Author's Note: I'll have this fic finished soon. Oh man, I can't believe it's almost done. D: Letting you all know, I am probably going all out in these last chapters. So if it seems a little overwhelming, it's because it was intentional. LOL.
~~0~~
27
Chell wasn't sure just how long she was planning to stay, but it had been a week since she arrived at Halfpeak and she was thinking that maybe it was best that she did. Things seemed less tense here, the people were warm and welcoming and there was always a chance of survival.
So why did she feel like she was missing something in this?
"Hey, Miss Chell?"
Chell hadn't realized that she was staring off into space when a smaller voice called her. She glanced down and noticed that it was a little boy, maybe about eleven years old with a coat too big for his little body and a pair of jeans with sandy-colored hair. There was also two other boys behind him - probably the same age too in similar attire.
"Can you show me how to fight?" the boy who had spoken first asked. "I wanna learn how to kill Missionaries too!"
Before Chell could speak, Ben stepped up and gestured with a wave of his claws. "Return to your parents," he ordered, "The Chell does not have time to play games."
The children rushed off and Chell frowned at him. "What the hell are you talking about?" she snapped. "Those kids weren't hurting anything."
"The Chell's presence is requested," Ben told her, turning. "The Alyx is working on something of importance and has requested we work together on cleaning the kitchen."
Chell wasn't sure she liked the idea of being in the same room with Ben alone, but her thoughts were distracted by the sight of Kyne wandering by across the street. She furrowed her brow suspiciously at him before following Ben. Something did seem a little off about him. She stared at the Vortiguant curiously, wondering what his thoughts were on the whole "working with humans" thing. Maybe he was here of his own free will, but he stood out among the rest.
"Do you trust doctor Kyne?" she asked.
Ben glanced at her. "We have very little to trust in the ways of people." he replied, "But we do harbor feelings of mutual understanding toward the Alyx, Freeman, and his kin."
Chell looked over her shoulder, observing Kyne as he seemed to get into a discussion with another man before leading him back into his makeshift laboratory.
Later that evening, Chell watched the laboratory from the window of William's building, noticing shapes moving about, shadows from poorly lit lighting. She didn't know exactly what it was, but something felt wrong about Kyne and his visits with other people. They behaved as if they had something to hide. Well, in the week she had spent in Halfpeak, she had been observing his movements without any reason as to why.
Without realizing the consequences, Chell crept from the building and began to make her way toward Kyne's laboratory.
Keeping low to the shadows, Chell entered the laboratory and found a gathering of men around Kyne, so she took cover behind a bookshelf while listening to them.
"...it's been started," Kyne was saying. "It won't be difficult."
"What about Freeman?" one of the men asked, warily.
"Freeman isn't the man his grandfather was. He shouldn't be difficult to handle." Kyne replied calmly.
"And you're sure about this?"
"A man of my scientific mentality is always sure."
Chell furrowed her brow and didn't sense a figure moving behind her in time. She was abruptly yanked to her feet by a burly man in a leather jacket, struggling as she was dragged to the congregation. Kyne looked momentarily surprised to see her, but it didn't last.
"Elliot, look what I found snooping around!" the burly man hissed.
Kyne regarded Chell with contempt. "Of course. The outsider..."
Chell grunted and squirmed in the man's grip. "What the hell is going on?" she snapped.
"Since you've decided on being nosy, I suppose I may as well explain," Kyne said, turning to a table. "You see - Chell, was it? - I've been sitting here, working on ways to improve this quaint little town. I've been doing it for a long time, ever since they found me hiding away in an abandoned Black Mesa facility. That's right. I've been keeping contact with them. Since Freeman's been making the survival of our race all about liberties and freedoms, I'm growing ever concerned about it."
Chell shrugged her shoulders. "Why? Everyone seems happy."
"And that is the problem," Kyne argued calmly, "No one should be happy. Happiness breeds content and content breeds ignorance. Ignorance breeds failure. We cannot fail. We as a species are dying and should strive further than our predecessors ever had."
"And you feel you can be a better leader than Freeman?" Chell was skeptical.
Kyne smiled at her. "I KNOW it. Too long have I lived in the shadow of Freeman. Too long have I been sitting on the sidelines while he feasts from the meals of MY labors."
