The Black Mesa Incident

by Super Chocolate Bear

Gordon Freeman started it. Adrian Shephard has been sent to finish it. And Barney Calhoun is just stuck in the middle.

22. Surface Tension

-1Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.

(A/N: hhgbh is a life-saver. Well, maybe not a life-saver, but still… there's far more work involved in beta-ing my stories than anyone should do for free.)

The Black Mesa Incident

Chapter Twenty Two: Surface Tension

Gordon barely had a chance to release his finger from the button before Kaufman had leapt through the opening gap in the giant doors before them. A shaft of sunlight blasted through, widening across the concrete floor as the doors moved aside. A voice that was decidedly un-Kaufman-like managed a yelped 'What the hell?' before Gordon heard two successive and rather painful sounding cracks.

What Gordon found out was a hapless soldier slumped to the floor as he stepped through the doors and out onto the road beyond. Slanted walls of rock stretched out on either side of them before curving back together into a natural tunnel some yards ahead. Sandbag shields and gleaming metallic barrels lay in random piles on either side of the road leading up to said tunnel.

The soldier was well and truly out for the count, his nose crushed and bleeding profusely over his face. Gordon could see some blood on the butt of Kaufman's rifle where he had struck it against the young man's face. Without looking around, Kaufman turned the rifle around and brought the muzzle around to point at the unconscious form below him.

Panic in his eyes, Gordon dashed over, hand outstretched to land on the security guard's shoulder.

"Wait-"

The gunshot rang through the miniature valley, making Gordon wince and duck his head.

Kaufman turned back to him irritably. "What? You squeamish?"

If he was truthful, he was, but that wasn't the reason behind Gordon's panic.

"That's a very loud gun," he said, pointing to it with the tip of the Tau Cannon.

His newfound comrade frowned at him like he was speaking in Cantonese. "A loud-" He looked down at the gun, and his eyes widened. His gaze whipped back up to look at Gordon.

"Crap."

"Shit! We got hostiles!"

The radio-crackling voice made them both look to the mouth of the tunnel. Four soldiers emerged. The one on the furthest right spotted their fallen comrade, and pointed the body out to his friends.

They didn't seem too pleased about it, funnily enough.

Without pause, the one in the middle (who wore a red beret) angled his M4 up towards the air and let loose from the grenade launcher. Gordon and Kaufman leapt away from each other in opposite directions, the grenade hitting the ground between them in mid-jump. The blast tossed Gordon in a wider arch than he would have thought possible through the air before colliding roughly with the slanted 'wall' on the left hand side of the road. The Tau leapt from his grip as he hit the rock, rattling as it bounced in a way that made Gordon wince.

Or the wincing might have been because of the explosion. Either way, Gordon was wincing as he pushed himself to his feet, gasping for air. He straightened his glasses as he knelt behind a pile of sandbags. Kaufman was already on his feet, firing in quick bursts before ducking back behind his own personal sandbag cover.

Cautiously, Gordon peeked over the top. Two of the four soldiers fired relentlessly at Kaufman, apparently having identified him as the threat due to his having a gun. Either they weren't aware that he was the 'Freeman' they were looking for, or they thought he was dead.

Or, perhaps they knew the truth. They knew he was a scientist who had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

If so, he was well and truly doomed.

Some of the barrels randomly placed around the various sandbags bore a yellow flammable symbol on the front. He quickly glanced over at the body of the soldier behind him just as he heard a grunt from one of their several opponents. Kaufman had managed to catch one of the soldiers directly in the forehead, knocking him back to the ground. Despite their training which Gordon assumed would have taught them to do otherwise, the soldiers took a few moments to register the death of their comrade, ceasing their relentless attack for at least a few seconds.

Gordon always knew when a gift horse was looking him in the mouth, and he launched himself forward towards the body of the soldier beside the door, eliciting a confused look from Kaufman as he leant against his sandbag, reloading. The soldiers resumed their firing upon noticing the orange blur of Gordon's passing HEV suit.

"Squad! We got Freeman!"

He came to a skidding halt beside the body of the soldier, kicking up dust like a baseball player. Frantically, he searched over the soldier's body. He heard Kaufman shout something, but his words were outmatched by the din of their enemies' weapons. The words 'out of' and 'bullets' somehow made it to Gordon, however, and he hastened his search. Finally, he found the object he coveted; a grenade.

Without pause, he turned and ran in a crouching position to where Kaufman had taken cover. The words 'what the hell' were just barely out of the security guard's mouth before Gordon pulled the pin of the grenade and turned to the very edge of the sandbag. He tossed the grenade around, and watched it skittle along the ground from his cautious observation point.

It rolled to an achingly long stop against some explosive barrels just beside the soldiers. Gordon turned back around and firmly pressed his back to the sandbag, slapping his hands over his ears. Kaufman, having long since learned to listen to Gordon's hunches, followed suit.

The explosion still left Gordon's ears ringing. He felt clumps of mud and dirt pattering against his back, and looked up to see a cloud of dust floating over them. Slowly (and, he couldn't help noticing, far quicker than Kaufman), Gordon got to his feet and peeked his head over the top of the sandbag.

No soldiers. Gordon stood up fully, spotting the gleam of the somehow still shiny Tau cannon in the middle of the road. Keeping a continual eye on the scorched sandbag the soldiers had taken refuge behind during the fire fight, Gordon walked over to the experimental device and scooped it up. After checking over it for damage (although he admittedly had no idea what it was supposed to look like when it was working, let alone broken), he made his way towards the sandbag.

He paused at the edge of the sandbag before darting around it. Four dead soldiers lay spread out across the road, and Gordon wondered how it was that he didn't spot them as soon as he got up. Small articles of clothing on each of the soldiers sported small, flickering flames, their skin brown and nauseating to look at.

"Christ," Kaufman breathed, although his horror still didn't stop him from making his way to each soldier and taking whatever ammunition they held.

Gordon decided to occupy himself with moving forward, which had become somewhat of a crutch for him in these difficult times. As long as he always had somewhere to get to and some ultimate goal to attain, he would be all right. That way he could put all of his emotions aside and deal with what needed to be done. What the hell he would do once this was all over and he had time to think about it…

Well, no need to think about that.

He exited the 'tunnel' out to the other side. After a slow ramp down in front of him, the road made a sharp turn to the left. Gordon crept forward, keeping his head down and keeping the Tau pointed forward. The road ran over the width of a dam. A control tower was erected out of the water on the right hand side was connected to the dam by a secure looking stone walkway. A chain link fence - which Gordon assumed was used for filtering purposes) nixed the idea of simply hopping in the way and swimming up the river to safety. It was on the far end of the dam, and even further on, Gordon could see another sandbag wall just in front of a red secure access fire door. Some great contraption had been built behind it, but Gordon couldn't begin to guess what it was for.

It looked distinctly militaristic, so he just went with the assumption that explosions were involved.

The steady noise of helicopter blades whipping through the air brought his gaze upwards, and he saw a camo green helicopter thunder overhead. Kaufman came up beside him, pulling back some final catch on his rifle with a loud clack.

"How did they know your name?"

Gordon wasn't really listening, his attention focused on trying to see around the rock face behind which they hid. Right now, he couldn't see what was on the left hand side of the dam.

"What?"

"The soldiers. They know your name. How?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. Looked me up in the database, I suppose."

"But why would they want your name in the first place?" Kaufman was sounding impatient now.

His thoughts straying from his immediate survival, Gordon turned to his comrade. "Because I've killed a lot of soldiers today."

"You?"

Gordon's lips thinned into a line. "Well… you saw," he said simply, nodding to the tunnel behind them.

This didn't seem satisfactory to Kaufman. "Yeah, but… you have no idea what you're doing!"

Gordon threw his hand up in the air and rolled his eyes in a 'Finally! Someone gets it!' gesture.

"So… you've killed how many soldiers by now?"

The scientist in him took over as he catalogued and counted the deaths he was responsible for today.

"Nearly twenty."

"Twenty! And those were all by accident?"

"…mostly."

"Do you have any training?"

"I took the Hazard Course."

"How many times?"

"Five. No, six. I only finished it once."

Kaufman's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You-" After his disbelieving outburst was met by a slightly bored stare from Gordon, the security guard just shook his head. "Never mind. Let's just go."

The security guard, looking slightly dejected, got up and walked forward. Gordon reached out a hand to grab his arm.

"Don't-"

Something hit the wall on their right and exploded, knocking Kaufman out of Gordon's grip and onto the road on the dam.

So that was what it was. A cannon. Gordon felt a small tinge of satisfaction at his correct assumption. His thoughts quickly went back to Kaufman, and he figured that he should at least try to help him. With an annoyed grunt, Gordon scrambled around the corner and ran towards the left hand side of the dam. A shocked but still conscious Kaufman was hauling himself to his feet a little bit further down the road, his weapon lost somewhere along the way. Gordon could see the security guard watching him as he ran to the edge and leapt clean over it.

Much to Gordon's surprise and relief, there was water on this side. He tossed away the Tau cannon and held on to his glasses as he tumbled silently through the air. While he could retrieve the Tau cannon later, he didn't want to have to start a swimming search for his glasses while a helicopter rained hellfire all over him. And somehow he didn't trust Kaufman to help him right now.

The water was offensively, incredibly cold. He still managed to keep a grip on his glasses, however, and got his bearings after a few seconds of completely futile flailing. First, he came up to get some air. As he did so, he heard a loud scream, quickly followed by a splash beside him as Kaufman landed, seemingly sinking like a stone. The water splashing on Gordon's face tipped his glasses awkwardly, and he scowled as he straightened them.

They stayed completely straight when he leapt off a dam, but some splashing water? Oh, dear God, of course not.

