#Draw part 1 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bathboysblog · 2 years

Note

Bathboy, i cannot FATHOM you leaving us with your monster au drabble and not writing anything on it. do you do requests? or just, general hc dumping stuff? didnt know since you dont have a lot of interaction here. but anyhow!!! can you write something for your zombie Alyx scenario? maybe Gordon discovering her transformation?

:eyes: i know who you are, anon. and oh my lord, i forgot all about the monster au, rediscovering my love for non-human characters. warning for body horror and a bit of fighting gore. also, lots of angst.

-Draw-

Gordon wasn't selfish, he wasn't, it was only a means to survival. Lives had to be lost, some people were more important than others. Simple medics shouldn't be holding a rocket launcher to try and help him fight a strider, and groups of citizens should just run to safety while he took care of soldiers, but everyone wanted to play hero, even at the expense of their own life. It seemed reckless to try and have people stand head-to-head with him. ‘If a mere doctor could take down dropships, then why can't i?’ Well, maybe because you don't have the weight of a tank replacing your clothes, or maybe it was because your intergalactic time traveling boss doesn't save your ass whenever you're stranded in an alien dimension with no way home. Gordon tried not to get attached anymore, the blood on his hands mixed with the red of his enemies and the crimson of his own allies. Everyone was responsible for their own survival at the end of the day. That was not selfish.

Ironic that Eli's blood was the only one that would be able to match his own, wasn't it? The man used to be so prickly at Black Mesa, stubborn and snappy, it made him infuriating to deal with as a higher authority. Despite Gordon's college degree, he was still in training under the Vance name to become a full-time scientist, only testing out the HEV suit in a series of flexibility tests. Instructions given out by Eli, mumbling behind his back and into overhead speakers, then something would break. The whole reason why he needed glasses was for a shard of glass that had nearly popped his eyeball. Being partnered with Eli's daughter was not, in fact, something Gordon looked forward to.

It was hard to see Alyx as an equal sometimes, and not in a higher position as her father had been. She seemed overqualified compared to the real scientist, being a skilled hacker and an innovative engineer, quick in combat and skilled in her vivid mapping planning. Despite how many times Gordon felt like dead weight on her heels, Alyx didn't seem to mind. From all the traits she had inherited from her old man, he was forever thankful the nitpicky nature wasn't one of them.

As time went on, the free man had become comfortable in his partner's presence. She's saved him from tight corners more times than he can count, crawling through vents and deactivating Combine shields. She was observant, shouting out a heads up when enemies were near and warning against faulty looking wood in old apartment floors. Of course, Gordon never listened, not catching onto the words as they were spoken and falling down to the sour waters of the basement. Alyx never seemed to hold grudges though, offering a hand to his sweaty glove and hauling him up to a higher platform to continue the mission. The other wished he had that type of patience, the effortless team qualities or the worrying heart. Those senses had dulled on Gordon after all he's been through, all he's taken. But he was trying, if only for Alyx.

Now, all of the progress seemed non-existent as he walked alone down a sewage platform, kicking a dead headcrab away from a half full battery to power his suit. He wasn't selfish, Alyx was only left alone for a few minutes, it's not like her partner completely abandoned her in the darkness. It seemed smart, traveling through the sewers to avoid the Combine, quickly getting to the next town over with some sort of hard drive, he didn't know, Gordon clearly wasn't a technology guy anymore. Though, of course, with City 17 being on such high alert, the flying little cameras were guarding the underground as well. One blinding click of a photo, and the next thing the duo was faced with was an army of white hooded soldiers barking alerts into their radios. If the sewers hadn't been so narrow, it would have been funny to watch zombies dance with the enemy. hop into some isolated office, guard the door, and watch the war win itself. Though such comfort was impossible in a place filled with the city's shit water, nobody spent their dayjob sitting down here in a cozy office.

So, in a moment of quick thinking, Gordon had led the guards away as Alyx continued forward to take out the horde. Split up, take out two sides of the enemies, and regroup, a familiar tango that he had trusted within his ally to replay. As the white suits bled red, falling into murky waters and bubbling to pink, stealing their high-tech guns and taking the treat of ammo all for himself, Gordon’s metallic footsteps were the only other pair he could hear in the sewers. Had his eardrums been popped from the fight? Were the constant bullets vibrating past his head making him go deaf? If it weren't for the dim clicking of his flashlight, losing power every so often, that would seem like the case.

Running across a familiar leather jacket, the fur of the collar ripped as claws tried to drag it to the concrete, there was no doubt in Freeman's mind that Alyx had raised hell in his absence, judging by the trio of headless zombies with the fabric under their nails. The woman had a strong kick, skilled in not only bullets, but in hand to hand as well, a technique not even Gordon had learned. He once watched a zombie get their jaw popped clean off with the sucker punch under their chin, the teeth exploding with its discolored saliva. That much she didnt get from Eli, the guy couldn't throw a real punch to save his own life. But then again, he has changed since Black Mesa, as if it was only yesterday. Well, it was, if only to Doctor Freeman.

As a click of metal skit across the concrete, carelessly hit by the bottom of the man's boot, a slight sense of dread bubbled in Gordon’s stomach as he shined his light on the object. A pistol, the nozzle modified for a faster shot, tape wrapped around the handle to keep its grip through sweaty hands, it was Alyx's gun. She wouldn't just toss this, not the only weapon she had. But maybe she had found a new one, broken the right crate at the right time, pulled out a rocket launcher and blew up the horde. The image brought an artificial sense of humor to her teammates mind, no matter how unlikely it was. No, why would she just drop a perfectly good gun instead of storing it for later? It was kicked out of her reach, that was it, she probably gutted the zombie who slashed her and painted their brains on the brick walls. But no blood was smeared on the ground, only a glob on the handle of the white taped gun. The similarities between the image and the shade painted on the soldier's white uniforms quickened Gordon’s search.

