Hello boys, girls, female children, aliens, robots and the like,  I have written a page of an upcoming Fan Fiction in the Half Life 2 universe after the combine took over.  There's two things missing, though,  a title, and your opinions!  If you guys like it, then I'll continue writing, also, come up with some titles, and I'll make a poll of the ones I like.

Without further ado, here it is!

Aleckzander Bushman led a simple, lonely life in City 18, under the iron fist of the Combine. His entire life, he never once crossed them, and he was considered a loyalist by many. He worked for the Union selling Union-branded goods to the other citizens, and never once thought of joining the rebellion. That was, of course, until he met his best friend, Juan Sook. Juan Sook was one of the few that survived the Black Mesa incident, but that's an entirely different story.

The first he saw of this Juan Sook,was the day he arrived on the train that normally took citizens into City 18, and occasionally took away the Administrator on business. However, today this wasn't the case. Whenever a new citizen arrives, the Metropolice guard the terminal, but today there were no guards. There was only silence, besides the train, of course. There was usually a crowd of people standing around. Today there was emptiness. There should have been
the Administrator overlooking the crowd. No Administrator. The lights in the terminal were usually on and bright as ever. Only darkness. For today was a day like no other. Today was the beginning of the end of the iron fist which was the Combine. Today, Cycle #428, Year #12 in Aleckzander Bushman's life, was far from the beginning of the New Order. However, it was as close as ever. Today was the day of the people, no longer under the iron fist of the Combine. No longer treated as slaves, only getting the bare minimums of what they needed to survive.

Alecks walked off of the platform, thinking there must be no one on the train, and as he did, he saw that all of the Metropolice that were supposed to be guarding lay unconscious on the street. At first, he thought they were dead,
but at a second glance, he noticed they were still breathing. He heard a spine-tingling noise coming from the train's platform. He turned around, and saw a figure appearing to be wearing a suit and holding a briefcase. He couldn't see his face, but from what he'd seen that day, seeing his face just may have pushed him over the edge. The figure spoke, his voice booming through the world around him.

"Hello, Aleckzander Bushman. I see you have arrived just in time to receive your complimentary case," said the figure.
"W-what?" asked Alecks.

"This is normal, you must not know who I am, what I'm doing here, or what a case is," the man continued.

"Who are you?" Alecks asked the man as he now trembled in fear.

"Who I am is does not matter for the time being; who YOU are is what we're interested in. We know who you are; you do not need to know who we are. Just take your case, and I will leave you. However, if you choose to learn more, you must pay the price." He spoke the words as if he'd said them a million times before.

"I'd like to know, but what's the price? Death? Slavery? Worse?" Alecks asked, his voice now stuttering.

"The price is whatever you imagine it to be, if you wish it not be death, then it may be death. If you'd like, I'll let you think about it."

He speculated on this for a bit, and thought "How could anything be worse than how I live now?"

"I'd like to pay the price, which I imagine it to be poverty." Little did Alecks know that the man knew everything about him, therefore poverty may not be the price, as Alecks had never had any credits to his name to spend on personal items, only rations which he needed to survive.

"Very well, you will get nothing as the price, since you're already in slavery, and you've no credits to yourself, and your death would only affect us," said the figure, now getting a bit quieter. "All you need to know for now is that I work for a resistance group known as Lambda. We strive to take down the Combine forces once and for all, and to achieve this, we require your help."

"Go on," Alecks responded.

"You are the missing piece we've been looking for, so I will leave you with this case. It should contain all you need to find us, and if and when you do, this case is a thank-you in advance," the man continued.

Alecks took the case and opened it right in the street where he'd been standing. Its contents were confusing; he'd never seen any of the items inside before in his life. A 9MM pistol with one loaded magazine. A small knife. An old resistance member uniform. And a map with a marked bit saying "YOU ARE HERE" and another "LAMBDA" not far from the first mark.

"You can either choose to continue to become deeper within the Lambda, or continue about your normal life in slavery and poverty."

Alecks looked down at the case and thought for a moment.

"I'll do it, but only because I have no choice."

"Welcome to the Lambda," the man said with a grin.





And there you have it.