Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.

Aftermath

Chapter Two: Direct Intervention

In the same manner as the one before it, the smooth metal door slid up into the ceiling in sections, each one clanging and groaning as they went. It revealed a long room with a console tucked away at the end. A passageway on the right was blocked by a force field.

A force field the soldiers had no difficult marching through, rifles at the ready.

Gordon pulled the first one to him with the Gravity Gun, allowing him to float immobile in front of him before firing him into his comrades. They tumbled like skittles, and Alyx started firing. Gordon joined her, blasting them into the ceiling and walls.

All in all, it took them a couple of minutes. Alarms sounded as they ran to the console, red lights flashing on the monitor. A door on the right-hand wall closed shut as they hurtled past.

Alyx slipped her pistol away and brought out the hacking device, directing it at the console in front of her. "I don't get it. Why are they hanging around here?"

As she tapped away, Gordon noticed a corridor on the left, also blocked off by a force field. At the far end he could see a lift platform. That seemed to be all there was, and, satisfied that no soldiers would suddenly come hurtling down at them, Gordon returned his attention to Alyx. He much preferred Alyx to soldiers, anyway.

"It looks like they were deliberately trying to blow the reactor," she muttered. "But why?"

With one final button, she managed to open the metal cover on the window behind the console. It gradually moved aside as if they were automatic curtains. Heavy metal curtains that were probably from planets and dimensions Gordon could only dream of, but still. Curtains.

The sight behind the curtains made them both gasp, but for completely different reasons.

"Oh my God," Alyx breathed, "it looks pretty far gone. I hope Dr Kleiner was right about this."

Gordon just nodded dumbly, his mouth slightly agape. It was beautiful. A dark energy core, surrounded by a weakening containment sphere that looked like oil on water. Occasionally, the dark core would pulse, becoming larger and expelling a powerful yellow aura into the containment sphere, where it gradually faded into a cool blue before disappearing altogether. When it pulsed, there was a low, muffled boom, like distant thunder. Or a heart beating.

Beautiful.

A metal circle sat beneath it, like a pedestal. Beneath that was another circle, this with a ladder attached to it going down. A shaft of blue energy extended down from the bottom of the core and out of Gordon's field of vision. Above the core, Gordon could see what looked like a colossal three-pronged metal claw rotating above it, like one of those machines they used to have in the Black Mesa Arcade. Barney had really wanted that stuffed monkey for some reason. After a certain point, Gordon was sure it had just become a matter of pride.

He blinked himself out of his scientist's reverie and focused on Alyx, who was speaking as she worked on the controls.

"Let's see if I can find a way through the control room…"

The door that had previously slammed shut promptly slid open, and Alyx led the way without any fuss. Gordon followed along, throwing one last glance at the core. He figured he'd be seeing it up and close and personal soon, anyway. He always did with these things.

It was another control room, though without a view. The consoles looked more complex, however. There was a glass door on the left leading into an elevator shaft, though the platform itself was missing. It was largely the same as the elevator Gordon had taken to stop the Dark Fusion Reactor. When he thought about it, Gordon guessed they were probably directly below the same spot where he had been fighting those Gunships and destroying Breen's last chance of escape. When He had appeared.

The thought made his head spin, and not in the good 'I've just had a great idea in the name of science' way.

Alyx was at the glass door, looking down the shaft. "The elevator's down in the core entry." She moved over to the console and started tapping away. "Let me see if I can call it back to this level."

As they waited for the elevator, Alyx changed the display on the monitor. She sighed, her head hanging. "These readings are off the chart. I hope it's not too late to re-engage the containment field." She gave him a smile over her shoulder, reassuring and kind. "Good thing you know what you're doing."

Gordon cocked an eyebrow, and searched her face for insincerity. "Was… that a joke?"

"What?" The barest traces of a frown lined her face. "No."

Feeling suddenly embarrassed and a little frightened, Gordon nodded. "Oh."

"…why would that be a joke?"

Because despite what you may think about my education, my job at Black Mesa consisted of pushing things into other things while others took notes about the results.

Thankfully, Gordon saw the platform arrive before anything more could be said on the matter.

