-1Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.

Welcome to City 17

Chapter Two: "A Red Letter Day"

Alyx - at least, the woman who had introduced herself as Alyx, which was impossible since Alyx was a two year old girl - cocked an eyebrow at Gordon's confused expression.

"Funny, you showing up on this day in particular."

She turned and opened the murky door behind her, the pale lights from the other side merging with the sickly yellow coming from the corridor. Without any further comment, Alyx turned and walked into the expansive room beyond. It was a rather tall room, and thin going from left to right. A corridor in the bottom left of the room, accessible only from a stairway crossing in front of Gordon, led onward and into another room at the far end. A rusted guardrail that crossed in front of the drop down to the corridor below provided Alyx with something to rest her gloved hands on.

Gordon tried not to smile at the sight of a guardrail, and how many memories such a simple thing sent hurtling through his mind. The green tentacle creatures inside the missile test chamber, and the ludicrous tasks he had to fulfil just to fire the damn thing. And Philips… a companion he had taken with him until they were joined by Bennett, and left just outside a freezer room (what the hell was that for, anyway?)…

He wondered what had become of them. If they had managed to escape. With a few blinks, Gordon recovered from the sudden influx of memories and looked to Alyx curiously. The young woman, however, had become involved in the quick process of vaulting over the guardrail, landing deftly on the other side without even a whisper. She looked up to Gordon expectantly.

He looked from her to the guardrail, and back again. Adjusting his glasses unnecessarily, he walked to the stairs and lightly jogged down, coming to a stop directly in front of her.

"Funny?"

Alyx looked like Gordon had just done a handstand and started clapping his feet together.

"Sorry?" she said, laughing.

Gordon adjusted his glasses unnecessarily. "You said it was funny."

After a lingering blank look, Alyx shook her head, smiling. "Oh! Right. Yeah, sorry. We've, uh… we've been helping people escape the city on foot." She started walking down the corridor and into another room beyond, speaking over her shoulder as she went. Gordon kept astride of her easily, listening attentively.

"It's a dangerous route to my father's lab. Through the old canals?"

It sounded like something he should have known about, so Gordon just nodded wordlessly. Her father's lab? So Eli was somewhere nearby?

Alyx led him into the smaller room, overturned filing cabinets and crates on the right hand side. In front of him, a freight elevator shaft with the safety metal mesh led to somewhere else unknown to Gordon.

"Today, we're finally on the verge of having a better way."

The way she said it gave Gordon chills. As though the alternative had already cost so many people their lives.

With an easy smile that belied the seriousness of what they had just been discussing, Alyx walked to a vending machine on the left hand side of the room. It was for Dr Breen's private reserve.

"Here. Let me buy you a drink."

Gordon put his hand up to wave down the offer, but Alyx had already fished some loose change from her pocket and slipped it into the slot. She tapped several of the lit buttons with her knuckle, and finished up with two mighty slaps to the side of the machine. After a pause, the front of the machine opened as thought it were a door, swinging around and missing Gordon's toes by mere inches.

He couldn't see much inside, just that it was a larger area beyond, perhaps a storage area of some sort, at least when this place was being used for normal purposes. God only knew what was through that doorway now.

But Alyx's relaxed posture beside the door put Gordon somewhat at ease.

"Oh, and by the way? Nice to finally meet you."

And so, with another winning smile, Alyx silently convinced Gordon to head in first.

"Oh. Um…" His mouth felt dry. "Thank you."

As he stepped through, the familiar noise of a printing readout machine came to Gordon's ears. The room opened up in front of him. On the left wall ran a long table, random deconstructed devices of unknown origins scattered over it. The table led to a rack of shelves in the far corner, almost a dozen televisions flickering away as they monitored different areas of the city. On the wall opposite him, Gordon could see a closed metal door, the kind that usually led to some secured object or area. A keypad beside it ensured that Gordon wouldn't see whatever it was without permission.

His eyes drifting over past some lockers beside the metal door, Gordon found himself looking at an upper level, the windows overlooking the room boarded over securely with thick planks of wood. Crates and old computer screens littered the upper level, and the area beneath didn't look much better. On Gordon's immediate right, a table held the readout printer, the continuous splurge of papers falling neatly into a recycling crate. The desk was similarly littered with various scientific tools, papers and pencils strewn about haphazardly. Behind it, tucked into the far corner of the room, two large vats of luminescent orange liquid bubbled, a monitor beside it keeping a close eye on whatever was being experimented on.

But, honestly, that wasn't what really had Gordon's attention. Because bent double in front of a portable animal cage, wearing a grubby old lab coat, was someone Gordon had never expected to see again.

"Blast that little… where did she get to? Lamarr? Come out of there!"

"Uh-oh," Alyx laughed as she walked over, giving Gordon a roll of the eyes as she went. "Everything all right, Dr Kleiner?"

Still not stood to his full height, Dr Kleiner glanced over at Alyx, still keeping his head firmly in the cage.

"Oh. Hello Alyx. Well, almost all right."

Gordon slowly approached as the scientist talked, eager to be noticed by his old mentor.

"Lamarr has gotten out of her cage again." Finally, the elder scientist stood to his full height. His view of Gordon, however, was still blocked by Alyx. He thrust a deducing finger into the air as he walked past the girl, musing as he went. "If I didn't know better, I'd suspect Barneyof trapping and-" His words stopped in his throat as he almost bumped headfirst into Gordon.

