Hello again! I have returned from completing "Portal: Carthage's Story" to give you "Portal: Carthage's Mission", the sequel to my previous online creation.
In case you didn't read the summary, I am setting this story 10 years after "Portal: Carthage's Story". I hope this story can go as well as the previous one. Again, your comments are appreciated, including constructive criticism.

To all who viewed my previous story, welcome back! To those who have not seen my first story, please look for "Portal: Carthage's Story" and give it a read-through.

Onward with the Chapter!

Heavy breathing filtered through the chamber's path, the sound of feet rapidly hitting the paneled floor echoing not too far behind. A dim blue light gradually grew closer and brighter until the source was revealed—a large kind of gun that didn't look like any conventional gun used in the world being held in a pair of hands. The figure holding the gun glistened with a fresh layer of sweat, chest heaving from the heavy exertion of energy as it ran, stumbling slightly as it turned swiftly to the right and continued to move with all haste down the path now in front of it, a bright light at the end of the path motivating the figure to run at full strength despite the lack of oxygen it was now receiving.

Emerging into the light, the figure shielded its eyes with its left hand while holding onto the gun with its right, the light revealing the figure to be a woman with slightly pale skin, short black hair and wearing a white jumpsuit sporting the Aperture Science logo, orange cargo shorts and white boots that had a metal attachment shaped like the back of a foot placed behind the sole. It took a second for the woman's eyes to adjust from the dark chamber to the brightness of…wherever THIS place was, but a sound from what seemed like a speaker reached her ears quickly—it sounded like a female voice auto tuned to match a robotic pitch.

"Well, it seems that you were able to complete the previous chamber without any serious harm being done to you. I would commend you on this achievement, but the factor of your extensive weight misdistribution shown on your record cancels out any positive feedback I would give you. I am left with only this to say; Continue testing."

The woman glared swiftly at a camera mounted on one of the walls next to her before using the gun to shooting what looked like a blue ring of flame at a nearby wall and an orange ring of similar fire on a far-away wall crossing the bottomless gap in front of her. Once the two rings were placed they both opened to become portals, each showing the other's location. The woman went through the blue portal and emerged out of the orange one unharmed before heading to a nearby door showing an exit symbol. The door opened up when the woman stepped near it as a large group of red beams suddenly emerged into the woman's sight, freezing her in her tracks as her face blanched with the sight of several turrets pointed directly at her.

"Target Acquired…"

"GAAAAAHH!"

A male android body suddenly shot straight from a sleeping position as the scream of an adolescent male burst out of its mouth. The artificial human held its chest with both hands as it began to hyperventilate from stress and fear while its body shook from the same feelings. Its human eye dilated in the darkness of the bedroom it was in as its optic flashed white in worry and stress.

A few seconds after the scream had echoed around the small room, the door burst open as a female android rushed into the room, twin yellow eyes showing deep worry.

"What's happened," the woman spoke with a auto-tuned voice now set to a high degree, "Is something wrong?" The male android's only response was to shiver as it bunched its body into a fetal position on its bed, making the woman's eyes narrow as it sat on the edge of the bed.

"Come now, Carthage," she said in a motherly tone, "Is it another of those nightmares?"

"Give…give me a moment, GlaDOS…please..." Carthage then took a deep breath before rising back up to a sitting position facing GlaDOS's slightly angry expression.

"If this is another nightmare, Carthage, I am not sure I will be as caring as the last six times you have worried me—these mental disturbances of yours have seriously inhibited your testing progress. I may have to resort to counseling methods in order to keep your higher mental states rational-"

"Would you just SHUT UP?"

The sudden shout from Carthage caused GlaDOS to jump back off the bed with both surprise and anger showing on her chromed silver face. Carthage then took another deep breath before continuing.

"Sorry, it's just…what I saw in this one felt so real…like I was actually there, or something."

"Many dreams are like this," GlaDOS carefully explained as she stood fully upright and offered a hand to Carthage, "The human body's subconscious emotions are easily able to project imagery to humans in a deep state of sleep that can look and feel real. But they are just dreams, nothing to be concerned about."

"Easy for YOU to say," Carthage responded as he grasped GlaDOS's hand and was pulled up off the bed to stand before the other android, "You don't have a human soul built into a partially-metallic body." GlaDOS winced visibly as that comment reached her audio speakers—did the boy have to bring those memories back after so long?

"Well," the female android concluded as she walked to the door and opened it quickly, sky-blue light reflecting from the outside halls, "Since you are fully awake and at a…reasonable mental state, we can begin testing for the day. Orange and Blue have found some interesting gel concepts from the Abandoned Projects lab in the 1970's Aperture that I am quite intrigued in trying out…"

A heavy sigh was Carthage's response before he said "Sure thing, be there in a few minutes." GlaDOS smiled warmly at her creation before stepping out into the halls, shutting the door behind her.

'Something about that nightmare didn't feel right…it seemed too real to be just a dream,' Carthage mused to himself as he walked over to the dresser table located to the left of his bed. Grabbing the Aperture Science Multi-Purpose Glove he always used in testing and slipping it over his right hand, Carthage shook his head to clear the dream from his mind.

'GlaDOS said these dreams were caused by human emotions…so why do I get the feeling there's more to THIS dream then meets the eye?"

[MULTI-PURPOSE GLOVE ACTIVATED]

Smiling slightly as the familiar surge of energy that came with the Glove's activation rippled through his body, Carthage opened the door to his bedroom and strode down the slightly lit hallway to the main testing hall, wondering what new and wild ideas GlaDOS had for him today.

Well, that should be enough to get the story started. More will soon be on the way, so stay tuned. If you have any comments, ideas or thoughts on this story, don't hesitate to let me know (EXCEPT for Flames-those are not accepted here.)

Draconos is taking off!