Reconstructing Humanity
Come Out and Play
Lil's eyes fluttered as the mechanical humming woke her up. She didn't know if she wanted to open her eyes or not. In her mind, the place was a bad dream. Lil was hoping that when she opened her eyes, she'd be back in her apartment in her big bed. She was hoping the dinging noise she was hearing was her alarm clock telling her it's time to get up and get Angie ready for school. Lil was hoping that she'd wake up and everything would be normal. She wouldn't be trapped in a clear box or wearing odd boots or an orange jumpsuit.
No, this was all a bad dream. Being kidnapped and taken to this place was all a very bad dream. It just had to be. She knew she'd wake up soon to hear Angie and Wheatley arguing over the toy prize in the bottom of the cereal box with the brightly colored sugary pieces of Styrofoam the food industry often claimed were marshmallows. Lil knew she'd wake up to the sound of Angie's annoying cartoons that Wheatley seemed to enjoy more than Angie. This little flicker of hope Lil had made her open her eyes.
She didn't see her apartment. She didn't see P-Body handing her a cup of coffee or ATLAS pretending to read the newspaper. She didn't see Wheatley greet her with his usual goofy grin or Angie putting her school uniform on. No, all she saw was clear glass walls. Lil sat up slowly and rubbed her head.
Wherever her glass box was, it was dark. Lil wasn't sure what time it was or how long she had been asleep. She assumed the weird fog from before was some type of sleeping gas because she wasn't dead. "Okay, Lil…" she murmured as she stood up. "Just stay calm. You have to stay calm." She kept murmuring to herself. "Granted, I have no idea where I am or what's going on. The important thing is to not panic. I'm sure whatever it is that took you can sense fear…" Lil rubbed her head and looked around.
"You know, they say talking to yourself is a sign of deeper anxiety." said a frighteningly familiar voice. Lil looked around and leaned against the odd bed. It was the same voice as before, the one that belonged to the horrifying machine with the yellow eye. "What is troubling you, Test Subject? You can talk to me, I won't hurt you. I can't promise the events planned for today won't, though." Lil could swear she heard the voice cackle a bit. Lil looked around, trying to figure out where she was. Outside the clear box was nothing but darkness. For all she knew she was probably in a basement or deep underground. Both assumptions would be semi-right.
"Defiant…just like your mother was. You know, she caused me quite a bit of grief. But even she acknowledged my existence. Now, Test Subject, talk. What is troubling you?" the voice was insistent.
Lil balled up her fists and looked at the ceiling. "Where do I begin, Omnipotent Voice?" Lil yelled. "My home is in ruins like most of the city I'm sure; I've been kidnapped by a crazed robot, and when I wake up I discover I'm in a box wearing different clothes! What's worse, I have no idea what's happened to my sister or my…" Lil stopped herself.
"Or your what, Test Subject?" asked the voice.
Lil blushed and looked away. Though, she wasn't sure what she was looking away from. "You and that Idiot…ha ha ha…I know the nature of your relationship with the former Intelligence Dampening Sphere. I know a lot of things, Test Subject." the voice's sarcastic laughter caught Lil's attention. She wasn't sure what the voice meant by "Intelligence Dampening Sphere", though.
"He's not an idiot…he just…lacks common sense and things just go over his head…" Lil defended.
"So, he is an idiot then? Because what you just described was an idiot." said the voice as the box started to move again. "You're in love with an idiot. You had relations with an idiot. If I hadn't taken you, you would have more than likely married that idiot and made tinier idiots. You're probably carrying one of his idiot spawn right now."
Lil blushed with a terrified look on her face, placing her hands on her lower stomach. "And they alone will bring down the already low learning curve of [SUBJECT HOMETOWN HERE]. No matter, though. We'll take care of it if that is the case. I doubt it, though. He's too stupid to do something that convoluted. You don't show any of the signs. Of course, it is hard to tell with your body structure. So lumpy compared to your mother. She wasn't a supermodel, but at least she kept herself in shape. Look at you; your posterior is…"
"Okay, I'm a little chubby, thank you!" shouted Lil, covering her behind. The voice went silent for a moment. "Now, who are you? Why am I here? Why did you kidnap me? I'm sure it wasn't to insult my body structure or my taste in men or compare me to my mother because I already have a lot of people doing that back home! Now, if we're done, let me go!" Nothing but silence. Lil sighed and sat on her weird bed. "I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Things rarely are for me." Lil murmured. "Well, if you aren't going to let me go, at least tell me your name. I think I have at least that right to know who's keeping me here."
Lil would get no such satisfaction. She only heard the buzzing of the lights and the mechanical hum of the surroundings. Lil looked around her glass box again and sighed. She gripped the side of her bed tightly, trying not to lose her cool. It was impossible, seeing as she was trapped in a box. Lil's patience with the voice and the prolonged silence was already thin. "Look, tell me who you are! I'm not doing anything until you tell me who you are and why you brought me here!" Lil shouted to the ceiling.
"You aren't exactly in a position to make demands, Test Subject." said the voice after a prolonged silence. The voice sounded angry and Lil could almost feel the seething anger resonating from the speakers. "Let's get a few things straight before we begin our sitcom-esque partnership. You are not going anywhere unless I say so. You belong to me, just as she did. You will do what you are told without question. Any form of resistance will result in punishment. Refusal to do the tests will result in termination. If you are what I need, I will keep you. If not, then I will kill you and find another. Your sister looks like she could grow into a fine replacement…"
Lil looked up at the ceiling as her clear box room came to a stop. "You leave Angie out of this!" Lil shouted.
"Then we have an agreement, Test Subject?" the voice asked again. Lil sighed and nodded.
