To Right The Wrongs

by DerpymanMT

(Set at the end of Half-Life 2) Gordon wasn't meant to be caught in the portal's blast. G-Man Hadn't planned for when he failed to catch him. Now Gordon is in a world not plagued by the combine, but by loneliness and pain. Will He set the Pilots and the rest of the world on a better path, lead by the Freeman? Redux Being Made, Please Check To Right The Wrongs Redux

5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Ritsuko woke up with a yawn and a stretch. She then remembered that tomorrow is the activation test for Unit-03, and that Toji Suzuhara kid. Hopefully everything goes accordingly, and if so, Shinji, Asuka and Rei wont be the only pilots. I should tell him that he will be here, while I go to Matsushiro. He could probably do better than me! She chuckled at the thought and sat up. She fed her cats and made a pot of coffee. She got dressed in her Usual attire, grabbed her bag and mug, and headed out. She drove down through the streets of Tokyo III, passing by the skyscrapers and countless stores. It was sure peaceful for the time being, even with less and less people. She eventually made it to one of the many car entrances of the Geo-front. She brought the car to a halt and waited for the car train to take her down. As she sat there in her car, she couldn't help but wonder about Shinji, and if he took Gordon's advice, which she doubt he would. The Train came to a stop and she drove out into the parking lot, where she parked and locked her car.

She headed to her lab and opened the door to see Gordon tinkering with the HEV suit. "You're here early." She said taking a sip of coffee and setting down her purse. "Well the last time I was late, A Resonance Cascade happened. If I'm late again, Third impact could happen because I wasn't there to help stop an Angel." She chuckled at that last part. "Well I wouldn't worry about that, Misato is almost always late and the Angels die anyway." He also chuckled. After a few minutes of adjusting frequencies and amplifying trans-space transmitters, Gordon stepped into the suit and powered it on. The HEV suit went through its normal boot up routine and soon went into ready mode. Gordon pressed a button on his left arm and started speaking. "Freeman to Neo-Mesa, do you respond?" Static. "Freeman to Any Resistance radio operators to you copy?" Crackles. "Kleiner, its me Gordon can you hear me?" Ritsuko was about to say something when the suit's radio began to speak garbled words. Gordon, a quick thinker, Adjusted the frequencies by the fourth decimal point. "-Gor- Gordon-" He kept adjusting until he got better sound. "Gordon are you there?" Gordon's eye lit up in joy as he immediately responded. "Yes! Barney is that you?! I'm alive! Albeit in a different Earth, But I'm alive and well!" The two heard whooping and cheering from the radio. "Gordon wait just a minute, Ill tell Alyx of the good news, she has been rather depressed as of lately. This should get her to do a jig!" He heard Barney calling out for Alyx, which in turn was replied with eager response. "GORDON!" She cried out in joy. "We thought that you had got killed in the Combine Home world!" Ritsuko's eyes widened, he truly is from another dimension. "Gordon, tell us your location and we'll come and pick you up!" Alyx said cheerfully. But Gordon's eyes fell to the floor.

"I'm not in the combine over world, nor am I on our earth… I'm in a different Dimension altogether… A Earth that is at war with god-like beings, capable of wiping out all life on this planet… And they need my help…" Gordon could basically feel their hope vanishing from their hearts. "This place has the Technology to send me back home, after we beat how many more angels?" … "We have exactly Five more angels left." … "Five more Angels until they can pour spare resources to device similar to the machine in the Lambda Complex!" … "And How long will that take?" … "A few months, they are coming almost weeks apart." "Oh OK…" Ritsuko can tell the girl is heartbroken, just by that response. "If its any consolation, Dr Freeman Here has been so far very helpful, we have encountered a creature he called a Headcrab, we have the necessary fire power to defend against these creatures. He has only been working here a day, but so far he has saved one of our pilots." That was a big mistake. "Gordon, who is this women speaking?" Gordon felt like he should say something, but was cut by Ritsuko. "My name is Dr Ritsuko Akagi, Chief Researcher and Head of science at Special UN Agency NERV" Gordon wanted to speak up but was cut off by Kleiner. "Gordon! Have you given her any specifics to our struggle? Once they are done their, perhaps Dr Akagi here could help develop some safety features for the Teleporter!" The Two other scientists talked a bit, and sometimes Alyx jumped in.

Just then the HEV suit beeped. "Warning: Main system power reserves are low, Heavy usage from, Sub-space radio." … "Okay, I think we should create a separate radio from the suit's so we don't have to use it's power." "Agreed" "Okay, Gordon Please call us as soon as you are able to, we will update you as the situation progresses, We are attempting to close the portal storms, that the explosion caused. Kleiner Out." The radio and the suit then died. Gordon took it off and sighed. "You OK?" Asked Ritsuko laying a hand on his shoulder. "They need me over there…" Ritsuko couldn't help but feel bad. He had been torn from his home and from a battle that needs him. She then thought that if she told him that he was going to be in charge, that would cheer him up. "So, tomorrow I wont be here, as I will be at Matsushiro, helping with the Unit 03 Activation test. I know it may be too early, but I'm leaving you in charge for the day, or until the test ends." He turned to her in confusion. "A fourth EVA? We only have three pilots, and where even is Unit 03?" Ritsuko pulled out a data-pad and handed it to Gordon. "Its being brought in today and will be set up for tomorrow. But for now, I'm finishing up some paper work, I could help you with the radio if you need help, and we can certainly spare some MAGI computation time for calculations." Gordon gave her a smile. "Thanks I'd appreciate that. You are certainly a kind person." Ritsuko smiled knowing deep down that was a lie, but she'd taken that compliment to heart. "No problem, now lets get to work, shall we?"