Chell glared at him. She squirmed a little more.
"As for you?" Kyne continued, pacing back and forth now, "You never should have come here. I knew you'd be a problem the moment the Freeman girls brought you to my lab. Now...maybe I can be convinced to keep Johnny here - " He gestured to a man beside him. " - from putting a bullet between your eyes."
The man - Johnny - grinned with a cruel chuckle.
"Fuck you." Chell spat.
Meanwhile, Aperture had received the entire conversation and Wheatley had rushed to find GLaDOS. The AI was sitting in Chell's room, observing a collection of drawings when she saw him enter. She gave him an unfriendly glare that could chill stone.
"Moron, I thought I told you - " she began.
"The human's in danger!" Wheatley cried.
GLaDOS' anger drained completely and she rushed from the room faster than Wheatley had ever seen her move. She entered her chamber and played back the vocal recordings. Wheatley watched as her features grew ever horrified and he immediately spoke.
"We have to help her!" he insisted.
GLaDOS nodded her head. "Yes."
Wheatley blinked rapidly, stunned that she had so quickly agreed with him. "Really?"
GLaDOS summoned the other bots to her chamber and they gathered around, awaiting her orders. Even Jack was there, carried in Fact Core's spindly arms. GLaDOS seemed distracted while they watched her, formulating a plan in her mind before she faced them.
"It would seem that we have to recall our Aperture Science Testing Subject," she informed them, in a professional tone.
"H-How does it do that?" Jack asked, shaking.
Wheatley immediately made his way toward the location of the lift. "Well I'm not staying here!" he snapped, "I'm going out there to save her!"
They watched him walk away. "If you go on your own, it will be suicide." Fact Core stated.
Rick smiled somewhat. "I think you should go."
"No, he's..." GLaDOS gritted her teeth and spoke her next words as painfully as they had ever seen her. "...RIGHT. We have to go there ourselves as Aperture's technology - a temporary setback mind you - cannot reach as far as Halfpeak to be of any use to the human. We will need to go there ourselves." Her eyes fell on the other bots. "And in order to do so, we will need to appear as humans. As much as we possibly can."
P-Body and Atlas seemed excited about the concept and slapped each other high fives. Rick let out a whoop and thrust his fist in the air. "Adventure!" he cried with glee, "Hell yeah!"
GLaDOS nodded her head. "We will need ALL available hands for this...'adventure'."
O
Wheatley was the first outside, dressed in a hooded snow coat, pants and boots. GLaDOS followed behind him also "properly dressed". Soon came Jack in an android body that made him look sickly and bony. He had on a coat as well that looked too big for his body and tattered slacks. His eyes were sunken and almost lifeless. He held himself tightly, rubbing at his arms. Fact Core emerged - quite a handsome android - and was wearing a finely groomed jacket and slacks. He also had on a pair of glasses.
When Rick stepped out, he stared skeptically at Fact Core. "You don't need those glasses, son."
"They make the Fact Core appear intelligent to humans." Fact Core stated, "Do you agree?"
Rick laughed. "Nah. We can still see your face."
"Enough." GLaDOS snapped. She looked into the shed. "The rest of you. Hurry up."
Finally, Space Core stepped out - he was a short little android with goofy yellow-iris eyes and insisted on wearing a jumpsuit with a clear plastic bowl on his head. He giggled happily and waved his hands in the air when he saw the starry night above.
"Ooh! Space!" he cried with glee.
Atlas and P-Body stepped out in android forms as well. P-Body was ridiculously tall, reflecting her robotic form. Atlas was short and somewhat chubby, reflecting his robotic form quite well too. He had insisted on having a synthetic silver mustache, much to GLaDOS' dismay. Though she did agree that it made him appear human.
Unfortunately, when they spoke, they still communicated in their gurgles and chirps.
Atlas flashed P-Body a broad grin and flexed his synthetic muscles. She simply rolled her eyes and bopped him on the head.
"So how are we getting to Halfpeak?" Wheatley asked, looking at GLaDOS.
She smiled and started forward. "Try to keep up, moron." she sneered. "I have a suitable transport."
"Oh really?" Wheatley murmured, rolling his eyes. "And here I thought we were going to walk..."
