I'm really enjoying writing this, hence the amount of updates! The way this chapter ended changed drastically from my original plan. Also, I have two ways this can go and I DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY TO GO! But if I ask you lovely readers, it'll be spoilers! Maybe I can do a "choose your path" story! No... maybe not. Oh, being a writer is difficult... Reviews are much appreciated though.
- Hannah
Chapter 6 - The Search Begins
Following yesterday's events, Chell had been sent straight back into the testing chambers, and everything seemingly went back to normal for a few days. GLaDOS seemed to be acting like nothing had ever happened, which was slightly concerning. She had been making snarky remarks as usual, Chell had been testing as usual and Atlas and P-Body, whom Chell had just learnt the names of, had been bringing food and water to her room every evening as usual. Everything was very 'as-usual'. Chell wondered how long it would take for GLaDOS to allow her to go into The Vault. After all, she had previously been deemed "ready", so why was she continuing testing? Maybe it was GLaDOS' way of getting back at her. She decided that must be the reason, and continued with her testing without complaint.
A few weeks later, Chell once again found herself in GLaDOS' lair. And though she still wasn't keen on calling it that, as a lair was generally defined as a resting place of a wild animal, and GLaDOS, as wild as she was, was no animal, Chell complied with this naming. Upon entering, she noticed that the room was noticeably darker. In fact, she found herself squinting in an effort to see exactly where she was walking. She decided to stay put in the end, after tripping over a myriad of wires and debris that was yet to be cleaned and stood in the dark, waiting.
"I believe that you are now even more ready to open The Vault. Aren't you excited?"
'Excited' wasn't exactly the word Chell would have used. GLaDOS had told her that there were hundreds of thousands of bodies in there, and Chell wasn't much looking forward to discovering them.
"The Vault is dangerous, much more so than the testing chambers. There are 8 chambers in there, so I've read. There won't be any bodies for you to find though, they would have completely rotted by now. Isn't decomposition great?"
Chell noticed a light to her left, and upon looking, saw a small tray open up.
"I shan't be able to come with you, unless I put myself into that ghastly potato again, which I would rather not do. So take this."
On the tray was an earpiece, presumably going to be used for communication with GLaDOS whilst she was in the vault. She took it, and put it into her ear. It was nice that GLaDOS cared to keep in contact with her as she faced the dangers of the vault. Maybe she did care about her, just a little bit.
"The earpiece is purely so I can track your location and administer painfully high pitched noises if you wander off track. Just so you know."
Then again, maybe she didn't care.
Chell stood outside the huge vault door, straining her neck looking up at it. She had noticed a portal that had opened a few meters to her right, one she did not recognise as her own doing. This portal was black, and it looked rather ominous. Chell was even less excited now after seeing the size of the vault in person. She wasn't exactly sure why she had agreed to do this, but she felt that she owed GLaDOS something after all she had put her though. Unless, of course, GLaDOS was lying as she so often did. But the sincerity in her voice suggested otherwise, and Chell decided to trust her. That could have been a mistake. She heard a voice come through the earpiece and, as instructed, walked over to the portal.
"That portal is a one-way ticket in. Once you make it through the vault, you will reach an elevator, which will take you to where I...- Caroline, is." GLaDOS told her. "When you find Caroline, go to the computer and click the green button. I will then be able to access the camera in that vault to monitor you. After all, I am trusting you with my body."
"Strange wording," Chell thought as she grasped her portal gun tightly and took a deep breath, which was hard to do in her new suit. Surprisingly, GLaDOS had made Atlas give her a different suit, a much heavier but much more protective one. As cool as Chell felt wearing it, it was very inconvenient and limited her movements. Perhaps that was it's purpose - to get Chell killed. She took a step towards the portal. The machines voice crackled through her earpiece.
"Good luck. And try not to die."
To say that The Vault's chambers were difficult would be the understatement of the century. Chell had almost died about... 22 times. And after that, she lost count. The rooms were vaguely familiar to the past test chambers, but a lot darker and a lot more dangerous. There were turrets, but not the usual ones. And certainly not the defected ones she and Wheatley had conjured up. Theses turrets could move and turn, a big step up from the stationary turrets she had encountered so far. No wonder GLaDOS had never found a test subject who would be ready for this. And when Chell got shot by a laser in the arm, she doubted she was even ready for this. Taking shelter behind a Light Bridge, Chell dropped to her knees and examined her injury. Somehow, the laser had just missed the bone and gone straight through flesh. That was the good news. The bad news was she was bleeding. A lot. So much for the protective suit. She ripped off one of her bandages around her hands and tended to the injury. The pain wasn't unbearable, but it was a nuisance.
It was only now that Chell realised she still had one question unanswered - why did GLaDOS want Caroline back, and why now? She contemplated asking, but after some thought, decided to wait until she actually found Caroline. Just then, static began in her ear and GLaDOS came through.
"It seems you have not moved for some time. Have you died?"
She spoke with no concern in her voice. Typical.
"No, I'm injured" Chell replied, just waiting to hear the machines snarky reply. "I got shot."
There was a long pause, and Chell was about to repeat herself when she finally got a reply.
