AN: So I thought my old summary of this story was boring so I rewrote it, I think it better reflects what this story is. I will also say that I have a major plot twist planned for later.
Chapter 10: Black Mesa East
"Well this is Eli's lab." Gordon said Climbing out of the airboat.
"Well they sent you here for a reason," Chase said, "Let's go in."
Gordon walked behind a wall and noticed some kind of airlock. "I hope this isn't a trap." He thought to himself before walking in with Chase and… He didn't know the woman's name.
"Hey." He said to her. Just then the airlock closed and the lights went out.
"What?" She replied as two bright lights came on and two cameras began scanning the room.
"I know this is a bizarre time to ask, but I never got your name earlier." He said.
"Oh right, it's Chell." She answered.
"Ok nice to meet you." He said.
Just then the airlock opened. Gordon stepped out into the facility and was met by a woman he'd seen during the teleporter mishap.
"Hello Gordon, I'm Dr. Judith Mossman." She turned to the others, "now you two I'm not familiar with." She added.
"Chase Kleiner." Chase said, shaking her hand.
"Isaac's son?" The woman asked. Chase nodded.
"Huh." Gordon thought to himself. "I could've sworn he was adopted. Then again, he might be covering that up, he really doesn't like to talk about it."
"All right Chell, nice to meet you." The woman said, Gordon missed out on part of the conversation while he was thinking.
"Alright Gordon," Judith began, "I'll take you down to Eli and you two can do whatever. Just don't break anything."
"We won't." Chase said before wandering off with Chell following him.
"Alright Dr. Freeman come with me, I'm gonna try to bring you up to speed on what's been happening while you weren't around." Judith said opening a door.
Gordon followed her to an elevator.
"I'm sure you remember what happened back at Black Mesa."
"Boy do I." Gordon said, very unpleasant memories ran through his head.
"Well Dr. Kleiner figured out how to control that process and now we've figured out how to use it to swing around Xen and come back into local space."
"Huh. Taking after the Combine?" He asked. The elevator door closed and they began their descent.
"Actually no, we're ahead of them on this one. Eli's pretty sure their portals are string based, but they didn't account for dark energy. They can tunnel through from their universe but that's all." She paused briefly. "What they wouldn't do for our teleportation technology."
Gordon almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. They actually found a way to control and harness the almost limitless power of dark energy. "What else could we have done in 20 years?" He wondered.
"Hey look there he is." Judith chimed in, "nice timing."
The elevator opened and Gordon stepped out.
"Well if it isn't Gordon Freeman." Eli said as Gordon walked over. "My god you haven't changed a bit, how do you do it?"
Gordon shrugged.
"Well I don't have much to say right now. Feel free to look around Gordon. We're gonna get you outta that hazard suit and back into your lab coat where you belong." Eli explained.
"I'm gonna go finish finish a couple things up, I'll be right back." Judith said walking into a room.
Gordon scanned the room and noticed a bunch of newspaper clippings hanging on a wall. "What are those about?" He asked.
"They're old papers from when the Combine took over the planet." Eli explained, "or Breen's rise to power, depending on how you look at it."
"That explains why he was on all those monitors back in the city." Gordon thought to himself. Just then the door opened.
"Gordon you made it!" He turned to see Alyx coming into the room, as much as he didn't know her he was still glad to see her.