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  "So, let me get this straight. You killed a giant worm, got taken to god knows where, and nded in this strange world with that kid? Are you serious, Shepherd?"

  *Nods*

  "Do you expect me to believe that?!"

  *Nods again*

  "*Sigh* Why do I need to be f*cking correct every time..."

  Shepherd is seen nodding for the fifth time sitting beside the kid, answering every one of his fellow marine's questions. The marine's name is Fred. Yep, Fred. An ordinary LMG wielder. He dazes at Shepherd with an admiring and pitiful look.

  Currently, they all sat inside a destroyed house. The dining table strangely still standing with its almighty, along with its chairs. So, they took shelter under the fragile roof of the house.

  "I knew you're skilled, I just didn't expect you to be super skilled and fought all of the aliens and defeated their boss while I was cowarding inside an office."

  There's also someone who's listening thoroughly, tapping on his crowbar. Shephard saw his little doings. He then turns his gaze to the kid, who's currently rubbing the fur of his bck cat.

  "Shepherd, I gotta ask you one more thing."

  Shephard snaps his head back at Fred, eager to answer more of his questions.

  "Who's this orange freak?"

  Fred said, pointing a finger right in front of Freeman's eyegsses. The scientist reflexively leans back, trying not to get poked in the nose. Chary giggled a little, seeing their behavior as pyful banter.

  "What're ya gigglin' at, kiddo?!"

  The marine shouted, wanting no disturbances.

  "You guys are a bit funny, no cap."

  "Oh you little-"

  Fred got up and raised his fists, and was about to sm his hand right onto the child's head. And of course, the muted marine intervened. Shepherd grips his arm and shakes. As if saying:

  'Don't. He's just a kid, don't take him seriously.'

  "*Frustrated groan* Agh, fine. Fu*king hell."

  Fred retracts his arm and himself, sitting back on his spot. After calming him, he let go of his arm, reaching for the pen and book he's been using to talk to people. Ink scratching with the paper. This piqued Chary's interest. The kid pops up behind Shepherd's shoulder, peeking into his writing.

  "What are you writing, Mister?"

  He asks, curiously. Fred replies with a dead stare and a bit annoyed face.

  "It's better that you don't know."

  "Why?"

  "You won't understand."

  "So you're telling me, that after witnessing the murder of dozens and literal aliens fighting brutally in front of my face, I won't understand a single thing he writes? Okay, that doesn't make any sense in my brain."

  "No it's- Wait. Fuck, you got a fair point, kid. You're clear to peek at him writing sh*t."

  "Yay! :D"

  Somehow, Chary managed to convince Fred and let him peek at the writing. After a few moments, Shepherd handed the notebook to Fred. It reads:

  "I don't fucking know who that guy is, but the kid asked if his name was Gordon Freeman. And I don't know what kind of bullshit the lil dickhead pulled, but it seems like that orange-suited guy is the Freeman we were tasked to kill."

  A question pops up in Fred's mind, again. This is probably the fifth time he asked Shepherd.

  "Wait, we were tasked to kill this guy? I didn't get any briefing from Sergeant Jones. He got blown up right before words came out of his dirty mouth, gd he finally died."

  Shepherd grabbed the book back and wrote again. This time, he id the book down on the table, allowing everyone to see it.

  "I didn't get orders too, I was told to escape. So, what should we do now?"

  After reading the content, Freeman taps his fingers and motions Shepherd to lend him the book. Then, he writes down sentences of words right after retrieving them.

  "We should ask the kid his name first, then ask how he knows you and me."

  Fred read Freeman's suggestions, he gnced at the kid with raised eyebrows.

  "So, little guy. What's your name?"

  "I'm Chary, you sir?"

  "Fred. Also don't use any fancy callouts, you sound like the guy from the government."

  "That means I can call you nig-"

  *BAM!*

  *OOF sfx*

  Shepherd massages his temple while Fred's hostile act takes aback the scientist. The bck man stares at Chary's unconscious body. As if knowing the scientist will ask him, he states:

  "Don't worry, he'll be fine. He would've already died long ago either crushed by buildings or eaten by monsters."

