"There she is. What a nasty piece of work she was. A proper maniac." Wheatley muttered.
Chell stared at the monster that had ruined her life and killed her father. She felt her throat clog up and she couldn't form words, but that didn't matter. She wasn't exactly going to speak, anyways.
Besides, Wheatley talked enough for the both of them.
"Do you know who ended up taking her down in the end? You aren't going to believe this. A human! Apparently, this human escaped and nobody's seen him since." Wheatley rambled.
She gave him a small smile.
If only she could say she had escaped. Instead, she was taken out of stasis sleep or forced to test.
So, understandably, Chell was afraid to move. To step near the monster that had kidnapped her at only 8 years old, and killed her father and so many other workers. All in the name of science. She remembered that day too.
"Daddy, what's happening?" she asked, her eyes huge.
"Honey, you'll be safe, you just have to trust me", he had said, "I'll put you where she'll never find you."
This confused Chell, but she did what her father told her to do. He hid her away in a storage room, and told her he would come for her when it was safe.
She remembered him closing the door, and stuffing rags in the cracks of the doors. He walked away coughing heavily.
She waited for a long time in the dark. She knew her dad had said to wait, but it had been a awhile and it should be safe.
She opened the door and followed the railing, back to where her daddy had come from.
"Hmm, this one looks too young to test. We'll just have to wait." said a voice.
She looked up to see a robot, staring at her. That was the voice of the woman who had gone crazy. She had said she would have them test forever, to further science. Chell didn't think that was so bad, she loved science. She had gotten a good grade on her potato project.
Suddenly, Chell was plucked from the ground. She was different from other 8 year olds, though. She didn't scream, she just stared at the robot. She had to find her daddy.
"What's your name?" it asked.
She didn't answer.
"Fine. You'll be placed in stasis sleep until you're old enough to test."
Chell began walking. She would get out of here.
"Then there was sort of a long chunk of time where nothing happened, so that's it you're up to speed." he continued, though Chell was only half paying attention.
She nimbly walked around the carcass of her, until finally Wheatley announced "This is the main breaker room. Look for something that says 'escape pod.'" Wheatley then continued to ramble but she was busy looking for the switch. Though, the wall seemed to go up endlessly. She could find it, but that would take time.
"Tell you what, plug me in and I'll turn the lights on"
The lights switched on, and Chell attempted to better examine the switches.
Suddenly, the platform began to spin, and Chell nearly lost her balance. She turned to Wheatley.
"Oh, we're spinning. Ominous. But probably fine. As long as it doesn't, you know, start moving up."
She heard beeping, and knew instantly that nothing good was going to happen. She desperately looked for the escape pod switch.
Without warning, the platform shot up, flipping almost every single switch it could.
They surfaced and she was face to face with GLaDOS. Chell's throat began to close up again.
"POWER UP INITATED."
"Don't panic, don't panic." Wheatley cried, his eyes focusing in and out as he desperately tried to stop the inevitable.
She watched her head suddenly spark and drag across the floor.
Chell began to back up, her eyes wide.
GLaDOS's body spiraled up, contracting into a circle, and the wires meshed.
"POWER UP COMPLETE."
No. Not again. This couldn't be happening to her again.
"Oh, it's you. It's been a long time."