"Well," Alyx said quietly, "here's your elevator."

The glass door slid open, and Gordon walked over, Alyx by his side, almost escorting him. He stopped at the entrance, noticing Alyx's worried look and the way she wrung her gloved hands.

"Gordon, I…" The sadness in her voice made Gordon want to get in the elevator even faster. "…I wish there something else I could do to help."

After a long moment when he had no idea what to do, he hesitantly reached out and squeezed her arm, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Of course, he hadn't seen his own reflection for days, so he had no idea what a reassuring smile coming from a grubby, sweaty, grimy, dusty Gordon Freeman face looked like. And so, rather than drag out the awkwardness of the situation any longer, he stepped onto the platform.

The door clanged shut between them with authority. In a moment rife with unpleasant déjà vu, Alyx put her hand to the glass. Though her expression held far more hope this time around.

"Hurry back."

He did a little salute, and the platform jerked to life, taking him down into the core. It was only at that moment, just as the elevator reached the bottom of the shaft and revealed the highly radioactive core, that one very important question occurred to Gordon.

"How does the HEV suit protect my head from radiation?" he murmured.

In a moment that couldn't have been accidental, the HEV suit pinged and informed him that a high radiation field had been detected. The light coming from the chamber made him squint, and he had to blink a couple of times as he emerged out onto the walkway to adjust. The Geiger counter crackled menacingly, and Gordon did his best to ignore it as he cast his gaze up to the pulsing, unstable core.

There were three black metal booths built into the walls of the chamber, each one at a different level relative to the core; lower, middle, top. The observation windows of each booth were covered by metal sheaths, and probably guarded by soldiers. Alyx had mentioned they were trying to blow up the core, so guarding the systems that could slow the process made sense. As much sense as triggering an explosion big enough to destroy a city made, anyway.

He plotted his way up. There were force field bridges linking different parts of the chamber together, though they didn't link everything. Gordon presumed there was a control to move the bridges around. If there wasn't, this was going to be short trip for everyone concerned.

Gordon started moving, heading across a force field bridge in front of him. This led to another platform with a maintenance console. It was flashing red.

"Yeah, no shit," he muttered before turning around.

There was another force field bridge, this one taking him to the far corner of the chamber. Once there, he came across an elevator platform that would take him up to the next level and closer to the core. Gordon travelled up, enjoying the brief respite the dark elevator shaft gave him from the headache inducing light of the core. At least, he hoped it was the light giving him the headache. He'd hate to save the city from a massive explosion only to be killed by radiation poisoning. Radiation poisoning of the head. Everything else would be in perfect working order, but his head would be withered away. Or it would turn green whenever he was angry, it was hard to tell with radiation.

He stepped off the elevator and found himself on the same level as the ladder that would take him up to the lower metal ring beneath the core. Ah, yes. Closer to the highly radioactive (if gorgeous) core of energy.

A force field bridge sat in front of him, extending out to another maintenance console on the other side of the chamber. The post extending out of the ground in front of the bridge caught Gordon's attention. He brushed his gloved hand over the red light at the tip of the post, and it promptly changed to green. The bridge redirected, shifting over to the bottom of the ladder.

With a self-satisfied nod and a 'huh', Gordon nevertheless ran to the ladder, not entirely convinced that the force field would hold. He clambered up, a headache gathering in his temple as he got closer to the core. It pulsed out at him as he stood up on the lower metal circle, and he put up a pointless hand to defend himself. Shaking his head at the gesture, Gordon walked around the metal circle, finding another force field bridge that led to the first control booth.

Gravity Gun at the ready, Gordon ran across as fast as he dared, keeping an eye on his footing. It was difficult to judge just how much traction one could get on a bridge made of energy.

He moved into the comparatively black doorway, taking a moment to let the spots fade from his vision before he proceeded any further.

Satisfied that he wouldn't miss a soldier stood right in front of him, Gordon whirled around the corner, coming face to face with an Elite. The soldier raised a hand and a took a breath before Gordon blasted him across the room, tumbling into two of his fellows.

