(Untitled)

[acts_of_gord]

Alyx posted her recruiting memo on the chat... thing... that Shephard brought them the equipment for. That's fine. Gordon is good with that. He's not sure how many people here use that service, though, which is why he's sitting down at one of the tables with a big piece of oak tag and a black magic marker and trying to decide exactly what needs to

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[unbreakableben]

"The dreaded blank page stare, I know it well," says a large guy in pseudo Air Force fatigues who's eating a plate of paradoxes at a table nearby. Ben would have read and responded to Alyx's recruiting memo if he were the technology type of guy but since he isn't, he has no clue what's going on.

[acts_of_gord]

"Hm?" Gordon looks up. "Oh. Yeah. It's been a while since I've had to do any recruiting for back home. Not much good with words."

[unbreakableben]

"Reciuting?" Ben says with a slight frown. "What's going on back home? If you don't mind my asking that is."

[acts_of_gord]

"Aliens," says Gordon. "We've had them for some time. They conquered the planet sixteen years ago- sit down if you want. I can tell you about it."

[unbreakableben]

"Sure," Ben says, scooping up his paradoxes and their sauce before heading over to sit. "I'm Captain Ben Grimm by the way. United States Air Force."

A hand is offered once free of the fried goodness.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon leans over to shake the offered hand. "Gordon Freeman," he says. "Can't say I've met too many people from your service here, just... I don't remember Rhodes' rank." He shrugs. "Anyway. I used to be a theoretical physicist. These days I'm busy fighting the aliens that overran my world in the Seven Hours' War."

[unbreakableben]

"'Seven hours'?" Ben asks. "It must have really hit the fan."

Of course the Gah Lak Tus or the Chitauri could have made just as short of work on Earth if not for him and his peers.

[acts_of_gord]

"So they tell me," says Gordon, with a faint scowl. "I was in a different dimension at the time. Two months there, twenty years on Earth."

He shakes his head sourly.

"The Combine Empire rolled over Earth and established themselves as overlords sixteen years ago. The human population hasn't recovered because the first thing the Combine did was establish some kind of energy field that prevented human reproduction. They've spent that time evaluating us for addition to their armies as cybernetically enhanced slave soldiers. We've only just barely managed to start pushing back at their strategic points, and this is going to be one of the big ones."

[unbreakableben]

At the start of Gordon's explanation, Ben's eyebrows climbed a bit but by the end they're low over his eyes and the muscles in his jaw work a bit as he grinds his teeth.

"You said recruiting yes? You doing that here or back home?" He took an oath to defend the United States and the Earth in his home dimension, Ben doesn't see any reason that wouldn't extend to other realities. Still, he doesn't want to invite himself to the party.

[acts_of_gord]

"Here, mostly," Gordon says. "We've got as many resistance fighters as we can back home already. The more assistance we can pick up from here, the better."

[unbreakableben]

"Well, assuming my door doesn't come back, I could help. As I already said, I'm in the Air Force. What I didn't say (cause it's complicated) is that I've been trained as part of a branch of the military designed specifically to repeal alien attacks from space. I've had training from the Army Rangers, the Navy Seals, the Marine Raiders and just about any other kind of special forces they could think to throw in my direction. I can fly most anything as to keep us in top shape, we're test pilots.

"Plus, before I went into the military, I spent five years as a super hero. When my powers are activated, I can lift over a hundred tons and have yet to find something that can hurt me.

I swore an oath to protect the United States and Earth, I see no reason that oath doesn't extend to other Earth's than the one I grew up on."

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon considers this for a while. Eventually he says, "There isn't really a United States any more, officially speaking, but given that our top strategist is the only member of the United States Marine Corps left alive, I'm not sure 'officially' matters. We'd be more than happy to have you along if you're good with that."

[unbreakableben]

"There's still the Earth though right? Either way works for me. I'll even consider him my CO since it's his world and not mind."

[acts_of_gord]

"It's Earth, all right," confirms Gordon. "And the North American branch of the Resistance is headquartered at the old government bunker under the Greenbrier Resort. I'm sure Sergeant-Major Shephard's going to be thrilled to know someone else can fly, for once."

[unbreakableben]

"Does the Sergeant-Major come here? Or would I need to go to your world to meet him?" Ben asks falling into military protocol instinctively.

[acts_of_gord]

"Fairly regularly," says Gordon. "His name's Adrian Shephard, and he generally wears his fatigues when he comes here." After a moment's thought he adds, "Even for a Marine he's got a mouth like a hog farm. Kind of hard to miss."