#dr Bubby probably | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

radioactivereads · 7 months ago

Text

bros cuddles (hlvrai)

summary: the science team is Tired and they Cuddle . thats it . lol

a/n: im a tommy kin and i was having a hard time sleeping so i wrote this a few months ago . its all platonic. also bubby is hard to write

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The dripping sound of the pipes was pounding in his head. Every noise felt elevated to the highest degree. Tommy stared at the ceiling, sitting against the wall of the Black Mesa floor, the chill of it feeling like it sunk into his bones. Around him the rest of the crew slept.

In his brain’s constant quest to identify patterns around him, the science team's sleeping habits were now familiar.

Gordon always slept curled up on his side, tense in his sleep. Tommy had hoped his dreams would allow him an escape from how on edge he always seemed to be, but after noticing that he wasn’t so sure.

Dr. Coomer and Dr. Bubby often stuck close together, and they were no different now. Coomer liked to sleep on his back, even if it did make him snore, which Bubby complained about, but he also liked to prop his head up on Coomer and lie next to him, resting his head on Coomer’s stomach and muttering in his sleep.

Tommy wasn’t quite familiar with Benrey’s sleep patterns, only catching them napping in the middle of other conversations, or once when he woke up and they were still asleep. They seemed to sleep wherever was most convenient, which was often just wherever he was when they got tired.

However, none of these patterns soothed him in this moment. He found himself struggling to sleep more and more. The sounds of all the weapons echoed in his mind. Each day he was dealing with much louder sounds than what he’d become accustomed to.

He wished Sunkist were here, if only for the selfish reason he wanted to hug her. Her soft fur always helped him fall asleep, and she’d often curl up next to him or by his bed, guarding him from threats, real or imaginary.

But it would be dangerous for Sunkist to be here. Despite her immortality, Tommy always worried that the exact moment she got hurt would be when she suddenly would stop being immortal, or maybe she’d forget she was immortal and maybe that would make her not be anymore.

His dad was nearby, he knew that. He’d been watching more closely these days. Whether that was because of Tommy, Gordon, the ‘incident’, or maybe a mix of all of them, he couldn’t be sure.

He- again selfishly- hoped it was because of him, though he knew deep down that was probably not the case.

His feelings about his father, the ‘Gman’ were complicated at best. They’re his dad, and he loved them, sure, but the recent reappearance after many years of absence was a big thing to get used to.

His father was busy, yes, but Tommy had always hoped they’d have more time for him someday.

But they never did, and Tommy had stopped hoping.

Tommy didn’t exactly want his fathers “comfort” at the moment. His dad was not very good with emotions like comfort, and Tommy knew it’d likely make things worse.

Tommy was only startled out of his thoughts when someone snapped their fingers in front of him. He scrambled back quickly, but realized it was only Bubby, who was squatting in front of him.

“Jeez loueez no need to be so jumpy!” Bubby scowled, but Tommy had learnt he often did that, and it was not indicative of his mood.

“Sorry…” Tommy muttered. His gaze flicked to Dr Coomer, who was still lying on his back, pawing at the air in his sleep and muttering something about a championship and some sort of gaming console.

Tommy wondered what he was dreaming about before turning back to Bubby.

“You look terrible kid, you should sleep”

Bubby was quite blunt.

Tommy bit back a retort, knowing Bubby was much better at that than him, and it wouldn’t be very smart to start that kind of fight.

“…I can’t sleep” Tommy complained “it’s too much- I-it’s way too loud in here. Even if- even when it’s quiet”

Bubby sat, thinking seemingly

“I usually use Coomer as a pillow” he began, Tommy didn’t inform him he already knew this information

��“but when I focus on his snoring it helps me drown out the sound of anything else”

“But how do you- how are you sure you’re gonna be safe all night then? If nobody’s keeping watch over you”

Bubby waved a hand

“You all are very loudl. If something happens I’m sure I’ll wake up to Gordon yelling his head off”

“…I guess so…” Tommy still didn’t feel convinced.

“Why don’t we try to find a noise that you can focus on?” Bubby offered. Tommy sighed but nodded

“Yea… Usually I have Sunkist a-and she helps me feel safer…” Tommy hugged his knees, and Bubby was lost in thought.

“...Say, you like Wikipedia right?” “The- The free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit?” Tommy looked up hopefully

Bubby grinned. It wasn’t like how people were supposed to grin, Tommy thought. It was more like a chimp bearing its teeth, but he’d learned that was just how he smiled.

