Half-life2:Resistance

wow, you guys are the best! Thank you for your great responses! :E although I don't exactley know what Im going to do with this story when the game comes out.... so ive gotta finish it fast!
 
The wait for the next chapter is unbearable :bounce:
 
Have you got a release date for the next chapter? heh heh
 
I am writing the next chapter now, but it's goin EXTREMLEY SLOW because I have to go to my school for marching band 7am-4pm every day.
 
I love the story so far, I can't wait for the next chapter!

Seems to be a lot about the Nihilanth so far, how its death affected the aliens. When does Freeman turn up? I can't wait for him to be welcomed back to the resistance!
 
theotherguy said:
I am writing the next chapter now, but it's goin EXTREMLEY SLOW because I have to go to my school for marching band 7am-4pm every day.
Click to expand...

No pressure dude.

Man band practice from 7-4! I don't even work that long!

Your Mom says get some rest.
 
Alright, guys, I plan on finishing the chapter by tommorow at least by 1 PM (central US time)
 
and the chapter is done!

Chapter 22, Spies-

The noise of the air conditioning system whirred in the darkness of the night. Ian sat up in his bed, and accidentally bumped his head on the top bunk. His vision blurred as he rubbed the top of his head. Great, now he would have a bump there. Ian checked his watch. It was early in the morning, 3 AM.

Ian needed to use the restroom, so, groggily, he slid out of bed. The room was dark, accented by orange lights that ran across the ground. Ian fumbled towards the door, and very carefully, making sure not to wake up Tonya, who was sleeping, he opened the door. Ian quietly shut the door behind him, and headed down the scantily lit hallway towards the bathroom.

There was a black door accented by a small blue light, with a sign that said “restroom” on it. Ian entered the single, one-stalled bathroom, and did his business. When he was finished, he washed his hands in the sink, and looked into the mirror at himself. His hair was growing back. Currently, he had short growth all over his head, and his image in the mirror began to resemble himself again.

Ian turned off the light, and exited the bathroom. However, on his way back to his quarters, he heard the noise of a computer, and clumsy typing coming from a nearby room. Why was someone up this early working? Ian decided that he would see who it was.

Ian leaned past the concrete doorway, poking his eyes out over the ridge of the entranceway. In the small, dark room beyond the entranceway, there was a single, glowing computer terminal, a coffee machine, and a microwave oven. It was an odd combination. Standing at the computer terminal was a Vortigaunt. The three-armed creature was pecking out letters on the oversized keyboard, working on something.

The Vortigaunt appeared to be frustrated, and was going through great pains to laboriously type each individual letter into the computer. Ian glanced at the computer screen, which read, “Communications Remote Protocols” along with random text, and an “enter password” screen. The Vortigaunt was trying random passwords, and was failing every time.

Ian knew something was up, so he decided to take the initiative. “Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked the creature. The Vortigaunt turned it’s head quickly around, and hissed. Its single red eye squinted, turning into a thin, oblong red oval. The surprised Vortigaunt turned around, and then gargled in its strange voice, “No, human, I need no assistance from you. Go back to your quarters.”

Ian wasn’t at all convinced. The Vortigaunt seemed nervous. Ian asked some more questions. “What were you doing?” he inquired. The Vortigaunt leaned back, and placed its claw on the keyboard, pressing something that closed the window. “Nothing of importance.” It hissed.

Ian stood in disbelief for a moment, and then unexpectedly, the Vortigaunt lunged at him. The Vortigaunt’s three claws pieced into the front of Ian’s shirt, and scratched his skin. The Vortigaunt’s slimy mandibles chattered in front of Ian’s face. Ian tried to hold back the insane, three-armed, grayish creature, and he was shoved back against the wall.

Ian yelled out from the sudden attack, and managed to get a punch out towards the creature. It landed square on the Vortigaunt’s single, red eye. The Vortigaunt took two of its claws off of Ian, and raised them over its face as it shrieked from the blow.

Ian managed to use his now-free torso to turn his body to the right, where there was a panel that opened up the intercom system. Ian jammed the red button on the panel downward, and yelled into the intercom, “Someone please help me! One of the Vortigaunts has gone nuts! I’m in the computer room near the quarter…” Ian was abruptly cut off by the Vortigaunt, which had now freed its other hands and bashed his head against the concrete wall.

Ian kicked the Vortigaunt in one of its tiny legs, and the creature stumbled and fell to the ground. Ian heard heavy boots running down the dark hallway. He ran towards the door just as Colonel Harper appeared at the doorway, and pointed his pistol at the fallen Vortigaunt.

Harper sneered in Czech, “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted these bastards, Ian.” Harper cocked his gun, and ordered to the Vortigaunt, “don’t try anything, alien scum, you’re fight is over.” Just then, Dr. Kleiner appeared at the door, wearing his lab coat, and blurry-eyed from sleep.

Isaac Kleiner began, “I got a report that someone had breached the communications system, and…” Kleiner was cut off by his sown realization of the scene before him, and his face turned into a look of surprise. “Oh dear!” he exclaimed.

Breathing heavily from his fight with the alien, Ian replied, “I just heard him typing on that console over there, and I came to see what was going on, and he just lunged at me. I thought I was dead.” Ian glanced at the Vortigaunt, who still held its position on the ground, glaring emotionlessly at the three humans.

Harper still held his gun in firm aim. “Should I shoot it, doctor?” Harper asked through gritted teeth. Kleiner pressed Harpers gun away from the Vortigaunt, and replied, “Heavens no! We have to get to the bottom of this immediately! We must put this Vortigaunt, I believe he is Naguk-digh, into the brig, and interrogate him! I will go and get more help, and I will tell Dr. Vance of this incident immediately!”

