Chelsea picked up her jacket and her portal gun and exited the elevator. The doctor robot walked out closely just behind her.
"She has been taken care of, ma'am," the doctor robot said. "I'll be going back to the lab now."
"I see," GLaDOS said zooming in on Chelsea's hand. "Good work."
The robot turned to exit out of a side panel when GLaDOS spoke up again.
"You do realize that ever since the test subject escaped the first time that I have equipped all the new robots with transmitters to record everything they say and do," GLaDOS said. "In other words, I know everything that you said to her."
"Oh, God," the doctor robot said in fear. "Please, no!"
The doctor robot was then dismantled immediately. He fell into pieces on the floor and ceased living. Though she felt bad, Chelsea took the opportunity and knelt down on the floor next to where his body was so that she could retrieve medical supplies out of his pockets. She pulled his side compartments open and found the healing gel and the gauze wrap.
"I see that your scavenger instincts are still there," GLaDOS said.
"I told you," Chelsea said as she carried the gel and the gauze over to the stairs where she sat down. "I do what I have to in order to survive."
She then proceeded to rub the gel on her still burning left shoulder.
"You still didn't have to do that," Chelsea said angrily as she rubbed the gel in. "I was going to find out about their betrayal eventually."
"I suppose," GLaDOS said. "He still disobeyed me though, just like they did. Orange and Blue betrayed me and it broke my heart, but don't worry. I'll get back at both of them soon enough."
Chelsea said nothing but pulled the gauze wrap around her left shoulder. When she was done, she stood up, tied the jacket around her waist, put the portal gun on her right hand, and started walking up the stairs.
"I suppose I will have to write down that you treated an injury while testing which as you know is against protocol," GLaDOS said in annoyance. "I suppose that it is no big deal though. You are almost at the end anyways."
Chelsea said nothing and continued to walk up the stairs.
"Do you want to know something interesting?" GLaDOS said. "I blame their betrayal, well, Orange's betrayal specifically, on you. Ever since you arrived, he has never been the same. I can't explain it, but you have had an influence on him. Orange fell for you, and Blue fell for that blond woman. You have taken them away from me, so I'm going to have to get back at you both somehow for it."
"Are you sure that it was us who pushed them away from you?" Chelsea asked crossing her arms and looking at the camera while standing in place. "How do you know it wasn't that they were tired of your mistreatment? Maybe they were so touched when they finally encountered our kindness, they jumped at the chance to get away."
GLaDOS was silent for a second, and Chelsea continued to walk up the stairs in the meantime. She was about to reach the door when GLaDOS spoke up again.
"I will have to test this hypothesis in order to see if it's true of course, but I still believe that you have some sort of influence over others," GLaDOS said. "I'm not sure about what it is, but I know that it's there. I just can't explain it."
"I'm not sure about what you mean, GLaDOS," Chelsea said as she walked through the door to take her eighteenth test. "I don't have the ability to affect other people's minds like my Dad can as far as I know."
"Whatever the case may be," GLaDOS said coldly. "You just have one more test to solve after this one, and then you will get your free test tube dinner and your nine month vacation."
"As fun as that sounds, I will be declining your offer," Chelsea said sarcastically. "God will set me free."
"You know it's healthier to confront reality than to live in denial sparrow," GLaDOS said. "By the way, you seem more emotional than before. Have the anti-depressants worn off already?"
Chelsea rolled her eyes and walked into the room. When she walked in, she felt her heart sink in despair. There were lasers pointing in every direction and a small wall that divided this room from the next room. On that wall was a funnel and bouncing up and down in front of it was an energy pellet from a generator on the ceiling. Chelsea saw what she needed to do but she was exhausted and did not want to exert the effort. Chelsea had been suffering emotionally, but the mental and physical strain was finally beginning to take its toll on her as well. She was struggling to push herself on and had to rely on God for every last bit of strength.
"Why do you hate me?" Chelsea asked as she sighed.
"You know that I don't but it's sad that you think that way," GLaDOS said. "We are going to have to increase the dosage on your medication. In order to function here, we will need you to be detached from your emotions as much as possible. Your emotions seem to be driving you crazy and preventing you from thinking, so to enable you to concentrate, we shall be giving you more anti-depressants along with more ADHD medication to help you function. You will soon not feel the need to get distracted or feel at all. Won't that be nice?"
"You want to give me medication so that I can think and focus more easily, but you don't want me to think about anything that is bothering me at the same time?" Chelsea said. "I need to think but you don't want me to think. That's a paradox if I've ever heard one."
"Less talking, more testing please," GLaDOS said.
"You know," Chelsea said coming up with another idea and sitting down. "I really don't feel like testing. I'll just sit here until I do."
"You are not serious," GLaDOS said. "That's too bad then. I will just have to have another doctor robot come in here and give you your extra dose of medication now."
"You're the one who's not being serious," Chelsea said closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "If you really wanted to drug me, you wouldn't have killed that doctor robot."
Because of how far along in the tests she was, Chelsea was afraid that she was going to be done before her friends could catch up to her, so she figured that by stalling she would be able to give them the time to reach her.
"Alright, you can have it your way," GLaDOS said.
