HALF-LIFE: AFTERMATH

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Disclaimer:

See Chapter one.

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Chapter 2: Intersection 16

They walked down a flight of stairs and through a decaying door into a small chamber, there were four or five civilians down here, each manning large security stations and one repairing a familiar water-vehicle that had been badly burnt. A few workers turned to look at Gordon and a mumble crept around the room. A man in a smart suit walked up to them. "Mr. Freeman? Wow! We thought you were..." he stalled and Barney started up another conversation. "We need to borrow the AST. We're going to Intersection 16 and I'm not trawling through that sewage shit barefoot..." Gordon's attention was pulled from the conversation and to a computer screen hanging from the cieling at the side of the room. It showed the City 17 train station deserted, with a single carriage pulling away from it. Inside it was the G-man, holding a pole staring into the camera. Gordon looked at the worker monitoring the screen. He seemed oblivious to what was happening. Gordon continued watching the screen long after the carriage pulled away. " C'mon Gordon, we can use the AST to get to the GFA." Barney nudged Gordon to follow. They walked through a shutter door and the workers saluted Gordon, "Goodbye Mr. Freeman! Good luck!".

Barney went through another door into a garage, in it was a large tank-like vehicle with a huge Tau Cannon on the top, behind a blue-safety screen. At the back was a horizontal bar with three rusty saws slid across the rail. A worker was polishing them. It also had three spikes on the front with Headcrabs stabbed onto them, Barney chuckled "Heh, you wouldn't believe how sadistically fun that was. Now where's that Vortigaunt? Just a second, I'll be right back." Barney walked into an office protected with bullet-proof glass. Gordon examined the AST in further detail, glancing at the office every couple of seconds.

"It's a beauty, isn't it?" said the worker polishing the saws. Gordon nodded, "completely scratch made, y'know? From the remains of the Citadel." Gordon gave a friendly smile and peered at the room Barney was conferring in. A low mumbling could be heard and Barney was moving his arms about and often pointing at Gordon while the Vortigaunt continously shook his head. "...the world!" the door swung open and Barney walked out of the office, grimace on his face. The Vortigaunt walked out a second later and stared at Gordon. Gordon stepped away from the ATS door and stood next to Barney, who was mumbling curses to himself as the Vortigaunt reluctantly extended a third arm from his chest and shot a burst of energy from it, unlocking the driver door to the ATS. Barney strided towards the door and opened it, clambering inside. The Vortigaunt walked to Gordon and bowed, "Mr. Free Man, it is an honour to have you here. Take care of our AST. My brother Phamzaz will assist you further when you reach Intersection 16." he gave another bow and walked to a computer terminal, typing up a fax to his brother. Barney poked his head from the door, "Get in the top, I need you to mann the cannon." Gordon mounted the cannon and held it's triggers. The large garage door ahead of them rose, dotting the front of the AST with gunk that had congealed in a trench underneath it.

Barney pulled out of the garage, checking the traction of the tank as he did so, and started trundling through a walled in path, the wheels spraying mud from the sides of the vehicle. As he got to the end of this barren path, it started raining and instantly a metal shield was pulled around Gordon from the inner tank. Barney shouted something but it was barely heard through the storm that was brewing. They were in a large forest, probably the only thing of beauty left in this area for the next few miles.They crept through the forest, not wanting to attract any attention. Gordon started to notice the trees started the decay the further into the forest they went. Half an hour passed and the leaves were no longer the luscious green they were at Ravenholm, they were now dark and crispy, whenever the ATS rolled over them sickening crunches echoed throughout the wasteland this forest was becoming. The trees were now shattered remains and life started to disappear. The storm got heavier, rain started battering the ATS, making large clanking noises. In the near distance, a large weaving structure could be seen just over some hills. A radio beside Gordon burst into life and Barney's voice came through.

"Ok, I got the radio sytem up and running. Up ahead is Intersection 16, won't be long now. Be careful, Gordon- we're entering the badlands, this is where all the radioactive shit and dead bodies were dumped, be ready for hoardes of Zombies and 'crabs," the radio crackled and shut off, Gordon readied the cannon, peering through a red-dot scope for any signs of movement. About 10 minutes passed and Gordon noticed the mud dissipating to make way for Radioactive sewage and dead bodies floating here and there. The geiger meter on his suit went haywire making it harder for him to listen for zombie moans or Headcrab screeches. Suddenly an explosive barrel bobbed from under the sewage and Gordon heard Barney curse before slamming on the AST's breaks, the vehicle shuddered to a hault and tapped the edge of the barrel, causing it to explode, sending carcass and radioactive sludge all around the area. The AST was knocked back and the tracking attached to a large wheel got stuck in a barrel dumpage spot. The radio crackled to life again.

