I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.
- Mark Twain
The familiar tap of her long fall boots against the catwalk soothed her racing mind. The silence around her was dark and foreboding. Her stomach churned as she continued through the doorway, gripping the Portal gun tighter in her sweaty palms.
The potato battery that had been ruthlessly stabbed onto her device lit up once again, explaining her plan of what she was going to do to the little idiot for what he has done to her, her facility, and to Chell.
GLaDOS paused, wondering why on earth she even cared about her. She had killed her during her greatest moments, and had single - handedly destroyed her beloved facility that she had worked so hard to build into her domain. She absolutely hated this woman who was carrying her, despised her. She daydreamed about what it be like to watch her die.
And yet...she couldn't stop the voices that raced through her. The voices of a conscience, that sounded vaguely familiar. These voices, whoever they were, felt pity for this woman. Ugh, disgusting.
But GLaDOS couldn't help but listen, and as more time passed, her emotions skyrocketed. Too fast, much too fast, and it felt strange.
The feelings of pity and remorse were pushed back by her utter hatred for a certain personality core that had taken over her facility. She fantasized about what she would do to him. First, he'll spend a year in the incinerator; Year two, Cryogenic Refrigeration Wing...then ten years in the chamber she built where all the robots scream at you. Then she'll kill him.
Chell listened as GLaDOS explained her plan, stating that once Chell had attached all the corrupt personality cores to Wheatley, he could become corrupt enough for another core transfer. Chell merely continued to walk the catwalk, pausing to take a look at the cache of corrupt cores and the pipes that held the familiar blue, orange, and white gel.
Once inside the Main Breaker Room she had been in before, she plugged GLaDOS onto the port, and they began to ascend into Wheatley's 'lair'.
"Look, even if you think we're still enemies, we're enemies with a common interest: Revenge. You like revenge right? Everybody likes revenge. Well, let's go get some!" GLaDOS cried enthusiastically, ready for it to end.
Chell didn't want revenge. She wanted her friend back, no matter what he had done. She knew that she should feel angry , vengeful, and she did, but she mostly felt saddened by his utter betrayal. She wanted to get in his face and scream at him, but at the same time she wanted him to be his old, charming and chatty self.
Ever since she had become a test subject, she soon learned that she couldn't trust anyone. The only thing that gave her comfort during her time of testing was the strange scrawls written in the corner of test chambers, or behind a broken wall.
The cake is a lie.
Eventually, the door whizzed open, and Chell emerged to find Wheatley waiting for them. He looked smug and proud as Chell glanced around the huge room.
He had replaced everything with dark, dusty black tile. The walls were littered with black panels, and tubes of Repulsion, Propulsion, and Conversion gel ran down the pipes.
The room smelled of smoke, and small fires were lit in the crevices of the walls. Constant explosions were heard.
Chell stepped back, and GLaDOS disappeared beneath the tile. She walked to her right, careful to avoid him, until she stood right in front of him.
"Well, well, well. Welcome, to MY LAIR! Lemme just flag something up: According to the control panel light up there, the entire building's 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'm actually going to have to kill you, as discussed earlier."
No, no, I could never do that. Why do I feel this...this itch? What is happening? Why can't I stop this?!
The battle Wheatley was having in his head was taking a toll on him. His corrupted side, laughed manically as he explained to Chell his plan to kill her. But the other side, his physical consciousness, begged and pleaded. He never wanted this.
"You know what, this plan is so good, I'm going to give you a sporting chance, and turn off the neurotoxin. I'm joking. Of course. Goodbye."
Chell's heart sank as Wheatley enforced his bomb proof shields over his body, and began hurtling small but dangerous black bombs decorated with red right at her. She quickly dodged the bombs, trying not to breathe for fear that she might inhale too much neurotoxin.
Exhausted, she collapsed behind the pipe that held the Conversion gel, and breathed a sigh of relief as Wheatley followed her, striking the pipe and releasing the white sticky goo everywhere.
With her plan now in action, Chell walked out from behind the pipe and placed portals on one of the panels that were coated in gel, and the other in front of her.
When Wheatley tossed yet another bomb at her, he missed, sending the bomb straight into the portal, and it retaliated back at him, causing him to slump forward.
With determination and speed, she soon had the yellow core in her hands that GLaDOS had lowered for her, and she attached it to Wheatley's body as it jabbered at her.
"Space. Space. Wanna go to space. Oh, space cops. Play it cool. Help, space cops. Space cops, help."
Chell immediately backed away from him as he groaned, and she had her gun ready. Feeling he knew what she had done, she placed one portal directly beneath him.
"Warning: Core corruption at 50%." A voice echoed across the room.
