Hello again! I bring to you the next chapter of this story! This is the start of a two-parter that, I believe, will have a few twists in it (not bad ones, though...I hope...(looks at viewer with worried face))
DISCLAIMER! I do NOT own the Portal series, the Half-Life series or the Valve Corporation. I DO own my OC's and original creations in this story and the one before it.
Onward to the Chapter!
"Hey, you want to hear Dr. Breen's latest speech?" a woman with red hair and a pale complexion asked Chell as the latter was about to enter her own room, "He's about to speak about the recent attacks on Combine soldiers"
Chell was about to shake her head and leave when a note of curiosity struck her—she had heard about this man a few times, whether she had observed his speeches on one of the several television screens scattered around the city or heard of him from other Citizens. Most of the conversations she heard about him were filled with either negative or confusing emotions. She had heard this man was the "Earth's Interim Administrator" or some similar position that allowed him to be the spokesperson for all humanity against the alien forces known as the Combine. About how THEY arrived here she did not know much, only vague references to something called the "Seven Hour War" and a LOT of negative emotions about the Combine. Now, Chell merely shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head to the fellow Citizen, causing the other woman to smile slightly and start walking down the hallway to her own room. Chell followed quickly behind.
It had been several days, but Chell found herself unable to speak around the other Citizens—the remnants of most of humanity, not counting those living in the scattered villages around the main Combine cities. She had actually found, before her escape, that she WASN'T completely mute, but that the traumatic experiences she had suffered in Aperture Science had rendered her vocal cords obsolete. The time she had spent testing under GlaDOS did not help this problem, especially GlaDOS's constant taunts and mocking of her being mute, fat and adopted. Once she left Aperture, however, she had slowly felt a strange feeling rising in her throat. She first took it to be fear or nerves until she tried humming a song to herself the first night she arrived in City 17, and was overjoyed to realize she could actually sing the notes out loud. From then she had only spoken when it was absolutely necessary, not wanting to destroy this fragile piece of her humanity she thought had been previously destroyed long ago.
Chell's thoughts were then disrupted when she stepped into the other woman's room—not because it was different from every other Citizen's room, but of the crowd of people already inside the room and looking at the small television within. The Citizens inside wore the same blue uniform Chell did, making the bland combination of colors bring the television's screen more to attention than normal. The screen was currently showing the symbol of the Civil Protection Service above some alien words to the right of a poster, the left being filled with the image of a large crowd of people.
"The speech should start soon," Chell heard an African man speak to himself and to those around him, "Hopefully it won't be as bad as the last one concerning that damn suppression field and how we've got to reach for the stars."
Chell turned her head slightly towards the speaker as she heard that last part; a suppression field was in effect across this city? Why wasn't she informed about it when she had arrived? She had heard the other Citizens discussing it on the streets when she had done her daily tasks but not much beyond that. Something about it stopping certain pieces of embryos from being formed—Chell was never very good at identifying scientific organisms.
Come to think of it…Chell had noticed she hadn't been having her "period" for a good while now—in fact, as if it was late in coming or if it wasn't there anymore. Horror rushed through her body at the thought of something so private to her lost in such a simple and effective way. Holding back a wave of tears with a firm swallow, the former test subject looked back at the television just as the image started to change to the smiling face of Dr. Wallace Breen.
"Greetings, my fellow Citizens," the man began, "I have some urgent news to inform you from our benefactors. We now have direct confirmation of a disruptor in our midst, one who has acquired an almost messianic reputation in the minds of certain Citizens. His figure is synonymous with the darkest urges of mankind."
The screen then changed images to show a picture taken at one of the train depots into City 17. The main content of the image was a slightly tanned man with a brown beard and mustache sporting thick, brown-rimmed glasses. He wore Citizen clothing and had a strange expression, as if he knew far too much about what was going on in the world to ever show a smile or a frown. Some of the Citizens expressed gasps of realization or drew in breaths of surprise, making Chell wonder if this man had been on the city streets for very long now.
"Some of the worst excesses of the Black Mesa incident," Dr. Breen continued while the picture was being shown, "have been laid at his feet. And yet unsophisticated minds continue to imbue him with romantic power, giving him such dangerous political labels as the 'One Free Man', the 'Opener of the Way'."
The screen then returned to the face of Dr. Breen, the man now having a solemn expression with the hint of a frown.
"Let me remind all Citizens of the dangers of magical thinking," he continued, "We have scarcely begun to climb out of the dark pit of our species' evolution. Let us not slide backward into oblivion, just as we have finally begun to see the light." At this, the Citizens around Chell expressed split opinions; some nodding their heads in understanding while others shook their heads in confusion or rejection.
