ReConsideration 1314

Interval 13.0 – Revisiting some old friends. The Seattle enclave is a very nice location, I made a Sims 2 version of it. The use of the "behind the scenes" elevators is straight from Fear 2: in Wade Elementary there's a 'nurse' room which is actually hiding an elevator. The room seals, and then descends whole like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland's entry room. Down below is the whole of the scientific side of things, and it's very similar though on a much smaller scale for the Enclave. The place is described a bit more in an upcoming Interval, as Wilson tours it. Those Armacham window-screens are mentioned earlier, and seen fully in use in the Hospital section of Fear 2. Almost all the 'windows' in the place are simulated because the entire Hospital is underground. Breen and Hoyle are a kind of "odd couple" pairing. They have extremely little in common: Breen is a scientist, an administrator only out of duty, rather than because that's where he wanted to be. Hoyle is almost entirely the opposite – he's got scientific curiosity but is very much (as Wilson later puts it) a 'people person' and is a politician by choice. His political years are now over, and it's implied that numerous others followed suit. The United Governments is something found in Fear 2, and I believe that this alludes to another of that company's games which takes place in the more distant future. However it works fine here, because there's a similar indication that in HL's universe after the Resonance Cascade, the world's governing bodies unite in order to keep the peace while all hell breaks loose. The idea of a shadow-government is obviously not new in this or any other work of fiction. The clones that are stored within Hoyle's estate belong to him, Breen, and I think 2 or 3 other important people. Whether those important people are still alive, no one knows. The brain scans would normally allow that person to 'continue', and they'd believe without doubt that they were the original. Ethically and philosophically, that is certainly a grey area, but here in this universe it's pretty clear that they would simply allow it without a second thought. Vortally active minds like Hoyle's don't require such a thing, he would exist without a body for at least long enough to find himself a new one, and with his own body cloned for such a use, he wouldn't have to look far. With Breen needing training on the use of his clones however, they've run into an interesting new angle. Hoyle doesn't use his clones the same way, and never would. Breen shouldn't have been able to, but does so in a completely new, unique manner. Rather than Vortally inhabiting the body, Breen kind of 'jumps' between each one, we see this later on in more detail. For the moment, his sudden activation of a new, young body is as thrilling as it was difficult. Also you get the first inkling that he is incredibly vain. Note that though I don't mention her here, Miss Silver is actually there at the Enclave along with several other people – maintenance and staff mostly. "All these accidents in the workplace, those unforeseen consequences" – alluding to the Unforeseen Consequences chapter in HL1 as well as the speech Gman gives to Alyx in e2. A bit of background on Hoyle's abilities is shown too, as well as his involvement with Origin. "It was a wonder you didn't trip over the shit that was dragged into the event horizon that was her money" – I love that description of Aristide's home. In Fear 2 you're a member of a team sent up to her penthouse to take Gen into protective custody. Thus you have to go through her place to reach her, and my god it is like a museum with all the expensive art and vases and sculptures. All of which get destroyed in the following firefight with ATC forces bent on killing her. The Waterhouse painting is meant to be the original of it, and not merely a print of it. Angels and pregnancy: another kind of theme that will come up later on, along with mortals and their godly kin.

Interval 13.1 – Yes, he is a dramatic bastard. Gman's speech patterns are fun to play with. He's got so many words, he hesitates because he knows too many. Well, he speaks in that sinister mannerism when it suits him, and rarely when he's relaxed and unguarded. When he's 'dealing', in other words. And boy is he dealing here. A deal with the devil? Perhaps. As for the suit: I hate that blue suit he wears in the games. I just hate it. Even though it's far more "cliché" in black, he was the man in black so that's fine. He deserves a black suit. The mention of his breath every time he comes around is, pretty clearly, important. That's why I mention it. Aristide's acceptance of this deal puts her in a unique position: one which will come up much later. For the moment, it is she and not Breen or Hoyle, who takes the spotlight. Breen had done so in Half Life 2, but since he's kind of busy at the moment, Aristide will do. She's a nasty piece of work. Much nastier than you'd think. "Survival" is a word Gman brings up in his talk with Gordon in e2, while Alyx is being healed by the Vorts. "And now I must… extract some small repayment owed for your own survival" – Aristide makes this deal for hers not knowing what will change to require it. At this point, both Gman and Wilson have introduced themselves formally to Paxton and obviously to Melissa, though they have yet to be in contact with almost anyone else from the EC. Wilson has seen Breen's multiple forms, and by now they've been set up in different Cities. They will continue to be there through the arrival of Ulathoi in a month or so, and over time become more distant from one another. Gen's forgetting of the Mystery's name is a purposeful tweak by him on every occasion they'd met. If he intended her to try and locate him, he'd have let her remember. Same with anyone else. This sort of comes up a little later.

