Aftermath

by Super Chocolate Bear

Breen is dead, City 17 is in ruins, the Citadel is collapsing, but the Combine is still powerful, and determined to survive. Then a scientist is found in the wreckage, and once again, everything changes.

7. This Vortal Coil

Disclaimer: I don't own Half-Life.

(A/N: I recommend listening to 'Vortal Combat' at the appropriate moment. If nothing else, it's probably the best track of music in all of Half-Life.)

Aftermath

Chapter Seven: This Vortal Coil

Just as exasperation was setting in and he was going to sit down in abject misery, Gordon turned one last corner and spotted a darkened spot at the end of the tunnel. A hole in the ground. Scrambling on all fours, Gordon excitedly looked down into it. A rail for mine carts ran along below him. A human tunnel! While there was no guarantee this would lead anywhere useful, at least it wasn't an old cave or a weird alien tunnel made of what he hoped was web.

He dropped himself down without hesitation. An alarm sounded almost immediately, and his head dropped dejectedly.

"Sheckley! We got ant-lions!"

The panicky voiced squeaked on 'ant', reassuring Gordon that he wasn't in the presence of Combine soldiers. Or if he was, prepubescent soldiers. Looking up to the end of the tunnel, he saw a rebel rushing towards him, MP7 machinegun in hand. Letting the Gravity Gun hang loosely by his side, Gordon put a surrendering hand up in the air.

The rebel stopped abruptly in front of him, looking confused as to why the expected ant-lion was in fact a skinny man wearing a strange orange and black suit.

Another rebel (Sheckley, presumably) appeared at the mouth of the tunnel, machinegun resting on his shoulder and staring tiredly at the back of his comrade's head. "You idiot, that's Gordon Freeman. The Vortigaunt said he was on the way."

With a tight smile, Gordon nodded at the younger rebel. Although, Gordon couldn't help but notice, this man was older than him by at least ten years. Scratching his short black hair, the man nervously nodded back, eyes once again scanning the tunnel behind Gordon. Something about his demeanour seemed young, however. His thin whisper of a moustache certainly did nothing to add maturity to his face, and the medic patch on his arm didn't do much to increase Gordon's confidence.

"Dr Freeman," the Sheckley called out, "Alyx Vance is over here. The Vort's trying to patch her up."

As soon as he heard her name, Gordon was running out of the tunnel and into the open chamber beyond. It was large, stretching out in a cylinder that was far taller than wide. Floodlights had been erected beside each three tunnels around the chamber, bathing the entrances in an artificially bright spotlight. There was a mining tunnel on the far left side of the chamber, with one more just beside the one Gordon had emerged from. On the wall on the far right, Gordon could see a hole that looked as though it been dissolved away, presumably by one of the acid throwing ant-lions he had encountered before. Beside each tunnel was what looked like traffic lights, through all three bulbs seemed to be on red.

A walkway ran all the way around the chamber, concrete around the perimeter while a wide metal gantry in front of him slanted downwards, leading to an old metal elevator shaft. It towered above him, leading to a platform that seemed pretty tiny from his perspective. As Gordon approached, he saw through the latticework of the metal that the chamber also plunged down into the darkness below to God knew what depths.

And there, lying on a metal table just in front of the closed elevator doors, was Alyx, bathed in the green glow of the Vortigaunts hands. Its red eye flitted up to him, and the closest approximation of a smile it could manage wrinkled its entire head.

"Ah, Freeman. It is well."

Relief rose in Gordon. "She's going to be okay?"

Taking a breath, it cast a sad look down at her. "The Alyx Vance clings to the margins. My kin are still some distance away." Looking back up, the Vortigaunt stared at him with a determination Gordon hadn't seen from them since Black Mesa. "For now we must not be disturbed."

Gordon nodded. Their silent agreement was interrupted by Sheckley clearing his throat. The Vortigaunt returned its attention to Alyx while Sheckley spoke, rubbing the back of his head. It was only then that Gordon really took him in, noticing itchy stubble bristling across a craggy face that seemed to say that not much surprised this man.

"Yeah, well, about that…" He cleared his throat abruptly, brightening a little as he changed the subject. "As long as you're down here, Freeman, maybe you could give us a hand."

Looking at Alyx pensively, Gordon nodded.

"C'mon," Sheckley urged, putting a hand on his shoulder, "let me show you how the ant-lion sensors work."

His eyes clung to Alyx's still form for a few moments more before he turned, following Sheckley up to the tunnel he had emerged from. The younger rebel was waiting up there as well, fiddling with what Gordon took a moment to recognise as a Combine turret. There were two, though they had been painted with differing levels of success. One was plastered with black and yellow stripes, while the other had a shark's face in profile adorning the side. Both were waiting at the mouth of the tunnel.

The younger rebel finished up his work as Sheckley passed, and the turret whirred to life, scanning from side to side down the tunnel ahead.

Sheckley tapped the side of the traffic light beside the tunnel. "This sensor will light if an ant-lion is coming down this tunnel. More lights means more ant-lions. When a tunnel lights up, we move a few turrets in front of it."

Nodding, Gordon looked between the different tunnels. The one he was in front of was labelled '36' in big white painted letters above the entrance. The tunnel next door was '12', and the one on the far side of the chamber was '24'. There wasn't a number for the hole in the wall created by intruding ant-lions, though there was a set of traffic lights.

He looked back to Sheckley, expecting more. When Sheckley was silent, Gordon cocked a curious eyebrow. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that's it," Sheckley laughed. "Pretty simple, eh, Doc?"

"Hey, Doc…" the younger rebel slowly said, "…on your way here… you weren't followed, were you?"

Panicking, Gordon looked over at Alyx, then the tunnel he had come from. "I, uh… followed? I don't…"

Sheckley, meanwhile, was waving a dismissive hand. "Don't listen to him, Doc. We're on edge because this place is riddled with ant-lions."

Shrugging and smiling nervously, the younger man cleared his throat before speaking. "The Vort says as long as we don't step on their grubs, they shouldn't hear us this far from the nest."

Gordon did his best not to look down at the slimy grub stains on his boots. "Oh."

"Yeah, well, that's a theory I'd rather not test," Sheckley said pointedly, aiming it towards the younger rebel under a thinly veiled 'shut up' tone. After fixing him with a stare, the older rebels' gaze swung over to Gordon. "We're down to our last two turrets, and even these are held together by baling wire and duct tape at this point. Nice to have 'em in a pinch, but I wouldn't exactly trust 'em with my life."

Glancing between the turrets, then to his Gravity Gun, Gordon finally settled his gaze on Sheckley. "Do you have any guns?"

After checking Gordon up and down as though only then noticing that he was unarmed, Sheckley smiled and nodded. "Hey Griggs, you might want to show Doctor Freeman where we keep all our supplies, huh?"

Griggs nodded back down the metal gantry. "Oh, yeah. Down there by the Vort. Everything you need for doctorin'. We've got ammo crates for shotguns and MP7s up here, too."

Directed by Griggs' eye, Gordon only then noticed the green metal crate beside the tunnel with the silhouette of a shotgun plastered on the side. Casting his gaze across to the other side of the chamber, he saw another green crate in front of tunnel 24. He moved down to Alyx and the Vortigaunt, forcibly stopping himself from staring at her while he looked for a gun.

Unwrapping the Gravity Gun from his wrist, he put it gently in the corner. It wouldn't be much help to him here. He never thought he would even think these words, but… what he needed now was a gun. Shotguns and MP7s were stacked in one corner, while medpacks rested in the other. Gordon checked his stats, and was satisfied to see he was at just below half power. Not happy, but satisfied.

Gordon scooped up a shotgun, and was on his way back up the ramp when he saw Alyx's head move, loosely drooping to the other side. He walked over to her and reached out, but stopped before he touched her, looking to the Vortigaunt.

"Can she hear me?"

The Vortigaunt's upper eye flitted over to him before returning down to Alyx. "It can only help."

Tentatively, Gordon crouched down at the head of the table, his hand gripping the edge just beside Alyx's head.

"I, uh…" he cleared his throat self-consciously, and looked around to make sure Griggs and Sheckley were still at the tunnel. The Vortigaunt was distracting enough, not to mention the luminescent green pulsing from its hands.

"I still can't remember their names," he said softly, irrationally fearful that he would wake her up. "Those people at Black Mesa, I mean. The ones I was telling you about? I'm trying, I just… I met so many people, there and here, and…" he swallowed loudly, his throat dry. "They all… they're dead now."

Hesitant fingers hovering over her hair, Gordon finally allowed himself to lightly touch the top of her head. "I don't want to… it would be bad if…" He sighed. "Don't die."

An alarm blurted out from above, and Gordon's head dropped just a little, his eyes closed in frustration.

"One light!" Sheckley called out. "They're coming!"

"I've… got to go shoot things now," he whispered, forehead resting on hers. After just one more moment to prepare himself, Gordon took a deep breath and launched to his feet, running up the ramp and to tunnel 36, just on his left. Red blazed from the top circle of the traffic lights, the alarm pulsing a few more times before cutting out abruptly.

Gordon kicked open the top of the shotgun crate as he heard the two turrets open fire. Yanking out a red box of shells, Gordon loaded up and pumped the shotgun, moving out into the mouth of the tunnel. Looking around, though, he saw Griggs and Sheckley just watching the turrets do their work.

Casting his gaze far down the tunnel, he saw ant-lions digging themselves out of the ground and attempting to launch themselves towards him. They were all the regular ant-lions, none of the acid spitting variety. The high speed bullets from the two turrets left them dead before they had even reached them. After a few more minutes of this, the ant-lion barrage ceased, and the turrets were quiet once more.

"We'll be okay as long as they stick to one tunnel," Griggs said, before giving him a funny look. "Hey, doc… we were just tellin' ya that the ant-lions were comin'. You didn't think we needed you, did ya?"

Taking a breath to deliver an instinctively sarcastic reply, Gordon was interrupted by the blaring of more alarms. One light at the hole in the wall, two at tunnel 12.

"We've got the breach," Sheckley, said, nodding for Griggs to follow him. "Dr Freeman, you take care of the turrets."