"My goodness." His grin matched Gordon's. "Gordon Freeman. It really is you, isn't it?"

Alyx poked a thumb in Gordon's direction, a wry smile on her lips. "I found him wandering around outside. Bit of a troublemaker, isn't he?"

Dr Kleiner put up a silencing hand as he spoke, his bespectacled gaze firmly set on Gordon, as though he might disappear if he took his eyes off him. "We owe a great deal to Dr. Freeman, even if trouble does tend to follow in his wake."

Before any further comment could be made on that matter, Dr Kleiner bustled past Gordon, heading for his train-wreck of a desk. "I must say Gordon, you come at a very opportune time. Alyx has just installed the final piece for our resurrected teleport!"

The way he spoke, it was as though he were recommending a technician's services.

With only a cursory glance at Gordon, Alyx walked over to stand beside Dr Kleiner, waving the compliment away. "I can't take any credit for the breakthrough, doctor."

Gordon moved around to the other side of the desk so he could see the both of them clearly. He struggled, however, not to concentrate on the bubbling orange vats of whatever was behind them.

Dr Kleiner continued on, adjusting his glasses in a manner all too similar to the way Gordon had done so earlier. "Nonsense. Your talents surpass your loveliness."

The similarity in the gestures obviously wasn't lost on Alyx, who struggled to keep her smile under wraps as she looked from Kleiner to Gordon. "Let's just see if this thing works, okay?"

A clang from behind made Gordon jerk around. With a breathless pace, Barney rushed into the lab.

"Well, is he here?" The tension in his face instantly vanished, and he smiled. All it did, though, was reveal more age lines than Gordon had noticed before. "There y'are. Man, Gordon, you stirred up the hive."

He walked to the monitors in the corner of the room. They were a mix of old TV sets and LCD monitors, some obviously giving a better picture than others. With a keen eye on the screens, Barney talked over his shoulder.

"We can't keep him here long, doc; it'll jeopardise everything we've worked for."

It was only then, without the CP headset, that Gordon could see just how grey Barney's hair had become. It probably wasn't as bad as Gordon was making it out to be, but compared to the jet-black mop he had been used to on Barney, this was somewhat of a shock. And the sense of urgency and responsibility in his voice… that, too, was new. It was something he had only seen rare glimpses of, like when their sector in Black Mesa was evacuated because of a radiation leak. The professionalism and seriousness… what Gordon had seen that day had been so different from the inanely goofy man he had known. His respect for Barney had gone up considerably that day.

And judging from how Barney was acting now, Gordon's respect was about to go up even further.

Alyx walked around the table and stood beside it, putting her hands up to calm Barney down. "Don't worry," she soothed, looking over to Gordon. "He's coming with me."

He had barely managed the courage to squeak out 'I am?' when Dr. Kleiner spoke over him.

"That's right, Barney." With another grand finger poked up to the sky, Dr. Kleiner went on with his announcement. "This is a red letter day. We'll inaugurate the new teleport with a double transmission."

Barney looked back from the monitors, frowning. "Wait… y'mean it's workin'? For real this time?" He turned his body and walked to the table, coming up beside Gordon and rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Because I still have nightmares about that cat."

Alyx and Gordon's heads collectively drooped as the final word hit their ears.

"What cat?" she asked, exchanging a nervous glance with Gordon.

Either unwilling to answer or ignorant of the question, Dr Kleiner spoke straight to Barney. "Now, now, there's nothing to be nervous about. We've made major strides since then." Dr Kleiner swooped an emphasising fist around in front of him. "Major strides."

But it seemed that Alyx was having none of it. "What cat?"

The topic of conversation had shifted, however, and Barney cast a judgmental eye over Gordon's attire before looking over to Kleiner. "Doc, since he's not takin' the streets, you might as well get him out of his civvies."

As he spoke, Gordon gave Alyx a small shrug and a smile as though to say 'what can you do?' She returned the gesture and walked over to the surveillance monitors. Gordon tried not to follow her with his eyes as she went, instead focusing on Dr Kleiner's reply.

The elderly scientist was already involved in the readouts and Barney had to wait for a response. Finally, he looked up, adjusting his glasses. "What? Oh dear, I almost forgot. Barney, I'll give you the honour."

Still extremely lost, Gordon looked to Barney for some kind of guidance. The ex-security guard just smirked. "I've gotta get back on my shift… but okay."

Without a word, he turned and walked to the metal door on the wall beside the monitors. After a quick tap on the number pad next to the door, Barney stepped back and watched as it slid up into the ceiling with only the barest of metal groans. A glass chamber inside reflected the light coming from the lab, but the contents were still obscured by darkness. Barney stepped inside and tapped lightly on another control panel inside beside the chamber.

Steam hissed from two vents on either side of the chamber as the lights in the small room finally came up, revealing something that brought feelings of both revulsion and safety.

An HEV suit. Whether it was his or not, Gordon couldn't tell. It looked slightly different from the one he had been wearing for the past two days, but they seemed to be mostly cosmetic changes. The shiny, almost oil-slicked black of the old suit had been replaced by a workmanlike grey, appearing almost rubbery in texture. The familiar Lambda symbol was still emboldened on the chest, covering one of the few portions of orange the suit had. A neckpiece had been added as well, and Gordon wondered if it would irritate his skin or not.