  Fred receives a sinister gaze from him, the scientist is questioning his ethics of interrogating. Suddenly, from behind him, the kid appeared with no trace of movement. Simir to how a pyer spawns back in Roblox, a blue translucent sphere surrounded him for a brief moment. Of course, all three of them are surprised. Even Freeman's pupils are growing bit by bit, wanting to "study" biology right away.

  "That hurt."

  "Wait, kid. How did you-"

  "I reset."

  "What?"

  "I said, I pressed reset."

  "The hell is that?"

  "Oh god... I need to expin this, aren't I?"

  And so, 20 minutes of discussion started because of that hard haymaker.

  ===========================================================================================

  (Somewhere inside The Hotel, at the end of a chaotic room)

  *DUK DUK DUK DUK DUK DUK!!*

  "Move your asses, now!!"

  *Pant, pant, pant*

  "Where the hell is the exit?!"

  *Pant, pant, pant*

  "Can we slow down, operator?! My asthma and my right knee-"

  "Move if you want to live!"

  "Can't you shoot him!?"

  "I've tried, and I barely scratch his head. So MOVE!!"

  Four of them are seen running through intersections and wrecked rooms. Bookshelves falling over, tables flipped upside down, couches chilling in the corner, cabinets down on the floor, it's a disaster. They've been running away from a tall, skinny creature 1 minute ago. Its skin colors are bck as ink, and it's made out of goo.

  *DRUB!*

  "Agh!"

  John fell to the ground, holding his painful knee. In the beginning, before he went here, he already experienced minor cuts and bruises on his right knee. So running isn't his thing anymore. Added with asthma, this is simply one way toward the grave to him.

  Mason halts and turns around, he doesn't want to see his new friend dead.

  "Get up, John! Come on!"

  Ayanokoji and Mio stopped their move too, they didn't want to see someone die again. Or rather, Mio doesn't want to see someone's dead body anymore. As soon as Mio got a sight of John, Seek was already close behind him. His fate is sealed.

  "JOHN!!"

  Mio screamed and dashed toward the priest, about to pick him up and save him. But it's too te.

  Seek is now hovering above him.

  It slowly creeps his hand closer.

  "NOOOOOO!!"

  Just a little more...

  *TING!*

  *BSSSSSHHTT!*

  John's golden crucifix flew above his head, and a blue circle appeared around Seek with two chains restraining it.

  "Oh god!"

  The circle quickly changed color to red. Mio notices this sign and quickly picks John up. The Crucifix then drops to John's forehand, but the circle holds Seek in pce. All three of them kick their feet outta the room hurriedly.

  As Ayanokoji opens the next door, the wrecked-fming long hallway greets them. Bck hands coming out of the windows, chandeliers dropping to the floor, burning. The door beled 92 is right at the end of this hallway.

  "You gotta be kidding."

  "Mason, keep running!"

  Mio rushed past him, followed by Ayanokoji. Chains being shattered echo through the hallway, accompanied by loud heavy footsteps. Seek has broken free, and nothing will stop it from killing them. Hearing the incoming threat, Mason gets focused back and starts running again.

  Once they reached Door 92, he swiftly closed the door and blocked it for dear life.

  *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

  "Hold it!"

  He screamed in panic, asking the two youngsters for some help. Mio and Kiyotaka rush to the door and block it with their body. The banging continues. They got pushed a little even with all three forcefully holding the door.

  By the time Seek gave up chasing them, they finally calmed themself down.

  Mio obviously had composed himself faster than anyone else. He's an assassin, an expert one at it, after all. Besides, he only views the hotel as not real, just a game.

  John, while concerned and a little terrified, still has faith in god based on his crucifix's color. The second who rexes after Mio.

  From the first time he sees Rush, he shows no emotion. But Mio knows that's just a facade. Truth is, Kiyotaka is quite surprised. John may think the boy had calmed down faster than him, but the way he moves is a bit more rigid than usual.

  And, strangely, the secret agent is the one still terrorized by the residents of the hotel despite being the best operator the US has and an excellent sleeper agent.

  His face is calm, but his breath is quick. And it's not just the agent who deserves a break. Mio saw his group exhausted and in fear. Two of them do, at least.

  "Looks like we're gonna rest here for a while here."

  As soon as they hear Mio speaking, the others blow a long exhale. They sure need some time to take in the new situations.

  Everyone is tired, except Mio. He's been going through the Hotel quite often, though not physically. So, this doesn't feel tiring. But, because his friends are resting now, it's better if he sits down for a moment.

