This is a long one! But please play Portal 2 Co-op before! I don't want to surprise/ruin the game :P Thank you!
I made a mistake. I knew as soon as I jumped down into the cylindrical pit, I had done something terribly wrong. The end of this tube leads right in GLaDOS's chamber.
The downward tunnel seemed endless. I managed to look between a gap in my feet to see the end of the fall. The ground quickly caught up to my long fall boots and I made contact with the circular, grey top of an elevator. I halted for a moment then broke through its roof ending up inside the lift. I stood slowly, avoiding broken bits of ceiling and glass. My dark hair cascaded to my shoulders, it had come undone due to the harsh fall.
The lights of the panels around the room turned red as they suddenly came to life. I exited the elevator and stood confidently in front of the massive robot suspended just feet from me, GLaDOS. She faced away from me while she spoke.
"Back so soon?" her corrosive voice boomed in my chest. "I was just beginning to miss you," she turned to face me now, Her yellow gaze rested upon me. "Oh, wait, no I wasn't," I swallowed hard. "And just look at that, you broke the elevator. Not even five minutes in here and you managed to mess something up," The broken lift traveled upwards, sending a shower of glass upon me. I remained focused on GLaDOS.
"I just came for the portal gun," my voice projected a bit too loudly it seemed. A metal arm appeared, daintily grasping the gun.
"This thing?" The mechanical beast held up the device tauntingly, just out of my reach. "I was just about to throw it into the incinerator. For real this time. I'll make sure it burns until there's nothing left," A second arm came from above and maneuvered it's way behind my back and grasped me by my shirt collar. I winced as the taught neckline clawed at my throat. "And," GLaDOS continued, "I'll make sure you will go right along with it," the appendage followed the arm holding the portal gun and carried me over to the familiar round opening leading to Aperture's fiery depths. "It's funny," she said on my journey over. "No matter how much you appear to hate this place, it seems, deep down, you love it here. That's why you keep coming back isn't it?" I now dangled above the silver hatch, heat rising from its burning core. "I gave you a chance to leave, and you still came back!"
"No!" I finally squeaked. "I'll leave! Just let me have the portal gun first!" The fingers released the gun and it fell into the hole, leaving a massive eruption of flames. I braced myself as the claws attached to my collar began to relax. I shut my eyed tight as they let go. Instead of the intense burning of the fire, I met the cold smooth surface of the closed hatch. I looked around in shock.
"Actually," she said thoughtfully. "I don't think I'll kill you... yet," I looked up at her. She starred back expressionlessly. "I think I'll keep you alive, not as a test subject, I have more than enough of those. No, you'll be more of a trophy, a pet. The one that got away, twice No testing, no escapes, no neurotoxin. Just you rotting away in a cold cell reminiscing of all the fond memories we have shared," I was frozen in horror. What have I done?
"Why?" I managed.
"Because," GLaDOS's voice was eerily calm. "It's to make sure you don't go and make some new disaster. I'm just doing myself a favor," the same arm lifted me from the ground and dragged me over to the wall of panels. The panels split to make a path for us as I traveled helplessly along. I didn't have the energy to fight, it was pointless anyways.
The arm disposed of me in a grey room with walls about four times my height and completely smooth. A small, broken looking bed under a thin blanket inhabited the floor, and of course the familiar toilet. I looked upward to see light shining down into the ceiling-less room.
"Remember, I am always here to talk if you need me, since you are talking now," GLaDOS's voice echoed around me. "Also remember, you have brain damage. So half of what you say doesn't even matter. But don't get too worked up over that, you have worse things you should be worried about,"
"How far down does this shaft go?" I yelled over the sound of the rushing air around me.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Rick answered vexed. I rode the rest of the way down in silence, wondering what would happen when we landed. I cringed at the thought.
"Brace yourself!" Rick's voice came from below. Within a few seconds, he landed on something below and I on top of him. We landed on a lift, halted level with a catwalk. The roof of the elevator was the raw, unpainted metal used to build them. I recognized its distinct silver and impact sound from when I was touring manufacturing.
"Get. Off. Of. Me." Rick grumbled. I stumbled off of him and onto the catwalk. I sat and waited for Rick to follow. He eventually scrambled next to me and lay on his back, moaning in pain. I glanced down through the catwalk's floor. The cylindrical shaft went down for miles it seemed.
"Thanks for breaking my fall by the way," I said without looking up. Rick sat up next to me and shot me a sideways glare. Ignoring his gesture, I changed the subject. "The whole lift is a bloody wreck," I noticed the broken glass of the elevator's walls. "I wonder what happened," Rick appeared as if he could care less. 'It must be being repaired,' I thought silently.
