Striking a Chord

by Emerald-Em

GLaDOS certainly enjoys taunting her best test subject, and she certainly enjoys the results that brings for science! But when something she says actually gets to Chell, what will be the outcome?

\\ AN: Aaah! My first fanfiction, and man, did this take a while. Not neccesarily because of the difficulty, but because for some reason, my computer decided to get bombarded with trojan horses in the middle of writing this. So I got to run three seperate antivirus programs all while trying to finish this baby. Fun! It was a uhm..learning experience, though, I guess? Either way, here you go. Since I starting writing this around 10 and it's about 2 now, it may contain some mistakes and/or be a fail of a story. Regardless, it's here for you to read, so, here's to hoping you enjoy. :D

{Edit} Fixed some slight grammar mistakes, as well as some incomplete thoughts.

Also! If anyone is curious, this is the cheerful little song that partly inspired this fic, and also is the tune that I pictured Chell humming.

.com/watch/?v=m0Ohl3MMq0o&feature=related

I own nothing but my own imagination. All characters of Portal belong to Valve. \\

ೀ Striking a Chord ೀ

The door leading to the chamber lock clicked once before opening immediately, a weighted storage cube having landed on the familiar red button that sat rather conspicuously in the white-walled test chamber, regardless of the gleeful weeds that currently thrived in this insane place of a facility. Although..technically, it would be more correct to say the door clicked open after the slightly-rusted cube crushed down on the button, earning a single, and almost accusing, beep from said-button. Stepping around the cube and button, a piqued human advanced into the chamber lock, allowing a slight shiver to ripple through her body upon passing through the ever familiar emancipation grill, additionally running her tongue absently over her teeth. The old warnings that the head AI of the Enrichment Center (Head AI? More like AI goddess! Even not counting her seemingly immortality, GlaDOS certainly had all the attitude to match a goddess'.) persisted in her subconscious despite the decades of stasis she has recently been awoken from. There was something about the warnings that warned about pain that got her attention. Most likely, it was the mention of the pain itself. Dodging a hail of bullets from turrets, leaping over laser beams, not to mention surviving GlaDOS' degrading taunting was enough to deal with already. Going through all that with a mouth with one fourth of its teeth missing..the boundary had to be crossed somewhere.

A relieved look rested on her face as she realized all her teeth still remained present. For the moment, anyway. Chell mentally shrugged. Take what you could here; there was no telling when that little could be snatched away, with an extremely dark, yet delightful, cackle from the supercomputer lurking in her own private chamber.

"Well, you managed to survive yet another test chamber. Congratulations."

Speaking of the devil's bride. There was a hum as a camera swiveled to observe Chell making her way towards the elevator, a loud buzz indicating that it had zoomed in on her form. She fixed it with a look, slowing her pace in order to give the camera her full attention.

"It would also appear that although you hurtled yourself at walls and floors as you dodged the only occasionally lethal turrets, shaking the entire test chamber each and every time you did so, the Enrichment Center has yet to collapse on itself. That's something even I wasn't anticipating. Excellent, just excellent."

Chell set foot through the lift's door, her reward for completing a test which consisted of mainly turrents in absolutely every corner being a 'compliment-insult'. Was there even such a thing? In Aperture Science, yes. They probably had it patented, too. The elevator shook lightly before sinking downwards, off to yet another test. Although GlaDOS couldn't see her here, the test subject shook her head, rolling her eyes at the roof of the elevator. It appeared that ever since Wheatley had accidentally activated the prior-murdered Queen of Aperture, the computer's secondary intention was to taunt her favorite, and only, test subject to entirely new degrees. Science being her primary intention, obviously. She'd probably found a way to link insulting Chell with Biology, knowing her. It was actually worse than the insults she'd been hit with when she'd invaded the AI's chamber, slamming rockets of the computer's own defense system that she couldn't turn off, no matter how much she wanted to, into her writhing form. And judging by the pained cries that had accompanied the removal and carnage of the cores, GlaDOS desperately wanted those rockets offoffoffoff.

