NO BOUNDARIES CHAPTER 4

ROUTE KANAL

	"Help me!"
	
	Gordon unplugged his suit's transfer cable from the medical unit, replenishing his suit's supply of medicines and remedies, and followed the source of the voice.  He peeked around the corner and saw two Metrocops, one keeping a female citizen at bay with his stun baton, while the other pistol-whipped what must have been her husband repeatedly.  
	
	"Stop! Please! We didnt do anything!"
	But they didn't stop.  And soon the man was down, laying still on the corridor floor.  That was all the incentive Gordon needed to attack.  

	Charging with his crowbar raised, Gordon cracked the cop with the pistol soundly, sending him to the floor with a grunt.  He heard a short zap as the other activated his baton and moved towards Gordon.  Gordon jabbed over his shoulder with his crowbar, piercing the lens of his goggles, stabbing into his left eye socket.  He whirled, following this with a firm palm-thrust from his free hand, Gordon buried his crowbar further into the CP's skull.  For good measure, he spun his wrist, twisting the crowbar suddenly, and snapped the Metrocop's neck.  
	His headgear made a definitive squeal as he died, followed by sporadic radio chatter.  Gordon went to remove his crowbar before he remembered he'd only heard one flatline, then turned as the other metrocop started sitting up, raising his gun with a groan.  Gordon stomped his boot down as hard as he could on the Cop's wrist, causing it to fracture and the Cop to cry out.  It also caused his firearm to pop into the air.  Gordon snatched it and in one smooth motion aimed it down at the Metrocop.  And fired.  
	Another flatline.  
	Gordon turned to the citizen couple behind him.  He was still very still.  She still seemed very upset.
	"Will he be alright?" Gordon asked.
	"You should run, they'll be looking for you now." 
	"...will you be alright?"
	"...There's nothing else you can do here."
	Gordon hesitated, then fled.  

	Half an hour later, Gordon Freeman, soaking wet, dropped into a trashed railcar, and was greeted with a frightened gasp. "Good god!" cried the citizen.  Gordon straightened and caught his breath, looking about.  Inside the railcar were a couple of wooden chairs and bare mattresses, and a table upon which sat a tiny television set, which was unplugged and being powered by a Vortigaunt's gentle beam.  Gordon thought he saw a familiar face on the screen before it switched off, the Vort's concentration broken by Gordon's arrival.  
	"Guess those sirens are for you, huh?" the citizen inquired, referring to the Combine klaxons that hadn't ceased since Gordon's mishap in the lab. 
	"I seem to be gaining in popularity today," Gordon muttered, checking over his shoulder at the hatch through which he jumped down.
	"Well, it's a good thing you found us.  You're not the first to come through here--"
	The Vortigaunt interrupted, gesturing emphatically at Gordon, "This is the Free Man, the Combine's reckoning has come."
	The Citizen paused then continued, "look, we're just a lookout for the underground railroad.  Main station's right around the corner, they'll get you started on the right foot.  Meanwhile, let my Vortigaunt friend here give you a jolt to keep you going."
	The Vortigaunt bowed slightly and then moved its hands in a circle, gathering energy before directing its hands at Gordon, allowing electricity to flow from it to his suit, charging his electric armor.  
	"That is all we can spare," it said with a toss of its head. 
	"Thank you," said Gordon.
	The Citizen moved to the door of the railcar, "Be careful out there; we really can't afford to get noticed.  If Civil Protection catches you down here, it's bad news for the whole railroad," he slid open the door a touch, peered out, and then opened it all the way. Gordon wasted no time in hurrying along. As he left he heard the Vortigaunt call after him, "We serve the same... mystery."

	From the trainyard areas of City 17, Gordon fought and snuck his way into the sewers and worked his through the bowels of a water treatment plant. On his way, he encountered a rather gruesome tool of the Combine: The Manhack.  They approached with the sound of a tiny helicopter, or lawnmower, and functioned in much the same way as a combination of the two.  Automated toaster-sized machines that were little more than propellers and spinning blades, their sole purpose was to deliver devestating lacerations to their targets.  Gordon's suit allowed him some protection, but he was still scratched and bleeding from time to time.  He still had the CP's pistol, and collected ammo from fallen enemies, and his crowbar proved effective in close quarters.  

	He eventually emerged from the sewers into the canals, which were filled with toxic waste.  The geiger counter in his suit started clicking and ticking wildly in warning.  Gordon knew his suit protected him from all but direct contact with radioactive substances.  So he kept moving.  He heard gunfire ahead and saw a citizen firing a sub machine gun in the direction away from Gordon.  He realized the resistance had set up a camp in this awfully hazardous area.  He was relieved, until he saw at what the citizen was shooting.

