Subject: Ayita Shephard, Female

Age: 16

Training: Vortal Combat (secondhand), HECU Urban Warfare (secondhand)

Current Assignment: Human Resistance

Mission: Reconnaissance

17 Years After the Black Mesa Incident

Images rushed through Ayita's mind, some of them familiar to her; others were completely foreign.

She saw an Alien world and Alien sky; bright neon blue colors created streaks of light that made it appear like she was standing in a beam of light. Off in the distance silhouetted against the nebula and the star was a massive floating island; miles upon miles across and deep, and even taller than it was across.

A huge spiraling tower sprang up from its center, its appearance and design reminding her of those pictures from that old nut job writer H.P. Lovecraft. A red tinted sphere surrounded by claw-like rock formations was barely visible at the very top of it; Manta ray like flying Aliens orbited around where she stood.

It was an almost Ethereal beauty… Then everything shifted…

The stars began to turn from white and blue into red and green; the Ethereal beauty began to deteriorate into an almost Lovecraftian landscape. Bodies of Human, Vortigaunt, and Humanoid Aliens of races she had never encountered began to pile up around her.

Ayita could hear the voices; the alarmed sounds of other humans that were connected to the Vortessence like her. All of them were seeing the same vision that she was seeing now.

Through force of will, Ayita guided her consciousness to move forward; striving to ignore the bodies around her. She had seen this vision before, but it never got easier; still, she was progressing to the center.

She sensed that there was something there she needed to see.

Splash…

Looking down, Ayita saw her bare feet in the healing Xen pools; but unlike normal, where it would give her energy and accelerate the healing process of her injuries, it felt like it was sapping her energy instead.

Despite her best efforts, Ayita felt her legs give out after only a few seconds; and she collapsed to her knees, dimly aware that she was in her night clothes instead of her normal Vortal avatar.

She could already feel herself waking up, meaning that the vision was drawing to a close; but Ayita summoned the strength to look up one last time. Standing on an island at the center of the pool; were three figures.

One wore a rather gaudy blaze orange colored HEV suit; something Ayita had only seen in pictures, but recognized instantly.

A second wore a simple blue business suit; and Ayita gave an involuntary shudder upon seeing him. The Man was clearly Not Man, the Vortessence seemed to be repelled yet drawn by his very presence. He was quite ugly, and when he turned to look at Ayita, he gave a chilling smile while he adjusted his tie.

The third and final person was…

"DAD!" Ayita shrieked as she shot up out of her bed.

Upon seeing the familiar grey concrete walls of her room; Ayita groaned and rubbed her temples in exasperation. Another fucking useless vision. She thought to herself as her innate powers began to fluctuate with her emotions. Upon seeing green sparks begin to form from her hands, Ayita sighed and stood up from her cot; the lights were off, but Ayita's night vision made it so that it wasn't a bother.

After some quick stretches, she immediately turned her attention to an exposed electrical socket coming out of the wall; and promptly wind-milled her arms, green energy sparking from her hands while leaving a glowing trail as she built it up.

Then she threw her hands forward, and a bolt of green lightning arced from her hands to the electrical outlet; the lights of her room immediately flickering on as energy gave them the power needed.

Ayita cracked her neck and smiled as she examined the green tinted smoke coming from her hands; about half an hours' worth of energy this time, more than enough time, walking into her bathroom, she stopped to look at herself in the mirror.

Her chocolate brown hair fell past her shoulders to the small of her back; a choppy uneven mess that her mother had given up trying to contain it when she was little. Her mother had stated that she was of 'Native American Descent', whatever that meant.

Ethnic backgrounds had largely stopped mattering to others in the wake of the invasion.

According to her mom, her father and she were supposed to have been on opposing sides during the Black Mesa Incident; despite being friends outside of 'work'. She had been a Black Ops assassin, and he had been an HECU Marine; her mother hadn't run into her father until midway through the disaster.

The Black Ops had been sent in to kill everyone and everything that wasn't them. But according to Ayita's mother at least, the two of them had loved each other so much they couldn't bring themselves to kill each other.

Instead, the two had disobeyed orders and worked together to fight and survive through the disaster, two days of cat and mouse games against the Aliens and the rest of the Black Ops divisions; culminating in her parents disabling a nuke, before trying to escape after someone reactivated it.

