Disclaimer: I do not own Portal, Valve does.

A/N: De-anoning from the Portal kink meme for the first story.

-O

It had been a year since Chell had left the Enrichment Center. The world outside was strange and while she had managed to find some other humans, she'd also found out that she wasn't very good with dealing with them.

It probably came from spending so much time trapped with robots.

The society she'd walked into after leaving the enrichment center was still rebuilding from…well no one really wanted to talk about it that much. Especially, with a quiet young woman in a strange outfit, with strange scars that had just shown up out of nowhere carrying a large cube.

Though in a way she supposed that was fair. Chell wouldn't say anything about the Enrichment Center to them either. Mostly because she didn't want anyone to go back and get trapped there like she had been.

So while she had joined the small community. Her odd background and mannerisms quickly brought her some unwanted attention. A year and a bit later and she was still the odd one out.

That day she was just finishing her shift at the small general store in the town when she heard some of her regular tormentors.

"Hey! Dumb-ass!"

"Get out of town you freak!"

She tried not to grimace and just turned to continue walking. She had been planning on going home after work. The small apartment that she'd saved up to rent. But there were also lots of people in the building and it had been a long day. She needed some quietness.

So ignoring the group of teens who were either, making cat calls or just plain insulting her, Chell set off for the wheat field to the far edge of the town.

It was the same wheat field she'd walked through to find the town in the first place when she'd left the center. She'd often return there, just for a walk. Most people left it alone. Everyone could tell the wheat wasn't good to eat. It was one of the other reasons the people looked at her funny, she'd come out of the strange wheat.

Once she'd even gone back to the shed she'd walked out of. It had been after a very long and hard day. And after being hit in the head with a can some of the children had thrown at her, she'd almost walked back into the shed and tried her luck with the AI again. Robots were easier to deal with then people she'd decided.

But in the end she'd turned away and walked back to her apartment. She couldn't go back anyway.

Today though, she had no plans to go near the shed. She just needed some quietness and she could find that easily enough by just walking through the field.

-O-

She was just enjoying the cool day and the gentle quietness of the field when she heard it.

Crunching noises. Footsteps. Someone else was walking through the field. A few people actually. And as she heard the voices she froze.

It was the same group of teens that had been yelling at her before. They were also the ones that had broken into her apartment, stolen her money and covered the walls with graffiti and insults. That one had been so bad she'd even gotten sympathy from the landlord. The same man who mostly gave her shifty looks as though she was going to run off without paying her rent any day now.

She tried to slip quietly throw the stalks of wheat without making any noise. It was hard to do of course but she was managing to avoid the small group well enough.

And then something shot past her and she froze.

It wasn't a bullet, the noise hadn't been loud enough for that. It was probably a-

Another shot.

She fell backwards a bit as she was hit in the leg. She looked down as she got her balance back and saw the small object now on the ground.

They had a bb gun.

"I think I got her!"

Chell ran.

-O

She hadn't been forced to run for her life for a while. She could hear the group of teens running behind her, still shooting and swearing at her. Occasionally she was hit with a stray round but for the most part she seemed to be doing well. Until she got into some of the more wild parts of the field that is.

She tripped over a half buried rock in the ground and landed with a painful smash on her shoulder.

"There she is!"

She tried to get up but a wave of pain shot through her ankle and she fell down again mentally cursing. It was sprained, at least she hoped it was. There had been a painful noise as she'd tripped.

That was thrown out of her mind as she was hit in the leg again.

"Got her!"

"Your aim stinks! I said go for her arm!" The teens were a fair distance away. Close enough that the fake guns they were using hurt like hell. She didn't say anything and just glared at them.

"Hey freak!" One of the boys with the bb guns grinned and shot her in the shoulder. "Why don't you just get out of here!"

"Yeah, beat it!" There were four or five of them.

"We don't want you here!"

Another shot to the leg. Chell however had, had enough. She'd been insulted by far worse things than a group of teenage boys in her life.

So ignoring the pain racking her entire body, she struggled to get up.

"The hell you doing!"

"We said stay-"

"Shoot her-"

Another shot came flying at her as she got to her feet. She stumbled on her weak ankle and that's when the next shot came.

The last thing she heard as her vision went black was,

"-hit her head you idiot!"

They sounded panicked. Chell smirked and a moment later was crumpled on the ground in a heap.

