Hey guys, and welcome...
Welcome to THE SEQUEL! For those who are new here, clicky my name and go and read 'The Misadventures of Caroline II', my main Portal story - otherwise this will make no sense to you. For those of you returning from there, WELCOME BACK! And, hopefully enjoy!
This is actually very different from the first idea I had, so bare with it! :D
~Lagiacrus
He was dead.
She stared at him with her arms crossed from the other end of the car park, her back leaning against the panelled walls of the Enrichment Centre. She performed every scan she knew how – she checked for vitals, none were detected. She scanned for heat signatures; the body was stone cold, several hours old by now. Whoever did this to him, they had come during the darkness of night and done the deed then. Running an autopsy scan, she traced all of his external wounds, observing the damage from afar, before deciding that his death had not been because of the wounds being inflicted but because of the bleeding out he did afterwards. He had potentially lived for another hour before dying where he lay – or rather, hung.
She finally gathered up the courage to walk the length of the car park and to the entrance gates, where he hung from a loose steel beam that at one point had made the security fence. Blood dripped from every crevice, staining the black tarmac crimson red. She examined the wounds more closely upon her approach – the wounds were deep gashes, inflicted by a Western-style Santoku knife, a common kitchen utensil. The only reason she knew that at all was because she had once used a similar weapon on a human and recognized the shape and density of the wounds.
"Well," She grumbled to herself. "One thing I can say is that the Imbecile will not like this."
Without giving the poor man even a second thought, GLaDOS turned around and strutted back to the facility, leaving Eric hanging there like a Christmas decoration.
Her original aim had been to not even inform Caroline II that somebody had viciously murdered the annoying human male, however after she found the body, she soon started to find evidence that pointed to the murderer's identity – notably, her very own Santoku knife was soaking in the kitchen sink, stained with blood. This, of course, led her to two conclusions – one; she was somehow the murderer but for some reason had no recollection of it. Two; somebody had stolen her knife and committed the act, in an attempt to frame her and turn everyone against her. The last thing she needed was being murdered again over this. While the second was the most likely to be the case, trying to come up with how to convince the humans of this was another story. For the first time in her lengthy existence, she regretted having a reputation as a compulsive liar.
When she picked up the knife from the sink to examine it for fingerprints, she heard the familiar gait of Caroline II walking into the cafeteria.
"Hey, GLaDOS!" She announced her arrival with her booming voice, which sounded more like a warning bell to the android at that moment. Hastily she shoved the knife back into the sink, turning around to glare at the troublesome girl… woman with wide eyes.
"You completed those tests too quickly. I didn't even feel it."
"You say that every time, but you just don't want to admit that I'm better than any test you can come up with." She spoke cockily, flipping over the counter and landing beside the increasingly tense AI. Causing GLaDOS to gently exhale the big gulp of air she was holding, Caroline headed over to the fridge. Hastily, GLaDOS took the sponge and began to scrub as vigorously as she could the blade, determined to do what the murderer was clearly too lazy to do before the pesky girl- goddammit, woman noticed.
What GLaDOS sometimes struggled to deal with was the fact that Caroline II was no longer the teenager who had first stumbled into the Enrichment Centre without a care in the world – she was twenty-four. According to human belief, being twenty-four made her 'adult'. Following the instructions of this belief, GLaDOS also managed to work out that being the age that she was meant that she should be dead. Anyway, back on track.
In the six years GLaDOS had known Caroline II now, they had both changed. GLaDOS, for one, liked to think that she was now more than capable of not killing somebody, although the urges were often there. Caroline II had changed in more ways than one – she'd grown and matured, now looking much more like her mother had when she was younger. In fact, she'd grown so tall that GLaDOS had needed to make new clothes specific to her size. With her Long Fall Boots on, Caroline II was actually taller than GLaDOS, albeit only just. Sometimes, when Caroline II called on her, GLaDOS would instinctively look down while turning around, only to find that Caroline II's face wasn't there anymore – it was instead looking down upon her! The nerve!
"Uhh, GLaDOS?"
The android nearly jumped out of the body from fright to find the human girl leaning over her with a sandwich hanging out of her mouth. In a muffled voice, she asked;
"Why don't you just use the dishwasher?"
"The utensil was already in the sink, I thought it would save some of my energy." GLaDOS quickly spouted, her face expressionless.
"Ok, whatever you say – but why were you using it in the first place?" She grew increasingly annoyed with the woman's questions. "You don't usually work in the kitchen anymore."
"Well for once, I did. Satisfied?" She snapped in reply, making Caroline smirk.
"I've got a feeling you're hiding something."
"You will continue to have that feeling because I have nothing to hide." GLaDOS replied.
"You're lying."
"Your face is lying."
"I see you've still not learned how to use the 'Your Face' insult yet, GLaDOS."
"But I'm getting better."