The memory brought an unusual feeling of discomfort to the woman, which settled in her gut, twisting into a hard ball. At the time, she hadn't been paying much attention to the computer's aggressive monologue towards her. Her objective had been to escape, alive, and to do that she'd had to eliminate the murderous construct that had tried to bake her, quite literally. However, her memory had dutifully saved much of the incident, and whenever her thoughts wandered towards her massive achievement of destroying the 'greatest collection of wisdom that ever lived', the tormented sounds were most prominent in her mind. Aperture Science was hardly a place for ethics, but there was still a small feeling of guilt lingering in Chell's soul, albeit admitting it was perfectly acceptable for her to destroy GLaDOS after being attempted to be incinerated at the conclusion of those difficult tests.

Chell's thoughts were jarred to a halt, frozen when the elevator door slid open with a whoosh. Snorting as she innerly scolded herself for pondering on the past, she made her way up the small set of stairs, the springs of the longfall boots clicking against the warped metal. The door sensed her presence, opening to reveal test chamber 17. Gingerly, she stalked into the room, giving a convenient camera to her left the customary greeting: A scowl. Indicating that GlaDOS' had enabled whatever sort of announcement system in the room was a computerized tune, followed closely behind by a not-as-much-computerized voice.

"Hmm..it's fairly obvious you don't approve of these test chambers, based on the expressions you're intent on providing my cameras without fail whenever you are given the chance."

Rolling her eyes in what was surely exasperation, Chell nodded vigorously. Of course she didn't approve of the chambers! Hell, the majority of them bestowed upon her glorious bruises to add to her collection. She was almost sure she had one of every shape and density known to man. That wasn't exactly an accomplishment as much as it was a feat of science. Incredibly violent science. A smooth chuckle slithered into the room, causing every hair on Chell's neck to stand straight up, her eyes once more locking on the red lens of the observation camera. Hundreds of tests into the future..and the human still wouldn't get used to that laugh.

"I suppose I should take your criticism seriously. After all, you have been enduring, I mean enjoying, testing for oh, 80% of your life?"

This earned an incredulous stare from the test subject.

'Enjoying'? For eighty percent? There is no way tha-'

"Actually, that statement was incorrect. What would be higher in accuracy would be to say that you've been testing for 80% of the life that you can actually remember."

The AI ended her sentence with an amused chuckle, and then promptly shut off the communications, leaving Chell to blink rapidly at the camera. GlaDOS had definitely meant that as a sort of insult to the human's muddled memories, just like she intended the whole 'adopted over-weight orphan' gimmick to as well. Though, there was a difference between that and what she had said moment ago. This time, she had succeeded. The woman couldn't be bothered by much; she brushed off what GlaDOS said as trivial and juvenile, choosing to march forward with unmatched tenacity instead of sulking over her injured ego.

However, the simple fact that she couldn't remember anything outside of this facility, out of this prison, constantly plagued the back of her mind. She was trying to escape the horrendous pictures Aperture Science had engraved into her mind, but ironically, those were the only pictures in her mind aside from the stray details, such as her name. It truly was a contradiction, and it brought with it a wave of anxiety, agitation. Having that insecurity brought to the surface was virtually the same as a physical slap to the face, as far as she was concerned. There was no possible way she was letting GlaDOS gain satisfaction in seeing her in distress, though.

Swallowing bitterly, Chell banished her emotions into the bottom of her stomach. Then, instead of providing the camera, and by default, the supercomputer monitoring her through it, with any sort of reaction, she blinked once more, shrugging with indifference before shooting two portals, walking into the orange one and out the blue to stand on the light bridge, where another cube sat.

