Half-Life 2: DARK ENERGY

Prologue

 "No! You need me!" Breen yelled as blue energy began to zap all around him. Breen, realizing the inevitability of his defeat, locked eyes with Gordon. In that moment, a mixture of resignation and bitterness crossed his face.

Then Breen purposefully stepped off the platform... plummeting into the depths of the citadel.

The explosion reverberated through the entire citadel, and the force of it sent shockwaves across the platform. The debris scattered into the abyss below, leaving nothing but the echoes of Breen's desperate cries. Gordon held onto the railing, the super grav gun now silent in his hands.

Alyx, watching from the control room, anxiously asked, "Gordon, are you okay?"

Gordon nodded, still processing the intensity of the moment. The citadel, once a symbol of Combine dominance, now shuddered under the weight of its own destruction. The battle was won, but the war against the Combine was far from over.

Alyx rushed out to join Gordon on the platform. The two stood together, looking out over the crumbling citadel. The orange sky loomed above them, a testament to the altered reality they now faced.

Alyx stood with gordon at the observation deck. She looked around and she said " Come on gordon we might stil have..." A massive explosion stopped her from finishing her words, but before it could kill her and gordon... time slowed down.

"...Time, Doctor Freeman?" A familar voice finished alyxs sentence, she was now frozen in time like everything else... In the suspended moment of frozen time, Gordon found himself unable to move, a witness to the peculiar phenomena that unfolded around him. The explosion, once a force of destruction, now hung frozen in the air, its fiery tendrils halted mid-dance.

A figure materialized before Gordon – a man in a blue suit, a silent observer of the temporal anomaly. The air shimmered with an otherworldly energy as the man stepped forward. His piercing gaze met Gordon's, and even in this surreal tableau, a silent understanding passed between them.

"Is it really that... time again." The gman continued. "It seems as if you only just arrived You've done a great deal in a small time span. You've done so well, in fact, that I've received some interesting offers for your services." The Gman expained as he approached the Frozen Alyx. He plucked a piece of stray hair off her jacket and then walked over to Gordon.

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't contemplate them... but these *are* extraordinary times." Gman explained as he looked around... sort of gesturing to Gordons current prediciment.

Gordon didn't say a word... he didnt have the courage to. The world around Gordon slowly began to fade to darkness... it left only him and the gman standing in the darkness.

"Rather than offer you the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choosing for you... if and when your time comes round again." The Gman Explained to Gordon. This wasn't Gordons choice anymore... Gordon was basically Gman's slave.

"I do apologize for what must seem to you an arbitrary imposition, Dr. Freeman. I trust it will all make sense to you in the course of... well... I'm really not at liberty to say." The Gman explained as he walked off a few meters away... he straightened his tie and cleared his throat.

"In the meantime..." Before Gman could finish his sentence, something caught his eye. A vortigaunt had appeared in the darkness. Its skin was purple and glowing unlike the other vortigaunts. Gman smiled as if he was amused... then another appeared, and another.

Gmans expression shifted from amused... to annoyed to angry as the vortigaunts surrounded him. The vortigaunts had some kind of energy surrounding them.

"We'll... see about that." The Gman said as he angrily straightened his tie. The world returned around Gordon. Time was still slowed... he looked over at the frozen Alyx at his side... Vortigaunts appeared around her and gently took her by the arms. She came out of time freeze but the world around was still frozen.

At first Alyx seemed a bit panicked but then she saw Gordon and relaxed... she let her limb loose and her and the two vortigaunts by her side suddenly disappeared.

Time slowly began to speed up... two vortigaunts grabbed gordons arms and his vision slowly faded to black.