	Headcrabs.  
	
	Gordon ground his teeth and did his part to assist in eliminating the parasites, firing his pistol.  When they were all dead, the citizen turned, "Hey! You're Freeman, aren't you? We got word that you were comin'.  You got here at a bad time!"
	The radio array behind him crackled to life and Gordon heard a familiar voice broadcasting.  "Black Mesa East to Station Six, do you read? Dr. Freeman is on his way downriver. Lend him the airboat and give him all the help you can. Repeat: Gordon Freeman has returned, it is critical he reaches Black Mesa East!" 
	The citizen nodded, "you better get going now."
	Gordon had already collected a machine gun and departed.  

	"If you don't stop belly-aching I'm going to crotch-kick you!" Danni growled.
	"But it's... hot!" cried the Doctor, screwing up his face.  
	"It's the desert!  Why wouldn't it be hot?!" exploded Danni. 
	"My point isnt that it's TOO hot... my point is that it's not hot enough. Look at this," and here he crouched and scooped up a handful of sand. 
	"Yeah, it's sand, why is that surprising?"
	"It's not the right kind of sand!  It's too fine, it's too smooth, it's too... fluffy!" he let the sand fall through his fingers. 
	Danni knew when the Doctor was getting serious and crouched beside him, folding her arms over her knees, "so, then... it's what... beach sand?" she peered around, "we've been walking for hours... where's the water?"
	The Doctor faced her, eyebrows arched, "...exactly."
	Danni stood back up, eyes narrowing as she looked around some more "somehow... whatever water was here has dried up..."
	The Doctor stayed crouched, bleeping his sonic screwdriver at the sand, "no, it's more than that... all the moisture was siphoned away..."
	Danni looked to the northeast, "maybe we'll find our answers in there," she pointed to the structure that was their original destination.
	The Doctor bounced back upright, "Right! Allons'y!"

	The building was in fact a rundown ferry dock, with several rusted-down and dusty cars.  The Combine were using it as a temporary guardhouse.  Only a pair of metrocops were stationed inside, one of which was asleep in a small control room, and the other outside standing watch on the road.  Danni and The Doctor entered through the docking area, climbing up the sand onto the dock.  Danni noticed right away the sleeping person, and out of a combination of caution and courtesy, she whispered to The Doctor, "this looks like some kind of docking area."
	The Doctor whispered back, "or a parking garage... maybe some kind of ferry dock?"
	Danni peered around, nodding slowly, "yeah, it looks like it--" she did a double take as she spied something in the corner, "oh my god..."
	"What?  What is it?  Why are we whispering?" 
	Danni was suddenly loping towards a car over in the corner, with a faded blue paint job, covered in dust, incredibly weathered. She gazed at it, hands at her mouth, looking enraptured and heart-broken at the same time, "its a Corvette Z06 Coupe! Sooooooo cute!" 
	The Doctor furrowed his brow as he approached, "its a car...?"
	Danni pouted at him, "not just any car! a very pretty, very nice, and very neglected car! Poor baby!" she leaned down to hug the hood.
	"Wait, don't, don't, Danni, don't!" shouted The Doctor, but too late.  
	Danni laid her upper body across the hood, and almost instantly, the car started up, the headlights flaring to life and the horn blaring.  Danni tensed, then suddenly found herself flung backwards onto her bottom as the car surged forward a few inches.  The two metrocops present were suddenly roused and started shouting orders at the pair of them.  Danni immediately righted herself, a hand sliding into her bag.  Both cops raised their weapons, ordering the two of them to let themselves be arrested.  
	The Doctor started raising his hands in surrender, but didn't get them halfway up before Danni kicked his feet out from under him, sending him sprawling on the ground. She then leapt, bounded off the hood of the car, and pulled out a collapsible bow from her pack.  It was only after she had done all this that the cops started firing. Their machine guns poured ammunition into the air, but they missed the lithe girl narrowly.  She pulled an arrow out of her bag and strung it, aiming at the metrocop in the control room in mid-air, loosing her arrow directly into his skull, through the glass window of the control room.  The arrow exploded moments after, showering glass and gore everywhere and utterly destroying the control room.  With a small twist, Danni landed on the side of the car facing away from the other cop.  But then Danni realized the car was gone.  
	The Metrocop finished reloading and leveled his gun right on Danni. 
	He was then promptly blindsided by the car, knocked into the wall and rendered unconscious.  
	
