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Word had gotten out about the fallout zone and most people with a lick of sense had cleared out. Unfortunately, that meant it had also become a refuge for the remnants of the Combine still on Earth. The local remnants, anyhow. There were small camps of Resistance and their allies dotting the "border" of the zone, and from here were launched hunting parties to attempt to root out Combine forces that were trying to regroup inside the zone.
These trips were dangerous but necessary. There was no way that the Combine was ever going to be allowed another chance to grab power. So into the irradiated zone the hunting parties went, following sightings by others of a soldier here, a synth there.
There weren't enough radiation suits to go around, and the ones that the Resistance were able to scrape up weren't that great. Too restrictive, too clumsy. But the eggheads were able to build enough dosimeters to go around, so, just as long as things didn't get too complicated, no one would get too bad of a dose. No one had to stay in the Zone, no one who wasn't hiding ou--
"What is that?"
"What is what?"
"I see smoke over that way."
"A campfire. Damn cocky sonsofbitches, don't they know they are supposed to be hiding?"
"Well, it helps them that this place is so damn flat. They probably think they can spot someone sneaking up on them."
"Wouldn't a better vantage point be that hill to the east?"
"Too conspicuous; remember all the time we wasted searching it first? And its not much of a vantage point with all those trees, not unless you built a tower or are riding on top of a strider."
"Would have made life simpler if they had picked the hill."
"Eh... that's life. How are we going to do this?"
"Quietly, for now. We need a headcount and a weapons inventory before we start shooting."
It took several tries but she eventually remembered how. Hunting down teleporting prey was something she had not had the motivation to do in a long while. But it was like riding a bike, really.
Hold on, what's a bike?
She had motivation, so she relearned. The blue, one-eyed toads were curious things. So was everything else on this world, but chasing after something that had the sense to run away was a nice break. Well, a challenge, really. It is almost like the invasive species now overrunning the planet left their flight response on Xen, but brought plenty of fight.
Even the few Combine soldiers she found here and there didn't have the sense to run. What were they still doing here? Wasn't the destruction of the geneworm supposed to...
Oh well, whatever the Combine are still doing here, they provided her with clothing and curious corpses to puzzle over. They were were stuffed full of what looked like life extending machinery, machinery which disgusted her once she figured out it's purpose. Still clothing was nice, and armor even nicer. It got cold at night, even under the trees. The Combine's weapons were nice too, of course. Not that she needed it; the staff of light that she brought along with her not only survived the star's explosive rebirth and redeath, it came out of the event a great deal more helpful with spells, particularly with spells that incorporate chaos energy. It was decidedly unhelpful with anti-teleportation spells, however.
The trouble that she went through to hunt the teleporting toads had a nice, tasty payoff.
Yum, blue non-poisonous space-toads.
"It is just one elite."
"No helmet. I don't think it is an elite."
"I only see one OSIPR."
"One is enough with the right ammo. Hold on, thats that weapon that psycho was carrying around.Shit she's reaching for it--"
"SARAH! It's us! Hold on, don't uhhh... shoot?"
"What do you think you are doing?!"
"She survived a nuke, what were you thinking of doing?"
These trips were dangerous but necessary. There was no way that the Combine was ever going to be allowed another chance to grab power. So into the irradiated zone the hunting parties went, following sightings by others of a soldier here, a synth there.
There weren't enough radiation suits to go around, and the ones that the Resistance were able to scrape up weren't that great. Too restrictive, too clumsy. But the eggheads were able to build enough dosimeters to go around, so, just as long as things didn't get too complicated, no one would get too bad of a dose. No one had to stay in the Zone, no one who wasn't hiding ou--
"What is that?"
"What is what?"
"I see smoke over that way."
"A campfire. Damn cocky sonsofbitches, don't they know they are supposed to be hiding?"
"Well, it helps them that this place is so damn flat. They probably think they can spot someone sneaking up on them."
"Wouldn't a better vantage point be that hill to the east?"
"Too conspicuous; remember all the time we wasted searching it first? And its not much of a vantage point with all those trees, not unless you built a tower or are riding on top of a strider."
"Would have made life simpler if they had picked the hill."
"Eh... that's life. How are we going to do this?"
"Quietly, for now. We need a headcount and a weapons inventory before we start shooting."
It took several tries but she eventually remembered how. Hunting down teleporting prey was something she had not had the motivation to do in a long while. But it was like riding a bike, really.
Hold on, what's a bike?
She had motivation, so she relearned. The blue, one-eyed toads were curious things. So was everything else on this world, but chasing after something that had the sense to run away was a nice break. Well, a challenge, really. It is almost like the invasive species now overrunning the planet left their flight response on Xen, but brought plenty of fight.
Even the few Combine soldiers she found here and there didn't have the sense to run. What were they still doing here? Wasn't the destruction of the geneworm supposed to...
Oh well, whatever the Combine are still doing here, they provided her with clothing and curious corpses to puzzle over. They were were stuffed full of what looked like life extending machinery, machinery which disgusted her once she figured out it's purpose. Still clothing was nice, and armor even nicer. It got cold at night, even under the trees. The Combine's weapons were nice too, of course. Not that she needed it; the staff of light that she brought along with her not only survived the star's explosive rebirth and redeath, it came out of the event a great deal more helpful with spells, particularly with spells that incorporate chaos energy. It was decidedly unhelpful with anti-teleportation spells, however.
The trouble that she went through to hunt the teleporting toads had a nice, tasty payoff.
Yum, blue non-poisonous space-toads.
"It is just one elite."
"No helmet. I don't think it is an elite."
"I only see one OSIPR."
"One is enough with the right ammo. Hold on, thats that weapon that psycho was carrying around.Shit she's reaching for it--"
"SARAH! It's us! Hold on, don't uhhh... shoot?"
"What do you think you are doing?!"
"She survived a nuke, what were you thinking of doing?"