Dr Robert "Flynn" Kessal

Following the Vorts, Flynn was led through a series of corridors, until they came to a junction.
"This is where we must leave you, man of Terran science," said the lead Vort, "We must make haste, and try to free more of our kind from the devious overlords." Flynn nodded.
"Thanks for leading me out of there. I'll repay you guys somehow."
"Do not worry, man of Terran science, for we will see you again." With that, the Vortigaunts headed right, and walked off.

Flynn, now alone once more, consulted his PDA. Last time he'd been in the makeshift lab, he'd updated it with a map of the complex, just in case. Looking back, it seemed like he'd had a very good idea. Scanning the map, he figured he was in one of the connecting corridors that led to the security hub. If he worked his way there, he could hack into the systems and locate everyone. He set off, down the corridor to the left, weapons at the ready.

Halfway down the corridor, he heard a soft knocking coming from the ventilation shaft above his head, that crossed the ceiling. He stopped and listened, and he was sure he heard some talking, and a meow.
"Gingee?" Flynn said in a mock french accent, remembering his neighbor's cat. No, it must be Arabella and Tom. I'll catch up with them later he thought, as he set off once more to the hub.

As he consulted the map, he noticed that he would pass the mechanics bay on the way to the hub. Perfect, he thought, If they have the right parts, I can try to rebuild some sort of body for the Dreadnought. Not as powerful, but it will do. Nodding to himself, he headed for the mechanics bay.

[ooc: Gingee is pronounced like that Muffin man bloke says gingerbread man's name in Shrek 2. Djin-jeee.]

David Reid

David was walking down the tramline with his flashlight when he'd heard about the cascade. He quickly walked as he had seen strange little crabs jumping about, he sprinted all the way there as he heard a strange noise and banged on the nearest door. "Open up!" "Who is it?" "david Reid!" "What's the password" "Coca-cola Muffin cakes let me in!!!!!!" Jack shouted, the door slid open and he saw a familiar face, "Kevin...you idiot...." David said as he walked in. He walked down to the dorms to pick up his gas mask, then put it on with his gloves, then walked down to the armory and Picked up his G36C and his M9.
"Dave your needed in the corridor, head-humpers are trying to get in." He heard somebody shout. He sighed and walked to the corridor where could see the so called 'head-humpers' and cocked his weapon, the door opened and he shot one down. One tried to jump at him but he shot it backwards, then somebody with a head-humper on his head walked round the corner, he was extremely disfigured, stomach ripped open, blood everywhere and only 3 fingers. He immediatley opened fire, it dropped after one clip. He picked up the radio, "This is David reid, any survivors please radio back."

Dr Robert "Flynn" Kessal

As Flynn headed toward the Mechanics Bay, he heard voices ahead. Slowing, he crept up and listened.
"...got to get out of here, man!"
"Not yet. You know our orders. Clean the place of scientists."
"But we've already lost five men to those... those things!"
"That is of no importance, soldier. We do as we are ordered. I will not have any deserters in my squad!" Flynn heard an audible click. The one who seemed to be in charge spoke again.
"You got that?"
"Yes sir."
Just my bloody luck, thought Flynn, The one place I need to go, and it's filled with bloody HECU! How am I going to... An idea struck him. He pulled out his PDA, and unplugged the camera attachment, pointing it round the corner into the Mechanics bay. He could see three HECU soldiers, and the bioscan software confirmed it. Perfect, only three to deal with. I'll have to chance it. He pulled a bass pick from his pocket, and flicked it to the other side of the room, where it knocked over a can. The soldiers all turned, and the leader signalled one of them to check out the noise.

Flynn snuck round to the other side of the room, and hid behind some shelving units. He Left the camera in his original position, and checked the PDA once more. He could see the other soldier coming back, holding his bass pick.
"All I found is this, sir." The soldier handed it to the leader, who looked at it for a second, then threw it away.
"Why would I want a guitar pick, you idiot?" Flynn activated the speaker from the camera unit, and typed in a sentence.
+++It's a bass pick, asshole.+++ The soldiers immediately scanned the room, searching for the source of the voice. They split up, each checking a corner of the room. that's it... just like I wanted you to. Flynn pulled the pistol out of his pocket, as well as a silencer he'd managed to scavenge from a dead soldier. As he screwed the silencer in, he could see one of the soldiers pass his position. He waited for the soldier to enter an isolated section of the bay, and steadily took aim.

