Arabella Peyeman

Once Arabella and Masterson reached the Comms room Masterson said to Arabella, "I'll leave you in private as I have some other tasks to attend to." Arabella replied, "Thank you." Before she turned to the communication equipment. Once Masterson had left the room she spoke to Simon, "Hello Simon, Do you have any tip offs about what is going on in this place?"

After a small pause Simon replied, "We have nothing more on what is going on currently with the groups already present in Black Mesa but there is some bad news." Simon paused again as he summoned the courage to say his next statement. "Arabella, you are on your own in there. We can't get any more resources into Black Mesa and as you know our other operatives are all busy on assignments of their own and deep in cover."

Arabella after a small pause replied, "I know Simon, I think I knew from the beginning that no one but myself can get me out of this situation, which is pretty bleak at the moment. The ECRU have now gone from the defensive to the offensive, they are taking the fight back to the HECU. I'm going to help them Simon. I still think they will be good allies that will guard my back."

"I'm glad that you are in the middle of this whole mess and...give them Hell. Good luck out there." Simon said smiling. "Thanks Simon. I had better head off now." Arabella replied before she halted communications. Masterson walked back into the office and Arabella asked him "Do you have any firing ranges here?" Masterson replied in the affirmative and gave directions to the firing ranges.

Arabella followed the directions she had been given and found herself alone in the firing ranges. I had better see how well my eye is still in after three years of inconsistent practice. She pulled out her L96A1 sniper rifle and started to fire off some rounds.

[OOC: Er, very long post... But eh.]

Lt. Sparks

The cold, cramped vents weren't helping add much to Jack's mood, but the occasional chamber like the previous ones offered him respite and a little peek at what was happening above him.
The first one gave him his a better look at the E.C.R.U. defences in the tram station than he could have hoped for; almost half of their defence operation was visible from the grate in the floor just beyond them. Sandbags, MGs; the whole kit-and-caboodle.
'Bloody lucky we didn't get there... Cheers Malc.'
With a last glance Sparks quietly removed another vent cover and continued on his path.

Ten minutes of crawling through the vents in the floor and Sparks found himself drenched in sweat and cursing almost constantly under his breath in frustration.
"Who's dumb-*** fucking idea was it to go crawling through these vents?" he sarcastically questioned himself, "Can't even go topside 'cause I'll get shot. Nooo... No break from crawling through these fucking lightless pits that are here for no fucking reason anyway," attempting to wave a hand he hit the roof of the vent, "Out of the way your piece if **** ven-"
Jack's muttering fell silent as his eyes locked on the light ahead of him, another vent opening.
"Another vent. Brilliant. I'm getting the hell out of these vents. The bastards can shoot me all they way, so long as they do it in a nice open room."
Jack chuckled at his own begrudged musings as he finally reached the vent's exit, wresting the grate from its place and pulling himself out into the chamber that was before him.

This time he found himself in an exceptionally long room, same height, same width; just longer. The grate in the roof, or floor for those above, stretched the entire length of the chamber and through it Jack could see racks, cabinets, lockers and cupboards filled with what appeared to be equipment, weapons and munitions.
As he moved further along the room's interior a new and interesting sight came into view; a soldier, leaning on a counter at the end of the room that lay above.
'What have we here... An armoury?'
Sparks mused to himself as he gazed around his own room for a way into the store above him, finally finding what seemed to be a trapdoor at the far end of the below-the-floor room.
"Right above another vent... Yeah fucker. I don't have to climb into you this time." Jack muttered in a barely audible voice to the vent as he fiddled with the trapdoor.
After more than a minute of Sparks fiddling with the hatch it was still sitting resilient and unyielding. Jack sat cross-legged and took his knife from its sheath and looked at the lock before speaking in a whisper;
"You're so lucky I'm no Lewis..."
With a smile he took to the lock with his knife, disengaging the lock after only a matter of seconds and quickly moving into the shadowy sides of the room as he waited for the soldier to investigate the lock's loud click.

Thirty seconds passed and there was still nothing from the soldier above so Jack moved back to the hatch and eased it open, ever so softly laying the grate down onto the floor and climbing out into the armoury.
Delaying his joy at being out of the cramped passages beneath the floor Sparks crept towards the unsuspecting soldier's back. As he came within arms reach Jack caught the soldier in a headlock, covering his mouth and applying heavy pressure to his throat as he dragged the soldier towards the back of the room.
The man struggled and writhed but it wasn't didn't help him at all as Jack collapsed the soldier's legs with a boot to the back of the knees and then knocked him unconscious with a quick knee to the side of the head.

Jack turned to search the armoury for something to bind the soldier up with but found his eyes attracted to something leaning against one of the side walls. As he approached the object Sparks finally realised what it was; two RPG-7's attached to one-another haphazardly.
"Well what the ****..." Jack muttered to himself, as he put it back down and continued searching he mused over how Lewis would react to the 'double-barrelled-RPG'.
A minute later he returned to the soldier and boundd his hands and feet with cable ties then gagged him with the remnants of a dirty rag.

After a moment of consideration Jack moved carefully to the window at which the soldier had been standing and looked out. The room beyond seemed a hive of E.C.R.U. activity.
'Now how the hell do I walk through there...'
Jack mused over several plans but then simplicity prevailed:
'****, our uniforms are nigh identical and the last thing they'd expect is a lone marine wandering their H.Q. and not shooting at them... Time for a stroll,' Jack stepped towards the door but halted and turned back to the armoury, 'What am I thinking?'
Chuckling to himself Sparks turned and began a search of the cabinets and shelves, constantly being surprised by the crap he found until he finally decided just to stick with his MP5k. Loading his vest and pockets with as much 9mm ammunition as he could fit Jack took one last souvenir; a second MP5k which he attached to the thigh opposite his own weapon, just beside his M9.

As he started towards the door Jack lifted his gas mask and scratched the side of his face; "Here goes..." he spoke to himself with a sigh and grabbed the handle.
With one last look back at the unconscious soldier Jack opened the door and walked confidently from the armoury and looked around the large room, examining each door and passageway before his eyes suddenly came upon the back of a familiar head.
'my distance, I'm in his house now.[/i]'
Sparks took his eyes away from Malcom and passed behind him, heading for a hallway at the far side of the room.

RP Conversation
Involving: 2Lt. Malcom Connor (Deimenried) and Lt. Jack Sparks (MyNameDidntFit)
Drafted: 20th & 21st Oct 2008 via IM

