Hello and welcome to this One-Shot here. I've been playing Half-Life again and I'm really enjoying it once again, and I wanted to build something off of it, so please enjoy.

I don't own anything.

Blackness was the only thing that surrounded Gordon. There was no sound, light, just complete darkness. He couldn't even see, or feel his hands, making him close his eyes once more to fully allow the darkness to envelope him...

He quickly opened his eyes once more and realized that he was no longer in the unconscious state he once was. Attemptinglook around, he noticed that his attempts where fruitless and everything he thought before was true, and that there was absolutely nothing around him. He tried to sigh, but there was nothing there. It was as if he didn't exist as anything but a floating consciousness drifting through the abyss of nothing.

Before he could continue to think of his surroundings, a man appeared in front of him, or at least what he thought was in front, and it was someone he knew too well, yet at the same time is the biggest mystery in his life.

In front of him stood a middle-aged Caucasian male, with a tall, thin physique, pale skin, a widow's peak that styled a black crew cut, and pale green eyes that seemed to pear into the very being that Gordon was. What he was wearing is what he always saw him in, a gray-blue suit, with a tie, and his briefcase that he was always seen with.

Gordon attempted to speak but noticed that his voice was void of all being, and stayed content with being silent as there was no other option.

The mysterious... man spoke up.

"Time, Doctor Freeman? Is it really that time again? It seems as if you only just arrived. You've done so well before, and you've done so well, in fact, that I've received some more interesting offers for your services."

He walked what seem to be closer to the floating consciousness of Gordon.

"Normally, my employers would wish..." He paused for a second before inhaling, "For me to just have you get straight to work." He began to pace around the empty abyss. "You see Doctor Freeman; this next job is from a long-time business partner of mine." He inhaled deeply once again. "I've of course taken the liberties of accepting this deal, and... I would not worry about collecting payment as...always. I've already done so..." He turned to face Gordon once again before inhaling, and taking a look at his watch.

"Since this is one off the books," His S seeming to drag" Time is not of the essence, but nonetheless, we've wasted more than enough." Looking away from the watch and back to Gordon. "I've taken the pleasure of... preparing your necessary equipment. None of it was company property besides your suit, so... don't worry about damages that come to it." He turned away and began to walk further into the empty abyss.

"I've said it before Doctor Freeman, but, it's time to... wake up and... smell the ashes." And he was gone.

The immediate change of space and time itself took the toll on Gordon as his feet hit the ground in below him. His hands gripping whatever he was standing on, his eyes on the ground and a feeling of being once again returning to him. He only lifted his head slightly and noticed the only thing he had since the explosion at the Citadel.

Laying right before him was the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator. He smiled before also letting his eyes follow his arms up that he was wearing the HEV Mark V once again. The suit still fitting like a glove, he chuckled at what he remembered his old friend Kleiner saying, "At least the glove parts do." Directly on his leg was something he was the proudest of though. Attached to a makeshift gun holster, turned crowbar holder was nonother than the thing that had been there the entire time.

The color faded crowbar stood out to his HEV suit as the steel, and red contrasted the bright orange that adorned him.

He reached up to adjust his glasses but his hands met an alien surface to him. He brought both hands up to his face before realizing what was stopping him. What sat on his shoulders for what felt like in forever was the very helmet that was gone on the day of the incident. Well maybe not the exact helmet, but it was one that belonged to the many suits like his. The fact that it was here on his shoulders was something else to say since he didn't even realize it was there to begin with until he tried to feel his own face.

He glanced towards and noticed the two values sitting next to one another. His own health sitting on a clean one-hundred percent while his suit's power was experiencing the same thing that happened in the Citadel. The suit was charged at two-hundred percent, and for him, he didn't care one bit.

As he started to stand up he noticed a strange weight on his back. Reaching back, he realized what was attached there and smiled. It was nonother than the long-jump module that he used while on Xen to cross the islands that were scattered there.

Upon fully standing up, he heard a very familiar ding and sighed upon realizing what it was. A familiar feminine voice soon followed.

