The Bitter Core
Prologue
She had always had a peaceful life. Killing humans with neurotoxin. Using the more clever ones as test subjects. It had been a great life since She'd been woken up, and the best part was, it was going to last forever, and ever, a blissful life of testing every single human there was left on the planet. And if humans got boring, or She -accidentally- filled the Relaxation Vault with neurotoxin, She could create robots to test. And then She'd test with robots, for the rest of their lives. She literally had Science itself at Her doorstep. She lived in Science.
But there was one thing holding Her back. It was, of course, those persistent humans, that would try anything to control Her so that they could take over Science. They would hang cores on Her all the time so She could never think straight. It made Her feel like an idiot. And She did not like feeling like an idiot.
The problem is, GLaDOS, you are an idiot and you know it, came the horrible voice of that new core they'd attached to Her. How dare it call Her an idiot? And how dare that moron even call Her by Her real name, GLaDOS? She was married to science, She was the Queen of Aperture.
And She liked revenge.
Chapter 1 - Silence
Wheatley slid quietly along his management rail through the dark, silent Facility. "Everything's just fine, don't panic," He told himself, praying that he would stay calm. His frightnened voice echoed back at him from the dark shadows of the test chambers ahead. He knew what was ahead of him. And he didn't want to go.
Finally, Wheatley arrived at the Relaxation Vault, where all the humans were kept. He liked to call them his humans; not that he was very fond of them, it was just nice to think that something in the cruel world that he lived in, did actually belong to him.
His optic darted around the darkening vault as his fear started to grow. Knowing that if he took too long She would punish him, Wheatley pulled himself together and gathered the only thought he had left in him that gave him the courage to go near them ; The fact that at least he was doing this, and not the job She told him he was made for.
Arriving at the door of the test subject She wanted, Wheatley knocked, hoping sincerely the human was dead, or asleep, or unconcious. He waited in the silence that always haunted him; The feeling of dread filled every circuit in him as he waited there.
He always wondered why the humans did what they did. He wondered what it was like being them, sometimes. And sometimes - very rarely, but sometimes - He actually pitied them. Trapped in Aperture for the rest of their lives, probably. Just like him. But at least they didn't live forever. Or maybe that was a bad thing.
Suddenly, the door snapped open. Wheatley, jumping out of his trance, let out an exclaimation. "Argh! Oh, hello. You look, erm, great." The words tumbled out of his speakers as he tried to think of something else to say, anything else to say, to distract himself from the constant glare of that human's cold, blue eyes.
"So, uh, what are you up to? Sleeping? Eating? Excreting? Sorry, that's none of my business, shouldn't ask that. Are you ready to go? Oh right, I haven't told you, have I? She wants you. To test. So, good luck with that! Just follow me, and I'll, uh, show you the way! That is.. ah.. if I can remember..." his voice trailed off as did his efforts to keep the spirit bright. The human Wheatley was adressing was tall, thin and very pale. The clothes he wore were stained and old, and it looked like he had been kept alone for longer than he could remember. He had matted black hair and beard and he had a skeletal look about his face. He also knew Wheatley. But he wasn't his friend.
