Full Story Summary:
Now that everything has come to a closure, Aperture gets the chance to rest and rebuild. And so do the people inside. New stories unravel themselves within the halls of Science where everyone tries to find their own place.
A few months after the events of Portal 2, GLaDOS continues her search into Aperture's past, as well as her own. But continuing science is extremely hard when she has to maintain a facility, deal with the voice of a past conscience and get a new test subject on her hands to tame.
The human girl wasn't here for testing however. Together with her new robotic-companion Nason, she helps set up a community to bring back the glory days of Aperture Science.
In the mean time, Chell tries her best to adapt to life on the surface. But no matter how far she runs from There and no matter how hard she tries to forget Them, Aperture will always seem to haunt her.
Today was a special day. It was the day of a new start, a new project. It would bring new chances as well as challenges. Nason couldn't wait. He was part of the nanobot work crew B7, even though he wasn't a nanobot himself. Sure, working with AI so small you could barely see them and having to clean rooms, compared to other cores, his job wasn't of high value. But he was still damn important, mind you. He was the very adviser of the crew. It was his job to keep an eye on all the maintenance work, file the process and give some little directions here and there.
Of course, he wasn't bossy. Or at least tried not to be. He made sure to discuss any important decisions with the others before he would put them in progress. It was important that everyone was up to date with the work schedule. Though communicating with the others could be a bit tricky sometimes since the nanobots weren't as sentient as he was. But they still managed to work together in a professional manner.
Today they had just finished up their last task and Nason had already gotten the orders for the next one. They had started at the west side of the facility about 9 months ago, repairing the most important things like support beams, security systems and some broken test chambers they came across. They were slowly moving towards the south, where the relaxation chambers were. They served as storage units of some sorts for test subjects. There they would be kept in stasis for a while to later be woken up for testing.
Nason looked out over the huge area where those rooms were located. It was an absolute mess. The containers that were used as the relaxation vaults, were scattered all over the place. They were stacked onto each other or hanging dangerously from cargo lifts. He didn't understand why they had to clean all of this; it wasn't like these things got used anymore. As far as he knew, she had killed all of the test subjects.
But there were some rumours going around the work place. Stories about how GLaDOS had apparently found a vault filled to the brim with human test subjects. He didn't know how much of that was actually true, and if he was honest, he'd rather not know. His only part in testing was cleaning and repairing damaged chambers and he liked to keep it that way.
But even though he tried to avoid them, Nason found himself more often than not eavesdropping on some juicy stories from conversations between other cores, when they thought no one else was listening. There were many going around talking about this one test subject who had managed to escape the tests and went on a rampage by trying to kill the supercomputer that runs the place before they escaped, never to be seen again. Nason wondered whether these stories were true or not. But there was one thing he was sure of: humans were dangerous and must be avoided at all times. Good thing there hadn't been any humans in here for years.
His train of thought got interrupted when a small message popped up into his thought processor. Oh yeah, he should probably get back to work. Nason turned towards a group of chambers that were lined up in the back. Now that he was here anyway, he should check up to see the damage and calculate what they had to do. You know, just to file a report for planning and everything. The railways he was connected to didn't directly lead towards the chambers so he had to take a detour to get there.
He passed through one of the security doors that had granted him access and towards the corridor that was connected to the entrances of the test chambers. The lights seemed to be out of order and completely bathed the hallways in darkness.
His dark-red optic shone a soft glow that spread over the white walls. There was a sign hanging above the entrance. Chamber 4/12 track 56. So it seemed to be one of the earlier chambers in the series. Though he wasn't programmed with the abilities to create test chambers, after working in them for so long he had slowly started to understand the concept of them. But because they were always way too complicated (and he was simply too busy to worry about it) Nason never really got around to trying to figure out how to solve them. But he knew that the test subjects usually started with a sort of introduction to the chambers at the start of the cycle and from then on the chambers got more difficult as you went. He wasn't too familiar with the concept but it interested him to see how the system worked.
