Skyscraper

The Skyscraper, also known as Vertigo or Palace, is the generic name of a chapter cut from Half-Life 2 and a possible ancestor for the Overwatch Nexus building.

Features
After the Weather Control battle, Gordon and Alyx were to go back to City 17 with a C-130, but the plane was to crash at the top of a very high skyscraper. The building was to house a museum and probably a hotel/palace. The crash was to cause Alyx to be hurt and kidnapped by the Combine, and Gordon having to find her father, Captain Vance. Therefore was to join the Conscripts through the rooftops in the fight of the ongoing uprising, triggered by the Air Exchange sabotage.

Versions
The building comes in two versions, almost totally unrelated to each other: "Vertigo", last edited in 2001, and "Palace", last edited in 2002. The first is a rather Art Deco-style building with brick and concrete, reminiscence of the early City 17, and contains a big atrium with a pound. The second version is rather Neoclassic, mostly made out of stone, with more plaster and wooden wainscots inside, a style closer to the final game. In there can be found showcases containing vases, and an Ichthyosaur hanged to the ceiling.

Fate

 * The high tower concept became redundant with the Air Exchange and was therefore also recycled in the Citadel levels.
 * The concept idea of the Skyscraper being a museum was reused into the Overwatch Nexus.
 * The outdoor destroyed concrete levels of Vertigo were re-used in the City 17 Underground in the Episode One chapter "Lowlife", where Gordon and Alyx are fighting Antlions and Gordon must find cars to block the Antlion holes.

Trivia

 * No files for the C-130 exist in the leaked files.
 * Sound files indicates that the player was to hear two men talking through a radio (likely some sort Combine units, since they don't refer to themselves as Citizens, even though they speak with a normal voice), among others about Alyx being taken away, the Consul, a "Rebel chopper" having crashed in the upper floors (instead of a C-130), weapon supplies and blowing up a wall with a RPG. It seems that they finally find themselves in front of Gordon, who might kill them.