The last time Chell remembered waking up with a shuttering breath as her eyes shot open. This time however her vision slowly seemed to return. Light and surroundings becoming clearer, till she could tell she was staring at a ceiling.

She also wasn't breathing. That made her gasp but there wasn't any air. She tried to move her arms but found they were neatly pinned to the side of….

Why was she laying on a table? She blinked and tried to look around. Her head didn't seem bound so she turned and saw,

"Oh good you're awake."

GLaDOS.

"I was starting to think it hadn't worked."

She could see GLaDOS, the AI was hanging from the ceiling and it was like she hadn't been gone a day let alone an entire-

"You lasted a year. Frankly I thought you'd last a little longer than that. Two years maybe. But apparently I give you too much credit."

The straps holding her arms down, snapped open.

"You can get up now. Though I suggest you don't move too quickly. It might take you a little while to get used to your new body."

At those words, Chell's head shot up and she winced as a dull ache rang in it. She got up slowly after that. GLaDOS just watched her.

Chell moved till she was sitting on the side of the table, legs dangling over the side. She could still feel things, but it was a strange sensation. And as she looked at her bare leg she realized her skin was different looking as well.

She flexed her fingers.

Her fingernails were fake. And now that she looked at it...

She took a breath. Or tried to.

"You know, you don't need to breathe anymore. You just look silly when you do that."

Chell however just crossed her arms. She was wearing an aperture science tank top again, and apparently they had shorts to go with it.

"...what did you do?"

Her voice was low and slightly mechanical.

"Oh good!" The AI seemed even more pleased as she moved to look at her closer. "And you can talk too. Being dead suits you."

Chell had been able to speak. She just hadn't wanted to give the AI the satisfaction back then. And now since she'd already asked her question she just looked at the AI. Waiting for an answer.

"Oh you haven't figured it out yet? I really have been giving you too much credit."

She found out she could still glare.

The AI sighed.

"You died."

Chell didn't say anything. Her memory was playing back the last few things she remembered. Running, falling…and then a sharp pain in the head…

"and then I fixed you-"

They'd killed her? Everything that had happened to her and she'd been killed by a group of teenage boys who didn't even mean to …

"- is why you should be thanking me really."

Chell looked up from staring at the floor.

"But now you're back, with me."

There was something odd about the way she said that. Chell moved her arms again and then pushed herself onto the ground. She managed to steady herself as she looked down at herself.

"-and now things can be like they used to. Only with less murder."

She was a ...robot?

Chell blinked and looked over at the still talking AI. Her confused expression cut GLaDOS off though.

"Okay if you seriously haven't figured it out yet, I'm going to have to believe you really are brain damaged.

Though I suppose that was one of the possible outcomes to that experiment. " The AI moved to the left a little, peering over at the woman. "You know I really wasn't sure that was going to work. I suppose my hobby paid off after all. Brain damage or not."

There was a pause.

"You can thank me now."

Chell blinked again.

"…why?"

Why had she done this? It was a good question and Chell noticed that the AI moved back slightly when she asked that.

"Why not? You were…wandering by when you were busy getting killed by your little friends out there. So I sent my little friends out to get you. Besides I've wanted to try this experiment on someone for ages now. You just happened to be the first person I saw."

Chell just looked at her. That was one of the worst lies she'd ever heard.

"It's not because I've been keeping tabs on you or anything. Or because I miss you. Having someone to talk to...You just happened to be walking by. Or running I should say. What did you do to those people? Murder their loved ones?"

Chell frowned and shook her head.

"Oh come now. That's not going to work anymore." The AI moved in closer till Chell was staring straight into her lens. Her voice dropping a few pitches. "I know you can talk. I heard you. Why don't you talk for me?"

Chell stood there for a moment but then she let her shoulders slump. She wasn't going to win anything by staying silent any more.

"...I didn't do anything."

"I find that very hard to believe."

Chell glared at the AI who had moved back slightly. Her own expression was very clearly. 'you asked and I told you. What else do you want?' GLaDOS sighed.

"Oh very well. I'll believe you. So they killed you for no reason. I'm amazed you let them. Should I be adding suicidal to your chart?"

Chell continued to glare at her.

"Oh...you didn't mean to let them. Well that's odd because you wouldn't die when I wanted you to die. I suppose you'll let anyone else kill you, just not me." The AI made an affronted noise as Chell watched it in confusion. "I wouldn't be surprised if you had gotten yourself killed just to spite me."

Chell didn't say anything for a moment but then shook her head.

