Hey everyone, I've made the decision to consolidate the series of fics I've been working on into multiple chapters of a single story. The original "You Think You Know Someone" is now the second chapter, which is confusing I know, but I kinda wanted to keep the story flowing in chronological order. Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy my foolishly nationalistic take on Gordon Freeman and if you've got the time to review my work I'd very much appreciate it. Also, if there's anyone out there who would be interested in doing some proof reading for the upcoming instalments I'd love to hear from you.
"It's me Gordon! Barney, from Black Mesa. Sorry for the scare, I had to put on a show for the cameras."
The man who called himself Barney kept talking, but Gordon wasn't really paying attention, he was too busy trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The last thing he remembered, before waking up on the train ten minutes ago, was jumping through a portal at the insistence of the strange, suit wearing man who had been dogging his footsteps since his early days at Black Mesa. He still had no idea where he was. Some of the signs he'd seen at the train station seemed to indicate he was somewhere in eastern europe, but bizarrely everyone seemed to be speaking english. He was starting to get very worried, he knew a military dictatorship when he saw one, and what he'd seen of the inhabitants of this place so far suggested a level of subjugation and control he'd never encountered before, not even during the darkest days of his former life.
He studied the man who claimed to be his old friend carefully as he activated what appeared to be some sort of video communication device. It certainly looked like Barney Calhoun, but he was so... old. The Barney he knew had been a couple of years younger than Gordon, but the man before him looked to be in his forties, his face was lined and there were touches of silver in the hair around his temples. It couldn't be him.
The sound of a familiar voice pulled him out of his reverie.
"Yes Barney, what is it? I'm in the middle of a critical test."
He knew he'd recognise that voice anywhere, and a quick glance at the monitor confirmed his suspicions. "Isaac Kleiner," he breathed, his surprise at seeing his old mentor mingled with relief at the fact that he seemed to have survived the carnage at Black Mesa.
"Sorry Doc, but look who's here," Barney responded, stepping to the side to give Gordon a clear view of the screen.
"Great Scott! Gordon Freeman! I expected more warning," Kleiner burst out, his earlier consternation evaporating in an instant.
"Yeah, you and me both Doc. He was about to board the express for Nova Prospekt,"
Barney answered, his tone suggesting that such a course of action was tantamount to Gordon wearing his underwear as a hat and insisting he was a pine cone.
"Well Barney, what do you intend?"
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking..."
Gordon zoned out as the conversation continued, his eyes darting about the room, taking in the crumbling plaster and the dingy, flaking paint, finally coming to rest on the blood splattered interrogation chair in the centre of the floor. He glanced back to Barney, eyes taking in the the uniform and the ghoulish white helmet he'd removed earlier. What kind of Gestapo outfit was his friend tied up with? And this was Barney, the guy who loved humorous cat pictures and squealed like a girl whenever he found a spider in his room. What the hell had happened while he'd been on Xen?
He took off his glasses and rubbed a hand over his face. All he wanted to do was get the hell away from here until he could figure out what to do.
He looked up suddenly when he realised Barney was speaking to him.
"Gordon? You hearing me? You're going to have to make your own way to Dr. Kleiner's lab."
Gordon just stared at him blankly, not having the faintest idea of how he might do such a thing. He was about to open his mouth to ask Barney how the bloody hell he expected him to navigate his way through a city he'd never been to, when the door shook under the weight of several heavy knocks.
"Oh man, that's what I was afraid of," Barney said in a hoarse whisper. "Get in here Gordon, before you blow my cover!" Barney pulled open the room's back door and shoved Gordon out into a run down storage area.
"Get through that window up there, and keep going until you're in the plaza. I'll meet up with you later."
The door was slammed abruptly in Gordon's face, leaving him with no choice but to follow Barney's instructions, clambering up a rusty ladder to the room's attic and using a wooden crate to boost himself through the window. Looking out, he could see it was at least three metres down to the street, with nothing but another crate to break his fall. Spinning around to let himself through feet first, he held on to the window sill and lowered himself until his arms were fully extended before letting go, hoping to mitigate the height of the fall as much as possible. He landed with a crash on the flimsy box, it's thin timber doing little to slow his descent. Picking himself up with a groan, he dusted off his clothes, taking note of them for the first time. He seemed to be wearing a plain denim shirt and trousers, of the same kind as those worn by most of the other people he'd seen, with a white t-shirt underneath. He patted the pockets absently, not really expecting to find anything, and being quite surprised to find a familiar lump in his right hip pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled out a well worn zippo lighter with an ace of spades printed on one side. A smile spread across his face, it was his lighter, the one he'd carried with him for most of his adult life, and as silly as it might have seemed to anyone else, knowing it was still with him made him feel just a little less alone. With hope suddenly rising in his heart he explored his other pockets more thoroughly, his shoulders slumping visibly when he realised that whoever had slipped the lighter into his pocket hadn't bothered to include any cigarettes. Heaving a sigh he tucked the lighter away and looked for a way out of the alley he'd fallen into.