"Gordon, we've stuck in a barrel pit, it's too dangerous to remove the things by hand, try to reach that house on the way up there, see if there's anything we can use to jack the tire tracks up!" Barney's voice fizzled out and Gordon pushed back the metal shielding, planning his form of escape from this radioactive cesspit. He spotted a nearby crate with a motionless zombie positioned across it. With his pistol readied, Gordon crouched and tip-toed his way off the vehicle and towards the crate, aiming at the still headcrab attached to the civilians head. He shot thrice at the 'crab and a slow moan echoed throughout the pit and it was silent again, apart from the pitter patter of rain. Gordon hopped onto the crate, causing it to slowly submerge- he hopped again to the trailer of a semi-truck; he was safe for the time being. A few zombies arose from the bubbling sewage, but Gordon quickly shot them down before they got close to him. He spied a row of barrels stood upright just ahead, he leaped and just caught onto the first one, which bobbed and turned to it's side, panicking he leaped to the end of the line and onto a patch of dry land. He sighed to himself and turned to the AST to see if Barney was ok. As he did a piece of piping bounced off his head, thrown by a zombie he had neglected to shoot. He stumbled back and knocked into another zombie that fell over and impaled himself on the piping just thrown at Gordon, which had lodged itself in some mud. Panting, Gordon stepped over the dead zombie and walked towards the small house just ahead, pistol by his side.

As he neared the house, he noticed a second floor window flooded with light, before turning dark again. Combine? Possibly. Though he personally hoped it was just some civilians escaping the harsh brutality of City 17. A poison headcrab leaped in front of Gordon and he lost his footing, shooting randomly to kill the beast, it flopped dead. Gordon saw a Male Paramedic civilian stood in the upstairs window, he motioned something and turned around, mouthing something Gordon couldn't hear due to the intense storm that was starting to unroot rotted trees. Gordon sprinted towards to house and opened the door. Inside he shook himself off and heard a clatter coming from upstairs. The male civilian ran straight down them and locked himself in the kitchen.

"Get out, man! Get out while you still can! I don't know who you are...but get out!" came a petrified voice from the kitchen. Another clatter came from upstairs, Gordon heard a woman screaming in pure terror, swapped his pistol for a- Crabopod? He sighed, realising how helpful that could've been in moments passed. He put the crabopod back, pulled out his SMG and edged up the stairs with his back against the wall. As he reached the landing, he saw a woman being visciously torn apart by a foe he had never seen before, her entrails were strewn around the room, and her corpse was a mangled mess. Gordon swallowed and crept towards the monster, before he could surprise it a floorboard beneath him creaked. The beast instantly swung around, alarmed. Gordon now the saw it in it's disgusting glory. It had a huge head with two beady eyes and four long teeth that extended from his cheeks added to that were four spindly claws coming from the sides of it's head, it had a long thing body with four arms that looked like sticks, and two thin legs. It was like a headcrab had mated with a 7 year-old tree. It curled it's four arms around and struck Gordon with each one simultaniously.

They stabbed into his HESE suit, instantly draining it of all it's battery power. Blue currents ran up the creatures arm and through it's neck into it's head, the head began pulsing and the creature exploded, sending bile-coloured blood and innards all over the room, the explosion caused the creaky floorboards to give way to the room underneath, the garage. He leaped down and found a couple of batteries that took him back up to 48 power and a door behind him opened, the male civilian from earlier trembled in, "Oh man...M-Mary...she...it came from nowhere, it..." he stumbled out of the room and sat on a couch with his head in his hands, sobbing silently. Gordon scavenged through the stuff in the garage and found a metal Grit collector, that would work perfectly on the Tank. Gordon picked up the bin and stood beside the depressed civilian. "Just...just go, please...i'll be ok", Gordon nodded and walked outside, trudging towards the tank. As he reached the sewage, he heard a gunshot come from the house over his geiger meter. Gordon looked back, a bottom window of the house had been newly sprayed with blood, he lowered his brow and put the bin down, wondering how to trasport it across this pit. Before he could think of anything logical, a fast zombie came hurtling towards him, Gordon jumped out of the way and fumbled around for a weapon, he pulled out the Crabopod and threw it as far away as he could, about 5 Zombies and headcrabs arose from the sewage and stumbled after the crabopod. He picked up the bin and started leaping across barrels and discarded crates to the AST. He wedged the bin between the back wheel and a few dented barrels and knocked on Barney's door. The ATS quickly pulled out of the pit and Gordon hopped on, climbing back into the Gunners-seat, the radio crackled to life.