Chelsea sat for a several minutes in complete silence. By sitting down and doing nothing, she was beginning to get the rest she needed. As badly as she wanted to however, she could not allow herself to drift into unconsciousness. She had to keep up her energy until the moment she stepped out of the facility and for her, that felt so far away. Chelsea had to still escape and reluctantly kill GLaDOS. Those two goals felt undoable. It was beginning to feel like it was all she could do to stay awake.
"God, I cannot keep going like this," Chelsea prayed in her mind as her left hand stroked the beads around her neck. "Give me the strength I need because I can't do this anymore."
The next moment, Chelsea felt a cold, metal arm grab her right arm. She quickly opened her eyes, pulled his arm off of hers, and used her hard light to push the doctor robot away before he could inject the syringe that he was holding into a vein. Chelsea then created a disc under her feet and flew towards the ceiling before he could come back.
"I see that your reflexes have become faster," GLaDOS said. "Now, let's see those reflexes applied to testing. Of course, if you need more motivation, the doctor robot down there can inject you with more drugs. Your mind seems like it could use them."
"You suck," Chelsea said breathing hard as she felt the adrenaline pumping. "But I'll do it."
"Good, as added motivation, the doctor robot has been given permission to inject you if you are ever within his reach, so don't go near the ground if you can avoid it," GLaDOS said coldly. "If you don't like that, you could just kill him. You never had a problem doing it before."
The robot flinched in fear as Chelsea glared at the camera on the upper left corner of the wall and aimed her portal gun right at it. She wanted to destroy it so badly, but she figured that if she tried then GLaDOS would only send another electrical bolt her way. Chelsea moved her gun down and turned her attentions to the lasers.
"It seems that the conditioning is working," GLaDOS said. "You are beginning to be tamed."
Chelsea then impulsively came up with a quick plan. She aimed an orange portal on the ground where a laser was hitting the ground, flew out of the way, and fired a blue portal on the wall on the other side of the room in front of the camera. The camera was destroyed immediately and fell to the ground. Chelsea smiled in satisfaction at what she had done.
"How's that for tamed?" Chelsea said.
"Oh, dear, whatever shall I do?" GLaDOS asked sarcastically. "It's not like I have a robot who will let me see through his eye…Oh, wait…"
Chelsea looked at the test and quickly figured out what to do. She fired an orange portal on the back wall. Then she created a very large disc with her left hand, a disc that stretched the length of the entire room, and used that disc in order to push the lasers up towards the ceiling so that they would be out of her way. She knew that she had to act quickly, because even less than ten seconds of holding up the lasers was starting to strain her. Chelsea then lifted up her portal gun on her right arm and shot the blue portal underneath the high energy pellet. The pellet went through the portals and hit the receptor on the wall. A walkway then opened up on the other side of the dividing wall so that she could walk through to the next part of the test. Chelsea created a force field around her body, landed on the ground, and allowed the shield holding back all the lasers to dissolve. Thankfully, she was in a place where she was not being touched directly by the lasers, so she was able to sit down for a second and take a deep breath without having to resist the lasers.
"You have nine months' rest waiting for you, but I suppose that if you are really this tired we can let you take another nap," GLaDOS said.
Chelsea heard some knocking on her shield. She looked up and saw the doctor robot tapping on her shield and holding a syringe. Somehow, he had managed to walk around all of the lasers and reach her where she was. Chelsea quickly moved her bubble up into the air out of the robot's reach.
"So first you want me to focus, but now you want me to sleep?" Chelsea asked while breathing hard. "What's getting into you?"
"You don't look very good," GLaDOS said. "I've decided to let you take a nap until you feel better. Then you can finish testing later. I just want you to test at your best."
"That's not the reason," Chelsea said having a revelation as she was flying towards the doorway behind the wall. "My friends are catching up to me. Aren't they? You want me to let your robot sedate me so that I can be moved away quickly. Am I correct?"
GLaDOS felt a flash of panic. Chelsea had guessed correctly the reason for her sudden anxiousness. She had been checking around security cameras when she received an alert that came from the test chamber before this one and then checked and saw Sylvie's group coming. She was currently in the process of catching them, but she wanted Chelsea to be out of the area just in case they managed to get away from her. However, GLaDOS knew that she had to retain her composure so that Chelsea would not suspect anything and make her situation worse.
"What did you want to eat after this?" GLaDOS asked quickly in an attempt to get Chelsea's mind focused on something else. "Nectar? Ambrosia?"
"Very funny," Chelsea said flying through the doorway. "But I am not a nymph or a Greek goddess."
"I'm surprised that you understood that reference," GLaDOS said. "I thought that you would ignore all religions other than your own."
"No," Chelsea said smiling as she landed at the entrance of the other room. "I read books, so I know a lot about other viewpoints and philosophies and understand a decent amount about other religions. I just know which one is true."
"Then why bother learning about the others if you already know the truth?" GLaDOS asked.
"Unlike you, I want to understand other people and what they think," Chelsea said looking up at the camera on the wall. "It should come in handy, especially after we set all those people free. They will need to be understood."
