He awoke and started up his stream, yawning, "Morning guys, ready for more Half-Life VR?" he asked, then was interrupted by a discord call from Baaulp, "Oh, hang on," he answered to call, "Hey! Baaulp! What's up?" he asked, "Hey, I asked Scorpy and Gir last night, and, uh...we don't even have a model for Alyx downloaded, not the Half-Life Alyx one," now Wayne was concerned, "Is there maybe a random in the server or something?" but Baaulp denied, "No, no one in the server list. Honestly, it's making things super interesting, I say we keep going with things," he thought for a moment, "Yeah, and it's not like Alyx is ruining anything. Anyway, I'm live right now, I gotta get on the server," then Baaulp nodded, his headset jostling a little, "Alright, I get the others ready," then he ended the call. Wayne grabbed a headset and put it on, turning on the game.
"Hey, Mr. Freeman!" Tommy called out, "Hey Tommy..." he saw the others were up and about already, looming above him, along with a skeleton like last...actually...it's 2 skeletons? One was intact, about his height, but the other was missing its left leg and right arm, walking and standing as if the limbs were still there, "What the fuck!" he said, somewhat panicked, "What's wrong Mr. Freeman?" Tommy asked, "You guys don't see the skeletons?!" then Coomer spoke, "What Skeletons? There's nothing there, Dr- Hello Gor-!" he said, cutting off, "Of course, right, you don't see them! Of course!" Soon, Alyx came from the lab, still closed off, before panicking, "The hell?!" she saw the skeletons, then pointed at the one missing limbs, "You again?!" then it put its finger to its mouth as it used the Black Masa Sweet Voice™, red to blue, "Red- Red to blue, means- I know you!" Tommy said, "You can see them?!" Alyx and Gordon asked in sync, "I- huh?" Tommy replied cluelessly, "Of course," Alyx said, then Gordon shot the skeletons, "Alright, let's get going," he said, "Fine shooting Al- Gordon!" Alyx sighed nervously, "I'm just glad it's not PTSD or something," Gordon said, half-jokingly, "I'm surprised you don't have PTSD," Alyx said with a laugh, then a com went off, "GORDON FREEMAN, YOU ARE WANTED FOR PASSPORT INSPECTION," then the scientist started panic, "You don't have your passport Gordon!" then it spoke again, "ALYX VANCE, YOU ARE WANTED FOR PASSPORT INSPECTION," Alyx flipped the ceiling the bird, "That's not even POLICY!" she shouted, walking away from the group. Gordon noticed Benrey was gone, "Guys, where's Benrey?" he asked, "Alyx shot him after he tried to bother her in her sleep!" Coomer said, "That sounds about right," he said, following Alyx, soon walking beside her, "Thank god he's gone though..." Gordon laughed a little, "Don't get too excited," Alyx groaned, "Of course he's gonna come back," she looked done with all of this, "Gordon! Gordon! Gordon!" Alyx's Gnome shouted, "Was wondering when you were gonna talk again," Alyx said, "You usually don't shut up," she added, "What's up, Gnome," Gordon said, and the gnome was quiet for a moment, "No one likes you, except for me! Ha He!" he said, and Alyx sighed, "Not again, Chompski," she said, "No gaslighting," then it spoke again, "Gaslight, gatekeep, girl boss!" and Alyx sighed, "And no Gen Z memes, please...we're in the present, not the future..." she said, "Alyx, I'm going to girl boss my way to the elevator!" Coomer said, making Alyx start to laugh, and Gordon just looked confused, Wayne trying to stifle his laughter through his speech, "What?" he said, Alyx sighed, "Stupid future stuff from 2020," she said, "You've gone that far?!" Gordon said, slightly amazed "Yeah, I was really into science before everything..." she then sighed, "Sorry for being so snarky this entire time...I just..." Gordon interrupted her, "You don't have to tell me, I get it..." they soon found a barricade, and Gordon began breaking it down, but soon let the science team do it as Coomer began punching it with is bare hands and Bubby with his crowbar, "Where did you get the crowbar?!" Alyx shouted, trying to help them, "Yeah let's get it! bust it down!" Gordon said, continuing his aid again, "I'm BUSTIN' through!" Bubby