The True Free Man

by The Alamore

When Gordon Freeman accepted the G-Man's deal, he had never expected his next assignment to be placed in another world where humans were hunted down and eaten by giants while backstabbers and undermines plague what remains of humanity. All of it tendering on a world on the verge of collapse and ruin, but the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.

1. Chapter 1 - Shiganshina Inbound

A pitch-black void. A place where space, time and light were non-existent. Not even sound existed in this plane of reality. All that was there was a man. A man who caught the eye of unknown but powerful individuals for his actions in Black Mesa. From instigating the whole Black Mesa disaster and surviving the creatures from Xen and government forces that came to kill him, to stopping the Nihilanth and ending Xen's invasion. He had unknowingly created a large splash within the multidimensional intergalactic community. This man was known as Theoretical Physics and M.I.T graduate: Gordon Freeman.

The black void that Gordon felt like he had been staring at for the past several hours continued to be…. black. Nothing changed, it was like he was asleep; looking at the back of his eyelids. I briefly wondered if this would continue and for how long.

Such a thought spurred something. His head flinched to the sound that echoed around him, a whine of sorts. A deep hum slowly compounded with a low-pitched whine. Gordon Freeman's mind swirled for answers. He felt himself being lurched back as some unknown force threw him across the black nothingness he was imprisoned in.

He was coming out of someone's eye.

"Doctor Freeman"

A gravely, husky voice struggling to form words hummed towards Gordon Freeman. He felt as though he was woken up from a long slumber

"Wake UP…. Doctor….Free-man"

His face suddenly appeared right before Gordon. His wrinkled paled features and unblinking eyes staring directly at his soul. His gaze seemed to pass right through him. He felt naked- more than naked, it was like he had no skin; he felt open, in an extremely uncomfortable way. Despite the unpleasant closeness of the Man in the Suit, he welcomed the change in scenery, anything to break up the monotonous black that purged wherever he was. Peculiar still, he felt as though he didn't have his glasses on yet he could see the Man perfectly.

"I…wish to A-pologise for waking you from your…peaceful slumber. No one is more deserving of a…rest. All your efforts, all of your labour, all your…pain, and all the effort in the world would have gone to waste until...

The Man in the Suit abruptly stopped himself, his brow twisted with confusion. The look on his face disappeared as quickly as it arrived. The Man's wrinkled face disappeared in an instant, though Gordon could still tell he was there by the shadowy outlines of his facial features. Replacing The Suit's face was a room... the familiar Testing Chamber of Sector C Test Labs. Test Lab C-33/a, home of The Anti-Mass Spectrometer, hummed with energy, ready to repeat the Resonance Cascade and purge Black Mesa into Hell again. The Man in the Suit continued.

"Well, your…. hour has come a-gain, and so soon as well"

The Man's face continued to contort, his face becoming transparent as more vivid scenery appeared within him. Gone were the metallic corridors and the sterile testing-labs of Black Mesa, replaced with the beautiful sky of day, its warm orange hue glowing brighter as the sun rose above the horizon. Freeman almost thought the sun was real, given how picture-perfect it looked to the real thing, right down to the glare of its light. He missed the sun and the feeling of being warm.

He felt his being lurched forward as if he was moving back. The sky moving further and further away until the scene came to a halt as he landed on a giant field of grass. Plains of green stretched as far as the eyes could see; small groups of trees and the mountain ranges in the distance broke up the endless void of green. Looking at this lash, vibrant land drew him to the conclusion that he wasn't on Xen anymore, nor did he return to Black Mesa.

Before he could admire the scenery worthy of an artist's best work, he was yanked harshly into something. He felt something sharp dig into him, before wrapping whatever was stinging him around his being. Gordon felt it, he felt as if he was being plugged into something, like his HEV Suit he wore at Black Mesa. Unlike the cold, harsh metal with stiff paddings within it and needles that probed you, this was warm. It was soft, squishy. It felt natural, it felt…. like he belonged in it. He felt.

It was his body.

He felt his familiar flesh and bones locking into his…soul? Soul was the best word to describe 'him' being placed back into his body. Gordon wanted to leap back in shock at the situation, but he couldn't. Though he could feel the nerves within his body, he couldn't will himself move it. All he could move were his eyes. 'What's going on?' was the prevailing question he thought as he felt the weight of gravity pull him down

He was lowered down more and more, right up to the point where his feet sunk into the rich soil below him. The grass that inhabited the plains had grown to reach Gordon's knees. He looked closer at the grass, then to the group of trees amassed beside him. Seemingly stepping out of thin air, The Man in the Suit walked out from the trees and across the grass towards Gordon.

"The Right Man in the Wrong Place Can Make All the Difference in The World"

The Man in the Suit continued, his face characteristically twitching every now and then when it came to pronouncing certain words within the English vocabulary. His eyes, an unnatural shade of blue, light teal and green spiralling around, reminding Gordon of the old children's books he read as a child depicting a Super-Nova or a Nebula.

Gordon seemed to deduce a few things from The Suit's monologue. The Suit seemed to be physicking him up- preparing him for something while simultaneously giving him information about Black Mesa, events that transpired a few hours ago, and leaving cryptic hints about his next task.

"Right….as always- well, most of the…time, Doctor Freeman"

Gordon would have been surprised and taken back by The Suit seemingly reading his mind. However, given what he saw The Suit could do and how he had experienced telepathic communication from the Nihilanth, his subconscious just expected him to accept it, never question like his scientific mind wanted him to. He felt that part of his mind being…suppress in a sense, like a drainage pipe being blocked; no way for his thoughts to process through. His ability to speak too also felt blocked now that he thought about it.

"I-thought I might bring to someplace…. Familiar to you. Not to IMply you're from the middle of nowhere, but somewhere where you might feel….at home'

The Suit gestured to the surrounding landscape. Gordan was just about to open his mouth to ask where they were but was stopped when The Man in the Suit looked to him with a glare.

"I would NOT talk right now… Doctor Freeman. This is an…unfortunate side-effect of your…Stasis"

Stasis? Like cryo-stasis in sci-fi movies? Does that mean he was somehow frozen in time? It certainly felt something akin to how stasis would hypothetically feel like. If so, how long was he frozen for? What even was the side-effect? Gordon looked to The Suit for answers, finding that he had formed an amused expression with a sly grin.

"The ANSWERS will be… revealed in due time… Doctor Freeman"

It looked as though he was about to let out a chuckle, but reframed from doing so. Perhaps out of politeness for Gordon's clueless blight, or to keep his staunch business-like appearance up, Gordon had no clue which one it was, but that was the least of his concerns. Right now, he wondered about their current whereabouts. He already figured out he was safely away from Zen and he was somewhere on Earth, but where though?

"Quite correct….Doctor Freeman…..well, mostly."

The Man in the Suit started to pace around Gordon.

"You see, this is Earth, but at the same time…It's…Not"

Gordon mentally scoffed at more cryptic dialogue coming from him. However, The Man in the Suit didn't react at all, instead opting to continue.

"It-It may have the blue sky, the…. Green grass AND the numerous flora and fauna you ARE custom to….but the FUR-ther you go….the more this….world's DIFFerence will become…apparent"

The Man in the Suit had paced the full circle around Gordon, then faced away from him and off towards the distance. As if on cue, a loud scream of a little girl echoed across the plains. "THEN YOU EXPLAIN TO MAGRATH! SAY 'IT'S ALL MY FAULT'!"

A scream which caused Gordon to flinch in reaction. Whoever the voice belonged to was absolutely livid. Something must've gone incredibly wrong for her to be this angry. A sudden hiss, a noise not too dissimilar to a tram door opening, came from behind The Suit. A vertical stream of light came to existence behind The Suit, expanding outwards to form a door of pure blinding light. The Man turned towards it and started to walk into it.

"QUIck-ly now Doctor FREEman. Let us not…waste time"

A sudden weight pushed Gordon downwards. He stumbled forward to catch his balance and- Wait! He stumbled! He righted himself up! He could feel! Gordon willed his arms up towards him, and sure enough, his arms obeyed. He looked down at his hands, open and closed them and touched his thumbs with his fingers. He found no stiffness nor any biological lag between his brain and his fingers. His legs and other appendages were completely functional as well. It seemed several theories about the side effects of stasis, theories such as hypothermia, development of ulcers and sores, physical deterioration and disabled cognitive functions, were just now debunked. Although, most sci-fi authors and some scientists based their own versions of stasis with manufactured cryo-freezers, never in a black void somewhere between time and space…

"DOCtor Freeman"

Gordon ceased testing his recently reacquired body and looked towards the door of light, where the Man in the Suit stood before it's entrance, staring at Gordon with an irritated look.

"Do hurry plEASE. I do not wISH to leave you here…nor take away your….control aGAIN"

As if the possibility of being left in the middle of nowhere wasn't a threat enough, now The Suit was threatening to take away Gordon's bodily functions again. Without a moment's hesitation, Gordon quickly followed behind The Suit. The Man in the Suit didn't thank or acknowledge Gordon's rapid response, instead, he turned around and walked through the blinding door. Gordon hesitated to enter it, finding the light a bit too harsh on the eyes for him to see. So he closed his eyes shut and walked through it with outstretched hands, hoping he wouldn't smash into anything.