Gasoline, the stench of rotten eggs would almost be overlooked in such sewers, if not for its sweet aftertaste. So Alyx managed to find a light after all, lit up some barrels and sent the crabs flying. The sound of prickling fire around the corner was bringing his search to a stop. A dead end, making sure to kill the rest before making it up the ladder to the surface, what a petty hit. Though, Gordon wasn't much different in his spite, a chuckle pulling at his lips commending Alyx for the extra sass. He remembered when a zombie threw his own loot box at him and broke the ammo over his head. He may have gotten a distasteful knot, but they had gone swimming in the coastal ocean via bridge jumping.

Finally turning the corner of the hall, his glasses being lit up with the fire surrounding the bodies, the scene took him aback. It was a massacre, bodies and bodies of the dead stacked on top of one another, crawling through their own remains just to get their hands on whatever lay in the middle. Headcrabs dismembered at the base of walls, splats of their blood exploding the concrete, their spines bent at awkward angles and their limbs still twitching from adrenaline. For the first time since being reawakened, Gordon felt fear. Paralyzing, awestricken fear.

With his shotgun in hand, readjusting the grip to snap him out of his trance, the mere scientist felt like an outsider to all the gore. Just as in the basement of Black Mesa, screaming as a headcrab jumped at him, sobbing when an elevator of his colleagues fell to their death, the free man felt trapped in the sea of possibilities.

… She had to have made it out of here. This was a zombie trap, he repeated as a body was kicked to the wall, trying to clear a path to the middle of the pile, she took cover and lit the fuckers up with a grenade. Picking up Alyx's ripped belt, forgetting about the hard drive set on fire from a spray of gasoline, she crawled out through a vent to wait out the storm.

A vent? In the sewers? No, maybe she got to higher ground, managed to find a ladder, managed to find a door, or jump in water. She's waiting at a gate, she's trying to retrace her steps back to the entrance, looking for a flashlight, for fire flares, Alyx Vance is alive.

Desperate, he felt desperate to see the middle of the pile, grabbing zombies by the back of their shirts and hauling them out of the way, digging his fate in the middle of the circle. What if they weren't dead? Can zombies even die a second time? What if they start moving, start clawing at Gordons suit and dragging him down into their clutches? Anything was possible, but the feast of cooked skin and boiling limbs had to be peace enough to continue digging.

A creak. The floor was uneven, metal was brushing up against the concrete, there was a latch under his feet.

Suddenly, the worries felt stupid now. Of course Alyx knew the sewers better than him, she was a mapping expert after all. She probably knows the entire city by the back of her hand. She lit a bomb and hid comfortably below the wreckage, probably laughing as the bastard’s bodies hit the ceiling. It was stupid to assume anything less of her. The Combines greatest fear, Eli Vance’s pride and joy, the menace wouldn't be stopped by a mere trample of the undead.

Moving his feet to the side and hauling up the lid, the thick latch was heavier than it looked. Perfect, it won't open to any pounding on it, or any explosions, she was a smart fighter.

Gordon jumped down into the new tunnels, almost slipping and busting his ass from landing on spidercrab brains. No rest from the wicked, huh? But, as his flashlight confirmed, it was dead, though not by any round of bullets or a wave of fire, it was bubbling with acid. How strange.

Moving his light to finally see the rest of the small cubby, to find Alyx polishing a shotgun or sitting in the dark with a lighter, resting on a lawn chair and lighting up when she sees her partner.

‘Took you long enough’, the ghost of the voice teased, as if the dangers were nothing more than a firework show, ‘I was starting to think you forgot about me down here.’

‘I lost the hard drive, but I know a Combine base nearby’, Alyx’s body twitched in the corner of the room.

‘I know my dad's message, we can just send them though that signal and shut it down,’ a spidercrab rattled in delight as it dug its nails deeper into her skull.

‘You know, so we don't get hunted again?’ acidic saliva poured out of her mouth, broiling the skin of her lips and leaving a hole in her throat. ‘I doubt the rebel base would appreciate the company. Guess the dangers only suited for a fine taste, aye Gordon?’

Alyx Vance’s face was mangled beyond recognition. Her arm charred black from the fire, her clothes steaming from the acid. The spidercrab had launched itself right into her eyes, burrowing itself into her templates and snuggling into its new host. She twitched again as the flashlight flickered, lopping her head to the opposite side and letting the weight lean her body. Claw marks in her shirt, rotten teeth sticking out of the flesh of her leg. Her voice breathed through her throat in a muffled hum, the skin of the hole flapping to the air. Sliding her knee back to her body and putting her strength back to her limbs, the woman began to push herself up against the wall, using her own blood as lube to slide up the bricks. As unbalanced as she was, blinded and deafened as her senses were shared by the spider, she mumbled again, trying to move her mouth under the tar skin of the parasite. Maybe a hope that she had been found, or a warning to any more enemies to stay back, that she was still ready for a fight.

Alyx Vance was alive. She was stubborn and alive.

The fight had ended at a draw.

#half life #half life 2 #hl2 #alyx vance #gordon freeman #gordon x alyx #gordon/alyx #freemance #hl #eli vance #monster au #Draw #Draw part 1 #im gonna hunt you on discord

13 notes · View notes