said, continued, then Coomer shouted, "Gordon look out! Aliens!" then they began attacking, cornering a group of head crabs. Before Alyx could attack, Coomer punched them, "Fine shooting Alyx!" he shouted, "There was no shooting! It was-" then he punched Gordon, "GAH-" Gordon shouted, keeling over, "That hurts worse than last time..." he said, "As I said before, I just get excited!" then Tommy was confused, "Before? You've done this before?" he said, and then the two men became nervous, "I- Uh- I HE- HELLO-" Coomer sputtered out, "We box-" Gordon quickly said, "Oh, ok!" then continued on with Bubby, "Nice save," Alyx said as Bubby followed the others, "You good?" she then asked again, "Yeah," he said, getting up, "I'll be fine, not like I'm dying." They caught up, finding a control room, "Gordon, look out!" Coomer shouted, then beat the alien to death with Bubby, "Well that was anti-climatic," Alyx said, continuing into a tool room, "Gordon look!" Bubby said, seemingly pointing at the two skeletons sitting criss-cross on the floor, "The skele-" Gordon started, but Bubby went straight for the tools, "Tools!" and Alyx and Gordon followed, "Right...you guys wanna grab some tools?" he said, "GORDON LOOK OUT! Explosives!" and Alyx turned just in time to see Coomer throw himself on the explosives, shooting him across the room, "What the fu-" Alyx started before Gordon started laughing. Soon, Coomer stood and continued forward, "Yup, that's normal..." Alyx said, going after Coomer with the others, "Should I press this?" Tommy said, "Didn't they say something about missiles...?" Alyx asked, but Tommy pressed anyway, and an elevator came up, "Oh, an elevat-" Gordon quickly pushed Alyx on as Coomer started the elevator, causing Gordon to fall the 4 feet drop, "Are you alright?!" Alyx shouted, "Wait for it..." he groaned, then Coomer dropped 24 feet from the top, unscathed, "I-I-" Alyx sputtered, "I feel normal!" then Alyx noticed something, "Where's Bubby?" then Gordon pointed to Coomer, "It is a crying shame, but we'll just need to move on without him. Remember, it's what he- Ah! There you are!" Coomer said, facing Bubby, "Right behind you!" he said, "H-How did you..." Alyx started, "I'm just not gonna ask," then the gnome spoke, "My soda meteer is low!" and Alyx sighed, "Look, a train!" Bubby said, hopping on the train, "Oh ye god, I'm so happy! Trains are my life!" Bubby said, excitedly getting on as Alyx helped Gordon onto the train, "I hear they use these babies to get all around the science!" then Tommy spoke, "I'm sorry about....uh- about the- about earlier. Time moved faster for me then...then it has been," the Alyx spoke, "You've had 50 sodas within the last day, Tommy, that's caffeine overdose," then Gordon added to it, "You said it makes you see faster, that's what you were talking about!" he said, laughing a little, "You need to drink less soda," Alyx said, then it was quiet for a moment, "No," he said, then Bubby started the train, "Peeper puppies, open fire!" but Gordon lowered Alyx's gun, "Hold on tight," he said quietly, then Bubby set it to full throttle lunging Alyx back and onto her side, "Ah! Slow it down!" Alyx said, but as hard as he might try, Bubby couldn't, "I CAN'T SLOW IT DOWN!" he shouted, "IT WON'T STOP! OH MY GOD!" and suddenly Alyx got flung off, "AH!" she shouted, but Gordon grabbed her, "You ok?!" He asked, but she was distracted by other things, "My gnome!" she shouted, realizing he got thrown off, "I need to-!" but then they crashed, "C'mon! We don't have time!" Gordon shouted, dragging away Alyx, "Gnome Chompski!" she shouted, getting dragged away, "Where am I!" the gnome shouted, "Ha He!" but it was too late, "We need to go back, we lost Chompski!" Alyx shouted, trying to go back, "That place is swarmed with aliens, Alyx, you will die! He's made of porcelain, he'll be fine," he assured, "Besides, he'll come back," Alyx was quiet for a moment, " What?" she said, "Gordon, his legs don't move," and he faces palmed, "Right. Ok. We'll loop around and get him back. It's too dangerous to go back right now, though," Alyx nodded, "Look Gordon and Alyx! Toxic sludge!" Coomer