HALF-LIFE VR AI 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO!

Convenience. (Chapter Three.)

Alyx presses a few buttons, and opens the door. She continues to lead the Science Team, into the next room. She jumps over the railing while everyone else walks down the stairs. "Yeah, So We've Been Trying To Get People Out Of The City, Sending Them To My Dad's Lab. It's A Slow And Dangerous Journey But We Have Made A Break Through To Make It A Bit Faster." Everyone nods as they walk into another room. Tommy looks ahead, and his mouth drops open. "You Guys Have Sodas?!" He says with excitement. "What, No Kid. This Is Water, And It Doesn't Even Work Properly." Alyx replies as she pulls a fake quarter out of her pocket. "Then Why Are You Using Money-" "Just Wait A Second, You'll See." Alyx slides the quarter in. The vending machine opens like a door, showing a lab on the other side. "Oh By The Way, Nice To Finally Meet You All!" Alyx adds before walking in. "AY KLIENER! THE SCIENCE TEAM IS HERE!" Gordon walks in and sees Kliener looking for something. "Ah, What The Hell. She'll Show Up. Ah! Gordon, You've Arrived." Dr. Coomer and Tommy walk in behind Gordon, Tommy looks over at Kliener as says. "Hey, I Remember You! You Bought Me A Soda, Because I Forgot My Money That One Time!" "I Remember You Too, Tommy! You've Grown A Lot Of The Last Few Years, Glad To See You're Doing Well!" Tommy smiles at Kliener's words. He walks over to the cameras and looks at the screens, while Dr. Coomer plays with the mini teleporter in the room. Gordon looks back at the doorway, and sees Bubby still lingering there. "Hey, Bubby, Come In Here. Close The Door Behind You." Bubby looks over at Gordon, and sighs as he does what is asked. He looks over at Dr. Coomer and Tommy were doing, before finally looking at Kliener.

Bubby lets out a gasp, struck with shock and a elevated feeling. "Dad?" Bubby speaks. Kliener looks at Bubby, mouth open agape. "SON?!" "Is This Where You've Been My Whole Life?!" "Wha- No, But Oh My GOD! I Thought You Were Abandoned!" "I Was! But I Broke Out Of Tube And Black Mesa Just Let Me Work There, Because I Was Considered A Successful Experiment." "Well, I'm Happy To See You Bubby!" Kliener says, embracing the entity he shared DNA with. "What." Alyx and Gordon said in unison. "Oh, Alyx, Gordon. I Never Told You This."

"Long Ago, At Black Mesa. There Was This Project Were Black Mesa Tried To Make Scientists To Save On Future Costs. Of Course To Make The Scientists, They Needed DNA, And So I Offered Mine To The Project, Along With Others, But My DNA Was The Only DNA That Fit All The Requirements They Were Looking For, So They Used Mine. Of Course, They Didn't Want To Necessarily Clone Me, So They Took My DNA And Mixed It With A Female Scientist's DNA." Kliener explains. He continues. "They Used The Mix To Make An Embryo, Which The Team Working On The Project Took Care Of, But I Was Informed The Project Was Abandoned, Because Bubby 'Didn't Behave Correctly', So I Thought I Lost Bubby." Gordon and Alyx gave the most baffled looks a person could give. "Wait, So Bubby Is Actually Your Son?!" Gordon asks. "Indeed He Is! Now Bubby, Come With Me, I Have A Lot Of Things To Show You!"  Gordon turns to Alyx. "Well I Thought They Looked Similar." Alyx mentions. "Yeah, How Convenient Is That. At Least Bubby Has Something To Call Family Now, I Guess." "Yeah, I Guess That Is A Wholesome Part About This, Wait- DR. COOMER CAREFUL!" Alyx yells out right as Coomer breaks the mini teleportation device. "Oh Dear, It Appears This Is Broken!" Coomer states. Alyx lets out a sigh in frustration. Gordon places a hand on her shoulder. "Get Used To It, He's Like This All The Time." The entrance opens up again, and Barney walks in. "Finally, I'm Here! What Did I Miss?" Barney asks as he walks over to Gordon and Alyx. "A LOT." They reply. Barney furrows his brow confusion. "Why, What Happened?" "Okay, So Apparently Bubby Is Kliener's Son, And Dr. Coomer Just Broke The Mini Teleporter." Alyx answers as she waves her arms around. Barney eyes go wide at Alyx said but shakes his head before looking at Gordon. "Well, While Bubby And Kliener Are Doing Whatever They're Doing, Lets Get That Fucking Suit On Ya." Barney walks over to the area that looked like a little garage.