Flynn pulled the trigger, and the soldier fell. One down, two to go. He moved from his position as quietly as he could, and approached the dead soldier. He pulled a flash grenade from the soldier's belt, and threw it round the corner. He heard a bang, and a cry as one of the other soldiers was blinded. Flynn swung round and shot the blinded soldier, changing position again to find the final one.

He found the last one next to the milling equipment.
"Sir? Come in, sir. God damn it, I knew we should have gone, rules be damned!" As the soldier turned to leave, Flynn flicked the switch to activate the machines. The soldier spun round, trying to find the culprit.
"I know you're there! Show yourself!" Flynn looked at his pistol. He had no rounds left. For ****'s sake! He threw the gun to the other side of the room, where it hit some barrels with a clang. The soldier turned to the noise and immediately started firing. Flynn snuck round, and struck from behind him. Pulling out his katana, he sliced the soldier's achilles tendons, making him topple. He grabbed the soldier by the head, and forced his face onto the belt sander he had just fallen on. Flynn held him there, until the soldier had stopped struggling. Dropping the body to the floor, Flynn switched off all of the machines. He shook his head, and chuckled.
"Cannibal Corpse would be so proud." With that, he decided to see what parts he could find in the bay.

RP Conversation, Lt. Jack Sparks (MyNameDidntFit) & Malcom Connor (Deimenried), drafted by IM [01/04/2009]