Taken aback slightly by the sudden influx of activity, Gordon stood around uselessly for a few moments before snapping himself out of it and grabbing a turret with one hand. They were surprisingly light, considering how deadly they were. Probably why they were so easy to knock over. Gordon placed both in front of tunnel 12, and watched rather contentedly as they annihilated the ant-lions that emerged at the far end of the tunnel. They did manage to get worryingly close, however, and some even managed to sneak through.

His shotgun dissuaded them pretty quickly, however. Checking over his shoulder, Gordon saw Griggs and Sheckley on the opposite side of the chamber, their machineguns blazing. They worked well together as a team, covering each other when they needed to reload and signalling with the barest of nods and glances. Gordon's chest hurt a little as he looked down at Alyx.

The lights blinked off, and they were plunged into silence again. It was now just a matter of waiting for more ant-lions. While Gordon looked around, he saw that both Griggs and Sheckley were still stood at the breach, their weapons aimed inside.

"Sheckley," Griggs said excitedly.

"What?"

"Sheckley!"

"WHAT?"

"…forget it."

Alarms went off, and this time all four tunnels lit up. One light on 12, 24 and the breach, and two on 36.

"Oh God, they're coming from everywhere!" Griggs screeched, running with Sheckley to 36.

Leaving one of the turrets at 12, Gordon ran to 24 with the other, depositing it there before heading over to the breach, scooping up the box of shotgun shells as he went. The alarms continued blaring for a few seconds more before suddenly vanishing, replaced by the scuttling of ant-lions legs heading towards them.

In the ensuing carnage, Gordon reloaded faster than even he would have thought possible. Because the hole was so small, it was like the ant-lions were all queuing up for the opportunity to be shot to hell. The others weren't having much fun with their tunnel, though the turrets seemed to be managing well enough.

Finally, silence descended once more. Gordon, realising he had managed to empty the box of shells in that last attack, moved over to the shotgun crate next to Sheckley.

Breathless, Sheckley turned to Griggs. "You see a bug on me, how you about you try and get if off me next time, huh?"

"I didn't see it!" he said defensively, his voice going up several octaves.

"Yeah, no, sure. They're only like five feet tall!"

Abandoning that line of argument, Griggs looked over to Gordon, who had just finished loading the shotgun. "No offence, Freeman, but things were pretty quiet until you showed up."

"I think that all the time," Gordon sighed, eliciting a smile from Sheckley.

Alarms sounded again, this time with two lights on 12, one on 36, and one at the breach.

"We've got this one," Sheckley said, nodding to tunnel 36 in front of them.

Remembering his experience at the breach last time, Gordon moved one of the turrets there and kept the other with him while he defended tunnel 12. The alarms disappeared, and Gordon once more found himself firing away faster than he had ever thought possible, even with the help of the turret. Two lights really was tricky. Luckily, he had remembered to take a box of shotgun shells with him, though he still found his shoulders slumping when the attack ceased.

He heard Sheckley chuckle to himself before shouting over, "Hey, Griggs, maybe I should leave some for you, huh?"

"Hey, I got… ten!"

"Yeah, well, we all got ten, there's hundreds of 'em!"

"'We all get ten, there's hundreds of 'em'," Griggs mimicked, putting on a high pitched voice and flapping his hand like a mouth. "Well, at least there can't be many more."

"What the hell makes you think that?"

As though in answer, the tunnels lit up again, one light on each. Gordon tilted his head in acceptance. One light on each wasn't so bad. Leaving the turrets where they were, Gordon moved to 24, the only tunnel undefended, taking the half empty box of shells with him. A troubled look crossed his face when he saw just how many dead ant-lions littered the tunnels.

The light disappeared and the alarms vanished. Ant-lions appeared, and Gordon started shooting. It was all going rather smoothly, though he did have to duck a few mid-air charges from some of the ant-lions. Griggs' girly shrieks didn't do much to aid his concentration either. But, all in all, things were-

"Oh, no!" Griggs cried out, "That turret just went kaput!"

Eyes wide but not being able to take his eyes of the oncoming ant-lion storm, Gordon glanced over his shoulder at the turret beside the breach. Sparks sputtered from every seam, smoke belching out from the top before the entire thing burst into flames. Luckily, the light at the breach had gone out, so there were no escaping ant-lions left.

Gordon blasted the last of the creatures coming at him down his tunnel, and turned to the turret he had left at 12. The red light was out at the tunnel, the attack successfully repelled. But the turret was going up in smoke, eliciting a loud, frustrated groan from Sheckley.

"Last turret just broke!"

The silence that followed made Gordon nervous, and he reloaded his shotgun again. His worried gaze fell on Alyx, and he silently pumped the rifle in his hands.

"Oh God, what now?" Griggs wailed.

Sheckley was nowhere near as worried, though his stern expression didn't make Gordon feel any better. "We do our job. We gotta defend the Vort."

The simplicity and confidence of the statement made Gordon smile, if only slightly. Alarms sounded.

"Three lights!" Sheckley announced, running to Gordon's tunnel. "We got three lights!"

They were quickly joined by Griggs, frantically staring down the tunnel. "Why are there so many? I think we misunderestimated!"

As the alarms continued to chime, Gordon took several steps back until he was standing on the ramp leading down to Alyx and the Vortigaunt. If any got past Griggs and Sheckley, they sure as hell weren't getting past him.

Sheckley cricked his neck. "Look alive!"

Griggs was hunched so severely that from Gordon's perspective he looked like he didn't have a neck. "Get ready… oh God, get ready! Three lights! This is gonna be bad…"

The lights vanished, as did the alarms. And yet… no ant-lions. No sounds of digging, no flutter of oversized wings. Just… silence.

Bright green light flashed on a patch of floor halfway down the tunnel. Cautiously stepping forward, Gordon saw that it was coming from a hole in the roof of the tunnel, flashing and crackling like lightning. The limp body of an ant-lion tumbled down through the hole, thumping to the ground of the tunnel and kicking up dirt.

A Vortigaunt leapt down to the ground, nimbly landing in a crouch before moving out of the way for two more behind it.

One of the most relived sighs Gordon had ever heard escaped Sheckley as he spoke. "Hey, it's the Vorts, they made it!"

"Yeah, yeah, I knew it," Griggs said shakily, wiping sweat from his forehead, "I was just trying to scare you, Sheck."

The last Vortigaunt moved around its kin, and looked on Gordon with great pleasure, clasping its hands together like an artist admiring a masterpiece. "Ah… the Freeman. Our delay - regrettable. We killed many ant-lions… yet many more remain."

"We must attend to the Alyx Vance," the other Vort called out from its place beside Alyx, and Gordon moved aside to allow the aliens to do their work.

"There is no time," the new Vortigaunt said urgently, cutting a hand through the air. "More ant-lions approach. We shall… quiet them."

The trio of aliens took up positions around the chamber as the alarms sounded. All of them. Every single light on every tunnel blared out.

"Oh shit, the whole place is lit up!" Griggs cried, retreating to the bottom of the ramp with Sheckley. They each took a side of the elevator shaft behind Alyx and the Vortigaunt.

Casting a circling look around the chamber, Gordon's eyes eventually fell on Alyx, her eyes closed, face aglow from the green energy of the Vortigaunts' hands. Helpless, like he had never seen her before. Even when she was captive in the Citadel, she had been struggling, fighting. Giving him hope without even realising, that maybe he wasn't alone against all these odds.

He was Gordon Freeman, and he would be damned if she was going to die because of him.

Jaw set, he strode down the ramp, moving around the breathless Griggs.

"I'm not even supposed to be here," Sheckley grumbled from the other side of the elevator shaft, and Gordon couldn't help a grim smile as he picked up an MP7.

Checking the gun was loaded, Gordon moved back up the ramp, heading for tunnel 24. He tossed the MP7 along the floor until it clanked against the bottom of the floodlight between the mouths of tunnels 24 and 36. Jaw set, Gordon clamped his hand around the pump of the shotgun.

The alarms stopped.

Ant-lions crawled out of the ground into the dark tunnels.

And then it began.

A horde of ant-lions swarmed into the room, coming from all four directions. Griggs and Sheckley let out something halfway between a roar and a frightened cry, machineguns blazing.

Electricity crackled through the air, accompanied by guttural cries in the Vortigaunt language.

Griggs' voice echoed out through the din of buzzing wings and machinegun fire. "Jesus, I've never seen the Vorts this pissed!"

An ant-lion flew out at him, and Gordon blasted it away. Another came at him from the side, tackling him to the ground. Jagged teeth dove down for his neck when the ant-lion exploded in a burst of yellow blood. The remnants of green electricity sparked through the air in front of him. He looked over to see a Vortigaunt by the mouth of tunnel 12 facing him, though it was quickly distracted by further ant-lions.

Gordon rolled to the side and into a standing position, blasting another ant-lion coming from tunnel 24. Another from 36, then two more from 24 again. One attempted to hurtle over his head, heading for Alyx. Leaping onto his back, Gordon caught it in midair. He scrambled to his feet, head whipping about the chamber.

More ant-lions poured from every direction. The Vortigaunts moved with a swiftness and speed belying the carnage around them. They lashed out with spindly claws and tossed ant-lions aside like wrestlers. Orbs of green energy clutched in their palms exploded violently as they were slammed down on snarling enemies.

"Eat the Vortessence, you bug bastards!" Sheckley cried out, almost whooping.

Griggs laughed. "Those bugs sure messed with the wrong slugs!"

Gordon's final three shells were quickly spent on a swathe of ant-lions, eventually leaving him to fend them off with the butt of his rifle. An ant-lion slashed down with two claws, and Gordon caught both with the length of the shotgun. He kicked the creature away and rolled towards the floodlight, snatching up the MP7 he had left there.

Gordon fired in a wide spray, taking out three ant-lions. More came from behind at tunnel 36, and Gordon whirled around to meet them. A snarling Vortigaunt leapt into the fray, grabbing one ant-lion and swinging it around into a group of its brethren. An ant-lion flew at the back of the Vort's head, and Gordon blasted it out of air.

