Assault on City 17: Team Dunkirk

[acts_of_gord]

The group of fighters tasked with getting civilians out of the line of fire opens on an unremarkable side door of a thoroughly unremarkable building. The walls here are largely grey brick, scribbled here and there with graffiti in a mingle of languages- English, Spanish, something that might be Russian or Ukrainian. A tattered poster of a white-bearded man in a business suit hangs limply from the wall next to a roll-up garage door.

Barney leans forward to rap swiftly on the smaller door, as there's no handle to open it from the outside. The first thing anyone sees of what lies beyond is the muzzle of a shotgun. Before any hostile reaction can happen, the wielder leans forward: a bald, bespectacled, lab-coated figure, blinking in the light of day. "Barney?" he says. "Alyx? My God, when did you get here? And who are these people?"

Comments

[smelltheashes]

It's all well and good, but one of the crabs got past both women and is heading straight for a leap at Charlie.

[52-dropoff.livejournal.com]

He shoots. Eight rapid shots, calmly if not entirely perfectly aimed. He is steady. He only hears the shots and his heart.

[smelltheashes]

Headcrabs are tougher than they look, but even they can only stand up to so much. By the time the guns' echoes die away, the headcrab- and all its associates- are dead. Some for the second time.

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

Chell breathes a sigh of relief, and looks around. No more immediate threats. She sets down the shotgun, makes another portal, for progress. Then she waits for Alyx's signal, since she's the de facto leader.

[vance_prime]

Alyx looks around one last time, then nods. "Right. Let's keep moving, people."

[52-dropoff.livejournal.com]

Only now does Charlie's heart begin to race. That was more than a bit scary. And also a rush.

[smelltheashes]

"Well done, the both of you," says Dr. Kleiner to the two he doesn't know. "Shall I take that back?"

He's indicating the shotgun. Sonia and the others are already on the move, though, peering nervously through the tunnels and moving as fast as anyone can who's heavy-laden.

"Keep an eye out for the old stations," says one of the rebels. "We should be able to make a straight run for the evacuation area once we get to Grove."

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

Chell shrugs. "Do you want it back? I wouldn't want to steal it."

[smelltheashes]

"Thank you, my dear. I'm no Dr. Freeman, but I do find it reassuring," says Kleiner as he accepts the gun back.

[vance_prime]

"How far have we gone? I always get all turned around down here..."

[smelltheashes]

"We're a couple of streets over from where we started," reports Sonia. "I know these tunnels pretty well. We've still got a ways to go, but-"

"I'm hearing manhacks," reports the male rebel. "This just couldn't go easily, could it."

[52-dropoff.livejournal.com]

"Honestly? It never does." He wished, however, that he knew what a manhack is.

[smelltheashes]

He should've paid more attention to Gordon's data sheets, then. They were written up there in pretty good detail. Not that it matters; the buzzing sound of engines and whirring, rotating blades can be discerned coming from up ahead, and the glimmer of the flying crowd-control robots' red lights begins to appear shortly thereafter.

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

Chell gets a crackle on the radio, and then she hears the member of the resistance with Team Ninja coming through.

"This is Team Ninja! Dunkirk, can you hear me, come in, over!"

Chell picks it up and hits the talk button. "Yes, we can hear you. What do you need, over."

The resistance member's radio crackles, and then he replies: "We're almost out of this alley! You should start heading this way so we can get out of here, over!"

Chell replies quickly, glancing around to make sure there were no manhacks nearby. "Copy, will do. Over and out."

[vance_prime]

Alyx nods and takes the team radio from her. "Good luck out there, Valerie... and thank you."

[subject-lj-here.livejournal.com]

Chell nods, and starts to make her way over to Team Ninja.

"You too."

[acts_of_gord]

"Oh dear," says Kleiner as Chell drops from sight. "This is not the sort of foe I'm equipped to handle."

The glowing red lights of the manhacks are drawing closer.

"Here goes nothing," murmurs Sonia.

[52-dropoff.livejournal.com]

He wonders who actually is equipped for this, even as he makes sure his load is full and draws a bead on the next targets.

[acts_of_gord]

The buzzbots dive out of the darkness at the little cluster of humans. "Run, Dr. Kleiner!" one of the women shouts.

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

[g00d_d0ggie]

To answer your question, Charlie? The giant robot is perfectly equipped for this. The fingers of D0G's right hand crackle and hum with orange light as he activates his zero-point energy manipulator. The nearest manhack is rapidly pulled toward D0G's hand, then flung away with remarkable force, colliding with its fellows and the concrete walls before clattering to the ground in a smoking heap.

"Nice one, D0G!" shouts Alyx as she fires on the oncoming swarm.

[acts_of_gord]

The tunnel swiftly starts resounding with echoes, whether buzzes or gunfire or electronic shrieks. Kleiner and Sophia are running like bunnies, as per their orders; the other two rebels are a little more heavily burdened, and opting therefore to stand and club anything that flies at them out of the air.

It's lucky that the tunnels are so dark. The blood from where the manhacks get past people's defenses hardly shows up.

[vance_prime]

The girl and her robot just keep mowing down the 'hacks as fast as they can--Alyx with her pistol, D0G with his gravity gun or simply his fists when they get too close.

[acts_of_gord]

As the last one falls, the tunnel finally goes quiet. If there's anything else lurking down here, it won't be moving anytime soon, that's for sure.

"Nice shooting, everyone," says the androgynous girl. "And thanks. We'd've been in a lot of trouble if it weren't for you." She holsters her gun. "Hey, Sonia? You okay over there?"

"Yeah, we're fine," calls Sonia's muffled voice, and "Everything operating in optimal condition!" chimes in Kleiner.

The big fellow nods. "This is as safe as it's going to get," he says. "We'll take it from here. White Forest, here we come."

And with that, they're gone.

[vance_prime]

Alyx turns to her robot. "D0G, sit."

D0G obligingly plants his butt on the concrete, and Alyx clambers up onto his back, settling into a set of hidden hand- and footholds. "C'mon, D0G, let's go find Gordon and Barney."

Bweep! says D0G, and they gallop away.