Interval 13.2 – Poor, poor Wilson. He is so physical, it's not even funny. Not. Even. Funny. Note that he's only about 3.5 years out of the vat, and while he knows what he's supposed to be doing, he's too distracted by this flesh of his to do it right. He needs something to take his body off his mind. The idea that Wilson is a bridge between states is first put out here, and is reinforced later on. And yes, "he wanted to tear his own flesh apart" does mean that he's tried physically castrating himself – which didn't work. Melissa's regeneration is at a similar pace to his. "I know there's a dead hooker joke in here somewhere", I don't think those get old. However I think his later line, "forgive me for being completely unsurprised to hear that Armacham has disposable prostitutes now" is far funnier. To demonstrate how strong Wilson really is, his turning of a stainless-steel container into a small balled up paperweight suffices. Stainless steel doesn't bend. This conversation, we get the real reason why there's a connection between the men in this story. If it hadn't been obvious: Wilson is one of Pax and Geoff's donor fathers. And, that girl he's commissioning, is Melissa. Later in the story we learn far more about how his physical form and his similarities as well as differences interact with the Mystery's: Wilson was still made from him, just a couple chapters ago the Mystery even thinks on how different they are. However they are still the same in many, many ways. Wilson is a physical, if exaggerated, version of the Mystery. "Deaths like that weren't easy to forget, either" – by the police, by the people around, or by Wilson. This comes up later.

Interval 14.0 – It's been 3 years since Paxton's rant in the Outlands, and things have changed a lot. Going over numerous bits of how different things really got after the Combine invaded, and some practical notes about the Replicas. The Icarus facility is mentioned as still being in use, though it is more used as a safe house facility rather than for its intended procedures. Paxton's mental voice must be annoying as fuck, because Geoff hears it a lot. A bit of description about City 47, what used to be Atlanta Georgia. I looked over some maps, decided that Fairport Alabama would be reasonably near Atlanta, and by the time the story rolls along, state lines really mean nothing at all. The Citadel in 47 is the same as the one in any other given City, most specifically: city 17 in HL2. Taller than any building has any right to be, and more importantly it is also that far underground. I figure the Combine use geothermal and other sorts of energy collecting, and would use the Citadels as central locations for manufacturing and repair, as well as administration of information. The city walls that move and chew through things are found throughout HL2 and the episodes. They're scary because they will not stop for anything (except perhaps for D0g as he's strong enough to lift one part of it), and will kill your slow ass if you don't get out of the way. I figure they've got those things around every Citadel, eating their way outwards. Note that the Combine would not normally have given two shits about administrating over Humans, but they do anyway because… Well, because of that deal Aristide made. First mention of Paxton and his Amazing Aura of Amazing. This idea will make another appearance soon. Also note that Paxton is nowhere near as strong, fast or durable as his brother. He's 'the smart one', or more accurately the smarter one, as they're both very intelligent. While Geoff might heal a bullet wound to the arm in a day or two, it would take Paxton a week or so – still faster than normal by any stretch of the imagination but not at the level that Geoff, or certainly Wilson or Melissa, can do. "Anti-citizens" is from HL2, Gordon, Alyx and other such wanted persons of interest are known as anti-citizens. Gordon is 1, Alyx is 2. Like the Most Wanted list. Combine radio chatter is cryptic and oddly vague: removed from the workforce means 'killed in action'. Each portion of the Combine forces are treated as little more than a cell in a giant being, there are always more where they came from. The part with the bullets… This was a bit more work than I planned, but it came off nicely I think. I did the math, studied a little on bullets and casings, sniper rifle speeds, the speed of sound, and calculated the distances involved. Not very well, mind you, but well enough that I think it'd stand up to someone else doing some checking on it. Geoff shoots a bullet out of the air because he can see it moving. This is part of the whole Fear game mechanic of "slow motion", bullet time basically. You activate the power and are able to shoot more precisely, aim quickly, and dodge stuff. You can't run like that, but it makes for extremely entertaining head-shots in the game. Note well how Geoff grew into this. That is a feature for him, not a bug, like on Wilson. Paxton's reflection on how life must have been before, and how he'd never seen any of it, sort of gives a little impression of what growing up as an Origin child would be like. The .50 caliber pistol that Paxton carries is called the Hammer, and it's a special preorder bonus from ordering Fear 3 through a specific retailer. I felt it needed its own place here. That, by the way, is one fucking huge bullet for a pistol. Their motorcycles, ahh I wish I could have used them a little more, but it's unlikely they'd get the chance. Sad, because I see both Geoff and Pax enjoying the crap out of riding. The reason I chose them at all is Paxton's Fear 1 outfit: it is a motorcycle riding suit, designed for it and it made me wonder whether he ever got to ride, or if it was given to him just to let him look good in it. "When the time comes, I'll kill your skinny ass myself" is an ironic little twist: Pointman does kill Paxton at the end of both Fear 1 and 3 – well, 3 only if you play him well enough… (Yes, Paxton's so awesome he has to be killed twice.)

