Chapter 1:

A Prolouge to an Epilouge

The last train destined for escape from city 17 had begun its long journey. The hulking and massive Combine Citadel grew smaller and smaller as the train sped along the tracks, it's wheels rhythmically clicking against the old and rusted tracks.

Alyx Vance could see the Citadel falling apart from where she was at the Caboose. She was leaning against the safety railing alongside Gordon Freeman as she drew a happy, yet exhausted sigh of relief. As the train picked up speed, the rolling hills of the countryside slipped by them and soon gave way to thick and lush Evergeen forests.

"We did it Gordon... We did it!" Alyx said in pure joy as she looked over to the orange power-suited physicist, noticing how relaxed he looked. She may not have known Gordon for all that long, but she felt like running over and hugging him.

"Still not going to say anything, huh?" She half-joked. She didn't know whether or not Gordon was legitimately mute, or he just didn't like talking. Gordon glanced over to her, giving her a small yet warm smile as he shrugged...

That smile quickly changed when he noticed the tower glowing even brighter and subsequently explode with a near-deafening 'boom'. The shockwave soon hit them and the train shook violently Alyx yelled at Gordon to hold on, soon, a bright white light enveloped the land behind them and continued straight towards the train. Soon, the caboose was lifted off the tracks as Gordon and Alyx held on for their lives. The two were soon flung into oblivion as they were sucked into the light...

Gordon felt weightless as the light consumed his body, it was surprisingly cold. The explosion seemed to be more force than anything else, an unconscious Alyx floated peacefully by. Gordon grabbed onto a nearby price of debris and propelled himself towards her. Once in range, he reached for her hand and grabbed it tightly, bringing her close. They floated together in limbo until Gordon felt a sudden tug from behind, he turned and saw a small man-sized vortex a few feet behind them, drawing them closer. Gordon and Alyx were helplessly pulled into it by its gravity, Gordon holding on to Alyx, bringing her with him as Gordon hit the event horizon and blacked out when a tin can flew at his head...

Gordon fell to concrete ground with a loud thud, he felt pain all over his body, specifically his ribs which he hoped to good weren't broken.

"*beep beep* major fractures detected, administrating Morphine..." the onboard computer in his H.E.V. suit beeped as it inject morphine into his bloodstream. The pain-relieving drug flowed through him, making him feel light-headed, he still needed to find a first aid kit or a Doctor but the Morphine will keep him going for now. He slowly, and painfully stood up and took in his surroundings, from the looks of it, he was in an alley way in a city, he heard the rumbling of car engine and saw them pass by at the end of the alley, looking up he could see a dark night sky and make out the little stars in space. Alyx had been more fortunate with her landing, she lay quietly on a dirty mattress on top of several trash bags next to a dumpster, snoring quietly. Gordon hobbled over to Alyx and gently shook her shoulder. She moaned slightly and rolled away from Gordon. "Five more minutes, mom-..." She said sleepily, blissfully unaware of her situation. Gordon shook her more firmly, causing her to finally wake up. She blinked several times before waking up "G-Gordon? ow..." She said as she got up "where... Where are we?" She asked, Gordon had no answer. He helped her up to her feet and she looked around, evaluating their current situation. The Spas-12c shotgun Alyx had grabbed in the citadel had its grip sticking out of a trash can which she gladly retrieved, she quickly fashioned a carrying sling out of a seatbelt and slung it over her shoulder. "Well Gordon, I think it'll be easy to find other people, but as soon as we can find out where the hell we are, the better..."

Gordon nodded in agreement and looked to the exit. Suddenly, three figures entered the alley, apparently already in a conversation amongst themselves. They seemed to not notice Alyx or Gordon, they also were wearing some sort of animal hats with ears. "Hey, you three! We're lost, can you tell us were we are?" Alyx asked the three strangers that came into the light of a flickering lightbulb, Gordon and Alyx were able to get a better view of them, the animal hats they were wearing seemed to be attached to them, like physically attached to their heads, as if they were real ears. They also wore white masks with red markings on them. "You're lost little girly?" The one in the middle laughed and drew a strange handgun and aimed it at Alyx, the one to the left him pulled out a metal chain and swung it like a whip, and the one on the right grabbed a steel pipe off the ground. They seemed to not have noticed Gordon yet who was still hidden. Alyx readied herself and slowly moved her hand to her shotgun. "Well, allow me and my friends to show you around... Get her!" The 'leader' yelled, the guy with the pipe rushed at her, only to catch a chest-full of 12 gauge buckshot pellets, sending him flying backwards towards the other two while screaming in pain. The leader was knocked down but the girl with the whip rolled under her ragdolled accomplice and rushed at Alyx, swinging her chain wildly. Only for her to be smashed by a crate launched by Gordon with his Gravity Gun, knocking her out. "Get off me!" the leader yelled as he shoved the injured pipe-weilder off him and stood up, leveling his gun at Alyx and Gordon, the prior racking her shotgun, the latter readjusting his glasses and opting his Gravity gun for his signiture crowbar. "S-stay back! I'm warning you! I-I'll shoot!" He threatened, but those threats fell upon deaf ears, Alyx fired her shotgun and blasted him back aswell, he collapsed to the ground, wheezing and coughing. Gordon walked over to the the leader and rested his foot on his chest, and Alyx squatted next to him and said softly "Lets try this again, Hello there. We're lost and we need to know where we are..." The leader stared back horrified "W-what?" he said shakily. "I asked you a question! where are we, god dammit!" She yelled and grabbed him by his collar. "Gah! D-downtown Vale!" He shrieked. "Thank you..." She said standing up. "For your co-operation..." Gordon stepped off of him and stood next to Alyx "Come on, Gordon. Let's go before more of them come..." Alyx noticed the pipe guy's wallet had fallen from his pants and she quickly went through it finding several plastic strips, each with a numerical value, she stuffed them into her pockets as they could be useful, then checked the girl for them aswell, finding more "These might come in handy, could be ID cards or money". She and Gordon left the alleyway quickly and left the three assailants to their fates.

