Chapter Text
“Tommy, you have the first aid kits on you right? And the ammo packs? We’ll be putting a lot of bullets into these pigs so we’ll be relying on you for support.”
“Y-Yes Mr. Freeman! I have everything in my backpack.” Tommy patted the rough fabric of the backpack before shouldering it on. Gordon would say he was worried, if he didn’t see what Tommy was capable of back in black mesa.
Maybe he didn’t exactly want to rob a casino, but… in all honesty this was the third time they’ve done something like this and Tommy had enough exposure to it that Gordon didn’t see much waver in his actions. It was still good to check on him every once in a while though, since he seemed to have the most trouble understanding their state of existence. So, he settled a gloved hand on the lanky man’s shoulder and pat it a few times. “Doin’ alright bud?” He asked, and Tommy took in a breath before answering. “Yeah- everything is gonna be okay, I’ve gotten used to it. How much money do you think is gonna be in there?” He wondered aloud, and Coomer chimed in with his guess from the front passenger side of their getaway van. “Well Tommy, I’d bet on at least ten US dollars!”
A few months ago maybe that statement may have annoyed Gordon, but he’s learned to find most of his friends’ less than helpful input endearing. Darnold chimed in over their earpieces, with a… VERY slightly more plausible number, but one that was still only technically correct. “I believe we’re in on the biggest one yet- there has to be a hundred dollars in there, gang!” Gordon nodded at the statement, and thought about the question himself.
“I mean it’s probably a lot more than that, it’s a Casino. I’m thinking at least a million right?”
“Good god Gordon, what casinos are you going to?! Stop making up stupid numbers”, Bubby scolded from the driver’s seat, and everyone in the car nodded in agreement.
“Yeah M-Mr. Freeman that was a pretty bad guess. I can- I can’t even comprehend that many dollars.” Tommy added, and Gordon let out a huff of a laugh. Why are they always like this? Aren’t AI supposed to be… you know, intelligent? Oh well, he eventually started wondering sometime near the end of act 4 if they were seriously just fucking with him all the time by pretending he was wrong about most things.
Actually act 4? What the fuck is that? Gordon thought about it, but only for a few seconds before a creeping panic bubbled in the pit of his stomach and he pushed away the thought. He isn’t sure what that means or why he thought of that, but he shut it down pretty quickly. Now isn’t the time to contemplate his existence and the existence of the world around him.
Brakes squealed quietly as they stopped in a parking spot outside of the casino, and they all geared up before nonchalantly strolling inside. For whatever reason the business was practically empty, save for some employees and a very select few gamblers who were wasting their hard earned money on mind-numbing games of chance. The employees and security didn’t seem to suspect a thing, but that was a given since they haven’t actually done anything yet.
Gordon wanted to scope the place out a little more before they made any moves, so he gave a few cues to the science team, and they disbursed while he blended in by heading to the nearest ATM to withdraw a couple bucks. I mean, if they were going to rob the place, might as well play a little bit while getting the layout. As he took a glance in the other direction, it seemed as if Bubby had the same idea, seeing as how he was already shaking the coin pusher machine. Good lord, Gordon really hoped they didn’t do something stupid while he took some last looks around.
Gordon was so focused on what his other team members were doing, that the voice that resonated behind him made him physically jump. That voice was so… no fucking way. Gordon whipped around, and his heart started to thump wildly in his chest. No way. What? “What?” He repeated out loud, eyes widened and staring at the security guard that now stood in front of him. The sudden appearance was jarring, but the worst part is that Gordon somehow, some way fully expected this deep down.
For whatever reason lately, he’s just been having this… knowledge about things. The best way to describe it was like when you’re a child and you just know that fire is hot even though maybe you’ve never stuck your hand near it. No one has ever told you, and you’ve never experienced the burn, but somehow you just know. In black mesa he ‘knew’ of a few things, and there was so much shit going on that dealing with that and the fact that the world as he knew it was falling apart around him just proved to be all too much for his mental capacity. After everything he’s experienced though, he started to ‘know’ more and more. Eventually, the thought came to his mind as he was taking a shower one night, that this world he lives in isn’t real.
The suspicion that something was off had always been in the back of his mind, but for whatever reason it was then that it truly settled in- this isn’t real. None of them are. They’re all AI. AI for what he wasn’t sure, but definitely not real living breathing human people. After some much smaller, yet still astounding discoveries about the world around him, something else had dawned on Gordon fairly recently. Benrey could have been revived. He had been ignoring that nagging thought this entire time, but here he is standing right in front of him.
“What the fuck are you doing here? I killed you- we killed you!” Gordon seethed in a thinly veiled whisper, trying to keep the attention away from them.
“Yeah, and that wasn’t very nice of you, friend. A real asshole move. Not cool.” Benrey scoffed, crossing his arms as if this wasn’t a huge deal. Anger like no other boiled in Gordon’s chest and he grit his teeth, remembering just how fucking obnoxious Benrey is.
“Look man-” He poked at Benrey’s armored chest with a forceful finger, but realized that his voice had gotten a little too loud when one of the slot-goers took a curious look at them. Fuck, as exasperated and furious as he felt, he can’t blow this whole operation just because fucking Benrey made him lose his cool. Okay, chill. You can do this. You can be calm, freeman.