said, parkouring his way through, "More parkour," and to the center of the nuclear plant, a man being grabbed by a creature inside and eaten, "Holy fuck!" Alyx shouted, "You need any help?!" Bubby shouted to the sciencetist, "He's dead, Bubby!" Alyx shouted, "Damn, you don't have to shout at me!" Bubby said, "I read through all 7271 pages of the nuclear...guidelines document, and that's not in there!" then the creature swung again, trying to grab them, "Out! Out! Move!" Alyx shouted, rushing everyone out. They soon met up with a man, "Alyx! Over here!" he yelled, "Barney! You alright?" Alyx asked as she rushed over, "Yeah! Look, that...thing is out there. You need to get through, right?" Alyx nodded, "I'll distract it, you guys rush through, run like hell!" he said, then went to fire at it, "Hey! Hey, over here! Eat lead you mother fucking octopus!" he shouted, "Got it, let's-" then a shot rung in her ears as Coomer shot the man, and Alyx stared as the man fell into the plant, limp, "Barney!" but they needed to move on, "No time, Alyx, we have to move! I warned you about this already!" and he pushed her through, but Alyx managed to catch a glimpse of Barney, still alive. She quickly pushed away from Gordon, but he was eaten by the Alien, "No!" she shouted. It went for Alyx, but Gordon managed to grab her in time, "Let's keep moving!" he shouted. He noticed the skeleton, the one with the arm and leg missing. He thought about what Tommy said, read to blue...he kept going forward, pulling Alyx with him, "Is everyone ok?!" he asked, once safe, "I feel normal Go-" he was soon punched in the face by Alyx, "AH! Help me Gordon!" he shouted. She tried going after him again, "You killed him! You killed Barney!" she shouted. Bubby pulled out his gun, ready to shoot her, but Gordon pulled her back, "Alyx! Alyx! Look at me, calm down, I know you're upse-" She tried to punch him, "Let go of me!" she shouted, "Alyx!" he shouted, then sighed, "There is nothing we can do now, and trying to kill Coomer won't do anything, he's pretty much-" then Coomer got his foot caught in the door and died, "Immortal..." Gordon finished, "He'll come back..." Alyx then walked off, trying to calm down. Gordon sighed, "I still don't know how the door kill-" then a skeleton appeared, spewing colors at Coomers body...it was missing it's arm and leg, "Hey!" Gordon shouted, following the skeleton that ran, the door shutting and locking behind him, "Stop! Can you hear me?" he said, "Can you hear me?!" he repeated again, then the skeleton turned, motioning him to follow, "You want me...to follow you...?" it nodded, "...Not like there's anywhere else to go, the door's locked," so he followed, silence filling the air as they entered a department he hadn't seen before, a directional sign telling him what it is, "This is...the Time-Travel Experimentation and Development Department..." he said, and the skeleton nodded, before a whisper came from it, "Be quiet," it said, "We can't let Benrey hear us..." Gordon became nervous, "Is he here...?" the skeleton answered quickly, "Your Benrey, no. My Benrey will not be happy that I'm interfering...listen closely, Freeman," it said, the whisper of a tired woman within, "In a few moments, the world will glitch," it said, "When it does, ignore all messages from your friends, and any messages what so ever..." Wayne noticed his stream had crashed, "Oh shit-" then the skeleton interrupted, "Do not fix it yet," he looked over quickly, "Wh-What?" he asked, "It will fix itself, now listen. Do not answer any messages from anyone. You will find yourself in a void. In that void will be a girl, black and white except for her green eyes. She will run. You need to follow her," Gordon was suspicious, "How...How can I trust you...?" and the skeleton paused for a moment, before saying, "Your chat will continue now," and soon the chat exploded with messages with 'stream crashed!' and, every now and then talking about a fridge, "Y-You..." then the skeleton spewed Black Masa Sweet Voice™ and ran off. Gordon turned, confused, returning to the others, "Uh...guys...? We should probably go," he said, and the others