Chelsea looked into the room and sighed in dismay. The next part of the test would be much trickier. What Chelsea saw before her was a narrow hallway. In the hallway was a pattern. For every portal wall that was there, there was a smashing spike plate right in front of it. The pattern continued: portal wall, plate, portal wall, plate, for as far as her eyes could see. Chelsea knew that she would just have to portal around all the spike plates that were in her path. That was simple enough, but she had to be sure of whether or not there was something else to it. She looked around and noticed a niche. In that niche was a laser redirection cube. She would have to carry it with her while portaling around all those spike plates. Again, that seemed easy enough, but the hard part would be keeping all the portals straight so she would keep moving forward. Chelsea mentally prepared herself as she walked to the niche to pick up the cube.
"Are you sure that you're not tired, sparrow?" GLaDOS asked. "Are you sure that you don't want to take a nap before finishing the test?"
Chelsea felt the cold metal arm grabbing her right arm once again, but she turned around and pushed the doctor robot off with her hard light before he could inject her with the syringe.
"Stay away from me," Chelsea said as she picked up the cube and ran towards the hallway. "I told you that I don't want to be put to sleep anymore!"
"Subjects did better on tests when they had a nap before finishing," GLaDOS said. "I'll give you the statistics if you don't believe me."
"I think you know better than to bullshit me," Chelsea said.
Chelsea then fired an orange portal on the wall beside her and then waited for the smashing spike plate to go up so that she could fire the blue portal. When the spike plate was up, she fired the blue portal on the other wall and quickly ran through the portals.
"You need to rest, sparrow," GLaDOS said. "Don't you feel tired?"
"No," Chelsea said. "I feel like finishing this test."
"I can tell you're tired, sparrow," GLaDOS said. "You're not going to make it much longer like that."
The doctor robot started running for the portal, but Chelsea fired an orange portal on the other side of the next smashing plates before the robot could reach it.
"I will do just fine," Chelsea said with a sly smile. "I can't promise you that I'll finish the test before my friends show up though."
"I don't know what you're talking about," GLaDOS said. "I'm just trying to help you."
"Yeah, right," Chelsea said. "I know better than to believe that."
"Believe whatever you want, sparrow," GLaDOS said. "But I really am just trying to help."
Chelsea then worked in silence and eventually made it to the other side of the all the smashing plates. She emerged from the last portal and sat against the wall for a second holding the cube on her lap.
"So you are tired," GLaDOS said. "You were lying before. That is not a very Christian thing to do."
"I'm not tired," Chelsea said standing up.
"Yes, you are," GLaDOS said. "I can see it."
"Moving me won't prevent my friends from getting to me," Chelsea said looking around the large room she was in. "Even if I were to comply, they would get to me eventually. Just accept the fact that your plan is going to fall apart. Your mission is unholy and God himself is working against you. You know that."
GLaDOS started playing Brahms' lullaby over the loudspeakers.
"I'm sorry," GLaDOS said. "I just remembered that I was supposed to be playing music to help you concentrate."
Chelsea sighed and said, "That is not going to work."
She looked around the room and saw the laser going horizontally across the room to her right. There was an energy funnel to her left, and she was sure that that was where the laser was meant to go.
Unfortunately however, that was when Chelsea felt the cold arm grab her right arm and finally succeed in injecting her before she could react. She dropped the cube and the portal gun as she felt her head go light.
"I told you to piss off!" Chelsea screamed as she pushed the robot across the room with hard light from both of her hands.
She then collapsed on her knees and said, "How many damn drugs are you going to put in me before you're finally satisfied?"
"I know that you don't like being knocked out like this, sparrow," GLaDOS said as the doctor robot walked up to her and closed the injection spot with a band aid. "But frankly, I don't care. I just need you out of the way for a little while. I promise that it won't take long this time. You will be asleep for about 15 minutes tops. I give you my word. Then we can finish testing without any distractions at all."
Chelsea wanted to send out a message, but all that she had time to do before she finally fell on the ground in unconsciousness was to send out the telepathic message, "Tell Sylvie to watch out."
Chelsea then fell on the ground in unconsciousness. The doctor robot picked her up in his arms, picked up the portal gun and placed it on her lap, and headed for the elevator door.
"Just lay her down so that she is leaning against the glass wall of the elevator," GLaDOS said. "Be careful with her. Drop her or bruise her and you will end up like your predecessor."
"Yes, ma'am," the doctor robot said fearfully.
"Also, don't forget to place the prototype video and audio transmitter that you are all supposed to have now," GLaDOS said.
"I won't, ma'am," the doctor robot said.
The doctor robot walked down the stairs and entered the elevator. He crouched down and placed Chelsea so that she was leaning against the left side of the elevator with the portal gun in her lap. Next, the doctor robot placed the transmitter on the wall that transmitted feed of the inside of the elevator to where GLaDOS was so that she could still see Chelsea when the elevator was not inside the test chamber. He then left the elevator, and the doors shut behind him. GLaDOS lowered the elevator so that it was at most 30 feet from the testing chamber and be out of the reach of Chelsea's friends when they arrived and left her alone.
"Alright," GLaDOS said. "She's safe so now I must deal with that other problem."
GLaDOS then turned her attention towards Sylvie's group. They had been running through the seventeenth test chamber when GLaDOS had randomly received an alert and checked it out. She was now trying to do everything in her power to keep her test subject guarded. Sylvie was running ahead in the front, P-Body and Atlas were running behind her, Kayla was carrying all of the turrets in the middle, Jeffrey was flying in the form of a falcon behind her, and Albina was flying behind the group freezing all the panels so that GLaDOS could not enclose them.