A balcony on the left wall held two soldiers, the first of whom Gordon yanked towards him with the Gravity Gun, letting him take the bullets from his comrade before firing him back up and into his friend. Gordon walked over to the remaining soldiers on the ground floor and slammed them into the metal wall behind them, some of them head first, others breaking legs and arms as they impacted.

All of them dead.

As had become something of a ritual with him, Gordon pushed aside that particular thought, vowing to think about it later. Time to concentrate on the here and now, most specifically the machine that wasn't in this room. Beside the blocked window, however, Gordon saw an empty power battery, like the ones that had powered the suppression device and the gates in City 17. Something in the back of his mind compelled him to step back out into the core chamber again. There, he spotted four shafts of white light, two on either side of the chamber. The small power cores he was after travelled up, just like they had in the Dark Fusion Reactor up above.

Ever faithful Gravity Gun by his side, Gordon took one of the energy spheres and planted it in the empty battery in the booth. Without delay, the metal cover on the viewport slid aside in both directions. Accompanying it was another metallic groan from behind Gordon, and he turned on the spot to watch a section of the floor fold out of view. Emerging like a submarine from water, a complicated chunk of machinery the size of a portal generator emerged, all smooth greys and blues. Two cannon like fixtures extended out of the front as the device moved forward on rails that Gordon hadn't noticed before.

The 'cannons' pushed out through the viewport, pointed at the core. With a sudden thrum, dark energy encapsulated in a corkscrew of a containment field coursed out of the device and into the core. It was a sight to behold.

But there were still more devices to activate, and such little time. Gordon sighed and looked for a way out and up. A door that had previously been closed now stood open for him. With a shrug, he went through, Gravity Gun poised for anyone who could come for him. Inside, steps turned up and around until Gordon was looking out at the second level of the core, a force field bridge waiting for him.

He started walking, and was hard pressed to see a difference in the unstable pulsing of the core. Hand up in front of his eyes, Gordon wished for sunglasses. And as a nice side-effect, he'd probably look cooler with sunglasses.

The metal circle closer to the core had melted all along the inside, and still glowed molten yellow, the pulsing energy denying it a chance to cool. Another force field bridge extended out from the left hand side of the circle, his only way on to the next booth.

With a resigned, slow blink, Gordon suddenly launched into a run and leapt for the other bridge, using a portion of the melting circle as a stepping stone. His foot hit the circle between pulses of the core, and he landed chest first on the bridge. The force field's surface slowed his momentum pretty violently, and his glasses jerked from his face and tumbled off the bridge. His hand whipped out faster than he could have imagined, snatching the glasses in midair.

He had seen too much through these things; there was no way he was going to lose them now.

After slipping the glasses back on with an air of ceremony, Gordon clambered to his feet and moved to the entrance to the second booth. Just before he swung inside, he paused and looked back to the columns of white light that transported the smaller energy spheres.

Gordon smiled.

He snatched orb after orb, firing them one after the other into the booth. The garbled shouts and cries of the Combine soldiers were nearly drowned out by the ricocheting orbs. After several minutes of continuous noise, everything ended with one final orb explosion, and Gordon stepped inside in time to see sparks raining down around the room. There were no bodies.

After a satisfied nod, Gordon promptly reactivated the second containment device through the same steps as before. Step outside, orb in battery, activate device.

Another door opened for him once the device was active, taking him up another flight of steps. This brought him out onto a balcony only big enough to accommodate one person, overlooking the metal claws that rotated around the top of the core. Frowning, he glanced back to where he had come from. This probably wasn't the official route to the third booth. But he really didn't have time to go searching for a way around that was probably blocked by a force field.

Searching the chamber, he saw the booth on the opposite side, and the balcony he had to land on to get to the doorway. He nodded. That would do. A window halfway between him and the booth caught his eye. It was the room he and Alyx had first seen the core from. Alyx herself was stood at the window, hands pressed to the window, like she was trying to reach out for him.

So. He had an audience now. No pressure there, then.

He checked the claws, at the moment his only way across the brightly lit chasm below. They were only a couple of feet below the balcony. The surface of the claws resembled a ladder, and were luckily held at a diagonal enough angle that he would be able to hold on without too much difficulty.

