<P> The Combine , a multidimensional empire which has enslaved Earth , has used the destruction of their Citadel to open a massive portal . This will allow them to summon reinforcements and destroy the Lambda Resistance . In the mountains outside City 17 , Resistance fighters Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance climb from the wreckage of the train they used to escape the city . At an old transmission station , they establish communication with resistance scientists Dr. Kleiner and Eli Vance at the White Forest base . They learn that the Resistance may be able to close the portal using a copy of a Combine transmission Alyx is carrying . At an abandoned mine , Alyx is critically wounded by a Combine Hunter . A vortigaunt leads them to an underground Resistance shelter . Gordon recovers larval extract from a nearby antlion colony , necessary for the vortigaunts to heal Alyx . While the vortigaunts heal her , the mysterious G - Man contacts Gordon and hints at Alyx 's importance to his own plans , revealing that he saved her life at the Black Mesa Research Facility despite objections from an unspecified third party . He instructs the unconscious Alyx to tell her father to `` prepare for unforeseen consequences '' . </P>
where does half life 2 episode 2 take place
outside City 17