"Are you okay?"
Now that was a surprise. Chell would never have imagined that those words would come from the machine, but there she was, hearing the impossible.
"I'm okay, thanks. I'll keep moving.
The girl got to her feet, quite in shock from the recent communication. This was the last chamber though, and she needed to keep her head straight. She started moving again, and then it hit her. Not a bullet, but the reason why GLaDOS had been so concerned. Chell was her way out of here, and if she died, then so would GLaDOS. Figuratively, of course. Why did she even think that she actually cared about her? She chastised herself for being so stupid, and got back to the task on hand. Shooting a blue portal onto a wall above her, she jumped into the orange one in front of her. The exit was up just ahead along the platform, and Chell was so excited to see it that she didn't notice the turret alongside her.
"I see you."
The words startled Chell, causing her to she misplace her footing and fall off the platform to the floor below. As she lay on the ground, she began to slip in and out of consciousness. Chell heard multiple "there you are"'s surrounding her. Her eyes closed, waiting for the lasers to slice through her. But they never did. Slowly regaining consciousness, Chell groggily crawled to her feet, rubbing her eyes. The turrets still surrounded her, but they weren't shooting. It seemed like they couldn't even see her.
"Is anyone there?"
Chell rubbed her eyes once again. The turrets weren't defective; they were in perfect working order.
"Searching. Where have you gone?"
Her earpiece crackled as if the connection was being lost. It seemed GLaDOS why trying to reach her, but she could only make out a few words.
"You have...move...I can't...longer...it hurts..."
Now was no time to be standing around. She grabbed the portal gun from the floor beside her and ran back through the orange portal, this time being more careful with her footing on the platform. Chell dived into the elevator and the door closed quickly, just as she heard the turrets echo from down below.
"There you are!"
It seemed like the elevator was never going to stop ascending. Chell had expected to be stepping out any moment, but it just kept going up and up. She was starting to worry. What if this was an elaborate trap set by GLaDOS to finally get rid of her? The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. So when the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Chell breathed a sigh of relief. She took a step out cautiously and scanned the room. It was just a small office, complete with a decaying desk and the desk. Chell noticed the computer GLaDOS had spoken of. Upon closer inspection, the computer did indeed have a green button on it, marked 'authorize surveillance'. She thought for a while before eventually pressing the button. She had come this far, she might as well find out if GLaDOS was telling the truth. For a moment, nothing happened. But then, she noticed a small surveillance camera being lowered from the roof in front of her.
"GLaDOS?" she asked as it reached eye level.
There was no reply. It scanned the room before looking at the girl, seemingly uninterested in her presence. Chell was about to speak again when her earpiece crackled.
"You are not as useless as I once thought you were. I could congratulate you, but I won't."
Chell breathed a sigh of relief. As snarky as GLaDOS was, it was good to hear her properly again.
"Those turrets were not defective, just so you know."
Again, it was like GLaDOS could preempt everything Chell was about to say. Maybe she had learnt how to read the girls facial expressions.
"I managed to put up a shield around you, but it wasn't easy. It had the same consequence of helping you. But one hundred times worse."
Chell recalled what had happened to Wheatley when he had tried to tell them how to get through the test chamber. It hadn't been pretty. GLaDOS had taken so much shit from her, and Chell felt pretty awful about it. At least doing this for her would be some sort of compensation.
"Caroline should be in the next room. Pick up this camera so I can see, grab the keycard and go through."
Picking up the camera that GLaDOS occupied and the keycard off the desk, Chell began to walk towards the metal door.
"They did not move Caroline." GLaDOS continued. "They did not get a chance before they perished. So she should still be in there."
She paused. If Caroline hadn't been moved or touched for God knows how many years, she wasn't going to be in a... presentable state, let's say. Surely GLaDOS would have worked that out? Nevertheless, she swiped the keycard. Taking a step back, Chell prepared herself for whatever might face her in the room. The first thing she noticed was the stench. She didn't recognise it, but when surveying the room, she found the culprits. Decaying bodies rested up against the walls; walls marked with scratch marks caused by failed attempts to escape. Chell held her breath, almost gagging at the smell. If she didn't have the bulky camera in her hands, she would have held her nose. But she did, and so she couldn't.
"Excuse the mess. And the smell. I didn't get a chance to clean this area."
It was then that Chell saw what they had come for - Caroline. Or at least, what was left of her. She instinctively turned the camera away from the body, much to GLaDOS' dissatisfaction.
"Was that Caroline? Show me."
Chell reluctantly walked over to Caroline and faced the camera towards her. The corpse was almost devoid of skin now, and her eye sockets had sunken in long ago. Chell's eyes trailed down the women's arms to her cold fingers, forever trapped in a defensive fist. Chell felt tears forming in her eyes, and it wasn't due to the rancid stench in the room. The memories of the video tape she had watched were resurfacing, and she felt sick to her stomach.
"Put the camera down and go." GLaDOS mumbled.
Chell hadn't heard such a sorrowful expression in the machines voice before; she didn't even realise it was possible. "I'm sorry..." she began.
"JUST GO."