"If you see this so-called 'Free Man', report him," Dr. Breen announced with a deepening frown, "Civic deeds do not go unrewarded. And, contrariwise, complicity with his cause will not go unpunished." Murmurs began to break around the room as the Citizens expressed multiple ideas on how to find or avoid this supposed criminal of the City. Chell did not state her opinion, for obvious reasons.
"Be wise," Dr. Breen finished, "Be safe. Be aware." The screen then returned to the Combine image from before, Chell now understanding it as some kind of screensaver. The Citizens around Chell now began to file out of the room, words of anger and hostility emerging unbidden from their lips. Chell couldn't find much feeling in her to blame them. After all, this one man had taken away the rest of humanity's possible survival as a species. They had their rights as a people to be upset!
Chell laughed to herself as she left the room, she being one of the last people to do so. What was this world really coming to?
GlaDOS, Atlas and P-Body gasped as one when they saw the Archives Chamber—multiple files in the upper-right section of the oval wall were flashing red and emitting higher levels of electricity than normal. The three robots quickly entered the chamber, GlaDOS opening several display screens once she reached the center. Atlas and P-Body stood guard and watched the flashing section of the files carefully, both of them trembling slightly because they didn't know what was going on.
"It appears some kind of virus has been implanted into Carthage's data files," GlaDOS reported as she saw several warning symbols on the displays before her, "It was activated the moment Carthage's mental and physical state began changing; how THAT happened I am not entirely sure, but I intend to find out." Atlas and P-Body turned back towards their creator and nodded in response, their focus being on an external threat that they could shoot at.
After 16.265 seconds of GlaDOS flicking through the displays and arcing lights emerging from the files, GlaDOS suddenly stopped with hands poised, her purple-and-white optics narrowing as she squinted in concentration. A few seconds later she slammed a clenched right hand into an open left, the human expression of a sudden inspiration showing on her face; her face did not bear the commonly-placed smile with this action, however.
"It appears that the virus cannot be extracted by external means," GlaDOS then announced to Atlas and P-Body, "I will have to enter the digital network myself and manually destroy the virus from within. You two keep watch for anything that may happen out here while I'm in the network. I'm counting on you" The two robots inclined their heads without turning them, their optics focused on the chamber entrance and the flashing files above them.
Knowing that these two machines could be trusted—she DID build them, after al— GlaDOS calmed her rising human emotions as she slipped on the Digital Access Helmet and entered Aperture's inner network.
"Little monster, where are you?" A sing-song voice asked this question as a member of the Burning Skull gang wielding an MP5 looked over the remnants of a burned-down house.
"Knock it off, man," a second gang member holding two Uzi guns says with a roll of his eyes, "We've got to find that thing and kill it before it goes and kills us!"
"As if that would ever happen, right boys?" The senior member with the Canadian accent teased with a grin on his face, causing the rest of the six-man group to shout in agreement and double their searching efforts. There wasn't much to search for besides the burnt-down houses and scattered human corpses the gang had already killed off.
That is, until they turned into the main village square and saw three of their friend's bodies split into multiple pieces.
"Shit! What the hell happened to them?" A younger member wielding a dual-action shotgun and a rocket launcher on his back raced forward while saying these words. The rookie kneeled down and looked with disgust at Mikey's severed head and torso, the legs being a few feet away from the rest of the body.
"Whatever did happen, we can't let it happen to us," another gang member holding a custom-made Desert Eagle said to the rest of the group as he turned his eyes away from the bodies.
"Don't let this discourage you, boys," the senior member belted out with a grin on his face despite what lay before them, "We can take this thing out; we are the mightiest gang in the area, right?"
The response to this obviously rallying question was half-hearted at best, most of the other members too worried about their own lives to show any courage. This caused the senior member to awkwardly keep his grin up for a few more moments before lowering it with a huff of disgust.
"Let's split up," the rookie from before said as he stood back up, "we can cover up more ground that way."
"Haven't you seen any horror movies, you idiot," An older member with a stubble holding a sniper rifle with custom bayonet attached shouted in anger, "If the party splits up, then we'll be in that much more danger of an attack since we're not together. Don't you have ANY common sense?"
"At least I have the guts to show how I feel about this situation," the rookie responded with a sharp glare, "unlike you guys who just keep your mouths shut about anything that doesn't concern your kill quota!"