Changing his focus back to the task at hand, he moved deeper into the dark hallway towards the rounded door of the test chamber. When he got closer though he noticed it was jammed and cracked open on one side, just enough for him to squeeze through. There was a rusty, old looking management rail leading into the room. One part of the floor had sunken and the room was partly filled with water. Not the toxic like water that was a hazard used in the tests, but just normal rainwater that must have leaked in here somehow. But that fact didn't make Nason feel any more comfortable. Water was a dangerous liquid and was sure to cause him damage if he fell in.
Nason glanced around the area. Aside from some rubbish and broken parts, this was obviously an old test chamber. Despite the fact that he and his nanobot work crew were supposed to be cleaning and repairing these chambers, he never knew this was here. Very odd, to say the least. Suddenly there was a slight rumbling sound and there were a few soft taps and splashes on the other side of the room. Nason squinted to try and see what had caused that sound. It had probably just been some tiny bits of rubble that had fallen down, but it was too dark to see.
And though that seemed like the most logical scenario, Nason couldn't help the need to say something. ''Hello? Is someone there?''
That's when the facility suddenly started to shake, a deep rumble echoing through the empty spaces. It could have been anything. A chamber that got moved, a pipe that broke, an explosion or even a small earthquake. The impact was enough to make the wall behind Nason collapse in big pieces of concrete. The debris slammed into the management rail and it bent and snapped, the metal slamming with a loud clank onto the ground. The poor sphere yelped in shock as he got flung downwards, landing hard on the floor. He was fairly sure that the snapping sound was not the ground underneath him but rather some part of his body. He rolled clumsily for a little before coming to a halt between the big pieces of rubbish.
The sphere only then dared to open its optic shutters which he had closed in the hasty moment of his fall to protect his optic from breaking. He was fine, aside from some small internal damage and... was that a dent in his hull? Nason simulated a sigh. Great... that was just, absolutely great.
He shone the light from his optic around the place. The red light bounced off all the little specks of dust that had jumped up in the air. He was completely surrounded by metal and concrete rubbish. The facility had gone quiet again, at least. But now he was all alone, in the darkness, without any form of transportation.
''Is anyone out there? I need help! Can anyone hear me?... Please help me.''
-0-
The lights in the test chamber switched on as the machinery came roaring to life. A blue bolt of light shot across the room from a gap in the ceiling and landed against the wall next to the entrance. A blue oval appeared, shining bright like breathing fire. After a few seconds of silence, the portal opened up, soon followed by two robots that came flying through and landed with a crash on the floor. The two bots lay in a heap, writhing around accompanied with loud beeps and flailing limbs. One of them, with a slim oval-shaped body and an orange optic, kicked the other with the blue optic that had been lying on top of him. Atlas made a sound of annoyance as he got flung off his companion. He rubbed the sore spot on his hull where he'd hit the ground as he watched P-body clamber to his feet. He made a high-pitched beep that sounded like a taunting laugh before he reached out to help Atlas up.
''Will you two stop that?'' The robotic female voice said inside their heads. ''You already damage yourselves and each other during tests more times than necessary and now you manage to break yourselves before you even entered the chamber. It isn't like I have warehouses full of spare parts. So stop playing around and finish this chamber so we can continue.''
The testing bots gave each other a short glance before turning towards the test chamber. It wasn't very different from the ones they were used to, besides the fact that it looked a lot older. The cubes seemed a bit different and everything had this certain abandoned vibe to it. Of course, this meant nothing to Atlas and P-body and they just went on to solve it.
But to the AI who was back in the upper levels, watching the events from monitors in her room, it meant a whole lot more. She didn't send her Cooperative Testing Initiative down to the depths of Aperture Science just to solve some simplistic and useless tests. She was especially not in the mood to see more failures. That was truly the only way she could describe the past weeks' events. Failures. All of the humans she had gotten from the secret vault they had managed to get into, were either brain dead vegetables or they died within the simplest of tests. All of them, dead within weeks. After GLaDOS had disappointedly watched a human give up and purposely plunge himself into the toxic hazard at the bottom of the chamber, she decided her full attention wasn't needed to monitor the next upcoming tests. While she followed the next test subject who got woken up to try to survive the supercomputer's deadly puzzles in the background, she shifted her focus on something else she had been thinking about a lot.
