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It's a typical, oh so but still terrible day in City 17. The Combine has been ramping up recently, and the Resistance is losing any hope for a brighter future to come.

And yet the major Resistance members are standing around in Kleiner's lab, as they have a fear for what lies beyond their secret labratories now.

"What's even coming through there, Kleiner?" Alyx backed up from the teleporter, it was whirring around and sparking, quite a justifiably worrying sight.

"Well that I don't know, but whatever it is, the teleporter isn't having it!" Kleiner responded, trying to scout out the issue with his eyes.

"Can you, I dunno, shut it down? Is it that hard?!" Barney yelled back at the both of them, his hands running frantically over buttons and keys at the side of the room.

And in the very far corner, there's Gordon Freeman. The so called leader of the Resistance, clutching a crowbar in his fists, or rather the gloves of the HEV suit. Watching the chaos about to ensue, as if none of them have dealt with it before millions of times with the Combine forces.

And then, the teleporter slowed down, the sparks calmed and the whirring had stopped. And as the light smoke had cleared, out stepped a..strangely cubic man in dark plum-colored jeans, and a toned down cyan tunic. His skin was a tan on the darker side, his hair was dark brown and short, and his eyes a deep shade of blue.

"What the FUCK is THAT." Barney shouted from over his shoulder, almost stumbling back at the sight.

"Don't scream, Barney! There is no reason, he seems peaceful! And, plus, you'll get us caught. " Kleiner shushed him. 

Gordon stepped toward the silent man, not daring to make eye contact and come off the wrong way but not daring either to let his own gaurd down. The HEV suit boots made a clacking on the cold and hard floor, and he stopped in front of the peculiar man.

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Gordon stared at him for a second, waiting for said man to make any movement, watching everything. Gordon was taller than him, although not looming or towering over him. Though he could tell this man was not confident, he noticed the slight fidgeting of hands and thus, he took a few steps back, loosening his glare.

Barney and Alyx however, were not too sure. These people had been through enough and they were not about to make it worse. Gordon and Kleiner watched as the two stepped slightly back to the wall of the room, not daring to make any unnecessary inputs.

"So, um, what are we gonna do with him?" Barney broke the silence, though in a quiet tone of voice than usual.

Kleiner stepped over to the man, about the same distance as Gordon was. Hands behind his back, he gave a hard, yet not intimidating stare. 

"Do you talk? At all?" He questioned the stranger. And, he got no response. "Okay then."

"I mean, looks friendly enough." Alyx chimed in from the back.

Gordon thought this encounter was..Interesting, to say the least. Although, this man was clearly not from this.."timeline", "universe", whatever you may label it. And the last time that happened was..the incident. But, he was always skittish about these things, he just had to get over it. No matter how hard it may be.

Kleiner, still looking at the man, spoke yet again.

"So, now that we know you are not here to, precisely speaking based off of..past experiences for lack of better term lets say murder us, then I say you're welcomed here. Although, I..do have some questions and inquiries beforehand, we are in a..quite complex situation here."

"Yes, Kleiner, because the Combine is a 'quite complex situation'." Barney argued in a more arrogant tone.

"Now, Barney, really we should not be fighting, let us show our guest around?" 

"Okay then, but I'm still on the fence about that guy."

The man nodded. Kleiner strided to the door leading to the rest of the small lab as Alyx stepped back, getting out of his way. She then followed him, the man, Gordon, and Barney to the other parts of the lab.

She closed the door behind them.

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Kleiner had showed the man around, exercising little to no caution as if he knew he wouldn't be trouble. As they walked through, Barney stopped suddenly, almost making people bump into eachother if they werent looking.

"What's even this guys name, anyway?" He asked, coming off in a little bit of a rude tone.

"I mean, I guess you are right, never got an answer to that question." Kleiner took a second to shift his gaze to the now just realized unnamed man. "So, what is your name?"

The man shrugged. A man who didn't know his own name, he is quite the phenomenon!

"..Okay, so anyone have any ideas?" Kleiner turned back to the rest of them. And while it was quiet for a moment, it wasn't long til Alyx and Barney were shouting out names and arguing over which ones sounded better, and...more, uh, 'normal'.

And it was a lot of debate and argue until they settled on one;

Steve. It was alright, they figured it wasn't too out of the normalcy and fit.

And, while all that was happening, Gordon stood next to Steve. Just tall enough to look down at him, but not in an intimidating way. In fact, Gordon was trying to look as friendly as possible, which can be kind of difficult when you don't talk, but facial expressions are enough.

"Alright, so now that's out of the way-"

A harsh knock, almost bang on the door sounded from outside the secret entrance of the lab. They could hear faint Combine members speaking to eachother if they were close enough to the door. 

"FUCK!, they found us!" Barney blurted out as he unholstered his gun, beckoning the others to do the same. 

Alyx pulled out hers, while Gordon unholstered his .9mm. Kleiner ran to the other side of the room, grabbing a shotgun he pulled out of a drawer and quickly grabbing rounds, loading them in. 