Dr. Kleiner turned away from the scene, and ran out of the room, presumably to get help. Ian slumped against the wall, and put his hand to his chest, there were streaks of blood across the front of his blue jumpsuit, and he had been scratched beneath the suit. It wasn’t that bad, but Ian would have to get it checked for infection soon. There was no telling what kind of alien pathogens lurked on the claws of this treasonous Vortigaunt.

Harper held his gun in firm aim of the Vortigaunt, waiting for Kleiner to return. Harper asked Ian, “Are you alright, kid?” Ian got off of the wall and then replied, “I’m doing fine, just a few bumps and bruises, I had no idea he would lunge at me like that.” Harper quickly turned his head back to the Vortigaunt.

“And what do you have to say about all of this, alien?” he asked the Vortigaunt lying on the ground. The Vortigaunt spat into the concrete, and then rasped, “I had no choice, you meddling humans were going to ruin everything. This one was trying to destroy my hopes of reaching my masters.” Harper interjected, “who are your masters, the other Vortigaunts?”

The alien snickered in its electronic voice, “No, fool,” it replied, “the other Vortigaunts do not see things the same way as I do. My masters are your masters, together we are their children. They are the upholders of the word of the Mighty Niniliath, the keepers of the Way.” Harper grimaced in disgust. “The Combine.” He finished the Vortigaunt’s sentence, “You were going to sell us out to The Combine, you bastard!” The alien snickered again as Harpers finger began sliding up and down the trigger of his pistol.

Just then, Kleiner, Dr. Vance, and four armed guards appeared at the door. “We’ll take it from here.” Said one of the guards hurriedly went over to the Vortigaunt and kicked it. The Vortigaunt got up, and the guards got around it, pressing the barrels of their guns into the creatures back, and leading it out of the door.

Naguk-digh, the Vortigaunt sulked out of the doorway, and turned its snake-like neck towards Ian. The single red eye of the creature contracted, and then the creature was kicked again by one of the guards, and it was taken away.

Kleiner and Vance stepped into the room with Harper and Ian. Dr. Vance went over to Ian, “I’m terribly sorry, Ian,” consoled Dr. Vance. “We had no premonition that some of the Vortigaunts were still loyal to The Combine. This one, Naguk-digh, should have had us suspicious from the start. I’m so sorry that you had to be victimized by our errors.” Dr. Vance looked concerned.

“No problem,” replied Ian, “but at least I was able to stop him right here, whatever he was doing. There’s no telling what would have happened if I hadn’t stopped him here.” Dr. Vance nodded in agreement.

Harper was sitting at the computer terminal typing something. “He wasn’t able to send anything to The Combine. He had just made it into the system, and was writing his message, he did not send it.” Dr. Vance turned towards Harper, “That’s a relief,” he said, “but now we’ve got to figure out why he was going to send that message, and whether he was in contact with The Combine in the past or not.” Dr. Vance began to leave the room. “I need to get back to the interrogation room. I want to see how this Vortigaunt became so disturbed. Ian, I am eternally sorry about what happened here today, it will not happen again! Plus, you should have that wound examined by Dr. Kleiner. I’m off!”

With that, Dr. Eli Vance left the room. Dr. Kleiner came over to Ian, and said, “Alright, Ian, let’s have a look at this wound of yours.” Dr. Kleiner pulled aside the tattered fabric, and looked at the three claw marks that the Vortigaunt had made. “Hmm, doesn’t look too serious. But it could get infected. Here, I’ll just place some antibiotics and a bandage on the wound.”

Dr. Kleiner pulled a small vial and a roll of bandage from a small first aid kit that he was carrying. Ian removed his shirt, and Dr. Kleiner applied the clear fluid antibiotics to the wound. Ian cringed from the slight sting of the antibiotics. Dr. Kleiner then taped a large spread of bandage over the three scrapes. “All done!” said Dr. Kleiner, putting his equipment back into the first aid kit.
 
Ian thanked Dr. Kleiner, and put his bloodstained shirt back on. Through all of this, Ian wondered what had made the Vortigaunt so crazed as to lunge at him. He had thought that the Vortigaunts would treat him as a savior. After all, he had saved them all from The Combine. It had never occurred to him that some of them would have been pleased under the iron fist of Combine rule. He then realized that the rule of The Combine had been all that the Vortigaunt had ever known, and nobody likes change from lifelong habits.

Dr. Kleiner said that he would have to go attend to the other Vortigaunts, who would now be quarantined for the safety of the resistance. Ian knew that they would not be quarantined so much for the physical safety of the humans living in this underground facility but for the psychological well-being of the inhabitants. Whatever the xenophobia against the new alien allies had been, it must now be fifty times worse. So, even though the Vortigaunt had not achieved his goal of selling the resistance out to The Combine, he had probably just caused the humans to lose their most valuable allies.

Harper got up from the chair in front of the computer terminal. “Well, that was interesting.” He said, walking towards Ian. “It’s pretty early, I’m going to get back to bed and get some sleep.” Harper headed out of the doorway and towards his own quarters. Ian decided that he was pretty tired, and would have to get back to bed soon, despite his excitedness over his struggle with the Vortigaunt.

Ian was surprised that he actually had it in him to put up a fight with the three-armed alien. He felt a strange sense of pride after coming out on top. So, Ian crossed the hall, and went back into his quarters, where, surprisingly, Tonya was still sound asleep. He would probably be only asleep for a couple of more hours, but it was worth it. Ian lay back down in his bed, which was exactly the way he had left it when he had left the room to use the bathroom.

How lucky he was, to have run across the Vortigaunt, and to have averted the plans of the treasonous alien. With this thought, Ian went back to sleep.

Naguk-digh sat staring at the bars that held him in this small, dirty cell. He was in the area that served as the brig of resistance HQ, for his apparent crime of trying to contact The Combine. He had almost done it. He had just broken the code; he was going to send his message. If only it weren’t for that meddling human! The resistance would have been brought to justice. He would once again be in the arms of his masters.
 
