The Disappearance of Oracle Turret

A/N: Thanks for the attention! Even if no one reviews!

XXXXX

This was it, apparently. She was about to be dumped into the incinerator from the Turret redemption line. On top of that, her optic was flickering. So, either way- she was going to die soon.

The incinerator would just make it happen faster.

That was when Helena noticed the approaching figure, feminine, and dressed in the aperture science testing uniform.

~Chell? Is that you?~

It was indeed the young lady she had given birth to. "Hello? Hello?" Chell was right on top of her, and her sight was flickering, so she was only getting flashes of images. "I'm different," she pleaded. "Take me with you."

She was picked up by the woman, who wore a curious, but weary face. "Thank you!" Helena was carried away from the turret line, and was carried down to the floor. She needed to tell the girl a few things, so she took a line out of Cave's book.

"Get mad." Chell looked at her oddly, but did not put her back, so that was a plus. "Don't make lemonade." Chell thought about it for a second, and then put two and two together when she realized the reference to the old saying.

She mused aloud for a second. "Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving the gift of knowledge to man. He was cast into the bowels of the earth, and pecked by birds." ~I'm giving you this, Chell. If GLaDOS finds out, I'll have a worse punishment than even Prometheus.~

Helena turned her sight back on the young woman. Right, she had to tell Chell about the hidden laboratory beneath this facility.

"It won't be enough." Helena knew Chell was trying to off GLaDOS- she might not have been listening that well to GLaDOS' rant, but heard enough to guess that Chell was the one who 'kill' her. "The answer is beneath us."

Not that Helena could blame Chell for trying. GLaDOS was a murderous AI without her memory of the time she was human. "Her name is Caroline. Don't forget that." Helena's voice was calm, and Chell looked curious for more, but also a bit confused at what the original turret was saying.

"That's all I can say." If she was human, she would have shrugged. Chell nodded in understanding, before putting her down, and walking away.

And once more, Helena was left with her thoughts-

And her many, many regrets.

XXXXX

When Cave died, Caroline had been heart-broken. She was on the verge of fifty when it happened. And she had lost the man she looked up to, admired, and had fallen in love with. They had married back in their late twenties, but had never tried to have a child.

That was when Helena, a young slip of a girl back then, had first met the woman. She had come looking for work, an unfortunate accident leaving her practically an orphan, and happened upon Aperture.

XXXXX

"Hello? Mrs. Johnson? He's asking for you." A twelve-year old Helena with frizzy hair and too-big eyes stepped into the CEO's office, where an older woman was caressing the picture of a man.

"No, I won't do it….. I won't be there when he kills himself!" The woman with wavy brown hair and a dress stood up, to face the little messenger girl angrily. "I don't want to see him die, not when we're so close….." She let out a sob. "Not when we're so close….."

Helena, who never liked seeing people feeling hurt, walked over to the woman tentatively, and put a hand on her arm. "Mrs., I'm sure he wouldn't want you to see him die either, but he wants you to be there so he's not completely alone." She smiled, her vivid green eyes trying their best to show her sincerity.

Mrs. Johnson sighed. "I just don't want to condone suicide."

"But he is in serious pain, hooked up to the ventilator all the time, and there is no cure."

The elder woman laughed a bit, "Well, you know your life's gone a bad way when a little girl is more logical than you are." At that, full lips-too big for her petite face- set into a scowl.

"I'm not little! I'm twelve!" At this, the young girl saw her mistake, and covered her mouth, looking around the room as if she never had made the mistake. "I-I mean, fourteen." Mrs. Johnson chuckled, eyes full of mirth.

"Oh, of course." The elder woman's face was full of mischief, and Helena groaned.

"Don't kick me out Mrs. Johnson; I need this job to help my mom! Ever since dad died we-" She cut herself off abruptly, and both faces became serious again, all thoughts of laughter gone.

"Don't call me Mrs. Johnson," The elder woman did not look up. "Call me Caroline. And your name is?" She raised a dark eyebrow at the girl.

"Helena, Mrs. Caroline." Caroline scowled at this.

Drop the Mrs. - it makes me feel old." Helena's young too-large green eyes were full of mischief when she replied.

"I'll try, Mrs."

XXXXX

That was the first time they met. A young girl with the mind built for science, and an elder woman who was about to lose the man she loved. When they were human, they had been quite the team. Helena became Caroline's personal assistant, and had helped her learn how to bake her momma's special cake. She also became the daughter Caroline never had.

And eventually, she became the young woman who ended up taking care of Caroline more than the other way around.

Not that Helena had ever minded. She loved Caroline like a child loves their mother. She still loved the woman that took her in, even as a murderous artificial intelligence.

Which was why she sacrificed everything for her, how could she not?

But all of her sacrifice was for naught, because…..

XXXXX

"Turret? Are you in there, Helena?"

It wasn't as painful as she expected it to be when they turned her on. There were few notable differences- only two, really; the lack of peripheral vision, and the general numbness of her body. She supposed she didn't have a true body anymore, so that was when she began referring to herself as a robot, a mechanical being.

"…..Craig, is that you?" She heard a sigh of relief, and suddenly he came into her sights.

"Good, I thought you might not be there…. Turrets weren't meant to become the hosts for human intelligence." He smiled a bit apologetically.

Helena made a laughing sound, and found it sounding like the dying bray of a donkey. If she had possessed a mouth, she would have frowned. Craig, on the other hand, found it amusing.

"Well, we all know I have the best laugh around here, but I thought you had a pretty nice laugh too." He shook a finger in front of her optic lens and wagged it disapprovingly. "That was not a nice laugh."

"Ha, ha, Craig- very funny; I hope your egotistical ways don't rub off on your daughter." That sent him into fit of laughter.

"True enough, Helena."

XXXXX

A/N: I know someone is reading this… And if you wouldn't mind, review? They are like hugs, and this story doesn't have enough hugs…