A/N: It's been four years and I finally get around to update this. Life happened in so many ways but I felt inspired to take this up once more. A lot has changed, and I hope that my style has improved in some way. I didn't have to go into Valve time but here we are! I can only hope that the years have been well for you all, and that you enjoy the upcoming updates, however bonkers they may

Thank you for your read!

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Session 17 Diagnosis

Once upon a time,

There was an unlucky man who came from a nameless place. He lived his life unluckily but content, always looking for something else in his life. He had a mother and father, distant and observing, never getting too close to their grand creations. He had a sister who hated him and loved him, always competing with each other but never going too far.

One day, the unlucky man's lord sold him off to the Devil so he could be king. In doing so, the lord unleashed the plagues of worlds infinite, forcing the unlucky man to fight against friend and foe, doing his best to keep hope alive that he would not find his best friend among the dead.

The unlucky man was trapped and forced to obey the Devil, making other people suffer. When he finally destroyed a corrupted king, the Devil put him to sleep. The Devil had new plans for the unlucky man in a renamed land.

"Absolutely not."

"Gordon, don't."

"I'm not doing this. I'm fine, that's what matters, right?"

It was normal protocol for any newcomers and survivors to get the checkup but Gordon understandably hesitated in doing so. Twenty years may have passed but the incident with Sayers left him with a deep fear of undressing again. Barney had a solution to this conundrum and traced his hand against the clothes that Gordon was stuck in. All those memories came flooding back, making the predictable result that nostalgic. All those pranks back in Black Mesa, they seemed so childish but in a way, they had their time.

An uncensored groan had Freeman relax involuntarily, therefore making removal of old gauze under the sterile City 17 uniform that much easier. It'd be a lie if that didn't start a fire in Calhoun, assuring his friend to just let Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Mossman examine him. All those years and that hazy dream still had power over him on those dark nights alone. That fire quickly went out the moment he saw the black and blue bruises along his friend's body. He'd really been put through the ring just like everyone here...but where had he gone to? Would he know of the following he had gained through the exploits passed down through whispers?

"C'mon. Gordon...just let him check your stats," he tried to comfort while his fingertips hovered and ran against the two "lawnmower scars". He never forgot those interesting details, how Gordon could take so much punishment but could shudder with a passing touch. Maybe he was selective about what gave him pain and what gave him pleasure, inappropriate thoughts for the time being.

"Then stop torturing me!" the physicist's threat wasn't nearly as commanding as he'd hoped, he was enjoying the touch after no sensation during stasis. Such deprivation starved every nerve and they clamored for something, anything. Even the removal of makeshift bandages.

When Barney exited the room, he was met with a skeptical Dr. Kleiner. "Do you mind telling me how you know that?" he asked to which the guard smirked, "Freeman was Leather Heather's favorite client; I checked her little black book during the Resonance Cascade."

"That's playing dirty, Calhoun. You know that."

"Got results, go get 'em, Doc."

Nonetheless, the physicist was bare on the examination table and, for the first time in a while, exposed. He looked less like a one-man army and more like...a cornered man. He'd gained so many scars since Black Mesa to join all the others, old and new. However, all present were surprised at how cut up his feet were. They were both full slashes and pricks, as if his boots had been full of glass 24/7 before this moment. "Jesus Christ! No wonder you didn't want us to see you naked!"

"That and the fact that I AM NAKED ON AN EXAMINATION BED," Freeman stated the obvious, exasperated with being stared at. Could they just get this over with?

"He's got a point there, Barney," Alyx quipped without missing a beat, amused that a grown man could be this finicky or embarrassed over his own skin. Shame fell on the wayside with everything the Combine unleashed in these last two decades.

"Gordon, we'll do a full body scan to check if you have any broken bones, a few blood tests, and I'll make sure D0G doesn't crash into Dr. Mossman's equipment!"

That made the redhead turn around and command, "And what does Dr. Freeman have to do with that canine contraption?"

