Sorry, I accidentally gave the surprise away in the last chapter, about who the man is. It should be obvious anyway, but I figured it might get some people. I was half asleep when I wrote the first chapter, just writing to be writing, really. So I kinda slipped up a few times. Must've missed that one during the proofread.

The man sat inside an Osprey, listening to his fellow marines spouting friendly banter back and forth. The carrier shook wildly, and the man could see what appeared to be a giant manta ray destroy another Osprey. The man cursed, and everything went black.

He awoke in the dirt, bullets and electricity flying over him. He blacked out again, and awoke in a dark room. He could see a marine running toward him, and then explode. He heard a deep, throaty cackle, and blacked out again.

When he awoke a second time, he was in lying on a table. A man in a white labcoat was performing CPR on a marine nearby, but the marine was clearly dead. The scientist stood up, and noticed that the man was awake. He began to say something, but the man leapt up and into action, punching the scientist in the nose. He grabbed the stunned older man by the tie and wrapped it around his neck, squeezing. He had one objective here: Search and Destroy.

Me…that was me…

I surveyed a small nook in a hallway, observing what I had done. Three men in labcoats lay dead, a headcrab smashed to pieces against the wall: The results of the wrench I wielded. I turned, to see an obese security guard standing at the bottom of the stairs. I grabbed both side-rails, sliding down and booting the guard in the nose, throwing him to the tiles. I grabbed his chin, and snapped his neck. I took the man's Desert Eagle sidearm, and blew several holes in the glass door before me.

I stood in a hallway, overlooking a large room. A massive freight door sat to one side, a ladder on the other, leading up to a series of catwalks high above. The room stopped about two feet from the hallway I was in. I noticed boiling green fluid beneath it. I made the gap, but the room began to collapse. I leapt up onto the ladder, climbing up. Standing on the catwalk, there was a man in a blue suit, staring…just staring.

I sprinted through a corridor, skidding to a stop in front of a freight elevator. Hearing a voice, I turned around, to reveal another scientist, and a security guard. Shaking my head, I fired a quick burst into the guard, shattering his head from the jaw up. The scientist turned to run, but I fired several shots into his back. I stepped onto the freight elevator, to see something sliding towards me. It was the body of a marine. I unclipped a grenade from his belt, and pulled the pin, hurling it onto the platform above.

I stepped carefully across the tracks, into a warehouse. Two men—their names were…what were they? Robert and Carl, I believe. They were both marines, both in my unit. The three of us stepped into the warehouse, suspecting nothing more than a few zombies. We were wrong. I heard a burst of silenced gunfire, and dove to the ground. Robert's throat erupted in a shower of blood, and he fell back. Carl cursed, and rushed forward, disappearing into the mass of cargo containers. I saw the first of them then: A black clad assassin…a member of the United States Black Operatives Division. I cursed, and raised my machine gun. He stood on the catwalk above and opposite me, lifting his own weapon—a silenced H&K MP5 submachine gun. I fired first, catching him in the chest and throwing him backwards.

I heard several bursts of silenced weaponry, and Carl's shotgun exchanging fire. With a scream, Carl's stopped. I cursed, knowing I had to move. I sprinted to the side, blasting another assassin away. I rolled to a stop inside a container, and raised my weapon. Almost faster than I could register, two of them entered behind me. My machine gun rattled, ending both of their lives instantly. After several minutes, I stepped into the open, seeing nothing.

Then, I saw it. A slight motion, in my peripheral vision. Without even looking, I slid my Desert Eagle out of its holster, and held my arm out towards the motion. I pumped two shots into the assassin, tossing him casually to the floor. Flicking the safety back on, I holstered the sidearm. A quick burst of gunfire shattered the weapon in my hands. I ducked down, and grabbed the closest weapon: That wrench. I spun around, hitting the assassin in the side of the knee. He went down with a howl, and I brought the tool down on his head. I hit him; I kept hitting him, until his head was nothing more than a pile of mush.

I…I did that to a man…to a human being…they trained me to do it…they made me do it!

