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Lostos Cheiristis (Crowbar Wielder)


He looked awfully tired. And increasingly lerono. Dirty.

"Well, Gordon Freeman! I wouldn't believe it if I couldn't see it with my own eyes. Doctor Gordon Freeman himself!" Lauhin walked casually across the bridge above the gate. He leaned over the rail to get a better look at the scientist's airboat. "And that piece of crap is definitely Station 6's boat." He smiled wryly and turned his head towards me. "Hey, let 'im in."

"Right, c'mon in." I pulled on the crank with a heady grunt. "You're just in...oomph...time, doc. We've gotta move out before the Combine picks us up. We're getting ready to pull out."

The scientist said nothing, but puttered the boat next to the docks.

I let the crank go and covered my head from the splash of the gate hitting the water. I ran down the stairs and skidded next to the vortigaunt.

"Greetings to the Freeman..."

The black and orange clad man climbed out of the boat, and promptly hit the top of his head on the boat's roof beams. Freeman visibly bit back an exclamation, and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He slowly ducked down and came all the way out of the seat, looking disdainfully back at the boat.

"...Did you ever think of getting rid of that particular beam?" His voice didn't sound weedy or bossy like the typical, higher up scientists in the resistance.

Freeman laughed shortly and rubbed his head with a gloved hand. Dried bits of muck fell on the dock around him. He noticed this and ran vigorous fingers through his hair. Soon the man was surrounded in the stuff. He looked up and around our small enclave, but I doubt he saw anything through the thickly caked dirt on his glasses.

Lauhin was visibly upset at Freeman's remark about the airboat. His arms were crossed tightly against his chest, and his lower lip slid slightly out.

"Go complain to Station 6, not us."

Freeman shrugged, and busied himself by rubbing his thumb against the lens of his spectacles. The dirt streaks didn't come off.

"Could I bother you for a towel or something? It's hard driving like this." He pointed to said obstacle. I smiled helplessly.

"Yeah, I'll get you something." I nodded and walked to a designated 'Pile O' Junk.' "Pot..." I threw the cooking element over my shoulder. "TV...pipe...pack of cigarettes?"

"Those are NOT mine." Lauhin said defensively. I flipped the torn box down into my hand, and five cigarettes rolled into my palm. Definitely not a full box.

"Oh, and I suppose the vort is smoking them, then?"

"We don't have time for this Forakis." Lauhin scoffed. "We better hurry. We have to tear down this camp before the Combine gets here." He said to Freeman in the background.

"Too late for that." The scientist replied. "There's a chopper that's been following me since I left Kleiner's lab."

"Yeah, one of it's buddies already left us a doro. A gift." I yelled behind my shoulder. I pushed loose propaganda ads from the pile. "Oh, towel." I plucked the rag from the ground and wrinkled my nose. It smelt. Like old vinegar and gunpowder. I sneezed, and loose dust flew from the towel into the air.

"Bless ya." Lauhin said from behind me. I stood up and shook the rag out at arms length.

"If you sneezed on it, then you can keep that thing." Freeman scratched the side of his head and didn't succeed in holding back his grimace too well.

"You ain't eating it for lunch." I smiled back at him and held the towel out. "Unless you wanna wash it off in the canal, fine by me... But I'll warn you; the last thing we washed in there had mold growing on it within minutes." I really wanted to eat that apple, too

"Thanks..." The doctor took the towel from me, but hesitated from saying anything else.

"Eileen Forakis. You'll probably never see me again." I smirked humorlessly. "That's Alan Lauhin." I jerked a thumb towards my human companion. "You'll probably never see him again, either."

"What makes you say that?" Freeman lifted the rag to his glasses and rubbed energetically, frowning a bit. I laughed breathily to myself. He knew the answer, but he didn't want us to lose hope. So, a hero could be considerate as well.

"Rebels are far spread these days. And we're not scheduled to be at Black Mesa East anytime soon, Doc." Lauhin explained. He kicked the door to our concrete room-of-operations over. "Come on in, I'll show you what you’re up against." Freeman finished cleaning one eye of his glasses, and a stunningly green eye blinked blearily underneath its lens.

