p align="center"Steve the Headcrab/p
p align="center"Chapter 9/p
p align="center" /p
p align="left"Once again, Steve had begun to question human naming conventions. White Forest was most certainly strongnot/strong white, unless humans could see another version of the color that headcrabs could not. The walls of the bunker he and Kleiner were approaching were somewhat close to white, and the sky could be considered- ...Steve had more important things to worry about. emstrongA rocket/strong/em. A rocket was being held within White Forest, with the intent to close the growing Superportal in the sky. As reluctant as he was to put his trust in human technology once again, Steve knew that "rocket" and "Superportal" went together like apples and oranges. Or something like that. Steve wasn't the best at human idioms - not that he wanted to, of course. He didn't care about the humans. They were just a means to an end - an end that was quickly approaching./p
p align="left""Well Llamar, we're finally here. It's a brief respite, but a most welcome one." As they walked through the building, Steve looked around and noted how drab it was. Granted, it emwas /ema bunker, but surely the humans could have made it a little more comfortable by now. There were plenty of soda machines, though; clear evidence of Black Mesa's involvement. Arriving in a break room, Kleiner deposited the carrier on a table and let Steve out./p
p align="left""Ah, there you are, Kleiner. Took you long enough. You could have picked a much better time to be fashionably late, you know." A grumpy-looking human entered the room with his arms crossed, leering at Kleiner./p
p align="left""It wasn't the smoothest trip, but we arrived alive and well. Thank you for your concern, by the way, Magnusson." emMagnusson/em. Steve recognized that name. He was one of the Black Mesa scientists Kleiner would reminisce about, although with a lot more contempt. He recalled him saying something about grant money...?/p
p align="left""You're very welcome. You can pay me back by hurrying up and getting to work on the rocke- strongOH DEAR LORD WHAT IS THAT?!/strong" Steve froze as he saw the human staring directly at him, eyes wide. Quickly looking for a weapon, Magnusson picked up a folding chair and rushed at Steve, but was stopped by Kleiner stepping in the way./p
p align="left""Please, let me explain-"/p
p align="left""What, pray tell, needs to be explained?! You brought one of those emthings/em in here, and we need to dispose of it!" Magnusson was getting angrier and angrier, his face reddening as he yelled. Steve worried for a moment that he may turn the chair on Kleiner instead, but realized that he was worrying about Kleiner's well-being. Steve was concerned about why he was thinking these things, but he filed that under the "Things To Think About When I'm Not About To Be Flattened By A Folding Chair" section of his brain./p
p align="left""I assure you, Llamar is completely harmless," Kleiner rebutted, "she-"/p
p align="left""Oh, you even gave it a name?! This is ridiculous! I should have the both of you-"/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left""What's with all the racket over there?! You two need to settle down!" Kleiner and Magnusson went silent as a familiar voice addressed them. Eli Vance entered the room, glaring at the two. Steve let out a sigh, realizing he was holding his breath the whole time. He hoped that Eli could ease some of the heavy tension in the room. "I was worried this would happen. You're together for only a few minutes and you're already at each others' throats. Could you two just try to work together until we stop this Superportal?" Kleiner stayed silent, knowing that Eli was right. Magnusson, however, wasn't done./p
p align="left""I am only looking out for the well-being of my people, Eli. This imbecile let a monster in here, and-"/p
p align="left""Let me handle it," Eli interrupted, "We have far more important things to worry about right now. You can get back to your rocket, and I'll send him your way once we have things settled." Magnusson's expression remained unchanged, but his face was returning to its normal color. Despite this, Steve was very worried about what would come out of the human's mouth next. Seconds felt like hours as the room remained silent, until Magnusson put the folding chair back down and opened his mouth to speak./p
p align="left""...You should know that I don't appreciate being given orders from you. However... I must admit that you are correct. Do what you will - I'll be getting back to work." Magnusson gave one last glare at Steve and Kleiner before turning around and leaving. Steve flopped onto his side and began to breathe deeply, attempting to relieve some of the stress. Eli sat down on the couch, beckoning Kleiner over to join him./p
p align="left""Izzy, I'm glad to see you got here safe and sound... But did you really need to bring that thing with you?" Eli gave him a pat on the back as the two of them sat down on the couch./p
p align="left""I'll have you know that Lamarr has kept me great company over the years, and I just couldn't leave her in City 17, especially with what happened to the Citadel." He glanced over to Steve with a soft smile on his face. Steve always hated that smile, but this one felt... different, somehow. He couldn't deny that the human had saved his life on several occasions, the most recent being mere minutes ago. Kleiner would get no thanks from Steve, obviously, since he despised humans. But why did that not sit with him right anymore?/p