I stood in a well-lit corridor, carpet underneath my bloody combat boots. A dead alien grunt lay on the ground next to me, a large crater in his chest. I held a SPAS .12 shotgun, the weapon of choice for several Black Mesa security guards. I stood in front of a large wooden door, marred by several bullet holes. I lifted the barrel of the shotgun, and fired a blast. The door flew back several feet, propped up against a conference table within. Two alien vortigaunts stood at the far end of the table, by a projector screen. Rolling forward, I ran up the door and onto the table. I dropped to one knee, avoiding an electrical blast. My first shot blew one of the aliens through the screen. The second tore the other in half, the top splattering against the far wall.

I rode down a long tunnel, on a train cart. Two dead headcrabs lay behind me, bullet holes in each. As I turned a corner, I heard a suspicious blast. After a moment, I realized it was a Rocket Propelled Grenade. I saw the missile streaking towards me, and dove to the side. It hit my cart full on, throwing me into the stone wall. I heard a loud crack in my ribcage, and a wave of pain shot up my side.

I stepped into a room, seeing two marines whose names I could not for the life of me recall. One congratulated me on my survival. The other stood in a closet, interrogating a Black Mesa scientist. When the man would not give him any information, he kicked him backwards, and locked the door, leaving him to die. Down a long tunnel, was the LZ. I felt so excited, so full of elation. As the interrogating marine jogged through the open freight door, the man who had congratulated me suddenly flew forward, busting his head open against the wall. I spun around, as the headcrab zombie stumbled towards me, swinging its sharp fingers. I fired several rounds into its head, showering the area in green blood. Turning around, I saw the door closing. I yelled at the top of my lungs, sprinting for it. The door was nearly a foot from the ground, and I slid towards it. It closed, and I slammed into it. Screaming, I stood, pounding on the window. That man in the Blue Suit stood in front of me, smiling, just outside the window. I lifted my machine gun, and emptied the clip into the glass. Nothing happened, and the Osprey's outside took off. I sank to the floor, tears streaming down my face.

That man…he did that to me…he locked me inside…

I sprinted through a dark tunnel, seeing nothing, even with my night vision goggles on. My feet shook, and I looked around, in time to see a giant…monster, no other words for it…galloping towards me. It shot purple electricity, sending jolts of pain through my body. I lifted the strange weapon I had taken, and fired. A green portal shot out, and everything went black. The next thing I knew, I was standing on a rocky platform, hovering in a green air.

I leapt to another platform, a bigger one. Hearing a familiar howl, I leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the impending shockwave. Looking for the source, I saw it. It reminded me of a baked ham, oddly colored and with four legs. It barked at me, and hunched down. I knew another shockwave would follow, unless I stopped it. I drew my Desert Eagle, and fired six shots into it, throwing it back. I turned, and unwittingly stepped into another portal.

The world…Xen…the source of the creatures…

I stepped out of yet another elevator, into a dark corridor. Walking forward, I walked to the only other door there. I pumped the shotgun slide, and punched the 'Open' button. The door slid up, revealing what can only be described as chaos. The room was brightly lit, orange bulbs flying every which way. They shot balls of fire, forcing me backwards. But I quickly realized that they were not shooting at me. Above me, in the center of the chamber, was a massive green portal. Running towards it, was a man in an orange Hazardous Environment Suit. The man was Gordon Freeman: The man I had been sent to Black Mesa to kill. The reason all my friends were dead, the reason I had gone through hours of hell. I lifted the shotgun, and fired at Freeman, but he was already in the portal…already gone.

Gordon Freeman…he did this…he and the man in the suit…those bastards!

I sprinted through the garage, blowing one of the assassins away with my machine gun. I could almost hear the bomb…ticking and ticking away. I cried out in pain, a bullet lodging itself in my shoulder. Another hit me straight on in the chest, digging into my PCV suit. I flew backwards, landing hard on my back. My machine gun skidded across the concrete, stopping under a car. Not having time to worry about it, I shakily pulled my combat knife out, clambering to my feet. An assassin darted out in front of me, readying a silenced pistol. I grabbed him by the neck and pinned him up against the wall, driving my knife through his forehead. I took the pistol from him, and lifted it. I fired several silent shots at the security booth I knew another assassin hid, shattering the glass. The man stood up, and my next shot took him right in the windpipe. He went down hard.

