Chapter Text
The enormous cavern was filled with sounds of a low rough voice that echoed on the foreign rock walls and violently shook the tall ceiling above. Behind that followed chaos of rumbles and crashes. Large portals opened, and through them came flying chunks of a once familiar room. Glass beakers filled with samples and other equipment scattered as the entire corner of what was once a sector C lab skidded to a halt on the ground. A large floating creature sat on a levitating device in the middle of the large cave. It growled low and deep, not pleased to see its prey still alive on the ground below it.
The seething hot sizzle of the Gulon gun being fired earned a loud, ear-piercing screech from the creature. In a fit of blind pain and rage, it opened another portal and flung a Black Mesa security car through the air. The lights flashing and horn blaring as its nose-dived into the floor.
Gordon only had a few seconds to react before it would crush him on impact. The orange-clad suit he wore spoke up with three loud warning beeps, “Warning: Vital signs critical! Seek medical attention immediately!”
He was quick on his feet; dashing across the cavern floor behind one of the lab walls, he found temporary refuge in a pool of lukewarm blue liquid. Taking a few deep breaths, he sat down in the pool and listened to the HEV suit hum around him, allowing it to fill its charge and restore his wounded body.
The large alien creature roared furiously, “Diiee. Youu aall diiee. Youu alll diiieee.” Its voice shook the ground and Gordon’s very core. It threw familiar chunks of what was once Black Mesa around like a child throwing a temper tantrum. Gordon sighed before standing up once more. He reloaded his Uranium fueled weapons and waited for the right moment to strike.
Suddenly another security vehicle came sailing through the air. Gordon took this as his chance and ran out from behind the broken lab walls. He leaped into the air; with the help of the jump module, he was able to plant his foot on the roof of the flying car and push-off, throwing himself even further into the air. As he sailed through the air, he aimed his Gulon gun at a weak spot on the creature’s head and fired. The Nihilanth cried out in pain while its stitches came loose and its head peeled open like an orange. It floated weakly in the air and gave a desperate attack of bright green lightning in return. The electric arch struck Gordon in the chest and hit him right out of the air. He hit the ground with a pained thunk just like the rest of the previous Lambda labs and security cars.
“BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! Warning: multiple fractures detected! Internal bleeding detected! Mass blood loss detected! User death imminent! Seek medical attention!” The HEV suit spoke frantically; it had long since ran out of its medical supply.
Gordon laid on the ground, trying his best to breathe. The hard fall knocked all air from his lungs, leaving him choking and sputtering. He had to get up, but his body protested. He had a job to finish and a world of people to save. Everyone on earth was counting on him. And yet, here he was lying limp on the ground. ’One more hit, that's all it will take,’ he told himself mentally. With his breathing finally under control, he closed his eyes and took a final deep inhale before getting up. He forced his painful fractures and burning wounds to work through the pain as he limped up to the crying creature. Green lightning struck all around him.
He stood and looked up, shakily he aimed the Gulon gun up at it once more and hesitantly fired. The bright beam hit the alien’s open head and unforgivingly reduced the creature’s brain to plasma. Gordon yelled out in pain as he tried to keep his grip on the gun’s handle to sustain the steady beam, but his body was starting to give out on him. With a bright blinding light, the Nihilanth roared in agony one final time before slowly falling to the ground. The deep bellow reverberating all around him. Gordon’s eyes squinted at the light. His legs and arms gave out as he collapsed to the ground, dropping the Gulon gun.
A car bumper supported his back while he sat and watched the creature go up in flames. Immense amounts of overwhelming energy built up dangerously in the room forming an unstable bright mass where the Nihilanth once was. Gordon could do nothing but watch and feel the overbearing heat come over him in weaves. The room grew so hot he thought his suit would melt off. Loud distorted warble sounds of electricity and energy fill the room; the wind whipped around violently in a bright growing vortex.
’This is it. After everything I’ve been through, this is how I die.’ He couldn’t help but feel proud that he was able to finish the job. A faint smirk grew across his face, followed by a silent chuckle as he thought of what Barney might say to him right now. Then his expression dropped. ’Barney.’ Panic and adrenalin struck through his body. 'Oh Barney...I really fucked up this time, huh?’ He teared up at the thought of never seeing his partner again. He remembered the last time he saw Barney was that morning. As Gordon's tram passed by, Barney waved at him and signed, "Love you."
