The fall of the space station.

[notawastedlife]

The space station hung in space above the world, a white dot in an expanse of blackness, a mirror to the islands below, swallowed up and surrounded by blue ocean as they were. Inside, it bustled with fresh motion as people walked, talked, worked; every few minutes, in rooms and corridors, someone passed the hidden mechanisms of an Aperture Science

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CYBORG ZOMBIES

[notawastedlife]

Across the station, neurotoxin emitters ceased spraying gas as they were deactivated or destroyed; in some, where the counter-agent had been deployed, a rather more harmless if perhaps alarming purple gas issued from the same nozzles, the two chemicals combining in the air and fading away, as free of hazard as it now was of color.

Well, Aperture Science wasn't done just yet. From the tubes situated in the alcoves, bodies were lowered into place; swarms of metal appendages ending with drills and welders and clamps slid out from concealed panels and set to work, tearing away clothing and flesh and limbs alike, replacing them with circuits, machinery, prostheses, rebuilding them in an ugly parody of surgery that resembled a car assembly line as much as anything.

A light in the plain white faceplate implanted over every face lit up, beams swept the corridors and labs. As if even dead flesh could be driven to pain by the chemicals and electrical impulses being forced upon it, mouths issued low groans, in stark contrast to the chirpy synthetic voices of their controllers: "WheeeEEre aaAAre yoouuu," and, "Let's play hide and seeEEEek," and "I will fiiIInd you."

[spirited_hero]

[niceofyoutoask]

Lipton had obstained from interacting with the zombies that halloween, once he'd realized all they'd wanted to do was dance. And he couldn't say he'd ever fought robots, so Zell was definately the more experienced of the two when it came to robot zombies. Still, he did have experience in a warzone, and especially with his M1A1, and even if it wasn't Krauts he was shooting at, he could still hold his own.

He shot one of the creatures that was coming up to Zell as the kid faught with another, and clapped a hand briefly on his shoulder as he took up a place beside him, swinging the barrel of his carbine down each side of the hallway to seek out more company. "Alright Zell?" Lipton asked, sparing the kid a glance and a quick half-smile.

[spirited_hero]

[niceofyoutoask]

"I'd say." He agreed, having no doubt that even without a gun Zell was a force to be reckoned with.

Honestly, he hadn't thought of that, and had been automatically shooting to kill as if the things were human. He immediately adjusted his aim, and made a mental note to admonish himself earlier for not having considered that. "Yessir," Lipton said, and with a few more shots had disabled the mechanical components from some newcomers at the end of the hall. The fleshly portions of their bodies still looked like they meant business, but at least they weren't going anywhere soon.

[spirited_hero]

[niceofyoutoask]

Lipton gave a curt nod, his mind scrolling through the strategies and tactics he'd studied and memorized before the jump. It was just like clearing a building, but with far more citizens to protect than he was generally used to. At least there would be no tank shell blasts like the one that had laid him low in Carentan. Small mercies.

"I've got your back," Lipton assured him, carbine up and ready to go. It would be a pretty efficient strategy, he surmised, with Zell able to take out anything and close range and him able to pick off anything coming in from a distance. "Lead on."

[spirited_hero]

[niceofyoutoask]

From his vantage point at the door, Lipton could focus on shooting the ones that Zell knocked over. The kid moved fast, Lipton would be the first too admit, and it took some quick reflexes, judgement calls and years of experience with his M1A1 to take out the creatures without shooting Zell in the process. Hell, he was no Shifty, but he wasn't that bad of a shot, and he had a good head on his shoulders.

And when the one who'd attempted to entice them with a 'come here' moved around to come after Zell and the shot just wasn't there, Lipton wasn't above getting a little physical himself, swinging the butt of the carbine around to knock him down, and shooting the figure as it fell. He offered Zell a hand up, whirling to face the remaning robot zombie thing.

[spirited_hero]

[niceofyoutoask]

Lipton spared a moment to wonder how the hell Zell managed to get away without electrocuting himself during that maneuver, but then he was ducking under the worst of the sparks and following Zell to the door, gun up and ready. He put his back was to the edge of the wall and tucking his head and barrel around before following with his body, as he'd been trained to do, and he was glad he did as bullets whizzed past his body would have been had he leaped out after Zell. "Take cover!" He shouted automatically to Zell, even if he couldn't see from his position where the hell the kid had gotten to out there.

He whipped his M1A1 back around the corner and then he was shooting at the three new creatures loping unevenly - it seemed to be the best description of it - down the hall. He aimed especially for the one with the machiene-gun arm, and the fleshy upper arm between where the weapon was grafted on and his shoulder. His first shot went wide, but the second found its way home, causing the weapon to drop groundwards enough for Lipton to peel out from behind the doorway into the hall.

[spirited_hero]

[niceofyoutoask]

As the one closest to Lipton crumpled to the growed mewling something Lipton didn't bother listening to, he focused on the remaining two, the momentarily disabled machine-gun-armedd creature and another thing behind him with an onimously whirring component on its chest and something resembling a crude chainsaw for an arm. A bullet pinged alarmingly off the metal of the chest-piece, and Lipton suddenly missed his knife he'd been stranded with in Normandy.

He focused back on the human-crafted bits, and when the machine-gun-armed one clattered to the ground, he wasted no time in stomping on the machine gun to yank it away from the frayed ends of bone and render it useless. While he'd been disarming the gun, however, the one with the chainsaw had quickly gained ground to where he and his whirring saw were too close to shoot. "Zell!" He shouted, knowing the kid would be paying attention, and dove for the wall.

[spirited_hero]

[niceofyoutoask]

When the monster was distracted by swinging towards Zell, Lipton shoved himself away from the wall with enough momentum to knock into it from behind and send it toppling to the floor, chainsaw crashing down but still flailing. Lipton himself almost went with it, but he stumbled wide and reached for his M1A1 as he regained his balance. The thing was by no means harmless on the floor, and would be able to get pretty soon, but at least it was something.

[spirited_hero]