The security guard came back up a few moments later, gasping for air.

"Christ, that's cold!"

Gordon nodded, once again not listening to his companion. His eyes were cast to the dark blue below him, searching for the probably quickly sinking Tau cannon. Finally, he spotted a gleam beneath the water, and dove down to fetch it. After swimming so far down it made his ears hurt, Gordon scooped up the weapon and hoped that it didn't react badly to water as he swam back up.

He burst from the water in a similar manner to Kaufman earlier. Despite the danger, Gordon felt content enough to simply float there and catch his breath before continuing on, helicopter be damned.

"Okay," Kaufman gasped, "I think I saw a ledge with a ladder over there." He nodded over to his right, and Gordon followed his gaze. Surely enough, there was a stone ledge with a handy-dandy ladder for easy access. As he got closer to it, Gordon could make out a small pipe, barely bigger than the air vents he had become so acquainted with in the past 24 hours. It was red lit, which always seemed to put Gordon on edge. Gripping the Tau a little bit tighter, Gordon went first.

Just as he reached the mouth of the pipe, Gordon looked over to Kaufman.

"Do you want to go in first?"

"Well, yeah. If I could have that," he said, pointing to the Tau with a soggy finger.

"Um… no." Gordon had no idea why he was feeling so possessive about it. A few hours ago he would have been happy to hand over the reigns of responsibility to someone else. He wondered what had changed in the meantime.

Kaufman seemed irritated by the dismissal, but dealt with it. "Then no."

Gordon just nodded, and crawled inside.

It was a strange experience, crawling with someone behind him. It got Gordon thinking about what the soles of his boots looked like. Were there grips on them? Were they flat? Or did that have strange suction cup like things for a better hold in hazardous areas?

One of many things he noted he would have to find out when he got a moment to himself.

The pipe brought them out on a barely present concrete ledge, looking down on a sandy floor some feet below. High enough to break someone into many, many pieces if they fell, HEV suit or not. The wall from which they had emerged was a light grey concrete that towered above them even now. In a lucky bit of placement, there was a red ladder on Gordon's immediate right leading up to the ledge above. As awkward as it was, Gordon managed to delicately balance the Tau on three fingers while he gripped the rungs with the other hand and with his pinkie.

After much grunting and groaning (the latter mostly coming from Kaufman), they reached the ledge and clambered onto the sandy ground that awaited them. A few large rocks provided a makeshift archway for them, protecting them from the invasive helicopter's prying eyes.

Said flying vehicle of death flew over them with alarming speed, making Gordon twitch from where he sat against a rock face. The Tau lay beside him, and Gordon liked to think that it was enjoying the break from the action as well. And besides, he wanted the thing to dry off. He didn't want to open fire and find the thing blowing up in his face. If he had bothered to put on the HEV helmet, then he probably wouldn't have minded. But as it was, his head was a valuable commodity.

Kaufman, crouching at the mouth of the archway, looked back to him.

"You ready to go again? If you want I could scout ahead with that-" he turned and went for the Tau, but Gordon scooped it up.

"I've got it." He hefted himself to his feet and led the way towards the exit and onto the sandy field ahead. He paused as he passed Kaufman. "Thank you."

Even though he was certain he saw something twitch on the security guard's face, Gordon continued on. Before them was a sandy expanse, roughly the size of a playground. The wall of rock that surrounded the expanse barely reached about ten feet into the air, but there were plenty of nooks and crannies on the left-hand side to hide an annoying amount of soldiers. A watchtower in the far right corner extended up to the sky importantly, or at least Gordon assumed it was important. Just in front of where he assumed the entrance to the tower was, three large rocks erected in a Stonehenge fashion blocked his view. On the left almost next to him he could see a wooden sign that read 'STORM DRAIN HATCH'. The painted arrow beneath it pointed to a gap in the wall of random rocks that spread across the left hand side of the expanse before him.

"Could be a lot of soldiers," Kaufman said, vocalising Gordon's thoughts. "Maybe you should let me take that and I'll take them out."

Gordon shook his head. "It's all right. Besides, I'm faster." He went ahead, but stopped when the security guard's hand clamped down on his armoured shoulder.

"You listen to me, you little-"

Instead of the fear he was expecting, Gordon felt some irritation as he whirled around to face the security guard, glowering at him. What the hell was wrong with this man? Did he want the Tau cannon that bad, or was this something personal? Either way, Gordon wished his companion would just put it aside until they were out of this mess alive. Wasn't that what mattered now? Survival?

"I've got it. Thank you."

Gordon hoped there was enough emphasis on the right words to give the security guard the picture. Without so much as a second glance, Gordon turned around and headed out from the safe haven of the rocky archway. A part of him expected bullets to riddle the ground as soon as he took one step onto the sand. When nothing happened, he continued on, his feet sinking slightly with each step into the surprisingly deep sand.

He kept to the left hand wall, edging his way around the expanse and past the entrance to where the storm drain hatch resided. He could feel the look of confusion and impatience from Kaufman, but he didn't care. As far as he was concerned, he had more experience with these people right now. Besides, from here, he had a better idea of where he was going. Over the rock wall opposite him, Gordon could see a tall white wall with barbed fencing running along the top, a menacing watchtower erected on the far right corner, probably for the helipad area on the other side. There wasn't a soldier inside the tower, but Gordon didn't think that would last long, and so increased his shimmying speed along the wall.

He brought the Tau up to bear as he reached the first indentation in the rock big enough to house a soldier. After a few silent counts, Gordon whirled around, experimental weapon at the ready. The soldier's cigarette fell from his mouth just in time for Gordon to hit him dead centre in the chest with the cannon. The blast drove him into the wall, propping him up in the cracked indentation he had created. Blood seeped down from behind his head and down onto his shoulder.

"Squad! Neutralise!"

Gordon turned to the expanse and saw three soldiers bunched around the Stonehenge shape in front of the tower. Now that he was side on, he could see the entirety of the n-shaped formation. Two soldiers took cover on the left hand side, one on the right. He took cover in the shadowy nook, pressing his back to the wall. After a few more silent counts, Gordon pointed the Tau at the left column. One of the soldiers took cover behind the rock and quickly got a rude shock as the laser blast travelled effortlessly through it, leaving nary a trace.

The other soldier had leapt away when Gordon had fired, but it didn't take the scientist long to get him in his sights and blast him away too.

And then there was one.

He poked his head out around the corner. The soldier was still taking cover behind the right column, but was firing so wildly in Gordon's direction that he dared not burst around the corner and fire on him for fear of a bullet through the glasses.

Suddenly, the firing stopped, and, after a few seconds silence, Gordon decided to brave the slightly more frightening lack of noise and whipped around the corner, bringing the Tau around in a far too slow arc.

"Whoa! Just me!"

Kaufman stood beside the unconscious soldier, his hands up.

Gordon pushed aside the temptation to say or do anything that might piss off the security guard, so he instead just nodded and walked to the tower. There was no door, just a bare doorway. He stepped inside the grey structure and smiled when he saw the crank inside, the rusting sign above it reading 'STORM DRAIN HATCH'. Doing it Kaufman's way, they would have reached the hatch and ended up having to fight their way back again.

He turned the crank as far to the left as it could go, going with something that Barney had always said about these things;

"Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty."

Hopefully that incredibly wise axiom applied to Storm Drain Hatches.

He took one step outside when Kaufman launched himself inside the small room, the death rattle of a helicopter machinegun following him in. Missiles quickly followed, exploding around the entrance. By some incredibly far-fetched stroke of luck, none of the offending projectiles entered the small room.

"There's no way," Kaufman gasped, "to get to the hatch. We'll have to wait it out."

A cocked eyebrow was the only response Gordon gave, since the muttered sarcastic retort he had in mind would only make the situation worse. Without a word, Gordon dove out into the field, running to the Stonehenge shape and taking cover. The helicopter was flying over the opposite side of the field - precisely where the drain hatch was.

He pulled back the trigger of the Tau cannon and held it. The rectangular shape in the centre of the device began spinning, the entire device gyrating in his grip along with it. He leaned around the corner and watched as the helicopter banked and rotated around, coming back for another pass at its' comparatively tiny prey. His gaze returned to the cannon, which he was having trouble holding on to by this point.

Gordon closed his eyes and rested his head back against the rock. This was what his life had come down to. Hiding, moving quickly, shooting at the right time, and then hiding again. As lives went, he supposed it wasn't too hard. Not for him, anyway. It wasn't fun, by any means, but…

The helicopter got louder, and Gordon opened his eyes. Jaw set, he whirled around the corner and took aim. The mini-guns mounted on the helicopter's wings whirred loudly before they fired, the bullets kicking up a shockwave of sand as they worked their way up to him. Hoping his aim was good enough, Gordon released the trigger.

Blowback from the Tau tossed Gordon through the air and into the rocks behind him, knocking his glasses ajar on his face. By the time he readjusted them, he saw that the helicopter had lowered somewhat from it's previous altitude. It turned around and flew away from Gordon, plumes of black smoke spurting from the propeller.

He got to his feet and took aim again, charging the weapon while his enemies' back was turned.

More confident in his aim, Gordon fired just as Kaufman barrelled into him, knocking him to the ground and flinging the Tau from his grip. It rolled quietly along the sand and came to a blissful stop.

Gordon, his irritation nowhere near hidden, glared up at the man laying on top of him. When he saw the look on Kaufman's face, however, his irritation gave way to genuine fear, something he hadn't felt for some time.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? You think because you've got this fancy suit," he said, slamming the butt of the rifle into the Lambda symbol on the HEV's chest, "and that crazy science weapon that you got the right to start killing soldiers?"

