Chapter 5: The Right Man

Honolulu, Hawaii

Laboratory of Dr. Isaac Kleiner

"Now, the...'Yorps' as we have collectively began to call them, are believed to originate from an F Class Star system somewhere in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus." Dr. Kleiner gestured towards a slide of the Piscus Austrinus constellation with the star 'Tau' marked by a red circle.

Gordon meanwhile sat at the end of the meeting table, half listening, but mostly watching Kleiner's 'assistant' Benry, slamming himself against the walls and being attacked by a 'Facehugger,' typical Benry. "Now, granted. You managed to destroy the 'Zappers' completely, Gordon." Gordon folded his arms together with a smug smile on his face. Damn right he did, and he'd do it again too!

"With that being said. I believe It's time we begin the test on our local, non-string based teleporter." Yep, non-string based teleporters. Gordon Freeman, armed with the knowledge of both the alien's cross dimensional travels, and the demonic technologies located within the Lambda Complex, had single-handedly managed to disprove string-theory entirely. This had lead to many members of the scientific community, most of whom were Gordon's mortal enemies, dropping out of the field entirely, lamenting the fact that they would never be as intelligent and awesome as Dr. Gordon Freeman. With even prominent figures such as Stephen Hawking, alongside apparitions of the late Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman coming to personally congratulate Gordon for his discovery. Though all In all It IS what he deserved.

CLACK! CLACK! CLACK!

"DR FREEMAN! I will not tolerate your disruptions in this court again!"

Gordon looked around, finding himself sitting in the stand of what appeared to be the Supreme Court. All around him were jeering, yelling crowds of people all pointing towards him, all attempting to spit or hurl objects at him. A man, the prosecutor, glared at Gordon with a look that would burn through metal If It could, before reading from a sheet of paper.

"Dr. Gordon Freeman. You are being tried by the United States Federal Government for the murder of over 500 individuals, ranging from scientists and security guards, to members of the United States Marine Corps. How do you plea?"

Gordon's lips felt dry, he stammered and pulled at his collar. "I-I...Not Guilty. I plea not guilty! It was self defense!"

"YOU MURDERED 500 INNOCENT PEOPLE, DR FREEMAN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!"

The prosecutor nearly blew the roof off of the court yelling at Gordon, but the judge didn't seem to be interested in stopping him.

"There are members of the audience. Wives, Mothers, Fathers, Children. Who will never see their loved ones again. And you pulled the trigger! I could go on and on about the details as well, Dr. Freeman, it was all well documented on camera. Would you like to tell Mrs. Martinez about her late husband's death at your hands? Would you like to tell her children why their father didn't come home that day? You want to tell me that was self defense? And just look at the character of the man standing before us! Countless charges of DUIs, petty theft, drug possession and..." The prosecutor looked at the paper again, as if making sure he'd really seen what he just read, "Beastiality!? How you managed to even achieve a PhD frankly baffles us, Gordon." Gordon began to hyperventilate. Sure, he did kill plenty of the people listed...save for most of the scientists and security guards. But he did all of it in self defense! Why was the court so belligerent about all this? Where was his defense attorney?! And what was that shit about bestiality?! He was a drug addict and a thief, but he was no animal toucher!

"The court will hear the defense for Dr. Freeman now..."

Gordon glanced over to the defense's bench. His attorney was an...odd looking man. He wore a blue business suit and a black pair of dress shoes; he adjusted his purple tie and approached the center of the court. His skin was... an ungodly pale shade of white, almost like he never had even heard of sunlight in his life, it had an unusual clamminess to it, like he was sweating or secreting something, and his features were so gaunt he looked almost malnourished. His hair was slicked back, well cut, the perfectly couffed hair of a man fresh out of law school. His sunken eyes were a steely, blue color, though not blue as a calm, clear sky, but a dark, foreboding blue like the dark depths of the sea. One of his eyes seemed to be lazy, only adding further to his unnatural appearance.