> As the near silent footsteps approached Jack realised he couldn't make out their precise direction, the very idea of this sent a chill down his spine and the grip on his MP5 tightened as he glanced around his cover just in time to see a black figure flash from view followed by a flurry of footsteps and a kick into his ribs from the opposite side. With a grunt of pain he rolled away, barely noticing Malc moving in for a better shot.
> Mal lined up a shot, but before he could pull the trigger, the black figure was upon him and his MP5k kicked from his hands. Before he could even react he felt a sharp pain as the figure's foot connected with his jaw, sending him recoiling against a pile of supply crates, wincing as he finally hit the ground in the midst of the pile.
> As the black-clad figure delivered two solid kicks sending Malc crashing back into a pile of crates Jack noticed it's figure. Her figure. He blinked once and jumped to his feet as the woman turned her attentions back to him. Jack watched her long strides bring her quickly closer, timing what was to come down to the moment.
Even as he watched her leg leave the ground, the foot aimed for his weapon - that he held as though ready to fire - he tossed the MP5 at her face. The unexpected motion caught her off guard and she moved to dodge the gun, successfully, but the moment was all Jack needed to grasp her leg that was still mid-kick and bring his knee up into her shin yielding a cry of pain that was quickly cut off as the woman spun herself from his grip and took a step back before swinging her foot up at his head.
Jack moved deftly under the leg and brought his greater mass to bear as he charged into her, pushing her back until they crashed into an AC unit.
The impact jarred and the woman took the advantage, pushing Jack away and planting a firm kick to his abdomen as she drew a silenced pistol from her thigh only to have Sparks knock her arm aside with his left and deliver an elbow to her neck with his right. She gasped audibly but kept her composure, initiating a sequence of attacks of which Jack managed to parry only half of. Even as he recovered Jack hit the floor and rolled barely a moment before a boot swung by his head's previous location.
Sparks was forced to roll erratically to avoid the stamping boot of his would-be killer as she attempted to pin him. Her fourth attempt lost it's coordination as Jack ceased rolling and swung his elbow into her kneecap, dropping her down onto one knee. As best he could Sparks swung a leg up from the floor, his hard boot connecting with the woman's head sending her sprawling sideways.
Both reached their feet at the same time and started at one another. The woman feinted and spun around to Jack's back, pulling on arm tight around his neck and planting the other firmly against his spine and pushing him down to his knees.
"A good fight, marine." she almost spat the last word in her hushed voice.
Even as he grunted through clenched teeth Jack watched Malc begin a haphazard rush towards them, "Any-aargh... any time, darlin'."
He grimaced in agony as she tightened her hold further, bringing darkness to the edges of his vision and he thought it was done.
> Mal got back on his feet to see the figure grappling with Sparks. I didn't sign up for this ****.... he thought to himself as he pulled his combat knife from its sheath. As the black figure held Sparks' by the neck he made his run and with a clenched fist, took a swipe at her head, but the strike found nothing but air as she rolled backward and back onto her feet. He lunged at her with the knife taking furious swipes at her abdomen, but each time she dodged back or rolled to the side. To his own surprise he managed to evade the first counter-kicks made by the black figure. Mal was unsurpassed in marine melee training, but in his current state and against a specially trained opponent it was only a matter of time before he would surely be defeated.
If I can't win, I have to at least play for time. He thought. He made a feint, pretending to swipe once more in the same place, but instead took a step forward and swiped at her arm. The figure recoiled as a red streak appeared against the black of her suit of her left arm. Got you... he smirked, momentarily letting down his guard. In an instant the figure jumped in the air and planted her foot into his chest sending them both in opposite directions, although her landing being more controlled than his stumble back. She landed back in the sunlight, out of the building's shadow. She raised her silenced pistol quickly, forcing Mal to dive behind a large metal crate.
> Sparks propped himself up against the wall and watched the fight unfold anew between Malc and the woman. Twice he wanted to move closer, to help, but it was hard enough just breathing. The woman had damn near crushed his windpipe in her hold. His hearing was all but gone and his vision was a little blurred from the lack of oxygen he was getting but he saw what was coming all too clearly; the woman landed a hard jump-kick to Malc's chest and drew a second gun as she landed, taking aim at Malcom who was diving for cover far too slowly.
Then, in an almost surreal manner the back of her skull tore itself to pieces and she collapsed to the dirt. Jack looked towards Malc but he was still in cover... 'that gal... actually did something useful...'
The thought brought a semblance of a smile to his face as he rested against the wall.
> Mal positioned himself in a crouch from his awkward dive, hoping to be ready enough to catch the attacker off-guard. Suddenly he head a loud gunshot and the sound of limp flesh hitting the ground. He peered around the crate to see the motionless form of the attacker on the ground, Sparks propping himself against a wall a few meters away, a slight smile on his face.
Mal stood and made his way over to Sparks, looking around in case a second attack should follow. "This is going to take some getting used to..." Mal began. He saw an expectant look on Sparks' face "Being glad to see you alive." Mal half-smiled, giving Sparks a pat on the arm before moving to retrieve his weapons.

Teepee's Post

Arabella took her eye away from the scope and picked up the radio beside her. "Having fun guys?" Before letting them reply Arabella got down to business. "Right I'm guessing that the guy you two are after has disappeared again so where to now? While you guys discuss on where to go I shall join you down there as I cannot see any other person around."

Arabella clipped the radio onto her belt and while picking up her rifle she got to her feet and made her way towards the stairs down to the ground.

RP Conversation
Involving: Lt. Jack Sparks (MyNameDidntFit) & 2Lt. Malcom Connor (Deimenried)
Drafted: 9th Apr 2009 via IM

Malcom walked over to the far side of the landing area and retrieved the MP5k. Slowly he ambled back over to Sparks who was sat against a wall catching his breath when Arabella's voice sounded over his radio.
"Right I'm guessing that the guy you two are after has disappeared again?" She asked. "So... where to now? Actually, while you guys discuss that, shall I join you down there? There doesn't seem to be anyone else around."
"Yeah..." Mal replied distantly, still feeling out of phase from the speed and ferocity of the attack. He joined Sparks, giving him an expectant look.
"Well?" he asked, receiving a questionning glance in return. "Care to explain just what the hell all that was about?"

