Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life 1, Half-Life 2 and all its episodic sequels.
Warning: Spoilers! If you haven't played Half-Life and its sequels and you despise spoilers, I suggest you do not read this. Other than that, enjoy fellow readers.
Half-Life 2, Episode 3
Veils and rings of darkness befell him, as voices came to his ears, as did visions. From driving to White Forest, to a simple talk with Alyx, Gordon's vision and hearing was put to us in his inactive state. And then, like always, came a guide's talking…
"Dr. Freeman…It ssssseemsssss it hasssss been an eternity sssssince we last… ssssspoke." The ethereal man's voice entered Gordon Freeman's mind as the darkness swallowed Gordon's body but not his face. The man, the "G-Man" – as said in the mind of Freeman – was standing in the darkness, almost smiling darkly at the silent man. "Well, in retrospect, it hassss only been a hour sssssince Mr. Vance's…" He seemed to chuckle very lightly at that "… unfortunate passing."The sounds of Alyx's painful wails and depressed sobs entered his ears, from where she was cradling the fallen Eli Vance in her arms, until he was forced away from her.
"I have…let you ssssssleep for sssssome time now, to let you rest from your perillesssss journeyssss. It was to the advice of my colleaguessss." The background lightened up, as Freeman saw the "G-Man" sit at a desk where a strange logo was flickering on and off. Freeman thought it was simple a random office at Black Mesa or maybe, the Combine compound. This, however, seemed whiter, livelier.
The logo was named "Aperture Science". The name seemed familiar to him….
"Dr.
Freeman, I applaud you for your hard work up to now. First, your work
at Black Mesa and…" He
stopped with a slight chuckle. "Controlling
Xen's border world. Soon, you entered a catacomb of dangerssssss, a
dystrophic world of which the human race was enslaved and oppressed.
Proving true to your name, you, Dr. Freeman, were the key in
liberating Mankind from its oppressorssssss. And you encountered
Her."The
screen flickered briefly, giving Gordon a second to look at it. The
screen lit up Alyx's form.The
"G-Man" smiled briefly before speaking. "Sssssshe
is
another one of the keyssssss I hold. Ssssssshe has not one phantom of
a thought of ssssssssuch. And you, with your code of ssssssilence, it
would seem that would not be of a fear for her to find out." "Dr.
Freeman, when I gave you the task of ssssssseeing her to the base of
White Forest, I expected you to have… problemssssss. However, you
proved to be adeptly aware of the environment in order to
sssssssurvive and with your friendssssss, you were able to ssssssee
her there. And that is why, Dr. Freeman, I am most impressed by.
There's only been one of my… employeesssss that have impressed
me, as did you. Perhapsssss… you meet him."
"Thissssss
will be… one of your last adventuressssss throughout this time and
place, Dr. Freeman. And then, you can rest for another fifteen
yearssssss…" "And maybe I will sssssssshared a
ssssssecret that you so desperately want…"
Gordon's green eyes were locked on the boat that said the name "Borealis".
Chapter 1: Enter the Borealis, Part 1For once, Gordon Freeman did not awake at the sounds of a moving train, speeding towards an unknown place to him, nor was he greeted with the familiar smell of sulfur and cracking fires under the rubble that was on top of him. This time, he didn't wake up, head towards the sky where he saw the train he rode to get away from City 17 destroyed and derailed. Instead, he woke up, comfortably. He didn't even feel the durable but somewhat uncomfortable HEV suit that became his icon, along with his trust crowbar.
He shifted his blurry green eyes and saw white sheets. The sheets weren't dirt, surprisingly, but then again, this was the first time he was in a bed since his long trip. The "sleep" he was in before didn't compare to this warmth, this comfort. For once in his life again, he felt the fabric of a pillow and the comatose-like state the "G-Man' put him in.