Lil wasn't one to give up easily, but seeing as she was in a clear box in an unknown location at the moment, she didn't have any other options. Lil relented and hung her head. "Yes, I'll do as you say just…just don't harm my sister. Or Wheatley or the Androids. They have nothing to do with this; it's obviously me you want. I'll do as you say."
A dinging noise came over the loud speaker as Lil's box docked and one side of the box opened. "Oh, they have more to do with this than you know, Test Subject. But we'll save that for a later time. Today, your testing begins and I see if you are what I hope you are. If you are, I have big plans for you. I originally planned it for your mother, but seeing as she had to die like the selfish brat she was, I had to mess with my plans a bit to fit you. But you should be honored. Now…"
The room lit up and Lil found herself facing another wall. This time, there was a panel in the wall just below what looked like a timer. "I have to finish getting this first test ready for you. It's been so long since I've prepared a beginner's test, it's almost…" the voice sounded choked up. Lil was a bit creeped out but it. "You might want to finish your rest. It will be a bit before it is ready. The relaxation bed is timed along with the timer on the wall. It will wake you up a minute before the test begins. If you don't want to sleep, then you have plenty of reading material in the nightstand."
Lil looked around and sighed. She had no other choice. Whatever this thing wanted, Lil had no choice but to do it. She didn't know where Wheatley and Angie or the Androids were, she just hoped they were safe. Lil leaned against the weird bed and sat on the floor.
She looked up at the ceiling and tried not to cry. "Wheatley…Angie…please be safe…"
Meanwhile, Miles Above
"Shine a light over here!" shouted Wheatley, moving debris out of the way. It took a bit of trial and error, but Wheatley had led the group down the right hallway finally. ATLAS and P-Body had their eye flashlights on as they meandered around the long abandoned building.
Angie stayed close to Wheatley as he kicked and pulled debris out of the way. "Mr. Wheatley, where are we going?" she finally asked after keeping quiet.
Wheatley looked down at the scared child and sighed. "I don't know if I can tell you this in a way you'll understand, Tiny Human, but I'll try my hardest." Wheatley cleared his throat and let ATLAS take over debris removal for now. "Tiny Human, this old building is where someone very bad took Lil. It's up to us to get her back. Now, deep below this building is a place that is very dangerous. Normally, I would never, ever, EVER take you to somewhere that dangerous, but we're out of options. So, just stay close to me. If I'm right, there should be a lift or something around here to take us to the real complex."
Angie wasn't sure what Wheatley was talking about, but she nodded anyway. Wheatley looked up as ATLAS chattered something. Wheatley translated it as "Look out!" and grabbed Angie before dodging a giant piece of fallen ceiling that ATLAS hurled in their direction. "You could have killed us, you bloody maniac!" Wheatley shouted, putting Angie down.
ATLAS pointed down a hallway excitedly. Wheatley squinted and smiled. "Good, we are going in the right direction. There is an elevator that can take us to the real facility, but it's took risky, so that's out of the question. I think there were some offices around here with a maintenance area entrance. " Wheatley decided to lead the way down the all too familiar hallway. He felt he had done this millions of times before and watched as the phantoms of another time walked around as well. People in suits and lab coats all around him talking or going about their business, not realizing they were ghosts. Wheatley wondered if he was the only was seeing them.
The hallway was longer than he remembered (or thought he remembered anyway). Wheatley looked forward the entire time, fighting back an urge to run toward the elevator, as if he were late for something. He thought he heard running and moved to the side. He watched as a phantom of himself ran as fast as he could toward the end of the hall. Wheatley stopped and blinked. ATLAS urged him on.
A little ways ahead, Wheatley saw a sliding double doorway that said "Office Personnel Only". He wasn't surprised to see some of the paint from those letters chipping off. Vegetation looked like it was attempting to claim these offices, but Wheatley figured GLaDOS's constant reconstruction was keeping any new plants from growing. Though he wasn't really surprised by the crumbling walls, the building had indeed seen better days. "The labs were below ground, mostly to keep the public from knowing the truth. This building was a front. Offices and such, to keep prying eyes happy, I guess."
Wheatley wasn't surprised to see the door wasn't working. P-Body walked in front of them and yanked a panel off the wall. She chattered something to Wheatley and started playing with the wires in the wall. "She said there might be a slight chance GLaDOS can sense us messing around up here. Though pretty unlikely, but we still need to keep caution. Just because she's ignored the above offices for years doesn't mean she won't be on the lookout for us."
Angie watched as P-Body worked her magic. "Now, somewhere around here there should be a maintenance entrance. A utility closet or something of that nature. We'll need to find it." Wheatley finished his sentence just as the doors groaned and slid open. "Brilliant, Love!" Wheatley shouted happily as P-Body smiled over her handy work. ATLAS did a quick scan of the floor and noted that it was safe.
P-Body held Angie's hand tightly as they looked around the dark office. Wheatley broke off from the group and started strolling down a separate hallway. He recognized this area as the executive hallway and the phantoms went from normal office dwellers to fine suited executives. The doorway at the end of the hall looked like one he had walked into plenty of times before. The nameplate was missing, but he knew exactly where he was…
This chair seemed to be Wheatley's best friend. He had been to this office countless times and sat on the opposite side of the desk more than he'd like to remember. Wheatley noted in his head that when someone tells you not to press something, you DO NOT PRESS IT. The clean-up crew wearing gas masks and the coughing employees were testament to that now. This wasn't the first time his curiosity had gotten him into trouble and one could bet it wouldn't be the last. Wheatley bet he had sat in this chair more times than any visiting investor (or investigator, whatever the occasion called for).
