in against the wall behind her and press her back tight up against it. She turned her head sideways, cheek pressed against the brickwork as to keep her body from protruding as much as possible. Her eyes are already squinted as a reflex action based on prior encounters with these hovering perversions of citizen privacy. Designed primarily to locate fugitives and keep tabs on the residence of City 17, Scanners are also armed with a blinding flash that renders its target temporarily blind. Such non lethal weapons are seldom used by the Combine force, but the subsequent Soldiers now aware of your exposed position more than make up for it.
As she waited for the Scanner to pass over-head she recalled a mission being foiled by one such of these devices, and as consequence a painful interrogation which was interrupted at great expense to the Rebel cause. They had an inside man, posing as Civil Protection, who had no choice but to blow his cover to get Alyx and her group out of there. From his short experience on the inside, he knew that no human deserved to stick around for their methods of information extraction.
The loud buzzing of the Scanner reached it's climax before it passed over-head and accelerated upwards into the sky; no doubt to increase it's visible search parameters of the ground below. Alyx wished the Combine Soldier wasn't near by so she could have blown the Scanner out of the sky, and perhaps prevented the future divulgence of a confederate's location.
No sooner than when the Scanner had left, Alyx heard the loud Squeal of the Combine Soldier from the alley, stumbling backwards out of the darkness and falling flat against the street floor. It's hands were gripped around a hopper mine that was activated and clung to it's face. Shielding her face with her arm, she watched through the gaps in her fingers as the soldier blew into a non-discernible number of pieces. Through the dusty smog of the now collapsed archway above the alleyway, she saw Barney emerge baring a smug grin and spinning the now-dead Combine Soldier's baton around his hand.
Alyx decided the coast was clear and turned her back to the road ready to climb down a steel drain pipe. As she was turning a Combine Soldier appeared in the corner of her vision. It's sudden presence made her jar up in shock. With her leg half over the wall, 30 ft above the Combine Soldier, she remained frozen stiff. It hadn't noticed her. It had walked right up beneath her and then stopped. As the Combine turned to face away from the wall, Alyx jerked forward shifting her weight onto the leg she still had on the roof and then forward allowing her to roll away from the ledge. Her heart racing, she now lay completely flat, facing the sky with her arms to her sides and hands flat against the concrete. The chattering, distorted noises the Combine Soldier made suggested that it had noticed her jolt for cover. Logically, she decides that she should have stayed still on that ledge; the Combine wouldn't have looked up and seen her, or heard her. Though logic doesn't really take predominance in your mind when your ass is 30 ft in the air above an alien soldier carrying a Pulse Rifle. Alyx heard a loud clunk across the street near the next building she was going to make a run for before the Combine appeared. The Soldier heard it too. It instantly broke into a steady paced run towards the source of the sound.
The pulsing sound of a Scanner high above, now emerged. With the Combine soldier on the other side of the street she decided that now was the best time to escape the roof-top where she had no cover. If the scanner spotted her, reinforcements would shroud the streets in minutes. She saw the Combine Soldier reach a dark alley between two old buildings and stop. It slung it's gun over its shoulder and pulled an electrified baton from it's holster which instantly lit up on the tip with an audible buzz. Knees bent the Combine slowly stepped forwards; the darkness of the alley consuming it as it proceeded. It was made still visible only by the blue tip of its baton held at head height.
Alyx ran to the edge of the flat, dusty roof, her feet sliding to a halt just before the edge. Dropping to her knees she lodged her left foot into one of the steel rings binding the drain pipe to the wall. With her balance on the vertical edge of the wall gained, and her hands hooked on the corner of the roof: in one decisive motion she pulled out her her foot, transfered her hands to the pipe and slid down the building. The palms of her hands hit hard on every imperfection in the pipe as she slid. Even with her fingerless leather gloves for protection, the pain in her hands from thashing against the steel rivets was to much; she let go early and pushed herself away from the wall, falling 10 feet until her boots finally hit hard against the ground. She braced herself, knees bent and hands in front slapping against the floor on impact. She kept her chin high and forward - as a child she learnt the hard way that if you drop a great height and have your chin positioned too low, it bashes hard against your knee caps. That evening she lost two milk teeth and the ensuing blood from her mouth made the whole learning experience look allot worse than it really was for her. Unlike the other kids she played with at a young age, she never grew out of her street acrobatics and never stopped learning the hard way. It was, perhaps these traits which later meant she not only survived the disaster of City 17, but became a valuable member of the rebel faction.
Like a cat, she had landed the fall silently, upright and with little force. Without a thought, Alyx turned and scanned the street for threats. The increasing intense volume of the Scanner, now close-by got her attention; her reaction being to jump in against the wall behind her and press her back tight up against it. She turned her head sideways, cheek pressed against the brickwork as to keep her body from protruding as much as possible. Her eyes are already squinted as a reflex action based on prior encounters with these hovering perversions of citizen privacy. Designed primarily to locate fugitives and keep tabs on the residence of City 17, Scanners are also armed with a blinding flash that renders its target temporarily blind. Such non lethal weapons are seldom used by the Combine force, but the subsequent Soldiers now aware of your exposed position more than make up for it.
As she waited for the Scanner to pass over-head she recalled a mission being foiled by one such of these devices, and as consequence a painful interrogation which was interrupted at great expense to the Rebel cause. They had an inside man, posing as Civil Protection, who had no choice but to blow his cover to get Alyx and her group out of there. From his short experience on the inside, he knew that no human deserved to stick around for their methods of information extraction.
The loud buzzing of the Scanner reached it's climax before it passed over-head and accelerated upwards into the sky; no doubt to increase it's visible search parameters of the ground below. Alyx wished the Combine Soldier wasn't near by so she could have blown the Scanner out of the sky, and perhaps prevented the future divulgence of a confederate's location.
No sooner than when the Scanner had left, Alyx heard the loud Squeal of the Combine Soldier from the alley, stumbling backwards out of the darkness and falling flat against the street floor. It's hands were gripped around a hopper mine that was activated and clung to it's face. Shielding her face with her arm, she watched through the gaps in her fingers as the soldier blew into a non-discernible number of pieces. Through the dusty smog of the now collapsed archway above the alleyway, she saw Barney emerge baring a smug grin and spinning the now-dead Combine Soldier's baton around his hand.