nodded. Alyx begrudgingly stood and began following, staying toward the back of the group. Soon, Coomer fell into the vat of goo, "Gordon help me!" Coomer shouted, and Gordon looked around before seeing Coomer get out with a rope, "That's...what..." Alyx said, "Hey! You used a rope to help you out of a pit!" Bubby said excitedly, "That doesn't seem real..." Alyx then added, "Fine idea, Doctor!" Coom responded to Bubby, "So I was wrong about the ropes, hu-" Coomer then pulled himself to Coomer with a rope, then silence, "Yeah...?" Gordon called out, wincing from pain. Everything seemed to hurt twice as bad the 2nd time around...maybe because he was still bruised up and sore, "Now Gordon, it's important to keep a move on if we want to make it back to the surface!" he said, moving forward. Soon, Coomer was shot, "AH! HELP ME GOooOOROoroOro-" The screen froze, and everything bugged out. Soon, a blue screen of death appeared, "Damn it..." he said, starting to go to fix it, but then remembered the skeleton. He stayed put. He didn't read the chat but knew the chat was still running, confused as this didn't happen last time. He saw a girl with black hair, and white clothes, typing something on a floating screen in a void, "C'mon, c'mon!" she said...it looked like a bug report, along with code. She was trying to fix the server...Soon, she fixed it and started running the Lua, "How'd that even happen...?" then she turned, green eyes piercing Wayne, and she gasped, beginning to run. He quickly chased after her, "Hey! Wait!" He shouted, then he watched her jump from a platform, He followed, and soon she began gliding on some sort of rail. He tried to follow, but...he began to plummet, and for a moment it felt like he was actually falling. Soon, the girl soared back, grabbing his hand and dragging him to safety, "Are you stupid?! Are you trying to give yourself a death wish, Gordon?!" he recognized the voice, "Alyx...?" and she covered her mouth, before sighing, "Yeah...kind of..." then Wayne spoke again, "Who are you...?" he asked, and she spoke again, "...My name is Alison, Alison Warner..." she said, "I was playing Half-Life Alyx...then the power went out and...I ended up here..." she said, "I wanted to tell you sooner, but...I just didn't know how or..." she sighed, "I had seen so many players come and go, I just...didn't know if I could trust you..." He then thought for a moment, "Then...why are you here...?" she thought for a moment, "I don't know...I honestly don't know. I don't know if I'm alive, or...even real..." she said, then saw the Lua finally loaded, "Time for you to go back...there's no more time left..." he tried to ask her one more thing, "Wait, Alison!" he called out, "Please, Gordon...just call me Alyx..." then he opened his eyes to a loading screen.
"Ah, hello Gordon!" Coomer said after Gordon fully loaded in. He noticed he was somewhere different. He looked at Alyx, who refused to make eye contact with him. He recognized the area as the area after they caught Benrey hanging out with the hostile guards. He heard Benrey in the room over, "So...What do we all think about Benrey, and...him being buddy-buddy with the guards...?" he asked, still a bit confused. The silence filled the air with a thick fog, then he looked at Alyx, "Alyx...?" he called out, and she hesitantly spoke, "I don't trust him..." she said, "I think he's fine! Let's keep moving, I wanna go hooommmeee!" Bubby said, leaving, "Yeah..." Alyx stated, following quietly. She was quiet after that, "...You wanna talk about what happened earlier, Alyx?" he said, keeping his question vague, "I do not..." she said, "What took you so long? Game crash?" Benrey said, but Alyx only continued forward, quietly. Benrey tried to pester her, "You lose your- your little gnome buddy? Huh?" she ignored him, "Feeling a little sad? Couldn't fix the coding on ti-" she soon decked him in the face, knocking him down, then continued forward, "You got decked my good bitch!" Coomer said, helping Benrey up, who held onto his nose in pain. He soon left Alyx alone, beginning to whisper to Bubby, using Alyx's violence against her, "How far till the Lambda