Bubby walked over and nudged Coomer with his foot. Coomer muttered about gloves and Bubby rolled his eyes (Or, Tommy assumed he did. He couldn’t quite see behind his glasses.)

Bubby picked up Coomer and carried him over, dropping him on the ground. Coomer jolted and yelled something about ropes, but Bubby tapped him and he calmed down.

“Oh, Hello Dr. Bubb-” “Shut it! That one’s still sleeping” He jabbed a thumb towards Gordon, who stirred a bit.

Coomer’s voice was quieter, but not like a whisper, more like someone had used a remote to turn the volume down.

“Coomer, recite the boy a wikipedia article!” “Wikipedia, The Free Online Encyclopedi-?” “Yes, yes that!!”

Tommy tried to get comfortable on the floor, but it wasn’t working very well. Coomer lied back down, resting against the wall, and Bubby lied down next to him, resting his head on Coomer’s side.

Coomer noticed Tommy’s struggles and kindly patted the spot next to him, offering Tommy to share the space. Tommy was hesitant, he wasn’t very used to any sort of physical contact. He hadn’t had many friends, let alone ones who wanted to be affectionate with him.

He hated to admit it, but he still flinched whenever Gordon put a hand on his shoulder.

Coomer was the exact opposite however, constantly poking, hugging, and messing with other people, so Tommy suspected it was very normal for him.

Awkwardly, Tommy scooted closer, resting his head on his side, and Coomer put an arm over him. It was very comforting, he had to admit.

“A Chair Is A Piece Of Furniture With A Raised Surface-” Coomer began reciting, and Tommy felt himself relax.

It reminded him of his dad. Gman would recite OSHA guidelines, rules, and encyclopedias to get him to sleep, whether because he thought it would bore Tommy into tiredness or because he genuinely thought it was interesting was beyond him, but Tommy had grown a liking for them regardless.

As he listened to Coomer ramble on, his mind wandered.

His dad was nearby, and he was safe. He shouldn’t worry about that. Even if it wasn’t as direct as Sunkist’s guarding, Tommy doubted his dad would let him get hurt.

But he didn’t just have to worry about himself anymore. He willed his tired eyes- which he hadn’t realized had closed- open, and his gaze tiredly flicked to Gordon, who was still curled up. He looked to Coomer, who was still reciting the entire page, reading out each resource link letter by letter.

“Hey Dr Coomer?”

“Yes, Tommy?”

“...Can we uhm- Can Mr. Freeman join us? He’s- he looks… cold”

Coomer’s eyes squinted in a strange sort of smile. “The More The Merrier!”

Tommy stood and walked over to Gordon, and very gently reached down, tucking his arms under Gordon’s, and lifted him up, careful to not wake him. Gordon stirred a few times, but ultimately Tommy was successful.

He sat down, moving Gordon to be close to the pile. Tommy curled up by Dr. Coomer again. Bubby was already asleep, and contrary to what he said, he was the one snoring it seemed. Tommy hadn’t noticed that before.

Coomer continued reading out the link he was on, while Tommy’s eyes slowly closed. The dripping of the pipes was merely a background sound now, and easily filtered out. And though he felt the cold of the room threatening to chill him, he felt so warm next to his friends.

This was nice. Tommy appreciated the group's company, of course, but as of late it’d felt… Better than before. Tommy realized in this moment that they were his friends. They cared about him, and they’d help him.

Tommy smiled tiredly, curled up by Dr Coomer and Mr. Freeman.

The cold had passed, and only warmth remained.

He hoped it would last a long time.

#hlvrai #hlvrai fic #hlvrai fanfic #tommy hlvrai #tommy coolatta #hlvrai bubby #dr bubby #dr coomer #hlvrai dr coomer #hlvrai gordon #benrey is only mentioned . sorry

23 notes · View notes

decks-writing-blog · 7 months ago

Text

Gordon Swap Chapter Ten: Lovely Reunion

Chapter One

Previous Chapter

“Don’t you fucking, ‘Hello, Gordon,’ me, asshole!” Gordon’s moment of confusion and not knowing how to feel about randomly running into his for companions evaporated like mist in the heat of his anger. “You bastards betrayed me and left me to fucking die. And then you have the nerve to come over and do your stupid little ‘Hello, Gordon’ like nothing fucking happened. I’m not gonna fucking stand for it.”