On closer inspection it was more like a courtyard, with buildings on all sides and a single door leading out. He opened it cautiously, slipping through when it was apparent that the room on other side was empty, and making his way quietly up the staircase on the opposite side. Coming through another door he found himself in a tiled hallway, similar in architecture to the area around the train platform he'd arrived at earlier, and in a similar state of disrepair, with dirt and piles of trash littering the cracked flagstones and the grimy windows at the far end of the hall letting in only a grey echo of the sunlight outside. The hallway to his right was blocked by a retractable fence, leaving the left hand path as his only option. As he moved down the hall one of the strange police troopers he'd been seeing stepped out of a passageway on his right, turning to study Gordon silently. There was no way he could possibly have known, but Gordon had the distinct feeling the man was smirking at him.
He tried to slip past without confrontation, but the trooper moved to block him, reaching out with what looked to be some kind of electrified baton and knocking an empty can off the rim of a garbage bin that sat next to the doorway.
"Pick up that can," he commanded, his voice sounding harsh and distorted, as though he was speaking through an electronic filter. Gordon stared at him blankly, making no move to comply with his order.
"Pick up that can," he repeated, louder this time. Gordon leaned down and scooped up the empty receptacle. The label read "Dr Breen's Private Reserve."
"Now put it in the trash can."
Gordon's eyes narrowed. He wasn't a fan of bullies, and he was pretty sure he could take the smug idiot in front of him without too much trouble, but he held himself in check, dropping the can into the trash without a word.
"Alright, you can go," the officer said, turning and walking away with a derisive laugh. Suppressing his desire to walk up behind the uniformed thug and break his neck, Gordon made his way forward into a large hall. It was mostly deserted except for a couple more of the police officers. What had Barney called them? Civil Protection? There was also a group of people waiting in line at some kind of kiosk on the right hand wall, but he had little interest in finding out what it dispensed. Glancing around, his eyes were drawn to a large screen at the far end of the room, which showed a video feed of a man he recognised as Wallace Breen, the former administrator of the Black Mesa facility. He listened for a while, hoping to glean some useful information, but it soon became apparent that despite Dr Breen's eloquent words, and his talk of progress and immortality, at it's heart the speech was the same vile rhetoric he'd seen used to justify rape, torture and genocide on too many other occasions.
He wandered around blindly until he managed to find his way out on to the street, blinking in the bright sunlight and taking in his surroundings. He was in a large plaza, with several roads converging together around a large paved area dominated by a stone obelisk, from which hung another television screen broadcasting the same drivel he'd seen inside. The buildings around the area seemed to confirm his suspicion that he was somewhere in the eastern bloc, however most of his attention was reserved for the immense tower which dominated the skyline, reaching so high that it's upper levels were obscured by cloud. He started at it open mouthed for a long time before pulling himself together and looking for a way out of the plaza he was standing in. As he walked he kept glancing back towards the colossal structure, icy fingers creeping down his spine as it dawned on him that there was no way it could have been built by human hands.
Pull yourself together idiot! You spend a couple of days in an alternate dimension and suddenly you're worried about aliens taking over the world. Christ, you're such a nerd!
Gordon shook his head to clear the unhelpful internal dialogue away as he skulked along, knowing he needed to keep focused on the task at hand. Find Kleiner's lab. If only he knew where that was. It turned out he didn't really have much choice in the path he took, the plaza was closed off by military checkpoints at almost every juncture, so he ended up simply following the path of least resistance, a road to the right which was closed off further down by another barricade. Fortunately he was able to slip silently into an alley which led off between the buildings and into a maze of passages between the crumbling apartment blocks. As he moved along he occasionally caught glimpses of civil protection officers and their vehicles through the gaps in the buildings, once seeing a towering three legged monstrosity, (Which he really, really hoped was some kind of advanced vehicle and not the alien beast it looked like.) stamping down a street to his left. Despite the care he took to remain invisible he was plagued by the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched, which seemed ridiculous given he'd barely seen another soul, but he made up his mind to try to find some cover as soon as possible. After several more twists and turns he found himself on a concrete path, heavily overgrown with grass and weeds. On his right he could see two people standing in front of a building, both of them studying another apartment block further down. He approached warily, getting close enough to make out their conversation.
