CH2V3 "Gravity of the Situation"
As they drove along down an empty road,their radar picks up a signal.
"It seems there is a gravitational anomaly. Lets go check it out." Glados recommends.
"Are you sure? It's still a 25 mile drive to the territorial edge." Grayson warns.
"If they're chasing us,they would've been here by now. Lets just go and check the situation out." Glados said.
They went right on the turnpike,heading toward the anomaly.
"Do....we have control over satellites?" Grayson asked.
"Just one. Up until recently it was decommissioned in the scenario The Labs get captured by a larger opposition than ourselves. Other than the Radar we see on our dashboard,we will be traveling blindly until we reach a more recent satellite." Glados explains.
"I ask mainly in the hopes of us being able to keep an eye on our new foe. Can't bother to travel back and forth." Grayson said.
"Yes,we can monitor our opposition. But we will be oblivious to their approach until they're more or less 5 miles away." She explains
"Hooray for a short reaction window.." Grayson said with a tone of sarcasm.
"Im not fond of it myself,but we cant afford to be backtraced in case they track advanced satellite signals." Glados sighs.
"Stop here." Glados said as the radar was within range of the gravity anomaly.
A direlect Combine Base comes into view,seeming to be torn apart by some strange gravity well.
"Whatever is causing that gravity well might be useful. Unfortunately ill have to send you in to retrieve whatever it is. We need to keep the engine warm in case we have company." Glados said.
Hesitantly Grayson stops about 500 yards from the thundering,slow moving anomaly,getting out and walking up to the gate,which had been long since ripped apart and deformed by the invisible gravity storms. As he got closer,a pulse could be felt...the sort that drew you closer when it came about..
Grayson followed the feeling through dark,ransacked hallways,to come to a single large chamber.
The center had an anti-matter field,and beyond it was a device that almost resembled the portal gun,but built closer to a real weapon. It had a large cord coming from the barrel,seeming to siphon gravity energy from it.
Grayson comms back to the vehicle,"Glados,i found the source. Care to help me figure it out?" He questions
"Ill patch into your optic feed." Glados said.
He went blind in the left eye. The eye looks at the center.
"That is a Zero Point Energy Cannon. More commonly nicknamed the "Gravity Gun" or more humorously the Punt Gun,it was invented by Eli Vance,briefly following the Civil Protection War." Glados explains.
"That explains the security..." Grayson mutters.
"Though shortly after Black Mesa North launched an anti-Superportal Catalyst,it's owner lost the weapon in the heat of a fight,and Black Mesa assumed it a lost technology."
"So,history aside,how do we get it out? Thats an Anti-material field,I'd be emancipated as soon as contact is made." Grayson said.
"There must still be an energy orb or two still in circulation. Can you see any access port? A direct power source maybe?"
"Not immediately. Im also not seeing any controls to lower the field either. Whoever wanted this thing contained took absolutely no chance of it being retrieved." Grayson explains as he pans the room for Glados.
"Hmmm....We cant just leave it there...Do some looking around. Ill bring the ASC closer."
Grayson explored the empty halls.
Down a hall behind the main chamber was an armory,ransacked. On passing glance it seemed nothing was of use,until Grayson stumbled upon a dark armor suit with an orange lambda on its chest piece,locked away in a glass chamber..
Carved into the forearm in surprisingly neat writing was a name.
"Gordon Freeman"
"Hey Glados,do you have anyone in the database under "Gordon Freeman"? Grayson asked as he put his hand on the dense glass.
"I've been waiting...." A voice said eerily.
He turns,to find nothing.
"Ah. Gordon Freeman. He was a resistance member that initiated the Civil Protection War just by being. Nobody knew where he came from when he arrived at City 17,and because of a prisoner miscount the Combine began to purge the city. Not ONLY did Gordon destroy one of the citadels,but fixed it in the same sentence to buy himself time to escape. It was assumed that he was killed shortly after Black Mesa North launched it's missile."
"Well,whoever got his armor mustve taken really good care of it." He said.
A handprint button rises from the floor.
He puts his hand on the pedastal.
**THIS H.E.V. UNIT IS ON ANTI-USER LOCKDOWN. THIS LOCKDOWN CAN BE RELEASED BY APPLYING A BLOOD SAMPLE TO THIS INTERFACE.**
"Glados,how about some new armor for me?" Grayson asked.
"In these trying times,the more military hardware,the better." Glados agrees.
Grayson pricks his finger,letting a blood drop fall into the interface.
'NEW USER DETECTED. AUGMENTED. AGE 25. UNKNOWN FACTION. DO YOU WISH TO TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THIS HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT SUIT?' A speaker said aloud.
"Uh...Yes?" Grayson said.
The glass chamber opens.
"Please,put the suit on,and retrieve the Device."
Grayson picks up the suit,looking at the lambda and slowly slipping it on.
A female monotone voice sounds off.
[Welcome to the HEV Mark 5 Protective System, for use in hazardous environment situations.]
