Chapter Two: How Do You Catch a Free Man? (Gordon's Discovery)
No… No, Dad, don't leave me! Please, don't leave me…..
"Gordon… Gordon, wake up!"
Alyx Vance was shoving lightly at his shoulder. Gordon Freeman began to slowly bat his eyes open and turn to look at her. The young woman's face was crusted with dry tears and she still had a quivering lip. She had been through hell in the last few hours, why did he let her pilot? Their mission to find Dr. Mossman could have waited a little longer so she could collect her thoughts and reconsider coming along. He should have made her stay back at White Forest.
"I don't want you to worry about me, Gordon," as if Alyx could read his mind, "I promised Dad I would bring back Dr. Mossman, and I refuse to break that promise. Besides, I can't let you go alone. The Borealis appears to be in the middle of a massive tundra. Resistance members won't be able to reach you where we're going, so if the Combine is still there you would be steamrolled."
Gordon knew she was right, but still didn't think he should have taken her along. He wished he knew where Barney was so he could drag him along instead. Hopefully his train was far enough away from City 17 when it was destroyed and that he would reach White Forest soon. Gordon had to stop thinking though; he was getting too distracted from his task at hand. He looked out the side window of the helicopter to the view of the land from below. Years ago he remembered how beautiful Earth looked from the height of a plane. Now it looked ravaged and desolate because of the Combine and the hostile creatures from Xen. He could only dream of sending the aliens back to their home and cutting off the connection between realms to save everyone from any more harm. He didn't mean the Vortigaunts any harm, and they should stay on Earth to avoid their enslavement, but head crabs and antlions needed to go.
While Gordon was contemplating, Alyx kept her eyes on the radar that had the coordinates plugged in and was watching for any Combine that may have followed them. The wounds in her heart were deep, but she was so focused on finding Judith and the Borealis, and chose to leave her feelings back at White Forest. Losing one parent was hard enough, but no pain was greater than losing them both. Alyx rubbed the dry tears off from around her eyes and cheeks and took another look at the screen. A snowstorm began to brew, and looking forward was fruitless now.
"What the hell?" Alyx gave it a second glance, "Our position and distance from the Borealis just disappeared. Something's interfering with our signal.."
She began to fidget with the mechanism and attempt to fix the problem. Gordon snapped out of his daze and took a defensive approach by manning the controls for the turret attached to the bottom of the chopper. He had a good idea what was messing with their signal; it couldn't have just been the mountains.
"Come on, you piece of crap!" Alyx pounded on the top of the radar, "Why won't you work?"
At that moment it suddenly hit them. It felt like a pulse of sonic energy that collided with their air craft and sent them soaring to the left. Alyx curled her head down and gripped the steering handles tightly to try and stabilize the chopper. Gordon was already firing away into the snowy abyss, hoping to hit the Combine ship, but he had no idea how close the ship was.
"Gordon, what's going on?" Alyx was cut short by another sonic wave that began to crack their windshield. This craft was unlike any Combine ship Gordon had ever seen before. It was definitely larger than the gun and drop ships, and its shape looked like a giant flying antlion… Antlion?
"Gordon?" He grabbed Alyx and the parachute underneath his seat. Gordon knew what was bound to happen, but he only had time to grab his gravity gun before the beast rammed into their small helicopter and sent it plummeting towards the ground. Alyx screamed as they were falling, but Gordon kept his cool and blew open the left side door with a gravity blast. Both of them were sucked out into the atmosphere and began freefalling to unknown blank depths. Gordon used Alyx's wrist that he held her by and moved her fingers to grip the pull string. He then yanked her wrist and ejected the parachute so they could gracefully flutter to the ground. Gordon was suspended by the parachute looped around his one shoulder, with his gravity gun in the hand connected to that arm, and Alyx dangling near him in his other hand. She could tell his grip was letting up so she wrapped her free arm around his waist, then moved her other arm up to his neck to cling onto her hero for dear life. Gordon couldn't look because he was so focused on them landing safely, but Alyx was blushing because of how close she was to him. When he turned to look at her, she hid her face in an indentation in the HEV suit. Gordon ignored it, and they tumbled to the ground safely. Alyx let go and let Gordon remove the parachute while she scoped the area.
"Damn, I can't see anything in this snow," the wind blew some frozen crystals into her eyes and caused her to register that she wasn't very well equipped for walking through a tundra. The more she thought about it, though, the colder she was getting. Gordon looked over and saw her beginning to shiver.
"Gordon… What are we going to do?" He was trying to think of what would keep her warm. Nothing came to mind except… Gordon detached the breastplate of his HEV suit and slid it over Alyx's head. Because his body frame was bigger than hers, the plate would cover her arms as long as she kept them inside. The mesh under layer of his suit would keep him warm while they tried to find a cave to hide in.