He turned the rifle around and pointed the nozzle in Gordon's face. "That's not your job! It's mine! Those scientists back in the lab thought they could do something too… but I showed them not to." His gaze drifted a little, and Gordon considered subtly reaching the crowbar on his hip. "A few bullets to the kneecaps and they were safe… they couldn't go anywhere and get themselves killed. It's my job… they'll be safe there…" He looked back down to Gordon, who was reconsidering the crowbar course of action. "…And you'll be safe here. Now Give me the weapon." Gordon didn't respond.

"NOW!"

Trying his utmost to keep his face neutral, Gordon stared up at Kaufman. "I can't."

"Bullshit. You give me that fucking weapon right now or I will blow your head right off, I swear to God."

"But I can't."

Kaufman slapped a random catch on the rifle. "Oh yeah?"

Gordon nodded. "Yeah."

"Why, huh? Some scientist technique to it that I wouldn't get? Is that it?"

"No. You're sitting on me."

At first, he did nothing. Kaufman just stared down at him, icy blue stare burning holes into Gordon as sweat trickled down the side of his head to drip onto the sand below. The sun was behind Kaufman's head, making him hard to see. Suddenly he laughed, and quickly got up. Gordon could breath again, and he sat up immediately.

Keeping his weapon trained on Gordon, Kaufman walked around to the Tau cannon. He tossed the rifle at Gordon and picked up the cannon with movements so quick Gordon barely got to his feet before Kaufman was pointing the prototype weapon at him.

"So how does this thing work?"

The relish on his eyes as he studied the weapon up and down made Gordon's sweat suddenly turn cold. He opened his mouth to reply when the helicopter roared up over the horizon, smoke still billowing from the top.

"How do I use it!?" Kaufman screamed at Gordon, panic quickly settling in.

In reply, Gordon lunged for it, latching onto the weapon with both hands. The helicopter continued to loom down on them. Baring his teeth like an animal, Kaufman turned Gordon with the Tau, slamming him back first into the wall and pressing into him.

"You scientist shit. You think you can do my job better than me!?"

Spittle appeared on Gordon's glasses. The helicopter came ever closer. Either Kaufman didn't notice, or didn't care.

Both options seemed pretty likely at this point.

Gordon met Kaufman's icy stare with one his own.

"I've been doing better than you so far."

Obviously, this was not the response Kaufman desired, because he looked ready to back up and smash the cannon into Gordon's face. A flash from the helicopter suddenly grabbed his attention, and he turned around to see it firing off one of the two missiles attached to its' right wing.

Gordon ran.

Kaufman did not.

Instead, he opted for trying to take out the missile with the Tau cannon, screaming at the top of his lungs as he fired fruitlessly.

Gordon didn't see the end result, but the force of the explosion behind him gave him the distinct impression that Kaufman didn't win. The blast knocked Gordon off his feet and onto the ground in front of him, skidding along the sand and burying his head beneath it. While he lay there, eyes closed and the sand surrounding him, Gordon wondered if anyone would notice if he just stayed here. He could just barely breath, and from a distance the orange of his suit would just look like rocks. The helicopter sounded like it was moving off, satisfied with having killed at least one of its' enemies.

So, really, there was nothing stopping him from just lying there.

Nothing.

Not a thing.

Gordon got to his feet, dusted himself off, and headed off to the dark passageway beside the storm drain hatch sign. He stopped at the entrance and looked back to where Kaufman had been standing. The remains of the Tau cannon were just visible amid the charred black spray pattern on the rocky wall. It was shattered into pieces. Gordon tried not to concentrate too much on finding Kaufman's remains.

He went through into the rock 'corridor', the walls bending away from him in either direction in a V shape. Gordon slipped his crowbar from his thigh as he approached the end of the corridor and it turned off to the left. One foot was barely out into the field beyond when Gordon froze.

The sign reading 'DANGER: MINES' with a black skull and crossbones painted hauntingly above it seemed like a good reason to freeze. He could see the opened Storm Drain Hatch, the door pivoted up to the sky and revealing the tunnel down enticingly. Cautiously, Gordon took a step forward.

When something moved underneath the sand in front of him, he quickly back-pedalled, pressing his back to the warm rock. Crowbar held up at the ready, Gordon extended his other arm out in front of him, palm open. Although a futile gesture, it somehow made him feel a little better.

A headcrab suddenly launched from underneath the sand. Without thinking, Gordon swung the crowbar around the smacked it directly in its' middle with the curved side. It flew like a baseball into the minefield, rolling along the sand quite peacefully before putting itself right way up again. After a little shake to reorient itself (although Gordon had little idea why, since it didn't have any eyes or ears), it started for him again, slowly waddling towards him with its' front two claws raised up.

And then it exploded.

Gordon winced as the flash hit his eyes. All that remained of the headcrab was… well, nothing. His eyes went from the scorched crater where the mine had been, and then to the hatch.

He smiled.

The crater was just close enough for him to jump into. He sheathed his crowbar, timed his jump, and leapt into the crater. When he reached it, he whipped his crowbar up, waiting for another attack. This one came from behind, and he ducked underneath, striking the headcrab in the direction of the hatch. The football sized creature flailed around in the air before bouncing along he sandy ground towards the hole.

Gordon felt like he was watching a sport as the headcrab rolled towards the open hatch, almost falling in before it managed to scrabble some control back. Somehow, he it looked a little annoyed, and started for Gordon, stalking towards him just as the other headcrab had done.

Then, once again, a mine exploded beneath the creature, bursting it instantly.

Feeling somewhat more like a scientist now, Gordon estimated if the second crater was close enough to him, and also if it was close enough to the hatch. With a shrug, he just jumped for it. He landed on the crater with such momentum, he was forced to just continue onwards, leaping again at the hole. With painful speed, Gordon collided with the hatch and bounced back, hitting the ledge of the tunnel. He bounced forward and down the tunnel, managing to awkwardly latch on to the ladder leading into the tunnels below.

His crowbar clattered to the bottom of the chamber angrily, sounding somehow offended at having been dropped by its' owner. Unconcerned for the friction, Gordon slid down the rest of the ladder by gripping the sides and hopped off at the bottom. A grate in the entrance of the tunnel ahead of him hindered his progress. Gordon cocked an eyebrow and picked up the crowbar.

Oh dear. Whatever shall I do?

Relishing the idea of something non-living and incapable of fighting back to vent his frustrations on, Gordon demolished the innocent grate, smashing it far more than was really necessary. He crouched slightly and stepped inside the tunnel, allowing himself to get carried away by the rhythms and noises of travelling through a confined space. The crowbar stayed in his hand in case of anymore headcrabs. He was beginning to find these little interludes quite relaxing, actually. Someday he would be explaining this to a doctor while wrapped in a white jacket and it would seem admittedly strange. But right now, to Gordon, it made all the sense in the world.

Eventually, after a few twists and turns, the tunnel suddenly got smaller, and Gordon was reduced to crawling along on his belly. The blue sky on the other side pushed Gordon just that little bit faster, and he tried to ignore how damned awkward the crowbar was in such a tight space. He knew that the moment he started thinking bad thoughts towards the crowbar, that it would disappear and he would be left with just himself to survive.

Not a comforting prospect. So, for now, the crowbar was his best friend. Gordon reached the end of the tunnel and crawled out onto the ledge just below, having to drag himself out on his hands before his legs fell out. It was only as he stood up that he realised how close to death he had just come.

He was on an absolutely miniature ledge on a cliff face. And this wasn't just a cliff face. This was, as Barney would say, 'a mega cliff face'. So high up that it made him dizzy just glancing down. So high up that the trees below were barely visible. Good God, and he could see an entire river. This was the highest up Gordon had ever been in his life. He squatted on the ledge, his back pressed into the wall so hard he thought he might break through. He hoped he would.

Gordon chanced a look down. There was a ledge below him that ran the entire cliff-face, or at least seemed to. It snaked around all of the indentations and crannies on the surface, eventually reaching out around the corner and out of Gordon's view. And, of course, that was where Gordon needed to go. With a shaky sigh that only made him feel worse, Gordon started looking for a way down.

Two jets roared past, making him press his back to the wall for another few minutes. After he was relatively sure that there would be no more sudden wind movements, he started lowering himself down the left hand side of the ledge. He landed ungraciously behind a unaware soldier who hadn't been visible from where Gordon had been standing. Alarmed by the thumping noise behind him, the soldier turned in time for Gordon to slice the crowbar up between his legs.

Barney would no doubt have cheered his using such a dirty move; he never was one for honour and all that when it came to a serious fight. The soldier grunted and almost doubled over, giving Gordon enough time to bring his crowbar back and around for another swing, hitting his opponent in the head and sending him falling off the ledge. Suddenly realising his need for another weapon, Gordon reached out for the soldier's falling rifle. He fell pretty short, and almost tumbled from the cliff himself.

For a few moments, he thought he might hyperventilate at having almost fallen down what felt like a bottomless chasm. He started to edge his way along the cliff-side, going around a U shaped bend before ending up at a rather sharp corner. When he went around, he instantly spotted the soldier stood at the far end, taking shelter beneath a small cavern in the cliff-face. The pathway Gordon was using ended there.

The soldier didn't spot him as he darted back around the corner, putting his back to the wall. He took a breath.

"Heyaauuaaauauaaa!"

What the statement lacked in coherence, Gordon was sure it made up for it with attention-grabbing power.

And surely enough, Gordon heard the footsteps of a cautious soldier approaching him. When he thought that his prey was close enough, Gordon swung around the corner, the crowbar in his left hand arching around with him. It collided with the soldier's rifle, pinning it to the wall. His enemy responded with a swift elbow to the face, hitting Gordon in the cheekbone. Gordon took one step back, wincing from the blow, but managed to recover with a swift swing of the crowbar into the soldier's arm. Not really thinking about what he was doing, Gordon gave the soldier a good shove off the cliff, reclaiming the embedded crowbar as his enemy fell.

