Looking up at the clock as it ticked past ten, Miric sighed and returned to his project. A machine capable of opening huge portals. Looking up again, he noticed a man in a blue suit outside the window. Approaching it to open it for him, he noticed he was holding a briefcase.
"Can i help you, Sir?", he asked as he opened the window.
"I believe you can. I need you to take a certain task. You will be well rewarded, of course", the mysterious stranger put down his suitcase.
"Let me hear it. Anything to get away from this university"
The stranger opened the suitcase, revealing a contract. "Sign this, Please?", he handed Miric the contract.
"Ehm, all right i guess", Miric looked at the contract, reading it for himself, "By signing this contract, you relieve your employee's of any responsibility of events in the past, present, and future. You will obey any orders given without hesitation". Nodding, Miric signed the contract.
The stranger smiled and nodded as the room began to fade around Miric. He caught a quick glimpse of a nearby newspaper saying August 21st 1925.
--
Miric looked around, the truck was crossing a bridge. "You know, you need to stop dreaming so violently", one of the guards said as he helped Miric up.
"Huh? Where... Where am i?", he asked looking out the back of the truck.
"You're being transported to New York on request of the president," the guard took a quick glance around "You're not to be harmed"
Miric sighed and sat down, looking out the back of the truck. He spotted the mysterious man he had spoken to in his dream.
"So, who exactly are you?", the guard asked.
"Miric Fell, of course?", Miric gave the guard a confused look.
"That's funny. I looked you up. You died August 21st 1925. Disappearing from a populated university, Miric Fell's body was found two kilometers outside the city" suddenly, the truck came to a hold, "Hey, what's going o-", the guard was interrupted as a bullet hit his head.
At the end of the truck, Robert Hobbs came into view, unlocking it. "I guess this is what you call Hostile Takeover?", he joked as he helped down Miric.
Looking around, Miric noticed everything had turned blue, and the mysterious man once again approached him. "Very well! Now, how about we... fix the past?", he laughed as everything faded to black.
"Who are you?", Miric exclaimed, shocking the man.
"Me? I'm a friend, of course. Remember these words, Miric Fell; Panorama Delicious", the man faded out as Miric found himself in the lobby of Sector C, thirty minutes before the incident.
"Morning Doctor Fell. How's your day?", the guard asked.
"Terrible. I gotta ask; Where is Doctor Freeman?" Miric looked around the lobby.
"Freeman? He's on his way i believe"
Miric nodded and began walking down the hallway. He turned left, entering the data room. On his left, he noticed a computer was blinking Please Enter Password.
Taking a quick glance, he remembered the words he had been told. Punching in the password, the system began loading. After a good minute of loading, the words System Overloaded. Restarting. appeared.
"Doctor Fell?", a voice behind him called, "What did you do?! The system crashed!" the scientist exclaimed.
Miric noticed the blue suited man again, this time in the hallway. He followed him to a room at the end of the hallway. Entering, the door locked behind him.
"Very good, Fell. Freeman should be able to get a fix on all this, and survive. In your timeline... Well, let's just say the HECU got a new target practice"
Miric noticed Gordon Freeman passing outside the window.
"I should be going, Doctor Fell. In a few minutes, you will die. However, be aware that you might be able to save someone", the stranger turned around the faded away as he walked towards the wall.
Miric ran down the hallway, into the elevator, passing Freeman when he wasn't looking, and into the lower sectors. "Resonance Cascade... Now i know it!", he continued down the hallway spotting Eli at the end of it.
"Vance, you've got to listen. You're going to risk a Resonance Cascade doing this. I know it!"
Eli looked at him and grinned, "Why do you think that?", he asked as Freeman approached.
"Pl-", Miric was interrupted by an exploding panel nearby, "Eli, do it. Call the scientists, and warn them of the risks!"
Eli sighed, "All righ then". He turned on the loudspeakers for the testchamber, explaining the dangers. "Now, Miric, it's all up to them. I can't do anymore", he sighed and wen't back to the computer.
Only a few minutes later, what he had feared came to reality. The panel behind them exploded once more, sending a shard into Miric's leg, causing him to collapse.
"Miric! Damn, what happened?!", Eli kneeled down to check the wound as Gordon entered the room again.
Eli shook his head, "Why didn't they listen? We tried to warn them."
Miric looked up, noticing Gordon, "I never thought I'd see a resonance cascade, let alone
create one". Miric sighed, "I was supposed to die before the resonance cascade" he thought to himself.
Eli stood up as Gordon approached. He could only make out a few words, "... I'm too afraid to move him. Please get to the surface as soon as you can and let someone know we're stranded down here"
Miric leaned back as he watched the two leaving his sight. Slowly everything fading as he leaned backwards. He closed his eyes as he felt the pain disappearing from his leg. Soon, he heard a familiar voice near him, "Very good, Doctor Fell. We're most pleased with your performance. Thanks to you, Doctor Freeman is now employed, you died in peace, and Robert Hobbs escaped with his team"
The man leaned down as Miric opened his eyes, "Don't worry. Miric Fell died, but you're still alive" once more, everything faded from his eyesight.
Looking up once more, he saw Eli Vance standing by a grave. "They'll remember you. But not the way you remember yourself. To them, you were the mysterious scientist that knew of the future. To yourself, you were the survivor of the incident", Miric turned to him.
"All right, what do i do now?"
The man smiled, walking away, "Tell Mister Breen to surrender". Everything once more faded to black. When Miric opened his eyes again, he found himself on a street populated with people...
