WAIT DO YOU HAVE A CONTINUATION TO ALYX’S STORY??
I do now :)
There were many parts of this outing that Adrian had been able to cope with. Waking up in a post-apocalyptic future where everything he knew was gone? He can roll with that, process it later. Tagging along with another ex-captive of the G-Man to destroy a boat traveling through spacetime so the fascist aliens can't get it first, all the while she's mumbling about splitting timelines? It's been that kind of week, might as well give his alien arsenal a change of scenery.
Silently observing a deeply personal confrontation between Alyx and this Dr. Mossman-- a woman he thinks might be Alyx's stepmom, and is terrified to ask about this-- is not something he can cope with.
"Alyx, please, try and be reasonable. This is no time for grudges."
"Grudges?! How is this about grudges?"
Being more or less clueless about what was going on made it easier for Adrian to be an impartial party in the debate of Destroy vs Salvage. He could trust that the Combine were bad news from Alyx's debriefing; that much seemed to be a universal truth. If they were up against a force trying to drive humanity to extinction, letting them get their hands on an advanced research vessel unstuck in time and space spelled disaster. However, he couldn't ignore the doctor's arguments any more than he could ignore the weight of the shiny arm-mounted portal device he'd stuffed in his knapsack a few rooms back.
It was probably better for him to hide that. He preferred to keep Tiny on his arm, anyway.
"Oh, let's not kid ourselves here. If anyone else had made this discovery--"
"This isn't about you, Mossman. It's about doing the right thing."
"Oh, and you're really taking the moral high ground, wanting to destroy knowledge. Think of what we could accomplish with all this on our side!"
"It's what Dad wanted, okay? It's the last thing he asked for, I can't--"
Alyx caught herself mid-sentence, looking ill. Mossman went pale.
"Did... something happen to Eli?"
Alyx's face screwed in concentration. Her eyes were far-off.
"I don't know," she managed. "I don't-- it shouldn't have. This should be the right timeline. But if it was, I shouldn't--"
The vessel groaned and lurched suddenly. Adrian and the doctor staggered to keep their footing, the former steeling his shoulders to keep his spore launcher steady. Alyx was unmoved by the turbulence, but from the way she clutched at her head, something else was wrong.
"None of this makes any sense," she groaned, face creased in pain and frustration. "I'm not-- I can't--"
Adrian hit the deck as something like a stun grenade went off. When his eyes decided to agree with his brain again, there was one less person in the room.
Roughly one week after Eli Vance had been saved from the Advisor, a patrol outside of White Forest returned with an extra party member. Due to her past history, Dr. Mossman's inability to explain how she'd gotten there was treated with scrutiny, as was her claim that she had just spoken to Eli's daughter.
When reports came in of the Borealis' attack on the budding superportal-- and the subsequent destruction of both-- these claims were re-examined.