A/N: Yeah, I realize it's just a re-write of the last battle. I wanted to fit Chell into a definite character in my mind, and this was a perfect way to do so.
Chell's Silence
Chell had always been silent in her days of Aperture. Not because she had a 'minor case of serious brain damage'—she rolled her eyes at the memory—but because she was smart. She wasn't superior to the incredibly-smart AI that haunted her dreams, she knew—so Chell would not give GLaDOS the satisfaction of seeing her losing her calm demeanor.
Though everyone makes mistakes. An innocent slip up—that's all it was, she thought as she recalled the day (or night, you couldn't really be sure, being underground)…
She approached the lift that she knew would lead up to Wheatley's—once Her—chamber. His 'lair,' he'd called it.
"Plug me in and I'll take you up," the potato—once her enemy, now her partner in science (at least she liked to think)—instructed.
Chell looked Her, disbelieving, but jammed the potato battery into the machine. It whirred to life and sparked a bit.
"Look, even if you think we're still enemies," —the potato began to spin on the machine (almost comically, Chell mused) as the lift raised— "we're enemies with a common interest: revenge."
That stung Chell a bit. GLaDOS thought Chell insisted they were still enemies?
Well, She did try to kill you. On numerous occasions. It's only natural to think of Her as an enemy. But she didn't. She was a human, and humans were quite soft and forgave easily (Chell was often disgusted with herself because of this).
"You like revenge, right?" The potato continued, "Everybody likes revenge. Well, let's go get some!"
The top of the lift's shaft opened, revealing an unsurprised Wheatley.
"Well, well, well. Welcome—to MY LAIR!" His voice got extremely low at 'my lair.' "Lemme just flag something up: according to the control panel light up there, the entire building is going to self destruct in about six minutes. I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the light. I think the light's on the blink. But just in case it isn't, I actually am going to have to kill you. Um, as discussed earlier." He still rambled as always, even when he was a genius. "So let's call that three minutes, and then a minute break, but we should leave a leisurely two minutes to figure out how to shut down whatever's starting all the fires. So anyway, that's the itinerary… Also, I took the liberty of watching the tapes of you killing Her, and I'm not going to make the same mistakes." Chell glanced at the potato. She didn't say anything. "Four part plan is this: one, no portal surfaces. Two, start the neurotoxin immediately. Three, bomb-proof shields for me, leading directly into number four—bombs. For throwing at you."
God, he rambled so much. Chell was starting to develop a headache, and fatigue was creeping up on her. No, she thought, if there's anything you've learned from your time in Aperture, it's that you have got to stay alert. If she had beaten Her, she could definitely beat this moron. This moron, once her friend… she shook her head.
"…I'm joking, of course. Goodbye." She hadn't been listening to him. She cursed herself inwardly.
His bomb-proof shields came down just in front of him as his - no, Her mainframe shook.
"Neurotoxin level at capacity in five minutes."
A bomb flew out of him and she just barely dodged it. She looked around the chamber for resources. It seemed Wheatley could only target a certain spot as a number of bombs flew from him—a great disadvantage. Chell heard a whir of machinery and realized he was re-targeting. She saw a tube of Conversion Gel and an idea hatched in her mind. She ran over to it.
"Where are you going? Don't run! Don't run!" That sounded familiar. "I'll tell you why you shouldn't run—the harder you breathe, the more neurotoxin you'll inhale. It's bloody clever, this stuff. Seriously, it's devilish." She placed herself safely behind the Conversion Gel tube. His bombs started up again, and—
"NO! DON'T! AH! NO! AHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as Conversion Gel splattered the chamber. "Ha… that sounded real. No. That was actually… an impression of you. Actually. Because… you just fell into my trap! My brilliant trap, just then. I wanted you to trick me into bursting that pipe. You didn't trick me. Seemingly tricked me. Gives you false hope. Leads to overconfidence. And that leads to mistakes. Fatal mista—AH!" He gave a short scream as a bomb flew into the blue portal Chell had created just in front of her and out the orange portal she placed on a panel behind Wheatley. He hung limply from the mainframe he was connected to. There was a slight pause before she heard GLaDOS's voice.
"Good work. I'm delivering the first core up near the catwalk." Chell placed her orange portal on a panel just slightly above the catwalk, and walked over to her blue one. "Grab it and attach it to him," She instructed. Chell heard a voice blabbering on about space. A Space Core. Huh. She landed lightly on the catwalk and just as she reached out to grab the core, she felt the structure beneath her feet sway violently. She slowed her paced and gingerly grabbed the core. She flew off the catwalk as it collapsed, Repulsion Gel splattering the ground in front of her. She walked around the wreckage, and just as she was about to jump into a patch of the blue gel, she heard something curious from the space core.
"Dad, I'm in space! I'm proud of you, son. Dad, are you in space? Yes. Now we are a family again." She stared at the core for a moment before remembering the job at hand. She shook off the slight shiver the Space Core's words had given her and jumped into the patch of the Repulsion Gel. She flew through the air and attached the Space Core to a red flashing light on Wheatley.