"Nothing," the Vance daughter retorted, smirk hidden as she turned her back, "Just giving you all fair warning." Gordon was fairly impressed with Alyx's humor and intelligence when she rescued him from that ambush. Eli made the same observations, chuckling along, along with other less conspicuous things.

"That should do it! The results will be ready in half an hour," Kleiner announced with positive thoughts, "but I'm sure Gordon will come out in perfect health!"

"That's great, Isaac! Boy's gotta be alright! He's a strong man to have done all that he did," the older scientist added then murmured a few words. Kleiner's expression seemed to assess the goings on and nodded along.

"Of course, I'll give you all the time you need. Dr. Freeman should still be dressing himself," the absent-minded genius agreed, not at all surprised that Lamarr had made a home on the One Free Man's lap. Poor Gordon had to resist the urge to scream and thwack the parasite off him, only to have said creature perk up at her master's suggestion. Pet or not, that was still a headcrab and that just wasn't something he wanted anywhere close to his face.

"Up-up!" As soon as the headcrab disappeared and stormed out, Eli chuckled his way inside the examination room. Gordon was just about to put on his shoes when his mentor asked,

"Those must've hurt like a bitch, huh?"

"That they did, Eli..." the physicist answered with a trite tone. He was just getting dressed after all, and having been laughed at for a few minutes after twenty years of being stuck in an endless void made him crabby.

"Then you've been lying more than what you led everyone else on."

Freeman's poker face twitched for a second...and in his eyes, untold fear flooded in. To know this detail entailed a certain understanding that only two other humans could know and they died two decades ago. He still remembered the cracking bones under Sayers' foot, and the music box that preceded the murder. In fact, Gordon tried to listen for the sound. It was in the absence that he realized he was on his own, never to be called home. The lines appeared to be severed, just as the G-man had warned him. He'd been so careful and all this time, Eli knew? But how? How could he have known?!

"How long, sir?" Gordon sighed miserably. No use in hiding it, not with this war going on.

"Actually, my first suspicion arose during your first health check-up back in Black Mesa. Showed an extraordinary amount of sugars and blood cell counts, meaning you had quite the metabolism and system. It also meant your little lie punishments were causing tiny infections to account for." Eli answered truthfully. Gordon had to concede that he was underestimating his mentor in Black Mesa, and his face became flushed with embarrassment.

"And you never said anything because..."

"I'm not a man to interfere in what I know I can't comprehend," the elder scientist clarified, patting Freeman's back. "We need you now, Gordon. We need you back on the field and...do what needs to be done."

The implications were not unexpected but a part of Freeman wanted to refuse the call. This wasn't his war, this was Breen's and the rest of the world. The objectivity of all that he'd worked so hard, to survive, would go up in smoke. But even he can't deny that these ever extenuating circumstances. These were his mistakes after all.

"I don't know if I can…but I can try." It was the only promise he could make after all.

Twenty two years before...

Administrator Breen had just grilled the Lambda Complex team to well done and yet, none had been fired.

"Thank goodness we were able to pull those results out of our asses!" Dr. Kleiner exclaimed as the three scientists settled in the break room. "

Yeah, all thanks to Gordon's silver tongue," Eli congratulated; that amalgamation of lies gave them just enough time to manage around the bugs in the program and run a proper resonance on element χ and bail their much-anticipated project.

"Don't mention it, Dr. Va-ARGH!" the thank-you was cut short, Gordon hissed in pain and gripped his thigh.

"Gordon! Are you all right!?" both senior scientists rushed to the physicist's side.

"I'm-I'm fine, just a cramp," Freeman assured them but nonetheless excused himself from the meeting.

"Oh dear, poor man's worked himself to the bone," Isaac sighed out; this projected had taken a toll on everyone, even the younger employees.

"I'll go check up on him," Eli stated and followed suit. In a corner of the breakroom, he could see two shoes discarded, and a red-stained footprints trail. He remained hidden from view and quiet as Freeman slowly peeled off bloodied-up socks and reveal a few new cuts.

"Shit...went a little overboard with the information fluffing."