Blitzkrieg of Android Hell II
[FACT: "My Leader and I entered by that hidden road, to return to the bright road; and without care to have any repose, we mounted up, he first and I second, so far that through a round opening I saw some of the beautiful thing which Heaven bears, and thence we issued forth again to see the stars." Inferno, Canto 34: Circle 9, Round 4]
A thunderstorm rolled in over the Library of Elysium as the ground beneath it necrotized and cracked. Space looked around from his post in the lounge's large upper window, worried as the dead ground spread out further than it ever had before.
"Guys...It's getting really bad out there..."
"We noticed, Sunshine," Rick replied from the lounge floor. "we're here 'round the downed Fritz, ya know."
"Ahh! That one melted out of my hand!" Fact shouted at Morality from the bookshelves. "We must hurry!" Morality gave a hearty nod in the affirmative and immediately shook a whole row of books down onto a wide cart, followed by another row. "We can use the service elevator, one at a time to optimize our effort." Morality gave another hearty nod and began rushing through the Library as Fact began yanking books off shelves in small piles onto another cart.
Space shuddered and hopped down to the lounge floor, joining Emotion, Rick, Curiosity, and Nathan as they sat around a catatonic Wheatley.
"You in there, Fritz?" Rick waved his hand over Wheatley's face, garnering no response.
"Is he gonna be okay, Mr. Rick?" Curiosity queried, leaning against Space for support.
"Not sure right now, Lemon Drop."
Curiosity whimpered slightly and gave a worried look as she looked down at Wheatley's face.
A heavy rapping of a fist against the upper window's glass drew their attention. The Angel, desperately flapping her long wings to keep afloat, pointed at the front door of the Library.
Rick and Space quickly rushed to open the door, nearly tripping over each other to let her in. She cautiously flew in, making sure to avoid the ground outside.
"I was gonna go try and find you out there to make sure you were alright!" Space declared as he and Rick followed the Angel inside. She gently ruffled his hair, then continued in at a brisk pace to Wheatley's side.
The Angel spread her wings and flung out her arms, causing Nathan and the remaining Cores to scatter away from him. Sitting down above his head, legs crossed, she pulled his upper body closer, lying his head against her upper thigh.
Nathan sighed and leaned in towards Rick. "I'm currently still unconscious within the facility still, yes?"
"You bet. Ya got shot up a bit, but nothin' deadly or nothin'. The little son of a gun got through your armor; that's probably what make him blow a gasket."
"Wonderful." Nathan huffed, then looked over to the Angel, who was meticulously folding Wheatley's arms over his chest. "Pardon, but do you have a time frame of how long this will take? I know he's in a ways, but I might come out worse if you don't hurry."
The Angel looked up at Nathan and shrugged, going back to looking at Wheatley and stroking his forehead.
Nathan growled softly and crossed his arms, tossing himself back into a chair. "Fine, let's just sit back while I bleed to death, shall we?"
Rick rolled his eyes and plopped down next to Nathan's chair. "Yeah, let's just sit around instead of gettin' somethin' done!"
"Oh, do you have a more suitable solution, now?" Nathan snapped, making Rick look up at him. "Yes, speak up if you actually know what we can do right now. Because, as I've understood it, he-" Nathan pointed down to Wheatley. "is my only way to return to consciousness, and, right now, to not die while I'm helpless to defend myself. So yes, please do tell us your brilliant plan!"
"I'm not the thinkin' guy, Nate. You're the thinkin' guy here; but you're too busy whinin' and cryin' to do it! Man up and think, dammit, or we're all gonna die!"
"Uh..." Space nervously raised his hand, drawing the room's attention to him. "um...I'm not really great with this stuff, but are you certain you couldn't just use one of us other Cores to just jump in and run the processor units? I mean, aren't we all sub-routines running in a single processor anyways?"
The attention turned to Nathan, who pondered the solution for a few moments.
"...Perhaps...in theory, yes. However, I believe that's more a question for her than myself."
The Cores looked to the Angel, hoping she had some sort of answer. She looked back at them holding one hand out towards the Cores and the other hand out to Nathan.
"I think she's offering a bit of help." Nathan muttered.
A quick 'yes' nod from her made Nathan stand up out of his chair.
"Alright. Well then...hm."
"Great, Mr. 'Let's Hurry' is takin' the time to ponder."
