Chapter 2: They've Got Hostiles

Ethereal Vanguard Outpost, Musutafu

"So... If the military has mutants after me... What exactly does that imply? Let's analyze the facts here. It's not... impossible to give people superpowers-" Gordon began to scan the two story complex to see if there were any other soldiers that he hadn't dealt with yet.

"-It's just that for that guy to have been shooting fire out of gas nozzles sprouting out of his hands... There would have to be some kind of an advanced cooling system that would prevent his own hands from just scorching the shit out of his skin. And If that's the case, then what is it then? Did they craft a new organ for the guy, if they did, that opens up far more implications. How exactly does 'giving' someone a superpower work then?" Gordon rounded the other side of the building and found absolutely nothing, just another empty concrete floored courtyard with some old shipping containers and gas tanks laying about.

"Nothing, huh? That was the whole party? I don't buy it. I'd better be thorough about this, I don't like surprise parties." Gordon advanced on the courtyard, flagging just about every corner he passed with the MP5. "-Unless we're getting back into that whole 'magic' mindset I had about those demonic teleporters back at Black Mesa. I don't think there's really a way to just 'give' someone superpowers that wouldn't just outright kill them. I guess It really depends on what It is. The human body isn't really built for that kind of pressure. See, nobody ever thinks about these things, but I do. That's why I've never wanted superpowers, because of all the extra powers you'd need just to not instantly fucking die using most of them. At that point, is it even worth it?"

"I always figured that If you did want a superpower. You'd wind up looking like something out of a Dougal Dixon novel. Like how they had to make the Vaccumorphs by genetically modifying them to have an exoskeleton that could withstand the vacuum of space-" Once again, Gordon's search turned up nothing. "Really? This was the big bad assault team they sent to kill me? I mean, the Fireman really shocked me. I'll give them that. But that was It? Those guys I shot acted like they weren't even expecting me! Granted, I'm happy the US Army is apparently running out of resources but... I'm almost offended. Maybe it's like in karate movies, where there'll be a hundred guys, and ninety-nine of them will be completely incompetent but the last guy is a karate grandmaster, and he's the only one who poses a threat to- Okay, I've gotta just take the front door, there's no getting around it." Gordon began to round back around the concrete complex towards the front door, he began to reload his weapons, picking up some of the soldier's magazines on the way over, particularly for the MP5.

"Alright..." Gordon's tone sounded like a teenager being forced to do chores. "Time to play Operation Nimrod..." Gordon approached the front door, which looked to be made of metal, but was so heavily rusted it seemed like a swift kick would be enough to knock it down. Gordon cracked his knuckles before attempting to kick it in with his left foot. Which accomplished nothing besides sending a shooting pain up his leg. "Aghhh! Why did I do that?"

Gordon hunched over, even with traces of morphine and adrenaline running through his system, that still hurt like Hell. "Fine, I'll do It the old fashioned way." Gordon approached the door and stuck a satchel charge against it, before backing away to a safe distance and leaping behind one of the concrete barriers. "Fire in the hole..." Gordon detonated the charge, sending the metal doors flying into the complex.

"Wow, that actually worked this time? I suppose the doors here in Japan aren't built like fucking nuclear bunkers like back at Black Mesa. Welp, once more unto the... rusted breach, I suppose..." Gordon leapt over the barricade and dashed into the building, flashing his MP5 in all directions once he entered the lobby. "Surprise! Who's ready... to... party?" Gordon paused whenever he finally saw, through the smoke, that the building was empty.

"Alright... What the fuck? I swear I saw some of those guys run in here earlier. I thought they'd have like... I dunno, ten guys set up here or something. It could have been like the end of Scarface. Except I'm the one doing the raiding. And I'm not Bolivian... And... I'm not on cocaine either... I mean, not that I'd say no to some, just, not right now. " The main lobby seemed to be completely gutted and replaced with various military emplacements like sandbags, radios, even the skeleton of what was once a gun nest. It resembled Black Mesa to an almost uncomfortable degree.