Yes. Luckily. That was the word to use here.

Taking a deep breath, Gordon put a boot up on the guardrail and threw himself down onto the claw. He hit it with a loud 'Whoof', which probably would have echoed if not for the constant boom of the core beneath him.

He shifted his feet cautiously, shakily standing up and waving his arms about to keep his balance. Before putting his attention on his destination, he took the time to give Alyx an 'ok' gesture. She returned it with a slightly panicked look, which didn't make him feel better.

The claw was coming around to the balcony now. Gordon prepared himself, leant back…

And decided against it when he heard Manhacks. Whipping his gaze around, Gordon finally looked up and saw three soaring down at him. Gordon ducked and swerved around two of them, and finally had to put his arm up to block the third. The blades dented against his suit, and the Manhack swerved away, whining like an injured baby.

Gordon studied his arm where the Manhack had cut into it. Not a mark on it. Checking his stats, he saw that they were recharging. His suit was feeding off the core.

A high pitched grunt of disbelief escaped him, though his train of thought was quickly drawn to the two other Manhacks swooping around for him. Twisting the Gravity Gun around, he brought one of the Manhacks to him and fired it into its' companion. They both shattered, sparks and metal flying everywhere.

The claw had nearly rotated all the way around, and was approaching the balcony again. Undeterred by the stunted blades at its' command, the Manhack charged at him. Gordon hit it with a charge from the Gravity Gun, demolishing it. Satisfied, Gordon moved to the edge of the claw and jumped, hitting the balcony at speed and tumbling into an awkward roll.

Arming himself with power cores again, Gordon made short work of the soldiers and activated the battery in what must have been record time. Not that anyone had ever done this before, so there wasn't exactly a record to be broken. But that meant he had set the record. He had never set a record before.

That earned a smile as he watched the final containment device activate, the black beams of energy blasting into the core. And then, with a flash that forced Gordon to close his eyes, the Dark Energy core shrank, the pulsing now far less powerful. Particles of light seemed to spill from the Gravity Gun and headed for the core, draining it of its' brilliant blue energy and finally leaving it a sparkling orange.

The HEV suit was probably back to normal, too. Gordon sighed. He supposed he'd have to start worrying about being injured again. Damn it. Hopefully the fact the suit was powered by the core would mean it had healed him faster than the radiation could damage him. Well, he'd find out later either way.

A doorway on his right opened up, and Gordon stepped through, taking the stairs at the end of the corridor. They led down and to the right, eventually bringing him out into a room… wait, he knew this room.

Alyx, stood at the window, turned to face him and smiled, surprised at his sudden appearance.

Frowning, Gordon looked back to where he had just come from. It was the corridor he had spotted before that had been blocked by a force field. How did that link up to where he had just been? As usual, Gordon Freeman had no idea how he had gotten where he was. He blinked the thought away as Alyx spoke.

"Gordon! You did it!" Alyx was in front of him now, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the core. "The containment system's back in place. It won't last forever, but at least we've bought a little time." She nodded towards the other room, containing the larger console. "While you were in there, I did some poking around in the control data."

Gordon followed along, trying desperately to keep up with the information.

"They were trying to start a chain reaction, all right. But destroying the Citadel is just a side-effect."

"'Just'?"

Alyx nodded her agreement with raised eyebrows before continuing. "Since we took out Breen's reactor, this is the only way they have to send a transmission packet back to… wherever they came from. I can't tell what the packet contains, but it's important enough that they're willing to sacrifice the whole Citadel to send it off. We need to get it back to my dad and Dr Kleiner at White Forest right away. I've been pulling down a copy. Whatever it is, I have a feeling it's bad news for all of us."

They reached the console, and Alyx stopped, scratching the back of her hand apprehensively in a manner that reminded him of Dr Kleiner.

"What?"

"There's something else. It's Judith."

He cocked an eyebrow at that. "Judith?"

Alyx nodded, turning to the console and tapping in a command. "The Combine must have intercepted it. Take a look."

