Chell paced back and forth while the vortigaunts continued to hold the soldier down. Chell was pissed. She had been betrayed before, but she found satisfaction that she managed to snuff out the lies before she could be betrayed again.
Picking up the helmet once more, she kept it tucked under her arm and scowled at the man. "Where were you actually taking us?"
Gabriel spat at Chell, a thick glob landing on her pants leg. She ignored it. Instead, she opted to grab a fistful of the front of his jacket. "Just know that everything I said about Aperture is true. You go there, you die. You go inside, you will die! Bullets, crushers, gels, neurotoxin? Those are only the things I encountered," she growled.
Gabriel's angry expression remained intact. Seeing no reasoning with him, Chell decided to do more digging into his backpack. Inside, she found the rest of his uniform, spare magazines, packages wrapped in silver foil, and a radio. The radio had a long cord attached with a port on the end for it to be connected to something.
With nothing to worry about for the moment, Chell investigated all his gear. She discovered the jacked was padded and had some form of armor covering chest. It wasn't very thick, but it might cushion her better than the thin shirt she was wearing. The pants were softer than the denim she had been wearing and had extra pockets. Opening one of the silver packets, Chell discovered it to be some kind of wafer or protein bar. She took a small bite and grimaced at the taste or lack thereof.
Picking up the helmet once more, she looked it over better. It was some type of metal, but it was far lighter than she'd expect for the material. Tapping the lenses revealed them to be made of glass. The helmet would divide into two pieces. One piece acting as a back then hooked onto the jacket and on this piece is where Chell found the place where the port would hook into. The other half of the helmet was just the gas mask and lenses. She held up that part to her face and found out despite the dark lenses, looking out of them didn't obscure her vision. Instead, it seemed to enhance and make all the surrounding colors more vibrant than before.
Chell looked to Gabriel once again and frowned. He was watching each of her movements with keen interest. She ignored him once more before going over the gear again. Fiddling with the radio, she turned it on, but no sound was coming out. Looking to the receiver then the helmet, she put plugged it into its port but nothing still. On a complete gut feeling, and curiosity, Chell slipped the mask over her head. It must have some sort of pressure plate within the helmet because as soon as her ears pressed into the padding there was a small click and then a trill of beeps before a voice started to fill her ears.
-to all outlying Overwatch Agents, be on the lookout for possible malcompliance subjects...
It was a voice that sent a chill down her spine, a woman's voice. It was mechanical in nature, but it sounded so much like Her that it left Chell frozen in place. It couldn't be GLaDOS but why did it sound so much like her? GLaDOS had taken over and she'd kept them out of Aperture before. She had said so herself during their first fight. But why did it sound like Her? It wasn't right!
Despite that, she had to keep searching for answers. Taking a deep breath, Chell sighed, "Okay."
Chell paused. That wasn't her voice yet it was her word. Right. The mask must have some sort of built-in voice modulator, vocoder her brain supplied, to give the soldiers a way to blend in with each other or to make everyone exactly the same.
"CP-1295, check in."
Chell froze. She really hoped that wasn't her.
"CP-1295, check-in, over."
Chell removed the mask and looked to Gabriel with mild panic on her face. "Are you CP-1295?"
Gabriel kept his gaze fixed on Chell, but even he couldn't stop the smirk that tugged at his lips. Shit.
Chell turned to the vortigaunts, "I need him to stay quiet. We might be in trouble."
There was some hesitation before she slipped the helmet back over her head. The click sounded and once again the mechanical female voice filled her ears once more. The chill still ran up her spine, but it wasn't as bad as she'd been prepared for it.
"CP-1295, check in."
This was probably the stupidest decision she has ever made. Although this could provide them with some answers, it could very well end up with her death. Chell took a deep breath and stepped into the abyss. "Checking in."
"Status on the suspect?" the voice answered in return.
Chell looked to Gabriel (CP-1295?) and frowned. What was she to say? She tried to think back to any movies or television shows she may have watched, but her mind drew a blank. She'd already taken the plunge and had to respond or risk suspicion from the soldiers on the other side of the mic.
Was that her? Was she the suspect or could it be someone else?
"CP-1295, respond."
Dammit. She must have been lost in thought again. "Suspect attacked me. Stole most of my gear."
Chell looked to the vortigaunts who had shifted their gaze to the backpack. Orange eye had an uncertain expression on their face.
"We have a lock on your location. We will send transport to pick you up for debriefing," the other side responded.
Chell's eyes widened in fear. Her jaw tightened and caused her to accidentally bite down on the inside of her mouth, but she didn't feel it. Her body felt numb with the revelation.
"Do you copy, CP-1295?"
Chell felt a lump in her throat. She had to be careful now or risk tipping them off if she hadn't already done so with how she'd been behaving over the radio.
"Copy," she finally managed to say.
"Roger. Remain where you are and transport will arrive within the hour," the radio responded before there was a click and all she heard was the mechanical female voice giving updates.
