Sorry this took a while. It wasn't planned at this point in the timeline, but I'm way too excited and it fits almost anywhere. My friend vinecat more or less prompted this in our conversation and I just had to write it.
Did you ever wonder what happened to the mantis men? Here's a guess: They're alive.
Comments are always appreciated.
There were days even a clumsy person like Wheatley could be a genius. On these days he had incredible ideas, and nothing seemed to go wrong. You could give him things that broke easily, and they didn't.
Today was no such day.
"Luv, look out!" Chell had seen the energy ball coming a good twenty seconds before he called out, and dived out of the way. The long fall boots clicked on the hard floor as she rushed over white tiles. Sometimes she thought Gladys sent only Wheatley with her because Chell solved the test chambers too fast for her taste.
She somehow juggled the Portal Gun in one hand, and grabbed his arm with the other. It was enough to spin him around. They both crashed to the ground. The ricocheting energy ball rebounded from the wall and exploded into whit light barely a foot from their heads.
"Oh, oh yes, I knew that, I saw that!"
Chell sighed and got up, scowling at nothing in particular. The long fall boots didn't protect her knees when she fell. Or saved a moron's sweet backside over and over.
Wheatley read her face correctly and shut up. "Sorry."
She offered her hand and helped him to his feet. At least now she knew how to solve the puzzle. She pushed Wheatley against the wall with one hand, quietly commanding him not to move.
"But... I can help!", he offered. Chell shook her head and turned back to the puzzle. His puppy eyes didn't get them anything in here, adorable as they were.
Blue portal, orange portal, little ball of light
Testing everyday, I'm sick of this... shite?.
A tiny smile crossed Chell's face. Poetry had never been her strong side.
The Energy Ball fizzled when it hit the receiver. The blue line turned orange and the door slid open with a quiet mechanical buzz. Chell made one step towards it before she stopped again. Usually, Wheatley was the first one to run to the door once Chell had solved the puzzle. Gladys had almost fried him with a trap on the way out, and not just once.
Her hope was in vain. Wheatley had somehow moved to the other end of the room, without getting hit by anything or falling down a pit filled with goo or just a very hard floor. Chell portaled over to him. There was a lever sticking out of the wall, and Wheatley was excitedly trying to get it to move. Chell had noticed it before, but ignored it. It didn't seem to belong to the test and she didn't have the nerve to stay here longer than necessary.
"This is unimportant," Gladys' voice echoed over the speakers. Even the mechanical repercussions that always made her sound like a robot couldn't hide the annoyance in her voice. "We still have three test chambers ahead." Get back to work, in other words.
Chell put her hand on Wheatley's shoulder. He looked at her, his blue eyes sparkling in excitement.
"No, wait, I want to know what happens."
"It's not connected to anything," Gladys answered him. "Although I was told not to change that part of the chamber in any way, without a given reason..."
"Pff, as if I believe you anything!", Wheatley countered. He grabbed the lever with both hands and leaned on it with all his weight. The metal groaned. It looked rusty, as if it hadn't been used for years. Chell stared at the Portal Gun for a moment, then put it aside. Portaling him to the next room was an option, but not the one she preferred.
So instead, she grabbed the lever with one hand, and leaned on Wheatley with the other, to show the lever wouldn't work anyway.
"Oh good, now you're both wasting our time," Gladys remarked. She was still in the middle of speaking when the lever gave way with a loud clunk.
"See, I told you!", Wheatley said with a proud grin. Then the floor opened beneath their feet and they fell.
In general, Chell was used to falling. It happened all the time during the tests. Usually, she had to jump off somewhere to get enough momentum for a long jump or similar stunts. It was fun, most of the time. The boots cushioned any impact and even though Gladys tended to call her a fat eagle, the sensation of flying was something she would miss a lot when she had finished school. Skydiving was always an option, but it wasn't the same. The point was, Chell only liked falling when it was her own choice.
"Uhm, okay, uh, I didn't expect that!" Wheatley's words were almost swept away by the wind. They were falling through some kind of tunnel. The rusted remains of a ladder accompanied them. It connected side entrances filled with plants and some things Chell didn't want to inspect any further. The air was wet. How long had they been falling? She knew the long fall boots could take a lot. Had the limits ever been tested? Nobody would be crazy enough to do that, right?
"Uh, do you think the impact will hurt? How far are we falling?" She had still been clutching his shoulder when the floor opened, and now it was Wheatley who had wrapped his arms around her. She doubted he could catch her when they hit the bottom. No, it was just a search for comfort, however brief it would be. It was funny. His glasses hadn't moved a bit the whole time, as if they were glued in place. Once he buried his face in her neck they probably couldn't anyway.
Chell didn't try to answer. Wind was rushing in her ears, but she thought to hear Gladys' voice echo down the shaft. It was too far away to make out any words.
The old Aperture was just rumors among the students. If they somehow survived falling from this height, and didn't lie there in horrible pain and then died, maybe they would get to see some of it. Then again, the "junkyard", as they had Mr Rattman heard calling it, was supposed to be full of toxic corrosive substances. It was simpler and cheaper to let it flood the empty salt mines and destroy whatever trash was kicked down there than pumping the goo to a safer location. Chell had a vague idea why the company Aperture Science had taken to some desperate measures. Including turning itself into an expensive and little monitored international private school.
The light from above had vanished a while ago. The blue shimmer didn't come from the entrance. It got stronger as they were falling and the world began to slow. The wind stopped numbing and deafening them. With a hard rebound, they came to a halt.
Chell nudged Wheatley, not exactly gently, until he raised his head. He didn't let go of her.
"What? What's going on? Are we dead? Oh, no we're not. Great!" He looked around. "Uh... why are we floating?"
They were still falling, but much slower now. The sound was almost inaudible, but they were getting closer, and the blue waves around them were hard to mistake for anything else.
"Uhm, I hate to play bad advocate here, but don't you think it's a bit weird that there should be an excursion funnel so far down? Old Aperture has been closed for a while now, and I'm sure they didn't have those back then."
Chell refrained from telling him it was called "devil's advocate". Wheatley was right. This was simply too good to be true. Now that they weren't falling with around a bazillion miles an hour anymore, she could read the signs next to the entrances.
