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The screaming alarms shake Gordon awake as he gets up from the cold ruined floor. Your head screams in agony as he pats himself down for any injuries. What happened here? He thinks looking around at the explosion that he inadvertently caused. I just did what I was instructed to.
“I think I caused a Resonance Cascade. I thought they said it was unlikely?” he muttered making his way past the rubble and decay. Thank god he had the HEV suit. He might not be standing here without it.
Cmon, keep moving . The turret has an alarm before it starts shooting so if I’m quick I can throw a grenade and it should knock it over and maybe hit a couple of soldiers too . Gordon inches forward slowly rolling the cold grenade around in his hand. He pulls the pin and chucks it as a loud alarm blares briefly as it’s cut off by gunfire and then grows still. The soldiers, to Gordon's dismay, turn quickly, raising their guns at the rogue scientist as the grenade misses by a couple of feet. He curses under his breath ducking behind a metal box grabbing his rifle and crowbar. With a breath, he charges weaving past the soldier's line of fire shooting his gun at the pair. He swings his crowbar up hitting one and then the other cleanly as they tumble back onto the cold floor.
Gordon stops in his tracks looking over at the bodies of his fellow scientists by the doorframe. He didn’t know them, but he was still sad. They were his coworkers. They were just doing their job today—all of them. Today was supposed to be normal. But it wasn’t. He just had to keep running, fighting, and surviving.
he turned the bodies around of the dead soldiers looking for any spare bullets or healing packs he could find as quiet footsteps drew his attention away. Looking up from his looting, he spotted him. That man in the suit. He saw him earlier on the tram and then again talking to another scientist. What was he doing here? Why was he not running? Where was he going? Focus Gordon. Take what they have and keep moving. The soldiers aren’t as merciful as the aliens He thought to himself tearing his eyes away from the strange man as he reached for his crowbar gripping it tighter with a gloved hand. He gets up with a pained grunt checking his suit’s charge as he walks towards the ladder on the far side of the room. Maybe something can go right today .
A train horn and a flash of light make Gordon wince as the echoes of the strange man’s words repeat in his mind.
“Wake up.”
He looks around himself. What was the last thing he remembered? He retraced his steps. There was the Lambda Lab, A border world the Lambda team called Xen, A single powerful being he killed all by himself he might add, the man in the suit giving him an offer, and then nothing but a tram and an endless stream of white lights against a pitch-black void. That being said, why was he on a train and what was he wearing?
“What happened to my HEV suit?” he muttered quietly almost like a whisper as he looked down at the dreary and loose-fitting blue-gray shirt and matching pants. At least he still had his shoes. The train lurches to a halt as the two other passengers on board exit without looking Freeman in the eye.
He steps out after them as a medium-sized robot floats down and takes a picture of his face. He winces at the bright light and stumbles down the stairs as a loud crackle of an overhead speaker plays throughout the train station. He looks up, spotting a large hologram screen with the face of a spineless man he hoped died during the Cascade. The slow, draining voice talks but the words don’t reach the scientist's ears.
“Welcome to City 17. I-”
Gordon squeezes through the fences and strange masked soldiers trying to figure out where this “City 17” was located. It wasn’t in the US that’s for sure so maybe Europe somewhere? The chain gate closes on him with a start as one of the masked soldiers emerges from the door away from the exit as a short alarm blares. It motions for him to follow accompanied by a sharp, robotic voice that he could barely understand.
The hallway was small and rather dirty with grime littering the walls and floors. They passed by several walled-in cells each with a citizen and a couple of soldiers stationed in each. Gordon couldn’t understand what they were talking about, but it seemed important as one of the soldiers from inside the room turned around and slammed the small window shut. He turned and noticed the guard who he was following motioning for another to leave as he entered the room. It was different from the other he just saw with a big monitor and elaborate desk full of strange writing, buttons, and keys scattered around it. The soldier locked the door behind him and with a laugh took off his mask. Gordon almost cried in relief as the soldier took off his mask and he spotted a cheeky smile Gordon always loved to see. It was him.
“Now, about that beer I owe ya’!”
