A/N: A big hug and plate of homemade brownies to all who reviewed! I love you. As I'm typing this, I'm excited beyond description and can feel the vibrations of my blasting speakers through the keyboard. (Caramelldansen, anyone?)

Anyways, I read every single one of your reviews and appreciate your feedback. Which brings me to another point; I'm going to try and have an update up every weekend, but schoolwork and various school clubs are quite demanding, so if it's not up, give or take a few days. But I'll try my best to get it on every Saturday or so. I'm really excited about this story.

Oh, and anyone you recognize doesn't belong to me. Anyhow, onward to the show! :D

Edit: Fixed Lamarr's name. Thanks Cheezburgerlover!

Alyx Vance sighed wearily. It was the third time today that Lamarr had run to hide in some secret corner of Doctor Kleiner's lab. The headcrab's disappearance, in turn, had caused Dr. Kleiner to turn away from the process of preparing the blueprints for an improved gravity gun to wander about the lab, calling for her. This repeated cycle frustrated Alyx greatly.

"After all, I just came here to pick up the new blueprints," she muttered to herself, picking at a stray thread on her shirt.

"What did you say?" A very distracted Doctor Kleiner asked her, pausing in the act of lifting up a crate of test tubes in search of his rampant pet.

"Nothing, Doc," Alyx replied, mildly shocked that he had even heard her mumble over his own mutterings and shifting of boxes.

"Oh, alright. Lamarr! Come on out, girl! I've got snackies!" He rummaged in the pocket of his lab coat and withdrew a pack of bacon and took out a piece, waving it in the air.

At this, Alyx had to stifle a stray chuckle. She was so used to hearing Doctor Kleiner use a sophisticated scientific vocabulary, so his use of the word 'snackies' was quite unexpected. She didn't even know Doctor Kleiner had knowledge of such a flippant word. Not to mention the hilarity of a prominent scientist waving a piece of pork at a stubborn headcrab. At that moment, Alyx wished dearly that she had a videocamera to document this scientific silliness.

Who would have thought that one of the greatest scientific minds of this time would meet his match in the form of a headcrab?

She couldn't contain her laughter this time. However, she didn't want to offend poor Kleiner by laughing at him, so she tried to disguise it. The end result turned out to be a quite questionable strangled-sounding cough.

"Alyx, are you okay?" Doctor Kleiner asked, genuinely concerned.

"Mhm, Doc, I'm fine."

"Good, then. Say, will you help me find Lamarr?" he continued, scratching his head (thankfully with the non-bacon holding hand), "looks like she's hidden quite well this time. I can't find her any–-"

Before Kleiner had even finished his thought, Lamarr herself jumped down from an unknown place that he apparently overlooked and perched greedily on his head, waving her claws at the bacon in Kleiner's hand.

At the arrival of his pet, Doctor Kleiner was overjoyed.

"Lamarr! There you are, girl!" This attention provoked more insistence from the headcrab.

"Okay, okay, you can have your snackie." He raised his bacon-holding hand to Lamarr and she snatched it away rather fiercely, leaping away to the top of a cabinet to gnaw on her prize. Alyx tried to ignore the rather sickening sound of the headcrab munching noisily on the bacon. His task complete, Doctor Kleiner turned back to Alyx.

"Now, where were we? Ah! The blueprints, I remember now!"

Doctor Kleiner rummaged around in a stack of papers inscribed with complex drawings and multiple spreadsheets of nameless data until he found the diagrams that Alyx requested. He unrolled the document and spread it out on the table, leaning over it. Alyx leaned over as well to decipher the minuscule handwriting detailing parts of the new model. Kleiner began a walkthrough of the advanced gravity gun, or as he liked to call it, the Zero Degree Field Manipulator X. But to Alyx Vance, it was still just a gravity gun.

"Now, if you look here, the Zero Degree Field Manipulator X has a modified trigger guard, allowing for faster primary fire and also a variable switch to adjust the power for delicate operations. The barrel is also more streamlined; a huge improvement over the last one. I also gave it a new name, as you could tell."

"Sure, Doc, I like what I see, but..." Alyx tapped her fingers on the edge of the lab table, "I don't mean to be blunt, but does it pack more of a punch than the last one? The last model left a lot to be desired."

Doctor Kleiner chuckled. "I knew we'd get around to that. The Zero Degree Field Manipulator X has almost thrice the power of the previous model. Now, you get more...how they say..." he trailed off, searching for a word, "pow for the dollar."

Alyx smiled. "Doctor Kleiner, I think you mean 'bang for the buck '."

"Oh, that's what it was! I almost had it though, yes?" He replied, rolling up the blueprints again and securing them with a nearby rubber band. He turned and walked to the cabinet on which Lamarr was perched. She had finished her 'snackie' and was now waving her claws persuasively at Doctor Kleiner, wanting another piece of bacon. Kleiner put his hands on his hips stared down his pet.

"Now, Lamarr, snackies are only when you come out of hiding. You know I can't look for you all day."

At that, the indignant headcrab jumped down on Kleiner's shoulder. Alyx, picking up the blueprints, smiled to herself at the eccentricity of the situation.

"Doctor Kleiner, I think I had better get going. Dad will be expecting me back in a few minutes."

Kleiner smiled brightly. "It was lovely having you out here, Alyx. I'm sorry for Lamarr's disappearances, she's acting awfully strange today. I just can't figure it out," he pondered something for a moment, "anyhow, I'll fire up the teleporter for you." He walked over to a door on the far side of the lab.

"Thanks, Doc. I'll tell my dad to send you--"

At that moment, a tumultuous rumble shook the lab. Crates were knocked off of shelves, the shattering of glass sounding from within a few. Lamarr leaped off of Kleiner's shoulder in favor of a position on top of a supply shelf and soon disappeared out of sight. Alyx had to hold onto a table for support. Kleiner stumbled over to the table as well, and held onto its surface to stand. The lights flickered wildly, casting eerie shadows over the lab.

"Doctor Kleiner, what's going on?!" Alyx had to yell over the rumble of the earth and the sound of crates falling to the ground.

"I...I don't know, Alyx, but whatever it is, it seems to be coming from behind the door! It may be the teleporter!"

Then, all at once, the chaos ceased. Kleiner and Alyx found that they could stand once more. But a strange noise faintly crackled behind the airlock door. Alyx recognized it as the raw fizzle of electricity. She and Kleiner exchanged a look as they hesitantly approached the door.

A/N: Hoho! Cliffhanger! I am evil.

Review or Dr. Kleiner will follow you around all day, waving bacon at you.