B complex
Praying mantis test chambers two levels down. Please follow the yellow line.
4000 meters
"Rick said they used to turn people into mutant insects," Wheatley said in a tiny voice. "Gladys said so and she should know. Right? ...Right?"
"Bullshit." Chell stroked his neck. It was a neat little trick she had learned by accident, or rather saw Mel use it on Virgil. People were simple, really. Wheatley relaxed a little bit, and leaned against her again. "So now all we have to do is... find a way up after we're done going down. Opposite of up. Easy, huh?"
Chell nodded. The floor was close enough to make details visible. Lower Aperture was a mess. Rusted steel beams, debris, and all kinds of plants had formed an industrial jungle between gangways connecting platforms. The excursion funnel was located in the only possible place it could be, a fixed platform near the wall, similar to the floor of the test chambers they were used to.
The funnel abruptly stopped and they fell again.
Neither had the time to say anythin. Wheatley just gave a startled yelp, then a second funnel caught them. Chell suppressed a shrug and scowled at a rusted sign that said something about monkeys. Her back hurt from all the almost-impacts and Wheatley didn't make it better by clinging to her. She grabbed his hands and moved them to a more comfortable position, not waiting for agreement or even a question. Wheatley didn't even seem to notice.
"Uhm, Chell... luv..." She snapped to attention immediately. Wheatley never called her by name unless he had to find her in a crowd or in more special moments. And when he was really, really scared.
Now that was nothing unusual, Wheatley got scared by a lot of things, including, and mainly, Gladys. But Chell's gut told her she should listen to him. He was staring at something behind her, in the direction the excursion funnel was carrying them. Chell wiggled out of his grasp to look around.
Somebody was waiting for them. The funnel's glow made her almost blind but she could see the shapes of three people, probably men, on a platform under the funnel.
"I thought Old Aperture was deserted, be-because of the toxic stuff in the air and so on...", Wheatley said. Chell squinted, hoping her eyes were betraying her. Did the men have wings? No, that was silly.
Aperture did a lot of crazy stuff, but bio-engineering on humans needed a ton of permits and warrants from the government, even in the fifties or whenever those test had supposedly taken place.
Wheatley didn't look convinced, but he didn't say anything. That was not a good sign.
As expected, the funnel carried them over the platform and then shut off. The fall was undramatic, around twenty feet. Even Wheatley didn't manage to hurt himself from that height. The boots did what they were supposed to.
"Well, what have we here."
Chell stared. Even if she wouldn't have been mute by choice, she probably wouldn't have been able to say anything. The men wore jumpsuits in an ugly light brown color. The fabric had faded out over time and so had the Aperture logo on the breast pocket. The men were all middle-aged. As far as Chell could tell, at least. She tried to concentrate on the one at the front. One step at a time. He was a heavyweight man, under average height and with hair that must have been brown once, but had faded to a strange grayish green. Two antennae protruded from his forehead. Black eyes scrutinized the two intruders. At least he didn't have compound eyes like his two buddies. Translucent wings were folded shut on the backs of the jumpsuits.
"It's been a while since we had visitors," the man in the back said. His voice was barely a hissing, like cicadas chirping at night, just more unpleasant. It was a sickening sound.
"S-See... so it is true," Wheatley whispered. His voice was high-pitched, almost inaudible over the humming of the excursion funnel shutting down.
Chell looked around. She didn't have her portal gun, but there had to be a way to get out of this. She couldn't see the bottom next to the platform. It vanished in a fine white mist that all but covered the shape of old-fashioned cranes rising in the abyss. It was impossible to tell what awaited them down there.
"I wouldn't advise you to do that," the first man said. "There's only junk and toxic goo down there. Most of the old offices were flooded years ago. For safety reasons. Who knows how long this stuff holds up." He made a swiping gesture indicating everything around them. One of the men in the back, the one that had spoken before, stepped forward.
"Let's go." It sounded like there were insects crawling over his vocal chords. Chell shuddered and hoped it was from the cold.
"You're right. We should go," the man at the front said. He extended a hand – thankfully still human – and wanted to lead Chell to where ever their hideout was. She grabbed his wrist and flipped him around. The man gave a choked sound of surprise and stumbled forward. Chell used his momentum to trip him. He was too slow to catch his footing and unceremoniously crashed to the ground. Chell spun on the others, every muscle tense in anticipation.
The man with the bug voice launched himself at her, faster than she could have imagined. Only her trained reflexes made her dodge the attack. The long fore-legs, armed with razor-like spikes, slashed through the air inches from her head. His momentum carried the mantis man past her, and he tumbled over the edge with a hiss.
The third mantis man didn't attack immediately. He waited, slowly walking around her to look for the perfect opportunity to strike. Chell wouldn't give him one. They circled each other over the length of the platform. As much as she despised it, she stared right into the black compound eyes. Which is why she didn't see the debris behind her. Her foot caught in it and, just for a second, Chell lost her balance, landing hard on her back. The mantis man lunged. He didn't have the same claw-like arms, but she didn't want to find out what he could do either way. Chell drew in her legs and kicked him in the ribs mid-jump. There was an audible crunch and the man folded up like a rag. He dropped to the floor, hissing and whimpering. The sound was not human, but also not really insect. A gooey green stain spread over the fabric of the jumpsuit.
It was a hopeless fight, of course it was. She couldn't win against three grown men, not without a weapon. All she could do is buy some time to flee. And on top of that, she had to look out for-
Wait.
Wheatley had been awfully quiet the last minutes.
"Now, don't do anything stupid, girl. It would be a shame to hurt'ya little friend."
The words were mangled, not coming from a human throat, but there was a broad southern accent to them, like a stereotypical Texan in those old TV shows.
Chell turned towards the voice and met Wheatley's terrified blue eyes. The fourth man was tall and lean, his dark skin turned a sickly gray-green, with mandibles protruding from what had been a human mouth once. He had wrapped one spiked forearm loosely around Wheatley's throat, and his mandibles clicked right next to his face, brushing the boy's glasses from time to time. The other hand had to be human, as he had twisted one of Wheatley's arms behind his back.
"I'm sorry," Wheatley whispered. "I'll never touch anything we don't know what it does ever again. I promise. Just don't leave me. I don't wanna get eaten."
