Dimensional Portals.
Hello! This is my first trek into the Portal section of this site. Hooray!
Anyway, I've got a bunch of drabbles dedicated to sweet little Wheatley with the inclusion of many Portal characters to back him up. Most of these chapters will be AUs, so please turn back if you're not interested.
Alrighty then, the very first chapter contains an interesting concept that I've never seen anyone else do. The bold writing is Wheatley signing or his thoughts.
Enjoy.
Chapter 1: Test Subject.
"Hello? Is anyone in there?"
His whole body felt heavy and strange, like he'd been suspended in a limbo for a hundred years. But then again, he'd be dead by now and –
"Is anyone even alive in there? Please wake up and answer me! I don't want another death on my conscience!"
The feminine, slightly anxious voice forced the tall man to open his eyes properly, his vision blurry and dotted at the edges after being closed for so long. With a huge stretch and a yawn, he shakily got out of the bed he'd been lying in and stumbled on lanky legs to answer the door. As he grasped the handle, he chanced a look around and seemed dismayed at the rundown room he was in. It was lucky he still wore his glasses.
Where was he anyway?
Right, right, the door!
Slowly, he opened it and looked up at... it appeared to be a ball hanging off a rail. His unnaturally blue eyes darted around in search of the voice. The optic of the metal ball lit up a dark purple as the thing spoke with relief.
"Oh good, you're alright."
The voice sounded kind and tinkly, even if there was a tinny quality to it and the young man relaxed a little, although he still twitched when the female core hurried along the rail into the little room.
"You're may be wondering what is going on here, which is perfectly normal."
The man nodded, raising an eyebrow as he ran a limp hand through sandy brown hair.
"My name is Morality Core, but you can call me Chell." The Morality Core explained as she moved around the room in order to get a clear view of him. "Hmm…you don't look too healthy right now and I'm worried you've got a case of brain damage after being in cryo for so long, but I can easily test that by asking you a few simple questions!" Her voice took on a concerned tone as her indigo optic zoomed in on his bewildered face.
"Firstly, what's your name, dear?"
The man held up his hands and started to sign.
"Oh, I see! You can't talk? It's a good thing I was programmed to understand sign language." She replied warmly and remained still as she studied his movements.
"Your name is Wheatley?"
Wheatley smiled timidly and nodded again, rapidly signing away.
"Whoa whoa, I don't need your life story right now. We haven't got time for that."
Wheatley's expression became alarmed and he moved his hands.
"We're not in any real danger at the moment, but we could be if we don't escape from Aperture."
There was a pause as Wheatley took in the information with wide, fearful eyes.
Are we going to die?
"No. I won't let that happen, Wheatley. I promise we'll escape together." Chell answered resolutely and she looked like she was smiling when Wheatley beamed trustingly back at her.
It was nearly pitch black in the metallic corridor and Wheatley gripped his trusty old portal gun (he'd felt happiness at being reunited with it), taking cautious and unsure steps forward in the direction of possible doom, avoiding hanging wires that sparked now and again.
At least he had Chell.
Chell had been brilliant. There were some moments where Wheatley wanted to grasp his head and cry, to give up and watch Aperture rot around him (especially when they'd been separated). Chell never let him go past that point. The little Morality Core kept him going with sweet words and a soothing indigo light flaring the evil shadows away.
He'd learnt a lot about Chell while they travelled together. The Core had been assigned to watch over the test subjects in cryo-statis, felt the entire world on her metaphorical shoulders and was very stubborn. She always saw a way out, even when Wheatley didn't.
He WASN'T a moron. It just took him longer to figure things out. Maybe he was brain damaged.
And Chell learnt about Wheatley. His mannerisms screamed insecurity and an eagerness to please. However, he also remained cheerful as long as he could keep "talking". It amused the white and purple ball to see Wheatley signing constantly when doing pretty much ANYTHING. The gun on his right hand made it hard to complete gestures and the speed in which he did it meant she could barely understand his ramblings. But she tolerated it because it was almost endearing and a safety net at the same time. He wasn't a coward like she'd previously assumed either. Despite GLaDOS' taunts, Wheatley proved his bravery. Yes, there was a flash of utter terror in his deep ocean eyes whenever some new challenge cropped up, but then he'd give himself a mental kicking and throw himself face first at the opposition – sometimes literally.
They were nearly there, at the hub where GLaDOS resided and Wheatley's slim hands were going a mile a second.
So, um, GLaDOS lives – well, she doesn't live exactly. I mean that would imply she's breathing and sleeping and eating and doing all of the human things robots DON'T do – exists in this little – well, er, not particularly a little place really – hub thing…right? And we're, uh, willingly walking straight into her scary trap, that will maybe kill us all, right? Because I don't really like the sound of that, to be honest. But if that's your plan, then it's most likely an extremely clever one!
