-1Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.
Welcome to City 17
Chapter Five: Black Mesa East
The hazy orange coming in from over the horizon did little to relax Gordon as he heaved himself up the ladder leading to the deck. Stepping onto the planking, his HEV suit glistened in the fading sunlight as the water trickled down, dislodging with every cautious footstep he took. The power station towering in front of him was pretty firmly embedded in the rock face on the left, leaving a dishevelled, grassy area on the right. Thick power lines spread in a tangled web over his head from the building in front of him and over the river to hydroelectric generators. Huge blue letters erected on the top betrayed the City's eastern European roots. Gordon wondered what country this used to be.
His boots crunching against the long, dry grass, Gordon made his way around the building. After shuffling his way past several barrels that blocked the fenced doorway in front of him, Gordon was confronted by an open doorway in a wall ahead of him, the only decoration a faded, torn picture of Dr Breen, the Lambda symbol sprayed across it in bright orange paint.
That would make this Black Mesa East, then. Through the doorway, Gordon could only see an enclosed, dark metal room that looked more like the entrance to a bunker than a secret base. Although that could be the same thing, the way this world seemed to be going.
After a look back to the open air from whence he came, Gordon stepped inside. What dim lights there were went out almost immediately, the door slamming shut behind him.
On his left, he saw two cameras spring to life on either side of what looked like a window, except the glass had been covered by some black metal sheets. The only light from the cameras was a consistently flashing red light beneath the lens.
An unfamiliar female voice, authoritative yet cautious, echoed from some unseen speakers.
"They've got something. Okay, it's… human. Hello?"
Gordon didn't reply. He was instead occupied by the red lasers that sprang from each separate corner of the room, running along the wall until they met in a square that surrounded Gordon, levitating above his head. They gradually made their way down, and he debated whether or not to duck.
"Take it easy in there. You're safe now. You'll have to forgive the scanning process, we can't take any chances."
He let a sigh of relief loose, allowing the lasers to scan over his body while still being careful not to look at them. Although he had no scientific basis for doing so, something told him that looking directly into lasers, scanners or not, was not a good idea. The lasers reached his toes and quickly cut out, and air hissed from vents above the window.
His attention already on the closed window, he saw that the black metal that once covered it was rising up, revealing the small observation booth beyond. Inside, two people were stood at the control panel he assumed was beneath the window and out of his sight. A man in what Gordon had come to recognise as standard civilian clothing was stood on the left, his short cropped brown hair and pallid skin making him look like so many others Gordon had seen today.
The woman on the right, however, her brown hair held up in a tight bun with chopsticks and wearing a surprisingly clean white turtleneck sweater, looked entirely different from anyone else Gordon had encountered so far. Her so far disinterested gaze travelled up to meet him, and suddenly changed to one of abject shock.
"Dr Freeman? Gordon Freeman? Is that you? You made it here this quickly!" She laughed as she spoke, but it didn't sound entirely genuine. It didn't sound entirely fake, either, but there was definitely something off about how she said it. "Well, Eli's going to be amazed, not to mention relieved. I'm Doctor Mossman, Dr Judith Mossman. I've been hearing about you since long before the Black Mesa Incident."
"Oh, okay."
She didn't hear him, or chose not to. The civilian by her side, meanwhile, was looking back and forth between the two, his stunned gaze levelled mostly at Gordon. It made him feel nervous, and he wanted the damn airlock to open for him now.
Dr Mossman, meanwhile, was lost in her own world of reminiscences. "Ah, Black Mesa. I do so envy you working with Eli and Dr Kleiner when they were at the top of their field."
A dull clang came from behind the metal door on Gordon's right, and Mossman looked up at something above her.
"Ah, there we go. You can come through now."
Finally, the door opened. Gordon rushed out, eager to avoid the penetrating, adoring stare of the civilian. Mossman stepped out from the booth just before Gordon emerged. She smiled, clasping her hands together nervously.
"I'll take you down to Eli right away. He would never forgive me if I kept you waiting," she laughed, and this one felt genuine. Not that Gordon was ever that good at reading people. It occurred to him that he just wasn't used to people laughing and smiling. Living so close to death for days on end tended to depress people somewhat.
Mossman started walking, and Gordon went along with her, trying not to overtake her in his eagerness to see Eli.
"We could certainly use the extra help around here."
As she spoke, she led him through a door and down a corridor, turning past a fenced area in front of them, which, if followed, would have taken then down an archway of a corridor that descended into the depths of whatever kind of base they had going on here. Instead, she led him to an elevator. She pushed a button and turned to him, a somewhat anxious glance spared for the crowbar in Gordon's grubby hand.
He offered it up a little to give her a better look. "It's a… crowbar."
She seemed to let the thrum of unseen generators fill the silence between them before taking a breath and continuing. "We've covered a lot of ground in the last few months, but things would go so much faster if we had more people with your training. We're closing in on a reliable local teleport technology, something the Combine still hasn't mastered. Eli thinks their portals are string based, similar to our Calabi-Yau model."
Gordon nodded, only just understanding. The Calabi-Yau model was something in the planningstages before the Black Mesa Incident. She was talking about it in the past tense, and offhandedly at that. This was going to take some getting used to.
Dr Mossman - Gordon wasn't sure if he should be thinking of her as 'Judith' or not - continued on, ignorant of his trouble keeping up.
"But they failed to factor in the Dark Energy equations. They can tunnel through from their universe, but once they're here, they're dependent on local transportation. If they knew what we were doing with 'Entanglement'…" She smiled, but there was no humour behind it. It was something Gordon had seen before - smiling and joking to hide the seriousness of it all. It reminded him of Bennett, the less than serious security guard from the rail system. God, he had only been speaking to her yesterday. She was probably dead by now, or at the very least approaching fifty.
The elevator arrived with a shuddering clang, knocking Gordon out of his ruminations. Mossman walked inside, as did Gordon, planting his feet on a spot not too far away to appear anti-social, but not so close as to be uncomfortable.
Or maybe he was over thinking things too much. He tended to do that. Except when it came to killing things, of course. Then it was all about the ignorance.
Mossman laughed again, bringing her hand to her face in embarrassment. "Listen to me, I sound like a post-doc… I'm just so excited to think that we'll finally have the chance to work together."
Okay, this hero worship was getting… uncomfortable, to say the least. Gordon hoped his grimace wasn't too obvious.
She turned and pressed a button on the control panel behind her. The gate closed shut before the elevator jolted to life, taking them down. Gordon couldn't help but watch as the various floors went by, Dr Mossman's words barely registering.
"Where was I? Oh, yes. Dr Kleiner compressed the Xen relay far beyond anything he imagined at Black Mesa."