But now, his plans were over. He was locked inside this cell. How would he contact The Combine now? No, no, no! He was such a fool. He should have tried a method the humans wouldn’t have expected. He should have gotten the other Vortigaunt’s approval. He had been too rash, too bold.

The human called Dr. Vance came into the room, and stood opposite of Naguk-digh, looking at him. Dr. Vance seemed disappointed. Naguk-digh still showed no emotion. Dr. Vance sighed, and said, “We helped you, and you betray us?”

Naguk-digh knew he was being interrogated. “It is you who have betrayed us, human.” The Vortigaunt snapped. Dr. Vance seemed unimpressed, “and how is that, Naguk-digh?” he asked calmly. In an angry tone, the Vortigaunt hissed, “You helped him! You helped the evil one destroy the almighty Niniliath, and you took us away from our masters!”

Dr. Vance’s eyes widened in apparent surprise. “I thought that you would enjoy being liberated from your slave master. Have you forgotten what load you had to carry under the Niniliath? He controlled everything, you had no free will!” The Vortigaunt leapt up against the bars, hissing. The guard that stood behind Dr. Vance pointed his weapon.

Naguk-digh came down from the bars and replied, “That is exactly what I wish to have again. It is so unpredictable, to have to think about my own actions, to have my own thoughts. My captivity was my freedom, human. And here I am, speaking in your foul tongue, because of the device you implanted in my brain! You have taken everything from me! First, you invade my home world of Xen; you capture my brethren and study them. Then, you kill my almighty master, who gave me peace. Finally, you take away my language, which was the root of my thought! How could you blame me for trying to strike back?”

The crazed Vortigaunt flinched when his rant was over, but Dr. Vance remained calm. “The others don’t feel this way, Naguk-digh. Why are you so different from the rest of them? Maybe it is you who is wrong, Naguk-digh. Maybe it is you who do not see the way. I understand now why you wanted to contact The Combine, to ruin the hopes of all the humans on this planet. I am very sorry you feel that way, Naguk-digh. I am so sorry that your mind was so warped by the Niniliath. You fail to see the big picture; you fail to see how The Combine spreads like a cancer from world to world. The Combine has enslaved your people under the false message of the Niniliath. And they have enslaved my people under the false messages of Dr. Breen. It is truly disappointing that they have won; at least in your own mind.”

Dr. Vance shook his head, and left the room, the lights turned out, and Naguk-digh was left with his own thoughts. What if it was he, who was truly wrong? No, he must not think that way. He knew that this Dr. Vance was trying to manipulate him. He would somehow bring justice to the universe. The only way to bring justice was to kill Dr. Vance. This would be his new plan. Yes, somehow, he would get out, and kill Dr. Vance. He would also get that meddling Ian Olbowski. This would make his masters happy.

Naguk-digh would not be broken. He would get out, and he would have his revenge.

When Ian woke up, Tonya was already awake, sitting with her legs dangling off the edge of the top bunk. Ian rolled over, with his head facing upwards, so that he could get a good look at Tonya’s face. “Good morning!” she said cheerily. Ian knew that she was in a good mood because there would be no more school for her, and no more work for him, now that they were in hiding in the resistance HQ.

Ian, however, was not so cheery. He had been genuinely spooked by the attack of The Vortigaunt the night before. So, he greeted Tonya, and told her of the events that had occurred the night before. Tonya seemed concerned, and told Ian, “I’m worried about you, what if the others attack you too?”

Ian consoled, “don’t be worried, it was just that one Vortigaunt. The others are all locked up too. I just feel sorry for the innocent Vortigaunts; they don’t deserve to be quarantined because of what the one treasonous one did.”

However, Ian was worried that the others might be spies as well. He was not immune to xenophobia and paranoia. Tonya climbed off of the top bunk, and the two of them exited the room. Here in resistance HQ, it was hard to tell if it was day or night, since everything was underground, and therefore there were no windows.

Always, there was the same drab lighting, highlighting the same gritty textures of the walls and floors. The only way to tell the time was to listen for the noises of scurrying resistance members, just now getting up for another day of working towards rebellion.

Ian and Tonya both went into the elevator. “Hungry for breakfast?” he asked. Tonya nodded. Ian pressed the DOWN button, and the elevator descended one floor. The open metal elevator stopped with a small lurch, and the doors made an electronic beeping noise when they slid open.

The floor was the same one that Ian and the other former slaves had met in the day they had been liberated by Barney Calhoun. The room was filled with supply boxes, which Ian now knew came from the factory above HQ. Every morning, the onsite cook set up a makeshift galley out of supply boxes in the far end of the room.

Apparently, the resistance gathered food as well as ammunition and sent them into this room. The cook was preparing meals using a small, store-bought oven. There were a few resistance members that had just gotten up in the room. Some were standing in line to get breakfast, and others were eating or talking around the supply boxes, which served as tables and chairs.

Ian and Tonya got in the food line next to the green boxes which provided as the counter that the cook served off of. It wasn’t long before Ian and Tonya got to the front of the line, and were handed a makeshift bowl. The cook took a scoop of some hot, red soup, and poured each of them a large helping.

The soup looked to be not very filling, but it was far better than the stale rations that Ian was used to. Ian and Tonya sat down at one of the green wooden supply boxes, ate their soup, and chatted idly. Once they had finished their soup, Ian and Tonya got up, and headed back to the elevator. “I’ve got to talk with Dr. Vance and Dr. Kleiner about the Vortigaunts, and any upcoming missions I might have. I don’t know what you can do; resistance HQ is kind of boring…” Ian told Tonya as they stepped onto the elevator.