He stepped into the small room and ran a hand down the glass between him and his old companion. A part of him wanted to burn the damn thing and watch it melt in the inferno. Another wanted to get it on straight away, to cover himself and wrap himself in the safety it provided.

But Barney, naturally, was oblivious to such things.

"Here you go," he said, smiling with his hands on his hips as he admired the suit. His eyes travelled up to the top of the booth, and his expression suddenly changed. Gordon followed his gaze and almost fell over as he back-pedalled into the lab. A headcrab, perched on top of the HEV chamber, launched itself down onto Barney. He managed to keep it away from his head with his gloved hands, wrestling it off and tossing it to the ground.

"Dammit, get it off me!"

"Lamarr!"

Gordon's gaze whipped around to Dr Kleiner. "Lamarr?"

"I thought you got rid of that pest!" Barney yelled, and Gordon watched as the headcrab leapt up on top of the lockers beside the metal door, knocking off some of the books stacked there. Dr Kleiner stormed over, scowling at Barney.

"Certainly not!" The two looked up at the little creature, which now sat on its' hind legs like a panting dog. Dr Kleiner barely glanced back at Gordon as he spoke. "Never fear, Gordon; she's de-beaked, and thoroughly harmless." He glared pointedly at Barney as he said 'thoroughly'.

Still wary and wishing he had a crowbar; Gordon slowly made his way back over to them, glancing over at Alyx for some kind of support. The tired yet amused look she wore indicated this was not the first time Barney had come to blows with the 'thoroughly harmless' headcrab.

"The worst she might do is try to…" He swirled his hand around in the air as he struggled to think of the correct term.

"Hump?" Barney suggested curtly.

The look Dr Kleiner shot him indicated that was not the correct term. "Couple… with your head."

Gordon shot a warning look at the headcrab.

"Fruitlessly!" Dr Kleiner added hastily, putting up a calming hand. "No need to take a crowbar to her or anything of that ilk."

That comment attracted Gordon's attention, and he looked to the scientist to enquire further when the headcrab hissed from atop the lockers. Barney adopted a stance as though he were preparing to take on a rhino.

"Get that thing away from me!"

With a sigh, Dr Kleiner looked to the headcrab and patted his bald head. "Here, my pet! Hop up!"

Lamarr, apparently, had other ideas. Glancing up to the upper storage level, it leapt up there instead with a bounce of its' stumpy yet surprisingly strong legs.

"No, not up there! Careful Lamarr, those are quite fragile-!" Jumping atop a crate, the alien creature managed to knock a white computer monitor to the floor, using it as a stepping-stone to clamber into the air vent that ran across the ceiling of the lab. Dr Kleiner swung a vigorous fist through the air as he looked up to the last place Lamarr had been seen. "Oh, fie! It'll be another week before I can coax her out of there."

"Yeah," Barney snorted, "longer if we're lucky."

Alyx laughed. "Barney. You're not an animal person!"

He let out a shivery groan before walking back into HEV room. Well, what was passing for a HEV room; Gordon doubted the designers of this old place intended it for the storage of a Hazardous Environment suit.

Dr Kleiner wandered back to his desk as he spoke. "Well, Gordon, go ahead. Slip into your suit now."

His gaze still on the air vent and the notion that someone actually bothered to domesticate a headcrab, Gordon had to blink a few times before he brought himself back to reality. Almost dazed, he turned and walked to the glass booth, the front of which had now opened compliantly for him. He reached out a shaky hand for the suit, and remembered the wound on his arm for the first time. Alyx truly did nice work.

The sudden realisation that he would have to undress in front of this more than moderately attractive young lady made Gordon blush rather severely, and he thanked God that the room he was in was so dark.

"Um… Barney…"

The ex-security guard stared at him blankly. Then, finally, he noticed that Gordon was glancing to Alyx rather emphatically, and nodded in understanding. He walked out of the room and stepped to the control panel beside the metal door.

"I'll give ya you some privacy, I think." With a wink, Barney pressed a button on the panel.

And so, with an echoing metallic clang, Gordon was once more left alone with his HEV suit, although he rarely got to see if from this side. It was ridiculous how super heroic it looked. Hell, the Lambda symbol looked more like a crest than a logo. And Dr Kleiner's comment about the crowbar troubled him even more. How would he know about that? A sudden twinge from his bleeding arm brought Gordon out of his thoughts, and he reached for the suit.

Just two days ago, he had been going through these exact same motions. Removing his clothing, putting on the gloves, slipping into the boots, attaching the torso section… although the new neckpiece was a rather snug fit. He wondered if he would get used to it as he fingered around the hem with his gloved hand. The slightly raised lump on his forearm called to him, and Gordon pressed it. With a light beep and a pinprick, the nano-machines that allowed the suit to link to his nervous system spread throughout his bloodstream. For a few brief moments his eyes went out of focus, but a some feverish blinking brought his vision back, the Heads Up Display coming with it.

The usual tinny voice of the suit was missing, but that was no loss. The running narration of how much blood he had lost had worn thin after the first ten minutes or so of wearing the suit back at Black Mesa. Although he hoped that he wouldn't be doing quite so much running and fighting this time around. Hopefully, the suit was just a precaution.

Damn. He wished he hadn't thought the word 'hopefully'. 'Hopefully' always led to bad stuff.