> “You can't possibly think we have a prayer of pulling this off do you?” Lee grumbled
“We have to at least try.” Mal replied flatly, looking down at Tom who was laid against his right foot. “Better than sitting here waiting for the bullet...” Without warning, Tom sat bolt-upright, ears twitching, before trotting away from Mal.
Lee looked quizzically in Tom's direction. “What's got into him?”
> Jack kept a steady pace, trying not to draw attention to himself as he made his way to wherever his target hallway would lead him. A series of quick, soft clicks sounded behind him a moment before a cat rounded his legs and looked up at him.
Sparks casually stepped around the predominantly black cat and continued on his way; hardly making it three steps before the cat was in front of him again.
‘Come on, don’t be like this. I’m trying to be inconspicuous.’
The cat, obviously not reading his mind, just meowed at him only to have Jack simply step over it and carry on.
>”What the hell is he doing?” Mal whispered, craning his neck to see the cat repeatedly obstruct a soldier who seemed to be in a rush.
Lee squinted, “More to the point, where is he rushing to? There's nothing down there worth rushing for...”
“Well, if he's nobody, I'll just claim to be retrieving the cat.” Mal mused, walking in the direction of Tom and the soldier.
“Hey, now that's a two-man job...” Lee muttered, clearly more interested in finding out who thought cleaning supplies were worth rushing for.
Malcom caught up with Tom and the soldier, “Problems, uh....” Mal glanced to see a rectangular silver pin on each shoulder. “Well I guess we'll be skipping the formalities, seeing as you're NOT Mitchell...”
> Jack had heard the footsteps coming and almost knew who it would be. The voice only confirmed it; only it seemed Malc didn’t realise just who he was talking to.
“Well,” Jack started, turning to face Malcom with half a smile, “I just came to check on supper.”
> Malcom let out a short laugh, “Should have guessed... Only you could be stupid enough to wander around here and think you'd blend in....”
Lee slowly brought his P226 to hand, taking the safety off.
> Sparks watched Malcom; half biting his lower lip in contemplation and half smiling at the helpless hilarity of his situation. He sighed and glanced down at the cat:
“Now, before you go shooting anyone, you might have noticed that I haven’t shot anyone. Curious that isn’t it?”
> “Well yes, actually...” Malcom mock-mused, “Let me guess.... Out of ammunition? Gun jammed? Forgotten how to operate the trigger?”
> “Har dee har har,” Jack scratched the back of his head and pretended to think, “Plenty of ammo- Oh, yeah, thanks for that. Um, guns all work and the trigger is fine,” Jack paused and drew his M9, firing a round into the ceiling even as Malcom’s face reacted, “See, all in order.”
With a smile Jack spun the handgun so he was holding the barrel and held it out to Malcom’s sidekick, “Guess you boys’ll want this after that show won’t you?”
> Mal raised his eyebrows, ‘Clever...’ he thought, as the entire lobby turned to look in their direction. Seeing Lee's gun now pointed squarely at an unfamiliar soldier's head, they rushed to grab their weapons from their holsters and from their backs. Within seconds, the corridor was filled with soldiers pointing a huge variety of weapons in Jack's direction. They surrounded the trio, leaving a small island of space in which Jack, Mal and Lee stood as before.
“What the hell is going on?” A voice shouted and a gap in the circle opened as Mitchell charged through the blockade, pistol in hand, “You...” he muttered, seeing Jack's irreverent smile, “I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you here... Although it is a pleasure to see so many firearms pointed at you.”
> Jack was still holding his handgun in the seemingly shocked soldier’s direction as Mitchell spoke so he shrugged and holstered it again.
“Ohh… You’re the Lieutenant here,” Jack frowned and clicked with his forefinger and thumb, “****. That means this isn’t where I parked my car. Best of luck to you.”
Jack waved and walked towards the inner edge of the circle of soldiers, “’scuse me, ‘scuse me,” despite his walking into them the soldiers didn’t move, rather stood looking surprised, “Erm, Mitchell? These guys are in my way. If you could please move them, that’d be great.”
> “Alright, enough of this; Lambert.” He indicated the soldier Jack was pushing against. With a silent nod, he slammed the butt of his L85A2 into Jack's chest. “Consider that your welcome officially worn out.” Mitchell said flatly as Jack struggled to his feet, “Now, without any of your ****; what are you doing here?”
> Jack hit his chest a few times, “Thanks Lambert, I really appreciate the love bro,” he slapped Lambert on the shoulder and turned to Mitchell, “I would’ve thought my welcome was worn out when you were shooting at me. Reasonable assumption, no?”
> “Reasonable?” Mitchell laughed, “You? Nah, not your kind, boy. And besides, correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't answer the question I asked...”
> Jack nodded, “No, you’re right, how dare I be rude in such fine hospitality,” sitting himself cross-legged on the ground with a groan, watching the aim of dozens of soldiers following his movement, “I honestly don’t really know why I came here, guess I was just lonely and in need of some company after Malcy and co cut me off from my boys.”
> “I feel for you, I truly do.” Mal interjected, his voice heavy with sarcasm, pointing his AK at Jack's head. “I can help you with your suffering, if you'd like.”
“Or, alternatively, you can cut the bullshit and tell the truth for a change...” Mitchell added.
> Jack feigned shock, “But I always tell the truth. I’m good little marine,” he smiled at Malcom’s AK, “I was honestly just looking around.”
> “Well, there's only one way to teach a child.” Malcom sighed, signalling Lebedev to hand over her SPAS-12, handing his AK in return, “So the name of the game is now ‘Talk or lose your legs.’”
“Personally I prefer ‘less talk, more splat’, but we'll try it your way Mal.” Mitchell smiled.
> Jack pulled his gas mask from his head and looked into it with a sigh, “What do you want me to say? ‘Oh hi guys, I came in here thinking I could kill you all because I’m just that fucking good’?” Sparks shook his head and looked from Malcom to Mitchell, “You may have a low opinion of my intelligence but even you two know that if I was that stupid I wouldn’t have survived two run-ins with your 2LT here,” he paused for a second, “So, do we believe that I was just lookin’ so that we can do whatever comes next, or do we sit here until I can be fucked making up a story?”
> "Well that wasn't so difficult, now was it?" Mitchell sighed, "If you dropped the attitude more often, perhaps people would take you seriously..."
"Of course," Mal began, lowering the shotgun, "This leaves us with the decision of where we go from here... you being here to kill us and all... Can't really let you go..."
> Jack nodded, “Of course not. That’d be a retard move,” Sparks slowly got to his feet and locked gaze with Mitchell, “Bit of a pickle here mate. Do you tie me up somewhere and leave me alone, risking my escape due do how damn crafty I am, or do you waste your preciously small amount of manpower on looking after me?” Jack looked over to Malcom, “Or do you shoot me here and now?” his gaze moved back to Mitchell as he continued, “Your choice, obviously. Feel free to discuss in private, I’ll just chat to the boys and get to know ‘em a bit better.”
Jack’s finger rested on the transmit button inside his gas mask as he smiled on the inside, his mind ticking over as to what his squad on the other end of the comms were thinking.
> “I’ve had enough of him,” Mitchell turned to Mal, “Throw him in one of the cells. Keep the key, throw it away, eat it; I don't care.”
“I’m sure our other ‘guest’ wouldn’t be too happy being next to ‘Laughing Boy’ here.” Mal replied, indicating Jack.
“Oh don't worry,” Mitchell smiled slyly, “If he does annoy our ‘guest’, he'll be in for a bit of a ‘shock’.”
“Alright then,” Mal laughed turning to Jack, “Come on, Chuckles; time to get acquainted with your new home.” He raised his shotgun, and indicated Jack to move through the gap in the crowd towards the holding cells.
> Jack simply stood still, a quizzical smile on his face, “Chuckles? That’s Sir to you, Second Lieutenant.”
> “Settle down, yokel. I'm not under your jurisdiction.” Mal smiled, nodding to Sgt. Anderson, who was acting as the Military Police co-ordinator for the purposes of the Vortigaunt visit.
“Just keep cramming them in here...” Anderson sighed, his deep monotonous voice echoing off the walls of the rather Spartan custody processing area, as he saw Mal and Mitchell escorting Jack toward him. “And who do I have the pleasure to chucking in the slammer today then?”
“Oh, nobody important really...” Mal replied neutrally, as Anderson stripped Jack of his weapons and comms equipment.
“'5k’s?” Anderson laughed, “They really don't think much of you at Marine HQ, do they?”
> “Oh and I hear they care oh so much for you boys here, don’t they? They have utmost respect for your efforts around here, ain’t that right… Anderson?” Jack’s voice was ripe with sarcasm as he turned to Malcom, “And I’m fucking Australian, not some yokel American.”
With the end of his sentence Jack smashed Malcom in the face with a head butt, laughing as the blood flowed from Malc’s nose and he staggered backwards. EOven as Anderson and Mitchell kicked Jack’s legs from under him and hit him across the head with the butt of a weapon Sparks’ smile didn’t fade as he lay on the ground being dragged into the cell, watching Malcom get back to his feet with a hand covering his face.
“Bet that fuckin’ hurt didn’t it mate?” Jack flashed a toothy grin and pulled his right arm free of Anderson’s grip to fling a salute towards Malcom.
> "Maybe," He signalled Anderson to pass him some bandages, "But I think you'll need these more than me." Mal pulled out his pistol, in in one quick movement put a bullet through Jack's left foot, and then proceeded to throw the box of bandages to the ground next to Jack's writhing body. "Sleep tight," He grinned, blood still running down his face, "Yokel."
"You love making my job difficult don't you..." Anderson shook his head, "You want him in one piece?"
"Really, that's more his decision than mine..." With that, Mal, and a rather surprised-looking Mitchell, left Anderson and the rest of the MPs to deal with Jack.
"He's had that coming for a long time." Mal grumbled as he made his way to the barracks to get a first-aid kit.
"Should have let me known you were going to do that, Mal." Mitchell replied, "I would have brought the Shrike..."
> Jack grunted as Anderson started untying his left boot’s laces, “You’ve really pissed Mal off, haven’t you?”
“You could say that, anyway, I can deal with this foot. Funnily enough I’m a medic,” Jack grunted as he unlaced his boot, “I’m surprised you haven’t taken your own turn at hitting or shooting me. Seems to be all the rage with you lot.”
Anderson started towards the cell door, “I figure I’ll wait until you give me reason to.”
Jack laughed half-heartedly as Anderson locked the door and walked away down the corridor, ‘That’s a bad idea Andy’.
Sparks grimaced and pulled off his boot, looking at the small, shiny blade pressed into the back of the boot before he removed his sock and began bandaging his foot.
‘Oh Malcom… I’m going to give you hell for this one.’

