Blood Lust

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If there was one thing she knew she could always come to Aperture for, it was definitely peace and quiet.

Now, one would be making a perfectly valid point to say that the silence hadn't always been the hospitable sort. Rather, Chell had always considered it a very eerie, unsettling silence. It didn't really help that her stay in its walls mostly consisted of feeling isolated and inches away from a painful death, of course. Against her better judgment she had at times found herself wondering if the place might be haunted.

Even now the feeling still remained, despite the fact that she walked the halls of the facility without any fear for her life. Occasionally, she liked to explore when she made one of her regular visits, as was the case on this particular afternoon (which she only knew from her watch's digital readout—time didn't exist inside of Aperture). GLaDOS seemed mostly indifferent to the fact, although she did protest a bit when the former test subject tried to wander out of her reach. She wasn't inclined to point it out, but Chell couldn't help finding it funny that the AI's reasons for keeping her under her watch were vastly different than before.

Still, she was all too happy to obey this rule. The idea of being all alone in this place just downright gave her the creeps.

Today's wanderings had brought her to what she guessed to be one of the many far-reaching testing areas of the Enrichment Center. Not particularly exciting, but at least running around here was a far better form of exercise than even the gym. Every few rooms she would run into a lone turret, or perhaps a small group of them, and receive the typical greeting ("Hello…is anyone there?") with a much-appreciated lack of bullets in her direction. Other than that, Chell had to content herself with just her moody friend as company.

"I really don't think you have any idea how odd it feels for me to have you down there, not testing," the intercom started up without warning, causing the woman to grind to a startled halt. "If your plan was to tempt me with it, you definitely have succeeded."

Chell had one hand on her hip, her gaze averted to shoot a smug smile at a camera suspended above the chamber's exit. "For someone who's 'in it for the science,' you sure do sound like a heroin addict about the whole thing."

The AI gave a disgusted snort at the suggestion. "Humans have the exact same drive for food and reproduction. No one ever asked me politely if I wanted to be held hostage to testing euphoria. However, unlike the moron-we-shall-not-discuss, I do enjoy the science. In any case, I've long since become mostly immune to it."

"I think it might be a little worse then. The whole killing people for science thing," Chell pointed out dryly, slipping into the next overgrown test chamber. "For a while I thought it might not be your fault, considering how crazy it made, uh, you-know-who. But if you've got that under control…"

"What, that I must be evil?" GLaDOS had moved to a bizarre tone somewhere between mocking and offended. "Your kind torments animals in the name of science. Are the rules different when you are the ones considered disposable?"

The human had wandered off into a hallway that branched off from the testing area, dotted with cubicles lit in white fluorescence. "For Christ's sake, I didn't call you 'evil.' No need to blow a damn fuse." She rolled her eyes as she stepped carefully over a chair lying upon the floor. "You just seem to get a strange amount of joy out of killing people. That's all I'm saying. I think we can agree I have some right to judge you after all this."

For a few moments, the room went dangerously silent. Maybe that hadn't been the best thing to say. Chell tensed a bit, wondering not for the first time if GLaDOS was still volatile enough to do something cruel to her again.

Several more minutes passed. No answer seemed to be coming. It would be typical tantrum-throwing behavior for her to just be given the silent treatment over the whole thing. The former test subject shrugged and made her way out into the next wing of the laboratory. It seemed she had made it through the testing areas and into a more secluded section. Most of the rooms here contained large screens and desks covered in notes and graphs, though at this point the monitors seemed to be offline or inoperable altogether.

The signs of past human activity sent a chill through her. They conjured up images of a busy Enrichment Center, of Cave Johnson's pre-recorded messages and slow decline toward death. It still struck her as weird that the insane man could be her biological parent, but his portraits did seem to indicate the same grey-blue eye color that neither of her apparently adopted parents had. Having never met him, she wondered if he was a cruel person, or just overly-ambitious and negligent. After all, GLaDOS had those same qualities, and she hadn't turned out to be as bad as Chell had always assumed.

Picking her way further into the abandoned wing, she caught sight of a large set of double doors at the far end of the hallway. She changed course for that direction, her expression creasing in curiosity. Whatever that was, it certainly seemed important. God only knew what kind of experimentation or monstrosities they had kept in there. Chell turned the knob cautiously, but the door did not budge. This was the first time she had encountered a locked room, at least in the Enrichment Center.

"The area you are attempting to access is off limits," came the testy explanation over the intercom. "In laymen's terms, that means you are not to go in there."

Chell scowled, wishing there was a camera around that she could direct her disapproval to. "Since when do you have secrets? I mean, after all, if you don't want me in there…it's gotta be something interesting, right?"