The Vortigaunt gave him a nod of acknowledgement before returning to work. Peering over to the other side of the chamber, he saw yet more ant-lions pouring out of the breach. Gordon sprinted over, MP7 blazing as he leapt over ant-lion bodies and skidding to a halt in front of the broken hole in the wall. He held the trigger down as he slowly waved the gun back and forth, smearing yellow blood into the cave beyond.

He heard Sheckley cry out, and whirled around to see him clutching his leg, an ant-lion bringing up another claw to attack. Griggs was by his side instantly, blasting the creature away before tending to his comrade's wounds. Three more ant-lions converged below, moving towards Alyx and the Vortigaunt.

Gordon's MP7 was spent. He tossed it away as he mounted the guardrail overlooking the gantry below. Yanking out the crowbar, he leapt down, aiming to land on the closest ant-lion. A noise halfway between a crunch and a squelch accompanied his landing, yellow blood squeezing out the sides of the crushed ant-lion. Gordon dove forward, rolling on the ground and coming up with crowbar drawn, putting himself between the ant-lions and Alyx.

He slashed through the head of one ant-lion, then bringing the crowbar down on another. Another ant-lion cut at the back of his leg, and he collapsed to one knee before bringing the crowbar around to parry another ant-lion claw. With a cry that surprised him, Gordon brought the crowbar down on the ant-lion again and again, bludgeoning it until the head was nothing but yellow paste.

A shadow loomed over him, and Gordon whirled around, crowbar gripped in both hands, ready to swing.

Griggs shrieked and put his hands up. "Whoa, Freeman! It's me!"

His breathing heavy, Gordon just stared at him for a few mindless seconds, his brain knowing nothing but killing ant-lions. Then he blinked, and realised the chamber was silent again.

"Uh… sorry."

Looking suitably shaken by the encounter, Griggs backed away. "Yeah… sure…" He then turned and moved to the wounded Sheckley, finishing his work on the wounded leg.

The Vortigaunts were strolling down the ramp towards them, as though this were just another day at work. It probably was, for them.

Finally getting control of his breathing, Gordon looked to the Vortigaunt leading the group towards Alyx.

"It's over?"

The Vort nodded. "We have exhausted their immediate number. Now to the next matter of urgency; the Alyx Vance."

The three aliens moved around the table, one stood on each side. Placing their hands out in front of them, an oddly calming green glow emanated out from their palms, bathing Alyx completely. Gordon slipped away the crowbar, relieved at the idea that soon, Alyx would be opening her eyes, talking, joking… but most of all just being alive. Alive was good.

It was the Vortigaunt that had rescued Alyx that spoke first. "Her injuries are grave. This will require deep submersion in the Vortessence."

"Indeed…" another Vort said.

"We require… the larval extract."

This prompted a loud cacophony of agreement, the Vorts practically talking over each other, their voices inordinately pleased.

"Ah, yes!"

"The extract!"

"The ex-tract...!"

"Yes."

"Agreed."

Gordon cocked an eyebrow and looked at Griggs and Sheckley, who just shrugged cluelessly.

The first Vortigaunt moved back from Alyx, the glow from its hands subsiding. "I will make the journey to seek the extract deep within the nest, in the sacred Nectarium. But I cannot hope to bring it back alone."

"We must remain to keep the Alyx Vance alive," the Vort opposite growled.

Gordon suddenly found himself under the intense scrutiny of the first Vortigaunt, hands together pleadingly.

"Please, Freeman. Join me."

This concept seemed to please the Vortigaunts as much as larval extract, if not more.

"Yes, take the Freeman!"

"Yes…"

"There is no finer companion."

"Just so."

"Well stated."

Words didn't come easily to him in that moment, his eyes focused on Alyx's very still body. He glanced back and forth between her and the Vortigaunt that made the request, its big red eye pleading without any words.

He took a breath, and swallowed. "Will she be all right?"

"We shall ensure that the Alyx Vance remains safe," the Vort at the far end of the table vowed sagely.

Reluctant, Gordon put a hand on Alyx's shoulder. He sighed, and nodded. "All right. Just, uh… I'll get a gun."

The Vortigaunt waited patiently for him while he picked up another thigh holster from beside the stack of rifle, wrapping it around his left leg. A Magnum revolver was in amongst the weapons, and after switching the crowbar over to his left thigh, Gordon loaded the weapon before slipping it into the holster on his right. He picked up an MP7 and checked it was loaded.

Tucking the MP7 under his arm, he picked up the Gravity Gun. When he saw the broken shoulder strap, Gordon groaned. A spindly hand rested on his shoulder, and Gordon looked over at the Vortigaunt.

"This one can help with this task," it said, holding out its hands.

Tentatively, and a little curious, Gordon handed over the Gravity Gun by the strap. Holding the broken ends together, a green glow become more intense until Gordon had to look away. When the light subsided, Gordon looked back to see the strap fused together, much as his glasses had been back at the Shorepoint base.

"Thank you," he said quietly and a little wondrously, gently taking the Gravity Gun and slinging the strap over his head so it rested across his body. "Okay," he breathed, gesturing ahead.

"Yes, forward!" the Vortigaunt announced loudly, thrusting a three fingered fist into the air. It held the pose slightly longer than necessary before shooting off in a lurching sprint towards tunnel 24. A surprisingly fast sprint, at that - Gordon had to run to keep up with its excited pace.

The Vortigaunt led the way to the very end of the tunnel, where a shuttered metal door blocked their path. Cables above it were attached to a portable power generator that looked like it hadn't seen much use.

"Pity the generator that requires a Vortigaunt to operate it," the Vort mused, resting its hands atop it. A cloud of green electricity buzzed around its claws before finally discharging into the generator, kicking into whirring, grinding life.

The old lights above their heads flickered into being, and the door rolled up into the ceiling with a loud metallic groan.

"This body is yours to command," the Vort announced, bumping a fist against its chest. "Lead on!"

"Uh… right," he said slowly. He had no idea where he was going, but the Vort had spoken with such confidence he didn't want to disappoint. Shotgun raised, Gordon made his way into the cave beyond.

The tunnel itself was closed off by a cave-in further down. A small ant-lion tunnel had been dug into the wall on the right, however, the yellow glow of the grubs lighting the way. Gordon looked to the Vort for confirmation. Receiving only a blank red stare, Gordon shrugged and moved inside. His boot squelched against a grub, and the light diminished. Clearing his throat uncomfortably, he looked back at the Vortigaunt.

Its face twisted into a smile. "A pleasing sound, is it not?"

Gordon was ready to protest, but then thought about it. "Sort of," he admitted, nodding lightly.

They continued on through the tunnel until it opened up into a larger cavern, taking them around to the left. As they proceeded onward, a crowd of ant-lions were gathered around something, slicing at it with their claws like wolves dividing out prey.

The hairs on Gordon's neck stood on end, and he saw streaks of green electricity coalesced out of thin air, drawn towards the Vort's hands as it pulled them to its chest. With a guttural Vortigaunt chant, it threw its hands forward, a bolt of energy firing across the cave and hitting the group of ant-lions dead centre. The shockwave flipped them onto their backs, leaving them flailing and twitching.

"Finish them, Freeman!" the Vortigaunt cried. "I have disabled them. Now, attack!"

With a shrug, Gordon did so, firing a wide swathe of bullets into the ant-lions, leaving them all lifeless and bleeding. As they moved through the bodies, the Vortigaunt hummed appreciatively.

"The Freeman is an invaluable companion."

The pained look on Alyx's face as alien claws burst through her body flashed across his mind.

"Sometimes," Gordon muttered.

Though the Vortigaunt had earlier told him to lead the way, Gordon often found the alien latching onto his arm and wordlessly pointing him down a different tunnel. Ant-lions crowded the maze of tunnels, though the acid-spitting variety were smarter and irritatingly crafty, appearing at the far end of one tunnel before ducking out of sight, attempting to lure them in.

As he approached a corner, the Vortigaunt spoke with surprising softness, its voice barely echoing in the cramped passageway. At this proximity, Gordon could smell the Vortigaunts' breath.

Hm. Smelt like celery.

"Beware the acid-lions," it growled, eyes on the end of the tunnel. "Their corrosive spray permits quick carving of rock passages, but it also serves as a strong deterrent to hive robbers like ourselves."

No sooner had the word 'ourselves' left its mouth that the Vortigaunt thrust its arm out, firing a loud and blindness inducing bolt of energy, catching an acid-lion attempting to spy on them.

"Return to the void!" it snarled.

Blinking a troubling amount of spots away, Gordon looked over at the Vortigaunt, which had already started moving down the tunnel.

"Yes, forward!"

A grumble in his throat, Gordon followed along, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. This was going to be very different. Even Dog had been relatively obedient; the Vortigaunt was independent, with its own way of doing things and probably unaccustomed to working with humans in this way. Gordon had the impression that in battle, the Vorts were largely left to their own devices. This was only based on the fact he hadn't met any human/Vort fighting teams. They could be a common staple of the resistance, for all he knew. Judging by this one, however… probably not.

The Vortigaunt did, however, wait for him around the corner, back pressed to the wall and head jutted ahead, as though trying to hear something in the distance.

"The ant-lions are keen to our presence. Expect ever greater resistance as we proceed."

It was good advice, and they found themselves dodging behind rocks to avoid sprays of acid and vicious claws with a frustrating regularity. Every time they heard the hiss of unseen ant-lions, Gordon could only think of Alyx moving ever closer to death. The patient silence of the Vortigaunt did nothing to boost his spirits, and Gordon often found himself studying the creature as they navigated the tunnels, searching for any signs that this was as urgent for it as it was for him.

The ant-lion caves gradually became less and less prominent as they proceeded, replaced by the dark wood and old frames of the man-made tunnels. It took them through a maze of mineshafts, only the Vortigaunts' instincts guiding them in the right direction. Old mine carts and collapsed wooden frames occasionally slowed their progress, but the ant-lions themselves didn't bother them as much in the human sections.

