p align="left"In the middle of a vast wheat field, in front of a rusty old shed a woman was standing silently, questioning herself what was she doing there once more./p
p align="left"Chell, she had scaped long ago from the mechanical claws of the Aperture Laboratories and its queen, GLaDOS, found a solitary life away from this place, away from everything that has happened and all the things she used to know, it has been almost 4 years now, with the only memento from this hellhole being the burned companion cube she suspected GLaDOS gave her as an apology and a peace offering./p
p align="left"Her travel back here started 2 days ago, she had just woken up in her makeshit room, when her gaze falled upon the cube that she used as a table and chair,she started to think about GLaDOS and their misadventures in old Aperture… she kinda missed hearing her voice./p
p align="left"after stopping that train of thought and looking away she questioned her sanity once more/p
p align="left"(maybe i do have Stokholm syndrome) she said quietly while looking away, trying to find another thing to occupy her mind with./p
p align="left"That day she couldnt get Aperture out of her mind, something told her it would be a great idea to go and pay GlaDOS a visit, even if another voice told her "that would be a big mistake", she + aperture always ended up in tragedy, either almost getting burned alive, putting a moron in charge leading to almost blowing up all Aperture and possibly the whole state or... losing all her friends and family./p
p align="left""one visit wouldn't do any harm, right?" she said outloud while sitting down besides the cube, looking at it like it could answer her at any moment now./p
p align="left"she then left her newfound house and parted towards that sea of golden doom./p
p align="left"She wasn't surprised to see the door slightly open, she was being expected/p
p align="left""Of course" she thought, maybe GLaDOS knew she would return one day./p
p align="left"The sun was almost in it zennit, not only the climate was starting to bother her, even though she had new clothes and not the asphixiating orange overall Aperture brand but, returning here in the middle of summer with a companion cube strapped in her back as a backpack was tiring, but something wasnt allowing her to step further and open the door, the small voice that told her to run away was getting stronger evey minute, but she was already here, the door was open and GLaDOS most likely had cameras on the surface, running away again would be useless./p
p align="left"She took a deep breath and looked up to see the clear sky and the sun, recording that image on her memory, she looked back at the cube in her back trying to find comforting words from it, despite the fact hat it was hollow and couldn't talk, then at the seemengly endless wheat field that surrounded Aperture, the one on which she alsmot went crazy trying to find a way out, she finally took the courage to go forward and started to make her way back into Aperture./p
p align="left"first step and she was already regreting it, but there is no turning back now, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath./p
p align="left"second step, she cursed herself for listening to those voices, she must had tried to get even further away/p
p align="left"third step, she noticed the clack of her boots against the metal floor, she was no longer stepping on the dirt of the outside world/p
p align="left"fourth step, she stopped and opened her eyes, facing the inner wall of the elevator, behind her, the door closed silently and, not long after, she was going down./p
p align="left"As the elevator went down the stream of bad thoughts began again, she tried to take deep breaths, and calm herself down, it was not the first time she was here, but the "taste" of the air inside the facility was like ashes inside her nose and mouth, it simply "tasted off", like breathing all day long inside a cardboard bag./p
p align="left"As she started to get used againg to that taste the elevator slowed down, it had always been this long? the doors opened with that mechanic "hiss" sound and... she was welcomed by pure darkness./p
p align="left"Chell was perplexed, she wasn't expecting a grandiose and warm welcome with cake and a hug, but this was very strange, even for Aperture, no sarcastic words, no pre recorded message, not even the lights where on, it al seemed... dead, like the time had just stopped, almost like the 2 cities she saw on her way here, nothing but silence and grey buildings./p
p align="left"the only thing she could see was some white tiles iluminated by the dim lamplight inside the elevator, she stepped outside and tried to get her eyes used to the darkness./p
p align="left"Suddenly all the lights turned on, she steped back a little and covered her face with her forearm, her eyes felt like burning thanks to the blinding lights, she started to blink rapidly to get her eyes used to them and, when she could finally see again, she wasn't surprised to see an almost empty room covered in white tiles with the onlybr /thing present in the center of it, a giant machine that looked like a upside down spine conected to a rectangular head piece with a yellow led light in the center, like an all observing eye, one that is always watching every nook and cranny of this facility and its inhabitants./p
p align="left""GLaDOS" she said to herself, she had mixed feelings, for once she was happy to see her again, and that surprised her , but overall, the mix of the cold refreshed air, the stillnes of aperture and the fact that she didnt even saw the lights on her travel down here, everything worried her deeply./p
