The watcher chapter 3

Alyx lay on her bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, it was early morning, but she had cried for almost the entire night, and she honestly felt as though she was dead, she hadn't slept, in over a week and a half, if she counted the week in limbo after she and Gordon had teleported from Nova Prospect, and know that she had a bed, a real, if slightly worn, bed she couldn't sleep, every time she closed her eyes she saw the same scene over and over again, sometimes things were different, Dr Kleiner taking her dad's place for instance, but the effect was the same, she just could not sleep, she contemplated going to the medical bay for some sleeping pills, if they had any, but she quickly disregarded the idea when she realised that she would have to talk to Julie, the head doctor, and she knew that Julie, bless her, would try and comfort her, and in he own way make things that much harder to deal with. Her thoughts returned, abruptly to Gordon, who was now doing some mission in former Belgium, she glumly thought that maybe she should emulate him, in his detached, almost cold, manner towards death, she had watched him destroy entire platoons of combine soldiers with little more than an SMG and a crowbar, it scared her and captivated her, at the same time.

Knock

her thoughts ended when someone rapped on the door, she glanced at her body, still fully clothed thankfully and then glanced around the room, it seemed fine, so she got up and opened the door, to reveal an impatient Dr Magnuson

"yes?" her voice was scratchy from crying, Magnuson took a moment to look at her, before frowning

"well, you aren't in any fit state for anything, what have you been doing, banging your head against a wall all night?" Alyx was in no state to argue, or stand it seemed as she collapsed against the door frame

"Dr Kleiner would like to see you in his lab as soon as possible" she nodded, he looked at her, for a moment she saw what could only be described as concern, before he was back to his normal brusque self

"now, I had the foresight to bring some sleeping pills with me, on Kleiner's suggestion" he held out a small packet, all but two of the pouches had been opened, she took the packet and opened them carefully, dry swallowing them with a practised grimace

"those should keep you asleep for about 9 hours, so get back into bed young lady" he completed the order with a 90 degree turn and stomped off, she coughed once before moving back into bed, already feeling drowsy.

15 hours later

Alyx woke with a start, grasping her machine pistol as she did so, her lights was off and it was pitch black, she stumbled around, trying to avoid any her desk and piles of clothes, then she had to blindly search for the light switch, she had visited White Forest several years ago, but her memory of the layout was vague at best, once she had found it she relaxed, the pitch blackness reminded her all to much of the city 17 underground when she had been totally reliant on Gordon's flash light for sight she found her room as she left it, much to her relief, she sat back down on her bed, trying to remain calm, trying to...with a jot she remembered that Dr Kleiner wanted to see her, so she ensured that her room was locked at stripped down, and then searched for new clothes, her old ones were hardly fresh, relatively speaking, eventually she found another pair of jeans which were slightly more frayed than her old ones and a T-Shirt advertising something called 'Iron Maiden', it was black, but had some weird artwork on the front and a list of dates on the back, over the top she wore her jacket and finally her belt, ensuring her stuff was secure, once she was happy with her appearance she stepped out, locking her room behind her, before searching for Dr Kleiner's labs, she knew it were near silo one, so she didn't haven't that much to search. How she loves to eat her words...

an hour later

"...second right, you got that?" she nodded at the nameless rebel, who she recalled having seen in the cafeteria once, and set off, this time armed with directions for his lab, she headed down the first corridor on her left, not recognising any of the signs, but she turned down her third right onto another access corridor, this one was longer and cleaner than the first, so she was near an inhabited part of the base at any rate, finally she knocked on the second door to her right, it opened immediately revealing Dr Kleiner, working at his desk, he turned round at the hissing of the door, looking relieved when he saw her face

"Alyx, my dear, what have you been up to" he got up and walked over to her, looking at her intently

"nothing, honestly just sleeping" he frowned

"did you use the sleeping pills?" she nodded guiltily, for some reason

"you've been crying haven't you" it wasn't an accusation, only a statement, again she nodded

"well, it's better to let it all out, as Gordon would testify"

"Gordon?"

"hmm? Oh yes, it was about 3 weeks before the resonance cascade, Gordon and Barney had a little celebration, I can't remember what for, anyway both of them got incredibly drunk and Gordon started crying, for his dad, if I remember correctly, his dad had been dead for over 7 years, but Gordon had never let all his emotions out" she could only nod dumbly, 7 years, without crying must have been hell for him

"what did you call me here for?" Kleiner didn't respond for a second or two

"I called you in here because he have recently found an old mark III HEV suit, completely unmodified, probably left here after the 'Great Clean-up of '95'. Magnuson and I decided that it would be good for someone to use it" her eyes widened

"you can't mean..."

"we both agreed you would be the ideal candidate, you have experience in the field and are well respected, unless you have a better suggestion" her brain whirled, trying to think of anybody that could use it better than her, after 10 seconds she drew a blank and weakly shrugged, Kleiner took that as permission to continue, he typed a code into a nearby keypad and from the depths rose the HEV suit, it looked less bulky than Gordon's mark V, and was painted in an uninspired drab grey colour, Kleiner made his way over to it, almost reverently moving the glove back into it's proper position, then he turned to her

"obviously adjustments need to be made, if you would just like to step into the scanner for a second" he directed her to a small cubicle, once she was inside he turned it on

"please keep still for this, it shouldn't make a difference but I like to play it safe" then he pressed enter and a plane of red light flooded the cubicle lowering down and then rising back up, confirming completion with a sharp ping, the cubicle opened and she made he way out, to be confronted with a 3D representation of herself on the computer screen, which then showed the various changes to be made to the suit for it to fit her. Kleiner seemed to be satisfied with the result

"you rest now, you deserve it, the suit should be ready with 3 days, after that we'll begin your training" she nodded and made her way, contemplating how to spend her day

AN as ever suggestions, comments and opinions all appreciated