The blue screen disappeared into static before being replaced by Judith Mossman's image. She was in a dank corridor that looked like it hadn't seen too much use. Judging by the damp on the windows and the thick coat Mossman was wrapped up in, it was somewhere cold. It was strange to think of her as an ally again, after spending so long thinking of her as a traitor. Even stranger to find himself thinking in terms of 'allies' and 'traitors'. But with the small amount of friends he had, a betrayal wasn't something that could be sniffed at.

So she wasn't 'Judith' yet. She was Mossman.

"I'm fairly sure I've pinned down the location of the project. It's hard to say how much of it might have survived intact, or if there's anything remaining that could compromise our work if it were discovered by the Combine."

"Where the hell is she?" Alyx muttered.

But Gordon was more interested in the 'project'. Was this something he should know about, or something from after Black Mesa?

"We'll need to take a close look at it, of course, but I should be able to give you a better opinion in a few hours. If the site is where we think it is, then it should be no more than-"

A dull explosion sounded to the right, and the camera shook. Mossman cast a nervous glance in that direction.

"I'm going to cut this short, we may have been spotted."

Gordon heard a familiar beep counting down, much like the explosive charges Combine soldiers attached to doors. The camera toppled from the explosion, facing a hole in the wall that looked like it had been forced open. Soldiers marched through, firing at unseen rebels while the silhouette of some… thing appeared in the makeshift archway. It had three legs, whatever it was, two on either side and one at the back, with what looked like thick hooves at the bottom of each one.

Two luminous blue eyes, one on top of the other, turned to face the camera, and the creature leapt towards it, moving its' face in close before the transmission ended, replaced by static.

"She's in serious trouble," Alyx said, shaking her head as she moved to the console. "We need to get this and the transmission packet to my dad. He'll know what to do with it."

She pressed a button on the front of the console, and a black stick about the size of a pistol clip ejected out.

"The packet's done copying. I've got it right here," she said, throwing him a smile as she put it into a slot on her belt. "Now let's get the hell out of here."

Alarms sounded, and the monitor flashed red before quickly being replaced by the image of the green Combine… slug… thing. The boss? Could Gordon call it that? Was that thing the boss?

"Uh-oh. I think they felt that." She pressed a button on the console and ran past him, heading through an opening door beside him. "I've secured an exit elevator, it's this way!"

Gordon started running, the sound of Combine radios and thundering boots spurring him on. Why was the elevator at the end of a very long corridor? And why were they always at the opposite end of the long corridor?

Alyx reached it well before him, and waved him over frantically, spotting something troubling over his shoulder.

"Come on! Get in!"

Gunshots cracked through the air, and bullets ricocheted off the cool metal walls. A few bullets hit him in the back, two at the top and the other his shoulder. He stumbled a little before reaching the elevator platform. Alyx slammed her fist against a button on the wall, and they started their descent.

Catching his breath, Gordon checked his stats. They weren't recharging anymore.

"You okay?"

He nodded. "What now?"

"This lift will take us to a train platform. If we can hitch a ride, it should take us straight out of the city." Her eyes flickered down to the Gravity Gun at his side. "Hey, the Gravity Gun's back to normal. It must have been feeding off the core," Alyx observed a little sadly. She shrugged, pulling out her pistol. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."

The platform reached ground floor, and Gordon checked down the corridor through the glass door. From what he could see, it was a straight line ahead to the end of the corridor, which, after a door that had been left open, turned abruptly to the left. Though he could make out a force field blocking a corridor halfway down the right-hand wall. Soldiers would probably spring from there just as they reached it. That seemed about his speed.

The door opened, and they started running, Alyx keeping her gun on the force field as they ran. No soldiers emerged, and Gordon thought that maybe they would be able to get out of this pretty neatly.

The soldiers thought different, and stormed through the force field just as they reached the end of the corridor. Gordon bolted around the corner while Alyx doubled back, hacking device already drawn. She pressed it to a device beside the open door, and it slammed shut behind them.

"That won't hold them for long," she managed between breaths. "They'll be able to find another way around."