The first floor they passed looked like some kind of recreation area, or at the very least, a relaxing one. Old, comfortable sofas were placed around the room, the occasional table surrounded by plastic chairs usually reserved for school lunch halls. The only occupants were a civilian and a… Vortigaunt, was it?
And they were playing chess. The Vortigaunt was studying the table, stroking what Gordon assumed was it's chin as it considered it's next move.
Playing chess with aliens. At least humanity couldn't be accused of being prejudiced anymore.
Mossman continued. "We figured out how to use Xen as an unexpressed access."
The second floor revealed a surprisingly clean kitchen, the silver metal tables glistening in the white lights above them. Two Vortigaunts stood around two different counters, one chopping vegetables while the other experimentally tasted a broth boiling in front of it.
Both wore chef hats.
And Mossman kept on talking. "Effectively a dimensional slingshot so we can swing around the border world and come back in local space without having to pass through."
This time, a long corridor stretched out in front of them, what looked like turbines poking out of the left-hand wall at regular intervals. While a woman in the customary denim garb watched with a clipboard, two Vortigaunts charged their electricity attacks, firing them into the generators.
At least there was one thing Gordon could find sense in. However, it really wasn't enough to satiate his curiosity.
He looked to Mossman. "What's with the aliens?"
She just blinked. Then she looked out of the front of the elevator and spotted something more interesting. "Oh! Here's Eli now."
Now that brought him back to reality. Gordon blinked and looked to the large basement area that was opening up in front of him. Eli, his hair grey-white, was talking to a Vortigaunt, holding a metal device the size of a football between them.
"All right, good. You keep right on it."
He handed it back, and, with a gracious nod, the Vortigaunt returned to whatever work it was doing on the right-hand side of the room. A huge metal sphere hung from the ceiling above Eli's head, matching the teleporter technology in Dr Kleiner's lab. A similar teleport chamber was set up in front of it, a tank of swirling orange and black liquid directly next to the chamber. There was a table in front of the tank of glowing liquid, beside it a keyboard stuck onto a control panel that looked far too complicated for Gordon to understand at the moment. Hopefully he would have the leisure to practice with it. The elevator came to a jerky halt, and the gates opened for them. Mossman led the way, Gordon feeling excited and anxious at the same time.
"Eli, look who I found in the airlock."
Mossman's words broke Gordon from his reverie, and suddenly he found himself stood in front of Eli Vance. Only then did Gordon notice that the lower half of Eli's right leg was missing. Well, Eli's right, Gordon's left. In it's place, a curved rod of metal, not entirely unlike the tip of his crowbar, acted as a foot.
The smile was exactly the same, however, the wrinkles of age only contributing to the warm, grandfatherly feelings the man engendered from almost everyone.
"Gordon Freeman. Let me get a look at you, man." He paused to look Gordon up and down, and for the first time the scientist wondered about how he must look to others. In short, a mess.
"My God, you haven't changed one iota, how do you do it?"
Gordon smiled. "Luck."
"Yeah, I'll bet." Eli scratched his white beard thoughtfully. "Now let's see… the last time I saw you, I sent you up for help after the Resonance Cascade. I didn't think it'd take you this long to get back to me!"
Although the smile on his face and the laughter in his words didn't intend for such a reaction, Gordon felt a pang of guilt strike through his chest. So many people had been depending on him to return. So many…
Oblivious, Eli gently waved his hands around dismissively. "Welcome to the lab, anyway. It's not Black Mesa, but it's served us well enough."
"It's going to be a lot more like Black Mesa with Gordon here to help," Mossman chipped in, giving Gordon that same unnerving smile, like a politician getting friendly with one of their superiors. Having never been someone's superior before, Gordon wasn't sure how to react.
So, running on default mode, he just smiled awkwardly.
"Right you are," Eli said, pointing an agreeable finger at Mossman. "MIT graduates are few and far between these days." His gaze wandered back to Gordon, and down to the HEV suit somewhat disparagingly. "We'll get you out of that Hazard Suit and back into your lab coat, where you belong."
Nothing had sounded more glorious to Gordon in all his life, and his face must have communicated as much.
Mossman nodded, smiling. "Let me just finish some work and I'll see what I can dig up."
Although he never liked to think of people in such a away, Gordon hoped Mossman would leave so he could talk to Eli. He had so many questions, and Eli felt like the only person who would give them to him openly.
But, naturally, Dr Mossman had more to say. She looked to him, grinning from ear to ear. "Dr Freeman… it's been a real honour. I'm looking forward to working together."
And, with that statement, she left a somewhat befuddled Gordon standing next to Eli, disappearing into a small room on the far side of the basement.
For a moment, the only noise was the continuous beeping of some kind of monitoring device, although Gordon was clueless as to where it was. He looked to Eli, who smiled.
"Feel free to look-" he frowned, looking to Gordon's arm. "What happened there?"
Gordon blinked, and looked down. Eli was looking at the broken charger port in his elbow.
"Oh. Not sure. Probably a bullet."
Stroking his chin, Eli's eyes poked up to look at him. "A bullet."
He shrugged. "Or two."
Eli was silent for a few moments, but then he smiled, and everything was right with the world.
"How times change, huh?"
"Like you wouldn't believe."
The two shared a smile, not unlike those they had shared at Black Mesa. Not unlike the one they had shared three days ago when Dr Magnusson was yelling at Dr Kleiner for yet another small and insignificant delay. Except it wasn't three days ago. It looked more like twenty years, judging by the wrinkles and grey hair on everybody he knew. Well, everybody except Alyx…
He blinked that thought right out of his head.
"I told Izzy putting the charger there was a bad idea," the elder scientist grumbled, more to himself than to Gordon. He nodded over to the table beside the teleporter. "Come on over here, Gordon, and I'll get that suit charged up."
"Charged up? But… lab coat…"
Eli smiled. "We'll take care of that later. But since you're in it, we might as well take care of this now."
Gordon desperately tried to find some reason as to why he had to take off the suit, to remove himself from this orange and black coffin that had encased him for almost three days now with little to no respite. But, finding none, he just sighed and nodded, walking to the table and having a seat opposite his old friend.
A long black cable hung from the tank of orange-black liquid, ending in a socket which was basically a flat sheet of metal. Picking it up, Eli placed the metal end on the Lambda symbol of Gordon's suit. The familiar positive noise of the HEV suit charging filled the air.
"I'll fix the elbow charger later," Eli clarified, resting back in the plastic chair, fingers lacing together comfortably over the Harvard logo on his faded sweater. "Oh, for God's sake, let go of that thing."
