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this-should-do · 2 years

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Sorry I really wanted to ask this-

Shephard Swap AU? (Mitchell is put in infinite stasis, Adrian ends up Abluquerque for the HDTF story, their experiences in Black Mesa are kept completely the same)

I wanted to ask, what *you* think would happen/change because of this, seeing as this type of AU really fully hinges on your own interpretation of Adrian Shephard.

Ya know if you want something to ponder about..

Bro i fucking Love pondering shit so absolutely do not apologize for askin this, cuz its a real thinker and i spent like 3 or so hours straight writing it lmao it could be better but this is a first draft and im not editting it cuz im lazy

So obviously, this is already a challenge because the plot of hdtf is just,,,, one of the plots of all time. its contrived and relies on A Lot of asumptions and a mischarcterization/understanding of gman and how and why he does what he does. granted we dont know much about gman but the gman in hdtf is just strange? i guess, hes definately far more hands on than valve writes him, but also im realizing that gman is far mroe hands on in adrians story, actively helping him (something he doesnt do for gordon and barney is just not even on his radar), so i guess it sorta makes sense that adiran and mitch have theri stories intertwine like they do, might even be a part of the reason that berken tied them together like that since gman play such a pivotla role in mitchs story (i doubt it honestly but we can give him this for funsies)

so assuming were all familiar with the plots of both hdtf and opfor wers gonna start with why ours boys are getting switched

so in hdtf, gman has mitch on standby getting power to that he can be a distraction in the future at some point so gordon has an easier time to do things?? (even tho the point in time hes a distraction is when the combine literally cant get to gordon becuz hes in a week long teleport but whatever) all becuz he said sum funnywords? but also the perpetual prescence of gman in the flashbacks implies that mitch has been a fascination of gmans for quite some time,,,, weird

so what were gonna do is apply that fascination to adiran in the first place as well, and adiran who already did a buncha cool shit (which mitch did not do which makes him lame to gman) is gonna be gmans backup for if gordon needs help in the future (i say if becuz im interpreting gmans time onicience as a 'he can only guess which path this universe is gonna go down', cuz his dialogue about him having to convince his employers that alyx is gonan be worth it, and with hla the him we see is a him from the future ona particular path changing things up on purpose)

but plot twist gman didnt really want him doing all that shit becuz it fucks with his plans so he brings adam back (int he hev suit not for deception purposes but to make sure that he stays alive long enough to adrian who has had no prob killing entire groups of blackops and adam got his ass handed to him already by mitch) to kill adrian with the promise of killing Corporal Shephard (intended to be adrian), but adam ends up killing the shephard he wanted to (mitch) and gmans like fuck damn okay not what i wanted but i guess you did what i asked you to, but anyways next assignment you gotta help the important shephard stay alive, (gman makes mitch deadnt as insurance to make sure adrian stays in line later down the line or whatever, honestly he doesnt need mitch alive but this is what ive got in terms of putting mitch in stasis)

so at this point adrian gets a deal with gman to be allowed to make it out of black mesa becuz hes so poggers its be sad to see a life wasted, hes just gonna owe gman a favor later

so act1 plays out much the same wiht adrian at the helm, he wakes up in the hospital, meets up with nick and is sent on his way to find colonel cue, meets up with adam who has been sent there to make sure adrian doesnt start blabbing to people about what they saw in bm (but also secretly to ensure that adrian hates freeman cuz he would def know what happened to mitch when adrian mentions/ asks after him, and adams gonan for sure lie to cover his ass and be able to do his "job", this causes adrian to say sumthign along the lines of "goddam, sunovabitch i shoulda killed that orange cremesicle lookin ass when i had the chance" thus keeping eveything setting up for the whole name of the game) cuz that was one of gmans concerns about letting adrian go in the first place, which still confuses me cuz lots of people knew stuff in black mesa and got out just fine but also whatever. and from here it really doesnt change at all, adrian eventually ends up captain of the avalon vale, and off they sail

so now act2, also goes p similarly, adrians been on a warpath fucking up combine cuz damn, another overwhelming set of aliens to kill, better get to it, so now hes off teh go fuck up the "weapons" factory up in alaska, turns out its a bunch of slave children making the worlds first cremators all being headed by headdipshit boris. now adrian does not like this, he instead of talking to boris just straight up shoots him, like "fucka you, u suck", takes the kids (including sasha) and proceeds to destroy the entire facility back in line with mitchs descion making.