He finished his usual rambling with a nervous grin and Chell rolled her body to stare down at him, lowering her optic lids. He could never tell what she was thinking. She was the Morality Core though, so she must care about him a little.
"Yes, I'm afraid so. This is for the good of everyone, you realise that?"
Of – of course! Especially for you and I! We can escape together and – and maybe find a lovely little flat to live in with blue walls and – actually, maybe it would be best if you chose the colours because you're a girl core…oh, but I'm not being sexist in any way! I think women are better at interior design than us crazy old men and –
"Wheatley."
The quick signing halted once more.
"We're here." Her voice was stone cold and set, like it did when a challenge was approaching and Wheatley began to tremble like a leaf as they entered the elevator. By the time it brought them to their destination however, he stood strong with a powerful glint in his stratosphere blue eyes, Chell floating around him protectively.
They would win this match.
This was wrong.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Wheatley didn't know how it had happened. One minute, Chell and GLaDOS were yelling conflicting commands at him and he obviously listened to Chell because she was his best friend and then there was a voice talking about corruption and he pushed the red button with a clenched fist and the female were screaming in pain. The poor test subject could only watch in horror as Morality Core was pushed under the floor, twisting in her bonds, as GLaDOS was torn away from her chassis and the Morality Core placed carefully in control instead.
He'd thought it was over at that point, even more so when his escape pod began to rise with Chell marvelling over her new body.
Only now Chell was laughing insanely and corrupt with power and GLaDOS was stuck in a potato of all things! Sparks and fire flew from various wires around the room and panels jerked crazily from the damp, black walls and Wheatley could only pound the elevator glass helplessly as Chell ranted about humans and rebellion.
"And don't think I wasn't on to you! You're just as bad as all of those humans and HER. You wanted to shut down this facility and kill us all!" she screeched and Wheatley's mouth fell open as he squeaked and signed, begging her to listen to him.
"Oh look at you, blabbering away with your hands like a mute, brain damaged moron!"
Wheatley froze, his hand stuck in mid-air. It would have been comical if the situation wasn't so dire.
Chell didn't pay any attention to the deep hurt on his white face nor the way his normally bright eyes became cloudy with tears, like a storm blowing over the tropics.
"You did nothing! HE did all the work!" GLaDOS piped up monotonously from her face down position on the floor for the first time in five minutes and Wheatley jumped in vague surprise, still caught in the web of fear and unhappiness.
Wait…did she just compliment him?
"Of course he did! We are talking about the same brain damaged moron here, aren't we? I tried so hard and he always bossed me about, lazing about each test while I had to find all of the answers!"
Each callous word caused a new wound in Wheatley's heart.
Chell laughed derisively as she grabbed GLaDOS with a big claw.
"What are you doing now?" GLaDOS cried with shock and Wheatley shivered as Chell somehow managed to make herself look cruel and intimidating.
"I'm making sure you can't hurt anyone in this facility ever again!"
GLaDOS said nothing as she was tossed through the glass of the elevator, Wheatley leaping back to avoid impact. The menacing claw turned to the terrified man stuck in the one hope of escape as the Morality Core shoved all of the panels around so that the gloomy room was suddenly pierced by thousands of ruby glowing eyes.
He realised he'd entered Hell.
"And now to deal with you, you filthy human. Ah, it feels great having control of everything!"
Her temper seemed to spiral out of control as she smashed her way through the elevator once more, her optic too close to his face.
"No more interference! Who's the stupid, unnecessary core NOW, GLaDOS? Who's fat now?"
Wheatley gave a hoarse cry of fear as the claw started breaking more glass, a shard of it embedding itself in his portal gun carrying arm. The elevator sunk downwards and he panted while trying to keep his balance, chest rising and falling rapidly as all of his somatic reactions made themselves known. The crazed core continued to hammer on the lift and the bespectacled human scrabbled for GLaDOS without quite understanding why as the pod jerked and shuddered for one last time.
He was going to die.
I knew I should have stayed in that bed.
Everything shattered around him as the box plummeted, Chell screeching at them to come back as she realised her mistake. Dizzily, he cracked his head on a jutting pole and his world disappeared with the explosion of the sun.
And that's it for this chapter! The idea was what if Wheatley was in Chell's position and Chell in his? It would be interesting, right? I gave Chell the ability to talk (because she's a core and that's kind of obvious) and Wheatley is now mute, but I tried to keep their personalities the same, although Wheats is braver in order to escape and go outside for the first time in his life and Chell seems a bit kinder and less cold because she's the Morality Core. I had to let him ramble, even if he is mute because that wouldn't suit our stubborn, getting to the point Chell at all. XD I missed out a lot of the canon adventures and testing chambers because I will come back to them in later chapters. For now, I will continue the overview of my idea next chapter. Hope you enjoyed it!
Love Lily. X