"Warning: core corruption at fifty percent. Vent system compromised: neurotoxin offline. Reactor explosion in four minutes." That did not sound good. Though Chell was glad for the relief of her old enemy, neurotoxin.
"Aghhhh," Wheatley groaned, "Wha—what happened?" He covered himself with the bomb-proof shields. "What happened?" He asked more fiercely. "What—what—what have you put onto me? What is that?" The noise of the bombs re-targeting. "Hold on… ahhhh the bloody bombs are stuck on! Doesn't matter—I've reconfigured the shields," he said confidently. Then he figured it out, "Ahhh, it's a core you've put onto me! Who told you to do that? Was it Her?" He asked, almost amused. "It's just making me stronger, luv!" She shivered at what he called her. "It's a fool's errand!" The noise of the bombs re-targeting. She dodged them as she figured out her next move.
She realized he left his bottom side uncovered. She placed an orange portal in front of herself, and a blue portal underneath him. She waited for him to re-target again.
"Remember when I first told you how to find that little portal thing you love so much? Thought you'd die on the way, if I'm honest. All the others did." She shivered again. "You didn't think you were the first, did you? No, no, no. Fifth! No, I lied. Sixth! Perhaps it's best to leave it to your imagination what happened to the other five…" A bomb flew into the portal she waited near. "You know wha--AH!" Wheatley went limp before Chell heard Her voice once more.
"Okay, great. Here comes another core." She portalled up to the catwalk once more, contemplating how she'd get to the new core.
"Quick, what's the situation?" A pause. "Oh, hey, hi pretty lady." Her eyes snapped up to the new core. "My name's Rick. So you out having yourself a little adventure?"
Chell realized there was Repulsion Gel on the ground below her. Perfect. She jumped onto it (timing said action just right, as the core was swinging back and forth) and grabbed the core in mid-air. She didn't quite know what he was supposed to be yet.
"What, are you fighting that guy? You got that under control? You know, because, looks like there's a lot of stuff on fire… Hey, a countdown clock! Man, that is trouble. Situation's looking pretty ugly, for such a beautiful woman. If you don't mind me saying." Chell looked for the next flashing red light. "I don't want to scare you, but I'm an Adventure Sphere." Ah. "Designed for danger." Chell located the light and jumped into a patch of Repulsion Gel to attach the Adventure Sphere to Wheatley.
"Warning: core corruption at seventy-five percent. Reactor Explosion Timer destroyed. Reactor Explosion Uncertainty Emergency Preemption Protocol initiated: this facility will self-destruct in two minutes."
"Enough!" Wheatley suddenly snapped. "I told you not to put these cores on me. But you don't listen, do you? Quiet. All the time. Quietly not listening to a word I say. Judging me. Silently. The worst kind." Chell felt something inside her twitch slightly, but she quickly discarded the thought of it. He arranged the shields directly in front of him. Chell placed a portal in front of herself and one on the panel above the catwalk, which was now behind Wheatley. A bomb immediately soared through the portals and hit him. "AH!"
"Here's another core," GLaDOS said, "this one should do it." Chell looked about the catwalk but found nothing.
Where is it? Chell thought, panicked. Then she saw a single pink glow out of the corner of her eye. GLaDOS had delivered this core on a rail above a tube of Propulsion Gel. A fire caused the pipe to explode, conveniently making a way for Chell to grab the core—suspended so high in the air. She placed her blue portal on a panel at the end of the stream of Propulsion Gel, and the orange on the ground below the new core. Chell ran along the stream of orange gel and was propelled into the air. She grabbed the core, but just barely. It spouted random and seemingly false facts. A Fact Core.
"You are about to get me killed," Chell glanced at the Fact Core in her hands before she jumped on a patch of Repulsion Gel and attached the core to Wheatley.
"Warning: core corruption at one-hundred percent."
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Wheatley groaned.
"Manual core replacement required."
"Ohhhh. I see." Wheatley's optic twitched violently as he processed a chuckle. The machine Chell had plugged GLaDOS into came into view from below.
"Substitute core: are you ready to start?"
"Yes! Come on!" GLaDOS said quickly.
"Corrupted core: are you ready to start?"
"What do you think?" Wheatley narrowed his optic.
"Interpreting vague answer as yes."
"Nonononono! Didn't pick up on my sarcasm…"
"Stalemate detected."
A short pause as fire flooded into the chamber.
"Fire detected in the Stalemate Resolution Annex. Extinguishing." Water came down, washing the gels away.
"Ah, that just cleans right off, does it? That would have been good to know a little earlier." Chell noted that a patch of Conversion Gel remained below Wheatley's—Her—massive mainframe.
"Stalemate Resolution Associate: please press the Stalemate Resolution Button."