He stepped off the pedestal of the booth and rapped his fingers on the metal door. After a brief pause, it slowly began to rise, revealing the HEV clad Gordon Freeman to the rest of the world. Barney jutted out his bottom lip and nodded slowly, looking faintly impressed but nothing more. Alyx, however, looked like she had seen a ghost. The expression was quickly covered up and replaced by a polite smile. While she returned to the monitors and was joined by a slightly amused looking Barney, Dr Kleiner spoke.

"Well, Gordon, I see your HEV suit still fits you like a glove. At least, the glove parts do." He squatted to get a look beneath his desk as Gordon crossed over to him.

His HEV suit? Where the hell did Kleiner get his HEV suit?

However, he merely grunted and ran his fingers along the collar of the suit, attempting to loosen it. "A bit tight," he croaked.

Barney smiled, but Kleiner ignored him.

"I've made a few modifications, but I'll just acquaint you with the essentials." Reaching into a small box beneath the desk, he pulled out a clipboard and lifted the first few pages to check the contents. Satisfied, he nodded and adjusted his glasses. "Now, let's see…" He cleared his throat. "'The Mark Five Hazardous Environment Suit has been redesigned for comfort and utility.'"

Mark Five? Gordon's had only been Mark Four. So Kleiner had had the suit long enough to make modifications… and the only person who could have given him the suit was-

A loud, metallic groan filled the air, sounding like some kind of awakened beast. Dr Kleiner's head sprang up from the clipboard, and he looked at Gordon worriedly.

"Oh dear."

Gordon looked to the boarded windows near the ceiling, trying to ascertain where the inhuman noise had come from.

Barney was by his side in an instant, looking to Kleiner urgently. "Doc, we don't have time for this!" He looked over at Gordon. "At least get that suit juiced up, Gordon."

He blinked, looking to his friend in confusion. "Okay…"

"Good idea," Dr Kleiner said, tossing the clipboard onto the desk and walking past Gordon. "There's a charger on the wall." He walked to the far side of the lab, coming to a metal object attached to the ageing brickwork. A steady orange light glowed from a small bulb in the centre of the dark metal structure. "I modified your suit to draw power from Combine energy outlets, which are plentiful wherever they patrol."

Gordon just stared blankly at the thing before slowly walking over. He looked around the object for a power cable, and looked to his mentor hopelessly when he came up empty. Barney barely hid his impatient sigh as he folded his arms.

Finally, Dr Kleiner seemed to get the silent message from Gordon and sprung to life. "Oh! I am sorry, Gordon. The suit has been modified to receive power through a sensor energy port on the left elbow of the suit."

"Elbow?" he muttered, lifting the appropriate limb and examining it. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary - just the same workmanlike grey that covered the rest of the suit. With an encouraging nod from Kleiner, Gordon slowly moved it into alignment with the light on the charger. The familiar noise mechanically whirred into the air, and Gordon watched as a status bar slowly moved down the charger, eventually hitting rock bottom and chiming negatively. Gordon checked his stats and then looked to Dr Kleiner, satisfied with the results. Hopefully it wouldn't stop working if he accidentally hit something with his elbow.

But Dr Kleiner had probably taken that all into account.

Probably.

Alyx sauntered up between them, looking first to Gordon, and then to Dr Kleiner. "Meanwhile, let's get this show on the road."

Without even a nod of confirmation, Kleiner walked to a picture hung on the wall behind him. As Gordon looked closer, he noticed it was a picture from when Breen had insisted on a group photo of everyone together. Gordon had felt somewhat put out by the whole thing, since he had only been there for a few weeks. Yet, there he was in the group shot, his glasses reflecting the flash of the camera and blanking out his eyes. Strange that it only happened to him and no one else who wore glasses. Dr Breen's picture had been viciously scraped out, however, and Gordon couldn't agree more. With the slightest nudge of his finger, Kleiner tilted the picture with a click.

In the dirty brown pillar beside him, a panel slid aside to reveal a glowing blue retinal scanner. Gordon watched as Kleiner ducked his head and put his eye to the light. With an affirmative beep, the wall from which the picture hung moved aside surprisingly quietly, giving enough room for one person to enter the room beyond at a time. Quickly following Kleiner, Barney ploughed past both Gordon and Alyx, rushing into the room. Alyx looked to Gordon with a cocked 'well, what are you waiting for?' eyebrow.

In answer, Gordon adjusted his glasses and gestured for her to enter first. For the second time since she had met him, she stared and blinked as though he had two heads. Then with a faint, confused smile, she went through the doorway. Gordon followed, and had to withhold his gasp as he saw what was inside. On his left and above his head, a small walkway supported Dr Kleiner as he tapped away vigorously on a control panel. Across from Kleiner and on Gordon's right, a semi-circular framework with the flat end open to him had been erected up to the two-storey ceiling. A circular platform at the bottom was attached to the metal poles, leading Gordon to the assumption that one was supposed to stand on it.

Directly above Gordon's head and pointing at the framework was something that confirmed that theory. A bulbous, grey-blue metal contraption hung above him, large enough to be a compact car and with a blue light emanating from a circle at the front, which in turn was pointing at the empty platform. A row of shelves in front of Gordon held columns of control panels and devices, including a TV screen in the top right hand corner. At the moment, only static buzzed across its' surface.

