Pain. It rolled over her in waves, consuming her. In this semi-unconscious state, the pain seemed normal, almost comforting. Chell knew this state well. She would always retreat to it whenever Black Mesa tried to force answers out of her. While they yelled and screamed, she would float here, wrapped in this cocoon of pain, like a corrupted sleep. It normally lasted hours, but GLaDOS wouldn't let her stay for long.
She was shaken into full consciousness, and the rolling pain became real pain, stabbing into a single area, racing up and down her arm. Sleep beckoned for her to return to it, and as much as she wanted to obey, she was being pulled to her feet. She was awake now, but couldn't stay standing, let alone run. If she was ready to collapse as soon as she escaped into the wheat field, she was ready to completely black out now. Realizing this, GLaDOS set her back down, only to readjust her grip and completely pick her up. She could feel the android start to run, steadily increasing speed. She must have slipped away, since the next thing she knew, she was lying down on the cold metal floor of the shack as it descended.
….
Chell jerked awake, as if escaping a nightmare she couldn't remember. She immediately felt something was wrong. She was lying on a hospital-like bed, surrounded by machines. Her heart began to pound. She realized she wasn't restrained, oddly enough. Perhaps some idiot forgot to administer enough sedative. Whatever happened, she knew she had to get out of there before they came to torment her again. She sat up and struggled to through the blanket off her.
"Calm down!" ordered a familiar voice. Chell froze. "For once, this facility isn't geared to hurt you."
She lay back again, trying unsuccessfully to force herself to relax. She knew where she was; she knew what happened. She should feel safe now.
"Hmm. I'm sure you understand what's going on, and yet your breathing and heart rate is still irregular," GLaDOS commented as if they were discussing the weather.
A TV monitor descended into the room on the wall opposite of the bed, showing an image of the AI herself. Chell calmed down a bit.
"Do you know what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is?" the AI asked calmly. She nodded. "I thought so. Then you won't be surprised when I tell you that you've more than likely have a very serious case of it."
A mechanical arm extended toward her, and even though she could clearly see that it only held a damp cloth and not a syringe, she was still suspicious that it did, somehow, and tried to scoot away from it. Besides, even if it was just a damp cloth, who says that it's damp with water?
"Don't you struggle, now…" GLaDOS said softly.
The arm continued to slowly approach her. Chell turned her face away from it and sealed her eyes shut, telling herself over and over that it was only a damp cloth. There was no syringe, no knife, and no taser. Just a cloth.
In the end, the cloth was a relief against her burning skin as it gently touched her cheek. Slowly, she was allowed to relax.
"See? This is what I mean by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," GLaDOS said calmly. "Anything that reminds you of… what happened last week could cause a panic attack. Even a damp cloth set you on edge, didn't it? Who knows how long it will take to fix this. At least the physical damage has already been healed."
Confused, Chell pulled her arm out from under the blanket. What was once stripped with angry red, infected cuts now only had a few pale, thin lines. In fact, every scar she had received from Black Mesa was nearly gone, as well as the constant nausea and aches from the various chemicals that had been pumped into her. Chell sat up and gave her a questioning look.
"I know you have questions, but so we don't have to play a game of charades, let's see if I can go ahead and answer them," the AI said. Chell rolled her eyes. GLaDOS has always been able to read her lips and they have never had to play charades. "Question one. 'What happened since the time in the wheat field?' Well, after I was done removing the tracker, you were nearly unconscious, so I carried you here. Knowing you'd panic even more if you woke up to a bunch of medical devices, I kept you sedated for a few days until you were completely healed. Next question. 'Where are my offspring who inherited their lunacy from me?' They're both fine. I'll let them see you tomorrow, if you're not going to panic and try to strangle them. Question three. 'How can I repay you for your heroic rescue?' Weeeeell," Chell stiffened. "I would normally request repayment, but considering the fact that you managed to survive in that h**lish excuse for a science facility, and your condition, I'll let this slide." She wasn't entirely convinced the AI was telling the truth about this. "Last question. 'How are you recovering from your ordeal at Black Mesa?' Why, I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking," the AI finished, nodding slightly to herself. Chell rolled her eyes again and laid back.
"Well. Since you seem to be satisfied with those answers, I'll leave you be for the rest of the night," GLaDOS said, "Know that I'll be here to hold you down in the event of a nightmare. Sleep well." With that, the monitor turned off.
The rest of the night passed in a nightmarish blur. Not long after she would fall asleep, the nightmares would hit, and GLaDOS would wake her. Then, it would take hours for her to fall back asleep, but then the nightmares would strike again, and the cycle continued until morning came and Chell gave up on sleep.