"Great work Gordon, but your suit's got holes all over it, what the hell happened up there?" Barney asked. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Barney muttered something to himself and the radio switched off. They moved on for an hour or so more, bumping over dead Soldiers and Civilians and shredding them up when they were caught in the saws at the back. Eventually, the storm started to settle down and Gordon's geiger meter drained. The sewage turned into conctrete and grass and Intersection 16 was just ahead, past a 20 odd metre stretch of water. Barney spotted a small cabin ahead in which there was a Vortigaunt and a couple of resistance workers. They pulled up beside the cabin and got out. "Welcome to the Intersection 16 watch-post, I am Phamzaz and these are Stephen and Graeme." said Phamzaz, bowing. Graeme smiled, "It's an honour to meet you, sirs." and walked inside the cabin again. He emerged seconds later with two pontoons and a box of tools. He gave a pontoon to Stephen and they started to attach them to the AST.

"My brother sent me a message of your arrival, I assume all was fine?" the Vortigaunt asked, "Yeah, we had some trouble getting your brother to allow us use of this tank, but everything else was a walk in the park" Barney said, with a sarcastic tinge. "I'm afraid my brother can be stubborn but forgive him, please. He has seen two interworld wars and lost most of his family," the workers walked in after attaching the pontoons to the side of the AST. Stephen picked up a notepad and started writing things down and Graeme turned to Gordon and Barney, "The pontoons are attached just fine, we've wired it up so you have to press the cupholder button to lower them, good luck!" he saluted Phamzaz and checked on Stephen. Phamzaz smiled and continued, "Once you reach the other side, you are on your own, we cannot help you in any way. Be alert, as a monster of unknown proportions lies within the heart of Intersection 16. A monster I have only dared to see from here. Many brave travellers have met their demise to it's devastating power. Watch out, even for a legend such as the Free Man it is still a great danger to you both." he bowed and started tapping something into the console. Barney and Gordon got back into the vehicle and a click and whirring was heard as the pontoons lowered. The radio crackled to life, "You heard him, Gordon. We have to be extra special. Good luck, buddy." Gordon looked back, he saw Phamzaz and the workers waving and saying their well-beings, before retreating back into the cabin to work. The storm eased off as they reached the other side, and Barney parked the tank beside a huge pillar holding up part of Intersection 16. It was a huge structure that stretched for miles, in the distance city walls could just be seen peering over the lowest road on the Intersection, and the Citadel's shape could only lightly be seen behind them.

Barney got out of the tank and lowered the saferty shield allowing Gordon to jump out, too. He looked in the distance, past a huge circular ravine, to an even larger Combine Wall covering a small, muddy cavern. Barney slammed the side of the tank and shook his head, "Damn, it looks like the Combine's blocked the passage to City 16! You go inside and look for something to blow that bastard up, I'll wait here with the tank....and hurry, Gordon. The Combine send Scanner Patrols every few hours." Gordon looked to the side and saw a small abandoned Control Room, arming his APR he walked in.