Sitting in the security office, Bill took another bite of the candy bar, finishing it off. Things in this section of the installation seemed very quiet, considering everything that's happened. Suddenly Bill looked out the window and saw him... a man in a greyish suit, very pale, very calm. He was about to open the door, when the man pointed to the hall door override. Bill thought he should still let the man into the office, but found he was compelled to override the door, almost as if his hand was moving on it's own. Watching the huge metallic hall door open up, Bill watched as the man in the suit slowly turned and walked away into the dark corridor.

Thinking he should close it again, he started to move his hand to the switch, but something in his mind stopped him... 'he wants the door open for something... or someone'

Bill, thoroughly creeped out by someone was a rare occurance. Tossing the candy bar wrapper into the garbage, he decided he'd like a bit more firepower with him just in case. Opening the security office door, he turned right and started towards the security barracks and armory.

About half-way down it appeared, several eyes on it's face. 'What the hell is THAT', he mused. Suddenly a high pitch sound seemed to build and the thing let out some sort of sonic blast. Bill felt pain ripple through his head as the thing seemed to jump and dance for joy. Pulling the pistol, he opened fire, putting the thing down.

"I hope I don't see any more of those damn things"

Dr Robert "Flynn" Kessal

(ooc: warning - confusing elements lay ahead! Also, spot the Megadeth reference )


Flynn wiped his forehead with his arm, and looked at the prototype of the new Battledroid models. His makeshift lab in the ECRU base was well equipped, but he didn't have the same available materials as he had back in his own lab, so he'd had to make adjustments. The new battledroids were less heavily armoured, but they were lighter and faster. They were also armed with custom sub-machine guns (created by using one of the weapons pilfered from the store and copied), as well as the tau cannon/gluon gun/hydraulic pincer arrangement. He looked over at the Dreadnought, and gestured to it.
"What do you think? Your little brothers any good?" The Dreadnought rumbled over and scanned the table, and the prototype droid.
+Optimised for assault.+ the Dreadnought clicked, and rolled back again. Flynn smiled, and shook his head. The perfect thing for the ECRU, some assault drones, he thought to himself, and looked around. Now I just need uranium for the weapons. He walked to the entrance of the lab, and signalled the Dreadnought to follow.

Flynn headed into the main part of the HQ, and tried to hunt down Lt. Mitchell. After failing miserably, Flynn decided to just leave a message with someone, and headed off with the Dreadnought out of the back of the HQ, towards the storage hangars. As he headed there, he tried to remember which serial codes were on the storage containers for the uranium. Letting the Dreadnought go ahead, Flynn pulled out his scavenged pistol, and followed.

Reaching the hangars without incident, he indicated to the Dreadnought to proceed with caution into the hazardous materials hangar, designated the number 18. The Dreadnought slowly rumbled through the doors, and Flynn looked around for the right containers. He then looked into the center of the hangar, and stopped dead. He signalled the Dreadnought to do the same.
"What the ****?" was all he could manage. Sat in the middle of the hangar, without any explanation as to how it got there, was half of a wooden house.

Lt. Sparks

The cell area had remained uneventful as Jack finished the bandaging of his foot, the bullet had only clipped the side of his foot, whether by Malcom's design or by pure luck.

The time passed in silence until Jack grew bored and called out to Anderson:
"Hey, Anderson, how's it going out there?"
Anderson looked to Sparks and hesitated before replying cautiously, "Alright, how's that foot?"
"It's only a graze, I'll live... Much to the dismay of some around here," Jack wheard Anderson chuckle at that comment as he continued, "Say, Mitchell and Connor were talking about another captive you've got here; what'd There was a hesitation and then no reply.
"Oh," Jack's mind clicked with the jokes Malc and the LT had made in reference to the captive, "He's a Vort, eh?"
Sparks listened as Anderson got up from his stool, moving towards Jack's cell, "How'd you know?"
Jack smiled, "Malc and Mitch's jokes," he paused as Anderson stopped in front of the door of his cell, "Say, wouldn't have a ciggie would you?"
"Not for you."
"Aw, c'mon mate. I've just been shot in the foot and stuck in a cell in the middle of a facility that is falling apart and being invaded by aliens. I could really go for a cig."
"I dunno, I've only got a few." Anderson replied as if he was considering it.
"Why not have a smoke together, eh? I'm not your enemy right now and I can tell that you sure as hell could go for one." Jack chuckled.
Anderson smiled and paused a moment before fishing a crumpled cigarette packet from his vest and moving closer to the door of Jack's cell and holding the packet through the bars of the small window.

Jack took one of the smokes and placed it between his lips, "Got a light?"
With a glance back to his booth Anderson winced slightly, "Damn, left it in the booth."
Almost the instant Anderson turned his radio crackled to life, "All unit at HQ, initial defences are under assa-" the radio went silent, Jack presumed it's operator was dead.
Anderson glanced away from Jack's cell and then back at him, "Looks like no light for ya, hold tight."
Jack sighed and moved to the back wall, slumping to the floor and closing his eyes as the sounds of battle, gunshots and shouting, drew slowly closer.