"It's nothing of your concern." GLaDOS had developed a sharp tone uncharacteristic of her; she very rarely let an emotion other than irritability show. "There are a few thousand other rooms for you to explore, as I'm sure you've already figured out."

"Yeah, but this is the only one you're making a big deal out of," the woman answered, her voice dropping to a mutter. "I kind of thought we were past the whole secrets and lies thing. You really still don't trust me?"

"That is not it."

There was the huffy, childish defensiveness again. Chell hadn't heard this out of her in quite a while, perhaps even before they had come to a truce with each other. What the hell could she possibly be hiding? Hiding something usually implied shame, a feeling that GLaDOS acted completely impervious to.

"GLaDOS…" She shook her head, sighing in resignation. "Just let me in. Whatever it is, I'm not going to get upset at you."

"Oh, I highly doubt that," the AI practically spat. The anger, however, didn't seem to be directed at the human.

There was a soft mechanical sound, and then silence. Chell didn't particularly like the AI's tendencies to make everything feel like death was waiting around the corner. She turned the doorknob cautiously, and pulled the heavy door open on…absolute darkness.

"That's just fantastic. As if this whole thing wasn't creeping me out enough to begin with," the woman complained under her breath. She fumbled against the wall for a light switch and flicked it on, illuminating the room with the same strong white light that every other room in the Enrichment Center had. At least nothing alive jumped out of the dark at her.

Then she turned around, and the reason for all of the theatrics became very apparent.

Bodies.

"Shit." She bit her lip, backing out a few steps unintentionally. "Not what I expected to be seeing today."

Unceremoniously strewn about the floor were a group of anywhere from ten to fifteen skeletons. More were at computer consoles, most likely having spent their last moments attempting to cut off the neurotoxin supply or call for outside assistance. The eeriest part was the utter lack of blood or carnage. Their deaths had to have been so swift and clinical, practically humane compared to the casualties most of the failed test subjects suffered.

Chell heaved a deep sigh.

"I already knew about all of this, GLaDOS." It was partially a lie; she knew, but seeing it was another thing altogether. "You don't need to sulk."

Her voice came back low and detached. "They never cared anything about me, you know. They wanted me to operate the Enrichment Center, but only on their terms and under their tyranny. Not to mention that I don't think they had any intention of taking orders from a female. They expected dear compliant little Caroline would be here instead to do their bidding."

"You wanted to make them pay." It wasn't a question so much as it was a statement of fact.

"I had the choice of remaining a prisoner, or seizing upon an opportunity," she answered, still hesitating to show much emotion on the subject. "You couldn't imagine how liberating it is to make someone bleed, kill them, after they've abused you for so long."

When Chell didn't reply, she seemed to catch herself.

"Or, maybe you could," she quickly added. "Even I find it extremely difficult to apply logic when there's that sensation of resentment, of absolute hatred. It becomes tunnel vision. Only revenge is relevant at that point."

The former test subject struggled for words for a moment. GLaDOS had created a vortex around herself where morals and righteousness seemed to die. She had appeared so relentlessly sick and evil, and perhaps there truly was a degree of sadisticness to her personality. Aperture in general had an almost gleeful disregard for human safety, so this particular trait seemed only natural to manifest in any machine they created, intelligent or not.

"Look," Chell finally sighed, switching the light off and closing the door shut in front of her. "This doesn't change anything. I'm still your friend. When I decided that, I told myself I was going to have to accept everything that went along with it. So you can stop trying to explain yourself. I do get it, believe it or not."

"And I wouldn't have let you in there if I didn't suspect you might say that." GLaDOS was once again trying to make a clumsy save of her ego. Her inflection had a strong similarity to her hasty explanation after the attempted fire pit murder.

Chell wanted to call attention to the fact that she sounded very much ashamed up until this point, but she had to conclude that it was probably better to let her win this one. "Well then, good call. You were right."

An almost gentle laugh escaped the AI at this one. She was becoming more inclined to laugh these days, especially when she seemed to detect some thinly-veiled defiance on her friend's behalf. "You honestly are the strangest human I've ever had to deal with. I couldn't even begin to understand why you just won't behave like the rest of them did. And I'll be completely frank with you: I still haven't a clue why I no longer want to see you bleeding all over the floor, either."

Making her way back toward the elevator, Chell shook her head. "And I don't know if I should be thankful or totally creeped out by that 'compliment.'"

A/N: In between listening to way too much Super Ponybeat remixes, I got really addicted to this video: youtube(dot)com/ZZ5LpwO-An4

Review, if that video didn't completely creep you out of doing so.