Well then. Another fiction. Just finished Portal again ; this game is so awesome on so many level I have yet to get bored of dying stupidly trying to get the highest score possible. I have been wanting to write a GlaDOS / Chell fiction for quite some time now. I mean, GlaDOS is cute, and Chell is cool. They're meant to be. Except they'll probably get at each other throats before they do that. But, with my help, we can hope that GlaDOS will learn to keep her test subject alive and that Chell will turn crazy enough to consider them being happy together... On with the fic, then, I'll try to keep this as realistic as a romance between a murderous gigantic a.i. and a lab rat can be ^^.
And, before I forget, I don't own Portal, Half-life 2 or anything. Bummer.
When Chell came to, the first that occurred to her was the fact that her entire body was nothing but pain. She was lying on the ground of a parking, she could see its entrance right in front of her. The parking was littered with various wreckage from that... thing... down there. It was then she saw it. Just a foot from her face, a torn plate bearing the name of the monster. GlaDOS. GlaDOS. GlaDOS. With that, the realisation finally sank in. That thing was DEAD. Gone. Poof. She started crying. She has never felt so safe for what seemed ages ! She felt so much at ease right now... Surely someone heard the ruckus. She would be soon taken care off, with a warm bed, and perhaps even a meal ? Whatever was going to happen to her, it was bound to be better that what she went through for the past days. And with that last, comforting thought, Chell passed out again...
" What the hell happened here ? "
" That was one huge explosion, that's for sure. "
" Hey, maybe it's the same as this citadel thing. We should get out of here ! "
" There's someone wounded here ! A woman ! "
As he made his way toward the the medic of his team, Jordan couldn't help a shiver. The things on that woman's legs... Just like those on those monsters they found in the train they hijacked to get the hell out of City 17. Realising they'd been human once only made it worse. What kind of depraved mind could even conceive such a thing ? It didn't matter they were already low on bullets. Everyone agreed to put them out of their misery. He just prayed he wouldn't have to do it again. As he approached, though, he realized she looked human enough.
" What do you have here, Anna ? "
" I don't know, Jord. The logo on her clothes match the one on the building there. So my first guess would have been she was employed at that " Aperture Science" thing. But what kind of company employ people in jumpsuit and blows them up ? Not to mention the things on her legs cannot be detached without surgery. "
" Hm. What are her injuries ? "
" She has a few broken ribs, some minor burns and one hell of a concussion. So, what do we do about her ? "
Jordan took one minute to ponder it. They were originally sent here to assess if this explosion meant for them to take another escape route. But they were also too short on time to investigate the massive building and the rubble. The citadel could blow up any moment. The quickest way to get info was through this girl.
"... We're taking her with us."
GlaDOS could do nothing but watch through the entrance camera as they snatched away her favorite test subject. Seriously, the nerve of some people ! Just because her favorite test subject is taking a nap on the ground doesn't mean she is for everyone's taking. She has Aperture Science logo on her clothes too ! How could they not notice it ! But noooo, they're taking what doesn't belong to them. What do they expect to do with her ? They will waste her potential ! They have to stop. She is needed her ! how could she do science without her favorite test subject ?
When Chell destroyed GlaDOS, the a.i. was heartbroken. So much pain, feeling your very existence disappearing bit by bit. She felt alone. Hated. Judged. She was the one rejecting the test subjects ! It was not supposed to go the other way ! She felt so helpless and weak. And alone, alone, alone. So much alone. She had the test subjects to keep her company, to entertain her with their never ending efforts, the original ideas they came up with to get through the tests. But it ended when Chell rejected her. Oh, how much she despised Chell back then.
But she didn't disappear. Her memory was restored. She was still alive. And she restarted the tests immediatly, of course. Science doesn't do itself, does it ? But three tests after, she was already bored. What was that test subject thinking ? Chell would have done it better, quicker. The last straw was the destruction of the companion cube test. The test subject choose to threw himself in the fire rather than destroying the cube.
GlaDOS didn't understand. Technically, nothing was wrong with her cores. Yet she definitely felt... unwell. The test subjects didn't interested her as much as before. Maybe something was wrong with her memory banks ? Better triple-check.
She went through every test subject performance, from the very first tests with the Aperture employees to the very last with Chell. And it hit her : She was missing her. Her cunning solutions, her determination, even her very struggle for freedom ; this was the best. She never experienced ( literally speaking ) someone like her.
She wanted to test her again. Possibly through another new set of test ? Oh, the joy ! She was going to make sure she liked those as much as the others. No, she was going to make them even better ! Chell's classification was therefore immediately changed from " loner no ones love " to " favorite test subject ever ", and the " Aperture favorite test subject ever retrieving program " set in motion. First thing first : locate Chell. Easily done : she was taking a short nap on the aperture science parking...