Gordon checked the area. They were in what must have been the check-in point of the train station. Through big glass windows Gordon could see the train platform itself, a rather closed off square of concrete with two jutting out of the ground. He didn't know what was catalogued here, and frankly, he didn't want to know. He could see a force field in front of a doorway on the right-hand side of the platform. The train itself was waiting for them, hissing and rumbling. From what Gordon could remember, it was a Razor train - the same ones that had travelled to Nova Prospekt. Between the windows in front of him was an open doorway that led down a ramp to the platform.

A ramp that two Rollermines were happily trundling up, towards them.

"Rollermines!" Alyx marvelled, before smiling. "They won't be expecting this."

He snatched them up one at a time, and Alyx did her magic. Gordon released them, and they bounced happily out onto the platform, heading for two soldiers that emerged from the opening door.

The first turned and was nailed in the chest by a Rollermine, the blast of yellow energy propelling him across the platform and against the patiently waiting train. His comrade didn't fare much better, sandwiched between the wall and the other Rollermine.

"Come on, Gordon," Alyx said quickly, leaping to her feet and pressing her hacking device to a console beside her. With a spurt of electricity, she got the door of the train to slide open. Without another word, they sprinted out onto the platform, past the overloading Rollermines and into the train.

More soldiers spilled out through the force-field on the platform as they tucked themselves into the dark train car. Alyx slammed her palm on a button beside the door, and it slid shut. The train rocked around them as it set off, and Gordon put a hand against the wall to steady himself.

"Well, that was a nice clean getaway," Alyx sighed, her shoulders slumping a little in the dim light. "I don't know what's in this copy we made, but they're not thrilled about us having it."

Red lights flickered into life above them, illuminating the car. Gordon took an instinctive step back when he saw what was hung from the right-hand wall. Her smile dropping, Alyx followed his gaze.

"Oh my God," she gasped. "It's a Stalker car."

There were eight or so Stalkers contained in the same metal pods that had held Eli and Alyx captive back in the Citadel. The top section of the pod closest to them had come loose, revealing the inert Stalker inside.

His voice incredibly quiet, Gordon kept his eyes on the Stalker as he spoke. "Is it… sleeping?"

Alyx shook her head, eyes fixed on the Stalker, but didn't offer an explanation. She took an angry, shaky breath. "God damn the Combine. This is what happens to you if you resist." Her expression softened considerably, and she reached out tentatively for the top section of the pod. "Or if you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time." She closed the pod, bowing her head. "I hope to God you can't remember what you were…"

Gordon swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. He waited patiently for Alyx to come out of whatever memories the Stalkers had elicited in her mind. There was no hurry anymore; just a potentially long train journey to… White Forest, was it?

Before he could think any further on the matter, Alyx rubbed her face with her hands before reappearing, eyes wide and blinking.

"All right. Let's see where this train is headed." She cast a look up and down the car, spotting a console at the far end. "With any luck, we should be well out of the city before it's too late."

It was a thin car, and there was barely enough room to move around the Stalkers as they made their way along. Gordon resisted the urge to mutter an apology when he bumped into the pods.

Alyx tapped away on the console and nodded, satisfied as she looked back at him. "Looks like we're on a good heading. Thank God we're not on foot, I doubt we'd have made it in time."

She gave him a genuine smile, one that made him a little uncomfortable. "It looks like you saved our lives again."

He shrugged, averting his gaze from hers. "Yeah, uh…" he cleared his throat. "It went well."

With a laugh that diffused the situation, Alyx cast a look around the train car. "Y'know… all things considered, we're not-"

A surge of panic hitting him, Gordon brought up a warning finger. "Don't."

She frowned. "What? I'm just saying, we're-"

"Don't say it."

"Gordon," she admonished, giving him a patronising stare, "I'm just saying, all things considered, we're not doing too-"

The train suddenly jerked to the side, and the lights flickered.

"What's that?"

Gordon dropped his head and sighed. Another sudden bump sent them crashing into the left-hand wall. Metal wheels screeched beneath them, and something else hit the train.

"Oh my God."

The train was rocking up and down almost continuously now. Alyx had her back to the console, her hands latched onto it.

