Half-Life 3: Combined Forces

From the Author

I thought up this story before I even played Half-Life 2. And I played Half-Life 2 before any other Half-Life game. So in short, the whole storyline was thought up from what I knew about the Half-Life series. And believe it or not, I knew quite a bit storyline wise because I read too many reviews and found too many spoilers. I will do my best to keep this close to the Half-Life universe, but I can only do so much.

Chapter 1: Point Destruction

"Your leader is dead! You have been defeated! If you wish to live, I suggest that all of you cooperate."

Barney Calhoun spoke firmly to the squad of eight Combine soldiers that he, along with others including Gordon Freeman had captured. It was a bright day, and a glorious one a person might say. Dr. Breen, the collaborator of humanity, the Benedict Arnold of the 20th and 21st century, the person who was responsible for so much death and destruction, was dead. Killed by the crowbar of the great Dr. Freeman he was. The Combine forces were now defeated and captured. Few remained that could fight against the will of humanity now, but will is something that one can destroy.

Barney Calhoun, his squad of four soldiers, two being medics, and Gordon Freeman were standing about twenty feet away from the citadel walls. Alyx was taking her father, Eli Vance, and Judith Mossman, over to Dr. Kliener's Lab. Mossman had betrayed the alliance of human soldiers who fought against the Combine, but in a way back stabbed Dr. Breen and was now going to be kept captive until she could prove that she was still on the correct side. Apparently not all of Earth was free from the clutches of the Combine yet. The hand had only been smacked, and therefore, it would only be a matter of time before the Combine started to gain their grip once more. Dr. Kliener and Eli had been cooking something up for exactly this sort of occasion, but that too, would take time to set into motion.

Gordon Freeman stood next to a building, slightly away from the crowd. He observed Barney, watching him speak to the squad of captured Combine. But he was also keeping a sharp eye on the buildings around him. The last time Gordon accomplished something so vast and impossible, someone else had arrived and took him away from existence. Humanity could not afford his loss again, not now.

"It is over for you!" Barney said firmly.

Seconds later all of the attention turned to a laughing Combine Elite soldier. He was laughing with a small chuckle, one that was not extreme but enough to be insulted by. Barney walked over to him, "What's so funny?"

The Elite Combine gained his control of chuckles and replied, "You. You think it is over for us. That may be true. But you have no clue as to what is coming."

Gordon walked closer to the Combine immediately taking interest. Barney questioned him, "What are talking about?"

"This whole time, you have been fighting us and you have no idea who the real enemy is. You think we just popped in and decided to kill you. Think about it. You people have been so absorbed into saving humanity from us, you forgot who the real enemy is. You forgot the past; think back to Black Mesa, we weren't the enemies there. Not yet at least."

"So who is the enemy?"

Gordon listened intensely and eventually began to hear something, something out of the ordinary.

"He is the real cause for all of this. He is the real person responsible."

"Who is it?" Barney began to say impatiently.

Gordon could hear some of the sounds clearer now. .it., .., .im.

"You are all fools and idiots for caring too much about defeating us."

"Tell me!"

Gordon's attention to the discussion was fading as his attention to the background sound grew. It is time. He knows what is being said but he could not figure out who was saying it. The voice was familiar.

"His name is unknown to even the Combine race, but we are not the only ones who have met him." Said the Combine while holding back his smile underneath the faceless helmet.

"Give me the name!" Barney demanded.

Gordon heard the voice again, "It is time."

"Who was that?" Barney asked.

Gordon now knew. Everyone could hear it.

"It was I Mr. Calhoun."

Behind the Combine soldiers faded in the figure of a man wearing a blue suit, with a neat tie. The man was quite pale, he had a very boring expression on his face and his head shape was odd. He faded in out of nowhere though, it did not make much sense but it was real no doubt. Gordon immediately knew who it was.

Barney's puzzled face finally spoke after the person faded completely into the world, "I've seen you before, back at Black Mesa. Who are you?"

The man took a strange breath in and spoke in a misused tone way, "Barney Calhoun. The last time I saw you was at Black Mesa. I particularly enjoyed handling your case. Had my contract not been revoked I would have finished my job, unlike some un-notable others."

"What?" Barney replied.

"But that is unnecessary background information. I do wish we could have the time to explain things in full, but time is not a very friendly ehm…friend to my employers, quite an ironic possibility since they waited twenty years to come this far."

Barney was completely confused. But Gordon was not, at least in who this man was. His intentions were much harder to read and understand.

"Now since my time is limited, I once again cannot explain things until…well, I do not have a final statement to say when. But it is time." The G-Man walked over to Gordon. "It is good to see that you have fulfilled the correct objectives Mr. Freeman.

