Terminal Ballistics

[trustycrowbar]

[Action]

[Being as it is a permanent fixture of the Hold, the mareketplace has manifested several trappings of a mall-like nature. Like, say, an arcade. Well, actually it's just a few "antiquated" game machines stuffed into a corner, but with the training routines disturbed by the VR shenanigans they'd reached a level in popularity again.]

[One in particular, "Superah-RealCombato Sim 3000" has a ring of holographic projectors no more than six feet across, that cast flickering red shapes in parallax for characters standing in the middle to aim a virtual weapon at and shoot. The resulting sea of red gradient that they loosely call a "firefight sim" is hardly realistic, somewhat headache-inducing, and kind of flickery thanks to the wear of years.]

"HEADSHOT. DOUBLE-KILL. MULTIKILL. SURVIVALIST. NEW HIGH SCORE..."

[Wait, is that Gordon in there? Where did he learn to shoot like that?!]

[Watch? Comment? ...Try to beat his score?]

Comments

[shoesfitperfectly]

[After a while Gordon might notice someone standing behind him. Oh, lovely, it's either a refugee from that Oscar Wilde production across town or a time traveller. Not sure which is worse. He just watches, a mildly amused look on his face.]

[totallytrustworthy]

[Chloe's eyes don't miss much, even on the worst of days. So considering the noise coming out of that particular section of the arcade, it doesn't take her more than a few seconds to spot-- wait, Gordon?

She watches him carry on for a short while, arms folded, standing directly behind him. When she finally chimes in, her tone of voice isn't particularly cheery.]

You weren't joking about that 'path of destruction' business, were you?

[trustycrowbar]

[He leans back, the motion hiding him behind a large (red) block while (red) shots ping off the side in a scattering of (red) particles. He glances over his shoulder with a very memorable snarl of focus that dissolves as he recognizes Chloe.]

I told you it wasn't my academic, hold on--[BAMM! BAMM!]--my academic achievements the Initiative wanted!

[trustycrowbar]

[After a long while. Games beget tunnel vision, or in this case, cylinder vision. It really isn't until the round ends and he lowers the false weapon that he actually notices the man in the sport coat thing. At first he's just a little winded and merely angles his head as a greeting.]

[shoesfitperfectly]

Hullo. Is this part of your training?

[Oh, jesus, he's /NATIVE./ His voice is soft and he's looking at the projectors like they're just the quaintest little things he's ever seen.]

[totallytrustworthy]

No, no you're definitely right about that.

And just how exactly did you manage to hone these particular un-academic skills?

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Adam's no stranger to VR training, but he can also, ocassionally, be a nerd--currently he's passing through the Hold because of some ~business~, but Gordon's little 'training session' is really loud enough to be noticed and pause for a moment.

So for a while, Adam's just watching, and maybe frowning. This thing looks terribly rudimentary too, but it somehow still manages to stir his competitive spirit awake--but he's still considering.

And still watching. It's kind of impressive, really, but he doesn't say anything because words can make you lose focus really easily. ]

[trustycrowbar]

[He glances between her and the game, briefly.]

It's a long story... Let me finish up here.

[It takes him another five minutes but eventually the rising difficulty does overtake him. A stray red "bullet" finally finds his head and a creepy red silhouette of him lurches to the side and sprawls to the ground. Game over.]

Okay. The smartass answer would be that I learned them playing games like those, but I guess I owe you a better explanation than that. [He ducks out from under the projector ring and joins her.] C'mon. I need some coffee, and I think I may have finally found a place that HAS some around here.

[trustycrowbar]

What, this? Hm, hardly. [His accent sounds American enough even though his word choices suggest otherwise. He gets out from under the projector ring now.]

IT hasn't quite fixed that VR system, so far as I know there is no training right now. I'm just playing this because I thought it looked interesting. Wanted to blow off some steam.

So are you a transport, or...?

[totallytrustworthy]

[ In truth, Chloe's not as irritated as she's pretending to be; she's spent most of her life keeping secrets and expecting the same of everyone else around her. Gordon's skills might've taken her by surprise, but the way she sees it, a little pressure might get him to come completely clean about things-- or at least close to it.]

All right, lead on. Just talk as you go.

[trustycrowbar]

Hm. I'm offering coffee and all you can manage is duress. [He's joking, but the humor is dehydrated by the topic at hand.]

Look, I didn't know what I was getting into when I first got here, and I wanted to keep it a relative secret in case things went to hell as soon as I arrived... trust me, that tends to happen. I didn't mean to deceive you or anyone for that matter. But things are starting to relax a little and as soon as training starts up I can get my suit and find out just what they've done to it--

[He's not doing a very good job at explaining, is he? He clears his throat and tries again.]

All right. I did tell you my thesis was on teleportation, or at least the first steps towards it, right? Well... A little later after that I was recommended to a position as a research associate for a facility called Black Mesa. Well... by those who knew about it at all, that is. It was heavily contracted to the Department of Defense, and located somewhere in the southwest New Mexico desert; I worked there for two years and I STILL have no damn clue where it was exactly.

