Hey guys! I'm so glad I got this done! I officially start University in two days, so I'm relieved that I got this out to you all before then. Hopefully, this should explain the last chapter's dropped bomb - now, the story is truly beginning!
~Lagiacrus
"Dare I ask how this occurred?" She glared at the test subject with a gaze laced with poisonous hatred – it wasn't aimed at her, she knew that, but rather who had impregnated her in the first place. Caroline realized with dread and increasing shame that they both knew who it was.
"It must have been that time a month ago – Eric and I, we were exploring the old salt mines – we found Mr. Johnso- I mean, Grandad's old liquor cupboard, still filled to the brim," Her face turned scarlet with embarrassment. "He asked me if I'd ever tried some, and – well, I guess we got carried away. Some things must have happened…"
For an agonizing moment there was silence. Then, GLaDOS sighed and broke away from the monitor, disregarding the future child as though it wasn't even there.
"Every day you continue to astonish me further with your stupidity," She growled, moving to switch off the equipment. Caroline managed to catch a glimpse of her baby – not even resembling a foetus at the moment – before the monitor went black. "The fact that you have not inherited your mother's brain damage is something I find even more astonishing, especially now."
"Well, at least you're not angry." The young women spoke with relief before a sharp and vicious bang made her leap from the bed in fright. GLaDOS' fist had left a ferocious dent in one of the steel worktops and in the next moment the android had spun around to face her, golden eyes ablaze with pixelated fury.
"Of course I'm angry, you foul-smelling, mentally stunted degenerate!" Never before had she spoken with such power and fury. The loud voice gave the poor human chills and she tried to back away as GLaDOS neared. "I warned you about him. I told you not to trust him and then you go and break protocol like the Imbecile you are!"
"Calm down!" Caroline begged, no avail.
"I'll calm down once we have that hellspawn out of your body." The android growled, advancing back over to the worktop and fishing through a small box of tools on its crudely dented surface. When she finally withdrew a strange, unidentifiable surgery tool from the box's innards the test subject leapt from the table and darted out of the room. Having calculated the action, GLaDOS was after her without a moment's delay.
She refused to look back, she knew she would only panic if she did. Determined to stay calm, Caroline ran with all the strength she could muster down the corridor, painfully aware of the android's rapid footsteps behind her, continuously drawing closer.
"GLaDOS, stop it!" She called in a desperate attempt to help the computer see reason but she never even received a reply. Clearly, GLaDOS was focused on her task – that task being to physically pull the developing child out of her.
Luckily, Chell happened to turn around the corner at that moment as Caroline approached, and she crashed into her mother with surprising force.
"Mom, I'm pregnant! GLaDOS is trying to kill the baby!"
"Please tell me you're joking." Was Chell's only, completely relaxed response.
"Would GLaDOS be advancing on me with a fucking KNIFE if I was joking!?" Caroline screeched, only to find her mom gone from her vision. She turned down the hallway and saw Chell flying at the manic GLaDOS (who literally had smoke coming out of her nostrils), her fist poised to connect harshly with the android's face. Caroline screwed her eyes shut and turned away – the noise of skin against metal was awful – she definitely heard something break but she prayed to whatever God there was that it wasn't her mother's hand.
When she opened her eyes, she saw GLaDOS inches away from the ground and her mother's hand was ever so slightly bent out of place, with blood dripping from countless open wounds. Finally, the android hit the floor and her hand flew immediately to her now dented face, eyes aglow with frustration.
"I've been waiting to do that to you for about fourty years." Chell admitted, checking her hand for any serious injuries. Content that she'd just broken a few bones, she turned to her daughter, expression demanding an explanation.
"The fact that you're not screaming right now is really frightening me." Caroline admitted, to which Chell smiled.
"I'm used to breaking a few bones."
And that was how Caroline and Chell ended up sitting calmly at a table in the cafeteria while GLaDOS paced wildly around the room, occasionally glancing at her knife still in the sink and then back to Caroline's stomach. She filled her mother in with all of the details – about GLaDOS finding the baby using the scanner and then her explanation for how the child came about. Chell didn't react as badly as GLaDOS – but the conversation did end with countless verbal insults and Caroline II storming into her room – which had once been the Break Room, until she'd decided to convert it – and closing the automatic doors behind her with a violent voice command. Upon another practically spat voice command, a number of the wall panels separated in order for her to step out onto the Aperture Science logo. Sergei, her forever faithful companion turret, emerged from wherever he had been hiding all day.
