Chapter Text
The familiar sound of whirring mechanical doors rang through Gila’s ears as the front desk came into view. He stepped through the doorway, his claws clicking against the metal floor as he looked around the room. The same dragons he’d always see every morning were sat in their usual seats, typing away at a computer or hurriedly scribbling something down on a piece of paper.
One of the most intriguing things about Black Mesa was how advanced it’s technology was compared to the rest of the world. There was always some kind of rumor going around the building, about how a godlike dragon had given the facility access to powerful resources beyond a dragon’s comprehension. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an unlimited amount, and Black Mesa got the chance to hog it all for themselves. Personally, Gila didn’t believe in any kind of godlike dragons. It wasn’t his business, anyways—That was all up to the higher-ups, and he preferred to worry more about his own job.
But Gila wouldn’t exactly call his job “normal”, either. Nothing about Black Mesa was normal. It was an underground facility hidden from the rest of the world, known only to the Queen of the Sand Kingdom where the building was kept underneath. It had a plethora of scientists from all kinds of backgrounds, all coming together in the name of new discoveries and morally questionable experiments.
“Morning.” Gila greeted as he walked past the front desk. He received only a half-alive grunt in response. Everyone here studied more science than social interaction, Gila thought to himself. He was about to exit into the hallway when he heard a voice call out to him. The guard sitting at the front desk was waving to get his attention.
“Hey, Mr. Monster. You’ve got a test scheduled today. The notice was pretty short, so they’re expecting you down there soon. Don’t stall.” The dragon said, before immediately returning to his computer. Holding in an exasperated sigh, Gila nodded curtly and exited into the hallway. He figured he might as well visit the break room first—Maybe a cactus drink would help make him feel more enthusiastic about the test.
Before he knew it he was standing in front of a vending machine, punching in the right number for the drink he wanted. As the can tumbled into the box at the bottom of the vending machine, he felt a claw tap his shoulder. Gila turned his head to see a SandWing meeting his eyes, a seemingly permanent nervous grin on their face.
“Hi! I’m new!” The SandWing said excitedly into Gila’s ear. His barbed tail was dangerously swinging around like a dog wagging its tail.
“You’re new?” Gila took his cactus drink from the vending machine and clicked it open. “Uh… Welcome. I’m Gila Monster. What department are you in?”
“I’m Kit!” The SandWing grinned. “I’m- I’m on lunch break.” A passing dragon nearly got swiped at by Kit’s swinging tail, and quickly shuffled out of the room.
“…Hi Kit.” Gila glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Listen man I gotta head out, I got a test to do n’ stuff.” He began walking away, dropping his half-finished cactus drink into the trash.
As Gila left the breakroom, he heard Kit call out once more.
“I drink soda for lunch!”
Gila chuckled to himself, beelining his way towards the locker rooms. “… He drinks soda for lunch, huh? What- What a freak. What the hell was that?”
He wasn’t able to finish his thought as the door in front of him swung open. A LeafWing stood before him, their nose buried in an open locker. The dragon then slammed the locker shut and met Gila’s eyes with a smile.
“Ah, hello, Gila!” The LeafWing walked up to Gila, patting him on the shoulder. “Another day, another dollar, amiright? Haha!”
Gila grinned awkwardly, playfully nudging him. “Hey, Dr. Cornus. Got an important test to get to today, heh.”
“That’s right!” Cornus stepped away, motioning with his tail for Gila to follow. “We’ll need to get you into your safety gear. You’ll be dealing with some radioactive substances today.”
“That’s… Great.” Gila sighed, following after Cornus into a seperate part of the locker room. The LeafWing walked over to a control panel, pressing on a few buttons that caused three stands to come out from the wall. The stands each held an orange metal suit, and the one in the middle had a blinking green light above it.
“It should be open now, Gila. Go ahead and put on your suit.” Cornus chirped, patting him on the back with his tail.
Gila nodded, walking down the short staircase that led to the suit compartments. He cautiously stepped up to the open compartment in the middle, eyeing the suit up and down. How would he even manage to put this on? It turned out he didn’t have to worry, though, because the moment he reached out and touched the breastplate, the entire suit suddenly whirled towards him and stuck against him like moss on a rock. Gila shook his body, discomforted by the itching feeling he felt underneath the metal.
“Don’t worry, Gila, this is all completely normal. Our engineers wanted to test out a suit that could attach itself of its own will, to keep from taking up time and to protect the wearer.” Cornus piped up, clicking a few buttons on the control panel and making the suit compartments disappear back into the wall.
Gila reached up to touch the parts of the suit, running his claws along the mix of metal, chainmail and what he had to guess was uranium. He then paused. “Hey, uh- Shouldn’t this come with a helmet? Since I’ll be dealing with radiation, and all.”
