He had dealt the final blow to the geneworm.

In his hands he held Gill the baby shocktrooper and grenade launcher. Silently the two of them watched as the gene worm roared and cried the room around them shaking bits and pieces of the ceiling crumbling from the walls and ceiling around them.

Adrian sighed, he knew he wasn't going to make it out of here alive.

'Wonder what they'll tell mom and dad about my death.' Its obvious what would happen, they would drum up some story about him being killed in action by terrorists or some shit. He had fought through absolute hell killing head humping parasites, Laser zapping aliens, and defeated a giant worm that had the potential to destroy the world.

'A hell of way to go out.'

Adrian looked down at Gill who looked up at him with its nonexistent eyes, while Sparky on his back whined, and Barney was just being his quiet self hanging from his belt.

'At Least I can die with my friends at my side. Even if I've only known them for a day and are aliens…'

The Geneworm let out a final ear deafening roar before it began to fade away, and the facility shook to the point Adrian could no longer hold his balance. The floor beneath him giving way to the dark abyss below. He neither screamed nor make a sound as in the end he knew he had done something good.

The world around him faded to black and he had thought it was all over.

But no…

For someone else had other plans for him. Very special plans.

For silence was replaced with the all to familiar sound of an Ospreys continuous thumping engine. He opened his eyes and for a second thought it was all a dream, he was in an osprey. But the idea that everything he had experienced being merely a dream was thrown out the window when he noticed the man in the familiar blue suit with a briefcase standing in front of him.

"Sooo, Corporal Shephard, we meet at last. Please dont think I've been avoiding you, a great many matters require my attention in these troubled times." his next words struck a nerve in the marine. "I do hope you understand."

'I'm going to show you, you fucking- what the fuck!?' He couldn't move, it was like he had no control over his own body. As he fought to try to get his body to respond to his movements the man continued to speak.

"And now I require further indulgence on your part. I cannot close my report until every loose end has been tied up. The biggest embarrassment being Black Mesa Facility, but I think that's finally taken care of itself."

A flash of blinding light followed by a loud rumble and shake of the earth slightly jolted the osprey. He didn't need to see the explosion to know that was the warhead. Under his mask he gritted his teeth in anger, he had disarmed that warhead and this bastard rearms it killing thousands of not only his brothers in arms but innocent scientists and civilians as well. He was going to make the bastard pay for killing those people.

He guaranteed that.

"Quite so…"

Another flash of light and the scenery outside the Osprey changed from the New Mexico desert to that of the alien world he had visited previously.

"But there is still the lingering matter of… witnesses. I admit I have a fascination with those who adapt and survive against all odds…" he did that creepy smile again and it chilled Adrian to no end. "They rather remind me of myself…"

He was going to tear his fucking spine out the second he gets the…

"If for no other reason, I have argued to preserve you, for a time."

Another flash of light and now they were in the dark void of nothingness.

"While I believe a civil servant like yourself understand the importance of discretion, my employers are not quite so trusting and rather than continually subject you to the irresistible human temptation of telling all, we've decided to convey you somewhere you can do no possible harm and where no harm can come to you."

Adrian continued to fight against the invisible bounds holding him in his sitting position, the only muscle he had control over was his eyes and on his left the cockpit door slid open revealing a large green portal he had seen the aliens use to get around.

"I'm sure you can imagine there are worse alternatives…"

He continued to stare angrily at the suited man who did not falter under his deathly glare and instead of saying anything else he simply walked through the cockpit portal and disappearing leaving him alone.

He wanted to scream, to yell out bloody murder at that suited man. Everything he had done, all his brothers who had died, all the innocent blood spilled. All of it was for nothing and in the end what did he get? A fate worse than death.

The world around him faded away. No longer in the osprey he just floated their in the dark eternal void with nothing but his thoughts to accompany him. Slowly his consciousness began to slip and his eyelids began to grow heavy like all the continuous activity he had gone through had suddenly finally caught up to him.

'This isn't over. No not by a longshot. I will avenge my brothers. I will avenge the lives you had taken. And I will kill you for all the shit you had put me through…' those were the last thoughts Adrian had before finally succumbing to sleep.

SUBJECT: Adrian Shephard.
Age: Twenty-Two.
Status: Detained. Further evaluation pending.

"Rise and shine Corporal Shephard, rise and shine…"

That voice…

The blackness surrounding Adrian, the black endless expanse of nothingness he had grown accustomed to looking at for who knew how long suddenly became replaced with the familiar osprey from his previous meeting with the 'government agent.'

"Not that I wish to imply that you have been sleeping on the job, no one is more deserving of a rest and all the effort in the world would have gone to waste. Until well lets just say my employers have found a place your services per say can be proven quite useful…"

The familiar man in the blue suit materialized from the void standing in front of Adrian, that creepy salesman smile plastered on his face. He could feel his blood boil and all that anger he had stored up for him come flooding back into his system.

'Go to fucking hell I will never work for you!'