"What do you think you're doing?" GLaDOS asked Sylvie's group as they ran through the test chamber. "I'm not going to let you get to her."
"Shut your stupid mouth!" Kayla yelled as she telekinetically ripped the camera off the wall.
"That is not even possible, you freakish child," GLaDOS said looking from another camera. "Also, turrets, you all have betrayed your purpose and me. You like those other two traitor bots no longer have a purpose to live and will be killed at the soonest opportunity. As for you, Orange and Blue, I will make your deaths as horrifying as possible."
P-Body and Atlas looked at the camera in fear. The turrets shook in fear, too.
"I knew it," Violet said. "I was better off in the testing chamber."
"Shut up!" Kayla said ripping that camera off of the wall. "Leave them alone!"
"Stop listening to her, Kayla," Albina said flying up to her. "Let's go."
"Okay," Kayla said focusing her attention to moving herself and the other robots once again.
"I see that the stallion was not a traitor after all," GLaDOS said looking from yet another camera. "She has really missed you. Do you want to know how much she cried when you left?"
Jeffrey closed his eyes in pain at how he must have made Chelsea feel. He flew in place for a moment.
"Come on, Jeff," Kayla said pulling him telekinetically. "Chelsea's okay. I know her. She's strong."
"Yeah, she is," GLaDOS said. "She's much stronger than you are, you emotionally-unbalanced little lunatic."
"She's stronger than you are, too," Kayla yelled. "You psychotic, insane bitch!"
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" GLaDOS asked.
"My mother is in heaven," Kayla yelled, "But you can go straight to hell!"
"That explains so much," GLaDOS said. "Two of you are orphans."
Sylvie stopped at the door and tried opening it telepathically, but it wouldn't work.
"Sylvie, what is happening?" Albina asked.
"She won't let me open the door," Sylvie said. "I was afraid of this. I can't control her consciousness since it's human. Remember?"
"What are we going to do?" Alpha asked fearfully.
"You could all die," GLaDOS said turning off the lights.
The turrets began freaking out and all talking at once.
"Oh, what misfortune!" Rose said. "We are going to die before we see the sun!"
"This is so not cool," Daffodil said.
"I'll never see her again," Terry said sadly.
"Iggy, I love you!" Peppermint yelled.
"Pepper, I love you, too," Ignatius replied. "I have loved being your husband and now we shall both be in the house of God."
"Here we go," Violet said.
"Everyone needs to shut up!" Kayla yelled. "Nobody is dying today. Albina, tear down the ice. I'm busting us out of here."
"Alright," Albina said impressed at Kayla's commanding attitude.
With a wave of her hands, Albina had removed the ice from the walls. Kayla then got to work.
"Hang on everybody," Kayla said. "Things may get rocky."
Kayla then focused all of her energy and got her powers working harder. Using telekinesis, she pushed one tile out forcing it off its hinge and making it fall off of the box that it was attached to. Kayla did the same thing to all the tiles on the wall. The tiles each were blown away and fell towards the abyss. Eventually that wall fell away and the other three walls along with the ceiling were blown away. All this was done within the space of about a few minutes and Kayla was breathing hard by the end of it, but the work was done. The robots were all blown away.
"You are a force of nature," Rose said.
"I'm impressed, Kayla," Albina said. "Good work!"
"Thanks," Kayla said telekinetically picking up Sylvie and all of the robots. "Let's go!"
The group headed off of the side of the platform and flew down towards the next test chamber while GLaDOS surprisingly said nothing. This fact was not lost upon Albina or Sylvie.
"She's being silent," Albina said.
"Yeah, this is not good," Sylvie said.
"Maybe she's just blown away by how awesome that was like I am," Kayla said doing a somersault in the air.
"That is not likely," Albina said.
"Then, why is she acting so stunned?" Kayla asked.
"Well, whatever is going on we should move quickly before she changes her mind," Sylvie replied.
"I see the test chamber up ahead," Jeffrey said. "Let's go!"
Jeffrey then dived down in his falcon form for the test chamber. The others quickly followed after him, but they hardly could because of how fast he was moving. Jeffrey saw the testing chamber and dove knowing that just up ahead his Zelda was waiting for him. He wanted to make up for his failures before. The others realized this and had to call him out.
"Slow down, Jeffrey," Kayla yelled. "We are barely keeping up!"
"I can't," Jeffrey said. "I have to save Chelsea."
"All of us have to save Chelsea, Jeffrey," Albina said. "We have to work together or else we will fail. Slow down!"
Jeffrey realized that she was right. He stopped his diving and flew in place waiting for the others on top of the next testing chamber.
"I'm sorry, guys," Jeffrey said. "I guess I was carried away."
"It's alright, Jeff," Albina said as she finally reached him and flew in place in front of him. "We just need to work together. Okay? You need to rely on us, too. "
"Alright," Jeffrey said.
"Thanks for finally slowing down," Kayla said finally catching up to their level. "Now that we're all together, let's save Chelsea! Do your thing, Sylvie."
"Okay," Sylvie said crouching down. "Keep your eyes open. I have a feeling that GLaDOS is going to attack soon."
Sylvie put her hands on the roof of the building.
"What are you doing?" Kayla asked in confusion.