"THAT'S IT!" The older member charged the rookie at full strength, barreling the younger man over onto the bloodied ground and throwing a few punches at the other man's face.
"Awww…" a strange, synthesized voice echoed across the square at that moment, "Save some of that for ME, will you?"
The gang members all shot their eyes around to find the source of the sound. It was the senior member who found it first, and the gasp he drew was enough to attract the eyes of the other men.
Standing on one of the nearest rooftops was what looked like a nightmarish combination between a man and a machine. What was human seemed to glow red with all the human blood on its body, and what was machine seemed to be glistening with a black oil with flashes of silver plating showing through. Each of its metallic feet had two front talons and one rear talon that seemed to clench and extend like real human toes. Its right hand and arm were completely covered with black oil, the fingers turned into giant claws seemingly too large for a hand of that size. Its left arm and hand were more human-like, but it seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation; the top half was more silver than the wrist and hands but not as silver to be defined as metallic. Eight spider-like limbs were extending from its back, four silver limbs synchronized with an arm or leg, while four black ones with dripping oil stretched outward in a square formation, making it seem taller than normal. A grayish glow emanated from the center of its chest, almost impossible to see due to the contrast of black and silver on the rest of its body.
It was its face that drew the most attention, though; the right side was fully metallic but with a human design, the eye replaced with a large yellow/orange optic leaking more of the oil like a human would release tears. The left eye was glowing blue with some kind of artificial lighting, but the clear tears running down its cheek were human enough. The grin on its face showed that the creature was NOT sad in any sort of way, though—in fact, the "tears" seemed to be more from happiness rather than sadness.
"Is violence all you things have left to call your own in the world?" the android asked, the optic leaking a fresh bit of oil each time the human eye blinked, "You creatures are so pitiful; no wonder your world was taken over by the aliens 20 years ago." The gang members tensed and raised their weapons at this remark, several of them remembering their own individual events during the "Seven Hour War".
"Yeah, well," the Canadian 'leader' spoke back with anger clearly evident in his voice, "You're one to talk, you looking like a goddamn monster and all."
"You may consider this form a 'monster'," the android said with a bubbling growl, "But is it any less than what you have done to the other species of your world before the alien invasion? It seems the old term of 'karma' has struck you on your pink little butts." The android laughed after this statement, the many limbs from its back visibly shaking due to the tension exerted on them. The laugh had the echoes of a human child while carrying an artificial tone, making it sound all the more creepy to the men listening.
"You have all doomed yourselves to enslavement by these alien forces," the android then said as it twirled its clawed hand around and looked at it like a priceless piece of jewelry, "I understand how you feel despite my more evolved nature; I was once in your position, after all." The smirk it showed at the end of this was beyond any hope of care for the men to see.
"GET HIM!" the leader shouted as he and a few other men fired their weapons at the android. The bullets streaked towards their target, but the android calmly leaped off the rooftop above the bullet's range. The full moon reflected off its armor and gave it a darker glow as it crouched into a ball, drawing its eight metal limbs together and shooting downward towards the center of the group. Those who fired at the android found their bullets to be bouncing off a shield of particles surrounding the creature.
The rookie, who had fired with the leader when the latter had initiated the combat, only had time to look up in horror before a singular spear of eight metal limbs impaled his body. His body almost completely split in two, only a few tendons and muscles wrapping it around the limbs. A copious amount of blood fell from the man's corpse onto the ground, the effect looking like the man burst around the android's body. Then, with a grunt of effort, the android spread its spider-limbs back outward, breaking the fragile circle of flesh. Body parts and blood flew on the other gang member's bodies, making them all fall backwards with curse words or screams. Some even fired randomly into the sky or around themselves as they fell, causing more injuries among the men than were necessary.
"Pathetic," the android then taunted as it stood up to a height of 8 feet and 6 inches on its silver spider-limbs, "You lower-level life forms are not worth my time to destroy. You should be thankful I don't kill you where you stand." The living gang members had mixed reactions to this; three of them got back up and resumed firing their weapons while jogging backwards while the other two straight up sprinted back towards the safety of the jeeps. The combined fire only stopped the android for a few seconds as the particle shield around its body shattered apart, the blue glow from its human eye fading away as well. The frown on its face clearly showed its anger at this result.
The android then surged forward across the burnt ground with its silver spider-limbs. Bullets streaked past its body, some impacting the limbs but causing minimal damage to the structure. Each limb stabbed the soil for a few nanoseconds before pushing forward with augmented strength. To an outside observer, it would look as if a real spider were traversing across the ground faster than the human eye could fully process. The three men firing continued spewing bullets at the android came closer and closer to them, none of them backing down.
