9.

"Dr. Breen!" yelled Gordon, as the largest advisor he had ever seen cast a shadow upon them that loomed across the entire room. When Breen was leaving the Citadel before Gordon had a chance to get rid of him, Breen tried to find another body to encase himself in. Apparently, this advisor was specially made for Breen, with new weapons, mind tricks, and not to mention a bigger body frame.

"I knew you would come, Dr. Freeman. I knew that Mossman would lead you here. I knew you would come after her."

"She betrayed us!" Barney yelled at the advisor. "I knew something was wrong with that woman from the get go! I can't believe--"

"Oh no, no no, you don't understand... Mossman is on your side. It's just that she's inside, now!"

Breen's menacing form made its way over to the side of the room where a large metal door opened and a captivity chamber came forth with a subdued Judith Mossman inside. "You see, Dr. Freeman, Mossman was giving away too much information to the resistance. So I had her captured. Evasive little booger, she was. But I have her now, and if you try and stop me, you'll have grave consequences."

Griffith stepped forward. "Mossman gave us the coordinates for this spot... She knew you existed, and that this portal was still active. She never betrayed us at all; she was trying to stop you, Breen!"

"Exactly, guys. You're pretty smart. But are you smart enough to do something now?" The advisor moved forward. All of the troops drew their guns and started firing on the monstrosity in front of them. In a move so fast, so quick, so evasive, the advisor stopped all of the bullets in their path before they could hit it, and with one unified metal sound, all of the bullets fell to the ground in one movement, and rolled there for a few seconds. "Silly bullets won't beat me! I figured you guys would know better! Oh well... prepare to die, Freeman!"

The advisor moved forward and Gordon felt the sensations he did when Eli was killed. His mind went blank, he could barely see, and his body felt as heavy as lead. He managed to see Barney and Griffith, and they were being held, too. How could he get all three of them at once? Was this the end of it? Alyx... Gordon thought... I can't leave her... I have to stay, for her, to save her, to make sure she is taken care of, I can't die now.

To Gordon's surprise, everything around him stopped. Time was frozen. He could move, but Barney and Griffith could not. There was no color, there was no movement. Breen didn't move, the troops couldn't move, only he could move. He wriggled out of the advisor's grip and his mind was exceptionally clear. He could walk around and everything; he examined the portal, Dr. Breen's host body, and Barney and Griffith. He even tried to free them, to no prevail.

Suddenly, he felt this presence behind him, almost as if someone had been watching him. "Hello, Mr. Freeman. I see this is how you use your skills these days," an ominous voice spoke from behind him. Gordon recognized this voice... it was the same voice he heard after the portal exploded, the same one he heard on that train... The body that accompanied the voice appeared before him. He was such a tall, linky man wearing a dark, deep gray suit and tie. His briefcase was thin and light, it seemed, and he walked forward to meet Gordon slowly.

"I constantly have to help you along, Mr. Freeman. But I must say that you're pushing my means to their limits. I have the thing you need right here, Mr. Freeman. I'm glad you made the decision you made that day. If you hadn't, you would be in a mountain of trouble. Here is what you desire, Mr. Freeman. Make sure you use it to reach your goal. We're counting on you."

From his suit jacket, the man pulled out a Gravity Gun and handed it to Gordon. "It's in its prime condition, Mr. Freeman. Use it well. And save her, if you can; we all need her."

He was talking about Alyx... She was vital to the destruction of this tower and the portal... Was that what they needed her for? Gordon didn't want anyone to do anything to her; her involvement was zero as far as Gordon was concerned. He didn't even fully understand what this guy wanted with him, or anyone else in the resistance for that matter. But the man had bestowed a Gravity Gun onto Gordon, and he knew he had to use it to beat Breen for the last time.

"Good luck, Mr. Freeman. Prove us right," the man said as he turned and went back to wherever he came from. As soon as the clarity had come, it disappeared; the color was back, everyone was in panic, and the room was chaotic as Breen, the advisor, had a hold on Barney and Griffith. Gordon turned to face a nearby computer interface, used his gravity gun to rip it from its sockets, and threw it full speed at Breen. The electric charge shocked the advisor into letting Barney and Griffith go. "Griffith! Take the troops and go find Alyx! Tell her what has happened, and tell her thirty minutes. Thirty minutes! You hear me?" Gordon yelled at Griffith as he and the troops ran to the door and rushed outside to make their way to Alyx's floor."

Gordon and Barney turned back around to the advisor. He was still shaken by the electric shock he had gotten. Nonetheless, he was back up and running and ready to take Gordon and Barney down. Barney ran to the side and distracted him while Gordon got close and shocked him again with the Gravity Gun. The advisor was getting closer and closer to the portal, and they couldn't afford to let him go through that thing, at least without setting new coordinates first... That was it! Gordon motioned to Barney to come closer while the advisor was still shaken up. "Barney, here's what you need to do. Search in the computer database with that hacker tool and find where that portal is set to relocate. Then browse in the coordinate bank and find some that will guarantee that this thing won't be making it there alive. Got it? I'll try to cripple him and knock him into the portal when you're done. Get on it!"

"Yessir," Barney replied curtly as he ran over to the portal adjustment bay to do some adjusting.