Interval 14.1 – Rex's vision and talk of dreams. What would they have been like, if Armacham's world wasn't the same as Aperture's and Black Mesa's? If things had gone just a little differently? The dead aren't coming to life: they never died. Rex sees visions like this on occasion, and always had since he was quite young. His pyrokinetics are fully under his control, but the visions are not. The characters are similar but are what the kids might have had the chance to be. Their dossiers would have reflected many of their attitudes and powers – which don't turn out quite the same in practice in this universe. Paxton is at a slightly more suicidal point in his life, this is shortly before the interval just above. He really is rather reckless at this point. His eye color is mentioned specifically as being able to pick up whatever light is around them, this harkens to the intro to Fear 1, where we see right up-close and personal, a reflection of fire in a light-colored eye. In the game, this turns to seeing Alma there in the flames, it's clear that this is Paxton's vision, Paxton's eyes. This chapter does allow me to relate the retaliation dream: "A war is coming, I've seen it in my dreams. Fire spilling over the earth, bodies in the streets, cities turned to dust. Retaliation." This is said by Paxton when you come across him in Fear 1 at one point, he's speaking directly into your mind and is dropping hints that Pointman the player-character is his brother. But also, that Pointman needs to stay the fuck out of this. Both of them are extraordinarily stubborn, however. Ahh and now I get to do more swearing with Melissa. The first thing everyone does when they're informally learning a new language is: to learn to swear. Mel does it amazingly well. "Go back to sleep, and stop dreaming so loud" is one of the earliest lines I'd thought of in writing any of Repurposed. It actually sets the tone for many of the characters and their powers, as well as the condition of the world around them. With Paxton watching over Rex and collecting his vision to review it later, though, is the fact that Paxton is, for the moment, extremely mortal. If it's like anything else he does, he's merely testing himself, his own boundaries. He'll get back to that later on. The Hopper mines are from HL2, they make a cute little beep-beep noise, and if you have a gravity gun on hand you can pick them up and disarm them. Presumably you can sneak up to them slowly and do that by hand as well, since the rebels tell you they can be used against the Combine that way. They're delivered by scanners, or something like scanners. Melissa's pregnancies as well as those of other women are given a little more attention later as well. I use this interval to further flesh out the effects of life after the Combine come to Earth. How they changed everything with their sterilization and suppression fields. Those are mentioned in episode 1 by Izzy as he does his speech over the City's broadcast, as repressing certain proteins necessary for the formation of a fetus. I took that a step further, by simply making it more like a broadly applied bio-chemical sterilization process. Later on I mention that it's similar to what Armacham did for the Icarus girls, they're not too useful as assassins if they're pregnant after all. Presumably it's a notch above that, done on a very large scale. Family once more comes into play here: Paxton is a father again – but not a father yet. Melissa doesn't have to work on mixing up Rex and Jillian's samples: they do that twice all by themselves later on.

Interval 14.2 – Comedy Relief. Leigh and Corey – flotsam and jetsam – are loosely based on a version of myself and my ex boyfriend in high school as portrayed by another of our friends, in superhero form. The forces of attraction and repulsion, in so many words. Dump Zonie in there – because he's from the SPUF – and you have comedy gold. In my humble opinion anyway. Poor Geoff trying not to just abandon all hope, but hey, he doesn't want to carry all that stuff home. Exploration of the local area meant I got to play with Google Maps. Got me thinking that in areas such as the moist south-eastern USA, the ground would be more of interest to creatures like Bullsquid, rather than the cavernous and more dry dirt found in New Mexico, where the Antlions would reside with ease. Aside from those things, though, some folks just wouldn't give up living where they lived for generations. That is mentioned in a later chapter too. Personally I loved my description of the shack in this chapter. This murder scene and the entire idea of guys having killed each other over condiments also came straight from SPUF. Each of the guys contributing to the conversation got to be killed here, except Zonie. Tried to figure out how long a propane tank would burn if it just was opened up and let go, but no one has that information easily available online. I didn't feel like doing that much math. Geoff's beard-stroking move is something I've seen so many men with facial hair do: they're apt to just absently be moving their hand over their mustache or beard, and when you see it happening a lot it becomes more like a mannerism of a cartoon character than anything else. Those of us without the ability to grow facial hair (because we're women) may have differing opinions on the matter, but I think it's both hilarious and adorable when guys do 'that thing'. Bloo Cheeze Cheezee Poos. The argument on SPUF was actually about the spelling of 'bleu cheese'.

