That's What I'm Counting On – 7
The last chapter was small. I must make this one bigger!
A lot of you have been waiting for this moment in the game and I just hope you like the way I wrote it up.
After another night's rest, I assume it was night, I awoke to a fortunately quiet stomach, a parched throat from sleeping with my mouth slightly ajar, and a large metal orb "sleeping" in my lap. 'Can Personality cores sleep?' I wondered, gently tapping on Wheatley's closed lids to wake him up. The two plates peeled apart, slowly at first, to reveal a dimmed blue optic.
"Oh, hey. You're awake." Wheatley commented; he sounded tired and a little sleepy, especially with a tiny little yawn. "Good. Good. I was able to reserve and recharge a little extra battery myself. Did you know that the scientists in this place made it so their robots could recharge in sleep mode like a human does? And we can even feel tired as our batteries run out? It's pretty cool actually. Dunno how they did it, but it's cool, right?" I nodded in response, my eyelids still heavy, and put a fisted hand over my mouth to cover a yawn. I hadn't actually slept that well in ages, maybe it was because I had dreamed of GLaDOS in clown makeup and juggling personality cores for my amusement. I shrugged and gently lifted Wheatley out of my lap and set him to my left before getting up and walking out of his sight. "Uh, wait a minute! Hey! Where're you going?" I gave him a sour look and proceeded as far as was decently possible. Thankfully, an old, and completely functional, employee restroom appeared around the next corner.
'I bet he has no idea why I'd left.' I thought to myself upon my return. GLaDOS knew enough about human needs to provide a small and private space on the side of a test chamber so I could take care of things, but I highly doubted Wheatley had gone that far to study bodily human requirements. 'At least we're almost at our goal. GLaDOS will finally be put down for good, Aperture Science will fade into distant memory, and I can finally have a normal life again…what qualifies as normal for people anyway?' I puzzled, glancing at my project. If memory serves, I've been here since I was…eleven? Twelve? Long enough to lose track.
"Ah! Good, you're back. I was worried for a moment there. Did you go to say goodbye to your little turret friend?" Wheatley asked innocently. Good thing the little robot was here to talk to; even if he wasn't human, having something to talk to and get a response from was fantastic and kept me from feeling as insane as I probably was.
"Yes." I lied. 'I went to wish him a fond farewell and to make sure he picks the extra crappy turrets. It's not like I had any need to use the bathroom or anything.' I decided to keep that comment to myself and took a few gulps of water before sitting down, picking up one of the spuds from the night before, slicing it open, and digging in. "So," I said with a mouth full of spuds, "wh-what's today's p-plan?"
"Well, since we took out her turrets last night, we should head straight to the neurotoxin generator and take that out before heading off to take Her out." Wheatley said as I maneuvered his round body to sit in front of mine, "She won't have any turrets or neurotoxin, you have proven to be proficient with the portal gun, and once we take Her down, I can be plugged in and then call that escape lift." I nodded and thought about his plan myself.
'It's not bad,' I thought, 'There are a few holes, but if taking her on is anything like it was before, I should be okay and so should Wheatley.' Then I thought back to how my escape ended up. I was so close back then, all I needed to do was crawl away from the machine and into the forest and I'd be home free. But then there was the party escort robot; I never did see the thing, but I assumed it was very large and strong enough to drag me safely back into the facility and set me up in a relaxation chamber. 'It shouldn't happen again.' I thought sternly, 'Wheatley will be in control and we both can get out. Gotta stay positive.' As soon as I finished my breakfast, I tucked away a few potatoes in the pouch on my backside, created by tying my sleeves around my hips, and used the portal gun's tractor beam to lift Wheatley back onto his rail and he lead the way along a hallway and down a flight of stairs.
"Ha! I knew we were going the right way!" Wheatley said proudly as we came upon the largest cylindrical…thing I had ever seen with some smaller tubes coming off the towering device. "This is the neurotoxin generator. Bit bigger than I expected. Not going to be able to just, you know, push it over. Have to apply some cleverness." I could only agree; this generator could probably fill the whole Aperture facility twice over with all the neurotoxin this thing could generate. I guessed GLaDOS would have done that a while ago if she weren't such a sadist, thank goodness. "There's some sort of control room up at the top. So, um, let's go here and investigate." I followed along and went through another set of doors and found myself in what looked to be a multi-tasking space where "good" turrets landed in a grinding incinerator and panels were cut in half as they were carried along in front of a laser discouragement beam.