It took only a few steps before Gordon felt something yank his chest back. He reflectively brought his arms to his chest and open his eyes to search for whatever stopped him. He expected to get blinded by the pure white light, but he found that he was no longer in the door. He was back in another pasture of grass, this time a tiny bit closer to forests and mountains. He couldn't find what stopped him. It wasn't The Man in the Suit, he was standing a few feet away, staring at a small hill before the two of them.

Curiously, The Suit at staring silently atop the hill. Gordon followed his line of sight and let out a soft gasp at the sight above. "And I'm the same! I need to get back alive!" A girl atop the hill screamed.

There were three children atop the hill by the lone tree atop it. Two were engaged in a bloody fight, while the other stared at the duo in silent terror. None of them had noticed Gordon or The Suit standing a mere meters away from them. The brunette child was paralysed by the sight of the two others fighting, the blonde girl was too busy beating the tar out of the blonde boy, and the blonde boy was too busy getting the tar beaten out of him by the blonde girl.

Gordon watched in silent horror as the girl continually kick the blonde boy over and over again. He watched as blood and teeth were thrown into the air with her brutal force. Hard thumbs became wet crunches as her beating continued. All he could hear was the girls frustrated screams, and the blonde boys wheezing and labouring breath. "You were supposed to die a minute ago, right?! If you're feeling bad about it, then die right now" the girl cried out.

Try as he might, Gordon could not move a muscle to rescue the boy. He thought of screaming at the girl to scare her into stopping, but he froze when the warning that The Suit had given him of the side-effect of stasis ringed in his head.

The Suit again looked towards Gordon with a knowing look. He also moved a hand to gesture to Gordon, telling him to silently wait. Gordon had no choice now. He had to stare silently at the beating in front of them. Thankfully, neither of the two had to wait for long.

The girl's screams pattered out, quickly being replaced by struggling wheezes. Sweat now ran freely from her face, dripping off her brow and nose. Her kicks, once had a furious strike to them that looked like she could break stone, were now half-hearted taps to the blonde boy's torso. She did have one good bout of energy to perform one more powerful kick before she gave up. "Take the blame and die!" she screamed as she sent the kick right into the chin of the boy.

Said kick launched the boy into a rolling motion. Going down the short hill, just missing The Suit and stopping just before the feet of Gordon.

Gordon looked down at the boy in concern. He looked up towards his assailant and the bystander, finding the former had her back towards him and the latter staring at the girl with confused sadness. They still hadn't noticed them. Good, that gave Gordon plenty of time to help the boy and get him away from here.

He lent down to the boy, being as silent as possible as to not alert the boy's attacker. Considering how powerful those kicks were and where she had kicked the poor boy, it was safe to say the girl knew martial arts. That made Gordon a bit nauseous and apprehensive to face her. It might have been pathetic to be scared of a little girl, but seeing how she wasn't afraid of outright killing another child and Gordon's poor past experience with hand-to-hand combat, Gordon would say it was well justified.

He bitterly remembered the two H.E.C.U troopers who ambushed him and wiped the floor with him using hand-to-hand combat, and how that almost cost him his life. It was funny. He could kill countess scores of soldiers and aliens with weapons he, or any other human, had never held before in existence, yet two privates took him down with several kicks and punches. Give Gordon a tool and he'll use it to it's greatest potential but give him his own two fists and he'll somehow punch himself.

Right now, the best course of action was to escape with the boy and put as much distance between him and the other two. He could easily lose them in the nearby forest. The girl and browned haired boy looked almost ready to pass out at any given moment. Gordon doubt they'll give much of a chase if he bolted with the boy. Hell, he didn't even need to run. He had a man who can instantly teleport!

Gordon looked towards The Suit, still stationary and watching the scene before him, and conveyed his plans to The Suit via his thoughts. Unfortunately, The Suit stared at Freeman with an indifferent look before turning away back to the duo on the hill. Perfect…. It looked as though Gordon was legging it.

Gordon kneeled before the boy, trying to find a way to pick him up without causing more damage to him. Given how profusely he was bleeding and how weak his breaths were, there had to be a lot of internal damage. Gordon felt sudden weight within his gut at the thought of the child dying right before him, or him causing his death if he were to move him.

He hesitantly gripped his shirt to try and gently move him. The boy flinched and stirred under his gasp. Gordon opened his mouth to tell the boy to calm down. That was when steam started to pour out from the boy's wounds.

Gordon reactively pulled away from the boy, staring with wide eyes at the steaming wounds. He further backed away when they started to close on their own. He was only two steps away from the boy when he rolled around towards Gordon. The blonde boy, through his less damaged eye, looked from Gordon's feet and up towards his head, where he looked into Gordon's eyes. It took a second for the young boy to register that someone else besides his attacker and the bystander was with them. Someone which caused the boy to gasp in surprise and scurry backwards. "Wha-wha shee hell!?" the blonde boy screamed in confusion and fright through broken teeth.

The other two children quickly took notice, and they took leapt back in surprised fright at the sight of Gordon and The Man in the Suit. Gordon watched as the blonde boy stumbled onto his feet and joined the other three children as they all backed away from him and The Suit. The tallest out of them looked like he was about to pass out at the mere sight of them while the other two looked prepared to flee or jump at them, though the blonde boy was a little less so due to his recent beating. "Reiner! Annie!" the tall one yelped out.

"S'ere shoushes be anyone shis far out" the blonde boy known as Reiner stuttered.

Reiner tumbled within his jacket until he drew out a small blade. It wasn't a combat knife, given its size, it was more akin to a survival knife. To the surprise of Gordon, the boy threw the knife to the girl, who caught it without even looking at it. Gordon was completely stunned by this action. The boy was nearly beaten to death not two seconds ago, and now he had sided with his attacker and had even given her a knife to use. Instead of brandishing the knife towards them, the girl instead pressed the blade against her palm, drawing a slight drop of blood.

Gordon turned to the Man in the Suit to ask a question about the children. The words never formed in his mind as the look the Man gave to the children opted him to remain quiet for his own survival. The children as well stopped their advances, the two blondes now opting to panic while the tall one almost fell to his knees at the glare of the Man in the Suit. With a huff, the Man adjusted and tightened his tie and spoke in an eerie manner.

It's seems we are….out of time"

The telltale sound of The Man's door of light told Gordon it was time to move on. Gordan cast a sidewards glance at the children, seeing their unmoving eyes and stilled poses told him that the Man in the Suit had stopped time. Figures. A man who can teleport through space and time must have several abilities involving time. Gordon briefly wondered what other tricks he had up his shelves. Without any hesitation this time, Gordon walked through the door of light. Now the land around him, once alive, was replaced with lines of grey brick, motor and timber buildings and cobbled streets that rocked from side to side. There was railing not far in front of him, through the gap he could see water splashing upwards from below. Gordan's attention was brought back to the man responsible for sending him here when he signed in front of him.

"I aPOLGise…. Doctor Freeman, I was hoping for us to have a little…. private conversation. However, given how LATE you are…It is best if we continued this conversation elsewhere."

The Man in the Suit gave Gordon a smirk.

"Later this week…PERhaps?"

With that remark, The Man in the Suit started to move backwards, without moving his legs at all. He was simply sliding towards the Door of Light, phasing through the railing and hovering over the churning waters below. All while staring Gordon in the eye.

"So long, Doctor Freeman. PLEASE take care…and wake-up from the ashes….and rekindle the world anew"

Once last cryptic sentence before the Door of Light closed on Gordon, sealing The Suit away. As the door shut and The Suit spoke his parting words, a sound akin to the soft rumbling of the ocean waves reverberated through Gordon's ears. It rose in volume until the door finally shut when it all came crashing down into an assortment of new sounds. Soft splashing, a metallic cranking noise, the sound of the hustle and bustle of a city and the aching groan of a moving ship. Even his other senses were bombarded with new sensations. He smelt the moist wood below him, he felt the surface he was standing on rock back and forth, and he tasted the dry air. It felt like a moderate type of day. He looked up at the sky to see the position of the sun. He found it to be late morning to afternoon, as opposed to the early morning glare he saw only just a minute ago.

Gordon took in more of his surroundings. He motioned forward to gasp at the wooden railing before him. He looked down to see churning blue waters below. It seemed as though he was on a boat of sorts. He looked above the boat to see it attached to a chain that ran the length of the river, elevated over by pillars that ran the length of the chain by twenty-meter intervals. Both ends stretched far beyond either end of the river.

He then looked outwards, toward a great city with European architecture. Gordon couldn't say for certain what century they were made in, but he did know they were old buildings. It seems The Suit had dropped him off at some old European town, though it wasn't a city Gordon ever knew nor heard of. After all, there weren't any cities he knew about that were surrounded by monolithic walls. Gordon stared in awe at the towering walls, their grey cobbled walls reaching high into the sky. Mighty bulwarks jittered outwards, strengthening the solid wall at every several meter intervals. All of it stood at an impressive and towering height. Gordon had to guess they were properly 40 meters high or even taller than that!