Dr. Coomer maybe flinched a little, his approach slowing, but it was probably just Gordon’s imagination because he wanted these fuckers to feel bad for betraying and leaving him to die. There was no way they actually did though because if they were capable of remorse, they would’ve gone back to look for him. “Now, Gordon, I understand you’re upset but first let me explain what…”

“No, you don’t get to explain jack shit. I don’t have a fucking hand anymore because of you guys.” He held it up for them to see as all three of them were on their way over now. “They beat me up and cut it off and then you guys left me to fucking die.”

“Technically that’s only mine and Benrey’s fault,” Bubby said. “But for the record, I didn’t tell them to do that. That’s fucked up. They were only supposed to…”

“Shut the fuck up.” Gordon drew the pistol for the first time since Barney had given him it. He’d might’ve shot it at Bubby’s feet to try to scare him but he’d likely be so far off they’d all laugh at him. So he just pointed it instead.

“I looked for you Mr. Freeman,” Tommy said.

“Yeah, sure you did but you gave up after like five minutes, right? ‘Cause it’s that hard to follow a damn blood trail.” Earlier Gordon had wished Tommy and Dr. Coomer well but faced with them here and now with their excuses and attempts to pretend it was all fine, he didn’t feel so anymore. They may not have been involved in betraying him but they’d still let it happen and then abandoned him. If not for Barney, Gordon probably wouldn’t have made it through to the end of the day. “You fuckers don’t get to…”

The other guy the three of them were with now stepped in front of Gordon. He put a hand on the gun and pushed it down. Gordon didn’t resist because how could he? It was his own face looking back at him. He shook his head a firm ‘no’; disapproval over the gun pointing. It would’ve been easy for him to take it away entirely, Gordon probably would’ve let him, but he didn’t.

Instead, as he stepped back, remaining firmly in front of Gordon, he lifted his hands. He gestured with them in a way that was obviously sign language before pausing, apparently waiting for answer.

Gordon wanted to go back to yelling at his former companions but… “This is weird. You’re like… what? Fuck. Am I a clone?” He couldn’t avoid thinking about the question anymore when faced with a guy who looked exactly like him.

“You don’t know sign language then?” Barney said as he stepped up to stand to the side between them.

“No, why would I? This is your friend though? The guy you think I’m a clone of?”

“Yep, this is him. But uh… looks like I’m translating for him again.”

“Yes, not-Gordon,” Dr. Coomer said. “I believe you should be the one to explain to Gordon what happened. He’s mad at us so he probably wouldn’t listen if we did. Which is perfectly understandable, Gordon. From your perspective it must look rather bad.”

Gordon side stepped not-Gordon to glare at the three of them again. “Yeah, from my perspective you betraying me and leaving me to die looks pretty damn fucking bad. Where’s Benrey? I wanna yell at him too.” And maybe shoot him as well. Not that it was likely to do much of anything.

“Ooh,” Tommy replied. “Benrey will be glad we found you. I think he missed you the most because he got all mopey once we realized this Gordon wasn’t you.”

“He was moping and complaining,” Bubby added, “like a little bitch.”

“We don’t know where he went though,” Tommy continued. “He kinda just comes and goes, you know? He’s in a ‘go’ state right now. But I’m sure he’ll pop up soon and our lovely reunion will be complete.”

“Nothing about this reunion is lovely. I could’ve gone my whole fucking life without ever seeing any of you assholes again and been happy about it.” Gordon would have preferred the gunshots to have come from the military.

Before anyone else could say anything, Barney cleared his throat. “Uh… my pal here,” he gestured to not-Gordon, “told me to tell you,” he pointed to Gordon, “to not get too mad at your friends before you get a better explanation of what happened.”

Who was Gordon supposed to look at when answering? … Well, it was weird looking at his own face and it was Barney speaking so addressing him felt more natural. “All right, fine, explain then.” There was no explanation that could make it better though. Gordon just wanted an excuse to talk to the guy who looked like him more. What was his deal?

Not-Gordon signed and once he was done Barney relayed it. “Are you familiar with string theory and alternate universes?”

“I’m a theoretical physicist so yeah, I’m will acquainted with the theory. What does that have to do with why I shouldn’t be ‘too mad’ at my ex-friends?”