Gordon turned back to the advisor. He was awake again, and was moving toward him rather quickly. Gordon jumped and used the Gravity Gun to throw one of the advisor's legs out from under it. With it laying on the floor, he then dragged his head along the ground and into the wall. Surprisingly, it jumped up rather quickly and made its way to Barney this time. Gordon swiftly ran behind the advisor, jumped up onto its casing, and charged his Gravity Gun to shock the advisor. This time, it was a critical hit. Because of Gordon's close proximity, the shock sent the advisor flying upward into the ceiling, tearing one of its arms off. It hit the floor with a loud thud, and didn't move. With voice synth activated, Gordon could hear Dr. Breen. "No... get back up. I thought this was a great host body... It can't even stand up to this.. no... no."

With that, the voice trailed off and the advisor shut down. Barney turned around yelling that he had set the coordinates and that he was ready to send the creature packing. Gordon picked the lifeless body up with the Gravity Gun and proceeded to throw it into the portal. With a burst of sound and a flash of light, the body disappeared into the spiralling light, never to be seen again. Gordon turned to the lifeless body of Dr. Mossman. He managed to fry the circuit and bread open the case that restricted her so tightly... Now that they had Mossman and Breen was taken care of, they could make their escape.

Gordon suddenly remembered the time he had left. He told Alyx thirty minutes... it had already been twenty six, according to his watch. That left Barney and Gordon four minutes to get out of the tower completely. They turned to run toward the door and their quest to escape the ticking time bomb had started.

Meanwhile, Alyx, Griffith, and the rest of the resistance cavalry was waiting on the frozen tundra outside.

"Will they be alright? Can they make it out?" Alyx said as she turned to look at Griffith.

"I trust everything is fine, Alyx... Radio still out?"

"Of course. The static from the portal must have burnt Gordon's out."

"What's the time, Alyx?"

"They only have one minute left. They need to get out of there!" Alyx yelled. She was getting very uneasy. She didn't even know what had happened during the battle, and she had no clue where they might be. Time was running out, and if Gordon and Barney hadn't reached the second floor by then, there was a very slim chance they were going to make it at all.

Alyx, Griffith, and the resistance looked toward the tower. "Fifteen seconds!" Alyx yelled in distress... "Ten!"... The seconds were like hours. "Five...four...three... two... one..."

Alyx's quivering voice broke as the sky ignited in a mix of reds, blues, oranges, and yellows. The timer had reached its end, and everyone knew it immediately. The explosion shook the ice below their feet, and large masses of metal and glass were sent hundreds of feet in the air. The amount of power in the explosions of more than three hundred advisors was powerful enough to cripple the entire main structure, and everyone watched in horror as the entire structure collapsed on itself.

"GORDON! NO!" Alyx wept as she bolted for what was left of the building. Griffith took off after her. The pair ran across the frozen plain as fast as they could, with the troops following closely behind. When they got to the broken pile of rubble and metal, Alyx drops to her knees and starts searching. "Gordon?!?" she asks repeatedly. She moves to a different area. "Gordon?!?"

Something to their left catches her eye. One large shard of metal keeps moving, and they ran over to start moving it. They lifted it up to find a heavily injured Barney holding a Gravity Gun. He was unconscious, but breathing and had a heartbeat. Griffith lifted him up and told others to radio in a helicopter to come pick him up. Alyx was on the search for Gordon.

She ran to the other sections of rubble and waste, desperately moving it to try and find Gordon. She kept hearing a small noise that caught her attention, seemingly a short distance away. Alyx moved closer to the noise. When she finally located where it was coming from, she ran over to the rubble listening for any sign of life. Then she heard the familiar voice and beeps.

Multiple lacerations detected. Administering morphine.

"Gordon!!" They yelled, as they made their way over to the rubble. Lifting up the sheet of metal, they are all stunned to see a motionless Judith Mossman and an injured Gordon Freeman. Alyx knelled besideof Gordon and kissed him with more emotion than she had ever felt before in her life. He was breathing and conscious, but barely. Alyx instructed him not to move.

"Everything will be okay, dear. I promise. Hold on for me."

The helicopter was closing in on the site. It landed and they quickly loaded the three into the back. It lifted up and made its way back to some warmth and comfort.

Vortigaunts were on standby to heal them. After they were unloaded and in the hospital wing, the vortigaunts made their way over and healed them while Alyx and some technicians were bandaging them up. Barney was still unconscious from a head wound, but Gordon was starting to realize where he was. He looked at himself to make sure everything was okay. Lucky for him, that HEV suit had protected him from so much... He then looked at his surroundings. Barney was injured pretty bad... but he had never been more happy to see Alyx in his life.

Alyx leaned down to hug him. "I'm glad you made it Gordon," she said as she faught back tears. "Barney is starting to come to."

Barney indeed was waking up. He looked at himself as Gordon did to make sure everything was in the right place. "Good to see you guys. I was worried for a while," he said as he laid back down to relax.

Gordon looked over at Barney. "We're going to be okay, Barney. And so is Mossman," Gordon said, looking over at his friend.

"Good to know, Gordon. It wasn't for nothing, then!"

"No... you faught bravely up there, Barney."

"Thanks, what fighting I did. The only thing I fought though was that stupid portal interface"

The three chuckled. "Hey speaking of portals, where did you set that thing to, anyway, Barney?" Gordon asked as he turned to face Barney.

"Hell," Barney replied.

The three of them needed rest deeply. Alyx crawled up into Gordon's hospital bed and Barney turned over to face the wall. They fell asleep like this; after a day like they had been through, rest was the best thing for them.