"Found the old entrance, huh?", the fourth man rasped. Wheatley shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut, as if he hoped the situation would change when he opened them again. It didn't. Or maybe he just didn't want Chell to see him cry.
"Dear me, you got some spunk in you, girl." Chell winced, but didn't dare to move. The short man that had spoken first got to his feet, groaning. Behind her, Chell could hear the buzzing of wings, probably attacker number two. And number three was just helped to his feet by number one.
"Let's go, before Johnson sends anyone else."
A hand settled on her shoulder. A human hand. Thank God. Chell didn't see any way to get out of this just now. She had to follow. Some part of her wanted to be mad at Wheatley. The one time they could have used him, his dark self, the confident, and a little too violent version of the clumsy, adorable, and sometimes annoying man she loved, he didn't show up.
But she just couldn't. It wasn't his fault, really. Chell had made more than clear that she didn't like that side of him. He simply did what she asked of him – just in the wrong moments.
The mantis men lead them through a door and down a narrow walkway. Even down here, Aperture had used glass elevators and a transportation system few modern buildings could brag with. While they walked past, the elevator loosened from its rail and tumbled down into the blackness, glass shattering as it hit wires and shrapnel piled up everywhere.
"Doesn't look too good around here," Wheatley commented. "Bit, uh, decrepit and so on, you really live here?" Chell wished he would shut up, but of course, Wheatley never shut up, especially when he was nervous. "How's that even possible, what do you eat? Uh... nevermind, I don't wanna know, let's talk about something else."
"Shut up, some people try to sleep."
"Huh, oh, sorry, I didn't- Ahh!" Wheatley broke off with a stifled scream. The mantis man pulled his arm a little bit further upwards until he had fallen quiet entirely, save for an almost inaudible whimper of pain.
"Jonesy, come on," the man leading Chell said, mild rebuke in his tone. "They're just kids."
The fourth man grunted, but released the tension on his prisoner's limbs a bit. Chell had long since lost her sense of direction, but that didn't surprise her. It would be stupid of them to show intruders the direct path to their home.
"Wait a minute." They stopped. It was the man with the bug voice. Number one turned around, without taking his hand off Chell's shoulder. Chell couldn't imagine what they were looking at. A moment later, the man turned to her.
"You won't make any trouble, right?"
"If she does the boy is mincemeat," Jonesy hissed. Wheatley didn't say anything. His blue eyes were entirely blank with panic. He wouldn't be of any help. Chell pressed her lips together and shook her head. The man nodded.
"Good. Kev, go ahead and tell the others Richie is hurt."
Chell wouldn't mind if their Richard was here. He was a bit annoying with his constant bragging, but she didn't doubt he could fight for real.
But, as things were, there was only herself and Wheatley. They had to get by on their own.
The man let go of her and went over to his injured comrade. He flung one of the man's arms over his shoulders so the bug-voiced man – Kevin? - could let go. Richie sagged against him. The compound eyes made it impossible to tell if he was unconscious or not. If he was awake, it was just enough to keep him going.
Kevin nodded and leaped in the air. His membrane wings blurred as they catapulted him upwards and out of sight. "Move it," Jonesy commanded.
Mantis man number one nodded and began to carry his comrade along. Chell followed Jonesy and Wheatley, trying to memorize their surroundings. They passed rubble, stacks of old-fashioned storage cubes, and many hatches that lead to places she didn't want to see. They emerged through a doorway and onto a metal footbridge running along the walls. It could hardly be called a room anymore. Chell couldn't see the other side. Judging from the smoothed-down rocks next to her, they had reached the salt mines. Giant steel spheres filled the cavern, held in place by wires and beams each thicker than her body. Wind howled between the metal constructs.
"The old testing spheres," the man behind her said. "The easiest way to keep the experiments separated. But you already know that, of course."
He didn't receive a response. They followed the catwalk to a crossroad. In the direction of the spheres, the metal had bent down and eventually broken, leaving a gap of at least thirty feet. Jonesy released Wheatley's arm to grab a device that reminded Chell of the very first telephones, something they only saw in old movies or science history class.
Chell couldn't understand what he said, but a few seconds later, a hatch opened on top of the sphere and other mantis men flew out. They had to fight against the winds ripping at their transparent wings, but eventually managed to land on the walkway.
They didn't look much different from their friends. All middle-aged, all in various stages between man and insect. Two of them grabbed the wounded Richie and carried him off without a word. The others – two men who could only be twins, although their mutations were different – landed at the end of the walkway and waited.
"Take the boy," Jonesy ordered. Chell stepped in the way before he could push Wheatley in their direction. She stared into the black, but otherwise human eyes, and managed to get a hold of Wheatley's hand. It was as cold as hers, and trembling none the less.
"You don't understand, darling. You don't have a say in this," the tall man hissed. The twins made a step forward as if to force them to cooperate, but the short man, number one, stepped in their way, his hands raised.
"Please, everyone calm down a bit." He looked at everyone individually for a second. "We're not going to separate you. It's just that we can't carry both of you together. We don't want anyone else to get hurt. Alright?"
Chell stared at him. It made sense. But even if not, there was nothing she could do. So, she gave a nod. The still nameless man smiled, open relief on his face.
"Alright, then we're ready to go."
One of the twins grabbed Wheatley, and with the help of Jonesy, they carried him away. Chell shuddered at the mere thought of being touched. When they did, it was not as bad as expected. It didn't make the flight any more comfortable. The wind was like a punch to the face. The mantis men's wings beat with a visible effort to keep them on track. Chell tried to distinguish anything in the darkness below, and couldn't.
"Just more testing spheres," number one shouted over the howling winds. "And a damn long fall. We're gonna drop you through the hatch. Those are Aperture's Long Fall Boots, right?" Chell barely had time to nod before they let go of her and the howling winds were replaced by the rush of a fall.
She landed on her feet after barely five seconds, the boots dampening the impact. She straightened up just as the two mantis men landed beside her. The hatch closed with an echoing bang.
Wheatley gave her a tiny smile as he walked over to her. She knew that expression: He was trying to be an adult for once. She grasped his hand once he was in reaching distance and squeezed it. He squeezed back.
