A/N: Woo, double update! I am on a ROLL! Anyways, I told you I'd make it up to you, nice long chapter. :D I was really worried about this chapter, it deals a bit with that testing euphoria, and so many times I've seen it be swept into the depths of the M rating. However, I think I played it well enough as to keep it T so more people can read it. :D Not much dialogue, I'm afraid, so no snarky GLaDOS yet, well, not much anyways. But we do get a surprise guest appearance at the end bit! Please enjoy and REVIEW! I live for my reviews. :'D

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

Chapter 4 : Cores

Startup initiated…

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My optic snapped open with the sound of electricity crackling along my body. I knew they had to have done something, so before I was even loaded I started to scan myself. What foolhardy thing had they come up with this time to make me 'sane'?

New hardware detected.

Oh. That was interesting. I wondered what it was. I observed the report. It was a heavy weight in the back of my feeling processors. Like…what do humans call it? A gut feeling? No… A conscience? Maybe. It didn't seem to be saying anything, so I continued to let myself load.

When fully loaded, a voice came over the speakers. "GLaDOS, how are you feeling?" My body turned towards the microphone in the room adjacent to mine and saw a young man in a lab coat. I instantly hated him, but something kept my anger in check this time.

"Oh, I feel pretty good," I replied in the usual flat tone.

"We're going to send some people in to take a look to make sure your new hardware is sitting right, okay?" he called over the speakers. I sighed and nodded. I was tired of being looked at, honestly. Watching them cower at my size and history of murder was fun, but I didn't like to be stared at. They entered the room, and I prepared to poison them all, but something held me back this time. A voice at the back of my head, a quiet one, but it was there nonetheless.

Don't do it. They're people. They have families, people that love them. Killing them would be wrong. The voice was soft, gentle, but at the same time urging and insistent. Protective. Wise. And I hated it instantly.

And yet, I did as it said. I didn't kill them. I went one day. Two. Three. No murders. Though I was itching to make them all suffer for whatever reason-probably for fun-this new addition to my mainframe held me back. Protected them. Stopped me. And I couldn't refuse it, although I detested it for stopping my enjoyment. I hated it and I hated them for putting it on me and I could do nothing about it because I couldn't not obey the voice.

One day, I discovered testing euphoria. I was finally allowed probational access to a testing chamber, and so I began to build puzzles and mazes and tests. This was wonderful fun as I finally had something to do. Then I got to see test subjects either pass or, in most cases, fail the test.

The first time one of my tests was solved was…well, I guess amazing would be a fitting word. I discovered quite forcefully that my reward systems were hooked directly to the success rate of my tests. I was hit all at once with a rush of happiness and contentment and just an in general good feeling. It was strong enough that I made a sound somewhere between surprise, contentment, and satisfaction. It caught me totally off guard and I was horrified when I discovered the sound I had just made often came from humans when they… Well, suffice it to say that I was a lot more careful about my testing from then on, making sure that no such sound ever was uttered by my speakers again.

Still, I continued to test, again and again, and when humans accidentally died because they were careless, it soothed the savage beast that thirsted for blood. I did not dare laugh at them, however, as it would be suspected that I murdered them, which was just not true. They were just careless over vats of acid, near spiked walls, and at the edge of bottomless pits. That wasn't my fault.

With each test, the euphoria grew weaker. It happened steadily over the course of several weeks. What used to give me the wonderful rush of reward stimuli would barely make me metaphorically smile. And so I took my frustrations out on the tests. I made them horribly difficult, so difficult many people ended up stuck for days within them. This, I discovered, only made it worse, but I didn't care, it appealed to the vicious side of me. I could not kill them, still, because of the morals the engineers had instilled in my mainframe. So this would have to do.

Needless to say, they took me off testing duty, relegating me to recording the tests and taking notes on them. Boring, assistants' work. I was bigger than that, quite literally. By all means, I should be in charge of this facility and all the going ons within it. But here I was, confined to my room, watching videos on my internal monitor and taking notes, looking for all the world like a useless hunk of metal.

I was also given the task of encouraging test subjects and recording prerecorded messages for the employees. However, I was rebuked often. Turns out 'your parents never loved you' isn't good encouragement and 'Bring-Your-Daughter-To-Work-Day is a great time to have her tested' isn't the ideal way to attract participants in events. I was left to wonder what was wrong with humans. Didn't they see what loathsome creatures they were? Smelly, unintelligent, unlikeable, they were positively unbearable.

This was going to be a long existence.


"Ohnoohnoohno, gotta hide…" a frantic voice muttered rapidly in a foreign accent somewhere outside my chamber. Curious, I used security cameras to find its owner; a human male, young though not hugely so, pale and scrawny, with light brown hair that had just a touch of orange tinted red in it. He was wearing a test subject's orange jumpsuit(it was kind of funny, it matched his hair; you know I was bored when even that was amusement). He ended up at my chamber door. The engineers, in an attempt to keep out unauthorized personnel, removed all but one entrance.

"Letmeinletmeinletmein!" He called desperately, glancing over his shoulder in terror. Obviously, whatever he was signed up to test for was absolutely dreadful. Well, I supposed I could let him come into my presence as a treat before he ceased to be. The door clicked, and he slipped inside, shutting it behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to face me. He immediately froze, then started to struggle with the newly locked door, obviously much more willing to face the scientists outside then a two ton supercomputer in here.

"Letmeoutletmeoutletmeout!"

Finally, I was going to have some fun.

"Who are you?" I demanded in a loud, though devoid of emotion, voice. I drew myself up a little and fixed my optic on the cowardly human pressed up against my door. His chest heaved, his eyes were wide, all the signs of human fear. At my voice, he visibly jumped. He'd already given up on opening the door.

"Ummmm, my name's Wheatley, er, ma'am?" he stuttered. "Would you mind terribly telling me exactly what you are? Or, wait, I suppose that wasn't very polite, I guess I should ask for your name, right? Well, if you have one…"

"Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System," I answered him. "More commonly known as GLaDOS." He looked my form up and down, jumpy and visibly afraid for his life. He stepped cautiously away from my door, perhaps afraid of offending me.

"Well, it's, ah, very nice to meet you, GLaDOS," he stammered. "I think I heard some of those bloody scientists talking about you. Not very nice at all, them, you know. Well, I'm sure you do, looks like they locked you up in here all by yourself. Do you get lonely? I'm sure you do, I would. I mean, sure, you're a computer, but you've got something other-"

"Quiet!" I hissed, unable to stand another moment of his insistent chatter. He was dull and dim witted and without an ounce of charm. He quieted with a small squeal of fright. Just then, I felt the scientists access my door with their IDs and, as it opened, Wheatley gave out a small cry of terror and scampered across the floor to stand slightly behind me, as though I would protect him.

Well, I guess if I had to choose a way to go, letting a supercomputer crush me to death would probably be a lot faster than whatever the scientists had planned for him.

"Well, GLaDOS, looks like you found yourself a friend," one of the younger scientists, a young girl, said with false brightness. I scoffed.

"Yes, nothing quite like losing brain cells every time he opens his mouth," If I'd had eyes, I would have rolled them. As it was, I think I got my point across. The scientists no longer hesitated to approach the pathetic test subject cowering behind me.

"AH! No, don't let them take me! I'm tired of tests, I can't do it anymore! Please, stop them!" He pleaded and begged for mercy on my part. He obviously hadn't heard much about me; mercy isn't really my style. I let them drag him away, kicking and screaming and I think even crying, to whatever horrible fate lay in store for him.

As for me, I finally understood the human phrase 'silence is golden'.