"What are you doing? Put that down."
Chell frowned and stepped back from the shelves.
"If I see you try to sneak that thing in one more time…"
The camera zoomed in on Chell. She had slipped into the turret storage room to take care of some business.
"Come on, GLaDOS," Chell protested, "This is a turret storage room, what's one more turret going to hurt?" She honestly didn't see what the big deal was; there were hundreds of turrets lining the strange shelves in the room. They were all offline, thankfully. So, really, why couldn't she add one more? There was plenty of room.
"I'm different!" the turret nestled under Chell's arm agreed.
"Because," GLaDOS sniffed, "I have them all organized exactly how I want them, in order."
Chell glanced around the room. Organized? All the turrets were haphazardly spaced out on the shelves, often with large gaps in between closely spaced ones. Some turrets even lay on top of or below the shelving units. "Yes, these look organized. Very precise formation," Chell replied sarcastically.
"I would not expect you to understand the complex system I've worked out. I cannot believe they let you into college. Though, of course, with you pursuing liberal arts I can't imagine you making it far," GLaDOS retorted.
"Hey, it's not like I had time to choose a career path while going through your death traps. The only thing I wanted to be when I grew up was alive."
"Well, remember that we no longer give $60 to vagrants for testing."
Chell shook her head, "Eh, I've got time to figure it out."
"There's always…science."
"…I'm going to class."
Chell drummed her pencil at the edge of her notebook. The teacher was finishing up a lecture about tempo and allegro, but Chell's mind was elsewhere. As much as she loved attending classes, she was often zoning out the last few minutes of lectures. She chalked it up to college not being deadly.
Her thoughts returned to Aperture. She found that when she was not forced to test, she actually enjoyed it. God help her, she had an itch. So she kept returning.
Of course, that wasn't the only reason she came back. Though she would never admit to that other reason…
"Oh look. You're back. This is the 37th time you've not listened to me," GLaDOS said as she watched Chell exit the lift.
Chell brushed off the comment and approached the giant AI construct. "Oh yes, I know how much you hate me being here," she smirked up at the AI. GLaDOS would probably try to blame Caroline; Chell knew better.
"Honestly, you barge in here uninvited. Interrupting me when I'm trying to do science," she said as she loomed menacingly over the woman. "I was just about to find out how Orange and Blue would react to the new Aperture Science Pneumatic Diversity Vents. Though, I suppose now that you're here…" GLaDOS mused as she offhandedly exploded ATLAS and P-Body. "Just give me a moment to construct some chambers more on your level."
Chell nodded as GLaDOS swept up what remained of the two testing bots and began configuring test chambers. She knew that GLaDOS would be busy for a bit, so she wandered off to go see ATLAS and P-Body at the reassembly station.
"I'm different!"
Chell turned around and saw her little friend stuck in a corner. She certainly was happy GLaDOS didn't decide to throw her into the incinerator. In fact, she decided that now would be a good time to slip her into the turret storage room. Chell picked up the little turret, ("Thank you!") and sprinted down the hall. Even though GLaDOS was building test chambers, Chell was well aware that she could still see everything going on. So she'd have to make this quick.
She slid in carefully and scanned the shelves. Perfect order, come on! Chell thought as she looked at turret's arrangements. The first one was on top of the shelving unit, with four more grouped within. Then the next unit had only a few turrets and this huge empty space with. And the next unit had…well sort of a similar arrangement. Okay, maybe she does have an order, she stepped back and regarded all the shelved turrets. In fact, they sort of reminded her of something she saw this afternoon…
Oh my God.
GLaDOS caught Chell racing past one of her cameras just before she ducked into one of those lingering rat's dens.
"What are you doing?" she asked in irritation.
She watched as the woman dashed out of the gap in the panels and back to…the turret storage room.
"Must you insist on always doing the opposite of what I say?"
Chell noted the hint of anger creeping into her voice. She knew she was pushing things a bit, but this was something she just had to know. Her long fall boots skidded to a halt at the wall just to the left of the first shelving unit. She removed the black oil pastel that she had grabbed and began to write on the wall.
"Oh great, have you developed schizophrenia too? I thought we've already established the validity of the cake. Though I am glad that I can still keep 'lunatic' marked on your file…"
Chell pulled back and revealed to GLaDOS what she had written on the wall. It was a treble clef.
"Oh…oh my God. This is a song, isn't it? You…you like music!"
Silence.
"Yes," it was all starting to make sense now, "yeah, the singing turrets, that melody I heard when I was in old Aperture and I thought I was hallucinating, this…" Chell stood there, stunned.
Suddenly, panels shot up from the floor and blocked off the shelves.
"You were hallucinating," GLaDOS replied tersely. "And the singing turrets only happened-"
"That's not the only time I saw them singing," Chell said as she recalled something she heard when she ducked behind a wall. "…Do you sing?"
"Unless you want to discover the melodic properties of neurotoxin, you will leave the room. Now," the AI construct said darkly.
When Chell entered her chamber she was greeted to the sight of GLaDOS drawn up almost to the ceiling in agitation. She looked as though she would crush Chell as soon as she drew close. Of course, Chell never faltered in front of GLaDOS, so she gave a determined stare and approached her.
"Come on, you did have the turrets sing to me."
The AI construct extended her body down toward Chell, "I'd advise you to pick up the portal gun."
Chell didn't move. She actually relaxed her posture. "It's just…I can't believe it. You have interests other than science."
GLaDOS forgot her anger and took on an offended tone, "Science is of the highest priority!"
"Right," Chell continued, "but it's such a human-"
GLaDOS whirled her body around, "I am not a human," she said bitterly.
"No, I know, I know. You're not a human. …but you are a person."
Several seconds passed in shocked silence. Chell found that she was holding her breath for a few of them in anticipation of GLaDOS' favorite weapon.
"Are you going to test, or am I-"
She decided not to let GLaDOS finish her…threat, most likely. "Alright, let's see these, uh, vents."
Chell entered the chamber and saw several rows of turrets, and the Aperture Science Pneumatic Diversity Vent. She shot a portal underneath the vent, and one above the turrets. As the turrets were sucked up, Chell swore she heard the tune from the radios playing underneath the roar of the vent.
AN: Thank you all for your favs and kind reviews on my other story! Now I'm writing terrible, implausible fluff! 8D
Like last time, by all means point out any errors or any ways you think I can improve! I actually don't know a whole lot about music, so if I got that wrong in the story, let me know!
Chloe Kompton, I've been lurking around for a while, and you are one of my absolute favorite Portal authors. I'm honored you liked my story, and thank you so much for the constructive criticism! :D