"Really? No one's here? Okay. Either I'm really sleep deprived or those guys must have some kind of an escape route under the floor or something. I rounded the entire building and I didn't see jackshit!" Gordon began to search the lobby, rounding every corner with his SPAS-12 raised. "Actually, that was a pretty sore subject between me and my landlord back in my old apartment. I dug out an escape tunnel underneath the toilet in case I needed It for... Well, I guess anything. Do you really need any kind of justification for an escape tunnel in your house? If you're in a situation where you have immediate need of an escape tunnel, then you're screwed if you don't already have one. It's too late! That's what I tried to explain to him, but he wouldn't listen."

Gordon made his way up a flight of stairs connecting the lobby to the second floor. He glanced up at the broken skylight above that once housed a large set of windows. Reaching the top of the stairs, Gordon took one look around at the balcony overlooking the main lobby. Empty, aside from some sandbags placed around. "Christ. I apologize for breaking into your magician convention guys! You can come out now! I am thoroughly astonished!" Gordon's shouting echoed off of the empty lobby and lingered for a few moments.

ACHOO!

[Joel Nielsen, Forget About Freeman]

Gordon had barely any time to turn around, before from all sides, gunfire erupted seemingly out of thin air. Shouting out a set of expletive's, the HEV clad scientist hauled ass towards any kind of cover he could find, which came in the form of a concrete pillar off to his left. Bullets peppered the pillar, leaving deep pock marks in its surface and sending concrete dust flying everywhere.

"What the fuck?! Alright! I said I didn't mean to interrupt your sermon! You don't have to jump out of the fucking 4th dimension to scold me!" Gordon leaned out and fired in a random direction but had no time to actually see whether or not his shots hit. He was pinned down. "Jesus Christ, Jesus Rollerblading Christ! Fuckin' suppress me Cap'n!" Gordon leaned out and fired a 40mm grenade off in a random direction. Suddenly, the air started to shimmer as the figures of around 6 soldiers shifted into view, all of them fleeing from the grenade.

"Oh! So you were all invisible!? Fine! If you really don't want people to see your corpses, then fine by me!" Gordon pulled the pin on another grenade and hucked it out, causing another group of invisible soldiers to expose themselves. As they ran from the live explosive, Gordon leaned out and dropped 3 of them with a few well placed shots from the MP5. "Y'know, being invisible isn't exactly all that it's cracked up to be!" Gordon ran towards one of the soldiers blinking in and out of invisibility and dropped them with a shotgun blast, their body was thrown over the edge of the balcony and landed on the concrete floor below. "Kevin Bacon had to wear sunglasses because while he was invisible, so were his eyelids. So you really can't sleep all that well!"

Laying behind a set of sandbags, Gordon unloaded a clip from his Glock 17 towards some of the soldiers who were now advancing from the other end of the balcony. "And even then, you'd still have to walk around completely naked to be completely invisible! So if you get shot once, you're done for!" During his ranting, Gordon failed to notice an outline appear on the wall behind him. Just before the figure could make a move on him though, Gordon got a feeling like something was watching him. He spun on his heel, "Wait... wha-? Shit!" Gordon attempted to open fire on the ghost. But the figure delivered a devastating right hook that sent the now dazed scientist over the railing.

Gordon tumbled down, flailing helplessly before landing flat on the concrete, right onto his shoulder, the wind knocked out of him. On top of that, it felt like he had been hit by a truck, even in spite of the fact the HEV suit had taken most of the impact for him. Still dazed and breathless, Gordon could barely make out the half invisible figure leap down from the balcony, landing hard on the concrete. "Why... Why would they do that...? That's... so bad on your knees..." The figure finally began to come into view. It was a female soldier wearing mostly black and grey military clothes, It sort of reminded Gordon of the ninjas he had fought before. Was she a ninja? Was this revenge for killing her clan?

(Whenever someone else is speaking in a scene, I'll keep Gordon's thoughts in italics just to reduce confusion on whether or not he's actually speaking or not.)

"Keep the guns on him..." The woman ordered in Japanese to her soldiers. Before approaching Freeman, who was still too busy trying to recover from his head bouncing off the concrete floor to even attempt to fight back. "So." She began, kicking the SPAS-12 away from Gordon's grasp, before stepping on his chest. "Who sent you?" The Ninja asked in clear English.