And, just then, Civil Protection bust through the door. Shots were fired almost immediately, blood spatting on the walls and floor from the close range bullets. There were too many CP to handle, though. They were outnumbered. 

Barney climbed up to the windows in the lab, breaking them open with the stock of his gun. Alyx and Kleiner followed up, climbing out of the window. Gordon fired more shots at the CP before eventually climbing up aswell, and jumping out the window.

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All of them got away as fast as they could, guns still in hand if CP chased them further.

With Barney in the lead, they covered their tracks as well as was possible. Running behind boxes and other large objects to conceal themselves, until they were sure the Combine would not be so close on their tails now. 

"I think we can huff stop now- huff-" Barney said. They had stopped in a random alley, not quite knowing where they were at.

"So, what do we do if the Combine catches up? You know they won't stop until they've got our heads on a stake!" Alyx questioned.

"Well, I think it is crucial that we stay calm, we have handled worse have we not?" Kleiner answered, observing their surroundings.

The alleyway was unusually wide, and..strangely clean. There was the occasional small debris, but for an alley atleast, was impressive. The walls with the minimal amounts of graffiti, there were some boxes and crates in a corner, 3 of them in a stack. The alley was quite long, but partial sunlight illuminated it in patches. There were weeds growing out of small piles of dirt in the corners.

Alyx and Barney sat down, while Kleiner continued to stand. They all needed to catch their energy.

Gordon and Steve stood behind. Gordon just a few steps in front of Steve. He looked back at him, straight in the eyes. Normally, Gordon hated this. But, it didn't feel as bad now, for some reason. Maybe it was a softer glare than he normally had given back to him, but it was..weird. This was a stranger who he had not known for even a day. But possibly it's just coincidence. 

"Ey Gordon, you've still got your crowbar, right?" Barney called to him.

Gordon nodded in response, putting away his gun and pulling out said crowbar, clutching it in his hand, a little harder than he should have.

"Could you break open those crates and see whats in em?"

Gordon stepped towards the crates, they were in the far corner, but still close. He put his hand out, signalling them to stand back.

He swung the first top crate with strength, making a hole and sending some small wood chips flying. He hit it again, and again, until the side came off. He repeated this with the rest of the crates, then simply took a step to the side after he was done.

The crates contained health vials, some ammo, and...

a heavy machine gun??

Steve walked up to the crate, picking up the gun with ease. The rest of them watched, in awe of how a man could pick up a HMG like a feather, as where any one of them could struggle to even haul it across the ground.

"Why the hell was that even in a crate in a damn alleyway?" Barney asked, though none of them could support an answer.

And yet their time was cut short by the wailing windy sounds of a Combine gunship just above them.

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"I told you they're still after us!" Alyx shouted, while everyone grabbed their things and hurried to get out of there.

"Well damn Alyx, seeing if you're so right then why dont you shoot it down for us?!" Barney yelled back, clearly aggrivated.

They all ran down the alley. There were small puddles, their shoes splatting in them, leaving drops on their soles. It seemed so long, yet at their pace, only took a few minutes before they were out in the sunlight again. Looking around, they had come across a problem...an entire river of radioactive waste. Great. None of them could cross this, but there was nowhere to go. The Combine gunship was flying up ahead, and was already shooting at them. The bullets just barely missed Kleiner. The river was lined with steep rocks, but they were large enough to cross on. Gordon thought no longer about this, and ran down the slim tops of the rocks, beckoning the others after him.

"Gordon, do you really think this is- scoff safe?" Kleiner questioned.

Gordon simply shrugged. He knew about the risk, but it was one worth taking. He'd rather drown in the waste than let the Combine get him. 

While running, Barney and Alyx were trying to load their guns, obviously failing as the rough rocks made it difficult to really do anything while traversing them, especially doing so quickly. Gordon still had his crowbar, using it to assist him in climbing certain rocks and getting them out of the way. 

The gunship didn't stop at this, though. It was still high and strong in the air, shooting the group as they ran. Steve was in the back, dodging falling rocks as they went over them. There was a tall concrete wall lining the river, with sewer gates.

Gordon noticed this, and went to the closest one. They were large, taller than him, but he thought of trying to pry it open with his crowbar. He signalled everyone else to stand back, them abiding the best as they could.

Steve almost tripped and fell off the rocks, with Alyx catching him. The gunship was getting closer and closer to them.

Gordon went to the sides of the sewer and began hacking away at it slowly, smashing in the sides and taking it off with the ends of the crowbar.

"Gordon, hurry up! The gunships on us!" Barney ordered, looking like he was just about to take the crowbar out of Gordon's hands and do it himself.

Eventually, the sewer gate swung loose. Gordon stepped back as the gate fell into the water, splashing just little enough to barely miss everyone. And one by one, they ran into the sewer, not bothering to look behind them.