Beside the desk was a hallowed out companion cube with a hole in the front. Inside, a sleeping dog whined and tried to make itself comfortable. Wheatley didn't like the long waits in Caroline's office. He especially didn't like her dog that she just had to keep in her office with her. Every time Wheatley went into her office for whatever reason, the dog attacked him (to his knowledge, he was the only one the dog would attack). Nothing too damaging, though Wheatley often left the office with half a pant leg missing.
Today, the dog was sleeping so he might have had a glimmer of hope. Wheatley often wondered if the dog picked up on Caroline's emotions, as he would bark loudly if she was mad or became a whining sweetheart when she was feeling good. He stopped wondering that when he heard the office door open slowly and Miss Caroline's heels tapping on the floor. She seemed to be talking to someone wearing a haz-mat mask. "Yes, thank you very much for your help with the clean-up. We'll send your checks to the usual place."
Wheatley swallowed hard and played with his tie. He wondered if everyone else knew this was his fault. He constantly wondered how Caroline always knew. Caroline walked slowly to her desk and sat down after plopping a file on her already overloaded desk. Despite everything, Caroline was always organized.
"Now, Mr. Pendleton, no one is blaming you for accidently pressing the experimental emergency neurotoxin release button." Caroline started. "Now we know not to keep it in such a convenient location. So, the bright side of all of this is the experiment was a success. Since you're technically still in our systems as an intern, you legally can't be held responsible for any of the aftermath. We're just thankful you helped get everyone out of the labs before any permanent damage could be done."
Wheatley swallowed hard and nodded as Caroline continued. "Mr. Johnson would prefer not to write up this accident in the reports because we have to send those to the federal offices. If they saw something like this, not only would it be our jobs, but it'd be your head, Mr. Pendleton. I still have to put it in your file, though; for future reference." That last statement frightened Wheatley enough to rub his neck. "So, be sure to keep your head out of the clouds, Mr. Pendleton. You won't be an intern in our systems much longer."
Caroline noted that Wheatley only nodded. Usually, he tried to defend himself with mindless chatter. Caroline sighed softly and got up. Call it women's intuition, but Caroline could sense this little SNAFU wasn't what was occupying Wheatley's thoughts. She had heard the news and even cleared the papers for his emergency leave. But having known grief herself, Caroline knew it was an unpleasant feeling. She would be lying if she told anyone she didn't miss the happy-go-lucky, inane bantering, always smiling Wheatley.
She walked over to Wheatley and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Mr. Pendleton, I know things have been hard for you since your girlfriend died, but things will look up soon. She'd be proud of you today and every day for all that you've done to help us here at Aperture. Just remember, if you need anyone to talk to, my door is always open for you."
Just hearing Caroline say that made Wheatley smile, which was probably the first proper smile he's made in a while. He knew Caroline was sincere, and not just because she doubled as the company grief counselor. Wheatley nodded his thank you as Caroline patted his shoulder.
"I'll write up the report and file it away. After that, you can get back to your desk. No one needs to know it was you who pressed the button. I won't tell Mr. Johnson, I promise." As Caroline started for her desk again, she heard Wheatley yelp and a growling noise on the floor. Her dog had Wheatley's pant leg again. "Buddy! No! Bad dog!"
Wheatley felt himself fighting the urge to open the office door. His hand trembled as he reached for the door knob. The thought of Miss Caroline's dog attacking his leg the moment he opened the door went through his mind and he immediately retracted his hand. Wheatley slowly backed away from the Executive Hallway and rejoined the others.
"Mr. Wheatley, is this what you were talking about?" Angie shouted, pointing to a door with a sign on it.
Wheatley wondered over and looked at the door. "Maintenance area…" Wheatley read. "Yes, this is it. From here, we can get down to the labs without being noticed. Lil will be around there somewhere and we'll find her."
Something twitched in the Android's heads. It sounded like a radio signal was trying to get through. Before Wheatley could open the door, ATLAS smacked his hand. "What the bloody Hell was that for?" he shouted, rubbing his hand. ATLAS chattered something and pointed to the door. "Going the wrong way? What do you mean going the wrong way? How would you know that?"
This time, P-Body chimed in with her mechanical chirping. "Find the Mad Hatter?" Wheatley translated.
Angie smiled wide and clapped her hands. "I like that story." She giggled.
"What story?" asked Wheatley, turning to face the giggling child.
"Alice in Wonderland! Lil reads it to me all the time. The Mad Hatter is a character in the book. He wears a funny hat and talks funny too!" Wheatley cocked an eyebrow at the child's rambling and then turned back to the Androids.
"Alright, what is everyone talking about?" Wheatley demanded.
P-Body made a sighing motion and took her backpack off. She unzipped it and took out Wheatley's radio. "So that's where that went." Wheatley muttered. P-Body turned it on and played with the knobs. "Sorry, Love, but it's broken. Besides, now's not the time to listen to music, we're searching for a way to get to Lil!"
ATLAS chattered something to Wheatley (which could be translated as "Shut up, you idiot!") and let P-Body finish what she was doing. P-Body finally found the station she was looking for, which seemed to play a jaunty tune that sounded like elevator music. P-Body brought the radio closer to the door. The music was abruptly silenced by static. She took it away from the door and the music started up again. "How did you fix it?" Wheatley asked, somewhat amazed. P-Body chattered something and started walking out of the offices and toward the hallway again. ATLAS and Angie followed. Wheatley shrugged and did the same.
The radio played the same song for a good long while as the little posse followed its trail. P-Body would hold it up in front of her and go in the direction it told her to go in. Each turn down each hallway made the music on the radio become louder. Wheatley didn't have much to say on the matter, as the Androids seemed to know what they were doing.
Each hallway they passed by brought more memories to Wheatley. He tried his hardest to ignore the phantoms of former employees going about their business and tried to focus on finding Lil. The music in the radio became louder as the approached a broken elevator. The elevator itself made the radio excrete loud static, but when P-Body turned right toward a small hallway with a door at the end, Wheatley smiled softly. The door was a regular door with a handle, unlike the other sliding doors. P-Body pointed to the door excitedly.