p align="left"She was again getting used to this place, but something caught her attention, something in GLaDOS seemed strange, she couldn't put her finger on what it was, but something was definetly off.../p
p align="left"That train of thought was interrupted when GLaDOS slowly raised her head and greeted her "unexpected" guest/p
p align="left"[Oh, its you again. how have you been? Its been a long time…] she said between slow mechanical chuckles [did you finally came back to finish the job or for a slice of cake?]br /GLaDOS sarcastic presentation was met by a familiar cold stare and a stuborn silence, she hasn't changed all that much since the last time they saw each other, althought she seemed more healthy, a long period in cryosleep made everyone look like ghouls down here, well, at least before there where only 2 inteligent beings in the whole facility./p
p align="left"Chell wanted to laugh aswell, but she resisted, her silence was something she had kept since the first time she met GLaDOS, it was her way of showing how Aperture would never break her, no matter how hard the test where or how dangeous they could get, she wil still keep that determinated stare, never letting the fear and dispair consume her./p
p align="left"GLaDOs knew all of that, she knew that Chell wasnt mute, thats why she taunedt her so much, to test how stuborn she could get, after the "Party Escort Robot" had retrived her from the surface, a medical emergency protocol was contucted, and it showed no damage in the vocal chords nor in the brain matter, thats why, under this new circumstances, Chell keeping her silence was, more than stuborn idiotic, she knew about the many questions she wanted to ask, so if she didnt gave something in return she wasn't going to reveal anything./p
p align="left"Chell just waved at her, and then put both hands in her pockets, she was not gonna give up out of /[Come on, Chell, i thought we where over this charade already, we both tried to kill each other, and at least one of us fullfiled that task, now its all water under the bridge, and besides, i dont plan to play staring contest with you, i dont have time for that]br /If GLaDOS was good at something it was acting, not only she managed to convince the dumb scintist to gave her acces to deadly neurotoxin, she was keeping her cool in this situation better than expected./p
p align="left"Chell was thinking, it could be seen in her face how the gears where turning, it was true that Aperture no longer posted a threat to her, or thats what she would like to think, and they grew pretty close during their forced alliance so…br /finally Chell inahled deeply, looked up to the really dark celining, breathed out and went straight to the point./p
p align="left"(Why am I here?)br /She asked colly, her voice was sour, after all those years of silence, not beign able to use it during cryosleep and the loud scream of victory she let out when she was finally out of the wheat field had left her voice in a state...not really desirable, the only use she gave her voice was when she found herself idly looking at the clouds trying to remember songs from her childhood./p
p align="left"[you are asking me? and here i was thinking you finally realized how much you loved ... testing, and came back to me, to help the progress of science]br /she made too many pauses, but for what she could see, Chell hadn't payed any mind to it./p
p align="left"Speaking of Chell, the look on her face said more than words, a raised eyebrow and pressed lips that read (you are joking, right?)./p
p align="left"Glados looked to the side, pondering what to do next, [is this the right moment? Should i lie? Maybe i can…] she said silently to herself./p
p align="left"After a mechanical sight, she looked directly at chell who was still waiting for an answer, this moment felt like an eternity, but there was no point on liyng anymore, she had made this desition long ago and she wasn't going to be a quitter /[fine…i made you come here]/p
p align="left"Chell's face twsited, she was pissed off, she sighned deeply, she was more offended than anythingbr /(How?)/p
p align="left"GLaDOS was about to star paniking, she had expected this reaction, alongside another hundred different ones, but she still wasn't ready, this could ruin everything, but she had the metaphorical foot in the hornet nest already, there is no turning back, say it!br /She paused for some seconds and finally answered./p
p align="left"[Every test subject that finished its tasks on aperture would recieve a paycheck, their freedom and …an implant, a microchip locaded near the spine that will track their location and ,if its necesary to recruit more test subjects, will implant the idea of coming back and work once more on the tests]/p
p align="left"GlaDOS didnt realized she had her eye closed, maybe she didnt wanted to see Chell's reaction to her confession, but once she did she started to feel chills down her metaphysical spine and core./p
p align="left"Her eyes where wide open starting to fill with small teardrops in the corners, her mouth was frowning and she clenched her fists so hard her knuckles went white, seeing the betrayal in her eyes GLaDOS felt like the worst being in all the history of Aperture, she wanted to look away, but she was paralysed and as much as she wanted to try and explain the words died before she could produce any sound./p
