User blog:Redknight910/WWYD HL harpy SpyCrab

I look around, what can I do, I'm wounded, basically hooked up to life support, and there's a half-naked harpy frightened to death sitting atop me.

The cheshire and holstaur break in, pulling the harpy off of me and injecting something into my IV bag. "I'm sorry, but this needs to be done." I nod, closing my eyes thinking I'm being euthanized. That's when the pain comes. The pain and the twitching.

I don't know what's going on but for the next minute (It feels like an eternity) I'm writhing in pain that I wouldn't wish upon the Combine soldiers. When I finally come out of it, the Cheshire sighs heavily.

"Thank the gods that worked. I knew there was something special about you." I look at myself, and am shocked by what I see. Muscles, extremely well defined, yet not bulgingly large. I look lean, but feel stronger than ever.

"We need you to get out there and fight them." The holstaur said, presenting me with a suit of armour. "Please, help us." I look between the three women, then nod. The armour must be Combine based tech, because it fits perfectly. I step out of the room, picking up a rifle on my way out.

I see them, they must be over a kilometre away, but with my new eyes and helmet I can see them. Cold, calculating, systematic. I line up the shot, hands steadier than they've ever been, and pop off a round. I don't even feel the recoil from the large rifle in my hands, and take a second shot before they've even reacted. There's two left, and they spot me with ease now that they're looking.

I drop a third before they turn their rifles to me, and I run for cover as the last opens up. I've never run so fast in my life, I don't think I've ever seen someone run so fast. I hit cover and felt the projectiles impact on the pillar. When I hear the shots stop I throw a bar over to one side of it, before poking around the other. The distraction works, and I drop the fourth soldier.

I'm still trying to work out everything that injection did to me. Everything seems brighter, louder, sharper. As I'm running past the corpses, I look down at their weapons. They have the same basic look as any other gun.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">A barrel that sticks out the front, though it's very small calibre, a stock with a trigger, and a chamber. The chamber's where it differs though. It's loaded with some kind of capacitors, emitting a faint blue light. Picking it up I figure with what it's done in the past it should be fine against its owners.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pulling the trigger a burst of shots rings out, releasing a blue pulse with each one. The recoil's practically nil, and I smile. This will work nicely.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I make my way through the base, killing every combine soldier I find and rescuing everyone else who's still alive. When I'm sure this section of the base is secured, I look out a window. The two gunships haven't opened fire the entire time, and the strider is staying outside the base, ripping anyone outside in two.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">My gun's making a soft whining noise, I figure this means it's running out of charge. Picking up another soldiers gun, I point it out at the strider. Three bursts, one leg per burst, and it topples, the last legs unable to hold it up. That's when the gunships open up. I'm suddenly running through a hail of fire, needle like rounds the size of my fist whirling passed me. When it stops I take my chance, pointing out a hole in the wall and firing on them. The rounds do wonderful fuck all.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm running again as the shooting resumes. I look out at the strider, surely that would have some kind of cannon on it. Leaping out of a broken window I make a run for it, the gunships apparently reloading. I hit the strider, ducking down as another hail of bullets flies around me. When it stops I jump into the cockpit, shooting the previous pilot.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">I grab a stick on either side of the seat, spotting what looks like a targeting readout. I make whatever the cameras connected to point at the gunships, and start pressing buttons. After a second of fumbling a massive blue flash fires out of the top of the strider, ripping through one of the gunships and clipping the other.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">stepping out of the strider, I run towards the destabilised gunship, following it as it goes down. When it hits the ground I duck behind a piece of debris. Looking around I see the pilot stumble out of the cockpit. That's when I see him. The traitor who saved me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">He pulls out a revolver, putting a round in the pilots head. He looks over to me, and waves. Running up to me he grabs me by the shoulder. "Good work, kinda threw you in the deep end, huh?" He starts leading me back to the base. I ask him just what the hell happened to me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"It's a similar serum to what they use on the stalkers. But we took out the emotion and pain blockers. It's not quite as potent without the cybernetics, but it's a damn bit better than nothing." I nod in agreement. So, why haven't more of the rebels taken it?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"You know that pain you felt when you were having your entire body reworked by an alien genetics manipulator? Yeah, that's why. The strain we have only works on a specific set of genetic markers. For most, it... let's just say it does bad things." I nod, thinking about what they were saying before I got thrown out into the field. So, if they were sure I had the right genes for this, then why did they seen so nervous to inject me?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Two reasons, first, we were still running some tests to be sure it was right. Second, you know how hard it is for mamono to do anything that causes pain." I stop for a moment, so they weren't even entirely sure I was going to survive this thing?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Don't be stupid. Of course you'd survive. We just weren't sure you would still be human after." I can't even come up with a response for that, so I decide to just keep walking. "Look, we wouldn't even be doing this unless we were truly desperate. But you've shown what someone with no training can do after this treatment. If we want to drive these bastards back, then we've got to use every advantage we can get." He takes his helmet off, revealing a pair of dark red eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Knocking on a wall, it opens to reveal a secret passage. "Come on." He says. "If we don't hurry they'll knock out the tunnel without us." We run down the stairs and through the tunnel beneath the building. There's the harpy who seems to have taken a liking to me and a hellhound waiting for us.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"They arrived, delay detonation by five." The hellhound says into a small mic. "About time you two showed up. Let's get moving." The other man walks straight passed her, slapping her on the ass as he goes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Missed you too honey." He says with a smile. The harpy lands on my shoulders, sitting there with a smile on her face. I barely feel her weight after a few seconds.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I'm so glad you made it." She coos, wrapping her wings around my chest. I ask why she likes me so much? I mean, I know harpies have their breeding seasons, but this doesn't seem like that kind of behaviour.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Oh, are you still upset over losing her?" She asks quietly, jumping off of me and walking next to me. Yeah, I guess I am still getting over Lia. Wait, how did she even know about her?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"David brought a picture back, had you and a lamia in it. You looked so happy. I'm sorry." I wave a hand at her, telling her its okay. It's just been a while since I had to deal with monsters trying to get me every which way. "Heh, yeah. But we're going to fix this. We're going to stop these monsters, before they... before they get  there ." I look at her, asking what she means. She looks at me, somewhat surprised.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The world we came from. The borders are still pretty thin between there and here, and if they tried to open another portal some of the lilim think they could break the fabric of reality and force the worlds to merge. Which is not a good thing." My eyes go wide. It's really that bad?

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Well, yeah. They're also pretty sure that the portals opening to our realm are what allowed the Combine to get here in the first place.  That  piece of knowledge is... painful to know." I understand what she means. The number of deaths and sheer amount of suffering brought about by the Combine dwarfs anything that happened during the Monster War.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"We're clear of the blast zone, hit the switch." The hellhound says through her com. There's an echoing boom, then the sound of the tunnel collapsing. The two in front of me turn to face me.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">"So, friend, what do you say to taking the fight to the Combine? To hitting them so damned hard they won't even think about trying to hit back for a few centuries?" I look at the harpy to my left, then to the two in front of me. Then I think about everything the Combine's done. To me, my kind, my world. And there's only one answer to give.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt0cm;line-height:15.75pt;"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Where do we hit first?