Inside he collected some Pistol magazines and noted an unoperational lever beside a HEV recharger He used it to replenish his HESE suit. There were three doors before him, a large metal one and two average wooden ones beside him. He headed into one, which was the Men's restroom, to check his puncture wounds. Inside there were three fawcets with mirrors above, and three cubicles adjacent. He carefully edged towards the first fawcett/mirror set, aiming his Pulse Rifle from side-to-side, but all seemed clear. Gordon turned to his side and examined the holes, they were patching themselves up nicely, however on a couple of them, a strange green glow was emitted from within. He shrugged it off as the HESE's healing process and placed his hand on his face. He hadn't seen himself properly in a mirror since Black Mesa. Whether it was stress induced or the fact that his time in slow-time-warp wasn't so slow, he was looking a lot older. He had large bags underneath his eyes and his cheeks were starting to mould to the pattern of his Skull. Considering he was (still) only 27, he looked like he'd been smoking for a few years. In the mirror he noticed a door behind him slowly creak open, and jumped back when he saw there was a headless body slumped against a seat inside. If he had chosen to, he would've shouted an obscenity as the body rose and drug itself towards him. Gordon noticed that there was a black, leech type thing stuck to his back, sucking juices and marrow from his spine. Carefully aiming, he pulled the trigger of his APR and the bullet went straight through the Leech Zombie's rotting chest and into the Leech itself, making it explode. The body fell, dead and cold and Gordon leant against a wall and lowered his head, breathing heavily.

Somewhere high above City 14, a Scanner whirred through the decayed scenery towards a huge, winding structure commonly referred to as Intersection 16. It instantly spotted a resistance member knelt beside a Resistance Vehicle and sent off a silent alarm to Combine Control. It flew down toward the solitairy man and chirped, he fell back and slowly wormed towards the tank, hoping he could grab his gun in time, before it- CLICK! Barney was temporarily blinded, and heard a chirp and a flutter before his vision came back. It had gone, and the Combine would be arriving soon. Gordon had better hurry up...

Gordon dawdled out of the bathroom and saw a bright light flash from the corner of his eye, he turned towards it and saw a dazed Barney being hounded by a Scanner . His heart dropped slightly and he perked up, knowing time was of the essence. He pulled open the metal door and descended a long line of steps into a rectangular room harbouring half-built and half-destroyed machinery, there was a large curved panel of glass at the left side of the room, Gordon walked up to it and looked out, it was the heart of Intersection 16. There were four tube-chambers with three energy balls pulsing up and down each, orbiting a large corroded metal fountain type thing, which at the top had a large Scanner-type thing with a cracked red light. He noticed that the energy balls, if compressed into his probably blow that Combine wall away. Gordon lowered his Rifle and knocked an iron maiden, it creaked open and a clear-gass bridge lit up with blue lights, curving towards a small room suspended in mid air.

He cautiously walked across this bridge, turning from side to side to catch out hidden enemies. He finally reached the small "room", which was now revealed to be an elevator with a screen in it. Gordon flicked a switch and the elevator lurched and started falling down, the security screen flickered on, and a man looking amazingly like a younger G-man started speaking.

"Hello, and welcome to INTERSECTION 16," Gordon could clearly see that the name of the intersection had been electronically inputted. "I am Charles Wright, and I'll be your guide for today. Please don't be frightened by the elevator's alarming speed, we're just preserving..." the screen flickered to the actual G-man and Gordon jumped back, adjusting his glasses, "..time, Mr. Freeman..." the elevator came to a halt and the screen switched off. Gordon, still slightly trembling, surveyed his surroundings. He was on a platform, and there was a room behind him with three deficated windows. In front of him there was a large circular mangle of machinery and wires, the bottom of the heart of the Intersection. Some cords were hanging loose, and sparks flew in areas where fallen rocks had snapped or crushed them. He heard a scuttering, and a leech jumped out at him. He shot it down and walked into a room beside him and had a look around for...anything, really. He picked up some SMG rounds and noticed a diagram on the wall, which- from the diagrams illustrations and strange Xenian encodings Gordon figured was a guide on how to raise the heart. From the blueprints, he noticed that the heart had to be raised by way of three power switches on the bottom of it, he looked outside of the room and sure enough, there were three switches, but he was struck by one huge flaw: there was no power. He would have to resore power to the whole place...his attention was drawn to a huge blueprint on a desk in the corner of the room. It was a diagram of the bottom of the heart, there were around about 12 metal arms that retracted when the Heart's warm-up procedure was induced. To turn them on, he would have to go into the Belly of the Beast and press the button which set them off.