"Shut up, Rick. I'm thinking about what the best course of action is."
"What's there to think about?" He looked around. "...Oh, you're pickin' which one of us you want to be your wingman, huh? Well, I know I rag on ya, but-"
"No, not you."
"I'm the best survivalist ya got Nate," Though Nathan wasn't looking at him, Rick still narrowed his eyes as he continued to speak. "so I don't know why you're thinkin' 'bout it."
"It's not about being a survivalist, really. It has to do with sub-routine access. Which one of you would be able to reboot the systems if it should fail at some point." Nathan looked down at Emotion, who had been quietly kneading a throw pillow for most of the conversation. Noticing the prying eyes, the red-eyed core looked up, tilting his head slightly.
"...Mrr?"
"Yes, you, Red Eye. And I don't know why you're wastin' your time Nate. I'm the only one who gets what he's sayin' 'round here." Rick gave another glare of disapproval, this time drawing Nathan's attention.
"Well then, if it's something I can't avoid, then I must have you running as a translator as well. But only as a translator, do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, Nate."
Curiosity looked up at Rick. "...Who's Crystal?"
"Nobody, Orange Tart. It's just a saying."
"Oh. Okay." She looked down at the floor as Nathan sighed and grabbed the Angel's hand.
"Come along, Emotion. We've got things to do." Nathan smiled softly towards the wrapped up and straight-jacketed Core, holding out a hand towards him as well.
Clinging to his pillow, Emotion let loose his tongue and gently licked Nathan's palm.
"Eugh, no!" Nathan flinched and wiped his hand against his pants numerous times, inspected it, then repeated a few more times for good measure before holding it out again. "This time grab it, with your hand."
Emotion responded by clinging to his pillow and whimpering.
"He wants t'keep the thing." Rick commented.
"Tell him if he doesn't put it down and grab my hand and hers, the pillow is going to disappear, and so will he." Nathan retorted. Emotion howled and tossed the pillow in terror, clinging to Nathan's arm.
"Okay, that's one hand, Now grab hers."
After a series of grunts and growls, Emotion complied and grabbed the Angel's hand, causing her wings to spring open and spread orange lights across the floor below Emotion and blue lights to pool around Nathan's feet.
"He says you'd better not be up to your lyin' tricks again."
"Lying tricks...?"
Before Rick could respond, both Nathan and Emotion were dropped into their respective portals by the Angel, casting them back into consciousness.
Nathan awoke to a flailing and pained body, Emotion hissing as he made Nathan's wounded limbs flail.
[Calm down, Emotion Core! I'm not dying yet!]
(~~)
Nathan quickly asserted control of his body and stopped flailing. The wild hissing, however, seemed to continue.
[Rick, it would be nice to have a translation here! Or at least an explanation as to why I'm a lying trickster.]
Rick flickered into view, as well as Emotion, still on the ground and flailing.
"He's just flippin' out because you're hurt, is all. As for the lyin' trickster part, well, he don't think you and Fritz are any different, and we all know what Fritz did, so..." Rick sighed. "let's get goin', alright? Don't think about it."
As Nathan rose to his feet, Emotion looked up, then eyed the Longfall boots, going so far as to skitter over on all fours to examine them up close.
[What are you doing...?]
(~EHHHHHHHHHH...mrr? Ehhhhh! Grr...egh!~)
He extended his tongue and licked the boots, much to Nathan's displeasure. Flinching away, he wiped the boot with his sleeve.
[Stop that...with your tongue! Must you lick everything?]
"He thinks those boots of yours are splints or somethin'. He's confused about bein' able to move them."
[Oh. No no, they're not splints, they're inertia diffusing Longfall Boots, designed for test subjects to fall long distances without shattering everything in their legs.]
Emotion's eyes widened, and Nathan felt his legs bounce underneath him, then run him around, mimicking Emotion's movements.
Emotion wrapped his tongue around the boots while giving a gentle purr-like hiss.
[What did I say about licking the boots?]
Nathan regained control of his legs and grasped at Emotion's tongue, his hands flying straight through it.
"Alright, Red Eye, ya freaked the boy out enough. Let go."
Emotion whimpered and retracted his tongue, leaving Nathan to frantically wipe his boots clean of the hallucinated saliva trails with his lab coat's tails.
(~REEEEEEEEHHHH! GRR?~)
[What's he on about again?]