"This is how it always starts. First a building, then the whole block."
"They have no reason to come to our place."
"Don't worry, they'll find one."
Gordon didn't like the sound of that one little bit, and he decided it was high time he got out of the open. Spying an open door on the ground floor of the building opposite, he forced himself to walk slowly in that direction, not wanting to attract undue attention. Once he was inside he moved more quickly, darting along corridors and sprinting up a flight of stairs, only to discover the building was already under siege. A squad of civil protection officers were kicking down a door barely a few metres in front of him, and he hastily slipped through a door to his right, finding himself in the living area of what must have once been a beautiful, spacious apartment, but now looked as decrepit and run down as everywhere else. The floor was littered with garbage, and what little furniture there was had definitely seen better days. There was a television balanced on a small table near the window, Dr Breen's smiling visage delivering more of the propaganda he'd heard earlier, and he had to fight the urge to pick the appliance up and hurl it through the glass. There were two people in the room, a caucasian woman who looked to be in her early thirties and an older black man, both of whom were standing by the windows, staring out onto the street. They spun around when they heard Gordon approach, relaxing visibly when they saw he was dressed like them.
"Oh, I thought you were a cop," the man said, turning back to his vigil.
"He's one of us," the woman responded, placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. Gordon joined them at the window for a moment, only pausing long enough to see the squadron of armoured cars pulling up outside the building before moving on. He left the room the way he came in, glancing both ways down the hall to make sure all the civil protection troopers were occupied. Heading right, he made a dash for the stairs at the far end of the corridor. He reached the stairwell just as he heard shouts and crashes behind him and bounded up the stairs two at a time. As he rounded the corner on to the landing of the next level he heard a voice from the hallway to his left.
"Psst! Hey you! In here!"
Needing no second invitation, he swung left and followed the speaker into another room, hearing the door slam behind him. The room with filled with more civilians, obviously attempting to escape the raid going on downstairs, "Head for the roof! There's no time to lose," he heard someone shout, but Gordon was already moving towards the back door. He heard the room erupt into chaos behind him, people screaming and scrambling towards the exits.
"CPs!"
"Here they come!"
Gordon didn't slow, racing through the maze of corridors and up another flight of stairs, barely slipping past another squad of civil protection. He searched frantically for another route as he climbed to the next level, a door on his right opening just as he crested the final step. "Get in here, quick," another stranger yelled to him, slamming the door closed after Gordon entered and bracing himself against it. "Keep moving, head for the roof," he shouted over his shoulder as the door began to shake under the weight of heavy blows. Gordon hesitated at the foot of the staircase on the far side of the room. He was a soldier, he should be fighting to protect these people. He started to turn back, but the man holding the door waved him away.
"Get going," he yelled, "There's nothing you can do here."
Gordon gritted his teeth and started up the stairs, knowing the man was right. He was alone and unarmed, all he could hope to do was to be arrested and dragged away along with everyone else, and allowing himself to be captured here would achieve nothing.
He tore up the first flight of stairs, spinning on the ball of his right foot when he reached the small landing between flights and launching himself onto the next. He had almost reached the top when he heard the unmistakable crack of a pistol from the room below.
So that's how it was.
He exhaled with a loud hiss as he vaulted the last two steps and almost slipped over as he crashed down on to the floor, finding himself in a large storage area, directly under the apex of the building's roof. There wasn't much there, besides piles of rubbish and old packing crates, certainly nothing he could hope to conceal himself in. He could hear footsteps on the stairs below and and he swung around frantically, looking for an exit. One presented itself in the shape of a large opening where part of a wall had collapsed, leading out on to a lower section of the building's roof. He sprinted forward, jumping through the opening and rolling as he landed on the unforgiving tile surface. He heard the sound of more gunfire, and the unmistakable whine as the bullets flew past his head. Scrambling to his feet he ran across the roof, zigzagging as much as he dared, not wanting to risk losing his footing. He was forced to pull up short a few seconds later when he reached a point where the roof joined the next apartment block, and left him facing a brick wall that was too high to climb. Dashing to the left, he half ran, half slid his way down the gentle slope of the roof towards a narrow concrete ledge that skirted the top floor of the adjoining building. Shimmying across a couple of conveniently placed wooden planks, he pressed his back against the wall and crept along the ledge, suddenly remembering how much he hated heights. He could see groups of CPs milling around on the street, some simply pointing at him and others opening fire with their handguns. He wasn't particularly worried about getting hit, he was a long way up and the chances of hitting a moving target at that range with a pistol were slim-to-none. The principal of the matter aggravated him no end though.