Looking down, Gordon found that he was still tightly clutching the crowbar in his gloved hand, letting it dangle beside the chair. Bringing it up, he placed it on the table in front of him. He felt incredibly reluctant to let go. This thing had become his lifeline, perhaps even more so than the HEV suit. Letting it go would mean letting his guard down, would mean relaxing, would mean his enemies being able to get the drop on him.
"Gordon. Put it down," Eli soothed, staring him in the eyes.
Gordon released his grip, and brought his hand back to his lap. He smiled apologetically at Eli, who just stretched back in his chair with a smile. He looked grateful for the opportunity to get off his feet. Or foot. Gordon was unsure about these things now.
So he changed the subject.
"Dr Mossman seems… professional."
Eli nodded. "Fine scientist, Judith. She was up for your job at Black Mesa." He gave Gordon a wink. "But you edged her out with your Innsbruck experience."
A low grunt escaped Gordon's throat. "Maybe I could have given her the job of ending the world."
"Don't say that," Eli ordered, a startling evenness in his voice as he sprung forward in his chair to point at Gordon. "There was no way you could have known what would happen that day. I don't want you even thinking it was your fault. You hear me?"
There was a certain vehemence to his tone that made Gordon reluctant to speak. Seeing the effect it had, Eli relaxed back in his chair again, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Gordon. It's just… seeing you again, and thinking about back then…" He sighed, letting his hand drop and looking to a point over Gordon's shoulder. Turning, he saw a Vortigaunt working diligently at a computer terminal there, checking between the computer screen and a book beside the keyboard. But beside the unnerving alien, on the top of a bookshelf that was criminally sparse, sat a framed picture of Eli with his family. He looked as he did back at Black Mesa, thick black hair only just being tickled by white at the temples. Nestled happily between him and his wife was baby Alyx, grinning inanely.
"You remember my wife Azian, don't you?"
Remember her? He was only having dinner with her, Eli and Alyx a few nights ago. The night before hell came to visit Black Mesa.
"That picture and Alyx were all I managed to carry out of Black Mesa."
Silence once again filled the air, only the faint tapping of the Vortigaunt's wiry fingers and the thrumming of the generator beside them to punctuate the quiet.
"…you've still got Alyx, though. She's…" Gordon chose his words carefully, "…changed."
Eli grinned. "Not as much as you might think. She still brings in the strangest things. Like that thing, there," he said, nodding to a jar on a shelf on the other side of the Vortigaunt. Inside, a green sphere not much bigger than a basketball floated inside, something resembling a tail dangling loosely from the back. "We still have no idea what that does."
"She's an explorer, then?" he asked, a severe case of déjà vu assaulting him. It was like he was sat back in the Black Mesa canteen, listening to Eli's stories about the cutest thing Alyx had done recently when they should have been discussing the next experiment.
"Yeah," he chuckled. "Real adrenaline junkie. She was the first to volunteer for the teleporter while we were still worried about the effects the thing would have on vegetables."
Instinctively, Gordon looked over to the teleport chamber beside him.
"We've almost got that portal working again. But," Eli laughed, "I wouldn't blame you if you didn't volunteer for the next trial run."
Gordon smiled, but it wasn't sincere. He hoped it wasn't noticeable.
It was. But then again, Eli was always uncanny at noticing these things. More than anyone else, he could tell what Gordon was thinking or feeling at any given moment.
"What's wrong, Gordon?"
"I…" He searched for the right words, gazing into Eli's worried visage as though it would help. "What… happened, Eli?"
"How do you mean?"
"I mean… the Combine… City 17, Black Mesa… why is Dr Breen everywhere?"
The elder scientist's lip curled at the very mention of the name. "Dr Breen. He's the administrator of this whole vile business now. He ended the Seven Hour War by managing Earth's 'surrender'. The Combine rewarded him with power."
"Seven Hour War?" The words spilled out of him now. He didn't care if he was being rude. He just wanted answers.
Eli frowned. "…yes. After the nuclear explosion wiped out Black Mesa-"
"The what?"
Gordon's stomach dropped with an almost audible thump. His mouth suddenly felt very dry. Black Mesa was gone. Everybody he knew, everybody he had met on his travels… all the promises he had made. All of them empty and hollow. He thought about Bennett and Philips, waiting for him back at the freezer area, of Harv and Peterson waiting at the office complex.
"Don't forget we're down here, all right?"
But now… they were all dead. And Gordon Freeman, the one who abandoned all of them, giving them false hope… he was being hailed as 'The One Free Man' and 'The Opener of the Way'.
He felt ill just thinking about it.
His frown deepening, Eli's gaze bored into Gordon's. "Gordon… how much were you told before you got here? Were you told anything?"
This time, it was Gordon's frown that deepened. Told? By who? But then it hit Gordon. For all Eli knew, Gordon had simply been living in the wilderness outside the cities for the past two decades, biding his time before his 'glorious' return.
But the truth… the truth was far more humble, and so much more complicated. How could he explain? Should he explain? Gordon already knew that He, whoever He was, had powers far beyond his reckoning. What if he took objection to his presence being announced? Would he take whoever Gordon told and put them in the black limbo as well?
"Gordon?"
His head sprang up far too quickly. "Hm?"
"You know… you can tell me anything. You can trust me."
His mouth dropped open slightly. He should tell him. Maybe Eli could help. Maybe someone in the Resistance knew who the bastard was and would be able to help him fight Him. After all, Dr Kleiner said he had his HEV suit. How could he have got his hands on Gordon's suit without some knowledge of Him and His motives?
Maybe, just maybe, with their help, he could fight back. And maybe that would make the deaths of everyone back at Black Mesa worthwhile somehow. But the words didn't come. He couldn't say them, as though there was some mental block on the very syllables. Gordon wondered if it was his subconscious preventing him, or something far more sinister. Slightly ashamed, he closed his mouth and let his gaze fall away from Eli, instead focusing on a spot on the floor.
Metal doors on the far side of the room behind Eli slid open with a mighty clang, and the sprightly form of Alyx Vance sprang forth. Her gaze travelled to him, and her face lit up. Gordon was grateful for the distraction, and found himself all too willing to lose himself in her pleased smile.
"Gordon! The Vortigaunts said you were here." She wandered over to her father's chair, leaning an arm against the back. "I can't believe you made it here so quickly on foot."
"I believe," Eli grunted, pushing himself to his feet, "he broke your record, honey."
"Well," she laughed, folding her arms, "he earned it. I guess you proved you can handle yourself out there."
"There's nothing Gordon can't handle," Eli added, smiling with a pride that made Gordon feel just a little bit better. He wrapped an arm around Alyx's shoulders, giving her a playful squeeze. "With the possible exception of you."