"Gordon," Dr Kleiner announced, sounding like he was further away than he actually was, "why don't you position yourself next to the panel over there," he said, nodding behind Gordon, "and wait for my word?"

"Um…" he turned, looking around to find a power box with several heavy-duty electricity cables plugged into sockets beside it. He checked back with his mentor for confirmation, but Kleiner was already occupied with the now speaking television screen.

"Isaac, are you there?"

Fizzling static flickered and gave way to the face of another friendly face, this one even more marred by time than any other Gordon had met today. Eli Vance's kind - and white haired, Gordon couldn't help noticing - visage filled the screen, although he wasn't looking at Gordon just yet. Something was occupying his attention just beneath the screen, most likely some kind of fiddly keyboard.

"Yes, yes, Eli," Dr Kleiner said, sounding preoccupied already. "Bit of a hold-up on this end. You'll never guess who found his way into our lab this morning."

The smile practically emanated from his voice.

Eli looked out of the screen at Gordon and smiled, ducking his head and squinting a little to better see. He let out a small laugh. "That's not who I think it is, is it?"

"Indeed it is. And we intend to send him packing straight away in the company of your lovely daughter."

"Nice to see you, Gordon."

Speechless for a moment, Gordon smiled warmly and nodded. "You too."

As though brought to life at the mention of her, Alyx suddenly popped back into Gordon's vision, looking to Eli through the screen. "Are you ready for us, dad?"

Dad. It still gave Gordon shivers at this point. That Alyx… that everyone could be this old… and he was exactly the same. Dr Kleiner had his HEV suit ready, yet they all seemed so surprised to see him, and Kleiner had said that he had 'expected more warning'… From who? Were they expecting him? Eli, in particular, made Gordon curious. His reaction seemed less surprised than lightly amused at seeing his friend again.

The aforementioned doctor pressed some out-of-sight buttons and nodded. "We're all set on this end."

"Then let's do it," Alyx said slowly, looking less sure than she sounded as she walked past Gordon and onto the platform. Four thin, curved planks of metal rotated around from the back of the framework and started circling around it, growing in speed until they were grey blurs. The familiar whine of a teleporter filled the room and filled Gordon's head with memories from the day before. The Lambda labs, irascible scientists, some large aliens, the Gluon Gun… Wilder, dying as Gordon leapt into the unknown… and that soldier.

Gordon wondered why his thoughts kept on drifting back to him.

Dr Kleiner started muttering to himself, bringing Gordon out of his reminiscing. "Let's see… the massless field flux should self-limit, and I've clamped the manifold parameters to C-Y Base, and LG Orbi-fold… Hilbert inclusive."

Only half of that made sense to Gordon, and that was only because Dr Kleiner had explained Hilbert parameters to him a few days ago. Or a few years. Reminiscing was going to be difficult.

"Conditions could hardly be more ideal," Dr Kleiner said, satisfied.

Barney didn't look the same, his concerned gaze locked on Alyx, who had now been raised off the floor by the platform beneath her feet. "That's what you said last time."

As though just realising, Alyx raised a cautious finger. "Hey, yeah, about that cat…"

Her companions were otherwise occupied at this point, however. Dr Kleiner was buried in the control panel before him, his glasses reflecting the luminous text on his screens. "Initialising in three, two, one… Gordon, go right ahead."

Uh-oh. That sounded ominous. As though he were expecting Gordon to do something. With jerky, unsure movements, Gordon looked to the power box behind him and let out a sigh of relief as he saw the plastic cover over the handle automatically lift. His purpose clear, Gordon reached out and slammed the thick red handle over.

"Very good. Final sequence, commencing… now."

"I can't look."

Barney's shaky voice made Gordon turn to face him, then to look at Alyx above them. A turquoise blue glow began emanating from her centre and slowly spreading outwards, random spirals of green energy shooting out and winding around her. Alyx looked at her hands experimentally.

"Uh… okay… okay…" The glow from the device hanging above Gordon and Barney's head began to glow intensely. Alyx's voice echoed around the room, distorted as though speaking through a computer. "Oh… no-"

She genuinely sounded like she was having the time of her life.

And with a flash, she was gone. The machinery slowly began to wind down, the whine of the machinery gradually lowering in pitch until the spinning plates had returned to their position at the back of the framework and the platform was on the ground floor.

Gordon looked to Barney unsurely, who in turn looked to the TV. Static filled the screen.

"Well…" Dr Kleiner asked, suddenly sounding less sure of his technology than before. "Did it work?"

After a few flickers of the screen, Eli's smiling visage returned, standing up as though to allow someone else to come into shot. "See for yourself."

Alyx flopped her head into view, a small smile gracing her features. "Hey doc!" She stood and gave a her feather of a kiss on the cheek before retreating to the rear of whatever kind of lab Eli had set up for himself.

Kleiner sounded pleased, to say the least. "Thank goodness. My relief is almost palpable."

Eyes still on his daughter, Eli had to turn around before he replied. "Fantastic work, Izzy."

"Well, I can't take all the credit." Dr Kleiner looked to Gordon with more than a hint of pride in his voice. "Dr Freeman proved an able assistant."

Barney and Gordon exchanged a cocked eyebrow with one another, and Gordon couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since the two of them had shared a moment of sheer confusion over Dr Kleiner's speeches.

"Let's go ahead and bring Gordon through now," Eli said, tapping away at a keyboard beneath the screen.

