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

(A/N: A 2008 thank you to hhgbh for beta work!)

The Black Mesa Incident

Chapter Twenty Four: "Forget About Freeman!"

Another explosion rocked the tunnel as Gordon came to small, closed off garage area. Three steps in front of him led up to a walkway. He could see that it turned left at the end, and decided that was probably a more viable option that trying to knock down a garage door. As soon as he took one step up to the walkway, the ceiling collapsed just above the entrance to the further area. Massive chunks of rock collapsed down, blocking the only exit Gordon could see.

A small frown creased the side of his mouth as he walked up to the rock, hoping to find some way over it. As he reached the boulder, the ceiling just above him collapsed down as well. Gordon grabbed onto the guardrail on his right and vaulted himself over and onto the garage floor. He could only watch as more boulders collapsed in through the ceiling with every explosion of the military's bombs.

Looking at the rock locking the corridor that led off from the walkway, Gordon saw light peeking through. Energised, he managed to scramble his way up over the guardrail and on top of the boulder. The top of his head brushed against the broken, cracked ceiling as he crouched beside the gap. There was just enough room for him to squeeze through.

The corridor rocked once more, threatening to make Gordon slip off the boulder. He latched on, for the first time cursing his HEV gloves. This was a time he really could have done with fingernails. After one last cautious look up at the precariously shaking ceiling, Gordon slid himself through the gap sideways. He fell through into the corridor beyond in a less than graceful fashion, but he was quickly becoming used to that state of affairs.

Action Man/Killing Machine he was not.

But then again, the military seemed pretty frightened of him. Well, perhaps not frightened, but at least a little wary. That meant he was doing something well. Whether it was a good thing or not, Gordon didn't know.

After a quick adjustment of his glasses, Gordon sat up and hefted himself to his feet, continuing on into the office room beyond the corridor. Inside, a desk was pressed against the left hand wall, a now broken lamp lying toppled next to some well worn books. A book cabinet sat in front of him, a military radio crackling away on top of it. Gordon's grip on the rifle in his hands automatically tightened. He had hoped that he had seen the last of the soldiers. But then words that gave Gordon hope emerged from the radio, almost drowned out by another explosion from above.

"Forget about Freeman! We are cutting our losses and pulling out! Anyone left down there now is on his own, repeat-"

Gordon smiled, his grin border lining on stupidity. Ah. Success. Now all he had to worry about was killer aliens. And faulty machinery. And psychotic security guards. And-

On second thought, perhaps things weren't that much better. A power box with a huge, tempting lever was placed on the wall just beside the radio, and Gordon resisted the temptation to pull it down. He really didn't trust the track record of this place as far as puling switches and pressing buttons was concerned.

Instead, Gordon looked for the exit. On his right, several glassless (whether by design or by accident) windows overlooked a storage area, although this one was slightly smaller than the one he had fought those military women in. At least, he assumed they were military women. If they weren't, the were just women in tight leather trying to kill him. Of course, if he had been a different kind of man, he probably wouldn't have minded that. Being who he was, however, it just disturbed him.

An open entrance on Gordon's right led out to a walkway that overlooked the storage room. Although overlooked was a bit of an overstatement, since it was barely a foot above ground level. The huge door on the right of the walkway that would have no doubt allowed entry by large trucks was blocked up by debris and some green organic stuff that Gordon didn't really want to think about.

He went outside and hopped over the guardrail, landing silently on the concrete floor. It was a fairly large room, the ceiling towering quite high above him. The room extended for a considerably distance in front of him, only a small part of the far right hand corner blocked by a tall crate. Just before the crate, the room split off to the right, opening up into a larger storage room.

Gordon considered simply ignoring the crate and going straight into the room on the right. But somehow that just felt dangerous. So, with a crick of his neck and a tighter grip on his rifle, Gordon slowly walked over to the crate. He pressed back to the side, and whirled around.

The blue uniform of the security guard made him relax for a few moments, when Kaufman's snarling visage flashed across his consciousness. His grip tightened.

"Whoa, whoa," she said, hands up from where she sat on the ground.

