The pallid man in the blue suit stood before him, smirking. The man straightened his tie, and continued to stare at him. He realized that he was in an Osprey, and was flying through complete blackness. He was unsure how long he had been in this place, but was just remembering how he had gotten here. After his battle with the hideously large Geneworm, he had passed out. Upon awakening, he found himself in the very same Osprey he was in now. The man before him had been with him, and had told him that he would have to be taken care of. The man had apparently taken a liking to him, and had negotiated for him to keep his life. He was placed in the blackness to stop him from telling everyone about what he had experienced in the Black Mesa Research Facility. He waited for the man to do something, as he found that he could not move.
"Corporal Adrian Shephard, it's good to... see you again," said the man, speaking in a very peculiar fashion, as he always did. Adrian frowned, disconcerted by the friendly manner in which the man was speaking to him.
"I am... glad, that I was able to keep you alive, as a... situation, has arisen, that requires your... services," he said to Adrian. His heart skipped a beat. Was he going to be set free? The smirk disappeared from the man's face.
"An... employee of mine has escaped. I require someone to... retrieve him, for me," he told Adrian. He swallowed. He had a feeling that he already knew who the 'employee' was.
"Gordon Freeman was... stolen from me, several days ago. I've never trusted... those Vortigaunts," the man said. So it was Gordon Freeman, the very same man he had been sent in to Black Mesa to kill.
"I would go myself, but... I am needed else... where..." the man mumbled. He turned towards the door of the cockpit, where a pulsating green mass of light was floating.
"Make your decision, Corporal Shephard," said the man. Adrian looked towards the light, which he instantly recognized as one of the portals that provided transportation between the worlds. He found that he could move again, and walked towards the portal. It emanated a warm, green light that seemed to pull at him. He turned back towards the other man.
"Who, or rather what, are you?" he asked him slowly. The smirk reappeared on the pallid man's face, and he slowly shook his head.
"I am... a man... just like you, Corporal Shephard," he replied, hesitating before calling himself a man. Adrian waited, but the man said no more. He turned back to the portal, and stepped into it. He was engulfed in a powerful green light, and he struggled to breath. Several seconds later, he blanked out.
When he awoke, he found himself standing on a bus traveling through a dark, unfamiliar urban landscape. There was one other person on the bus. The person was female, and looked to be in her late teen years. She had light brown hair that was tied in a large ponytail, and was wearing thin glasses. She looked sad, and stared at the ground solemnly. He surveyed her for a minute, before speaking.
"Excuse me, young lady," he said. She looked up, surprised, and frowned at him.
"I don't remember seeing you get on," she said slowly. Her surprise turned to fear as she looked him over. He looked down, and saw that he was still wearing his army fatigues and his Personal Combat Vest.
"You're one of the Combine, aren't you!?" she yelled, standing up and backing down the corridor towards the front of the bus. Adrian held up his right hand.
"What are the Combine?" he asked. The woman looked at him as though he was insane.
"Stay back! Don't you dare touch me!" she screamed.
"You don't understand! My name is Adrian Shephard, and I am a Corporal of the United States Military," he told her quickly. She stopped backing away, and looked at him enquiringly.
"That's impossible. The United States Military doesn't exist any more. They were completely obliterated during the Seven Hour War," she told him. Adrian gasped, and looked out the window. There were many people outside, but they were all being herded down the street by men wearing strange, gray gas masks and body armour.
"Those beasts in human form are the foot soldiers of the Combine," the woman said to Adrian. He faced her again.
"Tell me, what year is it?" he asked her.
"It's the year 2015," she replied. Adrian shook his head slowly, refusing to accept it.
"No, impossible..." he mumbled. The woman moved closer.
"What's wrong? Have you suffered memory loss, or something?" she asked seriously. He looked into her vibrant blue eyes.
"The last memory I have of being on Earth was ten years ago, back in Black Mesa," he mumbled. Her eyes widened.
"Black Mesa!? The research facility that all of this stemmed from?" she said, gesturing all around her. "But you look to be in your early twenties,"
"I'm twenty two years old. I was that old ten years ago, and I'm that old right now," he said, not sure if even he believed what he was saying. The woman sat down on the couch to Adrian's left. He sat next to her.
"Ten years ago, when I was nine, my father worked at Black Mesa as one of the head researchers. His name was Xerses Gerber. He was there when the resonance cascade occurred. I'm not sure if he's alive or dead," she told him. Adrian remained silent.
"How is it possible for you to have not aged at all over the past ten years? Maybe the same thing happened with my father?" she asked him quietly. He thought for a few seconds, then decided to tell her.
"Well, you see-" he began, but was cut short as the bus came to a screeching halt. A loud banging sound was followed by the abrupt opening of the door to Adrian's left. Several Combine soldiers entered the stationary vehicle, and trained their guns on Adrian and the woman.
"Kalyn Gerber, you are under arrest for conspiring with members of the Resistance. Either you come with us quietly, or we execute you right here," said one of the soldiers in a deep, inhuman voice. Kalyn stood up with a fearful look on her soft face, and presented her wrists to the soldiers, waiting to be handcuffed. Adrian stood up and stepped in front of her.