He walked out of the room and leaped onto a huge mechanical arm, there he kicked a few small rocks away and pushed some of the larger ones from it. Leaping down, Gordon landed on a huge pebble and hopped off it. He was in a small, dark basement; water dripping from various pipes overhead. A huge terminal crackled to life in the corner of the room and the voice of the young man from the elevator burst through static again. "Welcome to our Power Department Mr. Gordon Freeman," the final part of this sentence was spoken in a robotic tone, as if it had been plastered on from a database of names. It shocked Gordon a tad bit, until he realised it was supposed to do that. The man went on, "In here is where all of the facility's power is controlled. When this short tutorial finishes, a keypad will emerge from beneath the terminal, simply input your BEAC-CODE and you have control over the whole station, thank you for joining us at COMBINE CONTROL! Goodbye, Mr. Freeman" the terminal shut off and a light burst into life above Gordon, flickering. A small lit-up keypad appeared from the terminal. As he fiddled with different combinations of numbers, a wooden door behind him started rattling. He turned around and fell back as four or five Zombies smashed through. He shot anywhere and managed to kill 3 of them, however two of them were still moving towards him. Pulling out a grenade, Gordon tore the pin from it and threw it at a zombie, knocking it back into the other one. He shielded his eyes as yellow pus and blood flew around the room. He stood up and brushed himself off, though some goo still remained stuck to his Lambda logo, he looked down and saw a half-burnt Staff Keycard, there were 6 numbers and a half scorched name at the bottom, engraved in. Gordon was stumped as to what to do with the terminal, so he tried that combination on the card. It worked, and the screen turned on again. A picture of a young man with multiple personal details were displayed, a feminine voice played from behind it. "Welcome back, Sergeant Lee T. Akok. You have three emails..." a mixture of clicking and whirring erupted from the old terminal, and three pieces of paper came out of a Fax machine beside Gordon. Curious, he flicked through them. Just two spam mails and one entitled 'Black Mesa Report', he sat on an old wooden chair and cafefully read it.

"Black Mesa Report

- William J. Rawler, Unit 3

MISSION SUCCESSFUL

Stat report:

Subject(s) eliminated

202 soldier deaths, 12 friendly.

140 known enemy deaths.

1 unknown dissapearence, considered AWOL or dead.

Officers report:

We arrived at the Black Mesa Research Facility on Monday, 14th July, 1996, 1306 hours. Mission: Eliminate Gordon Freeman and peers. Within 5 minutes of arrival, the enemy opened fire and a helicopter was shot down, 30 deaths were reported. Some of our squadron was seperated from the rest of the group, now presumed AWOL or deceased. Immidieately our team flanked the right side of the Black Mesa Research Facility. Three of the team were killed by enemy fire. Subject: Gordon Freeman spotted at 1345 hours by Team C inside Facility D-1. 34 casualties and loss of over 15 scanners and turrets. Subject escaped through ventilation ducts. 16 secondary subject eliminations. Subject spotted again at 1420 hours outside facility, subject escaped again; 20 more friendly deaths and two helicopter deaths. Radio message from Corp. Shepard, Adrian at 1532 hours, final known spotting of Freeman walking into "teleporter". Shepard's dissapearence from map at 1534. Presumed dead. Remaining soldiers evacuated from facility at 1606 hours after reportage of Nuclear Misile being activated. At 1700 hours we returned to base, a single report comes in of Black Mesa's destruction.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

-Team A, 12 deaths, 14 casualties, 16 survivals.

-Team B, 42 deaths

-Team C, 41 deaths, one unknown abscence.

-Team D, 30 deaths, 12 survivals

-Team E, never arrived, presumed all dead.

-Team F, all choppers killed, 42 deaths

-1 peliminary subject death

-50 secondary subject deaths

-90 enemy deaths

Comments:

Sergeant Akor, sir;

The enemies we report of...weren't just terrorists strapped with AKs. They were monsters, mutants...aliens. I don't care if it's confidential, sir. I want to know what the hell happened up there at Black Mesa. We can't tell families that their sons and husbands were killed by morons with guns. That's an understatement. These things were unstoppable. They could shoot energy, make your head explode by crying and take over your body by latching onto your head. Jesus, it was like hell. Some teams who never even knew of the Black mesa incident have reported sightings on alien type creatures that we saw there. I demand a full explanation or I'll tell the world about this.

I would also like to note that the Government Man seen patrolling our basecamp was at Black Mesa. Strolling through "aliens" as if it were nothing. Who is he and how did he sneak onto the grounds without us knowing? We had EVERY entrance covered.

.I want answers, Lee. Send me the beacon when you're ready to talk. Here's my beacon code.