"What kind of animal takes pot-shots at an unarmed man," he snarled to himself through clenched teeth as he came out onto a wider section of the ledge. Moving as quickly as he dared, he shuffled along, taking cover behind chimneys and rusted air conditioning units where he could. He spotted an open window a little further ahead and made a dash for it, briefly exposing himself to the shooters down below. He was just pulling himself in through the window when a lucky shot grazed his leg, prompting a growl of pain and a particularly obscene string of curses from Gordon. He lay on the floor for a moment to catch his breath before struggling to his feet. A quick glance at his leg showed the wound to be little more than a scratch, and he didn't even bother trying to bandage it up. Glancing around and finding himself in yet another disused attic, he made his way to the room's only exit, a highly questionable set of stairs that led into a tiny room adjoining a hallway. He made it halfway down the stairs before they collapsed under his weight, dumping him unceremoniously onto the hard wooden floor. He pushed himself to his feet with a groan and stumbled out into the hallway. He was just trying to decide which which way to go when the doors at both ends of the corridor exploded inwards, each revealing a squad of civil protection troopers. None of them seemed particularly happy to see him. Heaving a sigh of resignation, he adjusted his glasses and fell into a fighting stance. He had no illusions about making it out alive, but he figured he could at least take a couple of the bastards with him.
Finding Gordon hadn't been particularly difficult, all Alyx had needed to do was follow the sirens. She'd watched silently from the peak of the building's roof as he'd dragged himself through a window and raised an eyebrow at the explosion of profanity that had followed. Thanks to Barney's influence she was perfectly capable of cursing a blue streak when the situation called for it, but this Dr. Freeman had used words she'd never even heard before.
Most of them didn't sound very scientific either.
She'd crossed to the opposite side of the building and let herself down onto a tiny balcony, creeping silently through the empty rooms until she'd come up behind one of the CP squads. She'd watched as they kicked down the door and charged in, shock batons raised. She saw Gordon square himself and sway around the first clumsy strike, grabbing his attacker's arm and pulling him forward, sidestepping and kicking down and sideways against his opponent's knee. He was rewarded with a sickening crack and a shriek of pain as the trooper collapsed to the floor. He was ready for the next swing too, darting inside the reach of his opponent, grabbing him by the shoulders and driving his knee repeatedly into the man's groin. She smirked grimly, having a soft spot for a man who wasn't afraid to fight dirty. He threw the howling officer to the ground and scooped up his fallen baton, whirling around to face the foes behind him. They hesitated for a moment, but Gordon didn't, throwing himself forward and laying about savagely. His momentum failed quickly though, the CP's armour turning most of his strikes, and soon he was forced backwards, whipping the baton back and forth to keep his attackers at bay. He might have bought himself enough time to back out of the hallway if the CP with the shattered kneecap hadn't managed to reach out and grab his leg, taking him by surprise and sending him tumbling into a heap. They were on him then, clubs and fists beating him into the dust. He put up his hands to try and cover his head, kicking out wildly with his legs, and she was pretty sure he actually tried to bite one of them after he took a savage punch to the mouth. Choosing her moment, Alyx picked up a broken lump of timber from the floor beside her and stepped out into the open.
"Hey! Over here," she called out, before darting off to the side and out of the CP's view. The first trooper through the doorway took the full weight of a lump of 2x4 to the forehead and dropped like a stone. The man behind him stumbled over his comrade's body and received similar treatment to the back of his head. Springing over the two bodies, Alyx waded in, hammering her makeshift weapon into the CPs still crouched over Gordon. One managed to get clear and reached for his sidearm, pulling it clear and taking aim with a shaking hand. Alyx bared her teeth in a predatory grin.
