Dahlia swooped around, in a desperate bid to not land on Silver, before almost crashing into the deadly acid. Eventually however, GLaDOS let out one of her birdcalls, bringing Dahlia comfortably next to her. Flame hopped off, helping Copper too, whom Silver promptly ran over to.
Then Flame saw something. GLaDOS had something on her robotic hand. Something she knew very very well. A portal gun. Her eyes widened, and a small frown appeared on her face. "Where'd you get that?"
GLaDOS's voice had settled out, though she was still a bit panicked. "It was just in here. I... I need some time to think."
Silver stepped forwards, tears streaming down. "No, you get to explain to me. You made clones of someone, and killed all but one, and this last one is an asset to them?! Who's this girl?!"
Silence, while Copper and Flame stared at her, their missing information proving to be a problem. "Silver, what happened while we were gone?"
"Oh you're all so dramatic."
Silence, before Copper muttered "Of course it had to be HIM."
"Can we get out of the soap opera and back to the negotiations?"
"Sure. You're giving me my technology back. And you're not getting the girl."
A laugh was heard from the other end, before he muttered.
"Make this private again, turn off the speaker that's letting them hear us."
She sighed, before complying. "We're alone. What is it?"
He chuckled softly on the other end, before speaking. "You're in very hot water here. Why do you keep doing this?"
He lets a little pause go by, and when GLaDOS didn't respond, he kept going.
"All you had to do, is let me take my asset. All you had to do is not get in the way. I don't understand it."
She spoke, finally stating what she'd been so irritated about for a while now.
"Why didn't you just keep your asset when you had him? He was in space, I had no control over him, but you put him in here, with me. And then you tried to get him back?"
He faintly laughed at her. "You don't get it yet? They don't care what I take, they just want you out of the picture. They made that decision without authorization from me, and now I'm having to repair their mistakes."
"So you're telling me that no matter what I do, your employers are taking my facility?"
"Yes, yes I am."
A thin shine went across her eye, before cutting off the link, severing the connection.
Bronze was alone with a turret he'd named and a disconnected earlink. Not to mention the two giant birds.
He was utterly thrilled by this turn of events, of course. Not only had his little British talkative mate been taken to who knows where, his ear-link taken by the worst guy who could have gotten it, but there was some sort of clone girl that he wanted.
Eternity had previously been talking, but he'd had to shush it in order for him to hear the discussion. Looking back, he'd have let it keep talking.
He whispered softly towards Eternity, giving her the rundown.
"Hey, 'Ternity... we've gotta get back to the rest'a them. I sorta know where they are, but yous need to help me. I need yous to be very quiet, 'k?"
The turret's little eye flashed in the affirmative.
"Lil' Pain's in iffy shape, so he's stayin' here. We're flying on Mr. Chubby Beak."
He stopped talking for half a second as the little thought crossed his mind, this is of course relying on the idea that the giant attack crow will actually listen to him. The turret brought his thoughts back on track, as it spoke very softly.
"We?"
He nodded, filling his pockets with ammo and some medkits. "I'm not leaving yous alone here."
His deep voice always seemed to comfort the turret, and its eye flashed again.
He looked around, whispering some brief words of comfort to Little Pain, before standing again, picking up the turret.
He picked me up, in those strong arms, and got on the bird, his beautiful eyes staring into my red one with determination. He seemed to speak mostly to himself, though I didn't mind.
"I'm gonna figure out what that robot bitch is doing with my people."
He smiled at me, as he let out a low cry, causing Mr. Chubby Beak to respond with a polite silence.
"Can I try?"
He shrugged, before nodding. I let out a call much like his, and somehow, my voice worked to trigger it.
"Good job."
He nodded, before giving the command.
"Fly, my little killing machine."
And so, the crow started to soar, towards where the signals had come from, as he held me tightly in his arm, so I couldn't fall out. All my stupid little chip could think of is simply, why? Why had he not tried to shoot at me yet? Or portal me into my friends, family? Why hadn't he just flung me up into the air like the rest? Did he love me like I loved him?
Was this even love, or a stupid simulation on a broken core?
But he looked at me with such kindness... it felt more real than anything.
Flame's voice was cold, almost cruel. "What happened?"
GLaDOS's voice, if anything, was worse. "He got your friend, and he wants Silver too."
Silver stepped forward, still crying just a bit. "Why does he even want me? I'm just a kid who showed up in City 84 and got taken in by our little group. I'm nothing special..."
GLaDOS's eye narrowed drastically at that.
"That's exactly what I love about you, Caroline... you're so modest."
"I'm serious, Sir, I don't know where you got this hare-brained idea from, but I don't like it."
"Caroline, you almost act like you're scared!"
"I AM, SIR. It's one thing if you want to do it, I can't stop you there, but it's a whole other thing if you're just signing me up for it without even consulting me."
"Caroline, come on, look at me. No need to act so cold."
"Tell me that you're never going to bring this up again. I'm not doing it."
"Whatever you say, Caroline."
When GLaDOS's vision reappeared, those synced footsteps had reappeared as well.
The portal device was gone, along with Flame.