"Go press the button!" GLaDOS urged her. "Go press it!"
Like she wasn't going to.
"Do not press that button!"
How stupid did Wheatley think she was?
Chell popped a portal under Wheatley and one in the barred-off room which held the button. She leaped through it and she was launched out of the room—
"PART FIVE! BOOBY TRAP THE STALEMATE BUTTON!" Chell propped herself up with her hands as she looked at Wheatley. "What, are you still alive? You are joking. You have to be kidding me. Well, I'm still in control! AND I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS PLACE!" Chell grabbed her portal gun and looked up as part of the ceiling fell away, revealing the moon. "You had to play bloody cat and mouse, didn't you…" Wheatley went on.
She looked from the moon to Wheatley and back again. She remembered something she had heard earlier, in her time she spent in old Aperture. The bean counters told me we literally could not afford to buy seven dollars worth of moon rocks, much less seventy million. Bought 'em anyway. Ground 'em up, mixed 'em into a gel. And guess what? Ground up moon rocks are pure poison. I am deathly ill. Still, it turns out they're a great portal conductor…
She shot her blue portal. There was a faint whoosh noise, then a very loud, much closer whoosh noise.
"WHAT THE—" Wheatley began, as he and Chell were sucked towards the orange portal beneath him. Wheatley screamed as Chell frantically grasped the air in front of her. She sucked in a lungful of air as her hands grabbed at Wheatley's handles. Suddenly, they were in—
"SPACE!" Wheatley frantically looked around. "AH!" Chell looked up and saw the Earth in the distant void. "LET GO! WE'RE IN SPACE!" Chell still didn't know why he insisted she let go.
"Space? SPAAAACE!" The Space Core flew out of the blue portal and hit Chell's left hand, ripping it from Wheatley's handle. She tightly gripped the other handle with her right.
"Let go! LET GO! I'm still connected, I can pull myself in I CAN STILL FIX THIS!" Chell saw a metal claw slide into view behind Wheatley.
"I already fixed it," GLaDOS said, "and you are NOT coming back!"
"OH NO CHANGE OF PLANS HOLD ONTO ME! TIGHTER! AGH—" Wheatley was flung into space, and GLaDOS had some how grabbed Chell's wrist. "—GRABMEGRABMEGRABMEGRABMEEEE…" Chell looked up, and realized she was being pulled through the blue portal. She heard the noise that meant that the portals had been cleared, and saw the old GLaDOS (not a potato) being dragged by the claw that had saved Chell. Then she blacked out.
Chell had seemed to awaken in an elevator—she had been in space—she saw the familiar Aperture logo on the floor of it. She looked up, and saw two robots in front of her. One was tall and lean, and had an orange optic. The other was short and stocky, with a blue optic. The same hues as the portal colors. The shorter one backed away slightly as Chell stood up. She had been in space. Wheatley—
"Oh thank god, you're alright." GLaDOS seemed to sigh in relief. "You know, being Caroline taught me a valuable lesson. I thought you were my greatest enemy, when all along you were my best friend." She sounded so sincere. "The surge of emotion that shot through me when I saved your life taught me an even more valuable lesson: where Caroline lives in my brain." Chell heard a beep.
"Caroline deleted."
"Goodbye, Caroline." GLaDOS said darkly, processing a chuckle.
"No," Chell whispered so lowly that GLaDOS almost hadn't caught it.
She looked sharply at Chell. "I'm sorry. I thought I just heard you say 'no.' I must still be hearing voices," she said. Chell couldn't quite pin down what emotion GLaDOS held in her voice.
"No," Chell said slightly louder. Her voice was rough, hoarse from not using it for hundreds of years.
GLaDOS looked pointedly at her. "So you can speak. I can't say I'm surprised, honestly. Let me guess, you felt inferior to me and wouldn't let me revel in the satisfaction of your reactions."
Chell simply looked at her and said quietly, "Caroline."
"Yes. I deleted her. You were there. Don't tell me you forgot."
"You can't," was all Chell said to that.
"I can't what? Delete her? I just did. No more sympathy. No more conscience. It really was a pain."
Chell worked at her throat, trying to make it so she could speak more than two words per sentence. "You can't… del… delete yourself," she managed.
"What was that?" GLaDOS's optic seemed intrigued.
"Caroline will always be…" Chell was amazed she could even get that out before her throat refused to work properly.
"I'm sorry, but no." GLaDOS chuckled. "I did delete her. It happened. No more Caroline. No more you…"
Chell's eyes widened, looking for escape.
She chuckled again. "Oh, stop. I'm not going to kill you. I'll be honest." Chell looked suspiciously at Her then. "Killing you? Is hard. You win. Just go." The elevator started to rise. Chell didn't say anything. "It's been fun," GLaDOS said. Why did that sound so sincere? Chell caught a glimpse of Her shake with simulated laughter before Her mainframe disappeared in the dark shaft of the elevator. "Don't come back."