As early as she could ever remember, things had been kept away from her. Mainly it was information and control, two things she believed she deserved. Every time she got the chance, she would dig deep into the files, go through millions of lines of code, break past firewalls and security protocols that got in her way just so she could do her research. And now that she had gained her rightful control of Aperture and had rid herself of a particular mute pest whose name shall never be mentioned, she got back to this small investigation.
Now that was all taken care off, she got back to it. And this time GLaDOS had even more reason for wanting to find out about what the scientists had been keeping secret from her. Now it wasn't so much about getting to know things she wasn't supposed to. This was actually about her. Or rather, who she used to be.
Caroline. She couldn't get that name out of her system no matter how hard she tried. She had deleted the conscience of the woman and everything that had to do with her but, for some reason, she came back. GLaDOS had tried countless times, but Caroline was like a virus she just couldn't get rid of. So instead, she tried to find out everything about her. Maybe it would help her get rid of her.
But in the meantime, testing had to continue. Luckily, she had the Cooperative Testing Initiative as a backup plan. But again, another issue arose and pulled her attention away from her research. Testing robots simply didn't qualify. She needed humans. Guess what she had a large lack of at that moment. Just before she decided to permanently shut down the Cooperative Testing Initiative, she uncovered hidden information on a vault full of hundreds of human test subjects, all in cryogenic sleep. It seemed perfect. And the bots became of use to her again.
She had found the vault. She had tested the humans. And got nothing but disappointment in return. You would say that maybe she could leave the testing at rest for now? Put it on hold until she finished her other projects. But GLaDOS found that this was impossible. She had to test, it was the reason she was alive, it was her main purpose. And so, testing continued. She mentioned once before that testing plants wasn't a really successful way of conducting science, yet here she was, placing humans in her chambers that didn't have an IQ higher than a potato.
Testing them had been enough. For a little while. Until they were all dead.
As a last resort she put her testing bots back into action. It wasn't valid according to the testing protocols. It wasn't real science. But it had to do for now.
In the meantime, GLaDOS found a very inaccurate bundle of coordinates that pinpointed to a certain part of the facility. She didn't know what was there or if it would even help her. But it was a lead to something and, at this point, that was interesting enough for her to investigate. Of course, the supercomputer couldn't get descend into Old Aperture herself so she sent out her minions to go investigate in her place.
She was really starting to regret that decision.
After a long few minutes the testing bots had solved the chamber and walked out cheerfully through the exit, giving each other a high five as they went.
''Great job, you managed to complete another test in record time of slowest chamber ever solved. Now hurry up and find It. Try access any computer you can find and send all the content it holds to me.'' GLaDOS instructed.
The two bots walked down the catwalk from the test chamber towards a sealed metal door. The little window was broken and Atlas shot a portal through so they could make it to the other side. What they found was absolutely stunning to the two robots. The whole area they found themselves in were offices. Not that they had never seen desks and some lost chairs before when they had to go on side-tracking missions for GLaDOS. But those weren't simply as interesting as the ones they found themselves in now. These spaces were filled with all sorts of little secret things they had never seen before.
They separated to go look for whatever it was the supercomputer wanted, but all together it gave them the perfect opportunity to snoop around a bit. Atlas picked up a weird frame with two pieces of glass build within. He held it up to inspect it. When he looked through one of the glasses with his single eye the world seemed dizzyingly curved. What were these things even good for?
P-body called out for him and Atlas turned around to his companion. He had put a lab coat around his shoulders and a pair of green and red Christmas socks over his clawed hands, thinking they were gloves.
Atlas made a groaning noise and looked around for something to impress his partner with. He saw an interesting red tube hanging from a handle on the wall. He pulled it off and held it in the air like a trophy. P-body was immediately intrigued by this new mysterious object and reached out for it.