//DIAGNOSTIC MODE ENGAGED\\
Vitals:93% Stable
Shields:OFFLINE
User:AUGMENTED
Weapon Cache:(1) UNKNOWN DEVICE (1)Unregistered Sidearm
------------
(POWER ASSIST---OFFLINE,SEEK REPAIRS)
(POWER JUMP---OFFLINE,SEEK REPAIRS)
(A.S.U.*ASSISTED STEALTH UNIT*---NOT INSTALLED)
(POWER BLADE---BROKEN,SEEK REPAIRS)
[WARNING:MORPHINE INJECTORS ARE OFFLINE. SEEK TECHNICAL ATTENTION.]
[WARNING:Weapon Storage Array damaged. (2/5) Slots have been filled]
------------
[Have a very nice day.]
"Well,time to see if this helps." Grayson mutters as he heads back into the main room.
Warily,he sticks his hand into the field.
//WARNING:HAZARDOUS ENERGY DETECTED.\\
//STABILIZING\\\
Slowly Grayson wades into the field as a helmet deploys over his head.
"Grayson-- Are you-- W--- me? You-- sig-- is cutt-- out." Glados tried to speak over comms.
"That's better..." The strange voice whispers again.
Grayson slowly approaches the Gravity Gun.
[DEVICE DETECTED]
--Please remove the Power Cord slowly,or serious injury will occur.--
He grabs the cord,twisting it slowly until it emits a click. Grabbing the Gravity Gun with a free hand,he slowly pulls the power source free. Within a container attuned to the Gravity gun's chamber,was the very power source powering the field.
With a soft click,and opening its graviton manipulation claws, the Gravity gun releases the energy source,and everything shuts down with a soft groan,and comes back on in a red hue.
//Attention all Ground Protection Teams: Autonomous judgment is now in effect. Sentencing is now discretionary.\\
Combine Androids began to deploy,with a Lambda logo spray painted on the armor. They were attempting to intercept the potential thief. Grayson ran for the exit,when it slams shut.
//Alert. Nonstandard Exogen activity detected. Execute containment procedure and report.\\
//Individual: you are charged with Socio-endangerment, level 1. Protection Units: prosecution code: duty, sword, midnight.\\
"Glados?!" Grayson yelps into his comm as he starts to defend himself from a horde of Combine Androids. In an attempt to escape he makes for the facility's hallways.
Glados wasn't responding again.
//Attention Protection Team: status evasion in progress within this community. Respond, isolate, inquire.\\
"This is getting bad..." He mutters as he runs through the halls seeking an exit.
Glados started to cut back in.
"Grayson! Finally! What the hell is going on in there?! The whole upper part of the facility just fell apart and started sounding alarms!"
"Long and short,this was a partial trap." Grayson responds as he narrowly ducks under missed gunfire.
"So..?" Glados droned slightly.
"I AM IN TROUBLE!!" He yells into the mic as he narrowly slid under a Bulkhead,bringing his legs up.
The halls were quiet...
"Im still a biped? Good." Grayson pants as he gets up.
"White,wherever you are I'd recommend you make for the surface. Something popped up on Radar. Ill go hide somewhere close,but I cannot guarantee ill be there long if my suspicion is correct." Glados said.
"I'm on it...Give me a bit to get my bearings.." He said as he set the Gravity Gun on a special thigh holster meant for it.
He walks through the halls,eventually finding what looked to be an exit.
He opens it to find a subterranean train station that seemed to stretch for miles. "Hey Glados...You read me?" Grayson asked.
"Go on.." Glados said.
"Try to locate a ground hatch like back home. Ill try to find it from down here."
"When did you start issuing orders?" Glados questioned as she started looking around in the A.S.C.
"I started when we lost our home." Grayson said as he starts down to the trainyard.
He finds a lift leading to the surface,but it didn't have power. There was a plugin with the lift controls,that resembled the end of the cord the gravity gun was attached to.
On the lift,he plugs the gravity gun into the operator's console.
The console in response lights up in an orange hue. He sets the destination to the surface.
//WARNING\\
[AUTONOMOUS LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT.]
[DEFEND,CONTAIN,INQUIRE]
Some machines were deployed,but given their appearent age,it was like being chased by a slow moving zombie horde.
"Grayson if you can hear me,i am currently at a ground hatch. What should I do next?" Glados asked.
"Give me a sec...This place is crawling with direlect androids.." Grayson said
As soon as he was free of the perusing androids,he comms in again.
"Ill have to figure out a way to bypass the lockdown. Unfortunately for both of us it seems too far to find."
"Then find another way out. Use a train or something." Glados recommends.
"With as much power that seems to be here,I might've taken out the only able power source for miles. Ill see what i can do from my end,but it's very unlikely we'll be able to link back up immediately." Grayson said
"White..one thing before we temporarily part ways." Glados said.
"Hmm?" Grayson mused as he walked.
"DONT let some stranger kill you while I'm gone. I SHOULD be the ONLY ONE with that remote privilege. If you do,I will find your body,and laminate your skeleton to be posed in my chamber,to remind myself of how brain dead you were going off on your own like this." Glados said.
"Would've sufficed for an 'I love you' but that works too." Grayson remarks.
The other half of his vision finally returns,and the voice contact overlay disappears.
This would be his first adventure,TRULY alone without a soul to hear him. Man...this silence really made you miss the finer thing in life,which happened to be a condescending omnipotent AI with a control complex,granted,but certainly the finer thing in life.