In the final hours, the two of them had gone from close friends to Lifemates; and had… taken their relationship up to another level in anticipation of their fiery demise. Finally, they fought an Alien known as the Gene Worm and killed it, before both of them were teleported away.

Her mother, over a dozen Kilometers outside of the nukes blast radius, and her father… well no one knew; he had simply vanished off the face of the planet leaving her mother, unknowingly pregnant, to face the destruction of humanity alone.

Only a few months after the Resonance Cascade, the Seven Hour War began; ending in humanity's total defeat. Earth had become just another backwater post to the Combine Empire; drained of her resources, while its populace was kept under the boot of a puppet fascist dictatorship.

Many former soldiers that managed to survive the war had either become a part of the Lambda resistance; or had simply given up and joined up in the Conscripts, or if they were truly desperate or sociopathic, the Overwatch.

Of the original seven billion humans on Earth, only two billion remained.

Most were kept in the cities; under the direct authority of the Consul, who had negotiated Earth's surrender and answered to the Combine directly. Two Billion had died during the subsequent Portal Storms, waves of Xenian wildlife, and the Seven Hour war.

Another two billion had been enslaved; brainwashed and augmented, either willingly or unwillingly, to create the Overwatch divisions. Even then, only a few hundred million remained posted to Earth; all the rest of the brainwashed Cyborgs were scattered throughout the multiverse, to be used as cannon fodder for the Empire.

The other one billion had been killed throughout the years; those useless to the Combine, and those that were in the wrong place and ran into bored CP's, or died to the Xen wildlife that now covered most of Earth.

Or above all were found resisting the Combine's iron fisted rule.

Everyone else was now used for the 'betterment' of the Universal Union; in other words, humanity as a whole was now just slaves for the Combine.

Not even children were spared of this.

Ayita, like many children conceived after the Resonance Cascade, had a connection to the Vortessence, and the powers that came with it. Children born with the Gift were immediately taken away from their mothers, and experimented on by the Combine; both to try and figure out how a species like humanity could develop such power, and likely to remind humanity of how powerless they truly were that they couldn't even protect their own children.

Taking off her nightclothes, Ayita starred into the mirror; her eyes glowing green from her power.

She studied every scar, every bruise, every scrape, and every cut on her body that she managed to procure over the last week since she last showered. Master Sergeant Zaeed Massani always told her that in the old world she would have been considered knock out gorgeous, and she could understand what he was talking about.

Smiling, she quickly stepped into the shower, and bracing herself she turned the first valve.

Freezing cold water slammed into her hair; and Ayita hissed at the drop in temperature, and the stinging sensation was almost overwhelming, but she endured it. It was something she was used to after all, having done this ritual hundreds of times in her life.

Scrubbing the dirt off of her body and out of her hair; the process only took about one minute.

Quickly shutting the cold water off; Ayita shivered and propped herself against the wall of the shower, her hands sparking as she held her head. I need you dad… we need you…

As another round of shivering wracked her body, Ayita quickly turned the second valve; and made sure her mouth and eyes were closed as she did so. The warm glowing blue goop of the Xen Pool liquids slammed into her head, coating her whole body, and filling Ayita with energy while it healed all of her injuries.

Giving a content sigh, Ayita closed the Valve and allowed the warm Xen liquid to stay stuck to her naked body for a full minute; before she reluctantly turned the valve for the ice cold water again.

Hissing even louder as the stinging water rained down on her, Ayita vigorously scrubbed her body; making sure every part of her body was clear of the Xen liquid. While it healed the body, it also carried with it the risks of de-aging your body unevenly if you stayed soaked in it for too long. An example being that her torso was the age of a six year old, but her legs were that of a twenty year old.

It had happened before; but you did have to stay soaked for a really long time for that to happen, days or weeks for that to happen. The research division of the Lambda Resistance was already working out how to try and use the liquid to de-age much older members of the resistance so they could keep the fight going.

But they just couldn't figure out the process, at least not yet.