"Ha, no you don't," she taunted, before hurling the lump of wood at his face as hard as she could. It didn't do much damage, but it knocked him off balance for long enough for Alyx to close the gap and grab him around the throat, tearing off his helmet and smashing his face into the wall until he went limp. She threw the body to the floor and straightened up, glancing around with a satisfied "Hm."
She moved over to Gordon's unconscious body, grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him out of the hall into a larger room. She knelt down beside him and looked him over carefully. He'd taken quite a beating, but nothing seemed to be broken and his eyelids were already starting to flicker. Somehow his glasses had survived unscathed, but they were twisted at a strange angle. She reached out and gently moved them back into place just as his eyes opened. He blinked a few times before focusing on her face, looking thoroughly confused. She smiled down at him.
"Dr. Freeman, I presume."
Gordon opened bleary eyes to find the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen staring down at him. It was a nice change of pace actually.
She said something he didn't quite catch, thanks to the ringing in his ears, and grabbed his hand to pull him to his feet. She suddenly glanced around, listening intently. "We better get going. The Combine can be slow to wake, but once they're up, you don't want to get in their way," she said, hauling Gordon upright and leading him to an industrial elevator in the far corner of the room.
He followed along obediently, too dazed to even ask where she was taking him.
"Dr. Kleiner said you'd be coming this way, I don't think it occurred to him that you might not have a map," she said with a friendly smile as she operated the controls for the elevator. He nodded slowly, it certainly sounded like the Isaac Kleiner he knew; Always forgetting the small details.
He studied the young woman before him as they stepped into the cage, jumping a little when the gate closed behind him with a crash. He was certain he'd never met her before, but something about her eyes seemed familiar in a strange way, and he wracked his brain trying to think of where he could possibly have seen her.
"I'm Alyx Vance," she said, reading his expression with unnerving ease.
"My father used to work with you, back at Black Mesa. I'm sure you don't remember me though." She added, self-consciously tucking some stray strands of hair behind her ear.
Gordon felt his hackles rise and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Now he knew he was being fucked with. He remembered Alyx Vance just fine, she was a beautiful toddler with boundless energy and a smile that nearly took in her ears. If the imposter in front of him had done anything to hurt her...
He briefly considered beating the truth out her, but Gordon had never struck a woman in his life, and damned if he was going to start now, no matter how dire the situation.
"Man of few words, aren't you," she observed dryly as the elevator ground to a halt and the door jerked open.
She chatted to him in an amiable fashion as she led him down a series of corridors and through a hidden door behind a poster of Dr Breen. Gordon was only half listening though, too intent on trying to figure out a way to extricate himself from a situation that only seemed to go from bad to worse.
They finally emerged into a dead end room, containing a pair of the shabby vending machines he'd seen earlier. Gordon tensed, expecting an ambush, but his guide sauntered casually over the right hand machine and fished around in her pocket for some change.
"Here, let me buy you a drink," she said as she deposited the coins and pressed the selection buttons in a seemingly random order, giving the machine a couple of slaps with the heel of her palm for good measure. The front of the machine swung open, revealing a secret passage into what appeared to be a laboratory of some kind.
"Oh, and by the way? Nice to finally meet you," she added, gesturing for Gordon to enter.
He did so with a great deal of trepidation, hands balling into fists as he stooped under the lintel and entered the room beyond.
A laboratory it was, but it hadn't been purpose built, that much was certain. It looked like a converted warehouse, and a very old one at that. The bare concrete walls were almost black with grime and mildew, and the mosaic tile under his feet was so discoloured that he couldn't even begin to speculate what it's original hue might have been. Various pieces of machinery and scientific apparatus were scattered about the edges of the room, seemingly with little regard for their various functions. He only recognised a handful of the equipment, and even that seemed to have been heavily modified from the versions he was familiar with.
He spotted a figure in a white lab coat crouching on the floor a short distance away and moved closer, his whole body tensed and ready to defend himself if need be.
"Blast that little... where did she get to? Lamarr? Come out of there!"
He didn't relax when he heard the person speak with the voice of his old friend and mentor Isaac Kleiner, all but convinced he was the victim of an elaborate ruse.
"Uh-oh. Everything ok Doctor Kleiner," came Alyx's voice from behind him.
"Oh, hello, Alyx," he said, straightening up and turning slowly to face them. "Well, almost alright, Lamarr has gotten out of her crate again. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect Barney of trapping and..." His face suddenly lit up as he caught sight of Gordon. "My goodness! Gordon Freeman! It really is you, isn't it!"
