Xar broke out laughing when he saw Adrian's reaction to the voltigore. Adrian leapt back towards the door, which was now blocked by Xars massive form.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME THE HELL OUT!!" Adrian was genuinely scared for the first time he could remember since childhood, he had not feared the voltigores in black mesa, but he had a gun then. Now he was unarmed, and unable to defend himself. Xar burst into hysterics at Adrian's attempt to escape, the thumping steps of the voltigore drew closer, Adrian had enough time to turn around before it made its move.

He braced himself; he knew full well the potential of the creature in combat. It was effective at both ranged and melee combat. His PCV had read as zero power when he checked it earlier. So he would die quickly at least…

It came as a surprise to Adrian, that instead of tearing into him, the creature sniffed him, and stomped off to the part of the room it had approached him from. Xar pulled himself together.

"And they call you fearless? Even the bloody recruits can handle being put in the pens with one of those guys! Hell, Anderson spent the night in there once!" Xar broke back into laughter.

"well the last time I saw one was when they were destroying entire platoons of black ops, can you blame me for being a little bit scared of something that tore through the most highly trained military personnel the earth had to offer with ease?" Adrian finally regained his normal character. He had stopped yelling at least.

"I suppose not… but it was pretty funny. I mean, you should have seen your face!" Xar was no longer in hysterics, but he wasn't exactly calm. He regained himself. "Anyway, they are an agricultural animal of sorts with my race. But they have military applications. So really the voltigores are only dangerous if we tell them to be. They also make up a good part of the armour" Xar was finally calm and was in no danger of hysterics.

"Hmm, I can see how that works." Adrian had a clear image in his head of a voltigore overturning a tank easily, before tearing the underside apart. Well, having them on his side was an improvement.

Xar nodded, and then began to walk towards the door to the workshop. "Now, let's get you back to having a gas mask, you will need the built in HUD. And besides, the mask suited you." He called Adrian back to him.

"Hold on, how do you even know if the mask suits me?" Adrian suddenly became aware of a startling possibility.

"Err… yes…about that…." Xar scratched the back of his neck, looking less confident than he had a few seconds ago. "I remembered one thing from black mesa…you. You wounded me, you might not remember but it happened. I was one of the first X to be brought back to my senses. Pain brought me back. The big bruise mark on my stomach, see?" Xar pointed to a black spot on his chest, the mark looked a lot like the receiving end of a wrench.

Adrian was shocked, he had wounded this X and now he talked to Xar as if nothing had happened.

"And you aren't angry about that?" Adrian hesitated to ask.

"Hell no! Shit happens" Xar laughed, even though it must have been a pretty nasty wound to bring him back from the feral stage.

"Anyway, the gas mask." Xar reminded Adrian, changing subject hastily.

Back up at marine headquarters, there was a full recharge ready for Adrian's PCV and a gas mask. Adrian noticed one new addition to the uniform of the HECU was that all of the troops had a sheep painted on their sleeves. The significance immediately hit Adrian. They meant for him to lead them.

A shepherd to herd his flock.

Several hours after the recharge of his PCV, Adrian had explored the base and armed himself. He did not need a weapon yet, but he felt calmer carrying one. He brought the gun with him wherever he went in the base, it still did not save him in the mess hall.

Halfway through what passed for dinner (barnacle fillets, leeches and potato) Adrian was finally part of the family again, most of the old troops were there. And he felt as if, for the first time in years, he had a purpose. He almost hit the table when the entire room froze except him and a man standing three tables away.

"Corporal shepherd, my apologies for the inconvenience, its time to come home." The man hissed. He had not changed since he had locked Adrian into the void.

"This is my home. Fuck off." Adrian replied sternly. He was not going back, not now.

"I do apologize again corporal, but my employers stated very clearly you are not to be released without their express orders." The man spoke again, his voice was really getting on Adrian's nerves.

"I already said, fuck off. And besides, why did you release me then?" Adrian kept emotion out of his voice; he would beat this bastard at his own game.

"One or two rival… industries had no idea how to handle political matters and you were released by a slight loophole in company policy, now come home shepherd." The man hissed, emotion entering his voice, anger.

One of the doors to the mess hall broke open. Three Vortigaunt's, two race X troops, one of them Xar, and a smaller than average voltigore burst in to the hall. The two race X troops were wheezing and out of breath.

"What part of" Xar stopped to breathe before continuing "fuck off don't you understand?" he finished, his shock roach crawling into firing position.

"Always with the damn aliens. I'll be back for you, shepherd" the man faded away silently. As if he was never there. The hall burst into life again. The Vortigaunt's and the X were no longer there.