Author's note: Well, here it is folks. The lovely chapter three! GLaDOS is most pleased to see her lovely test subjects return to read and review!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or Portal. Even if I so very much wish I did.
CH 3 - In Which GLaDOS Gives Encouragement
The absolute cold she felt was awful. Her body's sensors picked up several problems. One, her body was literally frozen to a point where movement would result in shattering her frame. Two, it was excruciatingly painful. And three, she had absolutely no current options for escape.
Life was so much simpler at the labs.
Why had she wanted to leave again? Oh yes, she was bored.
She would have loved to keep berating herself, but the agony the cold was inflicting into her circuits was slightly distracting. The main reason she was in so much of this mind numbing suffering, she quickly realized, was because her armor was incomplete. Essentially she was hurting because she was partially broken. Fantastic.
It was odd that her processor still worked, she thought. It should have stopped, or frozen, or shutdown in order to preserve her memory or ensure the electronic feeds her processor ran wouldn't damage her.
Was she just lucky then?
No. These humans, while not geniuses, were not complete morons.
They could probably tell she would die if she were at a lower temperature. It seemed being incomplete was a blessing in this case. Her processor was online, saved from ignorance, even if it caused her pain. That was simply so their subject didn't die. They probably weren't done experimenting on her anyways.
She reached out her sensors, trying to feel something other than the cold. Interpret visual data. Receive audio observations. Something, anything!
She just wanted to know what was going on!
Oh wait, what was that?
That, being a foreign set of coding her processor could pick up, was Sector 7's main database.
A database? Why could she read the coding without being linked to a terminal?
Unless…
She retained her wireless connections! How intriguing!
Maybe now she could do a little research while lying about. It distracted her from the uncomfortable position she was in. She really needed to move her cables to the left or her joints would be strained. It was like the proverbial itch she couldn't scratch.
But with metal cables.
Either way, she began connecting to the Sector 7 mainframe. And by science, she was impressed.
They had files on everything from general human behavior to government conspiracies and cover-ups. This would be perfect for her. As soon as she escaped, of course.
They were comprehensive, well-thought out, and methodical. The most recent report submitted was by an Agent Simmons. His picture was on file, as well as his personal record.
He was the man in the observation deck!
Rage filled her as she realized who he was.
He ordered her frozen!
He ordered her into this uncomfortable position!
Who did he think he was? He wasn't a doctor! He wasn't a scientist! He probably wasn't even-
Her frame shuddered due to her rage. Freezing, piercing cold assaulted her senses.
Right, extreme emotional outbursts result in pain. At least, they would for now. Her body would try and respond to her emotions and under the cold conditions would end up torturing her.
So what as this pathetic organism doing?
He was going to some small, nondescript town. How quaint. Maybe he would get lost and never come back. That would be good.
It said he was to find the cause of unusual activity. Unusual as in the type that could potentially involve aliens. She desperately hoped it wasn't where her lab ended up. She was in an area she didn't calculate. Perhaps her lab had landed differently too?
As she read further, she realized her lab's landing would have been too much of a disturbance for this kind of an investigation.
Thank goodness for that.
But these readings were hardly conclusive. There was no way he could find an alien with these primitive tools. Oh, he might be able to accuse someone of having alien contact, but nothing substantial until he found further evidence.
And he went running off for that?
How ridiculous.
But enough of that.
What else was in here? Hmm, maybe it would be a good idea to find out where she was? Gently, she dodged firewalls and passed protections. It would have been faster to simply smash her way through the layers upon layers of firewalls and encryption, but then the humans would have found out what she was doing. No, a gentle, discreet approach was the most efficient way to find information. Who knew what these monsters would do if they knew she could enter their systems at will?
Now, current location. It seemed she was in the United States of America. More specifically a place called the Hoover Dam.
So they were hiding her. But she wasn't the first they had found. No, they knew what would debilitate her. They had done this before.
So what else were they hiding with her? It didn't make sense for such a large facility to be housing her alone. She went deeper into the files.
Ah. So there was another like her here. As well as an "unknown alien artifact."
From the looks of it, the other was codenamed NBE-1. Non-Biological Extraterrestrial. That was probably the most stupid codename she had heard of. Although, this other looked to be much larger than her and more militarized. She knew she didn't have some of those caliber weapons installed.
Now for a different kind of question, why was she similar to him?
She wasn't originally designed to be mobile. The cube was simply designed to carry her intelligence until she could reinsert herself into the lab.
So, why was she in this? What was the cause, the link, between her and this NBE-1?
There wasn't anything. These humans could not create something as sophisticated as an artificial intelligence unit with their current level of technology. It just wasn't possible. So how did this other metallic creature exist?
A sharp attack into the mainframe halted her speculation.
It was distant, but unlike her approach, it was invasive and direct. It smashed through several firewalls and seemed to be searching for something rapidly. Though it was moving too fast for any human to stop it easily.
Suddenly, it changed the direction of its assault.
It was coming towards her. Or possibly the files near her.
She decided to build a few misdirection walls, to protect her systems. She didn't know exactly what it was looking for; it could be her or the files. It was good, she would give the little bug that, but she was better.