"Thanks, Gordon…. I don't know what I would do without you," she smiled and followed him into the snowstorm.
The winds got stronger and colder the further they trekked into nothingness. Gordon held his arm up to try and protect his eyes, but every attempt at blocking the storm was futile. They couldn't keep going if they couldn't find a shelter soon. The HEV plate wasn't even helping Alyx anymore and her lips were slowly turning a darker color. Gordon noticed this and held her close again to try and warm her up. When they started walking forward they could see a red light in the distance. Gordon and Alyx ran towards it with high hopes that the light meant other life forms and the refuge they came from. As they approached the light the saw that no one else was around the light. It was connected to a pole that was buried underneath the snow that could have stretched for miles for all Gordon could tell. He kicked the light, causing the light to spin in its socket and a siren to begin wailing. Alyx and Gordon looked around in panic; had they been discovered by the Combine? No soldiers were in sight, all that was around was the annoying wail, until suddenly the two of them started sinking into the snow. They started sinking faster and faster up to the point where they fell into a black pit that whisked Gordon and Alyx away from the cold but possibly into something far more terrifying.
"Hello, and welcome to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, branch codename Tundra. At this facility we conduct research on the location of the Borealis, as well as enhancing the capability of the Aperture Science Mobile Portal Emitter."
Gordon opened his eyes. He was lying on a cement floor and was surrounded by glass walls. He got up and looked for an exit, but the entire room was boxed in. He was trapped. Gordon pounded on the glass pane, finding out it was actually Plexiglas, and he ended up hurting his hand. Is this really Aperture Science? Where's Alyx? I hope she's okay. I have to find her.
"To test your capabilities of handling an Aperture Science Mobile Portal Emitter we will first test you with the comprehension of portal technology. Opening a portal in three. Two. One."
Gordon could see an orange light in his peripheral vision. He turned and couldn't believe his eyes. A portal? He thought only portal storms and the Citadel's core reactor back in City 17 were capable of such technology. Black Mesa had been working on harnessing the power of portals for years, and all along Aperture Science was ahead of them? The same Aperture Science that made a device to ensure choking and had a program that stole wishes? Gordon's mind was blown; he must have been in a nightmare. He began hitting himself to try and wake up but the scene wasn't changing. The portal was still right in front of him, glowing and showing the view of the room that the other portal led to. He had no other choice if he was going to find Alyx and get out of this place. Gordon carefully stuck his foot through the portal to make sure he was stepping on solid ground, and then closed his eyes as he walked through. Nothing felt like it was damaged, but he didn't have the top plate of his HEV suit to tell him otherwise. Gordon looked back down at himself, then back to the portal. He had made it through okay, he could tell by seeing the room he was previously in through the blue ring of light.
"Very good," called the voice from the speaker once again, "you appear to lack agility and wit, but you still might be able to manage a few tests."
Gordon looked up towards where the sound was coming from. The voice sounded so… Robotic. It also seemed like she, no, it was making fun of him. Why would Aperture make a machine that can use sarcasm?
"Gordon!" He could faintly hear Alyx from up above as well. Gordon saw her blurry figure pounding against another sheet of Plexiglas and calling to him. He got as close to the wall as he could while still seeing her so they could try and communicate.
"Are you alright, Gordon?" Alyx knelt down, but it didn't make much difference in height between them, "Is the crazy AI trying to talk to you too? She's been running me through these rooms called test chambers and telling me I'll be able to escape if I get through them all. Don't worry, I still have your HEV part still on me and I'll be sure to give it back once we escape, just get through the test chambers like I am. I can't wait to show you this new gun I've acquired! It can make portals on concrete surfaces! Gordon, with your gravity gun and this.. Portal gun, we can get to the Borealis by just… Teleportaling? Like it?... Heh, uh, nevermind… Look, I've got to keep moving, so let's catch up at the end, okay?"
Gordon saluted to her as she ran off to finish the test chamber. He knew she would be okay. Alyx was just as resourceful as he was, so he returned to the task at hand. Where was he to get one of those portal guns so he could catch up with Alyx?
"In this chamber we will test you with the capabilities of handling an Aperture Science Mobile Portal Emitter. Please proceed to enter the vehicle to begin the test."
The wall in front of him opened up to reveal a low riding, compact, pearl white car. Equipped to the back of it was a large white cannon or sorts that had three prongs hanging off the edge of its barrel. Gordon warily approached the vehicle, as he was unsure if the AI was pulling another trick on him. When he managed to get inside the speaker turned on again to give him another message.
"You're doing so well. Maybe you'll be able to finish this test by the next century."
The voice was starting to annoy him greatly. Gordon did his best to ignore her sarcasm and started the car up.
