The door opened with a hiss, and the bindings finally retracted from his arms. A soft religious choir echoed in the distance, welcoming his abrupt entrance. But even with his body free, Adrian could not find a reason to move at all.

He needed to breathe, Black Mesa itself was a hard disaster to cope with. Everything that transpired was just happening too… fast. First an anomalous disaster in a secret research base, and then a rocket that launched him into a city floating above the clouds. None of it had any continuity whatsoever. There were no briefings on what this world was, nor what year it belonged in, and even more worrying was the fact that he had no other squadmate with him. He was alone, no team, no contact to HQ, just him. Well, its not like he wasn't used to that anyways.

He sat there for minutes, waiting for the adrenaline to dissipate, and cautiously pulled himself out of the chair.

Shallow water covered the entirety of the floor. His leather jackboots caused ripples in the silky waters, incense candles and rose petals floating away from him. He gazed in bewilderment at the tall painting of a white-bearded man leading a flock of praying people towards a golden city in the sky, as if he was Jesus Christ himself directing all of humanity to heaven's gate.

It was… new. A lot different than what he expected. But he didn't care, as long as Xenian organisms were nowhere to be found, he didn't have to worry.

Adrian sauntered through the graceful temple with caution before eventually succumbing to the warmth of the place. It helped calm his mind, and assuaged it in making good sense with the events that occurred before. He was very tired, and this place was perfect for a good R&R. But like in Black Mesa, that small piece of paranoia stuck with Adrian, and pushed him into continuing with his assignment. He didn't know if his delayed actions would bring consequences in the future.

Eventually, he had ran into a few parishioners in a hall, many of whom were either too caught up in their prayers or huddled in a pew reading scripture. One of them were willing to speak with him, ignoring his hazardous environment gear that stood out among the white dresses they were donned in.

"Hey whats up, I'm wondering how to get to the city? Err… Columbia?" Adrian asked, pulling his gas mask off.

The man gave him a curt smile, "To enter the gates of the Prophet's home my friend, is to cleanse yourself of your own sins. Only through baptism, can you experience the blissful beauty of his Columbia."

"Alright I can get that done. Where can I get baptised?"

"The father is below, giving many right now. As always."

"Thanks." Adrian nodded, and made an attempt to fit in, saying, "Praise be the lord Jesus Christ friend?"

"Praise be the Prophet and his Lamb." The man quickly replied, stretching his smile wider than before.

All the praying stopped. Every parishioner glared at Adrian with blank stares, halting all sorts of religious rituals just to keep their eye on him.

"Uhhh yeah, you too!"

He made sure to remove himself quickly and stepped down the stairwell, nervously looking back to see the dreaded parishioner staring at him. The smile from before was replaced with an eerie look of malice, and didn't stop glaring until he was out of sight.

'Please.' Adrian thought, 'Please don't be another hostile place.'

Maybe he had just ran into the fanatic side of the city. He never encountered a religious nut job at his time at church but he knew there were some. Many actually.

Thinking about church got him to notice that there was not one single shrine dedicated to Christ or any other person from the bible. There were a few crosses, but even those were quite rare. All there was were some symbolic paintings and carved statues depicting the old man "Comstock" as a heavenly figure. It was like a pseudo-religious branch of Christianity.

It irked Adrian a lot more when he saw the thinly-veiled fanaticism in those parishioner's eyes, which made him find some rest and recuperation elsewhere.

Soon, he finally made it to the baptism site. Large stone pillars surrounded a group of kneeling parishioners in white while a priest blocked the tunnel that lead to Columbia. He read a proud sermon, his old voice booming to the ends of the halls. Adrian parted through the group of people, and cared little if he was interrupting the priest's moment. He just wanted out of this place.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for passage into Columbia? Through baptism of course."

The old man stopped his sermon and his lips curled into a smile. He laid a hand on Adrian's shoulder, which took him a lot of restraint not to swipe it off.

"Then you have come to the right place child…" He said quietly, then waved his hands towards the surrounding group, voice loud and boisterous, "My sons! My daughters! A child here has come to be reborn in the name of the Prophet, cleansed of all sins!"

The preacher's eyes stared into his, waiting for a response from Adrian.