A thought occurred to me. "Hey Doc..."

"I did consider contacts once." He turned the towel to a clean section and started working on the other lens. Perceptive to what others were going to say as well... "Do you know how hard it is to get headcrab gunk off these things?"

"Ewww." I made a disgusted face, and Freeman laughed in agreement. How the man could laugh, I still don't know.

"Yes. Wanna make a guess on how many times I lost my lunch that first day?"

"Seven." Lauhin suggested. Freeman shrugged and squinted through his now clean glasses.

"Something like that. Damned if I remembered to count."

"Hope you liked that lunch, Doc..."

"Okay, let's talk about something else." I said quickly. Lauhin snickered and walked into the shack. It was nothing much; a single with a radio and a map. But it was all we really needed.

"Here take a look at this." Freeman glanced down at the towel in his hands. "She'll take that." Lauhin scooped the rag from his hands and handed it off to me. I held it by the corner and threw it nonchalantly over my shoulder. "Anyways, here’s what you’re up against."

"This here is the dam right ahead." Lauhin pointed to a red-highlighted section of the map. "The hideout, Black Mesa East, is here; a stone's throw away from the apron and nestled in the old hydro plant." Lauhin leaned against the wall next to map and looked up at Freeman. "But getting there with that hunter-chopper on your ass? Next to impossible." Freeman puffed his breath out heavily.

"Noticed."

"Good news is, and there is good news... the vort is working his magic on your airboat, so you'll have a little more firepower going forward." The doctor lifted his chin slightly at Lauhin's words.

"Firepower?"

"I think he's just finishing up, Doc. Go on out." Freeman looked from Lauhin to me, then walked out the door. "Wait 'til he sees it..." Lauhin whispered to me before leaving the room. I smiled to myself. Hopefully, he’d have use of it.

"Oh, nice." The inflection in Freeman's two syllables was enough to show his feelings about the turret. He walked next to the vortigaunt and watched as he applied a few more electrical jolts to seal the gun. "Is that…"

"Yep." Lauhin leaned over a railing that overlooked the dock. "That gun came off of one of the same hunter-choppers that you're up against." Lauhin agreed smugly. "I like to bring a little irony to a firefight." I rolled my eyes. Ham.

"How'd you manage that?" Freeman turned back towards us, an eyebrow arched in expert skeptic fashion. "No offense, but this places seems a little..." He looked at our soot covered faces, dusty clothes, and horrendously scant base. "Raggedy."

The three of us who inhabited the base echoed sounds of amusement.

"This lil' lady is the proud owner of a prototype rocket launcher." Lauhin grabbed my wrist and pulled me onto the rail next to him. I yelped and winced simultaneously as the railing pressed into my stomach. "Whoops, sorry."

"Thanks." Freeman said succinctly. "But... are you guys gonna be okay getting out of here?" He looked down at the ground for a moment before the vort spoke to him.

"The Freeman will accept this weapon, or suffer greatly on the road ahead." The vort said sagaciously. "The Freeman's safety is placed above our own."

"Yeah, they're sending every CP unit after you, Doctor Freeman." I leaned my chin on my knuckles and stuck a finger out towards him. "Not us." The bright-eyed man fell silent. "Now get outta here. We've really gotta break camp."

"Yeah, I don't want them to find you." His lips curled downward at one side. "I've seen too many slaughtered resistance Stations on the way here."

"Stations 12, 8, and 7." I supplied quietly. Freeman nodded slowly.

"They gave them a lot of trouble, though."

"Good." Lauhin drummed his fingers happily over his arm. "Okay, seriously, get the hell outta here." The vort chuckled darkly at his comment.

"Yes, Freeman. We do not want the trouble that follows you to conflict with our escape."

"Sounds like a deal to me." The doctor approached the boat, and carefully ducked his head to get in. Lauhin and I exchanged an amused glance. "Thanks again." He leaned his head back to look at the vort. "Especially you, even after..." I saw Freeman's face pale slightly under the deep gaze of the vortigaunt. The Xenian lifted a finely hooked claw and graced the doctor with a vortal smile.

