Warning: I do not own Half Life or Portal except for the copies I own. It is owned by the Valve Corporation.

Half Life: A Grim Hope

Chapter 3: Off the Radar

2200 Feet

Chell uncomfortably stuffed the portal gun into the back of her shirt. She ended up flipping backwards as she struggled the intense force of the air as she plummeted down to the ground, and it was coming up fast. She put her body into a full swan dive. She had to catch up with Alyx before they hit rock bottom. It was far more unnerving then her escapades within the aperture science enrichment center. She reached as far as she could for Alyx's arm; she had an idea, not a great one, but an idea none the less.

1500 Feet

Alyx watched as Chell twisted in the air above her, she looked ridiculous trying to stuff that portal gun into the back of her shirt. She would be amused if she wasn't so soul shatteringly afraid. After Chell had successfully harnessed her gun she reached out to her. Alyx did her best to reach out to Chell their hands were barely out of reach. They were mere moments but it might as well been an eternity. Finally Chell grabbed Alyx's wrist. Somehow she was pulled up to her height.

Alyx felt as she was awkwardly put into women's arms in a position that a baby would be in a mothers arms. Or assumed that's what this would look like, she'd never actually seen such a sight. She would feel mortified if she wasn't so terrified. She wondered what the hell this women was thinking "WHATS THE PLAN HERE?" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

900 Feet

Chell felt weird holding this girl in her arms as the plummeted from the sky. She heard the faint voice of Alyx in her arms yelling back at her. She looked down at her and screamed back "THESE THINGS ON MY FEET ABSORB ENERGY"

The girl in Chell's arms looked up at her with a slight understanding "SO THIS WILL KEEP US FROM BECOMING ROAD KILL?" she said with a bit of hope in her voice.

Chell heard her and bit her lip "HOPEFULLY"

400 Feet

Alyx imagined this is what it felt like to have a heart attack "HOPEFULLY!" she said with absolute panic in her voice.

Chell looked down at her with a bit of an annoyed look "SORRY! I DON'T JUMP OUT OF HELECOPTERS MORE OFTEN!"

100 Feet

Alyx and Chell looked to the ground both thought the same thing Well… We're about to find out.

Eli Vance was sitting in his make shift lab in Black Mesa East. He sat there looking at a looping video from Alyx's patrol. He didn't think anyone besides Breen was working with the combine. Gods if they had spy's in the resistance… it could get disastrous. He shook his head watching as Alyx was forced into the copter. He wasn't sure how to feel, he had always thought she would go down fighting. Avoiding capture at all costs. For gods sake she embedded the phrase 'death before dishonor' into every one here at B.M.E. He remembered her asking about her heritage when she was ten. He told her his lineage and some history of the their race. When she brought up her mother… it was simply too painful for him to talk to her. He was able to dig up a old book on Japanese culture to avoid talking to her. She was so spirited reading about the samurai culture. She was so cute waving a cardboard tube as if it was a Katana. He even remembered when he led herself and a few older kids into attacking the teenagers with sticks.

So what was worse, that she had a possibility of still being alive or that that life was about to be tried by the combines torture technique. He shook his head feeling as if he were on the verge of crying. Alyx was his last piece of his old life, proof of a world before all this. It was her he worked so hard for. Without her…

Eli put his face in his hands shaking softly. Soon a intruder made her way into his sanctuary. He looked over at her and took a deep breath "Hello Judith…" he said looking back at the screen. The camera had been abandoned on it's side toward the fighting where the rebels had assaulted the remaining combine at the post they had run into. They were able to make quick work of the 3 remaining Combine but were still dragging two of their comrades.

Mossman walked up to Eli she walked up to a few feet away. She spoke with sincerity in her voice but not true sadness "Eli… I came when I heard… Is it true?" Eli loved Judith but he didn't buy the act. Alyx was always a roadblock in their relationship. She felt bad FOR Eli. But she didn't feel bad.

Before he could answer the radio came alive "-BZT- Eli you there?" came the voice of Barney a spy in the combine forces. He was the resistances eyes and ears in city 17. Most recently Eli asked him to moniter the chopper that took Alyx away.