Then they faced the dozens of what had been humans once, mumbling and buzzing while they stared at them like visitors at a zoo.
The man called Jonesy gave them a hard shove from behind and the crowd opened up to a narrow path. Chell tried to ignore the whispers and concentrated on scanning their surroundings.
The inside of the testing sphere was little more than a standard testing track. It reminded Chell of the test chambers designed for the gel tests. The materials were easy to clean, without the signature white tiles of a portal test chamber, and the room had a different rhythm and pacing. Chell could even see an almost vertical, curved wall, like a skateboard slope. Just more dangerous. And deadly, depending what was on the floor beneath. The test chamber had been remodeled as best as possible, using junk and broken down materials to construct what might be called a home.
They were led down several platforms, the mantis men following them. They were quiet now, save for the eerie rustling of wings and chitin armor.
Eventually, they reached a large central platform. A cube dispenser loomed overhead, empty and probably long broken off the main system. There was a tiny ledge under it, like a podium.
"Sit down," Jonesy ordered. They sat. The mantis men gathered around them. Not just men, Chell realized. She could see what might either be feminine men or androgynous women. Back in the day women weren't allowed to do the dangerous things, but that didn't have to stop anyone.
"Why now?", Jonesy barked. "After all this time."
Wheatley gave Chell a quizzical glance. She shrugged her shoulders. They seemed to think Director Johnson sent them, for whatever reason. The tall man whipped his spiked arm forward, and the claws settled on Chell's throat.
"Now, now, no rash decision, please." The short man pushed the claws away and took a stand between the mass and them. "Let's hear them out first."
"We don't need to hear any lies," somebody from the crowd spat. "They hurt Richie! Isn't that enough?"
"I know Brian, but we must not forget that we look threatening at first glance as well." He turned around. "My name is Ray. I'm the current leader of this little colony."
"Not much longer," the voice from the crowd hissed. Ray sighed quietly, but didn't turn around.
"What are your names?"
"Your full names," Jonesy added in a growl.
Chell almost jumped when Wheatley squeezed her hand. There it was, his darker, and admittedly more capable side. His voice was calm and steady, bright eyes scanning the crowd, calculating, scheming. Chell leaned on his shoulder. At least she didn't have to think for both of them now.
"My name is Ethan Wheatley, and the lady at my side is Michelle Catania. We're students of Aperture."
Ray's eyebrows shot up and people in the the crowd began to murmur frantically to each other.
"Students?"
Wheatley nodded. "Aperture had some... legal trouble, I presume. It was converted to an international private school in the eighties."
"So you're not here to report back to Johnson if we're still down here?"
"We didn't know you even existed. There were rumors, but it more like ghost stories among the kids." Chell frowned and nudged him. He read her question, or had thought of it himself already. "These... experiments took place in the fifties, right? Mr Johnson was the head of Aperture even back then? I didn't think he was that old."
Ray's antennae wiggled thoughtfully. "We're talking about the same Robert Johnson?"
Chell shook her head. "The director's name is Cave Johnson," Wheatley translated.
"Oh, that little brat," somebody from the crowd said. Chuckles rose from the mantis people and then died again, like a tiny bright wave in a dark ocean.
Ray nodded. "The last experiment was in 1972, when we were deemed... useless. Cave was just as arrogant as his father, even at age five."
"Why did Aaron never tell us?" Chell had to look twice to be sure, but the mantis stepping forward was definitely a woman. She had a few more legs than should be and her skin had a strange green color, but looked otherwise human.
Ray shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know Monica. But if these two are students, we will find out soon."
"Or they are lying and Johnson junior sent them to make sure he can eradicate us. Did you search them for bugs?" The man was too thin, even by the standards of the generally ill-looking mantis people and his hair was a stark white, even though he was younger than the rest of them. "They look tasty."
Chell froze, her gaze locked on the hostile mantis man. She felt Wheatley's hand tighten around hers and squeezed back.
"Calm down, Brian. We're the only bugs here, I'm afraid," Ray joked. The laughter was even more hesitant this time. He looked Chell directly into the eyes. It was easy to read his expression: Don't make me look like a liar.
"Tell us, how did you get here?"
Wheatley summarized the test series they had been doing, and how they had ended up falling down the shaft until the excursion funnels caught them.
"Why do you have these, anyway? They are newer than the fifties," Wheatley inquired. Chell elbowed him. Asking questions would only make them even more suspicious. But he just smiled at her, confident and a little mocking, as if he was safe in his "lair" in the universe of the canceled musical. Now she wanted her old, silly Wheatley back after all. Damn it all to android hell.
Ray waved the question off. "Aaron helped us build them. It's part of an alarm system to spot any... intruders from the surface."
"How old are you?", the woman Ray had called Monica asked.
"Sixteen," Wheatley replied dutifully. She nodded, a frown furrowing her green-tinted skin, and turned away. "Kids," Monica mumbled, disbelief in her voice. "He uses kids for the tests."
Chell thought it better not to comment on that. There hadn't been major accidents in months, and whether that had been an accident was debatable. An entirely different question was more important. One could claim many things about Wheatley, but in moments like these he had the eerie gift to know exactly what she wanted to say.
"You have been here all this time?"
"Oh well, what are twenty years in the clockwork of the universe?" Ray tried to smile, but he couldn't fake confidence very well. "It's better than being hunted down to be studied or exterminated."
Chell and Wheatley exchanged a glance.
"It's 2016."
Silence fell. Compound and human eyes in a variety of stages of mutation locked onto them.
"Forty-seven years?", Jonesy asked. The hostility had vanished in the shock.
Brian let out a hiss that sounded like many tiny legs on stone. "Aaron has been lying to us all along! I told you not to trust him."
"Who is Aaron, anyway?" Wheatley's question was drowned in the murmuring. The mantis people began to hiss at each other, some even shoved their comrades. It took the crowd less than twenty seconds to break into a full-blown brawl.
"We can't let them go," Brian shouted over the turmoil. "They'll just sell us out. We can't trust anyone from up there."
"Calm down, everyone!", Ray countered equally loud. "Please, let's not rush to conclusions." The argument became more heated by the second. Not much longer and the crowd would split up into two opposing parties. That already happened at every meeting of the student's committee and got even worse when all students were involved.