More signing. The silence during which was broken by a whispered exchange between Bubby and Tommy, their exact words inaudible, that Gordon didn’t turn to look despite what happened last time he’d caught Bubby whispering to someone. Surely they’d at least have the decency to not immediately lead him into another trap, right? He certainly wasn’t going to trust anything they said.

Barney perked up, apparently quite interested in whatever his pal was saying. Enough so that he signed back what was probably a question. And then another question once he’d got that one answered. The tension was rather wretched and on the verge of being too much before he finally turned back to Gordon. “Turns out you’re not a clone after all. You are Gordon but an alternate version of him. Apparently you were both jumped by the a squad of soldiers and then ‘vanished’ into another of Black Mesa’s experiments which sent you to an alternate reality, specifically ours while he was sent to yours. So you swapped places basically. Or uh… that’s what Gordon here says he thinks happened. He’s probably right. He’s the smartest guy I know so he’s usually right about science stuff. Pretty cool, huh?”

That theory did indeed make more sense than the clone idea. It filled in a lot of the gaps; the flipped map, all the differences between his and Barney’s recollection of Black Mesa and its personal, how Gordon remembered doing the test that accidentally caused the Resonance Cascade while Barney had insisted it had been his pal. Which meant Gordon wasn’t a clone! He was a real person and his memories were reliable as anyone else’s. And to top it all off, alternate universes were real. He’d been sent to one.That was so cool!

Also fascinating was the fact that this other guy was him. A different version of him. One that couldn’t speak verbally. Why? Had he been born like that or had an accident or illness caused that? What else was different between them? How did he even begin to ask the right questions to figure it out?

Tommy stepped forward, drawing Gordon’s gaze to him as his fiddled with his tie. “See, Mr. Freeman? I did look for you. I looked really hard for a long time but you weren’t anywhere to be found because you were in a different universe.”

“My clones and I looked for you too, Gordon.” Maybe it was just normal Dr. Coomer weirdness but his tone seemed ominous. As if they hadn’t been looking for him the same way Tommy had.

“We were really worried about you Mr. Freeman but we couldn’t find you. So uh… you shouldn’t be mad at us. Or not at me and Mr. Coomer anyway. We didn’t do anything bad or uh… we didn’t do anything too bad.”

Right, yeah, Gordon was mad at these assholes for abandoning him. Now wasn’t the time to get lost in thought about how cool it was someone had finally figured out how to travel between realities or about how interesting this alternate him was. Except well, Tommy had a point, they hadn’t abandoned him. They hadn’t betrayed him and then left him for dead. Instead they’d looked for him but of course hadn’t found him because how could they have possibly done so? The unexpected rush of relief was almost enough to make him need to sit down.

He held himself together though. Most of his anger wasn’t warranted but some of it was. Bubby and Benrey at least had still betrayed him and he’d lost his hand because of it and the others had watched. So he was still unhappy with them even if they weren’t so terrible to have abandoned him. They cared enough to have looked for him instead.

Speaking of being found though, “How’d you guys get here? Shouldn’t you guys be in an alternate Xen? Or did you like do another universe hop or whatever?”

It was Bubby who answered, adjusting his glasses in a way that gave him the air of thinking he was better than everyone else. Or maybe Gordon was just mad enough at him to make even that simple gesture look annoying. “It might be that there’s only one Xen. I mean this place obviously doesn’t exist on the same plane of existence as Earth. Maybe all the realities that find a way here come to the same one. There are could be lots of different versions of us on distant floating islands, stretching who even knows how far. You and him,” he gestured to the other Gordon who’d fallen into another sign language exchange with Barney, “swapping linked our realities or something like that so we ended up on the same group of islands and that’s why we ran into each other here.”

A sound theory. More testing and study would need to be done to figure out the validity of it as well as how exactly it all worked in general. Being part of the team that did that would be fun. What were the chances of such a team forming though?

“That would make this place basically infinite,” Dr. Coomer said. “And that would also mean theoretically we could build a space ship and fly off to meet other versions of ourselves. Meeting a me who isn’t a clone would be fun. I wonder if killing another me would give me more power like my clones do. Or maybe if I killed another me’s clones, I could take his power.”

Gosh, that was a weird thing to think about. More than just one alternate Gordon but a whole bunch of them all standing in similar places right this moment. … There were probably lots of hims who didn’t survive to this point too though. Not so fun to think about. How common was this swapping thing and thus how many different Gordons were having a similar thought right now? With how different the two of them were, which one was the closest to the most common kind of Gordon?