Gordon scowled as he realised that was yet another semi-automatic rifle he had let escape. He really had to stop doing that.

He walked to the cavern where the soldier had been residing. Below him - far too below him to jump - was another ledge running around the cliff-face. But directly below him, a huge pipe the thickness of a truck trailer ran diagonally down into a blue square - Gordon assumed it was a transformer - roughly level with the pathway that was his goal. The pipe continued out of the bottom of the square and to ground level, countless miles below. A walkway ran around the blue square, linking to the pathway that ran along the cliff-side. The U shaped indentation in the cliff-face allowed the blue square to nestle inside quiet conveniently. For once Gordon was impressed with something in the Black Mesa Facility. So far it had all been pointless explosions and breaking down generators.

Although he still had no way down.

Bullets whizzed up past his face and hit the ceiling just above his head, a little cloud of dust puffing down onto his hair. Gordon looked down and saw a soldier vertically below him on the pathway, his rifle pointed up at him. It looked like he was taking cover beneath the pipe, unaware that Gordon had only a crowbar and a fancy science suit to his name at the moment.

That didn't stop him from firing though, and after a few more narrow misses, Gordon shrugged and threw himself onto the pipe. He managed to negotiate himself onto his back as he slid down, but that was about all he could control. The soldier's bullets followed him down, chipping uselessly at the thick concrete. Gordon hit the blue square feet first, the speed and impact tossing him forward heels over head onto the metal gantry. He landed on his back with a loud, echoing crash, the metal of the walkway not giving an inch.

"Warning: major fracture detected. Seek medical attention."

A low grumble escaped his lips and Gordon readjusted his glasses. The loud thumping of the soldier's boots spurred him to his feet, and Gordon turned to where the soldier was approaching from. Grasping the crowbar with both hands, he ran around the corner of the blue square and directly at the soldier, who was only just at the corner himself. With faster and better honed reflexes than Gordon could ever hope to have, the soldier grabbed the crowbar in midswing. A kick to Gordon's belly knocked him on his back, and the soldier pointed his rifle down at the scientist, dropping his crowbar to the floor.

His voice, like many of the other soldiers Gordon had come across, was distorted by his haunting gas mask.

"Finally got you, shithead."

Gordon grabbed the nozzle of the rifle and pulled it off to the side of his head, jamming it in the chain linked walkway they stood on. He kicked out with both legs, knocking the soldier back and off the walkway to his death. Shocked at the speed of the combat, Gordon just sat there and breathed for a moment, allowing himself to lie back before doing anything else. The soldier's rifle stood upright out of the walkway, reminding Gordon that he had a job to do. Wearily, he grabbed the M4 and used it as a crutch to pull himself to his feet before prying it loose.

Sheathing his crowbar and holding the rifle in a manner he imagined looked professional, Gordon got off the walkway and onto the path, walking around the corner. He almost collided head on with another soldier, this one brandishing a shotgun. Panicking, Gordon backed up and fired before the soldier had a chance to do much of anything. The bullets shot through his unshielded face effortlessly, spreading blood against the walls behind him.

The gunfire continued for a little longer than was necessary before Gordon finally managed to calm himself down. The soldier was in a small cavern in the cliff-face, not unlike the one above. But this one had doors at the far end. As Gordon approached them, they opened automatically, and loudly. He stepped inside the small room beyond, and found some crates and what looked like a green pipe propped up on a green metal box. On closer inspection, Gordon realised it was a rocket launcher. Feeling somewhat excited at the size of explosion the weapon could create, Gordon crept towards it.

A helicopter roared past outside. Gordon realised that he must have tripped something when the doors opened. He heard missiles being fired and tucked himself into the small room as far as he could go. They exploded in the cavern, the flash just blinding him instead of burning. Having no wish to try his luck, Gordon picked up the rocket launcher and opened the green crate. White rockets lay inside. He scooped one up and inspected the rocket launcher. The flat end of the rocket looked like it went in the cup shape on the tip of the rocket launcher.

Gordon tried it, and was rewarded by a laser sight just beneath the nozzle nigh on blinding him. He turned the launcher towards the entrance to the cave, and stepped outside. The helicopter had its' back to him, but was turning. He aimed the laser onto the propeller and fired. The kickback from the launch made him stumble, but he managed to keep the laser trained on target. It landed with a satisfying bang against the propellers, annihilating them. Somehow, a chain reaction was started, small explosions littering the helicopter as it fell before it finally blew up in midair.

Nothing could describe the satisfaction Gordon felt. He tossed the used launcher to the ground and picked up the M4 rifle. As much as he had enjoyed the explosive power, Gordon didn't trust himself not to end up blowing himself to pieces. So, machinegun it was. He exited the cave and went left, following the path around the cliff-face until he reached a ladder leading up to some hastily erected wooden platforms that linked to some jutting ledges above him.

After some climbing, shimmying and incredibly cautious walking, Gordon reached another pipe that led into the cliff-face. Thank God. Some solid ground again. More soldiers, yes but solid ground. He crouched to crawl inside, and a headcrab leapt out at him from the darkness. With no more alarm than someone swatting a fly, Gordon crushed it against the side of the pipe with the butt of his gun, green blood squirting out.

He crawled in past the dead creature and towards the red lights in the distance. The tunnel turned a few more times before sunlight from outside once more made Gordon squint as he made his way outside. Awkwardly, he crawled out hands first into ankle high water, the tunnel bringing him out into a neatly made maze of trenches. The top of the trench was far too high for him to climb up, so he continued onwards.

"All quiet, sir."

Gordon froze upon hearing the voice above him. Caution suddenly seemed the best course of action, and he proceeded forward at a snails pace, all too aware of the sloshing of the water around his feet. The trench split off in three directions in front of him like a crossroads. Using the old axiom about the shortest route between two places, Gordon went forward, eventually climbing into the tunnel at the end of that trench. The tunnel continued onwards for a few more feet before first turning right, then left. It came to a sudden stop a few feet ahead, a red ladder leading to the open air above.

When he reached the ladder, Gordon just stood and grasped the rung in front of him. He closed his eyes, and took a long breath in through his nose, and blew it out - albeit quietly - from his mouth.

It did nothing to calm him.

With a sigh that he felt had now become his trademark, Gordon clambered up. He only allowed the few top of his head to peek over the edge of the tunnel. A closed garage door stubbornly stood in front of him. Off to his left and quite a few feet away, two open body shops lay stripped bare, lockers ripped to pieces and toolboxes tossed to the floor. The soldier sitting on a bench in the left-hand garage with his back to him worried Gordon… but he couldn't help noticing the loud hydraulic noises behind him. Slowly turning his head, Gordon came face-to-back with a tank. An honest to goodness tank.

Gordon had never seen one of those. He didn't particularly like it.

With a jerky speed, Gordon, heaved himself out of the hole in the ground and edge away from the tank, keeping a wary eye on both the vehicle and the unaware soldier in the corner. Slowly, he moved around the tank, and could see that just ahead of it on the wall on the left was a booth with a promising looking control panel inside. Beside it, Gordon could just make out some big road-blocking sized doors. He tucked himself back behind the tank, checked the soldier, and went for the door.

Four soldiers running around the tank skidded to halt on the other end of the tank. Gordon lifted the M4 and squeezed what he hoped was the secondary trigger. With a satisfying clunk, the grenade launched from the lower nozzle and collided with the soldier in the middle of the group. He exploded in a brilliant flash, the blast knocking his comrades off in different directions, slamming one soldier face first into the tank and two on the other side into the wall.

With a little hop first, Gordon launched forward, sprinting for all he was worth through the cloud of smoke. As he went through, he made out the shadowy figure of someone approaching him from the left and lashed out with the butt of his rifle. It connected with the attacker's face with a crunch, forcing whoever it was back. Gordon reached the windowless, door-less booth and slammed his fist into the green button. The huge door beside him groaned open, and he darted through, wondering why the tank hadn't done anything to him yet.

Just as he slipped through the opening gap in the doors, one of them exploded, blowing Gordon up into the air. Gravity brought him back down with alarming speed, and he held onto his glasses with one hand while tucking his body into the closest approximation of a ball he could manage at such short notice. He hit the road less than gracefully, skidding along until he reached the sand on roadside.

He took a breath, blew it out, and straightened his glasses before standing up again. The doors were still opening, which meant the tank would most likely be following him through any minute. The road went off to his left, crates randomly piled on either side doing nothing to block his view of what waited for him at the far end of the road.

Because sat there, sandwiched between two mountains of sandbags, was a smaller white tank. There was a flash, and a rocket raced towards him from the tank's nozzle. He dove to the ground, and he felt the heat from the rocket as it shot over him and exploded against the wall. Gordon pointlessly glanced back at where the rocket had hit the wall before scrambling to his feet and going forward. He dodged from one side of the road to the other, taking cover behind the crates on either side. It reminded him of the bunker in the rail system.

Except this time it wasn't just bullets he was facing. And he didn't have Bennett for backup.

The tank either didn't want to waste its' rockets or was a stickler for a sure shot, because it didn't fire once as Gordon dodged around the road, managing to edge closer and closer to the tank until he was a good few feet away. He sprinted for the sandbags on the left of the tank. The tank's cannon followed him all the way. Gordon leapt for the sandbags, barrelling over them just as the tank fired and left a hole in the road behind him. The explosion actually gave him a much needed boost.