The group cheered in the back, shouting praise.

"Praise be to the founders!"

"Hallelujah!"

"Praise be to the lord!"

He didn't like the look of it, but it was the only way out of here as far as he knew. Maybe he could've broken through a vent and crawl out, but he wasn't looking forward to breaking any laws right now. Even that encounter with the smiling man was enough to keep him on edge.

Adrian hesitantly nodded, and let the old preacher's hands lie on his face.

'Just stay calm, don't do anything stupid…'

"I baptize you in the name of our Prophet, in the name of our founders, in the name of our Lord!"

The preacher had gone a little too far, forcing Adrian into the waters without notice. His nose was flooded and he was pulled out coughing and gasping for air.

The group had cheered an "Amen!" before the preacher laid a hand on Adrian's face for another round.

"I don't know brothers and sisters! But this one doesn't look clean to me!"

Again, he was plunged into the water. All he could hear were the muffled sounds of the damn Preacher's words and the church's praise. He wanted to shove him away but making the wrong move would've just made things worst. So he let him continue despite the carelessness in his baptizing. His heart thumped desperately, writhing for air. Everything went silent and he blacked out once again.

It wasn't for long thankfully, and Adrian sprung alive in a garden, startling a few church-goers with his abrupt awakening. They stared at him before quickly returning back to their activities. Good. He didn't wanna look at them either.

He ran through the gardens, caring little if he ravaged the plants, and burst through the gates outside nearly falling over the guard rail. His nerves froze. The world was now far below him, clouds moving right under his feet.

Right, he forgot this city lived in the sky.

The temple had carefully interlocked with another part of the city, and allowed for Adrian to walk over its bridge.

He was speechless, and even though he had magnificent encounters with other worldly dimensions and creatures never seen before on earth, this was something else. Buildings lived at different levels of heights, towering over others. Blimps with capitalistic advertisements and paraphernalia hovered over the city's skyline, all while crates and workers rode down the rails that dominated the sky. He wondered how that even worked. One thing for certain was that it broke a lot of OSHA protocols. Not even Black Mesa was willing to go that far.

The people around him stared but he didn't care as long as no one called the police on him. There were no fanatics so he had no need to worry, though the men gave him stink eyes and women whispered to others about the ridiculous attire he was wearing. He could understand their reactions. It was the equivalent of seeing a futuristic U.S. Marine in 90's New York. All a matter of perspective.

Snapping him out of his stupor of amazement, his stomach rumbled. The last thing he had eaten was standard chow at the mess hall before the Black Mesa event, and god knows how long ago that was. The assignment he had could wait, grabbing a quick snack along the way didn't take as much as a nap did.

"Hey there, I'm wondering if I can get something?" He said, strolling up to a hot dog stand.

"What are you having sir?" The vendor replied.

"Anything really. Free or not."

"Free?" The vendor chuckled, "Sir, unless you're a damn Vox, nothing in Columbia goes around without earning the money needed for it. All I got is what's on the sign, a bag of peanuts, and fries. Pay up with a few cold silver eagles, and one of em's yours."

"Listen, I've gone through a whole lot of bullshit just to get here. All I'm asking for is just a small snack. Doesn't even have to be a hot dog."

"Sorry pal, not giving out charity."

Adrian sighed, defeated, "Fine then."

"Well," The vendor caught Adrian's eyes again, "If you wanna grab a few quick coins, you ought to try a hand at the raffle games."

"Raffle games?"

"What you've been living under a rock? Its just down there! Take a left and then a right, ya can't miss it. Fink's puttin' out a raffle today. The fair's open, everything's open. Hell, it's why I'm out here!"

"Alright… I'll check it out. Thanks."

Adrian made sure to remember his words, and left to visit the fair.

"No problem sir! And hey, if you do win some cash, try and search for my stand alright?" The vendor hollered, "Oh and try not to cause too much trouble, it'd be a real bad day if ya did!"


"Ah dammit!"

Raymond Moore slammed the rifle back onto the stands after losing a game of HUNT THE VOX DOWN. He was so close to scoring a game of twenty had he not been distracted by the dreaded Fitzroy character passing by.