It the fighting stalled at one location for what seemed like an eternity before it moved closer, this time at an alarming rate. Within minutes the sound of boots rushed down the hallway towards him and a second later a pair of E.C.R.U. operatives ran past, one yelling into his radio;
"They're in the H.Q.! We're falling back as best we can to meet up with you guys, over."
The voice of the soldier faded into the distance even as a single pair of boots sprinted towards Jack's cell door. The footsteps stopped in front of his cell and Rogen's face appeared at the window.
"Hey, boss, didn't think we'd leave you did ya?" Rogen was smiling widely as he unlocked the door and swung it open.
"Well, **** me I didn't expect the next face I saw to be friendly," Jack replied as he got to his feet and walked from the cell, "How many of us are there?"
As Rogen replied Jack found his things in a booth near the H.Q. end of the hallway and began rearming himself, "3 full squads and the boys."
"Good, what's this assault the E.C.R.U. are talking about?"
Before Rogen could reply Partington's voice came from the main lobby of the H.Q., "They're making a push to take one of the surface exits, doing pretty well too. Hopefully this flanking manoeuvre will help screw them at least a little."
"Alright then, let's go," Jack slapped the MP5k in his hand and smiled, "I've got a score to settle."
As Partington organised the other groups' and their paths Sparks stood gazing at the floor, 'Somehow a bloody nose just doesn't seem to cut it for ya now, Malc.'

RP Conversation
Involving: 2Lt. Malcom Connor (Deimenried) and Dr. Robert Kessal (LorgarForneus)
Drafted: 6th Nov 2008 via IM