“Fuck it, come on,” Gordon groaned quietly as he took a firm hold of the security guard’s wrist and pulled him around the corner where they’d have a little more privacy. God, he’s never wanted privacy with Benrey before. Ugh. I guess that’s what’s necessary right now though. As Gordon pulled Benrey along, the other piped up in a monotone, yet provoking voice as usual. “Oh? Takin’ me where no one can see, huh Feetman? Wanna kiss?”
No matter how used to Benrey’s bullshit he got, statements like that always managed to send him into a confused fury. “W-what? What? What are you talking about? Whatever- YOU should be dead! Why the fuck are you here? Why show up now?” Gordon asked questions in as quiet of an angry frenzy as he could manage, and had to resort to gripping Benrey’s shoulders to stop himself from wildly gesturing like he tended to do when he was stressed the hell out.
Gordon had very little patience in general, but with Benrey it was just about zero, which was really hard to cope with when the man looked like he was spaced out of this world. He only waited a few seconds before prodding him with a few snaps next to his ear, and he could almost see his eyes refocus. Jesus christ. “Answer me.”
“Calm down.” Benrey deadpanned, looking a little confused.
“Did you even hear what I fucking said?”
“Yeah.”
Holy shit he’s gonna break a blood vessel. Gordon let go of Benrey’s shoulders to allow himself one frustrated wild gesture. “Well???”
Benrey looked like he was thinking again. Several painstaking seconds passed. “Well, I got all better so I’m back now. Got this stupid ass job here, it sucks, no one even plays playstation. Just a bunch of old-”
“Benrey I can not fucking stress to you how much I don’t fucking give a single shit about your god damn video games. I just-” Gordon felt a deep throb in his head begin, and he had to take a breath to recenter himself. Just chill out, Freeman. He’s a fucking asshole, and he’s annoying, but obviously he isn’t making any moves to hurt him so that’s something. That matters. “Whatever, just, are you going to try and kill us again, yes or no. I’m not wasting any fucking time bullshitting around, if you’re gonna kill me let me know so I can send your ass back to black mesa in a coffin and get it over with.” Gordon pressed.
It was a surprise, but something akin to sadness emanated from Benrey’s expression, which Gordon thought was strange because he didn’t exactly emote often. When he did it definitely wasn’t sadness. More like… smugness. Yeah he did show a lot of smugness. Obnoxious bastard. “Nah man, we already did that. That’s lame.” Benrey looked away, and peeked around the corner, presumably seeing if the others were here as well. As he did, Gordon had the strange instinct to believe Benrey. He was some weird… alien (?) being right? Maybe he was telling the truth. Honestly it would make sense. If an otherworldly god-like being already lived the experience of killing them why would he want to just do the same thing again? Still, he wasn’t entirely convinced.
“Yo, Tommy’s here too? And the others?” Benrey pointed out, and then turned his head back to Gordon to glance him up and down. For a moment he felt violated. “Are you guys gonna rob this place?”
Gordon swallowed hard, trying to think of an answer for that. I mean he was a security guard here so he shouldn’t tell him right?
“Can I come with you guys?” He asked, and Gordon couldn’t help but be confused once more. You’d think you’d get used to the nonsense someone says when they’ve said it enough times but Benrey was truly unpredictable. That was the last thing he thought Benrey would have wanted.
“Huh?”
“What do you have cotton in your ears, nerd? I asked if I can rob this place with you guys.”
Gordon had to grasp for words. “B-but- wait, you hate stealing, that was your whole deal right? You wanted to stop me from stealing stuff? Which back then I WASN’T, by the way.”
“But you’re stealing now. So you’re a thief. You could have stolen all the- all the… Gatorade-”
“Powerade.”
“-Powerade.” Benrey corrected, and seemed to look around at everything except Gordon, although his expression was still uninterested.
“So, are you like, cool with stealing then? All of a sudden?” Gordon questioned again, and the response he got was an infuriating dismissive shrug from the shorter man.
“Okay- okay fine, I mean, I guess so, unless they have a problem wi-”
“Hello Gordon! Hello Benrey! It’s about time we meet again!” Dr. Coomer interrupted them from the other side of the corner, walking out to show himself. Benrey put up a peace sign. “Yo.”
Pretty soon, Tommy came trotting along and Bubby came striding in tow. “Is that you Benrey? Wow, you look less scary than before!” Tommy exclaimed, and reached out to fist bump his friend. Dr. Coomer piped up again with a ‘whisper’ which actually was just his usual speaking volume, but breathy. “Well Mr. Freeman, I do believe we’re wasting time. We’d better get a move on!” He prompted, and Gordon took a moment before begrudgingly bringing up the latest development in their plans.
“Well, actually… ugh. Benrey wants to come too, is that okay with you guys? I’ll keep a close eye on him.” He grumbled, and somehow unsurprisingly, he was met with absolutely no resistance.
Bubby was the first to pull out his gun impatiently, and gave a quick answer. “Well I don’t care.”
“The more the merrier!” Dr. Coomer cheerfully chimed in.
“Yaay, now we can all each have a hundred dollars!” Tommy exclaimed, and it seemed like they all were more than ready to get this thing started.
Gordon sighed heavily before taking his tiger mask out of his bag and pulling it over his face. Why was it so unsurprising that he’s the only one who cared that Benrey tried to murder them?
“Well… alright, Dr. Coomer, lead the way.”