But the other problem with the Xen liquid was that it was incredibly addictive, like morphine; so you were only allowed to soak in it for about a minute as a luxury, and it would only be given to you in emergencies. Not to mention the fact that it was incredibly toxic to ingest, since it would cause your Stomach and intestines to de-age to the point that they were more appropriate for an infant.

After she was finished scrubbing down her body; Ayita quickly grabbed a nearby wash towel and dried herself off, shivering the whole time she did so.

Once she was dry, she quickly walked to her storage locker at the foot of her cot; and pulled out her mother's Black Operations suit. The skintight black bodysuit left little to the imagination; but it was airtight, had temperature control, and allowed her to cloak herself when standing still.

The only problem was that it was incredibly weak; and left her very vulnerable.

Once Ayita had pulled her suit on, she pulled out the mask and clipped it to her belt; she still needed one other thing. Reaching back into the footlocker, she pulled out the Powered Combat Vest; her own PCV.

Master Sarge Massani had given it to her, claiming that it was her dad's spare vest from training.

Of course, she had needed to grow into it; but it fit now, if only barely. Quickly activating it, she charged up some electricity in her hands before putting them to her suit's energy plug. A soft buzz emanated from the Vest as it activated itself upon receiving power.

She stared at it for a long moment, before she decided that she wouldn't need it for the day; reluctantly setting the Vest back into her footlocker and locked it.

Sighing, she quickly did her choppy brown hair up in a bun; leaving the hood of her suit down around her neck. She wasn't going outside yet, so he could afford to keep it down for the time being.

Quickly surveying the room to make sure she was leaving nothing else behind; Ayita walked up to the iron bound hatch and opened it, walking out into the Frost Mine Base to grab some breakfast.

Ayita snapped to attention and cleared her throat as she walked into the mess area.

It wasn't really a mess area; it was just a multipurpose room that had the mess area mashed inside of it. In the pit area, there was the surgery table, the elevator to the surface airlock, and the weapons lockup; there was the tunnel to the sleeping quarters, and the four tunnels that led out into the antlion lairs and tunnels.

And then there was the mess/command area; which was where everyone would typically hang out and chat when not on duty.

The Command area was where all the communication equipment to the outside world was held; and it was kind of like the bridge to a ship in a weird sort of way. Commander Anderson had been a Navy SEAL in the old world; so it was probably a comparison that he would appreciate.

Said Commander gave Ayita a tired look upon hearing her clear her throat, before gesturing for her to grab some food; and turning his attention back to the communication screens, his Woodland Desert-Camo and old plate carrier giving him an almost archaic look.

All four screens were occupied today, one showing Dr. Kleiner and Commander Calhoun of City 17 across the ocean in Eastern Europe, the second showing Doctor's Mossman and Vance at Black Mesa East near City 17, the third showing Commander Hackett of City 1, and Doctor Chakwas of South Mountain.

Ulysses, their resident Vortigaunt and the one who had trained Ayita and many other gifted humans in how to harness and use the Vortessance; was currently powering the monitors, absently eating a cooked Headcrab.

Giving a nod, she grabbed a bullsquid steak and some mashed potatoes; sitting down at the table and started eating. As she did so, she listened in on the conversation being carried out on the monitors.

"The Teleport is coming along swimmingly Eli; Alyx has been a great help, I must say." Dr. Kleiner was saying.

"Yeah… keep telling yourselves that Doc, because… I still have nightmares about that cat." Commander Calhoun mumbled.

Ayita shuddered, having been at Black Mesa East when they had done that test.

The Vortigaunts, some of her fellow humans, and she herself had pooled their power to teleport her there and back in order for the Scientists to detect just how they did it.

Seeing that cat… It was one of the few times in her life that she had been genuinely traumatized by something.

"Yes, I would rather we make sure that it's working before we try anything like that again." Dr. Vance added, sounding uneasy.

"Hm… when can you get someone over here across the pond to start building a Teleporter here, South Mountain, and City 1?" Anderson asked as he shoved some mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"When we're done perfecting the ones we currently have; because I would very much rather not have a repeat of the cat incident." Barney replied, shuddering as he recalled the event in question.

"None of you guys have told us what was so bad about it." Hackett pointed out as he absently puttered around with some machinery in front of him.