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The sewers waste was low, allowing them to run through it easier. The metal lining of the sewer walls was rusty and covered in grime, and occasional crates and garbage floated by. Though all they were concerned about was getting out of there, and alive. Gordon in the lead, they turned a corner. Although, Gordon suddenly stopped, and pulled out his pistol, Alyx doing the same. He slowly walked forward a few steps, before stopping again, looking around.

Headcrabs. There were tons. Lining the walls and crawling around in the sewer water, and they all noticed the group that had invaded their space. And they were not happy.

"..it's fuckin' HEADHUMPERS!-"  Barney yelled, taking multiple steps back before unholstering his pulse-rifle. 

A headcrab jumped at Alyx, quickly falling as she had shot it mid-air, plopping into the water and making a small splash.

"Barney, if you yell like that the Combine's gonna find us 10 times easier, be quiet!" Alyx replied in a snarky tone.

"Well it's not my fault theres headcrabs down here and you all are going to deal with it, because I want those to stay as far away from me as possibl-" Barney cut himself short, after having to shoot a headcrab that got too close to his leg, before standing back behind everyone. "....Okay then."

Kleiner also stood back with Barney, not looking. 

Gordon just kept shooting every headcrab in sight, picking some up by the leg and bashing them with his crowbar, not mattering how much alien "blood" got on him from it, and next to not caring about the rest of its body. He was used to this, having done such thousands of times, to aliens or humans.

He was running low on ammo, and the headcrabs just kept coming, no matter how many he shot. There was no point in this.

He ran. No warning, just ran. He sprinted down every turn of the sewers, around garbage floating down the water. He ran until all he could feel in his legs was the metal plating of the HEV suit, and hearing the sewage slosh against it, leaving trails of it dripping down the boots. His breathing was heavy, but he didn't stop. He ran and ran until he thought he was far away enough from where the headcrabs were coming from. 

Then he turned behind him.

And there was no one there. 

The others hadn't caught up. He was alone. He looked around where he had ended up. The sewage was a little below his knees now, but that wasn't the problem. He was lost, he hadn't acknowledged where he was even heading. He walked, crowbar clutched in his hand maybe just a little too tight, and he observed his surroundings, thoroughly. The walls here were a little less rusted, surprisingly, considering the drastic height change of the sewage. There wasn't much here, though there were dim, red lights overhead, making it more difficult to distinguish shapes and colors. 

He kept slowly walking through the sewer, looking around as he went. Anything, anything could be useful right now. A ladder, a skylight, even a vent to crawl through would be great to come across.

And yet, like the people he knew, there wasn't any of those in sight.

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Gordon continued trudging through the sewage, occasionally stopping to see if he could hear anyone, or anything approaching. But there was nothing. He was alone. Just like he was in Black Mesa. He didn't like being alone, just for that fact. The silence was too loud. He hated this. Too quiet, too alone, too alone with his own thought. 

There was a thin, concrete platform on one side of the sewer. It was short enough he could haul himself up onto it. He gripped the edges and heaved his legs over until he was sitting on the platform. He sat down, calmly. His knees up to his chest to keep them from dangling off the edge. It was all too silent. He had nothing urgent to do, other than getting out of the sewers. But that was it. What was he even going to do when he even got out?  It'd be a challenge to find everyone else. He was so used to having to run and kill to survive all the time, he never had time to think. He almost forgot how. 

He avoided it, even. His mind drifted too much, drifted to things he'd wish he could forget. But he couldn't. It was always a recurring thought when he ever did sit to think.

Black Mesa.

It gaurded all four corners of his mind. Everything he's been through for the past twenty years was because of the Incident. He hated it, so much. He thought about how he could've prevented it. How he could've just not been apart of it at all. He hated that the world almost depended on him. He hated being everyones only hope. He hated that if he gave up, everyone else would too. 

He could feel his heart beating faster, he tried to think about something else. He couldn't. He felt awful.

He didn't like remembering it, but it felt he had no choice. He could almost feel the grasp of the zombies and the HECU's bullets grazing his skin again. He felt the same awkward weightlessness as he did in Xen. He felt back in Black Mesa. And back in everywhere he had been before.

He thought about what he could've done differently. Thought about the guilt that hangs over him. He felt awful.

And it just kept getting worse. And worse. Until he felt like he couldn't breathe. He was hyperventilating and almost choking on air through tears. Still huddled up in the sewer, but he forgot about that. He forgot where he was. He felt like he was suffocating. He felt like he didnt have any control over his body, he wanted to move, but he just couldn't. He tried to look up, but it was if his head was frozen in place. As if he was a weathered and beaten statue given sentience as a punishment. It was like he was fighting his own body and mind just to breathe normally and move. 

It almost felt like he was straining his muscles but something was holding him down. Something stronger than him. But he was Freeman, right? Nothing was stronger than him. That's what everyone else thought. But he knew. He knew he was weak.

The tunnel lit up, and from the corner of his eye, he could see a light. He finally broke free of himself. He raised his head, and looked to the light.

It was the strange man, or Steve rather, standing in the water, with a flashlight attached to his gun. 

The light was almost blinding.