*Unknown Area, Time Unidentified, 17th of May, 200-*

Adrian Shephard opened his eyes, the distinct whirling of helicopter blades thumping in his head as he found himself sitting... inside? Where the hell... He thought to himself. Adrian was quite bewildered on where he was, one time he was fighting some giant alien in the bowels of the Black Mesa facility after fighting creatures of all kinds and even other Special Forces units, the Black Ops to be specific, to then be inside a... helicopter? Was he being evacuated? There was no chance, there couldn't be, from what he had discovered during his time in Black Mesa, the HECU had retreated from the facility to order a bombing run despite some personnel still inside. Did they come back for the survivors? Unlikely, very unlikely. He thought. When they sent in Black Operations to silence both scientists and HECU, Adrian knew that there would be no one left to help them out of the hell that is Black Mesa. Well, no point in thinking, I should check where I am. He lifted his head to see where he was, and it was kind of a strange sight, yet quite the sight indeed. From what he could see in the background they were flying in a V-22 Osprey with crates of supplies and weapons strewn about on the insides, flying, logically, away from Black Mesa. But the strangest thing was the man standing in front of him, he had seen him during his last days training at the boot camp, and now he could get a clear look on the man who was spying on him.

This "government man" as he decided to call him was a middle aged Caucasian man, with deathly green eyes and equally deathly skin and a crew cut, especially strange in his opinion. He adorned himself with a grey-blue suit, complete with a blood red tie and held a briefcase in his right hand, a briefcase that he always held from when he could see him before his sudden disappearances. Before Adrian could question or even say a word, he suddenly spoke in a hoarse and slow, but commanding sense of tone.

"So, Corporal Shephard, we meet at last. Please don't think that I've been avoiding you, a great many matters require my attention in these..." stopping, he took a pause, taking in the air before continuing, "Troubled times. I do hope you understand. And now I require a further indulgence on your part I can not close my report until every loose end has been tied up." He stopped again to take a breath but questions were racing in Adrian's mind, Report? Loose ends? Am I talking to a Black Ops agent?! If so, I can only see myself with a gunshot to the head. All these answers he couldn't say, as this man soon continued. "The biggest embarrassment has been the Black Mesa facility but I think that's finally taken care of itself." Adrian could see Black Mesa in the distance, smoke rising from the facility. It was strange, we're they going to, or retreating from the facility? He then noted the agent's weird speech patterns, his pauses, weird emphasis on certain words and awkward pitch risi-

[BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!]

Adrian turned to the open door of the Osprey, he saw a flash of sudden whiteness erupt in the background before it revealed a shocking revelation to him, a mushroom cloud, the end result of a nuclear explosion suddenly made itself known. He could feel the air rush through his gas mask, his eyes squinting at the sight before him, his mind went into overdrive thinking of all the possibilities of how a nuclear warhead would go off so close to where he was. Bombing? That'd be a last resort since Black Operations brought the device in, I did disarm it after all. But there was no bomber dropping a warhead so that's out of the picture. And it wouldn't be multiple warheads too, that would just eviscerate the entire valley. So that means...

And then it all clicked, this was astounding, but not in the good sense.

WHAT! NO, IT CAN'T BE! I DISARMED THE NUKE, I, I KILLED THE BLACK OPS SOLDIERS GUARDING IT. I SWEAR I DISARMED IT. WHO. WHO!?Adrian could only look in horror as the agent looked unfazed seeing this. The loss of all those innocent scientists and his HECU comrades, gone in a singular strike from the bowels of where Black Mesa once stood. He even felt some sorrow for the aliens still roaming the now dead facility, they had killed everyone inside for no obvious reason, or a reason he didn't know, but they were only trying to survive, in his eyes, no one was good or bad, only lingering grey emotions. The agent looked at him, a devious smile plastered on his face, before he stated "Quite so." Unaffected by this event he turned his attention back to Adrian. He couldn't see it, but Adrian was seething with rage and was also afraid, visibly sweating everywhere with his mind doing loops over and over, this was incomprehensible,