She seemed genuine enough. And somehow, Gordon wasn't getting the same weird vibe he had been from Kaufman. He slowly lowered the rifle.

"You scared the living crap out of me," she sighed, hefting herself to her feet. Her helmet dangled idly from one of her hands, revealing her short cropped hair beneath.

"Sorry."

"It's okay. Which way did you come in?"

Gordon nodded back to the office overlooking the storage bay.

"The surface?" she asked incredulously, looking him up and down.

He nodded again.

"Geez, you must be nuts."

A comment brewed in his throat, but Gordon just settled for a nod.

"I'm surprised you didn't turn on the turret, too."

Gordon instantly felt the colour drain from his face. "The… turret."

"Yeah," she said simply, pointing up to the ceiling.

He followed the single digit until he saw a large black metal circle in the ceiling. How had he not noticed that before? That must have been what the power box was for.

"Good thing you didn't, though," she continued, putting on her helmet and clipping on the chinstrap, "the targeting scanners were messed up by an explosion. If you had turned it on, that thing would have torn me to pieces." She smiled up at him. "And I'm way to pretty for that."

That made Gordon smile, which was a rare occurrence in itself. Except, of course, when he found out that soldiers weren't following him anymore. Or when he was making insane jumps from ledge to ledge. He smiled at the strangest things.

"Anyway," she sighed, "I suppose you'll be heading someplace, huh?"

Gordon nodded. "The Lambda Complex."

"Ah, you're here to save the planet, huh?"

"I… not really. I was just told to go there."

"By who?"

He thought about it for a moment. It was a scientist, he was sure of that. But other than that fact…

"I'm not sure."

"Oh, an absent minded professor?" She rolled her eyes. "They're a rare breed around here."

Once again, Gordon smiled.

"I'm Simone, by the way," she said, holding out her hand to him.

Gordon shook it unsurely, since the last female security guard he had come across had been somewhat less than calm.

"Gordon Freeman."

The way she gaped made Gordon feel a little cautious. "Gordon Freeman? You mean the guy they're after?"

"The guy they were after," he corrected, hoping he hadn't misheard he radio transmissions.

"Oh, as if any soldiers left behind are going to care," she said lightly, waving him down dismissively. She realised what she said and looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry."

He just shrugged, and pointed into the room beyond. "I need to get going now."

"Need some company?"

"I…" Gordon thought about it. Did he really need company? Anybody who had helped him so far had either ended up dead, left behind or just plain crazy.

But then again, he could do with someone to talk to.

"…yes."

Simone smiled. "Great! Let's, uh… push on, shall we? You'll probably want to get to the access hatch to the sewers."

The look of distaste on Gordon's face was not well hidden. "Sewers?"

His security guard companion seemed oblivious, however, simply nodding in reply. "Now, I think you can find your way through there and to an elevator… I think that'll take you straight down to the Lambda labs."

"Why haven't you gone there?" he asked gently, not wanting to sound too rude.

She shrugged. "No reason to. Pretty safe here for the time being. But then the ceiling started caving in, and I figured I should start moving soon. And then you showed up, so it seemed like fate." She smiled. "Don't you think?"

"I… suppose so." The sweet look on her face was making him blush, so Gordon coughed and pointed to where they needed to go. "So, do you want to, uh… lead on?"

"Don't mind if I do."

With a confidence in her stride that made Gordon feel a little bit better, Simone set off in front of him, walking down the wide passageway and into the storage area beyond. There were two rather large stacks of crates diagonally across the room from each other, one in the far left hand corner, and another in the near right. Gordon could see the concrete floor going down in a ramp on the far right, leading to a small road beyond.

Simone stopped and turned around, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the ramp. "We can get down there-"

A thick brown claw suddenly whipped out from behind the corner she had positioned herself at, hitting Simone in the head and sending her flying across the room. She collided head first with the wall opposite and fell to the ground limply. Gordon rushed over to her, the unnatural way her neck was twisted obvious even from a distance. Her pale blue eyes were still open, staring up at the ceiling in wide eyed shock.

