Author's Note: Jack is what I consider to be the Paranoid Sphere. With GLaDOS' excessive paranoia, I thought perhaps that could have been used to calm her a bit, kind of like the Anger Core. Someone should totally draw Jack. I'd like to see what he'd look like. Maybe another new core I'm going to introduce in this chapter.
Aorta Heartless - There is only one and it's not going to be anything like Vaniterra's. I'll just spoil you now. LOL.
QuillandPen - Well, that wasn't the intention, but yeah, I guess he kinda does. He can be the Gollum Sphere! XD
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21
Jack was still talking excessively with fear as Chell carried him in her arms. It wasn't like listening to Wheatley at all; while they both talked quite a lot, Jack's words were always filled with fright and he jolted at the slightest noise that Old Aperture made. She felt pity for him because knowing that he had once been human like the rest of them...she couldn't imagine what he had been put through. It also made her wonder if there were more cores down here who had been abandoned and lost, thrown aside like garbage.
"Must not look!" Jack whispered, when Chell wandered into a laboratory. "Horrible things it saw! It's afraid!"
Chell looked around at the laboratory, feeling a sense of unease at the sight of sharp tools and machines around her. "What is this place?" she asked.
"Bad place. Testing." Jack answered, trembling in her arms. "It knows where they go. Burn the bodies, they do. Burn the skin, stick it in metal! Burning skin smells so horrible. It knows what they do to the bad ones. It saw them punished! Punished!"
"Jack, calm down and tell me," Chell soothed. "What happened here?"
Jack seemed to make an effort to calm down as Chell stepped into a room filled with metal cages. "Something bad..."
Chell peered into the cages one-by-one, trying to find anything that would catch her attention. She stopped at a door and pushed it open, surprised to see a sphere hanging from a wall, plugged in by many different wires to machines all around it. There was even a wire sticking through the socket of his optic and he seemed aged, weathered. Jack whimpered and turned his body away in her arms, obviously terrified by what was there. Chell was a little disturbed as well.
It looked dead, but when she took a step back, its optic flickered on; nothing but a single, tiny red dot in a sea of black, just like Jack's and GLaDOS' android eye. It looked up at the human standing there, but said nothing. Just...stared at her.
Whatever it was, it made Chell shiver slightly. Something about this core was different. Something she didn't know and didn't like. He didn't rant on with obsessions and ideas like the other cores. He spoke as if he were a human being, untempered by the laws of science.
"A human..." the core finally spoke in a masculine voice, thick and liquid-like, as if it was a human choking on fluid. Still, when it continued to do so, it was chilling. "I haven't seen one in a long time. They put me here, you know. When they realized what I was." His eye focused on Jack. "Jack is a smart little sphere. I'm sure he's told you what happened in this laboratory."
Chell didn't speak. She just listened, though the air was cold around them. Frightening a little.
"I remember the things they did. To me. And to the humans they brought here." the sphere continued, heaving as if he had lungs. "There was a lot of blood in the end. So much of it. They thought Her blood lust could be contained with me. Balance it out, if you will. But that wasn't the case. They claimed I was scary. Frightening. And He came by... You'll meet him very soon. His appetite is almost as strong as mine."
"Who?" Chell asked. "Who else is here?"
"The past can't be changed, no matter how deeply we try to bury it." the sphere continued, as if she never asked the question. "No matter how many times you try to hide the bodies beneath tape and wrappings, it'll always come back to haunt you. I've seen it for myself. I know this. I've done this. Oh! I haven't told you my name, have I?"
Chell glanced out of the door and noticed a card that read "SIMON".
"Simon?" Chell questioned.
"They consider me to be the stuff of nightmares..." the sphere - Simon replied, "Such a silly little thing to be labeling an insignificant sphere with. So, I became the nightmares, the...lust. But my nightmares were too strong, you see. The King thought I had more use, but I was cast away. Abandoned. Left to the sound of my own voice and horrors." He let out a disturbing laugh. "Nightmares. It's amazing how badly they can consume you when you've been alone with them for so long."
Chell snorted and backed away. "You're insane. You're just going to stay locked up."
"Insane?" Simon's little eye moved to the center of his optic, as if he was widening it like a human. "Welcome to Aperture, my dear."
He laughed dryly and the laugh turned into a disturbing screech of metal that had Chell slamming the door behind her rather hurriedly. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her pounding heard before she stared down at Jack. He looked up at her and his little optic trembled.
"It should go. It shouldn't be here." he said softly.
O
Wheatley and Rick were walking through Test Shaft Eleven, looking around for Chell.
"So talk to me, son." Rick suggested. "What's on your mind?"
Wheatley sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It's the human. I've been feeling weird about her lately. Whenever she's around that maniac, I don't like it. The way she acts...like a bubbly little schoolgirl." He pursed his lips with a snort. "It's gross."
Rick smirked down at him. "Are you jealous, small fry?"
"What?!" Wheatley exclaimed angrily. "No! Why in bloody hell would I be jealous?"