Landing on the other side in something between a skid and a roll, Gordon was back up on his feet in a few seconds and running for the large door to whatever lay beyond. The cannon behind him began to turn as he reached the huge metal door. It was the only way forward, the walls on either side of him closing in until they met on either side of the door. With a groan, the door opened for him automatically. Gordon sped dashed inside, finding just another large metal door. He continued forward towards it, and the door behind him clanged shut, plunging him into darkness.

After a pause, the door in front of him opened, bathing him once again in hot New Mexico sunlight. The road he stood on led into a large building, a sign next to the large metal door reading 'ORDINANCE STORAGE FACILITY'. Which could only mean more explosions. Which made Gordon oh so happy.

Gordon stepped towards and was halfway there when he heard a noise not unlike a plane going overhead, and he looked up to see what he could only describe as a giant stingray flash flying through the sky. One of those large armoured creatures like the one at the lab dropped out as it flew over Gordon, landing with an intimidating thud in front of him. With a slow growl, it straightened up from its' doubled over position. A noise from behind him made Gordon turn, and he saw one of the electricity aliens charging up a blast.

As the creature thrust its' spindly arms forward, Gordon leapt to the side, the electricity charging past him and colliding with the bigger alien's chest. The blast knocked it howling back across the gravel and into the wall. It fell to the ground, lifeless. Gordon whirled around with his M4 and fired, tearing several holes in the electricity creature before it fell with a gargle.

After taking a few seconds to check for further threats, Gordon checked the metal door and then a smaller, human-sized door just beside it. Both were locked and made of rather heavy metal. He didn't fancy his chances shooting them or whacking them with the crowbar, and he didn't want to waste whatever grenades he might have left in the launcher. And a fairly insurmountable looking fence was on the left hand side of the building put him off that particular method of entry. But he could see a possible way into the building from there. A collapsed air vent created a diagonal metal bridge from the ground up. Some power transformers stood nearby alongside a few explosive barrels.

Honestly, what was with this facility and explosive barrels? Gordon hadn't worked at the facility long, but still… he had never noticed so many explosives being thrown around the place. He put it down to military influence, or at least he hoped it was.

So, he started walking around the broken and charred ruins of the building. He took one step around the corner on the right before he froze, a familiar luminescent blue light making him freeze on the spot. He looked down and saw a laser mine planted below him. By some fluke, he had managed to step over it with his first footfall. His breathing light and his movements slow, Gordon lifted his other leg over and continued on down the alleyway. He came across two more lasers, one directly in front of him and another around a right corner leading up some stairs. Both were pretty easy to circumnavigate, but Gordon felt ill at ease from their very presence. It meant that either soldiers had already been here, or some crazy security guard had set them up.

At this point, it could be either.

Gordon found himself around the back of the storage facility, which mirrored the front. A sandy gravel on either side of the road leading out of the middle of the facility. Gordon hoped that the doors on this side were open. Maybe there would be an air vent. That would be handy. A sign on the other side of the road warned of more mines, the same skull and crossbones painted crudely on. He frowned when he saw a body lying just in front of the road, clawing slowly on the gravel. It was a security guard.

"Help me… somebody, please help me, I… I'm dying out here… please… help me…"

Without thinking, Gordon sprinted over to him.

"Hang on. I'm-"

Something incredibly painful slammed into his back, knocking him forward, across the road and onto the sandy gravel on the other side. He kicked up a cloud of dust as he scrambled to his feet like a wounded animal, quickly darting behind one of the thick pillars that framed the metal door opposite the storage facility. Gordon peeked around the corner. Another shot rang out, and he ducked back around. When he looked back, he saw the security guard's head spread out on the tarmac in front of him.

Taking in the scene as quickly as he could, Gordon spotted some vague movement near the stairs he had come up earlier. Just above them, two broken windows were suspiciously darkened, camo netting spread out over the one on the left hand side. He ducked back inside just in time to avoid another high powered bullet. It embedded itself in the sand beside him. Gordon didn't want to think about how far down it went. He looked up to the winding alleyway that would take him around the other side of the storage building.

The one that was apparently littered with mines, but it was either that or a sniper rifle, so…

Gordon leapt to his feet and ran for it, firing blindly at the ground in front of him as he went. He imagined that Barney would probably have screamed crazily as he went, but somehow that didn't feel like something he would do, so Gordon elected to remain silent. Two mines exploded in front of him; one just in front of the corner, and one in the very edge of the corner. Just as he whipped around to the left, another sniper bullet caught him in the shoulder, knocking him around back to front. He slammed back-first into the wall behind him and winced.

The HEV suit beeped incessantly, warning him of various impacts and fractures his body had sustained. The words 'morphine administered' echoed their way into his brain, and he relaxed. Although, it wasn't technically morphine; it was just called that for those who were less scientifically inclined. Stockholders and investors, mostly. Actual morphine would have been a bad idea. Having employees addicted to drugs wasn't exactly good for business.

Well, except maybe for Aperture Science. Only God knew what they were smoking. Some of the stuff they came up with made him-

Gordon shook his head to stop his mind from wandering off. A side effect of the artificial morphine was that it could cause the user to lose focus. It actually did more than morphine, though. It accelerated the human healing process somewhat. Not enough to stop him from being killed by lots of people shooting at him, but over a few hours it could knit together broken bones and torn ligaments. It was recommended that users take part in no movement whatsoever while this healing process was underway.

The thought of doing nothing for a few hours made Gordon smile deliriously.

He pushed himself off the wall and continued along the alleyway, coming to the collapsed air vent he had spotted earlier. With some difficulty (and some imitation circus-act balancing) Gordon managed to walk his way up to the roof of the building. Thick air vents created a maze around the roof, reminding Gordon of a hedge maze. Just… shiny and metal.

There went the morphine again.

He continued through the 'maze' until he reached a hole in the roof below him. It looked rather haphazard and very burnt, smoke still burning from the edges. Gordon knelt down and looked inside. A dark room full of crates and… a bored looking scientist, sitting on one of them.

Gordon cleared his throat, and the scientist looked up at him in alarm. "Um… coming through."

The scientist blinked, and then shook his head, quickly moving out of Gordon's way. Gordon dropped inside, his landing quieter than he had expected. The scientist came towards him, the sunlight from the hole in the roof above lighting his face in a less than friendly manner.

"You're heading for the Lambda Complex, aren't you?"

Gordon opened his mouth to reply, but the scientist just kept going, slicked back hair shining in the sunlight from above. "I was heading there myself until I wound up here and…" he glanced back at the door behind him, "well, simply lost my nerve. Take one look out that door and you'll see what I mean!" he shouted defensively, as though Gordon had said something to insult his pride. But then he seemed to calm himself, and brushed his hands down the sides of his lab coat. "I'm just going to wait out the rest of the catastrophe in here. If you intend to go on, then I beg of you," he grasped Gordon by the arms, staring into his eyes, "proceed with extreme caution."

For a time, they just stood staring at each other, Gordon feeling more unnerved by the minute. His bespectacled gaze travelled up to the door leading out of the small room, and after one more glance at the scientist, he went through as slowly as he could manage, the rusty hinges of the door whining in protest. The corridor stretched off to his right, leading to some stairs that went up to another corridor that turned left. Simple enough, except for the laser trip mines placed every few metres or so along the wall.

Gordon looked over at the scientist. "So?"

"So? So?! This is an Ordinance Storage Facility! That means explosives. Lots of explosives. Including nuclear missiles! You trip one of those explosive trip lasers and you could start a chain reaction that could destroy the entire complex!"

"…why do we have nuclear missiles?"

"I-" the scientist looked down at his striped tie and started fidgeting with it. "I have no idea."

He cocked an eyebrow at the scientist, but left it at that. He returned his attention to the corridor and started making his way over, under and otherwise around the blue lasers. Eventually, he managed to get up the stairs, coming face to face with a sign reading 'SECURITY IS EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY'.

Gordon just glared at it and moved on to his left. The corridor went down like a ramp, leading into the main storage room. It was like a huge basement, crates of all sizes piled up randomly around the room, tucked into indentations in the walls and cargo elevators. Two intimidating missiles were stacked up in thick metal frames at the far end of the room. Above him, Gordon could see observation rooms, presumably with controls inside to operate the cargo cranes dangling over his head. In the very middle of the room, Gordon could see a cargo elevator with a control box erected in front of it, red and green buttons flashing enticingly.

Lasers were attached to almost every item in the room. After a deep breath, Gordon started making his way forward, negotiating his gangly frame through the maze of blue lasers. A quiet scuffling sound from behind a crate made him freeze between lasers, and Gordon watched as a headcrab wandered out. It was on the other side of a laser, although it didn't seem to notice the danger as it turned towards him and lifted up its' fangs threateningly. It looked ready to leap straight at him. Gordon dropped his rifle and whipped out his crowbar, quickly kneeling. He swept the crowbar out beneath the laser, catching the headcrab in the side and impaling it to the crate from which it had crawled.

His head dropped as he waited for his pulse to slow down. He slipped the crowbar away, picked up his rifle, and squeezed his way onto the elevator. The buttons on the control panel were flashing, and Gordon suddenly got the horrible feeling that it wouldn't work. At all. His face scrunched in a half-wince, Gordon reached out a cautious finger and pressed the green button. Nothing happened.

Then, with a positive sounding 'bing', the elevator started descending, and Gordon smiled. Something went right. His smile vanished, replaced with a weary frown. Now only a few thousand things had to go wrong to balance it all out.

The lowering platform brought him down into a smaller area full of crates. A corridor behind him went onward for a few feet before arching off to the right. Gas pipes ran along the corner of the wall, bending along with it before disappearing around the corner. The platform touched down, and Gordon stepped off, his booted foot squelching against something. He froze, and clenched his eyes shut. Gordon didn't want to look. He really didn't. Slowly opening his eyes, he edged his gaze downwards.