What unnerved Gordon the most about him was that he swore he knew this guy from somewhere, but he figured he would remember this... reptilioid looking lawyer. Maybe he worked at Black Mesa? The man smiled as he stared at Gordon. "My... client... is an inno-cent... mmman." He began, his voice was uncanny, his cadence stilted, so many varying tones, and slipping over words that should have been easy for a man of his caliber, as If he was not only unfamiliar with English, but with human speech itself. "Dr. Freeman..." He looked over towards Gordon... the room went dark, changing from the Supreme Court, to a destroyed version of it.

The United States flag hanging in the room changed to a flag Gordon had never even seen before A golden circle encased by an odd, almost vice grip esque shape that reminded Gordon of a wrench attempting to tighten a bolt. The judge, alongside the audience were replaced by odd figures, soldiers? police, maybe? All of them wearing gas masks, the sound of heavy, almost raspy breathing filled the room, but nothing else, and they were all staring at Gordon.

"You aren-not supp-osed to be here... Dr. Freeman..." the man approached Gordon, who'd stood up from the bench and was trying to back away, but his body felt heavy, almost immobile, "No one man can flee fro-m his own dest-iny..." Destiny? Gordon felt that he was destined for... well, actually he was great already. There was no 'destination,' he had already arrived at greatness. Gordon could feel himself trembling as the man drew closer. He could feel a white light enveloping him. Noises, flashes, finally, the loud sound of a train horn sounded forth...

Training Lodge, Nagano

24 HOURS LATER

Gordon finally awoke, attempting to jolt up in place, but was restrained by a set of Aizawa's binding cloths against the couch. Gordon could feel a line of drool running down his lips but he couldn't wipe it off due to his arms being bound. He panted, his head pounding, as he tried to calm himself down from that second, ungodly nightmare he had, he would have preferred another dream about the swampboat in New Orleans over whatever that shit was.

Though once his senses returned fully, he realized something beyond the headache he had "Ogh... God... I feel like I swallowed 20 kilograms of salt..." Gordon's voice was hoarse and scratchy, having slept with his mouth open for a straight day. His pupils snapped downwards, as the realization finally hit him that he'd been tied up. "Oh... shit...! What happened to me last night...? Not this shit again, man... I've already dealt with memory loss once, I don't feel like doing it again! Stop! Just stooop..." Gordon's attempts at yelling came out as whispers due to his bone dry throat.

"I've awoken in an strange place with barely any recollection of the previous night... that's not unfamiliar... what I am not familiar with is being tied down to a couch with most of my belongings missing. Actually, maybe I am familiar with this. But I'm 90% sure this isn't Marrakesh so..." Gordon was alerted to a scruffy looking black haired man entering the room upon hearing that he was awake. Carrying a plastic bottle of water with him, he took a seat on the other couch across from Gordon and placed it on the coffee table between them. "First off, let me ask-"

"Did you steal my kidneys?" Gordon asked. Leaving Aizawa of all people a bit flabbergasted, completely derailing his train of thought. He stuttered as he attempted to decode why the fuck Gordon would open with a question like that?

He composed himself, before clearing his throat and attempting again to ask, "First off... Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in?"

"Dodging the question huh?" Gordon thought to himself, "Well, he doesn't strike me as an organ harvester, though he does look like a crackhead. And those are the one's who'll do anything for another hit."

He shrugged, "Well, yea. I've known that for the past 2... I guess 3 days now? Honestly, I've kind of lost track of time in the whole ordeal. I've been underground for a majority of it anyways. I still don't really understand why there's such a massive conspiracy to kill me."

Aizawa groaned at Gordon's... flagrant nature of discussing how he'd murdered several dozen people, despite them being Ethereal Vanguard members, alongside wounding two Pro-Heroes and placing several police officers in danger... Not to mention nearly endangering the students he was meant to protect. This man was properly insane. Underground? Conspiracies? What kind of delusions was he laboring under?

"Your actions lead to the deaths of dozens of people, who, despite being criminals, didn't deserve to die without a day in court." Aizawa stated, pointing a finger at Gordon.

"Dozens? Criminals? Have I killed so many soldiers that we're forming penal battalions now like we're the fucking Red Army?"