"Well, I-" Jack stopped for a series of hacking coughs before continuing, "I have no fuckin' idea... you're not going to like this, Malc, but..." he paused and looked about the rooftops before lowering his voice to a hushed tone, "Exactly how well do you know that chick?"

As soon as the words left his lips, Malcom had suspicions of what Sparks was alluding to. "Well..." He began, thinking hard back to when they met shortly after the cascade. He rememberd the unusual equipment, the bizarre circumstances under which she lived at Black Mesa, the superiors she spoke of while in the HQ... "No...." He shook his head. "You think..." He immediately lowered his voice realising it was far too loud, "You think she's one of them?"

Jack nodded slightly, "It's looking likely. Think about it, mate; she's bloody well trained and is packing serious heat despite not being military - US, at least - and not being part of the Black Mesa security personnel..." he sighed and rubbed at his temples, "I'll ask her about the lass that just handed us our asses on a platter when she gets down and take a minute to gauge her reactions..." with audible discomfort Sparks got to his feet and looked Malcom in the eyes, "And don't let your obvious chemistry cloud your judgement, if I reckon she's with 'em; I'm putting a bullet between those pretty little eyes and I need to know you aren't going to do anything dickish."

Mal desperately willed himself to retort or somehow defend his honour, but he couldn't deny the suspicions cast upon Arabella. He froze. That day everything had been moving far too quickly. People he had trusted had been killed and people he had hated became essential assets. Arabella was the final link to what he thought were better times. Times, maybe, where things were still going to hell, but at least he wasn't alone. At least he was with friends, but now.... things were different.
"Fine." He managed, turning away from Sparks as he walked slowly away from the building. "Do what you need to, just don't involve me." He stared across the desert beyond the chain-linked fence as he slowly walked on. "I'll.... secure the area...."

RP Conversation involving Lt. Jack Sparks (MyNameDidntFit) and Arabella Peyaman (TeePee)

> Arabella walked down the stairs to where she last saw Mal and Sparks. 'I wonder who that person was that I had to put a bullet between the eyes of. I'm the only one here from the organization I'm a part of.' Tom meowed at Arabella which awoken her from her reverie, which was lucky as she had made it to the bottom of the stairs and was just about to absent-mindedly open the door.
She took a moment to gather her thoughts then she stepped through the door into open ground she took a quick look around and made her way carefully to Mal and Sparks' location using shadows where she could.
> From the corner of his eye Jack noticed Arabella's figure slinking about in the shadows as she drew nearer, 'She even hides when revealing herself' his thoughts wandered off into suspicion until he snapped back as Arabella came from the shadows and started towards Malcom.
"Your boyfriend can wait. I have questions, and you'd best have answers."
> Arabella took a glance at where Mal was, too far away, before turning to Sparks, "Sure, we don't know a lot about one another. A few questions can't hurt." Tom sat at Arabella's feet and started to groom himself.
> 'You'd be surprised...' Jack smiled to himself, "First things first; you know anything about our ninja there?"
Taking a step closer Sparks focussed on her expression, watching for any sign of a lie.
> Arabella sensing that Sparks was scrutinising her actions she looked him in the eye before replying. "I've been thinking that on my way down, as far as I knew I was the only operative under cover at Black Mesa. And I was only here to act as a fail-safe if something like this happened."
> "Hrrm," he let his hand drop to his waist, loosely near his sidearm, but not close enough to arouse suspicion, "Well then, let's start easy; who's fail-safe?"
> Arabella decided that the only way out of this was to come clean with her intentions there. "I'm a part of the US government, I was put here in case something went wrong and I would then have to stop whatever came through spreading to the rest of the US. But it looks like my organisation is too secret as there are other organisations here, including yourself, also doing my job."
> "Yeah, you basically just said you're me but with a shitload more discretion. I'm not buying that," Jack rubbed at the side of his face, "I know basic the workings of our governments black ops bureaus and they don't send single agents into massive facilities to stop the flow of information; it's impossible... and it isn't like you've exactly been following those orders." Jack smirked, "See why I don't buy it?"
> Tom gave a quiet meow which caused Arabella to look down and see Sparks' hand hovering close to his sidearm. "I honestly think that my employers sent me here for a vacation as I'm normally sent on assassination missions but I got a bit... over excited on my last mission."
> "So vague. I'm curious, why do you have weapons geared towards assassination if you aren't here for that?"
> "It's like a comfort blanket. Plus I had a briefing to take out the head scientists if anything went wrong. But most of them died when things did go wrong so that made me a bit redundant really." Arabella looked almost saddened by this fact. "Why were you guys bought in? I've lost most of my communications since the disaster so I couldn't get any up to date info."
> "Our orders can be summed up to 'if it's alive; kill it'," Jack sighed heavily, "Right now, I have two choices regarding you; put you in some pain and make damn sure you're not lying or give you benefit of the doubt."
Her muscles tightened as he spoke but relaxed as he continued, "Right now we don't know what the **** is in there, nor do I have the time or motivation to hurt you. So it looks like we go with benefit of the doubt," he paused and looked into Arabella's eyes, "Don't think this means I trust you. Far from it, darl. Go see your boyfriend. I need to figure out where we're headed next."
> Arabella considered punching Sparks but decided against it. "I don't trust you either, so that makes two of us. If I was in your place I would have said the exact same thing." Arabella turned her back on Sparks and made her way over to Mal making use of cover in case there was another 'ninja' in the area.

