Chapter 64, Everybody! Still working hard on all active fics this month and angling to get back into the updating swing of things. We've got updates for several weeks now for this fic—and I think we're close to the end so…my goal is to finish this fic this year. *excited flailing*

Moving on…in planning this I did intend for Willow to be the one to snap Wilson out of this, except that wasn't where the story was going—trying that just felt like the writing equivalent of a stuck needle on a record (anyone out there remember records?). Letting it flow revealed what needed to happen: Wilson had to be the one to figure it out and put on the brakes.

Don't Starve © 2013 Klei Entertainment

Portal © 2007 Valve

The excursion funnel cut out over several aerial faith plates, which launched them sideways into a panel that dumped them onto a little platform—

The panel moved away, showing themselves to be surrounded by mashy spike plates.

Yes, hello! Wilson chimed, looking much too pleased with himself when the video screen activated. We've come to the end of your peer evaluation, and sad to say your contribution to science has become negligible. We'll have to fix that.

"By killing us?" Maxwell asked, partially shielding Willow—she took the opportunity to check the portal gun—still inactive.

Temporarily, Wilson said, shocking her into looking up—his expression was almost bored, or disappointed—not what she'd expect from someone who was planning on terminating them with extreme prejudice. But I'll put you back together again. I'm sure with a few adjustments you'll be much more open to testing properly.

No—no—Wilson—

Everything deep inside crumpled at that declaration, drowning out whatever invectives Maxwell was spewing—why

He was gone. Wilson was gone. Any pretense of Wilson was gone—

No.


Righteous anger and fury were singing through him, triumph as he toyed with them and dropped them right into his trap—he'd scrape the pieces off and put them back together, he had promised that much. And he had had the foresight to back Willow's mind up when she was in the relaxation pod, so he didn't have to worry too terribly about crushing that organ—a positronic brain was much better anyway.

And once that was done, they could start playing things his way.

Ignore Maxwell's railing, he was unimportant, glance at Willow—

Something about that expression made his heart thump painfully, made something ping deep inside—

What am I doing!?

It felt like someone had ripped a tarp off his head—for a few split seconds he was perfectly aware of their situation, of his, of the dark gray stains dribbling down his wrists and behind his ears—no he didn't—but when he had plugged in for the emergency core replacement—

He was about to kill his best friend what was wrong with him!?

Desperate look at her, knew what it looked like, what everything looked like there—glance down, where there was a slim chance of escape, use that moment of lucidity to restore power to the portal gun—

She blinked, must have seen—glanced down—

Fired two portals and was gone with Maxwell.

Anger and other negative emotions came sizzling back, eating through his clarity—slam forward, screaming NO! and Get back here!—cling stubbornly, try to hang on, that one clear thought—

He was a fool. They had had a clear out and he had been greedy and grabbed his oldest dream, gave himself over to the facility fully—

A facility that was now furious with him.

He stayed still, staring at nothing, trembling, breathing ragged—desperately clinging to that little bit of sanity, the part screaming that what he had been doing was wrong, all wrong, no amount of power or science was worth this—

Threat to the facility.

Kill her or else.

No, he ground out. No—I refuse—

You have no choice. She will kill you.

Glare at the chamber.

No, he repeated, sharpening that anger from irrationality to something protecting that sliver of sanity, something with direction. No…I think we'll kill you.

Silence.

You are nothing but our face, they said. We will destroy her and break you.

The cables attached to him suddenly went taut, yanking him back, slamming him into a mass of more cables formed into a nightmarish throne like Maxwell had been seated in, looping around and tightening his body against it—

And then his blood caught fire.


They ran, being sparing in their use of portals, Willow constantly checking the gun after every shot—still there, still there, still there—

Finally found a spot where he couldn't move the facility around to squash them, collapsed to catch their breath.

"See?" Maxwell asked finally, gasping. "I was right."

"H-how do you figure?" she asked.

"You always escape when someone tries to kill you—and here we are."

She grimaced at him. "You know, two of those times was you."

"And your point?"

Sigh, flop back and scrub at her face—they were free of the testing tracks now. They could fight back.

Wilson….

She had seen it—for a split-second she had seen it—the old Wilson, her Wilson, had been there, had glanced down at the one spot where she could fire a portal and escape, looked at the portal gun—she had glanced down out of habit, saw the lights—

"Wilson's still in there," she announced suddenly, startling Maxwell. "He's in there and he's fighting back."

