Chell arrived at the old shack with a small gulp; she waved off the nice driver who had driven her to this point.
He waved and pulled away, leaving Chell alone with her worst fear. She stared apprehensively at the old warn shack, remembering stumbling out of there into the golden wheat fields and blue skies.
That same wheat now brushed up against her legs, attempting to tickle her well covered body as if to wish farewell to her. The rusty shack stood up from the fields of yellow, stark in contrast because of the flatness even if it was so small. Such a tame innocent thing that hides the beast inside. Horribly contradictory, and if anything did come out of there, that shack wouldn't hold up.
With her will resolved, she walked up to the shack, apprehensiveness teething at the back of her mind. As she walked up, the old shack seemed to loom over her cheatingly. She reached out to the door, fingers brushing upon the smooth worn door. She was knocked out of her reverie by a large click that shook the door, Chell immediately retracting her hand from it.
There was the whirring of gears, slowly getting louder and louder and thunderous. The old test subject took a step back as the noise reached a crescendo…
There was a ding, and the metal door swung open on rusty creaking hinges.
A stark clean elevator sat there, glass doors opening as a warm beckoning to an old friend.
It was empty and waiting as she stared at it, heart thumping in her throat even through the calmness of the scene.
With a shuddered breath, she dropped her hand, note clenched tightly in her sweaty fist. With a deep breath to steel her nerves and a raise of her chin of dignity, she stepped in.
The doors whisked closed behind her and she whipped around to watch as the last light of freedom disappeared as she went down into the earthly-yet sterile smelling facility. She dully noted the thump as the door closed as she finally realized what she had just thrown away.
She shook her head to clear it and watched as layers of earth passed by. Her nerves were only going to get worse as she got worse to the beast, but she needed to be calm and collected if she wanted to fix whatever the heck is wrong and get out alive.
As she went through the layers of rock, she noticed that the glass reflected like a mirror towards her.
She had filled out a bit since last time, her once starved-self that could count her own ribs now looked healthy and less pale. Her once hallowed cheekbones and eyes also were now less prominent, and her steely eyes weren't bloodshot from lack of sleep. But she was back in the cursed jumpsuit and her healthy look could change in almost an instant. And that was what scared her; deep down inside that she would return to the surface world exactly the same as last time.
Suddenly she passed by a seemingly large empty room. There was a small platform that was raised in the front of layers and layers of flooring, each surrounding circularly in front of the elevator.
The ghostly tune teased her in her head, dancing around in the foreign language that she simply could not understand, Latin.
A dead language for someone she had sincerely thought she would live the rest of her days without encountering her again.
Well, surprise.
Her fists clenched as she noticed the sudden appearance of black cables as she arrived into her chamber.
The lights were dim, and the yellow glow of the supercomputer's optic seemed menacing as she watched her approach.
Chell felt her breath hitch as it stopped in front of the massive AI, muscles clenching and her head screaming to run away. She slowly studied her.
She was cleaner than when they has last seen each other, the natural grime and small cracks that covered the mainframe and her faceplate now filled in and shining just like new. Her wires were even clean, and the former test subject asked mentally how she managed to do that with no hands.
The room was still the same gray panels, floor to ceiling, and the one spontaneous light hanging near her casting even more dark shadows upon her.
She seemed apprehensive, yet curious, coiled back slightly with her head cocked to the side.
"So, you decided to come." Chell had almost forgotten how loud her voice was, shaking the chamber slightly and shocking her.
Hesitantly, the rather nervous human took the leap and went out the elevator with a small nod to the AI's question. Her body posture straightened back out, no backing out now, and returned to its usual confident position.
"Well, let me just say that it seems you managed to gain more mass. Science said it wasn't possible in the case that the gravitational pull of your stomach would have caused you to collapse into yourself, but once again you managed to do the impossible. Congratulations." The AI returned to her normal coiled snake position, the sarcasm probably making her feel better or something. Chell didn't know, she wasn't the one that built the homicidal computer in front of her.
Besides, GLaDOS was rather huge in comparison to… anyone!
Chell just decided to roll her eyes, the supercomputer hadn't changed much.
Before the AI could have possibly continued her little snarky fest, the human flattened out the letter and waved it as a reminder to why she was actually there.
"Oh yes, that." GLaDOS seemed a bit disappointed, but continued on in one that sounded more questioning," Are you sure you're ready for this mission? It's the most dangerous on file, nobody has survived it. You may not even be lucky enough to get out with your life."
Chell had decided long ago, and she gave a determined nod.
"I don't think you understand what I mean, the food may have possibly clogged any surviving brain function."
She decided to ignore the little comment, and nodded once again.
"The whole of Aperture lies in the balance. This is make or break, either you do this or everything drowns in eternal chaos. Are you sure?"
The former test subject was getting a bit tired of the AI's dramatic antics. Aperture may be bad, and she had to admit, it probably had that kind of power, but the way she was acting was obviously supposed to be melodramatic. She decided to act like she was thinking for a while so as not to be asked again, and then nodded.
The AI sighed and nodded back.
"You"
Chell leaned forward in suspense.
"Will have to"
She leaned even closer.
"Bake a cake."
Chell face palmed, the smack resounding around the chamber.
"If you wanted to harm yourself, you could have just asked. I would have happily obliged to help."
The human shook her head no, removing her hand from her now red face.
Well, it could have been much worse.
"Since this mission is quite dangerous, and as to kill two birds with one well-aimed lemon, I have assigned you a guide."
Chell gave her a quizzical look.
"It's your old friend."
"Ow!" a spherical object had dropped harshly from the ceiling, emitting a voice the former test subject recognized all too well. It wiggled and turned towards Chell.
Blue.
"That shocked look on your face coupled with the red handprint should earn you the most ridiculous human ever award. Also, flies may eggs in there."
A/N: Apoligies for the late update. Business coupled with spontaneous breaking Wi-Fi leads to posting 4 days late. Good news is that you will technically be left in a cliffhanger shorter from Chapter 3
Thanks for all the favs and alerts, it is much appreciated to know people are interested in more. Constructive Criticism will be much appreciated and will make this author a better author. Next chapter will be, hopefully, coming out on Saturday Still.
Hope you enjoy!