[trustycrowbar]

[It does indeed. That's one thing that's noticible about the whole display. Most violence junkies would be yelling their heads off, but while this guy's in the middle of a round? He falls completely silent.]

[After a few more rounds of proverbial ownage he does take a hit and loses, and he briefly plucks off his glasses to run a hand over his eyes as he ducks out from under the light ring and practically runs into Adam.]

--Oh, ah, hey. [Glasses back on. Good god. He drew an audience, but he addresses Adam a little more than the crowd. Hard to ignore a cyborg after all.] How long were you watching?

[square_cubelaw]

You didn't get out much as a kid, did you?

[He's just going to watch. It looks fun.]

[shoesfitperfectly]

[He nods] Yes, as a matter of fact. I only just got here yesterday... [sighhh] Technically yesterday.

[He does look a bit jet-lagged--er, time-lagged. However, he cracks a grin at some thought or other.] Let's hope your virtual reality system is a bit better than this old thing...

[An idea strikes him and he reaches into a pocket, producing what looks like nothing more than a tyre pressure gauge on steroids. It's a silver rod with a strange round dish-like thing at the end. Hunkering down next to the thing's CPU he points the device at it. The thing emits an odd warbling buzz of varying pitches as he presses the button on it.]

[The demo graphics suddenly get a lot clearer... but still red.]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Of course Adam has enough experience to be able to tell those skills don't just come from playing videogames. He's fairly sure if someone made a bet with him about whether or not Dr. Freeman here is good with a real gun too, he'd win.

Also he doesn't seem to particularly mind that he was just bumped into, Adam just nonchalantly steps to the side; and wasn't expecting conversation either. ]

Long enough to be able to tell you're a fairly good shot.

[ Obviously. ]

[trustycrowbar]

...

[He peers with some astonishment at the demo of cycling red shapes from the outside.]

That... what the hell did you just do...?

[trustycrowbar]

[Another short glance to the game machine, as though realizing it's just given him away.]

I know my way around a weapon or two, yeah... Hm, I'm surprised it came across in the way I played that.

[Although really, if it weren't for a youth misspent on violent, low-resolution games like those he wouldn't have made it out of that research facility in the first place.]

I don't think we've met yet, mister, ah...?

[neveraskedforthis]

It was subtle. You don't really look the type, though.

[ but no matter how subtle, Adam's been been at SWAT for over five years. He just has an eye for these things. ]

Adam Jensen. You are?

[ Your tuuuurn. ]

[trustycrowbar]

Freeman. Gordon Freeman.

[He offers a hand, tons-per-square-inch cybernetic arms or not.]

I suppose you're right, I'm not normally the type. What you witnessed back there was... I guess you could call it a product of necessity.

[trustycrowbar]

[It IS fun, until the red-on-red fries a guy's color perception circuits. The comment deserves a backwards glance, at least, and he "hides" for a moment. With a quarter-muncher like this, there's no such thing as a pause function.]

What's that supposed to mean?

[Wait what? Is that a robot?]

[A robot sophisticated enough to be sarcastic?]

[neveraskedforthis]

[ Wait he's not really used to shaking hands anymore; most people don't exactly want to so he hesitates for a second and just stares at that offered hand behind his lenses.

Then he takes it though, being terribly self-conscious about his own grip and the pressure he exerts. It's probably a bit firmer than what you'd expect anyway and feels decidedly like metal. ]

You had to learn how to use a gun?

[ Sharp as always Mr Jensen ]

[square_cubelaw]

[Getting him to be sarcastic isn't the problem.

It's getting him to realize he should stop, before someone blows him up, that is.]

It means, there's good, and then there's "I didn't have friends in school so I filled the hole with video games," good.

I'm just saying, you're pretty good.

[shoesfitperfectly]

This? I simply improved the connexions, boosted the power a bit... maybe cleaned up the coding just a tad.

[His gaze catches the light gun in Gordon's hand.] May I?

[totallytrustworthy]

Maybe after I have both coffee and a story in hand you'll earn yourself something better.

[She keeps pace with him as they walk, trying her best to piece it all together.] And they...what, trained you?

[trustycrowbar]

Nothing so mundane. No, I was installed in the Anomalous Materials lab. Spent a lot of the time in an armored hazmat suit in a chamber several hundred feet below the surface.

About a year after I got there, we started getting in these weird-ass crystals. They carried resonances that... Ngh, lets just say that they pulled at the very fabric of reality when hit with the right forms of energy.

We all knew better than to play around with 'em. But the administrators didn't seem to give a damn, and I found out exactly why later.

[They reach the hole-in-the-wall cafe he'd caught word of, a charmingly shabby thing covered with grey-green ivy. There's even one of those chalk signs out front scribbled with "YES, YANKS, WE DO HAVE COFFEE!!" Gordon snorts.]

I guess they know their target demographic...