Ducking her head, Alyx tucked some hair behind her ear. "Dad, please…"
Grinning inanely now, Eli made an unsure noise as he leant back, pointing at Alyx suspiciously. With the most ambiguous of smiles that confused Gordon more than anything else, Alyx made her way past Gordon and to the other side of the room, yanking down a ladder on the wall that led up to some control panels linked to the teleporter array hanging above their heads.
Eli gave Gordon a wink, which just confused him more. "Looks like your suit's done," he said, nodding to the generator beside him.
Gordon checked his stats. He was indeed fully charged again. He detached the cable, and checked his elbow. It still didn't look good.
"I'll have to repair that later, but that can wait until you're out of that suit. In the meantime…" Nodding over his shoulder, he gestured to a large glass cylinder in the corner of the room beside him. "Take a look at this, Gordon."
He got to his feet, and after a quick debate as to whether he should take his crowbar or not, decided to simply follow the laborious pace of his old friend. Eli came to a stop at a control panel in front of the glass chamber. Inside, a chunk of golden crystal was suspended by a metal clamp protruding from the wall. It wasn't unlike the ones that Gordon used to shove into the Anti-Mass Spectrometer back at Black Mesa.
Eli pressed a few buttons, and with an affirmative grunt, several golden lights sprang from underneath. Upon contact with the crystal, the lights refracted out of the top in multi-coloured rays.
"The resonance calibration is off," he mused absently.
Smiling, his old friend looked over at him. "You know, it took us a few weeks to figure that out."
Not sure how to take that, Gordon just shrugged and smiled. He pointed to the control panel. "May I?"
"Eager to get back to science?"
"You have no idea."
Fiddling with the dials on either side of the keypad on the control panel, Gordon got to adjusting the calibration. Still smiling, Eli gave Gordon a quick pat on the back before walking back to the Vortigaunt, his metal limb thumping against the ground regularly as he went.
While Eli quietly discussed the readouts of the paradigm matrixes, Alyx started absently humming a quiet tune from where she was perched above them. And suddenly, with the warm lights of the crystal in front of him, with the thrum of the generators, with Eli's quiet discussion and with Alyx's peaceful humming, Gordon felt at home. He felt safe. His shoulders slumped as he finally relaxed, and Gordon was surprised at just how tired he suddenly was. Maybe he would be able to sleep tonight. In a bed. An actual, honest to goodness bed. That would be nice.
He heard a door open from the other side of the room, and watched as Dr Mossman strolled out, looking to Eli.
"Eli, Destovaya's-"
Her gaze instantly travelling up to Alyx.
"-Alyx, I thought you were on watch."
"The Vortigaunts relieved me so I could come see Gordon," she said lightly, still tapping away on a control panel. "Anyway, I should be in here, working on the portal."
Mossman's expression didn't change, the disapproval still etched there. "I have the repairs well in hand. Someone misjudged the capacity of the Combine Thyristor."
There was a deafening pause, and Gordon couldn't tear his eyes away from the train wreck occurring right in front of him. Deadly silent, Alyx clambered down a few rungs of the ladder before leaping off, landing in front of Mossman.
"Are you blaming me?"
"No. Not at all." She seemed genuinely appalled by the insinuation. "It was a calculation error, not a mechanical problem."
"Then maybe you should let me do the calculations next time as well as installing it."
Well. That didn't sound like a precursor to a fight at all. Feeling somewhat nervous, Gordon glanced over to Eli, who had started to pay attention to the nuclear war brewing over the Vortigaunt's shoulder. The two old friends exchanged a glance, Eli looking thoughtful, Gordon looking a little terrified.
"Alyx, really," Mossman admonished, and Gordon winced a little. Alyx didn't really strike him as the kind of person who took admonishing well. "Sometimes I think you deliberately misunderstand me."
Gordon could only guess what kind of profanity would emerge from the young Vance's mouth as she took a breath. Eli, however, didn't want to find out, and hobbled over as fast as his metal leg would allow.
"Uh, Alyx. Why don't you take Gordon along and give him some practice with the Gravity Gun?"
He frowned. The Gravity what?
The tension in her posture seemed to melt, and Alyx was quiet for a moment before nodding. "Sure."
She looked chirpily over her shoulder, pointing a thumb at the doors behind her. "Come on, Gordon. Let's go have some fun."
Feeling somewhat hot, Gordon cleared his throat - although it came out more high pitched than intended - and nodded, pressing a few buttons on the control panel in front of him to deactivate the device.
No-one seemed to notice his rather blatant awkwardness, however. Dr Mossman scowled, boring holes into the back of Alyx's head.
"The Zero Point Energy Manipulator is not a toy, Alyx."
Even as the elder scientist spoke, Alyx's face was upturned in a grimace. Eli smiled in a 'she means well, Alyx' way, but it seemed to go unnoticed by everyone but Gordon.
"Ugh. Let's get out of here."
She led the way without pause through the large green doors, heading out into the corridor beyond. Gordon looked to Eli questioningly, not quite sure what to do.
"Go along with Alyx, Gordon. We'll see about fixing that suit later."
A part of him wanted to object, but he could also see that Dr Mossman wasn't looking particularly happy. Gordon didn't feel like being around while Eli dealt with that fallout. Also… he glanced over his shoulder, where Alyx was waiting patiently halfway down the corridor. Another part of him… a very small, very confusing part, wouldn't exactly mind spending more time with the young Miss Vance.
Good lord, that felt wrong on so many levels.
A) She was two decades younger than him. Well, kind of. Hell, the last time he saw her, she was gurgling happily about a nice mix of mashed potato and peas she had managed to improvise on her plate.
B) She was Eli's daughter, the very same man who was giving him a kind, supportive, grandfatherly smile and a place to live and be safe now that this whole thing was over.
But, instead of letting any of this come out, Gordon just went back to the old ways of smiling and nodding. He went to join Alyx before pausing and running back to the table. Without thinking, he scooped up the crowbar and, upon the confused looks of pretty much everyone around him, gave it a little jiggle as though he had merely forgotten his keys. Without looking back to their questioning, befuddled gazes, Gordon closed the doors shut beside him and caught up to Alyx.
Refreshingly, she seemed completely nonplussed regarding his crowbar 'habit'.
"So I see you've met Dr Mossman," she said with false cheer, leading him down the corridor and to a door at the far end. "She's one of the main reasons I spend so much time outside. You should hear her drone on about how it should have been her in the Black Mesa test chamber that day."
In fairness, Gordon would have been more than happy to let her take over.
Having reached the door, Alyx laughed, burying her face in her hand. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking behind her back. It just… it gets a little claustrophobic down here."
Gordon nodded, raising his eyebrows in a 'no kidding' way.
