A/N: So this is a short one-shot. Probably won't ever be continued. I wrote it a while ago for my little bro's b-day, but never really figured out how to finish it...but he kept bugging me about it, so here it is!
Spoiler Alert: Ending of Portal 2!
Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Portal. Obviously, or I wouldn't be posting fanfictions :)
*UPDATE* I am not continuing this story myself, but go to MiathoL's story "Speechless" and she is going to be using what I have written here as inspiration and continuing the story. Go check it out if you like this!
"Really Sam? Could you BE any more of a nerd?" exclaimed Dean from the driver's seat in his usual I-can't-believe-I'm-related-to-you voice.
"Okay, Dean, just because I like to research and I know things about science doesn't make me a nerd," defended Sam in his slightly higher-pitched Dean's-an-idiot voice.
"Whatever, so what's the name of this place we're investigating again?" asked Dean exasperatedly.
Sam rolled his eyes and looked back to his printed out articles. "It's called Aperture Science. It's this science research facility in Michigan that seems to have gone out of business about ten years ago. It was run by this wackjob Cave Johnson. Originally, it was a curtain factory before it started going all gung-ho science and trying to beat out its rival group Black Mesa. Dean, you should see all this cool technology they developed–"
"Okay, Sam this stuff is really exciting, but what does it have to do with us?" asked Dean sarcastically, trying to get Sam back to the point.
Sam huffs a little before continuing, "Well, it looks like around the 70s they started getting out of hand with their research. They started using human test subjects. They were involved in an investigation about missing astronauts – "
"Astronauts?" Dean interrupted again.
Sam, slightly annoyed, answered, "Yeah, they originally used the best and the brightest for their testing, but after that investigation, it looks like they started luring in the homeless for testing…Anyway, information starts to get a little hard to find here. From what I could find, it looks like this Cave Johnson guy got really sick – like deathly ill – from one of his own experiments. It's assumed that he died at some point, but he had laid out a plan to keep Aperture Science alive after his death. And then, there's no more information from there."
"How can there be no more information?"
"There's just nothing. They didn't put out any products or advertisements or anything. They just suddenly went out of business."
"Well, that's mysterious. I guess Cave-man's plans didn't work after all. But Sammy, I still don't see what this has to do with us?"
"There's something else. All the researchers and scientists who were supposedly worked there disappeared a few years later."
"Disappeared, like vanished?"
"Not exactly. It's just like they never left the facility again. They are all missing persons. The police even tried to investigate the facility, but they found nothing. It was just empty. No evidence of foul play. They all were just gone!"
"Okay, that is freaky. But this all happened years ago. Whoever - or whatever - got 'em would be long gone by now." Dean said, scrunching his eyebrows together.
"That's the thing. Whatever this is, it's still taking people. There have been disappearances from all over the area. The police check the lab every time, but they find it as spotless as before. No trace of anyone being there."
"Fine, I get it Sammy. This could be our kind of thing. We'll check it out." Then he looked Sam in the eye and said, "As long as you promise not to nerd-out on me while we're there if you find any cool geek toys, okay?"
Sam rolled his eyes and looked out the window as the landscape rushed past the side of the Impala. He really was geeking-out on the inside, but he was careful not to show Dean any sign of it.
As Chell, rode up the elevator, finally, towards freedom, she contemplated all that had happened to her and to GLaDOS. For a moment, GLaDOS almost seemed to be learning a lesson about how to be good. However, that was too much to expect from that evil computer, even after all they had been through together. Oh well, Chell was getting out, that's all that mattered.
Sam and Dean were in the car again after a night's sleep in a cheap motel.
"So Sammy, you ready to investigate?" Dean asked in his normal cheery morning self.
Sam, being less of a morning person, grunted in response, "You know, we could have done this in the afternoon. And stop calling me Sammy."
"Why burn daylight, Sammy? Less time in Michigan the better. I never liked Michigan. It reminds me of that one waitress near Detroit. Ugh…" He cringed at the memory.
Sam just rolled his eyes in response.
"So where is this place Sam?" Dean asked looked around at the fields of tall grass surrounding the road on all sides.
"GPS says it's up this road a couple miles on the right." Sam answered looking at his snazzy new Smartphone.
"I don't understand why you like that thing so much Sammy." Dean glared at the thing as if it were one of the monsters the brothers usually fight.
"Dean, just because you like being stuck in the past doesn't mean that the rest of humanity has to be stuck with you."
It was Dean's turn to roll his eyes.
"Oh, Dean, here's the turn!" Sam yelled out suddenly as they came upon a nearly hidden drive.
Dean swerved the car violently in the driveway, cursing under his breath, "Geez Sam. A little head's up from your GPS thingy next time!…My poor baby…"
Sam shrugged apologetically as they rode down the long road in tense silence, unsure what to expect at the laboratory.