"We cannot forget those whose cords you cut, Freeman... but you freed us from eons of slavery." The vort narrowed his largest eye imperceptibly. "These vortal bonds cannot be cut."

There was a pregnant silence. I leaned further over the railing to take in the reactions of the vort and Freeman. The vorts forgave him so easily for slaying their kind... if only humans could have that same type of understanding. The thin line between peace and war truly was vortal. Freeman looked down at the handlebars of the airboat, then at the gun besides him.

"Thank the rest of vortikind for me." He started the ignition of the boat, and pushed it into position before the gate.

"Just so." The vort murmured quietly. Lauhin was quiet as well. Something had happened, but we humans at the canal base were left in the dark.

"Farewell Doctor Freeman." Lauhin waved widely to the boat. I pushed off the railing and ran towards the gate crank. "Get that hunter-chopper and we can mount it on the wall here!" I pulled the gate open, and watched the boat putter by the gate.

"Give 'em hell, doc."

"Will do, Eileen." The man looked up at me from my post and lifted his head in a silent farewell. " 'Luck getting out of here." He gunned the engine, and I could hear the distinct cacophony of a hunter-chopper turret, as well as barnacles regurgitating their last meals.

"There he goes." I laughed hollowly to myself. The vort grumbled something happily before shuffling out of my eye line.

"Doctor Gordon Freeman..." Lauhin said from the docks. "He's seen a lot... can you tell?"

"Yeah." I leaned my head towards the tunnel he left by. Gunfire still echoed against the tunnel walls. "I'm surprised on how calm he at least appeared to be."

"Well, being attacked by Xenian life forms will change anyone." Lauhin looked down at our...his airboat bobbing in Freeman's wake. "I suppose once you've killed a couple hundred of zombies... no, your own colleagues... Things can change." He shrugged. "That must've done something to him."

"I'll betcha that suit helps him through that too."

"No suit, whether from Black Mesa or the Combine, can help you with your mental problems."

I scoffed loudly. "Yeah, they said the Combine couldn't stop us from breeding, too." Lauhin gave me patient look through his brow. "And no matter what Breen says, we're never going to be allowed to mate by the Combine. That's all bullshit."

"Don’t need to tell me twice." Lauhin nodded emphatically. "When this is all over..." His thickly accented voice trailed off. I shared the silence with him. When this is all over... when was the big question mark in that sentence.

"Truly, these are the worst of times for the humans." The vortigaunt came alive again with his soothing reply. His brown body bent over to pick up a box of rations. "Yet, it is also true that you humans are infuriatingly... perseverant."

"That ain't gonna do shit for us if the Combine catches us." Lauhin urged. "And this'll never be over for us if we get caught. Quit yer sentimentalizing and lets break this place down."

"Yeah." I looked towards the kerosene can I had set near the concrete shack. "You're right. I don't have enough rockets for another chopper." I kicked the container over, and thick, oily fluid spilled viscously onto the floor.

"Rations are already on board." The vortigaunt murmured.

"Grab whatev'r you need for Maggie, I've got 'nuff SMG ammo to last us a few conflicts." Lauhin grunted heavily and slammed a crate into the back of the skipper. "Damn, I'm glad our boat seats more than one."

"Yeah, imagine all of us trying to fit into Station 6's boat... heh!" I shouldered Maggie and kicked another can of kerosene over. "Let's light up and leave." I reached into one of the several satchels on my back and procured a box of matches. I snapped one off its base and lit it.

A loud, monolithic groan shook the walls; concrete dust fell from the ceiling and floated in the growing pond of kerosene at my feet. Lauhin yelled at me; "C'mon, c'mon... the klaxon's goin' off!"

"Yeah, yeah..." I held the flaming match at arm's length and delicately dropped it.

A/N- I understand that my personal view of what the ever-elusive Gordon Freeman is probably different from others, but I can just him as someone who has gone through alot. This man has had to kill his own colleagues, his own friends. Not much surprises him anymore.

Next Chapter: Perase Grigora I Fasaria (The Trouble Blew Over)