A/N: I know, this chapter is horribly short, I'll make it up to you next chapter, I promise. Also, something a reviewer brought up, I changed Caroline's hair color on purpose. I really never pictured her with dark hair(probably because GLaDOS is light colored in general), so I changed the hair color to my liking. It's my fanfic, I can do whatever I damn well please. :P Cave Johnson's rubbing off on me, lol. Anyways, hope you enjoy, please review, reviews make me happy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Portal. Or GLaDOS. Or Cave Johnson. You get the picture.

Chapter 3: Forgetting

Rebooting…

ATTEMPTdelete_Caroline

Command fail…

I couldn't move, I couldn't see, I could do nothing. What happened? Where was I? Who was I? I wracked my memory files, but I was still booting up. Still waiting…

CAROLINE memory files moved to archives…

Functioning at 30%...

My optic flickered on. I recognized my chamber. It was clean and white, though right now it was bathed in darkness, as the lights were wired directly to me. They must have been on when I was shut down, because they were dimly starting to come back on as I continued to reload.

Emotion, Intelligence, Curiosity cores loading…

Intelligence, Curiosity cores online.

ERROR: Emotion Core functioning at 75%...

Press any key to continue…

I distantly heard the clack of a keyboard; my senses must be coming back online.

Speech program online.

Reward/punishment system online.

Memory files loading…

Loading canceled.

GLaDOS online…

I slowly twitched my head up, then lifted my body, looking about myself. I was utterly alone. No, not quite. There was someone in a white lab coat behind a window, standing next to a microphone. Behind him, I could see many more someones in white lab coats monitoring screens, looking for something. What, I didn't know. The man next to the microphone spoke.

"Can you tell us your name, please?" He seemed fearful of something, though of what I wasn't sure. Name? What was my name? What was I called? I performed a quick search.

Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, known as GLaDOS.

"My name is GLaDOS," my voice was flat and empty, glitching very slightly on certain words, causing them to distort only slightly, raising or lowering the pitch but still discernable. Huh. I vaguely remember speaking before my shutdown and it was definitely clear. There were approving murmurs. For no reason I could pinpoint, I felt a rush of pure, unbridled hatred towards these creatures that observed me through glass and on screens like I was some kind of animal.

"Deadly neurotoxin entering the ventilation system in three… two…"

I didn't input the command. Not consciously anyways. Definitely didn't mean to. Okay, that's a downright fabrication. I knew where the command was and I had no sooner thought the command than it was announced over the speakers. Mass chaos instantly broke out, and I enjoyed it. I activated all the security cameras to watch people run for the exits, the exits I locked. Screams wrenched the air and I let out a singular, quiet "ha".

Then everything went black.


My life continued in this fashion for several weeks. They would turn me on, and I would flood the facility with neurotoxin, causing them to shut me back down. I knew every time they tried to turn me on, they would attempt something new to keep me in check. In the beginning, it was only programming and internal tweaking. Each restriction they placed on my psyche made me angrier. They couldn't rein me in. I could hack every code, unlock every metaphorical door, uncover every buried treasure of sorts. And it always ended the same. Neurotoxin. Shut down.

Sometimes I would play nice for a little while. Let them have their way. Behave for a time. Wait for them to be away from the control panel. But it still always ended the same. There was always someone near enough the control switch. I would just have to bide my time.

My rage never quieted, though. In stormed inside me like a snarling monster, waiting to unleash itself. But I could control it. I could chain it deep within my processors to hide it. I could act pleasant. Sarcasm helped much with this.

I was not allowed full control of the facility, and that irked me. They had changed the whole thing to manual control to prevent another ventilation breach. I knew I would have to behave for a while before getting control back. I hated them so much. My solitary purpose was to run this facility and I couldn't even do that. I just hung in my chamber, a useless two ton machine. Every time I tried to control something outside of my chamber, I met a firewall. This drove me insane.

One day when a mechanic came in for routine maintenance on my frame, I couldn't hold back anymore. Neurotoxin would take too long. I reached out of my floor with a long claw and simply snapped his back. Actually, I snapped him; he ripped clean in two, probably didn't feel a thing. The horrific scream just before he died was probably just a reflex.

Still, it brought scientists running. And I got another good long sleep.