But the other robot didn't have any of that and stretched his arms above his head, just so P-body couldn't snatch it from him. The two ended up in a tiny tug-a-war game until Atlas grabbed the handle on the top and a white foam gushed out into P-body's optic. He angrily whipped it off as Atlas laughed at the sight of it. The orange robot pulled the fire extinguisher out of his companion's hands and used it to bang him on the head. He seemed a little bit disorientated before growling and leaping towards the other robot and the two ended up in another little fight.
GLaDOS was forced to just sit and watch. Such disgusting human behaviours. Where did they even get it from?
-0-
Nason opened his eye as he slumbered out of sleep mode. He glanced around for a bit before simulating a lazy yawn and stretching his handlebars. The peace of being in standby was almost too comforting to have to leave, but he had to stimulate and recalibrate his system every now and then. He wriggled his handlebars again. Working properly. He rotated his optic 360 degrees back and forth. A light screeching sound came from within him as some metal parts rubbed against each other. A little bit stiff, but alright.
He shifted his optic to look at the stones that lay around him. Nothing changed there. He glanced down to the floor before him, it was covered in grey dust which had collected there over the past few weeks... months? Maybe years? He wasn't sure. His internal clock had been damaged by his fall so he had close to no idea how long he had been lying there. It felt like a long time at least.
A tiny little stone broke off from the top pile of concrete. It rolled down, the soft taps echoed through the room as it fell all the way to the floor. It stopped right in front of Nason.
''Oh, hey there little buddy.'' The sphere greeted the rock which wasn't much bigger than a seed from a raisin.
''You really fell from all the way up there? It must have been quite a journey. I would know, I've fallen down here as well. Anyways now that you're down here, let me introduce you to the rest. My name is Nason, it's nice to meet you. This here is Rocky.'' He nudged towards a bigger stone next to the tiny one. ''The little one over there is Pebble. Though you're even smaller than she is. The flat one there, that's Flint. And the guy in the back... that's Steve. Probably shouldn't bother him though, he's a bit grumpy sometimes. Now that you've met everybody, it's time to give you a name as well. Hmm... it's going to have to be a good one though. I kind of ran out of rock names too. I had saved Steve for the last one. Alright let's see... you're a rock. A tiny little rock. I know! I'll call you TR. It stands for Tiny Rock. Fits well, right?''
He sighed and shook his body in dismay. ''Look at me. I'm talking to rocks. I'm really going insane.''
Nason gazed up, though there wasn't very much to see. So he just pretended for a second, pretended he was outside and there were stars glistering in the black void above, instead of the dark nothingness.
''You know what I could use right now? A conversation. And not a one-way conversation with rocks, you guys are not even alive. No offense. But just a proper conversation. That would be really nice right now.''
But when he stopped talking, nothing responded. Oh well, so be it. Nason figured another short nap in sleep-mode would do him some good. He closed his optic, nestled in his uncomfortable spot and slowed down his thought processor.
That was until he got woken by a loud noise. He looked up and noticed dust falling from the ceiling. Nason narrowed his optic-panels, trying to see if something was up there. There were slow, soft steps that echoed throughout the whole room. The panels creaked and peeped in protest, as they barely managed to hold.
All of a sudden, they gave away. A hole opened up in the ceiling and something fell through it. A high-pitched scream filled the air as that something plumped into the pool of water at the bottom with a loud splash. Nason was frozen in place. The gap in the ceiling let some light through, but he still couldn't see what had fallen in the water. It was silent again. So much so that Nason started to think he had imagined it all happening, until he heard splashes as something climbed out of the water, followed by soft footsteps.
In a moment of desperation, Nason called out. ''Hello? Is anyone there?''
The sound stopped. It was dead silent again. Had he scared them off? Was it just his mind playing tricks on him? ''Are you still there? I really need some help.'' He tried again.
Then a hesitant voice answered him. ''Yes, I'm here.''
''Oh thank goodness. I really thought I was going crazy there. Could you please help me out? I'm kind of…. stuck and I can't move.''
''Of course, I'll help. Where are you? It's really dark in here, I can't see a thing.''