Gordon squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head. The low growl of the large, armoured alien got him to his feet, and he turned to face the creature, M4 rifle pointed straight at its' head. It brought up its' claw and fired off several of the buzzing darts. Two went straight past him and collided with the wall. Another two hit him, one in leg and another in the stomach. Gordon didn't care. He just fired, and didn't pull his finger away from the trigger until the creature was dead, yellow blood pasted along the walls and seeping into the concrete below.

The rifle smoked in his hands. Gordon convinced himself that the tears stinging his eyes were the result of the smoke. Trying not to look at Simone's corpse, he continued on. Another teleportation behind the stack of crates on the left made him pause. Gordon looked down at his rifle, and realised he probably didn't have any bullets left. He turned, heading for the power box that would switch on the turret.

Three more portals opened, depositing two of the electricity aliens and an armoured creature between them. Gordon set his jaw, tossed away his rifle, and sprinted straight for them. The electricity aliens seemed a little taken aback by this aggressive move, their red eyes blinking once or twice in confusion. The armoured alien, however, was nowhere near as impeded, and opened fire on Gordon.

Buzzing darts slammed into him with all the force of bullets, making him stumble and falter as he continued straight for them. The electricity aliens started to follow suit, charging their attacks. Gordon had just reached the armoured alien when they were finished, and he quickly dodged around the lumbering swing the creature made for his head. He threw himself up on the glassless window ledge, managing to haul himself over and into the office beyond before the enemies behind him could do much else.

He crawled to the power box, pulled down the lever. And then he sat against the wall, eyes closed, as the turret tore the creatures apart. Their wails were almost drowned out by the continual chatter of the weapon. They sounded rather pitiable instead of threatening.

Gordon took a deep breath through his nose, resting his head back against the wall. He had decided. No more travelling companions. They either died or ended up wishing they were. For all he knew, everyone he had left behind with promises of rescue were dead. But at least they had a chance. Anyone who stuck with him… it was almost as bad as killing them himself.

The turret stopped, coming to a whining halt outside. The smell of burnt flesh reached his nostrils, as well as the acrid smoke coming from the turret. He reached up and slammed the power lever back up. After taking a shaky breath, he pulled himself to his feet, brought out the crowbar, and continued on to the corridor beyond. He stared straight at the entrance as he walked through the aftermath, ignoring human and alien corpses alike.

After walking down the ramp, Gordon found himself on a road that went both left and right. An organic wall stood in his way on the left, a football sized, fleshy coloured sphere growing in the very centre. The way was clear to the right, and the road bent off to the left a little way down. Gordon cautiously walked to the wall, pressing an experimental hand to it. It gave slightly as he pushed, like Clingfilm. He looked the wall up and down, and surmised that if the aliens had put a wall in the wall, then that meant there was something good inside. He brought back his crowbar, and smashed it through the wall. The entire wall collapsed, including the sphere, which fell to the floor and shattered like an egg.

About half a dozen of the small red, rodent sized creatures he had come across in a ventilation shaft earlier flew out, scuttling straight for him. Gordon turned and ran. A quick look over his shoulder confirmed that the things were fast. They were literally nipping at his heels as he turned the corner. The road continued on to a secure looking metal garage door in the distance. On Gordon's immediate left, some steps led up to a walkway, which in turn led to a platform even further into the rock face where Gordon could see a crank coming out of the ground,

Two electricity aliens stood at the garage door, and began charging their attacks when they saw him. Another electricity alien, this one blocking Gordon's access to the stairs, brought up its' arms as though to slice the claws through Gordon. Not once stopping, Gordon swung the pointed end of the crowbar up and into the creature's chin (which, he noticed, actually its' mouth). It tore through the loose flesh, knocking the creature back and into the wall behind it. Gordon continued up onto the walkway and checked behind him. One of the creatures was still following him, but the rest had stopped to feast on the dead alien Gordon had delivered to them.