>"Bunch of fucking animals, if you ask me..." Zack muttered, putting the finishing touches to Malcom's dressing.
Mal let out a short laugh "It's pitiful that they are responsible for our nation's security. Things really went downhill since I was last in the Corps. when idiots like him make Lieutenant."
Zack finished the dressing, "I hear that. There, that should do it. If you want my advice, shoot him in the head next time. It's all he deserves..."
>Meanwhile, in the hangar, Flynn picked up his radio, still stunned. He dialled in Malc's frequency. "Malc, it's Flynn. You there?"
>"This is Connor. Go ahead."
>"You'll never guess what I've found in one of the storage hangars."
>"What you got over there?"
> "I've found.... half of a wooden house...."
> "Half a wooden house? You must be kidding! Wait for me there. I'm on my way. Connor out." Mal turned to Zack. "Tell Lee he'll have the honours of leading Alpha until I get back."
"I'm sure he'll be glad... providing that **** 'Sparky', or whatever his name is, doesn't show up."
Mal gathered his supplies and headed down to the hangars. The route was clear, mostly thanks to Flynn's deadnaught. Tau-irradiated corpses lay in irregular heaps in the corridors. Finally Mal reached the first hangar, seeing what looked like half of a wood cabin sat between two stacks of shipping crates.
"The hell...."
>Flynn turned to Malc "That's pretty much what I said."
>Mal let his AK hang by the strap, resting his hands on the stock. All he could do was stare at the mysterious structure stood before them. "Looks like it was cut in half. No splintering whatsoever to suggest it broke... which begs the question 'who saws a house in half and stores it at Black Mesa?'"
>Flynn moved closer to the house and examined the cut marks. "There's no actual sign of any work on the wood. It looks like either someone cut it in half with a laser, which they couldn't anyway without setting it on fire, or that something phased through it." He looked back at Malc "What do you reckon?"
>"Whatever did that... it wasn't by human hands." Mal paused to think. "The only thing I can think of is part of it physically disappearing. But that's even more rediculous than it sounds when you think about it..."
>Flynn was hit by an idea. "Not necessarily... it could have been transferred here from one of those anomalies that the aliens keep popping out of. Though that means that by some fluke chance an anomaly has fired up somewhere else in the world and swallowed half a house. Shall we check inside?"
>"I'll take point." Mal said, taking out a geiger counter. "Finally I have an excuse to use this..." He advanced slowly glancing between the house and the counter. "Radiation is a bit higher than normal... I mean for this place, anyway. As long as we don't stay here for more than 5 hours you should be fine. Good old PCV's..." He beckoned Flynn to join him as he crossed the threshold of the surviving door.
>Flynn followed slowly, signalling the Dreadnought to stand guard outside. As he crept through the door, he saw the remains of what looked like an ordinary house. As he was looking around, he saw some photos of the owner. "No fucking way..."
> What is it?" Mal asked, glancing up from the counter display.
>"I fucking know the bloke who owns this house..."
> Don't suppose he's hanging around..." Mal glanced about for any remains or signs of survivors. "Can't see anyone. Damn. Could have answered a few questions for me."
>"Fucking hell... this house belonged to Desekrator. That's a fucking coincidence."
> Mal paused as he heard a distant rumbling. It soon subsided and he continued, "Desecrator? Some sort of satanist guy is he?"
>Flynn laughed "Nah, Norwegian bloke. When I was in my old band Vortex Of Torment, we opened for his band Altar on one of their tours. He was a cool bloke, kept in touch with him. Was gonna ask him about a studio project, but it looks like it's a bit late now. Though I've noticed wherever he is, he's got his guitar with him." Flynn chuckled and shook his head. "That doesn't surprise me, he hardly ever put the fucking thing down!"
>Mal raised an eyebrow, "I hope it proves useful for whatever is on the other side..." Mal looked at the walls; they were adorned with hunting trophies and landscape paintings. "He a hunter or something?"
>"Yeah, that's what he did in his spare time. Those must have been challenges for him if he kept trophies of 'em. As for on the other side, he could have ended up with the other half of the house somewhere." Flynn looked around, searching in cupboards and drawers. "Looks like he kept his hunting equipment in the other half of the house too."
>"Rats..." Mal muttered. "There goes the 'free ammo'!" Again, a tremor came across the hangar; almost unnoticeable, but stronger than the last. Mal glanced back out into the hangar. It was empty, bar the dreadnaught standing guard outside the remains of the cabin.
>Flynn looked over at Malc. "What's up?"
>"Keep looking for any clues as to what happened here.." He turned and walked out of the cabin. "I'll just be out here." Tentatively, Mal began searching the hangar for anything that could be causing such a tremor. Explosions? Airstrikes? What the hell could make somewhere like this shake? It'd have to be pretty damn strong... The hangar was eerily silent. It was suprising that no other creatures were inhabiting the area. Something must have spooked them. Probably the dreadnaught Mal smiled to himself.
>Flynn shrugged and kept looking, examining the cuts in the walls again. I'm sure this would have been caused by an anomaly, but the fact I know the guy who's house it is? It can't be coincidence... Flynn took a sample to examine, and went outside. "Malc, I just took a sample to examine in the lab back at base. All I need is a case of the uranium, and then we can go."
>Mal took out his geiger counter again. "Piece of piss!" He beamed. He turned, examining each row of crates with the detector component. "This way." He walked down one of the rows of shipping crates before seeing a blue crate with hazard markings. "There you are! Help yourself, but be careful! Those boxes get damaged real easy..." Mal returned to the centre of the warehouse, putting his geiger counter away. He glanced around. Suddenly there was a deafening crash of metal as the far access door warped inward, a roar sounding from the other side which shook the very ground he stood upon. A second crash sounded as the door caved further in. "We really need to get moving!!" Mal yelled, taking his AK off safety.
>Flynn looked round, and he put the uranium he needed in the storage compartment of the Dreadnought's hull. He turned back to Malc and yelled "Got it, we can get moving now!"
>As Flynn ran back to Mal, the air was filled with a loud creaking noise. The door edged slowly inward as the concrete wall around the door crumbled, dust tricking down from the fissures. Flynn reached Mal just as the door flew inward, followed by a huge cloud of dust. All that could be seen through it was a single red glow, which lowered and narrowed as another roar shook the hangar. Mal took his radio quickly "BREECH! We've got a breech in the West Warehouses!"
> Flynn looked over at the destroyed door, and the thing lurking beyond. "****!" He signalled the Dreadnought to go into defensive mode and cover him and malc while they escape
> Mal sprinted to the opposite access door, punching in the code. After some frantic tapping, and a series of 'Access Error' messages, he hit the panel "**** YOU!" He turned to Flynn "Screw it, we're taking the rails!" The creature advanced into the room, a monstrous visage with a iridescent blue carapice and huge blunt arms. It's gaze was piercing, each step shook the ground as it lumbered toward them. "****! And we have to get past that thing to get to the rail entrance!" He indicated behind the creature to a set of rails at the far end leading off to the North. Two cargo trains still remained at the loading platforms. Suddenly, tracer fire flew from the door the creature had emerged from. The bullets did nothing but glance the creature's carapice. Two HECU marines charged into the room pelting the creature with small arms fire. The creature pointed its arms toward the advancing marines, flames jetting from the ends. The soldiers were soon engulfed in flames, their screams echoing through the cavernous hangar.
> Flynn stared a second "****. Dreadnought! Tau Cannon it's ***! Gluon Gun! Anything that can penetrate the bastard!" The Dreadnought locked on target, and fired with the Tau Cannon.
> Mal took cover behind a stack of shipping crates as the dreadnaught opened fire on the creature. It let out a growl of pain turning back in their direction.
"Get it! Immobilise the bastard!" a voice yelled from the access door as more soldiers flooded in. Several of them flung grappling hooks, some glancing, some stuck firm in the creature. With a deafening roar it grabbed one of the grappling cables and threw the soldier high into the air. The creature grabbed another of the cables and flung the soldier hard against the side of the shipping crate in front of Mal, leaving a shallow human-shaped dent in the side as the bloodied corpse hit the floor. Another of the Dreadnaught's shots hit the creature. With a ground-shaking growl it flung another soldier straight into its hull.
>The Dreadnought ignored the blow, and kept pumping Gluon fire into the creature. The creature howled in pain as the coruscating energy wreathed it's carapace.
Flynn turned to Malc "At this rate, I'm gonna have to reload the Dread while he's firing! Why won't the big blue bastard go down!?"
>As the creature incinerated the last of the HECU squad, it picked up a shipping crate from one of the stacks. "Incoming! Flynn! Get to cover!!" Mal yelled as the creature threw the crate straight at the dreadnaught.
>Flynn dived into cover with Malc, and the Dreadnought held it's arms up. Using the tau cannon, it cushioned the blow slightly by firing at the crate, then kept up the fire against the creature, starting to move around it. The Dreadnought let out a digitized howl, and rumbled forward, snapping at the creature with it's hyraulic pincers.
>The creature grabbed the Dreadnaught by the arms as the two grappled, the creature growled as if trying to intimidate the Dreadnaught. "Now's our chance!" Mal called, "Come on!" He sped past the two grappling titans, diving onto the nearest cargo train.
"Connor, this is Willis. We're moving to take the West Warehouses for the ECRU."
"**** that!" Mal shouted over the radio. "Unless you're carrying some major ordinance, stay the hell out of here!"
"We've got Charlie Two with us. Their op went sour and we're going to give them a hand once we've secured the warehouses."
"In that case, get your asses in here and help us kill this freak!" Mal turned to Flynn, who was half-way to the train, waiting for the Dreadnaught. "Come on!"
> Flynn turned to malc "I can't just leave the dread here! Besides, it's got the uranium in it!"
>"Once it's through with the Dreadnaught, it'll only come after us!" Mal had barely finished his sentence when an RPG hit the creature square in the head. The creature screamed, as a series of explosions engulfed it. With one final blast, pieces of the creature scattered around the hangar.
"Dammit, Sawyer!" Mal turned to see Sgt. Zaytsev glaring at one of his squad members holding an empty RPG-7. "An inch lower and that Dreadnaught would have been history!"
>Flynn looked round as the Dread came rumbling out, battered but still running. "Thank **** for that. Let's get that uranium back to the base before another of those things show up."
>"****. You guy's alright?" Lee asked, as he ran to them. "What the hell was that?"
"No idea..." Mal sighed. The rest of the squads fanned out to secure the area. Apha Two and Charlie Two proceeded to the neighbouring warehouse to secure it. "How's the assault progressing? I haven't heard anything over the radio."
"Of course you haven't" Lee laughed, "You didn't tell the Old Man where you were going, so he thought you'd been captured. Switched us all to another secure channel to stop the HECU from listening in from your radio. Here." He took Mal's reciever unit and retuned it. "That should be right. Anyway, apart from Charlie squad nearly getting their asses handed to them by a slave army, we're doing quite well. Nearly half the sector is under our command with minimal losses. Still have to capture the Cargo Depot to secure access to the surface, and of course advance further yet to take the Transit Hub, but we're making headway. And I've just noticed there's half a house here..."
> Flynn laughed "Yeah, we've been trying to figure that one out! I've got a sample to scan anyway, so I should have some answers soon. That, and I've got some presents for you guys."
> Lee smiled "Well, as Mal can probably attest, I'm a sucker for freebies.What did you get?"
>"It's what I needed the uranium for. The new battledroids are ready. I'll show them to you lot when we get back."
>"No time, amigo." Lee waved his finger, "We've got a hell of a lot of work to do-" before he could finish, the radio cut him off.
"One, get your *** over here! The reinforcements are here to take over the area! We've got to get moving now!"
"Alright, alright. Keep your knickers on, Lambert. We're on our way. Alpha One out." Lee smiled, "Sorry, guys. Places to go, people to kill, blah blah blah, all that ****. I'd ask you to come along, but Mitchell's worried shitless that his second-in-command has vanished. You'd better get back there and stop him from having a heart attack or something." With that, Lee led his group out of the warehouses.
> Flynn nodded. "No problem, I'll just send the swarm out to reinforce you guys."
> Mal indicated the battered Dreadnaught. "He good to go? Don't want him breaking down half-way back!"
> Flynn turned to the Dreadnought "System diagnostic." The Dreadnought hummed for a second, then responded +Armour weakened. Weapon systems stable. Motion systems stable. Perception sensors online.+ Flynn turned back to Malc. "Just armour damage, he was lucky this time. He'll make it back."
> "Hope I'd look that good after being hit with a 40 foot shipping crate.." Mal started back towards ECRU HQ "No time like the present!"
> Flynn nodded "Right, let's go." He signalled for the Dreadnought to follow him, keeping rear guard.

OOC: Seems we must be waiting on another of my posts; Well, here it is! First one on my own for a long time!

