Missing in λction

CHAPTER II: Meeting With An Old Chum

It's so strange that I went through with an old colleague's advice. A person who hasn't seen me in years, and a person I rarely spoke to. I didn't have to do this, but for some reason, I did. Maybe it was because I was lost or alone in this cold world, without answers I only had questions. But here I was, in a vent that felt like it was squeezing me from all sides the further I went. Like a cat trying to fit into a mouse hole. Or maybe it was just my imagination, who can tell anymore, it's been a while since I last did something similar to this. Speaking of yours truly, it got me thinking. Who am I? What do I even stand for? What do I even want or do I want anything? Is this worth it? Sometimes trying to figure that stuff out is difficult, you never know if the mysterious chemicals you're mixing up will help you in the long run or not. You just have to keep on trying till something sticks, and maybe you'll find out that it was in your face the whole time; I just hope I'm finding some kind of meaning.

In the distance, I saw a beam of light headed in my direction, from darkness to light. I guess it was the grace of warmth that gave me hope. I crawled up to the ending of the vent; it was a vent door that was rusty and weak enough to bust open. I inhaled, then exhaled, and punched the door vent with my right hand as hard as possible. The door went soaring through the air before the metal plating's impact was heard and echoed throughout the area. My knuckles felt the hard and forced results of pain, but it was tolerable, I of all people should know that. I admit that it wasn't really a rational or well thought out decision, but it did work. After sucking up the pain, I peeked my head out to see where I was.

I found myself in what looked like a lobby of a bank that was forgotten by history. There was grass growing all over the place, mold covered the corners, graffiti took the walls, the clocks stopped at six thirty two before midday, and there was a massive hole in the ceiling with a bright light coming from the sun. But, this bank was not pre-war, this was formerly a Combine bank: the Combine banner was here, along with their abandoned tech as well as with their long gone power. The real question on my mind was how was I going to go from the vent and onto the ground without busting my head open?

I couldn't turn my legs around and jump down to safety, my only option was to try and crawl out of the vent and not attempt to kill myself in the process. I placed both of my hands on the wall below me and tried advancing downwards. It was struggling, but I knew deep down inside about my foreshadowment. Once my legs were exposed, that's when I slipped out of the vent and lost my grip; flying off from above ground while landing on my back rib. Now, I can say with confidence, that moment was beyond painful. Feeling like I had absolutely no control over my body, it was difficult to move. While lying on the floor with my regrets, I looked up at the ceiling and noticed a barnacle hanging over me. I rushed myself to get back on my feet. I was more terrified than a victim of an axe murderer. However, when I analyzed the barnacle from down there, it's tongue wasn't out. The only thing I knew was that it wasn't trying to consume me, maybe it was resting or something. It was safe, for now.

I turned around and explored the lobby in which Jackson was nowhere to be found. I wasn't liking the scenery, this bank wasn't really the place where old time friends got back together. It was the kind of place where dealers sold their products, and addicts would pay for it if the price was their life. I hopped over the counter to search the drawers and desks to find nothing. The Combine terminal computers wouldn't turn on, my mind felt like unstable sanity, it took me a second to realize why they didn't work. Then I heard a thundurus bang come from behind me. I turned around in a panic to see what it was. Jackson was standing there with a straight face, while pulling out a cigarette.

"And now," Jackson paused to place the smoke in his mouth, "you are dead, congratulations." Jackson lit his nicotine carrier.

"Uh?!" I shrugged in shock. I started hysterically checking my chest and body.

"Hey, calm down man, all I said was 'bang,'" Jackson said with concern. "I didn't think that would scare you so much."

"Why the hell did you do that?!" I was still shocked by the event, so I raised my voice.

"To teach you a lesson, why else? You really should be more careful about your surroundings," Jackson stated. I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I looked back at Jackson, I started focusing on the obvious change that had occured; he shaved his beard off, he now had a goatee like he did back at Black Mesa.

¨Hey," I said, "what happened to your beard, I thought you 'liked it' or something.¨

¨Oh yeah, I did,¨ Jackson said with a long pause after.¨I guess I did this because after I saw you, it reminded me of the old times we had. So I shaved my facial hair into a goatee, it's a little rough and not clean that well, but I think this is who I am, Adrian. And I feel much better about this than the previous style I was going for,¨ Jackson explained.

"I Understand,¨ I said.¨"But, what you said earlier, I'll try to keep it in mind."

"So, you came back for me uh?" Jackson said in a curious voice.