Jack scratched at himself and his eyes wandered about warily. "W-What if there's danger out there?" he stammered. "W-We might run into big things wanting to eat us. Lions!"
"...and tigers and bears. Oh my." Rick finished playfully.
"There was an Aperture prototype transport that was unfortunately abandoned long ago." GLaDOS replied, leading her group of androids from the field and onto a street. "I know that I can get it working again with the use of a little willpower."
When they stopped before what GLaDOS had referred to, Wheatley chuckled sarcastically.
"Oh, I am bloody LOVING this..." he muttered.
Sitting in front of them was a white Hummer H2 vehicle sporting Aperture logos on the doors. GLaDOS smiled with pride and walked up, opening the driver door. Rick studied the car up and down with a grin on his face before looking at GLaDOS.
"Nice ride!" he said.
Wheatley studied the vehicle for a long time, watching from the passenger window as GLaDOS gathered a few things in a large black bag. A small smile lit his face. "You've been planning on saving her, haven't you?" he asked.
GLaDOS flashed him a dirty look. "Get in the vehicle. Now."
Wheatley complied and the other androids followed suit, cramming themselves in the back. P-Body chirped indignantly from Rick's elbow in her midsection and Space simply let out a cry of glee, his goofy head poking from between the seats where GLaDOS and Wheatley sat. GLaDOS was using peculiar instruments to get the vehicle started while Space began chatting away.
"Gotta go to space. Lady. Lady." he babbled. He started poking her shoulder with one little finger as she worked. "Oo. Oo. Oo. Lady. Oo. Lady. Oo. Let's go to space. Oh I know! I know, I know, I know, I know, I know - let's go to space!"
GLaDOS ignored him and grinned when the engine started. The androids reacted with a collection of cries as GLaDOS began to drive away.
"Where we going? Where we going? Hey. Lady. Where we going? Where we going?" Space cried.
"Be quiet and sit still!" GLaDOS commanded, "We have a human to retrieve."
Meanwhile, Chell was quickly tied down to a chair by Johnny and Kyne watched the sight with a smile on his face. The chair was attached to a peculiar device resembling a car battery with various spikes pointed at Chell. Her arms were strapped down with wire-coated bonds and Kyne chuckled when he noticed the look of furious confusion on her face.
"Hm, I understand this sort of device is rather primitive in appearance," he explained, "I'm quite embarrassed by its crude design, but it does serve a useful purpose. You see, the human body gives off so many funny little ticks when under extreme stress or fear. The machine here reads the levels of your temperature and if it goes over a certain degree - let's say...100 degrees. I've found that people fear the possibility rather than the questions themselves and it is that which kills them. You sweat...your heart rate goes up... then each and every single spike will impale you instantly. I've used it when we've dragged Missionary prisoners here. You'd be surprised how quick they died."
Chell's lips pursed with fury and defiance. "So you think you're little stick and rock machine is going to scare me?"
"No. I doubt that." Kyne laughed softly. "You're something more." He turned to go, but paused and gave Chell a mildly concerned look. "It IS rather cold in here. Why don't we make sure you're nice and toasty?"
Chell watched as he started turning up every box heater in the room. Kyne smiled and gave her a mocking salute.
"Ta-ta." he said.
He whistled and his men left the building, leaving Chell to probably die from the spikes. She gritted her teeth and tugged at the restraints, but when she did, the spikes seemed to inch closer with a groaning sound and she stopped, watching them slowly move back to their position. They looked to have been attached to some sort of spring-loaded separate piece from the chair, but still connected by the wires and machinery constructed from a multitude of scrap and power.
"This is really bad..." she whispered to herself.
What now? She'd been in worse situations than this. She'd been closer to the edge of death than this. There was no goddamn way she was letting some asshole with an inferiority complex and an ego trip take her out. No. This wasn't over. Not in the least.
While Kyne left with his comrades in tow, he was being observed by Ben from one of the cooking stands. As Kyne passed, Johnny gave the Vortigaunt a cold look.
"What are you staring at, freak?" he snapped.
Ben watched them depart and his large eye narrowed suspiciously.
O
"I still don't see why we had to abandon the car!"
GLaDOS was leading the androids into the abandoned town; the same town Chell had walked through. She carried a case in her hands and glared at Wheatley who had uttered the frustrated words.