2Lt. Malcom Connor

Mal and Flynn began their trek back to the HQ, which for the most part was quiet. They were on the home straight when the gunfire broke out in the distance.
"What the hell..." Mal muttered before his radio burst to life with a message he hoped he would never hear.
"All units at the HQ! Initial defences are under assa-" Static followed, the distant gunfire becoming more intense. The radio channel opened once more, this time it was Lee's voice.
"HQ come in. HQ! What the hell is going on over there." a brief pause. "**** this. I'm heading back."
"This is Delta One. We're heading back now. Two, maintain designated attack route!"
Mal finally managed a reply. "Hey, Lukas. Don't do anything stupid. Keep attacking!"
"**** that! They need us!"
"Negative. You stop attacking now and you're handing over the surface access. Maintain your attack! That is an order, soldier! I won't tell you again!" A long pause followed. "Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir..."
"Good. Reinforcement squads, get your asses back to HQ!"
After merely a second, the replies came in. "This is Juliet squad. The labs are quiet. We're heading back to reinforce." "This is Kilo squad leaving the East Labs and returning to HQ!"

Mal began sprinting down the corridor, leaving Flynn and the ponderous Dreadnaught behind quickly. He weaved throught the corridors sprinting at full speed, AK in hand, hoping that it wasn't too late. As he neared the HQ sector he saw four ECRU retreating, one being held up by two of his squadmates as they fled. The fourth backpedalling looking back down the hallway, making sure they weren't followed.
"Hey!" Mal called. "What's going on!?"
"HECU." One of the soldiers ghasped, struggling to keep his injured squadmate standing who was groaning in pain, covered in bullet wounds. "They came out of nowhere... all the fucking exits covered, and they still get in!!" He shook his head. "This place is a fucking deathtrap. I left the Corps and Afghanistan to get away from this kind of fighting... I swear I saw that government guy too... you remember him?" He paused, still ghasping, "Yeah... he's here, I swear he's trying to get us all killed. Fucking bastard couldn't finish me 3 years ago, now he's come to finish the job. Watch yourself." He just stared at Mal, as they slowly moved off again. Mal continued down the corridor. He rounded a corner to see another ECRU soldier retreating down the corridor towards him, yelling and shooting as he fled from two HECU soldiers. Mal took cover back around the corner again
"Take this you murdering basta-" The soldier was cut off as the hail of bullets finally found their mark. He collapsed on the ground grunting with pain as the two marines advanced on him. Mal took a quick glance to gague range and positions before he blindfired his AK round the corner. When he looked again, one of the marines had slumped to the ground, the other taking cover in an elevator doorway. With a quick volley he brought down the second marine. He quickly ran out, quickly reloading, to the injured HECU soldier still wheezing with pain and muttering.
"They're everywhere... where... where. did. they. COME. FROM." He growled, before grunting with pain again.
"Hey, you're going to make it. We're going to get them." Mal whispered as he checked the wounds. The soldier merely stared at Mal, his breathing pained.
"You don't get it, do you?" he struggled through the pain, "They won't stop until we're all DEAD. All of us." His breathing became more strained. Mal decided the risk was was worth taking...
"MEDIC!" He shouted down the hall, praying that the right side responded to the call. Unfortunately his call was responded to by an HECU medic and a squad mate.
"You're out of luck, you bastard!" The marine shouted, pointing his MP5K at Mal. Before he could bring his AK to bear, he felt a searing pain in his right forearm. The AK clattered to the ground beside him as the air was filled with the thunderous sound of burst fire. Quickly he drew his Beretta and put a burst of three rounds through the marine's neck and head. He tried to retreat before the second marine could open fire, but it was too late. Another burst of fire came his way. Many round pelted the HECU soldier's corpse in front of him before the pain hit him again as he was hit in the shoulder and another bullet hit his abdomen. The marine's MP5K ran dry as Mal struggled to bring his Beretta to bear, his vision clouding. It took the remainder of the clip to successfully bring down the marine. He paused, letting his arm drop to the ground by his side, trying desperately to catch his breath. Slowly, he reloaded his Beretta and struggled to get to his feet. If I stay here I'm screwed... if I move in either direction I'm screwed...... I've still got a working trigger finger... Albeit my left... He winced with pain, holding himself steady against the wall, clutching at his side with his free hand.

The gunfire sounded so close but he was so far from the HQ. Either I fight and die, or I just plain die. Tentatively he began his struggle down the hallway, supporting himself on the wall. Again the pain hit him hard. He paused. As his vision cleared again he glanced down to the ECRU soldier who took most of the hits for him. Poor bastard... He shuddered as he briefly released his hand from his side to see the two entry wounds on the inside of his forearm. The corridor seemed endless as he tried to fight the pain. He searched the Medic's body near the end, bandaging himself up as well as he could on his own. He took out his Beretta again as he heard gunshots from the junction merely a metre ahead. Another HECU operative backed away from an unseen enemy before being gunned down. Another marine appeared, but failed to see Mal as he put a burst of rounds through the side of his gas mask. Checking the junction, Mal saw nobody else and continued towards the HQ. The pain hit him yet again, bringing him to his knees. He did his best to fight off the coughing fit. Finally he managed to stop. He removed his hand to see a light covering of blood. He wiped his hand on his uniform before picking up his Beretta and once more attempting to stand. The pain was getting too much to bear. His vision blurred as he leant against the wall trying desperately to steady his breathing. It was a losing battle. He made it halfway down the corridor when the gunfire in the distance stopped. I dread to think which side won this one....

Suddenly he stumbled to his knees again. His vision was fading. He tried to get up again, but his muscles refused to respond. All he could hear was the sound of his own fervoured breathing. Go to... The fight, it's... must.... It's.... He collapsed onto his side. The darkness was creeping in as he saw a man in a blue suit approach him. It was the government agent. He merely looked at Mal with a neutral expression. Mal groaned reaching out to him, his voice failing him. The agent seemingly ignored his plight, straightening his tie and walking off the way Mal had come.

The darkness took Mal as he finally passed out.

[EDIT: added preamble leading up to next RP Chat]

