(REWRITING) CURIOSITY // HLVR:λI Gordon Freeman x Reader

-λ- 4: Strange Yet Pleasant Experiences -λ-

After calming himself down, Gordon led everyone through the halls until he came upon the next room. Up on the second floor was a man in a suit, who simply stared down at you all. You peeked over Gordon's shoulder to catch a glimpse of what he was looking at and your eyes widened just the slightest bit in recognition when you made eye contact with the strange man.

It was the man who freed you from your containment tank!

Gordon turned and saw you staring intently. "Who's that? Who is that?" he asked, and you would've answered if Doctor Coomer hadn't suddenly shoved you both back into the hallway with a panicked shout of Gordon's name.

Everyone yelped in surprise when they felt a sonic wave, causing Bubby and Tommy to lose their balance and fall on their bottoms. You caught a glimpse of a peeper puppy in the room, and stumbled past Gordon to rush the creature.

"YEAH! GO Y/N! GET IT!" the man cheered as you swung up your leg, punting the peeper puppy up into the ceiling. It hit the ceiling with a loud thud before slowly peeling off of it like a vending machine sticky-hand toy and landing on the floor, dead.

"Damn, nice one!" Gordon complimented, sounding impressed as he stepped into the room along with everyone else. He looked back up to the second floor to find the strange suited man, but he was no longer there. He turned to the rest of the Science Team and pointed to where the man had last been seen. "Did you guys see that guy? Up there? In the suit?"

"Yes, I did," Bubby answered, casually leaning against one of the metal walls and crossing his arms, "I don't know why he thought he was stealthy, I... I stared right at him."

"Wh- is he trying to hide...?" Gordon muttered to himself. He noticed a small door to his right and approached it. He was about to open it when Bubby spoke.

"Hey look, another dog," the older scientist pointed out, and Gordon turned to find everyone crowded around a window next to the hallway.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Doctor Coomer cooed, clasping his hands together in delight.

Gordon looked through the window to see the peeper puppy standing idly next to a med station. "What's it doing? It's looking for health?" he pondered.

Suddenly, the creature turned towards the window and began charging. Everyone quickly backed away, Bubby running towards the exit.

"Ah! It's aggressive!" he yelped and cowered behind you, backed into a corner and away from the window.

"Okay, uhhh hold on, do any of you have a gun?" Gordon asked. You reached for the Glock in your waistband, remembering it was there. Bubby, however, stepped out from behind you and walked back up to the window and began climbing through it, catching Gordon's attention.

"I don't think I wanna jump in there with it—"

A sonic wave then emitted from the peeper puppy, sending Bubby flying. He and Gordon yelled in panic, but stopped in shock when Bubby hovered in midair.

The scientist looked around the room in confusion, not knowing how the hell he was levitating. It was as if he was no-clipping or something. But a few seconds afterwards, you hesitantly walked beneath him and held out your arms, catching him when he finally fell and set him down.

"What is happening...?" the scientist groaned, leaning against you as he regained his bearings. Behind the wall, the peeper puppy began charging once more and Gordon ushered everyone away.

"Okay so apparently there seems to be some sort of uhhh, like- atemporal reaction to being hit by that pulse," he stated, "I would like everybody to remain calm, and step away from it. I'm gonna go in with the crowbar, I'm gonna give it a fe- few smacks, I'm gonna jump out of the hole. Okay?" He turned to the peeper puppy with his crowbar raised, but faltered. He saw that the alien was stuck in the room it was in, meaning it wasn't much of a threat unless someone approached it. Gordon lowered his crowbar and put a hand on his hip. "Actually, do we even need to get in there? I think we can just leave him be..."