Wallace Breen was easily manipulated with the idea of excess; money, power, and fame were easy for my employers to promise so long as he made sure to ignore how his coworkers forewarned of a resonance cascade. all of the effort put into the study of quantum displacement and the borderworld would've gone to waste if he hadn't taken the opportunity of proceeding with the study of the most potent Xen crystal sample yet. The perks he'd receive from the results would allow for major strides in all of his company's sectors and would also make way for him to live as he pleased, trumping anything received prior.
The man to conduct the test would be Gordon Freeman, a fresh graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Despite having gone to such a prestigious university he was not seen as a peer of equal capability, as his colleagues insisted that he would need years of work to no longer be an amateur. This ideology only made his workload heavier, and he reduced his worth to how much he could get done and how well he could do it.
His anxiety disorder only proved to be a setback. He could barely bring himself to communicate with others. The majority of the time that he would make an effort to do so, said communication involved body language or incomprehensible gibber rather than anything typically implemented by others. It only made people more annoyed with him, so he stopped bothering altogether.
I couldn't help myself from empathizing with him. Surrounded by so many faces yet left so lonely. It's a pain that stings, one that I familiarized myself with long ago. He quite reminds me of myself. His ability to adapt and survive against all odds, a drive to attain a net-positive for both him and his surrounding world. The latter I wish I was selfless enough in achieving, yet it is unattainable because of varying perception, no? It's relative; not everyone can see that he has that quality. Opinion is a blind spot in that respect.
Kleiner and Vance's relationship with him possibly had begun out of pity, but they genuinely enjoyed his presence which'd nullified any possible commiseration. Those mundane interactions are something Dr. Freeman cherishes deeply. One sided banter, slapstick storytelling, breathless laughter. He had gotten so used to silence that even at his happiest he had no comment, something his companions had gotten used to and enjoyed as part of his character.
That morning, exhaustion had gotten the best of him and his body had forced him to rest far longer than initially anticipated. Plenty of things had gone awry in the compound starting in the mid-night, the test was already delayed until 9 o' clock. Freeman didn't know this, nor did he need to at all because he had awoken just to my calculation at the utmost opportunity for the test to commence as expected. Not as he expected, or any of the nearly two thousand personnel at Black Mesa, but as I and my employers did.
I observed his commute by tram to anomalous materials. As per usual resilient; He thought he was not tired therefore he was not tired, a commendable ability to have. He stood confidently, back straight and eyes wide. I made the decision that he would be most suitable for hire, his odds of surviving seemed ever so interestingly high. I nudged reality in his favor. but in retrospect, if I wasn't tied up by my occupation I would have not let that day fold out how it did.
Mr. Freeman's journey to the topside lasted well into the evening, and he continued to impress me by his incredible ability to strategize. He's a great shot, I'm sure that even without the suit he would have lived. Not neglecting to mention his incredible intellect. Truly an unparalleled man, one that I am still trying to understand myself.
Even in the event of his capture by HECU forces, I was absolutely certain that he would continue to reign supreme time and time again over man and beast alike. He was knocked unconscious and left in a garbage compactor, but fate let him live by giving him a most convenient exit before being crushed by merciless machinery.
The dimensional rift was being held open by the Nialanth, last of its species, a bitter soul looking for vengeance. Freeman was willing to go on what was then determined to be a certain suicide mission to kill it and possibly reverse the resonance cascade. A missile was launched to facilitate the closing of the rift once Freeman had killed the Nialanth. Unfortunately this would mean very little for the fate of humanity.
Dr. Freeman succeeded and the borderworld was now in the control of my employers, giving them the freedom to take the liberty to deprive Xen of its assets and enslave the beings known as Vortigaunts for their erudition and toil.
Between the time it took for the Nialanth to die and the missile to attempt to repair the dimensional rift, my employers had already begun to take advantage of the rift and so they began their conquest to dominate earth.
I conveyed Dr. Freeman into stasis, knowing that what's to come from the brutality of it all would be too much to bear. My disdain for them became stronger than before, my reasoning behind bothering to take the job being for the perks they provided; no more, no less. They certainly enjoy the power I hold, though I despise that they feel they're entitled to me. I should stop getting caught in the illusion that I ever had a free choice over my situation, this is most certainly a predicament I would've encountered regardless of my input. I have abilities similar to the Vortigaunts, much more of a locale version to my kind of being, which apparently is a worthwhile investment to them. In spite of them and consequentially Wallace Breen, I made sure that Freeman's posse survived and were able to see him when he would return. I faced most objections with the preservation of Alyx Vance, given that I put in most effort to reunite her with her father after making sure Dr. Freeman was successful in his endeavors. I learned to ignore such naysayers, and I also learned that I had more free will than first thought. I'll let Freeman return when it is most calm, although I am unsure how calm it will be once he is noticed.
I am a valuable asset to what is called the Combine, not that I would like it to be that way. I have enough ability where the Combine itself could not possibly control me, neither could I control them. I did notify my employers of Mr. Freeman, however I told them he had inexplicably disappeared and could be assumed dead. Freeman was not the Combine's hire, he was my hire, and I would be taking advantage of the Combine's lack of oversight to finally be able to terminate my employment.