'You will not get to me. You may be able to keep me here indefinitely. You might drop me in a pit of corrosive acid. You can order turrets to bombard me with bullets from six distinct angles. You could even fill me with enough neurotoxin that it starts leaking out of my eyes. But you won't-'

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a rogue memory worked its way into her brain, playing out in front of her eyes as if there was a projection screen in front of her. It was humble, but disturbingly so. Chell was back in her original relaxation chamber, legs dangling out of the egg-shaped stasis pod, rubbing at her temples while overwhelming confusion overcame her. At the sound of a computerized voice, she jerked backwards, staring down in alarm when the movement caused something on her legs to screech against the floor. Alarm turned into panic when her eyes followed the springy metal up her leg, gaze settling on her knees where they were welded on, pain slowly creeping up her body as she steadily regained consciousness...

Chell jerked herself out the daydream, biting her lower lip while she readjusted to her current surroundings. That was right. Hard light bridge. Cube. Carefully, she reached out with the ASHPD, preparing to activate the Gravity Gun function that would allow her to grab the cube and effortlessly tote it around, similar to how she would effortlessly solve this puzzle! The reassuring thought caused her to laugh softly, the amused sound only a breath of air as that was all her throat would allow. Her eyes drifted to watch herself pick up the cube. That's when she noticed: she was shaking. It was hardly noticeable, nonetheless, the muscles of her arms were twitching with the emotional pressure she was inevitably going through. Grinding her teeth against themselves, the woman smashed her finger against the Gravity Gun trigger. It came to life with a bzzt and sparked, plucking the cube off its perch and up to the gun's level, where Chell glared at it grimly.

There was utterly no reason for her to dawdle on that. There was no reason for her to remember that as well, though, so why had she? Perhaps it was her conscious reminding her of the negative beginning to this entirely negative experience? Or perhaps it was just brain damage. Another burst of anxiety hit the test subject, promoting an explicit shudder. The nearby camera buzzed, sounding inquiring, but the familiar voice of the AI remained absent from the test chamber. Chell directed yet another glare at the camera, a low growl rising from her throat as an external expression of the silent battle she was fighting within herself.

A series of blips alerted Chell that GlaDOS had finally turned on the communications again. Bracing herself, glancing through slitted eyes sideways at the camera, she still couldn't help feeling a small amount of relief. If anything, the interruption gave her something else to focus on rather than the emotion stew boiling inside her. The cool and collected voice echoing throughout the room only sent her to new degrees of irritation, disappointingly, especially with the line it delivered.

"You do know that you're not a badger, correct? Those shadows under your eyes are from exhaustion; they're not markings of any kind."

GlaDOS huffed, apparently irked at the dense thought that her test subject assumed she was some sort of filthy mammal..besides a human. At this, Chell loosened her jaw, and tightened it again. It was a classic response that the AI would come up with. So, why was there a dull taste in her mouth, like she had expected otherwise? Sighing softly, Chell turned her attention back to the test, resuming her chewing of her bottom lip while she surveyed the room. The button lay a few feet away, and by following the trail of lights, supposedly would activate a platform which would raise her to the exit once she placed the cube on it. Hopping off the light bridge and landing with a click, Chell tried her best to amble over to the button, where she obstinately dropped the cube while wearing a slight frown. A beep sounded out before the hydraulics of the platform across the room activated, lifting it up to the open exit. A check cheerfully lit up above the door, the bright light an open invitation. With Chell still on the bottom level, the door would be sitting like that for quite some time.

The human brought her hand to her forehead, smacking herself angrily. How could she have overlooked that? It was obvious. Evident. All at once she felt embarrassment at the situation, agitation, nervousness, and pure frustration well up, threatening to completely shatter her very being. All the pent up feelings had to escape somehow, one way or another, or she was seriously risking a major break-down. So, Chell found herself humming. She wasn't even sure if it was an actual song, just that it was slowly, but admittedly, effectively, eating away the stress. The sound hitched at more than a few points; Chell hadn't exactly exercised her damaged voice in a long, long time, assuming that any kind of specified words would have been too good for her computer tormentor. However, she kept at it, softly beginning to sweep her gaze through the test again, searching for the solution.

