Date: August 30, 2552

Cortana noticed something wrong. Everyone was on Cryogenic sleep, but a blip on her sensors monitoring the crew disappeared. In the confines of Cryo Bay Two, their precious human cargo disappeared. Instead, an unidentified creature replaced the Master Chief.
Hmm…He seems to be human, Cortana thought as she monitored vital signs from Cryo Two. Doesn't have a neural implant, but he can't be a rebel. It's impossible for anyone to enter or exit the ship in the middle of a slipspace jump. Cortana examined the specimen.
He appeared to be approximately 20-25 years old, had a short, rugged beard, brown hair, green eyes and, from the shape of his eyes and his apparent eye-ware, seemed to be short-sighted. What she found out next was pretty surprising: he had a suit on, which wasn't normal UNSC protocol. All UNSC personnel should've removed their clothing before entering any Cryo tubes. It didn't seem to be a normal suit, though. It appeared to be a crude protective power suit of some kind.
It was weakly charged, carrying only 15 of its full power. After a quick survey, she found out that it had an HUD that monitored vital signs, suit power, and weapon support in the form of a reticule and ammunition counters, a flashlight, and could be attached with a helmet. It was better at protecting its wearer than standard Marine armor, but weaker than the Mjolnir Mark V armor, the armor specifically designed for Spartans.
The Mjolnir Mark V was a highly sophisticated piece of equipment. It had automatic recharging shield technology "borrowed" from the Covenant, an HUD that also monitored vital signs, shield power and provided weapons support in the form of a reticule and ammunition counters, and also sports hydrostatic gel that protects the wearer from heat, cold, pressure and regulates temperature. What gave the Mjolnir its edge was that it could amplify its wearer's physical power. Spartans are the only ones that could don the armor, since regular humans who wore the armor and lack the training and physical augmentations received severe injury and/or death.
Cortana wondered how this human obtained such a piece sophisticated equipment. Previous Mjolnir armor models required a fusion generator attached to it, while this armor required none. We'll find out soon enough, Cortana said to herself. As soon as we return to normal space, I'll let the marines interrogate him.

Date: Sometime during 2002

An alarm woke up the Master Chief. John-117 was sprawled on the ground. He felt like a Warthog, a UNSC off-road vehicle, hit him.
Uncertain but remaining calm, he slowly rose up and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a large room that sustained heavy damage, almost as if a storm hit the inside. The remains of a huge machine hung loosely in the middle of the room. Debris were rising and falling as if there wasn't any gravity in the room, but he was standing firmly on his feet.
A blast door was partially open and damaged. The Chief jumped through and saw a dead civilian. A scientist.

Date: September 29, 2552

It was a few more hours before the Autumn returned to normal space. Cortana started thawing the bridge crew.
"Captain Keyes, wake up sir," Cortana said. "We will enter normal space in three hours."
Keyes sat up in the Cryo tube. He licked his lips and gagged.
"I hate that stuff."
"The inhalant surfactant is highly nutritious, sir," Cortana replied. "Please regurgitate and swallow the protein complex."
Captain Keyes started to get out of the tube and spat clear mucus onto the deck. "You wouldn't say that, Cortana, if you ever tasted that stuff."
The Cryo inhalant was designed to be regurgitated and swallowed, replacing nutrients lost in deep space sleep. But, no matter how much they changed the formula, it always tasted like lime-flavored mucus.

John saw another door, but this one was locked. A damaged retinal scanner hung from the wall. Another one was behind him and seemed operational. Using his strength, Master Chief pulled the metal door to the side. He saw a scientist administering CPR to a security guard. But they weren't crew of the Pillar of Autumn. There was something terribly wrong with where he was. He wasn't on the Autumn.

"Sir, there seems to be a problem. Part of our crew is missing," Cortana finally broke the news to Captain Keyes.
"Wha-? What do you mean, Cortana?"
"The Chief, sir. He's gone." Her tone was a-matter-of-fact, almost cold.
"Gone, Cortana? Gone where?"
"He's not here, sir. Not in a 10 kilometer radius. I've searched for his neural implant signatures, but they're not there."
"What do you mean he's not here?" Captain Keyes asked, still finding the news incredulous. "Do you suggest he just waltzed out of the Autumn?"
"No, sir," Cortana replied. "Someone replaced him, though. It looks like we have a stow-away. Don't worry, sir. He's human."
"How?" he inquired, more concerned about the manner the stowaway got in instead of who it was. "No one could've gotten in the ship in the middle of a slipspace jump!"
"Well, this one got in. And I'm not taking chances. We'd better ask him some questions, sir. And we'd better thaw everybody else out. I'm expecting the Covenant to reach us sooner or later."
Cortana started to wake everyone in the ship, starting with the crew. Everybody was in their posts, but Cortana didn't want to inform them about the newcomer. She didn't want to give these people the stress, and they were already stressed out as they are.
Cortana started to thaw out Sergeant Avery J. Johnson. She would need him to interrogate this newcomer.