Wheatley looked at Chell. She shrugged her shoulders. She had a vague idea where they had come from. The testing spheres had to be connected and there was plenty of space to hide. They wouldn't get a better chance.
The platform only led down to a pool of goo they didn't want to inspect any further. With a little head start, they both sailed over the small gap and landed safely on the other side, keeping in the shadow of the free-standing walls. Chell could see the exit ahead, but without the repulsion gel it would be next to impossible to get up there quickly. They could climb, but the chance to be seen was too high. There had to be another exit, or rather entrance, other than the hatch they had entered through. There had to be another way.
Chell grasped for Wheatley's hand to lead him along. Her fingers only closed on empty air. Wheatley had been beside her the whole time, right? He wasn't anymore. Chell looked around, suppressing a twinge of panic. Her eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness under the construction and all she saw was green-tinted shadow.
"Over here, luv." Chell jumped and spun, searching for the direction his voice was coming from. He appeared from the shadows like a ghost and pulled her under the relative protection of a broken-down wall panel. "The other entrance is past the platform we came from. I'm afraid that's no option." He ran one hand through his hair, half thinking, half brushing it to the side in what might be considered a more "classy" hairdo. It didn't help much, judging from the flicker of fear in his expression. "O-okay. I have no idea what we should do, but we gotta do something I guess, otherwise they'll eat us probably. Um, let's go over our options once more..."
Chell put one finger against his lips. It had gone quiet, not just under their sad excuse of shelter, but in the whole sphere. The turmoil had stopped, the voices, the stomping and rustling.
"Please don't make this any more difficult," Ray's voice echoed through the test chamber. "We're not going to hurt you. Just don't put up a fight."
"Oh, do put up a fight." It was hard to tell after such a short time, but Chell could bet that was Brian. "Because if my people find you, you'll die anyway. At least make it interesting."
Wheatley swallowed and had to force himself to take a deep breath. Chell gave him a tense smile. Think. Where to? They couldn't stay here much longer.
"If only we had some repulsion gel. This was a testing track for that, right?", Wheatley mumbled. He was right. The gel gun couldn't have existed when this was built, but still...
"Wheatley, you're a genius." She kissed him on the cheek and then pulled him along, further down under what had been a separating wall. A wall designed to be jumped over. A wall behind which lay a tube system designed to bring the repulsion gel wherever in the test it was needed.
"Where are we going?"
Chell didn't answer. She just ran on, as quietly as possible in the clicking boots. The tubes were easy to spot, and yes, there was more than enough gel left. She gestured for Wheatley to help her out. He grabbed her and lifted her up to the tube hovering around eight foot over the floor. At least he read that correctly. More or less. The grip wasn't painful, just... a little misplaced.
"Legs!", she hissed.
"Huh? Oh, OH, legs, yes, sorry." Chell rolled her eyes. He was lucky girls possessed a built-in radar that told them whether a guy was being creepy or just clumsy.
The tube was closed off with a hatch a few inches away from the end piece. It was so rusted the original structures were hard to make out. There was a manual lever to open it, but it had fused with the rest of the metal over time, and she couldn't move it an inch.
"Um, luv, are you done soon? You're getting quite heavy. Uh, I mean, not that you are heavy in general, it's just..." Chell closed her hands around the lever and tried to pull it down one last time. Maybe with her whole weight...
"Luv... oh no." She had one second to register the shift, or rather sudden lack of balance in Wheatley's stance, then she wasn't held by anything but the lever. There was an audible crack and the metal bit into her hands.
Chell landed on her feet, but not as securely as usual. She had to slide one foot forward to hold her balance and hit something not hard, but also not soft. It gave a sound of pain and recoiled.
Chell straightened up and dropped the piece of lever she had taken down with her. The rusted metal had cut into her palm, but it didn't look too bad. A visit to the infirmary would be a good idea though.
They would get out of here. Of course they would.
Wheatley got to his feet, two shades paler than usual. "I'm okay, thanks for asking. What about you, luv? Yes? Lovely." He turned his back on her and inspected the gel dripping out of the pipe. It was full of little lumps from being stationary for so long, but the stream was gradually picking up speed again, leaving big splashes over the floor right up to the wall.
"So... we have to jump over there, over that huge awful gap and up on the platform. All in a few minutes before the mantis... mantises... those people notice us."
Chell nodded, even though he didn't look at her. She shoved him in the direction of the far wall. No time to deal with hurt feelings or other hurt parts. There had to be a ladder somewhere, or otherwise this test wouldn't make sense. She was proven correct. They ascended the ladder as fast as possible, and surprisingly without any further incidents.
There should be no wind in the sphere, but the room was large enough to create a cool breeze anyway. It was a terrible place to live, but probably the only available down here. Chell looked over their escape route and tried to ignore the doubt gnawing at her. She could do it, easily. Gladys had sent her through worse tests. But Wheatley? One wrong twist, the lack of balance, and you could hurt yourself badly, or simply fall down into the acidic pool filling the bottom.
"Ladies first. If I fall, you can make it out alone."
Chell stared at him. That was the most considerate thing she had heard from Wheatley in a month. He tried, really did, but it didn't always work out. Most of the time, actually.
She took his hands and squeezed as hard as she could, despite her burning palms. She couldn't see any of the mantis people, but she didn't let that calm her. They might as well stand on a silver plate.
"They say kids, drunks and stupid people usually don't hurt themselves." He kissed her, briefly. "For good luck. Not that you'd need it." Chell nodded and let go.
She went all the way back to the wall. The propulsion gel would have made things easier, but if it wasn't here, there had to be a reason.
If she had solved the test correctly. A yard too far, she'd hit the wall, a yard too short, she wouldn't reach the exit platform. The jump had to be perfect.
Chell stopped thinking and put all her strength into the sprint before her feet hit empty air and the wind swept up her hair. The impact splashed gel over her boots, but catapulted her over the wall nonetheless. It carried her much higher than the starting point. For a moment, it felt like hovering in mid-air, before gravity set in and pulled her down in a sharp return. The platform came closer, and closer. There was greenish goo shining far below her feet.