“No problem Ian,” Tonya replied, “I’ll see if I can hang around with Alyx or something.” Ian pressed the DOWN button again. The elevator doors closed, and the elevator descended down to the lowest floor of resistance HQ.

The familiar tiled lobby of HQ lay before them, and Dr. Vance, Dr. Kleiner, Barney, and Dr. Mossman were standing around talking, as usual. Tonya went off in a random direction to do whatever she pleased, and Ian headed towards the group of scientists.

“Good morning.” Ian called out to the group of chatting revolutionaries. They echoed his phrase as he slipped into their circle. “How did the interrogation go?” he asked Dr. Vance. The one-legged scientist shook his head. “Not well,” he said, “The Vortigaunt believes that we have taken away his freedom, and he blames us for all of his problems. We’re not sure if any of the other Vortigaunts feel the same way, but we must be cautious….” Dr. Kleiner cut him off, “But you see, this pushes up our mission to meet with the rebellious aliens in Raven Holm. We need them as allies more than ever. We need to re-assure the Vortigaunts that we are all in this together, humans and aliens.”

Dr. Mossman shook her head, “But how are we supposed to get their alliance when we don’t even trust our own Vortigaunt friends? We need to decide who we rely on before we can even think of a diplomatic expedition to Ravenholm.” Dr. Vance held up his hand to stop the argument.

“Ian,” he asked, “who do you think is the Vortigaunt we can trust most?” Ian thought for a moment, and then replied, “The Vortigaunt that I originally talked to, the one that told me of the liberation. I don’t know his name, but he seems trustworthy.” Dr. Vance nodded.

He turned to Barney Calhoun, who was still on crutches. “Barney,” he said, “Go to the quarantine chambers, and find out who this Vortigaunt is. We will use him as our translator for the expedition to Ravenholm tomorrow.” Barney made an exaggerated salute, and said, “Will do, chief.” Barney hobbled off in the direction of one of the doors.
 
Dr. Mossman looked shocked. “Tomorrow?” she asked. “Are you insane?” Dr. Vance shook his head, “Isaac does have a point, Dr. Mossman, and we need the alliance of those aliens right now. We can trust this Vortigaunt, and he will help us.”

Dr. Mossman backed off. “I understand.” She said. “What time tomorrow are you planning, who will go?” Dr. Vance thought for a moment.

“Ravenholm is far away, it’s near the Caspian Sea. Someone will need to take one of our registered cars out of City-17, which is harder than it sounds. In between here and there, there is bound to be a heavy infestation of Xen aliens. We’ll need someone who is experienced in fighting, and Ian will have to go, as well as this one Vortigaunt. I’m thinking that Col. Harper should go with Ian and the Vortigaunt. You’ll have to hide the Vortigaunt in the trunk of the car, which leaves room for twomore people. My daughter has been itching to get out of here, and although I am constantly worried about her, I think she’ll be able to handle this mission.”

Ian spoke up, “That means that my cousin will have to come too. She and your daughter seem inseparable now-a-days.” Dr. Vance Smirked. “Are you sure Tonya would be ready for such a mission?” Ian shrugged, “I don’t know, she wants to get out of here as much as your daughter does, and she’s a pretty good shot. I promise that I won’t let anything happen to her.”

Dr. Vance nodded, “Then it’s settled,” he concluded. “We’ll prepare the car. Tomorrow, Ian, Harper, Alyx, Tonya, and the Vortigaunt will somehow break through the blockade and get out of the city. From there, you’ll have to take one of the roads to get out of the country and towards the Caspian Sea. It should take about a day to get out there, a couple of days in Ravenholm to negotiate with the rebellious aliens, and a day to get back.”

“Sounds good to me,” replied Ian. He could barely contain his excitement. He would be going on a real mission, and he would be out of Combine controlled territory for the first time since the invasion.
“Alright, I’ll brief the others. I sincerely hope that your mission goes as planned, Mr. Olbowski.” Dr. Vance left the room to go find Harper, Tonya, and Alyx.

Ian decided that it would be a good idea to look for Tonya and Alyx as well. So, he went off towards the most likely location that they would be in: the firing range. Suddenly, after he was walking off towards the firing range, the thought hit him: he would be outside of the resistance HQ. He would be vulnerable. The assassin might be able to find him. He made a mental note to be careful on the expedition.

Meanwhile, in the daylight outside of Resistance HQ, the assassin walked the streets, escorted by two Combine soldiers. She was trying to figure out what to do next. She knew that Ian Olbowski was the key. He would lead her to the resistance. But where was he?

She had already entered The United Combine Munitions Factory again, and had overlooked the new changes that would allow for surveillance of the facility, and had found no more leads on the resistance. The workers continued to remain passive, apparently ignorant of the resistance even existing. She knew they were all lying. But Dr. Breen would not listen to her warnings. She wanted them all to be arrested and interrogated, but Breen did not want to waste the resources.

She had made a full scan of the facility, and even made an underground scan, but she found no evidence of resistance headquarters being there. However, the underground scan revealed that the entire space under the factory was lined with lead. There was no way for her scans to get through. The shape and dispersion of the lead suggested that this deposit was natural, but it was all too convenient.

When she asked the foreman of the factory if he could tell her what was under the facility, he gladly offered her a tour of the storage departments directly below the facility, but she declined. She knew that he would show her only what he wanted her to see.

If she was to find out what was under the factory, she would do it on her own. But first, she would find Ian Olbowski. She would find him, interrogate him, and the kill him in a humiliating fashion. This is how she always did it, it was how she stopped the resistance on Xen, and it would be how she stopped resistance here.

It was only a matter of time before she broke through, and all their secrets would be revealed.