'Sometimes I wonder why some rooms are where some rooms are.' I thought, the laser giving me an idea. I zapped a blue portal on the other side of the panels and in the path of the beam and waited for the right time to place the orange one.
"I'll be honest Chell, I have no idea why She has this room so close to the neurotoxin generator, but…well, it is Her facility." Wheatley explained lamely. I shrugged and rode the elevator up to the second level and paused as the door to the control room wouldn't open. "I'm afraid the door's locked. Just checked it. No way to hack it as far as I can tell." Looking around for any means to open the door, I spotted a brilliant red button that just begged to be pressed. I figured it would be better than not doing anything at all and pressed it. "The mechanism must be on the-WHOA WHAT ARE YOU DOING WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT BUTTON-oh, the door's open! Well done. Let's see what's inside."
'Yeah, you think I'm brilliant, but all I did was push a shiny red button.' I thought, entering the area. Wheatley went into a small room where a very large tube, probably filled with the evil AI's favorite means of biological life form destruction.
"Good news! I can use this equipment to shut down the neurotoxin system." Wheatley said, "It is, however, password protected. AH! Alarm bells! No. Don't worry. Not a problem for me." I left the bumbling robot to press digital button and fiddle with the controls so that I could explore the control room. Unfortunately, the screens were all off and no amount of key-smashing was going to turn them back on. I turned and looked back at the generator, watching as one set of white panels rode a rail upward and another set ride horizontally along the ceiling…wait a minute.
'GLaDOS, say goodbye to your neurotoxin.' A scheming smile spread on my face and I aimed the portal gun at the panels heading up, firing an orange portal at the first panel to appear out of the bottom chute. As I expected, the laser flew through the blue portal I left earlier and now was slicing four of the eight tubes that connected the generator to the rest of the facility.
"Do you smell neurotoxin? Hold on! The neurotoxin levels are going down. So whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" Wheatley shouted, "Wait! Something's wrong! Neurotoxin level's up to fifty percent! No, it's down. Sorry, my mistake. I meant to say it's down to fifty percent. Good news! Carry on Chell!" At first Wheatley had worried me, but now I felt emboldened and carefully aimed my gun at the other panel chute. Once I shot off the orange portal, the red-hot laser blazed through the other four tubes and then it was done. GLaDOS's turrets were all crap and now her neurotoxin was disabled; I knew she was crippled, if not ruined. "That did it! Neurotoxin at zero percent! Brilliant work, Chell!"
"Hell yeah." I said in triumph posting my left hand on my hip and resting the portal gun on my shoulder. Then, my mirth disappeared as alarms sounded and the whole area seemed to rumble, violently relieving me of my triumph and replacing it with massive concern. Very loud BANGs resounded from the generator and I stared as the pipe leading from the cylinder and through Wheatley's room started to collapse on itself shortly before the whole towering generator better resembled a mashed soda can than a death machine. Soon, the pipe wrenched free and I watched as Wheatley struggled to hang on to his rail in the massive suction coming from the glass tube.
"HA! The tube's broken! We can ride it straight to her!" Wheatley shouted.
"Are you s-sure?" I shouted over the suction as I stood on the other side of the glass wall that separated me from my spherical partner in crime.
"Yes Chell! I'm positive!" Wheatley yelled, his rail creaking under the massive pressure. Suddenly the doors gave and I braced myself as the suction started pulling on me. "I can't hold on! Come on!" Trusting the robot had so far proved fruitful, so, taking a leap of faith, I jumped into the room and was swiftly dragged into the tube right after Wheatley. Scared, I reached out in the black and grabbed hold of one of Wheatley's handles as we flew through the tube. When we came out to a lit up space in the facility, I let go of the little robot and stared out at the enormity of Aperture Science.
"Wow…" I muttered. There was little more I could say.
"This should take us right to her. I can't believe I'm finally doing this!" Wheatley said, sounding a lot like a kid in a candy store and whirling his body around, "Woooo! I KNEW this would be fun! They told me it wasn't fun at all, so they say 'it isn't fun at all', and I BELIEVED 'em! Ah! I'm loving this! Whale of a time!" I had to admit, it is fun to ride around in this tube. It's like riding on a roller coaster and on a water slide at the same time. Maybe when we take down GLaDOS, Wheatley and I can take another ride before leaving. "This place is huge. And we're only seeing the top layer. It goes down for miles! All sealed off years ago, of course." Miles? Dang, this place is BEYOND massive! "We should be getting close! Ohh, I can't wait to see the look on her face. No neurotoxin, no turrets-she'll never know what hit her!" It was an exciting prospect, indeed.
