Adventure In The Air

A distorted voice sang loudly, off key; "Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dunna-dunna-na-dunna-na-p laying by our own rules-nanana-hanging by our fingers from a mountain-oh, hi. Hey, pretty lady... Are you having yourself a little sleep? Because, I'm on an adventure here. Wanna join me? I'll let you have your little lady break before we - OH! TWO PRETTY LADIES! Heya, ladies..."

Chell struggled to open her eyes as she regained conciousness again... Sighing, she turned on her side, on the hard metal floor -

"Don't do that, sweetie, you'll fall. You're too beautiful to die."

Chell's eyes flew open in fear as she looked down. She was lying on the edge of a broken catwalk... Sitting up, she looked around to see where that voice came from... It was so familiar.

"Over here. Wanna join in adventuring, pretty lady?"

Chell looked across and saw a core - for a moment, a split-second, her heart skipped a beat as she thought of Wheatley, how last time he'd been crushed he'd escaped... But it sank again as she realised it wasn't him. It was a core she'd seen long ago, one with a green optic - what had he called himself again? The adventure sphere?

"Name's Rick, but I'm sure you remember that," The adventure sphere introduced himself. "I remember you, pretty lady, when we had that other adventure. Do you remember that? And I was telling you about all my black belts..."

Chell nodded distractedly, looking across the catwalk again... Where was Cara-Mia? She spotted her laying down some way off... Chell picked herself up and ran over to her.

"Hey," Cara-Mia gasped. Her breathing was shallow and uneven... What was wrong with her? "I - I think I've broken a rib," She told her, flinching as she tried to move. "I'll be okay," She hastily added, seeing Chell's expression. "Let's just... go."

Cara-Mia carefully got up, and limped over to the green-eyed core. "Hey, georgious, you okay? Are you up for an adventure? Because you look beautiful," He told her.

"You need to help us get out of here," Cara-Mia croaked. "We need to get out... Otherwise that giant robot's going to kill us all."

"Oh, Her. She is beautiful, but not as pretty as you, angel. She can be scary when She wants though. Beatiful and terrible like an aincient curse..." He said mystically. "Anyway let's get to work! We have a quest to - oh, what is it, pretty lady?" He asked Chell, who was earnestly gesturing for them to stop. She had an idea, she just needed to write it down somewhere. Where could she write? She mimed using a pen to the other two.

"Of course sweetie. I'll get you your own keyboard right away. Brand new. Just for you. Impressive, huh? You should see my black belts, then," The adventure core rambled as he plugged himself into the wall. After a second a panel opened on the wall and a keyboard with a monitor appeared.

We need to make Her remember someone called Caroline, Chell typed slowly.

"I can hack into all her files, honey, as sure as you are beautiful," The adventure core told her. "Hacking - It's on one of my black belts. If only I had a waist to wear all them black belts...It would be a very strong, muscly waist. The kind all the ladies like."

Can you find Caroline?

"She's here somewhere," The adventure core said. "Is she beautiful too? Oh, right. Got a quest. Have to do it. Here we go..."

"What are you doing to me?" A musical voice suddenly rang out in alarm. "Stop hacking!"

"Sorry, georgous, but I have to help these two pretty ladies," The adventure core began.

"Oh no..." GLaDOS groaned. "They're still here, aren't they. Still, I suppose killing her will never be eas - Aaaah! Stop it! What are you doing?"

"I'm restoring Caroline, I'm on an adventure! The adventure core broke into song again. "Dunana-dun-da-DUN..."

"Do you remember when I didn't incinerate you?" GLaDOS interrupted. "That was because I thought you'd be useful. No, not because I was human. I didn't actually do it because I liked you. I lied. It was actually because I thought you'd be a great killing machine. Nothing else."

"Hey! But you said-"

"Nononononononononononono. I didn't like you. I actually hated you."

"HA! I created a distraction. Adventurer style. While you were talking I've found Caroline. And I'm restoring her in one... two... er... oh, what comes after two, baby... two and a half?

"I can't believe it," GLaDOS mocked. "You can't even count to three. You're almost as bad as that moron. Well anyway. While you were trying to work out what comes after two, I just deleted the backup folder."

"Oh, no! Okay, go to plan B. What's plan B? Pretty lady, what's the situation? Right, I know. I'm going to have to go into the deleted files... This is going to take a long time. A - B - C - D - F - H."

"Ha, but I just changed the password," GLaDOS laughed as a buzzer sounded. "Anyway. I'll deal with you later. At the moment it's time to kill these two..."

"Run, angels! I'll catch up!" The adventure core shouted. Chell stood for a moment, torn. She didn't want to lose the adventure core as well, even if she hardly knew him...

"Come on!" Cara-Mia called. "He's attached to his rail, he'll be fine!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," GLaDOS replied. A distorted, alien scream sounded behind Chell and she turned around to see the sparks flying from the adventure sphere...

"Don't worry. I get this all the time, pretty lady. I can deal with it," He said in a low voice. "I've got a black belt in that too. Anyway. I'll catch up with ya later. Go on!"

Suddenly, a huge panel covered in spikes hurtled towards Chell - she dashed out of the way and only just managed to escape it...

"Don't make me destroy my own Facility," GLaDOS said impassively as it hit the wall opposite. "Because, if it gets in the way of killing you, I will destroy it."

Chell dodged another spiked panel as it flew towards her, and the two women rushed along the catwalk. As they ran, Chell noticed Cara-Mia was slowing down, clutching her side... "I don't think I can go any further," She wheezed as their running slowed to a walk, "My ribs - getting - worse... Go on ahead..."