-Chapter 23, Expedition to Ravenholm-
 
A short question in the middle of this. Is the zip in the very first post of this thread up do date? I would so like to read your story but i need to get the version up to date :eek:

PS: Wouldn't it be cool to get a small picture at the start of every chapter? Someone good at drawing would do this mabye??? :)
 
Hey that's a cool idea. And then it could be posted on the web all formatted nicely.
You could even use pics from hl2 screenshots.
 
The zip is definatley not up to date...
the file would be far too enourmous to attach (even a zipped .txt file is too big) And I did include pictures in the original binder that I sent to valve (along with authors notes, a foreward, a map)
 
Sorry about lack of updates, school has started! maybe I can get started on the next chapter on the weekend.l.but not now.
 
I cant wait for the weekend, this story is blowing my mind! :rolling:
 
theotherguy said:
Sorry about lack of updates, school has started! maybe I can get started on the next chapter on the weekend.l.but not now.
Click to expand...

School is for wusses! Tell your teacher's you're busy writing a novel! They might give you a few days off...
 
PunisherUSA said:
School is for wusses! Tell your teacher's you're busy writing a novel! They might give you a few days off...
Click to expand...

heh, I never thought of that. However, I did print out a copy with an uber leet front and back cover, and I gave it to my english teacher.
 
agh, i am working on the next chapter right now. I am almost done, but it's getting late
Maybe I will finish it, maybe I wont...

*HYPE* A certain someone is included in this chapter ;) *HYPE*
 
DONE!
Chapter 23, Expedition to Ravenholm-

Ian opened the greenish door into the firing range, and slammed it shut behind him. As usual, the firing range was mostly empty, except for the two figures of Tonya and Alyx, their sniper rifles level and aimed at the targets across the room. They both had headphones, but Tonya could still somehow hear what Alyx was saying.

“It’s important to remember your real distance from your target; it can get confusing while looking through a scope. Sometimes, you might think you are much closer than you actually are,” she instructed Tonya, adjusting her own weapon as she said this.

Tonya nodded, put her eye up to the scope of the gun, and let off a few eardrum-shattering shots. Four bullet holes appeared on the target ahead of her, all of them were perfect shots. She was getting pretty good.

Ian interrupted the lesson, “Hey, Alyx, do you think we’re good enough for the real world yet?” Alyx seemed surprised that someone had come into the room, and she turned towards Ian. “I don’t know. Why do you ask?” she inquired.

“We just got our next mission, Alyx. You, I, Tonya, Harper, and a Vortigaunt are going on a diplomatic mission to Ravenholm, near the Black Sea.” Alyx’s eyes widened. “It’s about time! I’ve been locked up here for months!” Tonya had a similar response, “That’s great, my first mission!” she ran up and hugged Ian.

Ian pulled away from his cousin, “Jeez, it’s not like I gave you a million dollars or something Tonya. Don’t thank me; thank Dr. Vance for setting it up.” Alyx interjected, “When is it?” she asked. Ian replied, “Some time tomorrow. We’re going to take one of the registered cars.” Alyx rolled her eyes. “We’re going to take a car? How the heck are we going to get out of here when the entire city is blockaded by The Combine?”

Ian shrugged, “I guess we’re supposed to be the ones to find that out.” Alyx put her hands in the air, “how are we even going to get the guns out of there? Unless they want us to defend against god-knows-whatever is out there with our fists!” Ian shrugged again. “Don’t ask me; ask your father. I’m just a messenger!”

Alyx sighed, “My dad is such a lousy planner.” She seemed to dismiss the subject and moved on to another topic. “I heard about the Vortigaunt that attacked you last night, Ian. We all had suspicions about those Vortigaunts, but nothing like this! I mean, even after you saved that Vortigaunt personally, he just attacks you like that!”

Calmly, Ian replied, “I don’t blame him. To him, we humans are the creatures that just changed his whole life. He’s afraid of change.” Alyx shook her head. “I still don’t trust the Vortigaunts, the one that’s coming on our mission better well be trustworthy. I don’t want him jumping us in the car.”

Ian laughed, “Don’t worry about that, we’re keeping him in the trunk.” Ian ended with a reassurance, “I’m sure we won’t have any problems, we’re taking the one who talked to me to begin with. He owes me one.”

Alyx shrugged, “Whatever,” she said, “I wish we could take along Barney. Harper is okay, but I just don’t feel so safe with the guy, or any native Czech, for that matter…eh, no offense.” Ian nodded, “Understandable. You Americans must have a hard time trusting anyone. After all, you’re all nomads now without a country. Well…I guess we’re all like that now. I remember being so afraid when I heard about The Combine taking over the United States. I knew that it meant that we were going to be next. If the most powerful country at the time could fall like stacked Popsicle sticks, what chance did the rest of the world have?”

Alyx nodded in agreement, and then picked up her sniper rifle. “None of that matters any more, Ian. What matters now is that we train, we fight, we resist.” Unexpectedly, she spun around, and fired her sniper rifle, hitting her target head on. She smiled in admiration of her own shot. “Let’s see you do that!” She challenged.

“You’re on!” Ian replied, taking up one of the rifles. The three of them took potshots at the targets for the rest of the morning, with Alyx giving directions to Ian and Tonya. When they had finished, almost every target had been practically blown apart. Ian was worried about ammo conservation, but luckily, their comrades upstairs were feeding them a constant supply of bullets. The targets, however, were another story.

Alyx shot the last shredded remnant of a target from the wall, and then laughed. “We’re going to have to order some more of those!” she concluded. Ian checked his watch; it was in the afternoon already. Although he had had fun, he was already feeling the onset of cabin fever. He didn’t know how much longer he could remain in hiding and still be sane.

“Listen Alyx and Tonya, it’s been fun, but I need something else to do. What else do you guys do around here?” Ian asked. Alyx seemed to think for a moment, and then said, “Umm, well, sometimes I help my dad with his experiments, you could get on the web (even though it’s all propaganda,) you could do something on the surface if you weren’t in hiding. Sorry, there’s just not much to do here.”