"Wait- You- You Guys Have My Suit? My H.E.V Suit?" Gordon asks, obviously surprised. "Well, Not YOUR Suit, It's One We Stole From Black Mesa." Barney lifts up the metallic door, and turns on the light inside, only to be greeted with a head crab jumping from on top of the suit to his head. Barney barely dodges it. "OH WHAT THE FUCK, KLIENER, I FOUND YOUR PET ROTISSERE CHICKEN-" Kliener runs into the room again, Bubby behind him. "OH LAMAR! There You Are! Where The Fuck Were You, Bitch?" He shouts to his pet as she jumps over to him. "Relax Everyone, She's Harmless. She Has No Fangs And Has Been Cleaned Out." Kliener adds, seeing the fear of on Tommy's face at the sight of the head crab. "WHY IS THAT YOUR PET?" Gordon yells. "I Was Getting Lonely, And Alyx's Pet Cat Got Evaporated In The Mini Teleporter."  Gordon gives a disgusted look at Kliener's explanation. "Yeah, I Still Think About That Sometimes ANYWAYS, Get Into Your Suit." Barney says walking away from it. Gordon sighs and walks over to it. "Alrighty Then." He closes the metal door to have some privacy as he puts his suit on. Barney turns to the rest of the Science Team. "Also, We Have Spare Clothes And Lab Coats For You Guys, You Should Probably Change Too." Barney tells them. "I'd Definitely Like To Get Out Of This Jumpsuit!" Dr. Coomer exclaims. "Yeah, So Do I." Bubby says. "They're Really Itchy, I Don't Like It." Tommy adds. "Well, Hurry Up, You Can Find What You Want In Those Boxes." Barney points at the boxes that were on a high platform. "I'll Get Them Down For You Guys." He climbs up the ladder and pushes all the boxes down to the ground, once he did that, he jumped back down and let the three scientists look through them.

When Gordon is finished putting on his suit, he lifts up the door, and sees his friends in different clothes. "Oh Hey, You Guys Had Something For Them Too?" Gordon questions. Barney turns to Gordon, and smiles seeing him in the H.E.V Suit. He proceeds to answer his question. "Well, We Didn't Have The Clothes Prepped For This Situation, I've Just Been Collecting Them From Bags I Was Supposed To Burn While I Was Undercover. The Lab Coats Were Just Spares We Had From Black Mesa." Gordon nods at the response and looks at the Science Team. They all had similar lab coats, but were all different in some way. Bubby's lab coat had black stains on the bottom of it and the sleeves, Tommy's lab coat had small sown in stars near the buttons and cuffs of his coat, Dr. Coomer's coat seemed to be the only normal one, with the exception that the inside were actually green, and Gordon only picked up on that but the fact that Coomer rolled up his sleeves. In terms of the clothes under their coats, they were just normal casual clothes. Coomer wore a green floral dress shirt, with a pair of khakis shorts. Bubby wore a turquoise blue turtle neck, along with some black pants,  but Gordon tell if they were just really tight skinny jeans, or if they were tights. Tommy wore a red and yellow striped shirt, with some dark blue denim jeans underneath his coat. They all also had different shoes that suited them and the outfits they were wearing, and Gordon saw that Tommy had a new propeller hat, but unlike his old one, it was technically a cap this time, and was more then just two colours. Gordon stopped focusing on the outfits they were now wearing, and decides to say something. "You Three Look Great! Your Outfits Suit You Guys!" He compliments. "Of Course We Look Great!" Bubby says, folding his arms. "Why Wouldn't We?" "Uh- Good Point, Anyways, What Do We Have To Do Next?" Barney grabbed Gordon's shoulder. "Whow, Slow Down Man. At Least Juice Up The Suit First." "With What?" Gordon asks. Kliener joins the conversation. "Gordon, The Suit You're Wearing Has Been Modified A Bit, And One Of The Modifications Was So It Could Draw Power From Combine Energy Outlets. There's One Over There On The Wall."