"Brace yourself-"

The train car tipped into the air, and Gordon fell back, bouncing off the Stalker pods as he tumbled to the bottom, finally landing with a painful, metallic thud, his head hitting the ground (wall) at speed.

Groaning, he rubbed the back of his head as he moved into a sitting position. He opened his eyes and promptly yelped in shock.

A Stalker pod had come loose from the wall, the metal arm holding it stretching over towards him. The Stalker itself was wide awake, its' face just inches from his. They were all awake, screeching and writhing in their pods.

"Alyx?" he muttered, his head still pounding. The entire car, its' front end dipped downwards, was also diagonally on its' side, everything just slightly off kilter so that if he stood, one foot would be on the floor, and the other on the left wall. He rested back against the wall, shimmying around the frenzied Stalker. It didn't seem to notice he had gone.

Gordon climbed up the train car, using the Stalker pods as a climbing frame and trying to ignore the ear-tearing screams.

"Gordon! Gordon, over here! Help!"

Alyx was still by the console, pressed into the wall by a Stalker pod. She was pinned, and wriggled around, fruitlessly attempting to free herself. Her face was desperate, twisted in fear as she frantically moved about, like an animal caught in a trap. The Stalker kept on screaming, dots of spittle spraying onto Alyx's cheek.

"Help! Get it off me, make it stop!"

Panicked at just how scared she was, Gordon slipped a couple of times as he clambered up to the Stalker pod. He grabbed the metal arm latched onto the top of the pod and pulled. And pulled. And pulled.

Nothing.

"Cover its' eyes, cover it up!" Turning her face away from the Stalker, she clenched her eyes shut. "Please! Please stop screaming!"

Jaw set, Gordon rested back against the left wall and brought the Gravity Gun around. He aimed it at the pod and tried to pull it towards him. The metal arm jerked, and the pod twitched.

"That's it," Alyx gasped, like she could suddenly breath. She put her hands to the pod and started pushing. "Pull!"

Though he couldn't do much more, Gordon willed the Gravity Gun to pull faster. "Come on, come on…" he chanted though clenched teeth.

"Keep pulling!" The pod jerked away, but not enough for her to escape. "Almost there!"

Then, with one final metallic shriek, the pod flew towards him, stopping just ahead of him. The Stalker didn't seem to notice, and continued screaming. Rather than blast it away, Gordon just deactivated the Gravity Gun, letting the pod hang limply from the wall.

"That's it," Alyx breathed, scampering up the wall into the top corner like a frightened mouse. She curled up and covered her face, looking so unlike the Alyx he had known. He started to make his way over when his foot suddenly plunged downwards. Falling back into a sitting position, Gordon saw that he had stepped on a door. Reaching out with his leg, he kicked the second door down as well, and it swung open easily.

Peering down, Gordon saw solid ground only a couple of feet below. Light shone in from somewhere ahead. The way forward.

He looked up to Alyx and reached out with his hand. "Alyx, come on."

She didn't reply, didn't acknowledge he had even spoken.

"ALYX!" he shouted, and her head whipped up to look at him, surprised. Tears stained her cheeks, and Gordon did his best not to show the sadness and fear they brought about in him.

"Come on," he urged, as confidently as he could manage.

Blinking out of her daze, she nodded. Nervous eyes flitting back to the Stalkers, she crawled to the doorway. She paused for just a moment to look at him.

Gordon didn't smile or try to reassure her. This wasn't the time for her to be emotional; she needed to be the soldier she had been when she led resistance fighters in battle, not knowing if they were going to live. So he just nodded down to the ground beneath them.

She leapt down to the ground, and Gordon cast one last sorrowful look at the Stalkers. He wondered if they were anyone he had met in City 17.

"Sorry," he muttered, then leapt down into the unknown.


(A/N: Took some real liberties with this chapter, but I think they were all warranted. And I've got to say that Gordon standing atop the claws rotating above the core is one of those images that makes me yearn for a Half-Life movie.

Anyway, yeah, reviews welcome, so go nuts!

Next Chapter: Lowlife)