That elicited another laugh from her as she punched in a code into the keypad beside the door. The thin latticework gate swung open for them, and Alyx led him into a larger corridor going off to the left. At the far end, Gordon could see a large airlock door and the familiar booth entrance beside it. Halfway down the corridor, however, cutting a deep, dark hole into the right-hand wall, was the entrance to some other part of the complex.
As they approached it, Alyx cradled her arms, as though suddenly cold. Gordon stopped beside her, thinking that if he were another, more confident sort of man, he would put his hand on her shoulder, or at least ask her if she was all right. As it was, all he could do was let a questioning eyebrow shoot up in her general direction.
"That's the old passage to Ravenholm. It was an old mining town inhabited by some escapees from City 17," she said quietly, her gaze never leaving the darkened tunnel. Looking down it, Gordon could see a very secure looking blast door at the far end, lit just barely by a flickering red light. After another sizeable silence, Alyx continued, her voice sounding just that little bit thicker as she spoke.
"We don't go there anymore."
Gordon tried to ask why, but the word unexpectedly tickled his throat, and he just ended up coughing like an idiot.
Mercifully oblivious to his strange behaviour, Alyx have a silent nod to the airlock doors at the far end of the corridor, wordlessly leading the way up the slight incline. As he walked, he tried not to think about the part of her anatomy that was now level with his face as a result of the slanted floor.
He felt another cough coming on.
Alyx punched a code into the keypad beside the airlock, forcing them open noisily. She looked to him, gesturing for him to get inside. With a polite smile, he bowed slightly and waved the crowbar in front of him for her to go first. In another moment that completely twisted Gordon's brain, she looked as though he were Barney doing a handstand while speaking Russian.
Gordon blinked the mental image away and waited for Alyx to enter.
Still looking confused, Alyx slowly entered the airlock, as though she were the one who had never been here before. Gordon slowly walked in after her, the back of his heels almost getting clipped by the far too quick door slamming shut behind him. For a brief moment, they were stood in the confined darkness of the room with little more than each other's breathing for company. It was an odd experience. Almost total sensory deprivation. So many sights and sounds had bombarded Gordon for so long, it almost felt like sensory overload compared to the mute darkness here. Part of him wanted to stay a while longer.
Then the doors behind Alyx shot open, and the floodlights from outside made him squint. Without prompting, Alyx confidently strolled outside, a decidedly more cautious Gordon following behind her. There were in what was basically a large hole in a the ground. A very, very large hole in the ground. Not quite a canyon… more like a baby canyon. Gordon nodded. Baby canyon sounded about right. One section, the one they stood in, was a large circle, the top right of which seemed to be connected to a larger, more open circle. Gordon couldn't see much of what was inside, his view blocked by hobbled together work benches, shipping containers and walkways stretching around the walls.
The night sky seemed to make everything so much smaller and closed in. Gordon wondered what it looked like underneath the sunlight. It took him a few moments to truly register that the night sky meant he had been travelling in this place for roughly a day. It sure as hell didn't feel that way. He blinked the feelings away as his guide spoke.
"So," Alyx said, waving an arm around. "Here we are. The scrap yard."
Not really feeling anything about the place one way or the other, Gordon just nodded, trying to look approving. Not that Alyx would have cared either way, he was sure. The harsh floodlights attached to the crust of the canyon up ahead spread their harsh light over Alyx as she wandered past him, heading to a small glass booth embedded in the wall beside the airlock door. The device inside was almost completely obscured by the light reflecting off the glass.
"This is the Gravity Gun my father was talking about. You can call it the Zero Point Energy Manipulator if you really want to," she said, looking over her shoulder at him with an expression indicating that he really shouldn't. She punched a code into the keypad beside the container, and the glass slid aside easily.
"It's designed for handling hazardous materials, but we mainly use it for heavy lifting. I found it handy for clearing minefields."
With a healthy tug, she pulled the device out, and Gordon was instantly mesmerised. It was roughly the size of two footballs stuck together side by side. At one end was a handle poking out the back as well a throttle type handlebar sticking out of the side. The front of the device was what interested Gordon most, however. A glowing orange crystal of some sort was encased by a framework of metal, three prongs poking out at the top like fingers. They were relaxed at the moment, retracted in towards the orange crystal inside.
Gordon itched to try it, but Alyx gently placed it back inside the case in the wall. Disappointed, Gordon looked to Alyx questioningly. She smiled.
"Sorry, but I've got to find out what kind of hand-to-eye coordination you've got." She flopped down onto a crate, looking at him intently. "This thing can be dangerous in the wrong hands."
Ignorant of any awkwardness it might cause, Gordon couldn't help frowning a little at the young Vance as she sat against a large crate opposite him, her arms folded. Did she know what he'd just done? And that wasn't even counting everything before that back at Black Mesa. Gordon blinked. Good lord, he was beginning to believe his own press.
Bringing himself out of his pompous thoughts, Gordon shrugged and nodded.
Alyx's smile tightened, as though she hadn't been expecting that response. "Okay then. Pick up that Match over there and we'll get started."
Match? She wanted him to pick up… a match? Was this another challenge?
Trying not to look too clueless, Gordon started checking around for anything with the word 'Match' on it. On a crate behind him lay several handguns, as well as a gleaming revolver. He tried not to think about how eager he was to pick it up. His violent tendencies were difficult for his scientific mind to comprehend in the heat of battle, so he certainly didn't want to ponder them during his quiet moments when he actually had time to think.
He looked back to Alyx, clueless.
With a frown that wasn't quite impatience, Alyx nodded to the crate of weapons behind him. "The Match? The USP Match?"
Glancing back, he still didn't see anything. He shrugged.
Alyx ducked her head a little. "Do you know… anything about guns?"
Thinking for a moment, Gordon adjusted his glasses. "They kill people," he murmured.
The lack of noise in the scrap yard became all too apparent as Alyx's gleaming eyes searched his.
There was that urge to cough again.
"The black and silver handgun," she clarified.
Turning back, he found the very same kind of gun he had been using to shoot Civil Protection officers for the past day or so. He really didn't like how casual that sounded in his head. Scooping the weapon up, he displayed it side on to Alyx for approval.
Smiling, she nodded, looking at him as though he were insane but she didn't really mind. A slender, gloved hand pointed over to a target on the far side of the scrap yard.
"Just… load it up and shoot."
He had to try several magazines on the crate beside him before he found the one that fit, slamming it in with satisfying finality. Without a second glance to Alyx, he brought the gun up and fired four times. Each shot exploded throughout the canyon, and Gordon wanted to cover his ears. But since Alyx didn't, he decided not to.
Watching him out of the corner of her eye, she walked to the target and looked it over. Slowly, her head came round to look at him.