	Danni just blinked, crouched by the wall, as The Doctor climbed back to his feet, looking displeased, "you didn't have to do that..." 
	Danni kept her eyes on the sleek blue car that seemed to be driving itself, apprehensive and intrigued, "I know bloodlust when I smell it... they would have shot us given half a chance..."
	He was trying not to look at the bloody chaos that used to be a control room, "I still say we could have found another way..."
	"I'm more concerned about the car..."
	"Oh, come off it, its just a..." he trailed off as he saw that the vehicle was gliding up to them like a friendly puppy, stopping a few feet away, its headlights winking off as its engine revved in an attempt to communicate.  Danni realized that the weathered, faded look had somehow gone, the corvette seeming rejuvenated completely. 
	The Doctor's grin was ear to ear, "well, aren't you gorgeous!" he bounced up to the car, examining it from end to end.  Danni couldn't help smiling as well, looking closer.  Once they were both on opposite sides, the two doors of the car popped open invitingly.  
	They both looked at each other, grinned, and climbed inside. 
	
	And then they were being driven off by the blue Corvette Z06 Coupe. 

	Gordon was surprised at how well-put together the airboat was.  It's controls were simple, it was sturdy enough to withstand bullets, and it was highly maneuverable.  If it weren't for combine APC missiles and a hunter-chopper dropping mines in his path at every turn... Gordon might have even been enjoying himself.  Besides the radioactive waste and crumbling ruins of human society, it was rather scenic. He had had to circumvent the Combine's attempts to bar his way more than once, assaulting two canal gate-based guardhouses.  At long last, he had reached the dam, beyond which lied his destination, Black Mesa East.  He just had to find a way past the dam.  
	Continuing across the water's surface with the airboat buzzing along, he spied a facility in the distance beside the dam.  Navigating among the rocks and sand left exposed by the lake's recession, he made his way up to the facility. Climbing out of the airboat, he pulled out his python magnum and checked around the corner inside.  Things were a disaster.  He saw dead Combine soldiers laying about, ammunition and shelfing scattered arround, computer consoles smashed and damaged.  Spending a brief moment searching around, Gordon decided it was best to move along, continue searching for a way past the dam.  

	An explosion bloomed under his feet, knocking him back.  