They worked for a few hours and stopped for lunch. Kaji stopped by to mess with Ritsuko, and Misato came by to drop off some paper work. Gordon then pulled out his phone and put on YouTube, he then put on one of his Favorite songs: Komm Susser Tod. He played it on the laboratory speakers. "Hey whats the name of this song? Its kinda nice, albeit worded very depressing." … "Komm Susser Tod, why?" Ritsuko paused for a moment, she may be rusty on her German, but she is pretty sure that translates to Come Sweet Death… "Err no reason, just wondering." She quickly went back to work. The time came when it was 6:30 pm. The two said their goodbyes for the day and headed back to their respective homes. Gordon, while walking, decided to take a detour. He headed to the Geo-front lake and sat on the shore. He was now alone with his own thoughts, his Freeman mind… Man, this is way too early to think this.. but… errr I truly enjoy Ritsuko's company… Well Ms Akagi, you've peaked my interest… Gordon then headed back to his apartment and slept for the night, not cooking a meal.

The next morning as expected Ritsuko was not there. He completed his daily duties and headed to the bridge to watch the activation test. He listened in as the crews did their check lists, clearing all standards. "Voltage passing critical level… Level cleared, Connections are green." Gordon was about to let a sigh out, when he saw the dinosaur faced EVA open its jaws and roar. The crew at Matsushiro ran all of the emergency procedures, but to no avail! Unit 3 tore through its restraints and started to walk, destroying things in the process. "Dr Freeman, we are reading a disturbance in the core… Its pattern Blue!" Gordon's eyes widened in fear. An angel has control over the weapon used to destroy angels… this might prove to be bad… "Pilot status is Unknown! Toji Suzuhara is trapped in the Entry plug, all attempts to eject have failed!" Gordon stood in horror as the realization set in. There was a kid in there. "Dr Freeman, what do we do?!" Maya yelled staring at the rapidly approaching angel. "Unit 3 is to hereby declared the thirteenth angel, send all units to combat it." Gendo's voice was cold, it was obvious he did not care for the life inside.

The pilots sortied to the surface near Unit 3. "We are in position." … "I'm ready" … "Standing by" The angel made its way in front of all three units revealing itself. "Wait… That's an EVA… There is someone inside!" Shinji said panic creeping into his voice. "That is of no relevance, pilot Ikari. Your main goal is to destroy the Angel." Gordon hated how cold and hollow Gendo's voice sounded. "Shinji, You have to try and disable him, Toji wont feel a thing!" Gordon should've not said that, as that made Shinji almost panic. "Shinji Calm down-" "No that's my friend in there!" "irrelevant, that is your target." "Not helping! Shinji, you must remain calm, Disable it, chop off its limbs then the head. It should stop after that. Then you can extract the plug!" Gendo was about to say something but was stopped by Fuyutsuki putting a hand on his shoulder. Shinji Appeared to calm down as he told the other pilots to cooperate. Unit 0 and 2 rushed over to Unit 3 and deployed their knives. In sync, they slashed its arms clean off. Only to have it Grow two extra arms. "No fair that's cheating!" Asuka cried out as an Arm slapped her off of it. Rei grappled with the other arm, managing to slice it off again. "SHINJI YOU BETTER HURRY!" Asuka yelled. This brought Shinji out of his trance, and he charged straight towards Unit 3, arms at the ready. He Grabbed onto its head and didn't let go. "I'M SORRY TOJI!" He cried out as he snapped the head of the angel hijacked EVA. Unit 3 went limp, its new arms rotting away. Shinji drew his Prog-Knife and tore off the neck plate, revealing the caught-in-place Entry Plug.

Shinji quickly cut around the fleshy tissue holding it back, allowing the plug to fully eject. He caught it and set it down softly. "Angel defeated, Pilot Recovered." Said an exhausted Shinji. He powered down the EVA and sat their in his seat. "Do I have permission to extract the pilot?" Shinji wanted to rip open the hatch and check on Toji, but he had to stay calm. Gordon looked over Maya's shoulder to see Toji's vitals. They were weak but still there. "Any Sign of Angelic Contamination, Lieutenant Ibuki?" She had a look over of the data brought in. "Nothing, he is cleared." Shinji heard that and ejected his plug. He got out of his plug and ran over to Toji's plug and opened up the hatch. There laid Toji's unconscious body, which Shinji grabbed and held. "Recovery teams are on their way." Shigeru said over the commotion that is happening. "Asuka, Rei, Shinji, you did good today. Good work." Gordon said feeling proud that he handled this well. But Gordon remembered that both Misato and Ritsuko was at the Matsushiro site. "Ibuki, what's the status on both Katsuragi and Akagi?" Maya turned around quickly to face the monitors. "Dr Akagi has been Injured while Major Katsuragi has been cleared. They are en route to NERV Medical hospital." Maya didn't sound too happy about hearing about what happened. Gordon was upset, but not that much, as he knew he couldn't do much to prevent this. He finished up his tasks and headed to his apartment, to sleep the anxiety away.

Well now, Things are getting interesting, Gordon now saw what an angel can do (not to its fullest extent) and is now cautious about them. And FINALLY got the praise he needed.

-DerpymanMt