Welcome to the H.E.V mark IV protective system, for use in hazardous environment conditions.

High Impact reactive armor activated

Atmospheric contaminant sensors activated

Vital sign monitoring activated

Automatic medical systems engaged

Defensive weapon selection system activated

Ammunition level monitoring activated

Communications interface online

A few more seconds went by and another ding went off.

Have a very safe day!

Gordon sighed as he reached down to pick up the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator, or 'Gravity Gun' that Alyx calls it. He stopped his hands right before grabbing ahold of it and jerking back up. He quickly glanced around.

He remembered the last place they were was at the top of the Citadel when the explosion went off, then everything stopped...

He shook his head.

He knew Alyx better than that...well at least he thinks he did. She would make it out and meet up with the others. He just needed to get back to... where they... were supposed to meet up...

The room he was in shook rather much, and caused him to take a more stable position by holding onto a nearby desk.

Gordon finally began to take in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the large amount of gears that were spread throughout the room... no, it was more like an office, and that there were also large gears and that they were put together like that of a clock...

Gordon smack a fist onto his open palm. He got it. It was something like a steampunk office, and that clocks were the theme in this situation. Suddenly right in front of him he noticed a rather large broken window, and outside having risen up what looked to be like smoke. He quickly walked over and looked outside and saw exactly what was going on.

Going on below were multitudes of fires spread across what seemed to be many buildings, and with it the smoke that was rising above. What mainly caught his attention was the multitude of black shadows that were running along the ground at such speeds he would think they were wild animals. He thought for a moment and remembered that no animal has a pack that large, let alone mammals. He realized that with a helmet now he had a zoom function that installed in it. Looking towards the ground much closer, he realized that they were not any normal mammals.

The beasts on the ground were completely black, and the only things that stood out were the small cracks in between the massive crowds and the white, and red that was adorned across their bodies like some sort of bone plating.

He tried leaning closer but was suddenly knocked back by a strong gust of wind and a massive black body flew up past him in outside the window.

Gordon got back up to his feet and ran back to the now shattered window, putting his hands on the sides to stop himself in case of falling. He then noticed what exactly was that just flew in front of him.

He said to himself. "I know I said steampunk, but I'm pretty sure this is practically Harry Potter at this point."

Over the area outside was a massive black dragon-like beast soaring through the air. Massive blood-red wings stretched out to what looked like to be a football's field length; not that Gordon knew for sure. Bones protruding from its body at multiple points and the rest of its outside anatomy giving off the almost exact appearance of an undead dragon from his younger days. It began to turn around and come back towards the tower. He quickly ran towards a pillar and hugged his back to it to hid himself. He could feel the dragon land onto the tower and it bring its head down to the floor below him.

He quickly shook away this thought and began glancing around once again. He looked down at his feet and noticed that there was another ground level below him. On that very floor was a woman wearing what looked to be a crimson red, and he could say a rather revealing dress with some intricate designs upon it. Gordon couldn't trouble himself with the looks of the dress; he was a man of science, not a fashion designer.

She was standing in front of the window, and in her case, it wasn't broken, and right outside was the dragon, who then let out a massive roar that shook Gordon to his very core. He was used to fighting aliens and the government, not mystical creatures that appeared in his books that he used to read. He noticed the woman began to speak.

Gordon tried his very best to hear, and there was only a single phrase, or at least he thought it was a single phrase.

"Siht si ruoy emoh won" In which the dragon gave some sort of whimper... roar? Again, he was a man of physics, not a veterinarian.

The woman began to take a few steps back, her face beginning to look rather agitated. Then there was something that really caught Gordon off guard. The woman summoned flames in her hand. It went away just as fast as it came, her attention turning to what looked to be an elevator behind her. He turned his attention that was as well, noticing another shaking feeling as sparks started to appear from the bottom of the doors.

