Lots of Vortigaunts ahead.. i hope i wote their lines decently.... And Chell is getting annoying.... am i sure of what am i doing? I hope...

"Behold! Our kindred has returned!"

"It is so!"

"Indeed!"

"And look- a human is with him."

"Yes...."

The five Vortigaunts were sitting in a circle not far away from the village, near a old pine. As Gathule approached together with the strange, orange dressed human, they rose up curiously staring at the two.

"Ah, now we are joined once again." said Gathule. "And it is indeed a good time, for now our joined power is required."

"My brother, your purpose is clearly bound to the human being, but what is that you can't accomplish and we should?"

"This creature's memories are scattered and broken. And not without use to our cause."

Chell looked at the creatures, trying not to show her feelings. The aliens seemed friendly, though she knew how dangerous they were: during the escape from the city, Gathule had destroyed a monster with a energy beam, apparently coming directly from his body. The only certainty was that if they wanted to kill her she'd be dead already.

They started to speak in their own language, gesticulating a lot and often repeating the same sentences twice or thrice. In the end they seemed to have decided something.

"We are to help you." said one of them "for it seems inside you lies an important clue about our dreaded foes."

"Stand still" said another "And don't react with fear to our doings."

They circled around her, rising their arms. Sparkles of green light started to erupt from their fingers forming a cage. Electricity filled the air, as the light beams connected, growing in number, until they embedded Chell in a blindingly bright egg. She started to feel numb, while something in her mind struggled to emerge.

And then there was pain.

She had no illusions about the procedure being easy, but this was not what she had expected. A sharp pain in her shoulder, followed by the warmth of her blood. It seemed more like a gunshot.

She opened her eyes, and realized the green cage had faded and what hit her shoulder was precisely a bullet. Turning around, she saw the aliens, the vortigaunt, fighting off armoured soldiers coming out of an helicopter. The troopers wore black armours and masks on their faces. As they spoke, their voice had nothing human.

"Back up, we're suffering losses."

"Keep pushing. We must exterminate them."

The leader of the soldier shown off.

"Oh no... oh god, no.... it can't be...." Chell stared at the enemy, paralysed.

Unlike the others', his armour was white, and instead of eyes, he had a wide, red lens in the centre of his head.

"No, please.... no..."

A walking turret. Aperture technology turned into a man.

He aimed a strange rifle at one of the aliens, shooting a glowing ball. The target vanished, like he had suddenly been turned into sparkles.

The spheres of energy. Aperture science. It was them.

"Take the human." he said.

Chell ran away. Not much of a plan, but all she could think of was putting more distance possible between her and the enemies. She escaped without thinking, barely minding the war cries and the shouted orders behind her. When she was far enough to be unable to hear, she fell to her knees and caught breath.

Aperture Science had taken over the world. Humanity was dominated by living turrets.

Of all the absurd sceneries she had pictured, this was absolutely the worse.

"Are you alright? Hey? Wake up!"

Chell opened her eyes suddenly, her hand run instinctively to the pistol. The she reminded where she was.

Freeman was looking down at her, while Alyx, was asleep with the head on Chell's shoulder.

"... i'm fine..."she answered

"Well, there's a problem... you see, we're... lost."

"...lost?"

"You didn't give me any direction..."

"YOU COULD HAVE ASKED! How can I work with people who just refuses to be useful! Damn it! Where are we?! Okay, don't answer, I know, we're lost. How long have we travelled?"

"One hour, but-"

"ONE HOUR!? You just went around blindly for an hour? Let's see... we are probably at a distance of at least five hours and an half from the Borealis, unless you've driven in a completely correct or completely wrong direction... hm... assuming the wind speed and direction... I think we've been pretty lucky. Now, let's see where can we go." She stood up quickly and Alyx's head slide down from her shoulder, hitting the floor. Cell didn't seem to mind it.

"What.. what is happening?" asked Alyx, rubbing her head.

"Nothing." answered Gordon " We just... had to stop to-"

"Would you please leave her alone and come here to drive this thing?"

"I'm coming.... do you need anything, Alyx?"

"No...but was... was it you before?"

"What do you mean?"