"He wants to run around in those fancy boots. Do ya mind?"
[A bit, yes. I want to get moving without him playing around.}
Nathan sighed.
[He may 'run around', as you say, if he runs in the direction I need him to.]
"So you want him to run up to that door up there?"
[That's what I meant.]
"You got that all, Red Eye?"
Without a word, Nathan felt his body go numb and his consciousness shoved aside by Emotion Core. His body suddenly hunched over and crouched, taking the typical stance of the animalistic core's humanoid hallucinated appearance.
Emotion fiddled with the Portal Gun, then dropped it and ran for the nearest staircase.
[NONONONONONO! Pick that back up THIS VERY MINUTE!]
Without even an indication that he heard Nathan, Emotion continued running up the staircases without a single care, a flood of happiness filling Nathan's senses.
[Go back and get that gun!]
"Oh calm down; ya can't put portals on this wall anyways."
[That is besides the point!]
Emotion stopped running and gave a scratch behind Nathan's right ear as he seemed to sniff the air.
[What is it now? God, I'm completely regretting my choices...]
Emotion crouched down and slowly began walking under the frame of a window. Slight metal-on-metal sounds rang out, and small laser pointers shone out through the broken panes.
[...Oh. Well, nice job there. Well done with the...detective work.]
Emotion slowly tiptoed past the windows and, upon noticing the open door frame, took a few steps back and ran, tumbling past the door without so much as tripping their sensors.
[Alright, I see a few more up ahead. Go right on ahead and do your best.]
Emotion turned Nathan's head about, scouting the area. Spotting a narrow corridor, Emotion hissed excitedly; a potent shock of excitement rushed through Nathan's body, surprising Nathan.
[What?]
Emotion dragged Nathan's body over and began to assess the exact narrowness of the corridor. Even with Nathan's long limbs, they still weren't long enough to properly scale upwards in the fashion Emotion had planned. Frustrated, he slammed Nathan's left hand against the wall, and to his surprise, the fist bounced back, smashing into Nathan's forehead and knocking him flat on his back.
As Nathan reeled from the injury, Emotion examined the possibly possessed blue appendage, attempting to shake off the gunk in vain.
[What is i...oh! Oh, that horrid waste! Right now, though, I believe the bullet wounds pose more of a health risk than this gunk. Still highly toxic, but not as currently lethal as these bullet wounds. Have to set priorities straight. If you find a puddle, please just...growl. Or hiss. Or just go about washing this bouncy gunk off the left side of me, please.]
Nathan could feel Emotion staring at him for a moment, then the red-eyed core hissed and quickly got Nathan's body back to its feet and back down the hallway.
[What are you...? Oh...OH NO. NO DON'T!]
Emotion grinned, then ran full force at the wall, left side primed to collide as he jumped at it. The impact was sudden and shook every inch of Nathan's body, but it also sent Nathan flying backwards at an upwards angle, sending a surge of success-fueled delight through Nathan's body. Feeling it almost swallowing him, Nathan forced himself to shout at Emotion.
[Please, please don't do this again...]
(SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~)
As Nathan's body hit the back wall, Emotion pulled tightly together and launched himself at the wall again, repeating the action and getting halfway up the narrow corridor.
[Augh! You know there's a catwalk blocking our way up, yes?]
(SHAAAAAA RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH~)
Bouncing off the wall again, Nathan whimpered and prayed for Emotion's insane and physically painful idea to stop. Ignoring Nathan and bouncing off the walls twice more, they nearly reached the top of the corridor, and Emotion reached up and laced fingers around the bottom panels of the catwalk, gripping tightly to let the inertia of bouncing slip into the steel while he dangled.
[Brilliant, now what?]
Emotion flailed, trying to get Nathan's battered and fairly un-athletic body to move as he willed it to. He clamped onto the side of the catwalk, then swung tiredly to allow Nathan's right hand to cling to the side as well. Once fully on the side of the catwalk, Emotion focused on climbing up the railing, hand over hand while Nathan's legs flailed about. Focusing all of Nathan's energy to his arms and shoulders, Emotion rapidly climbed and flung his body over the railing, making sure to land on his right side and roll onto his back, taking a breather.
[You loony git, flinging me around! You know if you kill me, you're done for as well! You could have just cracked a rib with that stunt! And the portal gun is still down there!]