"You, uh… do this a lot?"
He shrugged, the only answer he could really give.
Her eyebrows shot up, and she looked back to the target board, nodding. "Somehow I don't think we have to worry about the hand-to-eye coordination."
And that seemed to be the end of that. As she walked back to the Gravity Gun, Gordon put the USP Match back on the crate, ejecting the clip as he did so. Remembering something he had watched a soldier do in a movie once, Gordon pulled back the top of the weapon and watched a single golden bullet pop out.
He quickly put everything to do with the weapon back down on the crate, merely because holding them was beginning to feel too natural to him. And now he was learning their names. Wonderful.
By the time he had turned around to face his colleagues' daughter, he found the metal device shoved into his arms.
"Give it a try," Alyx said lightly, her tone free of any challenge or hostility. After setting down his crowbar on the crate, Gordon wrapped his gloved fingers around the handle at the back and over the throttle on the left-hand side. Moving up beside him, she pointed a hand at the trigger on the handle.
"The primary trigger emits a charge; you can punch stuff and send it flying." Reaching past him, she pointed to the button on the throttle, designed to let his thumb rest on it. "The secondary trigger lets you grab things. You can throw them with the primary."
He tried not to breath in her scent too much and come across like some HEV suit wearing pervert. She did smell nice, though. Nicer than anything else he had come across today. Well, maybe not nicer than the crisp scent of a fresh teleportation event, but she was only human.
Pulling back, Alyx was concentrating more on where he was pointing the device than on Gordon himself. And good lord, was he grateful. One more furtive glance in his direction and he was likely to have a coughing fit of epic proportions.
"You can also pull stuff over from a distance." She pointed to a spot above their heads. "Try grabbing a barrel from that ledge up there."
The shadows cast by the floodlights didn't make seeing what she was talking about any easier, but he could barely make out some barrels haphazardly stacked upright on a wooden ledge above them. Bringing up the Gravity Gun, Gordon brought it up to his face as though he were aiming a rifle.
"No, no," Alyx said, laughing as she gently brought his arms down. "Not like a gun. Just… point and shoot."
Nodding, he waited for her to back up before bringing the weapon to bear again. Pointing it as he had been told, he pressed the button on the throttle. With a low hum, the crystal at the front of the device began to glow. The barrel below the one he had been aiming for blasted out towards him, coming to a dead stop in front of the now wobbling device in his hands. The three metal, claw-like fingers had suddenly opened, yellow-white energy dancing between the tips.
With a noise that made Gordon wince, the rest of the barrels came tumbling down, forcing both he and Alyx to back up considerably to avoid the avalanche.
Alyx smiled over at Gordon as the last barrel trundled along, coming to a stop at their feet.
"Do you just wreck stuff wherever you go?"
With a resigned, sad expression, Gordon nodded.
"Yeah," he sighed. He looked back to the barrel that still floated in front of them.
"Oh!" Alyx put a hand over the side of her face. "Sorry. You can release objects by pressing the secondary trigger again. You know, as well as throwing them with the primary."
With a quiet 'ah' and a nod, Gordon pressed the button again, letting the barrel drop with another resounding clang. He looked over to his companion, who smiled.
"Sorry about that. I get used to using this stuff so much, I forget that most people have never seen anything like it before." Her smile changed slightly, and she nodded to an opening in the containers and walkways surrounding them that would take them to the other section of the scrap yard.
"Come on."
Inspecting the Gravity Gun as he walked behind her, he noticed a thick leather strap that had been folded and taped to the underbelly of the device. With a quick tug, he ripped off the black tape and slung the device across his shoulders like a mailman's bag. The tape got stuck to his glove though, and it was one of those annoying bits of tape that stuck to the other hand when one tried to remove it.
He barely acknowledged the large wooden sign that read 'Beware of Dog' while he struggled with the merciless foe between his fingers.
This section of the scrap yard was far bigger, and looked more like it used to be some kind of reservoir judging from the massive pipes protruding from the rock face on his right. Not that Gordon was really paying attention; the damn tape was still irritating him to no end.
Gentle female hands plucked the tape from his finger, screwing up the small scrap of material and tossing it away. Gordon watched it go, wondering how it didn't stick to her hands, and then returned his gaze to Alyx.
In a gesture that delighted Gordon, she acted as though nothing had happened. "Let me call Dog. He loves to play fetch." She turned around and slapped her knees crouching slightly. "Dog! Come!"
Gordon frowned. They had dogs here? Not that he objected; he liked dogs just fine. He was just surprised they had survived whatever apocalyptic hell the Combine had enforced.
At the far end of the canyon - which was about the size of a football field - a large doghouse that looked like it could hold two cows stood vigilantly beside a deteriorating dumpster. From inside, Gordon could see a red light suddenly appear. Within seconds, a monstrous form rolled out, unravelling at the end of the rotation into what Gordon could only describe as the skeleton of a gorilla. After seemingly checking the identity of the caller, the beast started galloping along towards them, using it's enormous arms to yank itself forward while the smaller legs at the back struggled to keep up.
It came to a dusty, skidding stop in front of them, and Gordon took an instinctive step back when it looked like it wouldn't stop. Alyx, however, didn't move a muscle, instead seeming happy enough to throw her arms out like she was greeting a household pet. As the dust settled, Gordon managed to get a good look at Dog.
Although having the basic posture of a gorilla, the robot had a head that was decidedly un-mammalian. Three 'wings' poking out in a triangular formation made up the 'face', while a singular red lens in the middle made up the eye. Thick, three fingered hands fidgeted nervously as Alyx turned to Gordon.
"Gordon, this is Dog."
The red eye stared up at him expectantly, but not judgementally. Gordon gave it a quick wave.
"My dad built him to protect me when I was a kid. First model was about…" she knelt down to about a third the size of Dog as he was now, putting her hand out flat in front of her. "…yae-high, and I've been adding to him ever since."
She turned to the robot, which had what could only be described as a look of abject adoration on its… 'face'. If the thing had had fur, she would have ruffled it with the enthusiastic petting she gave its' head.
"Haven't I boy?"
With a low noise that bordered on affectionate, Dog moved his head into her touch. Gordon frowned.
'His' head? He was thinking of the robot as a 'he' now?
Alyx suddenly burst into life in a way that no doubt excited Dog, but put Gordon on high alert, reaching for a crowbar that wasn't there.
"Okay Dog, let's play some catch!" Dog excitedly nodded and thundered back to his house, heading for the dumpster beside it. Alyx looked back to Gordon as she backed away, heading for a crate nestled in the wall. "You'll need to use the Gravity Gun."
