Chapter Text
The doors to the testing chamber opened with a hiss, smoke dramatically seeped through the opening as Gordon walked into the chamber, clenching his fists tightly. As his sibilant breaths echoed through the room, he couldn’t help notice that something felt like it was missing. Something along those lines, it felt pretty boring just to be walking through the room.
It wasn’t until he reached the ladder that he realised what. “Uh– Hey! Doctor Coomer!” He yelled as he climbed the ladder up to the platform.
“Hello, Gordon!” The doctor greeted cheerfully. Gordon had to admit, it felt kind of nice to be greeted like that every day, made him feel warm inside.
“Yeah, uh–” Gordon grunted as he began ascending the ladder. “Can you play the– um– the playlist under my name on the Spotify account?” Coomer seemed confused because a pitched hum sounded from the microphone. “T–The Black Mesa Spotify account! It should be there!”
“Oh, whaaat? No way, Black Mesa has a Spotify account?” A familiar, fairly bored voice finally sounded.
“No, no!” Gordon quickly snapped. He jumped off the ladder to the metal platform, walking towards the panel. “Fuck you! Guys, don’t let Benrey on the fuckin’ computer!”
“Too late, Feetman.” Benrey said slyly. “You’re going to hear my sick jams.”
Gordon tried focusing on what buttons he was pressing but for some reason, this trivial issue began to get on his nerves. “What if– He’s probably going to play porn or fuckin’ whatever! No fuckin’ way!”
“Who are you?” Dr Coomer asked. “You don’t have clearance to be here!”
Gordon felt mad as he began activating the beam. “He’s not supposed to be here! Get him out of there!”
“Naw, I have an ID, it’s cool.” There was a tinge of a chuckle on Benrey’s tongue, it made Gordon want to strangle him.
“Oh, ok!” Dr Coomer replied carelessly.
“What?!” Gordon yelled as the beam activated. The beam wasn’t in his interest anymore though. “You guys are fucking kidding me!”
“Now, now, Gordon,” Dr Coomer said much like a dad trying to settle an argument between his children. “You have to learn how to share the Black Mesa Spoofy!”
Gordon laughed. “It– It’s Spotify, Dr Coomer!”
“That’s what he said!” Bubby interrupted. “Get on with it!”
“Alright, fine, geez!” Gordon replied before climbing down the ladder. “Can’t even have my own music playing while I fuckin’ work.” He muttered under his breath.
Only ten seconds had passed before a string of sharp guitar notes shot through Gordon’s ears. He screamed in shock and almost fell down the ladder.
“What the fuck, Benrey?!” Gordon shouted.
The microphone clicked. “What?”
“ That scared the shit out of– Wait. What the fuck.” Gordon processed the song as he jumped off the ladder. “Holy shit, is this Vocaloid?”
“You motherfucker, it’s Lost One’s Weeping by Neru sung by Kagamine Rin.” Benrey deadpanned. “You’d know that if you had your passport.”
“Fffuck you!” Gordon yelled back. “Stop bringing up my passport, fuckin’ anime boy!”
“Gordon,” Dr Coomer said much like a disappointed mother. “You shouldn’t make fun of Benrey’s interests like that.”
“Yeah, fuckin’ nerd.” Benrey followed with.
“He just called me a nerd!” Gordon shouted back as he made his way to the test sample, louder over the anime boy singing.
“Well, he’s right!” Bubby sounded.
“You are literally a scientist, Bubby!”
“So what?!”
Gordon groaned, forcing himself to move faster towards the test sample.
“Slower... than molasses... drips... off a spoon!” Tommy finally stated. Gordon imagined him sitting nervously at the back of the room until that point.
“Yeah, yeah, I know…” Gordon sighed, finally laying his hands onto the subject.
Not even a second into pushing the sample, not even a centimetre in, and over the music, Gordon had sure enough heard a faint but very distinct, “Kokuban no kono kanji ga yomemasu ka.” Gordon froze as it continued with, “Ano ko no shinshou wa yomemasu ka.”
“Ho–ly shit.” He whispered. “Benrey.” He said, on the verge of laughter. “Did you memorize the entirety of this song? In Japanese?”
“Fuck yea, dude, you got a problem with that, Feetman?”
“Fuck you! You can’t insult me while singing along to a sad fake anime boy!” Gordon laughed, leaning against the test sample.
He heard a rustling. “Get on with it!” Bubby commanded.
“Okay, okay! J–Jesus Christ!” Gordon wheezed.