"No, I just had nothing better to do," I told him the truth, I don't know what else to do.

"Oh," Jackson changes the topic, "Well, about that situation with the Combine not being at their post? It must be something really important."

"Or it probably could be nothin'," I suggested.

"No, that's unlikely, there is always at least one there. Who even knows anymore, for all I know there's probably a holiday I've never heard before." A thought came into mind, how did Jackson know about this?

"Wait, how do you know about that?" Jackson then grabbed out of his pocket to show me a pink toy that was made for little girls. It was a walkie talkie and was the most least complex device. There was one button for communication, two other buttons to change the frequency, and an antenna that folded up and down. Somehow, no words were needed, he just showed me it and I knew. "Oh," I said. Jackson put the walkie talkie away.

"Anyways, I should probably introduce you to my friends."

"Wait, what friends?" I asked. "They're other people here?"

"Of course there are. What, did you think I just hid in an old double U bank with this girly walkie talkie doing nothing? I'm running a operation here for the Lambdas," Jackson thought about what he said. "Actually, in a way of looking at it, I'm kinda doing somebody a favor by doing this. It's somewhat of a long story, but um...," Jackson struggled with his words, "let's just not talk about that." Jackson had the face of a memory that gave him chills, the type of chills that haunted his dreams and creeped into his veins. From joyful, to almost emotional, the tone switched faster than I could have imagined. Like a boy at his birthday party having the time of his life, but one event reverses his opinion. Jackson got himself together and was back to being normal, whatever you can call normal. "Come on, let's go see what the crazy numb nuts are doing down stairs," Jackson suggested.

"You," I said with concern and stuttered while repeating myself, "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jackson said. I thought it was best to change the topic.

"So, whats 'double U'?" I asked.

"Oh, sorry, sometimes I call the 'Universal Union,'" Jackson said while air quoting, "double U for short. I don't know why I do it, it's just a wacky habit."

"That's stupid."

We went through an opened steel door labeled 'stairs.' These stairwells were showing their age: the decaying metal stair rail and remaining chunks of debris from the bank's infrastructure. A propaganda poster on the wall was fading from it's texture, the image and wording was so strange.

The art took place in the night, an unclear citadel loomed over the horizon. I could only tell because there was a city on fire below the structure that was revealing it. The text wrote, 'The protectors of City 11 have betrayed us in civil unrest and we require your commitment! Give any aid you can to defend our republic against these traitorist radicals! You can report to a City 22 militia or to your local Civil Protection post near you.' When reading this, I felt as if I woke up from a coma, disconnected from civilization or possibly reality itself. I guess the only real positive thing was that I never aged, but what use does that mean when I missed out on so much of everything? I have no idea what is going on or what anything is. Whatever the poster was about, it didn't sound too prosperous. Either way, this whole building was just a huge wasted investment that was thrown in the garbage like an unwanted puppy. What a tragedy, money and profit was left behind in a way of looking at it. While walking down the stairs, I stopped Jackson in his tracks to ask him something.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah Adrian, shoot."

"Who are we even meeting? How do I know this isn't a trap or anything?" Jackson gave my question some thought.

"Well, since you wondered all this way here, I guess it's fair enough to do some explaining." Jackson took a deep inhale from his cigarette and blew out smoke. "So, there are two other people within this bank as I speak, their names are Delmira West and Neil Finley. They're also a part of the Lambdas too, and I think I should be the one doing all the talking: since I know them more personally and they trust me more. Also Delmira isn't really the type of person you wanna mess around with and Neil on the other hand, I have no idea what he thinks, he's always seemed like a kind of a wildcard in my eyes, I don't really-" I cut Jackson off.

"Okay, Jackson, I get it. You don't need to tell me their whole life stories."

"Oh yeah, sorry," Jackson apologized," I guess I'm just worried about what these people might do to you if they got the wrong implications."

"Wrong implications?'" I asked. Jackson took a big inhale from his cigarette again. He then blew a cloud of smoke directly into my face. The taste of nicotine made me wave it away. "Yeah, you know if they got the wrong idea. As in they might try killing you because we've been meaning to feed something to a bullsquid so we could befriend it."

"Wait! What the fuck?!" I screamed in shock. "They might feed me to a what?!"

"A bullsquid," I was confused. "Come on, we were both at Black Mesa. Were we not? You know the..," Jackson stuttered with the details,"it has tentacles on his face and it's got that tail. You know the short little thingys that looks like it came from the ocean or something."