Finally, Caroline gave up and simply laughed, turning away and heading for the cafeteria exit. The further away she got, the more uncomfortable GLaDOS felt. She wasn't one for telling the truth, but with Caroline II she felt that it was some sort of obligation to keep the girl correctly informed. Willing herself to keep her mouth shut, her DM Module suffered a temporary malfunction which convinced her mouth to speak the word sitting on the edge of her tongue –
"Wait!"
Turning back to GLaDOS with a triumphant smirk, Caroline trotted back over, vaulting over the table once more and peering into the sink expectantly. Feeling something close to embarrassment, the robot lifted the knife out of the water – only to see that blood still coated the handle and red stained the metal. Given the situation, GLaDOS had expected the woman to react worse than she did.
Her face paled and she took a few steps back, staring at GLaDOS in an accusing, terrified manner. However, in a typical Caroline fashion, she still gripped her sandwich defensively in one hand.
"GLaDOS-!? Who-!?"
"First of all, I should clarify that I am not the one who used this knife. Secondly, your stupid male friend is dead."
"And you're expecting me to believe that you weren't the one who did it?" Caroline hissed, taking another step back. "That's your knife, GLaDOS – you even told me what you did with it once."
"Yes, I killed a full-time employee. Violently. But that was an old me," The supercomputer objected. "I'm not that sort of person anymore and you should know that better than anyone."
"Well then, if it somehow wasn't you, then who do you think it was?" The computer's favourite test subject crossed her arms, finally settling for putting the sandwich down on the countertop.
"I don't know that – the fingerprints have been washed off the knife," GLaDOS began. "But what I do know is that they used my knife in an attempt to frame me. They wanted you to turn on me like this."
"Yeah, likely story." Caroline concluded. Before she could even begin to compute walking away, GLaDOS had her pinned viciously to the table, her citrine yellow eyes boring into her very soul with an intensity which was very rarely aimed at her.
"I'm being very serious, Caroline Johnson the Second," Suddenly the handle was shoved into Caroline's hand and GLaDOS stepped back, holding her arms out wide. "But if you still believe your improbable theory that I somehow killed the human male, then kill me here. I won't save myself. I'll be just as dead as I was when your mother had her episode."
"But that would mean you still wouldn't be dead." Caroline pointed out unhelpfully, raising an eyebrow.
"I'd be gone, and that would be the next best thing."
There was a moment of silence. The two remained unmoving, looking at one another.
"Feel honoured – you are the only person I trust enough to give permission to kill me." GLaDOS' words awakened a slumbering feeling within Caroline's mind, like she'd heard them spoken before – although she was certain she hadn't. Absolutely certain.
"I'm not going to kill you," She put the knife down on the table, but her stern facial expression never changed. "Take me to him."
GLaDOS knew that Caroline wouldn't kill her, which is why she was bold enough to give the human girl the option. Over the years she had certainly proved herself quite capable of killing, but there would always be some beings she could never bring herself to harm in any way – GLaDOS knew she was one of them. She had taken advantage of that to help convince the girl that for once, she was innocent. It was a dirty trick, but GLaDOS practically specialised in dirty tricks.
She guided Caroline across the car park, looking back to see the woman already gazing with a surprising calmness at the body. When they reached him, the supercomputer was perplexed to see Caroline start searching through Eric's pockets, getting her hands covered in his blood in the process.
"May I ask what you are doing?" GLaDOS finally piped up.
"The murderer sometimes leaves a symbol or a note at the scene of the crime, usually on the body. If there is one, it could help us work out who did this and why."
"…You got that from CSI, didn't you?" The computer's tone was accusing, and yet she tried to disguise an amused smirk with her hand.
"I wonder if Miami still looks like that. Bet it's all ruins now, huh?" Caroline II responded with a grin, before her face transformed into shock as her hand gripped something in the last pocket of his jumpsuit. She'd hit gold!
Gently pulling out the contents of his pocket, she found that there was a bloodstained note attached to a slightly damp Floppy Disk. She attempted to dry both off on her t-shirt but only succeeded in getting herself covered in the unsanitary red liquid.
"Eww, gross."
She opened up the note and could just make out the remains of black ink through the red. Still legible, she held the piece of paper up to her face and squinted.
"It says… 'I have finally found you, GLaDOS. Now it's your turn to find me.'"
Despite how eerie the message sounded, GLaDOS didn't even flinch.
"Is this how you humans try to organise 'dates'? You know, those pointless events where you try to get to know a person better so you can have unsanitary relations with them later?"
"I don't think so. Although, if this is how somebody is asking you out on a date, they sound like a creep," Caroline said with a laugh. "Help me get his body down."
