Thanks to Still Bullet and cheezburgerlover for their nice reviews. I went ahead and wrote a second chapter even though things tend to fall apart when I do try to continue them, especially since I went through four completly different version and a lot of tweaking happened while I was writing this.

But yeah, chapter one was really short and fast, but I doubt I could stretch it out because it was even shorter when I scribbled the idea down during class. This is short too, but when you look at HL2 it's also pretty short. I had from when Gordon was in Ravenholm to the day after Nova Prospekt blew up and I felt too lacking in the information section to really detail the torture bits. ARGH! I'll just shut up now.

At least the bleeding has stopped. Barney thought from the floor of his cold, dimly-lit cell as he brushed away some dried blood from under his nose, wincing slightly when he accidentally touched it. With a loud groan he pushed himself up and against a wall where he hugged his knees to his chest as best he could. He chuckled darkly to himself he thought about how often he'd wanted to burn his Metrocop uniform and how now he'd killed to have more than just the pants. Barney recoiled as the grate in the heavy metal door was slammed back, letting harshly bright light into the room. It was blocked out a second later by the helmet of an Overwatch soldier.

"News from the outside world traitor. Your hero, the One Freeman, is in Nova Prospekt." Barney's mouth twitched slightly. The soldier stayed at the grate for a few more moments, waiting for some extra emotional response, and then slammed the grate shut again.

"Shit." Barney hissed and punched the floor once the soldier's footsteps had faded away. Cool it Calhoun, no need to go breaking your own bones when someone else is going to do it for you. He thought and shook his hand. It's probably a lie anyway... but these guys aren't that creative. If Gordon is there he's probably raising hell! Yeah... Barney let out a heavy sigh and hung his head. Whether it was some sort of lie or not, he couldn't do a damn thing about it. Several minuets later the door was opened and he was ordered to stand, so he did, but his captors decided he took to long and used it as an excuse to re-bloody his nose. Before he even had time to wipe the red fluid away two soldiers grabbed him and dragged him into the torture rooms beyond.

Several hours later they returned Barney to his cell, but only because he had passed out and they were under strict orders to keep him alive. He remained down and out almost till noon, except for when a mysterious earthquake roused him momentarily. When he awoke again it was because of the thunderous sound of gunfire and grenades. Instinct urged Barney to his feet and to press himself against the wall next to the door. It suddenly swung open and he slammed it back into the face of whoever was on the other side.

Barney jumped in surprise when the curses he heard were spoken in a truly human voice. "Hold your fire! I'm on your side." He shouted, almost hysterical, and pulled the door back open. His hands shot up over his head when three assorted guns were pointed at him.

"Holy hell, it's Calhoun!" One of the three rag tag rebels shouted and the guns were lowered. "Why the hell are you in a dungeon on the edge of City 17? Kleiner thought they'd caught you and sent you to the Citadel!"

"Wha- really? Er... fill me in later, and sorry about your nose." Barney grinned sheepishly at the rebel with a bloody nose and then keeled over.

"Oh sh- John, get out one of yer medpacks!" The first rebel said to one with red crosses on his thrown together uniform. "Already on it." John replied and went around the business of patching up Barney. When he was done, Barney had fallen into a peaceful sleep. "I'll have some of the others get him back to Kleiner's lab. You two try and find his uniform or something because he's gonna need it." John told the two other rebels, slung Barney over his shoulder, and set out as quickly as he could.

And so Barney was filled in on the events of Nova Prospekt, given back his armor, and was leader of the rebel army for a week while Gordon was busy teleporting.