"There are a few things to know when operating the Aperture Science Mobile Portal Emitter. One: Do not look directly into the operational end of the portal emitter then the vehicle is in operation. Two: Do not submerge the vehicle in liquid; especially the back end of the vehicle. And three: Do not cause any severe damage to the vehicle or turn the vehicle upside down. Aperture Science does not have the capabilities or the funding to replace the Aperture Science Mobile Portal Emitter. Now please enjoy the rest of your testing here at Aperture Science…. I'll see you soon…"
If Gordon were to flip the car over, he could just use the gravity gun to. Wait, where was his gravity gun? The AI must have disarmed him while he was still unconscious. He had to get it back; it was the only one of its kind. Gordon settled it then: he would solve the tests, reunite with Alyx, and retrieve his gravity gun. He stomped the pedal to the floor of the car and punched it into action.
Once Gordon mastered the handling of the car and how the portal cannon worked it was a cakewalk to solve the tests. Sure, some of them required to use some of the car's odd functions he didn't know it had until he fidgeted with the controls. He learned that the claw attached to the barrel of the cannon could draw objects to it magnetically; quite like his gravity gun, and it even had the ability to fling things back with more force than his gun, as he learned with the poor cube with a heart. Gordon also had to learn how to use the trick of continuous momentum when falling through portals. He had never been so terrified of falling in his life until he saw himself falling through the same hole seventy times. Okay, so maybe not all of them were cakewalks, but he had finally reached the last test chamber according to the voice.
"Welcome to the final test. You know, you remind me of someone. I wish I could remember who, but some of the data seems to be erased from my memory. Oh well, they must not have been that important anyway. What is important is that you've passed qualifications to handle the portal emitter. To congratulate you on accomplishing this task a surprise will be deployed in three. Two. One-"
"Gordon, watch out!"
Gordon leapt out of the car upon hearing Alyx's command. He turned and saw her holding the gravity gun with it aimed at the car. Alyx launched the car off to the other side of the room and ran to Gordon.
"Hey, I'm sorry I took so long. I think you'll be wanting these things back," and she helped Gordon back into his plate. Gordon picked his gravity gun back up while Alyx readied the portal gun.
"What are you doing? How did you escape test the other chamber?"
"I was starting to catch on to your plan once I found my way into a small den with tons of scratch marks shouting for help. Once I saw Gordon through an opening in your woodwork it was all too simple to escape," Alyx smirked up at the ceiling.
"You can't escape from the test! I won't let you escape from the test! Not like… Not like she could. No, I'll just fire up the deadly neurotoxin and let you squirm as you try to escape again."
The voice laughed darkly as the room began to fill with a golden-greenish smoke. Gordon's HEV suit kept telling him about the detection of neurotoxin, which wasn't helping the situation. Alyx began choking on the smoke which raised Gordon's worry even more. He helped Alyx over to the other side of the chamber and into the passenger's side of the car. Gordon looked up and noticed one of the same storage cube deposits from a previous test. It seemed to be malfunctioning, so Gordon helped it out by blasting it with the portal cannon. The door on the tube broke off and a cube fell to the ground. Gordon looked for any wall that was made of Plexiglas. When he found it, he picked the cube back up with the cannon and blew it straight threw the wall. The smoke was thickening as he fired a portal on the wall behind the shattered glass and drove straight through another portal he made on the wall at eye level with him. Gordon then sharply turned and drove down the hallway just big enough for the car to fit. All the while the AI kept shouting at him demands to come back but he blocked it out completely. When Gordon had exited the hallway he noticed that the room was somehow familiar. He looked to his left to see the enclosed spaced where he had woken up at the beginning of this nightmare. The speaker began laughing again.
"You're just as difficult to kill as she was. Did you know she tried to kill me multiple times? She destroyed my entire facility. Not this one, mind you, it was at Aperture's home branch. Aperture Science has several branches all across the world. All of them made to control portal technology and to find the Borealis. But you know about that already, don't you, Doctor Freeman?"
What? How did she-
"Heheheheh, you look surprised, Doctor Freeman. Of course I would know about you, I know all about Black Mesa. They were our rival, after all, I was programmed to keep track. However, I can't let you come close to the Borealis, Doctor. I'm afraid if you won't die easily then I'll just have to transport you."
Alyx was still asleep when a portal opened up underneath them and they fell through a building's wall and landed on a dirt road in the middle of a deserted town. Gordon slammed his palm against the steering wheel. They were thousands of miles away from the Borealis now, with no idea how to get back.
Author's note: Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter up. I was actually working on finishing HL2 and both of the episodes so I could be more accurate. Good thing too; my first draft was way far off. Thanks for sticking with me, though, and hopefully I can get the next chapter up sooner than later. Happy reading!