"Well, let's look at the facts, shall we?" Rick teased, raising his hands and counting. "You get pissy when they're together, you roll your eyes when you see them kiss, you grumble and mutter like an old bitch whenever they seem to share a moment. So...hm...why indeed?"
"You know something? I just decided I don't like you!"
"You know something? I just decided I don't care."
While the two were talking, something moved in the shadows, observing them.
Hunting them.
"...you're seriously the only bot I've ever met with his cord still attached!" Rick finished. "I - " He cut himself and frowned, glancing up. "Wait a minute..."
Wheatley sighed with exasperation. "What?"
"We're being watched..." Rick told him.
Now, Wheatley looked mildly concerned. He glanced around the darkness of the testing shaft, trying to see if he could pinpoint sights of anything or anyone that may have been watching them as Rick had suggested. He didn't see anything, but something suddenly felt wrong. It felt too quiet. The kind of quiet that often led to something disastrous. Suddenly, he didn't want to be here and fear filled his face.
"Let's get out of here." he said.
No sooner had those words left his lips, Rick was abruptly yanked off of his feet and toppled to the floor. Rick screamed as he was sucked - pulled into the shadows and Wheatley dove after him, snatching Rick's arms. What happened next was a brutal game of tug of war with a snarling beast that Wheatley couldn't see, but a flash of red eyes appeared and his own widened.
"Is that all you got, asshole?!" Rick shouted, struggling to be free. "It'll take more than that to bring down the Adventure Sphere!"
Then, there was a sick ripping sound and Wheatley managed to pull Rick from the grasp of the creature. He stared down in horror, noticing that Rick's entire lower body had been ripped off. Torn wires sparked and silver fluid formed a pool around him. Rick seemed just as stunned before he let out a choked groan, mouth dripping with the fluid.
"Yeah...that outta do it..." he gurgled.
Wheatley slipped his arms beneath Rick's and yanked him onto his back. He watched in horror as a towering shadow appeared onto the catwalk, the sounds of metal rubbing against metal coming from it. He didn't stick around long enough to ask questions and took off with Rick on his back.
Rick could see through static-laced vision what pursued them; it moved with spider-like legs and had flashing red eyes. He lost touch with reality moments before he could study it further.
Meanwhile, GLaDOS, P-Body and Atlas had found Chell standing before the Aperture Science Extended Relaxation Annex - or the vault of humans as it was so commonly considered - still holding Jack in her arms. GLaDOS frowned and walked up to her with the two robots behind her uneasily following, as if they were worried something bad could come out of this.
"There you are!" GLaDOS snapped. "Do you realize what a waste it was running after you? I've been backed up on - "
"Yeah, I guess anything involving me would be a waste, huh?"
GLaDOS stopped, surprised by the calm, deadened way in which Chell spoke such words. "What are you talking about?" she asked. Her eyes landed on the core in Chell's arms and she curled her lips with disgust. "And where in the name of science did you find THAT?"
Jack cringed back. "It's Jack. Jack is bad."
"I know who you are, you little waste!" GLaDOS snapped at him.
"Leave him alone." Chell shot back. "At least he had the good grace to lead me here to the human vault!"
GLaDOS' anger drained and she glanced over Chell's shoulder. Oh dear. She had to learn this way. She had led Orange and Blue here on a chance that they may have saved science, but that wasn't it. GLaDOS had been aware of something from the start that she hadn't wanted to inform the human of. There wasn't a point in it because what good would it have done? It didn't matter now because Chell had figured it out. Well, from the looks of things, not entirely anyway.
GLaDOS exhaled. "So I suppose you have questions for me..."
"Yeah. About my parents."
GLaDOS frowned now. "I told you what became of them."
"No. I know you, GLaDOS. You never tell the whole story, particularly if it has anything to do with redacted information."
"Yes. It's important that it stays that way. Just because the humans are gone, doesn't mean the rules change."
Chell's features twisted in pain. "So you're saying there IS more to it and you won't tell me?!"
"Right."
"That's not fair!"
GLaDOS' eyes narrowed. "Fair?" she whispered, all semblance of civility gone. She squinted at the human as if she hadn't heard correctly and slowly started to advance. "How dare you use that word. Who do you think you're speaking to, [Subject Name Here]? Was it fair when I was forced into subjugation at the hands of filthy little human parasites? Was it fair when they forced things like...THAT - " She pointed a cold finger at Jack. " - onto me? Was it fair when I heard hundreds of voices in my head at once? Was any of THAT FAIR?"
Chell stared at her with anguish in her gaze, but there was also anger there.
"Fair..." the AI snorted with contempt. "I've been accused of many things, but I don't recall anybody ever accusing me of being fair before. I think I'm actually a little insulted."
Chell glanced down furiously, her eyes a storm of multiple emotions. "I hate you..."
The words were so bitter, so cold that GLaDOS almost shivered. Her eyes did grow wide in surprise for a split second, almost thrown by those words. It took her a while before she nodded her head, rather emotionless. Only a faint strain betrayed her.
"That's fine. No one said you had to like me." she snapped. "If you truly want to see your maggot parents, then who am I to stop you?"
She gestured to the vault door.
