11.

Gordon was the first to wake this time. He looked to his left and saw Alyx right there beside him. He first looked at the watch on his wrist to see what time it was. It happened to be 6:30, a bit early to be stirring around. Stretching a little, he turned over to face her. Some things were blurry without his glasses, but he could see her clear as day. Her deep brown, black hair, her soft skin tones, her soft lips that he had dreamt of so many times... Gordon reached up to move a strand of hair out of her face as she slept.

The blankets were so warm, especially when accommodated by two people. Compared to how cold it was outside, the warmth was welcome to any soul. The small wood stove in the room made it quite cozy to anyone's standard; some embers were still burning brightly in the bottom from the small fire the vortigaunts had made last night.

Alyx turned over to put her back to Gordon. He pulled the covers down to just a bit below the shoulder and put his hand on her side. He casually fell back asleep quickly.

Some time later, Barney stirred in his quarters. The two boys hadn't had a fire lit in their room, but their blankets still sufficed for warmth. "I guess it's coffee time!" he said with a large stretch and a nifty step out of bed. He walked out of the room quietly and to ok a peek through the window to see if Gordon and Alyx were awake yet. "How cute.... Lucky prick..." he said with a short chuckle. Turning the corner, he headed for the kitchen area. Kleiner and Wallace were already up and sharing a nice cup of Joe when he walked through the door. Barney was greeted with a warm welcome as he strode in wearing his robe and pajamas.

'What time is it?' Alyx asked herself as she turned around toward Gordon. She felt that she had been sleeping for quite a while; pulling the blankets down a bit, she lifted Gordon's hand up to see his watch. '9:30? That's late for me...' she said to herself as she placed Gordon's hand back beside of him softly and quietly rolled out of the cot. Everyone else was up when she walked into the mess hall to get some coffee. Then just a few minutes later, Gordon came in as well, making it a full house.

After they had all had their coffee, they got up and went into the room where Mossman was. She was awake too and having breakfast in bed.

"Hey guys! Are you ready to discuss?" she asked.

"Yes, we are. We need to go ahead and take care of this," Gordon answered.

"Okay. Take a look at this," she said as she wheeled around that large screen again. On the screen there were blueprints of the weapon itself. They noticed an attached computer interface. "You see that?" she said as she pointed to it. "Luckily for us, Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Wallace have developed another virus to disrupt its normal function. What this virus is going to do is cause the weapon to fire many lasers at one time. This disruption will ultimately rip the thing to shreads, as Dr. Kleiner explained to me today."

"Errr. That is correct, Judith," Kleiner replied in agreement.

"Now we just have to get the thing above the surface so that we can install this virus, right?" Barney asked them all.

"That is correct, Barney. But once we upload that virus, we have to put it back into the ice," Wallace spoke out.

"Why?" Alyx, Barney, and Griffith all three asked this time.

"Because we must contain the explosion. We detect that the temperature will increase around the world if we leave it uncovered. If we put it back in the ice, the ice will insulate the explosion and hold it inside. It will make everything... neat... you see," Wallace responded.

"So is it set? Can we move everyone out, now?" Gordon asked anxiously.

"We can. How you get that thing out of the ice is up to you, Gordon. But I'll be watching from here, and in case anything goes wrong, I can try to help."

Gordon and the rest of the group got up from the table and walked outside into the large connecting hallway. Troops were unarmed and resting from the years of fighting they had been through. In the faces of some of them, you could see everything they had done, all they had killed, the faces of the ones who had been killed beside of them. The tired looks all glanced up and stared at Gordon as he walked by. They knew him and respected him, and no matter how tired they were, they would do anything for the Free Man.

Gordon spoke loudly to address them all."Troops, here's what we're going to do. There is a very sensitive weapon close to this island. It's buried in the ice. What we have to do is dig it up, plant a virus inside, and bury it back. We'll need most of you to come along and help with defense, construction, and extraction. All of those in favor, come forward."

Slowly, every troop got up, grabbed their guns, and walked over to where Gordon stood. "A loyal following, Mr. Freeman," one said as he stepped forward.