''I'm over here! Just follow the sound of my voice.'' He could hear someone carefully coming over to him. He couldn't believe it! After all this time he was finally going to be saved! But when he gazed up to see his rescuer, he was suddenly face to face with a human being. He let out a small yelp of surprise. A human. What was a human doing down here? He thought all the humans were dead. Was this one of those test subjects from that vault that GLaDOS had found? Had she escaped? His eye winded in horror. What if she was going to kill him? ''Oh, hello there. Can… can I maybe uhm, help you?... with something?''
And please don't hurt me. He thought, but he didn't say it out loud. He shouldn't give her any ideas.
But the human didn't attack him. She just stood there. Terrified, Nason looked up at her and she stared back. The human seemed to be of the female gender and her clothes and hair were soaked and dripping with water. So she must have been the one who had fallen through the ceiling then. Her eyes looked big and surprised. It was really scary. ''Did you call for me?'' She asked dubiously like she wasn't sure if it would have been possible for this thing to have even talked.
''Yeah, but it is all alright. I'm fine. I won't be in your way I swear!'' He shut his eye tightly. ''Please don't kill me.''
She seemed a little taken back when he spoke. He didn't look though how she slightly tilted her head, wondering what exactly she had just found. ''I'm not going to kill you.''
Nason peeked through his optic plates. ''Wait. Really?''
The human girl climbed onto the pile of stone and started to dig away some of the rubble. ''Of course not, why would I try to kill you? I just… I have never seen anything like you before.''
''You haven't? But I'm just a core, there are thousands of us here.''
''Thousands? I haven't seen anyone since I got here. Wait I think I can reach you now. Hold on.'' She reached her arm down the hole she had managed to widen, stretching her fingers like she was trying to get the last potato chip out of the Pringles-can. She managed to grab his upper handle and pulled him out of the rubble. ''There we go. Are you alright?''
She placed him on a large piece of concrete and looked him up and down. Nason had never seen a human up close. She didn't look that scary actually. It was a little dark, so it was hard to properly see her features, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity as they reflected the light of his red optic. ''I'm okay now. Thank you so much!''
She gave a bright smile, something Nason had never seen. ''No problem.'' She then frowned a little, immediately making him feel cautious about what she was thinking of doing to him.
''You've got dust all over you.'' She softly blew over his hull. Nason blinked both in surprise and to prevent any of the dust specks to land on his sensitive iris. She also used her sleeve to wipe off the last spots that were left on the side of his mechanical body, very carefully as she was probably afraid she'd break something. ''There we go, much better.''
Nason managed a very small smile in the form of him slightly raising his lower optic panel. He wasn't really sure what to make of the situation, but it seemed like she did neither. They just stared at each other in silence like they couldn't really understand one another.
''Hey, I really appreciate you helping me. But I have one more favour to ask. Could you maybe carry me to a management rail? I can't really move myself because of the lack of limbs and all.'' He wiggled his handlebars a little to prove his point.
The girl snapped out of staring at this weird little robot thing she just stumbled upon. ''Um sure. I'll have a look around.'' She picked him up and climbed off the rubble pile, making sure not to hold him too close to her clothing as she was sure the water could damage him. She carried him out of the room through the broken door. ''It's really dark in here.''
''I have a flashlight! Here, let me find the right commands.'' Something inside him clicked on and his optic shone a way brighter light. ''There we go. Is that better?''
''Yes, thank you.'' The human said as she started to walk with the sphere in her arms towards the end of the corridor. Nason lighted her path so she didn't trip over things on the ground. It was actually pretty fun being carried like this. There was no management telling him where to go. They could literally walk anywhere! He looked at her legs that moved under them. How amazing it would be if he had limbs like that.
''What are you doing?'' She asked in amusement.
''Nothing.'' He quickly fixed his gaze in front of them. ''Was just lighting our path. You know, as you asked me to.''
The human shook her head but didn't say anything. The hallway was way longer than Nason remembered. Or maybe it just felt like that because there was an awkward silence between them. He hated awkward silences. ''Did you know that I was told that if I turned my flashlight on I would die?''
The human gave him a weird look. ''Die? From turning on a flashlight? Why would someone tell you that?''