Actually, they held out until the android suddenly disappeared from their vision in a shower of sparks before reappearing right in front of them. The gunmen didn't have time to scream before the center one was sliced in half by two arcing spider-limbs. Blood flew out of his exposed torso as his two halves fell to the ground, covering the android and the other men. The two remaining humans each jumped backwards while reloading their guns, but neither of them got the chance to fire again. One of them was jumped upon by the android and stabbed repeatedly with the spider-limbs until his body was broken into several small chunks of flesh. The other was about to fire when the android vanished in another shower of sparks and impaled him from behind, two blades going through the man's chest cavity. The android then lifted its victim a few feet off the ground, blood falling from the holes like a fountain. With a feral growl of triumph, the man's head was sliced clean with one of the black spider-limbs, a fresh coat of crimson blood coating the android's face as it let the body fall to the ground.
GlaDOS saw the effects of the virus before she even saw it—red beams of energy were detonating pieces of data wherever they hit. If this weren't stopped, then the virus would spread across all of Aperture's systems and corrode the entire circuit board. And if THAT happened, then Aperture would…
GlaDOS shook her head sharply, numbers trailing behind this swift motion—she didn't want to think of that now. She had a job to do; Carthage was in danger, and this virus was connected to Carthage's current mental state. If she could terminate the virus, then, in theory, Carthage would also return to normal. With that thought, the female android jumped into a neighboring data stream, the accelerated flow pushing her faster than she could ever run in the real world. The stream felt like a Pneumatic Excursion Funnel, all other sounds being muffled by the flow of data surrounding those inside.
3.257 seconds later, GlaDOS forcibly removed herself from the stream and landed on a large platform of solidified code. Gaining her bearings, she now saw the beams from before to be an innumerable amount of giant tendrils of red energy reaching out into the network like a human infant reaching with its fingers. Whatever a tendril touched glowed red for a few nanoseconds before detonating violently, individual numbers glowing as they were drawn into the tendril and allowed the instrument to expand a few millimeters in length. In the matter of 5 seconds of observation, the tendrils had destroyed 12.6% of the surrounding data and had grown 3 millimeters in length.
Then she saw the source—at first it looked like a large blob of red numbers, the tendrils being its limbs and external organs. Then, as if it noticed a hostile presence, it started to change shape to the android's optics and assume a form she began to recognize. A large mass congealed into a body, individual pieces forming fingers and toes. The top of the blob then started shifting as if it was being sculpted by a potter's hands, first becoming more elongated and pointed, and then squashed like it were stepped on before it finally formed a circular shape. Parts of this shape then retracted inward to form eye sockets, ear holes, nostrils and a gaping maw of a mouth. The tendrils around this being then began to flow backwards as if rewinding themselves on a video, each one connected to a finger, toe, or specific hole on the body. GlaDOS had to turn away and forcibly hold back a wave of bile as all this happened, even though she knew that you could not release organic matter into the data stream.
When she turned back, her optics almost short out from surprise. What was before her was…HERSELF...but in a different form. Where purple lines were on her body, there were black lines etched with red; her neat silver hair was reflected gray and disheveled, the red Anger Personality Core and the indigo Fact Core attached to its head by straps of iron-hard data; where her pupils were purple, its pupils were not there at all—its eye sockets were midnight black and looked as if they could extend infinitely. The digital monstrosity then opened its stitching of a mouth, releasing a small torrent of blackened code as a guttural roar came from its lips, echoed by the growling of the Anger Core and a rapid-fire belting of words from the Fact Core. GlaDOS didn't respond in words, only raising her arms above her face and summoning two blades of data that wrapped around her wrists and hands, her own purple optics flashing with new code linings.
"You challenge Aperture Science and threaten its precious data," the female android then spoke with malice, "You mimic MY flawless form in the hopes it will help you succeed. You threaten my creation, my CHILD, with your malefic acts in hopes our mission will fail. This is something I…no, SCIENCE, will not allow!"
At this, GlaDOS charged the impostor before her and swung her digital blades at its chest…
And that's all for now (remember, this is a two-parter, so more to come!)
If you have any comments, suggestions or criticism (of CONSTRUCTIVE variety), please do not hesitate to let me know. I do enjoy feedback from the people who read my work (Not that you HAVE to comment, though...(Undeceive face) (Clears throat awkwardly).
Well, with that, Draconos is taking off!
