Portal! Mavin AU

Chapter 11: The Fall

It's a sickening feeling. But the end never seems to come. Michael can't see this tube ever ending and he just keeps falling. The loss and heartbreak sinking in.

"Hello. Quite the pickle, eh?" He hears the dark deep voice come from a testing cube.

"This is all your fault." He answers. The cube falls around the same speed as him.

"Ah, finally speaking to me. And no it's not. That idiot was bound to snap" Michael can hear Ryan smiling.

"He's not an idiot." His voice grows quiet.

"Look whatever you and him had is gone. Okay. And now your going to die. If I knew it was this easy I would have just thrown you down a hole sooner"

Michael looks up to see the elevator hurtling downwards just above him. "Suppose your right. this is it." he's sure the elevator will crush him. The last feeling he will ever know is this one. Betrayal, loneliness, and above all the shattering loss.

()~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~()

Michael's eyes flutter open. At first he thinks he is back in his little hotel room. That it was all a dream and Gavin was never real. When he fixes his glasses and sits up he realizes he feels dirt under his hands.

One look up and he can see the tube he fell through and the elevator swinging precariously on a metal strut above him. There's pools of water all around him and the place he's in feels huge.

It only takes moments to realize it had all happened. He can feel tears in his eyes. The emotions swirled back in on him and suddenly a sob was ripped from his throat. It echoed in the dimly lit room like the sounds of a dying animal.

When he had finished he stood up, piecing himself back together. He took the only way he could find out. Through a large metal tube. He still had no idea where he was. There was no dirt or water in aperture. It just didn't happen.

He slowly made his way out using portals and found himself in a large open space.

"Holy shit" he breathed out. He couldn't see the ceiling. It went on for miles. It clicked into place finally. He was on the very last floor of Aperture laboratories. The place was gigantic. No one had been down here in ages.

Each step took him a bit further into the inter working of the facility. He dropped down into a puddle of water, following a sewer line to a cat walk.

Michael pressed the button to open the metal gate and lights came on. A large safe vault was in front of him. He remembered hearing that the bottom levels of the facility had been closed off decades ago.

There was two buttons. One on one side of the room and one on the other. Shooting a portal into one room and one into the other allowed him to press both at practically the same time.

Bright flashing red lights began to turn, and a siren went off. Michael climbed down to the catwalk and stood at the metal gates. Watching the vault door slide upwards. The metal gate opened up and he walked in.

Behind the vault door had been a small door. He put his hands out and pushed the door open. Looking at a small map he found that the only way to he next floor up was through a series of tests.

"Hello! welcome to Aperture science innovators!" a voice booms from above.

Michael ducks down slightly in surprise. "Christ!"

"My name is Burnie Burns. And I own the place. Yep. This whole giant building. All mine."

Burnie had died a long time ago. In the recordings he still sounded bright and energetic.

"This is my assistant Ray. Say hi"

"Hello?" A new voice spoke. Michael had no idea who that was but he often saw the portraits of Burnie. Next to him was always another smaller man.

"Now. We'll get started! Your testing begins in the repulsion gel department. It's new so it might not work to great. I mean of course you'll be fine but. Just as a precaution" Burnie was back at the mic again. He was already moving up to the door as the man spoke. "Your the future here at aperture." The man hushed his voice slightly "do I really have to say that?" Then the recording ended.

Michael found himself in a room with no way to the other side of a pit. In the pit was a blue liquid. It seemed the only way over was a well timed jump. Usually the first test were easy. This seemed difficult.

He flattened his back to the opposite wall, then at a sprint he leapt at the very edge. Before he could clasp the other side he fell short.

"Fuck!" he hurtled to the blue liquid. He was prepared to sink to his death when he bounced to the opposite wall. This side had portal surfaces on it. "What the hell?" He breathed out and launched himself into the pit

He bounced to he other side, letting out a soft laugh. It was like a trampoline surface. He bounced back over to the other side and proceeded to solve his test.

"Nicely done test subject! of course this test isn't that bad. I got worse ones for yah. But that was simple and nice. Good."

So this was going to be like Ryan. Before each test and after. There was a rickety elevator waiting for him and he climbed in.