"G-Man"… what was he? Though Gordon could not stress himself to say it out loud, he, however, had mixed opinions of the "G-Man". For one, the power of the "G-Man" infuriated or scared (or possibly both) people aware of his presents. Freeman remembered the ambiguous words of the Xen master, the Nihilanth. He also remembered Dr. Breen's sly words that could possibly tie him to the "G-Man" as well, not to mention his former peer, Eli Vance, knew of the "man's" presence as well and it made him afraid and angry at the same time. Finally, if it was possibly, the Vortigaunts were especially aware of the presence of the "G-Man" and they, with their older form of the language Gordon Freeman spoke, left hints that they did know of his presence.
In a way, like any human who didn't understand something, Gordon Freeman felt a slight bubble of anger erupt in him but extinguished it – his anger was going to get him to the bottom of this mystery. Maybe he will find out in time that the question to the "G-Man" and what was his plans on the world…
…and his plans on Gordon Freeman.
For now, he was in a bed and he was kind of enjoying it.
"Gordon?!"
'Damn it…' Were the silent thoughts of Mr. Freeman, growling at the prospect, yet again, never to rest in a bed like in years…
Although he enjoyed who walked through, Ms. Alyx Vance, she was the benefactor of Gordon's most hated enemy: the art of talking. Sometimes he wished there was another person in this world that was as mute as him. (1)
Alyx smiled and jumped to his bed, giving him a hug again. "You're okay… thank god."
Gordon lightly gave her a smile but staying true to his character, did not smile. 'And you too, my dear. But…'Troubling thoughts of who just passed, Mr. Eli Vance – Alyx's father and one of his most beloved mentors – ringed through his head. He though small about how he was amazed at her strength… her father just died and she was smiling, upbeat like the world just was at peace. Whether she was dealing with her father's death inwardly or she was just pending her time for solace from another, mostly likely him since the adventures they have been together with each other. Freeman, although he has stated he hated people's noise at times and he was somewhat of an outcast – irony, he noted cynically, as many people worshipped him like a messiah, much akin to Dr. Breen's words –, he enjoyed her company.
Alyx was an excitable woman indeed: a fusion of intelligence, beauty and power, something that attracted him to her. He have to admit, women of the 21st century, or rather of his time, didn't have the blend like her, at least not many that he met. She surely was just like her mother in many ways. Yes, Freeman had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Vance in person before and he had to say, he did have somewhat of an amicable respect towards the late Eli Vance's deceased wife. Alyx did remind him of her but probably more beautiful then her mother…
Gordon grinned, a little slowly, at her need to grab his hand. It made him happy that she enjoyed his company. "Feeling better, boyfriend?" She joked.
'Nice humor too, although I wouldn't mind so much…' Being a man of little to no words, he nodded without a sound. She smiled brightly but then frowned. "You… remembered, right?"
'Unfortunately.' Seeing him sigh and nod, she let go of his hand and looked towards the floor. "You know… I'm going to miss him…"
'I didn't think differently…' He commented inwardly. "But… I just don't have the time…. To mourn for him, we don't have the time." She said, with an edge in her throat climbing up quickly. "The Combine…. If I don't have time to mourn for my father, I'll just avenge him in the meantime."
Gordon looked at her with some surprise in him. Her words were steely cold, frigid, gelid. Alyx Vance was a kind of person who never backed down from her words and it was terrifying.
---
"We're leaving in three hours." She said, almost quietly at him. He himself, seethed at the thought of leaving his comfortable bed. Best bed I had in a long time, Gordon thought inwardly. I won't get another like this. The thought of the "G-Man" snuffing out that plan was plausible, maybe perhaps true. "Since we thought you was hurt, we took off the HEV suit off your body." He saw a little tinge of red on her face. "Um, you came out to be alright."
Gordon smirked and thought, 'Still got it.'
"However, the HEV suit is damaged beyond anymore repair." Gordon frowned at that. Alyx continued. "Most of its capabilities have been put to the max and I wonder why is that?" She whispered the last part loud enough for Gordon to hear. He whistled innocently, out of character. Alyx's amused glance also had the assumption that Freeman was going to remain silent at that comment. She smirked a little, even besides the fact that these times were as grim as they were going to get.