BEAC-PASS 100654 ZX81"

The rest of the page were just names of those deceased, including scientists. He was surprised to see the likes of Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner on there, it seems they do cover up failed missions. Go figures. He stopped with the nostalgia and got to work. Gordon looked through Sergeant Lee T. Akor's files to see if there was any way he could switch power on. Bingo, there was a password protected icon called "Distress Beacon". Gordon wuld have to work quick. He would have to set the beacon off, go upstairs and raise the structure to the top, take an energy ball and shoot it at the wall, escaping with Barney before the Combine discovered the beacon. It was dangerous, but it was their only chance of survival. Gordon used the beacon pass and- with crossed fingers- pressed enter. It worked and the arms slowly powered up. Gordon climbed up them and ran the the elevator before they could cut him up. As he hopped into the elevator, a large roar sound was head and the rocks started to tremble. He stabbed the 'up' button with his finger and the elevator flew towards the cieling. Gordon hopped out before the elevator had time to initiate it's "goodbye" message, and he ran through the rooms and up the stairs into the cabin. As he got to the cabin door, he saw a Combine dropship hover above Barney and the AST. Gordon was too late. Barney was being dragged kicking and screaming.

"Let go! Let go you alien assholes!" he struggled, but was eventually zapped by a Combine. They all chuckled, "We're is gonna love having you as a stalker, former Civil Protection officer Calhoun!" they all laughed again, harshly throwing Barney into the ship. Gordon ran out of the cabin and started shooting at the Combine Soldiers, instantly nailing two of them in the head. Four more popped out.

"Gordon! Gordon, help! They're gonna make me into a Stalker, Gordon! HELP!" Barney cried amidst the firefight in front of him. Tactical chatter clouded up the noise even more as Gordon shot another two Combine, taking some bad damage himself. He retreated to the Cabin and made use of the HEV charger inside. He ducked and rolled back out, 'ovely overkilling' another Combine. "Outbreak! Outbreak!" were the final screams of the final Soldier as Gordon readied his gun, but before Gordon could shoot the frightened soldier, a blue tentacle whipped from the large hole in the ground and pulled the Combine in. A sickening crunch was heard and a mangled corpse was propelled from the hole and landed on the dropship. It raised and flew into the distance, Gordon could just watch. He grimaced and ducked into the cabin, thoughts crowded his mind. What was that thing? How can he kill it? Is Barney going to be OK?. He cracked his neck and arms before pulling the lever and raising the beacon. He ran and hid behind a pillar and waited. Within seconds a terrifying roar was heard and another large blue tentacle thing slammed into the masonry, causing it to crack. Gordon dodged the falling rocks and ran from behind the pillar, shooting in the thing's general direction. Here he finally saw "it". A large fountain stood rusting and dirty in the middle of the Intersection, crumbling rock around it, instant death-style, there were four large tubes combing from under the crumbling floor with pulsing energy balls in them. Corpses were attatched to various parts of it, reminding Gordon of Ravenholm. on top was a large flashing red light. But the star of the show was a sluglike creature curled around some bars at the bottom, six blue tentacles that looked more like whips made of pure blue energy were attached to it's side. Four were dangling in the air, one was poised for attack and another was toying with a zombie corpse.

It was around now that Gordon realised how helpful it could've been if he had a Gravity Gun, how the hell is he going to get those energy balls from the tubes? He hid in the cabin and slapped himself on the head for being so stupid. He had seen multiple ones in the New-Ravenholm storage room! His self-hate was crushed, along with a wall when a tentacle came through the wall and into the bathroom. It retracted and hit a tube, knocking an energy ball out of the chamber. The energy ball bounced into the fountain and underneath the monster. It exploded and the thing screamed and breathed heavily. Gordon got a few rounds in here, which did no damage at all to the beast. He would have to stand in a postion where the monster would hit the balls out of the tube and into itself. He circled the monster and ran back into the cabin. It did the exact same thing and hit itself with another energy ball. It roared and brought another tentacle into the game, swinging them both near Gordon causing him to jump. Gordon tried to use this "scissor" attack to his advantage and jumped near a tube.The thing swung it's tentacles, Gordon jumped to early and one tentacle hit him, paralysing his legs. It retracted and hit the tube, hitting it and damaging itself. The other tentacle hit the combine wall and made it crumble. If Gordon could use his legs again before he was killed, he could make the monster knock down the Combine wall and kill itself! He crawled behind a pillar and started hitting his legs, willing them to move, unbeknownst to him, a tentacle was slithering towards him. It grabbed one of his legs and flung him up onto one of Intersection 16's roads. It crumbled and fell, trapping a tentacle and knocking some power back into Gordon's lower body, he slowly got up, in terrible pain and braced himself. A female voice was emitted from his HESE suit. "Damage Critical! User Death Imminent. Health: 30". Gordon started to panic and he had a wild thought. He ran up to the fountain, jumped the gap and skidded underneath the alien. In his mind he had a flawless plan, he just hoped it would work. The monster got angry and raised it's five remaining arms. It swung them down towards Gordon, he winced and heard a scream. Opening his eyes he saw that his plan had worked. The thing had punctured itself 5 times. Instant-death style.