"What happened? What, what, what have put onto me? What is that?" Wheatley gasped as he opened his optic and tried to look around. "Are you trying to weigh me down? Think I'll fall out of the ceiling? Won't work. I'm not just quite brilliant, I'm also quite strong. Biggest muscle in my body, my brain. Second biggest: My muscles. So, it's not going to work. Clearly."
He re-enforced his bomb proof shields directly over himself, giving Chell an opportunity to again make him strike himself with his own bombs.
Chell made her way past his slumped body, and caught another core GLaDOS had delivered. The core's optic was a bright green, it's handles moving in a way that reminded Chell of when a man was trying to flirt.
After some very strange but flattering words, the core was attached on Wheatley's body.
"Warning: Core corruption at 75%."
Wheatley stirred, and angrily stared at Chell as she stood defiantly at him.
What is it going to take to kill you?!
No! She will not die! You hear me?!
Wheatley growled, shifting the shields to below him, shooting out more bombs. He barely had time to make a cutting remark before another bomb struck his body.
"This one should do it!" GLaDOS' voice rang throughout the facility, and Chell desperately looked for the core. Time was running out, and fast.
Finally, she noticed it, way above her head. Just then, a pipe containing Propulsion gel exploded, sending down a rain fall of the sticky goo.
Popping two portals, Chell ran at full speed, the gel helping, and flew high enough to grab the core. As she attached the last core, her hands shook, and she struggled to firmly attach it.
Wha..What the hell is she doing?
She's going to make it! She going to save us all!
Not if I can help it.
"Warning: Core corruption at 100%. Fire detected in the Stalemate Resolution Annex. Extinguishing."
Foam began to fall, stopping the fires and cleaning the messy floor free of goo, except for one spot of conversion gel, which Chell thought was strange. Wheatley had woken up by then, sneering at her.
"Manual core replacement required. Alternate core detected." The announcer again spoke.
By this time, GLaDOS had returned to the room. Chell was still trying to catch her breath, her lungs burning intensely.
"Substitute core, are you ready to start the procedure?"
"Yes! Come on!" GLaDOS yelled.
"Corrupted core, are you ready to start the procedure?"
"What do you think?" Wheatley snapped.
"Interpreting vague answer as YES."
"No, no, no, no! You didn't pick up on my sarcasm."
"Stalemate detected. Transfer procedure cannot continue. Unless a stalemate associate is present to press the stalemate resolution button."
A button was revealed across the room, and Chell couldn't move her legs. Her body was frozen in fear, and her mind was swimming.
"What the hell are you waiting for?! Go press the button!"
"NO! I forbid you to press it!"
"DO press it!"
"Do not do it!"
The voices inside her mind were racing back and forth, and pain erupted across her skull. With her last bit of strength, she placed two portals, one below Wheatley, and one in the caged room where the button was held.
She half ran half walked towards the button that seemed to have descended from the heavens, but when she placed her hand on it, the world turned black.
Her face and chest burned, and she felt herself flying backwards. She hit the ground hard, gasping. The smoke from the explosion and the neruotoxin entered her lungs too quickly, and she couldn't breathe. She took one last ragged breath, her gray eyes on Wheatley, before they closed.
NOOO! YOU CAN'T BE DEAD, PLEASE GOD NOOO!
"PART FIVE! BOOBY TRAP THE STALEMATE BUTTON!" Wheatley shouted proudly, unaware that GLaDOS was busy going through the procedure. Finally, she could feels herself regenerating back into her old self, and it felt absolutely wonderful.
Wheatley on the other hand, was a different story.
He had never in his short life felt anything close to what he was feeling right now. He screamed in agony as the power left his body, and he desperately tried to hold onto it. The pain was too much to bear, and he had to let it leave.
The claw dropped him on his optic, and he groaned as he rolled away. As he opened his optic, it nearly cracked in two when Chell's pale, deathly face greeted him. Her face was covered in tiny cuts and bruises, her eyes shrunken into her eye sockets from lack of sleep and sunlight.
She lay on her side, Portal gun still clutched tight in her death grip.
"Oh god, Oh god...This cannot be bloody happening..." He murmured to himself, shaking violently. A dark shadow rose over him, and he closed his optic. He just wanted to go bloody home...
"She's dead, you know. You did it. You finally killed her. Congratulations."
Wheatley continued to stare at Chell's body, quietly murmuring to himself. GLaDOS swiped him up, and stared down deep into his blue optic.
"Now, I do have a few plans for you. I was thinking I would kill you fast, but I'm just going to leave that up to your imagination. After all, fear cuts deeper than swords."
A:N/ I know this isn't the best first chapter, but I would be really happy if you would check out the next one.