"Someone whispered something in my ear and-"

"And whatever was it it can WAIT! Come. Here. And. Fly. This. Thing."

"Jeez, i'm coming. What's with all this hurry anyway...."

"Just come here. I will help her." Chell seemed to have turned sweet and caring again.

"No, now you stay here and tell me where to go, we're not going to be lost again.

The entity, in it's visible form, resembled an enormous, liquid, blue sphere, surrounded by a series of shiny tentacles.

It seems you have underestimated the problem, it affirmed. It didn't speak things- it simply assumed people would already know them, making them know as a direct consequence.

"I have simply... be-believed wise to d-delay the plan." the main in the suit tightened his tie, impassive.

You are putting much at stake.

"F-for a good price."

The entity dived one of it's tentacles into the core of it's round body. You are proving untrustworthy recently. You have been trapped once; what if this happens when the goal is about to be... reached?

"T-this isn't going to happen. Th-the right moment will be precisely when any opposer i-is... quelled."

Yes.... precisely. This is why we will dispose of our opposing force... with specific means.

"D-do you think he could be... u-useful?"
Yes... he will complete his task... it's time for him to be useful... at last.

The tentacle came out from the sphere and formed a circle. Inside it, a sharp black light shone, as the time-space was bent and deformed. A humanly figure appeared.

Yes..... now it is time.... for it to happen.

"What do you mean, 'you lost signal'? How can we lose their signal? It should work at any distance!"

"I know, Magnusson, but there is an interference.... like another net obfuscating our own. The radiating process..."

"Kleiner, there can't be another net! We just destroyed the Combine's systems, in case you forgot!"

"Well, assuming a possibility for a cascade return of radiations, the chance of a conditioned random feedback...."

"Shut the hell up!

"I'm just trying to..."

"Try to re-establish the connection, damn it! That's all you have to do! I have to check on the.... project A."

Magnusson walked out the communication room, muttering some curses. There were enough troubles without need for improvise communication drops.

"The Magnusson has finally returned!" Uriah greeted him "We have important news!"

"Well, better be good news!"

"Indeed. We have succeeded in inducing catatonia."

"So now it's.... inoffensive?"

"Apparently so."

"Very good. Let me see."

The hangar was a jungle of wires and tubes running from on floor and the walls, connecting the various machines and tanks to the creature in the middle.

Even dormant, the Advisor was still active, and the hallucinations it caused had lead to the choice of having only Vortigaunts handle it.

The creature's arms had been removed, and it's artificial skin folded to be able to see the interior organs. Not that there was much to see: essentially, a small digestive apparatus and huge brain. The tentacle in the mouth was apparently a long, muscle less wire of nerves, moved only by telekinesis.

It was hard to decide which parts were biological and which ones artificial; the Advisor was a mixture of both, definitely more harmonized than the combine soldiers. Advisors were born like that.

"So... what have we discovered so far?" asked Magnusson, stretching his eyes.

"The Shaulato is indeed an interesting creature. It's power is akin to that of the dreaded Nilhilant."

"And? Can it create portals too?"

"To our great merriment, no. But it has more control over it's capacities than our former master had over it's own."

"I see. An can't you do anything for these... hallucinations?"

"Not unless we kill the creature. And we need to preserve it's existence to study it."

"You mean that... just in case....if we wanted to kill him?"

"We would need to sever it's essence as we tear asunder it's body. Only thus we would be able to annihilate it."

"You mean that even if we destroyed it completely...."

"It's conscience would return into the matrix of it's masters and soon be reintegrated into flesh. Our chance of doing a substantial damage to our enemy, is to kill it's essence piece by piece, Advisor after Advisor."

"Very... very good. Keep studying. One last thing...."

"We are listening."

"No one in this base must know about what are we doing here. Only you workers, Kleiner and me. Understood?"

"Most assuredly."

"Goodbye then."

"As nathog ker'ker nomai."

"Yes, yes, whatever."

Uriah grinned, as much as it's anatomy allowed it. If the Magnusson had the vaguest idea of what it had just said, he'd' have answered much differently.

I'm still not sure wether to use "it" when referring to Vortigaunts. They are asexual, aren't they?

If anyone of hasn't guessed who is that the entity has summoned, they will be pancaked to death.