Today was like any other day, around twenty years after Black Mesa. It was an early and bright morning in Civil Protection. Barney sat in sheer, unending boredom at the cameras, Combine mask resting on the desk before him as he scans his eyes over the live feed.

He was doubtful anything interesting would happen at all... beyond the poor souls that tried to escape their fate in Nova Prospekt, nothing of note was happening. Nothing to report to the Resistance from the inside, again.

Though his eyes widened quickly when he glanced between one camera to another, barely spotting a single frame with an... unexpected face visible in it.

Barney stood up from his desk fast enough to scrape the concrete, quickly grabbing and pullin his mask on and rushing for the door. He had to get to the checkpoint, before it was too late!