"This must be where she wants us to go!" Angie shouted happily. Wheatley shushed her and knelt down again. "We're getting close; you'll have to keep quiet. The maintenance areas are secluded from what I remember, but they are still hazardous. Everyone stay close together."
Wheatley barely had to touch the door before it fell over. The hinges had long rusted to the point of giving up. ATLAS put the door back up and followed as everyone walked inside. Looking up, Wheatley saw something all too familiar that almost brought a tear to his eye. The management rail was still intact and looked like it had been used recently. Wheatley just stared at it and smiled, thinking about a simpler time when he was nothing but a metal ball on a rail and how happy he was. Or at least thought he was. A vision of himself as a little metal ball happily zooming across on the rail flashed before him and made him dizzy.
Wheatley leaned against the wall of the maintenance area and rubbed his head. That vision hurt his head a bit. "Mr. Wheatley, come on!" shouted Angie. Wheatley regained his composure and followed, rubbing his head in confusion. When Wheatley caught up, he found P-Body hitting the radio with her balled up fist. It was either malfunctioning or they weren't getting a signal anymore.
Either way, P-Body chattered that she didn't have her tools to find the problem. Wheatley looked up and smiled. "Follow the rails…" he said happily, taking charge of the group once again.
The group continued their walk through the maintenance shaft, dodging flying projectiles from broken transport tubes and being extra mindful of turrets. Angie, now being carried on P-Body's back on top of the back pack, looked up as they went deeper. She seemed amazed at the complex as walls above shifted to make new test chambers. Wheatley motioned for them to stop as he peered around a corner. "Alright, we are under the test chamber assembly, which means the factory entrance is right around here somewhere. That means the Enrichment Center entrance is on the other side of it."
ATLAS and P-Body weren't sure where this new attitude or information was coming from. To them, Wheatley was an idiot who had gotten lucky a few times, but now he actually seemed to know what he was doing and what he was talking about. P-Body whisper chattered to ATLAS that is was scary, to which ATLAS only nodded.
Wheatley motioned for the group to follow him as soon as he decided the coast was clear. All they seemed to do was walk. While Angie was hoping for more action, P-Body shushed the child's bored whining. Wheatley tried to focus on the task at hand, but as the test chamber pieces zoomed by on tracks next to the walkway, all he could think about was Lil, and what she was probably being forced to do. It angered him to the point where he made himself keep going.
After what seemed like an eternity, they reached a door at the end of one of the walkways. "Factory entrance…here we are." Wheatley said softly. The door was a simple push door that didn't look too threatening, but if anyone knew the Aperture Facility, it was the Androids. ATLAS volunteered and slowly pushed open the door. He looked inside and nodded to the rest, motioning that it was safe.
The group made it up to an observation room overlooking the turret redemption line. Wheatley wasn't sure what made the Androids want to come up here, but he figured since they knew the facility pretty well, their judgment on where was safe and where it wasn't safe was best. "Now what?" Angie asked, as she spun around in an office chair near a computer console. P-Body chattered something as ATLAS pondered the computer monitors nearby. "What do you mean by 'wait for the Mad Hatter'?" asked Wheatley. ATLAS chattered something and pointed to the computer console. "You say you have a contact in here that can help us? And you call him the Mad Hatter? Well, I've heard crazier, but it's the only lead we have. Alright, you three stay here."
The Androids looked at each other and then at Wheatley. ATLAS chattered something angrily. "I'm going to get Lil; where else would I be going? And no, you can't come with me." Wheatley answered as he looked out the window of the observation room. "I need you two here to protect Tiny Human in case of an emergency. I'll be getting too close to…to HER for Tiny Human to be safe. I'll bring Lil back and then we'll all leave the way we came in. She can't touch us here in the factory, but she's surprised me before…believe me, she's very capable."
Wheatley walked over to Angie, who had hopped off the chair as Wheatley walked up. "Tiny Human, I need you to be a good girl and stay with Mr. ATLAS and Miss P-Body, is that understood?" Angie nodded as Wheatley bent down to give her a big hug. "I'll be back as soon as I can. I won't come back without Lil, I promise."
As Wheatley stood up, he heard glass break. He turned around to find P-Body handing him a walky-talky. She chattered something and pointed to the emergency case on the wall and then to the walky-talky in Wheatley's hand. "Ahh, those Aperture blokes were always prepared, weren't they?" Wheatley chuckled. P-Body looked away nervously. "I know, bad joke. Alright, setting the frequency…and there. I'll keep in touch and let you lot know when I find Lil. Keep Tiny Human safe."
As Wheatley left the observation room, the computer monitors started to flicker. No longer showing the Aperture logo, but instead a heart like one would see on a Weighted Companion Cube. ATLAS saw this and pointed it out to P-Body. P-Body sat at the console and opened her back pack. She took out a cable and attached it to the prong on the back of her neck. She plugged herself in and smiled as the words "SECURED FEED ESTABLISHED" flashed on the screen. P-Body told ATLAS to man the walky-talky as she attempted to get into contact with "The Mad Hatter".
Wheatley walked along the pathway, trying to keep his steps quiet. He didn't know what was lying around each corner, so he kept his strides slow and quiet. He knew this was suicidal, and he knew only bad things could come if GLaDOS discovered him here. He might be captured and put into testing. Or worse, put back into a Construct. Or worse than that, killed. He didn't like any of those options, so he kept himself well paced. The humming of the transport tubes gave him a sense of calm dread. He didn't see any of the gels going through them, which made him sigh in relief. He figured GLaDOS stopped using them for whatever reason.