Chell pulled the helmet off her head and tossed it away. She felt cold once her face was exposed to the open air and that's when she noticed sweat had broken out across her forehead and was running down in rivulets. They were on their way and would arrive within the hour. That's what she gets for being careless! When she gets careless, something wrong always happened.
Turning to Gabriel, she stalked towards him before rearing one of her legs back and kicking him square in the gut. He let out a choked sound and attempted to double over, but the vortigaunts held him in place. That resulted in him vomiting on his lap. Kicking him didn't make her feel any better but she needed something to take her aggression out on, and he was the closest thing.
"What has angered the Traveler so?" Wrinkles asked.
Chell looked to him with fury in her eyes before pointing to the radio and helmet, "They know where we are and are on their way here!"
Chell wanted to kick Gabriel again, but it wouldn't accomplish anything.
"What shall we do then?"
Chell looked to Wrinkles again and shook her head. "Why are you asking me? Every decision I've made had led us into one bad decision after another. It was my idea to enter the city. It was my idea to stick to the roads. It was my idea to let him travel with us. And now another one of my ideas has the damn soldiers coming towards us."
She was on the surface! It was unpredictable and so different than Aperture, yet she had continued to apply what she had learned in testing to the surface. Aperture tests were predictable and had a straightforward goal, but the surface was the complete opposite. There was no order, no path, nothing. She had been following the surface as if there was a line she had to follow but she couldn't keep doing that or she would end up dead.
So Chell began to way her options. She could split up with the vortigaunts to get far away from their current location and then try to meet back up, but that left the question of what to do with Gabriel. Option two was to hide from the transport but if what the vortigaunts had shown her was anything to go by then that would be a bad idea. Yet both options involved one crucial variable; Gabriel.
If they left him behind, he could easily attempt to follow, and they'd end up captured or dead. If they killed him and ran away, then they'd be pursued and the story Chell had told to the radio would be proven false. Killing him seemed to be the better option as it would provide them with a better opportunity to escape.
So that's what she decided. Chell went to where his gun had been dropped and took it in her hands. She checked the ammo, made sure the safety was off, then pointed it at Gabriel's head. The irony of the situation wasn't lost on her. Only two days prior had she been in the exact same position. At the time, the two white masks had kept her in place while the blue-eyed one had pointed the gun. Chell didn't think anyone would be coming to the rescue of Gabriel.
This isn't brave. It's murder.
I've been really busy being dead. You know… After you murdered me?
Say, you're good at murder.
No. That had been survival! Self-defense! Chell had never murdered anyone, but the idea of killing Gabriel made Chell feel sick. He looked just as human as Chell. He didn't have that unnatural pale skin the blue-eyed soldier had, but he was still human. Killing him wouldn't be right no matter how much safer Chell and the vortigaunts would be.
The gun wavered, her eyes drifted to meet Gabriel's. His mouth was a thin line and he looked to be still winded from the kick she delivered, but his eyes held defiance. He truly believed he was going to die but was facing it head-on. His eyes… They reminded her of how she felt when she shot the portal at the moon. Her eyes then drifted to look at the vortigaunts. They almost seemed… sad?
Dammit!
Chell lowered the gun and stalked away. She pressed her hands to her head, hands gripping at her hair. She wasn't supposed to make decisions that decided the fate of someone else! She was supposed to have come to the surface, find some help, and live her life, not get caught up in a revolution and continuously on the run from soldiers with two alien bodyguards.
Gritting her teeth, Chell tossed the gun to the side in anger before shoving most of the contents of Gabriel's pack back into its place. She left the uniform out.
Chell approached the vortigaunts once more with her arms crossed, "I have an idea, but it's incredibly stupid. I need you two to leave me here."
They perked up in surprise at her words. Wrinkles tightened his grip on Gabriel, causing the man to wince. "We can't do that, Traveler. It is wiser for us to flee. The combine shall-"
"There is not enough time for that," Chell interrupted.
"What shall we do with the traitor," Orange eye asked.
Chell met Gabriel's gaze once more. He still had a defiant look, but there was something else there now. Hope? Confusion?
Frowning, Chell met Orange once more, "Take him far away and leave him. Don't kill him."
Gabriel's eyes widened at that. Had he expected her to have the vortigaunts kill him instead?
"What are you planning?" Wrinkles asked.
Chell didn't answer as she was too busy stripping out of her clothes. Modesty be damned. She scrutinized each piece of uniform before pulling it on. The pants were a little long on her and the shoes a couple sizes too big, but she tucked the ends of the pants down inside and kept the laces tight to prevent them from slipping. The jacket was a little big in the chest and it was apparent she wasn't as broad as Gabriel. Looking around at what she had at hand, Chell grabbed one of the companion cube discs and shoved it down in the front of the jacket just over her chest. It not only provided the extra padding to fill out the chest, but it also hid the fact she was female through the jacket. She then cinched all the belt tight to her body, letting it all mold to her shape.
Last came the radio. Inside the pants, Chell found a pocket that looked like it was supposed to hide the receiver. She fit it inside and ran the receiving chord through her jacket and out the top to connect to the helmet once more.
