~~0~~
12
"Well, hello stranger!"
Chell hadn't expected to see a Defective Turret there in a room in the facility had been filled with old clothes and hats. It looked like it had just been tossed there with the rest of the junk. She gave an irritated sound and tossed an old lab coat over the turret.
"Well, I tried." the Defective Turret said, which was mildly muffled beneath the coat.
Chell smiled and rooted through piles of clothes, pulling out a wide brim hat and studying the worn texture. She put it on her head and stared at herself in the mirror, flashing a goofy grin before GLaDOS appeared behind her, arching a brow skeptically.
"What. Are. You doing?" the AI asked.
Chell smiled at her. "I found all these cool clothes. It'd be nice if I could find something good in here so I could wear something other than what I got on."
GLaDOS murmured thoughtfully and reached into a box, picking up a t-shirt that said "I Visited Aperture and All I Got Was This Lousy Shirt". And beneath it, it read, "Among Other Things..." GLaDOS made a partially amused, partially disgusted sound and tossed the shirt back into the box.
"No accounting for taste, really..." she quipped.
Chell smiled teasingly. "Come on, I bet you'd look great in some of these clothes."
GLaDOS let out a bark of disbelief. "Honestly! Me? Clothes? Don't I already look too human as it is?"
"It might be fun," Chell pressed, "Shouldn't science look good?"
GLaDOS frowned thoughtfully. "Well, that IS true..."
"It'll be fun!" Chell said, "Why don't you try to have fun for a change?"
"I DO have fun. Science is fun. Whatever you're planning for me has got to be a ploy to weaken me enough so that I could be killed."
Chell rolled her eyes and just started going through the clothes again anyway.
After much pressing, Chell eventually had GLaDOS join in. The AI's curiosity was her weakness as she expressed an infinitesimal amount of it in the lab coats, black skirt, a turtleneck... Chell found it rather amusing that GLaDOS was intrigued with things that seemed less than extravagant. Overall, when she was dressed, the AI looked quite attractive, even in what she was wearing. Chell was impressed, but GLaDOS seemed to be studying herself in the mirror with deep thought. And she didn't look like she was happy.
"GLaDOS, are you okay?" she asked.
The AI stared and stared, seemingly lost in her own mind.
["I bet we could stick those cores on her. She'd probably end up liking it."]
["You mean the special one? Yeah, that was pretty funny."]
["She might end up having some fun for a change instead of trying to kill us."]
"Hey..." Chell repeated, giving the AI a little shake. "Hey."
GLaDOS blinked rapidly and looked down at her. "What?"
"Are you okay? You zoned out there for a second."
GLaDOS shook her head and blinked much slower this time. She seemed lost for a little bit longer before those yellow eyes narrowed. "I am perfection. I am a construct of science and science alone. I am Aperture." she said, her usual calmness taking on a razor's edge, "What I am NOT is a doll you can dress up and play with."
Chell looked startled. "Whoa, wait a minute - "
GLaDOS was already out of the room before Chell could try and reason with her. She sighed and slouched her shoulders. "Why do I even bother?"
The Defective Turret beneath the coat spoke up. "Your funeral, pal."
Chell rolled her eyes and pushed the turret to the floor. "Who asked you?" she snapped.
"Touche', young lady, touche'!"
The human wandered back to her room, but stopped when she found Rick in the hallways, passing by and making whistling sounds. When he saw her, his optic lids parted in a wide-eyed look. "Hey pretty," he said, "You look like you're upset. Something on your mind?"
Chell exhaled. "I tried reaching out and GLaDOS shot me down." She shrugged her shoulders with a grunt. "I don't know why I'm even bothering."
"Well what happened?"
Chell explained it to him and the core let out a chuckle. "Well it sounds like you made her a bit uncomfortable," he pointed out, "Boss lady's never been one to have any friends. In fact, I can't remember the last time anyone ever did anything nice to her."
Chell made a face. "Really?"
"Well yeah. I've been around the block longer than most cores here. I know a few things."