A distinct ding of and elevator and what came next truly confused Gordon. A red sword came spinning out of the elevator and right towards the black-haired woman, in which easily side-stepped it as if it was nothing, and right along with it was a golden shield which she also blocked, but what really caught him off guard was the girl that was flying in right behind it, her feet kicking the shield into her.

She kickflipped off and the shield went as well. Gordon got a quick look at the girl; an Amazonian, or a Spartonian... He cursed himself for such simplistic vocabulary before realizing that the girls supposed weapons were floating back into her hands. He tried to think if she used the same technology that Captain America used with his shield, or maybe some sort of polarized science... yet he simply left it at that it was some sort of magic. He realized at that moment that he was much more open to the unknown at this point. First was electricity shooting aliens, massive robot dogs, and now dragons. He shook off his confusion and glanced back downwards.

He noticed the two were still fighting in ways that seemed completely illogical. The woman in the dress was firing streams of fire at the girl, over and over while she dodged or blocked them with her shield. She pushed back the stream of fire and went for a stop, but the black-haired woman stopped the blade with her bare hand, and then proceeded to blast her away.

Gordon looked away for a second to find the gravity gun and hopefully stop this before it turned into a blood-bath. He glanced around and saw what could have possibly been the worst thing he could encounter at this moment. The gravity gun was being held by the leather strap he attached to it so he could carry it easier, and that very strap was wrapped around a thing piece of metal that was dangling over the current area the two women were fighting.

"You've got to be kidding me." He jumped onto his feet, but not before the building shook once more. He saw the dragon was flying off and a small part of him felt relief; it was quickly replaced by the sliding of the gun off the piece that was holding it in place. He ran forward and dove onto the ground. Sliding off the platform he was on, he grabbed onto it with one hand, and the gravity gun in the other. He sighed in relief once more. He glanced down and saw the red-haired girl had the woman in a lock with her arm and sword around her neck, and at her neck.

He felt like relaxing at the moment but remembered that he was hanging for his health right now. He glanced up and saw that he had a good grip for the moment before glancing back down. He noticed the Spartan was glancing at where the dragon took off. He let his eyes trail over in the direction and saw exactly what she was looking at. The dragon was making its way back towards the building, more like directly at it as if to ram it heads on. Gordon began to attempt to pull himself up. He tossed the gravity gun up over the ledge and began to pull himself up, using all the upper body strength he had. He glanced once more at the dragon and saw that it was pulling off the side to the bit, and so he looked down, only to see the Spartan getting jabbed by what seemed to be the strongest elbow he'd seen in his life.

She flew back as all the windows around them shattered, sending glass in all directions, and destroying the supports by breaking the very stone that held them together. The tower seemed to begin to tilt.

Gordon reached back up and took ahold of the gravity gun, sliding over and onto his back. He glanced down once more as he felt his weight moving more towards the falling section of the building. He started to glance around for something to grab ahold of and spotted a ledge that didn't look to be part of the collapsing section that he was holding onto. As it continued to fall, he took a few deep breaths before taking a leap of faith.

As if time stopped, Gordon seemingly hung in the air for what seemed to be like at most minuets, but he was quickly brought back to reality by the sudden falling feeling, and what he now noticed to be a miscalculation in his jump. As he reached out his left hand towards the incoming ledge, he felt something very crucial with his right.

He quickly brought out his crowbar and swung it onto the ledge that he was originally going for. The gravity gun swing on his back, knocking him into the broken stone tower. Along with it was the feminine voice.

Minor fracture detected

He glanced down at his suits readings and noticed that he was still in rather good shape. Ninety-seven for his health and about one-hundred and eighty-nine for his power. Either way, he was still feeling it.

Gordon chuckled to himself. 'I didn't calculate wrong, I can't possibly do that, I'm a damn MIT graduate, and one at theoretical physics at that!' He sighed. 'Just forgot to implement actually using the crowbar.'

He hung there for a few seconds as he continued to hear clashing going on above him. He grunted as he finally began to pull himself up, well at least attempt a few times before successfully pulling himself up off the ledge, letting the crowbar slide back into its make-shift holster and laying on his stomach while watching what was going on in front of him.