"I'm making sure that Chelsea is not in there, so we don't waste our time searching in an empty testing chamber," Sylvie said.
"Oh, that makes a lot of sense," Kayla said.
"Yes," Sylvie said placing her hands on the metal rooftop.
"If you can't stop GLaDOS since she has a human consciousness," Albina said crouching down next to Sylvie. "How are you going to track Chelsea down with the security cameras if she is controlling them?"
"I don't know," Sylvie said. "But, it is the only thing I know to do right now."
Sylvie turned her attentions to her work and attempted to get a visual through the cameras to see if she could find Chelsea. Remarkably, she was able to see with the cameras inside the chamber. However, the results were a negative. There was no sign of Chelsea anywhere. Meanwhile, Jeffrey had shapeshifted back into human form and was standing on the side of the testing chamber and looking over the side.
"The good news is that I could see in there," Sylvie said looking up. "But the bad news is that Chelsea is not there."
"That's okay," Kayla said trying to be optimistic. "Let's go to the next testing chamber. She'll probably be there."
"It's not that simple," Sylvie said getting on her feet. "I think GLaDOS moved her."
"What?" Kayla said.
"What do you mean?" Albina asked.
Jeffrey looked down at the elevator shaft and suddenly noticed that the elevator was stuck in place.
"The test is not finished," Sylvie said. "If Chelsea had finished the test, there would be nothing left to be done, but there is a cube sitting in the room and a laser that was clearly meant to be directed towards a funnel to open a door. GLaDOS must have moved Chelsea because she saw us coming."
He jumped off the edge, shapeshifted into a bat, and flew to the elevator.
"So, what do we do now?" Kayla asked. "We don't know where she could be."
"There's nothing left to do but go to GLaDOS and force her to give up Chelsea," Albina said.
"I'm down with that," Kayla said smiling.
Jeffrey flew in place in front of the elevator looking at Chelsea inside who was beginning to stir.
"Guys, I found Chelsea!" Jeffrey yelled back to the others.
Unfortunately, that was when GLaDOS activated her trap. The panels on the ground opened up causing all of them to fall through except Kayla. For her, GLaDOS pushed her down with a panel before she was sure what was happening. They all landed in a box that then had a hard light bridge on top of it sealing the entrance. The three ladies and all the robots were now trapped in the box together. The panels of the room came apart and GLaDOS started moving the box to the right and over the expanse along rails that seem to have come out of nowhere. The group of turrets huddled together in fear while Atlas and P-Body stayed calm and the ladies tried to find their bearings.
"Finally, I have all of you gathered in one place…" GLaDOS said just before noticing Jeffrey's absence. "Wait a second! Where is the shapeshifter?"
"We ain't telling, GLaD Ass!" Kayla said. "Now, let us out before I break the glass! You know I can and I will!"
"I'd like to see you try, cripple," GLaDOS said.
"Don't mind if I do," Kayla said starting to push telekinetically on the walls.
The moment she did however the box lit up with hard light beams.
"What?" Kayla said in surprise.
"The glass like the ceiling is being reinforced by hard light beams," GLaDOS said. "As I have discovered, it is my test subject's main weakness."
"Crap," Kayla said fearfully.
Albina stood up and immediately started to freeze the corners of the wall in an effort to break the frame as the box kept moving forward.
"It's not working," Albina said as she did her best to retain her composure in the scary situation they were in.
"We're all going to die," Violet said while walking away from the group of turrets and staring at the ground beneath them. "It's just like I said."
"No, we are not," Sylvie said hearing the thoughts of fear in the minds of all the robots. "We are going to live. Just let me handle this."
"Wait a second," Kayla said. "What is Terry doing?"
As the box continued to move into the open space outside of the testing chamber, Terry, remembering where Jeffrey's voice was coming from, had walked to the left wall to see where Chelsea was. He had seen her and started to play the song that Chelsea had sung in the testing chamber, "Tomoni" by KOKIA.
"He's playing Chelsea's song," Sylvie said as the group of women walked towards the left wall.
"That's right," Albina said remembering and flying upwards as close to the ceiling as she could to get a better view. "I see Chelsea down there in the elevator and Jeffrey, too! She's unconscious. Chelsea! Chelsea!"
Kayla flew up beside her and started yelling, too.
"Chelsea, wake up!" Kayla yelled. "Wake up!"
"She's under the influence of sedatives," GLaDOS said coldly. "She won't be awake until long after I have moved you to where you need to go."
"Where might that be?" Sylvie asked.
"You'll see," GLaDOS said maliciously.
Down in the elevator, Chelsea woke up and saw a bat flying outside the elevator she was in. She knew immediately who it was.
"Jeffrey?" Chelsea asked as she blinked her eyes.
"Yes, Chelsea," Jeffrey said calmly. "I'm here!"
Just then, she heard the music and quickly stood up.
"Terry?" Chelsea asked as she quickly pushed the portal gun aside, stood up, and walked to the side of the elevator to get a better look.
"We're up here!" Terry yelled as he stopped playing his music. "Look up here!"
"Who are you talking to?" GLaDOS asked.
Chelsea saw the box, her eyes filled with tears, and she yelled, "GUYS! I'M DOWN HERE! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
GLaDOS stopped the box in shock.