Zombies became more prominent, however, the dingy light and creaking wood taking him back to Ravenholm once more. Though having a Vortigaunt firing bolts of electricity certainly took the edge off. It was after finishing off one last zombie with a combined volley of bullets and green electricity that the Vortigaunt grinned over at him.

"It is good, now that we work together!" it announced excitedly, as though it had been looking forward to this moment.

It moved off ahead of him, leading the way up a slope that took them towards a ladder at the top. The ladder itself led up into a small hole in the ceiling above their heads. Gordon followed along, walking on the other side of a mine cart rail. Trying to ignore the smell the inert zombies littering the tunnel were letting off, Gordon looked over at the Vortigaunt. It looked remarkably cheerful as it sauntered along, bulbous red eye focused on its destination.

"I, uh…" he cleared his throat. "I've wanted to say…"

The Vortigaunt looked over at him, though they didn't stop walking.

"Back at Black Mesa, I…" He chewed the inside of his cheek, unable to think of sufficient words. "Your people, I didn't know they were…" Sighing, Gordon suddenly found himself unable to look the Vortigaunt in the eye, instead focusing on his boots. "I killed so many of your people, and I…"

The Vortigaunt had stopped, so Gordon did as well. Taking a deep breath, Gordon forced himself to look at the Vortigaunt, to show it the respect it deserved. "I'm sorry."

With a thoughtful breath, the Vortigaunt stared down to the ground, silent for a few tense moment. "Forgiveness is not ours to bestow. We cannot forget those whose cords you cut."

Words failing him, Gordon just nodded solemnly. That… wasn't exactly what he was hoping for. Though, he supposed, it was what he deserved.

The Vort raised a hand, interrupting his thoughts. "However, take comfort. What seems to you a sacrifice is merely, to us, an oscillation. We do not fear the interval of darkness. It is a perplexing paradox, for you have brought us grief and jubilation beyond measure."

"I…" he frowned, giving the Vort a troubled sideways look. "I have?"

Its eye closing as though in a trance, the Vortigaunt spoke like a shaman telling a story around a campfire. "We see you still in Black Mesa. Clearly we see you in the Nihilanth's chamber. We bear witness to the bright eternity of the Nihilanth's demise. You leap, you fall, we see you flash beyond the barriers. We are there still, in observance of your final stroke. While our own lay scattered at your feet, you severed the vortal cord that bound the Nihilanth to life, and to us. That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day. For once the lesser master lay defeated, we knew the greater must also fall in time."

With a pleased sigh, it opened its eye, looking on Gordon with a reverence that made him uncomfortable. "Exceptional. For a brief time you joined with us. You are one, between the worlds. Communion of the Vortessence. And that other: a deeper mystery. No deeper than the void itself."

It started moving up the hill again, as though nothing had been said. Gordon rushed after it, grabbing onto the ladder and standing on the opposite side to the Vortigaunt.

"You know him, don't you?"

Rather than answer, the Vort cast an eye up the ladder, then back to him. "Something secret steers us both. We shall not name it."

It seemed ready to climb when Gordon put a hand over its. "But you were there, I saw you. Please, just… tell me something. You helped me escape from him. You helped Alyx. Tell me something, anything."

Taking the closest approximation of a frustrated breath that it could manage, the Vortigaunt finally fixed him with a stare. "What is to come cannot be known, only shaped by our current actions. Knowledge before its time can influence future events beyond our capacity to predict."

Gordon's forehead tensed into a troubled frown as he tried to sift through the riddles. "So… you're saying that I will find out… but not yet."

"Indeed."

"Why not?" he challenged through his clenched jaw. All these riddles and backwards-speaking clues. Couldn't someone give him a straight answer? "What if not knowing makes things worse?"

"Ours is not to reason why," the Vortigaunt said grandly, holding a hand out in front of it like a Shakespearean actor. "Ours is but to do and-"

"-die," Gordon finished with the alien. He nodded, closing his eyes and allowing a sigh to take the tension and the anger from his body. "Story of my life."

This time, it was the Vortigaunt that nodded sadly, almost resigned. "Indeed," it whispered, almost inaudible as it averted its' gaze from Gordon's.

With that, it clambered up the ladder with alarming speed and through the cramped open hatch above. That was it, then. No control over his own life, just being pushed from one place, from one bloody, violence filled mission to the next. Destiny was never something Gordon had put much thought into. He was a practical sort of person; philosophy never really entered into his head, except probably moral decisions regarding test subjects in portal experiments. And now he was dealing with issues of pre-destiny, free will.

What the hell. If he got it wrong, it wasn't like it was the end of the world, right?

Oh. Wait.

Gordon followed the Vort up the ladder. There werethings he could control, however. He could help the Vortigaunt find this extract stuff, and protect Alyx while they saved her life. He could do that, while no-one else could. That was free will, wasn't it? Making the decision and performing the action that would save someone's life? He shuddered the thought away. He found it easier at Black Mesa, blithely nodding and just doing what everyone told him to do. No questions, and only the vaguest notions of independent thought on his part.

He needed to focus. Stop complaining about things he couldn't change. He would find out when he found out. Right now, Alyx was slowly dying somewhere up above, waiting for him. Gordon was quite literally the only person who could do it. And even if he weren't, he wouldn't entrust this to anybody else.

The ladder brought him up into a cramped wooden corridor, at the end of which the Vortigaunt was waiting.

Gordon followed it around the corner and through the winding corridor, frowning as he realised something about what the Vort had said.

"You know poetry?"

"Indeed," the Vortigaunt nodded. "We have learnt many things from our time with humanity. From the Magnusson, we have, among many other things, learnt literature. From the Kleiner, the joys of recreational mathematics. And from the Eli Vance, arguably the most important of all…" It grinned. "Baseball."

Shaking his head, Gordon smiled. "Baseball?"

"Regrettably, baseballs are in increasingly short supply within the resistance. Perhaps 'headcrabball' would be a more apt description of the game as we play it."

Before Gordon could ask any further questions, they emerged into a slightly larger room, shadows cast over them by the huge metal structure in front of them. Though he didn't know the name for it, it looked like one the metal bowls that molten liquids would be poured through. A funnel at the bottom pointed through a hole in the ground, though there wasn't enough room between the funnel and the gap for even the lithe Vortigaunt to squeeze through.

"What next in the parade of constant obstacles?" the Vortigaunt muttered as it threw out a ranting arm at the metal bowl in front of them, the other hand planted on its hip. Its' tone sounded very different than normal, and Gordon realised that this would be one of the 'other things' the Vorts had learnt from Dr Magnusson.

He handed the MP7 to the Vortigaunt. "Hold this, please."

After looking down at the weapon and wiggling its' head like a dog shaking off water, the Vortigaunt gently took the weapon, holding it in both hands like a holy object. Gordon hopped down to the ground beneath the metal bowl, eyes on the metal rods it hung from. He blasted it with the Gravity Gun, and it swung forward with a loud groan. Predictably, it swung back, and Gordon sidestepped out of the way. When it swung away again, Gordon moved closer to the square hole in the floor, then blasted the bowl again, pushing it even further away from him.

After a nod to the Vortigaunt, Gordon hopped down through the hole. He plunged down into another slope of a mining tunnel, hitting a wide, flat mining cart at speed. The impact jostled it from whatever was keeping it still at the top of the slope, and it rushed down the tunnel.

"Fear not, Freeman, for I will follow!" the Vort cried from above, though Gordon could hardly hear it over the wind rushing past his ears. Lights flashed past as he moved closer and closer to the bottom of the tunnel, which overlooked a mining shaft that Gordon couldn't see the depths of yet.

He looked back up the car as the trailer reached the edge of the mine shaft, and started running up it. The trailer flung itself into the abyss below as Gordon reached the very end of the car. Gordon pushed off with his legs, arms held out wide for anything to grab on to. A wooden ladder was very clear in front of him, and Gordon wildly swung his arms around in front of him. One hand missed, but the other managed to latch onto a rung.

Frantically, he grabbed on with the other hand and found his footing. The mining car echoed up from the bottom of the shaft as it crashed against the walls, before finally plunging down into what sounded like water.

Letting out a relieved breath, Gordon started climbing back up to the tunnel. He had fallen quite a distance with the train car, and it took an achingly long time to climb back up. As he reached the top, a large red eye abruptly poked out from above, nearly colliding with his head.

With a yelp that didn't exactly make him feel like the legendary One Free Man, Gordon fell back before scrambling awkwardly to get a grip on the ladder again.

The Vort, meanwhile, was grinning ear… hole to earhole. "Ah! No pit would be complete without a Freeman climbing out of it."

Trying not to look too annoyed, Gordon clambered up and dusted himself off. "No, I suppose not."

Silently, the Vortigaunt handed him his MP7 back. Smiling at the gesture, Gordon took the weapon and nodded gratefully to his new companion. The mixed feelings he had about the Vortigaunts were quickly fading. Moving up the tunnel, they came to an ant-lion cave that had been burrowed into the wall on the left. It took them through into an echoing canyon, dark rocks lit from a chamber on the far left side.

"Behold, across the chasm," the Vortigaunt said, pointing a spindly claw past Gordon's head. "That immense repellent device promises surcease from endless ant-lion attacks."

It was a thumper, like those from the coast of City 17. Gordon could hear that much. The regular dull pounding reverberated around the chasm, surrounding them. Spotlights lit the cavern the thumper had been erected in. He could see a swarm of ant-lions moving toward and away from the device, like waves. Their screeches at every thump of the device were barely audible from where they were, but that would probably change as they moved forward.

"If the Freeman is in agreement, let us find our way to that vibratory haven."

Lifting the MP7, Gordon nodded, and they moved together around the pathway of the canyon. It brought them around to a ledge overlooking the area the thumper was protecting. Two parallel rails led into two tunnels, the mine carts that had once occupied them left on their sides to rust. A makeshift campsite had been erected above the ground, the framework surrounding the thumper. The spray-painted lambda symbol on the side of the metal huts indicated they had once been occupied by the resistance.

At the mouth of the right hand tunnel, Gordon could see the crashed remains of a Combine troop transport, though how it had ended up here he had no idea. Could have fallen through an ant-lion tunnel, he supposed. He couldn't see any soldiers around, but still…

Gordon nudged the Vortigaunt, and pointed out the troop transport.

