"Rise and shine Mr. Freeman, rise and shine. It would seem your hour has come again, time for you rise from the dust in a manner of speeking. As you've shown, the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up Mr. Freeman, wake up and smell the ashes."
Gordon looked to the man forced into his vision. He cared not for the suit wearing mystery. After defeating the combine and burying his friend in the dirt. Everything faded to black once again. The vortugaunts, while great full for what the 'One Free Man' had done. Could no longer fight the power of Gordon's employer. That was the best theory he could come up with. He had no regrets left behind in the world, no more enemy to fight. Everyone was happy, so now he was 'on the job' so to speak.
Once the commuter got off his inter-dimensional train, Gordon was not immediately thrust into the world. "Now what?" Gordon thought. Instead of the flash of sparks like on the train to city seventeen. A line forms from nothing, splitting the never ending darkness. It opens to from a screen. Gordon looks at it, confused at its purpose.
An orchestra starts playing slowly as a cartoon styled view of a castle slowly pans up to the top "Legends. Stories scattered through time. Mankind has grown quite fond of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains, forgetting so easily that we are remnants, byproducts, of a forgotten past..."
Gordon was expecting many things, but watching a tv show in the midst of space and time was not one of them. The characters told an interesting story of four girls forming together to form a team. He didn't really understand the purpose for the show, all the same he paid attention and watched with a somewhat piqued interest. Nearing the end of the third volume, as everything slowly fell apart. Gordon was upset at Pyrrha's death. After Ruby watched her friend die in such a manner, and revealed that flashing power. The screen stayed white.
Then the screen slowly slid into itself and oblivion, revealing the man standing behind the monitor. He continued starring at Gordon as sudden flashes of light revealed the world, Gordon recognizing the interior of a bullhead. As Gordon got his new reveal into the world, he immediately knew why he had been shown that show. Remnant. It was all real.
Assignment information popped up in Gordon's vision, as the nanobots of the hazard suit worked their way into his bloodstream.
POINT INSERTION
ASSIGNMENT: GORDON FREEMAN
ADDITIONAL MISSION CRITICAL RESOURCES SUPPLIED IN CACHES
Checking himself Gordon found his beloved crowbar holstered at his hip. His hazard suit was the exact same, even all of his holsters were on his body though they were empty. His HUD was up and running. The HEALTH showed up fine, but instead there being a blank space where suit should be before it was charged up. AURA had its own charge of one hundred "Well then. Hope that's not a problem." Gordon thought to himself as the bullhead he was riding in shook and rapidly lost altitude. Looking out the window of the bullhead, Gordon watched the destruction of vale as his ride took him straight to it.
Bracing for impact on his earthbound bullhead, Gordon blacked out. Waking in an alleyway, Gordon shook it off with about half his aura missing. Getting off the ground like he didn't just fall from the sky. Gordon stepped out of the alleyway and into the street. Looking both directions, Gordon noticed a Beowolf walk towards him from around the street corner. Gordon was trying to figure out what to do "Alright, it acts like a wolf right? I should have this down." Slipping the crowbar from it's holster, Gordon got into a stance. The second the Beowolf started towards him in a run, Gordon sprinted with the assistance of his suit. Just as the wolf lept, Gordon got down into a slide. Right as he slipped underneath the creatures body, he swung with all his force right into the creatures neck. His weapon made a blunt thud as bone cracked inside it's neck. Rolling up from his slide, he whipped around to continue combat with the Grimm. Only to find it landed in a heap, already beginning to dissolve.
"What? How? This suit is strong, but not that strong. The aura. That seems most likely. Ill have to see what else I can do with it later." Hearing screams off in the distance, Gordon was spurred to move with a purpose towards the conflict ahead.
Coming down a street filled with Beowolve's. Gordon took stock of everything at his disposal "Not much but old reliable." Gordon merely shrugged while brandishing his melee weapon of choice. Looking to a man cupping his hands around mouth while standing on top of a parked car, Gordon listened to the message with interest "Civilians! Move for the green smoke! Huntsman! Deal with the Grimm the best you can! All of Ironwoods robots cans have begun attacking everyone!"
Gordon looked about for the green smoke, spotting it easily. It was a few streets down, through a lot of Grimm. With a sigh, Gordon moved towards the larger scuffle. Two huntsman that had been caught in the middle of trying to defend the civilians were getting overwhelmed, slowly being separated from each other. Gordon sprinted past a couple of the Grimm surrounding overtaxed men, letting them know of his presence with some love taps from his crowbar.
Now with some Grimm focused on him, Gordon began some hit and run tactics by letting them get close so they could receive a good crowbar to the face. Gordon was slowly starting to get a sense of Beowulf weak spots, while unarmored spots were a given. A well put swing to the face would stagger them. Hind legs were also a weak spot. The bone armor that these Grimm had was tough, much tougher than the white armor of the combine. Good thing the crowbar deals out blunt force trauma like no tomorrow. The fact he could swing through those construction crates like they were made of styrofoam and newspaper really helped out.
With little damage done to his aura, Gordon continued the assault on the Grimm in the area. After lodging his crowbar into the final Grimm, he wrenched it out with a wet noise and walked over to the awestruck people before him "Why is everyone always so amazed with what I do? They were just killing them all the same a few minutes ago." Gordon thought confused.
They both introduced themselves as Will and George, nothing too notable about them with the exception of the weapons they wielded. The one named Will told Gordon of some civilians they hid away in a shop nearby. Stepping towards it while walking through the street, George turned to Gordon with a question "Whats your name anyway?" Gordon looked up from his thoughts to answer the question " Hm? Oh! Gordon. Gordon Freeman." Before Gordon could react, Will and George were diving out of the way "What th-" WHAM!