"I don't really want to know what happened; but I will say the damned thing traumatized Shephard." Anderson noted, setting aside his dish while Hackett paused; peering up at his own screen.

"Huh… fair point, I don't think I want to know then." Dr. Chakwas admitted as she scribbled something down on her clipboard.

"In any case; something happened last night, all of the Vortal Humans on the base have reported seeing the exact same vision after waking up this morning." Eli reported as he looked over at Dr. Mossman, who looked rather grim; but then she always looked grim in Ayita's opinion.

Then as she processed the words, Ayita froze unintentionally; then went back to eating to try and hide the fact that she hadn't been eavesdropping. Unfortunately for her, Ulysses and Anderson had practically raised her after her mother had died; so they both knew to keep an eye on her at all times.

"Shephard!" Anderson barked, causing Ayita to jump a little.

Turning to look at the others, she sighed and shoved her plate away from her and walked up to stand next to Commander Anderson; the other Resistance leaders looking at her expectantly.

"Sir?" Ayita asked, knowing full well what they wanted.

"You're our resident Vortal Human, did you have this dream?" He demanded.

Ayita swallowed, she hated talking, preferring to use her Vortal abilities or have others do the talking for her. But like everything else in the universe, a Vortal Humans powers were limited by the distance between targets; so she couldn't telepathically communicate with the other people in the call. "Yes sir…" She replied quietly, not wanting to elaborate on it further.

But Ulysses, damn him, gave her a sideways look; and Ayita knew that he had heard her scream for her father in the Vortal Hive. "The Ayita Shephard would best share that which she alone saw where others were obstructed, or suffer dire consequences ahead." He stated, before returning to eating his headcrab.

The rest of the resistance leaders gave her curious looks, while Anderson glared at Ayita; swallowing again, she said "I was… I was at Xen in the dream. Then it shifted and I was in a lake of Xen liquid… but it sapped my strength rather than restore it. I managed to look up and I saw three people standing on an island in the middle of the lake." She explained, before coughing as her throat began throbbing at her talking so long.

Anderson's glare softened and rubbed his face; "Anything else Shephard?" he asked, his voice softening by a hair.

"It was filled with bodies… Human, Vortal, and other humanoid Aliens…" She cleared her throat, "And the people… one of them I didn't recognize, but I felt repelled by his very presence; like he was the one sapping my strength. One wore an HEV suit… and the last one was…" She looked away and mumbled the answer before coughing again.

"Who was the last one? Just answer that and you're done talking for the day." Anderson reassured her.

Her eyes brightened at the prospect of not talking for the rest of the day; and encouraged her to push through the pain in her throat and the emotional baggage. "It was my father."

Ayita stood in the elevator to the top of the victory mine shaft as it carried her upward.

After her revelation of seeing her father in her dream, Anderson had allowed Ayita the day off; provided no emergencies came up that is. Sighing and closing her eyes, Ayita allowed her mind to drift somewhat as she continued upward to the exit tunnel; already feeling the whispers of the Vortessence as she opened her mind somewhat.

Her mother had always tried to teach her that being an individual was important; and Vortal humans took that lesson to heart. They all were self-reliant as a rule; and while that made them incredibly resilient, it also led to a lonely life.

Only other Vortal humans truly understood each other; that they did not perceive time linearly as other humans did. Their weaker connection to the Vortessence and more 'grounded souls' meant that they did not exist outside the bounds of time or space as their Vortigaunt Mentors and other Xen races did; but they could still see many divergent and potential timelines if they chose too.

But none of them knew which timeline they were in; more specifically, they didn't know which future they were approaching.

So it was understandable that Ayita cut herself off from the Hive quite regularly; she didn't want to see the dozens of differing reactions and potential questions whenever she walked up to a person to talk to them.

And it was pretty uncomfortable knowing everything everyone in the hive was thinking at the same time; just as they could do with her. Ayita was just glad that the more… 'active' Vortal's understood common courtesy and would cut themselves off from the hive during their 'activities'.

That was one benefit to seeing time non-linearly Ayita supposed.

Plus, it was incredibly difficult for her and other Vortal's to narrow down what they saw, felt, and experienced to the incredibly limited vocabulary of the English language. So it was simpler to use imagery, impress upon others minds what they thought or intended, or just simply telepathically relay what she was thinking about to the person.

