Legal disclaimer:

I do not own Sierra, Valve, Half-life, Bungie, Gearbox, Microsoft and/or Halo and other related companies whatsoever. I wish I did, anyway.

Halo: Freeman Evolved

Date: Sometime during 2002

It was a regular day at the Black Mesa Research Facility, New Mexico, as the lowly scientist, Gordon Freeman, sat on the tram awaiting its final stop at the Anomalous Materials center. The constant droning of the PA system wasn't so bad for the early part of the day. He'd been called to the building; someone found a pure source of a new material they've been testing on, and Black Mesa needed analysis. He pushed his glasses up. A typical day at work, he thought.

Date: August 30, 2552

"Jump to Slipspace, Ensign Lovell," Captain Keyes said. "Get us the hell out of here." The Pillar of Autumn started up its Shaw-Fujikawa Slipspace drive engines. A tall man donned in green battle armor started to get in a large tube, a Cryo chamber. That man was the Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a genetically upgraded human, a product of the Spartan II project. He had to enter the tube. Standard UNSC protocol required it. During Slipspace jumps, who knows what would happen to your body's systems. A human colony, Reach, had just been invaded by an alien presence known as the Covenant. The Chief can only imagine what happened, the enormous Covenant ships glassing the planet until it was just a large, smoldering rock.

"Morning, Mr. Freeman," said Barney, the security guard. "Looks like you're running late." Gordon just stood up and waited for Barney to open the tram doors. He walked out the tram and into Sector C test labs, just as soon as the guard opened the set of doors leading into the building. "Catch you later; I'll buy you a beer," Barney said before Gordon went through the huge, metal doors.

Everything started getting cold for the Chief. The Cryo chamber pushed him into a deep sleep, until he was ready to fight again. Spartans were made for combat on solid ground. He couldn't wait until he was back on terrain, a place where he could rely on himself and feel safe, not in a ship, in the confines of space.

Gordon opened the chamber that housed his HEV suit, or Hazardous Environment suit. Stripping off his lab coat and donning on the HEV, a voice suddenly chimed from his chest. "Welcome, to the HEV Mark IV Protective System. For use in hazardous environment conditions," it said, a disembodied woman's voice. He picked up a battery from his locker and powered his suit up a bit. "Power up to 15," the voice said again.
Gordon walked down the hallways leading to the test chamber. Before entering the chamber, a machine suddenly exploded. Two scientists rushed in to check the damage. "What the hell is going on with our equipment?" one scientist blurted out. Gordon shrugged it off, but he had a bad feeling about what was going to happen today.
He went down the final elevator to enter the testing center. Another hallway and he reached his destination. Entering the final chamber he meets two scientists who have the clearances to let him in the test chamber.
"I'm afraid we'll be deviating a bit from standard analysis procedures today, Gordon," said the first scientist.
"Yes, but with good reason," said the other. "This is a rare opportunity for us. This is the purest sample we've seen yet."
"And potentially, the most unstable," the first one added.
"Now, now, if we follow standard insertion procedures, everything will be fine."
"I don't know how you can say that, although I will admit that the possibility of a resonance cascade scenario is extremely unlike-."
"Gordon doesn't need to hear all this; he's a highly trained professional. We've assured the administrator that nothing will go wrong."
"Ah, yes. You're right," says the first one. "Gordon, we have complete confidence in you."
"Well, go ahead. Let's let him in now."
Both scientists walked to their respective retinal scanners to open the final door. Gordon entered the test chamber. There was a huge machine in the ceiling that looked like it could shoot lasers that dig through the earth. The screech of feedback suddenly hit Freeman's ears. "Testing. Testing," a voice said from the speakers above. "Everything seems to be in order."
"Alright Gordon, your suit should keep you comfortable through all this," a second voice said. "The specimen will be delivered to you in a few moments. If you would be so good as to climb up and start the rotors, we can bring the anti-mass spectrometer to 80 and keep it there until the carrier arrives."
Gordon looked to his right and saw a ladder that went almost near the ceiling of the test chamber. He started his ascent and flicked the switch to start the anti-mass spectrometer. The huge machine started humming, its rotors whirring and spinning.
"Very good," said the second voice. "We'll take it from here." The machine started emitting a thin laser. After a moment, three other lasers joined with the central one.
"Gordon, we cannot predict how long this system can operate in this level, nor how long the readings will take. Please work as quickly as you can."
"Overhead capacitors to one-oh-five percent," said the first scientist at the intercom. "Uh, it's probably not a problem… probably, but I'm showing discrepancy in… well, no. It's well within acceptable bounds again. Sustaining sequence."
"I've just been informed that the sample is ready, Gordon. It should be coming up to you any moment now," the second scientist said. "Look to the delivery system for the specimen."
At this signal, Gordon walked toward the little machine that rose from the ground, handling a little crystal. He pushed the cart toward the laser. The moment the beam touched the specimen, electricity surged from the union. Everything shook from the force of the reaction.

Cortana, the ship-borne AI was all alone in the Pillar of Autumn, well, not exactly alone. The Autumn's crew was there, but they were all in Cryogenic sleep. She pondered upon where the coordinates for their "random jump" would send them to. It wasn't a random jump, actually. The coordinates Cortana received were from a rock piece that the Master Chief retrieved from Sigma Octanus. There were markings all over the crystal that looked like coordinates to somewhere in the galaxy. She hoped that these were the coordinates to an important Covenant planet of some sort. It was a long shot, but it might be worth it.
A Covenant ship suddenly passed by them. Wait a minute, Cortana thought. We're in slipspace. The Covenant can't possibly outrun us in light-speed! Luckily, it was just a scout and passed by them. Un-luckily, it caused a slight slipspace storm right in the Pillar of Autumn, right in Cryo Bay Two. Right were the Master Chief was. Green electricity surged in the Cryo chamber, and suddenly, the Chief wasn't there.

"Gordon, get away from the beac—."
"Shutting down - no! Attempted shutdown. It's not… it's not shutting down! It's not—." An arc of electricity suddenly shot through the scientists' observation deck. "Ahh!" was all that got through the intercom. More explosions rocked the spectrometer. Debris were falling everywhere. Green electricity surged and touched the room's walls, barely missing Gordon. A large concentration of the green energy stayed floating where the once straight beams were now moving erratically. Particles of green energy started collecting near the crystal. The last thing Gordon saw after that was a green flashing surge of energy and then, darkness.

Hidden Mantis: How'd you guys like the first chapter? I'm just a first-time writer, so forgive me if you've seen any mistakes. Instead, post comments so I can make things better!

Like the title says, Halo: Gordon Evolved, this story will focus more on Mr. Freeman, not Spartan-117. But don't get me wrong. I'd prefer a story with John any day.

In future chapters, I will make amends to both games' weapon systems to make them more realistic and believable.

It seems the idea for a Half-life Halo mix-up isn't original. I hope no-one would think "this is an unoriginal piece of #!", 'cause I'm going to try and make it as original as I can and describing every single event as in-depth as I can. Thanks, and no flames, please. :D

P.S.

If someone is willing to give free gaming rigs, I would love to receive one. Or an Xbox 360. Or a PS3.

Edit:

God was I a shitty writer back then. I had to spruce everything up and play around with a few lines.