AN: So when I realized when writing this that the trance-like states that Gordon experiences between the games would actually have no separation from his perspective. That's really odd for us player to realize but this chapter ended up showing how that would feel from the characters' perspectives.
Chapter 35: At the Moment of Synapse...
Alyx looked on in horror as the portal to the Combine Overworld began to open right before her eyes. She couldn't help but stare for a few seconds until something orange darted across her field of view, then she went back to watching Gordon. He was frantically trying whatever he could to destroy the reactor core before Breen could teleport away. Right when he had figured out what he needed to hit to destroy it, two gunship appeared and began relentlessly shooting him. He managed to destroy both of them with energy balls and went on to shoot one last ball into the opening portal, which finally destabilized it. She watched as the portal pulsed a couple times before collapsing in a bright flash that forced her to shield her eyes, Good thing because the energy from the collapse was enough to blow the window she had been watching through to bits. Once that was over she ran out to Gordon and helped him up.
"Gordon!" She said with excitement, "You did it!" She added as he got up and they locked eyes for a second. "We've gotta get out of here," she realized after she came to her senses, "Maybe we still have..."
Just then there was a huge explosion and as she shielded her eyes from it, time itself seemed to slow to a stop.
"Time Dr. Freeman."
She heard a voice she didn't recognize, but when she tried to look to see who it was she found that she couldn't move, or even open her eyes.
"Is it really that time again?"
"Who the hell are you?" she thought to herself. Just then everything went black and she began to hear vortigaunts. Two of them grabbed her by her shoulders and as they did she finally was able to move again and she looked up to see Gordon seemingly frozen in time. His eyes opened but she noticed that he was looking in a different direction. She looked in that direction to find a ring of vortigaunts encircling some man with a briefcase. She gasped as she realized that he was the same man who had appeared in her sequence of nightmares. Gordon seemed to hear her and just as he looked at her everything went black.
Alyx gradually came to as she heard the sound of footsteps around her. She realized that she was buried in a pile of debris, and she was blinded as Dog lifted a boulder off of her and proceeded to dig her out.
Once Dog had managed to dig her out he lifted her up and set her on the ground. She could tell he was happy to see her. "Ok boy," she told him, "let's try and find Gordon."
"Alyx?!" She heard Chase yell from around the corner.
"Chase?!" She yelled back. She couldn't believe he was alive and went running to meet him. As she rounded the corner she saw him and instantly jumped into his arms. "I thought for sure you were gone..." She said almost in tears from how excited she was.
"It's ok Alyx." He said letting her go. "Someone just happened to be right where she needed to be in order to save my ass." He added putting an arm around Chell, who was looking a little bit jealous, not that she blamed her. "Also," Chase cut back in, "there's a communications center around here somewhere. You should get ahold of someone and find a way out of here."
"Ok," she answered, "I'll try to get ahold of my dad. I'm pretty sure Judith got him on a train out to White Forest."
"Alright," he said as he turned to Chell, "let's go."
"Wait," Alyx said before he went to leave. "Where are you two going?"
"I'm making him get his back checked out." Chell explained.
Alyx was about to ask what she was talking about when she remembered the burn mark on his back. "Ok good idea." She said. "I'll get ahold of my dad and try to find Gordon."
"Sounds good." Chase said, "Be careful, and get out of here as fast as you can once you find him."
"I will." Alyx answered, "And that goes for you too..."