"How are you awake?!" GLaDOS yelled as she looked at her through the camera on the wall inside the elevator. "That medicine should have kept you under for at least ten more minutes. It seems that you are building immunity to the sedatives."
"Chelsea! We're up here!" Kayla yelled. "Sylvie, Albina, and I are here with a bunch of robots! GLaDOS trapped us in this box, but don't worry! We'll be alright!"
"How are you?!" Albina yelled.
"I'm covered with numerous bandages from injections, a big scar from where she branded me, numerous surgical scars are over my body, two burns, and I'm sure that I have more psychological scars than I can count, but believe it or not, I'm feeling fantastic now that everyone's here," Chelsea said with more tears coming down her face than before. "You don't know how happy I am to hear you all!"
"Really?" GLaDOS said skeptically. "You're happy to hear them, these people who have kept you waiting for about a month? That surprises me considering the fact that you have considered or attempted suicide four times already."
"You considered suicide?!" Sylvie said in shock.
"No," Chelsea said. "I only considered it once!"
Then as she realized what had come out of her mouth, she face palmed and said, "Shit! I'm sorry, guys! I really am."
"It's our fault, Chelsea," Kayla yelled. "We should have been here sooner!"
"I'm sorry for your suffering, Chelsea," Albina yelled. "We did the best we could and we are glad that you were able to hold out for us. We cannot change what happened in the past though, so for now, we need to focus on making our futures better and escaping. Can you get out of where you are, Chelsea?!"
"I can try," Chelsea said creating a disc with her right hand and cutting it against the glass causing the hard light shields to come up. "But whenever I do, this happens."
"It is the same for us," Albina yelled. "It would appear that we are in a similar predicament and I'm not sure how long she is going to let us continue to talk like this!"
"Do you have any ideas for what to do?!" Kayla yelled.
Before Chelsea could respond, Sylvie said, "Don't worry! I will break the machine!"
Sylvie focused all of her mental energies on where the hard light bridges were coming from once again. She zeroed in on it and was close to breaking it. However at that moment, Sylvie lost consciousness. She fell backwards and was caught by Atlas who held her up in his arms as he crouched to the ground. As the robots and the two other ladies gathered around, Sylvie was staring forward in an unblinking stare and started foaming at the edges of her mouth and shaking like she was having a seizure.
"Sylvie?!" Kayla yelled as she flew over her. "Sylvie, wake up! Sylvie!"
"Is she possessed by a demon?" Peppermint asked Ignatius.
"Go away in the name of Jesus," Ignatius proclaimed.
When it didn't work, he said, "We can rule that out."
"She is not possessed!" Albina said in fear as she pushed through them all, crouched down, and held Sylvie's hand to see if she could get any response. "She is having a seizure! Sylvie?! Can you hear us at all? Sylvie?!"
"Oh, God, no," Alpha said out loud.
Chelsea had seen Sylvie fall and yelled, "What's happening?!"
"We don't know!" Kayla yelled. "Sylvie just fell over and looks like she's in a trance and having a seizure or something. We can't wake her up!"
"GLaDOS!" Chelsea yelled. "What have you done?!"
"I'm glad you asked," GLaDOS said calmly. "You see, I was having a very difficult time with her destroying my video cameras and destroying things around the facility, so I decided to do something about it and did some research into hacking protection programs. You see, a long time ago, Aperture Science had many anti-hacking devices installed on their computers to defend them against their competitors. One of these programs would send a jamming signal to whatever device was trying to hack it, causing said device to effectively freeze up. It was a great program so I decided to adapt it to the hard light generator to deal with this troublesome telepath. I had never tested it out before, so this result is very interesting. We now have a French woman with a jammed signal in her brain. I suppose that she could die if she is left like that too long. That takes care of one problem anyway."
Atlas hugged Sylvie closer to himself and looked down in despair. P-Body stood up, ran to the wall, and jumped up and down attempting to break the seal on the generator though deep down he knew it was useless. Everyone was momentarily shocked in despair, even Albina.
"Turn it off now!" Chelsea yelled banging on the side of the elevator.
"I don't think I will," GLaDOS said. "I have caught a bunch of problems at one time, and after I collect enough samples of their DNA for clones, I will dispose of them."
"Over my dead body, GLaD Ass!" Kayla yelled shaking everyone else out of their shock and holding up P-Body and herself up telekinetically so that they could reach the ceiling of the box. "You won't take me alive!"
"That's what I'm counting on," GLaDOS said as she made the box start moving again. "With the telepath out, this should be much easier."
"No!" Chelsea screamed. "You aren't taking my friends away! Kayla! Albina!"
"Chelsea!" Albina yelled still trying to maintain her composure through tears as she was praying in her mind for an idea and flying up so that she could see her. "Don't worry. Whatever happens to us, be strong and don't give up ever. You will get through this, because no matter how bleak the situation seems, God is still there. Remember that always. We love you."
Chelsea paused in fear at what Albina had said. She knew the significance of those words. They were roughly the last words that her mother had said to her before she died.
"I'll go after them," Jeffrey said as he flew for them.
"No offense, sparrow and stallion, but neither of you are going to be much help," GLaDOS said harshly. "I can electrocute the bat and as for you sparrow, you're locked in a cage. Say goodbye to your friends. To be completely honest, you probably will never see them again."