RP Conversation involving Jack Sparks (MyNameDidntFit), Malcom Conner (Deimenried) and Arabella Peyaman (TeePee)

> Arabella made the short distance towards Mal with no disturbances from misterious ninja-like people and stood beside him and waited for Mal to talk first.
> Mal looked sideways at Arabella, and took a deep breath. "Well then...." He began, almost hesitating, "It seems the question has presented itself." He turned his head and looked her in the face. "Can I trust you, or will I find a knife in my back long before the end is in sight?.."
> Arabella looked out at the landscape for a while before turning to face Mal, "I trust you as your actions have proved you trustworthy. Only you can answer whether you trust me, hopefully my actions have proved myself to you." Tom looked up towards Mal and gave a small purr of contentment before settling at his feet.
> Mal sighed and held his head in his left hand, his right by his side, MP5k held tightly as he thought hard. "You have to understand it's difficult for me to trust anyone right now." He managed, "My trust in the government was misplaced, and I -- we -- have suffered greatly for it. I don't want to make that mistake again."
Malcom gazed out across the desert, "However... you have proven yourself to me, and my trust in you forged in the fire of combat." He held out his hand. "You have my trust." He turned away and walked back towards Sparks.
> Arabella nodded her head in appreciation, shook his hand and followed Mal over towards Sparks.
> Jack didn't even hear their footsteps; he was too deep in thought, leant back against the wall he held his head low with his hands at either temple and groaned in frustration. Every though he came up with was countered almost instantly by another, more logical thought. Another image drifted into his mind and he almost disregarded it; just a memory of the map he’d studied... but there was something there.
“Yes!” Jack exclaimed as he looked up and stepped away from the wall, almost walking into Mal as he came closer, a surprised look on his face. Jack shook his head and tried to explain, “The Lambda Complex. More specifically; Freeman.”
> "Freeman? What does he have to do with anything?" Asked Arabella extremely confused. "He's just a scientist isn't he?"
> "Yes." Mal nodded, almost grasping the train of thought. "He's been a busy boy down in Sector C, experimenting with god-knows-what... but how does that relate to the Lambda Complex?" Mal tried hard to remember when he and Lee had dealings with him long before the disaster. "His clearance isn't anywhere near that for him to be involved with them.... directly at least..."
“Nothing is what it seems,” Jack half smiled at this phrase before continuing, “Today - all day – there’s been one helluva lot of radio chatter on our channels; most unintelligible, some of it was audible and all of it irrelevant to me... or so I thought. I heard mention of Freeman several times. Apparently he was at Ground Zero and apparently he’s killed a bunch of people in a haphazard path through seemingly random parts of the facility. Freeman was at Ground Zero and you’ve seen the damage caused across the facility when the **** hit the fan. He’s alive and he shouldn’t be. There’s only one way I see that being possible; our suit saved his skinny scientist ***. Why should he be headed for the Lambda Complex? I dunno. Gut feeling,” Sparks could almost feel the disbelief at his idea from the other two, “Look. I don’t know what you know of the Lambda Complex but from what our intel told us HECU officers it’s basically where they throw all the experiments and **** that they want seriously secret... teleportation experiments, for example.”
> "I never managed to make it near to that place, but I have heard it mentioned when I listened to stuff that wasn't meant for Lab assistant ears." Arabella gave a small smile before continuing. "What is in there I don't know for sure but it sounded pretty weird when some of the scientists talked about experiments."
> Malcom simply shrugged. "I've only ever been there once. And that was only to the foyer. Only our higher echelons were allowed anywhere near the labs..." He stopped to think briefly "I've heard.... talk... for what it's worth. Teleportation was only the tip of the iceberg. Off-world excursions were a large part of it.... maybe it was linked to the teleportation, I don't know. Nor do I know where in hell this other world is, or why they were so interested in it." He stopped to gauge the reaction of the others before turning to Sparks, "I'd ask my superiors, but the various genocidists in there have seen to it that we can't do that.... which leaves one option; If Freeman is involved, and he was at Ground Zero, he's likely to be heading there right now; and where he is, the suit is sure to follow."