"Anyway, good news is that Dr. Kliener is working out that problem. In fact, he's taking the working pieces of the HEV suit, so you can definitely look forward for a flashlight that works longer." She said, amusing Gordon at her use of humor. "Bad news though, Dr. Kliener was shipped out of White Forest followed by that sneak attack…" She digressed from the topic; giving her ample time to clench her fist up, squeeze her gloved hand to see if they would turn as pale as Gordon's skin. She sighed to continue with, "And the new version of the HEV suit has been shipped out with him."
Reading his mind, she said, "He was shipped out to one of another Resistance base out there, Silver Basin. It's like four hours from here… by car."
Gordon frowned deeply at that but Alyx smiled. "You seem to forget what we have: a helicopter. Originally, we were going to the Borealis but the Silver Basin is the place we need to go first. With airtime, we should be there, an hour tops, as long as we don't get into trouble from there. I don't think we will, since the Combine forces were severely damaged thanks to the super portal closing and their attention will be pushed more at recuperating their forces from it.
'Hmm, well, at least I get some sleepy time.' The other things that she told him, at this point, were all good. And this would play in his plans to come in turn with his beauty sleep. As he shifted to close his eyes, Alyx jumped on top of him and said, "Oh and if you think you got more time to sleep, bucko, then you think wrong. While you were sleeping like a princess, I was up, patrolling the base with some rebels. So, get up and get to work." She smiled as he groaned pitifully at the prospect of getting up. "You'll find your gravity gun, crowbar and shotgun on the table. If you don't mind, the rest of your weapons were borrowed." She grinned.
As he jumped out of bed, he noticed that tinge of red on her face came back, full force. "Jeez, Gordon, would you mind putting on a shirt and some pants? God!"
He grinned toothily at her expression. 'Yep, for an old man, I still got it.' (1)
---
After finding clothing akin to Resistance-standard clothing, Gordon Freeman grabbed his crowbar and put it on the side of him. While not as groundbreaking as the Hazard Environment Suit's storage capabilities, he found a utility belt was handy indeed. He put his crowbar in one of the open slots. He also found that his shotgun holstered in a "stash" on his back. Gordon felt something he has felt in some time now: solid clothing, albeit they were war clothing. And for the first time, he noticed that the world he was around was very… cold. No wonder everybody was in suits, jackets or hood sweaters. Gordon felt goosebumps on his skin, responding to the cold, a little shiver came to him quickly. Alyx laughed briefly at his wordless tirade, fatedly getting a quick heated glance at her. She waved her hands in her defense, before putting them down, clearing her throat.
"Y-You look good in them." The bespectacled man looked at her with some bemusement; he wasn't too sure if she was joking, trying to hold back her laughter or she really meant it. Looking at her closely, he noticed her outfit was a little… different.
She stood, her hair still in its captive prison, in her headband but she had a green jacket and a bluish-green bodysuit on, the black Greek Lambda symbol pinned on her chest. (2) When she raised her eyebrow, maybe misunderstanding what he was doing exactly, he sighed and said, "Your outfit."
"W-What?" She stuttered. 'Did-did-'He sighed again, almost noticeably pouting and she blinked. After her blinking, she was devoured into her chuckling, turning it to laughter. "Wow, when I said you were a man of few words, I didn't think you even spoke one word."
"…I don't like talking…" He said, now pouting.
She laughed, but with his emerald green-eyed stare at her, she stopped quickly. "Okay, okay, I get it. My old clothing was getting a little 'strong', if you get what I mean. And so, I changed into this. It doesn't look bad, does it?" She twisted her petit frame a little, letting him pry his eyes on her body.
It didn't look good… It looked perfect. "Err, it suits you." He said, grinning at her smiling.