I'll kill whoever did this, no matter what it takes... I can't let this person get away with this... His thoughts did not pay attention to the fact that the nuclear blast would reach the Osprey, which would kill both Adrian and the agent. But before he could even think of such a fact a sudden green glow emanated from the background complete with a crackling and zapping sound, revealing... the alien world? Adrian was confused at this point, he wasn't prepared, aliens invading a government facility intent on taking over the world? Sure, but a sudden appearance into the world he usually couldn't get to, he couldn't believe it. They were flying one time and the next they were suddenly transported, no, teleported to the alien world. He had visited it a few times when he used the Displacer Cannon, usually to pick up supplies from dead scientists who had visited the place and met their fates there too, although he did do some exploration into the nooks and crannies of the foreign world. He could see the masses of rock and the yellow crystals that stuck out of them, even seeing some native wildlife oblivious to the Osprey, those squid-like creatures to the ones with a ton of eyes, those that jumped on the heads of unfortunates and turned them into zombies, the tentacles that slammed the ground when even the slightest noise was made, the variation was immense. "But there is still the lingering matter of witnesses. I admit I have a fascination with those who adapt and survive against all odds. They rather remind me of myself."

Adrian snorted a bit with that compliment, he was simply doing what he could to get out alive, many people would do the same thing in reality, the brave ones at least, recounting a scientist who had cornered himself into a make-shift fortress with no intention of leaving. Was it really special? His adaptability and survivability? He didn't think so really. "If for no other reason, I have argued to preserve you for a time."

Another flash, and Adrian found himself in a strange place he never visited, orbs of white light floating in the infinite void as they passed through. This was uncharted territory, and Adrian was certain this agent was no agent at all, or even a government man, but something more terrifying than that. He decided to stop thinking about the fact to keep himself calm. The man continued with his rambling, "While I believe a civil servant like yourself understands the importance of..." He paused, but it was nothing but awkward, he continued, "discretion, my employers are not quite so trusting and rather than continually subject you to the irresistible human temptation of telling all, we have decided to..." Pausing again, Adrian found it creepy now. He could understand if he need some air before speaking but now he was just pausing his sentences for no apparent reason, this man was weird, really weird. "convey you somewhere you can do no possible harm. And where no harm can come to you. I'm sure you can imagine there are worse alternatives." Adrian had a lot of questions he wanted to ask the man, Employers? Don't you mean the government? Where are you sending me? Why are you making yourself look like some alien? Before he could even spout out what he wanted to say, the man suddenly turned to his left to the cockpit door. Instead of a cockpit, a weird orb of green, yellow and orange energy radiated where the cockpit should have been. Adjusting his tie and sweeping his suit, he walked over to the orb, to suddenly disappear a second after.

Adrian was now, truly scared, he had never been scared since... he didn't like that memory, too much pain, so he focused on answering his own questions. Unfortunately, these answers weren't meant to have answers at all. Suddenly feeling drowsy, he tried to keep himself up, to answer the questions still in his now fragile mind and perhaps gain some solace. But it was a losing fight, and Adrian soon found his eyes closing, the darkness consuming his vision as he tried holding on to his conscious, but it was useless.

Then, nothingness.

CROCODILE TEARS
- OpBm & KAHVI, OPERATION: BLACK MESA OST

SUBJECT: SHEPHARD
STATUS: DETAINED
FURTHER EVALUATION PENDING

Welp, this is like my first fanfiction I've ever written. Like every aspiring fanfic writer who journeys into the vast plains of FanFiction, I'm going to ask to go easy on me (if that annoys you then hey, you can ignore such a fact), but I'd like, or in better word, would appreciate to be critiqued so that I can see what I can improve on (because that's what writing is about, duh).

But I would like to forgive anyone reading this for the length of this prologue, I can promise the first chapter of everyone's favourite Corporal Adrian Shephard in Remnant will be longer than this one (then again I am just rewriting the ending to OpFor with Adrian's thoughts).

I would also like to note, I have made it so that Adrian did not see the G-Man reactivate the nuclear warhead (even if it canonically(?) says so). I want this "failure" to haunt Adrian and remind him of what happens if he isn't careful nor attentive.

Until then, adios.

(P.S: I have actually finished Chapter 1 of this fanfiction, I'd like to refine it a bit more before I release it to the public, but I'll give online cookies to anyone who recognises or gets the title of said chapter once it is up.)