Half-life Oneshots + Scenarios

OS- Barney x reader

(This takes place during Blue Shift)

"Well it's about time. We don't pay you people to mosey around at your own convenience." One of the scientist complained after Barney entered the broken elevator. The other scientist stepped over and put a hand on the first one's shoulder.

"Hey. No need to be aggressive to our guards. Today's been a slow day for everyone." You explained, being the second scientist in question. The first one let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head.

"Just make this thing work so we can get on with this miserable day." The scientist muttered, glaring over to the guard. Barney simply nodded and awkwardly made his way over to the control panel, messing around with the buttons until the elevator began working again.

"Finally." The first scientist muttered as he walked over to one of the corners, leaning against the steel wall and glancing at his watch with an impatient look. Barney nervously shuffled around the room, feeling the affects of the heavy silence between the three of you as the elevator slowly made it's way down. You noticed the shift in mood and approached the guard with a look of pity.

"I'm sorry for my colleagues attitude. It's been a rough morning." You apologized on behave of the other scientist, keeping your voice low as to not upset him any further. You knew security guards weren't treated the best and today's atmosphere sure wasn't helping. Barney looked up at you with a shocked expression, which quickly turned into a genuine smile.

"It's no problem. Today's just one of those days I guess." Barney said with a shrug. You smiled a bit at his shift in emotion and continued to stand next to him, making occasional small talk as the elevator ride seemed to drag on. Suddenly your conversation was interrupted by a warning announcement over the intercom.

"Oh no. It's probably those Anomalous materials people again. Always pushing their equipment to hard. Dabbling in who knows what! I'd be surprised if there's one good brain among them!" Your coworker ranted on from his little corner, speaking over half of the announcement. You were about to argue against his point, but couldn't find a reason to do so. Yes it was quite insulting to all the people in that department, but he wasn't fully wrong. It wasn't uncommon for them to go to far and cause problems for other departments. You glanced at Barney to find a similar look of distain on his face, yet he refused to argue back, keeping his cool and staying quiet. The elevator continued, now with everyone drowned in silence. The only sound was the metallic scrapping of the elevator moving. Then, without warning, the elevator shook, catching the attention of all three of you. You instinctively went to cling to the side bar of the elevator as the light flickered for a second.

"What was that?" You asked, your eyes wandering around for any sign of trouble. Was the elevator malfunctioning again? You glanced over to your fellow scientist to see him staring up at the ceiling in fear, clutching the edge of the elevator in a similar fashion to you. Barney held out his hands and tried to calm the both of you with small words of reassurance, one's that had no effect as the elevator once again shook followed by a loud rumbling through the facility and the sound of something heavy about to break. The lights continued to flicker, nearly going out as the elevator slowly inched downwards as another rumble shook the building followed by another announcement.

"My goodness!" Your coworker shouted as the elevator emerged from the tight, built off space it was originally travelling in, now showing off an open construction area with the start a railroad below. Green sparks flew out around the area, occasionally circling around each other to create what looked to be a tiny portal before disappearing.

"Oh dear!" Another cry rang out as the lights went out completely after the sound of a mini explosion, followed by something hitting the ground with a low thud.

"I got it!" You heard Barney repeat as you heard him fumble around in the dark, trying to fix the lights. That was until you heard him hit something followed by a low, "Oh shit."

"What? What is it?" You asked, throwing your hands in front of you in a panic as you attempted to find the security guard.

"I-It's nothing, just- stay there." Barney stuttered out, trying to figure out how to fix the situation while keeping you from panicking. What you didn't know was the other scientist was killed as the control panel blew up. There was no way of fixing the lights now and telling you about the death would only make matters worse.

"I can fix this. Just remain calm." Barney repeated under his breath as he tried to think of a way out of this mess. You on the other hand went to observe the room outside of the elevator, since it was the only thing you could see without a flashlight. The two of you heard a scientist scream and directed your attention towards a window not far from where the elevator stopped, seeing an alien creature looming over a terrified scientist. The scientist was smart enough to run around the creature and dash into the next room, the creature still hot on his tail. Barney continued to mutter his phrase, each time it was quieter and more uncertain. This was clearly out of his control but he wanted to believe he could get you and him out of this. It was his job after all.

"I don't think you can fix this." You replied as you cowered away from the window as more aliens spawned below. More alien sounds rang through the air followed by distance explosions and screams, causing you to cover your ears in an attempt to drown out the noise.

"No, I can. We just have to-" Barney once again made an attempt to keep the peace, only to be cut off as a train cart came crashing in at high speeds, shooting into the air and ramming into one of the concrete walls, destroying most of the room and setting off more explosions. Suddenly the elevator started to move again, the sound of breaking metal apparent with each inch of movement. As expected, the cords above snapped causing the elevator to be sent plummeting down before everything turned to black.

"Miss/Sir/Doctor? Oh god, please be alive." You heard someone mutter after feeling something push against your shoulder. Two hands rest against your chest yet again in an attempt to preform chest compressions until you let out a loud cough and shot up into a sitting position. Barney jumped back, raising both of his hands in the air. You steadied your breathing and put a hand over your mouth as Barney smiled and ran over to you, extending his arms to help you up. You gladly accepted his help and got to your feet, examine the collapsed elevator in front of you. How the two of you survived was a miracle.

"Wow. Um... thanks." You awkwardly thanked your savior, still thinking over the near death experience before looking over your body for any major injuries.

"I mean- that's what I'm here for." The guard reminded you as he pointed to the large yellow words on the back of his vest, 'Security'.

"I know, but still. I owe you my life Mr..." You trailed off, only now realizing you didn't know the man's name. The guard perked up and extended his hand with a friendly smile.

"Barney. Barney Calhoun." The man elaborated.

"Well thank you, Mr. Calhoun. I'm Dr. y/n l/n. Please just call me y/n." You explained while accepting his handshake.

"I don't really know what's going on around here, but I guess we're stuck in this together." You said, earning a nod of agreement from Barney. That's when you realized-

"Wait, where's Dr. Patton?" You questioned, realizing you were the only two that exited the elevator out of the three of you.

"Oh, right. About that..."

(Like my other oneshots I'll probably follow this up with a part 2 since this is more of an introduction. I've been wanting to write a Barney Calhoun oneshot for a good while now but could never come up with a plot since I wanted to write for half life 2 but it seems I only get ideas for the first game and it's expansions.)