Chapter Text
Gordon groaned as he leaned up against the metal wall, his HEV suit pressing against it with a loud bang. He held his hand to his forehead, lightly rubbing his temples with ease. It ached. He was sore.
"God, I'm tired." He complained, standing up and distancing himself from the wall. His suit was ruined, scratched, and stained from all the blood and aliens. He needed to find a way out.
He looked around, still desperately hoping to find any sign of an exit, but nothing presented itself. All he could see were the endless bloodstained walls stretching on into infinity in front of him. It seemed as if wherever he was, no matter where he went, he was stuck forever.
With a sigh, he continued walking along with the science team.
Black Mesa was like a maze, one where you couldn't escape. Some sick, twisted place you couldn’t get out of, no matter how hard you tried.
Gordon just wished he was back home, kicked back on the couch, watching television; something.
Even if that meant having to listen to Joshua scream and yell for the rest of his life. God, he missed that kid. Gordon would gladly consider that compensation.
Anything to go back to before the incident. But for now, he had no choice but to continue.
Surprisingly, the team hadn’t run into any more of the aliens for awhile, though, they were so loud that they’d probably alert the things before even stepping foot into proximity of them. The thought of the dastardly things made Gordon shudder. They were disgusting. He couldn’t even begin to grasp how they got here.
He entered a dimly lit hallway, slamming the door slightly. He could hear Bubby start to complain about the unnecessary noise before being cut off by Dr. Coomer, who was yelling about the vending machines.
Their arguing rang all throughout his head, but it finally gave him a chance to sit down on the ground, take a breather, and watch the group scramble for the cans that spilled out of the now broken vending machine.
He watched as Bubby and Dr. Coomer continued to bicker, while Tommy silently scavenged for whatever snacks he could find.
He couldn’t help but feel uneasy with the chaotic environment they’d created; like something wasn’t quite right— aside from the obvious aliens and dead bodies, that is. He tried to shake it off as he leaned against the wall, his eyes fixed up on the ceiling.
Gordon was already sick and tired of leading such goons around the damned facility, so on-edge that he’d probably already grown a few grey hairs. It surprised him to be grouped in with such people. For scientists, they sure were unprofessional.
Benrey silently followed behind Gordon, slithering like some sort of snake behind the group. Quiet, and, surprisingly, not making any obnoxious remarks.. yet. The security guard preferred to be quiet, anyhow.
They had been walking for what felt like hours. Benrey often blocked out all the other scientist’s chattering, whether purposely or not; Benrey itself didn’t really know at this point. He tended to zone out half the time when he wasn’t being spoken directly to.
He felt a chill run down his spine as he heard Gordon stop abruptly, his HEV suit clanking against the wall.
Benrey’s attention snapped back to the present as his eyes rested on the others on the ground scrambling for the soda cans that scattered and rolled across the floor.
For once, he didn’t feel desperately inclined to lunge at the floor and chug soda like his life depended on it.
Gordon stared at Benrey for a moment, his eyebrow raising, although you couldn’t really see through the hev suit, anyway. You could, if you looked very closely. The visor material didn’t fully block the view.
"What, not thirsty today?" Gordon started, looking at it. He wouldn’t lie and say he wasn’t shocked a bit. Benrey was usually one of the first ones to go running for a can as if his life depended on it.
He blinked, thinking about what to say as he slowly turned to face Gordon.
“Wuh— oh. Uh, no?” Benrey gave a slight shrug, crossing his arms as he looked over at Gordon while he spoke.
He slightly pursed his lips for a moment before he quickly looked away, rhythmically tapping his foot against the floor while he waited on the others to finish up.
Gordon chuckled slightly as his head turned, and he glanced down to watch the team begin to finish off the cans.
"You sure? I mean.. you’re usually the one to get the most cans, so.." The taller shrugged.
"You sick or something?" He joked, brows furrowing behind his visor.
It wasn’t everyday that Gordon got to have an actual, normal exchange of dialogue with Benrey like this where it wasn’t calling him Feetman or some other stupid, gross name.
Gordon had never really had an actual conversation with Benrey, mostly because they’d never really seen each other all that much around the facility before the cascade.
You’d think being stuck with a guy for a couple of weeks in an alien invasion would be some sort of conversation starter, but that wasn’t the case when it came to Benrey. It was almost impossible to have a normal conversation with the guy.
He was a mystery. Benrey was an absolute mystery, and Gordon couldn’t help but admit he was at least a little intrigued.
“Sick?” He repeated.
Benrey felt odd all of a sudden, swallowing the feeling down as he felt his face flush.
“Pshh. No.” His vision became blurred while his palms grew all clammy and sweaty.
He nonchalantly brought them back down to his pants to wipe them off before he added, “I don’t get sick.”
Benrey crossed his arms again, slightly lifting his foot to smear at something that was on the floor. A strange wave of heat washed over him, though he tried to keep it at bay while he tapped his foot.
He scoffed, "Every living being gets sick, Benrey." He said, pausing for a moment.
“Well, you aren’t exactly..” Gordon made some sort of gesture with his hands before scrapping the rest of whatever he’d planned to say.
"Do you need to sit down or something?” He asked, concern slightly lacing his voice.
As much as the team (mainly Benrey) annoyed the everloving shit out of Gordon, he still cared for each and every single one of them.
“Not me.” Benrey waved, readjusting his helmet. He tugged at his collar with hesitation, his mind blurring even more at the fact that Gordon was showing genuine concern all of a sudden.
Not that he cared all that much. It was just rare.
If it was even possible, Benrey’s face seemed even paler than its usual tone, and the urge to take his helmet off just grew more and more.
His head ached. It felt like his helmet was only worsening the tight feeling wrapped around him.
“No, I’m not—“ Benrey began, pausing when Gordon placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
For a split second, he looked at Gordon, squinting, before almost immediately slapping a hand over his mouth. The familiar feeling of the sweet voice arose in his throat, the oddly colored orbs daring to escape his lips.
Gordon cracked a small smile behind the helmet.
"Dude, really?" he laughed. "I bet you get sick too."
He shook his head. "You seem sick." Gordon rolled his eyes, bringing his hand that was on Benrey’s shoulder back down to his side.
"We probably need to get going soon, but seriously—" Gordon glanced back at him, "I’m sure you’ll be fine.
"I mean, I’m just amazed how you guys aren’t dead yet due to the radiation, but here we are." He deadpanned, standing up.
“Especially you.” Gordon added, starting to walk away.
Something about Gordon’s tone mere seconds ago made Benrey’s heart stop for a second, he swore— but he just snickered, exiting the ruined break room behind the rest of the scientists.
Benrey gulped, slightly grimacing as he just gave a thumbs up in reply, even though Gordon had already turned away.
“Nah, yeah, I’m fine. If the radiation doesn’t even affect me, you really think I’d get sick ?” Benrey glared at Gordon ahead, giving a slight smile in an attempt to somewhat reassure himself before he started walking again.
“Let’s go.”