Gordon couldn't comprehend the amount of manpower needed to make such a monument. He didn't know how old these walls were, but if they surrounded a town filled with old European builds, that meant this monument was old. Questions racked his mind. What were those walls for? Who made them? How long did it take?

From his understanding of history, nothing this monumental was made without a good reason. All big walls throughout history were designed to keep someone out or in. The Great Wall of China to keep the Huns out and the Wall of Berlin to keep the East and West separated were just a few examples Gordon could think off of the top of his head. Using that common factor in history, Gordon now had a solid basis to base his theory on. He couldn't come to a solid conclusion just on speculative theory though. He needed hard evidence.

Gordon looked up once more at the walls. Not only did they looked like the definition of strength, but it felt like an aura of solidarity and safety surrounded it, but Gordon felt something else about it. Having such mighty walls surround you and the city you are in wherever you look, it felt almost as if he were in a cage. Trapped behind a mass of rock and motor with no viable escape.

Gordon swallowed down that bitter thought and moved on to more pressing matters. While he wanted to find more information regarding the walls, their creation and purpose, Gordon needed to find out why he was sent here, and who were those children. The beaten boy with his steaming and seemingly self-regenerating wounds came to the forefront of Gordon's mind. Was he alright? Why was he working with his attacker? Why were they out in the middle of nowhere?

Gordon was too enamoured by his inner thoughts that he didn't realise he wasn't the only one present on deck. "Where did you come from? I didn't hear you coming out of the cabin" A man a few feet away from Gordon asked.

Gordon flicked around to see two men sitting on a bench attached to one of the wooden walls of the boat. His companion beside him barked at him, "Does it matter Butch? The ferry's gonna dock now. Don't know why you would care…"

The man looked to his comrade with a slight glare. "Sorry. Just didn't hear him come through the door, that's all. Startled me".

His companion replied with a gruff and grumbled voiced, "You and your paranoia Butch"

"I told you before! Every time I get it, something really bad happens. That flood that killed half that town! That Garrison raid! The Plague!" The man continued to ramble on.

Though his friend was rolling his eyes constantly and ignoring him, Gordon listened in with intrigue. The words he instantly locked onto were 'Garrison' and 'The Plague'.

The man, Butch, said 'The Plague'. The only plague that was a household name and could be easily tied to the moniker of 'The Plague' was The Black Death from the 14th century, yet this man talked about it as if he were there to witness it. However, the mention of this plague could mean there was a localised plague that occurred here not too long ago. This confused Gordon, as he had never heard of any place like this getting a plague over the news. The city didn't look like a first world country, but it wasn't a third either, so they might've had some decent healthcare to combat a plague. If the man's tone when he exacerbated the plague was any indication, it was something big.

Another subject Gordon noted was the Garrison. Was it another word for the police force here? Why did they use such an outdated and strange term to detail their law enforcement? Gordon rubbed his temples in slight frustration. This place didn't make any sense so far.

Gordon looked back up. There was no more responses from either of the two men. Gordon was about to move to find a seat next to the men when he felt a sudden shift on the boat. Chains groaned and clicked before they fell silent. The momentum had stopped, along with the boat as it came to the only building along the city's canal that arched out over the lip of it. Gordon looked with keen interest as someone in a crisp brown uniform and trench coat came upon deck along with a crowd of people. "Here it is folks! End of the line! This is the last stop for South Bound Ferry. Before you exit the ferry, please check that all of your personal belongings are accounted for".

Another noise of chains clicking and clacking together came from the building. The wall of the building slowly came down towards the boat and connecting with the lower deck of the boat. It was a drawbridge. "Thank you, and have a safe day" was the man's final words before he retreated to a group of men and women dressed similar to him.

The two men besides Gordon got up and made their way to the lower deck. With no other direction given, Gordon followed the two off of the boat. Going down to the deck and as he crossed the draw bridge, Gordon took a moment to look around, trying to see any other worthwhile sights of the city. It seemed as though the massive wall would be the city's only wonder for now.

Gordon and the passengers were ushered across the bridge by the announcer's men. As soon as they crossed, they were left to their own devices. Gordon decided to go with the flow and follow the crowd through the building. A ferry station Gordon figured.

The interior was large with the exit/entrance having a large open concept with its decorative archways leading to the outside world. Gordon had noted that the building was rather sparse in the indoor lighting department. No overhanging lights or even a terminal screen depicting other departures and arrivals within this large building. Gordon imagined it would've gotten really dark in here by nightfall. As he glanced around the building in search of any lights, Gordon instead found torch scones on the brick wall. Gordon initially thought it was a decorative addition to the building until he saw the black soot-stained on the wall above it. Gordon was a bit perplexed by the building using torches but paid no mind to it as he exited the building.

Only when he ventured outside did he know something was differently wrong. It turns out the architecture wasn't the only thing that was based on the late renaissance era. Everything else seemed to be. The clothes the people wore were simple linin and wool clothing. Not too dissimilar to the common archetype of what the lower classes of 16th century Europe wore. The only diversity found between the people were the different colours they wore or how clean they were. There were no powerlines or any form of electricity or electronic devices around. The only technological device he could found was the gas lamps dotted around the streets. The most glaring was the lack of modern transport. What he did saw instead was horse drawn carts. He stared gobbed smacked as several wagons holding creates rode past him. Gordon watched in awe as one of humanity's faithful animals strode past him. Gordon shamefully had to admit that this was his first time being near a large animal such as a horse. As a kid and even as a young adult, he never did travel much in rural areas or had any experience with animals. Most of his holidays involved venturing to the different science institutes around the world to witness the places where humanity's greatest scientific accomplishments were discovered. Never going to the countryside or a farm to look at and ride large animals. The only closest experience he had to that was wrestling with a Bullsquid and bludgeoning it to death with his crowbar.

Once the wagons had cleared the cobbled street, Gordon unsurely walked across it and into a marketplace of sorts. His confusion about the lack of modern technology in this city was wracking his mind, and he ventured around in a vein hope of finding out why this was the case, and why he was here.

He wandered around aimlessly looking from stall to stall, building to building and street to street to search for something. A reason he was brought here. Alas, all he was met with was signs displaying what looked to be Asian words, stall vendors hounding him to sell him their wears and people giving him heated glares as he walked by. He didn't know why that was the case, but he had a theory it was due to his clean clothes. A simple white button shirt and a pair of blue jeans and brown shoes. The people seemed to be on the poorer side of life, with the ragged wears and stained clothes, and seeing something well off like Gordon must've put a foul taste in their mouths.

He walked for what seemed to be half an hour before he managed to reach the other side of the city he was in. He had entered another plaza with a fountain in the centre of it. What was special about this place was the fact it was right beside one of the giant walls that enclosed this city. Gordon curiously walked to it, brushing some plant growth that grew on it and pressed a palm on its surface. Finding the texture rough, coarse and warm to the touch. That was strange because it was only now that the sun shrined over this side of the Wall. Not to mention it wasn't hot enough to heat the stone of the wall to this temperature. Gordon removed his hand and looked down at his palm. "What the-GAH!"

Gordan doubled over as an unbelievable pain flared in his throat. It felt akin to knives stabbing into his larynx and sandpaper scraping across his oesophagus. He fell onto his knees, with his hands grabbing his throat in a vain attempt to try and rid the pain. Wet, nasty coughs suddenly came out along with raspy gags. Gordon even started to salivate as well, much to his discomfort. He hastily swallowed it down, hoping it would cool down the pain; only to let out a short cry as the taste of copper assaulted his palette. He cried out as he spat out droplets of blood all over the pavement. It took a few moments of constant dry heaving for the pain to subside. All it did was transfer the pain to his temples. He threatened to growl but remained silent in fear of flaring his throat again.

Unfortunately for Gordon, his coughing fit had dragged attention to him. "Oi! Buddy! You lost?"

Gordon flicked his sight towards whoever called out to him. A male voice. He blinked the tears away from his eyes and saw a group of uniformed men and women huddled near a dilapidated fountain. They were all wearing matching uniforms. A thick brown jacket with a rose and thorn emblem on their left breast pocket and both shoulders. White pants and knee-high boots were also a part of their ensemble. The only thing to tell the difference between their uniforms were the different shirts that they wore under their jackets. They were all seating or leaning on the lip of the fountain. Some of them had removed their boots and were lounging with several open wine and beer bottles. "Goddamnit, 'nother drunk idiot" one of the two women in the group slurred at Gordon.

"Then he'll fit right in with you lazy buggers!" Gordon turned his head to the left to see a disgruntled shopkeeper yell at the uniformed drunks.

One of the rounder ones took a quick swig of his bottle of liquor before he shouted back, "Fuck off Matto! Maybe if you sold some booze, you would enjoy our patronage!"

"This is a bakery you lollygaggers!" the shopkeeper rebutted.

Sure enough, the shopkeeper was standing before a warm coloured shop with freshly baked goods displayed by the door. The uniformed man didn't seem to care, waving the man off. "I heard yeast or something bread has made a good beer" one of the uniformed women said.

