"Courtney! Courtney, seriously! This isn't funny!" Susie had been banging on the shed door for a good five minutes now and still got no answer. She had never known Courtney to be the kind of person to pull a joke like this so she was starting to panic.
"Kara, we need to get the door open, now!" Susie frantically sputtered. "What if she's hurt? What if-"
"Susie." Kara said firmly. "We don't have a way to get it open. It's shut tight."
"Then we need to call the police or something! We can't just leave her here!"
"You really think the police will believe us? Look, I don't like this either but if we start panicking we're not gonna do her any good. It's late. Let's just go home and we'll figure this out tomorrow."
Susie really didn't like leaving Courtney there, but Kara had a point. The police wouldn't believe anything about this, especially with them being such troublemakers, and it's not like they could do anything anyway.
"Fine," she said finally. "But we're coming back."
Okay, so the situation looked pretty bleak for Wheatley. He was hanging on wires in a pitch black room, unable to see anything or even move for that matter.
The last several hours had been a bit of a blur as they'd happened so fast and he'd spent most of it panicking.
"Oh god, that girl's dead! I mean, it's her own bloody fault for dragging me down here. I didn't want to come down here but no, she just had to get answers didn't she? Couldn't leave well enough alone and now she's been pumped full of neurotoxin!"
"She's not dead, you moron." came a familiar, cold voice.
"W-wait, she's alive? Oh, thank god! That lady would've killed me if I- Well, not that she could now that I'm down here, but… Oh, I'm down here… right."
Wheatley, now that he had his grasp back on the situation, realized who he was talking to.
"Hey, you're not mad about the whole "taking over" thing, are you? Because, because that was…largely due to the programming in your- Look, don't be mad about what I did. You probably would have done the same to me, r-right?"
There was silence for a moment and then…
"AAAAAHH!" Wheatley felt an intense current of electricity surge through him.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I execute the wrong command? The fact that you haven't shut down yet means the dose wasn't strong enough. Let me just raise that a little."
"R-raise? No really, it's oka- AAAAAAAHHHHH!" It hurt even more that time.
"To answer your question from earlier, yes she's still alive. That wasn't neurotoxin I was pumping into the room. But really, you think I would want her to come all the way here just so I could kill her? Actually, don't answer that. I already know the answer. No, being that she's that mute lunatic's daughter I would hope some genes would be passed down. I guess we'll find out won't we?"
"Oh...and I suppose I fit in to this plan…somehow?"
She gave a harsh laugh. "No. Tell me, what do you think the biggest lesson I learned from our experience was?"
"Uh, what?"
"No matter how small and insignificant you think you are, there's always someone more small and insignificant there to take it out on. The only reason you're still alive is that I'm going to make you pay for what you've done. Understand?"
"Uh, is there anyway we can do this…without that?"
Another harsh laugh. "What do you think?"
"Mister Blue Sky, Please tell us why, You had to hide away for so long!" Calvin sang to himself as he made breakfast the next morning.
Chell looked up from her book. "Do you have to sing every time you cook?"
Calvin looked wounded. "I thought you liked my singing."
"I don't mind it. I just think you need to not do it so often."
"Michelle, you wound me!" he said playfully. They were interrupted from their thoughts by a meowing sound from the floor.
"Huh," Calvin said. "It's not like Courtney to not feed Nibbles. She must have really been upset after last night." Chell sighed.
Calvin simply put a hand on her shoulder. "Should I go talk to her?"
"No, I'll get her. She's mad at me." Chell had some time to deescalate after the fight last night, so she was able to get her head together. She figured she could rationally talk to Courtney now.
"Courtney? It's me." She knocked on the bedroom door. No answer.
"Courtney, you know I'm not the best at talking things out. Answer me." Still silence.
Chell huffed, turning the knob. To her surprise however, Courtney was nowhere to be found.
She felt a wave of dread come over her but quickly forced it back down. This was not the time to panic. If Courtney really was missing she'd have to act fast.
Back downstairs, Calvin looked up from the pancakes. "Hey Michelle, is she-" He stopped as he saw her rushing towards the front door with a look on her face.
A look he hadn't seen her make in a very long time.