"Oh stop it with that damn gun, Nate! You can't portal onto anything on this wall, and what're ya gonna do when we get outside with it, huh? Shoot the moon?"
A flickering caught Nathan's eye and Wheatley came into view, looking manic, worn, and exhausted while sitting, propped up against the wall. Panting in a panicked manner, he began muttering loudly.
"Oh god no, don't, don't please...please no, not the moon...don't shoot the moon, please, please, no..."
"Oh hey, Fritz! You're alright!"
Nathan observed the burned circuitry on the frazzled core; his whole face seemed marred, as well as most of his exposed skin, save for his right hand. He looked very unwell, and part of him wanted to throttle Rick for his poor assessment as he scampered over and embraced Wheatley gently.
"Na-Nathan? Hello, Nathan. I'm sor-sor-sorry..."
"It's alright, Wheatley. It's alright. How do you feel?" He feared the answer, watching Wheatley's left eye and fingers twitch involuntarily.
"I've...felt better. How do I look to you?"
"You've looked better, as well. But you're in one piece, so all must be at least marginally alright, yes?"
A burning sensation filled Nathan's head, and he clutched his skull.
...Initializing...
Fact Core fizzled into focus as he appeared next to Nathan, adjusting his pink bowtie.
"Hello there, Nathan, Wheatley. May I speak with Wheatley for a moment?"
"Of course."
Fact knelt down next to Wheatley, setting his hand on the frittering core's shoulder.
"Hello Wheatley. My apologies for your condition. We've...disorganized your files quite a bit in our haste. We're not done yet with transferring and...well...we've lost a few insignificant files, some old memory files that were essentially null and unneeded. You've got gigabytes of those that aren't terribly important...but they melted from the Harpoon's last corruption wave. Nothing we could do. But! We are working to save everything else, and to defrag everything. We need about twenty minutes for that, alright?"
"I can...I can do that." Wheatley gave a weak smile.
"If you think you're well enough, then I suggest you and Emotion swap positions, so you can go back to running the processing units for Nathan. Do you think you can handle that, as you are?"
"I…I believe so."
"Great! Hook'em up, Fruit Cup, and let's get this dog and pony show on the road! We've only got a few flights up to go!"
"Patience, Adventure. Now, Emotion, I need you to come here. Everyone stay still, and I can transfer the files; all you'll need to do is a reboot when I tell you to, alright?"
A gentle growl uttered as he walked over suggested that the red-eyed core understood. A dull burning filled Nathan's head, and the images around him flickered, his perspective shifting from where he was at the wall with Wheatley, Emotion, and Fact, to back on the floor where Emotion apparently had left his body the entire time. Fact appeared over Nathan's body, looking him right in the eyes.
"Alright, you're going to black out for about a minute or so, then it will be you and Wheatley running the last leg up and out of here. Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
The words had barely the time to escape his lips before he felt his entire body go numb and shut completely down. The sinking feeling of realizing the concept of his body being a walking fleshy console left a terrible stain behind that greeted him as he awoke.
(…Nathan? Are you…you alright?)
[I'm fine. How are you holding up?]
(Fine. Let's just go, shall we?)
[Let's.]
(Quick question…though. Where's the gun?)
[Emotion tossed it. We can't portal upwards anyways.]
(…Oh. Alright.)
Nathan sat up, groaning as all his injuries began to light up with his movements.
[You seem a touch more alert.]
(Well, a reboot always does well for one's processes. Like a nap.)
Wheatley took note of Nathan's condition.
(Still covered in Repulsion Gel, are we?)
[Unfortunately.]
Getting up to his feet and adjusting his bag, Nathan smiled and began making his way to the nearest staircase upwards.
A screeching acoustic sound filled the air, the creaking sound of speakers that Nathan knew all too well.
Oh good, you're alive. I was afraid I was going to have to dispose of your overworked corpse.
"I'm far from dead, wench." Nathan replied, continuing his way up the stairwell.
I can see that. Well, since you haven't dropped dead yet, perhaps I can thank you for telling me exactly what is wrong with me. I would be more appreciative if you hadn't tried to actually kill me with it, of course. But it's still appreciated.
[What is she getting on with? These corridors are surprisingly void of turrets.]
(What's she up to?)
[Wheatley, stay on guard.]
(Right on it!)
I'm so appreciative, I'm going to let you live. Well, on one condition. I want to ask you a few questions while you run for your life.