"Oh, so I don't deserve a day in court then? What about the rest of the scientists and personnel you and your jarhead goons were slaughtering on masse like It was going out of style? You get fair and speedy trials and we get summary executions? I'm acutely aware that self defense with an automatic weapon is a hard sell, especially considering how many people I've killed over the past 3 days. But I'm not going to be lectured by some fucking mutie that what I was doing was completely wrong when you assholes were the ones who started it. I was just trying to get out and go home! You think I was going to reveal government secrets? Hell no, I wouldn't do that because I'd be afraid the government might, oh, I don't know, send people to kill me or something!"

Aizawa's eyes widened. More of this garbage about government conspiracies, and 'scientist killings' that Hawk and Fatgum reported hearing him mention. This man either had a larger body count than what Aizawa was willing to stomach, or he was just a mad man...or horribly enough, It could very likely be both. Deciding to just drop the subject for now, Aizawa produced Gordon's ID and plopped it onto the table. "Explain this." He ordered, Gordon was... confused to say the least, but he wasn't really paying attention to the ID all that much.

"Look... I know the water's probably poisoned because you're a Sicilian or whatever but... for the love of God I'm drying up here..." Gordon hoarsely begged. Aizawa sighed and and stood, bringing the water over to Gordon and feeding it to him, he wasn't about to risk untying this madman again all things considered. Despite how odd it was, Gordon greedily and gratefully chugged down every last drop of the bottle. Panting and coughing afterwards.

"Explain." Aizawa ordered once again, sitting back down. Gordon raised an eyebrow.

Gordon shook his head, "It's my ID card? You want to show your ID next? What is this? Are you playing some kind of mind game with me?"

Aizawa was getting fed up with Gordon's smart mouth and was debating on just putting him down again until the police arrived to cart his snide ass away. Speaking of which, they seemed to be running late on their expected arrival, which was why Aizawa was conducting this interrogation in the first place.

"It says you're a Doctor at a 'Black Mesa Research Facility.'"

"Uh, yea. I'm a MIT graduate. Wrote a dissertation on 'Quantum Mechanics and Its Relation to Shinobi Tactics,' Pretty controversial but I think the committee had it in for me. Though Kleiner seemed to like it, and he got me the job at Black Mesa. You want my interests too? Maybe my favorite color while you're at it? Is this a speed date, you want me to share zodiac signs? Don't you clowns have the NSA or something anyways? I was a government worker, I know you ran background checks on me. Shouldn't you know just about everything I'm willing to allow you to know about me?" Gordon divulged all of this with a smug sense of superiority, Aizawa wasn't impressed and was about ready to club Gordon to boot.

"And how exactly does a job working as a theoretical physicist translate into you murdering several dozen... or several hundred people? You endangered a group of students, you realize that?"

Gordon's thoughts drifted back to that purple haired kid fleeing in terror back in the woods, alongside the fact he was wearing a school uniform, it seemed to track rather well with what Aizawa was saying. "Oh...Well, uh, I mean. I'm sure none of them were hurt right? How was I supposed to know there was a field trip going on? Look, I am a lot of things, but I'm not out to kill anyone who doesn't deserve it, or who didn't start that shit first. I didn't know about any kids."

"They're fine. And you didn't answer my question."

Gordon nodded, giving a quick sigh of relief that he hadn't hurt any of the 'students' that were apparently present during that entire gun fight back in the woods. Gordon could be a self-centered asshole, even by his own admission, but he still had some principles, he hated seeing kids get hurt as much as the next guy, even if he wasn't particularly fond of them.

"Funny enough, It doesn't translate into military expertise, I was just kind of thrown into the position by force honestly. I mean, I had always planned for shit to hit the fan at Black Mesa, there were plenty of times before the experiment I expected it might happen. Do you know how lax our safety protocols were? No, you don't, because administration hid all that crap but good from the government inspectors. See, I had a plan where If I was going to leave the next day? I was gonna wait until riiiight around the end of my last shift, for when one of the security guards, or maybe one of the other scientists went out on their smoke break or...I dunno, I guess meditation break?"