Dr. Jim Fabio felt like the world was going to end. There he was, performing CPR on a security guard, trying to save the man's life, surrounded by darkness, fire, and brimstone. He felt like quitting on Frederic's life.
Suddenly, Fred sputtered and started breathing heavily. He sat up and coughed hard for a couple of minutes, rested himself on a wall behind him and tried to remember what happened. Jim heaved a sigh of relief as his coworker sputtered back to life.
"Guahh!" A figure suddenly appeared in front of Jim, a tall, green metal man. It pretty much resembling half-Greek god, half-titan, but it didn't look anything like a human.
"No! Get away from me!" Jim pushed himself farther from the figure. Fred was too tired to move at all, but he started to feel the fear Jim was feeling after seeing the tall creature.
"Easy, now. I'm a friend," said a rasping voice reverberating from the green armor. "My name is John." It would be best if I use my civilian name, the Master Chief thought. "May I know what your names are?"
In his attempts to blink away his fear, the scientist finally got a clearer view. The monster was, in fact, a seven foot tall man wearing dull-green armor. Reluctant and stammering, still slightly twitchy, Jim gave his name.
"I'm J-James Fabio of the Black M-Mesa Research Facility."
"Frederic Anderson," sputtered the security guard immediately, though no one asked for his name.
Frederic…
John suddenly remembered a cohort fighting for his life in Reach. A man who is practically his brother. The Master Chief wondered how Fred was doing, and if he was still alive.

In the darkness of the cryo bay, a black marine clamored from his hibernation unit and groggily went to the uniforms locker. He shook away the effects of cryo sleep, already used to the disorientation. After getting frozen, all he wanted to do was get back in the ground and kick Covenant ass.
Suddenly, a disembodied female voice from the intercom contacted him. "Sergeant Avery Johnson, report to the bridge, ASAP. We have some uninvited guests that need attending to."
"I hope it's the Covenant, 'cause I'm sure I'd enjoy every single moment if it were them," Johnson said to himself.

"Umm… sir?"
"Oh, sorry Jim. Where are we?"
"I-I'm not supposed to say that. Classified information, you see."
Classified information. That was one way to put it. Another accurate depiction would be "Ghost Project". But despite the mum's-the-word secrecy he was supposed to maintain, Jim looked around. He saw death and destruction everywhere in the underground facility, so it was practically useless to not give information now.
"We're in Black Mesa, New Mexico," Jim finally answered.
"New Mexico? You mean we're on Earth?" The Chief needed to make sure he wasn't hearing things.
"What do you mean, sir? Of course we're on Earth."
The Master Chief had an odd feeling. He felt like he should ask a question, but it was really impractical to ask. As the quiet rolled on, though, John finally cracked and let his gut feeling take over him.
"What's the date today?"
"Let's see…" Jim replied. "The last time I checked the calendar in the scientist's quarters, it's probably May 2002."
"2002?" asked John in a calm voice to mask his disbelief.
"Yes, that's right. 2002."

The cryo tube housing the stowaway was surrounded by three Marines, with Sergeant Johnson at the symmetrical center. Each Marine held an MA5B Assault Rifle and pointed it towards the frozen chamber. Samuel Marcus, a third class tech officer, initiated the waking sequence from the cryo bay's control room.
Gordon realized that he was cold. His body felt numb. He thought he dreamt that the test laser disintegrated and his fellow scientists died with the resulting explosions. He saw nothing, nothing but blackness.
Suddenly, he noticed light coming from outside the chamber. Gordon wondered why he was in a chamber in the first place.
His vision was blurry, but it was unmistakable. He saw people in military green khakis surrounding where he was held. Smokey wisps clouded his eyes. Was he in a prison?
"Hey, the chamber's opening," Private Wallace A. Jenkins announced. All the Marines detached their safeties and pointed all assault rifles at the entrance, careful not to accidentally kill the man inside.
Gordon Freeman watched as the men outside the rising door pointed their guns at him. Fear gripped him, but a battered body didn't let him run. Immediately after reaching 41°F, his suit hummed with slight power. "Initiating medical treatment."
"Ow, that's gotta hurt," said Private Manuel Mendoza. "He's wearing something in the tube! That's probably gonna sting hard."
Tech officer Sam knew the feeling. He once got in a cryo chamber with nothing on but a band-aid on a small patch of skin, and when he got out, it was all raw and blistered.