He cocked an curious eyebrow, but deferred asking 'why' in favour of unloading the Gravity Gun and hefting it up in front of him. After fishing around inside the dumpster for a few moments, Dog pulled out a storage crate that was looking somewhat worse for wear. His hand glowing, Dog held the crate above his open palm in a manner similar to the Gravity Gun. With a surprisingly gentle thrust of his arm, Dog sent the crate hurtling through the air towards him in a high arc.
Gordon brought up the Gravity Gun and pressed the secondary trigger. The device glowed and hummed, but the crate's velocity towards him did nothing. He only thought to duck at the last moment, the crate sailing through the spot where his head had been and smashing into pieces on the ground behind him.
Alyx laughed from where she was perched to the side, and Dog did a little victory dance. Trying to hide his scowl so as not to look like a bad sport, Gordon cricked his neck and readied himself, adopting a stance more akin to a tennis player while he waited.
The next crate came at him exactly the same, but this time, Gordon managed to tilt the Gravity Gun in just the right direction to catch the dilapidated box. He gently set it down beside him, not wanting to destroy what looked to be Dog's only playthings. Several crate-tosses later, and Gordon was getting pretty proficient at the whole 'catch' thing.
But apparently, that wasn't enough for Alyx, who seemed intent on forcing him into all manner of weird situations today.
"Dog, go get your ball!"
Dog, meanwhile, seemed ready to continue playing 'throw the crate to Gordon', but only showed the hesitation for a moment before dropping the crate he held in his 'paw' and galloping over to an upside-cylinder just next to Alyx, a large rock weighing it down to the ground. Without a second thought, the robot lifted the boulder off and let it thump to the floor, a mighty cloud of dust billowing out. Gordon tried not to gape at the show of sheer strength.
But then, with a strange, high pitched whirring noise, the cylinder started trundling along, rocking from side to side as though there were something inside. Alyx chuckled away happily as the cylinder bumped up against Gordon time and again, leaving him with nothing to do but back away awkwardly as it followed him.
Unable to contain his excitement any longer, Dog ran over and knocked the cylinder aside, revealing a metallic, football sized… thing that just kept on rolling around at Gordon's feet, as though attracted to him. It had stumps poking out all over it's body, blue light glowing out between the tiles on the devices' surface.
Using his Gravity Gun hand, Dog yanked the ball up towards him, and nodded for Gordon to head further into the canyon, towards his house. A little perturbed that a robot pet was giving him instructions (and that he was following them without question), Gordon jogged down to the other end, keeping an eye on both Dog and his troublesome owner as he went.
To his credit, Dog waited until he was ready before firing the ball into the air, sending it along an arching path that was far too high for Gordon to reach. It bounced against the stacked shipping containers behind him, clanging noisily as it tumbled to the ground. As he used the Gravity Gun to pick up the overfriendly ball, Alyx's laughter echoed into his ears.
"When I told you Dog liked to play fetch, I didn't tell you who'd be fetching, did I?"
Yes. Ha. How droll.
With a forced smile he was sure wasn't necessary (seeing as Alyx was sat so far away she probably wouldn't be able to tell if his beard suddenly fell off, let alone whether he was smiling or not), Gordon pointed the Gravity Gun into the air and fired, sending it hurtling towards his playing companion. Leaping straight up, Dog just barely managed to save it from tumbling over his head. Dog had no hesitation in firing it back to him.
After just a few steps left and right, Gordon started running to his left, grabbing the ball easily this time.
"Ha! Good catch!"
Gordon's smile was genuine this time. And after a few more tries, he was really starting to enjoy himself. True, he was still wearing his Hazard Suit which had blood, grime, dirt and some green stuff that wasn't radioactive but smelt bad anyway smeared all over it, but still…
He was having fun. Something he didn't think he would ever find possible again after sending the entire world to hell three days ago.
"Okay, let's try something different," Alyx announced, instantly attracting Dog's attention as the ball sailed over his head and became wedged between a dumpster behind him and the wall.
"Dog, try and find something bigger."
The horrifying mental image of Dog doing a cannonball through the air towards him flashed across Gordon's mind. He shook it away as Dog thundered past him, checking the dumpster. After a quick pause, Dog gripped the sides of the dumpster tightly, and, with only the slightest of metallic groans, lifted it above his head, turning towards Gordon.
Armed only with his Gravity Gun, Gordon wondered what the hell he could do against a dumpster. He remembered that Alyx said they used it for heavy lifting, but he had his doubts as to how heavy it could manage.
Fortunately, Alyx wasn't overly keen on finding out either as she rushed over.
"Dog! No Dog! Put that down!"
The robot looked sheepish for just a moment before suddenly whipping his head up to the sky, letting the dumpster tumble angrily to the ground behind him. Gordon lowered the Gravity Gun as he walked up beside Alyx, looking up to the towering robot in front of them.
"What is it, Dog?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
An explosion rocked the ground.
"Oh my God, what was that?"
Something black and solid rocketed across the sky, and even though he had only been in this world a day, Gordon recognised the shape and sound. It was one of the headcrab rockets. Slowly following it, casting a thin shaft of light ahead of it, one of the floating camera devices made it's way across the canyon area, ignorant of them for the time being.
"Scanners!" Alyx looked to Gordon as another explosion hit. "The Combine's sweeping the area! We've got to get back to the lab. Come on, Gordon!"
She started running, and Gordon was right behind her, wrapping the Gravity Gun around him as they went. Dog's mighty footsteps thundered behind them, merging with the almost constant explosions to a make a continuous deafening roar all around them. As they passed the crate of weapons outside the airlock, Gordon scooped up the revolver, a box of ammunition, a holster and his crowbar.
Dog was the last one to enter the airlock, the doors almost crushing him between them if not for his uncanny speed. Alyx was already punching away at a keypad, looking at a small screen above it with no small measure of desperation. Moving with a speed and efficiency he didn't like to admit he had, Gordon wrapped the belt around his waist and the holster around his hip. The crowbar slotted into the left-hand side of the belt into a spot usually reserved for magazines. He was halfway through loading the revolver when Alyx spoke.
"Dad? It's Alyx, do you read?"
Hunched over and staring desperately out at them, Eli's black and white visage blurred and faded in and out of existence as he spoke. "Alyx!"
"What's going on?"
"Where are you, Alyx?"
"We're in the scrap yard airlock, stuck in a full auto cycle," Alyx said, her frustration glowing from her eyes as she surveyed the area.
"Is Gordon still with you?"
She nodded distractedly. "Yeah, he's right here."
"Good. I want you to-"
The lights went out along with the screen, instantly replaced by an emergency red that made Dog look a little sinister. Gordon looked around the room for some kind of escape route while Alyx feverishly worked on the keypad.