The deceased's comrades quickly rushed to the aid of their fallen friend, and, not for the first time Gordon felt a pang of guilt for what he was doing to them. He quickly turned and used the crowbar like a golf club on the small insect behind him, knocking it across the room and into the rocky wall. The impact made it explode, although it sounded more like a pop.

Gordon then reached the crank, quickly putting away his crowbar. In front of it, a closed hatch beckoned forth to him just as another explosion made the room shake violently. Pieces of the ceiling started coming down on him, and Gordon turned the crank. It only took a few turns to open the hatch wide enough for him to slip through into the tunnel below. He managed to go in feet first, but then started to fall as soon as he was through.

In the darkness, he just barely made out the shape of a ladder in front of him and reached out for it. The tough material of the HEV gloves latched on to a rung rather easily. His momentum swung him around, slamming him into the ladder with a loud clang.

"Ow."

His voice echoed down the tunnel below him and into the cavernous sewers below. At least, Gordon assumed they were cavernous from the echoes. He gripped onto another rung, ignoring the incessant bleeping of the HEV suit. It was difficult to tell his stats in the dark light, which Gordon found strange in itself; the Heads Up Display on the HEV was supposed to be retina dependant, not light dependant. But then again, the retina was light dependent, so…

He shook the conundrum from his head and climbed down. The sewer beyond wasn't particularly pleasant, but then again, Gordon wasn't expecting anything less. It wasn't enough that he be put in a trash compacter and have to negotiate his way through a waste processing plant, all in one day. No, he had to swim through a sewer as well. He could only imagine how much Barney would complain in his place. Occasionally the floor level dipped and Gordon found himself immersed in the gooey, viscous and more than a little pungent liquid.

Eventually, though, after crawling and/or swimming his way through some very hazardous looking but slow moving cogs (which really were too big), Gordon found his way to another tunnel above water level; one with a ladder inside. It mirrored the entrance he had used to enter. Daylight squeezed its' way down, and Gordon felt his heart jump. He'd get to see the sun once more before he plunged down towards the Lambda Complex, and the whole host of problems that no doubt awaited him there.

It took him no time to climb his way to the top, and he found himself poking his head out behind an enormous rock. Behind him, a stocky rock face of a wall stood, stretching as far as he could see. He pulled himself out of the hole in the ground and onto the rocky floor. Cautiously, he allowed himself a peek out from behind the boulders that blocked his view. A road went horizontally in front of him, ending in a closed tunnel door on his right. He tried to poke his head even further to see what was on the left.

"Move!"

Gordon closed his eyes. "Oh… shit…" he groaned, hanging his head. He managed a sarcastic little smile at the truly hilarious hand fate had once again dealt him. More soldiers. Thank you.

Hand on his crowbar, Gordon checked his stats. Oh, even more good news. The HUD was flickering in front of his eyes, which meant the HEV suit was dangerously low on power. Which meant that, pretty soon, it would just be plain old Gordon Freeman against the world.

It wasn't a thought he particularly relished, so after a few warm up bounces, Gordon launched himself out to the left of the boulder. A tank sat stubbornly in a wide doorway, soldiers all around it. Gordon could see elevator doors in the room behind the tank. With his jaw set and his head down, he sped up, heading straight for the wall of soldiers that awaited him. There wasn't much room between him and them, so they barely had time to squeeze off one or two shots before Gordon barrelled straight into them, swinging his crowbar wildly. The mounted machinegun placement in the front of the tank fired off futilely, unable to swivel all the way around the face Gordon.

There were three soldiers, and Gordon managed to take out one straight away with the sharp end of a crowbar to the face. He went down screaming, clutching at his torn cheek as it bled onto the concrete. Gordon stabbed the straight end of the crowbar into the thigh of another soldier, but all that elicited was a grunt before he grabbed Gordon by the arm and tossed him back and through the doorway, crowbar still in hand.

Gordon was tempted to run to the elevator doors, but he knew that the soldiers would just shoot him. And with his suit about to die on him, there was no way he could survive it.

Survival was important.

