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

(A/N: Many clear and well spoken thanks to hhgbh!)

The Black Mesa Incident

Chapter Twenty Seven: We Are Not Alone

Shephard pulled himself along the ground and fully out of the vent and heaved himself to his feet. He was in a tall, grey corridor that went immediately off to the right and then left at the end. The heavy noise of the machinery became even louder as he walked down the corridor, and he adjusted his sweaty grip on his M4. Around the corner, a heavy metal door stood in front of him, a simple two buttoned control panel the only impediment to his advancement. A sudden lack of light and noise that made Shephard's ears pop made him freeze in his tracks. It was like it was being… pulled through the door.

A flash of light from behind the door quickly restored everything to relative normality. From behind the door, a voice echoed, desperate and breathy.

"It's ready! You must go, now!"

His grip on his rifle ever tighter, Shephard pushed the button, and the doors opened. What he saw before him stopped him from going any further. An immense glowing machine sat in the middle of an even larger chamber, giant curved pillars standing up like hooks around a glowing orb of light in the centre. Floating shapes around the structure quickly revealed themselves as more aliens, but a type that Shephard had never seen before. Large, bulbous heads with impossibly skinny bodies beneath. And they were floating towards him.

No… not towards him…

Shephard's gaze quickly fell to the shape down beside him. A bleeding security guard sat against the wall beside the open door. Gordon Freeman knelt over him, staring up at Shephard like he had seen a ghost. Without hesitation, Shephard brought his rifle to bear.

Freeman's reflexes surprised him. The scientist was instantly on his feet, SPAS-12 shotgun firmly aimed between his eyes.

And so they stood, the soldier and scientist. This was what Shephard needed. A clear enemy. No possibly sentient aliens. No Black Ops sent to 'clean up'. Just an enemy that was out to destroy everything Shephard fought for.

That same desperate voice rang out again throughout the chamber, sounding like he was in the full throes of hysteria.

"Hurry up, Freeman! I can't keep it open forever!"

Shephard couldn't help but shoot a quick glance to the several floating aliens that were making their way towards them. His eyes whipped down to the floating orb of energy in the centre of the machine.

'Keep it open'.

It was a portal. A result of advanced science that was so far above Shephard's head it made his brain hurt thinking about it. And these… things obviously didn't want Freeman going through. Shephard took in the scientist before him.

A shotgun, some kind of strange contraption strapped to his back, an entire belt of shotgun shells wrapped around his chest with a revolver tucked away in a holster. Grenades slotted into another belt that hung off the smooth surface of the HEV suit, which under the shining light of the orb beyond him made him look like some mythical warrior. And a crowbar strapped to his thigh.

The crowbar was real?

The crowbar was real.

But something was clear; Freeman was going to war. And these creatures didn't want him as their enemy.

Which meant Freeman wasn't Shephard's enemy at all. Which also meant that one more thing Shephard had clung to since landing in this Godforsaken place was a lie.

One of the aliens floated just behind Freeman, golden energy growing beneath its' spindly hands. Shephard edged his aim off to the left and fired, the bullets tearing straight through the creature and knocking it on its' back.

Freeman turned in time to see it flop to the floor, lifeless, before looking back to him. The stunned expression on his face matched Shephard's. He had just saved Gordon Freeman. This man had killed countless soldiers, fellow comrades, and Shephard was helping him. But something about the bearded, bespectacled scientist seemed so desperate, almost pleading. A man like that would never kill unless it was needed. And Shephard had seen behaviour from his fellow soldiers today that made him ashamed to be wearing the uniform.

So maybe things weren't as clear cut as the mission briefings and boot camps and inspirational speeches would make one believe. Because, right now, Gordon Freeman seemed like the only truly good man he had seen from this place.

He nodded to the glowing orb that pulsed in the centre of the machine. Freeman glanced back at the portal, then looked back to Shephard. He just nodded, turned, and ran.

One of the creatures to the right started making a dive for him, energy growing between its' spindly hands. Shephard knelt down and took aim, blowing it out of the sky with a few bursts from his rifle. He watched as Freeman leapt at the light. Shephard heard a shrill cry that could have only come from something inhuman before there was an explosion from the other side of the room.

Shephard heard that same voice wailing in despair as Freeman disappeared in a flash of pure white light, taking the orb with him. The lights went down, and klaxons sounded. A faded green orb flashed in and out of existence where Freeman's exit had been, sending stray bolts of green energy lancing out. Everything the bolts struck exploded on impact, scorching metal and raining sparks all over the chamber.

He looked back to the security guard, who had lost an arm. He was either unconscious from blood loss or dead. Either way, there was nothing Shephard could do for him.

A screech from above attracted his attention to the two remaining head creatures, who, having missed their opportunity to kill their number one enemy, were only too happy to move on to second best.