"Hello?" He announced his presence. She cast him a glance, but quickly turned away. He crept up on his spindly little legs and repeated himself, more nervously than before. "H-Hello?"
She wordlessly scooped him up into her arms before stepping out onto the logo. She sat down on the inside, letting her legs dangle uselessly off the side.
"I fucked up, Sergei," She admitted, but the turret remained silent. "I'm pregnant, somehow. GLaDOS is trying to kill me, and my mom broke her hand stopping her."
"The answer to everything is locked beneath the ice." He spoke in his usual singsong voice. For a second the girl was confused, until she remembered.
"Oh, that's right. You must be talking about the Borealis."
She allowed him to journey back into the former Break Room, where he amusedly began to roll about on the floor, whooping as he went. She sighed, gazing out over the trees that she had once inhabited, swaying gently in a pleasant summer breeze.
"I bet a rusty old ship can't explain why I was such an idiot, though."
However, GLaDOS felt differently. As far as she was concerned the wreckage of the Borealis was going to contain the answer to the Da Vinci Code – or at least her version of it. While the incident with Caroline was on her mind, she did her best to ignore it and prepare for the journey ahead – properly, this time. She was in the Android holding bay, where she had changed her current outfit into one more suited for the task at hand and was now preparing all of the equipment she needed for the journey. Hopefully, she wouldn't see Caroline again until the foetus was no longer a foetus but was a tiny, slimy and struggling shrivelled up red thing that screamed. Actually, she'd rather never see it again. Ever.
Actually, she hoped it unfortunately died. Not in the womb, preferably, that would hurt Caroline. But she really did wish it would die. Preferably before she had to meet it. She made a quick note to spend at least ten months at the site of the Borealis before she decided to head back. If it was still there upon her return, she supposed that she'd have to kill it herself. The last thing she needed was another human running riot through her beautiful facility.
"U-Um, excuse me?" She had to admit that the Moron creeping up behind her had startled her somewhat, but not enough for her to strongly react. The worse she did was spin around, knocking the backpack she had been preparing onto the floor and delivered a shattering kick to the personality core who could only be called Wheatley, sending him off the management rail and rolling along the tiled floor.
"O-Ow! That was uncalled for, Luv!" He barked. GLaDOS registered the situation and picked up the annoying talking ball, stuffing him back onto his rail.
"What do you want?" She hissed, moving next to pick up her bag and continuing to pack it with essential equipment. For a moment the personality core stared blankly at the back of her head before finally snapping into reality.
"Oh, uh… h-have you seen Caroline going around anywhere? I, uh… I haven't seen her all day, was just wondering if-if you-"
"I doubt she wants to see anyone, especially not you, Moron."
"Why!? I mean, what's wrong with me!?" He whined.
"For one thing, you are technically male. I doubt she wants to have much to do with any male right now," The android chuckled darkly, before closing the flimsy bag over. "Now, please get out. I need to change out of these clothes before I go to the Borealis."
Wheatley had no idea what to expect when he approached the door to the Break Room. GLaDOS' words had set him on edge – he was worried that the young woman was angry at him, for whatever reason. It wouldn't surprise him, but this time he couldn't think what he had possibly done wrong. He was vaguely aware of hearing the front doors to the facility sliding open downstairs, but ignored them – he only had one thing that mattered to him right now.
He knocked on the door a few times with his handle.
"Y-You in there, Luv?" He called gently, not enough to invoke any wrath from the adult.
"Fuck off." The cold response made him wince and back away from the door. Soon, he shuffled his way back over and knocked again.
"Come on, Caroline. Please let me in."
"Not right now, Wheatley!" Another harsh rejection. He rolled his bright blue eye and backed away from the door once more, purposely this time. He accessed the door mainframe and requested of it a simple task – he and the door mainframe were good friends – and moments later the door to Caroline's bedroom slid open.
The girl in question was standing half-naked in front of a full-body mirror embedded into the wall, quizzically glaring at her stomach. It took him a whole ten seconds to process what he was seeing and finally yell and turn away. It took her a further two seconds to realize that he was there, scream and demand he leave the room.
