Title: Tick-Tock
Rating: T for now
Warnings/Pairings: Wheatley/ *spoiler, but not strictly an OC*, Chell/Wheatley, One-sided GLaDOS/Chell Cave/Caroline, Spoilers for Portal 2. This chapter involves a little more sex talk but again it's meant to be funny rather than racy.
Summary: Tick: A young man watches as his friends are corrupted in the name of science. Tock: A young woman by the name of Chell brings down the tyrant who destroyed Aperture Science; several hundred years years after it would do any good.
AN: This chapter was the hardest thing I ever had to write. I usually do this stuff around periods of insomnia because I continuously write all day because of work but in this case I just had to stop sit down and watch a hell of a lot of Top Gear before I was even willing to continue.
Chapter 9: Tick
Douglas Rattmann came for Pricilla long before she was ready to wake that day. She was still spinning – goodness sakes what did she even DO the other night? That John chap who was Wheatley's friend insisted they had too much to drink at the party but she'd thought she'd been sensible. She couldn't remember anything beyond a half glass of champagne, but the way John had spoken they'd all been three sheets to the wind.
"Leslie, sweetheart? Was I drunk last night?"
"…I think we really were. John told me so. I was sick this morning….I must have been bad. I'm really worried about Millie though because she was missing when she got up and I sort of remember someone coming into the room."
"Well, no more so than me…" Cilla said, missing the confused look on the young man's face. Obviously they'd done something. Not a single one of them wasn't feeling ill in some fashion. "Wait…Millie's missing? …are you sure she didn't just go back to her room…oh I need to sit down. Maybe you should check your room." Cilla trailed off.
Wheatley awoke a moment later and didn't seem any better. He immediately raced to the toilet and vomited, reinforcing Cilla's opinion that somehow they'd made grave errors concerning their alcohol consumption.
Well. It was fair enough. It was a bad night. She had an otherwise clean track record so maybe one night of drunken antics was permissible.
While she was still nursing her hangover, Doug arrived at her place. Oh she'd always adored him. A little shy and all too sweet. Too wrapped up in his work for her tastes but she had always figured Wheatley could have benefited from some of his confidence. She would never say it though.
A smile crossed her face at the thought of Wheatley and she belatedly recalled she was supposed to be getting ready to go wherever Doug Rattmann was taking her and that he expected her to get dressed.
"Sorry Doug I won't be a moment. Help yourself to whatever you like while I'm in the shower. Would you like me to put on a jumpsuit?"
"Ummm…."
"Okay. Getting in the shower, just help yourself to what's in the fridge."
There wasn't any rustling that Cilla could overhear while she scrubbed her hair.. That didn't surprise her. Doug hadn't ever been the talkative sort.
"So about the jumpsuit?" she asked as the shower switched off.
"Yes. Wear the Jumpsuit." The request was cold and clipped. That was a little funny. Doug was normally polite with her. It was probably the Millicent issue. A missing eighteen child was about more than anyone could take and hadn't she been in his test subject group?
She could always try to talk to him. Yes that would be best.
"Don't worry Doug, I'm on my way. Sorry for the delay! Brushing out my hair."
He was waiting for her when she got out of the toilet, gazing at her body as though he'd never seen a female before in his life. That was a little strange but she zipped up her jumpsuit and followed him when he crooked a finger to ask her to come follow.
They were going through the hall to a lab that Cilla didn't recognize.
Halfway there, Doug brought her up short.
"Stop. I want to get you your wheelchair."
Cilla laughed. "Doug there's no reason for that. I'm totally able to walk on my own. I know there's some science thing I don't understand regarding this but honestly I…I'm perfectly capable of having my relationship with Wheatley and well you know what they…um…well…I can walk alright?"
Her face went red.
Douglas scowled, more angry than she'd ever seen him.
"Please Doug, really I didn't mean anything by it. I thought you knew!"
"Get. In. The. Chair." The scientist scowled.
The woman obeyed instantly.
The chair was wheeled along through to a part of the facility Cilla had never seen before. It had a cold looking metal table and a cage which contained a small grey metal ball with an orange optic.
A voice emanated from somewhere and Cilla was shocked to realize it came from the metal ball.
"Who are you?"
It took Pricilla Marsen only a mere moment to identify the voice. The look on her face should have melted anyone's heart.
"She…You…"
"Oh hello lady. I know you. You used to test with me. That is nice. How are you these days? I only see the walls here so I wonder a lot about what things are like in the other parts of the lab. I remember the other parts of the lab. There was an incinerator and a lot of humans. I liked the humans. Oh good. They're going to do to you what they did to me. We'll be part of Her. I always ask who 'Her' is but they never tell me…isn't that exciting? Do you like mysteries? I like mysteries a lot. Don't worry that machine just looks scary. Oh I bet you'll yell. Don't though. I learned it is very relaxing. You just go to sleep and wake up and oh it's wonderful. You talk and talk and talk and always get to ask questions even though people don't answer you. I love questions.
Cilla glanced at Douglas Rattmann, horrified. She was a smart lady and put this together.
"Please, GOD. God Above, Jesus and Mary and Joseph I beg you. Please don't do this to me. No Don't. Please stop. You just aren't this cruel Douglas I know it…PLEASE. GOD, Anyone! Please…I know…I know you can stop this. It doesn't have to be this way. Don't tell me that. I just don't want to hear it, I don't want to live forever, please. Please. I swear I'll do anything, anything if you spare me and just let me live. Oh my Goodness. You're going to do this to everyone else aren't you? You…You did it to that sweet little girl you were the one and oh my GOD GOD NO. You are a monster Douglas Rattmann. A horrible evil monster. Please I beg you, I know you can change. I wasn't wrong, you're still here aren't you? Please. Please Please Oh God."
"You're a test subject. Didn't you read your contract?"
"I…I…There's still time! Doug don't do this, don't don't don't don't. I love Wheatley I always and if this is some kind of…"
Two large men dragged her out of her wheelchair. They were burly muscular men, way too large for one small soft bodied woman to handle on her own.
She was forced onto the metal table as she protested and was cut off when the epidermal needle was forced into her.
"Interesting."
"What?"
"The Morality core is fully functional. All it's processors are operating at optimal rates." John droned. He was beyond caring by this point.
"Well what's interesting about it?" asked Douglas Rattman.
"It won't talk."
