Level 1
Day One
White Forest Resistance Base - Tetris Castle Reception
Interaction: @Lmpkio
Mention: @SuddenSardinesAlyx was still pretty torn up about the death of her father at the hands of alien grubs called Advisors. They were apparently the leaders of the Combine, or 'Our Benefactors', a massive multiversal empire that had conquered entire
universes. They had found Earth after the Resonance Cascade and subsequent demise of the alien Nihilanth in the dimension of Xen, the only thing keeping the Combine away. The Combine used the resulting portal storm to invade Earth and defeat all of its military within seven hours. Earth surrendered and humanity was spared from complete extinction because of Dr. Wallace Breen, the former head of Black Mesa. He was installed as a puppet leader, and the Combine had complete domination of Earth. Only a ragtag group of rebels stood together and secretly opposed the Combine. But with scavenged weapons and few numbers, they were simply not enough to stop the Combine from draining Earth of its resources and perfecting teleportation to become the Universal Union the empire dreamt off.
But then came Gordon Freeman, one of the only survivors of the Black Mesa Incident, a legendary hero amongst the Resistance. An unsuspecting theoretical physicist that was the one who saw both the start and the end of Black Mesa. He was the one who had pushed the Xen crystal into the Anti-Mass Spectrometer and caused the Resonance Cascade, and he had put a stop to it by defeating Nihilanth. Following this, he was offered a 'job' by the mysterious G-Man, an offer in which he clearly had no choice. He was put into stasis and only awoken twenty years later to a world where the Combine ruled all of Earth. After fighting his way through City 17 and meeting up with fellow survivors, he became one of the most prominent Resistance leaders. He would eventually destroy the Citadel, a massive Combine building that more or less was the administrative office of Earth.
However, as he would find out later, it was the Combine themselves who had overloaded the structure's Dark Energy reactor in an attempt to send out a distress call. When the reactor exploded, it destroyed the Citadel, but also opened up a superportal right above it to the Combine Overworld since the teleport core had been destroyed. Combine troops flooded through the portal in order to reclaim territory that was lost to the human resistance. Gordon and his companion Alyx managed to escape the destruction of City 17 when the Citadel exploded via train.
The pair eventually made their way to White Forest, a Resistance base and old Cold War-era facility. After fighting through waves of Combine, the rebels would eventually launch a rocket into the superportal, closing it and thus stranding Combine troops on Earth. They were supposed to head out to find the wreck of the Borealis, an old Aperture Science research vessel that had gone missing decades ago when it was performing a teleportation by portals. It could be the key to stopping the Combine for good, and Mossman, a Resistance agent, was stranded there after scouting for information when Combine forces attacked. Unfortunately, when they reached the hangar that held the helicopter needed for transportation, several Combine Advisors attacked. They killed Alyx's father Eli, a survivor from Black Mesa and the one who created the Resistance teleporter, and probed his brain for information. Thankfully, Gordon and Alyx are saved by DOG, Alyx's pet robot, who defeated the Advisors. However, morale dropped for the both of them, as Alyx lost her father, and Gordon lost an old friend. The Resistance also lost a prominent leader.
And so, Gordon sat on an old sofa in the base, next to the still-crying Alyx. He didn't know what to say to her; he was never really a talker, and even Alyx described him as a man of few words. Awkwardly putting his arm around her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, he was only met with more sobs and sniffles. The cool metal of his orange HEV suit didn't help much, either. No one else had decided to talk to them, too busy repairing damages the base had sustained in the previous battle, some busy encrypting messages, and most were just too afraid to talk to the two Resistance heroes. Gordon sat there for a while longer, his arm still around Alyx.
That is, of course, until he caught sight of a strange cloud hovering in the area. It appeared to react to his presence, flying up to Gordon. A strange yellow turtle wearing glasses popped out and handed him a letter with elegant golden ink, before shooting off and disappearing. Curious, Gordon broke open the seal and began to read through its contents.
Dear Hero,
You are receiving this letter because you were chosen to undertake a most challenging task. Your life will be endangered if you so choose to selflessly take up arms in defense of your world as well as others…The letter then went on to explain what the Mugen Virus was, and how it had already corrupted the Seven Kingdoms. With increasing dread, Gordon continued reading until he reached the part when it said that if nothing was done, the System would crash, ending all of existence forever. He shot to his feet, startling his companion.
"Gordon, what's going on?" Alyx asked, her eyes still red from crying. Freeman responded by waving his arms in the air and pointing at the letter. Alyx somehow understood that, and her eyes widened. "You... have been chosen to undertake a most challenging task? And you have to leave?"
Gordon nodded.
"But... what about Earth and the Combine?"
Gordon shook his head and gestured to the letter.
"An even bigger threat than the Combine? How?"
Gordon nodded and signed something.
"An end to all of existence?"
Gordon nodded and circled the 'yes' option with a pencil. Instantly, the letter folded close and vanished in a puff of smoke, and a circle appeared in front of him. As he stepped into it, he gave Alyx a final look and gave her a thumbs up. His companion seemed to understand, and gave a halfhearted wave. "Promise you'll come back. I don't want to lose you, too." Gordon sighed and nodded, before he vanished in similar cloud of smoke.
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Gordon wasn’t a stranger to teleportation; he had done so many times before, from the Black Mesa Incident to the Uprising, he had used teleporters to get from one place to the next. Still, he wasn't sure what to expect when he stepped into the circle, and the inside of a massive castle was the last thing he imagined. His mouth dropped open as he walked forwards, his footsteps resonating throughout the building. So impressed he was that he missed an round orange creature shuffle into view, and he didn't notice until he walked into it. The two of them collided and fell onto the floor. Gordon rubbed the back of his head and stared at the thing.
@!#?@! It said in a strange robotic gibberish, sounding fairly annoyed.
"..." Gordon apologised, getting to his feet and helping it up.
@!#?@! It huffed, turning away and making its way to an elevator. Gordon nodded and followed it in. The thing pecked the numbers 2-6 into the floor panel, before flipping over its head and disappearing. The elevator glowed blue and hummed. When the doors opened, Gordon was immediately assaulted by an array of spices and aromas, something he hadn't experienced since Black Mesa. He walked out and came to see a massive table with an equally massive spread of foods of all kinds. He grabbed a small bun and bit into it, taking in the flavours. He looked around and saw that there were only two people inside: a man in gothic attire and the armoured form of Samus Aran, another gaming legend. The Vortigaunts spoke of her as they did with Freeman, but mostly in hushed tones. Finishing his food and walking up to her, he waved and he opened up in conversation.
"..." He greeted with a smile, offering his hand.
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