Chell looked stunned by GLaDOS' sudden change. The AI's gaze was cold, but though she had no way to broadcast it in the ways that humans could completely, there was definitely pain there. Somehow, Chell's simple words had affected her more than she admitted.
With Propulsion Gel and Repulsion Gel still in place from when P-Body and Atlas had accessed the vault, Chell made her way over with the other machines following behind. She seemed hesitant now, wondering what she would find on the other side.
GLaDOS was oddly silent, giving her a dark look. "Open it. You're a human and it will open for you."
Chell stared at her before she stared up at a camera. It didn't take long for her to be properly scanned before the great vault door began to roar open. Jack trembled in Chell's arms, uttering a soft whimper of fright. The human simply stared down at him briefly before she entered the vault.
What she saw filled her with horror and shock.
There were rows upon rows of stasis chambers that seemed to go on for as long as she could see. However, that wasn't the horrifying thing about them. Each chamber had been desecrated, destroyed and smashed. Red blood was splashed everywhere and through the eerie silence, she could hear the faint dripping of it as it hit the cold metal pipes.
The sight must have been just as a shock to GLaDOS because her eyes widened in disbelief. "What...what is this?" she gasped.
Atlas and P-Body uttered chirps and sounds of concern, glancing at each other.
"Did you do this?!" Chell demanded, whirling on the AI.
"I can assure you, I had NOTHING to do with what happened here!" GLaDOS' voice was filled with unease and concern.
This meant that there was something else in her facility. Something that she wasn't aware of.
Jack shuddered. "King!" he cried. "It was the King!"
GLaDOS glared down at him briefly before she looked at the robots beside her. "Back to my chamber. NOW!"
O
Chell watched as GLaDOS worked quickly, efficiently; she scanned every single security monitor in Aperture. She seemed anxious and worried, which made the human worried as well. It also made her somewhat guilty about how she'd blamed GLaDOS for whatever was going on. Right now, they didn't have time to do any making up on the matter while there was something running around in the facility. Space Core and Fact Core had joined them inside the chamber as well.
"Where's the Adventure Sphere and that moron anyway?" GLaDOS demanded.
Suddenly, there was a frantic banging outside of GLaDOS' chamber and it caused every eye to turn toward it. Chell glanced at GLaDOS and the AI nodded her head, gesturing to the door.
"Please, let us in!" Wheatley's voice emerged from behind the door. "For the love of God, let us in!"
Jack shook lightly. "Who - Who is it?"
"It's Mister T, fool!" Rick's weak voice choked angrily. "Now let us in!"
GLaDOS opened the chamber doors and Wheatley dragged Rick inside. "Closeitcloseitcloseit!" he chanted frantically.
It was immediately closed and Chell's eyes widened when she saw Rick's condition. "Oh my God, Rick!" she cried, kneeling down to him.
GLaDOS moved quickly and crouched down, surveying Rick's damages. "What happened?" she demanded.
Rick winced and shook his head. "I don't know what it was, but it was big!" He let out a grunt of pain. "Damn thing ripped me in half!"
"Is he going to be okay?" Chell asked, looking worriedly at GLaDOS.
"His central processor is still intact, so he'll be fine." GLaDOS replied. She glared down at the tattered android and grabbed his jaw, forcing him to look at her. "What was it? Do you remember anything at all? Any detail that might help us?"
Rick seemed a little delirious from the pain, but blinked rapidly and attempted to keep himself in reality. "I...don't know really." he answered. "It was big...metal. It had two red eyes and huge claws. I could feel them ripping into my body. Then...I thought I saw legs. Spider-looking legs. It was fast too. Really damn fast."
Before GLaDOS could respond to that bizarre description, the Aperture Science announcer spoke up. "Attention. Tracking movement in sector seven testing chambers," he spoke in his constant pleasant voice, "Video feed AS - 34b is down. Unauthorized presence detected."
GLaDOS' eyes widened. "Unauthorized presence? What is it?"
"One moment... Biology is of technological and organic origin."
"What?" GLaDOS gasped.
No one in the room knew what to make of that. What the hell was in Aperture that was both technical and organic all at the same time? If GLaDOS had no idea, then it stood to reason that it must have been an outside source come to trespass in their home. Chell looked at GLaDOS and noticed the uncertainty and...fear in her gaze.
"Whatever this thing is, we're going to destroy it!" the AI hissed. "Once we find it."
Wheatley stood up frantically. "Wait, we're going back out there?"
"I will not have this abomination of science have us hiding away like rats!" GLaDOS snapped. "This is MY facility and it will come to understand the severity of trespassing where it is not wanted!"
Chell frowned at her. "So what do we do?"
"First, we get Mister Adventure here - " GLaDOS quipped, glancing down at Rick. " - some new pair of legs. Then you get your Portal Gun and Long Fall Boots."
"Then?" Wheatley asked cautiously, as if he feared the answer.
"Then?" GLaDOS repeated, smirking murderously. "Then we go and find this trespasser and...test him."
O
Note- The character of Simon was partially inspired by the video entitled "feed094-b" on Youtube.