BEEP!

Startled out of her thoughts, Ayita quickly drew her mind back into herself; and put on her gas mask in preparation for going through the airlock.

"Heya Shep, how's it going kid?" a familiar voice asked.

Closing her eyes and giving an annoyed huff; Ayita turned to Jenkins, one of the base's medics and the local chatterbox. It never failed to irritate her that he called her kid, even though he was only nineteen. He always seemed eager to converse with anyone, but Ayita and Ulysses seemed to receive his curiosity the most.

Likely on account of their Vortal abilities.

Knowing that Jenkins would simply keep badgering her until she answered, Ayita just shrugged; and using her powers, she made an arrow pointing towards the airlock. Following the arrow with a fascinated look on his face, he nodded; "Oh you're going outside eh? While you're out there could you do me a favor?" he asked.

Giving another annoyed huff; Ayita crossed her arms and allowed her eyes to glow as she impressed on the Medic her impatience to get outside. Her nonverbal message was clear, get on with it.

Jenkins winced as he felt her impatience wash over him, but carried on regardless; "Alright, alright don't get your panties in a twist; if you even wear them under that suit." He cut himself off as he felt the pressure on his mind increase and the impatience turned to rage.

"EXCUSE YOU!?" Ayita snarled in his mind, letting Jenkins know that he had fucked up badly; if Ayita was speaking to him telepathically as opposed to using her imagery and emotions to get her point across, then she was truly pissed.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! It just slipped out! Look I need medkits because we're running low; and the Commander hasn't gotten around to organizing a scouting party. OKAYOKAYOKAY! I'll ask the Commander then!" He yelped, quickly sprinting down the caves to the elevator and stairs; the pressure on his mind and the sparking of Ayita's gloved hands more than convincing him to leave her alone.

Huffing irritably, Ayita shook her head as she dispelled her power, striding towards the airlock to the outside.

"Good to see you remembered your mask Ayita." A second voice noted, sounding approving. Smiling lightly behind her gas mask, Ayita turned to the other man in the tunnel, Master Sergeant Massani.

He was terse, to the point; and knew better than to inquire about the Vortessence to her.

Giving a mock salute, Ayita walked to the door of the airlock and cycled it before opening it. As she did so, Massani added, "and don't mind that bloody idiot, he's just a hormonal teenager. He was right in that we need medkits though, so try and keep an eye out alright?"

Nodding while she allowed a wave of reassurance to brush against the older Rebels mind, Ayita walked through the airlock and shut the door behind her.

As the air cycled the relatively clean Oxygen, CO2, and nitrogen of the caves; it replaced it with the far more CO heavy air of the wastelands. While breathable, there were pockets where Methane and Carbon Monoxide that were too much to handle for humans; and they tended to come out of nowhere, hence her gas mask.

As the buzzer sounded, Ayita stepped outside; and looked upon the Magnificent Desolation that was her home.

Frowning, Ayita tilted her head; for a brief moment, she had felt something… alien. A Vortal signature not familiar to her, nor was it like any of the Synths and slaves of the Combine or the Xenian Wildlife. Shaking her head, she shrugged it off; the feeling had been so brief, that it was fairly likely she had imagined it.

She had to have imagined it...

Right...?

"Kheelah… imagine us, two pilgrims involved in perhaps the greatest scientific expedition in recent history." Seventeen year old Cato'Zorah Nar Rayya exclaimed to his older sister, watching through the only window in engineering as they approached the relay.

"I can't believe that I let you talk me into this Cato…" His older sister, Tali, grumbled good naturedly.

"I can't believe Auntie 'Raan convinced father to let you go on your pilgrimage with me." Cato added jokingly as he turned his attention back to his consoles.

Tali looked down and sighed, truthfully she was surprised as well; most Quarian's that went on their pilgrimage went at around seventeen or eighteen, but it mostly depended on their clan deciding on whether or not they were ready to leave and travel.

Her father had been quite clear that he didn't want her to go, and had held her back from leaving for quite a long time; and with his pull as an Admiral there wasn't much anyone could do about it anyways.

At least until her brother came of age, at which point she had practically begged her father to be allowed to go on her pilgrimage; seeing it as her last shot at being able to leave the fleet for a time.