Dr Kleiner nodded. "Right you are. Speak to you again in a few moments."

Barney, meanwhile, was grinning ear to ear as he faced Gordon, hands on his hips. "Good job, Gordon. Throwin' that switch an' all? I can see that your MIT education really pays for itself."

"All right now, Barney," Kleiner said from above, cutting off Gordon's less than spectacular response, "your turn."

"Gee, thanks," the ex-security guard grumbled, bypassing Gordon and walking to the power box behind him.

"Good to see your security guard education paying for itself," he muttered just loud enough for Barney to hear.

"At least I get dental."

"With no vacation."

Already at work on the control panel in front of him, Kleiner didn't even look up as he spoke, ignorant of their quiet repartee. "Gordon, the moment you're in position, we'll send you to Eli's."

Barney's smile faded, replaced by a grim determination on his features that seemed out of place. "And not a moment too soon."

Gordon decided at that moment that he didn't particularly like change. He noticed that three faces were staring at him expectantly, and Gordon moved with a start, walking into the teleporter.

Three metal barriers clanged into place behind him as he stepped inside, and Gordon turned to face his friends.

Dr Kleiner nodded absently. "Excellent. Initialising in three, two, one…"

The three curved metal strips began to rotate around him, and the platform on which he stood steadily rose from the ground. After a few more moments, the metal strips were just a blur around him. The teleportation device hanging from the ceiling was now directly parallel to him, the blue glow from the lens of the machine merging with the lights of the strips.

"Barney, if you'd be so kind…?"

Gordon blinked at the sound of Dr Kleiner's voice. He looked to Barney, who was giving him his customary two-fingered salute.

"Good luck out there, Gordon." He slammed the red handle across, the light from the teleporter intensified slightly.

"Yes indeed," Dr Kleiner announced, the faintest of smiles on his lips. At least, Gordon thought he was smiling. It was hard to tell with all the blue light. "We're ready to project you, Gordon. Bon voyage, and best of luck in all your future endeavours. Final sequence."

A gradual wince pushed its' way across Gordon's face as he waited for the teleportation. He wasn't sure why he was so nervous. In the past few hours (his time, obviously), he had been jumping through portals in labs and alien worlds. Surely one that was run by his close friends would be even safer.

The loud thump from the air-vent running along the ceiling of the lab quickly dispelled that notion. With a loud clang, a headcrab fell ungracefully onto two small power boxes sticking out of the wall beside the teleporter. As the hatch of the vent swung around, it dislodged two thick black cables, sending them sparking wildly around the lab.

Barney ducked down as sparks showered over him. A brief, high-pitched alarm sounded, and he looked up. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" Kleiner yelled.

"It's your pet, the freakin' head-humper!"

Gordon squinted through the blue haze around him to see that the headcrab in fact had no teeth. Ah. It was Lamarr. And look at that! It was turning to face him. And… looking like it was about to jump at him.

"Lamarr…" Kleiner warned, although his voice was severely drowned out at this point. "Heddy, no!"

The headcrab took that moment to leap at Gordon. Barney cried out as the toothless creature reached Gordon. "Look out!"

Instinctively, his hands were up, ready to smash the troublesome little thing away. A flash of bright light made him freeze. Opening his eyes, Gordon found himself on a beach, pieces of debris strewn about the tide as it steadily moved in and out. Lamarr was now leaping away from him, having found a crow to distract its' attention. A vortex of rainbow lights danced around his vision, like he was watching through a tunnel.

With another flash, he was back in Kleiner's lab.

Barney pointed up at him. "There he is!"

"Is Lamarr with him?" Gordon could see Kleiner trying his utmost to peer through the blue lights.

He tried not to sigh at his mentor's unsurpassable concern for him.

"Get him out of that thing!"

Flash again, and suddenly Alyx was in front of him, wringing her hands.

"He's coming through, dad!"

Through the swirling vortex interfering with his vision, Gordon could just make out what he assumed was Eli's lab. He was in a metal construct similar to the one in Dr Kleiner's lab, although this was on the ground floor. On his right was Eli, tapping away on a computer. To the left, a woman with brown hair tied up in a bun with black sticks worked feverishly on another computer. She looked familiar.

"What's going on, Judith?" Eli asked, taking just a moment to glance over his shoulder before returning his attention to the computer.

Judith? That name was familiar too.

"I'm not sure." She moved her head closer to the screen, as though to see the readings more clearly. "It seems to be some kind of interference."

Interference?

That didn't sound good. Less than good. It sounded like something the Man would do. His lips forming a thin line, he made a move to try and push his way out of the teleporter.

"Gordon, stay put!" Eli warned, stabbing an authoritative finger down towards the ground. Gordon stopped. "We'll get you out of there!"

"Something's pulling him away."

As soon as the words were out of Judith's mouth, Gordon again found himself somewhere else. But it wasn't Dr Kleiner's lab, or the beach. He was in a very luxurious looking office. A grand wooden desk was spread out in front of him, a red carpet running from underneath and out of Gordon's vision to the left. It was then that Gordon realised that he couldn't move.

Behind the desk, presumably working on something, a very alarmed Dr Wallace Breen leapt to his feet upon seeing the intruder. Gordon could barely make out his features, but he was fairly sure it was him.

"What's the meaning of this? Who are you? How did you get in here?"

Oh yes. It was him. That haughty tone was recognisable anywhere. Breen reached for an intercom button on the desk.

