Chapter 2: Interrogation
Adrian woke up slowly, his vision remained blurred for several seconds and his head throbbed from the kick to his face. He tried to get up but something pushed him down to the ground.
"No, you must lie still," said a man he sounded as if he was still going through puberty, "You took quite a blow to the head. You probably have a concussion so you should rest." Adrian didn't bother listening, he through the man's hands off him and got up as best he could. As soon as his vision fully recovered he scanned the room he was in. It was about five meters by five meters, it had three metal walls and its fourth appeared to be some sort of blue energy field. He went up and placed his palm on it, it didn't hurt him and it felt like a hard metal wall but instead of being cold it was warm and somewhat soothing feeling to it. He could see a long hallway about twenty yards long with several doors on each side of. After pushing with all his strength he finally gave up, realizing the field would never give away. He turned and sat up against the warm energy field and finally saw the person occupying the room with him. It was one of the men who saved his life on the dock, but he was only a boy, no more than sixteen years old, he didn't even have to shave yet. He still wore the same dark blue fatigues with that familiar symbol on his shoulder but his weapons and gear weren't with him.
"I see you finally figured out you wouldn't be able to get through that, only Combine personnel can pass through them," he said only to get a confused look from Adrian. He continued without noticing, "I'm Yuri Olev," he said in a sharp Russian accent, "I know you don't remember what happened after we were captured considering you were unconscious but I will tell you. I was disarmed after I ran out of ammo and captured but the rest were killed. We were brought here by dropship, we are in a Combine Civil Protection Headquaters inside City-17. We should only be about a mile from the Citadel, which is where we will be going soon after I regret," Yuri said sadly.
What the boy just said only stupified him more, ever since he just arrived at the beach everything he heard or saw was completey unkown to him. City-17, Combine, Overwatch, those insect creatures, that aircraft, the weapons. The only thing that was familiar to him was the symbol on the boy's shoulder, he believed it was from Black Mesa but he couldn't quite remember.
"Yuri, what the hell is going on right now, who is the Combine and what..." Shepard was cut off as he heard one of the doors behind him open. He turned to see several soldiers come into the hallway. They wore the same navy blue uniform as the soldiers he encountered earlier but they were wearing smaller body armor and wore white gasmasks intstead of black ones. There were four of them, all armed with holstered pistols and each of them held some sort of riot baton in their hands. They began walking toward their cell.
"This is it fellow brother, we are going to the Citadel," said Yuri. Adrian looked toward him to see that he was certainly scared but he was able to keep himself under control. Shepard looked back to see the soldiers walk straight through the energy field. Two of batons seemed to activate when an electrical pulse flashed through them, one of them hit Adrian and the other one hit Yuri. He felt a flash of extreme pain that burned his arm where he was hit but slowly faded away and left no mark on him.
"You two will follow us now," said one of the soldiers with the same exact deep and artificial voice he heard from the soldiers at the beach. "If you chose to disobey our orders you will face severe punishment. Station 4B, deactivate Cell 7." he must have said this into a radio inside his mask for the energy field suddenly disappeared. The soldier then walked into the hallway as Adrian and Yuri were push forward by the three guards behind him. They followed the guard through the door they came in from and came into some sort a security checkpoint. Adrian looked around the building as he followed along and it appeared he was walking through an old police station. There were several guards inside a small office sitting at very large and strange computer consoles. They pressed several buttons and the energy field in front of them disappeared as well and they continued through the halls. They walked along for several more minutes passing several soldiers all dressed in the same uniform as there escorts and as well as a few more checkpoints.