Before he could broach the line of thought or someone else could say something, Barney stepped into their loose ring of conversation. “Uh… since there wasn’t exactly time for introductions before, I’m Barney Calhoun. I made friends with your Gordon while trying to get my bearings after a mishap with a teleport. And then when I tried to take him to that old teleport machine to fix it and get us out of the facility, we ended up here instead. It was a dumb idea in hindsight after it already malfunctioned the once but too late now. Anyway, Gordon just filled me in real quick on what you guys have been up to so I guess we’re joining you. Especially since we were already headed towards the tower. Speaking of which, apparently there’s no time to spare in getting there so we gotta go now. Also, clone-Gordon… or uh… alternate-universe-Gordon – we gotta come up with a nickname for you – the aliens are our friends now and are gonna help… maybe. But they have a thing set up over there that might bring us closer to the tower or to it directly. He’s not sure.”

He gestured towards the center of the settlement – Gordon had forgotten to be fascinated by it upon finding his former companions just milling about within it but it was cool. Even cooler was whatever the aliens had set up in the center. A ring, it’s center filled with something that looked and awful lot like a bad idea to touch in part because it might be a portal to who knows where. Other-Gordon was already standing next to it as well as the aliens – the ones that shot lightening from their hands, cool but scary – that had presumably built it. They did indeed seem to be friendly now.

“So, I guess let’s go check it out and see what’s up.” Barney started in that direction, prompting the rest of them to follow.

Tommy jogged up to follow beside him. “I’m Tommy and he’s Dr. Coomer and that’s Dr. Bubby. Thank you for taking care of Mr. Freeman for us. I was worried about him being all alone with only one hand because that seems really bad with everything that’s happening so I’m glad he wasn’t.” He was still a friend then.

“You guys betrayed him though?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Bubby protested. “The soldiers lied to me. They weren’t supposed to cut off his hand. That’s fucked up. And when I protested about it they shoved me back in my tube. Being in my tube sucks by the way. I hate it.If the other Gordon hadn’t found me, I’d still be there.”

“I wish he hadn’t found you.” Gordon wasn’t going to forgive him just because the soldiers had lied and ultimately betrayed him too. That didn’t make it okay. And being trapped in a tube for a little while was better than permanently losing a hand so he had no right to complain.

“All right, all right. It’s fair to be mad at me, I guess. And I should probably apologize or whatever so… sorry. It’s fucked up what they did to you and I’m sorry for the part I played in it. There, see? I can be good person sometimes.”

“Good job, Dr. Bubby!” Dr. Coomer even patted him on the shoulder.

Gordon didn’t respond. The apology was appreciated and did ease his anger a little but he wasn’t ready to accept it yet. Maybe he never would. He’d be justified in that, right? Or would that be petty? If it was, he’d earned some pettiness, right?

Before he could decide or anyone else could say anything, they were at the center. Up close the portal look of it was even more intense, begging the question of what would happen upon stepping through? Where did it lead?

Other-Gordon made a ‘follow me’ gesture before immediately stepping through. No hesitation or pausing for further discussion and/or explanation about why they were going through it. He was just that confident that it would be fine.

Not just not afraid but seemingly enthused, Dr. Coomer followed suit with a loud, “Let’s a-go!”

Tommy and then Bubby went next, leaving just Barney and Gordon.

He took a breath to ask if they were really going to do this. It was very sudden after all and unlike Barney, Gordon hadn’t been brought up to date on everything that was going on here. He wasn’t even sure he wanted to go with them, traveling with just Barney had been rather nice. Before he could get a single syllable out though, Barney stepped through too. Damn it. With the only other option to stay here alone with the aliens that weren’t currently trying to kill him but all the others he’d seen of their kind had, Gordon followed.

The light was almost exactly the same as the teleport to Xen except green instead of yellow. Thankfully there was no fall this time. His boot instead landed on something solid and flat. Darkness reinserted itself around him. Or no, not darkness, the blinding light was gone, replaced by artificial lighting.

They were inside a large building made of the same coloured stone as the buildings in the previous settlement. A factory maybe? Judging based off the large alien machines taking up much of the space within. Or maybe this was a place like Black Mesa but a bit more open and run by the Vonneguts.

