The Horrible Truth by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)

My 87th submission to DYOS X. [link]
Special Musical Guest: Renard Queenston

In Half-Life 2, Dr. Breen's collaboration with the Combine is portrayed as driven by a sincere but misguided conviction that he is doing the best for the human race, and here I wanted to give him that same room for sympathy. He's also the first character to crack the Gem riddle, and there is a direct connection between what Breen learns here and his confrontation with CivGeneral in Part II. Unfortunately, the epiphany went completely over @GenMarshall's head in the stand-off in the cave, with the somewhat amusing irony that Part II is spent trying to bring the heroes up to speed on what Breen already knew.

[Originally submitted to DeviantArt January 2014.]