An awkward minute later, when Caroline was dressed, she once again separated the wall panels to let some sunlight into the room and she sat on the bed with Wheatley on her lap. She told him everything and monitored his expressions closely – his eye could tell you a lot about how he felt if you just knew what to look for. However, this time he kept his expression steady and listened calmly, never saying a word until he knew she had finished relaying her tale. Finally, she silenced and awaited his disappointment, his anger, his insults – anything.
"Y-You see if it's a boy, Luv… will you name it after me?" He chirped, a little hint of excitement in his eye. The girl's face turned bright red and she averted her gaze to the ground.
"I'll think about it."
The sound of a ruckus outside drew Caroline out onto the logo, where she spotted GLaDOS in the centre of the car park – surrounded by Coyotes. Literally, the whole pack.
"Shit," Caroline darted back into the room, searching desperately for her bow. "GLaDOS!"
Although, the supercomputer was in no true danger. Dressed in a new, cleaner outfit, complete with a new invention of hers in the form of a white headpiece that, when placed over her eye would allow her to scan the world around her more easily, the coyotes were already dead. She scanned each and every one of the snarling beasts circling her – sixteen in all – and measured their individual strengths, weaknesses and strategies. Before Caroline high above had even readied an arrow, the coyotes were upon GLaDOS like greedy moths to a flame – a flame, which they didn't know, could burn like hell.
It was hard for Caroline to register what she was seeing. One thing she could definitely make out was that GLaDOS had managed to slide away from the coyotes and had ripped out the tongues of two that decided to continue pursuing her. Undeterred, the mangy creatures continued their assault – she ducked down, grabbed one by the leg and spun around, using the coyote as a club to take out its comrades. Then, she ripped off said coyote's leg and tossed it aside like a candy wrapper. The stunned girl could only continue to watch as they continued to leap at the android and lose limbs in the process. Soon, only one of the dogs remained standing, but it was covered in the blood of its family members. Much like she had earlier, GLaDOS matched its growling tone and managed to scare it off with the sheer power of her voice. It yelped and fled, charging away back into the trees. Now Caroline knew why the beasts typically hated the facility.
"Are you going after the Borealis?" Caroline called down to her, to which the supercomputer replied with a nod. The test subject grinned, swinging the bow across her back.
"Can I come?"
GLaDOS was having none of it. Caroline tried everything – she even tried hiding from her as she left and tracking her from afar. They got as far as the Bloodhawk camp and GLaDOS finally caught her in the scanner. With a heavy heart, Caroline had been sent back to the facility. Apparently she was 'breaking further protocol' by 'testing while impregnated' (which she distinctly remembered wasn't even a protocol). When she walked in the front door, she was greeted by Rosie, who had ditched all of her science gear for a typical Test Subject's outfit and a warm khaki jacket. On her back she had a large, military-style backpack, clearly filled to the brim.
"Going somewhere?" Caroline asked in amusement as she passed, only to find that the older woman followed her.
"I'm going with you to the Borealis. Goodness knows what you'll find; but I guessed you'd need an extra pair of hands."
"GLaDOS caught me and said I couldn't go with her." The Imbecile said with a shrug, continuing towards the main hallway. Rosie grabbed hold of the girl's tank top, pulling her back towards the front door.
"And since when do you ever listen to her?"
"Since she drew a fucking knife on me today," The younger girl seethed. "And possibly killed Eric."
"I don't think she did kill Eric. I think for once she was telling the truth." Rosie exclaimed as she pulled the test subject behind her out into the car park. She approached an old ruined truck up against the side of the park, opened the back of it up and climbed inside.
"Wait there a moment. We can use this to catch up to GLaDOS."
The girl crossed her arms and sighed, tapping her foot against the cracked tarmac as Rosie fooled around inside the truck – knocking things over, cursing, breaking glass – but clearly she was working on something, perhaps a piece of machinery. After about fifteen minutes of the tomfoolery, something rumbled to life inside the truck's thin metal walls and less than a second later, Caroline jumped back as a strange two-wheeled vehicle crawled slowly out of the truck and onto the tarmac, spitting out vile grey clouds as it went. It was like a fiery demon, an untameable alien creature that growled louder than an agitated chassis GLaDOS – and on its back, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, was Rosie.
"Caroline, meet Bessie, my motorbike. Used to take this baby to work every morning," She said with a smile, patting the metal monster's dark green paintjob fondly. "Been fixing her up these past few years with parts from the facility. She's all ready to go."
"W-What do you mean?" Caroline had no idea what a motorbike was. She felt as though Rosie had mentioned them before but had no recollection of how she described them.