They kept walking along the sidewalk as they passed several people, most of which steered clear of them, either because they were bloody and looked rather hostile or because they smelled like garbage...

The morphine Gordon took began to wear off as he clutched his ribs as he walked, Alyx lead him over to what looked like a noodle stand owned by an small old man who seemed to be squinting in the light to see them. "Excuse me, sir. Do you know have any medical supplies? Me friend here is pretty beat up" She asked kindly "Medical Supplies? This is a noodle stand not a medical surplus. Hospital is down the road. Now leave, you're scaring away the costumers!" Alyx reluctantly thanked him and helped Gordon walk to the hospital.

When they arrived through the door, they were almost immediately helped by the nurses. Gordon was put on a stretcher as a few doctors and nurses worked to remove his H.E.V. suit. Alyx followed the stretcher as he was rushed to the ER, however, a female doctor pulled her aside to ask her questions. Alyx gave one last glance at Gordon before looking at the doctor, "Don't worry, miss. Your friend will be fine. I'm Dr. Helena, I'd like to ask you a few questions..." Alyx noticed she had cat ears poking through her brown hair, the doctor didn't take any offense to her looking at them.

"Of course..." The doctor nodded and brought out a clipboard. "What's your name, miss?"

"Alyx Vance." the doctor. It is she started to fill out what seemed to be a patient form...

"And your friend's name?"

"Gordon Freeman"

"And are you two from around here?"

"No."

"Visiting from another kingdom?"

'Kingdoms?' Alyx thought to herself, 'okay this is going to be a bit difficult'

"Umm... No."

"So you two live out side the kingdoms?"

"You could say that..." she says slowy

"Miss Vance, your being quite vague, I need you to be more specific."

"I... Uhh... I'll try to be."

"Good, now tell me miss Vance, where are yo-" suddenly, a nurse run up to the doctor in a panicked state "Dr. Helena, come quick! There's something you need to see!" The doctor quickly followed the nurse to the ER where Gordon was, Alyx was hot on their heels. The doctor and nurse swing open the double doors and saw Gordon lying on a stretcher naked, save for an operating tarp and a large pad of gauss wrapped around his torso. Several monitors and computers beeped and whirred, however there was on that was going static which a nurse worked hard to trying to fix it. On a nearby metal tray, several bloody bullets of various calibers were layed out.

"Doctor Klaus, the patient appears to be stable but there's something wrong... I've run an Aura scan on the patient and found nothing. Every time we scan him the monitor just goes to static. Not only that, we've also removed several bullets from him, none of which I could match anything, and not a trace of dust on any of them. Have you every seen anything like it before?" The doctor shook her head "But I think some one has..." She turned to Alyx "Miss Vance, I need you to tell me where you two are from..." The doctor's cat ears twitched in frustration. "We're..." She sighed "We're not from here..." She said. The doctor scoffed and walked over to a nurse and whispered "Vall the police, and don't let that girl leave..."

Alyx could overhear them and started to panic, a nurse asked her to calmly sit down. Alyx couldn't hurt these people, the Combine didn't seem to be a problem here, and if they were just doctors, Alyx wouldn't exactly be the morally justified to kill them. She nodded and sat in a chair in the far side of the operating theater. She noticed Gordon's H.E.V. suit crumpled in a corner next to her. She then watched the nurse pulled some sort of thin glass cellphone from his pocket and dialed the police, "This is bullshit..." She said to herself. A few minutes passed before the doctors finished up with Gordon, the police had yet to arrive, she hoped that maybe they might have taken but unfortunately their was a knock on the doors. The knocking had apparently startled Gordon as he just woke up, and was confused as to why he was in a hospital. A nurse opened the door for two uniformed officers and another man with white hair wearing a black overcoat, a green scarf and glasses, he seemed a bit out of place to Alyx.

"Good evening, miss..." the man started, "I am Professor Ozpin..."

A/N debating whether or not to add some more bois from Half-Life in later chapters. Specifically, Shephard and possibly a combine invasion. Plenty of stuff Shephard could do in remnant, might add in Original Characters as well, and don't be discouraged thinking they're some edgy half demon half angel things, it'll just be some generic HECU Marines or Black-Ops for our boi Shep to command since I absolutely loved the commanding mechanic for the HECU. Hope this chapter isn't terribly short, I'll try to upload once a month at the latest.