She hit the platform with so much force even the boots didn't prevent a shock wave running through her. Chell staggered against the wall. Her boots had left blue prints, just inches from the edge. Imperfect as the gel was even today, it had certainly improved since the closure of old Aperture.
So far, so good.
She took a few deep breaths to calm down and get her adrenaline to a useful level.
Then Wheatley crash-landed next to her, his additional weight carrying him much further than intended. The boots took out most of the impact, but he fell to his knees anyway, giving a yelp of pain. His head came of an abrupt stop on her thigh.
"Nice jump." Chell grabbed his shoulder and dragged him out of the door. It had been jammed and then just left to rust. Even the powerful motors Aperture put everywhere wouldn't close it now, if they were still functional at all. It wouldn't stop any pursuers.
Their only second-long sprint ended in a sliding stop. There was a room behind the door, but it didn't have any doors, just a tube descending from the ceiling. Back in the day, Aperture had used a vacuum delivery system. They still did, for cubes and other objects, but regulations prevented human transport, even though it was one of the safest inventions Aperture had ever made. Or so Gladys claimed.
"Um, I don't want to sound negative, but we can't get through here, right? The system has been offline for years, and even if, they'd know where we're going. Okay, new plan, um... an ambush?" He looked around. The room was empty. "Okay, maybe not, um..."
Chell shoved him to the far right wall. The panels were not all mechanical down here, and some had fallen off, revealing a simple grid replacing a solid wall. The tube system ran all over the closed off parts of the sphere. Chell heaved herself up through the opening and straightened up once she stood securely on the tube. Wheatley followed, a bit shaky, but successful.
"Oh Michelle, dearest Michelle, where art thou?", Brian mocked them. "In here, crawling up this useless tube like a little bug?" The tube wound its way upwards in a dizzying spiral around the room they had left, and Brian's annoyed yelling was only a faint background noise. The tubes left the sphere through another set of hatches, and they were back in the cavern.
Chell had looked back what felt like every three seconds, just to make sure they wouldn't be separated again. It prevented them from running over the edge, where the vacuum tube dropped vertically into the darkness.
"We've gotta climb again, don't we?" Wheatley sounded as tired as Chell felt, but he didn't complain. The tube's fixations made a good ladder, if a rather painful one. It only took a minute until they came close enough to a catwalk to jump over. Chell rubbed her hands. They weren't bleeding just yet, but it felt itchy and unhealthy and the skin was roughed up and reddened. She didn't really want to know what kind of harmful substances had been used down here before people knew better, or began to care.
"Come on, luv." Wheatley took her hand, his cold skin bringing at least some kind of relief. They followed the catwalk until there was the first crossroad.
"You will get lost down here." They froze. Ray sounded like he might as well stand only a few yards away.
"We don't mean to harm you." His voice had a metallic edge, Chell realized. He was using speakers strewn throughout the cavern. They had figured out the prisoners had somehow escaped from the sphere. They needed a hiding place, and fast.
"Aperture is a labyrinth, even for us. I promise you won't get hurt. Brian and his... supporters won't touch you. We're no monsters."
Chell didn't even bother to listen. The catwalk was broken further ahead, so they went right, and then left, left, right, straight ahead, and left again, following a complicated and senseless pattern. She had lost any sense of direction, save for getting away from the testing sphere housing the mantis colony. Maybe they could find a functioning elevator that brought them upwards. There had to be something still working down here.
Gladys would have to tell someone. They would look for them. What would happen, to the search party, to the mantis people? This couldn't end well in any possibly scenario.
The speakers gave a deafening shriek. "Found you." Brian all but sang. Chell only caught a glimpse of a single mantis man hovering far over their heads, before he turned away. Back-up would arrive soon.
There was a door set into the cavern wall ahead. The logo was bleached out, but still readable. Aperture Science Innovators.
Chell hadn't paid much attention when they suffered through hours of the school's history, but that name had been in use well before the seventies. They came to a halt before the door. The wheel holding it closed didn't move. Either it was locked or jammed. It didn't matter. They were stuck.
They both froze at the sound of a familiar deep voice.
"Where do you think you are going?"
Chell didn't know if she should be relieved or frightened. Either way, they turned to face what was coming to them. What was he doing here, anyway?
"The exit is the other way," Aegis said wryly. He looked them over for a moment, dark eyes hidden behind gold-tinted glasses, before speaking into a small voice recorder.
"Targets found at section B-713, level fourteen. Extraction immediate." He stashed the recorder away and scrutinized them.
"You again."
"This wasn't our fault. Mostly," Wheatley defended himself. "Who could have known that-"
"Well if that isn't the great liar." Aegis didn't look hurried when he turned and caught Brian's spiked arm inches from his face. The mantis man fought against him with all his power for a few seconds, before giving up and falling back. Aperture's security manager let him. He had barely moved during the whole intermezzo.
Brian hissed, but didn't dare come closer. Behind him, many other mantis people gathered. Ray and Monica landed between them. Brian took a step back when Monica looked directly at him and his pale face set into a stubborn grimace.
"Aaron. It's good to see you again," Ray said. They shook hands. "As you can see, there are some... issues we need to clear up."
Chell looked to and fro between the two men, trying to sort out what the hell was going on. "You know each other?", Wheatley asked in her stead.
Aegis gave them a cold glare from the corner of the eye. They both winced and shifted a little closer to each other. Chell felt a shiver run down her back. Damn this stupid test, and damn this day, and their curiosity.
Ray stared at them blankly for almost a minute. "Yes," he said eventually. Nothing more.
How?
Aegis didn't look at them again. "My task is the security of Aperture. In every aspect."
"Don't you want to tell them you're one of the lucky bastards that didn't devel- Argh!" Monica wrestled Brian down with ease, even though she was smaller. His protest ended in a pained whine.
"We already know you're an inconsiderate, frustrated idiot who'd sell his own daughter for power," she snarled. "Now shut up, before I shut you up."
Chell and Wheatley exchanged a glance. No more questions on their part, that was for sure. The security manager couldn't like them much already because of their past mishaps. Now he had been called down here and faced trouble with the mantis people on top of that.