Even through his unconscious mind Mal could feel himself slipping away. Suddenly something happened that he didn't expect. His eyes shot open, sounds of gunfire and shouting filled his ears as he desperately took breath. He saw a woman in an ECRU uniform knelt over him, hands on his chest in CPR position. On her left arm was a medic armband and two upward pointing chevrons with the name "Muller" written beneath. She glanced at his face, seeing his eyes open she smiled letting out a sigh of relief.
"Thought I'd lost you, sir!" she shook her head smiling. "You did pretty damn well to patch yourself up on your own... I'd hate to think what condition I would have found you in if you hadn't..." Suddenly she looked down the corridor, as if hearing someone. Mal heard heavy footsteps approach. "Hayden, what the hell? Where's everyone else?" Mal turned his head to see another ECRU soldier holding a PKM, glancing between Muller and the way he had come.
"Sarge ran ahead into the HQ, just as we were flanked by an HECU squad..." He paused to catch his breath, "Bloody fool..."
"You're the only one left?" Muller replied in disbelief
"Don't know about Moss," The soldier replied, "Or anyone else stupid enough to be in the HQ right now... I hear it's a hell-hole. Units fleeing left right and centre."
"As long as you're here, how about giving me a hand?" Muller indicated Mal. He could do nothing but listen. His breathing was still erratic, and he couldn't speak a word. All he could do was reach out to Muller as she pulled him up. Hayden put his PKM over his back and took Mal's other arm. Mal tried to walk, but his movements were feeble despite his best efforts. They began their retreat from the HQ slowly. "I saw a Security outpost two junctions back. We'll fortify there and see if we can raise someone."
"No arguments here, ma'am." Hayden replied, trying to keep Mal on his feet as best he could. He shot Muller a weak smile before glancing back "I hope none of those bastards followed me..."
"Not far now." Muller grunted under the strain. They moved through a doorway and into a small room with an armament store at the back. "Cover me while I see to him." The two layed Mal on a desk. Hayden moved back to the door, PKM in hand, nervously glancing out of the door. A wave of pain shook Mal's body. He turned back to see Muller pulling the bullets from his forearm. "Steady now, sir. Gotta get these out..."
"Ooooh man..." Hayden muttered. "Marine mother lode at 1 o' clock!" Muller looked up at Hayden as she finished replacing the dressings.
"You've got to be kidding me!" She whispered, readying her SCAR-L. Hayden primed a Flashbang and flung it down the corridor, returning to cover inside the outpost. When he heard the various cursings of those who had only been partially stunned, he spun out, sending a volley of PKM rounds into the squad of marines.
"****! Get back!" Hayden yelled pushing back into the outpost as a hail of MP5k fire thundered down the corridor. He wasn't nearly fast enough; a round pierced his neck and he stumbled back into the room choking on his own blood. After a few seconds he fell to the ground, blood pouring from his neck and mouth. A look of exasperation and sadness crossed her face. A face that was easy to read; someone who had seen enough killing and enough death. She shook her head, tears in her eyes for her fallen comrades. She slammed and locked the metal door. All her squad was dead, and every friend she had made in any other. Mal got down from the desk and tried to stand. He was still unsteady and couldn't stand for long. He resigned himself to crawling over to Muller as she knelt over Hayden's body. She threw her gun and helmet aside. She ignored the taunts and warning of the marines who were readying to storm the room as she stared into Hayden's vacant eyes. With a quivering hand she gently closed his eyes, tears welling up in hers. It wasn't long before the marines started attempting entry. It didn't seem to matter to Muller. She held Hayden's limp hand to her head as she wept. It was then Mal realised that this was not a case of the loss of many, but the loss of one. Fraternising had been strongly discouraged in the past, but there were those who kept their loves a secret. Mal remembered overhearing someone say something surprisingly insightful for a grunt; "Maybe love is the only thing that keeps us sane down here. Maybe it's the only thing we have left to remind us we're human." Again the soldiers smashed against the door, trying to break it down. Mal reached for Hayden's P228, but stopped as he saw Muller look at him shaking her head.
"Nobody else should have to die today..." She whispered. With a final smash, the door flew open. Before he even knew what was happening, Mal was on the ground again, pain coursing through his abdomen. He felt a weight on his chest. As his vision cleared he looked up to see a marine staring back at him through a balaclava and darkened goggles. The marine had his foot firmly planted on Mal's chest, his shotgun pointed straight at Mal's head. He looked across the room. Muller was still at Hayden's side, holding his hand tightly as the rest of the marines entered, their MP5Ks trained on her. One of the masked marines came across to Mal. In the doorway, he saw a figure... the agent... how could they not see him? Was he with them?
"Well well... who do we have here?" The marine took his radio in hand. "Sparks. Guess who I've found...."

Arabella Peyeman

The sounds of battle filtered their way down to Arabella on the firing ranges. "What the hell..." Arabella whispered under her breath before running towards the stairs leading up towards the main lobby. As she got towards the lobby the gunfire stopped but she still slowed down so as not to run into any thing or anyone. She paused at the top of the stairs and looked out into the lobby; there was no one left in the lobby still standing. Amongst the ECRU uniforms on the ground there were a few HECU uniforms too. "What the hell happened here?"

Arabella quickly checked the members of ECRU to see if any of them were still alive but sadly none of them had a pulse. Amongst the corpses Arabella found a couple of men from Alpha 1 squad and memorised their names to remember their sacrifice later. As an after thought she also checked whether any of the HECU had survived. She found one struggling to breath so she ripped off the gas mask and stared the soldier in the face before pulling out her combat knife and laying it against his throat before whispering, "I'm not one of these friendly ECRU I'm a fucking assassin and you guys are really pissing me off now. I could make your death quick and painless or I could make it a lot worse. Now you will tell me what happened here." The HECU soldier kept his mouth shut and started to reach for his sidearm. Arabella sighed and in one swift movement sliced his throat open and watched the life leave his body along with his blood. Arabella wiped her blade before standing up and heading off in the direction of the Comms room to see if she could find anyone still alive.

As Arabella approached the doorway of the Comms room she heard Masterson shout "Stop or I'll fire!" With a smile Arabella halted and called out "Masterson, it's Arabella, I'm glad that someone is still alive. Can I come in?" Masterson paused for a moment to ascertain that it was Arabella before answering, "Yeah, sure come in I'm glad that someone else is alive." Arabella looked around the still intact Comms room before asking Masterson, "Have you been able to get a hold of anyone through the radios?"

Masterson replied, "I haven't heard anything but with you here I could try getting a hold of anyone. If you keep an eye on the door I'll 'ring' a few numbers." After a few minutes Masterson came over to Arabella smiling. "I've made contact with Lt. Mitchell and a few members of Alpha squad. They are holed up in the armoury but they have injured that can't be moved till they have been stabilised by LCpl. Wilson. They could do with some more medical supplies." Arabella looked thoughtful for a moment then said, "I think you'll be safe here for now just don't let anyone in here that you aren't sure about. I'll take some supplies to them. Stay safe." Arabella left Masterson radioing back that she was on her way with supplies.

Arabella made her way carefully to the medical supplies but found no one on her way there. Inside was also empty of people so she grabbed a bag and filled it carefully with a bit of everything that she could easily carry. She made it to the armoury with little incidence and found Lt. Mitchell with a slight graze, LCpl Wilson, Sgt. Willis who was bleeding heavily from his abdomen, Cpl. Matthews and SSgt Jacobs who also didn't look to healthy. "I hope that these will be able to help, it was all I could grab easily." Wilson looked at the contents of the bag before nodding, "Yeah these will do fine to stabilise these guys."

Lt. Mitchell gestured to Arabella to come away a bit from the rest of the group before he asked, "What's it like out there? We were being pressured from too many sides so we dropped back to the armoury." "It's not good out there sir. There aren't any more HECU attacking out there but there are too many bodies of good men just in the HQ alone. I dread to think of other squads that were nearby and how they fared. So far I have only found you guys and Masterson. I did find some more of alpha one in the lobby unfortunately dead. They were Cpl Tallow and Pvt Cartwright." Arabella paused before she continued, "Sir with your permission I would like to scout around to find survivors plus can I make use of the Communications to contact some friends who may be able to help us."

Mitchell looked worried then after some thought he answered Arabella," I have an idea of who you want to find, Mal had gone to the storage hangers to investigate a weird finding. If you could radio back confirmation of any of our fallen friends I would be grateful. Be safe Arabella I don't want to lose any more friends today. Oh and feel free to call up any reinforcements you think will help us." "Thank you sir, I'll stay safe don't worry." Arabella headed out towards the direction of the storage hangers. On her way through the lobby she found beside someone that she didn't know, but was from ECRU, a Walther PPK/S. "I hope you don't mind if I borrow this. Hopefully it will help me more than you..." Arabella paused briefly as a mark of respect before walking out of the HQ.