Arabella was distracted by her radio suddenly springing to life. "Arabella, Mal can anyone hear this?" Arabella grabbed the radio, "Yeah I am receiving you."
"This is Mitchell, we are ready for extraction and we have spotted a couple of Chinooks on the horizon. I assume that your friends will be arriving too."

Arabella looked towards Mal and Sparks who were still discussing the possible location of Freeman before answering Mitchell. "I found Mal but I don't think that he is quite ready to leave this place yet." Arabella glanced over with a wistful look to Mal before continuing. "He has some unfinished business to deal with." Arabella paused again to decide upon her course of action. "I'm going to come and join you guys as I should meet my good friends. I'll then try to catch up with Mal later on within the complex as he is considering going down to the secret experiment areas. I'll join you in a few minutes as I'm on the surface too."

Arabella clipped the radio back to her belt and wandered over to Mal and Sparks. "I hope you guys don't mind but I'm going to help the rest of ECRU get clear of this place as they helped me out so I should return the favour." Arabella again paused to further decide upon her course of action. "I should see you guys around though as I'm not leaving this place yet I want to find out some more about these experiments which I couldn't access while posing as a lab assistant." Arabella said with a sparkle in her eye.

Before she got a reaction from Mal or Sparks she started to sprint towards the helipads as she didn't want to see the dismay on Mal's face or the glares of suspicion from Sparks.

RP Conversation
Involving: Lt. Jack Sparks (MyNameDidntFit) & 2Lt. Malcom Connor (Deimenried)
Drafted: 24th Jun 2009 via IM

> Arabella had bolted with a suddenness that almost unnerved Sparks. "Well, that isn't suspicious at all." he paused and his serious expression gave way to a chuckle. "Ah, I do hate her leaving... I did enjoy watching her go, though."

> "When you've quite finished..." Mal indicated the route ahead, "I think it's time we got the hell out of here before another of those freaks shows up..." He began a lazy forward walk, holding up his MP5k in front of him side-on. With a dispondant look, he sighed "And I pray to God I can find something to replace this..."

> "Don't knock the hardware when it's the user at fault, boy." Sparks retorted as he followed alongside Malcom. Reaching the blast door, he pulled the leaver to the open position and watched as nothing happened. "That fucking sonuvabitch."

> "Wonderful" Mal rolled his eyes, "Looks like our friend knows what we're up to..." With a sweep of his eyes he looked around the landing zone. Arabella was long gone and the sun was high in the afternoon sky. "I'll be damned if we're taking the scenic route..."

> His eyes locking onto a metal door in the wall that interesected the one at which they stood, Jack spoke; "I doubt it will be all that scenic, actually." He started towards the door, Malc following beside him. As they drew nearer he looked to Malc. "Gotta be safe; you open it and I'll move in first - to the right - and then you move in to the left. Sound fair?"