They finally arrived at their apparent destination. It was another security checkpoint but this one was different from the rest, not only was it larger but in one of the adjacent offices sat a man in a suit, the first person Adrian had seen in here without the uniform of there guards, except for him and Yuri of course. The guard led them inside the office, the suited man sat behind a wooden desk and was typing on a laptop computer, one that Adrian had never seen before but nonetheless a laptop. He was flanked by two guards wearing all white armored uniforms with knee high black boots and a white helmet and mask that covered their entire faces, in the center of the mask was a large red lens which Adrian assumed was some sort of vision enhancement device. The man behind the desk wore a dark gray suit with a dark blue tie. As Shepard and Yuri came to a stop at the foot of the desk the man looked up at them. He appeared to be in his late fifties with dark gray hair to match his suit that was fashioned in an obvious come-over, he had a bushy gray moustache as well and he had wide shoulders and the large, muscular build.
The man stopped typing and looked up toward the two prisoners, "You two are the resistance fighters stationed at what you call Point Mesa, are you not," asked the man. Adrian did not answer, he was in no position to, he had no idea what the man was talking about. He decided to stay silent, presuming that Yuri would have some idea what the man spoke of but to his dismay Yuri did not answer. He looked over at the young man to see that he stood there defiantly, Adrian could tell the man was to stubborn and headstrong to answer. He knew what was probably going to happen now but he didn't want to even think about it.
"Well well," said the man behind the desk, "you two obviously have no idea what awaits you now." He quickly looked over Yuri and then Adrian but he seemed to take his time with him and seemed to look at every part of his body. "Guards, take that one to Section 4B for processing," he said pointing to Yuri, "but leave this one here with me."
Two guards led Yuri out of the room. Adrian looked at Yuri to see that he still had that defiant look on his face. Two guards stayed behind Adrian while the ones in the white uniforms behind the seated man remained still. The man in the suit began typing on his computer again as Sheppard watched on in a state of utter confusion. Why was he told to stay, he knew nothing and Yuri obviously knew more than he did, he didn't even know who this resistance was. Judging from his captors, this so-called Combine and their weapons, uniforms, and aircraft they must be the military power of City-17 and Yuri and his rescuers must have been some sort of rebel forces. But how was the antlions from the beach involved in this, and were any of the aliens he faced at Black Mesa still exist on Earth. He stopped thinking when the suited man turned his laptop toward him to see a picture of him and what appeared to his military record.
"You are Corporal Adrian Sheppard of the 81st Hazardous Environment Combat Regiment of the former United States Marine Corps?" asked the man, starring at him intently.
"Yes, I am," responded Adrian confused by what the man meant by former.
"I'm sure you still don't you hold that rank Mr. Sheppard?" he asked but when he got no answer from Adrian he continued on, "I was able to to find out who you are due to patch on your shoulder." He was refering to his unit's insignia on his shoulder patch, a black skull upon a red field. It was a well earned reward for six months of brutal training in order to join one of the most elite combat units in the world. He expected to make a career in the 81st but his first mission ended in the death of almost everyone in the regiment and him being secluded in a dark void.
He was pulled from his thoughts when the man began to speak, "You are a rarity indeed, I doubt you know this but of the eight-twenty men in your unit only seventy-four survived the incident at Black Mesa and only nine are confirmed to be alive now. You being the ninth one that is." Only nine of us still lived, my god Adrian thought. How long has it been since then, sixty of the survivors were dead, but how.
"What happened to the survivors who have died?" Adrian asked.
"Well, many died during the transistion period and several joined the resistance only to be killed. Sad really, a waste. The Combine could have used..." the man was never able to finish. A waste, the man said, how could this man speak of them that way. It filled Adrian with such so much hate and anger that he dove across the desk and tackled the man out of the chair and began beating him with his fists. Blow after blow Adrian landed on his face and head until the guards struck him with their stun batons. Eventually his grip on the man failed and the guards dragged him off the suited man. Adrian tried to get to his feet but a blow to his head and kneecaps but him on his knees. The man rose to his feet with the help from a guard. His face was bloodied and bruised, even worse than Adrian's from all the blows from the baton.
The man straightened his suit and tie and dusted himself, he seemed to be unaffected from the punches, "You should not have done Mr. Sheppard. You have just doomed yourself to a life you don't want but will never know you will have. Take him away." And with that two guards dragged him away to a fate he could not begin to comprehend.