Shephard considered retreat, but the door had already slammed shut behind him, with no obvious way to open it again. He started running, dodging from side to side to give his airborne enemies a hard time. Hell, he didn't even know what kind of blasts or lasers they used. An explosion sounded behind him, and Shephard chanced a quick look over his shoulder to see small golden orbs of energy popping against the ground behind with shocking bangs, leaving smoking scorch marks where they impacted.

Eventually, Shephard reached the other side of the huge device, coming to a walkway that had collapsed forward, making a ramp up to the door at the top of the room. Or at least, it would have led to the door if a glowing orb of a portal wasn't standing in the way. Shephard paused, not particularly wanting to go through and face whatever the hell was on the other side.

An orb flew just past his head, hitting the control panel at the end of the walkway. It exploded in a brilliant flash, showering Shephard in sparks, buttons and shards of circuit boards. A dead scientist, bushy beard soaked with blood, lay crumpled beneath the panel, his face badly burnt from a blast from the creatures. Shephard looked up to the portal.

He supposed there were worse places to be. Without looking back, he scrambled up onto the walkway and started his uphill sprint. He never paused as he ran straight for the portal and leapt in.

Green flashed before his eyes like a strobe light. His body was frozen in that single position; unable to move, unable to even think. Shephard wanted to close his eyes against the lights, but his body refused to respond to his brain.

And then, suddenly, a second later, he was running forward again. Except now, he was somewhere completely different. He skid to a halt as soon as he took in his surroundings, kicking up some pebbles off the side of the island on which he was now stood. His rifle jerked out of his hand from the sudden stop, falling with the rocks. He watched as the weapon tumbled down into the purple, cloudy nothingness below.

Jesus fucking Christ. He was on another planet. Or at least, somewhere that wasn't Earth. He could see floating islands above and below him, at least a dozen or so of them. But nothing else for as far as the eye could see. Just a brief cluster of islands, and then… nothing. Breathtaking wisps of purple mist in the distance stood out against a green sky, white lights shining through as the clouds gradually danced away.

Shephard was so enraptured he almost forgot that he would probably never get out of this place alive. He hadn't noticed any portals on the islands above or below. He was going to spend the rest of his life here… in this void. The thought alone made him want to scream.

An audible scream replied to his mental cry, a portal suddenly exploding into existence in the middle of the sky. A scientist fell screaming from the air, a green object about a quarter of his size falling with him. Shephard could only watch as the scientist tumbled and came to a messy end on an island below. He closed his eyes shut rather than watch the impact. The crunching noise was enough.

He opened his eyes and checked the body. There was definitely something that came through with the scientist. Shephard looked from the island on which he now stood to the island below. Luckily, it wasn't that far down, or far away. He would be able to make that jump rather comfortably. He backed up to the very edge of the island, and ran, kicking off when he reached the ledge.

There was less gravity here. Shephard didn't think that made much sense, but it was true. When he jumped, he felt like he was jumping at least twice as far as he should. Which meant that he had horribly misjudged his leap. He flailed around, trying to stop his overshot of a jump as he glided almost clear over the island. Just as he passed it, he managed to claw a grip on the very edge, raking dirt and muck under his fingernails as he struggled to stop his descent. Eventually, he stopped, and allowed himself a brief sigh of relief before throwing his other arm up and heaving himself up topside.

The white, wiry haired scientist that lay crumpled before him looked in a constant state of shock, staring up to the sky with a frozen expression of alarm. After carefully closing his eyes, Shephard got to inspecting the device the slightly overweight man had brought with him.

It was the Displacer. The device he had seen a diagram of back in that Black Mesa office. With Gruber and Andes…

He shook the memory away and got back to studying the device. Well, it was certainly military green, which made Shephard curious as to who exactly Black Mesa was making the weapon for. It was an angular tube shape roughly the length of his own forearm and twice and thick. A wing shape grew out of tip of the device, going out on the left hand side before it stopped at the back, making it look more like a miniature spacecraft than a weapon. The 'wing' was hollowed out with a thick handle, like those on a motorcycle, bridging the gap between the central body and the outer portion of the wing.

Shephard experimentally picked it up, holding it by the handle and the bottom. He felt his thumb press down on something, and he looked down to see a red button on the handle fully depressed. The machine started bleeping and shaking, the front end opening up like the maw of some sleeping beast. Turquoise blue and light green electricity emanated from the front of the device, dancing all around it.

He looked around the area, hoping that perhaps he had missed another possible exit. Finding none, he closed his eyes and waited for the bang as the beeping grew faster.

Instead, he got a flash of green.

Then nothingness.

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(A/N: Since this is such a small chapter, I thought I'd treat you peeps and include the next chapter as well.

Next Chapter: Crush Depth)