In the near vicinity of HQ Arabella came across Delta Two, which with a couple of squads worth of HECU soldiers, she assumed they had been pretty successful in holding back the forces to this entrance. After going through Delta Two she found a few still alive so she checked them over for serious wounds and applied what little medical knowledge she knew to patch them up plus some aid from the wounded Cpl Donnovan. Arabella radioed back to Mitchell "I've found Delta Two squad Cpl Donnovan, Sgt Vasilev and Cpl Rogers are alive but wounded so they could do with a hand getting back to HQ. Unfortunately the other three, LCpl. Verona, Pvt. Carson, and Pvt. Harrison are KIA. I shall keep moving towards the storage hangers." Over the radio Arabella heard back "Thanks, I'll send some people out when I can."

Before Arabella left for the storage hangers she made sure that the remainder of Delta Two could be safely left and that they were comfortable. She also checked over the corpses of HECU and once she was satisfied that they were all dead she carried on in her search for Mal. The rest of the corridors to the storage hangers were only had a few corpses that looked to be older than those from the more recent battle. She got to the last known location of Mal and turned the corner into the hanger but inside it were no living people only half of a wooden house, "What the ****...?" and even more bizarrely there was the corpse of a huge iridescent blue alien and incinerated corpses of HECU. "Mitchell, I'm at the storage hanger there is no sign of Mal but there is a huge bright blue alien corpse and some more dead HECU soldiers. I'm going to circle round and head back to HQ." Mitchell replied, "Is there any sign of Flynn and his dreadnought?" "Negative Mitchell, there is no one living around here. There are also a few shipping crates that have been moved around which is worrying." "Stay safe out there Arabella, Mitchell out"

After several empty corridors Arabella comes across some blood seperate from the corpses of two HECU marines and Mal's AK on the ground. There was also some splodges of blood carrying on down the corridor, Arabella picked up the AK and followed the trail of blood carefully in case she was to come across any more HECU. The trail of blood led to a small security outpost which the door had been forcibly opened from the outside. After halting to see if she could hear any HECU units she moved silently to the open door, crouched and peered into the doorway. Inside she could see a pool of blood on the table and one ECRU soldier on the ground near the door. Arabella checked his pulse. Pvt. Locke, was dead and his eyes had been closed by an unknown hand. But there was no sign of what had happened to the injured person who had been placed on the table. "Mitchell, I've come to the end of a trail of blood and I've only found Pvt. Locke, there are no other bodies. I'm heading back to HQ for now."

Arabella made her way back to HQ safely and with no incident. Inside HQ she could see that the walking wounded were helping those who were much worse off. She headed straight for the Comms room. "Masterson can you give me a few moments alone please I need to call a few favours in." "Sure Arabella I'll go see if Mitchell needs a hand with anything I'll also tell him that you are back." Masterson said as he got up and walked towards the door. Arabella replied, "Thanks Masterson."

After a few calls to friends in England she had garnered reinforcements in the shape of two SAS units who according to the paperwork are having some training in America. They were going to give Arabella a sign when they were near to Black Mesa. As Arabella left the Comms room she muttered "Lets see how those HECU bastards can stand up to crack troops." and headed towards Mitchell to inform him of the good news.

[My own preamble to the RP chat D and I are planning.]

Lt. Sparks

Jack crouched with his back against the concrete that was his cover as bullets ricocheted over his head. As he slapped a new magazine into his MP5 he looked at the Marine next to him; Cpl. Leroy Brown.
As he watched the massive black man take a few shots over their cover he smiled widely; "Leroy Brown... What a name."
The corporal smiled back, "Sure is. As bad-*** as you can get, really."
"Nah; 'Corporal Leroy Brown, H.E.C.U., Marine Corp', is as bad-*** as you can get."
Brown chuckled and fired over the concrete, down the rubble scattered hallway at the group of E.C.R.U. soldiers almost forty meters along.
"This is going nowhere fast, Sir." Leroy commented as he replaced his empty magazine.
"I know," Jack paused in thought for a moment before continuing, "Let's make the first, and last, move; shall we?"
"What've you got in mind?"
"Thermal on and then flash out on 2, smoke out on 4 and advance as fast as we can. There's only five and they'll be blind; E.C.R.U. don't have anything more than NV from what I've seen of their armoury."
"Sounds good."
Jack nodded and clicked his thermal vision on as Brown did the same, "1... 2!" both men flung flash grenades down the hallway, "3, 4!" as they threw the smokes down the hallway the two marines vaulted their barricade and advanced at a jog.
The blind fire of the E.C.R.U. going astray as they carefully placed each burst of rounds into a soldier. Within a minute they were standing where the five E.C.R.U. had been; four of them now dead and the fifth bleeding from the abdomen as Brown held him on the floor with a boot on his chest.
"We don't have time for an interrogation, but this is too good an opportunity..." Jack thought aloud as he ensured that each of the four fallen were to stay fallen.
"Get this boy to call a medic and they'll bring a squad; and we take them out, sound good?"
"Risky... I like it, give me your HE's and frags."
Sparks took Brown's grenades and placed them around the downed soldier, hidden beneath the rubble and connected all of the pins to each other by a tightly strung length of gauze wire from his medical kit.
'If anyone needs stitches now...' Jack laughed to himself as he tied the wire back to the first grenade.
"Now, you sure you can make him talk without squealing?"
Brown just laughed and cut the soldier's pants from him with his knife before pressing the knife against the soldier's genitals.
"You're a real piece of work Leroy." Jack said almost in amazement.
"Cheers, Sir," the massive marine turned back to the soldier on the ground, "Now, you're going to call for a medic, say that you have two men down and you are incapacitated. So much as a hint at anything else and you lose and inch of your manhood... Or a nut. Whichever I choose. Got it?"
The soldier's pale face nodded as he took put his radio to his mouth;
"Come in, all nearby squads, this is Pvt. Harley, Bravo Two. Over."
There was only a five second wait before a voice replied, "Read you Bravo Two, this is Charlie, go ahead. Over."
"We have... 2 men down and 2 severely wounded. Only Cassidy is standing. Requesting immediate medical assistance. Over."
"We're coming for you, hold tight. Out."
Brown smiled to Sparks, "Want me to off this kid?"
Jack shook his head, "No. Gag him and put his mask back on. Then prop him up somewhere within the 'nade circle."
As Brown went about his orders Jack's radio crackled to life, "Sparks. Guess who I've found?"
"Ah, Daniels. Let me guess; Jesus?"
"Yeah, but I kicked his *** and sent him packing."
"Good to hear, but if it's not Jesus than who'd you find?"
"Let's just say it's an old friend of yours."
"Connor." Jack almost spat the name.
"The one and only, he's dying to see you, Jack."
"He won't have to wait long. Where are you?"
"Me and the rest of Golf are about half a click from E.C.R.U., we found the 2Lt. here in a storage room. I'll wait in the corridor; just head for the HQ and you can't miss it."
"Wilco. Out."
Jack looked to Brown who was standing over the propped up and masked body of Pvt. Harley; "I have business to attend to. I want you to stay here, don't reveal yourself until the traps go off. Just make sure none of them live."
"Yes, Sir."
"Good luck." and with a loose salute Jack took off at a sprint towards the HQ.