Maxwell considered her. "He's in a lot of pain right now then."

She looked at him. "The facility's angry."

"Most likely. He did just let the biggest threat to it escape."

Well that was comforting to know. But besides that….

"What is it doing to him?" she had to ask.

Maxwell wasn't looking at her anymore—more like through her, like he was thinking of things he'd rather not recall.

"You might have noticed my blood isn't the right color," he told her. "And you might have noticed his eyes aren't the right color. That's from nanites—tiny little robots small enough to fit in the bloodstream. Right now they're probably eating him from the inside out."

She gaped at him, horrified. "That—that'll kill him—"

"Do I look dead? Don't answer that," he huffed, flopping back. "They won't kill him, they still need him—no, right now they're going to make him think real hard about what he's done. Depending on his mental acuity, he'll snap like a twig."

No—no they had to hurry—

"Y-you made it," she felt compelled to point out—wasn't prepared for Maxwell laughing so hard he apparently hurt a rib.

"Excuse me?" he asked. "Excuse me? Do recall that I get my kicks from torturing people, not necessarily for science."

She gave him a long look. "Were you always like that?"

Froze as that question registered on him—all mirth gone when he turned that even look on her.

"That guy was killed long ago," he said flatly. "Trust me, him being dead is an improvement."

"How do you figure?" she asked, watching him stand—and giving his outstretched hand a suspicious look.

"Because that guy wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done," he said flatly. "Now come on—we might as well beat feet while he's distracted."


Waking up was less of a continuum and more of a binary…ow…ow…pain…the taste of blood in his mouth…what happened….

Danger. Threat to facility. Kill threat.

What?

Seized with a sudden irrational fear—something was out there, something that meant to kill him—already sitting up, cables sliding from his chest, slipping over a glowing light there—of course, as the central unit he'd be in the most danger from intruders—

Something rankled about that—something he was missing—tapes—review the tapes—

Saw a familiar face—

Willow.

Immediately he was yanked back, tied down, fire and lightning singing through his body as the nanites in his blood chewed away at him, healing the damage as fast as they made it—the threat he had doled out to Maxwell turned against him—no—

Threat to the facility. Kill her.

No—no he wouldn't—he couldn't—

Couldn't take it anymore—piece of his mind breaking free, disassociating—

Willow was off the tracks—she was heading here, dragging Maxwell behind her most likely—

She couldn't plug him back in.

He couldn't let her plug him back in.

Because if Maxwell were plugged back in it would be just the same old same old, this vicious cycle would start all over again—no—there had to be something else—anything—

It broke something deep inside, but he had to let the facility believe he would play by their rules.

Okay! he choked out finally. Okay! Okay—just—please, let me think—

Pain finally subsided, leaving him lay there limp, barely held upright in this nightmare throne by the cables binding him to it…couldn't help but stare blearily at the light in his chest. When…when had that happened?

Ah, right—almost immediately after Willow vanished, when he had listened to the facility and willingly given himself over to it. Unlimited knowledge, unlimited power, protection from the dangers the surface cameras were showing…all of it, just there for the taking, and like an idiot he did…why would he want pesky things like organs when true science was at stake?

Except this wasn't true science, this was—some sort of perversion

She was right. She had always been right, he needed to get out of this—

Not Maxwell.

No—no there had to be something else, some way to purge this foul code—the corruption wasn't the data, or even Maxwell—it was the facility itself, these malignant little programs that hissed in his ears direct to his mind had used his own greed and blinded him—

Why did he think she'd like being on the tracks? Why did he think she was plotting against him, specifically?

Why had he done any of this?

He wanted to apologize, say something—cable around his throat tightened. Right. Couldn't actually give weight to the intent, they would know….

There had to be a way to get rid of them.

But how? It wasn't like they'd provide the means to destroy themselves, they were far too clever, far too obsessed with their own self-preservation….

Okay blowing the place to kingdom come was tempting, but not all that conductive to Willow's continued survival. And he doubted he'd be allowed to get away with it.

And dangit he didn't want to die—he wanted to live, wanted to escape with Willow like they planned—

Turn a hand slightly, resting the clawed tips on the shifting armrest beneath it, staring at the dark gray leaking out from where a cable had wrapped around a wrist and burrowed into his hand, pumping nanites in. Augmentations he had welcomed gleefully at first, marveling at the wonders of science—

He wouldn't be able to escape.