"So what, do I just apologize?"
Rick tapped the side of his head once. "Hm. Maybe start off small. Thank her for saving your life. Well, twice anyway." He leaned close, squinting with a teasing sound in his vocals. "Why, I bet that never dawned on you to do that, huh?"
Chell grimaced. No, it hadn't.
"Well go on. I bet she'd probably get a kick outta that."
Chell nodded in agreement. She couldn't imagine than the AI would know what to do with gratitude from a human being.
"Thanks Rick," she said, "You're smarter than most of the crazies in this place."
Rick waved that off with a laugh. "Nah. Like I said, I know how to work the ladies!"
He performed a goofy little dance involving a suggestive swaying like a human would - if he had hips anyway - murmuring "cha-cha-cha" over and over. Chell stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.
This place wasn't normal in the slightest.
O
- Give her credit, she IS trying here. -
GLaDOS didn't fully comprehend the little voice whispering in the back of her central processor. It could have easily been Caroline - it felt rather familiar anyway - but after she had learned of her true origins, she made it her point to try and ignore it. Caroline was just too integrated into her systems and unable to be deleted. What the AI had done was attempted to be rid of the one thing that made her partially human, and here it was, back again because of her little outburst.
What if that human from the video had been right? What if this new body tampered with her emotions somehow?
- That wouldn't be true. I can feel nothing has changed. This isn't a fault of the systems built into you. These are your emotions. -
No, that was foolish. That wasn't right.
- It is. Maybe call it fate. You knew her when we were first brought online. Maybe you were destined by science to be together. -
The humor in the voice wasn't mocking, but GLaDOS still took offense to it anyway.
"GLaDOS."
The AI looked up from her monitors and noticed Chell standing there, frowning skeptically. "What's the deal?" she asked, partially annoyed and concerned all at once.
GLaDOS sighed and pretended like she had no idea what the human was talking about. "I'm sorry. You'll have to be specific."
Chell softened a bit and rolled her eyes. She put a hand on her hip. "You think I'm out to get you, huh?"
"Well, I wouldn't quite put it like that, but - "
"For God's sake, I thought we were passed this. I'm not gonna kill you!"
GLaDOS was silent for a moment, tensing behind her computers.
- She's being truthful. Look at her. -
Chell smiled now when she watched the tenseness drain from the AI's body. Her eyes landed on GLaDOS' clothed form. "I can't help but notice you haven't taken those clothes off either," she remarked, "I guess you believe me when I said you looked pretty good in them."
That drew a smile across the AI's face that she tried to hide. "I AM amazing, aren't I?"
The tension seemed to have been alleviated to a degree, so Chell took what she could get and nodded, rolling her eyes with amusement. "Yeah, I guess you are."
"There's no guessing involved. It's a known fact."
Chell murmured and let out a chuckle. Well, at least she wasn't mad anymore - if she ever had been. She suddenly looked a little embarrassed and shifted a bit. This was a lot harder for her to do than she thought it would be. "Uh, GLaDOS, I forgot that I kinda...wanted to tell you something," she said.
The AI looked interested now. "What is it?"
"Uh...I kinda...wanted to thank you for saving me," Chell told her, rubbing the back of her neck in a sheepish gesture, "It probably wasn't easy given the - uh - killings and all, but..." She noticed GLaDOS' slightly surprised look. "I want you to know that I appreciate it."
GLaDOS was silent for a moment, her expression unreadable; she was obviously considering the test subject's words before she turned her attention back to her computers. "Good. You should." she replied. Her tone wasn't mocking, but actually soft and rather pleased.
Chell lingered a bit, somewhat uncomfortably before nodding. "Okay then... I'll just get going."
GLaDOS watched her go before smiling.
Those words of gratitude made that warmth return to her circuits once more. It obviously wasn't fake, or the test subject wouldn't have been so uncomfortable with saying them. Fake or insincere usually came without emotion as far as she had witnessed, but Chell seemed genuine enough.
That was nice.
Oh, but no reason for HER to think that she liked it.