On cue, Gordon was whisked back to Dr Kleiner's with another flash. Barney gestured wildly in his direction, looking back to Kleiner frantically.

"Hey, hey, he's back!" Dr Kleiner was seemingly occupied with something on the computer, however. With a grumble and a determined crick of his neck, Barney looked to Gordon with determination. "I'm getting him outta there."

He took two steps forward when Dr Kleiner yelled at a volume rare for him. "You can't just wade into the field! It will peel you apart!"

Alyx's voice rang out from the television screen below. "We just lost Gordon! What's going on?"

For the first time since he had known him, Dr Kleiner looked and sounded like he was panicking. "I wish I knew! We're experiencing unexpected interference!"

Barney looked to Gordon desperately, his frustration at his uselessness palpable. "Hang tight, Gordon! We'll get you out of there!"

But he was already fading, giving way to another flash of light and Eli's lab.

"There he is!" Alyx exclaimed, although she looked less happy than panicked.

Judith groaned as though one of her tests was going wrong. "We're losing him again!"

Ah. Hello Dr Breen. We meet again.

Except this time he wasn't alone. On several large monitors behind his rather expensive looking desk, something that Gordon could only describe as a green slug looked back to Dr Breen as he spoke.

"The man I saw. I'm all but certain it was…" As though alive, the monitors moved so that the slug was looking directly at Gordon. Frowning, Breen looked over his shoulder and saw him. "…Gordon Freeman."

With another flash, Gordon was elsewhere once again, and suddenly submerged in water. His slightly ghostlike state prevented any of the water from touching him, however. It was a strange feeling; being underwater but not being able feel the water. Something moved in the brown murkiness in front of him. Then, bursting through, one of the giant fish creatures that Gordon had been forced to take out with a tranquilliser gun two days ago came at him. Enraged at the uninvited guest, it let out a muffled roar as it opened its' maw and went for him.

And then, Gordon was somewhere else. Looking down, he saw he was standing on a metal walkway. Well, he would have been if his feet could touch the ground. As it was, they were floating just above it, leaving only an inch or so between the soles of his boots and the metal floor. The walkway was running along a building in front of him. Looking ahead, Gordon could see through some shutters in the window just in front of him. He was behind Dr Kleiner.

Eli's voice crackled through the haze around Gordon, and he saw a monitor beside Kleiner with his worried visage.

"He didn't come through!"

"Then… where is he?" Dr Kleiner seemed at a loss of something to do, moving this way and that as he considered one form of action and then dismissed it as futile.

Gordon brought up a struggling hand - God, it was like wading through sludge - and offered a small wave. Eli's worried gaze slowly fell on him. "Behind you."

With a start, Dr Kleiner cried out as he spotted the floating, bespectacled scientist outside his window.

"Shut it down, shut it down!"

Kleiner nodded breathlessly, tapping at some random controls on his computer before turning back to Gordon.

"Gordon, you must get out of here! Run!"

"Get down outta sight!" Barney's bodiless voice yelled out. "I'll come find you."

With a sudden decrease in pitch, the teleporter shut down, and Gordon was back in the real world after one more blinding flash. His feet touched down on the metal walkway without a sound. He looked to the window, and saw that the shutters were closed, making it look like just another derelict, broken down building. A low beeping from behind drew Gordon's attention around, where another flash blinded him.

But rather than finding himself somewhere else, Gordon had to blink the stars out of his eyes to find one of the floating camera devices looking at him curiously. Gordon looked around. The ground below wasn't that far down. Grasping the guardrail, he vaulted over, ignoring the camera as it darted back from him in alarm. He landed with a dusty thump on the ground below, and made his way into the fenced area beyond that ran around the building.

The huge white power generators buzzed as he darted through them, trying to keep them between him and the camera. It already had one picture of him, it wasn't going to get anymore soon. At the far end of the fenced area, Gordon could see some stairs leading up to a doorway. Launching himself away in a sprint, Gordon pounded up the stairs and almost the knocked the door from its' hinges as he slammed his way through it, quickly closing it behind him.

The alleyway in front of him took him forward a few feet and then turned off to the right. The wall on his left was pretty much insurmountable, and the one on his right - although it had a guardrail, indicating there was some way of getting up there - looked pretty much the same.

Keeping to the right-hand wall, Gordon swiftly made his way onwards, turning the corner and coming to a view that made him stop in his tracks. He could see almost the entire city from where he stood, stretching out in front of him like an endless grey canvas. The metal blue of the Citadel stood out as much as the height of the thing did. Another metallic groan sounded - like the one that had interrupted Dr Kleiner earlier, Gordon noted - and Gordon watched as sections of the alien skyscraper seemed to separate from the main structure and shift around, as though preparing for an attack.

"Hey, Gordon!"

The friendly voice echoed around the area, and Gordon struggled to identify its' source, whipping his head around urgently as he did so. Looking above him, he saw Barney waving down to him from the 'balcony' wall. He gripped the guardrail as he leant forward, looking to the city landscape.

"The Citadel's on full alert; I've never seen it lit up like that!" He made it sound like they were in school and Gordon had pissed off the headmaster.

"I try."