He knew if he went straight into the facility, GLaDOS would find him in a heartbeat, probably less. He had to stick to the factory stairwells and maintenance areas for now. Wheatley walked along the walkway for what seemed like an eternity. Like the transport tubes, the walkways could go anywhere, so how close he was to Lil was a mystery. He looked up and watched as the components for the test chambers assembled and flew off to parts unknown. He soon found himself at a platform next to yet another dead end.
"How did I do this the first time?" he sighed to himself. Wheatley glanced up slowly and noted the management rail. "Oh, right…" he muttered as he leaned against the railing of the walkway. "Alright…you can do this, Wheatley. Lil is counting on you. Do it for her!" Wheatley shouted as he looked up. He could see the vastness of the entire factory, tubes going every which way carrying turrets or cubes or even random trash. The possibilities were literally endless. "I have no idea what I'm doing…"
Wheatley took out his walky-talky and attempted to make contact with the Androids. "ATLAS, P-Body…Tiny Human?" he shouted into the walky-talky. Nothing but static. He hated the static sound, be it on the walky-talky, on the television at home, or at one point in time in his head.
In frustration, Wheatley threw the walky-talky toward a wall and watched it bounce off. Wheatley rubbed his forehead softly. "Oh Lil…" he muttered as he sank to the ground. "I have no idea what I'm doing." He muttered as he accidently kicked the walky-talky a few inches more. As he did that, the static turned to music. Wheatley looked up from his self-loathing and crawled over to the device. He picked it up and brought it closer to him. Static erupted from the device. Wheatley pointed it in all directions but found that it only sang when it was up against the wall in front of him.
Not bothering to look for a door, Wheatley kicked in the surprisingly fragile wall and crawled into the space behind it. Inside was a small room with markings on the wall. He looked over and noticed a small hallway but his curiosity peaked when he saw a painting of what looked like Lil.
The mural on the wall depicted what Wheatley could only assume was a tea party. The crudely drawn table was empty save for a few chairs. Above the table were the words "DON'T BE LATE" with a heart beside it. Beside the heart was an arrow pointing down the hallway. He followed the arrow, which lead to another arrow and another and so on and so forth until Wheatley reached another room. This one had a door in it, but it seemed to be stuck. As Wheatley attempted to open the door, the mural on the wall of this room caught his eye.
The painting was of Lil (he assumed so, anyway) lying down in a sleeping position. The other was of GLaDOS (a bit crudely drawn but still recognizable) and two red arrows in between them, one pointing to GLaDOS and one to Lil. Wheatley cocked his eyebrow and with a bit of force, finally got the door open. Wheatley only opened it slightly, not knowing where the door led. He was surprised to see it led right into the facility; to a test chamber observation area, no less. Wheatley slammed the door shut and sat against it.
If he walked right into the facility, she'd find him. But the fact that it was an Observation Office gave him a better chance of sneaking around. Wheatley decided it was now or never. Lil was close; something in his heart told him so. Wheatley took a deep breath and opened the door, slipping through and making a mad dash into the facility.
Meanwhile
Lil sat against the wall of the elevator, trying her hardest not to cry. She had been put into testing a few hours before and already her body ached. Most of the test chambers were simple: retrieve block, put block on button, and dodge photon, "DING!", and then elevator. Of course, the last test was a little tougher than she thought it would be. Lil loved puzzle games as a child and was good at them, but this was like being inside one and though Lil did surprisingly well, she still frustrated and scared her.
For once, it wasn't a maze to get the overly happy bunny to his patch of carrots. These mazes were specially made by whatever that machine was from earlier to test her sanity. Lil felt her stomach turn as the elevator zoomed up toward the next testing track. Lil always hated elevators, but never knew herself to become motion sick. First time for everything she thought as the elevator came to a complete stop. Maybe it was the gravity of the situation that was making her sick. Lil remembered getting horribly sick whenever she was nervous as a child. What a time for that to reemerge.
"For this next test, I had to dig up an old toy. Your mother used to play with it all the time. Well, hers was blown into space, but this one is the same model. Think of it as a gift…from me to you." The voiced taunted as Lil disembarked from the elevator. Lil made her way up the small set of stairs and let the automatic doors open. The room was dark with the only light in it coming from the ceiling, shining down on a pedestal. On the pedestal was an odd looking gun.
Lil approached it slowly and looked around. "This is a trap…" she muttered. "This is so obviously a trap, it's almost hilarious. If this were any more obvious a trap, there would be a neon sign hanging overhead flashing the words 'THIS IS A TRAP' brightly."
Lil waited for a rebuttal from the voice. She didn't have to wait long. "No trap, Test Subject. It is a gift. I took care of your mother, and now I'm going to take care of you." The voice sounded oddly sweet. Even so, Lil was still apprehensive about approaching the device. Lil slowly picked it off the pedestal and slipped her hand into the gun. Doing this seemed to automatically turn the gun on.
"Congratulations, Test Subject. You are now the proud owner of an Aperture Science Dual Portal Device. With it you can create portals." said the voice again. The room lit up revealing nothing but white walls. No hazards, no mazes, just a big room with white walls. There was a platform that led to the already open door on the opposite side of the chamber, but other than that, nothing but white walls. "These intra-dimensional gates have proven to be completely safe. The Device, however, has not. Do not touch the operational end of The Device. Do not look directly at the operational end of The Device. Do not submerge The Device in liquid, even partially. Most importantly, under no circumstances should you…"
Lil didn't hear the last part of the Voice's sentence. Something in the far left wall made a loud banging sound. Lil cocked an eye brow and started making her way toward the wall. "What are you doing? You were instructed to test out the device." shouted the Voice. Lil noted the eagerness of the Voice and decided making the Omnipotent Voice mad was probably a bad idea. Lil found the device quite heavy and it took some effort to hold properly. Finding the trigger, Lil shot at a nearby wall. The force of the shot sent her back a bit.