p align="left"The first time Chell woke up in Aperture she was scared and nervous, there was nobody around her and the only contact she had with anything was just, what she though was, a prerecorded message telling her to do tests for the portal gun initiative, it was a horryfying surprise when she discovered that voice was an AI who planned to get rid of her as soon as she become useless in testing, the second time she decided to trust Wheatley, he looked like a clumsy core whose worst thing he could do was "hacking a door" by breaking a window and opening it from the other side, when she heard that laugh coming from him when he connceted with the main core of Aperture she felt chills down her spine and bretrayal, it was the first friendly face she ever saw in aperture just for him to stab her in the back, that was a huge hit to her, but this time it was way /They both had came up to good terms, at least she though they did, after everything that hapened in Old Aperture, after GLaDOS admiting she was afraid and even releasing her from this place and giving her the Companion Cube, she though she had seen the worst aperture could do, forcing homeless people to tests, changing the DNA of tests subjects, forcing a woman to become a living machine in the name of science, this felt even worse, this felt like GLaDOS had tooker head with one of her mechanical claws and ripped it out of her chest and then threw it into the incenerator./p
p align="left"After what felt like hours of that dreadful silence, Chell finally found some words to say/p
p align="left"(You….you…..) her voice was dying before even completing the idea, but it was enough to make GLaDOS snap back into reality/p
p align="left"[Wait….Chell, please let me explain i just…] she was cut off when Chell started to scream/p
p align="left"She started rambling furiously while her voice began to break more and more, the few thing GlaDOS could make out of it she was screaming about all that happened in old aperture, how she trusted her, how she believed she had changed after thatm it was only few words she could hear, but it make her feel worse and worse, Chell was still screaming but as a stream of tears began to flow from her eyes, her screams becoming louder and her whole body shaking, this ocntinued for some time before her scream became only loud angry mumbles, thast whne GlaDO scould bear it no longer./p
p align="left"Watching Chell breaking down like this would have been for GlaDOs nothing but something to laugh at in the past, but now, after all that happened to her, and between them, specially now in this situationm she could not resist any longer/p
p align="left"[CHELL!] GlaDOs screamed, her words echoing across all the room leaving only silence behind, Chell was brough back to reality thanks to that scream, but it ddint sounded normal at all, she sounded worried, she sounded…..scared/p
p align="left"[Im Dying]./p
p align="left"Chell, she had scaped long ago from the mechanical claws of the Aperture Laboratories and its queen, GLaDOS, found a solitary life away from this place, away from everything that has happened and all the things she used to know, it has been almost 4 years now, with the only memento from this hellhole being the burned companion cube she suspected GLaDOS gave her as an apology and a peace offering./p
p align="left"Her travel back here started 2 days ago, she had just woken up in her makeshit room, when her gaze falled upon the cube that she used as a table and chair,she started to think about GLaDOS and their misadventures in old Aperture… she kinda missed hearing her voice./p
p align="left"after stopping that train of thought and looking away she questioned her sanity once more/p
p align="left"(maybe i do have Stokholm syndrome) she said quietly while looking away, trying to find another thing to occupy her mind with./p
p align="left"That day she couldnt get Aperture out of her mind, something told her it would be a great idea to go and pay GlaDOS a visit, even if another voice told her "that would be a big mistake", she + aperture always ended up in tragedy, either almost getting burned alive, putting a moron in charge leading to almost blowing up all Aperture and possibly the whole state or... losing all her friends and family./p
p align="left""one visit wouldn't do any harm, right?" she said outloud while sitting down besides the cube, looking at it like it could answer her at any moment now./p
p align="left"she then left her newfound house and parted towards that sea of golden doom./p
p align="left"She wasn't surprised to see the door slightly open, she was being expected/p
p align="left""Of course" she thought, maybe GLaDOS knew she would return one day./p
p align="left"The sun was almost in it zennit, not only the climate was starting to bother her, even though she had new clothes and not the asphixiating orange overall Aperture brand but, returning here in the middle of summer with a companion cube strapped in her back as a backpack was tiring, but something wasnt allowing her to step further and open the door, the small voice that told her to run away was getting stronger evey minute, but she was already here, the door was open and GLaDOS most likely had cameras on the surface, running away again would be useless./p
p align="left"She took a deep breath and looked up to see the clear sky and the sun, recording that image on her memory, she looked back at the cube in her back trying to find comforting words from it, despite the fact hat it was hollow and couldn't talk, then at the seemengly endless wheat field that surrounded Aperture, the one on which she alsmot went crazy trying to find a way out, she finally took the courage to go forward and started to make her way back into Aperture./p