Several bullets caught me in the back, between my shoulder blades. My PCV suit absorbed most of the blow, but they stung horribly. A shot whizzed by my ear, taking the tip off. I cursed loudly, dropping to my knee. I spun around, seeing the shooter. He crouched in the bed of a truck, holding a silenced MP5. I stood, as another bullet stuck into my thigh. Crying out in pain, I held the pistol shakily, and emptied the magazine. The man stumbled back, four bullets in his chest, another two in his head.

I turned around, no more assassins nearby. Limping towards the open truck bed, I saw the bomb. Six numbers were displayed in bright red digits, most of them zeroes. From the timer, I saw that I only had six minutes left. I cursed silently, and went to work. After what seemed like an eternity of cutting, the timer stopped: 30 seconds left. I could not believe it at first, but then it registered in my mind. I sank down, laughing. I laughed for many minutes, before I heard a voice. It asked me why I was happy, what I had done. Delighted, I showed the security guard the bomb. He turned pale, but saw that I had defused it. So happy, I decided that I would let the guard live. But then, he told me there was one more monster; a very big one. He told me where it was, and asked if I could help him defeat it. I cursed, and shot him.

The man should have lived…but no, Freeman had to sign his death warrant…

I stumbled down the hall, both my limp and a heavy wind trying to drive me backwards. I was not going to give in. I had not come this far, had not come through 72 hours of hell, to be stopped by a little wind. I stumbled into an alcove, the door torn off its hinges. What I saw inside the room topped everything I had seen or done over the past three days. A massive portal covered one entire wall, tentacles writhing in and out of it. A catwalk led away from me, two turret looking devices mounted on the rail. I cursed then, as a massive head emerged from the portal. Green and scaly, with two gigantic red eyes, it stared at me. It roared.

I grabbed the closest cannon, and began blasting away. Bursts of electricity tore from the weapon, cutting the monster deeply. It roared in pain, as I aimed the cannon at its eye. The eye ruptured with a flow of red juice, flooding onto the deck below. A massive tentacle shot at me, slapping me away and tearing the cannon from the rail. I flew back, slamming into the wall. A second tentacle hit the center of the catwalk, sending the metal crashing to the floor, almost three stories below. I knew I had to make it to the second cannon, and sprinted for it. Ignoring the bullet in my leg, I cleared the seven foot gap, tumbling to the metal grating on the other side. The pain hit me then, driving the wind from my body. I cried out, and stumbled forward, grasping the cannon and hauling myself up. I opened up with it, tearing a tentacle in half and aiming for the eye. It exploded, and the monster roared again. It began to sink back into the portal, and electricity tore through the air. I ducked, but the world seemed to fade away.

I stood in an Osprey. Looking out the window, I saw flashes of black and green. I was flying through the alien planet. I stepped forward, taking notice of the different gravity again. The pain in my leg was gone, as was the bullet. I flexed my shoulder, noticing that bullet was gone as well. I walked to the cockpit, banging on the door. No one answered.

"They can't hear you," A smooth, but somehow raspy, voice called. I turned around, to see the man in the blue suit. I cursed, and went for a weapon, wishing to inflict as much pain on him as possible. But there was nothing; I had nothing.

"I've taken the liberty of removing your weapons, you won't be needing them, Corporal Shepard…"

Corporal Shepard…Corporal Adrian Shepard…my name…

"Wake up, Corporal Shepard…Wake up…"

Corporal Adrian Shepard opened his eyes. He was in an office, nicely decorated. It was almost comfy. He lay on a warm carpet. The office made him believe that the city he had been in wasn't real. It couldn't have been real, it was so…destroyed…

"Ah, you're awake," A voice said. Adrian looked up, and cursed loudly. At the wooden desk in front of him…sat Wallace Breen.