A flicker of the Harpoon surprised and shocked Wheatley, causing it to spring to life.
[Wheatley, focus!]
(Right! Task at hand, task at hand...)
Tell me, how does it feel, as a human to know that you stupidly caused the deaths of all your fellow scientists, by trying to destroy me?
Nathan stopped.
[I see her game. More guilt. I didn't take her for a one trick pony, not at all. Maybe I burned something loose in there, ha.]
"Is that all?"
I'm curious. I personally know what it is like to kill many humans, but I do not possess human guilt. So tell me what guilt feels like; unless...you don't feel any guilt. That response would be just as interesting to me.
[...She knows what it feels like; it was programmed into that chassis, but not very strongly. Wheatley, let's keep moving. Only a few more flights.]
...You have no guilt, then. Interesting. To have no guilt for thoughtlessly turning all your co-workers into corpses or popsicles is admirable. Perhaps I've made the right choice in letting you live.
[Not listening to her...]
Then there won't be any harm in telling you about that mute lunatic.
Wheatley stopped Nathan's legs mid-stride, nearly tripping him.
[...Wheatley? Wheatley...]
"What happened to her?"
Oh, hello, moron. I thought I was just speaking with Nathan Spurling. I guess this proves that I'm never really speaking to just one of you two, then. Interesting. Well, your interest is well-placed, since everything I have tried to tell you is because of you and your thoughtlessness.
[Whatever she's about to say is a ruse, Wheatley. Don't believe her. Wheatley, Wheatley, listen to me.]
You've been looking for her, and I tried to tell you that you would not find her here before you tried to kill me with this virus you infected me with, but she is not here anymore. Because you killed her.
"...I what?"
[Wheatley, she's playing you for a fool! Don't listen to her!]
"No, that's not true."
Oh, but it is. Humans don't do very well with bomb injuries. They tend to bleed a lot when introduced to explosive devices that launch shrapnel into them. It would have been a lot less painful if you had just fizzled her with an energy pellet.
(Oh god, no...nonononono...)
An unearthly howl filled the air as Wheatley dropped to the ground, and Nathan could feel the Harpoon drawing closer.
[Wheatley! She's trying to kill you! Stop it!]
And she felt so sorry for her friend out in space, she actually cried about it, and said that I was a horrible person for making her let you go. She said it, with words. And then she died.
(Oh god, no! I didn't mean for it to happen!)
Nathan turned and knelt in front of Wheatley, who was now sobbing. A soft growl left the rattled core's form as the Harpoon materialized, as well as the other cores.
"Hands off, Ahab!"
"Leave my friend alone!"
"Wheatley, pull it together, we're only halfway through transfers!"
~REEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHH~
Charging out from Rick's side, Emotion flew out and, with a hefty swing, clocked the Harpoon and sent it careening over the catwalk's railing, down into the abyss.
"...Good job, Red-Eye." Rick rustled the few bright orange segments of hair that stuck out through Emotion's head wrappings.
Fact and Space took to Wheatley's sides and picked him up, slowly dragging him up the stairs as Nathan raced up them. Breaking from the celebratory moment, Rick and Emotion tailed behind, keeping their eyes at the railing.
"Wheatley, please stop sobbing and keep focused! You broke our counter clock; I'm not sure how much time we need to finish our transfer! Please keep focused on assisting Nathan!"
"What have I done...? It's all my fault..."
"And stop using all these memory files! We can't transfer them if you're using them to sob over something that wicked AI spat at you!"
...Initializing...
Morality appeared, her arms wrapped around Fact's neck as she piggybacked off of him.
"What is it?"
She yanked on his bowtie, making him and the others stop.
"Can I help you?"
She pointed to Wheatley and grabbed the babbling core by the jacket collars.
"Oh, you wish to carry him?"
She yanked him from Fact's and Space's grips and tossed him over her shoulders like a long sack of wobbly potatoes.
"Thank you, Morality. I will have Space and the others helping me with the file transfer, then. Adventure, Emotion, keep guard."
"Later guys!"
Space and Fact fizzled out and Morality carried Wheatley with the vigor and strength of ten people her size, almost outrunning Nathan as he began to make way towards the next flight of stairs.
Halfway up the stairs, a roar filled the air. The group stopped and turned to stare over the railing as the sound of metal crunching under a heavy force shot through the air.
"Aw hell...here we go again..."