This world must come to its final end though. And even though I have litigated to my higher personal that you are a worthy being that has higher…potential for further use, I am sorry to say they turned down any requests to again protect you from certain hazards. I am deeply sorry to see you go Mr. Freeman, but I cannot do anything."

A low rumble could be heard, growing over time.

"Were there more time, I would be able to explain things in full. And you, of all people Mr. Freeman, deserve an explanation, as you have been a great cog in our works and in the end receive nothing but death. But they care nothing for us. And without the free will, so expressed by yourself, we cannot do anything about that. Not even you can stop them."

The rumble grew into a steady stream of noise that just got louder over time. A pair of oddly shaped jets flew through the sky, showing off streams of black clouds forming behind them. Gordon was distracted and watched them fly by his view. They circled around, and started moving in lower.

"They're going to attack," shouted Barney. "Get to cover!"

Gordon did not have much time to move as the jets were homing in right behind him. But in front of him, two more jets were storming right for him. He ran for cover to his right, up against some buildings. A large row of debris and explosions filled the street like just a few hours earlier. Gordon walked back out to see the man who was just talking to him, unscathed, adjusting his tie. Gordon walked back up in front of the man. Just then two of the now four jets shot a rocket and hit a building up the street. A chunk of the building flew right for Gordon and knocked him up against the barrier walls of the Citadel. He was embedded into the wall for the moment. The pair of jets once again bombarded the streets as Barney and another soldier shot RPG rounds at the jets, attempting to take them down. Dust and rubble was thrown up in two rows that spread and covered Gordon's entire view of the street. As he looked down the isle, his vision was blurred, dark, and perception of color was off. Noise had been deafened, or muffled. Yet a persistent ringing was in his ear. The dust cleared and the man in the tie was walking towards him.

He had gotten up to Gordon, and he leaned forward, becoming nose to nose with his hands clasped behind his back. He then spoke. The voice vibrated and reverberated in Gordon's head. "Please take this in the way intended Mr. Freeman: There is nothing we can do. For your own sake, freedom has already been sacrificed. Your will is pointless now. They cannot end, and so any other efforts are futile. I wish there was another way for all of this to have gone, but this is not the first ending like this. I suppose if there were more time and freedom to think ahead of time, then maybe some things could have been changed for the better."

The man turned around and started walking up the street. He turned his head a bit, as if to say something to Gordon. His lips did not move, but the voice could once again be heard in Gordon's head. "Goodbye, Mr. Freeman."

He then continued his walk. Another bombardment took place, extending from the barrier wall outwards. Gordon's view of the man disappeared once again. But this time, as the dust settled, the man was not there.

Gordon blinked and saw Barney, the rebels, and the Combine captives move out into the street, all providing covering fire as Barney ran over to Gordon. Barney's voice was muffled. "Gordon, hang on a second old buddy. I'll get you out of this in a second."

Barney turned towards someone out of Gordon's sight and waved his hand to come forwards. Dog appeared.

"Now don't crush him Dog, just get him out of there safely," said Barney.

Dog hopped behind the large barriers and pushed forward on the dented part in which Gordon resided. Gordon sprung out of the large gates and fell into Barney's arms. Pain struck throughout Gordon's body as Barney tried to stand him up. "Walter," Barney shouted. A moment later a medic arrived. In the background, Gordon could see numerous jets and tanks arriving, these did not belong to their side though. At the same time, many Striders, rebels, and Combine soldiers were showing up at the scene, tackling the enemy.

Walter and Barney lifted Gordon up by the feet and shoulders. "God, this suit is heavy. How does he walk around in this thing?" Barney commented.

Gordon's vision went dark for a number of moments as he was carried away. The next thing he saw was that he was sitting in a seat on the edge of a Combine dropship. There were other rebels and Combine soldiers with him.

The dropship took off slowly. As the ship got higher Gordon could see more dropships throughout City 17 all crawling into the sky like his dropship was. Soon enough Gordon could see that City 17 was covered with many strange vehicles that did not belong to the Combine, or the humans. Small explosions began covering City 17 and some of its outskirts. The ships were now far enough to see other cities. Forcefields were put up to allow the humans to breath safely in what was now a higher atmosphere.

Barney leaned in towards Gordon and shouted over the roaring engines, "Gordon. The Combine soldier told me that they evacuated as many humans as they could, Alyx, Eli, Judith, and Kliener were evacuated too. They're going to take us to their headquarters. For now, we're at supposed peace with the Combine. Either that, or we're prisoners."

A resistance soldier next to Gordon replied to Barney, "So what now?"

Gordon thought the exact same thing.