Aperture Science had once had many enemies. However, GLaDOS reasoned with herself that if their worst enemy, Black Mesa had succumbed to the alien invasion, all the others should have fallen as well. There were a few conclusions GLaDOS could draw from this: One; one of their old enemies had somehow returned and had killed the stupid human male in an attempt to incur her wrath. Well, they failed. They had actually done her a favour. Two; this was one of their more recent enemies, like the aliens or the troop of human males living a few miles up the road and they were looking to pick a fight with the world's greatest supercomputer. Well, GLaDOS admitted that that would piss her off, but it was too early to assume that this was the correct conclusion. Three; this was an entirely new enemy that GLaDOS had never even heard of – in which case, she'd need to try and find this new enemy and eliminate them before they attacked once more. The last thing she wanted was any of the other humans getting caught up in all this. Although she didn't want to admit it, the humans and several matters concerning them had been her primary concern the past six years. Well, that and the new Portal Device she was developing – that should have been more important, actually. Yes, let's concentrate on that from now on.
Burying your loved ones was too old school – rather than waste time digging a hole for Eric and throwing him in, GLaDOS opted for chucking him into the Incinerator while Caroline II's back was turned. She never did find out what GLaDOS did with the body. When Chell and Rosie were informed, they reacted much worse than Caroline II had – for one thing, they actually cried. Caroline II did admit that she was upset – but something about a human life had never struck her as… important. She'd liked Eric, but… well, she guessed just not enough. Wheatley had, surprisingly, remained silent when Caroline had told him the news. He didn't even show any evidence of how the news made him felt. As Caroline was about to leave the room to join GLaDOS in examining the Floppy, he finally broke his silence.
"Are you okay, Luv?"
Caroline II turned back around, her face expressionless.
"Yeah, I'm good."
Joining GLaDOS in the central chamber, she found it almost comforting to see the supercomputer back in her chassis.
"You don't need to be here for this, you know. This feels… personal, somehow." She told the woman.
"Don't be stupid, I'm with you all the way, no matter what's on that disk." She grabbed hold of GLaDOS' neck suspension and hauled herself up onto her back, perching quite happily on the computer's head.
"Well, is the disk ready?" She asked GLaDOS, who gave a gentle nod.
"I am downloading the files to my system as we speak. They've been scanned for maliciousness and are safe."
Caroline grinned.
"Good. Let's see if we can find our murderer."
It was unlike her to think of revenge – she decided it was like her way of feeling sympathy for Eric. By finding his killer and murdering him, it would be her own way of showing respect. Tears were not something that she had shed in about five years and she wasn't about to start now. Either way, she was in the right mood to kill somebody. Maybe GLaDOS was rubbing off on her after all.
The files streamed into place on a monitor as it descended from the ceiling. As was custom, GLaDOS raised herself up to meet it, Caroline watching with just as much intensity as the supercomputer.
Most of the files were nothing that GLaDOS hadn't seen before – various Aperture Science coding sheets and image files, all of which GLaDOS had on file already. However, one thing did stand out to her – they were all very old. From the 1960's, namely, some even earlier. There were even some files concerning Mr. Johnson and Caroline, who GLaDOS could feel watching the screen as well through her optic.
There was one file which GLaDOS couldn't open straight away. This one actually held her attention for a good few minutes while she tried everything to pry it open. Caroline had of course learned this behaviour and silently smirked away while GLaDOS slowly heated up from the mental strain.
"GLaDOS, you're starting to overheat."
"I know. Apologies."
With a sudden unexpected click, the file GLaDOS had been tampering with opened in a separate window.
"Ahh, so that was the problem. There was a firewall blocking my way," She grumbled. "This murderer is already annoying me and I haven't even killed him with neurotoxin yet."
"Easy girl, we'll get'em." Caroline jokingly patted GLaDOS' white hood. She ignored the supercomputer's optic narrowing in irritation.
"So what does the file say?" There was a few moments of silence before GLaDOS replied.
"…It's messy code, but… it definitely says something…" The anticipation was starting to frustrate Caroline.
"Come on, come on!"
"I'm working on it. Don't make me put you in the incinerator for timeout again." GLaDOS warned.
"What do I look like, five?" Caroline replied
"You certainly act like it."
The code was suddenly filling the entire screen. Each number and letter slowly morphed into a pixel. Soon, the pixels were forming an image.
"It looks like the hull of a ship." GLaDOS observed. A pixelated 'B' appeared on screen. Then, an 'O', then an 'R'…
"O-Oh my."
"What, what is it?" As much as she looked, Caroline couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. The image seemed so familiar,
"That ship – that ship is the Borealis."
The test subject indicated to the top right corner of the image, once it was completed.
"GLaDOS, aren't those coordinates?"
"Yes, they are written onto the picture." Her optic zoomed in on the tiny white numbers. Caroline shifted, struggling to remain seated on the now seething hot machine.
"Well?" She demanded.
"The co-ordinates – they point to a location in Antarctica." GLaDOS replied with, her voice ever so slightly shaking.
"And that means, what?"
"Whoever killed the stupid human – they found the Borealis too."
Well, what do you guys think of that?!
I know this is already starting off quite differently from the first story, but that is the whole point. I'm taking this story much more seriously than I did at the start of the first one. I also hope that this one reads a lot better. I've not started the next chapter yet, so it could take a little while. But don't worry, you shouldn't be waiting too long!
~Lagiacrus