Gordon struggled to open his eyes, silently groaning as he tried to get up. He heard the familiar voice of Alyx muffled by the rubble surrounding him as a small robotic face poked its head through the hole of rubble, its single eye widening in delight as it spotted Gordon. It quickly grabbed the chunks of debris off him while Gordon quickly tried to retrace his thoughts as the memories slowly flowed back to him. Eli’s capture, the Citadel, Dr. Breen, the man in the suit stopped by the Vortigaunts, did they save him? Why? And how? D0g picks Gordon up as Alyx and breathes a sigh of relief hugging the scientist.
“Oh my god! Gordon!” Gordon smiles sharing her enthusiasm. It was a miracle the pair was still alive. If they were both here and alive, did that mean others were ok too? Last he heard Barney was helping fight back against the soldiers he now knew were called “Combine”, Eli was who knows where with Dr. Mossman, and Dr. Kliener should be at his lab hopefully safe from the blast. A quiet laugh from Alyx drew him out of his thoughts as she fiddled with her necklace
“The Gravity Gun. Give it to him D0g.” He took it nodding a polite ‘thank you’ to the robot as it leaned over excited
“There Gordon. D0g is happy to see you. I can tell” she chuckled turning back towards her robot “Ok D0g, go get the monitor set up so we can check in with my dad. He must be worried sick about us. He was so sure we wouldn’t find you here” she added with a hint of worry as D0g rushed over to where Gordon assumed the monitor was stationed. It’s a miracle one even survived in this wreckage. Speaking of which, where is the monitor? Gordon could use some sort of plan to get out of here
A large creak made Gordon shoot awake again.
“Great. Another crash,” he whispers. His voice was sore from directing citizens with Alyx and yelling goodbye to Barney. The Citadel must have exploded again. He rubbed his throat making his way carefully through the wreckage pausing and waiting at each loud creak.
“Gordon!” The concerned yell of Alyx made Gordon look up, wading through the waist-high water at the lower end of the train.
“Oh Gordon, Thank God you are ok. Hold on a sec - I’ll get you out of there” Gordon took a couple of steps back from the window as Alyx raised the gravity gun towards the door, taking it off with ease and throwing the door to the side with a grunt.
“Wow. I forgot what a kick this thing has” she joked as Gordon smiled in silent laughter wiping whatever spare water was left on his suit. Right. He still had the suit on. Maybe the ties at Black Mesa weren’t that bad compared to wearing a clunky, metal, and loud suit almost everyone has seen by now. Not very stealthy when alien overlords want you dead anyway.
“Here- you take the gravity gun. You're better with it than I am.” He took the gravity gun with a smile as Alyx continued
“When I couldn’t find you I just-” She broke off taking a deep breath. Gordon looked over at her with a solemn expression “I know I know, I shouldn’t have worried. Anyway, let's keep moving.” Gordon gave her a small smile glad that she returned to her normal hopeful self as he turned and moved away from the wreckage. Today is going to be a long day.
“Gordon. Gordon! Wake up, Gordon!” Gordon sturred from his place on the ground shaking his head. What happened?
“She’s gone, Gordon! She’s gone!” Eli yelled desperately looking around until his eyes settled on the Freeman. Gordon looked around too, spotting the remains of the Advisors that had infiltrated their sanctuary.
“Son of a bitch and his unforeseen consequences!” Eli yelled as Gordon grabbed his shoulder attempting to calm him down. Gordon tried to speak, but his throat was sore and raw. Anything he said wouldn’t help the situation much anyway and his hands were shaking just enough to make it hard to sign.
“I knew it. When I get my hands on him I’m gonna…” Eli trailed off as the lumbering figure of D0g dropped into view from above. It must have taken care of the escaped Advisor. Good job D0g Gordon thought happily for a brief moment before he spotted something in its metallic hand. Gordon couldn’t help but share his friend’s anger over their mutual friend. He always thought the man was weird with his suit in a place of death and eyes that had a strange inhuman light to them. Strangest of all, he was always where he needed to be to help Gordon, and apparently Alyx, on his mission whatever it might be for that day. Eli let out a steady breath grabbing the familiar crowbar from D0g. Now wasn’t the time for anger. It was the time for action. He extended the crowbar to The One Freeman as Gordon grabbed it without any hesitation.
“We got work to do”