"Of course refusal to cooperate could prove problematic. But the choice is yours…"

Either he read his thoughts or not was lost on Adrian, but the way he said it made it sound like he had no true choice in the matter and refusing would be his end and he wasn't to keen on dying even if it meant he had to work under the will of 'him' plus there was no way of knowing if an opportunity would ever present itself for him to break away and get an open strike at his back.

The best thing he could as of now was just play along and wait for the right opportunity to strike him.

"It is time to choose Corporal, what will it be?" He stuck out his hand to the marine who looked down at it contemplating for a long while. But eventually against his own judgement took the basterds hand and shook it. Even through his glove the agents hand felt cold like ice.

The suited man smiled slyly. "Wisely done, Corporal…"

They let go of their hands. Or rather Adrian did.

The Government man pulled his hand down, and adjusted his tie a portal materializing behind him. "Well this has been a rather… brief meeting, but I have other… businesses to attend to." Hix next words making Adrian glad he didn't turn down the 'offer' he just took. "And be aware Corporal, We will be watching you…" his words sounded more as a threat then a warning, and personally it kind of scared the marine.

Adrian watched as the man stepped into the portal leaving him alone once more in the osprey.

'What the fuck have I just agreed to?' He feels like he just sold his soul to the devil himself and it's very possible hey may have done so. But he wasn't going to let go without a fight, he had not fought through a facility of aliens and defeat a giant worm just to be turned into someone else's pawn. He will break free and when he does he will go after that suit wearing bastard.

Looking out into the black expanse of the open osprey door a bright white light flashed blinding the marine, following this was the sound of a loud rapid beeping emitting from within the cockpit and rushing air. It didnt take long for Adrian to realize what was going on as he had been in this situation once before, and this time he wouldn't make the same mistake he did before. The osprey was going down in what appeared to be some sort of forested area, and he was falling fast.

Acting quickly Adrian began putting on his seats harness tightening it as best as he could. Once he was secure to the seat he looked around for something to hold onto, usually you would just the trust the seat to do its job in keeping you alive in scenarios such as this but after everything he had been through he wasn't taking any chances. Finding nothing within reach he could use to help keep himself steady and how close to the ground the osprey was getting he had to settle on holding onto the seat for extra support, now all he could do was pray he survived this.

He couldn't remember happened after that as everything went black. But when he awoke the only thing he could feel was utter pain.

Pain was all Adrian could feel upon regaining consciousness after the impact. The pain wasn't like that of being shot by a bullet or hit with a ball of electricity, no. This pain consisted of a massive headache and almost every muscle in his body being sore like he had gone through his first day of basic training all over again.

Adrians blurry vision began to clear up and gradually he began to take in the damage of the osprey. He was still in his seat thankfully and he appeared to still have all his limbs intact and body free of any protruding objects.

The osprey on the other hand was an entirely different story.

For starters the entire front section of the vehicle leading into the cockpit had been completely ripped off, the cabin was in complete disarray with wires from the roof spilling out into tangled messes and the hull dented in most areas.

After a few minutes taking in his surroundings and his situation, Adrian undid the harness that held him to the seat and left the confines of cabin stepping outside.

He appeared to have crashed in some sort of clearing in the middle of a forest. Where exactly was lost upon the marine, but he was relieved to at least still be on earth.

A few meters away from the torn off cabin of the osprey Adrian found the front section of the vehicle appearing to be in no better shape. And littering the clearing were large chunks of the hull along with the torn off wings and engines, as well as…

Crates?

'What the fuck?'

Were those with him during the crash? No they couldn't be, the osprey was built for transport of troops not equipment.

Curious Adrian walked over to the nearest one and brushed aside the bits of dirt exposing the white print embedded in the plastic green crate.

'PROPERTY OF THE USMC'

Undoing the latches on the side of the crate Adrian opened it up. Inside he found a standard army knife along with an m9 beretta and a few clips to go with it. He took them placing the knife in the sheath on his PVC and the pistol in a holster on his hip. Finding nothing else inside he moved on to opening the others. In the other crates the marine found more weapons along with ammo to go with them. An mp5 with a grenade launcher, a couple of hand grenades, some tripmines, and a satchel charge.

Having finished his search and double checking to make sure he missed nothing of importance, Adrian moved on to his next issue. Finding civilization. He doubted he could use the radio to contact the military seeing as he was probably wanted by the government, and seeing everything they wouldn't just let him go free. His other option was to try to find out where he currently was and find a town, but that begged the question of where he would go from there.

'So my options are either contact command and face possible death, or be on the run for the rest of my life. Fucking great.' Neither of those options sounded good to the marine but after everything he had been through he doubted anything would ever have been easy for him.

A few minutes of contemplating and weighing his options, Adrian reached a decision.

'Fuck it, I didn't come this far just to die…' He wasn't going to let himself get silenced by the people who had sent him into Black Mesa in the first place and he sure as hell wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Adrian turned on his heels and wandered off into the forest in search of society.

A/N: A reupload of a story I had uploaded but ended up deleting. But now Im back and with a plan.