lab, Coomer?" Coomer thought for a minute, "I believe from here, we are only 10 years from the Lambda lab!" he said, and Gordon sighed, "You're bullshitting me again," he said, "At this rate, we'll be at the Lambda lab in 10 minutes!" Alyx snickered quietly, "Gordon, I'm thir- Look Gordon! A soda machine!" Coomer then busted the machine open, and the science team went ham. Alyx managed to grab a few sodas for later, mostly root beer, "You get any pib?" Gordon asked her, and she passed him a pib, "Thanks," he said, drinking it, "...How much do you know about me Alyx?" he asked, quietly, "...You have a channel on YouTube I used to watch..." she said, "As well as Twitch..." she said, "...And the fridge," Gordon started laughing, "What's in the fridge, Gordon," she said, smiling, "Let's goooo!" Bubby whined, rushing forward with Benrey. Coomer followed, "Mr. Freeman, what are you guys talking about?" Tommy inquired, "Oh, just about how much farther we have," Alyx said, "Let's go Tommy." Soon, Alyx and Tommy were gone. Gordon felt nothing but dread, as he knew what was coming up...after Forzen it was the betrayal...he didn't want to think much about it. He continued forward, finding an elevator, before finding Forzen, "Who are you?!" Alyx called out, and he ran. Alyx followed after him, but Gordon fell behind. He soon saw the skeleton again, "You again...?" he called out, "You're tired," the woman's voice said. He noticed how robotic the voice was, as if it wasn't hers, "You're not really talking, are you...?" it shook its head, "Who are you? How'd you know about Alison?" he asked, "I cannot tell you," it said, "Are you with Benrey?" he asked again, "I am neither with Benrey, nor you. I am only here to help you progress. If that means fighting you, I will," then it disappeared, "Wait!" he called out, but it was gone. Gordon sighed, then was suddenly teleported to the others, "Gah!" he shouted out of shock, "I burned a playcoin to bring you here, Gordon!" Coomer called out, "Where were you, Freeman?! It's been hours!" Alyx shouted, "Hours...?" he asked confused, "Yes! Hours! You could helped us with that Forzen guy!" she said. He noticed Sunkist was there, "Oh. Sorry, guys," he said. He knew what was coming, and he was scared. Alyx noticed, "What's wrong?" she asked. He noticed Bubby and Benrey whispering, "Both of them...? Yeah, both of them, she attacked me, she's with him," he realized she was going down with him, "Just...Just stay close to me," he didn't want to tell her, in hopes they'll lose interest, but, even as they continued forward, they whispered, and the more they whispered the more dread Gordon felt. He tried to remember how they got back to Black Masa. He woke up in City 17 with a concussion...then he met Alyx...they found his friends...then...then...the helicopter heap canyon. He remembered seeing...himself. His arm was missing like last time, but there was another that was with...himself? There was...Alyx. She was missing her arm and leg, they'd done her over worse. He remembered how sickly pale the Alyx was. It was like she was in a black-and-white show with how pale she was. He remembered the skeleton, who walked with an arm and a leg missing...he wanted to stop the attack, but... "Hey, look, it's uh- uh- a health pack," Benrey said, gesturing to the side room Gordon knew all too well, "I mean...I need health, but..." Alyx started to reason, "No, we're not going in there," Gordon interrupted, pulling her back. Alyx took quick note of Gordon's panic and pulled away from the situation, "Well, I mean...you, uh, kinda have to, right? You did it last time," Bubby was oddly quiet, "Last time?" Tommy asked, "How long have you...whatever, I'm not doing this again," he hadn't noticed Bubby had petitioned himself behind him until Bubby pushed Gordon into the room, and then Benrey shoved Alyx along with him, "Get them!" they heard Benrey shout, then the lights went out. He felt a punch to his face before someone started kicking him. As he heard the slicing sound of his arm coming off, he heard Alyx shout as the other scientist pleaded, "Get off me!" she fought before another slice was heard, and she screamed out, "Stop them! Someone stop them!" Tommy shouted, but then another slice, and she screamed out again, "FUCK!" she shouted, "Stop! Gordon!" she called out as if she didn't know Gordon was attacked. He was kicked a few times before a foot landed on his face, and then Alyx went silent, the last words he heard were Tommy's pleading and Bubby's panic at the sight. Coomer was quiet, not knowing entirely what he said last time. As they were carried away, Alyx clung to consciousness, hearing how the guards were going to kill them, before losing consciousness herself.