"NO!" Chelsea yelled as she created discs in her hands and struck them against the walls of her elevator prison so that the hard light came up on the inside. "I AM NOT LETTING YOU TAKE THEM AWAY!"
Chelsea knew that she had to absorb the hard light or die trying. If she didn't try, her friends would die. So Chelsea put both her hands on the hard light and created two discs that would mix into the particles of the hard light in front of her.
"What are you doing?" GLaDOS asked.
Chelsea took a deep breath and did her work. She reabsorbed not only her particles but the particles in the elevator and elevator shaft as well. She screamed in shock at all the energy flowing through her body. Her skin turned light blue and emitted a light that shone throughout her entire body so that her clothes were hardly visible. Her hair, her skin, her clothes, and everything else was as blue as the hard light. She looked like a creature engulfed in pure hard light. She then collapsed against the back of the elevator in unconsciousness. GLaDOS stopped the box in shock.
"What the hell just happened?" GLaDOS asked in a panic. "Is she dead?"
Jeffrey flew back to the elevator and started yelling for Chelsea.
"Chelsea?!" Jeffrey asked. "Chelsea?!"
Kayla and Albina watched as Chelsea was glowing in her cell. The oracle turret walked up behind them to join them.
"What is happening?" Kayla asked.
"The phoenix has arisen," the oracle turret said.
Chelsea regained consciousness and stood up in the elevator. She noticed that she was glowing in an almost heavenly light. In spite of her appearance, she felt really good. The light in her body was a huge boost in energy. Chelsea now felt like she could fight the world.
"Are you alright?" Jeffrey asked. "Do you feel okay?"
"Actually, I feel amazing," Chelsea said looking at herself and her body. "I wonder…"
She quickly created two hard discs and cut a hole in the elevator. She then rubbed her right arm against the sharp edge of the broken glass.
"Chelsea, what are you doing?!" Jeffrey yelled.
Chelsea looked at her right arm and there were no scratches or bleeding to be found.
"It's just as I thought," Chelsea said. "The hard light is now in my skin and with it on, I can't be injured by anything."
Chelsea turned and looked at the camera in the elevator and said, "You know what that means. Don't you, GLaDOS?"
GLaDOS said nothing so Chelsea answered for her.
"I can't be penetrated by anything while I'm like this, not even by a syringe," Chelsea said smiling. "You can't put me to sleep anymore. You can't impregnate me either. That plan is officially over for you. How do you like them apples?"
Everyone jumped as they heard a slow clap over the intercom.
"Well done, sparrow," GLaDOS said menacingly. "By the grace of your God, you have been able to somehow evolve and somehow outdo me. This is an interesting discovery indeed. However, you're right. With the gas out of commission and you in that state, you cannot be put to sleep to be properly impregnated and the experiment is over. I have no use for you anymore. I have wasted all my time with you for absolutely nothing. You have no idea how hard you have made me work. When you were unconscious, I had to exert a great deal of effort just to keep you from dying, but you were much less annoying. Then when you were awake, you would not shut up or stop trying to escape. Either way, the findings were interesting, but you were a huge pain. Needless to say, you have driven me crazy. You have been the most difficult test subject that I have ever had the displeasure of working with, and I will not be sad to see you go."
"I don't think you mean all of that," Chelsea said crossing her arms. "I think in some way that you have enjoyed spending time with me. I have made you think and care about me, in the same way that you care about my mother. In an odd way, I care about you, too. Just release us, and we will be on our way."
"You and I both know that that is not how it's going to end," GLaDOS said coldly yet remarkably calmly. "You have wasted my time and now, I'm going to do my best to waste you. Then when you're all good and dead, I'll kill your friends and your mother. Then I'll get to work on some clones. How does that sound?"
"God is on my side, GLaDOS," Chelsea said unfolding her arms. "I'm not going to die, but you will. You need to say your prayers and get repenting because for you the end is near. Since you won't stop hurting others, we have no choice but to kill you."
"How adorable!" GLaDOS said sarcastically. "You still want to kill me while saving my soul. That makes sense."
"I'm telling you the truth, Caroline," Chelsea said. "It is not too late for you. You know that and I wish you would see reason. I used to hate you so much, but now, I don't have it in me to do it anymore. I don't want to have to kill you. Just repent! You can be free if you just do it."
"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?!" GLaDOS said losing her composure for a second. "I control my own life. I don't need his help! As for you however, you can just die."
The elevator then started falling very quickly towards the ground. Chelsea fell towards the top and frantically tried busting herself out, but Kayla caught the elevator telekinetically before it had fallen too far.
"You ain't hurting my sister, GLaD Ass!" Kayla screamed. "Get out of there, Chelsea!"
"Be quiet, you quadriplegic cripple," GLaDOS said.
She started moving the box back and forth very quickly in an effort to break Kayla's concentration, shaking all of the inhabitants of the box. Kayla was bumped around, but she kept her focus. She suddenly felt cold arms wrap around her body. Kayla opened her eyes and saw that it was Albina who was freezing her feet and the feet of the turrets and robots in place so that they would not move.
"I've got you," Albina said calmly. "Just keep holding up the elevator. I won't let you get hurt."
"Thanks," Kayla said smiling.
"Atlas," Albina said looking at the robot who was still holding Sylvie in his arms. "Do not let her go. You hear me?"
