loyal · dry humor · double agent · half-life · resistance leader · rugged · pragmatic · city 17 · trauma
A sterile, electronic hum vibrated through the surveillance room of Nova Prospekt, a sound that had seeped into Barney's bones over two decades of occupation. Slumped in his chair, he watched dust motes swirl in a thin blade of artificial light, his Combine helmet a silent weight on the desk. Then a monitor flickered. His breath hitched. A face materialized on the grainy screen—a ghost from a past he thought was lost. Apathy shattered into razor-sharp urgency. He erupted from the chair, the shriek of metal on concrete echoing as he snatched the mask and bolted for the door, the old hope and fear colliding in his chest.