He really had not wanted her to leave but her Aunt 'Raan, a fellow Admiral, had finally stepped in and layed a verbal smackdown on Tali and Cato's father.

Afterwards, Rael had relented and allowed them to travel on their pilgrimage on one condition; they both traveled together everywhere, that way they both could keep each other out of trouble. He had always been overprotective of both of them after their mother had died giving birth to Cato when Tali was only six; so he likely wanted them to always be together.

Cato for his part didn't notice his sister's internal musings as he quickly typed in commands at his console.

They really had caught a break when they learned the Asari were hiring capable engineers for an expedition to an unknown system; and above all this was going to be a joint venture, all species were welcome if they had the talent.

In fact the Asari in charge of the expedition had hired the two of them on the spot. Over the vehement objections of the Turian that was in charge of security; some Council Spectre by the name of Saren, or something like that.

Oh it had been satisfying to see the look on the racist assholes face when he realized that he would have to tolerate 'Suit Rats' for the entire trip.

"I wonder what we'll find on the other side." Cato suddenly wondered, while Tali gave him a sideways look.

"I don't know, probably more worlds rich in resources." She replied.

"Hm… maybe we'll find a new species; now wouldn't that be exciting." Cato pondered.

"Provided they aren't hostile; quite interesting I would think." A new voice added, startling both Quarians to look at the newcomer, fearing that it might be an officer or supervisor.

To their relief, it was a rather young looking Asari in a lab jacket. She looked quite shy and uncomfortable, and seemed somewhat taken aback with herself for speaking. "I… sorry, was this a private conversation?" She asked shyly.

"Not at all!" Cato exclaimed before Tali could say anything, "I'm hoping we can find a new species; it would be fascinating, I think, to learn about new cultures."

"I hope there are Prothean ruins to study; it's my speciality of course, I didn't go through years of university to let my degree go to waste. Oh, where are my manners, my name is Dr. Liara T'Soni; Archeologist." She said, giving the two Quarians a warm smile.

"My names Cato'Zorah Nar Rayya, and this is my older sister Tali." Cato replied, much to his sister's annoyance.

Liara blinked, "Oh so you two are related."

"Yes, last we checked…" Tali snarked as she typed in commands into her.

Liara winced, "S-sorry, i didn't mean any offence; it's just that-"

"You've never seen Quarian siblings? Eh, it's not rare but it's not common either. I'm a lottery kid, meaning our parents won the fleet lottery to have a second child in order to maintain our population." Cato explained, ignoring his sister's glare of warning about revealing too much about the fleet.

"Ah yes, keep your population in check and maintain it at the sametime. I must admit that is an almost Turian level of discipline, that alone impresses me; but your calibrations to the engines have done so even more." A flanging voice interjected. The group turned to see a Turian staring at them, looking amused; "Garrus Vakarian, Citadel Security." He said, nodding to each of them.

"So why did you come on this little adventure?" Liara asked the Turian before anyone could say anything.

"Simple, I was bored in C-Sec and my old man was constantly bearing down on me; so I figured this would be a nice change of pace for me." The Turian explained.

And so their conversation continued; they were in FTL running through the relay, in one of the most advanced Dreadnaughts in Council Space.

Nothing was going to happen; all of them were sure of it.

But even as they talked; no one noticed the figure standing above them on the catwalks. Dressed in a blue suit, purple tie, and with a briefcase in hand; the man gave a thin smile, cleared his throat and adjusted his tie, and walked out of sight.

A/N Pilot: Link to my discord is Pv2bv88, check my profile if it doesn't work.

For reference, Ayita is wearing the Black Op's Female Assassin Outfit from the cover art, mixed with Adrian Shephard's Gas Mask.

So yeah… I finally made a Half-Life/Mass Effect Crossover, something I have been meaning to do for a while now but I never got around to it. So you'll notice right off the bat that this is an AU for the Half Life side of things in more ways than one.

I had always liked the original story ideas and designs pitched for Half Life 2; the more Gothic architecture and dark appearance, the more overtly Orwellian appearance and rule of the original City 17. Don't get me wrong, I love Half Life 2's story; I love how it subtly builds up the Orwellian atmosphere that humanity finds itself in, rather than be in your face about it.