It growled appreciatively, nodding. "We must be cautious."

Further along the cavern was a large metal shed, tucked into the far right corner. Beside that was a metal platform with what looked like an open elevator shaft extending up out of it. Following it, Gordon saw that it led to a walkway quite a distance above. He could see the elevator itself up there, waiting for them. His gaze back on the ground again, Gordon saw a control booth for the elevator on the other side of the wide metal platform.

He was ready to do the usual 'count to three before charging out into an insane situation' when he realised Alyx wasn't here. Once more, with a painful twinge in his chest, he found himself really hoping that she was going to be okay.

Gordon leapt down into the cavern, the Vortigaunt close behind. The ant-lions didn't pay much attention to them, any attempt at glancing in their direction diverted by the pounding of the thumper. Gordon still kept his eyes on them as he moved around, however, backing up towards the metal platform where the elevator controls waited. They had only just made their way around the ant-lions when a familiar, muffled groan made him freeze on the spot.

Turning his head in sync with the Vort, Gordon tracked the noise to the metal shed beside the platform. The door abruptly launched itself from its hinges, thumping and flipping along the ground before crushing one of the ant-lions surrounding the thumper. That managed to get their attention, and they turned on the swathe of zombies and zombines that lurched out from the shed. Ever more moans came from the blackened tunnels, and Gordon saw the faint outlines of zombies. Wonderful.

Though they were content to fight amongst themselves, that didn't stop both zombie and ant-lion alike from attacking Gordon and the Vort. Gordon ducked a slash from a zombine and circled around it, blasting at the head with the MP7 while the Vort busied itself wrestling ant-lions.

Gordon ran for the elevator control booth, quickly ducking to the side to avoid an ant-lion soaring towards his headcrab, instead colliding with a roaring zombine. He ran into the booth with such speed he smacked noisily against the metal wall. Whirling on the spot, he found two thick buttons, red and green. He slammed a fist on the green button, and poked his head through the windowless booth to check up the metal skeleton of the elevator shaft. A yellow light atop the elevator whirled noiselessly as it descended painfully slowly.

A snarl from behind made Gordon turn on the spot, and he leant back to allow a clawed zombie hand to sail in front of his face. After blasting it through the headcrab, Gordon looked over and saw an acid-lion land behind the Vort, glaring at it menacingly. Gordon whirled the gun around, pointing it at the Vort.

"Hey, uh… Vortigaunt!"

Still grappling with an ant-lion, the Vort looked over at him urgently.

"Get down!"

It did so without question, and Gordon fired, spending the last of his ammunition ensuring the acid-lion was well and truly dead. The Vort blew the ant-lion apart with a green energy-laced uppercut before backing up to the thumper. Yanking out the revolver, Gordon sprinted over to join him, ducking around zombine arms and skidding beneath acid-lion spray before leaping over an ant-lion, rolling along the sandy ground before coming to a stop beside the Vort.

Gordon leapt to his feet, revolver clutched in both hands. He remembered the recoil these things had, and didn't want to be hitting himself in the face in front of the Vort.

"It is good that you fight with us!" it cried over the thumper. Its eye drifted over to the flashing light atop the elevator. "So, you have summoned the lift!"

Gordon nodded. "Do you have a name?" he asked over his shoulder, keeping his eyes on the incoming zombies. The ant-lions were keeping their distance with every punch of the thumper, and Gordon had to blink and squint through the clouds of dust it regularly kicked up.

"Titles have no meaning amongst Vortikind," it said sagely, blasting a grenade out of the hand of a zombine. "We are all united through the Vortessence."

"Okay," Gordon blasted the same zombine through the headcrab, killing it. "But it would help to have something to call you."

Another zombie approached from behind, and the Vort whirled on the spot, blasting it in the chest with a burst of electricity.

"RETURN TO THE ALL IN ONE!" it roared, with a volume that made Gordon duck his head a little. Then, pleasantly, it turned to him. "This one can understand your reasoning for wishing so."

After flashing him a polite smile, it returned to firing electricity at incoming zombies. Gordon thought about it as he searched for the closest zombie, keenly aware that he didn't have a lot of bullets.

"Where are we?" Gordon asked.

The Vort gave him a look that implied he was mentally deficient. "We are in the mines, Freeman."

"I know that, I meant…" he blasted a zombie, hitting it in the shoulder. Cursing under his breath, he fired again, blasting it through the head. "What's its name? There was writing on the buildings."

"Ah, this one understands…" the Vort said, nodding appreciatively as it blasted one zombie back into a group, toppling them like skittles. "I believe it is entitled 'Victory Mine'."

In the middle of taking aim at a Zombine, Gordon's arm dropped slightly as he looked at the Vortigaunt incredulously. "It's the 'Victory Mine' mine?"

"Indeed," the Vort concurred innocently, without a hint of irony.

Gordon fired, hitting the Zombine right between where the eyes would have been. Looking to the other side of the cavern, Gordon saw that the lift had almost arrived.

He checked how many bullets he had left while he spoke. Two. "So… Victory Mine. As a name, I mean."

Tilting its head to the side, the Vort stared down at the ground for a moment. "Victory Mine…" Its back straightened up with pride, and the Vorts gaze moved to the upper corner of the cavern. "Victory Mine! This one is most honoured to be so titled by the Freeman."

Genuinely pleased with how happy the Vort was with this turn of events, Gordon smiled and slammed the revolver shut, making sure the remaining bullets were lined up properly.

"To the lift, Freeman," the newly christened Victory Mine commanded, pointing a spindly finger across the cavern. "Save yourself."

Gordon looked to the waiting lift, then back to Victory Mine. "No, I can't-"

"That lift is too small to hold us both," he urged, a gentle hand pushing Gordon forward. "Go on alone. I will join you when I can."

Though a 'but' was ready on his lips, Gordon looked to Victory Mine, lithe muscles and crackling green energy pulsing from his hands. Then he looked at his revolver with two bullets, a Gravity Gun with nothing to throw, and a crowbar.

"All right. I'll send the lift back down for you."

"Noted."

Gordon started running, then stopped to face Victory Mine. "Might be easier to think of Victory as your first name. It's quicker."

Victory stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head wondrously. "Truly exceptional."

He shrugged modestly, and was about to leave again when he looked over his shoulder suspiciously. Was that sarcasm? Did Vortigaunts even know what sarcasm was? Then again, they had learnt from humans, and sarcasm was definitely something that Dr Magnusson enjoyed.

After shaking it off, Gordon started sprinting, expending his last two bullets on an acid-lion that had taken up shop in the control booth beside the elevator. He leapt inside, clanging against the back of the lift before awkwardly turning around in the small space, jabbing a finger onto the 'up' button. With a regular clanking above his head, the gears at the top of the shaft started moving, slowly pulling the elevator up.

Slipping the revolver away, Gordon watched as Victory moved into the encroaching monsters with surprising agility. He grabbed the arm of one zombie, twirling on the spot and tossing it into a gang of ant-lions approaching from behind. Another ant-lion flew at his head, which he snatched out of mid-air and slammed into the ground. Victory jumped onto the ant-lion, crushing it while using it as a springboard to fly headfirst into a group of zombies and zombines. They all toppled into a heap together, and Victory rolled to the side, ending up in the middle of the ant-lions, acid-lions, zombies and zombines.

Gordon was three-quarters of the way up now, and noticed another platform on the left-hand side of the cavern that was moving down another elevator shaft. This platform was just that, a platform. No guardrails or safety precautions of any kind. Most likely for supplies, then. It was moving down to the ground at the same rate his elevator was ascending, so Victory would be able to make his way up that way.

Said Vortigaunt was gathering energy in his palms, slowly bringing them together and concentrating the stray bolts of electricity into a glowing ball held in both hands. After a moments pause, Victory threw his hands into the air before slamming them down into the ground. A circular shockwave blasted out, repelling the ant-lions and zombies up into the air and across the cavern in all directions.

"Yippee ki-yay," Victory growled from below, though Gordon couldn't be sure over the thumper and the mechanical whine of the elevator.

Gordon's platform reached the top, and he stepped out onto the walkway, rushing to the guardrail to observe what was happening down below. He saw Victory run to the supply platform and press a button on a control panel beside it. The various creatures down below stumbled to their feet, and didn't even miss a beat looking for Victory, instead turning on each other.

He looked around the walkway as he waited for Victory to arrive, finding an entrance to a tunnel in the left-hand wall. It was closed off by a metal shuttered door, though an inert generator was attached, giving him hope. The platform arrived behind him with a clang, and Gordon turned to see Victory trudging over.

"Observe how they fight on alone, heedless of our escape," he said curiously, gesturing down to the horrific noises below. After casting a curious glance behind him, Victory looked back to Gordon, taking a decisive breath. "Well, this is all very amusing, but we must not forget the gravity of our errand; to heal the Alyx Vance."

Victory moved to the generator, and rested his hands atop it. With a green blast of energy, the generator thrummed to life, shaking around noisily as it pulled the metal door upwards. With a wave of his hand, Victory led Gordon onwards into the tunnel beyond.

Tilting his head to the side, Gordon looked at the Vortigaunt curiously. "Did you say 'yippee ki-yay?'"

He nodded happily. "Learnt from the Calhoun."

Gordon smiled in understanding. "Ah. That makes sense."

The tunnel led to a human sized door, overturned benches and planks blocking it off. Gordon moved them away with the Gravity Gun, just then realising it was the only weapon he had now. If he didn't count Victory, that was. Opening the door, the rotting smell that came from inside made Gordon wince. On an old armchair, the covering full of torn holes, was the rotted corpse of a citizen. Burns and fleshy red patches obscured the face and the only part of the chest left visible beneath the blue denim shirt. A shotgun rested up against the armrest of the chair, an empty bottle of beer resting askew on the other side.

"A poignant scene," Victory mused poetically. "An eternity's repose. It brings peaceful thoughts, does it not?"

He was busy trying to fight the retching instinct, and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "I… suppose." He checked the shotgun, found it was empty. "We should go now."