p align="left"Steve, not realizing he had spaced out, was startled when Eli stood up. "Well, it's about time we get back to work. You and Magnusson play nice now, okay?"/p
p align="left""All right, Eli, I suppose I can oblige," Kleiner replied, chuckling a bit. He stood up as well and made his way over to Steve, leaning down and gesturing at his head. "All right, Lamarr, up you go. We have work to do." Steve leaped up and made himself comfortable atop Kleiner's head, for hopefully the final time./p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"The duo continued on their way through the bunker. All the while Steve was muttering to himself, criticizing the bizarre layout of the building. emI'm no architect, but even I can tell this place is all/em wrong, he Even the worst-designed buildings in Xen looked better than this. I can't wait to finally get home, where things make sense. /emTruthfully, he didn't care that much about how the bunker was designed. He just wanted to get those weird thoughts from earlier out of his head. They entered a lift and descended into a room containing.../p
p align="left""So, this is the rocket he's been working on," Kleiner said, adjusting his glasses. Granted, they were only seeing the nose cone, but being so close to it filled Steve with glee and adrenaline. Kleiner clearly noticed, as he grabbed Steve to let him down. "I know you're antsy, Hedy, but this is important work. You should probably make yourself scarce so grumpy old Arne doesn't try to hurt you again." He placed Steve on the ground and patted him on the head, before walking off to meet the other human./p
p align="left"Looking down through the grating, Steve admired the rest of the rocket. emIt strongis/strong a human rocket, but it should do the trick. Finally, I'm going home! /emSteve looked back towards Kleiner, who was speaking with Magnusson. The latter gave a side glance (more like a side glare) towards Steve. Thankfully, the human seemed more concerned with finishing the rocket than exacting vengeance on headcrabs. Finally getting to work, Kleiner opened a hatch on the nose cone and began fiddling with the instruments inside. This was one of the times that Steve resented the fact that humans had opposable thumbs and headcrabs didn't. Granted, technology back on Xen was accommodated for headcrab appendages, but occasionally Steve would imagine what his life would be like with that extra bit of convenience./p
p align="left""Everything seems to be in order," Kleiner said, stepping away from the hatch. "I only wonder..."/p
p align="left""The last thing on my mind was submitting it for the Kleiner certificate of approval," Magnusson snapped back. "Whatever troubles we might have had were the result of staffing and supply deficiencies." Seeing the perfect opportunity, Steve jumped through the hatch and found a place to lay down. It would certainly be a long trip back so he decided he might as well get comfy./p
p align="left"He heard some commotion outside, and peeked his head out to see what it was. He was shocked to see both Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman exit the lift, with Eli following behind them. Steve felt a bit of relief, having a strange feeling that things may go better now that Gordon was here. The human did seem to have a knack for surpassing impossible odds. As he watched the humans greet each other, he noticed Gordon look his way, and slowly walked towards his location. emSlowly walking... that doesn't seem normal for him. Doesn't he usually hop around? What gives?/em Another abnormal thing was the strange object he was carrying: a statue of a short human wearing a tall, red, pointed hat. Reaching the hatch, Gordon placed the statue inside next to Steve. He looked at Steve one more time (Steve could swear he saw Gordon give him a smile and a nod) before closing the hatch./p
p align="left"Steve sighed and closed his eyes. It was finally time for him to go home. All the rest was up to the humans, but he felt confident they would succeed. They did land a major blow against the Combine, after all - surely they can launch a simple rocket, right? Steve figured that he should take a nap, since it might be a while before it actually launches. Granted, the machinery inside the nose cone wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was a small price to pay for a ride home. As he relaxed, he began to look back on his adventure. The fact that he made it this far is nothing short of a miracle. He escaped death more times than he deserved to, not to mention that he wouldn't have survived all these years without Kleiner.../p
p align="left"emNo, bad thoughts. We're done with Kleiner, we're done with humans, strongand we're done with Earth! /strongI hate them, and I can finally forget about all this and go home. I'll go back to my house with my wife and my children, and I'll go back to my boring job, and everything will be right again. /emIn the dim light, Steve looked over at his new companion. emWell, I guess you're my souvenir. You're gonna be a pain to lug around, though. Why the hell did Gordon bring you all the way here anyways? Well, if nothing else, you'll be a great conversation-starter back at home./em/p
p align="left"Suddenly, the instruments around Steve turned on and began their mechanical humming. A lot of rumbling started soon after, which was actually helping lull Steve to sleep./p
p align="left"The rumbling intensified, and soon the rocket finally began to take off. As Steve drifted off to sleep, he had one last thought:/p