The group had spread out a bit but not much. Vonneguts gathered around them, way too many as far as Gordon was concerned. If they decided to attack, it would be a tough battle – there were more of them but they didn’t have guns and thus it wouldn’t be particularly easy for them either. They didn’t seem inclined towards violence though but instead curiosity. Hovering around with the relatable air of wanting to see what was going while trying not to be in the way or cause a disturbance. It made them less scary at least.

One of them was having some kind of gestured communication with other-Gordon. What it might be trying to convey, Gordon couldn’t guess, especially since last through, he was only catching the end of it. Other-Gordon nodded before turning, signing something at Barney and then immediately turning back around to start walking, trusting the rest of them to follow. Not that there was anything else to do.

“Uh,” Barney said as the lot of them fell into following, “he says he thinks they’re leading us to the tower. So I guess that means we’re going in the direction they point us towards.”

“And we’re just gonna trust them?” Gordon certainly didn’t want to. “What if it’s a trap?”

Other-Gordon had to have heard him but he didn’t even turn his head to acknowledge it. Instead it was Tommy who answered. “Well the uh, Vonneguts are being mind controlled by the balloon guys so it makes sense they’d want us to kill the big boss alien, right? If the big boss alien dies then maybe they get to be free.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Having one thing explained didn’t make any of the rest of it make sense. “Could we slow down a bit and talk some more about stuff? Like what the hell’s happening here.”

No one stopped or even slowed. “Get used to this, Gordon,” Bubby said as he sidled up to walk beside him. “This guy, the other you, is like this all the damn time. He makes me look patient and that’s saying something. It’s batshit. I like you more.”

Gordon didn’t particularly want Bubby to like him more. In fact, he’d prefer it if Bubby liked him less if that meant not having to deal with his willingness to be betray people anymore. Before he could say so though, Dr. Coomer interrupted.

“Hello, Gordon! Bubby’s right. Not-Gordon lives firmly by the ‘no rest for the wicked’ philosophy. He even slept for only four hours before waking up and deciding it was time to go. He did very good on the box moving puzzle though.”

“Also,” Tommy said, “you said you didn’t know what I meant about the Vonneguts. As you can see they’re uh, friends now, right? Well there’s these guys with big heads that float in the air, I’ve decided to call them balloon guys because they’re heads are like balloons, they can mind control them. Which I think is why we’re trusting the Vonneguts now. I don’t really know. We’re just kinda following the other you. But he wants to kill the alien boss guy whose been sending the aliens to Earth to kill people. That’s why we’re here. And we think it’s in the tower so that’s why we’re going there.”

“Thank you, Tommy.” That made the rush make sense at least. The sooner all that was taken care of, the better. And turns out Gordon didn’t need to feel bad about having abandoned the journey to fix stuff because he was back on it. Not that he’d be much help in killing the ‘alien boss’ but where else was he going to go?

But apparently, alternate-Gordon had never abandoned that quest. He seemed eager to follow it.

Bubby lowered his voice to a near whisper so that only the four of them in the rear could hear – apparently Gordon had been upgraded to being one of his whisper buddies despite not wanting to be his buddy at all anymore. “We could probably stop following. I don’t think he’d care. He’d just keep going. But we’re here now and something tells me sticking with him is our best bet for getting back to Earth. Which Earth is a question now though. His or ours?”

“I think I’d like to see his Earth.” Dr. Coomer as was typical for him didn’t lower his voice. “Or some other alternate Earth. It’s quite fascinating to have the theory confirmed, don’t you think, Gordon?”

“Uh… yeah. Fascinating.” It would’ve been nice to know that while he’d actually been there so he could pay attention and figure out more differences and whatnot. Maybe when all this was over, he’d make all that his field of study… assuming enough of Black Mesa survived to allow him to.

As they walked, the separation between their two groups became more pronounced. Not in distance but in feel. Barney wanted to catch up with his pal, fill him in on his adventure through the facility. So he stuck with other-Gordon in the lead, chatting at him in a low voice as they walked just fast enough to be uncomfortable. Which left Gordon with his old companions, trailing slightly behind.

That was fine, understandable even. But things had been much more peaceful when it had just been Gordon and Barney. This was probably better though; Gordon’s dead weight was easier to bear by a group. He didn’t have to depend on a single guy to keep him safe. And Benrey wasn’t here so that was nice. Also with how fast the pace other-Gordon set was, antics weren’t nearly as easy to fall into because there was no time to stop and mess with anything.