After regaining her composure, Lil looked up and saw a blue hole on the wall that wasn't there before. "Fire it again at another location." said the Voice. Lil did just that and an orange hole opened up a little ways away from the blue one. Lil couldn't believe what she was seeing. Lil stuck her arm in and watched it come through the other hole.
Lil retracted her hand fast and felt the outer rim of the blue portal in front of her. "How is this…possible?" she murmured as she stuck her hand through it again. He remembered seeing the same thing when she started the tests from her glass box, but figured it was some sort of illusion. But now, she had a gun that made these holes. If she wasn't terrified for her life, she'd be more fascinated.
Taking a deep breath, Lil jumped through the portal and out the other one. Painless, yes, but still unbelievable to Lil. Lil shot a blue portal at a higher wall and ran through the orange one. Lil flung herself to a higher elevation and soon found herself falling. Lil glanced up momentarily and thought she saw a wall panel open. Lil squinted and thought she saw a face staring at her.
Lil landed gracefully on the floor thanks to the boots she was wearing. The long fall boots bounced Lil softly to a safe position. Lil couldn't help but try and balance on the heels a bit. "Stop playing with the boots. It's time for the next test." shouted the Voice again.
Holding the gun with both hands, Lil started walking toward the elevator. She glanced up one more time, hoping what she saw was real. The panel she thought she saw open was now closed. Lil shook her head and sighed softly. She didn't know how long she had been doing these tests, but she felt it was already starting to get to her.
"I'll be adding this to your file." Lil heard typing noises over the loud speaker. "Can't…follow…simple…instructions…" the Voice read softly as Lil boarded the elevator. "Like mother like daughter, I guess." The Voice mocked as the elevator doors closed. "Don't feel too bad, test subject. No one gets it right the first time. This is why we're going to keep going…and going…and going until you do. You will be perfect. I have too much time and planning invested…"
Lil noted the Voice was starting to sound desperate. Lil was getting increasingly anxious herself. She didn't know what that Voice wanted, but Lil knew it wasn't good.
Wheatley replaced the ceiling panel and started running again. He didn't have much time. He knew that once the handheld portal device was reached, it was only a matter of time before GLaDOS unleashed something horrible on Lil. He followed through each test, watching as Lil masterfully conquered each challenge with great ease. Some took a little more time to do, but others seemed to breeze past her.
Watching from above mostly, Wheatley kept his eye on Lil as she tested. He'd be lying if he told anyone he wasn't slightly aroused by watching Lil move around and sweat like that. Running around, having to unzip the top part of her jumpsuit and tie it around her waist to cool off. Sweat pouring down her delicate face, with her eyes filled with terror but being replaced promptly with triumph. Wheatley sighed softly and watched as Lil ran, walked, and even a few times slid around each hazard. Especially when she jumped and her breasts and behind jiggled…
"No, snap out of it!" Wheatley shouted to himself, smacking his face a bit. "No time for distractions." Wheatley decided to run ahead, hoping to get ahead of what was to come.
When he reached a good point where he felt Lil would be soon, he took his walky-talky and started playing with the systems of the test chamber. He had a plan, but whether or not it would work was a different story. When Wheatley heard the chatter of the Androids on the other end on the walky-talky, Wheatley knew it was now or never. "You say everything is ready? You found your contact?" he asked into the device softly as he played with a control panel. The reassuring chatter made Wheatley smile. "Alright…you two stay there with Tiny Human…I'll be back soon enough."
Turning a knob on the walky-talky to the off position, Wheatley started playing with the control mechanisms of the test chamber. He didn't have much time, so he had to work from memory, which was shaky at best. Though not sure how he accomplished it as a core, he knew he had a bigger advantage as a human, what with having arms and such.
A few chambers later, Lil staggered out of the elevator, breathless. The last test was with turrets and it nearly killed her. So far, each test seemed more sadistic than the last. While she didn't want to admit the tests with the so called "Aerial Faith Plates" was actually pretty fun, the Hard Light Bridges and the Excursion Tunnels made Lil question everything she had learned in every science class she had attended. In her mind, she reasoned that stuff like this couldn't and probably shouldn't exist. She came across that reasoning after she almost singed her hair off falling on a Hard Light Bridge.
As if burning her hair off and suffering countless injuries wasn't enough, Lil was reprimanded by the Voice for not being as athletic as her mother. "The way that layer of gelatin on your posterior jiggles is almost hypnotizing." said the Voice as Lil propped herself against the stairs leading to the new test chamber. "I thought your mother was fat, but you just won the "Fattest Test Subject" award. Your award is cake. Do you like cake? I can tell you do. Fatty likes cake. Chocolate cake with cherries on top."
Lil gritted her teeth and propped herself up. "Alright, I get it. I'm a little chubby. Big funny deal. You've made your point countless times." Lil muttered as she started walking to the door.
"Waddle into the next test so we can continue. Any weight you think you've lost during these tests is merely your imagination." The Voice teased as Lil continued into the test chamber. "Luckily, this is your last test. After this, I will tally your score and you will receive a prize. It's a prize for both of us, actually. You should be honored."
Lil took one step into the test chamber and the lights turned off. This is the part were the Voice kills me Lil's panicked mind thought as she looked around for any sign of light.
"What the…?" the Voice shouted while making clicking sounds. "How are the lights malfunctioning? I just built this chamber." The Voice sounded angry. Lil just held her device closely, not sure of what was happening. The dark crowded around her and made her panic softly. "Stand still, Test Subject. I am sending a Party Escort Bot to fetch you for a backup test."
