acts_of_gord | (no subject)

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The toxic waters underfoot in the tunnel had been no better going out than coming in, but the medkits in the Vortigaunt's cave had given Gordon all the edge he needed to cross them and come out in one piece. There'd been a pair of dispensers on the wall in the building where the CPs had hidden, too, along with enough ammo to make him wonder why they hadn't tried to charge him earlier. Not that he minded. The more mistakes his enemies made, the happier it made him. He stocked up with what he could and continued on his way.

The sun was inching on towards evening when one slanting orange streak of light through clouds lit up a well-concealed lambda painted on the wall of what might very well be a former hydro plant. Good; the airboat's condition was starting to get a little precarious. He pulled up to the rudimentary dock, cut the engines, and clambered out to look for the door. There wasn't much searching to do, really; around the cart, up the inclined patch of concrete beside the building, past the mutilated propaganda posters on the wall, and... there. A fenced alcove with danger signs and barrels ringing the door. No sign of anyone on the premises, though, and no guards or surveillance cameras that he could see. That was odd. Dr. Kleiner's lab hadn't had any visible security, either, but at least it had windows. Frowning, he slid his crowbar loose from his belt and eased the door open.

No response. The lights were on, but nobody seemed to be home- was he too late after all? He stepped through-

WHAM.

The door slammed shut, the lights went out, and for half a second he was absolutely totally completely oh dear God no NOT AGAIN NO sure he could hear the breathing of Marines-

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In the next half-second, two blinding floodlights turn on above him.

"We've got something," says a female voice over a PA as two security scanners fold out of a slot in the wall and blink furiously at Gordon. "Okay, it--it's human. Hello?"

The floodlights switch off, replaced by the dull yellow light from before. Several things are happening at once: a traffic light mounted on the wall is blinking yellow, a metal cover is sliding down to reveal a long narrow window next to the light, and nozzles on the ceiling are spraying a fine mist of strong-smelling liquid, which seems to make the gunk covering Gordon's suit more inclined to slough off onto the floor.

"Take it easy in there," continues the voice, which seems to belong to the red-haired woman on the other side of the window. "You're safe now. You'll have to forgive the scanning process, we can't take any chances."

She leans forward, frowning in puzzlement at the figure in the airlock... then her eyes go wide with astonishment.

"Dr. Freeman? Gordon Freeman?? Is that you?"

The fact that the lights come on and he hasn't been bashed in the head yet again is such a relief that he scarcely notices everything else going on. At least, until he hears his name. He coughs- that solvent mist got up his nose and doesn't seem inclined to come out- and squints back at the woman. "It's me," he says. "Am I at the right place?"

"I certainly hope so," the woman replies, still sounding pleasantly surprised. "You've made it here this quickly--well, Eli is going to be amazed, not to mention relieved!"

The solvent spray ceases, and a fine line of laser scanners starts a slow sweep of the room from the top down.

"I'm Dr. Mossman--Dr. Judith Mossman. I've been hearing about you since long before the Black Mesa Incident." She sighs. "Oh, Black Mesa... I do so envy you working with Eli and Dr. Kleiner when they were at the top of their field."

The lasers turn off, and the traffic light switches from yellow to green.

"Ah, there we go. You can come through now."

Gordon shakes off a little, more out of reflex than anything else, and nods. "Thank you," he says, and steps out of the airlock. He's forgotten that he's still got the crowbar in his hand, at least for the moment. It's a thing.

Judith won't begrudge him that. Generalized paranoia is par for the course these days.

There's a side door leading up to the airlock control room; Judith steps out of it the moment Gordon's out in the open. "I'll take you down to Eli right away. He would never forgive me if I kept you waiting."

"It's all right," Gordon says in a tone of mild protest; he's still trying to back down from nearly hyperventilating, after all. "I'm just glad I made it this far."

"So am I, believe me," says Judith fervently as she leads Gordon to a freight elevator. "We could certainly use the extra help around here. We've covered a lot of ground in the last few months, but thinks would go so much faster if we had more people with your training."

Her enthusiasm grows with every word. "We're closing in on a reliable local teleport technology--something the Combine still hasn't mastered. Eli thinks their portals are string-based, similar to our Calabi-Yau model, but they failed to factor in the dark energy equations. They can tunnel through from their universe, but once they're here, they're dependent on local transportation. If they knew what we were doing with entanglement--" She shakes her head and chuckles. "Oh, listen to me, I sound like a post-doc... I'm just so excited to think that we'll finally have the chance to work together."