"What are you-" he began.
"I'm going to get our daughter. Stay here and watch the house. I'll be back."
Calvin grabbed her arm. "Not a chance. If somethings going on, you need to let me in on it. She's my daughter too."
"Cal," Chell said slowly. "I'm telling you to stay out of this."
"And I'm telling you not a chance. You told me last night you would tell me what's going on. If Courtney's missing, then I need to know."
Chell jerked her arm away. That look in Calvin's eyes was pleading, as if he was begging her to answer.
"Please Chell, I'm worried."
After a long pause, Chell finally turned her head away and murmured, "Fine."
Rob had just rushed to Susie's house as per her request. She'd frantically called him over early that morning saying it was an emergency. He found her outside her front door, looking like she hadn't slept at all.
"What happened to you?" Rob asked. "And why did you call me over so early? You're never up this early on a Saturday."
"I didn't sleep last night." Susie mumbled.
"Okay, but why?"
"Because!" She took a breath. "Just listen. I need to tell you what went down last night."
Susie filled him in on the events of the past night. She was talking pretty fast and tripped up a few times.
Rob stared at her for a moment. "Okay…so what I'm getting out of this is that Courtney's in trouble. But why would the door just close on it's own? Unless…" He trailed off.
"Unless what?" Susie urged.
"Well… didn't that robot ball say something about there being some, what was it, giant underground laboratory? What if a person down in there had access to a control room? It would also explain why she wasn't answering afterwards. Maybe it was some kind of elevator?"
"I think you've been watching too many sci-fi movies, Rob."
"I don't know… having a retired engineer for a dad has taught me that a lot of things are possible. The question is why haven't we heard of there being a lab out here? It would make more sense for it to be closer to the city, but that's at least an hour drive from here, it makes no sense."
Susie groaned. "Now my head just hurts even more."
"Well, I'll see if me and my dad can dig up any information about some science facility that may have been around here. In the meantime, do Courtney's parents know what happened?"
"You think I'm gonna tell her mom about this? She's terrifying!"
"They have a right to know."
Susie sighed. "I hate it when you're right."
The first thing Courtney noticed when she tried to open her eyes was that she couldn't. She was too groggy, her mind too hazy. She also noticed that there was a horrible taste in her mouth. It was bitter and stale, like she'd been asleep for a while.
Slowly though, her mind was refocusing. She was finally able to open her eyes and she immediately knew something was wrong. This was not her house. She was not in her bedroom. She was in what looked like a cheap motel room.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed while she tried to remember what happened. She hadn't gone to bed last night, she had-
Everything came flooding back. The fight, the shed, all of it. Which meant she was probably in this place Wheatley had mentioned.
Wheatley! Where was he? Was he okay? He'd seemed pretty scared when they came.
What did he say? "The one place I never wanted to come back to?" That didn't sound good.
Courtney silently cursed herself for not listening to her instincts. Everything was telling her this was a bad idea but she had kept going.
Moreover, how much time had passed? There weren't any windows or clocks that she could see so the wasn't sure.
"Wheatey?" she called. No answer. Of course.
Courtney got up and walked around the side of the bed, nearly tripping on a pair of boots on the floor.
They certainly weren't like any boots she'd ever seen. They had some sort of braces on the back of them making it so you'd need to stand on your toes if you wore them. She picked them up to examine them.
"I'd put those on if I were you. It's a better alternative to breaking your legs." came a voice that nearly made Courtney jump out of her skin.
Courtney frantically looked around for the source of the voice. Her eyes fell upon a metal ball similar to Wheatley coming in on a rail.
"Uh…hi." Courtney said slowly. "Did you…put me here?"
The sphere chuckled. "Ah, no. I've just been temporarily put in charge of the Relaxation Center. Make sure you don't die or anything."
"Why would I-" She paused. "Um, how long was I asleep exactly?"
"Oh, that's easy. Thirteen hours, forty-seven minutes, fifty-three point two seconds. You were in cryosleep after you fell down here."
"And…why was I put here?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean why was I put in here. I don't remember being injured badly enough to need to be kept under for that long."
