GLaD, Chapter 4 (Part One)
Author's Note
You have no idea how unlikely it was that I'd ever upload this. There has been a massive delay between Chapter 3 being released and this; I will now attempt to explain the reasons for this.
1: Perhaps the biggest factor is a review I got from a guest user. I won't go into detail about its contents, but it completely destroyed my pride in this story. After that, I wasn't going to ever go near writing or fanfiction ever again. I've mostly gotten over that now, but the fact it took me so long created another problem.
2: Because it took me so long to get over the aforementioned review, I completely forgot my inspiration for this, and I've spent the last few months stopping and starting. Only now have I gotten any inspiration at all, and I'm going to finish this.
3: Another consequence of the review was that I've become paranoid that what I'm writing isn't good enough and so I've spent more time pressing the delete key than typing anything new.
4: The last few weeks I've had exams coming out of my ears, so I haven't had the time to do anything fanfiction-related.
There are many smaller reasons too, but they aren't important. Also say thank you to my good friend In America, she's the only reason I really started writing this again, so fans of this owe her thanks for this entire chapter.
_
Space, in orbit of Earth.
Wheatley cursed as he went into yet another spin. He still hadn't mastered use of the thrusters inbuilt to his core, another thing he'd been told would kill him if he ever used it. He was slowly making his way towards a rocket orbiting the earth. It had a strange 3-pronged symbol on it, like an upside down 'Y' and had arrived recently, blue light flashing from within. He had learnt the hard way that the blue waves pulsing from it didn't do him any good, but still he made his way towards it. He had been in space for weeks and this was the first remotely interesting thing he had seen so far. As he drew closer, he watched with amusement as the core who called himself Rick spiralled past the rocket with a four legged creature latched on his optic, tormenting him even in its death. Wheatley swore with all the swear words humanity had to offer as he was hit again and again with debris from the rocket. The insane yellow core was knocking bits of rocket his way as it searched for something in the rocket. "bâtard!" he swore in French, but the little core, knowing no French at all, and too focused in his task to hear the irate blue eyed core, did not reply. Wheatley dodged another piece of machinery and grabbed the yellow eyed core with the end of his handles. "What are you doing?!" he berated the metal sphere. "Space ship, gotta get the space ship. Space cops coming, gotta get away in the space ship. Space, space, space ship, space cops, spaaaaace!" Wheatley started to tell him to shut up, but stopped, puzzled. "Wait… are you saying this is a space ship? A rocket? You mean we can get home? Can you fix it?" the little core was confused by this sudden stream of questions. "I'm confused. Think of the space, space makes everything better." The core began muttering something suspiciously like "space" and Wheatley tried again.
"Hey, spacey! Can. You. Fix. This. Rocket?" the yellow core nodded its eyepiece. Wheatley sighed in relief, or rather played the sound from his database, having no lungs to sigh with. He jumped as another plate of metal whizzed by his head. This was going to be a long day.
Aperture Laboratories, approximately one month after the Combine attack.
Chell drifted slowly into consciousness, her head filling with a familiar dizziness. She was waking up from stasis, dragged roughly from content slumber into the cold, harsh world of reality. The glass sheet pulled back from over her head and the pod ceased it's constant oxygen supply, forcing the dishevelled test subject to breathe on her own. She sucked in a lungful of air and just as quickly got rid of it in a coughing fit. The air was dusty, almost unbreathably so, she had to get somewhere where the air was clearer, where she could BREATHE. She slowly stumbled over to the doorway cautiously, feeling naked without the familiar feel of the portal gun in her grasp or the long fall boots on her feet. Her head had been bandaged by someone and her wounds looked cleaned. Chell wished she could say the same about the rest of her, she was filthy, covered in days' worth of grime and dried sweat. Come to think of it, she couldn't remember the last time she'd even had a shower. Edging along, leaning on the wall for support, Chell scanned the area ahead, both relieved and worried at the lack of anything at all in the hallway.