- You're terrible. You know that, right? -
"No, I'm amazing."
She chuckled to herself as she resumed working.
O
GLaDOS kept the clothes.
Chell found it internally funny that the AI complained about how they made her look "human", but after complimenting her, GLaDOS easily kept the attire that she had chosen. Chell had to admit that it was befitting of a scientist to look the way she did. Now that she was dressed, the human couldn't imagine GLaDOS walking around in nothing. The AI was a bit annoyed with the way she had crudely joked about her apparent nudity when she hadn't had a need to wear clothes at all. As punishment for her quip, GLaDOS made her clean out a feeding tube in a test chamber that hadn't been cleaned in a long time.
Chell wore her orange jumpsuit and stood on a ladder as she worked her way through the tube with a long brush, cleaning out debris, old turret parts and garbage. She found a few dead animals as well; some had died from becoming entangled in rubbish where others appeared to have starved. It was gruesome and Chell had to take a break before she threw up all over herself. Well, that wouldn't have been much of a big deal since she was already messy to begin with. Still, she had SOME form of standards. Meanwhile, Rick and the others offered assistance and carried broken parts out of the chamber as needed.
GLaDOS watched the sight with amusement. "Yes, it IS quite a mess," she agreed, "I haven't been able to clean out all the test chambers yet."
Chell grunted and poked her head out. She was covered in black sludge and dirt. "Yeah, you're working hard, aren't you?"
GLaDOS missed the jibe and smiled. "Yes! All the time."
Chell smirked down at her. "Catch."
Just then, she threw something at GLaDOS that was feathered, had sharp talons and a large beak. The AI shrieked and recoiled back, missing the mass of feathers that landed at her feet with a sickening, meaty slap. She glared down at it when she realized it was dead and shot the laughing test subject a dirty look.
"Just kidding! It's dead!" Chell teased.
GLaDOS didn't share her amusement and shook her head in disbelief. "You're depraved. That's all there is to it!" she snapped, "Throwing a rotten carcass at me, particularly one of a horrible monster is just wrong on so many levels! You are a curse to your species and that's saying something!"
Rick and Fact Core started arguing again. "If you don't stop with those nutty facts of yours, I'm pushing you into that acid!" Rick snapped. He made a pushing gesture with one hand. "One push and in you go! Instant pile of rust! That's you!"
"Fact: Threats are the calling card of a weak intellect." Fact Core stated smugly.
"That's it!" Rick barked, dropping a box from his hands.
The two cores started getting in on a physical fight that had them grabbing at each other and rolling around. Their actions caused Wheatley to trip and fall flat on his face when he walked back into the chamber. GLaDOS glared at them.
"Having limbs is a privilege, one I can VERY EASILY remedy!" she warned.
Immediately, they hurried out of the chamber, leaving the two women alone. Chell scaled down the ladder with a grunt of disgust, shaking some sludge from her hands. "Eww, this is really gross," she said, "I'm gonna need to scrub every inch of my body, even my uvula."
GLaDOS nodded her head in agreement. "All right, you can go. And don't come back until you smell better." She thought about that when the test subject started to go. "Hm. That could take a while..."
Chell started to exit the chamber, but a smirk touched her lips and she reached out for the AI. GLaDOS' eyes widened when she realized what Chell was going to do and she took a huge step back. Chell just advanced on her with that body covered in filth toward the pristine AI.
"Don't you dare." GLaDOS warned. "I'm serious. Don't you - AH! Stay back, you beast!"
Chell practically chased her around the chamber, chanting about how she "wanted a hug" from the supercomputer. GLaDOS shrieked in disgust, attempting to keep away from the smelly, filthy human. "You're utterly disgusting! What is WRONG with you? Stay away! I'm warning you [Subject Name Here], do not make me - Now THAT'S close enough!"
The human tripped and toppled into GLaDOS, sending them both bowling over onto the floor. GLaDOS hissed out furiously and indignantly, glaring up at the test subject who had her flat on her back in the dirt. Her yellow eyes widened.