But i'm trying to bring back some content in this AU, a lot of content Valve cut because they lacked technology; or because, while it was a great story idea and would look and sound awesome, it just wasn't fun to play in.

Which really was the clincher for many of their cuts and reworks; they looked, sounded, and seemed awesome, but they weren't fun to play in/with. 'Renegade Reinterpretations' by 'College Fool' is kind of the Crux of my argument. I love his story, and how it flips Canon on its head and how realistic it is with many of the situations and decisions you're forced to make in his version of the game.

But I wouldn't want to play it, because it just wouldn't be fun for me; because I don't know about you, but I like a story where there is some chance for a happy ending.

And while Entanglement takes place a continent away from HL2; there are still a lot of intentional parallels. The Victory Mine from Episode Two, is now an old Coal mine in the Appalachians called Frost Mine (a LOT of those laying about); Black Mesa East's expy is South Mountain, Maryland (there are rumored to be secret Government Research Bases underground at South Mountain; I'm skeptical about it at best, but feel free to look it up).

Ravenholm's expy is Cumberland, Maryland; since both actually look somewhat similar in terms of layout and architecture. Cumberland is more Gothic and Classical American in appearance, while Ravenholm is more Soviet and Classical European.

Another Concept that didn't make the cut (this time so HL2 didn't get slapped with an even harsher rating than Mature), which would have made HL2 both more and less Orwellian at the same time, was the inclusion of children. Less Orwellian because there's no suppression field, so humanity isn't doomed to immediate extinction within a generation; and more Orwellian because it gives the Combine a permanent slave base, and they're pretty in your face about it too by making children do slave labor.

So that is one of the two major Canon breaking changes besides the Inclusion of the Citadel Races; since there is now no suppression field.

The other major change being the "Vortal" humans like Ayita.

Canonically, Humans and Vortigaunts are almost exact opposites in everything that matters. Humans have Males and Females; while Vortigaunts are Mono-gendered while leaning more towards male mannerisms and appearance, like how Asari are Mono-gendered but lean towards female mannerisms and appearance.

Humans reproduce through intercourse and create a new soul; Vortigaunts… well we don't actually know for sure, but The Singing Vortigaunt from Half Life 2 implies that they reincarnate after death.

But above all, Humans are extremely individualistic; displaying no connection to the Vortessence canonically, at least so far as we know. The Vortigaunts however, are a hive mind of sorts; and display skills in wielding the Vortessence which includes electrical powers, telekinesis, healing, and able to perceive time and space non-linearly to the point of being able to exist outside of it.

So I couldn't help but think; what if humans were gifted in the Vortessence?

So Ayita and any other child conceived during and after the Resonance Cascade have something like a fifty percent chance of being connected to the Vortessence; albeit still weaker than the Vortigaunts. So Ayita and the rest of the Gifted have most of the abilities of the Vortigaunts, most notably their Electrical Powers, Healing, and Telekinesis.

I also showed that while they CAN tap into the Vortessence Hive Mind, they REALLY don't like doing it. Because just as humans absolutely prize their individuality, Vortigaunts prize their Hive Mind; so it's not healthy for either to go outside of their comfort zone.

The Lonely Vortigaunt in HL: Alyx is very clearly starting to go insane due to being severed from the Vortigaunt Hive Mind; misremembering what time he is in at the moment, where he is, and what universe he's in.

So if the Vortigaunts are built for this hive mind, and are meant to exist Coterminously (outside the bounds of time and space as The Singing Vortigaunt in HL:2 explained); humans are meant to exist Linearly, inside the bounds of Time and Space and in the safety of their own minds.

So while the Gifted do give humanity a much needed buff in this more Orwellian version of Half Life; it is a buff that comes with grave repercussions. Think about it… the Combine routinely torture, experiment on, and enslave any Vortigaunts they capture; now what would they do to any human children they find that display similar powers?

Alright I've Rambled enough, you have anything to add Ian?

Ian A/N: No not really, That's all I've got for now.

Pilot: Right then, a TV Tropes page would be loved.

Leave a review, tell us what you guys think.

And we will see ya when we see ya.