now act3,,,, is a doozy,,, cuz adrian is a far different man than his brother (frankly they wouldnt even call himself a man, he is nobiney lmao) so when gman shows up and tries to prey on his dislike of freeman for killing mitch to get him to kill freeman, adrian is older and obviously less intent on killing some guy that is not combine, even if he doesnt like the bitch, so gman pulls out the old "well fun fact, i can bring u rbrother back if u kill freeman" (this is valid cuz its int eh same vein as hla ending) so adrian is like ",,,,fine" so he sets off, however he doesnt team up with the combine on this one, cuz he really, really doesnt like the combine and also doesnt have a weird edgelord "well wed do the same thing as them if we could" thing going on that i guess would lend him to being willing to team up with them like mitch does

so now adrians off to kill freeman, but this time teams up with the resistance to get a chance at getting close to gordon, by earnign thier trust, cuz chances are if theyve been killing combine for 20 years, theyre gonna hve come in contact witht hem at some point, this also functions as bolstering the reisitances numbers, helping meet the distract the combine from gordon quota that adrians is meant to serve, to do this he eventually gets sent to bmeast to meet up with eli to discuss numbers and shit or whatever, which places him near gordon but is just a near miss as they arrive right around the time of the combines raid, so adirans gets a chance in the confusion to go after gordon without looking sus and immediatley being blamed for killing gordon.

this sets off a similar chain of events to og hdtf, goes thru ravenholm, galavants across the countryside, gets to those rebel outposts or whatever and gets info under the guise of helping gordon so they tell him where to go, eventually makes his way to nova prospekt, is too late to get to gordon but is there fast enough to kill neoguh combine to ensure gordon adn alyx can get into the teleporter (ie making gordons way easier), so now hes gotta fight his way out, still ends up washing out into the ocean, but instead of being captured by rebels hes saved by them, he wakes up in that prison theyre holed up in, and goes to send a message to adam and nick cuz he misses his besties (adrian does not end up making it a polycule, but adam and nick still date) and wants to meet up with them again to regroup cuz adrian is fucked up to the most after all of that. (i am not having gman show up to plot explain shit to adrian cuz i think thats stupid)

now at this point adam is looking at adrian and is like, damn this is all my fault that hes gone on this suicide mission to kill a guy who didnt even do the crime, and this time round adam is going to be the bigger man and say "hey man, i was the one who killed ur brother, u dont gotta be fighting two wars at once" this causes adrian to just fucking loose it honestly, damn near kills adam but thankfully nick is there to buffer, and once seperated adrian just sobs, and this time adam and adrian get to talk shit out, adam also kinda says that he saw gman take mitchs body so he might still have him somewhere, so now were like wait shid is mitch still somewhere, this eventually si confirmed by the vortigaunts who can see that oh yeah these bitches have been fucked with by gman also ur brothers alive and gmans got him in his clutches

so since adrian technically did his job gmans not gonna come after him all that much, specially since adrians gonna continue to fight with the resistance to help freeman so hes doing overtime at this point

so eventually he still goes to borealis, but this time in a timely manner since he finds out about it thru the resistance, using the avalon vale, but also with an ulterior motive to a) kill that sunuvabitch gman and b) get mitch back adn thats the end of the game !

honestly, it would make more sense to not have gman force adrian to kill freeman but i decided to keep it that way so that its still hdtf, but honestly, it seems more likely with adrian there that gman would tell adrian to go help out the resistance, but we can write that option off as gman being a messy bitch lmao

#ask #iwillspeakincessantly #ponderingradioactivedecay

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