So, continuing where I left off last chapter with "Apprehension," I wanted to make this a separate part just so I could stick ALL the screenshots, rather than one followed by typed up dialogue, because... Idk, I just feel like it'll do more justice to the experience? But if you really want to get the full experience, you should play the game yourself, so I don't know why I'm bothering with this.

Oh, right. It's because I really like Black Mesa, and I want to talk about it.

But anyway, getting back to the point.

I left off just after killing the assassins. You have to imagine that Gordon is feeling pretty proud of himself. He just took out three elite black ops assassins sent in to kill him, specifically! He came all this way, faced them, and lived! He's gotta feel pretty good about himself, pretty confident in his abilities...

(As a side note, where the assassin fight takes place, you can see the sky again, I just forgot to take a screenshot of it. It's sunrise, so that means Gordon's been running around for a full 24 hours without rest, now. This isn't particularly important, but I always like trying to keep track of the in-game time, as the whole of Half-Life takes place over two or so days, if I remember correctly.)

And almost immediately after defeating the assassins, he comes across this...

A first aid and HEV charging station. I'm not particularly in need of first aid, thanks to a couple medkits I found, but sure, I could use the extra battery power.

So of course, Freeman, confident and still riding on the euphoria and exhilaration of having defeated the assassins, proceeds directly into the room...

...Only for the lights to be suddenly switched off, and...

One well timed, unexpected hit knocks him out of action completely. There is absolutely nothing he can do. Perhaps, had he been a little more careful, a little less overconfident in his invincibility, he could've avoided this, but no. The hero, so sure of his own strength, beaten to the wayside, defeated so easily, simply by a pair of the marines he had been so sure he could fend off with ease...

So Gordon is well and truly hit with an unexpected ambush and beaten unconscious. The two HECU marines responsible for his capture... do not want to take him to the authorities, and decide to take justice for their fallen teammates into their own hands, by killing Freeman and disposing of his body.

There are a couple interesting things about this bit. First, this is the only part of the game where you, the player, do not have control over Gordon. There are several other section where you're immobilized due to circumstance, but that only happens when Gordon himself is immobilized, and wouldn't be able to move regardless of whether it's a player moment or a scripted moment. And most of these times, you're still able to look around to some degree, move the camera, indicating that you are, in fact, still in control. But this moment? While the marines are dragging Gordon down the hall, the camera pans back and forth, implying some semiconscious struggle from Gordon, or some struggle to wake up- but you're not in control of it. I don't think this is in any way relevant to the story- I think it was just done like that to give the proper effect, but it's still interesting to note that this is the one time Gordon moves not controlled by the player.

Another interesting thing to note is the whole "So where are we taking him?" "Topside, for questioning" bit. It implies that, despite the fact that the marines can and will kill you at any other time you come into contact with them, those aren't actually their orders. They're supposed to capture Gordon and take him to the authorities, whoever that may be. Which is interesting, considering they were supposedly sent in to kill everyone. It could just be because Gordon's been killing so many marines that they thought he was worth special attention, but  we also see not everyone is being killed in Half-Life: Opposing Force. Adrian Shephard also comes across a couple of scientists being held prisoner by the HECU at one of their base points. Which begs the question, why do they kill who they kill, and how do they decide who not to kill?\

Finally, according to Half-Life: Blue Shift, Barney Calhoun is actually present for the scene where Gordon is being dragged down the hall. He just can't do anything because not only is he stuck in an air duct, peering through an air vent at the scene, but he's also completely immobilized due to a slight teleporter malfunction in his own attempts to escape the facility with a few other scientists. If I remember correctly, this is the last time Barney sees Gordon until HL2... And wouldn't that be a horrible last time to see one of your best friends? Seeing a couple marines dragging his unconscious body as they talk about how they're gonna kill him, before you're whisked away by the teleporter? And not only do you have no way to get back to him, and have no idea where in the facility you even were, but going to try to find him would mean abandoning several other lives that are relying on you to help them escape. You have to imagine Barney would feel pretty horrible about that. I wonder if he regretted it up until he finally saw Gordon again in HL2...

But anyway. That scene out of the way, I'll be back shortly to finish up talking about "Apprehension," and move on to "Residue Processing."