Chapter Text
It started, as all strange things do, at an auction.
Every ten or so years, the contracts at Black Mesa would expire. Things that had been sent into storage, or projects that had been shelved, their paperwork would time out. They'd become useless to Black Mesa, or had passed a safety check of "did not mutate in the past 3 months" and such, would be added to an Auction List.
An Auction List that would open up to Black Mesa staff and personnel, permitting them to take home a little piece of work with them.
Of course, there was more to it. More often than not, patents for projects that had potential but had run out of funding would end up at the auction, and scientists would scramble to buy it, bids climbing higher and higher as they tried to buy back the work they'd invested so much time and potential into.
And in the middle of it sat Gordon Freeman, a budding theoretical physicist who'd written a paper impressive enough for Black Mesa to invite him into their fold (along with Dr Kleiner's recommendation). He felt out of place amongst his peers, watching them bid on projects he didn't even know were made by Black Mesa. Bipedal dogs, semi-sentient plastics, teleportation prototypes and more. All things that were far outside his wheelhouse, and would be an affront to science's progress if he bothered to bid on them.
Of course, he did bid on a few things, if only to fail. A computer case that would slowly replicate parts put inside it, eventually creating a second computer. Jackets that were so well insulated you could wear them in the void of space and not lose body heat.
But then came the item that caught Gordon's eye. So mundane that it had no place being inside Black Mesa.
"Item number 8-12-22-18 Subcategory 1-9: A VHS Tape. The notes left on its file are as follows-" Gordon leaned in as the announcer began to read, somewhat intrigued by the tameness of its appearance. "Contains footage of four scientists, interspersed with one Black Mesa Security Guard and one Military Captain."
Such an odd thing for Black Mesa to keep, unless there was something hidden on there, like some kind of company secret. The auctioneer kept speaking. "The tape was found stored in a cabinet along with several moth-eaten jackets and boxes. It has the potential to be somewhat corrupted."
Gordon wasn't sure why he raised his paddle to the starting bid of three dollars. Even his friend, Barney Calhoun, currently seated beside him, couldn't understand why. He raised an eyebrow at Gordon, but only got a shrug of the shoulders in return.
Nobody else chose to bid.
Gordon Freeman now owned an old, boring VHS tape.