It would’ve been awesome if there was though. They were just walking past cool alien stuff. How could other-Gordon possibly be so different from him as to not be eaten alive by curiosity over it? Yeah, they were on an important mission but alien science stuff was right here to look at and they were just walking past it without even slowing down.

A good reason for that pace made itself known when the first ambush hit. Gordon and Barney had had a few instances of hostile aliens teleporting in on them. This was immediately different though, more than double the numbers. Including the aforementioned balloon guys who did indeed turn the Vonneguts – who’d scattered as soon as the teleporting had started – against them.

Gordon hid behind one of the alien machines, letting the rest of them take care of it. Cowardly but what the hell else was he supposed to do? He did peek though. Other-him handled the violence with far more competence and grace than he ever could’ve hoped for even with two hands. How were they the same guy? He was composed in the midst of battle and good at it while Gordon had only ever flailed when fighting anything other than the ‘ropes’ and headcrabs. But now he was useless while other him was a badass.

Bringing down the last balloon guy ended the Vonneguts’ assault. From there the fight was basically won. Gordon waited until it was before creeping out of his hiding. “What the hell was that?”

“Yeah, holy cow,” Barney said as he reloaded his gun. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one place before.”

Other-Gordon didn’t even wait for him to finish speaking before turning and resuming their journey. Apparently trusting them to follow and/or didn’t care if he left anyone behind. Gordon followed but… “Seriously? We’re not gonna take a break after that?” Other-him was that unbothered?

“That’s just how it is now,” Tommy explained. “I think the thing sending them knows we’re getting closer and it doesn’t like that. So it’s uh… it’s trying real hard to kill us.”

“So joining up with you guys is actually more dangerous instead of less. Great. Awesome.” Gordon shouldn’t be surprised though. All the bad things lately just kept building on top of each other. And they were heading to a big bad thing that was probably going to be the crowning spire atop that tower of awful. At least Benrey was still missing though. Maybe the one good thing here would be him staying gone forever.

Which was actually possible because after one portal traversal there was no way he’d know where to go to meet back up with them. So ha, joke’s on him, he gets to stay stuck in Xen for the rest of his life where he can’t be a nuisance to Gordon or anyone else ever again.

There was one more ambush before they reached what seemed to be the end of whatever kind of building they were in. Another portal was positioned there, its attendants had clearly known they were coming. They were ushered through with little ceremony. Gordon didn’t let himself hesitate this time, going through right after his alternate.

It was the exact same as before, step through, blinding light as his feet found the stone floor of a different location. Far from normal but with how odd everything was, portals seemed almost expected.

He blinked as his vision cleared. More Vonneguts hovered around, curious but careful not to get too close, presumably a message had been sent to them. Beyond them, they were outside again, in another alien settlement, like the last but bigger. The purple and blue sky yawned overhead, gorgeous and alien as ever. The tower now took up much more of the view. Gordon was no expert but several miles’ travel had to have been made towards it. It was still a good distance away and once there, the question of how they would…

“Yo, two?”

Gordon froze. That voice… He turned, taking a breath to shout something, maybe an insult, but it died in his throat at the sight of Benrey. How the fuck had he gotten so big?

He sat crossed legged in the center of the new little alien town, a few feet behind the portal. Resting his head in the palm in his hand he leaned down to look at Gordon and his alternate with obvious interest. “If there’s two that must mean one of you is the real one, right?”

Other-Gordon looked up at him but didn’t flinch. Either not surprised or just that good at hiding it. Regardless of which it was, he certainly wasn’t frightened.

Gordon took a deep breath squared up his shoulders. He could be brave and chill about this development too. Also, he was mad at Benrey and had a right to be. No fear or running, only anger! “What do you mean ‘real’? We’re both real just like you’re a real fucking piece of shit, asshole! Fuck you!” Ah, that felt a bit better.

Benrey turned his full attention onto Gordon as he cackled manically. “Finally, dude! You’re back. I looked for you all over but all I found was a blood trail leading to dumb box that didn’t even work anymore. It just did some sparks and stuff when I closed the door. It was dumb.” Wait, he’d not only looked but had tried to follow Gordon to the other reality too? “Which uh… isn’t allowed by the way. Leaving blood all over the floor is like graffiti, basically. And you broke a machine thingy. So you’re gonna have to um, fix that or pay for it or something.” Of course that was why. He didn’t feel bad, he just wanted to badger Gordon more.

