Chell rubbed the faded squares on her arm and took a breath of the sterile air. She knew she should have been trying to escape, but a still calmness locked her in place. Most test subjects would run or try to attack the invisible voice behind these walls, but Chell had the instinct of silence. Not that it had served her well outside of Aperture. She sighed and got up from the floor, wincing at the stiffness in her neck. GLaDOS hadn't had the courtesy to put her in a pod, or even a decent bed, but this wasn't a surprise to Chell. The only bit of kindness GLaDOS had shown her was at her departure. Chell couldn't help but think a bit of Caroline was still buried in her consciousness—perhaps she was impossible to delete.
The hope gave Chell a trickle of energy, and she knew not to waste it. She found herself with a clean pair of long-fall boots on her feet, and she adjusted to the added height within a few steps.
"Oh, it's you." Chell whipped around, her hands clenching the air. She wished she had a portal gun in her hands. It didn't fire bullets or grenades, but she knew how to maneuver with the twisted physics of portals. She could see herself destroying that camera with a simple portal right there… "Fancy seeing you here." The voice retained that bored, acidic quality Chell remembered, and she struggled to retain her expressionless face. You brought me here! The words rushed to the front of her mouth. She might have been a mute, but it was a conscious choice, this natural flow of ideas to spoken words, and it remained in her system.
"Orange brought you back so you can do something useful with your short, pathetic life. Doesn't the thought of contributing to something as magnificent as science excite you? Or is your brain too damaged for you to understand that you'll do some good in the world?" She hadn't heard those taunts in a while. She was used to a different type of conversation, one that expected a response and felt uneasy when there was only chilled air between two people. There was an understanding between them, Chell and GLaDOS, and she felt comforted by the fact that she wouldn't be expected to do anything impossible.
"Do you even remember how to test? You've been gone for three months; it's possible you have trouble walking." Chell took a few steps, a smile playing on her lips before she regained her composure. "Most impressive. Can you jump? You used to be good at that." Even with the sarcastic tone, GLaDOS's words brought up memories of a special personality core.
"Can you say apple? Aaaaple. Go on!"
Chell pushed away the memory and walked out of the small room. There was no use in pining away for someone, especially if that someone happened to be orbiting the moon.
"I have a special bunch of tests for you. I hope you can handle them." Chell tightened her long-fall boots and ran down the hall, getting used to the jolt that accompanied each of her landings. The clean floors were shinier than she remembered. Chell wondered what GLaDOS had been doing all this time—remodeling wasn't really her style. Old, dilapidated, huge potatoes growing out of the ceiling—that just screamed GLaDOS.
Chell took the portal gun from its pedestal in front of the first test. She recognized it as her own. There were a few dents left from the first few chambers after her long sleep. She knew how to test, of course, but it took a little getting used to. She wasn't going to let the same thing happen this time.
The first test chamber went without trouble. Portal here, portal there, weighted cube a few feet from a large button…she knew the drill, and it was evident GLaDOS had spent some time improving the tests. They steadily increased in difficulty, and Chell found herself having to think about the solutions. She knew exactly how to stay alive, making it a pleasant change from her life a few days before. Chell wouldn't never admit it (like the AI needed an ego-boost), but she was enjoying the tests' challenge. As long as she didn't slip up, she wasn't in any risk of death. It was almost comforting, how cyclic the procedure was. GLaDOS wouldn't let anything interrupt her precious testing.
"Hello? Hello out there? Can you hear us?" Chell nearly dropped the gun in surprise. GLaDOS gave a soft gasp. The voice was distinctly Wheatley's, but that was impossible. Chell shook her head and aimed the gun at the wall, calculating just how much distance she needed to grab the cube. That-Chell didn't know how to label him-friend? Betrayer? Acquaintance? Whatever he was, Wheatley was undoubtedly in—"
"SPAAAAAAAAAACE! "
And so was his guest. The lights in the test chamber began to flicker, and Chell could hear an announcer's voice declare a system's status over the intercom.
"Please, tell me you can hear us!" Chell wanted to cry out, but her vocal cords seemed frozen from lack of use. She quickly placed a few portals, and the loud, unmistakable clang of a cube hitting the ground rattled across the room.
"Chell? Can ya hear me? Was that you?" Chell didn't know what else to do, so she repeated the actions, letting the cube gain momentum and fall over and over again, until GLaDOS broke the rhythm with a loud "stop!"
The test chamber was silent for a moment.
"That's her, alright! We're saved!" Chell stood still, amazed at the discovery of the cores. She had given up a month ago, when the outside had been its cruelest. It was silly, she knew, to think that the cores could see her, but Chell pretended that they were looking over her from the moon. When the torture from the other humans had been too much, she gave up, realizing that they couldn't do a thing to save her. It was foolish, giving such an errand to a moron and his companion.
She looked up in shock, thankful they couldn't hear her. He's not a moron! Chell would be the first to defend him, so why did the thought spring to her mind?
"Hmph. Like we'd ever rescue you." GLaDOS pressed a button and the transmission ended.
"Resume testing." Chell continued, but her mind was away from the test. GLaDOS may not harbor any sympathy for the cores, but she knew she would do whatever it took to get them back.