(Untitled)

[g00d_d0ggie]

"D0G, seriously, you don't have to do this..."

The front door opens and a nine-foot-tall combat droid walks in. His owner is currently being cradled in the crook of one arm, as one might carry a small child. She looks less than enthused about this.

"I know you're supposed to protect me, but I'm not sick. I'm pregnant. There's a difference."

Comments

[md_donighal]

"You're pregnant?" blurts the man in the gray suit. "Congratulations! Especially since it implies the suppression field is down!"

[a_mere_child]

"It's been down for ages," remarks Alyx with a raised eyebrow. "Ever since the dark fusion reactor blew. Didn't anyone tell you?"

[md_donighal]

"I can't seem to recall it coming up in my conversations with Gordon. When he was telling me about the explosion, he'd just been yanked from the immediate aftermath of the blast; the next time we spoke, he had more immediate worries, like your father's death and That Thing's latest twisted games." A sigh. "I wish I'd gotten to meet Eli Vance himself, rather than just some of the lives he shaped for the better." He looks at her abdomen as if he could see into it.*

* He could if he chose, but he's not sure how the contents would react to his high-end EM scan. It doesn't use that many actual X-rays, but better to err on the side of caution, he figures.

[a_mere_child]

Subdued, Alyx looks down at roughly the same spot. "I still miss him," she admits. "But... I guess he's at least gonna get the grandkids he wanted?"

[md_donighal]

Michael nods. "Twins, then? Even more congratulations. It's ultimately your decision and Gordon's whether to name one of them after him, of course, but please put me down as in favor of the notion."

[a_mere_child]

"Oh, we decided to do that before they were even conceived," says Alyx. "Still trying to come up with a girl's name, though... but there's no rush."

[md_donighal]

"A matched set? I'm going to have to double the existing congratulations! - The next time you see Annabelle, ask her how she'd feel about having a child named for her." He realizes he's been neglecting somebody. "Oh hi, D0G. I'm Michael." To Alyx: "Is he yours or his own?"

[g00d_d0ggie]

Woop. D0G offers his free hand to Donighal for a handshake. Of course, said hand is roughly the size of a car tire, so it's slightly more intimidating than the robot might intend it to be.

"He's mine," says Alyx firmly. "My dad built him to protect me when I was a little kid. I've been upgrading him ever since."

[md_donighal]

The Donighal takes the offered hand and shakes it gently but firmly. (Hey, to paraphrase certain classic comedians, he can destroy small asteroids with a wrist-flick and tear apart Golden Tee machines by looking at them cross-eyed. Even if D0G were hostile, it would have a hard time actually intimidating him, though he can see how it might happen to somebody else.)

"The more I hear about Eli Vance's legacy, the more I wish I'd gotten to know him." A sigh. "But enough about the past. What's the situation in the present? Anything I can help with?"

[a_mere_child]

Alyx lets out a long, slow breath. "I dunno. Any tips on killing a terraforming Synth the size of a large building?"

[md_donighal]

That gets a wince. "I could prrrobably do to it what I did to the ones I fought in City 17, but I don't know how much it'd take out of me."

[a_mere_child]

"Which was what? I wasn't there."

[md_donighal]

"Oh yes, you and Gordon were kind of busy, good point. To cut a long story short, I harried a Strider with small fireballs, then obliterated its central mass with a fireball the size of my torso. When the gunship showed up, I threw a tau-particle-backed fireball at it, then put a blast through its brain. More dramatic than the others' contributions, though I must admit relative efficiency is debatable."

[a_mere_child]

"...I'm not sure that's gonna be enough. The Gene Worm has a lot more mass than a Strider."

[md_donighal]

"...Gene Worm. Even if you hadn't told me its purpose, I'd know it was bad news just from the name; nothing with a moniker like that can possibly bode otherwise than ill. I assume it's technically terraforming in reverse?

"I still believe I can take it out. I may have to go inside it, and I may have to push my powers to their limit and make them useless for a while after... but it's doable." Then a completely godawful thought strikes him. "How many of these things are there?"

[a_mere_child]

"Six, altogether. And it's terraforming for a different 'terra.' It inhales Earth's atmosphere and exhales whatever toxic fumes the Combine Advisors have on their home planet." Alyx takes a deep breath. "And it gets worse..."