p align="left"first step and she was already regreting it, but there is no turning back now, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath./p
p align="left"second step, she cursed herself for listening to those voices, she must had tried to get even further away/p
p align="left"third step, she noticed the clack of her boots against the metal floor, she was no longer stepping on the dirt of the outside world/p
p align="left"fourth step, she stopped and opened her eyes, facing the inner wall of the elevator, behind her, the door closed silently and, not long after, she was going down./p
p align="left"As the elevator went down the stream of bad thoughts began again, she tried to take deep breaths, and calm herself down, it was not the first time she was here, but the "taste" of the air inside the facility was like ashes inside her nose and mouth, it simply "tasted off", like breathing all day long inside a cardboard bag./p
p align="left"As she started to get used againg to that taste the elevator slowed down, it had always been this long? the doors opened with that mechanic "hiss" sound and... she was welcomed by pure darkness./p
p align="left"Chell was perplexed, she wasn't expecting a grandiose and warm welcome with cake and a hug, but this was very strange, even for Aperture, no sarcastic words, no pre recorded message, not even the lights where on, it al seemed... dead, like the time had just stopped, almost like the 2 cities she saw on her way here, nothing but silence and grey buildings./p
p align="left"the only thing she could see was some white tiles iluminated by the dim lamplight inside the elevator, she stepped outside and tried to get her eyes used to the darkness./p
p align="left"Suddenly all the lights turned on, she steped back a little and covered her face with her forearm, her eyes felt like burning thanks to the blinding lights, she started to blink rapidly to get her eyes used to them and, when she could finally see again, she wasn't surprised to see an almost empty room covered in white tiles with the onlybr /thing present in the center of it, a giant machine that looked like a upside down spine conected to a rectangular head piece with a yellow led light in the center, like an all observing eye, one that is always watching every nook and cranny of this facility and its inhabitants./p
p align="left""GLaDOS" she said to herself, she had mixed feelings, for once she was happy to see her again, and that surprised her , but overall, the mix of the cold refreshed air, the stillnes of aperture and the fact that she didnt even saw the lights on her travel down here, everything worried her deeply./p
p align="left"She was again getting used to this place, but something caught her attention, something in GLaDOS seemed strange, she couldn't put her finger on what it was, but something was definetly off.../p
p align="left"That train of thought was interrupted when GLaDOS slowly raised her head and greeted her "unexpected" guest/p
p align="left"[Oh, its you again. how have you been? Its been a long time…] she said between slow mechanical chuckles [did you finally came back to finish the job or for a slice of cake?]br /GLaDOS sarcastic presentation was met by a familiar cold stare and a stuborn silence, she hasn't changed all that much since the last time they saw each other, althought she seemed more healthy, a long period in cryosleep made everyone look like ghouls down here, well, at least before there where only 2 inteligent beings in the whole facility./p
p align="left"Chell wanted to laugh aswell, but she resisted, her silence was something she had kept since the first time she met GLaDOS, it was her way of showing how Aperture would never break her, no matter how hard the test where or how dangeous they could get, she wil still keep that determinated stare, never letting the fear and dispair consume her./p
p align="left"GLaDOs knew all of that, she knew that Chell wasnt mute, thats why she taunedt her so much, to test how stuborn she could get, after the "Party Escort Robot" had retrived her from the surface, a medical emergency protocol was contucted, and it showed no damage in the vocal chords nor in the brain matter, thats why, under this new circumstances, Chell keeping her silence was, more than stuborn idiotic, she knew about the many questions she wanted to ask, so if she didnt gave something in return she wasn't going to reveal anything./p
p align="left"Chell just waved at her, and then put both hands in her pockets, she was not gonna give up out of /[Come on, Chell, i thought we where over this charade already, we both tried to kill each other, and at least one of us fullfiled that task, now its all water under the bridge, and besides, i dont plan to play staring contest with you, i dont have time for that]br /If GLaDOS was good at something it was acting, not only she managed to convince the dumb scintist to gave her acces to deadly neurotoxin, she was keeping her cool in this situation better than expected./p
p align="left"Chell was thinking, it could be seen in her face how the gears where turning, it was true that Aperture no longer posted a threat to her, or thats what she would like to think, and they grew pretty close during their forced alliance so…br /finally Chell inahled deeply, looked up to the really dark celining, breathed out and went straight to the point./p