Large tears began to slide down his cheeks, his silent cries turning into ugly sobs and gasps of air. He a tight ball formed in his chest as he began to grieve. He only hopes that Barney made it out alive with Eli and Kleiner and was not just another unidentified security guard amongst the dead in the mass grave that was Black Mesa.
A mixture of tears and the blinding bright light grew too much for Gordon’s eyes, so he forced them shut. The loud echoing roar filled his ears alongside the whipping wind from the expanding energy mass tore him from his thoughts. All of his senses were being overloaded and made his body feel as if it was on fire. The enormous energy mass finally reached capacity and erupted. Its electrifying energy expanded out in a violent firey shock wave of bright blues and neon greens.
Gordon felt every bit of energy take him. Waves of heat and foreign electric power came over him. It should have killed him on impact, but it didn’t. All he could hear was wind and his own heart beating. He opened his mouth to yell out in agonizing pain, but his damaged vocal cords failed him.
For a split second, he felt as if he was electrically charged. Like sparks could shoot out from within his chest. Something had crawled inside of him and began to settle in. It gave him a rush of adrenaline and strength he had never felt before. It was a powerful feeling that made his nerves burn and scream. He was in so much pain.
Just as quickly as it happened, everything stopped. All the pain, the loud explosion, the warmth radiating from this powerful feeling in his chest, all of it gone. His vision was blurry, and his hearing muffled. The bright colors felt distant. He moved his head to the side as if everything was in slow motion. He noticed a man in a suit holding a briefcase—the man he had seen a few times before in Black Mesa.
He stood there and stared down at Freeman; both confusion and fear were present in the mysterious man’s glowing eyes. He was saying something, but Gordon couldn’t understand him. Darkness crept in at the edges of his vision while the man walked closer. With a wave of the other man’s hand, everything went dark, and the weight of gravity was no more.
’Am I dead?’ He asked himself before slowly opening his eyes to peek around him.
He saw nothing but a murky blackness that surrounded him. ’Are my eyes even open?’ He couldn’t tell because he had no feeling in his body. He couldn’t move. And more importantly, he couldn’t think. His body felt cold like a corpse. He felt like he was both lying down and floating at the same time—no way of knowing which way was up or down. Everything went still and silent. No life to be found. There was no concept of time here—just a never-ending black void.
Then, just as if someone pressed the un-pause button, life returned with a rush of light and colors.
Gordon gasped for air as his body returned to normal functions quicker than he’d liked. His head was swimming at the sudden rush. The after-effects of the fight with Nihilanth were still fresh on his body. He looked up and saw bright blue lights staring back at him. He grew stiff and still. His fight or flight response kicking in. It wasn’t until he tried to make a move when he realized his hands were bound together in some type of bulky metal encasing. Heavily weighted shackles of similar design strapped around his ankles. He also took note that he was no longer in his HEV suit.
Trying to survey his surroundings, he felt hands come out and grab him, shoving him forward. It was difficult to move, so whoever was behind him resorted to dragging him instead. He looked up weakly and saw two humanoid figures were dragging him. Both dressed in obnoxiously white armor, a single red lens on the fronts of their helmets. On their shoulders and chests were weird symbols he had never seen before. He looked around and did not seem to recognize the hallway they were in. The entire structure seemed to be built out of some sort of foreign black metal. Lights from high above them poorly lighting the long corridor.
After being dragged for what felt like hours, they finally stopped in front of a set of large double doors. He could hear the sound of keys being typed on a keypad and the doors opened in front of them. He was thrown to the hard floor of a dimly lit room. He felt eyes on him.
Slowly he went to stand but was pushed harshly against the floor by the heavy boot of another person.
“Stay down!” A distorted voice yelled out at him.
He was able to maneuver his head to look up at his observers. His own eyes met two others. His vision was compromised from both the lack of light and the awkward angle he was at.