Her statement caused the shopkeeper to grumble and waved the group off. "Bloody drunks. How you lot were allowed to join the Garrison is beyond me!" Gordon heard him shout before he retreated inside his bakery.

Gordon looked towards the uniformed group of drunkards. So these were the Garrison the man on the ferry referred to. Not the most organised nor professional bunch. Hell, even a drunk Barney was more professional than they were. Pain flared again in his throat and Gordon made the worst croaking noise he could make. A coughing fit soon followed, then speckle and blood. "Oh Walls, the bastard's bleeding from his mouth" Gordon managed to hear over his coughing fit.

Gordon managed to calm his body down, allowing him to stop his coughing and spit out a pool of bloody forming in the back of his throat. "Got in a fight did ya?" a closer voice asked Gordon.

Gordon snapped his head upwards to find a scruffy and tall blonde officer standing over him. His cheeks were flash with red and he stunk of alcohol. A notable feature of the man was the dark and sparse moustache on his upper lip. The man had a hand holding a bottle, with the other one on his hip. "Dumbass, look at 'em. The man looks like a stiff breeze could knock him down. I wouldn't call his scuffle a fight. More like a beat down" one of the Garrison officers over by the fountain yelled out.

Gordon huffed at their berating and reddened in slight anger. If only they knew the fights he was just been dealing with for the last several hours at Black Mesa and Xen. "Yeah, that's about right" The scruffy blonde agreed with his comrades.

Gordon glared at the man but was then startled when the man handed him the bottle of liquor in his hand. "Here bud, have a sip" he offered.

Gordon's mouth watered at the sight of the partially full bottle and his throat begged him for the added lubrication. Hastily, Gordon grabbed the bottle and took a sip of the liquor inside but not before nodding in thanks to the blonde officer. His taste buds tingled at the taste of the cheap bitter beer that sloshed in his mouth. He swallowed it down, then processed to spit it out when the liquid burned his throat to sunder. He splattered in all over the ground. Tears pooled in his eyes but he could see that a lot of the stuff he spat out was more blood than beer. The officer's half-lidded eyes widened at the sight. "Well shit. That's a lot of blood. This is serious" The blonde scruffy officer murmured.

Gordon wheezed again and nod in agreement. He felt a tap on his shoulder and the stench of alcohol increase. "Alright buddy, come here" The blonde officer had kneeled down to him and hooked an arm under Gordon's own.

He rose with Gordon being lifted along. Gordon felt a slight dizziness to rising up, but he was steady on his feet. "You all good to walk?" the blonde asked.

Gordon gave a steady nod and unhooked the blonde's arm from under him. Gordon stood beside the blonde. "Good, let's get you to a doctor" the blonde officer announced. "Hopefully Yeager hasn't skipped town already" Gordon heard him mumble.

The officer walked past his group, taking another bottle of beer and asked them to save some for him then he gets back. Gordon silently followed behind. A few blocks of travel later, and his throat was feeling better but still stung like hell. "Names Hannes. What's yours" the blonde officer, now known as Hannes, curiously asked.

Gordon just wetly coughed in response and shot him a look as to ask 'Really?'. "Right-right. Can't speak because of the coughing and blood. Sorry about that…" Hannes murmured.

An awkward silence came upon them. The only thing feeling the dead air was the hustle and bustle surrounding them as they travel from street to street, working their way through the maze that was the city surrounded by colossal walls. "You live here in Shiganshina?" Hannes tried to fill the dead air with another question.

So this city was called Shiganshina. A strange place Gordon had never heard of. Yet again, Gordon rarely travelled about nor paid attention to outside news. Black Mesa tended to do that to most of its inhabitants. What with government-sanctioned experiments, endless MDAs and classified material were being handled, there was no wonder most people didn't have any investment in the outside world. Gordon shook his head to Hannes. Hannes nodded in understanding. "Figured. You look like a Wall Rose type. Ain't got enough dirt on ya" Hannes joked.

Gordon silently nodded in turn but was more focused on what he said about 'Wall Rose'. So that was what the colossal wall that surrounded the city was called. A strange name for something so grandiose, but he had to admit it was a step up from naming it something generic like 'The Great Wall of Shiganshina'. "Yeah. We don't get many visitors or tourists here in the ass-end of Wall Maria. Mainly just people who lost their fortune in Wall Sheena or some petty criminals on the run from the gangs in the Undercity. Doubt you're anyone of those. You're too much of an egg-head to be a criminal and you still have your shoes to be a poor bastard" Hannes explained.

Gordon did a double take at the news. There were two more walls like this one? And this wall wasn't Wall Rose but Maria? There was also another city called the Undercity? Why was it called that? As far as Gordon can recall, there was no city on Earth called the Undercity. Gordon immediately remembered what the Man in the Suit had said that this was Earth but at the same time it was not. A pit formed in his stomach as Gordon realised where he was. Was this an alternative version of Earth? Like alternate dimension theory? "Sorry 'bout that. I meant The Underground. Undercity is a nickname we picked up around here. More…grand than The Underground. Nothing grand about it though. Heard it was a shithole. Fun fact, another nickname for it is 'The King's Shithole'!" Hannes laughed.

Gordon quirked an eyebrow in question, wondering why Hannes apologised and elaborated on The Underground but he realised that Hannes must've mistaken Gordon's confused and stunned expression as a question about the name Undercity. As Hannes finished his previous sentence, they had rounded a corner and onto one of the cleaner streets of Shiganshina. One of the buildings that caught Gordon's attention had a sign attached to it. A sign hung out over the street; its form was an iron staff with snakes coiling around it with stretched wings crowning atop the head of the staff. It was a Caduceus. "There's Yeager's place. Come on, let's head inside" Hannes declared.

Hannes led the way through the doctor's doors, passing through the empty seats of the waiting room. Gordon expected Hannes to walk up to the front desk and talk to the clerk but instead walked past the desk and towards a seat of wooden double doors further into the office. Gordon when froze on the spot in reaction to the blatant disregard for the code of conduct in a hospital. He however relented and followed Hannes when he saw the clerk simply glanced at Hannes and went back at her book, totally uninterested. Gordon guessed it was because Hannes was a part of the Garrison that it allowed him to bypass certain procedures.

They went through a maze of mortar and timber hallways till they came upon a doctor's office. The rough and ragged desk and chair were empty and there was no sign of anyone in here. "Oi-oi-oi! Grisha! You in here? Got someone who's bleedin' from the mouth here!" Hannes shouted in the office.

Gordon winced at the volume of his voice and a crash coming from the back of the office. "By the Walls Hannes!" a young voice shouted out from one of the doors in the back of the office.

Coming out from the doorway came a disgruntled young man with orban hair and a clean-shaven face. The young man was grabbed in simple but clean clothes. He stormed over to the duo but primarily focused his glare at Hannes. "The hell you want, you drunken idiot?" The young man demanded.

Hannes grumbled and cursed under his breath. "Shit, so Grisha bailed out of town huh?" Hannes mumbled.

The young man turned up his nose and crossed his arms. "Lucking man I would say. You could be resting at an inn someplace far away from fools and drunkards" The young man not so subtly implied as he glared at Hannes.

Gordon cringed at the sight between the two men. Feeling the animosity around them was making him nervus and uncomfortable. It further increased when the young man turned his heated gaze towards Gordon. "So, who's your friend? He isn't like one of your regulars. Another one with alcohol poisoning or some idiot you dared to do something stupid?" he bitterly asked.

Gordon shot a nasty glare at the young man. Such a simple act alone caused the young man to recoil back, his glare replaced with a startled expression. Gordon didn't care if the man thought he was Hannes' 'regulars', he wasn't going to take his accusations sitting down. Hannes, who didn't react too much to the young man's bitter remarks, laughed when Gordon glared at the young man. "Haha! Still got some bite in ya huh? Don't start throwing punches at Karl. A damn stiff breeze could've knocked the life clean out of him" Hannes laughed.

The young doctor, now known to Gordon as Karl, puffed his chest and pointed towards Hannes. "Shut up Hannes, or I won't take care of you or your thug friend!" Karl threatened.

Hannes threw his hand sup in surrender. "Calm down Karl. Just met him like thirty minutes ago. Tourist who picked a fight with some poor bastard" Hannes laughed.

Karl looked towards Gordon with a judging look. He looked sceptical of Hannes' explanation, but after looking at Gordon up and down and realised Hannes was being truthful. Gordon hypothesised he came to the same conclusion as Hannes earlier: that Gordon didn't have enough dirt and grim on him to be a Shiganshina resident. "Fine, I'll look at him, but since he's a district foreigner, he needs to provide financial compensation for any treatment" Karl explained.

Gordon pated the pockets in his pants and then turned them outwards. Nothing. Not even a speck of dust. Gordon looked towards the doctor and officer sheepishly. "Fucking Hell, major's really bulging people after that Plague scare. How long ago was that fiasco? Two? Three months? Ah, anyway, bud here got robbed it seems, so could at least put it under a tab or something?" Hannes suggested.

Karl huffed and upturned his nose. "This isn't a bar, you drunkard. This is a hospital. Unlike the crusty dank den you live in, this is an actual building with rules and regulations. We don't allow any vagabonds or any…" Karl briefly looked at Gordon "…unsavoury people, into our services unless they're in dire need" Karl informed.

