Half Life 2: Retribution

Chapter 5

"You're in. Isaiah isn't pretty happy, but you're in." Dylan said. He had took over Nick's "tour" halfway ahead due to some reason Aaron needing to head somewhere.

Nick felt relieved from those words. A huge weight carried off his chest. He'd just arrived City-17, and now he was in this sort of situation.

"Now, you'll just ha-" Dylan was interrupted by a loud crash. It sounded like metal against brick.

"Quick, grab something!" said Dylan, motioning at the guns placed neatly around the room, the last one in the tour, which was the armory.

He turned his sight towards an AR2, a Dark Energy assault rifle manufactured by the Combine. It was short, bulky, had a weird, and curved magazine, the whole gun was colored black. He barely knew how to use it. He picked it up by one hand, heavy but not too heavy, and grabbed a USP match, swiftly inserting it to his belt holster, somehow hidden underneath his blue civilian top. Dylan handed him a couple of mags for both weapons.

"PEACEKEEPER!" a terrified voice yelled, gunshots erupted right outside the armory.

"Stay behind me." Said Dylan.

They exited the room, into the hall, only to see two dead bodies at the foot of the door. Both were their allies.

Nick turned to his right. A C.P. with a dark suit stood still, facing them. A hood covered his whole head and face. only a white circular glow visible from the darkness inside. Nick had seen him before, he didn't know where.

"A Peacekeeper." Said Dylan.

The Peacekeeper charged at them, a sword in the PK's hand that Nick hadn't noticed it was holding. Dylan fired his MP7 at the PK's chest. No effect. The vest the PK used seemed to be strong enough to hold MP7 bullets, and the massive force being put to the vest barely knocked the PK backwards.

It swung it's sword at Dylan, only resulting it being blocked by an MP7. Nick thought the MP7 nearly snapped in half. It grabbed Dylan's neck, and threw him to the side with inhuman force. The PK turned to Dylan. Nick raised his USP and shot at the PK. It instantly turned to Nick. Panicked, Nick fired.

Both bullets were impossibly deflected by it's sword. Dylan grabbed the PK from behind, and stuck a grenade inside it's hood. The PK stabbed Dylan in the stomach, and shrugged him off. It turned to Nick. Then, Nick was blinded by bright light. His ears rang deaf. Intense heat rose from in front of him, sending him flying.

Nick was never given a deserving rest. Things just keep happening, he was sick of it. Same with the sharp pain that flared through his body. And that noise.

What is that noise?

As his hearing recovered, what he heard was much clearer. A familiar beeping with a dash of humming machinery. 

He opened his eyes, and sat up. Smoke filled the hall, and through the hall was red dot hovering around. 

City Scanners, Nick thought, I have to get out of here.

He turned his attention to the AR2 on the floor right beside him, and stretched his arm out to reach it, not bothering to move his body. Suddenly, beeping sounds were closer to him, and in a flash, Nick laid on the ground, and played dead.

Hummm. 

Beep.

Beep.

Hummm.

Click.

He slid his eyes open to see what the City Scanner was doing.

Beep.

Beep.

The City Scanner made a clicking sound as it took photos of the scene.

And the bodies.

Quickly, he shut his eyes as the City Scanner hovered above him and snapped a photo of him. It went past him, then, Nick rolled sideways to the AR2, picked it, aimed at the City Scanner, and pulled the trigger. 6 bluish dark energy bullets burst out of the AR2, hitting the City Scanner and destroying it, followed by a brief and small explosion. 

Nick stood up and holding the heavy AR2 with a struggle. He looked around, there were dead bodies everywhere, and the mess from the grenade. He did not want to look at it.

Nick ran to the exit from were they came from, and from the tunnel was combine radio chatter, he turned around.

They can't just have one entrance.. 

He ran back to the armory, and took magazines for both weapons, a knife, and a grenade, just in case. He searched around for a possible secret emergency exit, and he found it in a flash. A hole could be seen from behind a weapon crate. Nick pushed the crate out of the way, ducked in the hole, and slid it back in place. Darkness, again.

He had found out there was a flashlight attachment on his USP, he switched it on and crawled through the hole. Something wood was blocking the end of the hole, so he attempted to push it out of the way, wishing he could have entered the hole feet first. That might be wrong too.

He exited the hole, and entered an alley. A wooden board was covering the hole. He put it back in place and examined his location. It was almost dark. Nick only realized that he couldn't bring his AR2 with him if he was planning to sneak back into his apartments. He hid the AR2 behind the wooden board and exited the alley. He entered a street that seemed familiar, and he ventured, turned a couple of times, passed a couple of citizens and CP, and eventually found the plaza. 

Nick strode to the apartments, nervously glancing at the CP, who was looking suspiciously at him. Nick felt like there was a belt holster-shaped bulge visible from his shirt, so he walked faster. Eventually, he made it to the apartments safely, and went up the stairs to his room. He felt relieved to be safe, at least for now. 

He lied down on the bed, exhausted. Sleep consumed him later on.