A turret, hidden around the corner of the doorway, whined to life beside him, the automated machinegun ready to do its' business. The soldiers bore down on Gordon, one falling behind from the stab wound in his leg. Gordon leapt to his feet and grabbed the first uninjured soldier by the arm, and pulled. All it took was one tug to bring the soldier towards him, and Gordon twisted him as they fell backwards so that he was between him and the turret. The red hot bullets ripped into him, and Gordon started to drag the corpse towards the elevator doors as he crawled to them. Using a human shield was not something he particularly enjoyed, and he would probably have a good vomit over it later. But right now, it was somewhat of a necessity.

The limping soldier was stuck, only able to watch as Gordon made his escape by using his comrade's body. Gordon slammed the crowbar into the down button, and the elevator doors opened almost instantly. It must have been waiting there all along. Gordon realised he probably would have been able to run for it. He crawled into the elevator and smashed the control panel on the outside just before the doors closed. Gordon gave the wounded soldier across the room an apologetic look which he was sure would only make him angrier. But, with the controls broken, he couldn't follow him down, at least.

Gordon's legs felt shaky, and things were starting to ache. Without power, the suit was beginning to falter in its' morphine administration. And soon, the electricity hardened material of his suit would fade to rubber, leaving him very vulnerable. The elevator dinged as it reached the floor below.

The suit's Geiger counter was still, working obviously. The sudden, vicious crackle made Gordon duck his head and hold his crowbar up defensively before he realised what it was. Glowing radioactive liquid bathed the floor of the tunnel ahead of him. From the looks of things, though, he was definitely getting close to the Lambda Complex. The tunnel itself was a grand light blue metal, arching over him in a large semi-circle. He could see advanced control panels (albeit damaged) in the distance. Invigorated, Gordon looked to the floor for some way to traverse pools of glowing liquid. He smiled as he saw his answer. Every now and then, there was an 'island' of ordinary floor, at least big enough for him to put two feet on. There was certainly enough for him to hop his way to the end of the corridor.

After a few mistrials (and a few near misses), Gordon started to get the hang of it, and was soon at the far end of the corridor, crowbar still clutched in his gloved fist as a balancing aid. Gordon looked over to his left and saw the source of the leak; a large yellow tanker had been cracked around the side. A security guard lay dead in the ooze that dripped out, almost impossible to see amongst the blinding glow.

Gordon turned to look down the other end of the corridor. Just one more leap, and he would be walking on normal ground. Crowbar now held with both hands like sword, Gordon walked down the corridor and followed it around the bend to the left. The corridor continued to snake on ahead of him, eventually going right in the distance. But on his upcoming left, stairway seemed to hold much more promise.

Once up the stairs, Gordon walked right into another room, the lights completely gone. He resisted the temptation to activate his flashlight; he needed to conserve energy for petty little things like bullets and electricity blasts.

And now he was talking about electricity blasts as fact. Wonderful.

The sound of the armoured aliens' insect darts weapon made him freeze. It was quickly followed by deafening machinegun fire and the gurgling of the electricity alien. Gordon got down on all fours and crawled towards the doorway. It led out onto a walkway that was horizontally in front of him. It overlooked a room beyond, which he presumed was a fuelling station for whatever vehicles the Lambda Complex staff used.

A tank - Gordon was getting annoyed with these now - was placed on the left hand side of the room, facing opposite an archway on the far right. There were two archways in the wall there, but the tank seemed to be focused on the one in the very right corner. It was sealed off by a very secure looking metal door, but Gordon presumed that it wouldn't be much trouble for a tank. With a low moan, the last of the armoured aliens died, flopping down to the ground in a loose sitting position as it did so.

Gordon counted three soldiers. Two hopped up onto the tank and climbed inside. Another seemed content to sit on the back while the tank driver got to work. He sat down, back to the action and got to work lighting a cigarette. Crowbar at the ready, Gordon got to his feet and leapt off the walkway, landing on the uneven surface of the tank in a crouch.

Just as he landed, the tank fired off a blast which blew up the metal door blocking the archway. The soldier lighting his cigarette turned around, scowling.

"What the fuck are you trying to-?!"

