As the final installment in the series begins, John Freeman arrives to help his son and the other rebels, and gets some bad news.
- Henry Freeman: Dad mom has dead.John Freeman: COMBINES YOU KILLD WIFE?Dark Man: Yes, John Freeman. Henry Freeman's mom is shot in head!
So that's three characters referring to her in three different ways, and none of them use her actual name (not even "Mrs. Freeman"; the typical cop-out for avoiding giving people's parents a name). She isn't exactly a stranger to the Dark Man, but I'll get into that in a little while.
John Freeman is enraged, and plans to make the Dark Man, the closest thing the "Combines Arc" has to a Big Bad, "suffar." He then kicks the Dark Man's mask off, and sees a Combine face underneath it that looks like a humen's(note; any misspellings from this point on are deliberate) as well. John Freeman and Henry Freeman then kill some Combine soldiers.
John Freeman tells Henry Freeman and his resistance to let him take on this fight, but Henry Freeman and the other humens insist that they have to fight for freedom. In an extremely confusing sentence, John Freeman ponders how he doesn't want anything to happen to his son while the humens and combines start running at each other to fight. This is a bit of an exception to the rule; while the spelling and grammar are quite poor, you can usually tell what the author means.
John Freeman then drops his weapon and says, "I have to kill fast, and bullets too slow!" and attacks the Combines with "bear hands". This, combined with Henry Freeman, forces the Combines back to "the big tower that was big onto the sun," (presumably the Citadel), and causes the Dark Man to push a button that makes the big tower "glow and smoke."
Without any transition whatsoever, we then get the following revelation.
- "John Freeman you let next boss step on me and made me headcrab zombie. Combines came and put science in me and made me live and strong and big now. I make you and Henry Freeman headcrab zombies. Prepair to die" Gordon Freeman said.
In the Djy machinima adaptation, this is interpreted to mean that Gordon Freeman and the Dark Man are one and the same. There's some evidence for this; remember that the Dark Man had a Combine and human like face, and Gordon Freeman has "science" on his face." Additionally, the Dark Man makes no further appearances after Gordon Freeman is revealed.
John Freeman tries to remind Gordon Freeman of who he is and to get him to stop the button, but Gordon Freeman replies with a Big "NO!" and attacks John Freeman with his trusty crowbar, while John Freeman counters with his fists. In the Djy machinima, this leads to a fairly amusing brawl, with both sides flailing their arms, like most of the fistfights in this series.
Meanwhile, the Combines and the humens resume fighting. Henry Freeman realizes that the tower is going to explode, so he attacks the Combines, and captures a combine car to use the turret gun against them, hoping that his comrades can reach the button that will deactivate it. The humens suffer casualties, but don't care, and press on until Combine reinforcements from the "hug tower" preclude getting to the button.
This is one advantage of the machinima adaptations; you can actually see the fighting that the narration glosses over.
John Freeman realizes that he'll have to finish things up with Gordon Freeman, so after exchanging some one-liners, John Freeman kicks the science off of Gordon Freeman's face. Gordon is freed, but is dying, and apologizes to John Freeman. With his final breaths, Gordon Freeman asks John Freeman to "save humens and Henry Freeman," and passes on with a smile on his face.
John Freeman has an epiphany and decides that he knows what has to be done. He tells his son and the surviving humens to evacuate. Henry Freeman objects, but ultimately complies, taking all of the other humens on apparently just one motorcycle. The Combines try to stop them, but John Freeman goes to fight them.
If you're watching the Djy adaptation, several minutes of John Freeman fighting the Combines follows, growing more ludicrous by the minute. It's somewhat divisive, but I find that I can simply skip it, and regard the rest of the machinima as better done than the other versions I've seen.
John Freeman fights the Combines with his bare fists, shrugging off rocket blasts, gunshots and stab wounds. It's unclear how he could survive all this, but it ultimately seems beside the point, as this is his last stand.
While this is happening, Henry Freeman and the humens have escaped, and John Freeman, seeing this, is glad. A massive explosion then follows, apparently killing John Freeman and the remaining Combines.
The humens then rebuild without the combines around, under the leadership of President Henry Freeman. They remember their fallen hero with a statue that says "John Freeman: Saver of Humens."
What I liked
- The fight scene between John Freeman and Gordon Freeman.
- It was amusing to see how far they went to avoid having characters refer to Mrs. Freeman by name.
What I didn't like
- The long, drawn out scene in the Djy machinima wasn't entirely necessary.
As you can see, the Full Life Consequences series is one of those fics that considers the "plot" to be the events that connect and lead to the battle scenes, sees Character Development as entirely optional and has a less than stellar grasp of logic. Still, it's quite enjoyable in its own way. Thank you for reading this liveblog.