"Better luck next time champ! Maybe in the future once you join the Flying Squad you can get a good shot at 'ol Fitzroy herself!" The fat-bellied carnie laughed, crossing his arms.

"Hold on mister!" Raymond patted his coat for more change, but felt the insides of an empty pocket instead, "Damn, that was the last coin…"

First try was always free, second attempts and more after that required a silver eagle. He had to wait another year to play for free, and being a paper boy didn't pay very fast.

He sighed, and began to walk back home in defeat until a tall man wearing the most eccentric attire had passed by him. What caught Raymond's interest even more was his helmet and vest. Did the military upgrade their uniforms? The Star Spangled-Banner wasn't right also. That belonged to the America below. Here, there was only one star in the middle.

The soldier stopped, turned towards him, then looked at the game of HUNT DOWN THE VOX behind him.

"Hey kid!" He said, pointing towards the carnival game, "How much you get for winning that?"

"About a hundred silver eagles mister, if you get the highest score that is."

"And all you gotta do is shoot some targets?"

"Pretty much."

"Alright." He shrugged, "Watch this."

The soldier marched over to the game, unstrapped his helmet and picked up the rifle. He inspected its chamber and cleaned it with a finger, getting rid of the leftover gunpowder. With his right elbow out, back straight, he made ready to play the carnival game.

"Ready! Begin!" The carnie shouted.

A rapid staccato of rifle fire then sounded off at the fair. Raymond stood speechless, the sort of markmanship was nothing he'd seen before. His skill was swift and just right. It did not go unnoticed and a small group formed behind him.

Every cartoon cutout that appeared, disappeared right after his rifle fired. When Daisy Fitzroy appeared, a dozen shots pelted the wood as it passed, the counter dinging at every shot. The magazine ran dry, so he deftly replaced it with another. It felt like he never even reloaded in the first place. The carnie had taken off his hat, caught in disbelief.

"My god…" he muttered under his breath.

The game ended with an artificial cheer from a voxophone, raising the award wall for his choosing. The small group that formed brimmed with a choir of compliments and nods of approvals.

"Holy hell son… now that is a high score." The carnie nodded, wide-eyed, "G-Go on and take your rewards! You've earned it!"

"Where did you learn that?" Raymond asked the soldier in awe.

"Practice." He replied, strapping his helmet back on, "Eh, mostly practice. A lot of it is from experience too."

"Are you a soldier?"

"I was. Don't know if I count as one right now though."

"Well I think you're helluva a lot more than a soldier mister…"

'Guess I'm a cowboy to these people now', Adrian thought.

"Thanks-"

"Look I'll pay, see!?" A voice shouted near the gates of the carnival.

"Get outta here!"

"I deserve to be here dammit! I worked day and night for this!"

Adrian and Raymond whipped their heads to see a crowd forming at the gates of the carnival. Two police officers shoved a dark-skinned man outside the exiting gates with their batons. The sound of coins could be heard splashing all over the ground as he fell.

"Damn you! You know how many hours I work down there?! I work with Comstock at The Monument! I deserve the same benefits as you!"

'Monument Island? Isn't that the statue where the girl is held?'

"You're a laundry man Mr. Andre!" One of the officer's spat, "These kind folks here work more demanding jobs than you do, go! Go and spend your vacation day down at Finkton before you lose it!"

"Finkton ain't no place for a fair and you know it!"

People joined in on chastising Mr. Andre, tossing empty wads of garbage at him all while he crawled on the ground picking up whatever change that belonged to him.

"Get outta here!" A person in the crowd shouted.

"That's not right…" Adrian muttered, and turned to the kid beside him, "Why can't he come through?"

"Well, he ain't white mister. That's why."

Goddammit. I knew there was something off about this place. It just had to have its fanatical racial divide in there huh? First aliens with their xenophobic hatred for humanity and this. Why did I think this job was gonna be easy.

"White or not, he didn't have to get pushed out like that."

"Next time stay out!" The policeman barked and shut the gate. He turned around and ushered for the crowd to dissipate, "Go back to your business ladies and gents! Nothing to see here!"