Rick stood up and crossed his arms. "Well, we aren't going to get anywhere by just sitting here," he turned and walked down the catwalk. I eventually got up and ran after him. We wandered to the end of the catwalk onto a small landing. The only thing there was a round door on the wall.
"Damn it," Rick walked up to the door and pounded on its shiny surface. "It's locked," he said finally.
"No way!" I said sarcastically. "Lemme try to hack it," I elbowed my way past him up to the door. I managed to unlock the computer panel that stored the door's data and hardware. Rick loomed over my shoulder, watching me intently. I slowly turned up to him. "Um, you know I can't do this if your watching," he rolled his eyes and backed up a few feet. Within a few minutes I managed to hack open the door.
"That's nothing," Rick walked past me into the next door. "I could do that with my eyes closed," He scoffed looking back at me.
"Fine, when we come upon the next door, I'll let you take care of it," After walking over the threshold, the door hissed and locked shut behind us. The next room was a long hallway with a door on the opposite side. Sounds of machinery melted through the walls from the outside. I felt trapped, just like from my earlier days here. "I wonder where she is," I said quietly, looking up through the high, textured windows.
Rick started down the hall. "We'll never know if we just stand here, that poor little angel is probably out there somewhere cold and scared..." a smile grew across his face. I shook my head. The thought of Chell scared kept returning to my mind. I clenched my fists and quickened my pace toward the door. It automatically slid aside when I came within a few feet, projecting out a symphony of mechanical noises. I looked back at Rick, he dawdled along in his own fantasy.
"Come on!" I pressed. He took his time walking over through the door. I bit back my frustration as I went in after him. The expression of frustration turned to shock as I saw the massive room that was concealed by the small door. The shock reflected upon Rick's face as well. The room held a manufacturing line. Upon a closer look, the items being assembled were portal guns! I leaned over the suspended catwalk's rail. Directly below us were the arms of robots grasping blank white shells and transferring them to the conveyer belt. I was stunned by the amount of guns being produced.
Rick seemed to have awakened from his daydream. "What's all this about?" He looked over the rail suspiciously.
"Why is She mass producing all of these guns? Chell was her last test subject. Unless She built more of those testing robots," My eyes widened at the thought of an army one hundred strong of those robots.
"Let's hook up with one of those guns!" Rick hurtled over the railing and landed hard onto the conveyer line. I cursed him and took the stairs after him.
"You idiot you're gonna get us caught!" I yelled between the movements of the robotic arms in front of me. Without hearing me, or ignoring me, he stooped and picked up one of the portal gun shells and walked the opposite way on the belt.
"The Portal Gun Assembly Lines are not rides. Please exit the Portal Gun Assembly Lines." I jumped as the announcer's voice filled the room. Rick looked up shocked but continued his investigation. With no other way of convincing him, I crawled beneath the active robots onto the assembly line, mimicking him by walking the opposite way. The line ran forward until disappearing through a rectangular hole in the wall behind me. Another exited a similar hole to the right of me with completed guns. I craned my neck to look behind me, but only to be disappointed to see that Rick was gone.
"Agggh," I scrambled off the belt onto an air duct between the two conveyers. "Rick?" I yelled.
"Over here!" He was standing on a landing next to the belt with completed guns. He waved at me with a gun he held in his hand."The Portal Gun Assembly Lines are not rides. Please exit the Portal Gun Assembly Line." I jumped from the thin metal pipe onto the next conveyer. The sudden movement caused me to lose my footing and fall flat on my stomach. In the process of trying to stand, I fell on my back side and almost onto a portal gun. I realized the wall swallowing the completed guns was made of the white portalable surface that conducts portals. I grabbed the gun behind me, realizing I was reaching the exit point of the guns. Shooting above the hole, I desperately looked around for another white panel. Behind Rick was an entire wall of the stuff. I shot my exit point behind him and the portals opened. Miraculously, I stood to my feet and jumped through the portal, just before being sucked under the with the other guns.
"Woa!" I said after composing myself from exiting the portal. Rick looked at me then back at the conveyer.
"Well now, I never would have thought you were capable of such adventure!" He skillfully swung the gun in his hand.
I laughed. "How did you think I became in contro- Uh, never mind. Come on, let's put these back and go look for her," I started to walk over to the assembly lines when Rick blocked me with his arm.
"Why don't we hang onto them?"
"But what if She finds out we took them?"
"She won't," Rick said coolly. "Besides, they might come in handy. You couldn't have come over here without them," He spit shined the glossy white surface.
