I own neither Half-Life nor Portal, Valve does
Slowly he opened his eyes, closing them again as soon as he noticed the blinding light. His head felt as if someone tried to crush his skull, his body heavy and hard to move. He rose and stood with closed eyes, unsteady on his feet; after a while, letting his mind become clearer, he finally opened them, slowly, to let them adjust to the bright light.
His surroundings were those of a clinic white square room, illuminated by a row of neon lamps behind bulletproof glass that were powered by batteries; at the wall he was facing there was a simple metal door. He turned around and scanned the room, noticing a white, rounded gun-like object lying on the floor. After staring at the object for a while, the memory of the recent happenings hit him and he let out a shocked sound. Slowly he sat down, continuing to stare at the object before him.
ooo
Not even an hour ago, he was sitting at his desk, working at the drawing of a final "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device", short "Portal Gun", and uploading it to the company's intranet. He was alone at the office, most of his co-workers being assembled at the "Bring-your-daughter-to-work day". Being unmarried and without children, he had no intention of going there and meeting many, many stupid little children – he hated children, mostly because of all the noise they did.
He did not like most of his colleagues either, nor did they like him. Actually, he was not really a social person, not unfriendly, but with a rather cold attitude, just occasionally warming up. Thus, he had just few friends, but those were close friends. Most of them have assembled at the "Bring-your-daughter-to-work day"; the others were on vacation.
He also knew his superiors despised him, but he was a brilliant thinker and had a PhD in theoretical Physics. They could not fire him or move him to some insignificant department, because they needed him, what made him feel some malicious joy.
But sometimes he heard a low voice in his head – which was probably called conscience. He knew that this "testing" was not safe, rather extremely dangerous, and sometimes he asked himself if it was right to abandon ethics – for science. Once he has been down there, at the test chambers. At the time, he inspected a new apparatus he took part in developing. He saw how they scraped one of the hobos - or rather his remains - off the floor, but as he mentioned Aperture going too far, one of his superiors told him it was "for science" and he should just accept it. For the greater good. For the company. And, most important, for your salary. Thank god he didn't work at Aperture yet when they were using employees as test subjects.
However, he did not resign – Aperture Science paid well and the working conditions were good – if you were a scientist.
After finishing his work, he leaned back, closed his eyes for a moment and let out a fatigued sigh. Finally, he stood up and made his way to the next coffee machine, needing some caffeine to wake him up. As he waited for the machine to finish pouring delicious brown liquid into his cup, he became slowly aware of something being out of place, but he could not grasp what it was. Drinking his coffee, he examined his surroundings, without seeing anything being wrong. Then, he noticed a slight shade of green in the air, at first, he was confused, but then he remembered the neurotoxin. The neurotoxin they gave GLaDOS, a new artificial intelligence they developed by the wish of the founder of Aperture Science. He didn't like the idea of a supercomputer with an actual consciousness from the beginning.
"Stupid sons of bitches…" he whispered and let his cup of coffee fall, which shattered and spilled brown liquid all over the floor. Turning on his heels, he ran out the office, sprinting long corridors to reach a faraway exit while his breath quickened because of both exhaustion and fear. He knew the facility like the back of his hand, but he was afraid. Therefore, he made errors and ended up at a dead end, in one of those recently built testing rooms for explosives – Aperture wanted to widen its product palette. He turned and tried to open the door, that slammed shut behind him, but his hands shook far too much to use the mechanism to unlock the door.
As the green fog became thicker, his mind became cloudier and his body heavier and slower. He pounded his fists weakly against the door but nothing happened; no one came and the door did not open. Eventually he collapsed, trying to stay conscious, crying for help; but no one heard him. The moment he was at the brink of passing out, something happened. Suddenly time stood still, literally; he could not move and he did not die, but his mind would not become clearer.
"Well, that was close, wasn't it?" said a strange, raspy voice beside his ear, pronouncing the words in an awkward and alien way.
A man walked in front of him, tall and thin, perhaps in his forties, with pale skin and a short haircut, wearing an ordinary gray-blue two-piece business suit, a purple tie and holding a briefcase in his right hand.
"I have to say the circumstances are quite inconvenient, but my employers demanded immediate actions. Therefore, I have recommended your services to my... employers, and they have authorized me to offer you a job. I fear your new appointment will take you to a place, that's… far away.
However, I cannot make you accept this proposal… Time to choose…"
For some time he just stared at the stranger. Then, realizing he had actually no choice, too fatigued to be angry, he attempted to nod… in vain, his head would simply not move. Nevertheless, the stranger reacted.
"Wisely done, Mr. Aeacus."
As he turned away from Aeacus, everything became pitch black. His new "employer" walked away and then suddenly opened an previously unseen door. Bright light illuminated the man who straightened his tie, threw a look at the fallen scientist, then walked through the door, which closed behind him, leaving Aeacus alone in the dark.
ooo
Aeacus stood up and picked up the portal gun before him. He was surprised they finished it; the neurotoxin should have killed everyone in the facility… Well, perhaps some managed to survive. They must have finished the work. Stupid fools.
But by now probably all were dead, he realized. This goddamn machine had killed every single one of his colleagues, his few friends, rivals, superiors and many people he did not even know. And all those kids… this was horrific, he hated children, but they were innocent; they have had yet a long life before them, destroyed by a rogue AI.
Hell, why did they give her neurotoxin? Were they out of their fucking minds? Rage grew inside him, rage beyond everything he ever felt before, making him want to punch something, but he restrained himself from doing something stupid like this. In this moment he remembered the testing, but quieted his conscience again; what happened could not be undone.
He turned around and walked to the door, put a hand on the doorknob, but hesitated for a moment. Doubts beclouded his mind; what would he find behind this door? The strange man mentioned Aeacus new "job" would take him to a faraway place. Moreover, who was this man? How could he stop time? What was this job? And why did he choose Aeacus?
For a moment, puzzlement was all over his face. Then, realizing he could not solve the problem by thinking, he put it in a distant corner of his mind, focusing on the matters at hand.
"What have you gotten yourself into, Victor?" he whispered, deactivated the safety mechanism and turned the doorknob.
ooo
Chell stared at the bizarre sight before her, slightly confused. She doubted GLaDOS had done this… she was crazy, but she wouldn't have destroyed a part of herself and she probably did not have the means to do this.
Just before her a part of the wall has been cut out, a cube of about 5x5x5 meters has went missing; pipes, cables and metal parts were exposed.
"Ah, this. I don't know what happened here, but some time ago someone ran into this room, and after a while it… just disappeared. As if it's been transported into another universe. Perhaps he was testing and followed the advice of a future self, which was trying to warn him. Or some interdimensional agent took him somewhere to do his dirty work. Sure. However, I'm still going to kill you."
Chell, now even more confused, just shook her head and proceeded to make her way to GLaDOS.
Author's Note:
Well, this is my first attempt at fanfiction. Actually, it's the first literature work I ever did, aside from school-related stuff. So tell me please, is my writing style any good / are there many grammar mistakes / what could I improve? I appreciate all the critique I get.
English is not my native language, thus I fear my writing seems strange…
And yes, my main character is called Victor Aeacus. If you want to, look up who 'Aeacus' was.