p align="left"(Why am I here?)br /She asked colly, her voice was sour, after all those years of silence, not beign able to use it during cryosleep and the loud scream of victory she let out when she was finally out of the wheat field had left her voice in a state...not really desirable, the only use she gave her voice was when she found herself idly looking at the clouds trying to remember songs from her childhood./p
p align="left"[you are asking me? and here i was thinking you finally realized how much you loved ... testing, and came back to me, to help the progress of science]br /she made too many pauses, but for what she could see, Chell hadn't payed any mind to it./p
p align="left"Speaking of Chell, the look on her face said more than words, a raised eyebrow and pressed lips that read (you are joking, right?)./p
p align="left"Glados looked to the side, pondering what to do next, [is this the right moment? Should i lie? Maybe i can…] she said silently to herself./p
p align="left"After a mechanical sight, she looked directly at chell who was still waiting for an answer, this moment felt like an eternity, but there was no point on liyng anymore, she had made this desition long ago and she wasn't going to be a quitter /[fine…i made you come here]/p
p align="left"Chell's face twsited, she was pissed off, she sighned deeply, she was more offended than anythingbr /(How?)/p
p align="left"GLaDOS was about to star paniking, she had expected this reaction, alongside another hundred different ones, but she still wasn't ready, this could ruin everything, but she had the metaphorical foot in the hornet nest already, there is no turning back, say it!br /She paused for some seconds and finally answered./p
p align="left"[Every test subject that finished its tasks on aperture would recieve a paycheck, their freedom and …an implant, a microchip locaded near the spine that will track their location and ,if its necesary to recruit more test subjects, will implant the idea of coming back and work once more on the tests]/p
p align="left"GlaDOS didnt realized she had her eye closed, maybe she didnt wanted to see Chell's reaction to her confession, but once she did she started to feel chills down her metaphysical spine and core./p
p align="left"Her eyes where wide open starting to fill with small teardrops in the corners, her mouth was frowning and she clenched her fists so hard her knuckles went white, seeing the betrayal in her eyes GLaDOS felt like the worst being in all the history of Aperture, she wanted to look away, but she was paralysed and as much as she wanted to try and explain the words died before she could produce any sound./p
p align="left"The first time Chell woke up in Aperture she was scared and nervous, there was nobody around her and the only contact she had with anything was just, what she though was, a prerecorded message telling her to do tests for the portal gun initiative, it was a horryfying surprise when she discovered that voice was an AI who planned to get rid of her as soon as she become useless in testing, the second time she decided to trust Wheatley, he looked like a clumsy core whose worst thing he could do was "hacking a door" by breaking a window and opening it from the other side, when she heard that laugh coming from him when he connceted with the main core of Aperture she felt chills down her spine and bretrayal, it was the first friendly face she ever saw in aperture just for him to stab her in the back, that was a huge hit to her, but this time it was way /They both had came up to good terms, at least she though they did, after everything that hapened in Old Aperture, after GLaDOS admiting she was afraid and even releasing her from this place and giving her the Companion Cube, she though she had seen the worst aperture could do, forcing homeless people to tests, changing the DNA of tests subjects, forcing a woman to become a living machine in the name of science, this felt even worse, this felt like GLaDOS had tooker head with one of her mechanical claws and ripped it out of her chest and then threw it into the incenerator./p
p align="left"After what felt like hours of that dreadful silence, Chell finally found some words to say/p
p align="left"(You….you…..) her voice was dying before even completing the idea, but it was enough to make GLaDOS snap back into reality/p
p align="left"[Wait….Chell, please let me explain i just…] she was cut off when Chell started to scream/p
p align="left"She started rambling furiously while her voice began to break more and more, the few thing GlaDOS could make out of it she was screaming about all that happened in old aperture, how she trusted her, how she believed she had changed after thatm it was only few words she could hear, but it make her feel worse and worse, Chell was still screaming but as a stream of tears began to flow from her eyes, her screams becoming louder and her whole body shaking, this ocntinued for some time before her scream became only loud angry mumbles, thast whne GlaDO scould bear it no longer./p
p align="left"Watching Chell breaking down like this would have been for GlaDOs nothing but something to laugh at in the past, but now, after all that happened to her, and between them, specially now in this situationm she could not resist any longer/p
p align="left"[CHELL!] GlaDOs screamed, her words echoing across all the room leaving only silence behind, Chell was brough back to reality thanks to that scream, but it ddint sounded normal at all, she sounded worried, she sounded…..scared/p
p align="left"[Im Dying]./p