The Goddess's demeanor had completely changed, terrifyingly. Cold, angry...
With a lingering hint of shock to it.
The little girl who called herself Silver looked scared, and my human savior stepped forwards again, ready to speak to the Goddess.
"You."
GLaDOS looked her in the eyes, intently waiting. "Yes? Tell me. What are you doing here?"
Flame's stance was bold, stepping away from the group. "You want the full version?"
"Of course."
"We're a group dedicated to fighting the Combine from the shadows, and a few of my friends-" She glared towards the others. "Wished to investigate. When they came down here, leaving our town empty, we had to figure it out."
"And that's the full story?"
"Yes."
Bronze stepped forwards, having the tiny little turret in his arms again.
"How far down does this place go? We've been hikin' for miles, and it just keeps goin'!"
A chuckle came from GLaDOS, one that made flame visibly shudder.
"It goes down hundreds of miles, and I suspect that there's more that I dont know of further down."
Flame stepped forwards again, right in GLaDOS's face. "Stop the chatter, we have more to worry about."
GLaDOS's eye narrowed, as her voice lowered. "Yes. The Combine are still here. In my facility. You fight the Combine on a frequent basis?"
Silver responded cheerfully. "Yeah, practically every day!"
GLaDOS looked towards Flame, and they shared a look that can only be translated to 'kids exaggerate.'
The little turret spoke gently, towards Copper. "Do you humans have a plan?"
Silver responded, "Well, we were going to poke around and shoot things, mostly."
"Silver!"
Bronze laughed, loudly, with a hint of gravel to it. "I wanted to study the machines, and not get killed by them Combine... this place's huger than I thought, though!"
Flame shook her head, and smiled gently. "Are we going to have to not antagonize eachother for a little bit?"
"I believe so. You still work best with an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device?"
Flame paused, anxious. "I do, sure." She lifts her leg-armor panels, revealing her old long-fall boots beneath. "Do you know where one is?"
Something like a smirk appeared on GLaDOS's face, as she spoke faster than she usually did. "Are any of you afraid of birds?"
The group as a whole shook their heads and murmured in the negative, before GLaDOS whispered.
"Are you ready for this?"
"For what?"
GLaDOS let out a sound like a high whistle, and three giant crows flew into the room via the large hole in the corner. They stopped, to look at their Goddess.
"Oh. My. GOD." Silver ran up, to be pulled back by Copper's worried grasp.
"Letmego! I wanna look at them!"
"You can look at them from here, Silver."
Bronze stepped forwards, clearly astounded. "What'd ya do to these crows?"
GLaDOS smiled, whispering orders to the lead one. "Cybernetics. Hop on. Bring the turret."
The little core in the corner started to jabber.
"Well that's not fair! I know you told me to watch you guys and stay here, but I want to come with! I could be useful, you know, friendly little Wheatley! And besides, watching you is BORING. Plus-"
"Will you shut it?" Interrupted GLaDOS.
Flame let out a little laugh, before catching herself.
"Bronze, do you want to manage communication with him?"
"Yinz know me, Flame!"
He ran over, starting to mess with the wires, giving Wheatley a voice link to him.
GLaDOS leapt on top of the lead bird, whispering directions, before the others would sit down for easier access.
"Bronze, could you ride with Silver?"
"Ya, I c'n do that."
Silver ran up towards the giant crow with the green band on its leg, and jumped on its back. It had a metal piece around its back, as a stabilizer for the riders, while also not getting in the way. Bronze soon followed behind, the little turret in his arms, comfortably sitting down.
Flame, on the other hand, continued to glare at GLaDOS as Copper found his way on the bird with the purple band.
"I still don't like this."
"Neither do I. You did kill me."
"...You saved my life. Or was that just Caroline?"
GLaDOS responded with sheer silence, simply pointing towards the crow, to get on it.
Once Flame had finally got on, GLaDOS whispered instructions to the birds. Flame could hear about her bird...
"Alright, listen to me, Dahlia. You're just going to follow Mr. Chubby beak, and not drop these people. You understand?"
She sighed.
"I know that you're young, believe me, I know. But your job's honestly easy. Just dont drop them. Yes, yes, good. Good Dahlia."
And then she left towards the final crow she'd called, with the blue band around its leg. She leapt onto it, and let out a sharp whistle. The birds began to fly off, one by one. Blue band first, then green band, and then the purple banded one, GLaDOS's Dahlia.
The air rushed past as a brilliant view of Aperture Science's inner workings could be seen. The endless, apparently free-suspended rooms, with only the rare wire or support to be seen. Endless metals and catwalks, a beautiful remainder from the old days... when there was enough random metal to make this. When people weren't hunted by an alien force...
And while the other three humans were in shock, watching the beauty fly by, Flame was trying not to look. It was too painful... she'd probably been in some of those suspended rooms, during those endless hours of testing. Alone with only a portal gun, various inanimate cubes... and HER.
Her grating voice above everything, so full of herself... and then when she was put out of control, somehow, she changed. She always described it as her 'humanity'. Of the little girl she once was. Of little Caroline.
And even after she said that she deleted that part of her, she said, in that little song, that little Caroline was still in there...
Flame chuckled at that memory. It'd been far too long since she thought about the rare good moments with that machine. And as Flame flew through the air on a giant crow that she raised, with her best friends, and her... maybe now was the best time to daydream after all.