History Fanfic / TwentyYearsLate

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Bradford, a member of the first wave of HECU deployed to Black Mesa, barely conceals his disgust of working with Freeman when the two meet. Adrian Shephard, however, is a bit more amicable, "one killing macine to another."

* HeroicMime: Gordon is as mute as he is the games, mostly communicating through body language. However, it is mentioned that he does speak "off-screen".

* HordeOfAlienLocusts: As in canon, the Combine are basically a machine of flesh and metal that exists only to propagate itself, with no higher thought or consciousness beyond the insatiable urge to consume and multiple.

'''Twenty Years Late''' is a crossover fanfic featuring ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' published on the SpaceBattles forum by author ''Drenched in Megalomania''. The basic premise is that, days before the G-Man releases Dr. Freeman upon the unsuspecting post-7 Hour War Earth, the planet is invaded by the first probes of the Ethereals. Realizing that the Combine's grip challenges their own plans for Earth, the Ethereals begin preparing for war against the Combine, whilst the Resistance struggles to avoid being crushed in the fighting.

* AndYourLittleDogToo: Not [=D0G=] specifically, but Breen gets Dr. Shen to cooperate on the MEC by threatening to destroy White Forest with Lily inside using the Citadel's "filtration" system, capable of shooting down [=UFOs=].
* AscendedExtra: Who would have thought that ''Odessa Cubbage'' would have the Gift? He mind controls a strider on his first field deployment with ADVENT.

* MadScientist: Vahlen is still the same person she is in ''[[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown Enemy Unknown]]'', enthusiastically dissecting and interrogating aliens, though moderated by limited resources and Eli's influence. Tygan is also motivated by curiosity and "advancing" humanity, heedless of the ethics of his experiments.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Given how invasive Combine augmentations are, Shen is rightly horrified at the modifications Scythe 2 has undergone to become a MEC, especially because he knows Scythe 2 [[spoiler:is a fellow Black Mesa survivor]].

** Freeman himself was moved up in the timetable and effectively goes through the first half of ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' in reverse, with his train stopped somewhere along Highway 17, fleeing through Ravenholm and eventually ending up at Black Mesa East, all without the HEV suit.

* WasOnceAMan: Playing into the general BodyHorror of the Combine's forces is how degrading their work has been to the humans under their thrall. [=XCOM=] protagonist Scythe 2, an upgraded Combine Elite trooper, initially can't remember what gender they were and tends to switch repeatedly between pronouns. In chapter 14, when first using her new psionic powers against the Combine, [=ADVENT=] protagonist Annette Durand is horrified at just how ''empty'' their minds are -- even the alien {{Slave Race}}s under the Ethereals have more individuality and self-awareness than the Combine's cyberized husks. It's even mentioned that certain telepathy-based psi-powers won't work on the Combine troops, because there just isn't enough individual thought left to be susceptible.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: The Ethereals are an alien race that wants to conquer humanity in hopes they can be used to create/find a compatible host-race for racial BrainUploading. They are ''still'' less monstrous and less of a threat to humanity's very existence than the Combine is.
* BodyHorror: It's made very clear throughout the fic that the Combine's "improvements" to people are acts of horrific mutiliation.

* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Adrian Shephard is upgraded with psionic powers by vortigaunts, after it's learned that the Etherealsl are already teaching psionics to the [=ADVENT=].

* LesCollaborateurs: [=ADVENT=], made up of members of the Resistance who, having met the Ethereals under diplomatic terms, chose to formally ally with them in order to gain the power to fight the Combine.

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NeedsWikiMagicLove

It can be read [[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/twenty-years-late-half-life-xcom.644284/ here]].

* HorrifyingTheHorror: In chapter 20, a sectoid probes the mind of Scythe 2, the prototype MEK who was upgraded from a former status as a Combine Elite. Once it connects to her mind, it starts ''screaming''.

* TokenHeroicOrc: Dr. Freeman's first ally is a Thin Man that calls itself "Adam", which helps him fight his ways away from the train station when he is discovered and then through Ravenholm. When rescued by Barney and several other members of the Resistance, Freeman repays Adam for its help by standing up to Barney and refusing to let them just kill or taze the Thin Man and drag it back to the Resistance.

Each chapter is set in the perspective of one of the three major factions involved in the struggle; the Human Resistance (chapters of which are further divided between three protagonists: Barney Calhoun, George Freeman, and Adrian Shephard), the Combine-controlled [=XCOM=], and the [=ADVENT=]; a breakaway faction of the Resistance that has allied itself with the Ethereals.

'''Twenty Years Late''' is a crossover fanfic featuring ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' and ''VideoGame/XCom2'' published on the SpaceBattles forum by author ''Drenched in Megalomania''. The basic premise is that, days before the G-Man releases Dr. Freeman upon the unsuspecting post-7 Hour War Earth, the planet is invaded by the first probes of the Ethereals. Realizing that the Combine's grip challenges their own plans for Earth, the Ethereals begin preparing for war against the Combine, whilst the Resistance struggles to avoid being crushed in the fighting.