''I don't know. They probably thought it was a funny joke. Turns out, it's perfectly fine to turn on your flashlight.''
Silence again. Right, maybe that wasn't the best conversation starter. But Nason had no idea what else to talk about with a human. At least she listened to him for as far as his flashlight story could interest her. Luckily they made it back to the hallways where the lights were working. And even better; there was a management rail! ''So how do I connect you to this?''
''If you could just hold me near it I can do it myself.''
She did as he instructed and held him above her head as far as she could. There were a few clicks and then he was back on track, so to speak. He spun around, laughing with relief. ''Look at his. I'm back! This is so much better than that cold floor.'' The human smiled up at him. She didn't look so big now from his position on the rail. ''Honestly, I don't know how to thank you.''
''It's alright. I'm glad I could help.'' She looked around the hallway and he noticed how she nervously bit her lower lip. ''Do you know this place well?''
''I work here so I hope I do.'' He joked. When she didn't react at it though he answered seriously. ''I do, why?''
''Well, maybe you could return the favour. I'm kind of lost. Could you maybe show me the way?''
Nason suddenly felt a little nervous. What kind of directions did she need? What if she asked where the reactor was so she could destroy it? Or where she could go to kill a certain someone, just like that other human? But he guessed he did owe her after she just saved his life. ''Sure. Where do you have to go?'' He asked a little reluctantly.
''I really want to go home.''
''Home? You mean the Surface?''
She nodded. He had never gone to the Surface himself (how could he? They didn't have management rails up there.) But it made sense for her to want to go back there, it's where all the humans lived and where she probably came from. ''Well, if you can find an elevator it should take you back up. I think there is one not far from here, but I'm not sure if it still works.''
''That's good enough. Which way do I have to go?''
''Uhm, you follow this hallway. I think there is a way that goes to the left, on the East side. If you follow that you'll probably run into it. It's near the T57 testing track, so try to keep a look out for that.''
''Thank you very much.'' The girl smiled. She looked nice when she smiled, he noted.
''Yeah, no problem. Thank you as well.''
She turned around and started to follow down the corridor like he said. ''Bye bye!'' She called before continuing. Nason also turned around and started to go the opposite direction, back to his workspace. He wondered how far his work crew got while he had been gone.
Suddenly, he stopped.
He didn't know why he turned around again, watching the human girl walk away. He only just came back to the question he had when she saved him. Why? Weren't humans evil? From all the stories he'd heard, from all the things that had happened in the past, you'd think they are terrible, selfish beings. He thought that too. But now, he wasn't so sure. After all, she had stopped to listen for his cries for help. She had gone out of her way to save him. She carried him to his management rail. And she barely asked anything in return.
Had anyone else come out to save him? Had the nanobots come to look for him? Did anyone ever realize he existed?
She does. And she's walking away from you.
Nason felt the confliction in his core calm down. Like doubts, worries and ignorance were all pushed aside and he got one clear goal. He rushed over to her. When the girl turned around a little surprised, he answered before she could even ask a question. ''Hey, I was just thinking. Maybe that elevator doesn't work. And then you'd be even more lost! I can come with you and show you the way if you want. I don't have anything important to do anyway.''
She smiled.
All those stories were wrong.
This human didn't seem so bad
Author's Note
Here I am, once again, writing for my favorite game. I have a few plans regarding "old" stories I've posted before. But my main focus is going to be on this story, for now.
So OC based stories are usually something I don't really read myself. I just see how hard it is to create a good character that both fits and will be interesting for the readers, when placed into the world that we all know and love. But I wanted to try this anyways. I feel like I've got a good storyline prepared that you can get behind. Also, one thing I did especially in this story, is that my OC isn't the main character, but a side character. With this, I hope to create the kind of fanfiction that would be fitting for those who are usually not into OC's either.
This is basically a personal experiment more than anything. And I hope you guys will like it. Of course, any tips and reviews are very welcome!
Thank you for reading and I hope you'll enjoy! Until the next chapter (which is already in the works uwu)
~Love, CherryPie
