A Red-Letter Day
"Alyx! Alyx, where are you?"
"I'm up here, Doc," says Alyx from her perch above the teleporter platform. "Right where you left me five minutes ago."
"Oh." Dr. Kleiner looks sheepish, but only for a moment. "Well, come down at once, child. I have some exciting news!"
Alyx quirks an eyebrow. "More exciting than having the teleporter actually working?" she asks as she climbs back down the makeshift ladder on the back of the device.
"Indeed!" Kleiner looks like he might burst from excitement. "Gordon Freeman is here!"
Alyx almost loses her grip on the ladder. "You're kidding. He's here?? When did that happen?"
"Just a few moments ago. Barney intercepted him at the train station and sent him in our direction. Alyx, it is imperative that he reach your father's laboratory unharmed! If Breen were to find him--"
"I get the idea. Where is he now?"
"Well, let's see. He'll be cutting across the plaza, that's the most direct route... he should be near the South 2nd Street dormitory by now."
Alyx nods. "I'll get down there right away, Doc."
She rushes out the door as quickly as she can get it open. If it's really Gordon Freeman--if it's really the man from all those stories she heard growing up... well, Kleiner's right. It's very exciting news.
Well, there's definitely something going on at the dormitory. The place is crawling with Civil Protection. Fortunately, they're all focused on keeping the inmates from getting out of the complex--which means it's relatively easy for someone getting in to escape their attention.
She picks the most heavily bombarded building and slides in through the nearest open window. Unless I miss my guess, he'll be right in the middle of the worst of it, thinks Alyx as she eases her way up the stairs. I wonder how much of a fight he's giving 'em?
The sound of violent impacts and Civil Protection vocoders from the hall ahead of her draw her attention. Three CPs are ganging up on some poor bastard and giving him the beating of his life. Alyx scowls. Mission or no, she's not about to let that kind of abuse stand.
She leans out into the hallway, just behind the head of the nearest CP, and shouts, "Over here!"
The armored man turns just in time to get Alyx's fist in the front of his head rather than the back. The other two launch themselves at her, but she dodges easily--"Ha! No, you don't!"--and darts to the far end of the hall with the two men hot on her heels.
Civil Protection agents are tough, but they're not enhanced, and the armor makes them slow and clumsy. Alyx has done enough sparring with Barney to know that, and to know that a solid blow to the head will incapacitate a CP just as easily as anyone else. Two good swings with the nearest heavy object--which turns out to be a wooden chair from the next room over--and they're down for the count.
Well, that was an interesting diversion. Now who was the guy... they... were...
She gapes at the man sprawled on the hallway floor. She knows that face. She's seen it a thousand times in the old pictures in Kleiner's lab.
Gordon Freeman, hero of Black Mesa, destroyer of the Nihilanth, just got his ass handed to him by three cops.
You've got to be kidding me. I just rescued Gordon Freeman? From Civil Protection, no less?? This has got to be a joke. Or a coincidence. Maybe it's just somebody who looks a lot like him. But those glasses... it's not like corrective lenses are easy to come by... and Barney wouldn't call Kleiner unless he was sure. So...
The man's eyes flicker open. Alyx kneels by his side and manages a small smile.
"Dr. Freeman, I presume."
"I'm up here, Doc," says Alyx from her perch above the teleporter platform. "Right where you left me five minutes ago."
"Oh." Dr. Kleiner looks sheepish, but only for a moment. "Well, come down at once, child. I have some exciting news!"
Alyx quirks an eyebrow. "More exciting than having the teleporter actually working?" she asks as she climbs back down the makeshift ladder on the back of the device.
"Indeed!" Kleiner looks like he might burst from excitement. "Gordon Freeman is here!"
Alyx almost loses her grip on the ladder. "You're kidding. He's here?? When did that happen?"
"Just a few moments ago. Barney intercepted him at the train station and sent him in our direction. Alyx, it is imperative that he reach your father's laboratory unharmed! If Breen were to find him--"
"I get the idea. Where is he now?"
"Well, let's see. He'll be cutting across the plaza, that's the most direct route... he should be near the South 2nd Street dormitory by now."
Alyx nods. "I'll get down there right away, Doc."
She rushes out the door as quickly as she can get it open. If it's really Gordon Freeman--if it's really the man from all those stories she heard growing up... well, Kleiner's right. It's very exciting news.
Well, there's definitely something going on at the dormitory. The place is crawling with Civil Protection. Fortunately, they're all focused on keeping the inmates from getting out of the complex--which means it's relatively easy for someone getting in to escape their attention.
She picks the most heavily bombarded building and slides in through the nearest open window. Unless I miss my guess, he'll be right in the middle of the worst of it, thinks Alyx as she eases her way up the stairs. I wonder how much of a fight he's giving 'em?
The sound of violent impacts and Civil Protection vocoders from the hall ahead of her draw her attention. Three CPs are ganging up on some poor bastard and giving him the beating of his life. Alyx scowls. Mission or no, she's not about to let that kind of abuse stand.
She leans out into the hallway, just behind the head of the nearest CP, and shouts, "Over here!"
The armored man turns just in time to get Alyx's fist in the front of his head rather than the back. The other two launch themselves at her, but she dodges easily--"Ha! No, you don't!"--and darts to the far end of the hall with the two men hot on her heels.
Civil Protection agents are tough, but they're not enhanced, and the armor makes them slow and clumsy. Alyx has done enough sparring with Barney to know that, and to know that a solid blow to the head will incapacitate a CP just as easily as anyone else. Two good swings with the nearest heavy object--which turns out to be a wooden chair from the next room over--and they're down for the count.
Well, that was an interesting diversion. Now who was the guy... they... were...
She gapes at the man sprawled on the hallway floor. She knows that face. She's seen it a thousand times in the old pictures in Kleiner's lab.
Gordon Freeman, hero of Black Mesa, destroyer of the Nihilanth, just got his ass handed to him by three cops.
You've got to be kidding me. I just rescued Gordon Freeman? From Civil Protection, no less?? This has got to be a joke. Or a coincidence. Maybe it's just somebody who looks a lot like him. But those glasses... it's not like corrective lenses are easy to come by... and Barney wouldn't call Kleiner unless he was sure. So...
The man's eyes flicker open. Alyx kneels by his side and manages a small smile.
"Dr. Freeman, I presume."