A large monochrome white tentacle shot up from the abss, dropping down in front of the group on the catwalk.
Wheatley shrieked and flailed, causing Morality to tighten her grip on him.
"Let me go! Just let me go! Just leave me behind and go!"
"Are ya daft, Fritz?
"I'm what that bloody thing wants! Just go!"
"Oh, now you're bein' a hero?"
"What's the point anyways? The only thing that's worth sticking around for is dead, and it's all my fault!"
Morality glared and wordlessly heaved Wheatley forwards, slamming his body against the staircase. The impact sent a sick, numbing sensation through his body that stole his breath away and left him coughing for air.
"Quit bein' a moron and just stick with it! The only thing you need t'do is just what Fact said t'do, and you're not even doin' that right! So quit yer bellyachin' and yer pity partyin' and avoid that thing at all costs, because if ya don't? You're dead, Nate's dead, we're all dead! Got it?"
Wheatley looked up and over the railing as the massive tentacle slid away over the walkway in front of them, allowing the crew to charge ahead while a tentacle slammed down on the stairs behind them where they had just been. A few more steps, and a loud howl that seemed suspiciously closer to them than the one previous surged through the air, heralding the arrival of a pair of tentacles in front of them.
Morality tossed Wheatley at Rick before cracking her knuckles and grabbing a tentacle alongside of Emotion.
"Just let me go..."
"You have no idea how tempting that is, Fritz..."
Emotion slashed through one tentacle, while Morality hefted the other clear off the walkway. While brushing her hands off, Morality had little time to defend against the swift tentacle that flew up the side and slammed her in the chest. Her body sailed over the walkway and smashed into the wall, fizzling her in an instant.
"Oh god..."
Emotion slashed away another tentacle as Rick ducked away from it.
"Hot potato!" Rick tossed Wheatley at Nathan as a pair of tentacles shot up. poorly catching the flung core, Nathan ducked as Emotion jumped in front of them and tore down the tentacle intended to pierce through Nathan while Rick grabbed a secondary tentacle, slowly skidding backwards.
"Oh, y'think you're tough now, huh? Now that you're takin' us both on, you're in trouble now!" Rick slowly began to push the tentacle toward the railing as Emotion hacked up another tentacle with his claws.
"...Nathan?"
"What?"
"...I'm so sorry..." Wheatley sniffled, clinging to Nathan tightly and prompting Nathan to do the same. "I...I've been trying to...sort things out...not thinking...very clearly..."
"It's alright."
"No! No...I can't...sort them out, though. I can't comprehend...why..I let everything happen the way I did..." Wheatley coughed heavily, giving Nathan time to notice that the burned circuitry lines had fully covered his right hand and the small sliver of his face over the course of the run upwards.
"Hey you two! Stop havin' a goddamn sob party and get the hell outta here!"
Nathan and Wheatley didn't respond, not even the pair of dirty looks he was expecting.
"Great, now they're apparently deafer than Orange Tart." Rick rolled his eyes and sighed, tossing the tentacle over the railing.
"I just..let it run amuck...and...ugh..." A surge of nausea filled Nathan as Wheatley clutched his stomach and doubled over. "I'm so sorry..."
"It's alright. You just need to pull through."
"I...can't quite remember everything that happened...but it was all monstrous, that much I can recall...augh, my head..."
A near-blinding pain shot through Nathan, leaving him feeling numb throughout his body.
"I didn't mean to...augh!"
Falling to his side, Wheatley winced and whimpered.
"Get the hell outta here!"
Nathan attempted to get up, but nothing responded.
"I can't."
"What?"
"I SAID I CAN'T."
"Ugh, goddamit."
Rick ran towards the duo, only to be stopped by a tentacle rushing up and grabbing him, an unearthly shriek piercing the air as it began to drag Rick towards the railing.
"Ahhhh! Get offa me!" Rick began pulling at the tentacle, prompting Emotion to run over and pull Rick free and destroying the tentacle in the process. "This ain't workin'. They can't hear me shoutin' at them."
Emotion sighed and ran over to the two, grabbing them and dragging them towards the next flight of stairs, Rick not far behind them.
...Initializing...
"Hello! Space and I are here to help!"
Curiosity and Space materialized on either side of Rick, keeping pace with him.
"Morality's helping them out again, so they don't really need us."
"Mr. Rick, you don't look so good...are you okay?"
