Memories flooded Chell's mind, lighting up her synapses amidst a haze of pain. Flashes of her past became her reality, and as she plunged into the dark void of unconsciousness she remembered everything.

She was ten years old. She was demonstrating how a potato battery could light up a light bulb to a room full of excited girls of about the same age. Her mother was watching from a corner and had tears in her eyes.

A man with brown hair in a white suit approached her and was smiling broadly.

"Look daddy, I made it just like you showed me!" she said and held the potato battery up for her dad to see.

"Very nice Chell, I'm so proud of you!" he said and gave her a warm hug. "Your mother and I have something we'd like to show you."

Her dad motioned to her mother.

"Over here Caroline, the board will have decided if they'll accept Chell as a subject by now."

Her mother joined them and they boarded an elevator.

"Rattman, are we still out of his reach?" asked Caroline.

"Yes. For now." her father replied.

"How long do we have?" her mother asked again.

"I'm not sure, maybe a few years. Black mesa is on the verge of a breakthrough, but we don't know if that will stop him." her father replied with a frown. "Our countermeasures are almost in place, it should keep the cryo chambers secure from accidental discovery."

"Lets hope so."

The elevator doors opened.

"Chell honey, why don't you go have some cake while we're busy?" her mother said sweetly.

Chell's vision changed. It was her twentieth birthday, but her father was speeding out of the city at maniacal speeds.

"Dad, what happened? Why did we have to leave so quickly?"

"Do you remember everything your mother and I taught you?" asked her father.

Chell's blood chilled.

"Its happened hasn't it? Whatever mom and you feared all these years has happened, hasn't it?" asked Chell.

"If Eli Vance had only listened to me!" her father slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

They turned off on a gravel road that ran through a wheat field. Her mother was waiting for them in the middle of the wheat field near a little shed.

"We only have a few minutes before they switch her on, we have to hurry!" said Caroline. Her hair had gone mostly grey and her face looked aged.

The shed opened to show an elevator inside.

"How did this happen? I thought Black Mesa was severing the connection for good?" asked Caroline.

"I warned Eli not to open that portal, but I suspect they had already got to him." her father responded.

"What about Freeman?" asked Caroline.

"He has some measure of protection, I had a hand in the design of the hazard suit. He can't be touched directly."

"Who is this 'they' you keep speaking of?" asked Chell.

"All in good time, honey." her father answered.

The doors opened into a large room filled with computer screens. A group of men in white lab coats were looking at the main screen in the center of the room. It showed two ships. One in a dry dock, the other somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

"Looks like we're just in time, they're taking care of project Aurora now." her mother said.

A few seconds later an explosion blew the ship in the ocean to bits. The remaining hulk sank beneath the waves.

"Yes! The Australis has been sunk, the Borealis should follow suit any second now." her mother said.

A minute passed, but the Borealis remained.

"Something is wrong." her father said."No time, we have to jump it! GlaDOS will take care of the rest. Initialize the jump!" said her father frantically.

"Rattman, he might find out about project Aurora if we do that." said Caroline.

"He already knows, I'm sure. Just jump it!" her father commanded.

There was a blinding display of light on the screen and the Borealis disappeared, taking part of the dry dock with it.

"Get GlaDOS online asap. She needs to hide that ship." Caroline commanded, and the scientists scattered to their posts.

Rattman turned to Chell.

"Honey, come with me. We must hurry."

"Rattman, wait!" said Caroline. She ran to him and pulled him into a hug. "I love you, keep her safe."

"I will."

Caroline turned to Chell.

"Chell baby girl, be strong. There is a tough time ahead."

A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Mom, you're scaring me. What's going on?" asked Chell.

"Don't trust the man in the grey-blue suit."

"Caroline enough, there's no time! We have to get to cryo right now!" said her father.

Chell remembered being put into a room and lying down.

And then she heard Barney's voice.

- λ³ -

Barney seemed delirious. "Come on Chell, don't you dare die on me now!"

Gunfire exploded from the opening in the hull where the Advisor had made his entrance.

"Give us some cover!" Barney yelled as he picked Chell's limp body up from the floor.

"We will protect the Barney while he attends to the injured one." one of vortigaunts said.

Alyx appeared on a metal walkway above. "Gordon, the portal spit me out near a weapons storage area. Catch!"

She tossed him a shotgun.

Grigori and the vortigaunts were having a tough time keeping the combine soldiers out but Alyx and Gordon soon joined them in battle.

"Looks like they have that covered for now." Barney mumbled. "Come on Chell, please don't be dead."

He checked her breathing. It was shallow, but she was alive. A shot landed near them and bounced of the wall with a whistle.

"You son of a bitch!" Barney screamed and drew his handgun. "Have some of this! And this, and this!" he said as he fired back at the combine, emphasizing every 'this' with a shot.

"Barney, don't squeeze so tight..."

Barney hadn't even realised he was holding Chell's hand. He looked down and saw her staring back at him.

"You're alive!" he exclaimed and pulled her into a tight hug. "And your voice! How did…"

"Barney, there is no time!" she interrupted him. "I remember everything, he's coming."