That didn't mean Chell's thoughts would stop spinning around the matter. Lucky bastards? Develop what? Even with all her imagination, Aegis didn't remind her of a praying mantis in the slightest.
"Does Johnson junior know?", Brian rasped. "Did Johnson senior know?"
"Does it matter?", Aegis replied. Nothing in his tone betrayed an emotion. It was hardly even a question.
He reminded her of a spider. A big, dark, dangerous spider, with sharp golden eyes that didn't miss anything. That was silly. He couldn't possibly be that old.
"Let's get down to business here," Ray interjected. "Aaron, you lied to us. The newspapers, the news cast, it said 1979 the last time you visited. Was that all fabrication? What is going on out there?"
"They are all real."
Ray stared at him for several seconds. "Just out of date, huh?" He rubbed his forehead, as if he had a headache. "What about that premier lady over in Britain? What about the Commies?"
"Margaret Thatcher died three years ago. And the Cold War is over." He paused and the next words were almost a sigh. "A lot of things happened, in just a short while."
"Fifty years aren't a short while!", Ray yelled. His wings beat frantically, the humming drowning out most of the murmuring behind him. "It's- it's... it's not!" The fit didn't last long, and his worn-down boots thumped down on the catwalk again. His shoulders sagged, and he looked smaller than ever. "Why did you lie to us?"
"There's no place for you out there."
"You just said the world has changed."
Aegis was silent for a few seconds. "Not that much. You would be hunted down."
"And you would know." Brian pushed Monica away and rose to his feet. He wasn't short, not as short as Ray, but the thin limbs made him look fragile and ill. He poked a claw in their direction, but didn't come closer. "What happened to the others? Back then, before the experiments, there was another group. Lots of women, too. Does Aperture keep them locked down here as well?"
"I never hindered you from leaving," Aegis said calmly.
The murmuring cut off before he had finished the sentence. Brian stared at him. "You- you..."
"There are many ways out of this place and you know them better than I do. If you want to leave, I can not stop you."
Brian opened his mouth in protest, and closed it again. The mantis people looked at each other, anger and fear slowly being replaced by insecurity.
"You better bring these kids back where they belong," Ray said. Chell snapped out of her thoughts when the collective attention shifted back to them. Her mind had wandered off at some point, trying to put together what she had gathered from Brian's rant. She couldn't ever ask Aegis about it, but that wasn't the only way. August Applebee might be the only one that had direct access to the old files. If she had to guess, Johnson didn't even know that. He would give them to Gladys if she asked. And Gladys just so happened to owe Chell a favor.
Wheatley squeezed her hand so hard it hurt. The danger was over, he was back to his usual goofy self. Fine with her.
Aegis turned around. "Indeed." He motioned them to follow and just started going. The crowd opened like a curtain, many launching up into the air and retreating back in the direction of their home. Even Brian stepped out of the way, giving them dirty looks from pale, but human eyes.
"The other group perished in the experiment," Aegis said. "All of them."
The mantis man's mouth turned into a hard line. "I doubt that."
"That is up to you." Wheatley tugged at Chell's arm and they hastily followed. Brian, Ray and Monica stayed behind, without saying another word.
Aegis led the two teenagers through a maze of broken-down walkways, offices, and overgrown test chambers, until they had lost all sense of direction.
Chell tried to memorize the things she saw, but everything looked roughly the same, and the numbers and letters assigned to the rooms didn't seem to have any purposeful order. There were some old picture frames and bleached photographs in which she thought to recognize a man that looked like Director Johnson, but also quite different. Robert Johnson, she presumed. Some metal signs were still in place and not faded out, but most of them were... strange, to say the least. And far too many doors had bio hazard warnings taped to them.
"It would be best for everyone not to speak of this again," Aegis said.
"So your name is Aaron?", Wheatley asked, too quick to have been thinking. Judging from his face he realized what a terrible mistake he had just made.
Aegis froze mid-step. Chell and Wheatley would have run into him, had they not kept a safe distance of fifteen feet the whole time. Now they just came to an abrupt halt. Chell shoved Wheatley behind herself, useless as it was. He didn't seem taller than her anymore, and his shaking hands on her arm didn't do much to help her stay calm.
"It's just... People have been wondering. About you. Because Aegis... that's... not... is it..."
"Aperture Employee Guardian and Intrusion System. It was an automated security set-up once, but the computer performance was rather poor. Today it's just... a meaningless title." Chell couldn't tell if she had imagined the hesitation or if it had been real. Aegis half turned around to look at them and the light from overhead gave his dark eyes an eerie golden sparkle. "But as I said, it would be best for everyone if you forgot what happened down here."
"Uh, yes, you're absolutely right, Sir, already forgotten about the mantis people, and that you know them and there are some really weird things we can't understand-" Chell stomped on his foot. Hard. The long fall boots were built to dampen exactly one direction of impact, and pressure from above wasn't part of it. Wheatley yelped and preformed an involuntary little dance, jumping around on one foot.
She probably just imagined the tiny smile flickering over Aegis' face. He turned around and continued their way back to the Aperture the students knew. Wheatley limped after him with offended puppy eyes in Chell's direction. She sighed and caught up to him, slipping her arm around his. It didn't take much longer until they reached an elevator that looked far too well-maintained to belong in this junkyard. They rode upwards in tense silence.
The glass casing gave Chell a good look over rusted pipe systems and broken down structures in the vast expenses of the salt mines. Wheatley didn't care much for it, judging from how he had wrapped an arm around her waist and tried to crush her.
They emerged in a tiny room. Chell had to suppress a sneeze when the elevator doors opened. There wasn't much to see save for a pile of dusty boxes, the stairs in the pile smoothed by spiderwebs. Wheatley gave a yelp and jumped to one side, pulling Chell with him. She needed a moment to locate the source of his distress.
A huge silver spider made a slow way across the floor, headed for the pile.
"Okay, okay, no need to panic, who's gonna deal with that?", Wheatley blubbered, even while inconspicuously hiding behind his girlfriend. Chell didn't feel much like dealing with that huge beast either, but he probably wouldn't move if she didn't.
"Annabel. So you did make it through the winter." Aegis hunkered down and the huge spider crawled onto his hand. Aegis was a grown man and his hands weren't exactly small, but the spider – Annabel – filled it completely. It even rolled up comfortably as he carried it over to the boxes.