"Uh…Wh-Wheatley?" I asked, looking at an upcoming intersection between tubes.
"Oh…uh…hold on, hold on now. I might not have thought this next part COMPLETELY through." As we grew closer, I moved to grab hold of Wheatley, but before I could grab his handle, he had zoomed off to the other tube and I lost sight of him. The last I heard of him before I landed on the other side of a wall was "Get to HER! I'll find you!"
I should have known better than to fall into GLaDOS's trap like that, but there was no other way around it. I was trapped in a hallway with a who-knows-how-far-down-it-goes fall and only one portal-accommodating surface within reach. I zapped a blue portal at the surface and an orange one beside me and determined the small enclosed space was most definitely a trap, but what choice did I have? And now without her turrets or neurotoxin, GLaDOS was nigh powerless, so I jumped through and found the one "door" in the room was a wooden plank that led to nowhere. Crap.
"I honestly, TRULY didn't think you'd fall for that." Oh be quiet. You didn't exactly give me a choice, GLaDOS. "In fact, I devised a much more elaborate trap further ahead, for when you get through this easy one. If I'd known you'd get captured this easily, I would have just dangled a turkey leg on a rope from the ceiling." As offended as I was, I probably would have gone for the turkey leg if I didn't have a pouch full of six…make that five potatoes; I must have lost one in the neurotoxin tube. Trapped in the box, the floor opened up beneath me and forced me into a small glass chamber which, for some reason, housed a toilet and nothing else. The glass room slid along a rail that lead directly to her chamber and the panels opened to the side, unveiling GLaDOS little one would unveil a gilded treasure, only she was much more vicious than even her imposing frame insinuated.
"You think I'm st-stupid GLaDOS?" I asked once the room had stopped.
"Oh, not really. Just badly brain-damaged. It was nice catching up with you. Let's get to business." She said casually, "I hope you brought something stronger than a portal gun this time." I readied my weapon and stared at the machine. I was given plenty of time to master the portal gun, a tool to beat all tools, what was better than that? Oh yeah. A partner in crime to help destroy an enemy's weaponry. Speaking of which, where was Wheatley? "It's unfortunate, you were the first and will apparently be the last president of the Being Alive club. Ha ha." I saw several claws descend from the ceiling, turrets in their grasps, "Seriously, though. Goodbye." I smirked as one by one the turrets, including one that was stuck in a box, proceeded to light on fire and explode, weakening and cracking the glass walls.
"Wh-what now G-GLaDOS?" I asked, a smug smile on my face.
"Hmm…it seems that you were busy back there. Well, I suppose we could just sit in this room and glare at each other until somebody drops dead, but I have a better idea." She definitely had a sharp edge to her simulated voice, and she seemed confused for all of two seconds before her irritation returned and she was ready to bring out her favorite, and currently useless, gaseous weapon. "It's your old friend, deadly neurotoxin. If I were you I'd take a deep breath. And hold it."
'Oh no! Neurotoxin! What am I going to do?' I thought sarcastically, as the glass tube punched through a higher part of the glass wall and showered glass over me. I heard dull thumps and the characteristic voice of my best robotic friend as he tumbled through the tunnel.
"Agh! Enh! Ow! Ungh! Ugh! Gah! Doagh! Agh! Ow! Hello!" He was awful cheery for taking such a tumble and rolling through the damaged glass walls, and boy was I glad he showed up like he promised. I picked him up with the tractor beam and dashed out of the glass chamber into GLaDOS's. I kept a close eye on her and Wheatley as she hung menacingly from the ceiling and Wheatley sparked more often; his cracked optic made him look even more pitiful.
"I hate you so much." The supercomputer meant it, I know she did, she just didn't include the raw malice to her voice.
"Warning: Central core is eighty percent corrupt." The announcing voice rang out over the speakers. I wondered about this corruption, maybe Wheatley could tell me when this mess is over.
"That's funny. I don't feel corrupt." GLaDOS commented, "In fact, I feel pretty good."
"Alternate core detected." The voice said.
"Oh! That's ME they're talking about!" Wheatley said excitedly.