> Mal nodded, switching is MP5k onto Full Auto. He approached the door, seeing Jack holding his MP5k tightly in readiness he openned the door, flinging it wide open. Jack moved in to the right, quickly followed by Mal as he took the left. "Left; Clear!"

> "All clear." Jack relaxed the grip on his weapon and studied the surroundings some more; a reasonably sized office with far too many filing cabinets in it and papers strewn all about.
Crouching to retrieve one of the sheets Sparks scanned over it. "Cargo logs," he looked briefly at a few other sheets, "and a bunch of other administrative ****. Looks like we've found a nice office area."

> Mal walked up next to Jack, peering over his shoulder and then at the papers scattered around the room. "Anything interesting?" he asked, crouching down to pick up a sheaf of cargo manifests.

> The word 'no' came to mind instantly as Jack cast the papers he held onto the floor. "Nothing I see, and I doubt anything in a transport logistics office would be worth the time we'd waste finding it." With that he started towards the door opposite the one they'd entered through.

> Nothing... not even shipments detailing the test samples... Mal thought. He looked up to see Jack walking towards the door. Then where did those samples come from?... He shrugged it off and moved to join Jack at the door. As before, he opened the door wide, and Jack moved through. He followed and once more assumed left guard. "Left; Clear."

> Jack sighed as they moved through what could only have been secretary or assistant's office. "This place is way too quiet, and, after that damned ninja-chick, silence isn't so reassuring." As he spoke he noted the next door had been removed from its hinges forcefully and the corridor beyond was clearly visible. As they moved into the corridor, clearing left and right once more, Sparks looked about longingly. "I would kill for a good Remington right now, an 870 would be brilliant."

> "I hear that..." Mal nodded, reminiscing about the armoury back at the ECRU HQ and the double-barelled RPG-7. "Man I could go for some firepower right now... especially with Black Ops snooping around here..." As they made their way down the corridor, there wasn't a sound. There was surprisingly little damage (aside from the occasional smashed ceiling tile and door hanging off its hinges). "This doesn't look good... Too many ambush points..."

> "You saw that chick, she could have ambushed as if we'd been sat in the middle of a field with unobstructed views for kays around." Looking around more seriously Jack began to feel unnerved. Out of a gut instinct his clipped his MP5 to his thigh and took his combat knife in a firm grip, receiving a slightly confused look from Malcom. He simply shrugged and turned his focus back to the corridor they were traversing.

> The hairs on the back of Mal's neck stood on end. He put his MP5k away and took out his pistol and knife. He began to scan the rooms as they passed them, pistol forward with his knife held tightly in his right hand. Suddenly he heard a light creaking noise. Without thought he span round, pointing his M9 back down the corridor.

> Malcom executed an about turn, and Sparks had heard the same noise, only he heard it differently, it seemed. He pulled Malc around to face him and pointed a finger at the ceiling before using sign to point Malcom down the left wall and himself down the right. With his Beretta in Malcom's hand, Jack had to make do with just his knife and that was something he didn't like at all given the situation.

> Mal advanced carefully down the left-hand wall. He heard the sound again, and before long they had reached a grate in the ceiling leading to the air ducts. Mal stopped, M9 pointed squarely at the grating. Either this is a very careless assassin, or something else is in there... Mal thought as he glanced across at Jack trying to gague his reaction.

> It was obvious what Malc was thinking; Jack was thinking it too - this was no Black Ops. He shook his head at Malcom, conveying the thought. It was only a moment after he shook his head that the grate fell to the floor with a headcrab atop it. The bastard moved quickly and jumped at Jack who dodged it with a quick series of steps along the corridor as Malcom placed a bullet into the headcrab. As Jack relaxed a slimey tendril slipped around his neck and began trying to pull him up.
"Fu-ark!" Sparks half-choked as he brought his knife around in an arc, slicing the barnacle tongue clear of him just in time to look back at Malcom, and see another black-clad female behind him preparing to place him in the same choke-hold Jack had endured. "DUCK!" Malcom reacted quickly and dodged away from the woman, but that was all Jack saw; the barnacle wasn't finished with him and took hold of his throat again, this time yanking with enough force to make him drop his knife.