"You're very lucky I don't require sleep," GLaDOS stated, "Do you know how many times I was interrupted last night to keep you from killing yourself? I doubt you even remember half of them. Anyway, your children are awake as well, if you want to see them." Chell brightened a bit, sitting up straighter. Perhaps this could make her feel better.
GLaDOS's POV:
GLaDOS first led Glade and Alex into her own chamber.
"Listen," she said, staring down at them, "I need to tell you that while you are with her you are to be very careful about what you say. Among the things Black Mesa stole from us was research on human psychology. They know how to damage someone's mind, even hers. But, I'm not sure just how severe the trauma is. I don't want to invoke any reaction until I know what I'm up against." The teenagers nodded, suddenly looking very nervous and scared rather than eager to see their mother. Before either of them could ask, she answered, "Yes, I'll be able to fix her, but it'll take time. She'll be able to function normally, though she may never quite be the same." A door in the chamber opened. When they didn't move, the AI lowered herself to their height and softened her voice, "Just go. Seeing you two should help."
Nodding, the teenagers walked solemnly out the door. She turned her attention away from them, and checked the rest of her facility.
Oddly enough, they managed to get through the day without causing a panic attack in the former test subject, though she seemed to just get more and more uncomfortable. She could easily pretend everything was okay when Glade and Alex were around, but when they weren't, she would shift uncomfortably in the bed she was confined to. As evening approached, GLaDOS decided to let her take a walk to her chamber.
"You know, I can tell you don't like being in that medical room," she said matter-of-factly. Chell just fixed her with a steady, intense stare. The AI swayed, watching her closely. "You don't have to be there anymore. You can sleep someplace else from now on. How about an offline Extended Relaxation Vault? That's where your offspring have been sleeping." She received no reply other than a couple blinks. She let out an exasperated sigh. "Why can't you just answer me? I can read lips, you know. That's how we've talked before." Chell just shrugged. "I don't want to revert to the old times. Especially since you spent a lot of those old times trying to kill me. Besides, all you have to do is shake or nod your head to answer my question anyway. Why don't you just reply?"
After a moment of silence, Chell glanced away from her long enough to shake her head. There was another sigh.
"Why must you always make things so difficult?" GLaDOS asked, an edge to her voice. "Where else do you think you can stay? I can't make this place too human-friendly, you know. How would I ever get any testing done?"
The only response she received was a stare.
"Well, while you figure that out, I'll stop wasting time and get back to my facility."
Along one wall of the chamber, a group of large, blank monitors flickered to life, showing images of charts, security feeds, and blueprints, and the AI pretended to only focus on them while other hidden cameras watched her former test subject, who settled into a sitting position on the floor. Chell continued to give her that intense stare; eyeing her as her optic swayed from monitor to monitor as the images they showed constantly changed, never seeming to miss anything.
Hours passed in silence. GLaDOS began to doubt she would ever get a response out of her. Eventually, though, Chell simply curled up on the floor and fell asleep. GLaDOS didn't want to have to put up with her nightmares for another night, particularly in her own chamber. Nonetheless, she ordered ATLAS and P-body to bring a mattress and a pillow to her chamber. The monitors flickered off and the lights dimmed. She usually watched such things in her head, anyway. She kept a close eye on the sleeping girl, though, waiting for her to tense up and thrash. So far, she remained still.
"This is going to be a long night," she said softly.
A/N: Okay, that looks like a good stopping place, even though it's a short chapter. I have ideas on how to continue the story, since I obviously can't say "and they all lived happily ever after with Black Mesa never bothering them again", but what I have in mind doesn't seem to fit the context of this story. It is called "The Rescue", after all, and the rescue's done. If I finish this off with a whole new story, it would be a rather short one called something like "The War", and would just be the final standoff between Aperture and BM. This really wasn't meant to be a trilogy, though, and the last story would be pretty short, I'm thinking about 3 chapters, 5 at the most. I just think it wouldn't fit the general theme of this one. Besides, leaving this as the last chapter wouldn't leave it looming over my head as a fic I need to finish before starting a new one.
For those of you who have been up in arms about the Space Core being forgotten-he will turn up again. Whether he's in one piece or several is not for me to spoil yet. (Evil laugh)
Speaking of new fics, those of you who read Average Life may remember a time when I very rudely began a chapter with a sneak peak at a new fic I was thinking about and left it at that for a few days before actually posting the real chapter. I got some good feed back on that idea, but I'm sorry to say that that particular fanfic will probably never be posted, due to lack of actual plot ideas, but those OC's will be recycled for a different story, information on which can be found at my profile. Wow, that was a really long author's note. Well, that was a general rundown on the future of this series and my activity on FFN. That's all I have to say, look forward to new updates and releases, have a good day!