Victory cleared his throat, and walked to the door behind him, opening it like a butler. "After you, Freeman."

Hand still rubbing his nose, Gordon moved past Victory and into the tunnel, moving towards the exit that was blocked off by thickly attached planks of wood. Gordon walked over and ran his fingers down the wood. They were far too solidly wedged in; the Gravity Gun wouldn't be much help with these.

With a sudden crash, the wooden planks dented out towards him, splinters shattering into the air. A luminescent green emanated through the gaps, and, backing up to stand beside Victory, Gordon could only just make out the outline of an ant-lion guardian. Except this one glowed like the ant-lions grubs.

"Ah, the ancient guardian!" Victory announced, clasping his hands together. "Retrieving the extract may… not be unchallenging. The guardian's presence guarantees the nearness of larval clusters. They are commonly posted near the young."

Gordon looked back and forth between Victory and the guardian, which was huffing and snarling behind the wooden planks. "So… what do we do? Kill it?"

The Vortigaunt shook his head solemnly, speaking as they watched the guardian turn and disappear into the darkness. "They emit an odour in death that renders the extract useless. We must instead lead it away from the Nectarium, trapping or distracting it long enough to obtain the extract."

A smaller doorway on the left seemed to be the only way forward, and they moved through it cautiously. They encountered no resistance as they moved through the tunnels. With the ancient guardian so close by, the other variety of ant-lions seemed to be giving them a wide berth. Navigating the maze of tunnels, they eventually came to a junction of sorts, all the tunnels converging on an elevator shaft beside them. A quick glance at the controls of the elevator indicated it was powerless.

Searching the area around and behind the elevator shaft, which took up only a small section of the mineshaft in front of them, Gordon could see a platform jutting out several feet below and quite far across from them, leading into a large circular ventilation shaft, a demonic red light glowing out. Victory walked to the edge, peering down into the darkness below.

"A wind from below bears the scent of extract," he said appreciatively, like he had smelt delicious food. "The stuff we seek lies at the bottom of this pit." His head arched upwards. "This shaft connects to the chamber above, where my kin sustain the Alyx Vance. Once we have the extract, we can rejoin them quickly, provided we can restore elevator function."

Leaning towards the elevator, Victory traced his finger loosely over the buttons of the elevator control panel. "But… how? How shall we descend?"

Gordon sighed, promptly backing up and then sprinting to the ledge, leaping over the chasm and slipping rather neatly into the massive air vent below. He rolled along, sliding to a squeaky halt on the metal floor curving around him. Blowing out a relieved breath, Gordon clambered to his feet, checking up the red lit pipe. Seeing the enormous fan ahead of him, he understood why the red light was on. A thick chunk of wood had become jammed between the fan and the metal frame keeping it in place, breaking the rotor and two blades, leaving the fan inert.

"Bravely done, Freeman!" Victory cheered from behind, and Gordon walked back to the mouth of the air vent to see him at the ledge, looking down on him. "When you reach the lower chamber, you must find a way to summon me."

He nodded. "Right. I'll see you later." Gordon turned and moved on down the tunnel, Gravity Gun clutched tightly in both hands.

"Remember, do not kill the guardian, or the extract will be ruined!"

"Okay, thank you," Gordon replied, his shout fading half-heartedly. Using the Gravity Gun at an angle, he was able to blast the fan around until the gap in the blades was rotated in front of him. He clambered through and stood up, finding the ability to walk in an air vent a strangely enjoyable oddity.

He followed the tunnels around several turns and bends before it brought him out into a large, dark ant-lion cave. A few feet below, a rocky pathway extended out across the darkened chasm beneath him. On the large outcropping just beneath his feet, a thick stalagmite extended upwards, blocking Gordon's view of what was ahead, and he had to peer around to see that the stone bridge stretched to the mouth of a cave at the far side.

Casting a quick gaze around the cavern and back down the tunnel, Gordon saw no other alternative route. Shrugging, he hopped down to the ground, the finest of dust clouds puffing out beneath his boots.

In response, a loud, quick roar, like a dog's woof, emerged from the cave at the far end. Cautiously poking his head around the stalagmite, Gordon saw the ancient guardian gallop into view at the mouth of the cave. Throwing its horse-esque head about, it finally settled its gaze on Gordon, and charged without a single noise. Gordon backed up to the wall, looking up at the air vent he had come from. Too high up. Wonderful.

As the guardian thundered over, however, Gordon noticed there wasn't enough room for the creature to move around the stalagmite, and he smiled in relief. The expression vanished when the guardian slammed headfirst into the stalagmite, collapsing it down towards him. Gordon darted to the right to avoid the avalanche of thick rock, and noticed that the guardian had managed to daze itself with that blow.

Gordon started running, moving at a speed that left the air burning in his lungs far quicker than usual. The guardian snarled far behind him, and Gordon glanced over as he entered the cave to see that it was on its feet and facing towards him again. Boots pounding against the rock floor of the caves as he shot around a bend, Gordon heard the gallop of the guardian's massive hooves. The gallop was getting louder, closer.

The tunnel arched around to the right, but the guardian was approaching too quickly. He wasn't going to make it. A luminescent green glowed out from a small webbed cavern tucked into the lower left of the bend in the tunnel. Gordon got as close as he could manage before he threw himself forward, diving into a skid that took him halfway into the small tunnel. He scrambled the rest of the way, and he could feel the guardian's nose bumping against the bottom of his boots as he crawled inside.

With a frustrated snort, the guardian galloped off down the tunnel. Gordon let out a loud, relieved breath, his head dropping. That had been close. Bringing his head up, Gordon grimaced at the green goo stuck to his forehead. A low grumble in his throat, Gordon wiped it off and started crawling again. The ant-lion equivalent of the old cramped air ducts from Black Mesa led him on a stressful and claustrophobic maze for what felt like far too long, and he was eternally grateful to see the darkness of another ant-lion cavern.

Poking his head out, Gordon saw a donut shaped pathway ahead of him. A thick, jagged pillar of wild rock extended down from the roof of the chamber and through the central circle of the donut. There was another cave in the upper right of the canyon stretching out ahead of him. With a series of very uncomfortable grunts, Gordon managed to heave himself out of the ant-lion crawlspace, collapsing in a heap on the rocky path.

At first taking his time getting up, the roar of the guardian blasting out from the tunnel in the corner sent him shooting to his feet. It skidded to a halt at the mouth of the tunnel, glaring over at him.

Gordon resisted the temptation to wave.

Swinging its head down, it batted a boulder over at him. Gordon ducked it, then stepped around another before slowly starting to slide his way around the donut. The guardian moved with him, mirroring him. As he darted back and forth, trying to fake out this giant behemoth that had just been throwing rocks at him, Gordon had a sudden flashback to fourth grade. Though it should have been two overweight ancient guardians shouting 'Four Eyes Freeman' to make the image completely accurate.

Slowly moving to the right as casually as he could manage, the guardian matched his movements before growling in frustration and charging straight at him. Eyes bulging, Gordon started running, fairly certain he wasn't going to make it in time. He was in line with the tunnel when the guardian's hooves became deafening.

With a sudden, earth shatteringly painful strike against his back, Gordon was thrown into the air. He hurtled towards the archway of the tunnel, smashing into it and deflecting down into the unforgiving rock floor.

He groaned incoherently. The HEV suit beeped, told him there was a fracture.

"Oh, shut… UP!" he shouted, angrily launching to his feet. The shooting pain in his ribs only pushed him along, sprinting down the tunnel which curved first to the left, then to the right. A sudden, hidden drop was not revealed to him until he had turned the corner, and he dropped what must have been half the height of a Strider before colliding with the ground with a terribly dull thud. Luckily, he landed on the same spot of his ribs he had hit before, so there was nothing for the HEV suit to tell him about.

The guardian came flying over the ledge, landing with incredible grace and volume just in front of him.

With a quiet sneer that he hoped the guardian understood was him being unimpressed, Gordon pushed himself to his feet and adjusted his glasses. A boulder tucked into the corner at the bottom of the ledge stood out to Gordon, and he pulled it to him with the Gravity Gun. He aimed it at the snarling guardian and fired it point blank at its head, which whipped to the side as the massive creature stumbled back.

Gordon started running again, shooting around the slightly dazed monster and quickly assessing the cavern beyond. No small passageways, no tunnels. This wasn't looking good. In no mood to give up now, Gordon kept on running, pouring on more speed when the guardian cried out in rage.

Boots pounding around the bend, Gordon saw a boarded up doorway ahead. Breathlessly yanking the Gravity Gun around, he started blasting relentlessly, smashing through the wooden planks. The guardian was nearly upon him now, and Gordon pulled one of the planks to him and fired it into the creature's face. It shook its head like the blow had just made it a little dizzy. The delay gave Gordon enough time to blast through the remaining planks, however, and he dove through and into the small box of a room beyond.

The floorboards creaked loudly as he landed, rolling and smacking his back against the wall. Gordon looked up to see the guardian's head burst through the doorway at him, an inch of space between the tip of its 'nose' and Gordon's face. Its breath steamed up Gordon's glasses as he carefully brought the Gravity Gun around, pointing it at the floorboards beneath him. He blasted through and fell down, plunging into another mining tunnel, not to mention his rear colliding severely with a metal rail.

Gordon slowly fell to the side, frozen in the sitting position. His face pressed to the dusty ground, Gordon allowed himself a whine.

"That really hurt…" he mumbled.

The guardian, insensitive to his pain, howled and roared above him, thrashing its head around in anger or frustration, Gordon couldn't quite tell. He wasn't really willing to turn his head at the moment. Finally, the guardian decided that it wouldn't be squeezing through the human-sized doorway any time soon and retreated, thundering off down the tunnel above.

Gordon prayed that would be the last he saw of that glowing bastard. Blowing out a breath, and trying to think about all the good things Alyx did to encourage him along, Gordon pushed himself to his feet. He looked up and down the tunnel, feeling a jolting twinge in his neck when he turned his head too far to the left. Which was fine, because right was the way to go, apparently.