“That sucks.” Ian said. “Well, I’ll just get going then. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Make sure you’re prepared. Talk to Eli sometime tonight, I’m sure he’ll go into further details.” Ian backed off, turned around, and headed for the door. “Bye!” Tonya and Alyx called behind him.

He exited the room. Where would he go? He decided that he would go talk to Barney, and see what the Vortigaunt had said. So, Ian walked down the tile hallway past the other resistance members, who were going about their business. Some of them who recognized Ian nodded in a subtle sign of respect, and then hurriedly went on to whatever they were doing.

Illogically, Ian was jealous that they actually had a real job to do at the moment. Ian headed down the hall and into the main room again. The high ceilings and open atmosphere of the concrete and tile room eased Ian’s cabin fever slightly. As always, there was at least one of the main scientists studying one of the machines. Dr. Mossman was that scientist, and she was leaning over a table examining the blueprints for some kind of elaborate machine. Ian wished that the scientists would share what they were doing to him.

“Dr. Mossman?” Ian asked timidly. The red-haired scientist with a white turtleneck sweater looked up from her work. “Yes?” she asked. “Do you know where I could find Barney?” he inquired. She nodded, “Of course,” she replied. “He just went into the medical ward for a check-up on his leg.”

“Thanks.” Ian said. “No problem.” She replied, looking back down to the blueprint. Ian couldn’t help but read the title of the blueprint. It read: “CODENAME SLINGSHOT FEEDBACK DEVICE.” Ian could only guess what it meant. He wrote the thought off, and continued towards the medical ward.

He went to the room where his tattoo had been removed, and he opened the heavy red door. Barney sat on the leather dentist’s chair, his leg on a table, and Dr. Kleiner was examining it. The bald scientist had a magnifying lamp over the bullet wound, and he was looking carefully through it. Ian caught the last part of their conversation.

“…It’s coming along nicely, Calhoun. It’s healed more than we expected. I think you may even be back to normal after no more than a week!” Dr. Kleiner re-wrapped the bandage over the wound, and looked up towards Ian. “Could I perhaps help you, Ian?” Dr. Kleiner asked.

Ian shook his head. “I just came in here to ask Barney about our Vortigaunt friend.” Barney turned around, and looked towards Ian. “He’s really enthusiastic about the mission. He seems content with staying in the trunk. He told me to tell you that he was sorry for the sake of his people that the rebellious one attacked you… That was messed up, the way he attacked you like that. And I thought Black Mesa was as bad as relations between coworkers could get.”

“Great,” Ian responded. “I’m sorry you’re not going to be able to come along on the mission, Barney. You would have been an excellent asset.” Barney smirked, “Heh, no problem kid. Just remember me when you’re bogged down by hordes of aliens out there. I used to be the master at killing those things. Who knows what’s out there now, could be even worse than what we saw in Black Mesa.”

Dr. Kleiner interjected. “Oh, that’s doubtful. Nothing could be worse than Black Mesa. If we didn’t have Gordon Freeman on our side in those days, who knows what would have happened. Besides, you’ll have more room to run away from the aliens out there. In Black Mesa, all we had were dead ends and corridors. It was totally underground, if you must know…”

Barney Calhoun cut him off. “C’mon Isaac, Ian doesn’t want to hear about the horrors of Black Mesa. Besides, I thought you hid in a dumpster through the whole incident.” Dr. Kleiner snapped back in a high pitched voice, “I fell in! I couldn’t help it!” Ian couldn’t resist laughing at the notion of Dr. Kleiner’s cowardice. Dr. Kleiner had been one of Ian’s only companions for the past three years, but Ian still thought very little of the cowardly old scientist.

“Well, Barney, It’s good that you’ll be up and running in a few weeks. I bet you just can’t wait to get out there again.” Ian said to Barney. Calhoun smiled, “Got that right. Not only am I missing out on the action, I also heard that the Czech pubs are the greatest.” Ian laughed, “The best in Eastern Europe.” He said, still playing on the fact that alcohol was illegal under the new Combine regime.

Just then, Dr. Vance burst through the door into the Medical ward. “Ian, you’d better get a look at this!” he shouted. “What is it?” Ian asked, hurrying towards the door. “Just look!” Dr. Vance pointed into the main room.

Ian followed Dr. Vance’s eyes to a monitor mounted on the wall, and was shocked. Ian’s own face stared at him, with the word “WANTED” In bold letters beneath his name. Behind the picture of Ian, Dr. Breen’s voice droned on. “Have you seen this man?” Dr. Breen asked over the speakers. “Ian Olbowski is a rebellious and dangerous man. He is presumed to be armed. We have reports that he has robbed two banks and has committed murder. He is an enemy to society and a threat to The Combine. If you see him, report him. We want him alive. I repeat, Ian Olbowski must be found alive. Thank you, good citizens.”

After Dr. Breen had finished the announcement, the screen faded to black. Ian still stood in shock with his mouth open, looking up at the blank screen. How had this happened? How had they gotten that picture? Ian suddenly remembered the scanner flashing a picture of his face on his second day outside of the Citadel.

Of course; the scanners probably saved everything. The assassin came to Ian’s mind. The assassin had found him suspicious, and she had pushed this broadcast through. It was a good thing Ian was in hiding. He would have to be terribly careful. Everyone would know him now.
 
The others in the room were all shocked, staring at Ian, then at the blank monitor. “This is very, very bad.” Dr. Vance said, shaking his head, and looking at the ground. “The Combine has your number, Ian. The Combine is powerful, and you’ve ticked them off somehow. It’s a very good thing that you’re in hiding right now, or else you would be dead.”