He had stepped on a claw. A dismembered claw at that. It looked like it belonged to one of those big aliens, like the one he had let out of containment in the lab. Where the rest of the body was, Gordon didn't know, but the claw seemed alive enough. It squirmed beneath his foot uncomfortably, as though only slightly inconvenienced by him. Gordon just wanted to shoot it and go on his way. He turned his rifle on the creature/claw/weapon thing.

"Heeeey! Aaaaaaagh!"

Gordon's head whipped up to the corridor. Machinegun fire rattled from around the corner, and before long a security guard sprinted around, head leaning forward as though to give him more speed. Gordon started making his way towards him, the creature beneath his foot forgotten. Flashes of light from around the corner accompanied the thundering weapons fire, and a spurt of red burst from the guard's neck. He collapsed to the ground in mid-run, his momentum turning his fall into a leap before he skid to a halt on the dusty ground.

His grip on the rifle tightened. Gordon couldn't keep his eyes of the dead body. He heard laughter echoing from the soldiers.

They were laughing.

He started walking down the corridor. Without a care for taking cover, Gordon walked around the corridor, where the two soldiers were walking away, congratulating each other on a 'nice hit'. Gordon lifted his weapon, aiming it at the gas pipes at a point just beside the soldiers.

"Hello."

They whipped around to face him, weapons at the ready. Gordon fired. The explosion almost instantly engulfed the soldiers, their screams quickly drowned out by the noise. A chain reaction spread down the pipes around Gordon, and he quickly crouched down, clutching his arms around his head for protection. The HEV suit took the brunt of the heat, although Gordon could still feel a heat behind his ears. Once the noise had died down, Gordon slowly peeked out from behind his arms. Two blackened lumps lay before him, their weapons melted beyond use. His own rifle lay on the ground in a similar state.

Instantly, Gordon's hand was on his crowbar, which had miraculously survived the heat, having been pressed against the wall opposite the pipes. The sheath had seen better days, but for the moment, it seemed to be faring well. But that still left him relatively defenceless, which wasn't a good position in this place.

Unless…

A reluctant wrinkle at the top of his nose, Gordon walked back to the alien claw. It was still squirming on the floor, very much alive. Wincing, he reached down and picked it up, trying to get comfortable enough with it to carry it like a rifle. It was quite fatty on the underside, giving Gordon something to hold onto. There was something slightly more solid towards the back end of the creature, feeling like a stress ball beneath his fingers. Feeling he should be arrested for doing it, Gordon gave the lump a squeeze.

With a high pitched bang, three small darts shot out of the front of the claw in quick succession, buzzing away from him like insects before lodging in the wall of the corridor.

Well, it was something, at least.

The claw let out a noise somewhere between a squelch and a purr.

As soon as he found a human weapon, there was definitely going to be a trade-off.

As he walked back down the corridor, he passed by the body of the security guard, which, having fallen out of range of the gas pipes, had been spared the searing demise of his enemies. Gordon looked down at the inert guard below him.

"I'm sorry."

He continued on around the bend. A military supply van was sat facing towards him at the mouth of the corridor, leading out into another warehouse sized room. Gordon cautiously went around it, pointing his squelchy weapon towards the back of the vehicle. He stopped at the corner of the van for a few moments before whirling around. The whine of the military turret almost made him take cover again, but with a quick swing of the claw weapon he knocked the turret's legs out from under it, knocking it on its' front. The turret powered down as it landed on the floor of the van with a thunk.

An open crate behind the deactivated weapon drew Gordon in, and he ventured inside. A yellow sign on the front said 'DETONATOR PACKS'. Inside, Gordon found some handy-sized, military green bags, a small antennae sticking out of one side. Slotted into a side pocket on the bag was a remote control with a single red button on it. Surmising that having a remote controlled explosive might be useful at some point, Gordon picked one up and hopped back out of the van.

Gordon blew out a breath and turned back to his onward journey. An opening on the left hand side of the 'warehouse' led up a concrete ramp. The ramp led to a road that turned almost instantly to the right. Blue sky blared in from the exit, and it attracted Gordon up to it almost hypnotically. A wall on his right ran all the way up the ramp, conveniently disguising whatever could be hiding there. Once he reached the edge, he leaned around it and checked the road ahead. The road led in a straight line to a closed garage on the far side of the area, a sandy ridge on the right of the road slanting up to a two storey building.

Not much to fear there. Some metal green crates in front of the garage, but they didn't look that bad. Oh, they certainly looked ominous, but not ominous enough to make Gordon want to find another path. He took one step out into the open when the familiar noise of one of those alien planes echoed overhead, and he quickly ducked back down. The stingray-esque ship slowed for just a moment before continuing on its' way. Gordon peeked around the corner again. Now there were quite a few of those giant armoured aliens waiting for him.

It was like being invited to a party.

With a resigned sigh, Gordon took another step out when another noise assaulted his ears, this one far more abrasive; a military jet. Once more, Gordon ducked back behind the wall. After a few seconds of waiting, Gordon silently turned and walked all the way back down the ramp and into the warehouse, taking shelter in the corridor just behind the military van. These were the soldiers he had been fighting for two days now. He knew that if these people liked anything, it was explosions.

As if answering his thoughts, explosions rocked the corridor, small clumps of cement and clouds of dust falling from the ceiling and, irritatingly, getting on his glasses. After a good few minutes of trying to get his glasses back to some approximation of transparency, Gordon ventured back up the ramp. Blackened scorch marks ran all the way down the wall, and Gordon felt the satisfaction of being right about something. That satisfaction quickly faded when he stepped back out into the open again, this time completely forgetting to peek first.

The garage door had been blown open, a white tank firmly sat halfway out of the entrance. Four soldiers flanked the behemoth, as though somehow they were needed to protect it. They all spotted him and opened fire.

For some reason, instead of retreating back into the warehouse area, Gordon ran forwards, only just realising his error when the tank fired on him. He felt the air whoosh by his face as the projectile went past, hitting the wall and exploding in a brilliant flash. Gordon scrambled up the sandy ridge, heading for a platform that overlooked the exit of the warehouse. He reached it as another explosion blasted chunks of brick and cement all over him, making him lose some balance and stumble awkwardly into the wall.

A tank. Gordon Freeman, ordinary scientist turned incredibly lucky idiot, was supposed to take out a tank. Maybe if he strafed towards the tank, going from right to left erratically, it wouldn't be able to get a bead on him, he could jump up on top, remove the driver, and take possession. And then, of course, he wouldn't be Gordon Freeman, ordinary scientist. He would be Gordon Freeman, tank driver. Mess with him at your own peril.

He sighed and shook his head before looking around the area. There was a door that led into the building, but it looked pretty blocked up. He looked down at the explosive in his hand.

Oh, if only he had something to dislodge the door.

With a smile, he removed the remote control from the pack, and wedged the green bag between the doorway and the warped door. He backed up as much as he dared before crouching in a ball and pushing the button. The door exploded off its' hinges, and Gordon had to quickly step out of the way to avoid being crushed into the wall. He sprinted in through the smoking doorway, all too aware that the four soldiers that accompanied the tank were on their way.

The two soldiers inside the building seemed rather alarmed by the whole thing. Gordon squeezed the appropriate - well, he supposed 'muscle' was the term - and watched as the darts flew out, impaling the soldiers in the neck, face and arms. They seemed to seek out unprotected flesh, which brought out the scientist in Gordon. That would seem to imply that darts themselves were alive, and that-

The claw purred/moaned again, and Gordon tossed it to the ground. After a quick shudder, he picked up the rifle a fallen soldier and looked for an exit. An open doorway on the right looked like it led out into an alleyway, which seemed like a good bet. Machine gun fire rattled away in the distance, and Gordon recognised the noise of the buzzing darts being fired back in return. A fire escape ladder led up the building opposite, and Gordon started climbing. When he reached the first metal platform, a mighty explosion rocked both buildings, and Gordon gripped the guardrail tightly.

Were they bombing the place? Why? Weren't their own people down here?

He shook the thoughts from his head and climbed up to the roof. What was left of the roof, anyway. It was mostly present on his side, but the rest of it looked like it had been ripped out from underneath, only twisting and dented metal framework still present. There was the occasional platform of roof, but for the most part, it was just gone. Gordon could see the guard tower he had spied from the minefield, and surmised that that was where the helipad was, also.

Out of the frying pan…

Diagonally down on the opposite side of the building, Gordon could see an open doorway (with no floor in front of it save a very small ledge) that seemed to turn off the right. Since that was the direction the helipad lay, Gordon started planning some dangerous jumps. He would have to use the chunks of roof like stepping stones, slowly edging his way from onto the other until he could…

With a shrug, he took a few steps back and sprinted full on towards the ledge before leaping into the air. As he flew through the air, the strangest thing happened.

Gordon smiled. A crazy jump that had all likelihood of killing him, and he was smiling.

He hit the floor of the open doorway at such speed he had to turn the landing into a forward roll or land flat on his face. And at those speeds, Gordon got the feeling his glasses would definitely break. Right now, those things were the most valuable commodity he had. He rolled along and hit the wall quite violently. His suit beeped indignantly.

"Warning. Minor fracture detected. Morphine administered."

But somehow, still, the smile remained. He straightened his glasses and heaved himself to his feet.

Through the doorway at the end of the corridor, Gordon could see the open expanse of the helipad. Feeling somewhat more serious now, he removed the smile from his face and cautiously crept up to the entrance. He was in the very left hand corner of the helipad, and from where he was he could see pretty much everything. A soldier transport helicopter- Gordon didn't really know it's name, he just knew it had wings and propellers, which always seemed a bit redundant to him, but then again, he wasn't really qualified to comment on military-

And there went the morphine again.