Barney cracked a grin. "Yeah, I heard." And suddenly he was all business again, in a manner that was still alien to Gordon. "Get out of City 17 as fast as you can, Gordon. Take the old canals, right? They'll get you to Eli's lab. It's a dangerous route, but there's a whole network of refugees, and they'll help you if they can. I'd come with you, but I've gotta look after Dr Kleiner." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder to the building from which he had emerged.

Gordon opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again, simply nodding.

Barney thrust a Kleiner-esque finger into the air. "Oh, and before I forget…" He knelt and picked something up from the floor. Bringing it up into the sunlight, Gordon finally recognised it. A crowbar. "I think you dropped this back in Black Mesa."

With a smile and a wink, he let it drop to the ground in front of Gordon. Slowly and cautiously, he walked to the tool/weapon, scooping it up with the same reverence that a Knight would pick up his sword. Rusting red paint with metallic grey tips on either end… it was exactly the same. Suddenly, Gordon felt a little bit more at home in this brave new world. A little bit safer.

It disturbed him that a crowbar could comfort him more than his closest friends could. He gave Barney a little wave with the weapon.

"Thank you. Now I can… hit things. And people."

"It's what I'm here for," he offered with a wink. Barney's small smile faded, and he gave Gordon a small salute. "Good luck out there, buddy. You're gonna need it."

And with the faintest of encouraging smiles, Barney was gone, heading back into the building to see to whatever responsibilities he now had. It was odd to see him attend to duties with such vigour and enthusiasm. Back at Black Mesa, Gordon was sometimes left wondering why Barney had ever decided to become a security guard; he seemed to hate every minute of it, and vocally confirmed as much at every opportunity. But now he had responsibility.

Gordon clenched the crowbar in his gloved hand. Come to think of it, so did he. These people seemed to be putting a lot of faith in him, and he wasn't even sure what the hell it was that he was supposed to be doing. What would happen at Eli's lab? Was it a way to put right whatever had happened to the world?

He adjusted his glasses, cricked his neck, and moved forward, heading for a darkened passageway with some stairs. Inside, some crates blocked the way. With far more relish than he would have thought possible, he demolished the troublesome wooden boxes in a few seconds before moving on. At the bottom of the stairway, he came out overlooking a train yard, several parallel tracks stretching out across in front of him, tunnels on either side. A gap in some fencing in front of him allowed him to slip through. Or at least, it would have if another of the floating cameras hadn't shoved itself into his face.

It began the rapid clicking noise that always seemed to precede it taking a bright, flashing picture.

Gordon smiled. "Cheese."

With a swing of the crowbar, he smashed the camera with a satisfying metallic crunch, sending it careening off in all directions before it slammed into the side of the parked train, landing on the ground. It fizzled and beeped as it died, giving Gordon an even deeper sense of satisfaction.

A sound akin to a gun going off made Gordon duck his head, but a quick glance upwards changed his mind as he saw a bright red flare launch up into the sky. On cue, several silhouetted figures appeared on the horizon of a wall on his right. This time, it actually was gunfire he would hear. A bullet hit a metal post on the fence in front of him, sparking violently. Gordon ducked his head and slipped through the hole, dropping to the train tracks below. The trailer in front of him was open on the side, and he clambered up.

He awkwardly stumbled his way through the collection of crates and cardboard boxes that filled it, coming out on the other side of the trailer and into the middle of the train tracks, sandwiched between two parked trailers. On either side, Gordon could see that the tunnels were covered by blue, fizzling force fields. So that wasn't a viable escape route. He could hear the beep of the CP radios as they mumbled instructions to each other.

Their noise was quickly drowned out by a loud honking coming from the tunnel on Gordon's left. The headlights of the train made Gordon squint as it thundered towards him. It didn't take much more incentive than that to make him turn and run. Eventually, he reached the end of the parked trailer on his left and threw himself off to the side, letting the train sail past - and, conveniently, take any bullets that had been flying his way.

Scrabbling to his feet, Gordon adjusted his glasses and slipped between the next two trailers. An opening in the one in front of him yielded a way out, and Gordon quickly found himself climbing up a ladder inside and poking his head out of a hatch in the top. In front of him a fenced off area displayed a stairway blocked off by planks of wood, leading to a dark corridor beyond. A bullet whizzed by his ear, and Gordon ducked back down again. Between dark corridors and being shot at, Gordon decided that he preferred dark corridors every time.

After a few moments of silent pep-talks, Gordon launched himself up and leapt from the roof of the stationary train, clearing the fence and landing speedily on the ground on the other side. His momentum turned the landing into a roll, his glasses coming perilously close to flying off as he got to his feet and rushed to the blocked off doorway in the fence. A bullet landed with an incredibly painful thud in the small of his back. The HEV suit stayed mercifully silent as Gordon fell to his knee, hissing through clenched teeth as he lifted his crowbar.

If there was one thing he had learnt from Black Mesa, it was that being shot was a great motivator. This seemed to be true in City 17 as well, since the wooden boards blocking his way were gone in a matter of seconds. Rushing through, Gordon shook his head as he made his way into the darkened corridor beyond. Was this going to be the constant in his life from now on? Running, smashing, being shot?

A stairway in front of him showed a lit corridor at the bottom going off to the right.

The weird thing was, Gordon was actually okay with the new status quo.

As long as he had his crowbar, of course.

--

(A/N: Thanks to BlindAcquiescence for fine beta work. I haven't got much to add to this chapter, so please, review and tell me what you think!

Next Chapter: Route Kanal)