"Hello Isaac," Gordon answered, rather brusquely, "Good to see you again."
Alyx was slightly taken aback when Gordon suddenly spoke, he'd been so silent on the trip here that she was beginning to wonder if he could talk at all, besides swearing of course. He had a strange accent too, but she remembered her father telling her that Gordon had been from Australia, so that probably explained it.
"I found him wandering around outside. Bit of a troublemaker, isn't he," she said, fixing Gordon with a mischievous smile, which he made absolutely no effort to return.
"We owe a great deal to Doctor Freeman, even if trouble does tend to follow in his wake," Dr. Kleiner responded as he bustled over to his desk.
"I must say Gordon, you come at a very opportune time," he went on. "Alyx has just installed the final piece for our resurrected teleport."
Alyx let out a bashful laugh. "I can't take any credit for the breakthrough, Doctor."
"Nonsense, your talents surpass your loveliness."
"Let's just see if this thing works, ok?"
Gordon wandered off while the pair chatted, poking about the lab and inspecting some of the devices that were lying around. He had just begun tinkering with a miniature teleport device, managing to send a small, potted cactus from one tiny portal to another, several feet away, when a door to his left suddenly opened. He spun around, fists raised, but it was only Barney. Or at least, the person who said he was Barney.
"Is he here," he asked, glancing around the room until he spotted Gordon. "There you are. Man Gordon, you stirred up the hive!"
Gordon couldn't help but crack a small smile, "So what else is new," he remarked dryly, prompting a smirk from Barney.
"We can't keep him here long Doc," he went on, speaking To Dr. Kleiner. "It'll jeopardise everything we've worked for."
"Don't worry, he's coming with me," Alyx called out from the other side of the lab.
Gordon's face darkened.
Not bloody likely, sweetheart
"That's right Barney," Dr. Kleiner said, "This is a red letter day. We'll inaugurate the new teleport with a double transmission."
"You mean it's working? For real this time?"
Barney sounded rather sceptical.
"Because I still have nightmares about that cat."
Right. That tears it. I am not going anywhere near your goddamn teleporter. No way. Not in this lifetime.
"Uhh... What cat," asked Alyx, unknowingly sharing at least a little of Gordon's apprehension.
"Now, now. There's nothing to be nervous about. We've made major strides since then, major strides."
"Doc, since he's not taking the streets, you may as well get him out of his civvies," Barney called out, over Alyx's continued queries about the ill-fated cat.
"What? Oh dear, you're right, I almost forgot. Barney, I'll give you the honour."
"I gotta get back on my shift, but ok."
Barney walked over to an alcove in the wall, separated from the rest of the lab by a retractable door. It opened slowly, revealing a familiar black and orange suit resting in a chamber against the far wall.
"Well Gordon, there she is. Your old suit. Go ahead and put it on."
Gordon stared balefully at the HEV suit, and opened his mouth to tell everyone in the room exactly where they could shove the tangerine death trap that they all seemed to be so proud of, but was interrupted by a familiar high pitched squeal. Barney recognised it too, and spun towards the source of the noise, just in time to catch a flying headcrab to the face. "Get it off me," he wailed, flailing his arms desperately in an attempt to detach the parasite. Gordon instinctively reached for a crowbar that wasn't there, and improvised by seizing a heavy book from a nearby bench and prepared to bludgeon the unfortunate creature to death.
He was only barely prevented from doing so by the hasty intervention of Dr. Kleiner.
"Lamarr! There you are," he said, imposing himself between Gordon and Barney.
Barney finally managed to get free and turned an accusing glare in Kleiner's direction.
"I thought you got rid of that pest!"
"Certainly not. Never fear Gordon, she's debeaked and completely harmless. The worst she might do is attempt to...couple with your head. Fruitlessly."
"Get that thing away from me," Barney snarled, obviously sharing Gordon's belief that the only good headcrab was a dead headcrab.
Lamarr had perched herself on a nearby filing cabinet, squeaking and waving her front mandibles in Barney's direction, obviously offended by his derogatory attitude towards her.
The surreal nature of the scene, combined with the knowledge that people were apparently keeping parasitic monstrosities from the border world as pets, threw the final switch in Gordon's already overloaded brain.
It was time to start asking some hard questions.
