14 – The Last Word
Atlas and P-Body stood guard outside a metallic, box-like enclosure with black and yellow-striped edges, and large warning stickers plastered on each side, and both of them shook with fear. Their eyes glanced from one another to the dim recesses of the room left and right, wondering what may lay in the pitch black corners while they remained exposed in the spotlight.
A clack! And a scrape.
The two of them drew their portal guns and aimed about, seeing and hearing nothing more. Atlas chanced a glance around the corner, but only saw long girder walkways extending into nothingness. Coming back around, there, hanging from the back of P-Body's right arm, was a safety placard that had just peeled off the wall.
Atlas pointed and laughed, and P-Body chucked embarrassedly.
A portal opened behind them, and out poured a geyser of white gel! The torrent sent them flailing away from the door and into the clearing. The portal disappeared. And as the gel began to settle, they tried to stand on the slippery surface and brush themselves off.
Nervous chatter was exchanged between the two of them, with disconcerted robotic squeaks and tones comparable to one person asking another, 'Do you have any idea?' and responding 'Nope, not a clue.'.
Then, another portal appeared under Atlas, and he fell out of sight. P-Body screeched, and tried to run away, and the portal opened up again, this time Atlas flew up from the ground in a mad panic and grabbed P-Body for comfort, only to cause both to careen out of sight.
Dead Eyes came into the light accompanying the faint clangs of his shoes on the girder, about fifteen feet off the ground. It was far too easy, with only two guards and a blatantly labelled box in the middle of the room, but time was very short. Better to simply draw her out, he thought. It would take less time than searching.
The portal gun dissatisfied him. It had been a long time since he had found need of the weapon, or wielded one himself; a testament to his skill, he thought. But now, given the extreme dire circumstances, even he needed to act like a normal test subject. So, 2905's gun would suffice.
Entering the box, he found a casket lay in the center under a spotlight. The cover was sturdy and opaque, a white sheen impossible to see through, but the casket was open to reveal an intricate network of supports and plug-ins.
"Looking for someone?"
Dead Eyes turned to Todd standing in the doorway.
"Where is she?" Dead Eyes demanded.
Todd laughed. "She wouldn't tell me my own name. Much less her backup plans."
"I need her!" Dead Eyes snarled.
No you don't. We have her on the run, we can release the other subjects and leave."
"My bargaining chip. My freedom! Aperture will die, I will not."
"What about all the other test subjects in cryo?"
Dead Eyes stared. "They are part of Aperture."
A sudden rattling of gunfire caused Todd to, against his will, retreat farther into the box, and the door promptly swung and slammed shut behind him with a heavy boom.
The box receded into the ground with a rumble, leaving the heavy walls on the floor above and exposing the actual dimensions of the box to be made of very durable glass. Todd and Dead Eyes both ceased their dispute with one another, and awed at the small army of shimmering white turrets that surrounded them.
On a pedestal, there was a slender, white, humanoid robotic form; the head was tetrahedral, with a single yellow eye embedded in the face. The chin, the tip of the pyramid, jutted out below the eye, and was sharp like a blade.
"Well, well, well..." Said GLaDOS. "It really is pathetic that you still can't spot a trap after all this time, but then again, I'm so-o-o much smarter than you. It's your fault, really, for being so stupid."
Todd stared. "You? A body? With arms? Legs?"
"I don't care for it either, but I had to have a contingency plan after that Moron took over my real body."
"Former colleague of mine preserved Chell." Interjected Dead Eyes. "She banded with rogue core, core took over, and Chell helped her back into power."
Todd looked back at GLaDOS. "You told me a bird flew in! That's how you lost control of Aperture."
"Yes, that lie was much less humiliating. This program was meant to identify the breaking point of human bodies and minds. To ensure one of you would never get the best of me again. And yet…I did not break you, 2905."
"Define 'break'."
"To deform or reshape the mind of a test subject such that their personality is modified or destroyed. The goal was: total and constant willful obedience of a test subject, with no intent to escape, even given opportunity."
"So that was everyone's final test, wasn't it? Give them the opportunity to escape and see if they take it?" Todd shrugged. "Not to criticize, but I think you left Spirit out of the whole Mind-Body equation."
"Scientific myth." GLaDOS replied, and pointed to Dead Eyes. "You: I broke. Wasn't that hard, either."
Todd was brushed out of the way as Dead Eyes pounded against the glass. "No! I survived. You will die. I will not!"
"There's only one thing left to do." GLaDOS concluded. "Neurotoxin was my first choice, but I figured you deserved this instead."
A hundred laser sights all fixated on the two of them at once, and then the hurricane of gunfire followed. The immaculate glass was almost instantaneously clouded by rapidly multiplying clusters of bullets embedding themselves into its surface. With every second the glass grew weaker.
Todd looked from turret to turret, using the eyes of his mask to signal a ceasefire, but there were too many. The box began to creak, and the glass bowed inwards towards them, mere moments from breaking.
"Any ideas?" Todd asked Dead Eyes.
"Left a portal outside. Useless. No white surface in here."
Todd reached into one of his pockets, and produced a white gel grenade.
"Me first, then you. No funny business."
The glass was at its breaking point!
"Fine."
Todd smashed the grenade on the floor. Dead Eyes produced the portal, and Todd leapt first. After he fell through, he heard the first clinks of shattering glass, and the breaking of the box was like that of a waterfall.
They fell upon hard concrete, and found themselves in a narrow passage with a network of pipes criss-crossing above them. The portal closed and Todd stood to his feet.
"Okay, any chance you want to give up taking her with us?"
Todd turned just in time to evade the serrated, three-pronged grapnel flying his way.
"Guess not."
He grabbed the steel line just before it was recalled, and, splattering the ground with an orange gel grenade, slid quickly with the retracting hook and kicked Dead Eyes to the ground. Securing him in a chokehold, Todd tried to calm him once more.
"It's over, Merritt! Let her go. We can leave."
Merritt reached for the detonator and tried to lift the safety cover from the trigger. Todd eyed the instrument in slow motion. That small device was all that stood between them and an empty world. It was poised to send everything he had dreamed of seeing again up into flames. Merritt would not be moved, and could not be trusted.
Todd broke Merritt's hand, wrenching the detonator from his grasp. There was a scream, and Merritt tried to fire the grapnel into Todd's head, instead sending it straight up and into an overhanging pipe. Todd, thinking quickly, wrapped the steel cable around Merritt's neck, and then set the grapnel to retract.
Instantly Merritt flew up into the air; accompanied by a loud snap.