A multitude of gears hung in the air above the black-haired woman and from the looks of it, was not expecting it. He swung his head over to the Spartan and realized that she might be the one that is actually controlling those gears. He glanced back to the woman and noticed that she had her feet knocked into the air and began having the gears pile driving her into the ground, in which he proceeded to wince in pain for her.

A few seconds passed and a bright orange glow appeared beneath the gears. Gordon quickly made his way to his feet and brought out his gravity gun, feeling it hum to life, and finally taking notice that it was the same was as his suit; no longer did it have its orange glow, but rather the light blue, and he knew exactly what it was capable at this point.

The pile of gears then erupted, sending them everywhere. He quickly rolled off to the side, dodging one of the massive clockwork pieces. He noticed the Spartan get not so lucky as she was sent flying backwards and into a broken pillar. Gordon recognized a strange red sparkle go across the girl, and it strangely reminded him of an energy shield since it didn't look like she took and physical damage at all.

Standing up, he noticed the woman was perfectly fine, and standing where the pile of gears once was. In her hands was a bow, and it was pointed directly at the Spartan, who in turn was quickly making her way back onto her feet. She dashed towards the woman, throwing her shield as she began to draw the bow back with an arrow, releasing it as it flew towards her. Time seemed to slow down once more as the two flew towards one another. Gordon thought the arrow was simply clash away from the shield once it made impact, but was shown he was highly mistaken. The arrow itself broke into what looked like small embers before reforming into the exactly same arrow and flying directly into the Spartan's ankle, causing her to fall down. She tried to stand up but fell right back onto the ground.

Gordon was, at this point, at a complete loss on what to do. He seemed to always react on instinct whenever his life was in danger, but since it wasn't, he felt, not lost, but rather confused on what to do. Should he rush over to help the Spartan, or attack the crazy fire woman. He noticed that the woman was walking closer to her, and also noticed that the arrow that was once imbedded in her ankle was no longer there.

He heard the woman speak, or at least attempt to understand as he didn't understand their language at all, as she began to walk around the fallen warrior.

"sruoy ylurt reven saw taht rewop a desimorp erew uoy etanutrofnu s'tI." She lifted the Spartan up by her chin. "denigami evah reven dluoc uoy syaw ni ti esu lliw I taht gniwonk ni trofmoc ekat tuB."

The Spartan looked at her straight in the eyes and replied. "ynitsed ni eveileb uoy oD?"

The woman looked back at her and spoke a single word. "seY."

The woman began to summon her bow and Gordon knew exactly what to do. He pointed the gravity gun towards the fallen warrior's shield and pulling it towards him, the hum of the machine ready to do his bidding. She knocked her magical arrow, but was never given the chance to pull it back since a shield went flying into her side and knocked her off into a pile rubble.

The young Spartan quickly looked at the pile of rubble where the woman flew and then towards Gordon, who's presence was completely avoided until this point. She looked to as if ask a question but was quickly cut off by two sudden occurrences.

The woman blasting out of the rubble and a small girl in a red hood and a massive scythe appearing on the edge. All of which was staring at him and no one else. The warrior quickly turned to the scythe wielding child and shouted. "won ereh fo tuo teg ot deen uoy ybuR!"

It was quickly responded with her shouting back. "ahrryP uoy tuohtiw gnivael ton m'I!"

The woman summoned her strange bow once more and also joined in the shouting. "enim yllufthgir si tahw niatbo I litnu ton ,evila ereh evael ot gniog era uoy fo enoN!"

Gordon brought his gravity gun up once again and hummed it to life, pulling the bow from the grip of the woman catching her off-guard, and launching it back into her, making her stumble back.

Gordon quickly pointed towards the two girls with his fingers since he guessed that his words weren't going to come across anyways. He then pointed with a single finger towards the exit...that he couldn't see anywhere. The two girls seemed to understand him perfectly though as the scythe child ran up and lifted the warriors arm over her shoulders. They began to walk off as Gordon stood behind them as they walked away, looking towards the fire witch... yeah, fire witch. Harry Potter it is then.