"Basically, you need to get on." Rosie nodded to the small patch of leather seating behind her, and Caroline gulped.
Mere seconds later Rosie was zig-zagging down the road at a speed the federal road laws would no doubt discourage, ignoring the test subject sitting behind her suffocating her slowly with her iron grip and screaming like a banshee.
"Slow down slow down SLOW DOWN I'M GONNA DIE PLEASE OH MY GOD-!"
"You're fine! Just keep hanging on to me and you won't fall off! She can't be far away now!" Rosie called back to her with an amused smirk, relishing in the feeling of the wind rushing through her hair once more. It had been far too long since she'd experienced this – working for Aperture had taken so many of her favourite pastimes away from her. In some cases, she was almost glad for the alien invasion. It had given her some freedom back. Far past the Bloodhawk base and nearly clear of the forest altogether, they found GLaDOS, standing at the edge of the forest and tracing the road with her eyes, gazing off into the giant city in the distance. Rosie brought the bike to a stop and Caroline dazedly fell off, hitting the floor roughly. The scientist had to shake her and give her some water to bring her around. Through all of this, GLaDOS ignored them, like she wasn't even aware of them existing. Finally, she turned to the weakened woman and the scientist motorbiker extraordinaire, her expression the height of displeasure.
"Go back, now."
"No." Caroline hissed, wrenching herself out of Rosie's grip and to her feet, strutting right up to the android and standing toe-to-toe with her.
"GLaDOS, you can't do this by yourself. It's impossible. I know the Borealis means so much to you, and if you really want to go after it, at least let us come with you to help you out a little," Rosie spoke gently, a voice she didn't usually reserve for GLaDOS. "You're travelling to Antarctica, GLaDOS – not to your local supermarket. This isn't going to be easy. We don't even know what we'll meet on the way."
"Rosie's right. This isn't something you can manage alone, you need help. Just admit it already." Caroline chimed in, her expression firm and focused. GLaDOS turned away and looked back to the city, doing a quick calculation of what distance away it was. Only half an hour on foot, even less with the strange vehicle they had arrived on. Yes, she maybe would need them – even if it was just because they could cut the travel time in half.
"If you're going to come along," She sighed, casting a glance at Caroline. "Don't get yourselves murdered. Also," the android suddenly grinned. "Please try to keep up with me, if you can. If not, good – It means I don't have to look at the two of you for any length of time."
Caroline had no time to even blink before the android was off like a flash, darting off along the road towards the city ahead.
"Shit, Caroline, get on!" Rosie screamed with a laugh and the girl scrambled for a handhold as the motorbike took off, spitting out a frighteningly huge jet of flame as it roared to life once more.
"Well, they forgot about us." Chell sighed, finally placing down her extremely dull edition of Pride and Prejudice. She turned her gaze to the blue-eyed personality core, who was staring worriedly at the set of monitors of the control room where they currently sat.
"I-I'm worried about them, Chell. With Caroline being the way she is, to be stuck with GLaDOS, I-I just…" He appeared to shudder at the thought. The elder woman's smile broadened.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. If she's anything like me, or her dad… she'll definitely be fine out there." Chell turned to the monitors and did her best to connect some of them to various video feeds.
"Rosie said she was taking a video camera with her. It's Aperture branded so we might be able to link it to these monitors when she decides to use it. Plus, both she and Caroline still have their radios. We just need to hope the connections hold out."
"What if they don't?" Wheatley questioned, his voice somewhat frantic.
"If they don't," Chell's smile only grew. "We'll just have to wait for them to come home – Because don't worry, they will." Just like that, she stood up and left the room, leaving Wheatley staring at the static-filled monitors, his cold, mechanical heart filled with dread. Something is going to go horribly wrong, even if they do find it, He thought to himself. Something always does…
Well, I hope you all enjoyed that because, worst case scenario, this could be the last one for a while. Like I said, I start university in two days. I don't think I'll be very busy for the first week or two, but once I get into the full swing of things, all fanfiction is going to have to take a seat on the bench for a while - even this one, as important as it is to me. I'll still update it when I can, I just can't guarantee that updates will be regular. They could be anything from weeks to months apart once university really gets going - but don't worry, all you've got to do is message me and I'll let you know my progress. Even if I'm not posting, I'll always be online.
You guys are all awesome! Please continue to be awesome! :D
~Lagiacrus