He stalked up behind Alyx, who was leaning over a computer terminal, taking care that she didn't notice him. He knew she was armed, he'd seen the handgun on her hip. With practised ease, his hand snaked out and slipped her pistol from its holster. Darting back a step he swung the weapon up and levelled it in the direction of Barney and Dr Kleiner. "Alright everyone, nice and easy," he said in his deep australian drawl. "Before I go anywhere with anyone, I'd very much appreciate someone taking a few minutes to tell me what the fuck is going on around here. Who are you people?"
"Whoa Gordon, what the hell are you doing man," Barney asked, an expression of genuine alarm on his normally jovial face.
Kleiner was similarly distressed, "Gordon please! You know Barney and I, we're your friends!"
"Are you," Gordon asked coldly. "I seem to remember having some friends that looked something like you two. Not sure if that means much at this point though. And you," he spat, throwing a malevolent glare in Alyx's direction, "I don't know who the hell you are."
Alyx stared at Gordon in shock, but when she spoke her voice was steady, "Gordon I told you, I'm Alyx. Eli Vance's daughter,"
"No you're NOT," Gordon shouted, whipping the pistol around and holding it inches from Alyx's horrified face.
"I know Alyx Vance," he went on, with the exaggerated calm of someone who was just barely holding themselves together. "She's three. I know this because I went to her birthday party two weeks ago. She broke one of the arms off my glasses and rubbed cake on my favourite shirt. You...are not three."
A tiny smile flickered around the corners of Alyx's mouth. "I remember that day," she said, "There weren't very many kids at Black Mesa, so dad invited you, Barney and Dr. Kleiner to make up the numbers. You played hide and seek with me, and after the party we sat on the couch while mom and dad cleaned up, and you read me..."
"...the hungry hungry caterpillar," Gordon finished with her.
Gordon's hand was shaking as he slowly lowered the gun, "It was your favourite," he added, unable to think of anything else to say.
Alyx nodded, relaxing visibly now that she wasn't staring down the barrel of a firearm. "That's right." She paused, face creasing into a frown as she tried to make sense of what was happening. "But Gordon, that was twenty years ago."
Gordon stared blankly at her, trying to process what she had just told him.
"Twenty years..." He stammered, "No, no, no, that can't be right...I was just there! I was just..." He trailed off, looking to Barney and Kleiner for support and finding none.
"I'm sorry man, but Alyx is right," Barney said, "You've been gone a long time."
Gordon felt his legs begin to give way and he leaned on Kleiner's desk for support.
Alyx, showing her usual concern for the welfare of others, grabbed a chair and gently pressed Gordon down into it.
"Easy now, just breathe," she said as Gordon slumped over the desk, eyes staring at nothing. "Twenty years..." He mumbled over and over. Suddenly noticing he was still holding Alyx's pistol, he absently twirled it in his hand and gripped it by the barrel, holding it out towards her without looking up. She took it carefully and replaced it in its holster, making sure to flick the safety catch back on.
"Wait a minute," Barney finally said. "I'm not sure I'm getting this. Gordon, are you saying you don't remember anything from the last two decades?"
"No Barney," he answered. "I'm saying that for me, there was no last two decades." He closed his eyes and tried to think. "I teleported out of the lambda labs," he went on slowly, "And ended up on Xen. I don't know how long I was there, but I'm sure it wasn't more than a day or two. I killed the creature that was orchestrating the attack on earth, and then..." He trailed off, wondering how much of his interaction with the Man he should share. "And then I entered another portal. The next thing I knew I was on a train, taking me to...wherever this is."
"Oh my! But this is simply fascinating," Dr Kleiner broke in, "Think of the implications! I simply must know more about..."
"Dr K," Gordon interrupted, still staring at the desk in front of him. "Do you remember a while back, you and I had a conversation about how some of the things you find fascinating are simply terrifying to other people? And how very, very important it was to know when that was the case?"
"But of course! It was a quite a robust discussion if I remember correctly. As I recall you said... Oh. I'm terribly sorry Gordon, this must be frightfully unsettling."
Alyx crouched down beside Gordon so that she could look him in the face, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Look Gordon, I know you're pretty confused right now, but we need to get moving, and to do that, I need you to trust us. Can you do that? For me?"
She squeezed his arm and offered him her most hopeful smile.
He looked up and smiled back, just for a moment, before taking a deep breath.
"Alright. I can do that I suppose." He straightened up and leaned back in the chair. "So, what have I missed?"
"A lot. And most of it bad. I'll fill you in properly and answer all your questions later, I promise. But please, for now, go get into your suit so we can get going. Dad's waiting for us." Gordon nodded reluctantly and pushed himself to his feet, walking silently to the alcove that housed his suit and shutting the door behind him.