> "**** off!" Malcom yelled subconsciously as he slid against the room's opposite wall. His dodge was clumsy at best. Quickly he got back on his feet in time to see a dark figure heading for the doorway. He raised his pistol and fired off a few rounds towards the figure. The figure dodged behind the doorframe. He could still hear Jack struggling. ****.. time to prioritize... The figure came back around to see Mal charging straight at her, but it was too late to react and she was shoulder barged into the wall. Just as she struck the wall Mal used his momentum to drive his knife through her heart.

He knew that the other black ops would be on him soon, so he raised his pistol again and manage two shots into the Barnacle's tendril. Before he could fire another shot he was struck in the back of the neck. As he hit the ground he saw Jack scrabbling to remove the last of the severed tendril from around his neck, choking as he drew breath once again.

> Frantically getting to his feet, his knife in hand once more, Jack saw Malcom go down with a strike to his neck, the operative pulling her pistol out to finish him off, not having seen Jack recover. A split second decision and Jack threw his knife at the woman, the blade digging deep into her forearm, releasing the gun from her grip. In a completely unexpected turn of events, the woman didn't bother to remove the knife and instead charged down the corridor. As she ran the woman leapt into the air, planting on foot on the wall and kicking off, her other leg cycling down towards Jack's face.
His face took the bulk of the hit and he staggered into the wall, quickly pulling away from the second kick. In another moment she was back on him with a flurry of punches. Despite the hits he was taking, Jack noticed a pattern in her striking and used it to plan his move. Allowing another few swings Jack thrust out his hand, palm first in anticipation of the next hit. He judged it right and his palm struck the grip of his knife, turning it so that it tore through the woman's muscle. She let out a startlingly loud cry and collapsed to the ground, rolling behind Sparks and kicking his legs from under him. Spinning on his back, Jack brought his legs to bear and planted them into the woman's chest, both hurting her and pushing himself backwards.
Almost a meter away now he pulled his MP5 free of its holster and let free a line of shots across the hallway, several of them hitting the operative in the chest and head.
With the woman slumped on the ground, Sparks propped himself against the wall and looked to Malcom; "I- argh!" he yelped in pain with the attempt to speak, but the cry only pained him further. Raising a hand to his jaw he could feel it out of place and, grimacing, he shoved it across to its correct position with a muffled scream, resting his head against the wall as his eyes dampened at the pain.

> Mal groaned as he hauled himself from his front to a sitting position. He shook his head, as if to avail some relief from the pain. "Fucking *****..." he muttered. He gradually got to his feet and slowly walked over to the corpse of the first operative. With a contorted face he twisted the knife before drawing it out of her heart. He casually wiped the blade on his uniform before resheathing the knife as he walked over to Jack. "You alright?" He asked, holding out his hand.

> Dread at the idea of moving his jaw in the slightest flooded his mind, so he simply pulled himself to his feet, one hand still held tightly over his mouth and around his jaw. A moment later that hand came away covered with blood and a pair of molars. "Not really." he spoke with intermittant expressions of pain.

> "****..." Mal exclaimed. "And I thought you gave me something to think about..." Seeing Jack's hands full with his jaw, he took out some medical supplies. "If it's any consolation, it ain't serious." Mal mused as he began using medical cloth the clear as much blood as possible.

> A simple grunt was all Jack gave. As he let Malcom tend to his jaw, he dropped his teeth and wiped the blood onto his pants. Malcom withdrew his hands and gave Jack a nod. He spat another mouthful of blood onto the floor and attempted speach again. "We, ungh, shou...ld move."

> "Yeah, but not with your jaw flailing around we aren't." Mal muttered as he wrapped bandages over Jack's head such that his jaw was held firmly in place. "There." Mal smirked as he took a step back. "Much better." After seeing Jack shoot him a irritated look. "Alright, let's get moving and find you some real first aid. Should be a guard station somewhere around here..."