"Oh," I said with realization, "yeah I knew that." Jackson giggled in a quiet sense of joy and said,

"Yeah, I'm sure you do. Then again I don't know if other people call them something else," Jackson stated with wonder. "But we're getting off track. Come on, those two probably know we are here already from all the noise we've been making," Jackson said while descending downstairs into the gloom abyss. I started walking along with him.

"Jackson please don't mess this up," I said with dread.

"Trust me, Adrian, I got this," Jackson said. He seemed to always be sure with himself and never has a doubt about something. If you ask me personally, I'd say Jackson has more confidence and is more optimistic than I could ever be. I would even consider being inspired by it; too bad this is the same person who made a bunch of inadequate and also terrible jokes in the past, if my memory is correct. You know exactly what I am talking about.

After our last step, our bodies went through a narrow hallway with the gray walls of death. More trash, graffiti, and junk; nothing new to discuss. Except for the one thing that stood out from the rest of it all, an opened Combine vault on the left wall with a beaming light coming out of it. The vault door most likely had seen better days, it was damaged and looked as though somebody tore through the combination. Jackson and I walked around and into the bright light; the work lights blinded me, it forced me to block my field of view by using my right hand to protect my eyes. Then, I moved my hand away to get my eyes adjusted. Jackson threw his hands up in the air with excitement and shouted, "Hey guys I'm back! And I brought a friend!"

The vault was filled with lab equipment and research of some kind. Jackson and his friends tried making the vault feel like home; they had their own mattresses and other home accessories. At the ending of the room, there was one tall bright crimson locker. The two rebels were armed with mp5s and they both wore the most common rebel getup; you know, the one with the metrocop vest. One of them, Neil Finley, had a giant black beard like Jackson's before his shave, his clothing was blue, wore a blue beanie and looked around his early thirties. Delmira West looked around her early twenties, short black hair, wore a grey outfit instead of the blue or green, and had no beanie. They both aimed their weapons directly at me without hesitation.

"Owen, who the hell is this guy," screamed the rebel named Neil.

"Hey, hey," repeated Jackson, "guys, no need for the guns."

"Owen, you can't just bring random people here: he could be a spy of some kind or maybe even a goddamn Fallen," screamed the lady named Delmira.

"What, no, Adrian is a truthful man and my longtime friend. If you think that of him then check his eyes if you wanna call my bluff," Jackson said. I was confused about what was happening. Why did they want to check my eyes?

"With pleasure," Delmira said. She walked over to me. "Open your eyes all the way,"Delmira commanded.

"Sorry, but why?" I asked.

"Do it before I lose my patience!" Delmira screamed. I did what she told me to do: I opened my eyes widely. She took out a flashlight that was placed on her hip and shined both of them. "Looks good to me. But he's not in the clear just yet," Delmira stated.

"Guys, I haven't even been in this city for a day and I am already having guns waved at me," I complained. "Can't we all just calm down," I asked.

"Shut your goddamn mouth," ordered Delmira.

"Look, I'm sorry for not letting you two know that I was bringing him here, I only just found out he was here today," Jackson said. "There really wasn't much time to tell you."

"Yet you had the time to shave your beard!" Delmira countered back.

"Owen, we don't even know who this guy is," Neil said.

"Well, to start with, his name is Adrian Shephard and he's a longtime friend of mine," said Jackson. "We were both trained as marines for the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit at the Santego Military Base, which was in Arizona. People would sometimes say H.E.C.U. for short, but I digress. We were sent into Black Mesa to contain the incident and to take out the alien threat. Once we arrived at the facility, our plane Goose 7 was shot down by an alien vessel from Xen. We both, I would say, fought pretty hard to be alive right now. Look: to cut it short, me and him have a history. And I know you still probably don't trust him, but he is generally a good person inside. I am a man who has made many mistakes before in the past," Jackson confessed, ¨but I'm not stupid, I know the risk I'm taking here: letting some random nobody into this hideout of ours is a dangerous idea. But, I found him sleeping in the middle of an alleyway sleeping in garbage. Why would a infiltrator of some kind do something like that? All I can say is just give him a chance. If I am wrong about this, then I will be the one that puts the bullet in him myself. So, what will it be?¨ Jackson only said that to try and appease them, or at least I hope he did. The rebels still aimed their weapons at me, but looked somewhat confused about what Jackson was talking about.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait,¨ Delmira repeated herself several times,¨you were at the Black Mesa Incident?"