Atlas nodded in understanding and held Sylvie close to himself.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey flew in place feeling helpless.
"Stop it, GLaDOS!" Chelsea screamed as she stood up in the elevator.
She then commenced breaking out of the elevator. Chelsea created two large discs that cut through the elevator breaking it in half and causing the bottom half to immediately fall towards the floor. She then used another disc to saw through the glass tube of the elevator and flew out of the shaft. It took her a second to realize that she was flying without the use of a disc on her feet. By controlling the hard light in her body, she could hold herself up and fly.
"Woah," Chelsea said to herself. "I guess that's another side effect."
"Are you alright?" Jeffrey asked as he flew up to her.
"I don't know," Chelsea said. "But I will have to find out later."
Chelsea yelled, "Kayla, let go of the elevator! I'm out!"
"Alright," Kayla said dropping the elevator to the floor.
"GLaDOS, stop it!" Chelsea yelled. "I'm free now! There's no point!"
"I suppose there isn't," GLaDOS said stopping the shaking.
The box came to a stop on the rails. Chelsea landed on the box, and Jeffrey flew next to her. She looked down at Sylvie in the box and saw Sylvie unconscious and having a seizure. She knew that she didn't have long.
"Let them go or I'll do it myself," Chelsea said.
"Why should I?" GLaDOS asked. "Think of all the hard light exposure experiments that I could do with them."
"You're just digging your grave deeper," Chelsea said in a tone that was oddly sad as she ran to the edge of the box. "It's so tragic."
"You can't save me, sparrow," GLaDOS said in an ironic tone. "I have to want to be saved."
"You're right," Chelsea said in acceptance as she created a giant spinning disc to cut through the rims of the box and set it on the box's edges. "I have no choice but to kill you to save everybody else because you won't change. That makes this much less complicated for me."
"Chelsea, stop being philosophical and open the damn box already!" Kayla yelled flying out of Albina's grip. "Sylvie's dying!"
"Alright, Kayla!" Chelsea yelled back. "Don't worry! I'm doing it!"
"It'll be okay, Kayla," Albina yelled dissolving all the ice and giving Kayla a hug. "She's got this! You don't have to freak out at her."
Chelsea cut through the rims and stopped the hard light from being generated. The hard light disappeared, and Sylvie stopped having a seizure and began to wake up. Atlas noticed this and chirped at her right away to ask if she was alright.
"Atlas, what happened?" Sylvie asked.
Atlas chirped in response as P-Body, Albina, Kayla, and all the other turrets except Violet crowded around her.
"I was doing what now?" Sylvie asked as she sat up and wiped the foam from the corners of her mouth. "How did that happen?"
"GLaDOS jammed your brain with a signal," Albina said crouching down next to her and looking up. "Chelsea has cut through the box in the hard light generator that was sending the signal to your brain."
Sylvie looked up in amazement at Chelsea who was glowing in blue light.
"Don't worry, guys," Chelsea said. "I'm busting you out of there!"
"That won't be happening," GLaDOS said. "You might not be vulnerable anymore, but your friends are and I have just the thing for them. Just stand there and wait. It will be an electrifying experience for everyone."
Volts of electricity started moving down the railing towards them on both sides, but Chelsea stood her ground as the box under her started to move.
"Hold on, guys!" Kayla yelled as she pulled the box off of the rails with her mind.
Kayla lifted the box off of the rails and hovered it in mid-air as she flew in the middle of the box.
"Quick, where do I go?!" Kayla asked.
"Go down all the way!" Sylvie yelled.
"We'll be at the bottom of the facility!"
"It's okay! Just do it!"
"Alright!"
"Look out!"
Kayla looked and just moved the box out of the way before test chambers smashed into it. She looked down at the ground and just let the box fall as she held everyone within in the center telekinetically.
"Kayla, what are you doing?" Albina yelled. "We're all going to die with the box bouncing around like this!"
"No, you won't," Chelsea said. "I've got you!"
Chelsea then flew upwards and created a really large shield of light around herself and the box as it went down. Jeffrey shapeshifted into a snail so that he would stick to the box.
"Goodbye, GLaDOS!" Chelsea yelled towards the ceiling as she and the box continued to fall out of sight. "The next time we meet, it won't be on friendly terms! Think about what I said and save yourself before it is too late!"
The group then disappeared out of GLaDOS' sight as they headed towards the very bottom of the facility. Sylvie looked upon Chelsea in wonder as they fell towards the ground.
"What is wrong with her?" Sylvie asked. "Why is she glowing?"
"She absorbed the hard light that was keeping her in her cage and turned into that," Albina said.
After a moment of silence, Sylvie asked, "Do you think she ever be able to turn back or is she going to be like that forever?"
"I don't know, but I don't think that God would let her turn into that if it was only going to affect her for the worst," Albina said smiling. "She's going to be fine."
"She was the phoenix from the prediction," Terry said happily. "Isn't she beautiful?"
"Yeah," Sylvie said looking up at her and reflecting on how strong Chelsea had been since the whole ordeal began and how she was still strong in spite of all her suffering. "She is."
GLaDOS continued to try to drop the test chamber boxes on top of them, but the debris kept falling around the box and around Chelsea because of the shield around them. It was no use. Their group fell deeper into the abyss towards the bottom, out of the reach of GLaDOS.