AN: If you've read my stories before, you'll know how annoying it is when I get writer's block. Well, it's happened again. What with classes starting again and finally having a new job, I need to get my act together. However, I do still want to write something. Something new. Therefore, this story is officially on hiatus. I may start a new fanfiction but I'm not sure what it will be about yet. Just keep an eye out I guess.
Again, sorry for the hiatus. I'm just stuck in this story.
Amelia was nervous as she stood in front of Mikey's door. It had been a few years since the last time she had really spoken to him. She had abandoned their friendship when she'd realized that he hadn't wanted anything more than that out of her. It had been a selfish whim on her part, and she wasn't sure how he would react to seeing her again.
Finally, she took a deep breath and knocked on his door. There was no answer for a minute. Amelia hoped that he was already awake. It was seven in the morning and she wasn't sure how late Mikey usually slept-in. She knocked more loudly this time. Shuffling could be heard on the other side of the door before he answered.
Mikey was only a couple of inches taller than her. His short, dark hair was currently untidy and his cobalt eyes looked sleepy. He also hadn't shaved in a few days so he had rugged stubble. Despite his tired appearance, though, he perked up when he saw Amelia's face.
"Amelia!" he said in a voice that was a little higher pitched than the average male's. "What are you doing here? I mean, uh, what are you doing here so early in the morning?"
"Hey, Mikey," Amelia said awkwardly. "I-I wanted to run an idea by you."
"Really? Oh! Where are my manners? Please, come in."
Mikey led her into his living room. Amelia couldn't tell if it was smaller than her own living room or not because of all the clutter. Papers, folders, and dirty dishes littered the coffee table and portions of the floor.
"Sorry about the mess," Mikey said with embarrassment. "I had no idea that you were coming over. It's nice to see you, by the way."
"It's nice to see you, too, Mikey," Amelia said.
"Here. Have a seat." Mikey moved a few papers out of the way and let his guest sit down on the loveseat with him. He folded his hands in his lap but he couldn't stop bouncing his leg nervously. "So what did you want to talk about? Can I get you anything first?"
"No, that's okay," Amelia said. "I don't know how to start with this so I'll just say it. I want you to go to Aperture with me even though we don't know the situation there."
Mikey suddenly stood and hurried down his short hallway to his bedroom. Amelia could hear him opening drawers and moving things around in his room.
"Um, Mikey?" she called. "What are you doing in there?"
"Packing," Mikey called back. "How long do you think we'll be gone?"
"You know we're not leaving today, right?" Amelia asked.
Mikey returned with his arms full of wrinkled clothes. "Huh?"
"We're not going today," Amelia said. "But I appreciate the enthusiasm."
"Oh," Mikey said. "Um, hold on." He went back to his room to put away his clothes. When he returned, he sat next to Amelia again and drummed his fingers against his knee. "Have you spoken to Grant about this yet?"
"No, and I don't plan to," Amelia said. "I don't need his help. If my mom could help people, so can I."
Mikey couldn't help but notice the uncertainty in her voice. He wanted her to be sure that she really wanted to do this.
"Let's talk about this more in the cafeteria," he said. "I don't know about you but I'm famished."
The cafeteria was very much like that in a school. Amelia and Mikey went through a line to pick out what they wanted. Then they stopped at a clerk who took count of what was being taken to keep it on record. They found a nice, lonely corner in the cafeteria where they could talk in peace.
"So what have you been up to since we last spoke?" Amelia asked.
"Well, I've been working on this artificial intelligence for some time," Mikey said. "Do you know how artificial intelligence works?"
"Not really," Amelia admitted.
"It has a set of responses to certain stimuli. Like if you give it Stimulus One, it will reply with Response A. That's the basic principle. But you can feed it multiple responses and design it so that it learns. That makes it so that if you give it Stimulus One, it could reply with Response A, B, or C. So I've been building up Toby's vocabulary and responses. My artificial intelligence's name is Toby, by the way. It's kind of funny. He seems to actually have a personality now. I feel bad about it because he's trapped in my computer."
Amelia tried to focus on his explanation, but she got distracted by the grin on his face and the passion in his eyes. He'd always had the same look when they would play as kids.
"What's with the dreamy grin?" Mikey suddenly asked.
"I don't have a 'dreamy grin'," Amelia said, looking down with embarrassment. "I was just thinking about when we were kids."
Mikey's smile widened and his stomach knotted nervously. "Those were good times," he said. He seemed to be holding back something, though.
"Oh! Arin!" Amelia suddenly called across the room. She stood up and waved at someone.
Mikey turned and saw Arin from the robotics department just coming out of the line. Arin was taller and had long brown hair. His eyes were dark and often looked a bit manic when he was working on a project. When Arin saw Amelia beckoning him to her table, his eyes widened a little but he obliged.
"Um, hello, Chief Oates," he said, sitting down next to her.
"I want to offer you an opportunity," Amelia said.
"Arin!" Jon called as he came out of the line, too. He was a little more heavy-set. His hair was black and curly just like his beard. He was often goofier than his friend, but he seemed just as surprised and modest when Amelia motioned for him to join them.
"What's up?" Arin asked as his friend sat across from him.
"I want to go to Aperture," Amelia blurted out. "I know we don't have any evidence that anyone is even still there, but I think we won't know unless we go explore the facility."
Arin and Jon stared at her blankly. Amelia immediately regretted this. She knew they wouldn't support her. She glanced over at Mikey nervously.
"I don't know about you guys," Mikey said, "but I think it's a good idea. It's better if we just go now instead of wait around for evidence that we may never find. I mean, it's been fifteen years and we haven't found anything. Don't you think we should finally take some initiative?"
"I see what you're saying," Jon said. "I do. But….why us? Chief Oates, with all due respect, why do you want us to go with you?"
"Is Grant leading the exploration?" Arin asked.
"No," Amelia said. "If Grant wants to join us then he can, but I'm in charge of this facility. I have faith in our capabilities."
"Again, why us?" Jon asked. "We're not exactly the smartest or most physically fit."
Amelia wasn't sure how to answer this. She was really only asking them because Lee told her that they would be willing.
"Jon, I don't care about the reason why she chose us," Arin suddenly said. "Frankly, I'm a little honored that she would ask us to accompany her to Aperture." He looked at Amelia and smiled a little. "I've been dying to check out their robotics labs. I've heard hints that they were working on military androids at the same time that Black Mesa was."
"I guess I am kind of curious what the inside of that place looks like," Jon said. "Remember how Black Mesa was all high-tech and secretive? It always reminded me of an organization for spies. I wouldn't be surprised if Aperture also looked like that."
"So you guys want to go?" Amelia asked. "Even though we don't know if there's someone there to rescue? You know this could be a huge waste of time, right?"
"Of course we want to go," Arin said. "It wouldn't be a waste of time if we couldn't even get into the facility. Just leaving this place and seeing the surface would be reason enough to leave. Isn't anyone else feeling a little bit of cabin fever?"
"Yeah, I have to admit I've been feeling kind of cooped up," Jon said.
"Sweet!" Mikey said. "So when do we leave?"
"I still want to ask a couple more people," Amelia said. "Jon, could you talk to Natalie for me? You hang out with her more than I do. I'm going to talk to Nate."