Anyway, the soldier transport helicopter was hovering just above the helipad, ropes dangling from either side of the open interior. Six or soldiers stood beneath the helicopter, surveying the area around them. Two large metal doors in the upper right hand corners of the helipad area led to places that Gordon was probably destined to go. In which case, he was going to need some snappy plan in order to get out of this. Just as Gordon processed this thought, one of them spotted him. For a brief moment, all they did was stare at each other. Then the soldier took a breath, and Gordon prepared himself for the carnage that was about to ensue.

Had he even taken on six soldiers at once? This would be a first. But then again, this had been two days solid of nothing but firsts, so why would the Black Mesa Facility stop throwing these things at him now?

The door behind the soldiers exploded open just as the soldier shouted to his fellows about Gordon, and three of the armoured aliens thundered through, instantly opening fire on the soldiers. In return, the soldiers quickly fired back, barking orders to each other and darting every way they could to avoid the buzzing darts.

Gordon knew a cue when he saw one. After hopping up and down on the spot like an athlete warming up, Gordon launched himself out into the battlefield. All of the human soldiers were too busy trying to survive to pay him much heed outside of an outraged glare, the but the aliens were nowhere near as forgiving. They seemed to take every opportunity they could swing their burly arms at his head and fire off as many darts as they could before he got out of their range.

But he managed to duck and weave his way around most of them, until coming to the entrance to the tunnel that would take him to freedom. One of the creatures stood firmly in place in the centre of the entrance, its' claw aimed right for him. Gordon lifted the M4 rifle and fired madly ahead of him, aiming for the creature's belly. Yellow blood spurted out onto the concrete behind the creature, but to its' credit, it kept on firing at him, too. For some reason, the darts seemed content to try and lodge themselves in his HEV suit instead of his flesh as they had done with the soldiers earlier.

Maybe it had something to do with the amount heat from any given object, and that would relate to-

Gordon shook his head as he reached the creature.

Science later, Freeman.

He leapt to the ground between the creatures legs, sliding through and successfully coming out the other end before scrambling to his feet and blasting off down the tunnel. The creature obviously found better things to occupy it, since it didn't follow and didn't fire on him as he left.

That didn't stop Gordon from running like a headless chicken, however. The tall, wide tunnel arched off to the right, and then to the left shortly afterwards, the road beneath him arching up. It led up into the ruins of another building, metal framework poking out of powdery layers of cement. A mounted machinegun was sat in the middle of the road, pointing up at the ruins. Gordon kept on running, trying to ignore the way the back of his neck tingled after seeing the weapon.

As he reached the skeleton of the building, three green flashes of light exploded into existence around him. Electricity aliens were suddenly all around him. Never once faltering, Gordon continued running, although he had no idea where to. He frowned as he noticed something pink and fleshy growing out of the concrete floor below him. It looked like a speaker on a stereo system.

"Freeman."

Gordon whirled around the low guttural noise behind him. The three creatures simply stood in their hunched over positions, staring at him as he stumbled back onto the pink growth in the floor. As his feet touched it, it made a noise like a balloon deflating and sent him hurtling up into the air. Hit by two surprises in a row, Gordon didn't really have much of a chance to prepare himself for the impact. Amazingly, it wasn't that bad. The angle at which he had hit the pink thing sent him up onto the second floor of the broken building. So that only left about a foot for him to fall, which, after diving down chasms was like a baby step.

But that wasn't what was unnerving Gordon. Did those things actually say his name? And not try to kill him? True, there had been that creature back in the office complex who had seemed docile before something happened to the green bonds on its' wrists, ankles and neck. Gordon had thought of the possibility that they were slaves to some higher power, but other things had gotten in the way of such existential musings.

Still lying on his back, Gordon slowly rotated over to so he could see over the edge of the floor and down below. The creatures hissed and snarled viciously before charging up their electricity attack and letting loose on him. Gordon quickly rolled back to safety, and decided to forget about the whole incident. He had been awake for two days straight. And he was hopped up on morphine. It was entirely possible he was hallucinating by this point.

Machinegun fire got him to his feet, and Gordon moved towards the noise. The wall was broken down in front of him, and he walked over to see a small alleyway below where some solders and aliens had decided to meet and… exchange opinions. Gordon sat down, safely tucked away from both as he waited for the fighting to end. Wasn't exactly honourable, but it worked.

A surprisingly short amount of time later, the battle stopped, and Gordon managed a cautious peek over the edge. Well, the soldiers were dead, and there quite a few of those armoured aliens lying dead on the ground as well. One sat up against the wall on the far end, its' breathing clearly laboured.

Gordon dropped down to the alleyway with surprising silence and grace, although it was enough for the creature to hear. It whipped its' head up, and wearily tried to raise its' claw.

One bullet was enough.

He tried to ignore the guilt as he looked around for some way to further his advance through the hellhole he had wandered into. Beside the dead creature, a dented air vent cover practically invited him over. With relish, Gordon pulled out the crowbar and smashed the rusting cover to bits. He returned the weapon to its' rightful place and crawled inside the vent.

It slanted upwards, and Gordon could see a pinkish-red light radiating from something at the very top. As he crawled, Gordon could see that it was coming from behind the metal wall of the vent at the top. And he was certain he could hear something coming from behind it. Once more, fate was kind to him. The metal crashed open, small red creatures leaping out and scuttling towards him at such a speed that Gordon barely had time to cover his head with his arms before they reached him.

They squeaked and whined as their beaks pecked and bit into his HEV suit, trying to find a way in. Occasionally they would catch his ear of the back of his neck, making him hiss in pain. He dared not wave his arms around to get rid of them lest they make a break for his face. All he could so was sit there. The suit beeped as another creature bit his ear.

"Warning. Minor lacerations detected."

"Really?!" he yelled.

The squeaking was getting higher in pitch, and their attacks became more frenzied. Then, just as Gordon was about to despair, they stopped. After just a brief puzzled noise, they all exploded, yellow blood spattering the vents walls and Gordon's suit. Slowly, he brought his head up. He smiled, but it was a worried smile all the same. The randomness of these creatures was not making him feel good.

He grabbed his rifle and continued crawling. A small room had been made behind the metal wall of the vent, where some creature had obviously decided to lay its' eggs. At least, Gordon assumed they were eggs. A purplish-blue dome of some kind of membrane, surrounded by a material that Gordon could only describe as egg white. That seemed like a pretty good excuse for an alien egg.

Although he wasn't going to be touching them, thank you very much. He already felt like he had violated one alien creature today, he wasn't about to do the same to another. Gordon crawled on around the corner to the left, and then followed it again to the right. Another vent cover stood in his way, and with a grumble, Gordon pulled out his crowbar and reduced it to scrap. He could see daylight in the far distance, filtering through another vent cover on the other side of the vent.

A radio hissed somewhere beneath him.

"Sir, I hear somethin'."

"Move it!"

Machinegun fire made him freeze with fear instantly. Suddenly, shafts of light began appearing just in front of his goal. More started to appear and move their way towards him until eventually the entire bottom of the vent had collapsed to nothing. Gordon backed up around the corner as fast as he could. What the hell could he do now? He had no idea how many soldiers were down there, and he didn't like his chances of just dropping down and seeing how it went. What he needed was something to distract them, something that would…

He looked over at the eggs of the creatures and smiled. The blue eggs themselves were fairly light, but Gordon was sure he could make out about five of the creatures inside, their single green eyes gazing out at the world curiously. Gordon crawled to the very edge of the destroyed vent and tossed the eggs in. They landed with a fairly nauseating splat, and Gordon heard the familiar chirps and squeaks as the creatures sought out prey.

"What the fuck?" one soldier laughed, oblivious to the danger of the mouse-sized creatures.

The machinegun fire started up pretty quickly after that as the creatures attacked in earnest. Once again, Gordon sat around waiting while the noise slowly died down. And even then, he had to wait for the alien things to explode in case he became a target himself.

After he was fairly sure he had heard enough explosions, Gordon dropped down into what he found was a car body repair shop. A Black Mesa people carrier was held up high on one of the repair platforms. But, while he truly did find this fascinating, Gordon had a job to do. To that end, he headed for the metal door that seemed reminiscent of one in a prison. He found himself outside again in a small courtyard, an open garage door in the far left corner leading into another large tunnel that went off to the right.

As Gordon walked down the tunnel and towards another corner cutting left, the now familiar sounds of battle assaulted his ears, making his pace slow considerably. He pressed his back to the wall and took a quick scan around the corner. A rather large warehouse area lay down below him. A now fairly useless looking tank had ploughed through the wall, with soldiers and alien creatures alike littered around the entire area. In front of him stood a metal walkway that ran along to the left and all across the wall until it reached another doorway on the far side of the room.

Without much prompting, Gordon started running, glad for a straight path for once. The soldiers and aliens barely noticed him as he skirted around their battle.

Gordon smiled. He could get used to this.

One of the electricity aliens appeared in the doorway just as he reached it, but a swift blow from the butt of his rifle knocked it aside, allowing Gordon to fire off a few shots into its' head and drop it to the floor. Slowing his run to a quick walk, Gordon continued on down the corridor when the wall on his left exploded out at him, one of the armoured aliens reaching for him through the dust and debris.

He brought up his rifle and fired it point blank into the creature's snarling, three cheeked maw, the bullets blasting straight through the head. With a great lumbering motion, the creature fell backwards to the ground, kicking up a slight cloud of dust as he went. Keeping an eye on the body, Gordon stepped through the hole and into the room beyond. It was another bare skeleton of a room, the wall in front of him entirely missing and leading him to his next stop.