"Dad? Dad!"
Gordon finished loading the revolver and clicked it into place. He managed to wedge the box of bullets into another slot reserved for magazines.
The screen came back, and Gordon took notice. Eli suddenly looked even more haggard.
"Get out of here. Head for the coast. Do not go through Ra-"
And with that, the screen had had enough, resorting entirely to static to block Alyx from her father.
"Dad? Dad! Damn it!" She slammed an angry palm into the wall beside the screen, but quickly turned to the robot in the room, pointing an angry finger to the airlock door. "Dog, open the airlock, get us out of here."
Not requiring much prompting, the robot slammed elbow first into the door, denting it on his first go. He brought his mighty metal arms down on the doors again and again, warping them with each blow.
"Hurry! Now! Tear it apart if you have to, just get it open!"
Dog's face seemed to perk up when Alyx said the word 'tear', and the robot slammed it's hand between the airlock doors, pulling them out in opposite directions. After another few seconds, he managed to open the smallest of gaps between the doors. Alyx ducked down.
"That's enough, Dog."
Gordon looked to her. That's enough?
Without pause, she managed to crawl through the miniscule gap, calling to him as she went. "Come on, Gordon!"
He tried to follow in earnest, but the HEV suit didn't allow it, never mind the bulky Gravity Gun strapped to his back. A quick glance up to Dog was apparently understood, and the massive robot managed to slam the right-hand door fully open. Gordon slipped underneath the mighty arm as he saw Alyx disappear around the corner at the end of the corridor.
"Come on!"
Revolver in hand, Gordon sprinted off after her.
A mighty, thunderous crash from around the corner was quickly followed by a swirling, billowing cloud of dust. Gordon increased his pace. An old fashioned alarm bell sounded, reminding Gordon for just a second of the fire drills back at school. He rounded the corner, and saw that the entire corridor had caved in. Light seeped in through cracks, but aside from a gap on the right-hand side, there was nothing Gordon could see.
The whine of a CP's radio flat lining echoed through the corridor. Gunfire bounced along the walls.
Familiar hands grasped onto the rubble from the other side, and Alyx's face came into view. Gordon clambered up what little rubble he could to meet her.
"Gordon, you need to get out of here!" Shaking his head, Gordon opened his mouth to object. A gentle hand snaked through the rubble to rest on his gloved fist, clenched around his gun.
"I can't leave my father."
And that was that. Looking into her eyes, Gordon knew there was nothing more to be said. He clamped his mouth shut, only a solemn nod for acknowledgement.
A gravely voice echoed down to them. "Return to the Void!"
Green lightning flashed down the corridor behind Alyx, surrounding them with a brilliant green for just a few moments before flickering away. A flat line from the opposite end of the corridor soon followed. As Alyx spoke, Gordon saw a Vortigaunt sprint past, intense red eyes scanning the area as it went.
"Dog! Take Gordon to the Ravenholm tunnel, then circle around and try and meet up with me. Hurry!"
Gordon only then remembered that Dog was even there. He looked back to the robot, then to Alyx.
She was gone.
He sighed, and turned back to Dog, who seemed to be wearing the same look of resigned sadness that Gordon had come to accept as the norm for himself. More gunshots rang out behind them from both sides. He could hear rebels shouting orders to each other, CP radios chattering and the occasional, distant explosion. His hand clenched tighter around the gun in his hand, the material of the gloves creaking from the strain.
He should be in there. He knew he should be in there.
Dog turned and tumbled along down the corridor, heading back the way they came. After only a quick glance back, Gordon sprinted off after him. The robot took him back to the Ravenholm entrance that before had seemingly filled Alyx with fear. And now he was being told to take that route out of here.
Lovely.
An explosion sounded in the distance, this one louder than the others. Dog spared only a glance back before wedging his fingers beneath the blast door blocking the way and effortlessly slamming it up into the ceiling. Gordon slipped through without incident, and turned just as his robot companion dropped the door, a cloud of dust bubbling up to meet his gaze.
He took a breath, and smiled. "Good boy."
Through the windows of the blast door, Dog offered him one more sad look before turning and running off down the corridor, disappearing from sight in just a few seconds.
Gordon closed his eyes.
He sighed, turned around, and moved on.
The corridor got darker as he went along, and soon he was forced to flick on his flashlight. A turn in the corridor led him to a stairway going straight down in front of him, blocked by all manner of household furniture from cabinets and cupboards to old, rotting sofas. Gordon slipped the revolver back into its' holster and brought the Gravity Gun around. Making sure he had a tight grip, Gordon cricked his neck before letting loose with the primary charge.
A bolt of yellow energy blasted from the crystal at the front, knocking everything in his way just a little bit further down. Gordon stumbled back from the shock of the blast. Adjusting his glasses, Gordon steadied himself before firing again. After a few more blasts, he managed to create a small way forward at the top, and began crawling over the less than whole furniture.
At the bottom floor, an ankle deep layer of water had emerged. Gordon didn't know how or why, but he just went with it. Cardboard boxes and out of date newspapers floated around him as he waded into the next room. A camera on the wall blinked red, and Gordon surmised it was offline.
On his right, what looked like the bottom of an old elevator shaft seemed to lead up, a ladder helpfully placed before him. He stepped inside, and something landed on the wooden planks making up the floor of the shaft, shattering one and sinking beneath the water before bobbing up again. Gordon, hand touching his crowbar, leant forward to investigate.
A headcrab. He stretched his gaze upwards, but saw nothing but darkness above him. Adjusting his glasses, he got climbing. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many headcrabs where that one had come from. After a rather long climb (during which Gordon had to remind himself numerous times not to look down), he reached the top, clambering out into the semi-darkness of the corridor beyond.
His flashlight was at half-power now. If this place was going to be this dark all the time, he could have a potential problem. The corridors were made of old, red wood, reminding Gordon of the stereotypical barns from movies. Usually alien invasions.
Incomprehensible graffiti littered the walls as he went, the only thing he understood being 'bring a gun'.
It didn't engender feelings of hope and goodwill. All the same, Gordon pulled out his revolver and held it in front of him. He turned another corner and wondered what Ravenholm would look like, and if he would ever walk out of there alive.
It would be a shame never to play catch with Dog again.
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(A/N: I particularly enjoyed writing this one, mostly because of all the Gordon/Alyx interaction. Hell, for Gordon interaction period. So often it's just him doing stuff, and that becomes a bit of a challenge to write sometimes. So yeah, now Gordon can't recharge the HEV suit. But I felt it was a good way to keep him in jeopardy; being able to recharge to full strength on a regular basis works for a game, but as far as an actual story goes, it kinda kills the tension.
Anyway, reviews please!)