Sent?

"I-I... what?" Gordon shook his head. The woman tilted her head. Scanning Gordon's appearance. "You don't look like no Hero." She commented. Well... Yea! Being a hero was more so about doing things selflessly rather for yourself and Gordon fit absolutely none of those qualifications. But why would she say that so bluntly? "You a part of the League of Villains?"

"League of Villains? What are we, back in recess or something? What's next, Is she going to ask me If I know of Captain Malicious, commander of Team Nasty?" Gordon's lack of a response puzzled the mystery woman. "Man of few words, aren't you? I suppose I can respect that. Still, you coming up in here and attacking us... really It'd just be best If I put you down now like a rabid dog." Gordon tensed up, thinking about drawing and attempting to kill her, but realized that he was completely surrounded again and he wasn't really willing to push his luck again. "The hell kind of Quirk is that you've got anyways? You seemed to take down Axel without a hitch. What's your secret?"

"Quirk? Christ, does she think I'm retarded or something? What does that have to do with killing someone? It was... well, actually I guess It was pretty hard now that I think about it."

The lady shook her head, again, with Gordon's lack of a response. "Ugh. Did I knock your brain out of place or something? All I'm asking Is a- Y'know what, forget this. Bury this prick." Unable to stand, Gordon merely could watch as one of the woman's goons approached and pointed their MP5 at his head, preparing to take the kill-shot. It couldn't end here could it? Really? After all that struggling and escaping Black Mesa, all those counts of self-defense. Just for this?! "This is... such a load of bullsh-!"

"Hell's Curtain!"

A loud, thundering voice erupted from outside of the building, before a wall of flames cascaded from the skylight above, forcing just about everyone to redirect their attention upwards, including Gordon.

"Hell's Kitchen? What? Are we baking something? Is that what this is?" Finally managing to come to, Gordon looked around to see everyone scattering in the building and opening fire on the door, alongside realizing that the building was now being licked by towering flames.

"Alright... I guess I'm in Hell? Wait, does that mean I did die? I didn't see a flash or anything, but bullets travel so fast I probably would even perceive the bullet before it splattered my head like a watermelon. Wait, does Hell look like the last place you died? I haven't read the Bible in a hot minute but... I don't recall that being the case-" More flames licked near Gordon, causing him to leap to his feet. "Yow! Yayaya! Hot! Not again! More mutants! More flames! Its getting hotter! Fuck!"

Grabbing his SPAS-12, Gordon fled to the other end of the room while the rest of the Ethereal Vanguard was pre-occupied, not even bothering to try and stop him. Gordon fled down a hallway deeper into the complex, the firefight he fled from echoing behind him. "Okay! Okay! Lot of questions! Not a whole lot of answers. First of all, seriously, am I dead? I'm just going to work under the assumption that I'm not dead. Second, so these guys aren't with the US Army?! Then who the fuck are they then?! What's even happening anymore?!"

"I'm aware that my presence is causing the universe to fall apart in an attempt to kill me, but I figured that it wouldn't just outright start making shit up in order to win! That's cheating! I'm calling foul on the universe! I want my free throws!" Gordon rounded a corner, before seeing a set of exit doors before him. "Holy shit, get me out of this glorified pressure cooker!" Gordon kicked the doors open, this time not harming his foot, only to realize the backdoor was surrounded. Not only by police officers, but by another odd looking individual, much like the 'Axel' he had fought, and the "ninja" who'd nearly done him in. The man in question, standing among the officers, was Taishiro Toyomitsu or 'Fatgum,' the BMI Hero. A strange man to say the least, but Gordon had seen his fair share of freaks at the circus in his days.

"Stand down, Villain! We have the building surrounded!" Fatgum stood at the front of the police blockade, making a barrier between Gordon and the rest of the officers.

Again, with the lack of translation. Gordon didn't understand a lick of what Fatgum was saying, but the tone didn't sound like it was anything positive for him. "Uh... This... this is the wrong door... Sorry." Gordon said sheepishly, as if he had walked into the wrong boardroom and bolted back into the building. With that, Fatgum and a assault squad of police officers began to move in after him. . "Fuck! I said I was sorry! What more do you want from me? Japan is fucked! I'm glad I never visited sooner!" Gordon frantically made his way up a flight of rusted, metal stairs.