All he saw was a man standing over him, looking down into his eyes. When they made eye contact, the other man seemed surprised yet intrigued. The curious eyes studied him silently before the man finally spoke, “He will have to have his own specially built prison. But until then, lock him in a temporary holding chamber. I don’t want news of him being alive to get out. Nor do I want him escaping.” The sound of an eerily familiar voice spoke sternly to whoever was keeping him down. “Get a DNA sample as well. ...He seems dangerous..”
’Is that… Dr. Breen??! ..Wait..How am I dangerous?’ Gordon’s thoughts didn’t have time to fully collect themselves before he was being picked up and dragged off once more.
“Yes, sir.” Replied the distorted voice.
Two sets of hands grabbed him under the arms and began to drag him out of the room again. Back down the hall to an odd elevator.
Once the lift stopped, he was pulled through more doors. A sudden temperature drop indicating they were outside whatever facility he had been in. The poorly insulated clothes he wore did not help keep his body warm in the slightest.
The guards threw him in the back of some large transport vehicle. He was confused, weak, and tired, with absolutely no clue where he was or what was happening. All he knew was he felt different. Aside from feeling exhausted, he felt that same warm power from before starting to return.
There were no windows or light in the transport vehicle, only the sound of tires grinding against the road as it drove to its destination. The bumpy ride in the dark vehicle didn’t take long before it came to a sudden halt; the back doors flinging open. The sky outside seemed dark; it was nighttime. The moon provided very little light, so he didn’t see the two guards as they grabbed him from the van.
He noticed they were in some type of city or at least what was left of it. The buildings around them looked dilapidated and overgrown with something similar to the plant life he had seen in Xen. In front of them stood a building that stuck out like a sore thumb. It was short, but what it didn’t have in height, it made up for in width. The walls looked like they were made of the same black metal as the last building he had been in.
The building radiated some type of negative energy that weighed Gordon down. The two humanoid figures grabbed him up and forced him to stand as they walked through the front doors.
Slowly they walked deeper into the facility and began the long walk to the center. This must have been the “temporary chamber” Breen was talking about. This place was locked up like Fort Knocks. Guards that wore heavy armor and held large, powerful guns stood in position every so many feet. Gordon started to lose hope of ever managing to escape successfully.
The deeper they went into the facility, the weaker he felt. It began to feel like the building itself was sucking energy straight from him.
They got to the final stretching corridor when his legs gave out from under him. The guards mumbled something to one another before grabbing him by the arms and dragging him the rest of the way. His vision started to fail him again while they walked up to a heavy door that radiated a pale blue. The bulky device that encased his hands was unlocked, freeing his hands as it fell to the floor with a clunk. The guards ushered him up to stand inside a sizeable arch-shaped machine. Heavy shackles came down and encasing his feet, hands, and neck. The machine around him whirred to life and grabbed the bonds, suspending him in the air, forcing his body into the shape of a star. He opened his weary eyes to see he was now in some large glass casing in the air at the center of a larger sphere-like room.
’Whatever this is.. it must be bad..’ He thought as he referred to the glowing green aura that encased him and radiated from the arch around him. He felt like the life was being sucked right out of him.
A guard walked up to a terminal and typed at a few buttons. The door to the blue-tinted chamber he was being held in closed behind them. The lights in the surrounding area shined on him, causing his eyes to squint shut. A loud, muffled voice spoke over the intercom.
The lights on the arch above him glowing green with power, the hazy aura around him grew stronger. He felt the overwhelming need to sleep. His body fell limp as his mind drifted somewhere other than here. And before he knew it, he returned to the same silent, cold, lifeless void he was in before.
“Stasis in progress. Vital signs: negative. Status: contained.” A female voice spoke over the intercom once more.
Years passed before his chamber was finally slotted into a massive floating facility of its own, replacing the one had been in. Striders installed large power stations on nearby rooftops to supply the vault with power. Vortigaunts were forced to exert their own electricity through the thick cables.
The prison was sectioned off from the rest of City 17 in the middle of the Quarantine Zone in hopes no one would even notice its existence.
That is until someone managed to hack into the Combine Construction Network…