Hannes huffed in annoyance. "Come on Karl, the man's coughing up a lung. Literally. There was blood and everything. Don't believe me? Go to Pig Square. He left a trail of blood from there to here" Hannes exacerbated.

Gordon quickly helped out by producing a wet cough. A mistake however as it started a coughing fit that took the breath out of Gordon's lungs. No blood came out, but it stilled hurt like hell. Hannes roughly pat Gordon's back while Karl winced at the noises Gordon was making. "Fine. Seems serious enough. I'll check him but I can't guarantee an exception. If it's serious enough, I might" Karl declared.

Karl moved away from Gordon and Hannes and towards the old desk. Doctor Grisha Yeager's desk, Gordon guessed. Karl rummaged through one of the doors and pulled out a small stack of papers. He also pulled one of the foundation pens located in his breast pocket. "Before we start, I need some personal information. Standard for all non-residential visitors. Name, age, date of birth, current residence, postal address. The lot please" the assistant doctor requested.

Gordon took the foundation pen and form. Placing them on a nearby table and sitting on one of the wooden chairs, he moved to fill out the form as quickly as possible. The sooner this is filled, the sooner the doctor will fix his throat. Only Gordon couldn't fill it out, as he saw the instructions on the form were written in what seemed to be Japanese or Chinese. Now that Gordon thought of it, he had seen the same symbols all around the city. Sign postages on shops and flyers dotted around the place, the strange lettering was prominent here. Where was he to write the information? He looked pleadingly at the doctor. "By the Walls, name here" Karl pointed to a blank space.

Gordon nodded in thanks and wrote his name down. He heard Karl curse under his breath as he finished writing. "What the hell is this? Sir, please take this seriously. Please don't scribble on the lines and actually write" Karl huffed, yanking the form from Gordon.

He thrust another form into Gordon's hands, which Gordon then processed to write his name out again. Much to the annoyance of Karl it seems. "I swear Hannes, is he one of your illiterate drinking buddies you dared to drink out of a broken bottle?" Karl berated Hannes.

"What!? Nah, he's just some random guy me and guys found wandering around the square. Man looked utterly clueless and even committed a felony right in front of us" Hannes nonchalantly chimed.

Gordon paled and panicked. He frantically looked at Hannes and mentally questioned himself. He committed a crime? The hell did he do?! As far as he knew, he was a law-abiding citizen! What was it? Did these people have a law against some ridiculous things like not speaking or making eye contact!? "And you didn't arrest him?" Gordon's thoughts were halted by Karl's question.

Gordon looked at Hannes with bated breath. Wondering too why the officer hadn't arrested him. Maybe he was heading to the jailhouse after this? To Gordon's utter relief, Hannes just shrugged in disinterest. "Nah. Too much effort and paperwork to sign the guy in the cell for touching the Wall. Besides, everyone one in this whole place touches the Wall in high school! It's a Shiganshina rite of passage!" Hannes boastfully claimed.

Gordon signed in relief. This caught the attention of the duo. Hannes laughed while Karl looked at him with a mindful eye. "Well, the pain your felon friend here is obviously effecting his mental ability" Karl said to Hannes.

He then looked towards Gordon. "You have to be the world's greatest idiot to touch the Wall in sight of the Garrison. You're extremely lucky it the drunks who caught you" Karl explained.

Gordon swallowed nervously and gave a nod in agreement. His mind was a swirl of thoughts again after the discovery that the Walls around the city were forbidden to touch. Why was it? Were they important or something? A possible conclusion would be that they were considered sacred. Which made sense since Karl was professing their name in anger and annoyance like one would about god or any other religious figure. Which then lead Gordon to question either or not these Walls played a large part in this humanity's history to the point the people here held them in such high regard as to paint them as holy relics and figures. What did these colossal walls hold back?

Gordon was brought back to the real world, courtesy of Karl's aggravated bemoans. "By the Walls. Ok, since we're all throwing the rules out today, I'll look at you without the paperwork"

"Good on ya Karl!" Hannes cheered.

Karl ignored the Garrison officer and reached for some instruments on the table. He equipped a surgical mask and apron, then with one hand he grabbed a tongue depressor and the other a mouth mirror. Wielding these, he got right to work in examining Gordon. "Open you mouth and try your best to say 'ah'. If it hurts, stop" Karl instructed.

Gordon followed the order, though didn't say 'ah' as he felt his throat was still too tender. Karl, using the tongue depressor, looked into Gordon's mouth. "A bit of blood but I don't see any problems in the mouth area. The back of the throat however…I see a bit of irritation. I'm going to look down your throat" Karl announced.

Gordon couldn't nod nor speak but he agreed anyway. Gordon felt Karl move the mouth mirror into his open maw. The coldness the metal exuded was rather comforting against the burning he felt. The mirror froze at the back of Gordon's throat and angled down so Karl can take a view at it. "BY THE WALLS ALMIGHTY!" Karl cried out, flinching back at the sight of Gordon's throat.

Karl's utensils hit the ground and he almost fell of his chair. He launched onto his feet and stared horrified at Gordon. Gordon reacted by leaping off his chair too and grabbing his throat in shock. Both stared wildly at each other till Hannes stepped in. "Whoa doc! The hell's wrong?" He asked.

Karl snapped his horrified gaze to Hannes. "The hell's wrong!? His throat is-is-" Gordon looked at him with uncertainty, which the doctor quickly realised his mistake.

Karl coughed into his hand and composted himself as much as he could, but whatever he saw had definitely caused an impact on him. He was pale and had an unsteady look to his eyes. "It-it's bad Hannes- and-and you sir" Karl directed his words towards Gordon.

Gordon looked on silently, taking steady breaths to calm himself before the news. How bad was it that the doctor leapt in fright? "It's…I don't know…I don't know how your still….up and walking! I-I've never seen anything like it! That amount of damage to your throat…Sir…I might not be…I'm not a professional. I'm just an apprentice, but…I'm sorry to say this but… you'll be lucky to ever speak again, sir" Karl mournfully

The news brought with an air of stilled dread and suspense. Both doctor and officer looked to Gordon, waiting with baited breaths to see how he would react to the news. Gordon just froze there. Unmoving and passive. Within his head he digested the information. Honestly, he was never much of a talker to begin with. Barney would always make a big fuss about Gordon managing to speak more than five words in a day. Saying it was a cause for a facility wide party. Granted, everything positive was a good enough reason for Barney to drink. But….to never speak again. He just…he just didn't know how to take that. He didn't know how to react to that. It didn't feel like a true loss to Gordon. "I thought it was bad but that bad?" Gordon heard Hannes question, breaking the tension.

Karl shuttered. "Hannes. I didn't get a good look, but it looked like it was burnt. Boiled wounds. It was like he swallowed boiling water! It's nothing short of a miracle that he isn't on the ground in pain" Karl mumbled.

Shakenly, Karl reached for his decarded utensils on the ground. He hesitantly wiped them over with a cloth and wielded them once more. "I-I'm going to take another-um, another look sir…" Karl stuttered.

Gordon gave him a nod and opened his mouth once more. Karl hesitantly moved to stand in front of Gordon, his face looking pale and quizzy. He put his utensils into Gordon's mouth to investigate again. Karl looked through them again and flinched his head back at the sight. "By the Walls…It's…not as bad as I thought, but it's still bad" Karl cursed.

Hannes quickly got off his seat, moved himself beside Karl and peered into the mirror. His face flashed with confusion then shock. Horror came soon after, followed by rage. "Fucking hell! How did this happen?! What the hell did you do pal?!" Hannes fitfully questioned.

Gordon bounced back at the accusations. He pushed Karl's hands away to allow him to shake his head. Hannes calmed down, his glare disappearing into a questioning look. "What do you mean you…wait-wait-wait, didn't you do this internally?" Hannes asked.

Gordon gave another shake of his head in response and a dumbfounded look. Why on Earth would he willingly mutilate himself for no reason whatsoever? His dumbfounded look went ignored as Hannes asked "Was it an accident?"

Another shake of his head provided his answer.

"Did…did someone do this to you?"

Gordon pondered on the question for a moment. It was true. Someone did do this to him, and as far as Gordon knew, did it without a good reason. The Man in the Suit could instantly stop time. Couldn't he have done that instead of putting Gordon in some sort of cryo-sleep? Especially if the side effects were as drastic as this! Gordon gave him an affirmative nod.

Hannes and Karl's faces paled. The colour on their faces draining like water from a sink. Karl looked noticeably green and slowly moved away from Gordon as if Gordon was a stalking beast ready to pounce. Gordon knew the young doctor was merely trying to escape the horrid news Gordon just told him. Hannes, while pale, did not turn green with nausea. Colour retuned quickly to his face but his natural hue took a deep shade of red. His eyes blazed with fury. "Holy fucking shit! Do you know who it was? No, you can't answer that. Do you know where this happened to you? Could you point it out or take me there?" Hannes desperately asked.