"Yea Barney… I'm here… what you hear?"

Barney was quiet for a moment implying the worse news before he even spoke "The chopper came in about 15 minutes ago. They said they were flying along when the orange suited one pulled a weapon out of nowhere. They began to take control of the copter but… the combine threw them overboard for being too much trouble… I-…" Barneys voice had become choked up "I'm sorry Eli… So… so sorry" he said before his voice gave out "I've got to go… patrol coming by… goodbye"

Then Judith witnessed a sight that no one had seen since the Renaissance Cascade had ravaged the earth. She saw Eli Vance. The leader of the human resistance. Break down and cry.

Chell was slowly brought back from the depths of sleep. She felt like she had been hit by a bat, to the head and back. She was completely out of it. She let out a grunt of pain. She couldn't feel much, it felt like, every part of her body was screaming at her to do something about it. She shook her head from side to side as if to wake herself. That's when she heard a voice.

"Chell… Are you awake?" the voice was calm and caring. She turned her head toward the voice and opened her eyes. Sitting there was Rhys Galaway she was surrounded by what appeared to be a shroud of white. Maybe this was Heaven, her little personal heaven… With Rhys. She smiled at him accepting the lovly fate she was handed. She was about to talk back when she heard another voice…

"Oh thank god your ok lass, thought we'd lost you" the voice was distinctly Scottish and she recognized it from somewhere else. She turned her head to the other side of what she now realized was a bed. She saw the face of the brown hair blue tipped face of the person who launched her through a window "Hello there!" he said with a smile.

Chell's eyes flashed with rage "You son of a BITCH" she launched her body forward, hands in front of her ready to choke the man before her body reminded her that she was in no condition to do a damn thing "GAH!" she fell back in her bed and Rhys chuckled lightly.

"You may want to relax abit lass your still in some pretty bad shape" Rhys said trying to calm her down. Slowly Chell relaxed back into her bed wincing in pain.

The man decided to speak "I'm really sorry lass, I… don't really think things through once I put my mind to it…" he said solemnly looking down. Then looked up with a smile once again on his face "Still I plan to make it up to you the best I can…"

Chell raised a brow incredulous at the offer "What… could you… Possibly do make this up to me" she said shaking her head.

"Well I'll tell you then… I'm gonna become your new best friend!" he said with a smile.

Rage flashed in Chell's eyes but she soon were calm. Her words were absolutely adamant and without emotion "That… will never happen" she said shaking her head

The man just smiled "Aw don't worry you'll warm up to me, names Skye Macalister" He said with his ever growing warm smile "Now I want to get ta know you better but first…. I need you to wake up" he said but his voice had changed somehow.

Chell was confused she looked at him "Wha-… what are you talking about?" she said not sure what he meant.

Skye's response was the same "You need to wake up"

Everything around Chell was quickly changing she shook her head "No… nonononon-"

Chell bolted forward colliding heads with someone. Her head fell back to the ground where it was. She started to rub her head with her left hand eyes clenched. She slowly opened her left eye to see the rebel girl sitting a foot away rubbing her own head. Chell closed her eyes as if to heal her head bruise faster "Christ… what happened" she said still a bit disoriented from the crash.

Alyx looked over to her newly acquired companion still rubbing her head looking over at the girl. She was defiantly in a orange jumpsuit but after all the crap that's happened it had been torn heavily in many different place's. She shook her head at the question "We hit the ground. Hard. But it seems we survived thanks to those… whatever they are" She said stretching abit. She sighed "You fell off balance though, hit your noggin good, you've been out for five minutes or so" Alyx made a nervous look around they were surrounded by trees, they had managed to land in some kind of clearing in the forest, damn needle in a haystack. Chell was beginning to sit up. "I know you injured right now but we need to get you up… fast, were waist deep in combine territory" she said pulling out her new pistol, courtesy of the combine forces. Chell began to sit up going to stand, Alyx reached out her hand to try and stop her "Wait I think you may have sprained your-"

Too little too late. Pain surged through Alyx's ankle as if someone was taking a bat to it. "GAHHHHHH MOTHER OF GOD" the screeching voice probably didn't do much to help keep their location a secret.

