(Untitled)

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon knows the sound of those rotors. It's doubtful he'll forget it as long as he lives. Those are gunship rotors, at least one, possibly two. So he's understandably skittish as he hedges up to the mine exit and peers out. The all-too-familiar shape of a Strider is lumbering along an elevated roadway in the distance, followed by tiny moving

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[a_mere_child]

Alyx squints as she steps out into the harsh daylight... then gasps as she realizes what she's seeing. "Oh my God. The Combine's on the move."

"Yes, and they carry Shu'ulathoi," the Vortigaunt notes, pointing toward an upright grayish-white pod being escorted by a squad of Overwatch. "Advisors, still in incubation pods."

[acts_of_gord]

Just how many of those things survived, Gordon wonders- and then doesn't, because he remembers the white flecks peeling off from the Citadel before it went nova. The answer is 'lots'.

He doesn't like the answer.

"They gather and unite the scattered Combine forces," the Vortigaunt notes.

[a_mere_child]

" So that's what we saw in the Citadel," Alyx murmurs. "They're sure in a hurry..."

"They move north with great purpose."

"North?" Alyx's bemusement gives way to alarm. "White Forest! We have to get there ahead of them!"

[acts_of_gord]

"I know of humans with a vehicle not far from here," says the Vortigaunt. "They will understand our urgent need."

"Which way?" Gordon says, and sets off in the direction of the Vortigaunt's nod. As he makes his way along, he realizes that the rhythmic thudding noise he's been hearing in the background for a while now isn't Strider footsteps, or anything else Combine for that matter. Haven't they just come out of an antlion warren?