They gathered as many supplies as they could and loaded them onto some helicopters. The troops loaded up, and they flew off to where the weapon was buried. When they landed, everything was unloaded, and it appeared like a very large construction site. Some people had barricades up, some were setting up the wench to lift the weapon out of the ice, some were cutting some of the ice, and even more were setting up defense in case something were to happen. Gordon instructed one of them to come set up the cutter so that they could drill into the ice where the weapon was held. After a while of drilling in the cold, they hit something. It was a hollow sound, and some of the men grabbed picks and started carving the ice where the item was to be found.

After what seemed like hours, a large box was sitting distinctly at the bottom of a large, well-like hole. They sent down the wench hook and attached it to the box and cautiously pulled it up foot by foot. Finally, the box was suspending in front of them, and they unhooked it and set it down on the ice. Barney and Gordon stepped forward with crowbars, no doubt, and pried the box open.

The contents were very large. It was a metal, circular item with a large computer interface. Many wires came out of the item in multiple places, more than likely power cords. It was longer than it was wide, and one humongous hole was in the center of it where a laser was to come out of. In a sense, it was like a very large gravity gun with a computer attached.

Kleiner stepped forward. "We MUST get everyone out of here as possible. Alyx, when you load that virus in, we will have five minutes to get out of the way. When I say 'way' I mean at least ten miles. The explosion will be large and the laser will be super visible. I am not joking when I say five minutes. We have to load it in, then lower the weapon down into the hole, and get out of here. Let everyone else go ahead and leave."

Gordon didn't like the idea, but he thought it would work just fine. All of the troops loaded everything up and left on the helicopters as Gordon, Barney, Kleiner, Wallace, and Griffith stood by the wench. "Now, Gordon and Griffith, when I load it, you lower it in. Barney, you get the helicopter started and ready for us to leave. Dr. Wallace, go ahead and get on. We'll follow."

They followed Alyx's instructions. The helicopter was started and the computer was hacked in just a few seconds by a daft Alyx Vance. In just a few keystrokes, the virus was in, and Griffith and Gordon lowered the monstrosity back into its hole. It was actually a delicate procedure that was quickly taken care of. "Let's go everyone! Hurry!" Alyx yelled as she hopped on the copter.

When everyone was on, the helicopter lifted off and started on its way back to the base. "We have two minutes!" Kleiner yelled. They could see the base from the air.

After landing, they all got off and turned around to face ground zero. Kleiner gave the countdown from five, and when he hit zero a large, sonic boom like sound shook the air, and the tense aura was intensified. Large, bright red lights filled the skies as water that was melted shot up in small dots and was instantly solidified by the bitter cold. Nearly fifteen lasers filled the sky, and storms brewed due to the change in electromagnetics; Even from that far away, they could sense all of the changes... it was a terrifying sight. As soon as it had started, however, it stopped, and smoke filled up from the site. They all knew it was over; they all finally had a sense of relief after all of these years...

"I'm so thankful we got this done. It's been a long time coming. I feel so much better..." Alyx said as she grabbed Gordon in a welcomed hug.

Everyone on the base felt this way. After so much strife, conflict, hell... everything was somehow over... Breen was gone, the weapon was destroyed... whatever deep, awful, foreboding feeling they had fostered before had gone, and the air returned to a quaint, soft atmosphere.

Kleiner spoke up. "I take it that it was a success!?"

"I'm sure, Isaac," Gordon replied.

This weapon was what the combine had been after the entire time. It was what had started most of the ordeal, and now was what ended it. What had been the source of years of dissension now lied in a frozen pile of ashes, silicon, and metal. The universe had been, for lack of better words, rescued from the people who were out to no good with this object. They all knew it was over. But no one knew what to do... do they return to what's left of their home? Do they give it one last shot and stand up to the straggling combine that's left? What future Alyx and Gordon had would be haunted by the history of a horrid fight. Nevertheless, they all had to start somewhere; obviously, they had to find a way to start fresh together.