"It's all right," Gordon assures her. The enthusiasm is really sort of catching. "It's been longer than I like to think since I got to do this kind of work at all. What else've you got so far?"

"Well--"

As the elevator begins to descend, Judith launches into a detailed explanation of how the new portal system works. Gordon may find it a little hard to follow, though, given what can be seen through the open door as they go.

An open lounge area in which a bearded man and a Vortigaunt are deeply engaged in a game of chess.

A large kitchen, with Vortigaunts in chef's hats bustling back and forth.

A firing range, crackling with gunfire and electricity as human and alien alike take aim at the targets on the far wall.

And finally...

"Oh, here's Eli now."

Normally Gordon listens carefully to this kind of thing. Really, he does. But honestly, the view from the elevator is just- it's something. It's really something. So much to see, so much to learn...

The elevator grinds to a halt, and he looks up sharply.

Eli's lab is a bit sparser and less cluttered than Dr. Kleiner's, but there is still plenty of capital-S Science to take in. The man himself is currently engaged in conversation with a Vortigaunt. "Alright, good. You keep right up."

"Eli!" calls Judith as they enter the lab. "Look who I found in the airlock!"

Eli turns away from the Vort to approach Gordon--slowly, limping on one good leg and one curved metal prosthetic. "Gordon Freeman! Huh, let me get a look at you, man..." He squints at the younger man. "My God, you haven't changed one iota, how do you do it?"

The age, Gordon had expected. He saw the transmission at Kleiner's, after all. The leg, not so much. He spreads his hands a little at the question, the past few minutes' radical change in tensions- and everything else- catching up with him at once and robbing him of any words beyond, "It's a... really long story. I-" He shakes his head. "I'll tell you later."

Eli nods. "Now, let's see... last time I saw you, I sent you up for help after the resonance cascade. I never thought it would take you this long to get back to me!" A good-natured chuckle. "Welcome to the lab anyway. It's not Black Mesa, but it's served us well enough."

"It's going to be a lot more like Black Mesa with Gordon here to help."

Remember the chills that went down Shenzi the hyena's spine in The Lion King whenever somebody said the name 'Mufasa'?

Yeah. Like that. Gordon does his best to hide it by murmuring that he'll be happy to do whatever needs doing, but there's still just the faintest tinge of prickled skin that doesn't want to go away.

"Right you are!" says Eli, seemingly oblivious. "MIT graduates are few and far between these days. We'll get you out of that hazard suit and back into your lab coat where you belong."

...that's probably not gonna help with Gordon's discomfort.

No. It's really not. At least all it triggers is a rush of momentary panic rather than sick dread?

And at least Eli hasn't suggested taking away the crowbar. That would go... poorly.

That expression, Eli manages to catch. "We have airlocks for a reason, Gordon," he reassures the younger man. "Nothing gets in or out of the facility without us knowing it. And if worse comes to worst? We've got forty-two trained soldiers quartered here. On our side this time."

"Sorry," Gordon says a little sheepishly. "Reflex, there. Thank you, Eli."

"Think nothing of it," says Eli with a dismissive wave of his hand. "But I'll bet you'll want to get out of that suit before too long."

The HEV suit is, after all, far from clean despite the solvent shower.

"Let me just finish up some work and I'll see what I can dig up," says Judith. "Dr. Freeman? It's been an honor."

"It doesn't exactly have a deodorant delivery system," Gordon admits. "Thank you, Dr. Mossman. Same here."

After she leaves he runs a hand over his face. It's been a long day. Maybe not in terms of hours- he lost track of time early on- but any day in which you get shot, patched up, and then shot again as often as Gordon's done is automatically a long day.

"Hell of a place you have here," he nevertheless says. "I got a look at a little of it on the way in."

"Feel free to look around. We weren't expecting you just yet, but we'll get you settled in soon enough."

"Thanks," Gordon says, and puts his hands carefully behind his back. He knows better than to start poking at any of Eli's things, but really, why take a chance?

Although he does pause for a moment at the sight of the family picture next to one of the more fascinating data displays. That's the face he remembers.

"You remember my wife, Azian, don't you?" Eli's smile has a touch of sadness to it now. "That picture and Alyx were all I managed to carry out of Black Mesa."