It was challenging to strain herself to hum and rack her brain as she pondered this test, though. Quite frankly, it seemed that her emotional stability was the more important here. Chell contemplated that briefly, before deciding that yes, that was true. The test subject then slid her eyes closed, tipping her head toward the ground, humming louder than before in an attempt to 'wash' everything away. Wash away the anxiety, wash away the horrendous memories, wash away Aperture. For a stretch of time, the only noise apart from Chell's ragged hums was the gentle vibration of the thermal discouragement beam above the woman's head. Then, without warning, a delicate sound entered the test chamber, highlighting one of Chell's hums with its own melodic tone. Chell froze, her moment of 'musical inspiration' ceasing abruptly.

Adrenaline pumping through her veins at the fear caused by the unexpected noise, her eyes darted from side to side, searching for its source. Chell took a step forward, before she realized just where the sound was coming from and then took that step back, mouth falling open slightly. Flowing from the speakers imbedded into the room was a silvery and electronic melody, that rose and fell with perfect accuracy. The voice of the singer was unbelievably easy to recognize; GlaDOS was humming. Not only was she humming, she was doing so to the tune that Chell had managed to create, improvising on the mistakes of pitch the human had made so that it sounded half way decent. Understandably surprised, Chell stood there, both watching and listening with awe as the murderous GlaDOS sang. It brought up questions in the test subject's mind..and also a feeling of serenity.

After a few more seconds, the sound hiccuped, and Chell realized with alarm that GlaDOS was stopping. Desperate not to lose that beautiful sound, she frantically tried to come up with something, anything, to keep it going. She cleared her own throat with a small series of coughs, eyes watering at the sudden action. Chell ignored that, though, and resumed her humming, watching the camera in a silent plea. GlaDOS' humming stopped entirely at the eye contact. The feeling of staggering disappointment struck the woman, her spirits plummeting as her shoulders sagged.

For a couple moments, she stood there, waiting. Eventually deciding that the computer had absolutely no intentions of 'assisting her test subject's insanity', as she would put it, Chell stared blankly at the hard light bridge, then back at the cube. Suddenly, it hit her. Lifting the ASHPD, she fired a portal at the end of the light bridge, and then another a wall near ground level. Walking through that one with the cube, she crouched on the bridge and shot a portal on the wall above the button. As she emerged out of that one, she set the cube in the middle of the now-expanded bridge, effectively blocking the laser, whose function she had previously overlooked. With the laser no longer in its retrieving receptacle, the platform lowered back to her level, earning a small grin from the human. All that was left was the button. She had it all figured out, now. Leaping off the bridge, dashing onto the platform, Chell turned around, squinting at the cube blocking the laser. It was also settled directly above the button. Smirking in triumph, she positioned the portal expanding the bridge at another section of wall. When the bridge vanished, the cube would land on the button, raising her up to the exit.

Chell felt the feeling of pride at solving one of these test chambers rise within her, making her smirk twist into a true smile. As she was pressing the trigger that controlled the blue portal, the woman hesitantly began to hum, deliberately looking at the camera as she did so. There was a small pause between then and the moment when she pressed the trigger and the portal connected, but then the mechanized melody joined Chell, their harmonized duet lasting until the test subject passed through the emancipation grill. However, even then, the last sounds bounced off the walls, only completely vanishing when the elevator began its descent. After hearing a soft popping noise, Chell glanced at the elevator's speaker curiously, but not disapprovingly. A green light next to it indicated that it was active. Sure enough, moments later, Aperture's Goddess' voice carried into the elevator.

"I sincerely hope you didn't take those silly vibrations of sound as a genuine display of affection. To put it in layman's terms, the only way you could ever understand anything, I have given you a pleasant memory to stop you from troubling over the worrisome ones during tests." At this, Chell gave a start. Was her worrying truly so obvious? Not allowing Chell time to pursue that thought, GlaDOS continued.

"...Besides, you have a tolerable taste in music."