Before Lil could do anything, the wall opened up and a bright light pierced the room. Thinking it was another Escort Bot like before, Lil held up her portal device like it was a real gun. Whatever was to come, she knew she had a chance to fight back this time.
"Hey Buddy!" shouted a really bad American accent. Lil looked around and then at the open wall, which opened up into the maintenance area. Lil couldn't believe her eyes. "I'm speakin' in an accent that's beyond her range of hearin'! Don't be frightened, but we have to go, right now. Walk casually towards me and into my arms and we'll get outta here!"
Lil cried small happy tears as she ran towards Wheatley. Lil jumped into Wheatley's arms and hugged him tightly. "I was so worried you wouldn't come." She whined into Wheatley's shoulder. Wheatley held her tightly, forgetting the wall was wide open and the test chamber cameras were staring right at them. "This voice has been making me run these tests and talking about my mom and…"
Wheatley shushed Lil and kissed her forehead. "It's how she gets to you." He said, in his normal voice. "I promise I'll explain everything, but first we need to find the others and get out of here." Wheatley looked down and noticed a Dual Portal Device hanging by a strap from Lil's wrist. "That thing…" he murmured. Lil started taking the strap off. "No, keep it. We might need it." Wheatley took Lil's hand and they slowly started walking into the maintenance area.
"YOU!" the Voice shouted angrily as the lights turned back on. Lil's grip on Wheatley's hand tightened. "Why don't you ever take a hint? I DON'T NEED YOU ANYMORE!" the Voice shouted as a wall of turrets opened up on the opposite side of the room.
"Oh no! Not those things again! I nearly died last time!" Lil shouted. It was at that moment Wheatley yanked Lil out of the way as the turrets started firing.
Wheatley never thought he could out run a turret, which on any other occasion he couldn't. Something was telling him GLaDOS was holding back. "Quickly we don't have time to dally!" he shouted as they ran along the catwalks.
"Alright, quickly, here is everything: that Voice is a giant computer named GLaDOS." shouted Wheatley, as they turned a corner. Lil had never seen the maintenance areas before so this run amazed her. She could see the test chambers being built and panels coming out of everything.
"GLaDOS was made by the company to run the Enrichment Center, which is where we are now." shouted Wheatley, as he and Lil ducked a panel flying towards them. "The Enrichment Center was built to test the products, one of which being the dual portal device you're carrying." Wheatley shouted again as they stopped at the end of the catwalk. He pointed to a wall on the other side above another cat walk and instructed Lil to shoot at it. Lil nodded and shot a blue portal onto the panel and an orange one off a nearby wall. Wheatley grabbed Lil and jumped through it to the other side just as the catwalk they were on was destroyed by some girders.
The concept of portal jumping still amazed Lil. "Before it could be released to the public, GLaDOS killed nearly everyone in the facility. I say nearly because the only known survivors were the personality constructs one of which being me, and the test subjects. One of which was your mum. As far as I know, she was the only subject scheduled for testing the day GLaDOS was initially destroyed. I'm not sure how, but somehow she made it to the top of the testing lists when the sign outside her extended relaxation chamber clearly stated 'DO NOT TEST' in big bold letters."
Wheatley grabbed Lil by the waist and told her were to shoot the next two portals. At the same time, the two jumped through a portal and landed on the platform a few levels above them as the catwalk below collapsed. They didn't have time to stop for a breather. "And ever since then, the two have kind of been at each other's throats. Up until the incident I already mentioned a while back."
They had to keep running. "Shut down the first time?" Lil shouted through the sounds of the chaos.
"I'll explain that some other time." Wheatley shouted, gripping her hand tightly.
"But if that's true…" Lil shouted as they ran onto another catwalk. "…why does she want me?" Lil yelled as the thunderous crusher made its presence known.
"I don't know!" yelled Wheatley as he and Lil ran for their very lives. "I think she sees you and your sister as a way of kind of getting your mother back!" Lil looked back and screamed as Wheatley urged her to go faster. The crusher smashed everything that got in its way, but Wheatley still felt GLaDOS was holding back.
The elevator was in plain sight but so was the crusher. Wheatley yanked Lil along and ran faster. Hearing Lil's tired breathes Wheatley yanked her ahead of him and swooped her up wedding style. Lil may have lost weight during her testing, but she was still a little heavy to carry. Of course, Wheatley was too busy panicking to care. "Hurry!" she shouted as the crusher became uncomfortably close.
"Must get to the lift, must get to the lift!" Wheatley shouted over and over.
The crusher almost got Wheatley's shoe as he leaped with Lil onto the elevator platform. The crusher firmly in the wall behind them, Wheatley covered Lil just to be safe. Wheatley looked up and behind himself as the elevator door closed and they slowly went up. He didn't realize Lil was under him until he heard her giggle. The elevator started going up slowly as he smiled down at her.
Lil's smile looked like she was trying to hold back happy laughter and tears. "Not bad for a guy who got his hand stuck in the toaster once."
Wheatley chuckled and hugged Lil tightly. "Are you alright?" he asked softly.
Lil nodded as he brought her face closer for a kiss. "I was scared you wouldn't come." Lil whined as Wheatley helped her up.
"I couldn't let her harm the woman I love." Wheatley held Lil close, kissing her forehead repeatedly.
Lil thought him saying that was cheesy, but she accepted it anyway. "Where's Angie?" Lil asked as the elevator stopped. The door opened to a dark hallway lit only by the emergency lights along the management rail above them.
Wheatley helped Lil out of the elevator and into the hallway. "She and the Androids are near the turret production wing. It's safer up there."