They did, and left while muttering racial insults under their breaths. Adrian sighed, there was always a catch when he took part in something. Enlisting? Thrown into a disaster and hunted down by his own government. This? Share a different social mindset and he'll have the whole city after him.

He walked outside the fair. Mr. Andre was on his knees, counting his coins.

"You alright?" Adrian asked him, offering a hand.

He looked up at him with a stubborn gaze.

"You best keep walking, else that crowd will start chasing you through the whole of Columbia for speaking with a black man."

"Well I've had my fair share of getting chased before. You get used to it once a while."

"Not when the entire city is seeking you out." He snickered, "Do you want something from me sir? Cause this handful of cash is all I got."

"Well…" Adrian held up his bag of hundred silver eagles, "Not planning on staying here for long. And I don't think I'm gonna use most of this bag so… you want eighty percent of what's in here?"

Mr. Andre's face turned into one of fear and quickly stuffed his coins in his pockets. He pulled Adrian behind a bush where no one could see them.

"Now are you crazy?" He whispered, "Doing this out here in the open? This will not only get me lynched, but you as well!"

"Like I said, not planning on staying for long. And I don't think you should too. Use that money to get out of here or something." Adrian briskly replied.

Mr. Andre let go of him, "You really want to give me this?"

"Sure. But I need you to do a favor for me first."

"What?"

"You said you worked down at Monument Island right?"

"That's right," Mr. Andre answered, "Next shift is in a few hours."

"Great, I'm looking for someone down there. A young girl, brown hair, blue eyes…"

"I don't know nobody like that down there. Only woman I've seen was Ms. Lutece, and even she was a rare sight."

"Oh come on, you had to hear something about her. Anything?"

"A-Alright. There were some rumors I heard during laundry duty. One of the janitors like me heard a lot of "she's" and "her's" coming from old Comstock himself when he was visiting. But he heard him right under the floorboards, it could've been anything."

"Nothing else?"

"I… I did run into some smaller pieces of clothing! Dresses, skirts-all sorts of things a women would wear!"

"Yeah, that's good enough. Whoever gave me this assignment was sure she was in there."

"Well then godspeed because once you get in there, ain't no outrunning that damn thing protecting her."

"Thing?"

"Oh it's a scary thing sir. Never seen it but the noise it makes is enough to make me believe its big. And it don't want no one in the deep parts of the Monument."

"Hmph. I've faced big before."

"Before? Like what?"

"Story for another time." Adrian replied, "So. If you can get me down at the Monument, I can lend you the money right after. Sounds good?"

"All good, I've had my fair share in smuggling." He admitted, "You can hide in one of the cargo boxes in the warehouse south from here. There I'll make sure you're on the sky lines heading towards Monument Island. You'll have to wait though, like I said my shift is in a few hours."

"I can manage that."

"The thing is though, how're you gonna get through the warehouse? There's policeman all around there."

Adrian rubbed his chin for a bit, then said, "Are there vents in the warehouse?"

"Loads of 'em." Mr. Andre replied.

"Yeah, I can get in."

"Alright then. After that, I'll give you the signal. A whistle."

"That's perfect. Then I can give you the money on the spot. You can do whatever you want with it, alright?"

"Seems like a good plan. What you're doing will keep me and my father safe from these people for a long time." Mr. Andre smiled, "Did I ever catch your name sir?"

"Shephard. Adrian Shephard."

"Shephard? Now that's a fine name right there." He held out a hand, "Carter Andre."

Adrian firmly grasped his hand and shook it, "Pleasure doing business with you Carter."


[OTPST22: receiving me?]

[OTPST22: receiving me?]

[OTPST22: WITFRST command r u receiving?]

[WITFRST: loud and clear]

[WITFRST: sorry overwatch highly vigilant. keeping heads low]

[OTPST22: get kleiner now]

[WITFRST: what you need ?]

[OTPST22: kleiner theory is correct. CITADEL explosion did something really bad. watch out for portal storm]

[OTPST22: storms*]

[WTFRST: how big?]

[OTPST22: reading say all of earth]


And so begins Adrian's journey. I hope I'm not writing him to be a blank slate so if you guys find his personality boring or unlikable, please let me know! I wanna make this fic as entertaining as possible.