She wasn't going to let it do whatever it wanted so close to her processor.
Her decoy had failed. She really hadn't expected it to do anything other than buy her some time, but it was still exhilarating to feel the intruder coming closer.
She quickly set up two walls and another decoy as she tried to bury the information on her location and several aspects of Sector 7. It was coming after data with a purpose and she wasn't about to let it find her.
The first two walls went down, one after the other, fairly quickly. While it was trapped momentarily in the false leads, she felt another user coming after the intruder as well. She started to build an advanced ejection program to rid her of these two threats.
So, someone else decided to try and steal my information, she accidentally broadcast.
Unknown entity, the intruder sent back, desist interfering with the Decepticons and you may be spared.
She hadn't expected that.
It refocused all of its attempts into infiltrating the innermost sections of the file she protected. It finally found its way through her little information maze and was heading for the heart of Sector 7's files. She did one of the few things she could to slow it down. She needed just a little more time to finish locking it out. She threw information at it she deemed insignificant. In other terms, those that didn't reveal her location or her existence.
She had felt the intruder gain hold of some older history, some expedition into the Artic Circle, before she could execute a forced lockout of the intruder's cyber signature.
It worked.
It also had the nasty side effect of draining her of most her energy.
She used the last of her energy to shut the other, much slower interloper, out of the files. She withdrew from the mainframe and returned to her pain-riddled body.
The only things she could feel as she was forced offline were the cold and exhaustion.
You stupid humans! What have you done with Sam? What have you done with him?
That was the first thing she heard upon onlining. Followed by:
You think you can do this to me? OUCH. What in the name of Primus was that?
It was masculine, she decided. Oddly enough, she could feel its pain. Or rather echoes of its pain. The messages she was receiving had emotional imprints in them.
If only my vocal processor was fixed! I'd make sure to let them know just WHO they are messing with!
That's right! She replied. Don't let them get you! Enthusiasm was the current course of action.
Of course they won't! I'll get outta here faster than you can say 'Bumblebee' and rescue Sam!
She was going crazy. If it was possible for an artificial intelligence unit to go crazy that is. Well, encouragement seemed to work wonders on this voice. Who was Sam anyway?
Now, all you have to do is get rid of the humans! They'll lock you up! Keep you away from Sam! She was taking a risk using this Sam's name, but if it helped her escape from these humans, she was willing to try.
NO! Not the electric shocks again!
She could feel the panic. The rage. The fear.
Fight back! Don't give up! She all but screamed.
Sam? No, they'll hurt him! Get back! Stay away you jerks! I'm armed! I'll use them I swear!
Use them! She had no idea what kind of weapons this thing had, but if it helped get rid of the humans, she didn't really care. Unless it was neurotoxin. Then she wanted some.
The only way they were going to let her out was if all these scientists died. Or enough of the freezing contraption was destroyed. Then she would let herself out. Or just escape. She may end up alone again, but she would be safe. No more pain. She could deal with everything else after.
They're a threat! I'll hurt them!
Yeah! She encouraged.
I'll shoot them!
Yeah!
I'll…Sam? It's okay? They aren't going to hurt you? Or me?
No! It's a trap! Don't believe them! She urged.
He had calmed significantly. She knew she couldn't get through to him now. She nearly sighed (well, if she could) and hoped this newcomer wouldn't notice her presence.
She heard static. Only bits an pieces of a conversation and suddenly, I must be… What's the human term for it? Oh! Loosing my marbles!
That makes two of us then, she replied.
Primus! Don't scare me like that!
She didn't respond.
Hey, who are you anyway? And how are you contacting me?
Shouldn't you introduce yourself first? She queried. He wasn't going to help her plan of escape, but he may be of some use, she decided.
Ah, right! Sorry! My designation is Bumblebee! Pleased to meet you…?
GLaDOS. My name…err…'designation' is GLaDOS. She answered.
I don't recognize your designation. When did you leave Cybertron? Have you reported to Optimus Prime yet?
Cybertron? Optimus Prime?
She deduced this Cybertron had to be a place of some sort. Hmm, maybe this country was more advanced than the rest of Earth. They could have been in hiding, or less well known than the other countries. Was Optimus the operating system they used? Maybe they built the other one like her!
Wait, how were you able to contact me? I can't find your signal! Who are you? Where are you? He panicked slightly. He must be still nervous from his earlier encounter.
Calm down! You were simply close to my proximity and I received your original messages. They were slightly encoded, but I solved and translated them quickly. She replied.
That's not possible! I didn't send any messages!
Of course you did, I received them like I am receiving them now, she stated.
But I'm not sending anything…
Silence on both ends of the link. What was she to say to that? Of course he sent those messages. It wasn't like she could make information and data from nothing.
The silence stretched between the two. It was nerve-racking.
I think I need to contact Optimus, was all he replied.
GLaDOS wasn't sure if contacting Bumblebee was a good thing, but she knew this "Optimus" would decide for her. She didn't like that. Not at all.
She didn't like these mysteries and inconsistencies. She didn't like her lack of control.
She especially didn't like the unknown Optimus Prime.
R&R! Please and thank you!