She continued and slowed to a crawl as she neared the corner, startled by some strange sounds coming from around it. Raising her fists in anticipation of an attack, Chell peered round the corner, spotting a shape further ahead. She crept towards the outline, realising it was a man, or at least it looked like one. He was hunched over, wearing a torn yellow-grey lab coat that had once been white and eating something, presumably the cause of the disgusting tearing and slurping noises.
Chell called to him. "Hello? Are you alright?" The man turned; dropping the dead rat he'd been eating and twisting round, his mismatched pupils wandering about for a second before focusing on Chell. The man rose up and gave an inhuman scream, backing away. Chell stepped forward and he fled, babbling streams of panicked gibberish as he ran like an animal down the corridor and out of sight.
Chell followed at a cautious jog, careful to avoid the chunks of shattered concrete as she pursued the man. She followed him through the rooms and hallways, but he was getting further and further out of sight. She soon started to catch up as she went into a sprint, she almost had him! Her chances of catching him were cut short as he ran through a door that immediately locked as the lights flickered on and power coursed into the area she was in, activating the door's automatic lock. Just her luck. She leant down and picked up something he had dropped. It was a medicine bottle, completely empty of pills, with the label half worn away. What Chell could make out read "Risperidone Tablets, 4mg" and another worn sticker held the owner's name, "Doug Rattman". She tucked it into her pocket and continued to explore the deserted hallways, worrying for GLaDOS's safety.
SPAAAAAAAACE, in the rocket
The inside of the rocket was filled with a cacophony of noise, the fact core's constant stream of erroneous statements, Wheatley's screams of sheer terror, Rick's action film quotes and, predictably, the space core's streams of space-related nonsense. The rocket hadn't been designed for any form of return trip, but somehow they were still in one piece – for now, at least. Another problem is the lack of a parachute; they were just going to hope they hit water and not land. The window was laced with white flame and every metal surface was glowing red hot. The rocket fell faster and faster, the outlines of North America clearly visible even through the tiny porthole, Wheatley could see that they were not going to hit land, he could also see how stupid the whole plan had been. A whole lot of use hindsight was now. Wheatley squeezed his optic shut; they were all going to die… Or maybe not. Wheatley opened his eye again as all movement slowed and stopped. He rolled back in panic as something purple and vaguely humanoid appeared in front of him. Wheatley could see others of these, floating somehow inside the walls of the rocket, in front of each core. His optic whirled back to the creature in front of him, which had grabbed him and now began to chant along with the others. "Harrr Raaah, Haaaar Rahrrr" The world shifted and Wheatley's metaphorical jaw dropped. White, panelled walls, cold artificial lighting, cubes… He could only be one place. Aperture laboratories, his home. The chanting stopped and the purple creatures lost their ghostlike aura and turned solid and green. The creature gave an approximation of a smile and began to speak. "Ahh, Aperture Laboratories. The Freeman spoke of this to us many times, of The Johnson's experiments. Many did not believe, but we knew even then that this was true, for we are Vortigaunt, no falsehood of space and time may hide from us the truth" Wheatley didn't speak, his mind still whirring to work out what the thing was talking about, with little success. Noting the lack of response, the creature, Vortigaunt, whatever it called itself picked up a protesting Wheatley and carried him into a room he knew all too well, the Central AI Chamber.
The Central AI Chamber
GLaDOS's huge body whirled round from the screen to face the intruders, four green aliens. "Identify yourselves!" the creatures ignored her, set down the cores and promptly disappeared. Her optic focused on one core in particular, which sat on the floor looking terrified. "Um, Hello? Pleasedon'tkillmepleasei'mbeggingyoui'lldoanything" GLaDOS narrowed her eye, the hatred within almost palpable. This was not good.
"Oh, god, not you again…"
To be continued in Part 2…
Author's Note
Yeah, sorry for splitting this, but this was already almost as long as the other chapters so I decided to keep things even and make this a two-parter. Work on part two will be sporadic at best, so expect anything up to a month before part 2. I'm sorry for leaving you waiting, but I'd rather be frank with you than make promises I know I won't be able to keep.