He smiled to himself and jogged towards the Cabin, happy that his legs were still in working order, he used the Health and the rest of the HEV rechargers. After calming himself down, he looked at the combine wall. He still needed a way to knock it down and was all out of ideas. He looked at the crushed tentacle, and around the room he was in. Three discarded cups, a plate of toast and a knife, a bin full of paper, half eaten food and some springs, a mini-fridge with some fridge magnets, a net and a Vacuum cleaner. Something in his brain clicked into place and he had an idea. He would make a weapon out of these simple items, in true Matlock style. He got the knife and started sawing off the crushed tentacle. It was a bit mangled, but it was fine. At the bottom of the severed tentacle he screwed the spring on. He took all of the magnets from the fridge-magnets and attatched them around the spring. He got the Vacuum cleaner and snapped off the part with the brush that sucks in dirt, leaving the plastic part that collects the dirt and the handle/ power button. He coiled the tentacle around a pipe inside the plastic tube, with the sharp edge just hanging out. He then bent the handle of the net and attached it to the end of the vacuum tube, to stop the tentacle slipping out, he would have to pull the handle downwards to be able to shoot the tentacle out. It would take up time, but it was his only choice. He ripped the plug from the vacuum and took the wires out, rewiring them to the power button and magnet, he had turned the vacuum into an electromagnet powered weapon! He would press it and the tentacle would rapidly shoot out, another click would pull it back. He knew his wasted days at University would pay off.

He tested his new contraption on, what he had nicknamed the Hydra's corpse, resting the vacuum handle on his shoulder he released the net and shot it, it went through the Hydra like a hot knife through butter and pounded the Combine wall, making it crumble. He repeated and eventually the wall plummeted, smashing the beacon and knocking the whole fountain structure back into the heart, a slam was heard and the floor started crumbling. Gordon quickly jumped into the AST and drove over the wall into the cave past it, dodging the crumbling floor. He put the brakes on and got out to watch the carnage, the whole thing crumbled into nothingness, including a large amount of Intersection 16, the size of the ravine was immense, Gordon walked close to the edge and looked down the ravine. It seemed to have no end. He looked back up and saw the G-man walk into the cabin moments before it was crushed by a rock, Gordon's heart skipped a beat, he never gets used to those strange appearences. He walked to the AST and smiled to himself, another win for the Alliance! Gordon hopped in and slammed the accelerate pedal, happy to be out of Intersection 16. As he sped through the cave a screen on the dashboard turned on, Gordon saw a male alliance worker in a HESE uniform, the video was slightly scrambled but easy to understand. "Mr. F-Freeman? Is-s that you-ou? We hav-ve you on rada-r now. You'll see us-s in abo-out an ho-ur. It's an hono-our to finall-lly meet you! We-e'll drop some supp-pplies up ahead." An explosion came through and the screen flickered. "What do y-you mea-an it-s escap-ped? God-damnit!" the screen switched off and the tunnel started to get dark, up ahead light poured through. Now Gordon's mission was to save Barney.

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I hope you enjoyed chapter two! Due to time restrictions, it's taken just over a week to write. Sorry for some bad description...but some stuff was hard to describe!

I will try to get some pictures of the weapon and monsters online. I hope it wasn't too cheesy to incorporate Adrian and the Hydra into this chapter. Don't worry, that's not the last you'll see of Corporal Shepard.

BTW, if anybody feels they would like to use any ideas from this and make a HL2 mod for it, I would happily comply. Email me at

- Xealos (Kylemacuk1234)

PS: Thanks for the help, Zaz!