Wind was knocked from Gordon's lungs as he flew through the air, landing sprawled out while trying to breathe. Gordon finally sucked in coughing gasps of air as sense came back to him, his head lying on the ground. He noticed something next to his landing spot "No way." Through a cheap vent marked with a red claw mark next to it in the alleyway where he landed, was the glowing messiah that was the gravity gun.
Two thoughts ran through Gordon's mind as he looked upon his trusty tool of thundering destruction "Hell yes. Why is it in this vent?" Without a second thought, Gordon smashed the grate with his crowbar. The familiar textured grip of the Zero Point Energy manipulator was awe inspiring as he pointed it inside the vent to nab a supply crate.
The contents of the crate were odd, an energy cell? He had aura though, it fills up slowly but without assistance "Screw it." With little effort his suit was charged by fifteen as a bar popped up next to aura that read SUIT, his aura was at about sixty and filling slowly "Time for payback!" With a grin plastered on his face, Gordon sprinted back out to the street. In the street the result of the battle could be shown with two dead huntsman underneath a Boartusk the size of a car "Shame I never knew their full names."
"This is ridiculous! Nothing will kill this thing! Even launching those cars at it didn't work." With this lapse in focus, the pig was able to surprise Gordon with another spin attack. The odd combat style worked surprisingly well. This time airborne, and with a storefront window closing in. Gordon braced for impact.
Alarms went off as Gordon got up, shaking his head as he looked around. Awestruck faces looked towards him as Gordon realized he landed in the storefront of the people he was going to protect, the pig was distracted outside with cars it was knocking around. Looking about for anything useful against the giant Grimm while killing the alarm, Gordon found himself in the middle of a dust store "Even playing field? I think yes!"
"Alright!" Gordon spoke out to the people, some unconscious on the floor excluded "We're all getting out of here. Have people carry the wounded, everyone else will be helping me out with that." Gordon pointed to the Boartusk in all it's glory. Some flinched at the prospect of fighting the oversized pig Grimm. Gordon reassured them "Don't worry, the rest of you wont have to touch that thing. Grab as many dust crystals as you can." Gordon smiled "We, are going Grimm hunting." One woman spoke up "Who are you?" Gordon looked upon them, keeping up his smile "Gordon, Gordon Freeman."
Other than small protest, everyone was on board for staying alive "Go!" With the signal, everyone moved. The people moving the wounded hauling towards the green smoke, while everyone stayed with Gordon out in the street "Hit me." Gordon called out to the people behind him, a red crystal sailed through the air towards him. Catching it with the gravity gun, the crystal supercharged with swirling energy in the launchers grasp. This is when the large Grimm took notice of it's victims, galloping towards the defenders. Gordon began backpedaling towards the green smoke as the Boar tusk approached, his loaders following suit. The noise of the Grimm gaining distance brought back memories, Antlion Guardians flashed through his mind. Stone cracked as hooves met concrete "Close enough." Gordon pressed the gravity gun's primary trigger once he was sure there was no chance to miss the target. The gun cracked like thunder dropped from the skies.
VrrrrrrrBAM! The fire crystal impacted with a dazzling light show and explosion that the Boartusk did not enjoy like Gordon did. It stopped dead in it's tracks as the explosive met its faceplate and staggered, Gordon and the loaders took this ample time to retreat towards the smoke again "Another one!" This time, a black crystal tossed to him. A dark field pulsed around the crystal as he caught it with the gravity gun. The staggering effect of the red crystal exploding wore off, Boar tusk in full charge again. Gordon pressed the primary trigger again. The pressure from the crystals release was intense.
WAWAAWAWAAAABOOM! The gravity dust picked up the large Grimm by the front, essentially doing a backwards somersault. Gordon and his crew ran, whilst the Grimm was thrashing on the ground in an attempt to get back to its feet. Gordon had made it back to the bullhead at the popped smoke to reconvene with the others. Checking everyone made it, he turned back to the Grimm. It was up. Also, very pissed. Gordon turned to his loaders "Surprise me."
This time a yellow crystal was tossed to him. Crackling with contained energy, it was ready to go. The Boar tusk was about halfway to the bullhead from where it's acrobatic lesson had been demonstrated, the pig seemed to be moving faster than before. With a press of the primary, thunder echoed down the street and surrounding area.
VRRRRBWOM! A cloud of energy was let forth as the Boar tusk impacted with the electrical dust crystal. Slight problem, it hadn't even flinched "Uh-oh!" Gordon turned around "More!" A man that had been carrying a larger blue crystal hefted it towards Gordon, it was caught with no effort from the gravity gun. Frost emanated from the gun as it supercharged the crystal. Gordon let loose on his the unknowing victim.
FFFFFFFCRASH! With a sound of shattering glass, the Grimm was frozen from the neck down by an ice crystal. With the Boar tusk immobilized, Gordon turned to the final loader that had a box full of crystals. The woman walked over, and placed the closed box next to Gordon. Picking up the box with the Zero Point Energy Manipulator, Gordon walked up to the boar tusk to make sure he didn't miss.
Though what the Freeman missed, was that the crystals were all being supercharged inside the box as he strolled up to the Grimm. All too late he heard the dissonance of the crystals about to blow, pulling the primary trigger to get the sudden bomb away from himself. About midway between himself and the Boar tusk is when the box of crystals went off.
Gordon watched as the shock wave met his face, darkness greeting him in its cold embrace.