  *Sigh...*

  "Do it while you can, I suppose."

  Door 92, the path inside it has a room filled with a table, shelves, some drawers, and some couch to y on. Mio walked to the room and took the spot on the sofa near a corner. The comfy cotton quickly gets him chilled.

  Damn... I wish my work seat could be this comfortable.'

  "Mio."

  He snaps his gaze to the door, seeing someone leaning on it. It was John.

  "What is it?"

  The priest steps into the room with a head full of questions. He took the spot beside Mio in an infuriated daze.

  "So, a bck operator and a student? Please tell me how you know them, it feels too tense to be around even with only one of these guys."

  "Let's see where to start. Hmm..."

  Mio ended up expining the entire biography of them, with shocked face and staring eyes from John of course. Unbeknownst to them, some people are watching them from afar, making sure no one intervene their recording. Far away from the hotel, in the void, a small portal has been opened for a long time. It's only use is a viewing point by how small the size of it, nothing much.

  Three people, wearing red uniforms, is standing inside a room with the portal opened. They observes the events happening down in the Hotel from the monitors setup beside them. It seems like there's an invisible floating camera recording Mio and the gang taking a rest. A ghost camera, a spectator camera for precise.

  The guy on the right, a District 4 personnel, named Hunk. Some people recognize him and knows his tale. A tough man to beat. When an important item drops down the floor, caused from an ambush by a buffed zombie, he doesn't take that as a signal to leave. No. He went back to retrieve it and survived. And he sighs for another time in this room.

  *Sigh...*

  "What are you sighing at, Mister?" "Yeah, what are you sighing at?"

  "Nothing. I'm just not used to watching over people."

  Beside him is the chaotic duo. In terms of spookiness, they're not that spooky. But, counting in incidents happened because of them, it's safe to say they are troublesome and very spooky. Wherever they go, bad things happened around them. Introducing, Skid and Pump!

  "Oh, uncle Frank usually do that. He's very cool! You should ask him to help you watch things!"

  Skid suggested, excited to introduce Frank to the Grim Reaper. Hunk doesn't seem to care to whatever they said. He id back to his chair, eyeing the monitor with an exhausted body. He couldn't really believe what he had gone through. Taking the G-Virus, gets attacked by a doctor injected with one sample of it and survived, lived in a city infested with zombies and the special ones for a week, fell into a mysterious portal, and signed a contract offered to him.

  It's not like he had a mental breakdown or something, of course not. He's used to the bizarre situations his mission got him into, to the point it happens on a daily basis. So, the Raccoon city incident? Feels like Tuesday, same s**t different day. But then, the sudden appearance of the portal while he's on the way to Rockfort Isnd stunned him quite a bit. It's why that day, by him, referred as "Special Monday". The day where most borer got their applications accepted and starts working.

  So, as quick as he accept the MPS's offer, he received his first mission consisting of three figures. And yes, it was a kidnapping. In fancy way, the organization called it "Picking them up". The three figures is: Gordon Freeman, Simon Henriksson, and Tyler Scott. One came from Doom mod, while the rest was made of GoldSource engine. Compared to Hunk, they're not really a problem, except for Freeman. So, the mission was about to be like Wednesday, but some entities from each of the three's fandoms got on his way, slowing down his progress. Those creatures are terrifying, but they're not hard to kill nor dodge. They're just annoying as hell. And he hasn't gotten any sleep since the st week.

  The mission was a partial success. He captured Simon after beating the crap out of the evil book clone of him, and convinced Scott that he'll receives a proper medical therapy and a cure to his cancer. He's unable to find Freeman, however. Now, the MPS society did the mass teleportation to kidnap the three people in some pre-determined locations. That way, they can secure them safely and quietly, without THC noticing their actions. Well, that was the pn. Somehow, Freeman didn't teleported to the location, a random scientist takes his spot instead.

  It's tiring. So now, he took a break by choosing a simpler and easier mission. He wasn't expecting to have this one mission, though.

  "Are you sleeping, Mister?" Pump asked.

  "Yes." Hunk answered.

  "But, it's spooky month!" Skid stated.

  "Then this is my spooky sleep."

  And that's how he silenced the two troubled children with not much efforts.

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