Lil found it hard to believe anywhere that had turrets in it was safe, but took Wheatley's word for it. Deep inside, she was panicking. "We are in the inner workings of the facility. There should be a lift around here somewhere that takes us directly up to the factory. We'll meet up with them there." Lil nodded as Wheatley took her hand softly and walked with her along the pathway. Lil watched Wheatley as he led her, not sure where this newfound confidence was coming from.
She remembered when he was scared by the microwave dinging and giggled a bit. She liked the new confident Wheatley but part of her missed the goofy, naïve Wheatley that she had to save from the ice maker in the freezer a while back. She remembered her father telling her that love makes people do strange things. Lil tightened her grip on Wheatley's hand, which made him stop momentarily to check and see if she was okay. Lil smiled as they reached a part in the area that overlooked a chasm.
Wheatley stared at Lil for a moment. He hadn't taken time to realize it before, but Lil was the spitting image of Chell. Her skin was fairer and her hair was shorter, and she had wider hips (he noted in his mind her bust was bigger, but he decided to save that thought for a later day) but her eyes had the same look of love covered by stubborn determination. Lil being in the jumpsuit made it even more so. Wheatley found himself filled with both sadness and nostalgia.
"That Voice…or, GLaDOS, whatever her name is…she said such horrible things in those tests." Lil whispered as they stopped. "She told me you didn't really care about me, that you only felt anything for me because of some guilt felt towards my mother…that the only reason you cared for me and Angie was because we looked like her."
Wheatley wrapped his arms around Lil and held her tightly. "That's not true. Never believe anything she tells you. It's all lies to get to you."
Finding this reassuring, Lil held onto Wheatley tightly and didn't notice the figure standing behind them. Wheatley opened his eyes saw the most freighting image he would ever see. "Wheaters, what's wrong?" Lil asked as she watched a red dot aim at them. Lil turned around and her eyes widened.
It was busted and broken and even slightly burnt, but there it was: The Party Escort Android from before. Forever loyal to GLaDOS, the bot somehow escaped "recycling" and pursued them. Where GLaDOS could not go, it could.
Everything happened in slow motion for Wheatley and Lil after this. With its arm aimed at them, the party escort bot lunged at the two and started firing like a turret. Wheatley pushed Lil out of the way and took a bullet to the shoulder.
"WHEATLEY!" Lil shouted as Wheatley's blood gushed out from the wound. Lil reached for him but her hand fell short of grabbing his. Wheatley grabbed the portal gun as he fell back into the chasm, watching helplessly as the strap of the gun snapped off Lil's wrist with tears in his eyes. Not just from the pain of the wound, but of being separated from Lil again. The bot grabbed Lil as she struggled against it.
Wheatley fell far down as the tear drops flowed from his eyes. Lil…forgive me… he thought as he cascaded into the lower parts of the facility.
Forgive me, Tiny Human…I couldn't keep you safe…
Forgive me, Androids…I'm not much of a leader…
Forgive me, Miss Lady…I couldn't keep my promise…
I'm nothing but an idiot…how I survived this long is a bloody miracle itself.
The next thing Wheatley felt was the already immense pain in his back become worse as he crashed through some old transport tubes and planks of wood. Wheatley finally landed on a pile of broken wood and glass and tried to look around. How he survived the impact was amazing, but he doubted it would last long. He found his vision getting blurry and felt this was it. He looked around at what looked like personality constructs on their management rails.
"Over here! Over here! We found him!" it sounded like it shouted. Wheatley's hearing was going out as well.
Before blacking out, four shadows approached Wheatley slowly, one picking up the somehow still intact Portal device...and then nothing but darkness…
Lil had to be knocked unconscious for what was about to happen. Though it wasn't quite ready yet, GLaDOS still wanted everything to be perfect. No short cuts were to be taken and everything had to be precise and done to the finest detail. The Central A.I. Chamber was almost ready for the switch.
GLaDOS glared down at Lil, sleeping soundly in the modified relaxation bed. She was hooked onto every life support monitor GLaDOS could scrounge up. The Escort Android was to be rewarded later, but that was in the back of GLaDOS's hard drive. She was anxious, and it showed. While GLaDOS didn't believe they could actually escape, she was still scared that Lil had been damaged in some way. She had Lil resting just to be safe, even though Lil would need to be awake for what was going to happen. The announcer sounded off every few minutes.
SUBJECT TRANSFER PROCEDURE READY IN [42] HOURS
"Yes, yes, shut up!" yelled GLaDOS as she coiled about her chamber. It was taking too long for GLaDOS, but she knew she had to be patient. Her behavior as of late was akin to that of a spoiled child. She knew she didn't have long until her program…well, that wasn't important.
What WAS important was that she found a way around it, and she was looking right at it; resting in her relaxation bed.
N'cha everyone!
So, first of all apologies for this taking so long. I've been dealing with a lot of stuff in my personal life and its left me creatively drained. I hope that doesn't show too much in this chapter. If so, let me know and I'll take it down and work on it. I don't want you guys to suffer because of everything that's happened.
But, luckily, I am back now and I can finally get the rest of this story out. Yes, sadly my lovelies, this story will be concluding in a few chapters. But not to worry, I have a lot planned before I finish it. There will be plenty of awesome stuff to come, I promise.
The next chapter is probably just going to be one big Wheatley flashback. Think of it as my way of apologizing for taking so long with this chapter. Also, as another way of apologizing…
*takes out magical purse* here, +10 nerdiness scrolls for everyone! *tosses them about*
Thank you all for your patience and I look forward to your reviews. I kept reading the reviews each time I felt like just quitting and they gave me the strength to keep going. I appreciate everything you guys do to keep me and this story going. So please, review and be merry, my friends. Next chapter won't take as long, I promise ^_^
Wheatley, GLaDOS, and the Androids belong to Valve.
Buddy belongs to Sparky16 (used with permission, it's been so long since I asked I hope she remembers lol)