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"Electrified toxic what?" Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about Shephard's Mind Episode 24. |
Lydia (surname unknown) was a female Black Operations agent who was part of the government-sanctioned operation to conceal any evidence of the Resonance Cascade that took place at the Black Mesa Research Facility following the failure of the HECU to contain the situation.
Biography[]
Life and career[]
Little is known about Lydia's life and career prior to the events of the Black Mesa Incident. She was a member of the United States military's special forces, apparently so highly regarded for her combat effectiveness that she was recruited into a 'Black Operations' cell.
On May 17th 200X, she was part of a squad sent to the Black Mesa Research Facility to perform a 'clean-up operation' in the wake of the Resonance Cascade that had occurred the previous day. The Hazardous Environments Combat Unit had been sent in prior to their arrival to contain the situation and silence all facility personnel; however, the marines were met with heavy resistance from the Xenian creatures being teleported into the facility and took heavy losses. Ostensively, the Black Ops were officially sent as military support to the marines; in reality, however, the facility was considered a loss and the marines expendable, and their true objective was to deliver and arm a thermonuclear explosive device.
Shephard's Mind[]
Lydia and her squad engaged rogue HECU marine Adrian Shephard in a small, cramped warehousing area. He managed to singlehandedly take out her squad and took her by surprise, catching her unarmed by shooting out the light. Cornered, she surrenders and Shephard questions her on the true purpose of the Black Ops' presence at Black Mesa. She explains that after the initial failure of the HECU's clean-up operation, the Black Ops were sent to cover up the whole incident by destroying the entire facility. To do this, they intend to set off a thermonuclear device within the complex (which Shephard had previously disarmed, only to be re-armed by the G-Man before he could stop him). Shephard berates her and her cohorts on their disregard for human life, ethics, rules of warfare and the marine motto, "semper fidelis". In response, she accuses him of doing the same thing to ensure his own survival, citing the many injuries and deaths caused by him either directly or indirectly. Not wanting to stay at the facility any longer than necessary and anxious to get as far away from the bomb as possible, Shephard decides to release her and find his own way out, but Lydia requests that he render her unconscious to prevent her peers from getting suspicious should they discover her. He obliges her and attempts to do so by delivering a swift blow to the base of her skull; however because of his unfamiliarity with the procedure he accidentally breaks her neck (and quite possibly concaves her skull). He walks away hurriedly, leaving her lying gurgling on the floor in a state of agony and in dire need of medical attention. Her fate after this is unknown, although it is extremely unlikely that she would have been able to escape Black Mesa Facility in time to avoid the thermonuclear detonation, in the condition Shephard left her in, unaided.
Lydia after Shephard's "help".
Appearances[]
- Shephard's Mind
- Episode 24
Trivia[]
- The character is an original character created specifically to allow fellow Master Mind CyhAnide to cameo in Shephard's Mind, as trying to crossover with her own series, Chell's Mind, would have been logistically difficult.
- Lydia's NPC is a generic female black ops assassin, with the 'notarget' cheat enabled to prevent the AI from attacking the player.
- An unidentified black ops appears in a non-speaking role in Barry's Mind, in a sequence narrated by Barry where he explains that he happened to run into a former "sparring partner" in his prior military career before he'd gone into private security while she'd "gone higher". As a favour, she spares his life and directs him to a fellow black ops who had gone AWOL, that may be able to get him out of the facility in time to escape the nuclear explosion that would destroy Black Mesa. While Barry does not give the name of the agent, it is implied that she is intended to be Lydia.