A fanfic based around my Favorite Levels of Half Life 2 and HL2 Episode 1. The battle of City 17 interested me. This takes place during the week before Gordon and Alyx came back from Nova Prospect up to the end of HL2E2. Enjoy!

Nova Prospect had exploded. That was the news that had went around. Gordon Freeman had successfully conducted a one man raid on the place. How? Not even an army could do that, let alone one man. Well, he was Gordon Freeman.

Knock knock. "Let us in," said the usual crackly voice of soldiers. I jumped. I went over to the door and opened it. The soldiers poured in. I backed up, letting them search the house. I could've run, but I'd have to fight a Combine Soldier blocking the door. I could've fought with household items, but I'd die.

So I just stood there as they searched my apartment.

"Excuse me?" I asked the soldier by the door, "But why is this search being conducted."

"Classified. Now be quiet." He flicked his rod, some sparks flinging off it. I backed up to the wall. Some soldiers came out of my room with some paper. They talked to each other. I didn't hear anything, my heart was pumping against my chest.

"…letters to the rebellion. And this."

A soldier held up a picture I had drawn. It was a popular symbol, usually graffitied everywhere. Some soldiers turned to me and took out their rods. I backed up to the wall.

"Oh shit, oh shit," I muttered to myself. The soldiers kept approaching me. There was a window behind me, but the fall would kill me. I could run, but they'd probably shoot me instead. Well, going to the Citadel wouldn't be that bad, right?

They walked towards me. I closed my eyes, and waited for the pain. A bright light flashed, and I was out cold.

I woke up with the soldiers carrying me, one on each side of me. Ahead I saw an armored car. I heard some soldiers talking about the rebellion starting a skirmish nearby. It was all fuzzy. Then, gunshots. The soldier on my left fell. The one on my right dropped me onto the concrete. My head hit the road, and I tasted blood.

From what I saw, the soldiers were firing at something at the rooftops, I didn't know what though. I heard the 'Aagh' and crackle of soldiers dying, something new to me, but would get to be common. Then gunfire from the armored car started. My vision was fuzzy, but I pushed myself up and looked at the rooftops. I saw a few dirty men carrying guns.

One threw a grenade at the armored car, which fell short. I walked towards the nearest fallen soldier and grabbed his gun. Inside the armored car was a soldier's legs standing on a stool, which were connected to man manning the machine gun. I lifted the heavy gun up and aimed at his legs. I fired. I missed. Damn. I aimed for his legs again and shot. It hit them and the soldier screamed. I rapid fired and he fell down off his stool to the floor.

He pulled out a pistol and started firing at me. I fired back at his head and he died. Then gunfire erupted from behind me. I turned around to see another soldier wielding the same gun as me. I fired at him and hit. He backed up and gunfire came from the rooftops down at him. The sound all Combine soldiers make when they die helped me calm down.

I walked out of the armored car and collapsed on the ground. I spit out blood. Around me lay the soldiers, all dead. I lay there for a few minutes, rethinking the last few minutes. Then some rebel soldiers came out of the building.

"Great job!" one said, running towards me. She stopped as he noticed the blood leaking out of my mouth.

"We need a medic!" Some more rebels came out, one with a red cross on his shoulder. He sat down next to me. "You have a concussion. And a few burns. Did they hit you with their rods?"

"Yeah."

"I thought so. We need to get you back to base. Guys, help me."

Another person came to the medic and helped me up. They carried me over to the building and carried me up the stairs.

"Hurry up! We need to get further away before more Combine soldiers arrive!"

We got to a gap in the wall and walked across catwalks to other buildings. About ten minutes later, we got to an apartment where more rebels were waiting. A man with a stub of a beard and short combed hair turned.

"How did the mission go?"

"Ran into a Combine Patrol. They were raiding this man's house. Killed them all, took their guns," a woman, who seemed to be the leader of this patrol, said.

"Good. This is the man?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

"He's wounded," the medic said.

"Well, clear the couch. Put him down."

I was put down.

"How was he wounded?" the man asked.

"Hit with Combine rods, and dropped on the ground. Despite that, he killed a gunner and wounded another."

"Damn. He would be a good addition to our forces."

"The rebellion?" I asked weakly, cringing as the medic put alcohol on my burns.

"Yes. What's your name son?"

"Thomas."

"Thomas. Well, nice to meet you Thomas. I'm Barney."

"Nice to meet you sir."

"Now son, you're not in the rebellion yet."

"They took my fucking house. I am now," I said.

"Well, first time someone's invited them into the rebellion against my orders, but I like your spirit," Barney said. More alcohol. I grit my teeth.

"Well, since he's in, coronation?" the female leader asked.

"Oh, yes. Well, Thomas, this is part of the City 17 section of the Rebellion. We're everywhere, fighting the Combine. Hell, it's Gordon that really inspired us. He was killed on Xen, and we didn't want anymore great men like him to die at alien hands. Damn, Black Mesa was what sent us all to shit. Well, Gordon was the rebel that helped fight the aliens and marines off. I did my share, but Gordon did his work.

Damn, I'm rambling, sorry."

"You worked at Black Mesa?"

"Yeah, as a security guard. There were a lot more aliens there than there are here now. We had the Vortogon fighting us for heavens sake! Now they're with us."

Suddenly an alien, green with a massive eye on its head walked in.

"Speak of the devil," Barney said, "Hello Dr. Gree."

"Hello Barney. I see a new arrival."

"Yeah, his house was attacked by Combine forces. He's a new addition to our ranks."

"Hey Gree, could you heal his head. He took a little hit to the head." The Vortogon came over and started muttering some words.

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"Calm down," the medic said.

A few seconds later, I felt better. "Wow, thanks."

"Hey, Thomas, come with me," Barney said.

It was about an hour after Dr. Gree had healed me. I got off the couch, slowly, and followed Barney into a room further in the apartment. In it was a massive map of City 17.

"This is City 17."

"I noticed," I replied.

On certain building were orange thumb pins. "The orange ones are our bases. The blue ones are where we know Combine forces gather and the circled parts are places we need to attack."

"Cool."

"You can study that later, come on, lets teach you how to fire a gun."

Hope you liked it. I will now stop with new Fanfics and finish the ones I have in progress. R&R.