"An old lady shouldn't walk that far," he told the spider. It stretched its long legs and carefully climbed on the dust-covered webs. Annabel paused, looking up at him, and then vanished. Aegis brushed dust off his pants and walked to the door as if nothing had happened.
Chell and Wheatley looked at each other, at him, at the door, the pile, and then at each other again. Their expressions would have been comical if they hadn't been that terrified.
Aegis opened the door and cool air rushed into the room. Judging from the light, it was already dusk. How long had they been down there?
"What are you waiting for? The spiders don't react too kindly to strangers."
Wheatley was out of the hut in three panicked leaps and Chell followed. She wasn't scared of spiders, not really, but she could think of better way to spend her time. Or to die.
Around them were trees. Trees in every direction, their branches too far up to reach. No way of telling where they could find aperture, or get lost in the woods.
Aegis walked past them without a word. They followed a trail that was barely visible in the underbrush. Spring had arrived, but the grass took its time to get through the remains of last year's vegetation. Chell was aware her hand had closed around Wheatley's like one of the maintenance claws the students rarely got to see. She couldn't do anything about it, and Wheatley didn't complain. If anything, he walked as close to her as possible.
Aperture appeared from the trees like a ghost. They approached the complex from the north, a part of Aperture's grounds Chell had never been on. The street out of the perimeter led south, to the next city, and all around were just woods, fences and probably tons of traps Johnson had laid out for intruders. They wouldn't have seen the door without the red dot of light. Aegis swiped a key card through the reader and the light turned green.
Chell entered and pulled her boyfriend along without waiting. She knew this building. The infirmary was just down the hallway.
"None of you are hurt, correct?"
Chell nodded. her hands were burning, but it was better not to cause any hold-up. "Y-yes," Wheatley confirmed.
Aegis gave them a brief nod and stalked down the hall to the main building. They followed. People did double takes as they walked by, and Alyssa dropped her note pad. She picked it up again immediately and was frantically rummaging her bag for a pen until they left her sight. So they would have to deal with that later on.
Wheatley tried to smile. It didn't look convincing. They didn't have to wait in front of the director's office. The door was open, and Johnson jumped to his feet when he saw them. Caroline gave them a warm, relieved smile.
Chell and Wheatley sat down on the visitor's chairs. The door clicked shut and they could feel the security manager's looming presence right behind them. Johnson sat down again, and folded his hands in an attempt to look calm.
"You found them. Good. What happened?"
"They fell down into sublevel fourteen, section B-713 and got stuck. I had to unlock the doors manually," Aegis reported.
"Ah, good." Johnson nodded, and didn't manage to pretend he had any idea what part of Aperture they were talking about. He pretended to be busy by shuffling some files. He had to be reading at least some of them, because his hands froze, and a frown appeared on his face.
"Did you find... anything interesting? Ethan, Michelle?"
"No, Sir. Only... there were a lot of bio hazard signs on locked doors. Not that we tried any of them," Wheatley answered. So he had noticed too.
"Ah, yeah, that stuff. The old company did some... interesting experiments down in the salt mines. Lots of dangerous stuff down there. It's safer than trying to get it anywhere else."
Chell had her doubts about that. She also had her doubts about what Wheatley intended on, but she could squeeze his hand as much as she wanted, he ignored her.
"I see, Sir. Um... what kind of experiments?"
"What, did you run into a mantis man?" Johnson let out a bellowing laugh. Caroline joined in, but it was short-lived and hollow with lack of understanding.
"That's what you kids tell each other, right? Well, it's true there were some bio-engineering experiments up until the seventies. My father was obsessed with bugs, you know? Mantises, flies, like in the movie, lots of spiders. Big spiders. I bet there's a whole colony down there." The director shook his head. "None of it ever yielded any results. At least we could prove what really is science-fiction."
"Oh. Alright."
Johnson waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Now then, you kids get yourselves cleaned up and checked. And don't pull any levers you're not supposed to, alright?"
"Yes, Sir. Thank you."
They left the office without looking back. Before the door shut, they could hear the director again, in a lower voice this time: "I still don't get why my father wanted that section untouched. We need the test chambers."
They rushed down the hallway faster than necessary. "He's gonna watch us from now on, isn't he? I can never look at a spider again without seeing a spy," Wheatley complained. Chell didn't say anything. They had gotten away. For now.
For once, the sterile whites and grays of Aperture didn't look unfriendly. It was a bleak home, but it was still home. She needed a shower or three and go to Brooke to get her hands checked. But before that, there was something else to do.
The park was empty at this hour. The other students had gathered for dinner while they had been at the director's office. Even amplified, the natural light from outside only gave the vast halls a pink and orange tint without actually illuminating much. The swings stood on the far side, near the east entrance and the gym.
After days of speculating and ever weirder rumors about the origin of the equipment, people had just moved on to their daily routine. It was uncommon, even for Aperture, but the general attention span of a crowd was short. Unrelated to that matter, the swings were more popular than anyone would admit, even among the older students.
There were three big frames lined up, four normal swings and a big one vaguely resembling a bird's nest. It was ironic that something so strongly related to Gladys's most despised animal was her resting place now.
Chell still had trouble recognizing Gladys since she had changed her hair. All the time Chell had been at this school, the Queen of Aperture had kept it in a short, practical cut. Now the silver strands fell down on her waist. Right now, it was in a high ponytail, two thin braids holding back the front strands. The Queen lay in the nest-like swing, legs crossed, and a tablet in her lap. She didn't look up, even when Chell stopped out of the swing's radius. How did she manage to stay that clean, anyway? One would think white shorts and sneakers wouldn't survive a minute, walking over grass or lying on the undoubtedly dirty plastic of the nest.
"I thought you would turn up," Gladys said eventually.
Chell didn't reply. She had sent Wheatley to take a shower, and he had gladly obliged. As far as his... "normal" self was concerned, he would not ask any more questions. That didn't mean he couldn't change his mind again. That happened every second day, for a variety of topics.
Gladys shut off the tablet and looked up to meet Chell's steel-gray eyes. The Queen smiled.
"I think I know exactly where we can start."