p align="left""Look out, Xen, here we come!"/p
p align="center"Chapter 9/p
p align="center" /p
p align="left"Once again, Steve had begun to question human naming conventions. White Forest was most certainly strongnot/strong white, unless humans could see another version of the color that headcrabs could not. The walls of the bunker he and Kleiner were approaching were somewhat close to white, and the sky could be considered- ...Steve had more important things to worry about. emstrongA rocket/strong/em. A rocket was being held within White Forest, with the intent to close the growing Superportal in the sky. As reluctant as he was to put his trust in human technology once again, Steve knew that "rocket" and "Superportal" went together like apples and oranges. Or something like that. Steve wasn't the best at human idioms - not that he wanted to, of course. He didn't care about the humans. They were just a means to an end - an end that was quickly approaching./p
p align="left""Well Llamar, we're finally here. It's a brief respite, but a most welcome one." As they walked through the building, Steve looked around and noted how drab it was. Granted, it emwas /ema bunker, but surely the humans could have made it a little more comfortable by now. There were plenty of soda machines, though; clear evidence of Black Mesa's involvement. Arriving in a break room, Kleiner deposited the carrier on a table and let Steve out./p
p align="left""Ah, there you are, Kleiner. Took you long enough. You could have picked a much better time to be fashionably late, you know." A grumpy-looking human entered the room with his arms crossed, leering at Kleiner./p
p align="left""It wasn't the smoothest trip, but we arrived alive and well. Thank you for your concern, by the way, Magnusson." emMagnusson/em. Steve recognized that name. He was one of the Black Mesa scientists Kleiner would reminisce about, although with a lot more contempt. He recalled him saying something about grant money...?/p
p align="left""You're very welcome. You can pay me back by hurrying up and getting to work on the rocke- strongOH DEAR LORD WHAT IS THAT?!/strong" Steve froze as he saw the human staring directly at him, eyes wide. Quickly looking for a weapon, Magnusson picked up a folding chair and rushed at Steve, but was stopped by Kleiner stepping in the way./p
p align="left""Please, let me explain-"/p
p align="left""What, pray tell, needs to be explained?! You brought one of those emthings/em in here, and we need to dispose of it!" Magnusson was getting angrier and angrier, his face reddening as he yelled. Steve worried for a moment that he may turn the chair on Kleiner instead, but realized that he was worrying about Kleiner's well-being. Steve was concerned about why he was thinking these things, but he filed that under the "Things To Think About When I'm Not About To Be Flattened By A Folding Chair" section of his brain./p
p align="left""I assure you, Llamar is completely harmless," Kleiner rebutted, "she-"/p
p align="left""Oh, you even gave it a name?! This is ridiculous! I should have the both of you-"/p
p align="left" /p
p align="left""What's with all the racket over there?! You two need to settle down!" Kleiner and Magnusson went silent as a familiar voice addressed them. Eli Vance entered the room, glaring at the two. Steve let out a sigh, realizing he was holding his breath the whole time. He hoped that Eli could ease some of the heavy tension in the room. "I was worried this would happen. You're together for only a few minutes and you're already at each others' throats. Could you two just try to work together until we stop this Superportal?" Kleiner stayed silent, knowing that Eli was right. Magnusson, however, wasn't done./p
p align="left""I am only looking out for the well-being of my people, Eli. This imbecile let a monster in here, and-"/p
p align="left""Let me handle it," Eli interrupted, "We have far more important things to worry about right now. You can get back to your rocket, and I'll send him your way once we have things settled." Magnusson's expression remained unchanged, but his face was returning to its normal color. Despite this, Steve was very worried about what would come out of the human's mouth next. Seconds felt like hours as the room remained silent, until Magnusson put the folding chair back down and opened his mouth to speak./p
p align="left""...You should know that I don't appreciate being given orders from you. However... I must admit that you are correct. Do what you will - I'll be getting back to work." Magnusson gave one last glare at Steve and Kleiner before turning around and leaving. Steve flopped onto his side and began to breathe deeply, attempting to relieve some of the stress. Eli sat down on the couch, beckoning Kleiner over to join him./p
p align="left""Izzy, I'm glad to see you got here safe and sound... But did you really need to bring that thing with you?" Eli gave him a pat on the back as the two of them sat down on the couch./p
p align="left""I'll have you know that Lamarr has kept me great company over the years, and I just couldn't leave her in City 17, especially with what happened to the Citadel." He glanced over to Steve with a soft smile on his face. Steve always hated that smile, but this one felt... different, somehow. He couldn't deny that the human had saved his life on several occasions, the most recent being mere minutes ago. Kleiner would get no thanks from Steve, obviously, since he despised humans. But why did that not sit with him right anymore?/p