John was slowly being enveloped in panic and confusion, but he forced himself to act calm.
"From where I was, it's the year 2552, half a millennium from where we are now."
"What? Is that even true?" Fred sputtered weakly.
"It could be possible, deviating from what happened now…"
"What do you mean, Jim?" Master Chief asked.
"You see, there was a resonance cascade moments ago. You do know what a resonance cascade is, right?"
Spartans are the ultimate warriors made by the UNSC. They aren't just strong and courageous, they're intelligent, too. As children at age 6, they were trained like adults and were taught all there is to know in the fields of math, science, language, and even more.
"Yes, though the theory is not really accepted in our point in time. We have slipspace."
"Slipspace travel, eh? Well, the resonance cascade did something similar, but it played mostly with time, less with space."
"I see." The Chief was glad that his calm demeanor caught on with the civilians. "I'm going to have to help you guys out of this place," he said, knowing that this was probably a good first step to help some needy people in a different date.
"We should probably b-be careful. There might be m-more than just you that got through the portals that were made during the c-cascade," Jim informs John.
"Thanks," said the raspy voice the last time before he walked toward the hallways.
Fred was bewildered. He thought this stuff couldn't happen in real life, only in sci-fi movies and stuff like that. But that wouldn't matter anyway. He wouldn't survive long in this hell-like place, inside what was left of the facility.

Freeman heard a Latino man say something about stinging, and that's just how he felt under his HEV suit. It stung like the heavens.
"Alright, mister, get out of the tube so we can see your hands up," the black Marine ordered him.
Gordon moved, but he felt two objects on his sides. The thing on his left felt round and square at the same time, while the one at his right felt long and bent. He looked down and saw the HEV's helmet and a crowbar lying next to him.
"Don't get any funny ideas. We can shoot you if you even think about picking that stick up," said Jenkins.
"Wow, Jenkins," Johnson mused, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "Acting all tough since you have someone at the barrel of your gun. We could've used a bit of that in Reach." Annoyed by his commanding officer but unable to do anything about it, the private simply gritted his teeth.
Freeman was forced to stand up against the pain. He didn't know what else to do. If he stayed there, he might have been shot.
"Alright, kid. We'll have to take you to the brig for interrogation," said the black Marine.
The low-ranking Marines dragged Gordon since he was disoriented by the cryo tube. The HEV numbed some of the pain, but it was still stinging.
Once they reached the brig, they put Gordon in a dark room dimly illuminated only by a single light on the ceiling. Inside, there was a desk with a small disk on it.
"Please, sit down," said a disembodied woman's voice.
Sure enough, Freeman saw a chair behind the desk. Being frozen took a heavy toll on his senses. He immediately plopped down on it, still quite groggy.
"Why were you here," said the voice again.
Gordon didn't know why he was here. The last time he knew where he was, he was in Black Mesa, New Mexico. He had a lot of explaining to do involving the resonance cascade.

Moments later:

"So you got here through the possibility of a resonance cascade?" said the disembodied voice.
Gordon nodded.
"And you think you replaced our crew member through a similar event?"
Gordon nodded.
"I guess we got off the wrong foot, Mr…"
Cortana scanned a name tag on the suit, quietly sighing to herself for not bothering to read it the previous time.
"Freeman?"
Gordon nodded.
"Alright. We're going to need extra hands since we lost our Petty Officer, so I guess you'd do well as a replacement. But don't do anything funny. Our Marines are still here, and they don't do well with hiding secrets."
A bright purple light flashed in sequences on the disk, making Gordon's tired eyes squint slightly. After what seemed like a blur, a blue woman with numbers running up and down her body replaced the light.
"Am I clear," said Cortana.
Gordon was in awe. He never saw any hologram so life-like.
"Am I clear," repeated the woman with more authority.
Gordon nodded.
Before everything else, Freeman requested to go back to cryo bay two to get his helmet and crowbar. Just then, something hit the ship.
"Damn," the purple woman exclaimed. "I guess you'd have to go quick. You'll find out sooner or later what we're fighting against."
As Freeman jogged back to the cryo bay, some feeling already returning to his muscles, Cortana quickly remembered something, a bit of courtesy embedded in her programming.
"Wait!" Cortana yelled.
Gordon looked back.
"My name is Cortana."
And Gordon nodded one last time before retrieving his items.

Hidden Mantis: How'd the second chapter go?

It took SO LONG for me to finish this. Writer's block, lack of time and everything in the world hindered me from accomplishing what I have not done yet.

Obviously, this one's longer than the first.

To Exdeamon:

Thanks for the rule of grammar. I will never forget that next time. Yes, Gordon gets Cortana. No, John doesn't get Alyx.

Note: Alyx Vance would have been probably 3 years old since the Black Mesa incident, and we wouldn't like to pair the Master Chief up with a baby. Instead of Alyx, we're going to get a few other girls. I won't spoil you guys, though. I never forgot Gordon's crowbar. Still, I thank you for the thoughtfulness.

I'd like to try making chapters in more or less a monthly basis.

You will NEVER hear Gordon Freeman talk! I will stay true to Half-life.

I like plasma grenades. I think of them as Poke Balls.

Both use sophisticated technology. You throw both of them at odd creatures. They're both round and have a button at one point.

The difference of each is that you hit something with a Poke Ball, it gets sucked in and you capture it live.

If you hit something with a plasma grenade, it gets blown out and what's left of it is usually dead.

R&R please.

Till next time!

Fact: Cryo means ice.