Gordon wished he could but he had a feeling that talking about Black Mesa, Xen or a tram flying through the void of space would've had him pinned as mentally unstable. Gordon could not answer that. He gave his answer with a shake of his head. Hannes looked defeated at the news. He slumped into a chair and groaned into his hands. "Fuck me…ok. Karl, treat the poor sod. You. Can you please write something about who did this to you, what they look like and a general description of where this happened?" Hannes asked.

Hannes moved to retrieve the foundation pen and form discarded from earlier. Gordon stopped him however but crossing his arms and shaking his head. Hannes' bushy eyebrow arched in confusion at Gordon's move. "You… won't?" Hannes questioned.

Gordon shook his head and used his hands to tell Hannes to elaborate further. Gordon saw Hannes chew his cheek in deep thought. He glanced at the pen on the desk and then back at Gordon, then back again to the pen. "He can't write Hannes" Karl announced.

The young doctor obviously remembered Gordon's earlier interactions with the form and quickly informed the struggling officer. Hannes looked defeated by the news. "You… can't?" Hannes' voice wavered slightly as he asked Gordon.

Gordon gave him a saddened nod to confirm Hannes' suspicions. "Shit. An illiterate. Just our luck" Hannes huffed out.

Hannes lent back into her chair, chewing his cheek yet again as he entered another bout of deep thinking and problem solving. "Karl, you any good with charades?" Hannes off-handily joked.

Karl snapped a harsh look at the officer. Opening his mouth to berate him about his humour in a situation like this but failed to usher out words when a raspy laugh came from Gordon. The scientist heckled in his seat. Gordon clutched his throat lightly as the pings of pain flared in his mutilated throat but still held a bemused smile on his face. Hannes was chipper at Gordon's humour. "At least some of us as a sense of humour" Hannes laughed.

Gordon smiled in turn before his face flashed in surprise with sudden insight. A possible solution to their predicament. Speaking was out of the question and writing was too. There one only one option left before they broke down in embarrassing charades of poses and dances. Gordon hoped this will work. He held up his hands and then communicated to them through sign language. His hand gestures conveyed a basic greeting, a hello. Gordon was proud to be greatly fluent in sign language. Having a deaf parent tends to make that a necessity growing up. He looked at the duo in hope. It fell when he saw Hannes' confused face but skyrocketed when Karl beamed and almost jump into the air in glee. "Sign language! He knows sign language!" Karl cheered.

"Hell yeah" Hannes cheered as well.

With this revelation found, spirits were suddenly high. Smiles were passed all around for a brief moment before Hannes moved on to the important questions. He snatched a pen and a form and turned to the other two men. "Ok guys. Karl, translate for me. Buddy, start talking. Let's start with your name" Hannes inquired.

Gordon was more than happy to happy to convey his name. Karl watched intently as Gordon 'spoke'. "He says that his name is Gordon Freeman. Is that right?" Karl asked.

Gordon nodded at and gave him a thumbs up. "Ok Gordon, that's good. Do you have any family members we can contact?" Hannes asked as he wrote down Gordon's responses.

Gordon shook his head.

"Ok. Do you have a place of residence? A district, town or village?"

Gordon shook his head.

"So…you're homeless?" Hannes' doubtfully questioned.

Gordon saw the Garrison officer's eyes scan his clothes and recalled when Hannes commented on his cleanliness and decent clothing. Gordon was quick to elaborate. "He said he's traveling. A vacation. House was sold off and he's living in inns" Karl explained.

Gordon gave a confirming nod to the doctor. It was technically true. He was traveling in a sense. The only lies were the house, inns and vacation. His dormitory was surely destroyed, he spent the last god-knows-how-long in cryo-sleep and he was not having a great time 'vacationing' here. "Ok-Ok, were you kidnapped? Can you describe who did that to your throat?" Hannes continued.

Gordon wondered if he should incarcerate the Man in the Suit. Gordon doubted the Man in the Suit would appreciate such an accusation and subjacent inherence, but at the same time Gordon realised the law enforcement here properly couldn't catch him. He was a some other worldly being who can teleport and stop time at will. Of course, Gordon could say he do not know who it was. Explain that he didn't get a good like at the perpetrator's face. The pings of sores and pain flaring in his throat swaddled his mind, however. He was reminded that he might never speak again, and Gordon felt he should have some sort of compensation for it. Even if it was petty and vindictive as making the Suit's job a bit harder. Gordon started to convey the description of the Man in the Suit to Karl and Hannes.

"He said the assailant took him during his travels. He didn't know how it happened, but the man took him somewhere dark and secluded. He said he wore a blue suit with matching dress pants, black shoes and had a black suitcase with him. He says he's possibly in his late forties. Wrinkles on his face. Black hair and a pale complexion with blue and green shimmering eyes" Karl explained Gordon's explanation.

Gordon was in mid conversation when he noticed something odd about Hannes. Hannes' writing slowed and he glared at the page before him. He again cheeked his chew in thought. What he was thinking about, Gordon didn't know but he had a strong feeling it was about the Man in the Suit's description. "That's good. A good description. Now, how did you escape?" Hannes unsteadily asked.

Gordon provided an answer. An answer which farrowed the brows of Karl. "Gordon said the man let him go" Karl confusingly recalled.

Hannes froze in the middle of writing and looked up to stare puzzlingly at Gordon. "That…simple? He didn't say anything else to you or had you go and do something?" he asked.

Gordon moved his hands about to convey his message. "He said he brought him here for a purpose. Gordon doesn't know what it is though. He didn't say exactly what it was" Karl translated.

Gordon's response brought a strong reaction from Hannes. The man practically flew out his chair and onto his feet as he reacted to the statement. "He's here?! In the city?!" Hannes shouted with a mortified look.

His reaction caused Gordon to perform sign language faster to calm the man down. Karl too quickly read Gordon's frantic messages. "He doesn't know Hannes. All he knew was he was listening to the man talk and then he found himself on the ferry into town" Karl explained.

Hannes growled and paced about the room. He rubbed his temples vigorously and cursed under his breath. "Shit! Fuck! By the Walls…" Hannes hissed.

He froze mid-pace and scornfully turned to the confused doctors. "I….I think I saw him" Hannes harrowingly exclaimed.

Gordon perked up in interest at that. "Hannes?!" Karl gasped.

Hannes' fist clenched till his knuckled turned bone white. "That fucker! I saw him walking out of the fucking district! Right past us! Fucker even dared opened his disgusting mouth and talk to Eren and Mikasa!"

"Doctor Yeager's children?" Karl asked with a concerned tone.

More children? Wait, he wasn't talking about the other two of the three kids from earlier right? The ones on the hill? No, it wasn't them. As one of them said, no one was out there. It was just Gordon, the three kids and the Man in the Suit. Gordon realised he forgot to tell them something important. He quickly messaged his information to Karl, telling him about the three children somewhere out there. The poor doctor further paled at Gordon's news. "Oh Walls Hannes. He said the man took him out into a field somewhere before coming here to Shiganshina, where he saw three kids fighting on a hill. The Man didn't let Gordon help them stop it at all. One of them was named Reiner and he was severely beaten. He doesn't know what happened to them because the Man knocked him out" Karl retold.

Hannes too paled at that bit of information. He combed his fingers through his hair and wiped the cold sweat on his brow. "Walls. By the fucking Walls" Hannes cursed.

Gordon looked up to the Garrison officer as he then addressed him. "Gordon. Is that all? Do you known anything else that will help us bring this fucker down? Please?" Hannes pleadingly asked.

Gordon honestly wished he could. A man like the Suit hanging around children the officer clearly cared greatly for startled Gordon. Thoughts of the trio of kids still out there somewhere. Gordon wanted to personally come with Hannes and help in trying to find the Suit and rescue those kids. He also needed to find out why he was sent here, but alas, his injuries were preventing him from doing so. He could come and join later but he guessed the Garrison had regulations in place to stop civilians from interfering with their work. A volunteer with good intents or not, Gordon couldn't physically aid Hannes in the search. The best Gordon could do for now was wait for the Suit to come to him or wait for a sign to tell him what he was meant to do here. With a saddened expression, Gordon shook his head.

Hannes' face deflated a bit and stared downcast. "Walls. Ok. Thank you for your help Gordon. Rest assured we'll get this bastard. Karl, take care of Gordon here. I'm going to HQ and getting the word out. We've got a kidnapper out there" Hannes bitterly growled.

He started to walk towards the door but stopped before it to look back at Gordon. "Take care Gordon. I'll be back with the chief and some people to help you" Hannes certified.

Gordon gave him a thumbs up, though quickly closed it as he feared that in this world, giving the thumbs up might've been giving the bird. Either it wasn't or Hannes didn't care because the officer just exited the office without another word.

Gordon then turned towards Karl. "Alright Gordon, you heard the drunkard. You need some rest. I can't even imagine what you went through but you deserve a rest. There's a cot over there. Lay down and I'll give you some medicine to help your throat" Karl instructed.