With the helmet tucked under her arm, she looked to Gabriel. "You're going to die," he said.
"I haven't yet," she shot back.
He narrowed his eyes in anger, "You should have killed me. If they find me, then they will kill me. If they discover what you are doing, you will die."
"Then I better not get caught," she growled back.
Orange eye shook his head, "I must advise against this course of action."
"We don't have time to debate this. Either I go with them while you hide or we risk them finding us together. At least this way, I can buy you some time," Chell explained while slipping her portal gun inside Gabriel's backpack along with the rations and the remainder of the heart discs. At least if she survived this, she wouldn't have to use a bedsheet anymore.
She handed the pack off to Wrinkles with a sad smile, "Keep this safe. I'll meet back up with you when I can."
Wrinkles looked to Orange and they shared a look. Wrinkles let go of Gabriel, but before the man could fight back, Orange had gathered a ball of energy in their hand pressed it against Gabriel's head. He let out a sigh as his body went limp.
While that happened, Wrinkles approached Chell and placed a hand on her shoulder, "We shall meet again. We feel it in the vortessence just as we feel your resolve. Be safe, Traveler, for we wish to finish our journey with you."
Chell smiled and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder as well, "I'll see you soon."
Both the vortigaunts gave her a smile while Orange picked up Gabriel in his arms. They cast one last look at her before they took off running into the woods. Chell watched them until she couldn't see them anymore and then waited for the sound of their movements to die down. Even then she waited a few more minutes before finally lifting the mask from under her arm and slipping it once more over her head and securing it to her coat. With clumsy fingers from the gloves, she plugged the radio in once more and waited for the click. The female voice filled her ears once more.
Going to the road, Chell stood in the middle to wait. It wasn't long until one of the armored vehicles that she had flagged down two days ago approached. It slowed to a stop, and two soldiers hopped out. They were both wearing the white masks like her own.
They nodded to her and she walked with purpose to the vehicle. The interior was dark, but a red light was illuminating the interior. With a mechanical sigh, Chell climbed inside and once more found herself in the abyss.
Chell said nothing as she took a seat near the back. The interior was cramped, but there was just enough room to hold four soldiers inside. One seat for the driver, one for a gunner, and two passengers. Her eyes skimmed every inch of the cabin, trying to see what she could use to get out of her current situation.
Along the walls were lines that resembled circuitry panels and there was a panel situated into the wall of the vehicle directly behind the driver. Her fingers itched to look inside but doing so might jeopardize her cover, so she decided to stay seated.
Looking at the back wall, Chell saw a line of weapons. There were a few pistols like the one she had taken from Gabriel but had left in the backpack with the vorts, some machine guns like the one the blue-eyed soldier had held to her head, some shotguns, and two rifles she had never seen before. In fact, they didn't look anything she'd ever seen before. They were solid black and had two barrels stacked on top of each other, the lower one being shorter. On the side of the weapon was a box attached that curved underneath and looped back to attach itself to the side. Was that the ammo? Strange place for the ammo to be stored on a gun. What she assumed was the ammo had a soft red light but besides the main trigger was a secondary trigger. Why would a gun need two triggers? Was it a type of portal gun too? No. It was too militaristic to be a portal gun.
Drawing her gaze away from the weapons, Chell nearly jumped at what she saw. How she had missed them before she didn't know but there was a third soldier only this one was very different than any of the ones she'd seen before. It was clad in solid white padded armor that looked much thicker than the jackets and vests the other soldiers had been wearing. The only splashed of color that wasn't white were its black boots and a red armband on its right arm that Chell couldn't see what was on it from her angle. On the left arm of the soldier was another white armband with an insignia of a cracked skull that looked to be held within some kind of claw. As her gaze moved upwards, she noticed this solder had some sort of neck guard as well, but then she saw their mask. It made her freeze in place and bring back memories.
The gas mask was domed and completely rounded over the top of the soldier's head and that combined with the bright single red eye gave Chell the creeps.
Dispensing product
It was like a turret. Black legs, white body, single red eye. Even if it weren't because of the extra armor, Chell would stay as far away from the soldier as she could. She didn't have to be a genius to know that soldier was a completely different caliber of fighter. Despite how Chell looked at it for several seconds, its gaze never left the wall opposite its seat. Completely stationary, although she doubted knocking it to the ground wouldn't put it out of commission.
Wherever they were going, it didn't take long to get there. It must have been a little over half an hour when the vehicle stopped and the doors opened. The soldier in white was the first to exit the vehicle, followed by the gunner and driver. Chell was slow to leave, but once she stepped out into the sunlight, her eyes widened in shock.
Their vehicle had parked beside several others just like it and was soon hooked up to a mass of power lines that ran over her head. The chords all joined up to an antenna in a building placed in the center of the combine soldier compound. All around her, soldiers in different types of masks and armors marched and proceeded to direct orders. They were organized and methodical, but all she could think was how stupid her plan was in that moment. Chell suddenly had an idea of what a mouse in a nest of vipers might feel like.