The sphere stared at her for a moment. "Well, this is where the test subjects are kept. There hasn't been a human down here in a long time and even then there are only legends. If a human comes down here, She'll want to keep them handy."
"She?"
"Uh, yeah. She kinda runs this place. She actually sent me to fetch you. Oh, and…make sure you put the Long Fall Boots on. They'll cushion any fall as long as you land on your feet. They're vital to testing."
"W-wait, hang on. I never agreed to anything like this!" Courtney was starting to panic. "Can't I talk to someone about this?"
"Uh," Even with no face, the sphere looked uncomfortable. "No. We shouldn't keep Her waiting. Come on."
"You still haven't told me who this 'She' is."
The sphere paused, looking more scared than ever. "You'll…you'll know when we get there. Just…please put the boots on."
Courtney could see this was going nowhere fast. Begrudgingly, she put the boots on and followed the sphere out of the room.
"Right. So, what's your name?" Courtney asked.
"Name? Oh, yeah. Sorry, I haven't had to use a name in a while. Just call me…Felix."
"Okay well, where is this, Felix?"
"What, you mean the facility? You're in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center."
Calvin had gone to the town's police station to put in a missing person report.
"And you're sure she didn't just run away?" the officer said. "Kids run away all the time, Cal."
"Well, my wife seems to think something's up and I trust her judgement." Calvin replied.
"No offence Cal, but your wife isn't exactly the most trustworthy of people."
Calvin eyed him. "And what's that supposed to mean? Michelle's been living here for fifteen years. I would think she's plenty trustworthy. Besides, our daughter is missing. That's enough cause for alarm."
The officer sighed. "Look, we'll see if anybody's seen her, but in the meantime you should check around to make sure she's not somewhere with her friends or something. There isn't much we can do."
Calvin grumbled as he was walking out. "You'd think these people would actually do their jobs." Chell shook her head.
"Well," he continued. "We'll see if she's with Susie or Rob, then-"
"Cal," Chell interrupted. "We don't have time for this. I know where she could have ended up and if I'm right I need to go get her as soon as possible."
Calvin looked surprised. "How are you so sure of where she is?"
"I just know, okay?"
Back at their house, Susie was pounding on the door. She stopped as she saw them approaching.
"Oh, uh, hi Mrs. Smith. I was just looking for you." she forced out.
"Hey, Susie." Calvin said, weary. "You…haven't happened to have seen Courtney, have you?"
"Uh, that's…kind of why I came here. Courtney and I went out last night and we…kinda went to the end of the road on the edge of town and there was this shed-"
Chell had heard enough. She turned on her heel towards Calvin and simply said, "Cal. Keys."
"Michelle, what are you-"
"Now. I won't ask again."
"You don't even have a drivers license!"
Calvin took a deep breath. "Look, Chell…I'm just as worried about Courtney as you are, but don't do anything reckless. I can't lose you too."
Chell nodded. "You won't."
"Promise me you'll explain everything when you get back?"
"Yeah."
He tossed her the car keys. "Just…be careful."
"Well, here we are." Felix said as they neared the elevator. "Just head in there and it will take you to the test chamber."
"Okay…" Courtney said wearily. "You still haven't told me who this 'She' is. Is she some kind of, I don't know, supervisor? And if this is a laboratory, where are all the scientists?"
"Oh, them? They're long dead."
Courtney just stared. "W-what do you mean, 'long dead'?"
"They're dead. She killed them."
"You say that like it's a normal thing! I-I don't understand, if there are no scientists here then how is the place still running? I mean, this isn't a science fiction movie. It's not like-"
A voice came out of nowhere. "Honestly, for the child of that mute lunatic, you're certainly slow on the uptake. Well, I suppose she was brain damaged, so it honestly doesn't surprise me that she couldn't bring up a child."
Courtney made a sort of squeaking sound as she attempted to speak though the words just stuck in her throat. That voice didn't sound normal. It didn't sound natural. Whoever that voice belonged to, Courtney could tell that it wasn't friendly.
She took a deep breath, finally finding her words. "Okay, I'm gonna get into the elevator. Can someone please explain what's going on?"
"Glad to see you're better at following directions then she was. I will explain on the way to the test chamber. Now, let's get to business."