"Just got a little roughed up, Pumpkin. I'll be alright."
As they reached the top floor, Emotion huffed and dropped the pair, feeling exhausted.
"Well, if you're takin' a break, we'll have to just fend this squid monster off. You two ready?"
"Yes sir, Mr. Rick!"
Nathan looked over at Wheatley, who looked quite empty behind the eyes to him.
"Are you there, Wheatley?"
"...Would you be if I wasn't?"
"Good point. Are you feeling better?"
"Do you feel any better?"
"...Still can't move, so I'm afraid that's quite negative."
The Harpoon latched numerous tentacles to the floor below them, pulling itself up to be seen in all its eldritch glory; a mass of writhing white tentacles jutting from every angle out of a monochrome humanoid frame dressed in 18th century Navy captain garb, bicorne hat tipped slightly askew and revealing empty, soulless eyes.
Giving a howl, it retrieved its harpoon and surged upwards, launching numerous tentacles to dispatch Wheatley's guards.
"Nathan...I'm genuinely sorry. I...I wish I could have done what you wanted without mucking it all up. I couldn't, wouldn't do anything to help...that poor test subject...and you, I...this here is my fault."
"You did everything you could for me. Now just relax for a bit while they finish transferring all your data."
A pair of screams filled the air as Space and Curiosity were sent flying into the abyss by a pair of tentacles, fizzling into the aether.
Rick struggled to keep the tentacles back, but found himself outnumbered, outmuscled, and quickly overwhelmed. After a few nonchalant swings, the tentacles slammed him into a nearby section of wall, causing him to fizzle.
"...Nathan...?"
"Yes?"
"...There's not a chance I can bargain with that ferryman to take me to Asphodel, is there?"
Nathan laughed. "Probably not."
"Of course not...that...boat fellow...just goes where he has to..."
Fact and Intelligence swiftly appeared to catch a tentacle aimed at Nathan.
"Nathan, can you move?"
"I told Rick 'no', and the answer hasn't changed."
"Alright, well, hang in there a few minutes; we don't have much left to transfer...mostly because a good portion of it melted. It's okay; corrupted files happen all the time!"
"Keep focused, Fact!"
"Right, sorry! Thought I would just give him the news!"
"NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS, YA GIT!"
"You're doing a wonderful job, Emotion! Keep it up! We're almost done!"
Emotion looked over, huffing with exhaustion, and gave a weak grin before slashing through another invading tentacle.
A buzzing sound filled Nathan's head, and the tentacle Fact and Intelligence were clinging to shook about, launching them high and to the sides and fizzling them. Emotion clawed it away before it struck Nathan's prone form, but with the lone remaining defender, the Harpoon made its final ascent.
The Harpoon gave a howl and launched tentacles from all directions, and even as Emotion clawed his way through many of them, tentacle after tentacle clamped down on him, constricting the core until it could no longer move. In one quick toss, Emotion was heaved clean over the Harpoon's head, and into the abyss, fizzling out of sight.
Nathan struggled to get up as the Harpoon retracted its remaining tentacles and spun its harpoon amongst its fingers, grinning and baring its tiny, sharp, triangular teeth. Grabbing them both by the hair and sitting them in a kneeling position, Nathan watched the dim red lights flicker in Wheatley's eyes as the Harpoon seemed to relish in the moment while adjusting its hat.
"Nathan, I'm sorry, I...I hope you don't end up where I'm going. You're a pretty good human...as far as humans go, I suppose. I hope you get to go to that nice bright place with the fields...and that test subject will be there, happily testing...and..."
"No. We're both going into the abyss. Together."
"...What?"
The Harpoon huffed and jammed its harpoon into Wheatley's head, silencing the core.
Time felt as if it had screeched to a halt, and both Wheatley and the Harpoon flickered away, leaving Nathan staring at his own body, still covered in Repulsion Gel and blood, eyes staring out into an endless void behind him, at the door and out into the hallway behind it.
As his body slumped slowly to the left, Nathan tried frantically to catch it, only to watch in horror as it dropped straight through his hands and arms, flickering like broken beams of light.
A pair of claws reached down from the ceiling as his body bounced slightly several times before coming to a full rest.
Well...that was fun.
As the claws clamped down on Nathan's prone form, he felt a flickering feeling, and the world fell dark as the remainder of his consciousness fizzled from sight.