A building opposite seemed to hold some promise until Gordon saw a security booth at the far end of the alleyway beneath him, and what looked like a door inside. From the looks of affairs, the aliens and the military had managed to wipe each other out in this area, with the obvious exception of the happy fellow who had burst through the wall. Ground level wasn't too far down, so Gordon hopped off and landed only a little discomfort. The suit said nothing in protest, which was a pleasant change.

On the other hand, Gordon was trying not to look at how low his stats were, so the suit was probably saving the objections for some of the bigger stunts he would pull before he reached the Lambda Complex and his role in all of this would be over and done with. Naturally, the door inside the booth had a 12 digit keypad beside it, locking it tight. Gordon looked to the building opposite the one he had entered from for salvation. Maybe there would be a way forward through there.

A relatively quick jaunt around the building proved worthless, since the only door on the other side of the building was also locked via keypad. Hopefully that meant the military weren't inside either. On his way back to the booth, Gordon noticed another of the fleshy trampoline platforms growing through the cracked tarmac of the road beneath him. He looked up to the roof of the building, and then back down to the trampoline.

With a shrug, he put the trampoline between the building and himself and ran straight for it. It launched him effortlessly into the air with a loud wheeze, bringing the bottom of his boots almost level with the gravel surface of the roof. He landed so gently Gordon almost expected the floor to give way beneath him or something equally unlikely and annoying.

But nothing. It was rather a nice feeling. Gordon got to looking around for some entrance into the building. It just then occurred to Gordon that he probably wouldn't be able to get back down again if he didn't, which hastened the search somewhat. And then he came across one of his oldest and dearest friends; an air vent cover, built into the floor beneath him.

In a stylish manner which indicated far too much usage, Gordon flipped out his crowbar, destroyed the grate, and slipped the crowbar away again. The shaft was pretty much a square, but Gordon could see a pool of water at the bottom. Whether it was deep enough to accommodate him, he didn't know but… he jumped anyway. Thankfully, it was deep enough, but just barely.

Gordon quickly came up for air and to straighten his glasses, looking around for anyway out of the tiny cubicle he had found himself in. A small circular tunnel in front of him seemed to point the way to freedom, and Gordon clambered inside. Much to his pleasure, it was above water level, so he didn't have to constantly deal with his chin dipping in and out of a thin layer of water as he crawled.

As he crawled his way through the tunnel, Gordon saw light just barely seeping through a hatch at the far end. With a creak, the hatch suddenly opened, and Gordon was treated to the sight of a security guard stood waiting for him. He put up his hand to wave to the guard when he noticed him putting something quite familiar into the tunnel and then promptly closing the hatch;

A detonator pack.

Gordon started scrambling backwards as fast as he could crawl. His feet were just edging back into the water when the pack exploded, funnelling the explosion right towards him. He submerged himself completely, which was no mean feat considering he had to go completely foetal with a M4 rifle tucked around his body. He watched through the misty water as the explosion shot out into the air above him and finally dissipated.

Gordon climbed up and started crawling once again, this time moving with a very annoyed speed towards the hatch. He shoved the hatch open far too violently, sending it slamming against the wall beside it. It brought him out on some stairs, and Gordon crawled out hands first before awkwardly managing to lever himself back upright again.

"Stand back!"

The security guard was stood at the bottom of the stairs, handgun aimed straight at him. As soon as he noticed that Gordon was not in fact a soldier, he relaxed his hand completely and let the weapon drop to his side.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry. I thought you were one of them. Well, either one of them."

A cocked eyebrow was Gordon's only response.

"I mean, y'know… an alien or a soldier. Because… y'know, they're… everywhere. Yeah."

"Do you know the security code for doors around here?"

"Uh, yeah. You sure you want to go further, though? I mean… it's not great out there, you know."

"I'm sure."

The security guard didn't seem convinced, but decided not to pursue it any further.

"Okay," he said, holstering his weapon very deliberately, as though afraid it might go off. "Follow me."

Gordon did as he was told, and the security guard took him to the door on the far side of the building. With a flurry of fingers, he had the door open and was leading him around the building and into the booth. After the same quick motion of his hand, the security guard had opened the door, leading into a dimly lit corridor. Gordon stepped into it, but paused when he saw that the security guard wasn't following.

"Hey, I'm not crazy." With that, the security guard gave him a salute like he was saying goodbye to a madman, then turned and walked back to the building, presumably to lock himself inside again.

After watching the guard walk away for the longest time, Gordon just sighed, shrugged and continued on through the twisting corridor. It eventually brought him out in a large underground parking area, Black Mesa SUVs parked neatly in place all around him. On his left, two soldiers knelt at the ground, investigating something interesting there. He realised that it was another dead soldier. Something had obviously killed their comrade, and their had come down to investigate.

Three guesses who would get the blame. Public enemy number one, Dr Freeman.

The sound of thunderous footsteps quickly dissuaded that notion from Gordon, and he could only watch as a giant blue creature thundered towards the soldiers. It was just like the one he had faced at the train system the day before, except this time it had things it could throw. For instance, the SUV it flipped like a card at the hapless soldiers.

Gordon quickly turned and ran before he saw the outcome, not in any particular mood to waste time. Luckily, he was heading in the right direction to get out of the car park, because he could see sunlight reflecting around the corners as he ran around the steadily upward slanting road. The footsteps of the creature followed quickly behind him.

He finally ended up outside, a huge imposing wall stopping any further progress. That is, if it wasn't for the alien trampoline thing conveniently placed in front of it. Gordon leapt at it resisted the temptation to close his eyes as he was launched higher into the air than he had ever been in his life. On the plus side, he could see over the wall. A huge, open tank of water stood just on the other side of the wall, and Gordon decided to aim his landing for that. As his ascent faltered and he started to plummet, he took a quick inventory of what else there was.

A tightrope of a pipe led from the tank he was going to land in to a huge tower with some complex control panel rigged on top. From the dead soldier lying beside it, Gordon took it to be a military addition to the facility. In the top left of the area was a huge, slanted, very secure looking door, which Gordon didn't once doubt was where he needed to go. Between the tower with the control panel and the platform with the door was a rather deep trench, which confused Gordon a little. What the hell was this place for, anyway?

The ice cold shock of the water stopped any further thoughts, and he didn't start thinking again until he had emerged from the water and clambered out of the tank and was on his very precarious way over the thin pipe to the military control panel. Almost as though detecting his presence, the radio beside the control panel crackled to life as he reached it. A rough snarl of a voice emerged.

"Come in. Cooper, do you copy? Forget about Freeman; we're abandoning the base."

Gordon had to stop himself from falling over. They were what? Abandoning? Forgetting about him? He grinned inanely and stuck his arms out to the sides.

"Hallelujah," he said quietly.

"If you have any last bomb targets mark them on the technical map. Otherwise, get the hell out of there." There was a pause on the other end, and for a moment, Gordon thought the radio had broken. "Repeat, we are pulling out and commencing air strikes. Give us targets or get below."

Gordon looked down at the control panel. It was basically a table with an LCD monitor covering it. On it was a rough layout of Gordon's basic area, from the wall he had just leapt over to the secure door at the top left. There were two levers on either side of the panel; one that moved from left to right, and another that went up and down. On the screen, four lines in pairs crisscrossed the map. A red button between the two control levers completed the simple design wonderfully. So whatever was caught in the crosshairs would be blown to bits. Gordon looked up upon seeing something on the map he hadn't noticed during his freefall. There was supposed to be two electrical towers just in front of him, but they seemed to be…

Ah. Standing on tiptoes seemed to be the answer. Somewhere along the way, the electrical tower had met with some unfortunate explosion, and now created a rather convenient bridge across the deep trench to the platform with the secure door. And he had a bombing system at his disposal…

Gordon smiled. A new toy.

Even the thundering footsteps of the huge blue creature behind him didn't dissuade his confidence. He turned and watched as he saw the creature emerge from the large tunnel and walk to the wall. It seemed to study it for a few moments, and Gordon took that time to aim. He put the crosshairs just in front of the wall, since he doubted the creature would allow it to stand in the way for long.

True to form, it destroyed the wall in front of it like cardboard. Gordon pushed the red button, and heard the overhead whine of bombs being dropped.

The explosion was so bright, Gordon had to cover his eyes. When they were open again, there was little left of the creature except for a few flaming chunks spread here and there about the walls. Gordon's smile grew, and he returned to the control panel, aligning the crosshairs over the door. Within a few seconds, it was reduced to rubble, and Gordon was on his way down the ramp that encircled the tower he stood on.

He clambered up onto the collapsed electrical tower and walked across to the platform with remarkable assurance for someone who knew he was going to be subjected to air strikes. The high pitched whine of incoming bombs increased his pace somewhat, and before he knew it he was inside and heading back into the bowels of the Black Mesa Facility.

Gordon could only afford one last longing glimpse at the sun before turning to the tunnel and going in. An explosion rocked the tunnel around him, and bits and pieces of the ceiling rained down on him. His pace quickened even more. Hopefully he would be seeing the sun again sometime soon.

Another explosion made him stumble.

This is why the tank would have been a good idea.

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(A/N: What a whopper this one was. I found it pretty difficult to edit this chapter, since so many of the action set-pieces from the game are so memorable. The cliff-side, the tank down the alleyway, the building full of trip mines…

But, that was the last truly epic sized chapter. With perhaps the exception of 'Lambda Core', most of the chapters to come are low on actual distance traversed, and more about character and action. Although I hope my stories are about character and action anyway, so that works out quite neatly, I think.

So, then… reviews, if you please!)