He stood in the near darkness of the room, staring at the orange and black coffin that rested in its charging booth against the wall. He moved closer, running his hands over the suit, feeling the hard contours of the armour plating and wishing with all his heart that he was somewhere else. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the cold metal of the chest piece, fear rising up like a black wave to suffocate him. He knew that once he put on the suit, it would all start again, and there would be no escape, no turning back. Time and time again, it seemed that no matter how far he ran, war would always be waiting for him.
"What am I doing here," he whispered to the empty room, the words seeming to swirl around his head, bouncing back from the dingy concrete walls before fading into silence.
His thoughts drifted back to when a younger Gordon had felt his courage failing him, and he had asked his father the same question.
The answer came back to him too, his father's deep voice as clear in his mind now as it had been all those years ago.
"You're there, boy. The what, and the why, and the how...they don't matter anymore. Just do your job, look after your friends, and above all, shoot straight."
"But I'm afraid," he had whispered.
"That's never stopped you before. Qui audet adipiscitur."
Gordon opened his eyes and smiled to himself. He knew it was only his imagination, but thinking about what his father would have told him, had he been there, was enough to harden his resolve. He stepped back and began unbuttoning his blue shirt.
Once more into the breach my friends...
He emerged a few minutes later looking and feeling much more like his old self. Despite his earlier reluctance, the familiar protection of his HEV suit had done much to calm his frayed nerves, and he even managed a cheeky grin in Barney's direction.
"There's the Gordon Freeman I know," Barney said with an answering smile. "It's good to have you back buddy," he went on, extending a hand which Gordon clasped firmly.
He released Barney and moved over to Alyx, who was still working on part of the teleport system. "Err...Alyx," he began, still having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that the strong, capable, young woman in front of him was the same person as the irascible toddler he'd known only a few days prior.
She looked around and smiled when she saw him. "Much better," she observed. And he did look better, his posture was more relaxed and the glassy, cornered animal look in his eyes had been replaced by steely determination.
He smiled back in a nervous way before dropping his eyes and fiddling with the gloves of his suit. "Um, I just wanted to say I'm sorry about before, with the gun and everything. I'm not normally that jumpy, but...well, it's been a bit of a trying day." He looked up and she was suddenly struck but how young and boyish he seemed. "I hope we can still be friends," he added hopefully.
"Of course we can Gordon," she answered with a heart-warming smile. "I don't blame you for being paranoid, today must have come as a hell of a shock," she went on, her features clouding with concern. "Are you sure you're ok?"
Gordon smiled sadly and shook his head.
"Not really, but..." He shrugged. "You do the job that's in front of you."
Alyx nodded slowly, she was impressed. The poor guy had somehow been catapulted twenty years into the future with no warning, been chased halfway across the city, and beaten unconscious by civil protection. For most people, that would have been just about enough to deal with for one day. And yet here he was, suited up and ready to get back to work. Maybe there was some truth to all those crazy stories her Dad had told her about him after all.
"Come on," she said. "Doctor Kleiner is ready for us."
She turned and walked towards the large sliding door that led to the teleport chamber. Gordon started to follow, but turned back to Barney, who was poking around the lab cautiously, presumably looking for Lamarr.
"Barney? It's a big ask I know, but you wouldn't happen to have any..."
"Right here buddy," Barney answered, before Gordon had even finished his question, fishing a small white package out of one of the pouches on his belt and tossing it to Gordon. He snapped it out of the air and inspected it, the front was printed with a stylised target in red and black with the words 'Lucky Strike' across the top. Gordon nodded his thanks and stashed the cigarettes away, along with his lighter, in one of the suit's small utility compartments before following Alyx into the teleport chamber, a lopsided smile creeping across his face. He had his suit, his lighter, and a full deck of Luckies. Perhaps today was going to turn out alright after all.
Done. I always struggled a little with the idea of Gordon simply shrugging off the whole time travel aspect of the story, and this is my attempt to address it. I suppose it's another attempt to humanise Gordon a little, I like the idea of him wrestling with the situation, even if he doesn't show it much going forward from here, rather than just being all "Whatevs, got mah crowbar." As a massive Gordon/Alyx shipper, I also love the idea that Gordon needs her just as much as she needs him, so her guiding and helping him along is something I may explore further in future chapters.
Peace out guys.