It led him out into a large open chamber that had been overtaken by ant-lion cobwebs. On his immediate right, Gordon could see the platform that served as the bottom of the mineshaft he had been overlooking earlier with Victory.

"I sense the Freeman down below!" Victory called out, his voice echoing down from above and actually making Gordon feel a little better. "Activate the elevator, that we might reconvene."

He moved around to the platform, surreptitiously checking his stats as he did so. The HEV suit was closer to twenty percent now. Great. The platform itself seemed fine. A set of gears beneath the platform seemed to be the problem. Crouching down and wincing as he nursed his ribs, Gordon saw that of the three gears, the middle had somehow dropped out over the course of time. It was absurdly heavy, and Gordon grunted louder than he was expecting as he slid it back into place.

Reaching over to the handbrake beside the spinning gears, Gordon yanked it over with a wince. Walking on tired legs, Gordon moved to the buttons on the metal pillar beside the spot where the elevator would eventually come to rest. He pressed the green button, and a shower of sparks sprinkled down on him.

"I descend," Victory announced sagely.

Gordon dragged himself down the steps and out into the cavern. A comfortable distance from the elevator shaft, he slumped down to the floor. Resting back on his hands, Gordon let his head hang back, taking a grateful breath as the low-powered HEV suit did its best to heal him.

"Abide a moment longer Freeman, that we may proceed together!" Victory urged, as though Gordon were bouncing up and down impatiently for his arrival.

He waved a tired hand in the air. "Don't worry about it…"

It took a blissful twenty seconds or so for Victory to arrive, by which time the HEV suit had managed to heal at least some of the damage. Gordon heaved himself up to meet the rapidly approaching Victory, who jabbed his fist through the air proudly.

"The Freeman has done his task magnificently. The scent of ripe perfection beckons," he groaned, head arched upwards. "Follow, Freeman, while I track it to the source. You have done the hardest work, admitting entrance to this chamber. Truly, the life of Alyx Vance is in able hands."

Gordon nodded quietly, every passing moment just increasing his need to see Alyx safe again. His Vortigaunt companion seemed in an equal hurry, and was promptly sprinting towards a tunnel on the other side of the barren cave. A little dizzy from the morphine-burst resulting from his earlier rest-stop, Gordon stumbled a little as he followed Victory to a closed metal door attached to a generator.

With a quick blast of electricity, Victory had it running, and the door slid up into the ceiling, allowing the glistening white lights from the chamber beyond to shine in. Victory ran inside without hesitation onto a rocky slope going up to the right, leading to… well, Gordon wasn't sure what he was looking at as he slowly caught up.

They resembled giant honeycombs, each hole wide enough for a Vortigaunt to easily slide an arm in. A large chunk was attached to the ledge in front of them, allowing easy access for them. Moving to the ledge, Gordon could see that the massive canyon housed many more of the honeycombs. This would be the Nectarium, he supposed.

"Ah, such quantities of larvae…" Victory closed his eyes, sniffing the air. "Such a heady aroma."

Without a word, Victory brought his hands up to the air. With a Vortigaunt chant, he slammed them down again, placing them on the honeycomb and sending a bright blue energy glowing out of every hole of every honeycomb in the chamber around them. Gordon could only look about in wonder at the blue light swirling around him. As beautiful as it was, however, he couldn't help but silently wish that Victory would hurry up.

And then, for no reason whatsoever, his brain suddenly connected two bits of information together. Bennett and Philips. Security guards at Black Mesa. Veronica Bennett, daughter of scientist Walter Bennett, liked action movies. Wayne Philips, jittery, loved baseball. He remembered them. Which meant they were people, they were real. As long as he remembered, they were real. And if he could remember two names out of the hundreds he had come across, then maybe saving Alyx wasn't so unlikely.

Gradually, the blue lights faded, winking out all across the chamber until only a few remained, persistently glowing out from the honeycombs.

"Ah, excellent," Victory purred, hands clasped together. "A bounty of larval extract. This should only take a moment."

With that, he clambered atop the honeycomb and towards the only hole still showing any light, at least in the honeycomb available to them. Casting his eye around the chamber, Gordon could see plenty of blue lights twinkling out at him. Victory, meanwhile, had delicately eased his entire arm into the glowing hole. Slowly, and with great care, he pulled out a glowing blue blob about the size of an apple. Shoulders hunched and grasping it with both hands, Victory hopped back down to Gordon's side.

"Secretions of the finest quality. Let us now return now to the Alyx Vance."

Gordon was only too eager to agree, and they sprinted almost in tandem up the tunnel, moving quickly into the elevator. Once inside, Gordon pulled the metal grating across and elbowed the green button, sending the elevator back up. Darkness consumed them as they hurtled upwards. The glowing extract in Victory's hands lit his face from beneath, like someone holding a torch while they told scary stories around the campfire. It was the only light they had as the walls whipped past them.

"Truly, Freeman. Well done. You bear some traits we thought innate to Vortikind."

"Um…" he cocked an eyebrow, unsure if that was a good thing or not. "Thank you. How do you know so much about ant-lions?"

"Antlion husbandry was once our ancestral practice," Victory explained, holding the extract up in front of him. "The creatures exude many valuable compounds, but the extract is the most prized by far. It dissolves the false veils that divide the Vortessence. All this you shall witness when-"

"No pulse!"

It was another Vortigaunt, the voice echoing from above them. Light shone down from above, filtered by the metal gantry that was the ceiling. Peering up, Gordon could see the three Vortigaunts gathered around the table Alyx was resting on.

"Her heart has stopped!"

Gordon's did much the same, all his breath leaving him as the Vortigaunts spoke further, their voices desperate.

"She ebbs!"

"If we lose her, we lose all!"

The elevator clanged to a halt back in the mining chamber, and Gordon hurled the door the aside. He rushed out, quickly shifting aside to let Victory through. The Vortigaunt stepped through, holding his prize in the air.

"Behold… the extract!"

"Ah, yes…" the Vortigaunt opposite Victory mused, reaching out and reverently taking the blue glob. Its red eye studied the extract intently. "Miraculous secretion…"

"Make haste!" another Vort urged, and Gordon really couldn't help but agree. Glancing around the chamber, he saw that Sheckley and Griggs were watching down from the walkway behind them. Holding onto the guardrail for support, Sheckley gave Gordon a terse nod, which he returned.

"Join now," the fourth Vort said to Victory, "as we imbibe the extract."

"Yes…" he agreed, holding out his clawed hands above Alyx and sending out a wave of green energy to accompany the others.

"A human is needed…" the Vort holding the extract said, almost hesitant as it glanced over at Gordon.

"Agreed," the two other Vorts said in sync.

Victory looked over to Gordon. "Join us, Freeman."

Without hesitation, Gordon nodded, lifting the Gravity Gun from his shoulders by the strap and tossing it aside as he stepped forward. He held out his hands unsurely on either side. Were they supposed to hold hands? Was that how this worked?

The Vortigaunt opposite lifted the extract into the air with one hand before shoving it unceremoniously into its mouth, viciously feasting. Blue liquid dribbled between its fingers. Before Gordon's eyes, the Vortigaunt's skin darkened, fading into a slick black. Purple light swirled over its blackened skin. Gordon had seen Vortigaunts like this before, at the Citadel, and… holding Him at bay while they freed Gordon from the dark void.

Light faded around them, the sky far above them darkening ominously. The Vortigaunt reached out to the two others on either side of the table, spreading the purple darkness over their bodies as well. Their heads shook like a dog shaking off water. They in turn touched Gordon and Victory, passing on the swirling energy. Looking down at his hands, Gordon didn't notice anything different, though Victory was now the same darkened hue as his kin.

"We weave the Freeman's life with hers," the Vort on the right of the table whispered.

The Vort opposite Gordon pressed his hands down towards Alyx without touching her, moving them up and down the length of her body. Alyx's flesh and clothing became transparent beneath the Vort's hands. Gordon was mesmerised as the Vortigaunt smoothly slid its hands over her body, acting like x-ray spotlights. One hand on top of the other, the Vort held them above Alyx's mid section, and pulled up an imaginary string attached to her body, her back arching as the Vort brought its hands up.

"Yes, there is a quickening…" the Vort on the left purred.

Victory nodded almost deliriously. "Almost Vortal, this bond between you…"

Waving its hands around like it was conjuring something, the Vort brought both hands back before throwing them forward toward Alyx, and Gordon wondered what else was to come in this ritual. The thought was put on hold when he noticed that the Vort had stopped, its hands held up in front of it as though waiting for something. Gordon glanced to Victory, then to the other Vortigaunts. They, too, were frozen on the spot. Was this something to do with the process?

But then he heard the voice. That voice.

His voice.

"Doctor Freeman…" he sing-songed, his voice lethargic and croaking.

A bright light surrounded Gordon, and he squinted.

No. Please, not now.

The Vortigaunts and Alyx remained, but now His face filled Gordon's vision, superimposed in front of them like a green-screen image.

"I realise this moment may not be the most… convenient for a… heart to heart… but I had to wait until your…" Glancing over His shoulder, He sneered. "Friends... were otherwise occupied."

With another blinding white light, the Vorts and Alyx were gone, replaced by darkness. All Gordon could see was His gaunt, intense gaze.

"There was a time they cared nothing for Miss… Vance. When their only experience of… humanity was a crow…bar coming at them down a steel corridor…"

Gordon tried to speak, but predictably, nothing came out. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. All he could do was hope that the Vortigaunts would be able to rescue him again. Going back to that void, to that nothingness… the idea was more than he could bear right now.

Abruptly, they were somewhere else. Gordon was in front of an old Black Mesa reception desk. He was sat behind the desk. A large monitor erected on the wall Him flickered with static while He spoke. Alyx's image appeared on the monitor, patches of her skin and clothes transparent as the Vortigaunts worked to heal her.

"When I plucked her from Black Mesa," He said slowly, a hand on His heart and another held in the air, speaking with an overdramatic sincerity, "I acted in the face of objections that she was a mere child, and of no practical use to anyone."