He awoke in the trash compactor, quickly looking at his arm, "FUCK!" he shouted, pain seeping in again, before he looked to Alyx, "Oh shit," he sputtered, rushing over, "Alyx, Alyx! Wake up!" He shouted as he shook her, until she finally opened her eyes, "Oh thank god, you're alive!" he said, "G-Gordon...? Your...arm..." she said, slowly, then noticed her own wounds, unable to stifle a scream, "Holy SHIT!" she screamed out, "Hey, hey! Calm down, be careful. Move slowly," he said, "We need to get going before one of us dies from blood loss, you need a han-" he then sighed, "You need up?" Alyx nodded, reaching up, and he pulled her up, hoisting her around his shoulder, letting her brace against her, "Alright, this is probably the hardest part. I'm gonna try and pull us both up the ladder. Hold on," he said, then moved her around so she could hold on from his back. Slowly he went up the ladder with Alyx, and once to the top, he moved her back to his side, "Ok, in a bit we're gonna find Tommy, he's the only one with a gun," he said, "Y-Yeah..." she said, feeling nauseous, "I think I'm gonna vomit," she said, "Need a break?" he asked, and she nodded. He let her lean against the wall, "I'm gonna go up ahead and come back with Tommy, ok?" and she nodded again. As he walked forward, he found the room Tommy was in before, green goop everywhere, "Tommy!" he called out to the tall man, "M-Mr. Freeman! You're ok! Where's Alyx?" Tommy asked, "She back over here, she needed to rest. She's worse off than me. You have a gun, right?" and he nodded, "Yeah! They- They said there was a bay blade- uh- in here, and they tried to take my gun, but I told them no. I-I felt like I was gonna need it," he said, starting to regain his memories, "Ok, I'm going to go grab Alyx real quick," he said, and Tommy nodded. Gordon soon found Alyx, hurtled over a trashcan, "You ok?!" he called to her, "Y-Yeah...just...lost my entire month's worth of meals...which was mostly root beer..." she said. He walked over and gently grabbed her, "Tommy's up ahead, we gotta get moving. You ok?" he asked, "Y-Yeah...let's go," she said, and they met up with Tommy, "Alyx! Are- Are you- um- Are you ok?!" he said, panicked, "I'm missing my fuckin' limbs, do I look ok?" she said, rudely, "Sorry, Tommy, I'm not trying to be mean. My brain's not functioning that great," she said, "It's ok," he said, still pretty concerned, "Let's try to find a health pack, quickly," he said, moving forward. Also, they went, he stopped by every health pack, making sure that Alyx got them first before he attempted to heal himself, "Y-You...You'll bleed out, Gordon," Alyx said once she noticed what he was doing, "Alyx, you're bleeding out more than I am. I've survived this before, you won't survive this, now use the damn heath pack," he said, shoving Alyx's good hand on, almost making her fall over, "Damn it," he said, "Only little..." he then grabbed Alyx again, "Let's get going," he said, moving onward. Soon, he found the oh-so-familiar underpass, "Oh god..." he said, "Don't worry Mr. Freeman! This is- This is all up- up to code!" Tommy said, "The fans are like bay blades!" he added, jumping into the sewage and swimming through, "I'm gonna get sepsis..." she said, "Yeah, maybe. We'll find the cybernetics department soon though," and she nodded, pushing herself into the sewage. He sighed, knowing he was about to fight a ton of Coomer clones. He jumped after Alyx, seeing she could swim pretty well despite the lack of arm or leg. He followed after her, passing through the fans, readying himself.