Ian turned to Dr. Eli Vance, “What am I going to do?” he asked. “Should I still go on the mission?” Dr. Vance nodded, “By all means yes! You’ll be much safer outside of city-17 than in it right now. Getting you out of here may sound hard, but trust me; you’ll be much safer out there. I have a plan. The resistance will spread word throughout the city that you are some kind of hero or martyr, instead of a villain. In spite of this warning, not all of the citizens believe what Dr. Breen says.” Eli reassured.

“However, I think that this will actually push our mission forward. You can’t spend any more time in this city. The mission should happen today, not tomorrow. Gather the others immediately. I feel like we’re on some kind of time limit, like someone is watching us.” Eli looked concerned, his brow was furrowed, and he was shifting his weight between his good leg and the prosthetic one.

But Ian didn’t have to go and get the others, they came to him. At that moment, Alyx, Tonya and Harper all came into the room. Each of them looking generally worried. Ian walked out to the center of the room to greet them. The other resistance members in the room were still looking at Ian, wondering what would happen next.

“Ian, I just saw the announcement. What’s going on?” Harper asked. Tonya and Alyx’s faces seemed to ask the same question. “It appears that they’re on to me. Dr. Vance thinks I’m not even safe here any more. The mission has been moved up.”

Alyx interrupted, “To when?” Ian replied, “Right now.” They all seemed surprised, and collectively said, “right now?” Ian held up his hand. “We can’t just sit around and wait here any longer. If we’re going to do something big, we’ve got to do it right now.”

Dr. Vance came up to them. “Sorry for the short notice guys, but this is the opportunity we have been waiting for. How much would it hurt The Combine if right after the wanted announcement, Ian Olbowski goes barreling through a blockade unchecked? It would devastate them, and the assassin would be following him. She wouldn’t be after us. So get equipped. I’m going to go tell the Vortigaunt. Meet me in the garage. Harper should know where to go.”

Eli quickly strode off in the direction of the cells where the Vortigaunts were quarantined. Everything was going too fast for Ian. The mission had been moved up 6 hours. He couldn’t help but being a little excited, though. Ian, Alyx, and Tonya followed hurriedly followed Harper to the equipment room.

They crossed the main room of dumbfounded resistance members, and came to the dingy door with “Supplies” written over it. Harper unlocked the door with his key, and it came open with a click. The four entered the room. Ian looked around, and then asked, “What are we going to need?” Harper looked around, thought for a moment, and then responded, “Well I wish I had more time to think about it, but let’s see… We’re going to be gone for several days, so we’ll need rations, a first aid kit, some water, a radio, and guns. Just take your pick.”

The party quickly went through the storage locker, and picked up their supplies. Ian found a folded up tent that could have come in handy, and he picked up a simple pistol, and the nicest sniper rifle he could find. He placed the pistol on a holster belt that he had found, and hid it under his blue suit. He slung the sniper rifle over his back. He had no idea how he would hide such a thing.

Once they had all equipped their supplies, they left the room, and Harper turned out the light and locked the door. The four strode back through the main room in the apparent direction of the garage. As they walked along, the other resistance members greeted them, and gave them their best wishes.

Seeing their hopeful faces like that really lifted Ian up. He felt like a hero, like some kind of star athlete, or respected dignitary. Barney Calhoun stood on his crutches to one side of their path. “Good luck!” he exclaimed, shaking each of their hands as they walked by. “Buy me a souvenir while you’re there guys, I don’t want to miss anything!”

The four went into one of the tiled hallways, turned the corner, and came to a huge sliding door. “This is it,” Explained Harper. Tonya and Alyx both looked genuinely excited. After all, they were very eager to leave the complex. And so was Ian, in spite of the danger. Ian felt like he did before the invasion, with those naïve thoughts of the invasion being a potentially cool, adventurous event. How naïve his thoughts had been.

Harper leaned down towards a red keypad next to the huge door. He punched in a few numbers, and the keypad beeped. The door started to slide up automatically like a garage door. When the door opened, it revealed a relatively steep and wide ramp ahead of them. “This ramp goes up to the garage, which has access directly to the street. I really don’t know why we have this ramp here, it makes us terribly vulnerable.” Harper explained, leading the other three up the steep, concrete ramp.

The walls around the ramp were made of grey brick, and there were some small accent lights here and there on the walls and the ceiling. Their footsteps echoed in the concrete cavern as the ascended the ramp. They trudged up a full three stories to ground level, and the ramp finally leveled out.

Now ahead of them lay a large, concrete parking garage. There were white lines painted all over the floor to signify the parking spaces, although not many of the spaces were filled up. There were two huge vans labeled “United Combine Munitions Factory” which was not surprising. There was also a simple grey sedan sitting in one of the parking spaces, and oddly, in the corner was an open air dune buggy.

Next to the grey sedan stood Dr. Eli Vance, and the Vortigaunt that would be accompanying them on their trip. Obviously, that would be the car they would be going in. The four of them traversed the short distance from the ramp to the sedan.

“I trust that you’ve all gotten equipped?” asked Dr. Vance, once they had come to the vehicle. Ian put the tent and the sniper rifle on the ground as if to answer Dr. Vance’s question “Where do you want us to put the stuff?” He asked. Dr. Vance responded, “Fit as much as you can under the seats, and then put the rest in the trunk, there may be enough room for the Vortigaunt and your supplies.”

Ian glanced at the trunk of the car, true, it was pretty big. The Vortigaunt came up to Ian, and thought-spoke to him. “Ian, on the behalf of my people, I am sorry for what Naguk-digh did. His views do not represent mine. I am honored to be coming on this expedition with you.” Smoothly, Ian thought back to the Vortigaunt. “Glad to have you with us. I don’t blame you for what Naguk-digh did. What he did was out of his own accord.” Then, Ian opened the back door to the sedan, covered his sniper rifle with the tent, and placed it under the two front seats.