As Karl moved to collect his medicine, Gordon stepped off his seat and towards the cot Karl pointed out. Despite Gordon being in cryo-sleep only a few hours ago, the cot looked so inviting to rest on. Gordon sat down on the cot, sheepishly taking off his shoes and resting them under the cot. Karl didn't seem to mind Gordon taking them off, too focused on preparing Gordon's meds. Gordon rested back a bit and took several deep breaths to relax. A few minutes later, Karl came over to Gordon with his meds and a glass of water. "Ok, try drinking some water Gordon" he instructed.

Gordon took the glass in hand, nodding in thanks and took a small and steady sip. The cool water splashed against his throat and to his surprise he didn't feel any discomfort. Not burning sensation or the onset of a coughing fit. "How do you feel?" he heard Karl ask beside him.

Gordon gave him a cheerful smile and took another sip of water. Karl too beamed at that. "Ok, that's good. Now, I'm going to give you some pills. You need to swallow these with the best of your abilities. They'll ease the pain. I'm also going to give you a shot of morphine. Then you can lay down for a bit" Karl explained.

Karl handed him the pills and Gordon gulped them down with ease. He then prepared the morphine needle. He rolled up Gordon's sleaves and was about to press the needle into his arm when he froze. "What the hell?!" Karl gasped.

Gordon wandered what he was shocked about when he saw the angry red welt on his arm. The same place he remembered being gapped by the morphine needles of the H.E.V Suit. Karl looked at it with an unsteady and quizzy look. "So that's how you were still walking around. That freak gave you some already…or something else…and multiple doses of it" Karl uneasily said.

Karl looked incredibly disturbed by the sight of his welt. Gordon would be too, but he was use to the sight. It wasn't the first time he had taken several gaps of morphine in the same place. There was the one time the suit malfunctioned and thought he was critically injured. It kept giving him morphine and he spent the next day or so, as Barney had put it, knocked off his rocker. "Change of plans. No morphine. We need to wait till whatever that bastard gave you is flushed out of your system. The pills you took were mild pain reliefs so they shouldn't effect whatever he put in you but no morphine. You think you can do without for now?" Karl asked.

Gordon gave him a thumbs up as well as a nod. Given how many times he was gabbed over the course of those three days at Black Mesa, he completely agreed with him. Gordon felt like he was one more shot away from a full-blown addiction. "Good. You need to rest now Gordon. Your body might be going through some withdraws soon so you need your energy. Rest now" Karl issued, turning around towards Yeager's desk while grumbling "This is going to be one hell of a report" under his breath.

Gordon stared blankly out into space as the word rest repeated in his head. Rest sounded like a good idea. He laid back on the cot, head against a pillow to thin to be comfortable and softly closed his eyes. The events of Black Mesa and Xen had finally caught up with him. Three days of nonstop running, gunning and fighting took a massive toll on him. Mentally and physically. Every fibre of his being was begging him to rest. To go to sleep. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. His vision was purged into darkness as Gordon told himself he could rest and that he was safe. He could finally close his eyes. He was safe here. He was safe from…danger?

Suddenly, a sickening feeling gripped him. His stomach tightened and did flips, and a sudden chill creeped through him. His eyes snapped wide open, where he found the world not much different from where he had left it. There was no destruction, no screams, no fire or bullets. No monsters lurking in the darkness ready to devour him, kill him or use him as a sick puppet to attack his fellow man. The only thing that changed was the windows in the office had been opened. The time of day as well, as once was a bright day was now an orange haze of a late afternoon sky. Gordon blinked and wiped the sleep away from his eyes. He saw he only closed his eyes for a second. He didn't intend to sleep for this long. A groan had escaped him. The feeling was still there. Gordon shook his head and looked about the room. His eyes landed on the back of Karl. Hunched over the oak desk and eagerly writing. Gordon went to grab his attention when a startling wave of nausea washed over him. He groaned and laid back on the pillow to sooth his pains.

He hoped the sickening feel purging him was just the pain of his throat or the morphine still in his system. He knew though that it wasn't the morphine or the pain. Morphine doesn't twist your stomach or make you shiver as if a cold breeze had rolled through. Pain could but his was meant to located only in his throat with a burning sensation. This chill he felt was almost…instinctual. A gut feeling.

There was a loud boom. Gordon sat up in fright and looked wildly around the office. His eyes darting around, searching for the sound. The scenes of nightmares flood through his vision. The horrid sound of artillery. Blasting through rock, metal and concrete to strike flesh and blood. The rain of gore and organs that followed. The scream of those who had survived. Both human and alien. He blinked hard to shred the horrid sight. He prayed he had just experienced a brief nightmare. The sounds of Black Mesa haunting him from beyond. A sign that he was suffering from one of the many symptoms of PTSD. To Gordon's horror however, Karl had leapt up from his seat. He too was frantically looking around. He heard it too.

Gordon threw the blankets off of him and swung his legs out. The sound of his feet hitting the ground caught Karl's attention. "No-no-no-no! You stay there! Stay in bed!" Karl ran to Gordon and pushed him back down into the cot.

Gordon tried to fight back against the doctor, but he still felt dizzy from the morphine withdraws and waking up. Another wave of it gave all the advantage the doctor needed to shove Gordon back into the cot. "Stay here Gordon! I'll go check it out!" Karl ordered.

Gordon was briefly encumbered to answer back. He closed his eyes to blink away his dizziness. He shook his head to try and shake the horrid light-headedness plaguing over him like an impassable fog. Gordon opened his eyes to see Karl had abandoned him to investigate the noise. Gordon kicked the blankets off of him and swung himself out of the cot. He reached down to retrieve his shoes and hastily put them on. As he tried his laces, he tried to count the seconds passing by as a way to alleviate another wave of vertigo. Gordon only reached the minute mark when another boom, louder than the one before, rattled the world around him. Gordon immediately leapt to his feet, ready to run out the door and chase after Karl to escape but a whistle in the air caused Gordon to freeze on the spot.

Burning flashes of Black Mesa screamed at the forefront of his mind. The artillery! The missiles from the enemy hinds! Motor placements! He's eyes snapped the only sturdy thing in the room. The doctor's desk. He dove straight to the oak desk, kicking the chair over from the leg space and hid underneath. It was a pathetic shield from an direct impact from a shell but Gordon was aiming to hide from the shrapnel that came with it. That was the true killer.

The earth rumbling impact of whatever was fired struck the ground close to the building. The walls splintered and cracked. The glass windows shattered and blasted deadly shards all across the room. Furniture was thrown across the room. The close impact rattled Gordon's bones and caused his heart to skip a beat. Gordon held his position, curled under the desk. He waited for any more signs of another bombardment. Even as a thick smog of dust and dirt filled the room and made breathing uncomfortable, Gordon held. Waiting for the tell-tale sound of muffled booms. What he heard instead was the echoing moan of the roof above. Gordon dared peek out from under the desk and investigate. A loud moan came again, this time Gordon saw the wooden rafters above crack and snap. Gordon panicked. The roof was about to come down and no oak desk could stop him from being crushed.

Gordon crawled out and quickly jumped to his feet. He ran. The snapping and crunching of the building suddenly rose in tempo. All of it crescendo into a loud chorus of smashing as the building crumbled to the ground. All of it nipping at Gordon's heels.

Gordon smashed through a series of doors and racing through hallways. His mind working just as fast as his legs in retracing how he entered the doctor's office when Hannes lead him. He bashed through another door, finding himself before the entry of the hospital. There he saw the exit. Not a moment too soon, as the wooden door frame and the wall adorning it were shattering and falling under the weight of the whole building collapsing. Gordon wasted no time in diving through the door. He ducked at the last second to avoid a beam clocking him in the head. He rolled out the door just as the whole building came crashing down. A thick cloud of smog covered his vision. Gordon crawled back onto his feet and ran straight in a random direction. His vision returned when he ran out of the thick cloud of smog. Just in time too, as he was almost run over by a stray horse galloping away in a mad frenzy.

Gordon stumbled about still he hit a wall. There he rested, drawing deep breaths and rubbing the dust off of his glasses. When he finished cleaning his glasses, he started to survey his surroundings. The sight around him caused a great deal of sadness and despair to swell into him. He groaned in dismay as the sights of Black Mesa post Residence Cascade intermixed with the disaster around him. Screams echoed all around him. The road and buildings adorning it were in tatters. A few scant souls were on the street. Some cradling love ones, wounded or dead, while some ran about in a panic. A few people were milling aimlessly about, their minds stuck in a feedback loop of identifying and rationalising what was happening around them. Gordon sombrely spotted several bloody bodies around him. Whatever had hit the hospital had hit the whole district. He spotted thick clouds of smoke rising from different parts around the city. More of them around the other side of the city, opposite to where he had met Hannes. He followed the path of destruction to the Wall. There he saw a sight that caused his blood to chill and his heart to faulter. Dread dripped him in a tight embrace. The same dread he only experienced when he first faced a Gargantua, the Gonarch and the Nihilanth.

Atop the colossal wall that surrounded the city, perching it's hand over the wall was a skinless giant. It's massive head peered over the wall with its tiny beady eyes looked over the city with a saddened look. It grimly reminded Gordon of those anatomy statues of a person in biology classrooms. It's muscles exposed to the elements. Thick columns of steam bellowed in between its exposed teeth and the top of its head. Such a looming threat towering above him, even when it was so far away, brought a chill to the scientist. 'So…that is what they're keeping out' Gordon breathlessly realised.