"And I was going to push them over the railing, not to their deaths, I mean... Not if I could help it. Lord knows we have enough bottomless fucking pits to stumble into, just maybe like a catwalk over... Let's just say a 5 foot drop. And then, while everyone's running around freaking out going, 'Oh god! The humanity! Ahhhh!'" Gordon imitated the nasally voice of one of the many scientists, shaking around in his binds as he performed a fake scream, "Trust me, that's exactly how they'd react, I had to work with these people, I figured them out quick. They'd shit their pants from the vending machines breaking."

Aizawa meanwhile had absolutely no idea where this was going, though It was proving all the more what a psycho Lambda was, he just stared at him incredulously as he droned on and on, "-There I would be, loading all the printers and everything I could find into a wheelbarrow. I also had a get-away driver on retainer for it too. But now that I think about It, I didn't really want to have to split the money with them, so I guess I would have either had to kill them or... huh, that's a dead end on that plan, more of a mess then I'd want to deal with. Actually, I could have just had Eddie help now that I think about it-"

Before Aizawa had the chance to knock Gordon out again, the door to the room opened and Ragdoll stepped in. "Oh, he's finally awake. That's fantastic!" Ragdoll said with an ounce of surprise in her voice. Though her tone was so bubbly it was hard to tell. Gordon glanced over towards her and furled his eyebrows in surprise. Aizawa gave a sigh of relief and stood up, allowing Ragdoll to sit in his place, though remaining in the room after whispering something to Ragdoll that Gordon couldn't hear.

"What's with the cat get-up? Is that like a costume or are you really a cat? I mean, I've seen plenty of mutants today, it could go either way, I wouldn't be surprised." Gordon asked, Aizawa and Ragdoll exchanged glances and Aizawa said something that Gordon barely read as 'that is what I'm talking about...' pointing towards him.

With no other words, Ragdoll began to just stare at Gordon, attempting to focus her Search into him. Gordon cleared his throat. "This is... incredibly forward. Not that I'm complaining about it or anything, but uh... never had women this gung-ho with me... What? Is there something on my face? Sorry, can't really do much about that with the restraints." Finally, Ragdoll sighed and shook her head. "Nothing, I can't see anything." Aizawa and Gordon were disappointed for two totally different reasons. "We're still waiting on that police squad to arrive. They said they were supposed to be here around sunrise but I haven't heard anything from them."

On the highway, ironically right near where Gordon was struck by the school bus, sat two police cars, pulled over and riddled with gunshots. The police officers still inside of them were either injured or dead. Several members of the Ethereal Vanguard were looting the cars for weapons and ammunition, and executing any of the survivors they could find. At the center of the raid was the ninja lady, bearing the alias 'Owl,' having escaped from the assault on their outpost by the Pro-Heroes two days ago, with a small contingent of survivors.

They had been tracking Gordon since the attack, wanting nothing more than revenge for the deaths of several of their brothers and sisters in arms. The Pro-Heroes may have been their sworn enemies, and the bigger threat to their operations, but they had their high minded ideals, they took prisoners... That bastard in the armored suit though? He'd just gunned them down and blown them to hell, and that made it personal.

Having intercepted radio transmissions about 'Lambda's' whereabouts being somewhere in the Beast's Woods, they were hot on his trail now. "No sign of Lambda, ma'am. Must have ambushed them in transit." A Vanguard member wearing a pair of goggles, a ballistic helmet, and a mixed variety of a jungle camo patterned jacket and a pair of blue jeans all under a combat vest said. 'Squid,' Owl's second in command, both of them spoke passable Japanese, but had very obvious American accents. With Owl's accent being that of a full blown Texan, and Squid's being centered more in the Midwest. "Hmm... keep checking the road up ahead, I guarantee that SOB crossed the highway here."

Squid gave a thumbs up, continuing to chew on some gum in his mouth, making his way back up the highway and past the ruined vehicles where the rest of the squad was busy swapping guns and ammo. Some of them were ogling the highly decked out shotguns they were pulling out from the trunks. It was a hell of an upgrade compared to the old weaponry most of them were carrying.

Their organization held a deep reverence for the 'Old World,' and so too did it translate into the Vanguard's equipment, with a notable few exceptions, like the gauss pistol Owl carried on her person that fired magnetic slugs.