"To initiate a core transfer, please deposit substitute core in receptacle." The voice instructed as a port, similar or perhaps the same as the one from the breaker room, appeared from the floor. I looked from the receptacle, to GLaDOS, and then to Wheatley.
"Core transfer?" GLaDOS asked, "Oh, you are kidding me."
"You s-sure ab…about this?" I asked my friend. He answered with a nod and I promptly plugged Wheatley in to the port and stepped back as he was fastened in place and accepted as the substitute core. I watched as Wheatley answered yes to the announcing voice and GLaDOS gave a vehement "Nonononononono!" when Wheatley tried to volunteer her for the procedure.
"Stalemate detected. Transfer procedure cannot continue." The AI in charge seemed to swell proudly whereas Wheatley and I both seemed to reflect minor panic…until the voice continued, "Unless a stalemate associate is present to press the stalemate resolution button." These Aperture scientists thought of everything.
"Go! Go press the button!" Wheatley shouted as the panels opened up behind me to reveal the resolution button. It didn't look like anything special except that it was in a room of its own with a spotlight on it.
"Don't. Do it." GLaDOS commanded.
"Yes, do do it Chell!" Wheatley encouraged as I took a few steps towards the button. Unfortunately, GLaDOS surprised me by putting a panel up in my path and launched me back. I noticed the floor was portal-capable and two walls on either side of the button were also portal-friendly. Both of the cores argued and commanded and were driving me nuts with their constant banter. Risking a potential meal, I grabbed a potato out of my pouch and threw it as hard as I could, watching it splatter into chunks over GLaDOS's optic.
"SHUT UP!" I shouted at her, quickly firing the orange portal into the floor and the blue one into one of the walls. I was even more frustrated when GLaDOS summoned more panels to block my path and shot the orange portal into the other wall to get around the panels. Before the current AI in charge could stop me with more panels, I had pressed the button and heard GLaDOS scream. Whipping back at the two AIs and absently listening to the announcing voice, I watched GLaDOS spark painfully and go limp and Wheatley slowly descend into the floor. I walked towards the two and watched the transfer go over, my stomach twisting in nervousness.
"Wait, what if this hurts? What if it REALLY hurts? Ohhh, I didn't think of that." Wheatley said worriedly.
"Oh, it will." GLaDOS answered, "Believe me, it will." She was just as sadistic as ever, even when she might be enduring pain herself.
"Are you just saying that, or is it really going to hurt?" Wheatley asked, his worry even more evident, "You're just saying that aren't you? No, you're not. It is going to hurt, isn't it?" Then Wheatley disappeared into the floor and I heard him scream in pain. I rushed forward and froze as the floor beneath GLaDOS opened up and a red glow emanated as shields went up to hide the exact happenings of a core transfer. I covered my ears as I heard her scream. It sounded like a true horror-movie scream: she was terrified, furious, and completely helpless against the robotic arms that worked furiously behind the wall to, for lack of a better term, decapitate her. I had fallen on my rear and scooted back frantically as one of the walls in front of me dropped and GLaDOS's head fell to the floor with an unceremonious crash.
"Wowwwww! Check me out, Chell! We did it! I'm in control of the whole facility now!" I looked up and there was Wheatley, mounted where GLaDOS had been moments ago. He wheeled around and made the panels move with him; he looked fantastic being in charge, but I was still very much unsettled by GLaDOS's quick dismissal from command. "Whoa-ho-ho! Would you look at this. Not too bad, eh? Giant robot. Massive! It's not just me right? I'm bloody massive, aren't I?"
"Im-impressive." I said, finally coming to stand and stepping away from the former supercomputer AI. "You look da-dashing." I said the last part in good humor, the weight of this situation finally rolling over me. GLaDOS was no longer in charge, there were no worries with Wheatley to command everything, and I could finally, finally see the surface again and live there as any other normal person. Freedom felt good. Freedom felt really good.
"Oh, now I know you're just kidding with me." Wheatley said rocking around the room some more. "Oh! Right, the escape lift! I'll call it now." Suddenly an elevator appeared from the floor to my right and opened up. Wheatley continued speaking as I approached the lift, "Look how small you are down there! I can barely see you! Very tiny and insignificant!" He wasn't calling me fat at least, but calling me tiny and insignificant put a dent in my self-esteem. When I stepped into the elevator Wheatley took the time to show off even more: making the panels dance, juggling a weighted cube, a companion cube and a turret, dropping confetti, speaking Spanish and possibly saying something about an incorrect software installation and consulting a manual.