She looked rather angry now, almost literal fire in, and around her eyes. "od ot gniht thgir eht si oreh gniyalp kniht uoY?" She pointed towards him, fire on her fingertips. "syad rof uoy gninrub ni emit ym ekat ll'I neht ,owt esoht llik I sa evila uoy peek ot gniog m'I!"

She lifted her hand and a stream of fire erupted from it. Gordon quickly reacted by calling back the shield with the gun and holding in front of him. The fire blast going everywhere around him, and with it, another ding.

Warning! Extreme heat damage detected!

As the flames continued, he noticed that only his shield was going down and not his health. The flame disappeared only to see her flying towards him using the flames like jets coming from her hands. He launched the shield once more, only for her to knock it out of the way and send him flying into a nearby wall from whatever the hell she just hit him with. Again, the ding came back.

Major fracture detected!

Automatic medical system engaged!

Morphine administered

Gordon felt the morphine enter his bloodstream and the extreme pain that was once all over his body was now beginning to dissipate. Looking down at his health, he quickly realized how out-classed he was by this fire-witch. His shield was down to fifty-six while his health was sitting at a nice sixty. Honestly, he was feeling like shit at this point.

For some odd reason, Gordon didn't seem like he could move, and looking up, he saw the witch was standing up over him... with a very strange smile. "netfo ot kcab emoc ot mees sepyt tnetsisrep uoy ;evila uoy gnipeek rehtob neve t'now I .siht naht retteb erew uoy thguoht I ,oreh a roF."

He quickly realized what she was doing as a bow began to materialize in her hands. She stepped back a few steps and aimed it towards Gordon. No matter what he tried, his entire body seemed to not want to move. An arrow then came along with the bow.

That was it. Gordon was going to die in some twisted super-human, Harry Potter world to some crazy fire witch; great. The arrow was let loose and went directly into his visor... But never came out the other side. The tip of the arrow stabbed the very tip of his nose, and yet again a beep was heard.

Minor lacerations detected

He could move at this point, and that's exactly what he did. The witch had her back turned to him and that's exactly what he needed.

He could hear her speaking as he snuck up behind her as she walked closer to the edge. "nediaM llaF eht fo rewop lluf eht niag dna dlihc deye-revlis eht evomer ot ytinutrepo tcefrep eht, hhA ?nerdlihc oot ffo nur evah uoy dluoc erehw woN." The last part she said Gordon could for some odd reason understand perfectly. "What more could you ask for?"

Gordon was standing up fully now, his helmet in hand and crowbar in the other. He called out to her when he was only a few feet away. "I believe it's time for you to return to Hogwarts you bitch!" She turned around but was only met with a helmet to the face, which she responded with a slight tumble towards the edge. Almost there he thought as he ran towards her. Right in front of her, he swung the crowbar directly onto the side of her face, sending her over the edge in some sort of action flick where the villain is thrown off the edge, but this time, the 'hero' was going with. She grabbed ahold of his arm as she spun back around, pulling him off the edge.

There was no screaming as they began to fall since he could easily see on what she was going to try to do, and so Gordon wrapped as tightly as he could around her. In a nonprovocative way of course; he shook out the thought as they continued to fall. He noticed that the gravity gun was still in his hands and when he noticed the dragon flying towards him, he knew exactly what he needed to do. Being powered by a Xen crystal, there were certain qualities about it that could be utilized in its most raw state along with heat and an even more unstable power source. He began to twist any knobs he could feel while holding the trigger of the gun, feeling the shaking get more and more violent while at the same time the woman began to struggle more violently, and a heat source beginning to warm up much more than before.

She seemed to have some sort of dagger on her since a stabbing feeling started to appear on his back and his statues also was lower along with the constant blaring of his suit.

Major lacerations detected

Major lacerations detected

Major lacerations detected

Internal bleeding detected

Internal bleeding detected

Warning! Extreme heat damage detected!