"You bastards have no right to treat people like this!" he exclaimed. The soldier at the front reached to his belt and unhooked what looked like a baton. He shook it violently, and immediately it became engulfed in an electrical energy. He took a step forward.
"Sir, wait. Look at what he's wearing," said one of the other soldiers behind him, voice sounding exactly like that of the front most soldier. The leader of the group surveyed Adrian for several seconds, and then pressed a button on his armband. A mechanical globe-like object crashed through the window to Adrian's right. He looked at it, and received a face full of white light, accompanied by a sound similar to a camera taking a photo. The leader of the group of Combine soldiers looked at a small screen on his armband. He grunted.
"Who are you? Your data does not seem to be on our systems," he said.
"My name is Adrian Shephard. I'm not surprised that you don't have my data, considering I haven't been here for the last ten years," he said sarcastically. The leader of the group dropped his shock stick, and made a gasping sound.
"You are the Adrian Shephard!?" he asked, voice sounding slightly higher. Adrian was surprised to be referred to as the Adrian Shephard, and was momentarily put off. The soldier pressed another button on his armband, and then rose his wrist so that it was level with where his mouth would be.
"Sir, we have an individual here whose DNA has not been entered into our database. He claims to be Adrian Shephard," said the soldier quickly. Adrian dropped his gaze to the stationary shock stick. The soldier seemed to have forgotten about it.
"Yes sir," the soldier said after listening to his superior's reply. He reached to his belt and unfastened a combat knife. With surprising speed, he made a small cut near the center of Adrian's left arm. Adrian stepped back, moving closer to Kalyn. The soldier allowed the blood on the tip of the knife to drop onto a small screen on his armband. Adrian's blood soaked into the screen, and disappeared.
"The blood sample should arrive soon. I shall arrest this individual, and bring him in for questioning," the soldier told his superior. He pressed a button, and lowered his arm. He turned around, and spoke to the other soldiers. Adrian seized the opportunity, dropping down to grab the shock stick. He shook it, turning it on. He slammed it as hard as he could into the side of the group leader's head. A sickening crunch was followed by a thud as the leader fell to the ground. The remaining two soldiers reached for their own shock sticks, but were too slow. Adrian kicked the one on the left in the stomach, sending him backwards. He then pulled his right arm back, and stabbed the shock stick with immense force into the right hand soldier's left eye. The man screamed, and fell to the ground. Blood leaked from the hole Adrian had caused in his mask. He dropped the shock stick and picked up the leader's combat knife. The left hand soldier was struggling to get to his feet, but Adrian kicked him back down again. He stabbed the knife into the soldier's neck, killing him. He did the same to both the leader and the bleeding man. He straightened himself up. Not even an hour after being released and already he had killed three people. He turned to Kalyn, who was staring at him in bewilderment.
"Are you okay?" he asked, breathing heavily.
"I'm fine. It's just that I've only ever seen one other person fight with so much skill," she said, voice shaky with awe.
"Who was it?" he asked, curious.
"About half a year ago, in City 17, I met a man named Gordon Freeman. Of course, I knew that he had been working at Black Mesa for about a month before the resonance cascade, but I had never actually met him. He was helping some fellow resistance members, and I got the chance to witness him fight. It was spectacular. You both display so much skill in battle. The two of you are very similar," she told him. Adrian gasped, remembering why he was here.
"Gordon Freeman, where is he right now!?" he asked viciously. She recoiled slightly at his new tone of voice. He did not want her to be afraid of him, so he calmed himself down and asked again, more politely.
"Please, can you tell me where Gordon Freeman is?" he asked her again.
"I don't know where he is. Like I said, I haven't seen him for about half a year," she replied. Adrian sighed. His mission was not allowed to be that easy.
"What do you think of Gordon Freeman, as a person?" he asked her calmly.
"He's a nice guy. He's done so much for the resistance," she said to Adrian. He narrowed his eyes, wondering if they were talking about the same Gordon Freeman.
"He's helping the resistance? But he's the one that caused all of this. He sabotaged that experiment with the Xenian crystal, didn't he?" he asked. She looked confused, and then made the connection. He was wearing military gear. He had come straight from Black Mesa. This meant that he was one of the soldiers sent in to 'clean up' the facility.
"You! You're one of the bastards responsible for the many civilian deaths that occurred at Black Mesa! For all I know, you could've killed my father!" she screamed at him.
"You don't understand! I was sent in to kill Gordon Freeman only! I was supposed to help any civilians I came across!" he exclaimed. Kalyn slowly moved backwards, eying one of the doors.
"Wait!" he yelled, but was too late. She had already exited the bus and was running away down the street. He cursed under his breath, and exited the bus. There was no one around. He suddenly began to feel trapped. He was in an unfamiliar place where he did not know anyone. To make matters worse, the Combine now had a way to track him down. He fingered the cut on his arm, which had stopped bleeding. He fastened the combat knife to his belt, and was about to head in the direction Kalyn had run when a door opened ahead of him. A Negro man in his late thirties stood in the door frame, beckoning to Adrian.
A/N:
Well, there you have it. The beginning of my first fan-fic. Please, read and review. I would be pleased to hear any criticism, so that I may improve upon future chapters.