Portal 3

Chell Returns

Chell
A text pinged into her phone. She slowed the truck down, and checked it.

She's going to kill me! - Wheatley95

Seeing that made her jolt. It took a moment to sink in - but once she realised what it meant, she wheeled the truck around and floored the acceleration pedal. Chell immediately knew he was in danger.

Shs began wandering back down the more hidden entrance to Aperture. Wheatley had made a sacrifice to save her, but she wanted him to be safe. If that meant risking herself, then she was prepared for that. Although she was fully aware it was counteracting his attempt to let her escape, Chell was never going to leave Wheatley behind.

To even survive in Aperture, she'd need the right tool. As it so happened, she found a portal gun. One that was old, with a blackened melted thing on its prong - that appeared to be a paperclip. She smiled to herself, picking up and feeling its weight. It was melted in places, but it had been cooled very swiftly, creating small cracks. Chell took a moment to inspect it, and she figured it had been in an extreme heat, then an extreme cool.

Now, Chell was determined to find Wheatley.

Wheatley
Finally, Wheatley was at the suspended bridge towards GLaDOS's lair. It seemed as though she had simply let him in. But now, he was wiser than that. He carefully peered around, spotting the security cameras. The mad AI spoke over the intercom, offhandedly, "I bet you didn't realise that Sun Heart - Mary her human name - is my daughter." She chortled. "Did you piece it together?" She paused, as if considering something. This gave him a quiet moment to focus on looking around. At the far end of the corridor, was a door with a numerical padlock beside it. He went over, just as GLaDOS continued, "Look, I don't care anymore. Just go home. She's here. Your - bleh - sweetheart is here, looking for you too. Carry her over the threshold!" That planted the seed of doubt.

Everything GLaDOS said was either a lie which sounded like the truth, or a truth which sounded like a lie. With these statements, Wheatley wasn't certain what it was.

He decided to focus on the padlock. For no particular reason, he entered 2-1-6. The door unlocked, and Wheatley opened it, entering a rectangular room. Inside, were two large cryogenic stasis pods. One on the left, the other on the right. Through the glass, he could tell one was empty, slightly ajar - but the other had a woman inside it. She was about five foot, two inches tall, with pale white skin and pearly white hair. She appeared to be wearing a jumpsuit, from an era before his time.

However, the Aperture logo on the jumpsuit matched the one for Virgil's eye. Such a thought made Wheatley melancholy. He sighed.

Peering to the over end of the room, Wheatley saw another door, again guarded by a numerical padlock. He drifted over, and entered 2-1-9. The door unlocked, and again he nudged the door open. There was a third, horizontal stasis pod, with the power supply and a generator visible, placed behind it and directly opposite from him. Also, there was a desk, with something postered on the wall above it.

Wheatley gazed at its intricate sketches and complicated design, realising this must be the science behind GLaDOS's - and thereby the Cores' - creation. He also noted the name given to the Core in question: Virgil.

Now it was time to face her.

"Well," GLaDOS greeted Wheatley, watching him enter with the portal gun at his side like a sheathed blade. "You probably think that you just wandered into one of my traps. But you have not." She pulled her head back, her claws coming to cross over her chest, "No." She raised her claws in that cross over her face defensively, "You have entered my boxing ring."