Gordon scanned the area below him and the wall, where he saw a massive cloud of ash and rubble bloom into the air. Just faintly, he could hear the screams of hundreds echo from there. Slowly, the colossal creature retreated away from the wall. Its grip released and its head ducking down from the wall. Just like that, it was gone, and Gordon was not hanging around to see it appear again. He needed to find Karl and get out of here. Put as much distance between them and that colossal monster. The other walls seemed like a good idea. Gordon pushed himself off the wall and started to sprint around the ruined hospital in search of the young doctor.

Karl couldn't have gotten too far from the hospital. The bombing had just occurred after he left the building. Gordon hoped that the young man survived the bombardment and was ok. As he ran about the collapsed building, Gordon found what projectile had hit the city. Large rocks or boulders, bigger than himself, had hit part of the hospital and the adjacent buildings. It looked like the massive skinless giant had kicked some earth in order to shell the city. It looked like the area around the hospital was hit the hardest. Gordon silently prayed that Karl was unharmed. Events similar to Black Mesa told him that those prayers were mere wishful thinking.

He did eventually find Doctor Karl, or what's left of him.

Gordon winced at the sight of Karl's remains. Half of the poor man's body was crushed by a large rock. The left side of his body was gone, the rest soiled in blood. The only thing telling Gordon this was Karl was what remained of his face. Frozen in stunned confusion. Gordon just hoped the man had a quick death.

As disrespectful as it was, Gordon had to leave his body behind and retreat out of the city. This was a warzone now and Gordon knew he would be a sitting duck if he had to drag a body along with him. Not to mention how impossible it was to drag Karl out form under the boulder. All Gordon could do for the man was to close his remaining eye and give him a silent prayer to his name.

Survival was key but rescuing others was also a priority. The skinless giant could return at any moment and lay down another bombardment. Between that time and now, Gordon will use it to help as many people as he can to safety. Gordon ran to the screams for help, focusing on the one that was the loudest, therefor the closest. Gordon took a turn down an alleyway and through to a street on fire. Down the street, Gordon could make out an old man with long singed salt-and-pepper hair clawing around at a capsized cart with another two carts and a dead horse piled on top of it. "HELP!" He called out.

He pushed helplessly against the cart. He opened his mouth to let out another cry for help when he saw Gordon out of the corner of his eyes. "YOU! Please! Help me! My daughter and granddaughter are stuck under here!" He yelled to Gordon.

Gordon gave him a nod and ran to him. "We ain't gonna lift it up but the boards are loose. If we can pull them off, we can get them out!" The old man informed.

Gordon nodded along. "I'll grab that side and you grab that one!" The old man instructed.

Both of them pushed against the loose panel. There was a loud snap and half of the board was pulled off on Gordon's side. The hole made wasn't big enough for the two women inside to crawl out. "Dad!" the daughter of the old man called from inside right before she shoved a tool kit out from the hole they had made.

The big iron container cluttered onto the ground and broke open. Tools were spread all across the cobbled ground. The old man beamed. "Good girl!" He cheered before he shuffled through the litany of utensils on the ground.

The old man reached for a hammer. "Here! We'll use these" The old man threw another tool at Gordon.

He caught it and was pleasantly surprised to feel a familiar weapon in his hands. It was a crowbar. An old one but a useful tool all the same. "Quick, help me pry the boards off!" the old man instructed.

With no time to lose, Gordon got to work in freeing the girls. He had jammed the crowbar under the boards and started to push outwards. Then with little effort, ripped the boards right off. Gordon worked at a blazing pace. If he had the time, he would've tore the whole thing down in less than two minutes but right now, he needed to create a big enough hole for the trapped women to crawl out from. "We can get through" One of them called from within.

A little girl and a middle-aged woman soon came out of the hole Gordon and the old man had created. The old man grabbed the crying girl and tucked her into his arms while Gordon grabbed the arms of the woman to guided her out. "Oh thank you! Thank the Walls!" both the woman and old man cried.

"Come on! We need to get out of here!" The old man issued.

The woman had grabbed Gordon's hand to try and lead him away with them but froze when Gordon pulled away. 'What are you…" she and the old man looked back to see Gordon walking away from them. "You're not coming?!" the woman confusingly asked Gordon.

Gordon shook his head at the family and tilted it towards the direction further to ground zero. The woman and the old man looked at him in horror. "You can't! The Gates have been desecrated and the Titans will come!"

The Titans? Like that massive skinless one that caused this destruction? The woman thought they would return. It was against his better judgement, but he had to save as many people as he can before they show up. Gordon gave the two another shake and turned to continue to search and rescue. "Wait!" The old man called out to him. "Listen, thank you again for saving my family but if you're going to save other people, you need to be careful and fast! If you find any more people, send them through the side streets! Too many people will be using the main streets and that will attract the Titans!" The old man instructed.

Gordon listened intently and gave him a nod. "Don't stay here too long! We need to go before we're swarmed!" that was the old man's passing words before to ushered his family down the street.

With one family saved, Gordon turned to search for anymore. He jogged down the street and helped all he could. He found a man trapped under some wooden rubble, some people stuck in a burning building because a pinned door and a few scant children wondering about aimlessly. He easily broke the people free with his crowbar and had them take the children with them to safety. All the while he tried to part the wisdom of the old man to them, making sure they took alleyways and side streets. It seemed like the older folks he found understood what he was saying and order everyone else to follow their lead.

It ten minutes had past and the screams in the city cessed to be silent. If fact, they intensified. Gordon was jogging through a small market, scanning each stall for anyone hiding in fear, when he heard a chorus of loud cries. These ones caused the most discomfort for him. He remembered those type of screams. Bloody curtailing. His poor colleagues at Black Mesa gave out the same ones when they were crushed, bludgeoned, stabbed or eaten by Xen's wildlife and military forces.

Gordon thought he could run fast enough to save them. That thought died out when he heard their cries start to fall silent. Gordon's jog slowed as the screams dwindled out. When Gordon came to a stop over the corpse of an unfortunate woman did the screams stop too. There was no silence though. The sounds of rumbling could be heard. The ground started to shake and quiver in a steady rhythm, the same one that could be associated with something walking, or from Gordon's experience, a Gargantua on the prowl.

Boom

…

…

Boom

The vibrations from the Earth shot up through Gordon and rocked his body from within. A crash was heard around the corner, then a giant bare foot came into view. It crashed into the ground, digging into it and causing cracks to form around its impact. The body it was attached to then came into view. The mere sight of it diffidently put a Gargantua to shame.

The bipedal monstrosity peered from around the building and stared soullessly into Gordon's eyes. Its body was an enigma of confusion and deformity. Its legs were disorganised; the feet and calves were all proportional, but the thighs were fat and wonky. Cleverly designed to fit its beer-belly gut. Gordon was immensely glad that the creature didn't seem to have any genitals. The chest of the beast looked almost caved in, its rips piercing its skin. The arms of the creature were long and lanky, reaching to its ankles. It stood taller than the tallest buildings in the district. So tall that Gordon had to make an effort in craning his neck upwards just to see its grizzly face. Said was face was more disturbing out of anything else. It looked strikingly human but at the same time it didn't. It was uncanny, like it was pretending to be human. The head of the monster surpasses that of its body could handle. Its shoulder length dirty blonde hair covered its forehead. Its ears too small to even see nor even clarify as ears to begin with. Its nose completely non-existent. Its mouth was dripping with blood. Pulled to an ear-to-ear smile. Its teeth were serrated bone daggers that could peel the flesh on a man with ease, seeing as it had bits of man in between each tooth. Its eyes though only showed that of something dead. Its eyes never showed any form of emotion nor life in it. A soulless glare. One directed right at Gordon.

Slowly, it's deformed hand reached out to Gordon and tried to snag him in its grasp. Gordon reacted in time and dove out the way. The corpse behind Gordon wasn't so lucky and was snatched by the giant. Gordon had leapt to his feet and watched as the giant handle the corpse as well as a toddler handles food. The corpse was reduced to a thick gulp of flesh, bone and blood. All of which were dripping out of its closed hand. The giant didn't care about the mess it made, opting to tipping its head back, open its maw and drop what was left of the woman into it. Clothes didn't matter to the beast it seems, as it loudly swallowed the crushed corpse with glee. It then tilted its head back forward, lips stained with new crimson blood, to look at its next meal.

Unfortunately for the monster, Gordon didn't fancy himself a delicious snack to be eaten. He already dealt with that from other creatures like the Zombie Headcrabs, Bullsquids, Barnacles and the Xen Grunts at Black Mesa, and he'll do to the giant what he did to the rest of them. Gordon turned heel and ran. What he needed to do right now was to find something to kill it with and escape this city.

---

A bit of a slow burn for this chapter lads. Taking inspiration from the starting chapters from the games: Starting with an cryptic and mysterious opening scene, followed up with a mundane exploration then it all ends in disaster. The next chapter will differently pick up on the action and seeing Gordon effect the course of Attack on Titan's story.

Pat Re On (Slash) TheAlamore