Gordon's mind reeled. What? He had saved Alyx? But… Eli had told Gordon that he had taken Alyx out of Black Mesa. Was Eli lying? Did he know Him? Or did he just find her, after He had rescued her?

His demeanour abruptly changed, a dangerous smirk dancing across His features as he glared up at Gordon.

"I have learned to ignore such…" Behind Him, Gordon saw the image of Dr Breen flicker across the monitor before being replaced by static, "…naysayers, when quelling… them… was out of the question."

Breen had known about Alyx? Gordon already had his suspicions about Breen knowing Him, but just how far did the connection between them go?

A low hum vibrated through Gordon's body, and they were somewhere else. A corridor, cold and familiar. It was where he and Alyx had seen Judith in her message. Two rebels, frozen in place at the far end of the corridor, were firing on Combine soldiers approaching from beside Gordon. The rebel closest to him was consumed in a cloud of blood, the specks of liquid stuck in midair.

He was stood on the left of the corridor, fingers pressed together in front of Him. As He spoke, the near-transparent image of His face almost filled Gordon's vision.

"Still, I am not one to… squander my… investments, and I remain confident she was worth far more than the initial… appraisal."

The corridor vanished, abruptly replaced by what looked like the top of a missile silo, a walkway in front of him circling around the nosecone. Gordon recognised Dr Magnusson stood on a set of steps beside the nosecone, caught in mid-rant, his arms waving in the air boisterously.

He had His back to Gordon as He spoke, hands clutching the guardrail of the walkway. His dreamlike visage still lingered in front of Gordon's eyes, like spots in your vision that never seemed to disappear no matter how many times you blinked.

"That's why I must now extract from you some small… repayment owed for your own survival."

His face faded, and He turned from the guardrail to talk to him man to man, as it were. "See her safely to White Forest, Doctor Freeman. I wish I could do more than keep an eye on you, but I have agreed to abide by certain… restrictions?" The last word was said as though He were unsure if it were the correct word.

Suddenly, they were plunged into darkness, and Gordon's chest tightened at what he saw. Alyx, unconscious and still, lying flat on her back, with Him stood beside her body, like a concerned visitor at the hospital.

"Well, now. Listen carefully, my dear. When you see your… father…" He choked a laugh upon saying the word. "…relay these words." He leaned in close, nearly whispering the words. "Prepare for unforeseen consequences…"

With a jolt that would have made Gordon jump if he could have moved, Alyx's eyes opened, her head jerking awake.

Then, with a final, silent blast of white light, Gordon was back in the mines again, stood beside the Vortigaunts gathered around Alyx. His head whipped around the chamber, the light of which had returned to normal. No-one seemed any the wiser about his little jaunt with Him. Their purple hue had disappeared, their skin having reverted to the usual pale grey/brown.

All the things He had told him… were they true? Why did He want that message delivering to Eli so badly? Unforeseen consequences? What the hell did that mean?

"She stirs," the Vort opposite uttered, looking slightly tired from the effort of… whatever it was it had done.

Gordon snapped himself out of his thoughts and looked down at Alyx. She groaned, a shaky hand moving to her face.

"Her Vortal form has regained integrity," another Vort agreed.

"We have averted an immeasurable loss," Victory said quietly, and Gordon couldn't help but look at him with some suspicion. Did the Vortigaunts know about Alyx and Him? Was that why they saved her? Were they using her as much as He was?

"Oh, God," Alyx groaned desperately, her eyes still closed as she tried to sit up.

"Lie still," Victory urged, hands out in front of him.

She didn't need much convincing, and rested back on her elbows, dazed eyes forward. "Oh my God… I thought… I thought for sure I was dead."

"The Combine Hunters caused dramatic injury."

"A Hunter," she breathed, understanding in her eyes. "So that's what it was."

"We knit shattered bone," the Vort opposite said, "and returned circulatory integrity."

"Yet, it was the Freeman who retrieved your Vortessence," Victory added, waving a hand over to him.

Gordon looked over at Victory quietly and curiously. He did? When had that happened? Had they been using him even as he had been with Him?

The fond smile from Alyx waved any such troubled thoughts from his mind. "Yeah… that's Gordon."

He smiled back, taken aback by the relief that was washing over him.

Clutching the side of her head, she looked over to Victory. "How long have I been out?"

"A matter of hours."

"Hours?" Her head shot over to him, and she instantly regretted it, judging by the wince and groan that escaped her. After taking a breath, she looked to Gordon. "We've got to get moving."

"A moment longer," Victory urged, interrupting Gordon but saying pretty much what he was going to anyway.

"But we have to get to White Forest," Alyx said gravely, fixing Victory with an urgent stare. "It's vital."

Earlier, Gordon would have just assumed her urgency was due to the data packet from the Citadel. But now… she was the messenger that he was supposed to escort to Eli. A messenger from Him. Was she aware of what He had said?

A cold shiver ran through him. Did Alyx know Him?

Gordon's jaw set. Alyx was here, she was talking and breathing and alive… and he couldn't enjoy it. Instead, he was looking on her with suspicion and paranoia.

"No fear," Victory assure gently, "we will put you on the right road. Now, try, carefully, to rise."

As soon as Alyx sat up, Gordon was by her side, one hand lightly gripping her arm and the other on her back. She turned so her legs hung off the side of the table, and her eyes widened a little, her head wavering a little with dizziness.

"Whoa…" Hands tentatively gripping the edge of the table, Alyx slowly slid off, her legs wobbling beneath her when she applied weight to them. She smiled Victory, who was holding her other arm. "I don't know what you did, but I have a feeling I'm lucky to be here."

Gordon carefully released Alyx, leaving her to Victory. "Just let me get some supplies," he mumbled, picking up the Gravity Gun. He gathered up a shotgun from the stack of weapons and rushed to the green ammo crate beside tunnel 36. After loading up both the revolver and the shotgun, he sprinted back down to meet them.

"Okay," he said, a little breathless. He could still feel the slightest pangs of discomfort coming from his ribs; the low power of the HEV suit was really slowing it down.

"Come, then," Victory said, gesturing to the open elevator behind him. "I will get you on the path to White Forest."

The Vortigaunt led Alyx into the elevator, where she had tucked herself into the corner. Victory waited by the elevator door, like an attendant.

"Come on, Gordon," Alyx said quietly. "Next to me."

Gordon slipped inside and to Alyx's side. He put out an arm, which she rested her hand on with a grateful smile.

Victory pressed the control for the elevator, and they started to ascend. The Vortigaunts down below waved like children saying goodbye to their friends after a birthday party.

"We will continue our hunt for Advisors. Farewell!"

"Go safely!"

"Travel well!"

As they moved higher, they passed Griggs and Sheckley, the latter of whom gave Gordon a big salute.

"Good luck out there!"

"Okay, Freeman," Griggs announced, sounding like he was preparing something prophetic and wise, "Be… adequate!"

Sheckley scowled at him. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I dunno," he shrugged, voice squeaking. "Sounds like something the Vorts would say."

Glancing back at Victory, he saw the Vortigaunt roll his eye before casting his gaze out the side of the elevator, checking what was to come. Smiling at the human gesture, Gordon's eyes travelled down to the still worryingly pale Alyx, who had her eyes closed.

"I…" he cleared his throat, and tried again, though this time he spoke far too loudly and formally. "I'm glad you're okay."

With something halfway between a laugh and a smile, Alyx rested her tired head against the shoulder of his HEV suit. "Thanks, Gordon."

The elevator clanged to a halt, and Victory reached past them to slide the gate aside. Gordon was preparing to rest Alyx's arm over his shoulders when she patted his shoulder appreciatively.

"I think I can walk on my own now." She noticed the concerned glance exchanged between Gordon and Victory, and added, "C'mon, at least let me give it a shot."

Backing up a step, Gordon nevertheless kept his free hand held out, ready to catch her in case she fell. Alyx stretched her arms above her head, her interlocked fingers popping in the air. She cricked her neck, took a focusing breath, and stared straight ahead, determined. The first few steps were shaky, but after only a couple of paces she was looking back at them from halfway down the wooden tunnel, nodding confidently.

"Yeah. Stiff, but… I think I'm okay."

Still unconvinced but knowing better than to try and force help on her, Gordon followed, Victory trailing behind as though covering them from an enemy they were unaware of. The tunnel took them to a junction that sloped down to the right and up to the left. On the right, wooden planks and boards prevented them from going down, so up on the left seemed to be their only option.

As Gordon led the way and passed by the blocked passageway, a familiar roar preceded the sudden loud crack of the wooden planks. Shotgun at the ready, Gordon saw the ancient guardian seething at him through the gaps between the wooden planks. Foiled by the blockage in front of it, the guardian snorted angrily before turning and disappearing into the dark tunnel beyond.

"Whoa," Alyx said, eyes wide as she studied the splintered crack in the wood. "That was a guardian!" She looked back at them, before her amused, expectant gaze fell on Gordon. "Somebody must have done something to piss it off."

Gordon sighed and shrugged. "Had to be done."

"The guardian is enraged over our theft of the extract," Victory elaborated. "If it tries to hinder our progress, we will have no choice but to kill it."

Alyx seemed to miss most of that sentence, instead staring at Gordon in disbelief upon hearing the words 'theft of the extract'.

"You messed with its eggs?"

He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Well, technically, he messed with the eggs. I just, uh… helped."

Laughing, Alyx shook her head and looked back to the dented wood. "No wonder it's mad…"

"Come. We must move forward," Victory said urgently, rushing past them and up the sloped doorway on the left.

Gordon and Alyx looked at each other. He stretched out his arm ahead of him.

"After you."

She smirked and moved past, following Victory into whatever awaited them. And, for that brief moment, despite the mysteries and suspicion and paranoia and all-powerful God-like men in suits… all was right in the world again.

---

(A/N: This is one of the longest chapters I've ever written for any story, so hopefully it kept your attention. Victory Mine's name came from looking up his entry on the Combine Overwiki. It also just seemed like a cool name for him, if a bit similar to Victor. Though I don't think anyone's going to be getting them confused anytime soon.

Anyway, reviews, please!

Next Chapter: Freeman Pontifex)