"-ankle… great…" Alyx said knowing it was going to be a pain to get around with a injured ally. She looked back at Chell who was reaching for her portal gun. It had survived the slight fall though it probably messed with Chell's back. Alyx was contemplating how the hell they were going to get around when Chell put her weight into the portal gun and stood up. Very shakily but was standing, bearing through the pain.

"Well as much as I feel this is some bad acid trip, we better get moving huh?" she said looking around. Alyx was shocked by her stubbornness. Stubbornness she had only seen in… herself. She nodded and stood up and pointed westward toward Black Mesa East.

"Com'on lets get moving" she said starting to move before Chell fired a portal to the highest tree around them "What are you doing?" she asked curious, they wouldn't need to go back here, certainly not that high.

"Need to start thinking with portals, come on lets mo-" she was interrupted by an electric voice belonging to these 'Combine soldiers'. She turned to the combine soldiers only two men strong

"Stop right there hum-"

He didn't get any farther as Alyx plugged the man with three rapid fired shots into the Combine soldiers head, she leveled her gun at the other one but he soon sank downward. She started aiming downward before she realized he wasn't crouching, he was falling. She saw the bright orange portal he was disappearing into. She turned back to the portal Chell had shot to see the combine free falling from the air. He fell to the ground with a thud. Alyx looked at the combine and smiled "Oh, now I get it, thinking with portals" she started to turn to Chell "I think we'll be fi- Whoa" Chell was holding her side "Christ are you ok…"

Chell looked up to her and chuckled, "Oh, me? No I'm fantastic…" she said sarcastically, "Does this shade of red match my hair?..." she said chuckling morosely she started to walk out of the clearing "Come on we got to move" she said biting her lip and marching through the pain.

Alyx fallowed her pistol out, ready to shoot. She couldn't believe she had let her new… ally? Get Shot. Alyx walked up next to her unwinding the gauze wrapped around her arm "Here, wait a minute, let me patch you up" he started directing her a different way "Come on they'll be lookin for us out here… and if I know one thing about the combine, they look everywhere but their own neighborhood for their enemies"

Eli Vance was sitting in his lab, the still broken teleporter to his left, the multitude of monitors to his right. He was sitting in his old rolling chair staring at an old picture himself, his wife and his child… "Alyx…" he used his open hand to pour a new glass of scotch. He gave it a light swirl in the glass before taking a sip from it. He was far from drunk but he was on the right track. He eventually heard the soft sound of the door sliding open. It was a young rebel soldier couldn't be much older then Alyx is… was… He spoke nervously to the leader of the resistance "Um… Eli… sir…"

Eli spoke with his same raspy voice as he always did, he motioned the boy to the door before he spoke "Eli Vance… is not here at the moment… please come back later" with that he ok another sip of liquor finishing the glass before pouring another. The young rebel may have been weak in the knees but he knew he had to deliver the message.

"I'm sorry sir… It's just… he's back... City 15 says he's about an hour away" this got Eli's attention but he simply shrugged.

"If I've learned anything these last few years is that that man can't be stopped short of a nuclear bomb…" he stopped for a moment in deep thought "Tell the railroad to speed things up, that insane bastard will be a great distraction for them" he said simply "Now please, let an old man grieve… please" The rebel nodded about to leave when eli spoke again "What's your name boy?"

"John Doe sir" he said

"Did you know my daughter John?" he asked turning to the boy

"Yes… We went on missions a couple of times" he said feeling awkward in the mans stare.

Eli nodded motioning the boy to come over to the desk the boy compiled, if a bit uneasily. He sat down on a near by chair while Eli got up and got a second glass "Now listen, your gonna sit there, drink some of this" he said shaking the bottle of scotch before pouring him a glass "And your gonna listen ramble about Alyx for the next hour ok?" he said leaning towards the boy. The boy nodded in response and Eli leaned back into his chair "I remember the day Alyx was born…"

Chapter 3 End

Well as disappointed I am in this chapter I am glad I didn't take a year to post X_X . Anyways if you caught the L4D reference, then good for you. I'll be writing more soon so look out for it. Please Review, it's the only way I know anyone's reading.