“Fuck you! You fucking betrayed me. So go… fuck yourself or something, I don’t know.” Maybe Gordon should go back to being afraid but the anger felt better and other-Gordon was still standing right there, unfazed. He couldn’t be a coward in front of his badass alternate self.

“Oh, yeah,” Tommy said, drawing Gordon’s attention back down to him and Dr. Coomer who’d come through the portal behind him. “We forgot to tell you that Benrey’s big now for some reason. Hey Benrey.” He lifted a hand in a wave.

“Hey Tommy. Look, it’s the original Gordon. The one that doesn’t have his passport. And, uh…” He leaned in a bit closer, “looks like he doesn’t have his hand anymore either. What uh, happened there, huh?”

“You know perfectly well what fucking happened!” Gordon drew the gun and… didn’t fire immediately despite wanting to because it was awkward in his hand. He aimed as best he could and then fired it! Whether he hit Benrey or not was impossible to say because he didn’t react at all. He made for a big target though so probably he had been hit… maybe.

Barney had apparently come through right at that moment. “Whoa, what’s…” He’d drawn his gun as he turned but paused because who could look at Benrey and be normal about it? “What the heck?”

“That’s Benrey,” Gordon explained as he holstered his useless gun. “I don’t know why he’s so big either.” And he probably wasn’t going to get an answer because nothing else about Benrey made sense.

“Yo, it’s Barney.”

“You know me?”

“Yeah, I stole your uniform and name tag, remember? You got real mad about it. Or uh… maybe you’re the Barney from boring-Gordon’s world or whatever.”

“Ah-ha! You admitted it! You’re not a real security guard.” Gordon almost couldn’t believe he’d just come out and said it like that.

“Um… no. I’m a real security guard.”

“You just said you stole his uniform. That means you can’t be a real guard because if you were you’d have had a uniform issued to you and thus wouldn’t have needed to steal one. So checkmate, dude. You lost.” Except he was giant now so a real fight would go in his favor every time. But he’d still admitted to being a thief so Gordon had won this particular battle of wits.

“I don’t know what you’re talking ‘bout, bro. Stealing’s wrong. I would never do that.”

“You literally just said that you did!” Gordon looked around at every looking at him – all of them were through the portal now – even the Vonneguts were staring. “You guys heard him, right? He just said he stole Barney’s uniform. Proving what he’s saying now wrong as well as proving he’s not a real guard.”

“Nuh-uh. I never said that.”

“Did you really think he was a real guard?” Bubby asked. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious he’s not. How are you that much of a dumbass?”

“Look when I first met him he seemed… He was standing where a real guard would stand, okay? So I assumed he was one. That doesn’t make me a dumbass. That makes me rational because why would I assume a not real guard was where a real one was supposed to be? Especially when there was a real one there too who didn’t seem bothered by his presence. And it doesn’t matter anyway because he just admitted to stealing a guard uniform. Which he would only have bothered to do if he didn’t have one of his own.”

“Nah, bro, you’re hallucinating or something.”

Ignoring him, Gordon continued. “So he’s basically admitting to not being a real security guard. Meaning all this bullshit he’s been harassing me about, my passport and I’m not supposed to be here or whatever, is null and void. He doesn’t have a case anymore and never actually had one to begin with.”

Barney walked over to stand next to Gordon. “I believe you, pal. And he did just admit to stealing my alternate’s uniform so uh… Benrey, buddy, stop lying.”

“Thank you!” Gordon was about ready to hug him. Finally someone who was fully on his side.

“I don’t lie. Can’t in fact ‘cause uh… just can’t, you know? I’m not human and lying’s a human thing. And I’m not one so um… uh… Hey uh… fun-Gordo, what happened to your hand? Hasn’t grown back yet, huh? Why’s that?”

“Don’t you fucking change the subject, asshole. You fucked up and you can’t take that back.”

“Ah, I get it, you’re trying to be difficult to distract from uh… stealing stuff. Yeah, you wanna steal stuff from my new pomegranate buddies. But I’m not gonna let ya.”

“You know what? Fuck you. We’re here on an important world saving mission so we don’t have time for this shit. Goodbye.” With his best sassy dismissive hand wave, Gordon turned and walked away. In hindsight, he should’ve done that as soon as he saw Benrey. Better late than never though.

Next Chapter

#hlvrai #half life #hlvrai gordon #gordon freeman #benrey #bubby #barney calhoun #dr. coomer #tommy coolatta #gordon swap

13 notes · View notes