"Yes, that is correct, me and him," Jackson answered.

"What the hell is a Arizona?" Asked Neil.

"Um… something you probably won't know."

"Well, what the hell is a marine, isn't that like biology?" Asked Delmira.

"No,¨ Jackson said with a sigh.¨But have you ever heard of boy scouts?" Asked Jackson.

"Well, I have heard rumors," Delmira admitted.

"Okay so it's basically like that, but more extreme," Jackson answered.

"Wait so you guys were cannibals?"

"Ye-," Jackson stopped and said, "Wait what?! No, that's not even close to what they were! Holy shit! Where the hell did you get that from!?" Jackson screamed in shock.

"Now I'm suspicious of you motherfucker!" Screamed Delmira. She aimed her weapon at Jackson. Jackson threw his hands up in the air without a flash.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing?!" Asked Jackson in an outraged voice. "Don't aim your gun at me!"

"Delmira, lower the gun down, Owen isn't a cannibal you idiot," Neil screamed.

"How do you know that!? We've only known him for two weeks and he's just now telling us about his past!" Said Delmira.

"Yeah, but this is Owen we are talking about? Look at him," he pointed at Jackson and Jackson kindly awkwardly smiled back, "does he really look like the kind of guy to be a cannibal?" Asked Neil. ¨Plus, I think your being confused with something else. Like with that one group that existed, The Tribe of Scouts.¨

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right," said Delmira. She aims her gun back at me. Jackson felt some relief and cleaned his throat.

"I also think this guy is alright, I'll give him a chance," Neil confessed. He lowered his weapon down away from me.

"Neil, are you crazy, we still know nothing about this guy," said Delmira.

"Yeah, but do you really want to be here arguing all day? I believe Owen's story because first of all, their not cannibals type and second, everything he just said was very specific," Neil said. Delmira is somewhat convinced and says,

"Alright, fine." She lowers her weapon as well, aiming her muzzle on the ground.

"Okay," Jackson claps his hands together, "that was almost traumatizing and heart wrenching. I don't know if my heart stopped beating there for a second, but I'm still breathing so I guess I'm fine. Now that we are somewhat getting along, I want to talk to Adrian privately. So, if you two could just move along now,¨ Jackson told Neil and Delmira, ¨that would be great.¨

¨Sure, we'll go out and patrol,¨ Neil said, ¨and Delmira no ifs, ands, or buts. Now come on.¨

¨Yeah, whatever you say Neil,¨ Delmira said in a frustrated voice.

¨Before you go, you should take this,¨ Jackson tossed his pink walkie talkie to Neil, he caught it like a pro. ¨Make sure not to drop it and stay updated with Darryl.¨ Neil and Delmira both step out of the vault. While Delmira walked out, she shouldered me, spinning my legs into a circle of chaos to the point of almost collapsing. My view was turned back around to the vault door. They would soon be nonexistent in the area.

¨Man, it looks like you made a new friend, Adrian," Jackson said. He was playing around.

¨Yeah thanks for inviting me to the screaming circus!" I said over sarcastically.

"Hey come on, everything worked out in the end. Didn't it?¨"Jackson asked.

"Yeah barely! And you only knew them for only two weeks?! What the hell is the matter with you?!" I screamed.

"Have I not kept my promise?! We're still standing here are we not?!" Jackson asked while screaming. Jackson then stopped and took a breath. Then he said, "Okay, look, Adrian let's just calm down and lower our voices for a little bit, okay?" Jackson said. "What's done is done, Adrian. I can't fix everything, I'm not a wizard."

"Alright, I'm," I stutter, "I'm sorry, Jackson."

"It's fine. Ay I've got something to show you, over here." Jackson took me to the red locker that was across the vault; I knew something was significant about this locker. Jackson then took out a keyring from his pocket with a tremendous amount of keys. The first two keys he tried using didn't fit or work. But, the third key he tried worked and he said, "Well, third time's a charm." He unlocked the locker to show me what was inside. The locker had a rebel uniform, but a more modified version. Instead of including a metro police vest, it had a standard-issue Overwatch vest with an orange spray painted lambda on the front of it. The long sleeve shirt was green, there were blue jeans, black gloves, there was a Combine overwatch helmet with green visors and on top of the helmet was spray painted green. The locker also contained a gray Russian tanker hat; it was used by Soviets who operated tanks throughout the Second World War, that's at least my understanding of the history behind it. There was a brown wool double breasted coat in the locker as well; it looked worn and beat up, but looked as if somebody was still trying to take care of it. "You see that armor, Adrian?" Jackson asked. He casually pointed with his index finger.