The others opened up the doors of the car and started arranging the supplies. They were able to fit most of the supplies under the seats or in between the seats, with only two water canisters, a food ration, and a sub-machine gun that wouldn’t fit. They put these into the trunk. Then, the Vortigaunt crawled into the trunk, and tested out the size. The Vortigaunts short, hunched figure could fit into the trunk quite comfortably, even with the other supplies inside the trunk.

Harper made a joke about rolling the car into a river, and they shut the trunk on the Vortigaunt, which conveniently had air holes. “There, that should do it!” exclaimed Harper, “what next?” Dr. Vance came forward. “Great job fitting all of that in there, really, I don’t know how you did it… Here are the keys.” Dr. Vance handed Harper a set of keys.

Unexpectedly, Dr. Vance went over and embraced his daughter. “Be safe, Alyx. Good luck.” He said. Alyx hugged him back. “Don’t worry dad, I’m not going to go and loose my leg or anything.” Eli Vance backed away from his daughter. “Alright, that should be it. Just drive to the main East checkpoint, find the best time to barrel through, and then drive as fast as you can down the main highway towards the Black Sea and Ravenholm. Good Luck and may God be with you.”

Dr. Vance bowed, and the others said their goodbyes. “I get to drive,” said Harper to the others. “Ian gets shotgun, the girls go in the back.” Nobody protested to Harper’s decision. Ian went around to the passenger side of the sedan, opened the door, and got in. He sank into the seat, and put on his seatbelt. Alyx and Tonya slid into the back seat, and Harper got into the right side of the car, the driver’s side.

Harper put the key into he ignition, and started the car. The engine started with a stutter, and the thick, musty smell of air conditioning filled the compartment of the car. The four were lurched forward as Harper shifted the car into gear and began driving it through the parking lot. Alyx and Tonya started a low murmur of conversation.

Ian thought-spoke back to the Vortigaunt, “how are you doing back there? Are you Comfortable?” The sound of the Vortigaunt’s voice appeared in his head, “Quite content,” he said “I will simply meditate, and my mind will focus on other things.” Ian wished he had such a focused mind.

Harper pressed a button that was clipped to the mirror, and the door of the garage slid open, and revealed the bright light of the outside. One of the wider cobble-stoned streets of City-17 lay before them. There were people and Combine officers patrolling the area, as usual.

Ian had almost forgotten about the world that lay above HQ. He had almost forgotten about their cruelty, their black uniforms, their gasmasks, and the electric sticks they carried. He had almost forgotten about the evil, smiling face of Dr. Breen as he spoke his lies to the public. He had almost forgotten, but how could anyone forget something like that?

The sedan rolled out of the garage, and bumped onto the cobblestone street. The car got a lot of looks from the people passing by. It was rare to see cars driving around the city, since hardly anyone owned a registered vehicle. “Keep your head down, we don’t want anyone to see you.” Harper said quietly to Ian.

Ian took his advice, and slid down low in his chair. All Ian could see now was the afternoon sky, the looming citadel, and the occasional scanner that flew by. He had to be careful, now that everyone would recognize his face.

They drove on for quite a while. There was no traffic at all, except for the occasional pedestrian, or a cable car. The city was relatively quiet today, who knew where all the shopkeepers and businessmen had gone, was it some kind of holiday?

After they had passed through a few traffic circles, Harper told Ian that he could come back up. Ian sat up in his chair, and discovered that they were now on a straight road which was nearly totally unpopulated. “This is the edge of the city.” Harper explained. “Just down that road there is a blockade that keeps everyone inside the city. It’s policy that nobody leaves city-17. We are going to dive up near it, and at the best moment, hopefully when another vehicle is passing through the blockade, we’ll try to get through it.” Ian nodded, “got it.” He replied.

They drove along the road until a gigantic, fifty foot wall was visible. The wall was made out of the same black metal as The Citadel, and its sides were covered with the same black metal spikes as the wall that had kept Ian a slave for three years. The wall struck terror into Ian’s soul. “That’s the blockade.” Harper said. I’m going to pull up next to this light post, and we’re going to wait for the opportune moment. Just stay quiet and motionless, and they won’t think to come and see what we’re doing.”

Harper hit the brakes and turned the wheel of the car, parking it next to an old iron lamp post. And so, they waited. They sat there for about 20 minutes, just watching the guards patrol on the top of the wall. Every so often the gaze of an officer would fall on their car, but seeing no movement, they would always turn their attention away.

Then, suddenly, the ground began to shake, and the party inside the car began to hear a distant pounding sound. A strider was coming! They all quickly turned their heads in the direction of the sound. “This would be our opportune moment, kid.” Harper said to Ian.

All of their eyes were focused on their left. Suddenly, the forty-foot tall figure of a three-legged strider, yellow, and menacing, came out into the intersection in front of the wall. The machine clumsily and lankily pounded its way up to the wall. The sun was reflecting off of the machine’s massive metal hull. It made the combine guards look tiny.

The machine stopped in its place. Apparently, there was radio chatter going on between the wall and the strider. “They’re going to go through the wall,” explained Harper, as he started up the engine. Suddenly, there was a huge mechanical screeching sound, and a gigantic portion of the wall began to slide upwards, to make a gate for the strider to go through.

Harper waited a moment, and then gunned the engine. Everyone in the car was thrown back in their seat as the sedan accelerated from zero to its top speed. Harper kept changing gears as they sped closer and closer to the wall. Surely the guards would have noticed them by now.

The strider loomed close now, far overhead. Trees, stop signs and lampposts flew by, blurred by the speed of the car. Harper aligned the speeding car directly in the center of the road. Ian looked past the striders legs and saw that the wall was indeed up, and the countryside beyond the city was now visible.
 
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