p align="left"Steve, not realizing he had spaced out, was startled when Eli stood up. "Well, it's about time we get back to work. You and Magnusson play nice now, okay?"/p
p align="left""All right, Eli, I suppose I can oblige," Kleiner replied, chuckling a bit. He stood up as well and made his way over to Steve, leaning down and gesturing at his head. "All right, Lamarr, up you go. We have work to do." Steve leaped up and made himself comfortable atop Kleiner's head, for hopefully the final time./p
p align="left" /p
p align="left"The duo continued on their way through the bunker. All the while Steve was muttering to himself, criticizing the bizarre layout of the building. emI'm no architect, but even I can tell this place is all/em wrong, he Even the worst-designed buildings in Xen looked better than this. I can't wait to finally get home, where things make sense. /emTruthfully, he didn't care that much about how the bunker was designed. He just wanted to get those weird thoughts from earlier out of his head. They entered a lift and descended into a room containing.../p
p align="left""So, this is the rocket he's been working on," Kleiner said, adjusting his glasses. Granted, they were only seeing the nose cone, but being so close to it filled Steve with glee and adrenaline. Kleiner clearly noticed, as he grabbed Steve to let him down. "I know you're antsy, Hedy, but this is important work. You should probably make yourself scarce so grumpy old Arne doesn't try to hurt you again." He placed Steve on the ground and patted him on the head, before walking off to meet the other human./p
p align="left"Looking down through the grating, Steve admired the rest of the rocket. emIt strongis/strong a human rocket, but it should do the trick. Finally, I'm going home! /emSteve looked back towards Kleiner, who was speaking with Magnusson. The latter gave a side glance (more like a side glare) towards Steve. Thankfully, the human seemed more concerned with finishing the rocket than exacting vengeance on headcrabs. Finally getting to work, Kleiner opened a hatch on the nose cone and began fiddling with the instruments inside. This was one of the times that Steve resented the fact that humans had opposable thumbs and headcrabs didn't. Granted, technology back on Xen was accommodated for headcrab appendages, but occasionally Steve would imagine what his life would be like with that extra bit of convenience./p
p align="left""Everything seems to be in order," Kleiner said, stepping away from the hatch. "I only wonder..."/p
p align="left""The last thing on my mind was submitting it for the Kleiner certificate of approval," Magnusson snapped back. "Whatever troubles we might have had were the result of staffing and supply deficiencies." Seeing the perfect opportunity, Steve jumped through the hatch and found a place to lay down. It would certainly be a long trip back so he decided he might as well get comfy./p
p align="left"He heard some commotion outside, and peeked his head out to see what it was. He was shocked to see both Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman exit the lift, with Eli following behind them. Steve felt a bit of relief, having a strange feeling that things may go better now that Gordon was here. The human did seem to have a knack for surpassing impossible odds. As he watched the humans greet each other, he noticed Gordon look his way, and slowly walked towards his location. emSlowly walking... that doesn't seem normal for him. Doesn't he usually hop around? What gives?/em Another abnormal thing was the strange object he was carrying: a statue of a short human wearing a tall, red, pointed hat. Reaching the hatch, Gordon placed the statue inside next to Steve. He looked at Steve one more time (Steve could swear he saw Gordon give him a smile and a nod) before closing the hatch./p
p align="left"Steve sighed and closed his eyes. It was finally time for him to go home. All the rest was up to the humans, but he felt confident they would succeed. They did land a major blow against the Combine, after all - surely they can launch a simple rocket, right? Steve figured that he should take a nap, since it might be a while before it actually launches. Granted, the machinery inside the nose cone wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was a small price to pay for a ride home. As he relaxed, he began to look back on his adventure. The fact that he made it this far is nothing short of a miracle. He escaped death more times than he deserved to, not to mention that he wouldn't have survived all these years without Kleiner.../p
p align="left"emNo, bad thoughts. We're done with Kleiner, we're done with humans, strongand we're done with Earth! /strongI hate them, and I can finally forget about all this and go home. I'll go back to my house with my wife and my children, and I'll go back to my boring job, and everything will be right again. /emIn the dim light, Steve looked over at his new companion. emWell, I guess you're my souvenir. You're gonna be a pain to lug around, though. Why the hell did Gordon bring you all the way here anyways? Well, if nothing else, you'll be a great conversation-starter back at home./em/p
p align="left"Suddenly, the instruments around Steve turned on and began their mechanical humming. A lot of rumbling started soon after, which was actually helping lull Steve to sleep./p
p align="left"The rumbling intensified, and soon the rocket finally began to take off. As Steve drifted off to sleep, he had one last thought:/p
p align="left""Look out, Xen, here we come!"/p