Various rebels were practicing with the Gravity Gun and Magnusson's new weapon the afternoon of the next day. Gordon watched silently from his perch on the building above. It was really an ingenious weapon, at least energy-wise. As far as efficiency went...

"Damn!" cursed a rebel as the humming device flew far over the fake Strider and instantly vaporized.

Gordon absently rubbed Nadia's ears as she sat beside him, studying the bomb-like device.

"Ah, missed again!" yelled the next rebel. Behind them, Magnusson looked on.

He seemed unimpressed-- and Gordon would agree. A few of the rebels were able to place the device square on the Strider's hull, but couldn't seem to discharge their firearm quickly enough. Gordon shook his head. It would take some incredible reflexes to pull off what Magnusson was trying to do, as well as near-perfect aim. He'd fought Striders before, and it was difficult enough to stop from instinctively fleeing from the forty-foot tall monstrosities. And Magnusson wanted them to dance around underneath it, throwing a sticky bomb, then shoot at the sticky bomb while it hung there?

Gordon rubbed at a scar on his neck where a Strider had nearly killed him with its pulse gun, back in City 17. He wondered who they were going to give the Gravity Gun to. Who would actually run out there and attempt that sort of crazy suicide that Magnusson was handing out?

"Freeman!"

He heard his name, and his face fell. Magnusson glared up at him.

"You seem pretty good with the zero-point energy manipulator. Come down here, let's see how you do when you aren't sitting around watching everyone else work."

Gordon sighed. "Just a minute."

He made his way down, taking the stairs and a few corridors to the floor below, where the small crowd of rebels, Magnusson, and his Vortigaunt assistant stood waiting. Nadia hung back, as if knowing that she would be a hassle when she was underfoot.

A rebel handed Gordon the Gravity Gun.

"Um... okay," he muttered.

Magnusson directed him to where the devices were manufactured. Up close, they reminded him of the shape and size of a watermelon. The little tines sticking out from the sides were probably what made it stick to the Striders. The device emanated an intense heat, as if he were standing near an oven.

Gordon grabbed one up with the Gravity Gun and aimed it at the motionless body of the Strider ahead of him. There was the familiar choom sound of the gun firing, and he watched the device fly out in a slow arc.

It fell ten feet short.

He heard the rebels laughing quietly behind him and turned back to retrieve another device.

"Freeman," Magnusson called, "if you think you can't hit it, I'd be glad to get Alyx out here."

"I got it," Gordon bit out, grabbing another one.

This time, it was a direct hit. The bomb made a high-pitched squealing noise as it connected. Gordon reached down for his pistol, realized it wasn't there, and took one from a nearby rebel.

It took two shots. The device exploded with a roar of noise and flash of light.

The rebels clapped.

Gordon just frowned. "Make it move."

Magnusson turned towards him. "Hm?"

"The Strider. Make it move."

The Vortigaunt behind him nodded and went to a control pad against the wall. Gordon watched with sharp eyes as the Strider lurched slowly backwards. It was nothing like what a real one would do. Without a true Strider bearing down upon him, it would be hard to truly test the weapon's capabilites. Magnusson spoke as such from behind him, words that Gordon barely listened to.

He fired a new device as the fake Strider was moving away. The device landed right on top of it, shrieking loudly. It took four pistol shots to hit the device this time, but it still exploded. The Strider dummy was nearing the end of its rigged track now.

The rebels were actually impressed this time around. Gordon glanced at them, and thought he saw an approving look on Magnusson's face, as well.

"Awesome shot, Gordon," came the voice of Alyx. He turned and saw her standing next to Barney on the other side of the small open area, Nadia in her arms.

Barney waved at him after glancing at the cat.

Gordon just shrugged and went to them, satisfied that the device actually did work-- within a firing range.

The sound of the gravity gun discharging and a pistol being fired faded away as they walked through the hallways. Gordon thought it was suicide to try and use the devices in real battle, and told his friends so when they were safely out of Magnusson's earshot.

"You're right, Gordon, but Magnusson's the only one who's actually come up with something to counter them," Alyx pointed out, scratching Nadia's head while the physicist looked at the whiteboard detailing the devices' use.

"It looks like they'll work," Barney put in.

"Probably, but what about Hunters? It'd be pretty simple for them to intervene. Any regular Combine soldier, actually." Gordon turned away from the whiteboard, scratching his neck. "Unless they'll be sending out Striders alone-- which I doubt-- it might be safer to stick with rocket launchers."

"There's only a few of them at the base, and limited rockets," Alyx supplied.

Gordon wondered where they got the materials to even build the sticky bomb-like devices.

As they walked down the hall, Kleiner met up with them, looking more flustered than usual.

"Alyx, Gordon. We've finally decoded the data you brought with you. You will want to see it."

Barney looked at the three vaguely. Alyx and Gordon shared a worried glance.

"Let's go."

---

Gordon stared at the continual loop of the ship Borealis with a wary eye. Just looking at the thing gave him a bad feeling. Not to mention its ties with Aperture... it made him very uncomfortable. Worry dug at his gut. Was Mossman alright? Where was she?

Everything seemed to be coming to a head-- too quickly for Gordon to catch up.

Then Alyx had spoken those words, which made him edgy enough.

And when Eli started talking about that man, Gordon felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up.

Even Nadia seemed to sense it, because she had skittered off down the hall.

The icy cold feeling spreading through his veins came to a complete halt when a panicked voice shouted through the compound's speaker system.

The Striders had come to White Forest.

(A/N: Sorry about not updating as often as I should. I might be putting this story aside for a while, until Episode Three. I'll be releasing a few other fics though if you're interested, and a crossover. Also, am I the only one who saw the Magnusson Devices and went, 'Aw hell no!')