"Nice pun." She grinned back.
He blinked and took a quick though. 'As matter of fact, that was a pun.'"At least you like it. Maybe we can fit a leotard on your body, Gordon."
He frowned and again, for the third time today, glared at her humor. 'Smart, sexy but has a evil sense of humor.'"How much longer do we have?" He said, putting on his new black combat boots, liking the way they were on him.
"Quite talkative now, huh? Why didn't you talk before?"
"I don't talk in front of strangers." He said, sarcastically.
She smirked at his sarcasm. "Nice. You have a sense of humor. Funny, I thought you were trying to be a geeky-looking doctor with a forte to kill instead."
"'Geeky'?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow. 'So, your true personality comes to play.'"Although, I think I'm attracted highly to nerds." She smiled, her smile getting more playfully when his face lit up. "Are you blushing?"
Gordon offered no answer for that, instead returning to his soundless stature again. She smiled innocently. "What? Cat got you your tongue?"
"So when are we leaving?" He reiterated, not even commenting on her question.
---
Grabbing the iconic Gravity Gun off the table that was first giving to him by the same woman who liked teasing him, he sighed. 'I should have just not risked talking. I probably would have lived more peacefully with her thinking I was a pervert.' He thought almost scornfully at his decisions. Like the long line of mistakes of his life – Joining Black Mesa was the first one of his list of being a bad choice, though breaking his personal code of silence was becoming, rapidly, one of his worst blunders in his life – he regretted this one greatly. Who knew Alyx Vance was so vindictive?
Entering more ammo in his shotgun, fulfilling its limits of 6, he cocked it. Grabbing spare shells, he put them in an inner pocket of his new jacket. He smiled grimly at this: what a dirty job. Alyx herself was preparing her modified automatic pistol, grabbing a couple bullets for her gun.
The time for jokes was over; the time for relaxing for a minute was over. Gordon didn't have time to sleep and Alyx didn't have time for mourning.
She stared into the helicopter's empty and untouched windows and she stared back into Gordon's emerald eyes. "You ready?"
He only let the pumping of the shotgun be his answer.
---
End.
Note: This is my first Half-Life Chapter, hope I did okay. I tried my best to keep Gordon in his character, but like most, I decided to add the ability for him to talk. He will only say things when he has to and not things for nothing. Alyx, as I would imagine how she would be saddened at the death of Eli, I decided that Alyx would be too strong and stubborn to cry about it for too long and would rather focus on the task at hand, the last task her father gave her: to get to the Borealis and destroy the superior technology on the ship. Since I adore the series of Half-Life, I will update as best I can. I decided that I'd better take a small break from even doing Animes as I can't stretch them like I can with series like Half-Life, so this will be the only series I'll be doing in some time. It's like Evangelion, I adore the series but I don't think I can do numerous stories like Naruto, so all my fans, don't worry about this so much. Call it a project I'm interested in.
Anyway, Chapter 2 will soon hit shelves as soon I can get around to it. It was fun doing this chapter.
Trivia1) "'Yep, for an old man, I still got it.'" – Gordon is joking on his apparent, supposed age in the Half-Life stories. It's like in Avatar: Last Airbender; Gordon was "chronically frozen" via the "G-Man's" unknown powers to warp time, space and the future. So, Gordon is somehow aware of this, and jokes on it.
2) "She stood, her hair still in its captive prison, in her headband but she had a green jacket and a bluish-green bodysuit on, the black Greek Lambda symbol pinned on her chest." – It pays a homage to Alyx's original outfit scheme by developers. In the Beta version of Half-Life 2, she, along with other characters, was different in many ways. She wore a green jacket with a blue-green bodysuit with the Black Mesa symbol on it. Hell, she looked slightly different and she wasn't even the child of Eli! (Eli wasn't Eli Vance, but instead Eli Maxwell) Personally, I like her outfit and I decided to resurrect it with this homage.
I hoped you liked my chapter!