Interval 14.3 – Another step backwards in time, to the arrival of Ulathoi. "Lynne started screaming first" obviously repeated from the early Interval when the Events start it all off. What would it be like, to be able to sense aliens as they come pouring in through holes in the fabric of space-time? To know their intentions? Lynne is by far stronger than Paxton in regards to that sense, and unfortunately never quite got it under control. She'd actually have to retreat to a far-distant mountain or hell, Xen, to get any amount of real peace. The presence of Black Mesa people over at the EC and actually outside shows that Armacham's presence is all but gone now. They'd only sent people in between maybe early 2008 shortly after GLADOS was destroyed, and around late 2010ish, as building Cities is gearing up and they need to distance themselves from that disaster area. Whoever's left is okay by the kids. The appearance of the hole in the sky comes from the ending of HL2 as well as a briefer bit in episode 2, where we see a literal portal from one dimension, ours, to the Combine homeworld (or some kind of space). It being "like a movie screen with a burning film showing on it", blistered around the edges and spreading rapidly. Visually it's quite stunning. Paxton can tell the difference easily between the Portal Storms and this new incursion, though whether that's because he's been trained in tactics and warfare or for other reasons is unclear. Note well that Shep accepts him and takes orders from him though he's hardly even an adult yet. Eli's saying 'good God' is from the end of HL2 as Gordon is brought up to Breen's office as a captive. Mention of Kitty as being even stronger than Geoff here. Nigel and Paxton are very close friends, this kind of shows in their banter. Shunting refugees between the two sites had been going on for a couple years by this time, but even then there weren't that many people still living at the Enrichment Center. The kids were the only ones comfortable doing so. 'Gigantic sack of stupid' is courtesy of a SPUF member. More comments about ants, in the form of those thousands of Combine ships pouring out of the holes in the skies. "In the mean time, this is where you get out" is a variation on Gman's last words to Gordon at the end of HL2, as he's been put into stasis and is bidding farewell for the moment, "in the meantime, this is where I get off", and he exits to what appears as a white door-like opening. Getting to see that Pax really does not only notice but cares about his Pantheon: he could have just taken Lynne's memories from her. But that would probably have driven her catatonic. The 'threadbare couches' in the area are those red ones from HL2. Clearly from the Vortigaunt's comment: they've seen this before. The word Ulathoi is taken from episode 2's Vortigaunt explaining why he's not going with Gordon and Alyx on their way up to White Forest: "shu'ulathoi, advisors left un-hatched" – these words became the core of my Vort language primer. It's possible that one of these three Vorts outside the EC just then is Noah, who would have been there instructing Paxton.

Interval 14.4 – Catching up with Bella and introducing the one, the only Odessa Cubbage. There's a joke on SPUF: "knock knock, who's there, Odessa Cubbage". … See, because YOU KNOW WHO HE IS. >_> Odessa, as spoken by one of the rebels wandering around in the apartments of City 17 or somewhere, is an idiot. He's all completely fake, it's a wonder his mustache isn't fake. Cubbage's speech patterns and actions are a pale imitation of Izzy's more genuine archaic ways. Izzy obviously has always said things in that roundabout manner, but Cubbage seems to spout whatever rhetoric and buzz-words that any given marketing analyst might, to impress investors. 'Fighting off the Universal Union by hand' alludes to the episode 2 discussion between a radio operator and a weapons instructor, "I'd fight off 10, 20 hunters a day, with my bare hands." "How those two found alcohol, it was like a sixth sense" is an easter egg for anyone who's played the original West End Games' Star Wars rpg. In it, an example of using a Jedi power for "survival" comes up and is hilarious: the player wants his 'failed jedi' to be able to use his mind power to locate alcohol. He gives a reasonably convincing argument for it too. It's pretty clearly hinted that Bella had been doing her spy job for Aristide, but for whatever reason, wasn't of enough use to keep on retainer closely at hand, and thus was let go to wander around when Ulathoi arrived. For the record, Bella was not within the confines of a City when the Suppression Field went off, so she is still fertile. 'Shining, glistening parts scattering into the air' is a visual straight out of Fear. At least one hilariously gruesome effect of the shotgun in that game is that on occasion, it vaporizes people into nothing more than a fine red mist. Bella obviously doesn't appreciate this nearly as much as I do.