He froze upon seeing Gordon, who was now well and truly ready for a fight. Without pause, Gordon swung the crowbar like a golf club, hitting him around the temple with the blunt end and knocking him straight off the tank, unconscious. The monstrous vehicle below him took that moment to lurch forward, heading for the now open archway.

Gordon heard laughing coming from inside the tank, and another soldier, this one wearing a gas mask, pulled himself out so that only his torso was outside.

"You like that, Bri-"

He lost his voice when he saw Gordon standing over him, bringing the crowbar down on his head with a two handed slam.

"Oh, shit!"

Gasmask quickly fell back down, missing the crowbar by inches. The tank continued on for the archway, heedless of its' new passenger. As it entered the archway of a tunnel, the soldier re-emerged, Machete knife held up and ready to intercept his crowbar. Gordon backed up as the soldier slowly pulled himself out of the tank. They both had to crouch to allow the archway to go over their heads.

The tank started to edge out into the corridor beyond. There wasn't enough room for the entire tank to turn either way, but the cannon could. Gordon spotted the aliens on the left at the far end of the corridor immediately. There were two of the armoured aliens stood beside a machine which could have been manmade or alien-made, he wasn't sure. Gasmask took this moment of distraction to heart and stabbed at him with the Machete. Gordon managed to parry the blow with his crowbar, but they both fell to their backs on the hard metal of the tank. The Machete scraped against the metal of the crowbar as Gasmask pushed down towards him.

A blue laser from the alien's machine hit the wall the tank had found itself wedged against, and it toppled. Gordon shifted his weight and slammed his knee up into Gasmask's groin. He grunted and released Gordon, giving him enough time to roll away and to the ground. The wall landed with a resounding crash just as Gordon hit the ground. A muffled cry was all he heard from Gasmask as he was crushed beneath the concrete.

His gaze whipped up to the aliens at the other end of the corridor. Suddenly, they exploded, the sound from the tank causing Gordon physical pain. He covered his ears with his gloved hands as he watched the aliens and their device be blown to pieces. And then there was silence, and Gordon knew why. The soldier piloting the tank was waiting for him. There wasn't anywhere else he could go; the collapse of the wall had pretty much blocked the tunnel, and if he went straight on down the corridor (which he was sure was his destination anyway) he would just get blown to bits.

Gordon slipped his crowbar back into place and looked back to the tank. He could make out the hand of Gasmask, limply hanging out of the debris. A sudden idea exploding in his brain, Gordon rapidly shifted as much of the concrete as he could away and reached underneath the rubble, searching by touch. Finally, he found what he was looking for, and pulled it out; a grenade.

He pulled the pin and ran. As he passed the tip of the tank's cannon, he shoved the grenade inside, and kept on running. He was only a few paces away before the overzealous driver fired. The explosion knocked Gordon from his feet and tossed him up into the air. He hit the ground at speed and at an angle, managing to turn the impact into a roll that ended at the wall.

Glasses slightly ajar, Gordon just lay there for a few moments, taking in the flaming tableau before him.

Gordon Freeman, scientist, with a PhD in Theoretical Physics, had just blown up a tank. There was something wrong with how happy that made him feel, but he sure as hell wasn't going to analyse it now. Gripping onto one of the metal rungs that ran along the wall, Gordon tugged himself to his feet. His eyes were feeling heavy. He had been running on adrenaline and suit power for so long now. He either needed a few days sleep or a recharge from a HEV power station.

He knew which one he would prefer, definitely. But somehow, he knew which one he would get.

He followed the corridor around the bend and to some doors that looked so secure and mighty, he was either entering a space age castle… or he was finally here. A cautious, shaky hand reached for the large yellow button on the wall. He pressed it down with one finger, and the doors opened. A smile wormed its' way onto his face, and he sighed in relief. He had reached his goal. The goal that had powered him through two days of hell.

The Lambda Complex.

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(A/N: Hope everyone had a good time over the holidays. But life moves on, and, as promised, the story continues.

As always, reviews welcome!

Next Chapter: Friendly Fire)