Cornus waved a claw dismissively. “The suit is still a work in progress, but it has a special kind of force field that should protect any exposed parts of your body. Don’t fret too much.”
Gila just chuckled nervously in response, quietly nodding, but a part of him felt off about this. He wanted to trust Cornus, but what if something went wrong? The last thing he’d want to happen is for someone to get hurt—Or worse—Himself.
Cornus spoke again as Gila left the locker room and returned to the hallway, “I’ll meet you down there in a bit. Good luck in the chamber, Gila!”
Gila trotted his way down the hallway, doing his best to keep up a pace. He made sure not to go too fast, as when he ran his suit would annoyingly clang its metal pieces together. On the way, he passed by Kit, who he had to speed up to avoid talking to. That SandWing was a bit annoying, and he didn’t want to have to deal with him right before his test.
He soon found himself in front of sliding doors that would lead to another hallway. He was about to let the motion detector notice him and open the doorway, when he heard a voice call out to him.
“Hey!”
Oh, god, why does that SandWing have to be so insistent? Gila cringed, turning around. However, it wasn’t the SandWing that stood before him, but rather a SeaWing in a guard uniform.
“Hello, sir. Is there a problem?” Gila asked through gritted teeth. He just wanted to get to the test chamber already, but there just had to be so many distractions beforehand.
“Can- Can I see your… Uh…” The SeaWing’s dead yellow eyes looked Gila up and down. “Your passport?”
Gila blinked. “My- Passport? You mean like, my company ID?”
The guard paused for a moment, and slightly backed away to stand next to another guard; A SandWing. He whispered into the other guard’s ear, but Gila could hear it as clear as day. Maybe the suit was enhancing more of his body than he thought.
“He doesn’t have his passport.”
Gila tried to ignore the flash of anger on the SandWing guard’s face as the SeaWing approached him once more. “Yea, he’s- He’s tellin’ me you’re not allowed in here.”
“What- Because I don’t have my passport ?” Gila let out a nervous chuckle. As far as he knew, he didn’t even need any kind of ID once he was already inside the building. And wasn’t the giant metal suit enough of an indicator already?
The SeaWing stepped back, gesturing to the other guard with his tail. “Look at his tail barb. He’s so ready to stab you dude.”
Indeed, the SandWing’s tail barb had uncurled into a strike position. Gila’s anxiety grew, even as the SeaWing shoved a claw in his face and declared, “I’m gonna have to protect you from him. I’ll have you follow you.”
Gila watched in mild fascination and disgust as the SeaWing suddenly walked up to the SandWing guard. The SeaWing unhinged his jaw like a snake and unleashed a steady stream of strange purple and blue bubbles into the SandWings face.
“What was that?” Gila snorted out a laugh.
“That’s just how we calm each other down. That’s the-“ The SeaWing paused. “The… The Black Mesa Sweet Voice.”
“Okay, whatever- Listen, I have to go head down to the test chamber. Am I gonna be held up here? I’m already a bit late.” Gila said hurriedly, beginning to back away towards the sliding doors.
“No, but I’ll have to follow you in case he tries to come and beat you up.” The SeaWing said. “Also- I want your passport? Please?”
Gila let out a wheeze, black smoke coming out of his mouth as he did so. “Look- Look at my chest. I’m suited up and everything. Literally every scientist in the fucking building is rushing me into the room.”
He backed off slightly as the SeaWing nudged him. “I’m- I’m going to go. And you’re coming with me, I guess?”
“I have to come with you, I’m sorry.” Gila tried searching for a genuine tone in the SeaWing’s voice, but it seemed like the guard was treating this more like a joke than anything else. “But I need to get your passport.”
“We’ll- We’ll find my passport later, okay? I’m sure something around here will make you happy. And him happy.” Gila tilted his head towards the SandWing guard. “Kinda- Kinda scared of him.”
“Yea, well you know what? He’s never happy.” The SeaWing returned to the SandWing’s side, blowing the same bubbles into his face as he did before.
Thank the moons, finally , the guard began leading Gila through the sliding doors. Gila could see the frustrated looks on the scientists they passed by. As the guard hurried ahead, he wondered if the SeaWing was more excited for this test than he was.
Gila trotted to catch up to the SeaWing. “So like, you should probably be suited up for this. This is gonna be, like, radiation and shit. Will you be… Good?”
“It’s okay, I’m-“ The SeaWing broke eye contact, moving ahead down the hallway once more. “I’m not a normal dragon.”
———
After a very awkward and frankly unnerving elevator ride, Gila and the SeaWing found themselves entering another room, bickering over something about cereal. The guards they had been nonchalantly talking about had annoyed expressions on their faces.
“Sir, sir!”
A tall IceWing sped-walk down the hallway towards the two dragons, a frown on his face. He shoved a claw into the SeaWing’s chest. “You can’t be down here, sir. You don’t have a ‘Hazard Suit’.”