"Try and get it through that tiny little mainframe of yours," she snapped. "Driving about will draw too much attention to us. If we are seen or spotted in any way shape or form, [Subject Name Here] is as good as dead and I will not allow these scavengers to destroy what Aperture has worked so hard to create."
"So why'd you toss her out?" Rick asked in a teasing voice.
GLaDOS flashed him a murderous look.
"Hey!"
The androids looked up at the sight of two men approaching on horses. They were dressed in similar attire to the Missionaries that Chell had killed. When they hopped from their horses, they approached with cold looks coupled with their filthy, toothy grins.
"Have you seen two buddies of ours around here?" one of them asked. "Seems like they've been missing for a while."
GLaDOS tensed somewhat, watching them suspiciously.
- They're not friendly. That's for sure... -
"No, sorry." GLaDOS said. "Maybe you should look elsewhere."
The men let out nasty laughs in response. "Well maybe you can help us out." the first one who had spoken said. "See, we've been traveling a while and ran short on food."
"That's right. Horrible tragedy," the other replied, making a false grimace.
- You know where this is going. -
"So...how can you guys help us starving gentleman out?" the second man asked, grinning with a mouthful of disgusting teeth.
GLaDOS smirked wickedly, clenching her hand tightly into a fist. She noticed that they were armed with primitive handguns and were reaching for them, but the sounds of squealing made them all look up in confusion. It was the two men who seemed to be the most concerned by the sounds.
"What was that?" Wheatley questioned with a worried look.
"Not me, I swear." Rick piped up.
"Quiet!" GLaDOS ordered, her eyes wandering about the seemingly abandoned town.
Suddenly, something whistled in the air and struck one of the men directly in the face. He screamed in agony and recoiled, clutching his face with two hands while smoke filtered through his fingers. His comrade gripped his shoulders and began to drag him back.
"Move it, you asshole! They're not worth it!" he shouted.
GLaDOS and the androids looked up where the projectile had come from - a rooftop where a figure stood, partially crouched. It had long, skeletal arms that ended in claws and a sickly withered, eyeless head. Its chest was ripped open in what looked like a vertical maw.
It let out a shriek and suddenly, shapes emerged from the abandoned buildings - skinless shapes with round, featureless heads that appeared to resemble some form of organic parasite. GLaDOS didn't want to waste time studying them as they charged over toward the humans.
"Move!" she commanded. "Now!"
While the creatures were distracted with the humans and the terrified horses, the androids took cover inside a grocery store, watching from the cracked, slightly boarded windows. The horses were being ripped apart by the skinless creatures and the humans soon torn to pieces and fed on.
"What are they?" Wheatley whispered.
"They appear to be human in origin." GLaDOS whispered back. "Though not quite interested in us. Still, it would be for the best if we did not waste our time with them."
Rick licked his lips thoughtfully. "All right. You create a distraction then, and I'll distract them from YOUR distraction." he said. "Wait, how about a gun?" He looked at GLaDOS. "Do you have a gun? Because I should really have a gun. What is that thing you're holding? How about a knife, then? You keep the gun, I'll use a knife."
GLaDOS glared at him. "Shut up and follow me. We'll sneak out through the back way."
"Taking the backdoor, eh?" Rick joked. "Right. But for this android, every back door's also an entrance, you feel me?"
Behind them, the larger creature let out a loud, unpleasant belch. Rick laughed and shook his head, watching them while the other androids began slinking off. "Haha, that's gross." He squinted somewhat, watching them feed and tilted his head. "So, if you kill these things, do you have a cool line? You know, prepared?" he suggested, failing to notice the others were leaving. "Tell you what: Lemme help you with that while you run off. Okay, let's see. Cool line... They're...big. They're... just eating. Okay. Yeah, all right, here we go: 'Dine in hell.' Nah, that might be too easy - Hey!"
Rick let out a cry when every android returned and grabbed him, dragging him toward the back of the store.
One of the creatures lifted its claws from the corpse of the horse, watching the grocery store where GLaDOS and the others had gone.
O
Note-Kyne is a bad guy? LOL. Wow, by a show of hands, how many of you actually DIDN'T see it coming. I bet it's zero.