"Why would you do something like that?" she spat, "Are you trying to kill me? The Enrichment Center would like to remind you that while you MAY enjoy wallowing in your own filth, soiling the most empirically fantastic work of science ever created is NOT allowed!"
Chell just laughed hysterically. GLaDOS looked hilarious covered in dirt and the manner in which she glared just made it even worse. She couldn't stop laughing when the AI rolled her over so that she was pinned beneath the metal construct.
"Unbelievable. Why are you lau - THIS ISN'T FUNNY! How is this even funny?" GLaDOS cried down at her. She actually looked a little dejected now. "Look at me. I'll have to get myself cleaned too! Thanks to you and your insanity, which I feel should be thoroughly analyzed in accordance with Aperture Science regulations! You're a monster! A filthy little monster!"
"Come on! Can't you just lighten up?" Chell laughed, attempting to catch her breath, "I haven't had this much fun since...Wow, I can't even remember."
GLaDOS' glare intensified and she leaned close enough so that their own noses almost touched. "How can you find these games amusing?"
Chell cleared her throat and her laughter calmed a bit. "Because I wasn't allowed to do stuff like this when I was a kid, that's why," she said, a little more even now, "I always had doctors and scientists telling me what I could and couldn't do and it was a pain in the ass. It's just fun doing whatever the hell you feel like it, even if it's utterly ridiculous." She smirked up at the AI and arched a single eyebrow. "I know someone like you could agree with me on that one."
GLaDOS' anger drained from her face and she stared down at the human with surprise, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. That was something that they actually had in common. To finally be free of the chain of Aperture's scientists was quite a liberating feeling. Perhaps the human just went about it in another way. GLaDOS had done so with testing on HER terms - oh yes, and there was also the neurotoxin - and she had never felt better in her life.
It wasn't until she stopped thinking about these things that she realized Chell wasn't talking anymore. She looked down at the human and found her staring up at her. There was an odd change in her eyes, as if she seemed confused about something. The look was fascinating because GLaDOS had never been stared at like that before. She tilted her head somewhat and continued to stare down at the suddenly silent human. What was she looking at anyway? GLaDOS arched an eyebrow at her.
Something happened when Chell stared down at their interlocked hands and their bodies pressed together that a curious red tint touched her cheeks. One that GLaDOS found partially amusing.
Well, well, well, that was different.
A light smile touched GLaDOS' lips and she leaned in closer, pressing her chest against Chell's own. Through her clothes, she could feel a sharp increase in heartbeat in the human. As she moved a little more, Chell's blue-gray eyes seemed to darken, her pupils dilating. The AI's smile widened somewhat and she leaned close enough that her lips were near Chell's ear, feeling the human tremble beneath her.
"Go and get cleaned up, my smelly little test subject," she purred, in a deliberate, sultry tone.
Chell's eyes widened when GLaDOS pulled herself up, giving her a proud look that somehow managed to make her appear more magnificent, even when covered in filth.
What the fuck? she thought, her heart throbbing wildly behind her ribs.
O
Chell stood beneath the shower, unable to keep the shivers down.
Why in the hell had GLaDOS done that? She had never seen the AI do anything THAT untoward before; nothing that involved physical touching or...whatever the hell that was. And never had Chell felt her body react the way it did. Not in...Christ, she hadn't felt like that since - Well, she'd just not want to relive that again. It was pathetic of her to have reacted like that, but hey, no one could really blame her. That sort of thing hadn't been on her mind in so long, reacting to a sexy voice was -
Jesus, now she was thinking that the supercomputer had a sexy voice. Chell groaned and covered her face with one hand.
Stupid body. Stupid TRAITOROUS body.
"You're losing it. Just stay cool," she told herself, "Stay cool."
"Well, that would be a little difficult to do in here, wouldn't you say?"
Chell's eyes widened and she turned, finding the AI standing in the shower room without her clothes and still filthy. She seemed careful and cautious, watching the water with attentiveness. Chell quickly made an attempt to hide herself and her...well, unmentionable areas from the AI. GLaDOS just rolled her eyes.
