In the dim morning light, helicopters cutting through the foggy stillness, soldiers prepared for the worst. They had heard stories about this place from people who had wandered into this hellish world, where they were forced to test until their bones broke and their senses were dulled, run by a maniacal AI that obsesses over testing. They checked their weapons and arranged their supplies accordingly. The forest below them soon faded away to long rows of wheat and wild grasses, the soldiers thought back to when they were first told about this place, a strange girl coming out of what was thought to be an abandoned shack in the middle of the fields, wearing curiously advanced boots, holding on to a dirty cube and speaking of the horrors of below. The local news stations ran a story on her and as the story spread like wildfire, so did the curiosity of this shack and more importantly, what lie below it.
The family had managed to keep most meddling reporters away from the shack but this had become an international incident, and the desire for peace as well as to see what kind of technology was hidden here bought the soldiers here like moths to a dangerous flame.
The helicopters landed and poured out were the soldiers around a single lowly shack, the leader walked cautiously forward, reaching his hand out to the door and pulling on it, the door not budging he called for the demotion expert, who promptly placed a charge on the door and motioned everyone to step back.
"Blowing in 3...2...1..."
The explosion was small, but it was enough to knock the heavy metal door off of its hinges, a group of five rushed in, assuring that the area was clear. However this shack did not have rusting gardening tools and spare seeds, but odd looking contraptions and what appeared to be an elevator at the end of the room. One man motioned to the elevator and took one step, suddenly the sky-blue color of the elevator's floor turned bright red, and a capsule closed around the man in the elevator as it shot downward, the blaring signal screeching:
"INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT"
The other four men quickly planted grapples and began belaying down the now open elevator shaft, hearing the sirens blaring in their ears as the leader radioed back to the communication center:
"Jones to Communication Center, Agent 3 has been captured we are going down to investigate over." He said awaiting a response.
"Communication Center to Jones, we are experiencing interference please state what happened agai-" Suddenly his radio cut out and was greeted by an angry voice.
"Ooh, well this is a surprise isn't it? I don't remember ordering new lab rats, but if they crawl into their own trap who am I to deny them their right to die?" The eerie voice said as above them the top of the elevator shaft closed with a metallic slice, cutting the ropes of the exploration team. Two agents screamed wildly as they attempted to grab onto the now slack lines, their bodies falling into the seemingly bottomless dark below them. Only by pure chance was Jones able to grab the wire pulling the elevator along with one hand and his partner in the other. He sighed a breath of relief as the pair grabbed the wires tight and began climbing down.
Agent 3 stood in the middle of the elevator as it shot down the shaft, he constantly checking his rifle in a nervous display, as a soothing but dangerous voice greeted him above his head.
"You are far from home aren't you little one?" Glad0s said mockingly, "Something interesting about science is that it is only the testers that need to the intelligent, the testees can be as dumb as a brick and they can still give something to the world science if they really try." Glad0s said, her mind wandering back to the memories she had of other test subjects.
"Now I would like to think that I am past the human testing stage of my life, I now have robots that mindlessly do my bidding so why would I ever need something else? Well to be honest I've been feeling quite bored in the testing initiative recently, the robots that I hired now do every test perfectly, and they can do a test without fail. The problem with this? Well science isn't science at all without failure, a classically human trait. So i'll give you a choice." Glad0s said as the elevator began slowing down, "I will allow you to live and test the old fashioned way, if and only if you disarm yourself, if you disagree, well..." Glad0s said coldly as the doors to the elevator opened to the shining red eyes of three turrets, lasers pointed at Agent 3's forehead.
Panicking he threw down his weapon and put his hands up, seeming to be satisfied with this response Glad0s opened a vat under the turrets, causing them to fall to their death, he stepped over the vat and looked down at the wailing turrets in the fiery abyss below. Agent 3 walked forward into a massive room, the lights flicked on and before him lay lasers, water smelling of noxious chemicals, launch pads, and turrets waiting for him around every corner.
Before him a curious device lay on a pedestal, an orange and blue hue seeming to emanate from it, he wheeled around when he heard a voice as he stared into the cold eye of a security camera, which followed him with every move.
"Let's get started then." Glad0s said, smiling to herself.