"Okay, stairs, stairs. Maybe I can find roof access and... I don't know. No where is safe anymore. Now there's fucking mutants everywhere. This building is turning into a microwave. And I am but a kernel of popcorn." Gordon's thoughts were getting weirdly philosophical, but what else could he do in a situation as dire as this? Reaching the top flight of stairs, Gordon found himself in a long hallway with a dozen doors to his right, and a large set of stained windows to his left, still letting in sunlight from outside. He could hear the gunfight still ongoing in the lobby below.

Gordon glanced out of the stained glass window and could see more police officers surrounding the complex. "Maybe I teleported into a Japanese version of Waco or something. These people could have been like... a cult, maybe? I dunno, they didn't strike me as being a cult? Extremists, maybe? Yea, and I'm not going to be able to explain to the police that I'm not with them. I mean, even if I could get around the language barrier, what would I tell them? 'No officers, you don't understand! I'm not an insurgent, I was just trying to escape an alien invasion in New Mexico through a giant teleporter physics doesn't yet have an explanation for, and it just dropped me here, in Bumfuck, Japan, with all of these automatic weapons!' Great... What's that whistling sound?"

Gordon's train of thought was interrupted whenever a projectile ripped through the window, just barely missing striking him in the head, and buried itself into the concrete wall next to him. "Gah!" Gordon stumbled back and ducked. "Yea Gordon! Let's stand right next to a fucking window during a police raid! That worked out well for the Weavers! Let's try our luck!" Gordon's attention snapped to the wall right next to him, before realizing that It wasn't a bullet that nearly took his head off, but a red feather, embedded into the concrete wall.

"What the... Fuck? How many reasons is the universe going to give me to say that today?" Gordon got a better look at the absolute anomaly ongoing before him. "How can a feather gain that much kinetic energy to embed itself into fucking concrete...? What...?" Gordon's thoughts were interrupted when a shadow of something with 'wings' passed by the window. Gordon turned around and started frantically looking around outside, though the windows were so dirty, It was hard to even tell.

"Okay, yea. Birds... Never was a bird guy myself..." Gordon began to slowly make his way towards the end of the hallway, still searching, not noticing that the feather he was observing earlier now ripped itself from the wall, before launching itself at Gordon again. Burying itself deep into the back plating of the HEV suit. "AGH!" Gordon began to open fire on just about every angle he could see with the MP5, hoping to get a lucky hit on just whatever was attacking him with feathers. Alongside that, he could hear Fatgum and the police moving up the stairs behind him. He was surrounded and didn't exactly have a large amount of options left.

Gordon ripped the door open at the end of the hallway and dashed in to safety before slamming the metal door shut and locking it. He found himself in a room with roof access, though the doors were locked, and thankfully, there were no windows to speak of. "Fucking! Goddamn, birds! I hate them!" Gordon reached behind his back and pulled the feather out, before throwing it onto the ground and stomping it flat. It wriggled around though like it was trying to get away, but eventually it seemed to fall still.

"Oh God... Ooooh God... Okay... That was terrifying... I am not an ornithologist but... I'm almost certain that no birds have evolved to do that. That would have really changed the tone of Charles Darwin's work. Instead of coming across the Galapagos, the HMS Beagle just runs across fucking Skull Island or something... I need a rest. Surely the metal doors can hold off a mutated bird? And...whatever the hell that dude standing near the police barrier was...Eh, whatever. I have the shotgun..." Gordon leaned against the old, concrete wall and started trying to calm down.

To be continued

"I should have asked those guys for MREs..."

Authors Note: Thanks for the feedback and favorites/follows guys. I appreciate it a whole lot :) Seems like Gordon is in a bit over his head. The 'Ninja' woman will be a more fleshed out character for now, I have plans for the main leaders of the Ethereal Vanguard to become recurring villains for Gordon to have to deal with in general. But yea! Thanks a lot fellas. Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 and I'll see you guys in the next chapter!