"Yes I could! I just, didn't,"
"Sure," Rick walked past me into the emancipation grill covering the exit door. I followed, feeling the resistance of the gun as I passed through it.
"I never knew how stressful it is to use these guns…" I had to give Chell credit. She solves tests without a second thought, where as I am still trying to figure out how they work. I really should have appreciated her more, for everything she did for me. I slung the gun over my shoulder and shook the feeling away. I can't let stupid emotions get in the way of what we have to do, I told myself.
"Where should we start looking?"Rick asked me. He turned to face me, wearing a smug expression, gesturing around us with his hand. I looked around me. Hundreds of test subject relaxation vaults were suspend around us. We were on a small platform protected by a small rail. I swallowed hard.
"Um, ok," Giving my gun to Rick, I pushed up my sleeves, reached over the railing and knocked on the nearest door. "Hello in there!" I called. "Chell? Are you in there?" no answer came. I stretched farther over the rail and barely tapped at the next door. "Hello? Chell?"
"Oh come on," Rick groaned. I turned to him.
"What? You have a better idea?" he shrugged.
"No but, how do we even know she's here?"
"Oh," I stepped back over the railing. The two of us stood contemplating for a while. Suddenly, a catwalk rose up on cables from below. I looked down to see that it was covered with the white oval death traps.
"Aw crap," Rick looked down with me. "Turrets!" I turned to the door behind us to try to escape, but it seemed to have locked. At the rate the catwalk was ascending, I didn't have time to hack it.
"Move, let me do it," Rick shoved me out of the way and began trying to pry open the door. I followed the line of the cables leading into the ceiling with my eyes. Directly above the incoming platform was a square of white. I shot a portal there and looked around for the second point. Down below the rising platform was a small landing stacked high with cubes. I quickly shot there and watched as the cubes fell through my portals and fall onto the platform of turrets, just as they rose to our level. I shielded my face with my arm as the stray fire from the turrets shot everywhere. I gasped as a startling pain shot through my side. Ignoring it, I grabbed Rick by his shirt collar and dragged him over to the railing.
"What the?" Rick exclaimed. I pointed down to the platform below. "Oh ho ho, no,"
"Oh come on!" loosing my patience, I gave him my gun so I could climb over the rail. I took it back once I lined up with the portal. Then, I jumped. As a result from the momentum gained, I fell through the portals with impressive speed and hit down hard on the suspended catwalk. I eased onto my hands and knees before Rick slammed down onto my back.
"Thanks for breaking my fall," he said mockingly. Suddenly, the catwalk lurched. "Uh oh..." Rick said. Under the sudden weight, one of the thinner cabled snapped and we shot downward, soon after hitting something solid with a loud clank. Rick flew off of the platform upon impact and I meerly bounced and landed once more on the hard metal floor. I curled around my wounded side as the pain flooded to it, as well as applying pressure to it with my palm. Craning my neck, I looked about for the Adventure Core in the gloom. Something shifted underneath a pile of debris, then Rick emerged and limped over to me. I forced myself to a sitting position, panting under the grip of pain in my side.
"Thanks for breaking my fall by the way," he thumped his hand on my back. I removed my battered glasses and cleaned their lenses on the tail of my untucked shirt. Wherever we were was dark and musty. Replacing my glasses barely helped my visibility. The groans and creaks of the alive facility made the cramped space even more ominous.
"So now what?" I asked Rick flatly. I heard the slight shuffle of his shoulders, translating that into a shrug. "We can't give up," I rubbed my temples, my hand was slick with my blood, "We came this far!" the last statement unintentionally erupted in a yell. I felt Rick jump beside me.
Lights flashed to life around us, singing our eyes with a pure white glare. I instinctively shielded my eyes before adjusting to the light and looking around us. I had but a small glance before an unwanted voice surrounded us.
"You two have done enough sight seeing for today, don't you think?" I covered my face in my hands as I realized the trap we were set up for.
"I told you She'd catch us," I elbowed Rick hard in the side. He returned one to me, right in my wound. I clenched my fists to keep from screaming.
"I know what you're here for, and you're not getting it back. But, I could always make room for a few more test subjects,"
"WHERE'S CHELL?" Springing to my feet, I yelled up toward the ceiling. GLaDOS replied with a deep chuckle.
"Ah yes, she's spending some well deserved quality time in her Detention Vault. Oh! And don't think I forgot about my plans for you, Moron. Lucky for you I am in a comassionate mood. I see you two have already acquired your portal guns, now all you have to to is sit back," a group of four panels rose up above us, a fifth closing off the top. "Relax," the catwalk beneath us was replaced by a separate panel. "And begin testing," the floor under our feet disappeared to reveal yet another long drop.