Most of the Vanguard's weapons were century old designs, but that was how they wanted it. Anything created in 'pre-quirk' society was considered sacred, though not in a religious fashion, but rather an emphasis on honor and dignity. Pure human ingenuity and craftsmanship, a reconnection with what humanity once was, rather than what It was now.

They sought to bring an end to not just Hero society, as some other groups did, but to society entirely, or rather, society in it's current form. How exactly they would achieve that goal though, that was still a mystery, to even their high command. But they all subscribed to the 'Quirk Doomsday Theory,' which stated that as Quirks grew stronger with each generation, the threat to not just humanity, but life on Earth in general grew too. They'd seen the signs, they were obvious to see. Most people were just living in either ignorance or denial of the growing danger.

Despite having members with Quirks, it was hard not to with their prevalence, the Vanguard still kept a heavy emphasis on Quirkless supremacy above all else, they were made to feel like they were defective, cursed, but they were humanity's only hope for a future. "We got a signature over here." Squid called out from nearby, Owl approached to see that a railing on the side of the highway had been torn through by some unseen force.

"Real faint, but the guy got smoked by a bus. Fell off into the woods below." Squid's Quirk allowed him to faintly recollect past events, displaying a very basic reconstruction as to what occurred in the exact same spot it transpired. Sometimes the visions could be unclear, or background events could interrupt what he wanted to see.

On a highway like this there were no shortage of disruption, cars or animals passing by in the same spot. But this time, It was rather clear as to what they were looking for. "You don't think he's dead, do you?" A random Vanguard member asked from behind the group. Owl shook her head and crouched down, looking at the semi-fresh tire skids on the pavement. "If he took Axel down that easy, and managed to wound Hawks and Endeavor? A bus hit ain't shit for him..." Standing up, and satisfied with the intel gathered, Owl gestured for the rest of the squad to get their gear and proceed forth into the Beast's Woods, feeling as If they were inching forth ever so closer to Lambda's position.

Aizawa, having contacted the Musutafu Police Department, was confused about why their patrol hadn't arrived yet despite it being several hours passed on their ETA. Surely even with the League of Villains, the police weren't low on men to come out here and transport one psycho to prison, right? Gordon meanwhile just sat, leaned back on the couch and staring at the ceiling. Aizawa closed his eyes and sighed.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, Gordon glanced back down and raised an eyebrow. He remembered watching something on TV about SERE training, and If you were captured that you should try to NOT break in front of them. But take anything they offered to you like water or food. "I've been running off of Doritos and morphine for the past 3 days. I dunno, Reznor, I might be just a tinge bit peckish, yes. I haven't been starved this bad since I was in fucking Laos." without another word, Aizawa departed the room, leaving Gordon alone, but he didn't feel alone for some reason. He felt like someone was watching him.

"Okay...so...they're watching me..." Gordon thought to himself, looking around the cabin office, he noticed his HEV suit sitting in the corner, though now bisected into two pieces. Similar to that of an astronaut suit, the HEV was split into two segments via an almost hermetic seal around the midsection. It was uncomfortable, obviously though the suit was equipped with a cooling system to prevent heat stroke during work hours. The helmet was meant to fasten on with the help with another scientist. The entire process of donning and doffing the HEV featured a buddy system, though eventually at Black Mesa, a 'sink or swim' mentality was reached, so you were expected to don and check your suit yourself.

"Hey! I know you're all watching me! I've seen the shows before! You're waiting for me to say something incriminating!" Gordon took another cursory look around the office and shrugged. "This is a VERY nice interrogation room though. Better than a lot of the ones I've been in honestly. Yea, this is wood paneling! I bet none of the police departments back home were like this. Reminds me a lot of the prisons in Austria actually." Gordon tapped his feet idly and looked around the room, trying to find something to occupy his attention with while Aizawa was out doing...well, hopefully he was getting him some goddamn food. "I bet Houdini could have broken these binds. But I'm better than Houdini so, what's my excuse?" Gordon leaned down and attempted to bite at his binds, but considering the way they were angled, he more so just looked like an idiot chomping at the air. "Ayahyah!...Fine...Ill wait..."

To be continued

"You couldn't have given me a fucking magazine or something man? Fuck..."