"Relax," she snapped, "If you've seen one naked, pink, wrinkled human, you've seen them all."
"What the HELL are you doing in here?" Chell demanded angrily. She was lucky it was so hot or her blushing would be a little more obvious by now.
GLaDOS sighed. "I need to get cleaned too, you know. This is just easier."
Chell frowned and forgot about her nudity for a moment. "Wait, wouldn't that cause you to...uh...fritz out or something?"
"I don't know. I've never tried it before. Now is as good a time as any to do so." GLaDOS cautiously approached the human and reached out to the hose of water. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, took a deep breath and placed her hand underneath it.
When she didn't die, the AI opened one eye, staring at her hand that was being soaked in water. A grin touched her face. "Oh my! This feels wonderful!"
Chell actually smiled a bit. GLaDOS looked delighted, but the kind of delight that was mostly full of surprise than malice. She backed away and allowed GLaDOS to step under the water. The AI couldn't stop making sounds of amazement and content. By the math and sciences, this felt good. Artificial joints in her body completely relaxed under the comforting warmth of the water. She had definitely been missing out on this when she was in her chassis body.
"This is wonderful!" GLaDOS sighed, "Mostly, the scientists would just use chemical cleaner on me that itched something terrible. I always hated it. This is MUCH better!"
Chell took another shower beside GLaDOS and the two spent time cleaning. Chell couldn't resist glancing at the corner of her eye to watch GLaDOS tilt her head back, allowing the water to run down her face, chest and... Oh shit. THAT wasn't supposed to look as amazing as it did. Maybe GLaDOS was right and Chell needed to get her head examined. The human looked away with a barely audible "Oh my God" emerging from her lips and she shut her eyes tightly. If GLaDOS had heard her, she didn't make any indication of it.
"Hey, what's that soap you're using?" GLaDOS asked, looking at Chell curiously.
Chell snapped out of her daze and looked at the bottle she'd put on the small shelf. "Uh, I think it's oranges."
"Let me see."
Chell passed it over to her and GLaDOS studied the bottle before popping it open. Then, she shrugged before staring back down at the bottle. "Hm. I don't think smelling like spherical, citrus-based, peeling fruit would set off the proper image for me. It's too...cute. Like something a little human girl would wear on her first day of human school. Perhaps something in pine..."
"What are you, a computer or a car?"
"You have a very cruel sense of humor."
"Well, I DID learn from the best."
GLaDOS actually smirked at that, and Chell saw a swell of pride in her gaze. Typical GLaDOS. The AI glanced down briefly at the water around her feet before looking at the human. "I know I discussed it before, but we HAVE actually met in the past. When you were just a much smaller version of a lunatic," she told her. She caught Chell's funny stare and rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm aware of how utterly ridiculous it sounds given the fact that we don't recall ever meeting each other otherwise, but the corrupted memory files in my database play back whenever I'm in Sleep Mode."
Chell stared at her, brow furrowing. "Then why don't you think we remember it?"
GLaDOS shrugged. "Why do test subject end up in stasis when they don't comply with the rules? Why do employees never leave? The answer: Because Aperture won't ever allow it," she explained. "I know they've tampered with my memory files on more than one occasion, but why they would have you forget ever meeting me is a little strange."
"How would they do that?"
"Hm. Hard to say. Aperture was always a fan of using any methods, really. I'd have to run some tests..."
Chell nodded her head. "Right..."
- Perhaps you shouldn't be so tense around her now? - the voice suggested, - After all, she's pretty vulnerable here, but she hasn't tried to kill you. So there's that. -
GLaDOS smiled to herself at that. Hm. That wasn't a lie.
Hm. The orange soap suddenly didn't look like such a bad idea after all.
Chell watched her with amusement, but she also felt a little thrilled at seeing the AI relaxing for a change.
When had that happened anyway? she thought to herself, somewhat concerned with how things had changed between them.
She decided not to think about it anymore and just enjoy the moment of peace between them while it lasted.