¨Jackson,¨ I asked, ¨why are you showing me this?¨

¨Because I want you to have the amour. I was thinking about how you could help us, you honestly could be vital and a perfect member for our little organization,¨ Jackson explained.¨I'm not exactly in the fighting shape as I used to be because I'm coming to that age; but you on the other hand, the armour seems like it could fit you. We're actually on a little secret mission that I didn't tell you about, I'm working for somebody named Doctor Rosalind Gosling, this is all of her research you see?¨ Jackson said while pointing at the computers.¨She originally made it for me, but obviously, I don't want it. Everything in here is yours, well except for the coat and hat because I actually like those. But, Dr. Rosalind has some kind of plan about City 22, she wants to tell me about it in person. So, you interested?¨ I was silent and stared at him. The scene was quiet, the only thing I had a better chance of fucking hearing was one of the light bulbs burning.

¨What do you want me to say to that?¨ I asked.¨Was Black Mesa not enough trauma for us?! All the friends we lost, the horror we saw together! All the messed up shit that happened down there! Ringing a bell?!¨ I screamed.¨We were betrayed by our own fucking government! Why the hell would I want to go back into combat after that?! I would rather want to get my life back in order and try to fix myself! But nooooo, you want me to join your little fucking tea party! So, NO, I'm not interested! I just wanted to talk to you because you're the only person I know who is still alive! I don't know what happened to my family and friends or if they are dead or not! I don't want there to be a chance of losing you too dumbass!¨ Everything I said had bounced off the walls, within us and out. Jackson had no words for me, he was empty from the top to his knees.

¨Look, Adrian,¨ Jackson said before swallowing like something was stuck in his throat,¨I don't want to force you into our cause. I'll admit that the Lambdas ain't perfect people and I joined them for my own reasons. But I get where your coming from. I just thought you would be on board for some action, plus some help would be nice for my trip, but I understand what you want. In fact,¨ Jackson said while grabbing two white buckets and turning them over to place them on the ground,¨let's forget everything I just said. Let's just talk, like you wanted,¨ Jackson sat down. ¨I think we can kill some time before I move out, maybe there's some drinks around here too.¨

¨Thanks, Jackson, I don't think I could withstand another fight like that,¨ I sit down,¨I barely made it out of the last one with my bones intact. Also, I didn't mean to lash out on you like that, it all kind of came out. It was something that I couldn't control,¨ Jackson accepted my long exclusive statement of trying to say 'I'm sorry,' but he shrugged it off like it was nothing and was perfectly fine with the results. ¨All I can say Jackson is: good luck on your mission."

¨Thanks, Adrian, your words mean a lot, even your earlier words there had some impact,¨ Jackson tried joking. We hear the stomps coming down closer and closer.¨Wait,¨ Jackson said with concern,¨what's that?¨ Around the corner came the rush of Delmira and Neil, both were horrified.

¨Owen, we have a problem! Darryl just called in that the Combine know our whereabouts! We need to leave now!¨ Delmira Screamed.

¨Oh shit…¨ Jackson said quietly. Jackson jumped up from the bucket and ran over to the locker. ¨Delmira and Neil, I need you both to wipe those computers so the Combine doesn't take everything from them!¨ Jackson screamed.

¨Isn't that Dr. Gosling's research?¨ Neil asked.

¨I'm not dying over Dr. Rosalind's research! Last time I checked, I'm pretty sure our lives are worth more! The only good thing we can do is destroy that data before the Combine gets their hands on it!¨ Delmira and Neil obey and rush over to the computers. Jackson snatched his coat and hat like there was no time left, he didn't even button his coat. He also got back his walkie talkie from Neil. Then Jackson took the armor that he showed me and threw it toward me. The armor flew in the air and fell to the ground with a loud puff impact sound hitting my shoes. I looked at it with a face of discomfort and had more unsettled veins than a cat crossing paths with a dog. I look back up and see that Jackson is looking through a red toolbox.