	His suit's anti-auditory damage systems kicked in instantly, causing an annoying and somewhat dizzying but harmless squeal to fill Gordon's ears.  It was the exact opposite frequency of the explosion's noise, cancelling out what would have blown out his eardrums.  Gordon immediately swung himself back onto his feet and raised his gun.  He saw a large, gleaming orange globe rolling across the floor, and he blinked, his gun leveled on it.  It slid lazily along the floor, then suddenly veered toward him.  Gordon opened fire.  He missed.  The ball glowed brightly and suddenly surged all the quicker towards him, crashing into him and knocking him off his feet.  
	As he fell, the ball bounced off him and somehow unfurled into a roughly-humanoid shape, with sleek orange and gold armor and large shoulder orbs.  Gordon tumbled end over end back onto his feet, and the two spent a moment sizing each other up.  Gordon took note of the large cannon on his opponent's arm, and allowed a small smirk to cross his face.  
	"From what I've seen so far, you're a little out of the combine's league..."
	A cool, soft voice came from behind the visor, "you have no idea."  She raised the cannon and started firing.  Bolts of yellow light cascaded in rapid succession towards Gordon.  He gave a sharp kick to a fallen shelf, causing it to lift into the air before him, absorbing the majority of the strikes.  Gordon ran in a circle around the Hunter, firing his weapon, striking her in the helmet repeatedly.  Samus was unused to a foe with such impressive aim, and tucked and rolled across the floor, coming upright near the doorway, firing more.  
	Gordon leaned and ducked out of the way of the shots, reloading his revolver with speed.  He charged towards Samus, firing, causing her to fall backwards out the door, five of the six rounds pounding into her helmet.  Gordon had extensive experience with the python, and he was a crackshot with the weapon.  With a leap, he delivered a kick into Samus's chest that sent her sprawling.  She wasn't down for long, however, and almost immediately rolled back to her feet.  A series of square blades sprung from her arm cannon, and she swung at Gordon.  He flipped out his crowbar from its housing on the back of his suit and did what he could to parry the strikes.  The titanium, however, could not hold up to whatever metal the blades were composed of, and when he saw how deeply the crowbar was being damaged, he knew he had to adopt a different strategy immediately.  
	Slamming his boot into Samus's stomach, Gordon parted the two of them enough to be out of reach of those blades.  Unfortunately, Samus was not helpless at any range, and the blades sunk back into the cannon, and the barrel bloomed to life with another blast of energy.  It slammed into Gordon's chest and knocked him into the wall.  
	warning: unknown hazardous energy detected, his suit intoned.  
	Gordon growled and spun himself away from the wall as half a dozen more bolts blasted into the wall where he had been.  He knew he wouldnt be able to take more than a couple of those without being in serious danger.  He ducked around the corner and ran, reloading his revolver once more.  He was also getting low on ammo.  
	Gordon liked a challenge, though. 
	Samus gave chase around the facility, finding a live grenade at her feet as she crossed to the other side.  It made small blipping noises, in increasing frequency as it came closer to detonation.  Samus leapt past it at the last moment, the explosion reaching up to her as she flew high into the air, landing in a crouch on the other side.  Gordon was waiting, machine gun drawn, and poured ammunition in Samus's direction.  She found the spray of gunfire from this weapon easier to dodge, and her arm cannon's barrel split apart slightly into a focusing array, concentrating enough energy into a single shot to create an energy missile.  Gordon swore and dove away from the projectile, the explosion carrying him a few feet further as he tumbled across the concrete
	warning: minor facture detected
	Gordon climbed back to his feet as casually as he could manage, a slight hiss coming from his suit as the pain rapidly diminished
	morphine administered. 
	Gordon turned to see Samus concentrating still more energy into her arm cannon, an orb of light swelling at its end.  Popping his neck, Gordon shoved another clip of ammunition into his machine gun and then charged.  He engaged the speed enhancments in his boots, and when Samus loosed her charged shot, Gordon vaulted over it and crashed into Samus full-force, knocking her off her feet.  He aimed upon her, blasting his gun indiscrimately across her prone form at point-blank range.  Samus delivered a sharp sideways kick up at Gordon, sending him spiralling the air, to land on his front by the grass at the waterfront.  
	Gordon realized he had dropped his machine gun and reached for it.  A blast of energy sent it flying away into the water.  Another flurry of blasts smashed into Gordon himself, sending him flying back into the water.  He remained un-submerged, but as he tried to sit up Samus landed upon him, boots planted firmly atop his lower arms. 
	Gordon's HUD was flashing, his "health" bright red and a number that was not high.
	warning: user death imminent.
	Samus grabbed Gordon by the collar of his suit, lifted his face closer, and raised her arm cannon to him, beginning to charge up another huge blast.  Gordon couldn't keep back a smirk.  It was only now that he realized that Samus was female.  Ah, well, he thought. 

	A sudden storm of firepower erupted behind Samus, and Gordon heard her cry out as it sprayed her in the back, forcing her to release him and shy away, blocking herself with her arms.  Gordon recognized the ammo type, the hunter-chopper that pursued him earlier had used such rounds.  But the angle was wrong, it was coming in too low to be from an airborne vehicle.  And he of course heard no propellers.  

	Samus was hard-pressed to avoid the hailstorm of gunfire that was further damaging her already weakened armor and shields.  Cursing, she leapt up into the air and spun, finally getting a bead on her assailant beyond the pulse rounds flying at her.  A human, from the looks of it, wearing biking gear and carrying a large, heavy weapon, that seemed better suited for a vehicle not a man.  His shaded gazed stayed on her, as he seemed content to continue firing this deadly weapon straight at her, his aim unwavering, only imperfect because of the weapon's spread of fire.  
	Her power beam shots were easily side-stepped, as her new opponent moved towards Gordon.  This job was turning out more difficult than she wanted.  She finally landed from her leap, charging the biker and doing her best to dodge the gunfire filling the air. Reaching him, she roundhouse-kicked the gun out of his hands into the air and fired repeatedly upon it.  The gun fell away, completely demolished, but Samus was cracked into the faceplate by the butt of a sawed-off shotgun.  The Terminator began firing upon Samus again, who immediately got back to her feet. She was about to return fire with one shotgun blast caught her directly in the visor, cracking it and reminding her just how critically she was damaged.  The Terminator paused to reload, and Samus made a reluctant decision to retreat.  Collapsing back into a spherical form, she rolled away.  The Terminator stood guard a few feet from Gordon, but moments later Samus's ship could be seen flying away.  
	
	Gordon finally sat up, rubbing his head.  He looked up to see the large muscular bike offering the physicist his hand
	"Come with me if you want to live," he commanded.