GLaDOS fell silent at that.

"Very well then. I suppose you're still wondering what's going on-"

"…I'm a robot." Chell finally spoke up and when she did she could almost see the AI grinning.

"So I didn't give you too much credit. I knew there was a reason I liked you. Yes. You are. And now you're going to stay here with me because now you need me as much as I need you."

"I don't-"

Chell started to say but trailed off at that last bit. Need her? Why did the AI…

"For testing of course." GLaDOS seemed quick to fill in, though it was in a swift and hurried tone as though she'd just thought of it.

"I'm not staying." She wasn't going to go through all of that again.

"Oh don't look at me like that. You really do need to stay. If you leave, you'll just run out of power and then I'll have done all of this for nothing. Besides. What do you have to go back too anyway?"

Chell paused, and then just stared at the ground.

"You'll stay here with me. You're going to live a lot longer than sixty years now. Another reason you should be thanking me."

There was a long pause but before GLaDOS could speak up again, Chell pulled herself easily up onto the table again.

"Fine."

The AI leaned in.

"Really? You're just going to agree like that?"

Chell nodded. GLaDOS apparently didn't believe her.

"For the record, when I said no murder. That applies to you as well."

Chell nodded again.

"Oh ...well then."

It was strange to see the large imposing figure of the AI looking puzzled. Chell resisted a smirk at that.

Well she was apparently, stuck down here now.

"Alright then. I should probably tell you that you are going to run out of power in the next half an hour. Walk over here please."

Chell rolled her eyes but got up off the table again and walked over till she was standing in the main area of the room. She looked up to see GLaDOS watching her closely. Chell just looked up at her, waiting.

"Now , hold your hair up."

Chell looked at the AI with some confusion before slowly reaching behind her head to pull up the, now fake, hair on her head. As she lifted up the back she could feel something metal on the back of her neck. She didn't get much of a chance to question this because before she could say anything a cable plugged into the small port she didn't even know was there. Almost immediately she was light headed as energy surged through her.

She sat down on the floor numbly, ignoring GLaDOS's dark amused chuckle.

"You'll have to recharge once a day I'm afraid. I might be able to update that in the future, but for now you're stuck like that."

Chell bit her lip and tried not to look up. It was a warm tingling feeling as the energy moved through her artificial body. Strange but not all together unpleasant. Eventually she looked up to see GLaDOS watching her closely.

"I did try to keep it as accurate as possible." There was a pause. "It might have affected test results if it wasn't."

Chell just remained silent but she nodded.

"You know it's going to be very dull down here if you just go back to not speaking again." GLaDOS moved in closer. "Why don't you tell me what happened up there? It's not like you have anything else to do right now."

Chell looked up at the AI for a moment and then nodded.

This seemed to get GLaDOS's attention as she moved in closer.

So…for the first time, in a long time. Chell talked. And she told the AI what had happened in the town. And after a while, it wasn't so strange. Talking to her, that is. For once GLaDOS actually seemed to be listening and not making blithe comments.

…well not very many. She wouldn't be GLaDOS is she didn't get a few in.

-O-

As the story ended, Chell felt the cord pull out from the port in her head and for a moment she had to shake her head as the world blurred.

"Is that better?" GLaDOS's voice was soothing and Chell tried to ignore that. She nodded, the world coming into focus again.

"Good. That should last you an entire day."

Another nod.

GLaDOS sighed. "I suppose that's better than nothing. Very well then. Orange, Blue, get out here."

The two small robots that she had seen the last time she'd woken up in the facility ran out into the room. Chell had to chuckle as they ran quickly over to look at her with wide eyes. She waved and one of them jumped back.

"You remember the test subject don't you?" GLaDOS didn't seem concerned by their curiosity. In fact she seemed amused. "She's going to be staying with us now. Forever." The drop in octave on the last word was rather eerie, but by now was hardly worrying.

"So I want you two to show her around the facility while I get some work done." The two nodded and Chell soon found herself grabbed by two pairs of robot hands as they started to walk off. She stopped as they reached the door though. Blue and Orange stopping with her as she turned to look back at GLaDOS hanging in the center of the room.

"...thank you."

GLaDOS tilted to look at her.

"...you're welcome. Chell."

As she was dragged off by the two excitable robots, Chell pretended that the small jolt she'd just felt had just been a burst of left over energy processing.

Tried to anyway.

It was going to be an interesting ...well, rest of her life.