'He certainly is having a ball being in charge.' I thought, leaning against the left glass wall. Then the lift started to rise.
"This body is amazing, seriously. I still can't get over how small you are Chell! But I'm huge!" He then started to laugh lightheartedly and I wanted to join in…but then everything starts to go to hell from there. His laugh became dark, maniacal and very…GLaDOS, the room growing darker with him and the center of my chest grew colder with dread. "Actually, why do we have to leave right now?"
'No…Wheatley, no! Not you!' I thought desperately backing away from the door as far as I could and tensing my right hand on the portal gun.
"Do you have any idea how good this feels?" Wheatley asked, sounding crazed and a little more than mad, "I did this! Tiny little Wheatley did this!" In a way, yes, Wheatley did do this, but in another way…something else did this to Wheatley. The announcer said that GLaDOS was 80 percent corrupt…but was Wheatley now corrupt? A small and angry hiss sounded from outside the elevator.
"You didn't do anything." GLaDOS said, "She did all the work." It was true that it took me more effort, but GLaDOS really needed to shut up right now. Wheatley was a very emotional robot and if he got mad…I'd never seen him mad and I didn't want to.
"Oh really. That's what the two of you think, is it?" No! It was all GLaDOS! I think you're doing a wonderful job Wheatley! "Well, maybe it's time I did something like this." He then started to drag GLaDOS's head into the pit below him; I then felt an impulsive urge to save her from an undeserved fate.
"No, Wh-Wheatley!" I shouted, "She's just-"
"You be quiet." Wheatley ordered; it was sudden and very unexpected, even from a corrupted Wheatley, "You know what you are? Selfish. I've done nothing but sacrifice to get us here! What have you sacrificed? NOTHING. Zero. All you've done is BOSS ME AROUND." Now that was not true, I sacrificed plenty, including my health. Not only that, but he bossed me around and I followed him like a sheep follows its shepherd. Something was VERY wrong. "Well, NOW who's the boss? Who's the boss? It's me." He glared the most evil glare I had ever seen on a personality core and felt cold and clammy. Suddenly, a bell rang out and he returned to hovering over his pit as a claw rose from the pit and held…a potato battery? "See that? That is a potato battery. It's a toy for children. And now she lives in it."
'Dear god…what is this system doing to him?' I thought as I stared at the AI-turned-potato.
"I know you…" She said, barely a whisper in all the room, but the loudest whisper I had ever heard.
"Sorry, uh…what?" Wheatley asked, turning to focus on GLaDOS.
"The engineers tried everything to make me…behave. To slow me down." I didn't like where she was going with this, "Once, they even attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere on me. It clung to my brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of terrible ideas." I silently bade GLaDOS to shut up. And quick. Unfortunately, no such thing happened.
"No, I'm not listening! I'm not listening!" Wheatley said moving as far away as his new body could carry him.
"It was YOUR voice." GLaDOS continued.
"No! No! You're LYING! You're LYING!" This was getting bad.
"Yes. You're the tumor. You're not just a regular moron. You were DESIGNED to be a moron." She really should not have called him that.
"I am NOT! A MORON!" Wheatley shouted, dashing GLaDOS and his claw arm against the glass of the elevator, nearly shattering the glass and forcing me to use my arms as a feeble shield, just in case. There was no way I could say anything to stop this mess.
"YES YOU ARE!" GLaDOS shouted at the top of her metaphorical lungs, "YOU'RE THE MORON THEY BUILT TO MAKE ME AN IDIOT!" Wheatley threw GLaDOS into the elevator and pieces of glass flew around the tiny space.
"Well, how about now? NOW WHO'S A MORON?" He yelled.
"P-please Wheatley!" I begged, leaning against the handrail, "Stop this!"
"Be QUIET! What do you know? You're just a bloody TEST SUBJECT!" He roared. I froze then, and he hammered on the roof of the elevator until I could only see his optic. This wasn't him, he'd always referred to me by name and only GLaDOS had ever called me "test subject". This wasn't my friend. This wasn't my Wheatley. A single tear slid down my cheek and for one instant, I thought I saw Wheatley again in that cold, blue optic.
Right before the floor gave out beneath me.
Why Wheatley? Why?
I do love Wheatley and I never did think he was a moron. He was always clumsy, but charmingly so. I hate that he became a bad guy. :(
Next chapter coming in a few days, please leave a review before you go.