¨Jackson I can't wear this,¨ I said. Jackson came up to me.
¨Look Adrian, I know exactly how you feel. But this is a DO or DIE situation! The Combine will know who you are and try to kill you. Whether you wanted to get involved or not, you're now in the crossfire and there is no going back. If I could, I would let you stay out of this, but it seems that fate has decided. So in case you'll need to defend yourself, I got this thing,¨ Jackson goes through the red tool box, ¨I don't remember us ever getting this but here, take it Adrian!¨ Jackson lifted up a red pipe wrench and handed it to me. I knew right as I saw it that it was a gift from that government man himself: Jackson didn't even recall having it. I remember looking down at the pipe wrench that I had against my chest. I lifted it up into the air to see the whole tool, I felt as if I was pressed into this and that there really were no directions to go in; some would say that it is an illusion of choice, which feels ironic. Jackson was right, I did not want to believe him, but I knew in my deep consciousness that every millisecond of what he had said was terribly true. I was present and they would be here any minute now, it didn't look good on paper. Sure, it was not persistent of me, but I went through with it so I could stay alive. I looked back down at the lifeless armour that was on the floor before me, I tried my best to get it on quickly and grabbed the pipe wrench. Delmira and Neil cleared the computers, Jackson was ready and I guess so was I. We all ran out of the vault and made our way back up to the middle of the lobby. We stopped in place because Jackson was trying to familiarize himself with where to go next; he didn't know where exactly to go because there were many escape routes.

"If it wasn't for this asshole right here, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Delmira screamed while pointing at me.

"Hey what's your problem, I didn't do anything that would have led them here!" I screamed.

"Yeah, that's what they all say!" Delmira screamed.

"Hey Delmira, calm down, I'm sure Adrian didn't cause any of this," Neil said. I paused for a second there and I thought about what she had said. I remembered something from earlier on my way here.

"Well, there was that one Fisher guy," I said to myself.

"Wait, Adrian what are you talking about?" Neil asked. I didn't have time to answer him because Jackson interrupted us.

"Look, there's no time to be pointing fingers at who did what or who's fault this is! I know where we could go now, it's over here-" Jackson stopped, he was dead silent. Jackson then said, ¨Did you guys hear something?¨ We hear something behind the front walls, it is being messed around with. We couldn't prove what it was, but something was behind it. That is when we knew they were already there.

¨Oh fuck,¨ Delmira says softly. She aimed her mp5 at the wall and started unloading her gun. I heard Neil said something like,

¨Wait Delmira sto-¨ those were all the words that I hear from Neil before a giant explosion erupted. We were all kicked back on to the concrete floor, smoke took half of the room, and my ear could not stop ringing. The only thing I could hear was that there were a handful of other gun fires, I didn't know who though. Approaching from the smoke, Jackson crawled over to me and I think he tried telling me that we had to get out of there; he pulled my hand up and got me back on my feet. The smoke started to clear a little bit. I noticed the barnacle from earlier, it had gotten Neil. I guess when we were forced back Neil was caught by the barnacle, I think it broke his neck before it could eat him. Jackson and I ran all the way to this door at the end of the room with viewless people in the smoke behind us. We then shut the door and Jackson had locked it with one of his keys that was colored blue.

The room we entered was like a filing cabinet room of some kind and there was a massive hole in the wall that led outside; in time, this place will probably be more known for its holes than for it's actual structure. I was starting to hear better, Jackson was saying,

¨I know where we can go to escape these bastards! Just follow me, Adrian, we need to leave this place!¨

¨You don't say, Jackson!¨ I screamed sarcastically. Jackson and I hopped over the debris and we were finally outside. Whatever Jackson's plan was, it better be a good one.

It was all a chilling thought in my imagination of going back into action; yet here I stand, missing everything I had before.

End of Chapter II

RRKMGJG XUPG

Author's Notes:

Well, I guess I got motivation to continue writing this story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much as I did. This chapter has been done for a little while now, the most difficult part for me was releasing it: it's just been hard for me because of personal reasons and setbacks. But it's now here. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why I wanted to come back to Missing in Action, there are many reasons I guess. Maybe it was the announcement of Half-life Alyx that got me interested into continuing my own story, or maybe it was just boredom. I had some days where I thought about where I could take this plot and the ideas that were floating through my head I really liked. So, am I going to keep writing this story? Probably, I would like to see where I take it; however, knowing me, there's a possibility of me being inactive or just me being lazy and never getting around to it, but hopefully that is not the case. If you have, or if there are, any problems with my story, my ears are open.

My YouTube channel name is "Elephants Doing Crack," yes that is the name of it.

Anyways, I hope chapter three will be made as soon as possible and we see what else Shephard has to go through.