“See? You’re not wearing the fucking radiation gear! You’re gonna die!” Gila said, his voice exasperated. He prayed this scientist would get this guard out of his way.
“I- I have my ID.” The SeaWing responded, as if it was an obvious answer.
After a pause, the IceWing deadpanned. “Oh, alright.”
The SeaWing turned to Gila with an annoyingly smug expression on his face. “See what happens when you bring your ID and your passport?” He shoved himself into Gila’s face.
“Does he not have his passport?” The IceWing chimed in once more, raising an eyebrow at Gila through his rectangular glasses. “Where’s your passport?” He pried, leaning in towards Gila.
Gila dragged his claws down his face, backing up. “Can- Can I go to the test chamber? Can I work and do what I’m getting paid for? Please?”
The IceWing snorted out a puff of cold air and began walking away towards a nearby control pad, likely to open the next doorway for Gila. “You can do your job, and yet can’t even bring your passport.”
“I’m walking away now!” Gila called back, storming off down the hallway and into another control room. It was full of scientists, who all gave him weird looks.
“Hey, everyone. We’re ready to do the test, right?” Gila frowned when he noticed a familiar SeaWing in the corner of his vision. “I’m- I’m bringing a friend, I guess.”
“We’re ready when you are, Gila.” A scientist said, though their focus was mostly on the computer in front of them.
Gila rolled his eyes, and made his way through the pathways down to the test chamber’s airlock. As he approached the heavy metal doorway that led into the airlock, he was annoyed to still hear the SeaWing’s talons clicking on the ground behind him.
“Okay, you can’t go any farther. This is the actual test chamber. You’ll die if you go in here.” Gila spoke strongly. He almost felt like an owner scolding their dog for shitting on the carpet.
“There are no- There are no… Predetermined deaths.” The SeaWing said flatly, leaning forward slightly to look past Gila and see into the airlock room.
“You know what, man?” Gila heaved out a sigh, leaning down to meet the SeaWing’s level. “I guess you’re right.”
Gila was caught off guard when his vision was suddenly blinded by orbs of pink and blue. He waved the strange substance away, staring at the SeaWing whose mouth was glowing a suspicious purple color.
“What did you just do to me.”
“Calm down.”
Gila turned away from the door, walking right into the airlock room and deciding to forget all about that interaction. He was overjoyed to see that the door had closed right on the guard’s face.
As the two scientists in the room spoke to him, he felt himself zone out a little bit. He heard a few words mentioned, “Resonance Cascade”, and “extremely dangerous materials”, but he didn’t bother to store those in his mind. Surely nothing could go wrong, right?
Something in his gut told him otherwise.
———
Gila was sorely disappointed to find that the SeaWing had found his own way into the test chamber. Through an open window, a vent, or otherworldly powers, Gila was tired of trying to guess how this guard did anything. Not to mention, the presence of the scientists he’d met, including Kit, did not help with his anxiety. He’d rather not have his instructors be pressuring him and insulting him during what was supposed to be an extremely important test.
“Do you see the next step, Gila?” Kit’s voice came on over the microphone, this time sounding a bit more professional than how he was in the breakroom.
“Yep.” Gila called back. “I gotta… Gotta push the cart into the laser. Right?” The said cart stood before him, its metallic surface glowing faintly under the light of the activated accelerator.
“Don’t steal anything!” He heard the SeaWing’s voice call out to him. He decided to ignore it.
“Do it very carefully!” The IceWing blurted into the microphone. It almost sounded like a bit of a scuffle before Kit spoke again.
“ Very carefully. Slower than molasses drips off a spoon!” The SandWing said confidently, earning a wheezing laugh from Gila.
“Alright, let’s get this over with.” Gila stood up on his hind legs and grabbed the cart’s handle with his claws, pushing the heavy cart forward with some effort. Normally, he probably wouldn’t be able to do this, but it was almost like the suit was forcefully pushing him into being stronger. With one final push, the cart had fully made its way into the laser. The crackling light hit the giant crystal held in the cart’s grasp, throwing sparks from its surface. Gila backed up as the SeaWing silently ran up to him, his eyes locked onto the accelerator as if it were entrancing him.
“WHAT DID YOU DO!?”
“OH NO YOU DID IT TOO FAST—“
“You should’ve brought your passport, Gila!”
Several voices flowed in and out of earshot as the power suddenly shut off, the only light source left was the giant angry particle accelerator in the middle of the test chamber. Gila had to step back several times to avoid being zapped by stray sparks. Gila only caught a glimpse of the SeaWing guard’s unreadable expression before the accelerator suddenly groaned and screeched, and the entire building seemed to shake. The ground ripped itself up and the walls cracked as the green light grew brighter and the sparks became more violent.
And then, suddenly, everything was dark.