Warning! Extreme heat damage detected!

Vital signs critical!

Seek medical attention

Emergency! User death imminent!

Seek medical attention!

Gordon could feel his consciousness fading, he was on the very edge at this point. He could easily see the ground now, even with his glasses, but the blurry sight from blood loss didn't help either. The gravity gun became so violent that he let go of it, and at that very point, a flash of white enveloped everything around them. The tower, the two of them, and the dragon that was ever so close to eating him as well.

Everything stopped once again. The pain was gone but he was lying on the ground this time, and still wearing everything he had before except the helmet. There seemed to be a puddle of some sort below him, but without blood, everything seems... gone. His crowbar was lying attached to his leg again, but the biggest thing was that he was lying down on the tram once more, that very dammed tram he left Black Mesa on, and standing by his feet was that man again.

He straightened his tie as he stared down at him. "Well... Doctor Freeman," He inhaled deeply. "Your efforts have once again bore fruit on the tree known as business. I would treat you since you are one of our most... proud employees, but do you remember what I mentioned before? This was not part of the company, but rather for a business partner, and thus any materials belonging to the company are of course returned, except for a new addition, that... simple tool of yours."

Gordon knew what he was talking about, but he just couldn't find his voice to speak.

"I... have obtained the payment already, but," He inhaled deeply once again. "We have received another part of the deal... I must say, while I was not expecting it, it was most certainly beneficial to us both Doctor Freeman. I supposssse a cut is in order..." The man held out his free hand towards Gordon. A strange orange light floating towards, and into him. A strange feeling overcame him and the once fading feeling he had begun to go away.

"Think of this as an incentive to continue on the current job Doctor. When the time comes, I most certainly hope it's finished this time and we won't have any interruptions when the end finally does come around. Wake up Doctor Freeman, the time for rest is not yet arrived. Enjoy that with... you new associates." And with that, the man walked out of the tram leaving Gordon alone for only a few seconds before everything around him changed.

He was now standing up, well leaning on a tree. Blood still flowing down on his suit from the multiple wounds he received, now which were seemingly closing faster than before, but getting stabbed is still like getting stabbed so it didn't help. He was standing right on the edge of a clearing, and a large wooden cabin stood in front of him in the sunlight.

Gordon coughed out in front of him and droplets of blood began to drip form his mouth. Thank the gods he couldn't feel anything, even the feet he was standing on. He began to walk towards the cabin when he saw a young girl walk out the door, a rather gloom look on her face. She closed the door behind her and turned around to see him. Gordon quickly realized that it was the same girl he had met on the rooftop only minutes before. The sliver eyes gave it away, along with the whole red-riding hood vibe she was giving off.

She became wide-eyed as she ran over to him, stopping him from falling completely onto his knees. She shouted back towards the cabin. "mih s'ti ,ereh tuo teG !worQ elcnU !daD"

Two older men stepped out of the house, but Gordons vision was getting worse along with the pile of blood below him. Sure, he doesn't have a medical degree, but he sure knew that humans didn't have this much blood inside them.

One of the blurry figures shouted back towards her while running their way. "mih s'ohW?"

The girl spoke up once more, but once again, Gordon could understand her. "It's the man that saved us and caused that white flash."

She tried to move but it wasn't him, it was the suit. He coughed blood up again, and tried his hardest to keep it away from her. She hardly looked sixteen, and blood was the last thing she needed to see.

Gordon heard one last thing before he faded into black. "Thank you... thank you so much..."

Ehhh, ehhhhhh? You like? I really liked this one. Got it all in one day too over a course of 3 and a half hour. Now by this point you might be wondering what I have to say on all of this, and to be honest, there's nothing that I personally have to say besides a single question.

Should I make this more than a one-shot? I don't know, up to you readers to give me some sort of answer please.

Anything else like what you liked or hated about it, just go ahead and ask away since it seems pointless to write things that you ppl don't really care about.

Have a very nice day and see you next time, or not.