Not like this. He'd end up like Maxwell, in constant pain from every movement, barely enough juice to keep himself mobile…he couldn't leave the facility with her. Not now.

The realization made his eyes burn—idiot. Idiot idiot IDIOT he was—he was such a MORON—

Choked out a distressed cry, feeling wet on his cheeks—well at least that still worked—gasping as he tried to think through this crushing reality—

Destroying himself wouldn't work—the facility still needed a central processing unit, one to keep things running smoothly and preventing what was in here from destroying what was out there. To make sure….

To make sure Willow made it out alive.

Despair crushed him, made his breathing rapid and shallow—had he even been breathing recently? He couldn't remember anymore—she'd have to go out there alone, no backup, no plan—no one to keep an eye on her. He was trapped here, Maxwell would be of even less help on the surface—why…why had he done this to her!?

She'd be free—remind himself that she'd be free…there had to be something he could do, something he could work with…couldn't release her into the wild by herself—that robot concept he had—

And just then, something pinged into the clear spot that was still very much Wilson Percival Higgsbury, gentleman scientist.

Now how to translate it to Wilson the Insane Central Processing Unit without giving away the whole game?

I…I'm having a thought, he managed finally. A robot running the tracks instead. Humans…are rather boring, you can't deny that.

Silence.

Humans make superior test subjects.

Grimace, dredge up the last dozen or so test subjects. Humans also either underperform or escape and try to kill…us. Robots are more tractable.

Silence….

We'll need something to test between killing her and opening the human vault, he insisted.

Yes, the voices purred. Yes. You are a good ruler. Lines started to go slack. See what happens when you rule wisely?

Yes…yes he did. And this place was so corrupted that it thought that was a good thing.

But if he could isolate the corrupted code….

I do have other plans, he announced, curling a clawed hand into a fist, watching the individual fingers move, one at a time, ponderously—like his body was no longer properly receiving input from his mind. Plans that will need to be implemented right away. Look up at one of the security screens, looping one of Willow's test runs, freezing right as she launched herself at the screen. Fury, determination, stubbornness…things that should have disqualified her from testing.

Things that might still save her life.

Plans that I need done before I can kill her.


Maxwell had announced that thanks to certain parts being supporting beams, those parts could not be touched by Wilson or the facility without them all plummeting into the depths. For reasons, the facility would prefer to avoid that.

"KVAS testing protocol does not cover falling into the abyss," Willow snarked.

"Yeah you've been here too long," Maxwell informed her.

"Gee, I think I recall wanting to leave—like several times."

"At this point I want you to leave too." Look around. "So…yeah. I don't know where anything actually is from this angle."

She watched him try to puzzle out his location, finally had to comment.

"You're not going to let me go free, are you," she said. "That's a lie like everything else."

Didn't like the way his thin frame sagged. "And this would surprise you?"

She exhaled deeply. "At this point, being free of this place would surprise me."

He eyed her with something that would be concern on anyone else. "You don't want up there. Whatever you think is still up there—it's gone. It's been gone. It was gone long before you were put in suspended animation."

She stared at him. "What happened?"

He shrugged, looked around again. "How would I know? KVAS never had connectivity with other locations—too afraid someone would hack in, I guess. And what happened outside was never much of a concern for anything inside." Look away, gesture vaguely. "That way?"

"You don't sound sure."

"The supports there look thicker," he muttered.

"You're lost, aren't you."

He sat down on the floor at that. "Yeah, fine, I'm lost," he muttered. "So I'm useless when I'm not plugged in—big whoop. Lots of things are. Telephones and TVs and whatnot."

She blinked at him. "H…how long were you in here?"

"Haven't the foggiest. Why?"

Shake her head—she had the feeling telling him about cell phones wouldn't help, although it raised the question of why KVAS didn't have that if they were oh so advanced. Look around herself—

"Wait," she said, tapping him and pointing—there, under one of the testing spheres, was half of a broken elevator. "That there—I think that was the elevator I got bashed down in!" Look up at the testing facility constantly morphing and shifting above them like some eldritch abomination—and unlike the rest of it, that point wasn't moving.

Maxwell noticed this too.

"Well, there's that," he observed, dragging himself up. "Now how do we get over there?"

She considered, pacing around the walkway, looking everywhere—

Smiled when she came back around to him.

"By thinking with portals."