"Highground" -Alyx Vance fic

[Pilgrim]

Saw request for this by some guy (forgot name) and thought it was a cool idea. Hope you enjoy.

Crouched down among the tall reeds, ankle-deep in mud, Alyx Vance began to reconsider her decision to volunteer for this mission. It’s danger wasn’t what concerned her; breaking into Combine facilities was just part of her life now, as fighting against their oppressive rule was for everyone in the resistance. And she wasn’t too worried about the low likelihood of success: the potential reward of being able to strike another massive blow to the Combine’s resources far outweighed the risk, even if that risk included sneaking into the old military base they had procured and “hoping they hadn’t found the secret entrance yet”, as her superior had put it. She didn’t even mind having to attempt the mission by herself: she had enough training and field experience that she was confident in her ability to take on even more difficult missions. No, what was giving her second thoughts was that, to reach the unused maintenance tunnel that would bring her right into the center of the complex, she had to remain motionlessly camped outside its perimeter until the changing of the guard that would allow her precious seconds to slip into the tunnel mere yards away from her. Hiding in the reeds and counting the seconds while she watched an enemy soldier pace back and forth in front of her goal without even realizing what he was protecting was one of the most frustrating and uncomfortable experiences of her life.

A cold wind blew, and Alyx shivered and sniffled. The sun was starting to set. Not daring to make the slightest noise out loud, she mentally sighed in further aggravation. She’d been fighting back a cold for several days now, and had managed to keep it within the realm of “just the sniffles”. Now, however, she could feel her nose becoming progressively more and more congested as time passed, and she had to risk sniffling occasionally to keep it from running too severely.

Suddenly, the guard stopped. Relaxing slightly, he turned and began marching away from Alyx and the tunnel. This was the moment she’d been waiting for. Moving as quickly and soundlessly as she could, she leapt from the reeds and sprinted across the soggy ground through the growing darkness, merging with the shadows at the tunnel’s entrance before the replacement guard had taken his first steps on his patrol. After removing a crowbar from her vest to take care of a grate she’d been informed lay deeper in the dark beyond the tunnel’s entrance, she switched on a flashlight attached to her vest and crawled inside, vanishing into the blackness.

Once she had progressed a fair distance inwards, certain she was out of hearing range of the Combine outside, she decided to allow her nose some relief. Halting her crawl, she reared her head back and took a deep breath through her nose, then another. She felt a sneeze well up inside, and took one more lengthy inhalation to trigger it.

“Hehhhh…Heh-Eckshct! Echsht! Ecktchiiew! Hah…haaah…Ha-Eksch Ha-Eksch Echsht Ehhh-Eckscht!!!”

Each sneeze sent thick wet mist spraying forward, and by the end of them Alyx’s nose felt considerably less blocked. After wiping a small trail of snot from above her lip, she continued forward, shortly arriving at the ancient, rusted grate. Curling up, she fitted her crowbar through a hole in the top of the grate while bracing her feet against the bottom of it and pulled back. After a short struggle, the grate fell back. Kicking it out of the way, Alyx sniffed loudly, then began progressing forward once more.

Soon enough the tunnel began to slope upwards, and she knew she was close to the exit. She slowed down her crawl to ensure she wasn’t making any audible noise in case of more guards, but the threat of a far more potent endangerment of her silence soon arose; Alyx felt another sneeze building. Freezing in place, she leaned on one elbow and raced her free hand up to her nose just in time to stifle it by closing her hand around her nostrils. However, doing so prevented the tickle from dissipating, and she had to stifle several more before she dared risk removing her hand again.

“Haaaah-Nngnkxt! Huh-Ngnt! Nngnkxt! Ha-Gnkxt!”

Sniffling as softly as she could, Alyx rubbed the last itch out of her nose and then continued until the saw a service hatch on the tunnel’s ceiling. According to they layout she’d been given, it would lead to what had formerly and probably now currently served as an armory. The perfect place to plant explosive charges. She switched off her flashlight, drew her automatic pistol (equipped with a silencer for this mission), and opened the hatch, rising up into the armory weapon first. Fortunately, there wasn’t a sign of anyone inside. Gently, she let down the hatch door, not wanting to make any noise in case there were guards outside the armory, and set to work placing explosives on the concentrations of ammunition being stored around the room. As she worked she strained her ears for any sound of approaching footsteps, but none came. After placing the last one, she returned to the tunnel. She would have plenty of time to escape as long as no one entered the armory and discovered the bombs…

Footsteps.

Cursing softly, Alyx darted behind a crate against the wall beside the door and held her breath. A single Combine soldier marched in and stood still as the armory doors closed behind him. Slowly, he strode to one of the explosives Alyx had placed, apparently perplexed as to its arrival. Seeing him slowly reach for his gun, she decided action had to be taken immediately. Leaping out from behind the box she aimed her pistol at the startled soldier’s head and fired. He slumped to the ground, and Alyx moved forward to catch him, not wanting his fall to alert more guards. He was heavier than she’d expected, and she found herself nearly pinned under him. As she struggled to free herself out from underneath the guard’s remains, a sneeze built up inside her nose too quickly for her to cover it.

“HAAA-SCHTTTT!”

A second later the armory door burst open. In that second, Alyx had snatched up the fallen Combine’s automatic weapon. She fired wildly into the doorwar and gunned down the two alerted guards. Keeping her eyes on the door, she grabbed the explosive the first Combine had been about to reach and reset the timer to a fraction of its original length. After placing it back near the ammo pile underneath the dead soldier to prevent its discovery too early, she dashed forward to the hatch and was already racing through the tunnel before reinforcements arrived. As she neared the exit, she heard explosions behind her and felt an earlier section of the tunnel collapse. Fortunately, she was far enough away from the armory now that she was in no danger of a cave-in.

Back at the base of the resistance, her mission’s success was met with great celebration. This was the seventh flawless victory over the combine her branch had had in a row, and the other troops saw it as a good omen. By now Alyx’s cold was getting worse and, red-nosed and congested, she returned to her room without participating in the celebrations. One soldier clapped another on the back as she walked past.

“That’s Alyx Vance for you. Goes solo right into the belly of a Combine fortress, and doesn’t come out with anything more serious than a little cold.”

[Healer]

I hadn't noticed this earlier. It was my request Thanks! This is wonderful! *reads*