Chell stumbled out at the top of the elevator with mixed emotions. The opera of turrets just numbed her mind. She had no explanation for it. It was scary, but also a little sad. She would almost miss the little things – they WERE kind of cute, when they weren't shooting at her.
Then, Chell looked up at her surroundings. She was in a field of tall grass. There was no civilization in sight. Suddenly, the elevator door opened behind her. Maybe GLaDOS has broken her deal. Maybe she was going to kill Chell after all. It wouldn't be the first time…
Chell was flooded with relief when, out of the shaft popped not a turret or death machine, but her companion cube. The companion cube that would never stab her or try to hurt her. She got her friend back!
"So, Sam…Is this it?" asked Dean skeptically.
They had arrived at a gateway to a parking lot. Towards the center sat a tiny building that looked like it had been abandoned for much longer than ten years.
"Yeah, Dean….at least…I think so?" Sam said, unsure of himself. "I mean, I read somewhere that a lot of their facilities were underground, but I didn't expect this…"
"Well, I guess we should go inside then…"
"Yeah…"
The two pulled their guns out and started towards the door. Then, there was this sound of rustling coming from the reeds behind the building. Sam gestured to Dean, asking if he heard that. Dean nodded and gestured for them to go around the building and meet the thing at the back.
The two snuck stealthily to the side of the building and peered around the corner, guns trained on the grass. The rustling came closer and closer.
Finally, from the reeds hopped a large gray cube with a heart in the center of each side. The Winchesters looked at each other confusedly.
Suddenly, from the grass, a face, then an arm, then a body emerged behind the cube. It was a girl. She was wearing the remnants of an orange jumpsuit with a white tank top, the logo of Aperture Laboratories clearly visible. On her feet were some strange boots that attached to her calves with a strip of metal.
"Woah," Dean ogled, dropping his guard and his weapon and came out from behind the wall.
"Dean!" Sam exclaimed, pulling him back by the arm. The girl, having spotting them now, pulled up what looked like a large gun and pointed it at them. She was afraid of them.
Sam stepped forward, hands raised in surrender. "We're not here to hurt you," he said gently, "Are you alright? Did you come out of the building?" Sam gestured towards it.
The girl's eyes widened and Sam saw her back away slightly, fear evident on her face, though hidden quickly underneath a stern expression. She turned her face away swiftly.
"Hey, it's alright. We're not with whatever is in there. We were just investigating when we found you…" Sam trailed off.
The girl had turned back to him and just stared.
"Um…can you speak?" Sam asked her.
The girl just looked away from him, picked up her cube and started walking the opposite direction, though the brothers could tell that she hesitated, as if not knowing which way to go.
"I couldn't help but notice the logo on your shirt. Did you work at the lab? Just nodding yes or no would be okay." Sam tried to get answers out of the girl.
In response, she glared back at him, then continued trudging slowly on her way. Sam had only to take a couple large steps to catch up to the short girl.
"Hey, come on. Answer me!" Sam said and gently but firmly held the girl's shoulder and turned her towards him. The girl glared at him. He looked her in the eyes and said sincerely, "We're only trying to help."
The girl dropped his gaze and Sam pulled his hand away when he started to see tears forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "But we really are trying to help. People have been disappearing. You seem to be the only witness to what's going on in Aperture Labs. Please, I'm begging you to help us."
Chell looked up at Sam with an apologetic but firm expression, shook her head no, and walked away.
Sam started towards the girl again, "Hey–"
Dean grabbed his Sam's and held him back, shaking his head. "I don't think she wants to talk about it."
Sam's expression dropped and he looked back up at the retreating figure of the girl, farther away already than Sam would have thought. "I wonder what happened to her that was so horrible in there. Physically she seemed okay, nothing but some cuts and bruises…what's going on in that lab." Sam's gaze returned to the squat building and then to Dean.
Dean raised his eyebrows and smirked, "Well, I guess we're gonna have to find out for ourselves."
Sam and Dean carefully stepped over the broken remnants of the door. "Y'know, you don't always have to break stuff down. It wasn't locked," Sam said exasperatedly to his older brother.
"Yeah, well, how often do I get to kick doors down, huh? I'm like frikken Chuck Norris!" Dean exclaimed, grinning.
Sam rolled his eyes and proceeded to shine his flashlight all around the inside of the abandoned building.
"So, what kind of baddie do you think it is this time, Sammy?"
"I really don't know, Dean. It could be any number of things that kidnap people at random. What's troublesome is how clean this monster is. Normally, the kind of monsters that kidnap people are detected – the police may not know that it's a monster, but the human bodies are pretty mangled and messy after the monster is done with them. No monster I know of leaves their den so spotless that the police couldn't find any trace foul play…"
"Hmm. So we're pretty much going in blind here, huh?"
"Pretty much."
"That's just fantastic."
Hope you enjoyed it! Happy (belated) B-day Jakey!
Reminder to go check out MiathoL's story "Speechless"!
