A Red Letter Day

**A Red Letter Day** is the second chapter of SMOD: Redux. It serves as a major starting point for the game, revealing more about the various characters and key events, as well as providing Gordon Freeman with his HEV Suit and first weapons.

## Plot

Alyx leads Gordon through a small tunnel, explaining to Gordon that she and others have been helping people escape City 17 on foot, specifically through the old canals, which are unsafe due to toxins, Headcrab populations, and Combine sweeps, among other things.

Alyx introduces Gordon to Dr. Kleiner's lab, Kleiner himself struggling to find his pet Lamarr, followed by Kleiner awkwardly greeting the two and explaining that Lamarr has vanished again. Alyx explains to Kleiner that Gordon was acting like a bit of a troublemaker before, up until Barney makes his arrival, saying that Gordon 'stirred up the hive', followed by him warning Kleiner that Gordon should not stay for long, as it could put Kleiner and all his work into jeopardy. Kleiner heeds Barney's warning, and requests him to reintroduce Gordon to his suit.

Barney complies, opening up a shutter containing Gordon's old suit. Before he can give it to Gordon, however, he is abruptly assaulted by Lamarr, who was lying in wait for just such an occasion. Barney expresses his hate for the small beast while Kleiner expresses his surprise, while Gordon in the meantime simply grabs his suit and slips in, being introduced to his first weapons in the meantime; his own rock solid fists.

After suiting himself up, Gordon goes along with his colleagues to Klener's teleporter, preparing to have Alyx and Gordon transported over to Eli Vance's lab. Eli himself pops up on one of the nearby screens, contacting Kleiner to check in on the teleporter. He'd soon be pleasantly surprised by discovering his old friend Gordon, pleased to see that he could bring an old friend alongside his daughter.

The teleport process would then begin, Alyx stepping into the chamber and preparing to be transported. Everything seems to be going along well, despite Barney's skepticism, up until a spark plug abruptly falls out of it's socket, cutting the teleportation short. Gordon quickly fixed the plug, restarting the system. This time, she was successfully teleported over to Eli's lab, much to the relief of Kleiner.

Gordon would then step into the teleporter, and the process would begin again, everyone prepared to bring Gordon to Eli next. While everything goes well at first, before Kleiner can send Gordon through, Lamarr abruptly smashes through a nearby vent and damages the teleporter, causing a malfunction.

Kleiner is unable to stop the teleporter in time and Gordon is sent through, causing both him and Lamarr to end up in the middle of nowhere. He'd then be teleported back to Kleiner, only to then be abruptly sent through to Eli's lab. Eli and co. are unable to stop the current, and he is teleported again, this time ending up inside an office, with none other than his old administrator, Dr. Breen, inside. Breen expresses his shock and anger at Gordon's sudden arrival, and instead of reaching for his gilded weapon, calls for assistance. Before anything can happen, however, Gordon is pulled away again, briefly ending up in Kleiner's lab again, before being pulled away *again.* He'd then return to Breen's office, Breen himself visibly contacting a mysterious, grub-like being, claiming that he recognized the man from before. He then turns to look at Gordon, exclaiming his name in confirmation. Gordon would then be warped out yet again, this time ending up in an ocean. In front of him comes a massive shark-like creature, and just before it is able to bite down on Freeman's face, Gordon is teleported one last time.

Gordon then ends up outside of Kleiner's lab, incidentally right behind Kleiner, which Eli then points out. Eli demands the device to be shut down, and Kleiner quickly informs Gordon that he must escape from the lab, and is finally able to shut down the teleporter, releasing him from the constant warps.

Gordon jumps off the balcony and runs through a doorway, where Barney is quick to follow. He informs Gordon that something seems to have happened with the Citadel, as it was now on full alert, sending out countless Scanners and other drones. He informs Gordon that he needs to get out of City 17 as fast as possible, informing him about the old canals, and suggesting that he went there. Before he leaves, however, he drops Gordon his old, trusty friend; his Crowbar. Barney then mentions he needs to keep an eye on Kleiner, and leaves.

Gordon jumps down into a trainyard, and is ambushed by a herd of Metrocops and Scanners. Having only his Crowbar and his bare fists to defend himself with, he is forced to run through the trainyard down a stairwell, into a nearby building.

## Notes

-Should any of the integral NPCs (Barney, Alyx, Kleiner, etc.) die, the scripted sequence will be cut short, forcing the player to restart the map. Interestingly, contrary to this, if Lamarr dies, the scene will play out as though she was still alive.

-The Stuff Launcher can be found near the end of this chapter.

-The USP Match can be obtained early near the end of this chapter, if the player either stacks up various objects to climb up and beat a Metrocop down, or if the player throws their crowbar at the Metrocops enough.