Steve the Headcrab
Chapter 7
The duo reached the outskirts of City 17, where Dave lowered himself down to let Steve jump over an outer wall.
"Never thought I'd see this place again. All that time I spent trying to get away, just to come crawling back for more." Steve's musings were soon cut short by the sounds of gunfire in the distance. "It's much livelier than it used to be, though." He turned around to look back at the Strider, expectantly.
"im afraid this is as far as i go little guy," Dave said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "youre on your own from here."
"Wait, why? Not to pressure you or anything, but you'd be a big help getting around this place."
"i mean listen to them going at it in there. its like a full-out war or something. wed stick out like a sore thumb and you know that the humans wouldnt hesitate to shoot us on sight. besides youre the one that wants to get home not me. im just fine doing my own thing from here on out."
A brief silence rose between the two as Steve became lost in thought. He was once again close to his goal, but he'd be leaving behind his only real friend in this world (Was "friend" too strong of a word for them? Steve wasn't too sure where they stood at this point). He had relied on others throughout his quest to return to Xen, but Steve knew he had to make this last leg of this journey on his own.
Steve sighed. Even though they'd only spent a short time together, he grew to enjoy Dave's presence. But their paths would both diverge from here, and they both knew it.
"Well, I guess I can't stop you. What are you going to do now, just wander around some more?"
"yeah probably," Dave admitted, looking around at his surroundings. "hey maybe ill find some other guys that were abandoned too. maybe make some friends start a little village who knows really. skys the limit."
Steve was pretty jealous of Dave's position in life. No responsibilities or obligations, complete freedom to do anything without any boundaries. But Steve had a mission, and a home to get to. "Well, bon voyage, Dave," he said, unintentionally borrowing the farewell from Kleiner.
"its been real steve. id say ill see you around but if all goes well that wont happen. this is where i get off. good luck man." Dave slowly stepped away from the wall and began to leave. He gave the shortest of glances back to Steve and nodded, before disappearing into the horizon.
Steve stared into the distance as he finished collecting his thoughts. He turned towards the city, and jumped down into the streets.
Steve had massively underestimated the chaos that was now going on inside City 17. As the gunfire became louder and more frequent, Steve could see smoke rising into the sky. He stuck to back alleys and rooftops as he made his way further into the city, all the while desperately looking for landmarks or anything he'd find familiar. He'd lost count of how many times he had to hide from passing human or Combine forces. The humans are really getting the rebellion they wanted, Steve thought, just gotta make sure I'm not one of the casualties of it.
Making his way onto another rooftop, he saw a plaza in front of him. There was a monument in the center with several holographic screens torn off of it and broken. He also saw a large distinct building that looked familiar, but he just couldn't put his claw on it. Continuing on, Steve began to wonder what it was in City 17 that he did find familiar. He spent all that time in Kleiner's lab, so the only bit of the outside he saw was through windows or on the surveillance monitors...
Steve was struck with inspiration! He just had to find the locations where Kleiner's cameras were and make his way back to the lab from there. He exited an alley to find a small playground. This puzzled him, since he doesn't recall ever seeing any human children in the city. He knew it had something to do with the "suppression field" or whatever they called it. Although these areas were familiar, he only had a hazy memory of the specifics, since he was mostly unconscious during the move to City 17. Apparently he was put under to "ensure a safer and swifter voyage" to the new lab, but his travel was more akin to a domestic pet in a carrier. But Steve could find his way back just fine! He had gotten an education and a degree like any respectable headcrab. Surely the lab would be just around the corner!
Several rounded corners later, and Steve was not in fact at Kleiner's lab. He felt that he was close, however, when he saw the visage of Wallace Breen plastered on a wall. Somehow that human had managed to rise to the position of Earth's ruler (albeit under the watchful eye of the Combine). This jogged Steve's memory, as began to search for the secret passage behind the wall. As he activated the mechanism and the path ahead opened, Steve knew he was almost there.
Steve arrived at what appeared to be a dead end, but he knew there was yet another secret passage in here somewhere. At times he wondered if Kleiner was being too paranoid with these defenses, but seeing as the area seemed intact compared to the rest of the city, he supposed he could give the human a bit of credit. Looking around the room, the only thing of note was a vending machine, advertising Dr. Breen's special brand of drink, of course. The blanks in Steve's memory filled in, as he jumped up to the buttons and tried to remember the code to open the path forward. As he tried various combinations, he thought it was rather silly how Kleiner had chosen a soda machine as his lab's last line of defense. Apparently the scientists of Black Mesa really liked their soda.
Just as Steve was thinking of giving up, the vending machine rumbled, and the front of it opened up. Steve jumped down and strolled on through only to be met with the barrel of a shotgun. Welp, I knew everything was going a little too well, Steve thought to himself. A feeling of dread overcame him as he quickly accepted his death. He should have heeded Dave's warning, but his time was up. All that was left was for the gun's trigger to be pulled and it would all be over. Instead of hearing the sound of his imminent death, though, Steve heard a familiar voice.
"As I live and breathe... Lamarr, is that you?!"