Flaw in My Code (Portal 2)[REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

[Chapter 10: Take Flight]

As the next few weeks flew by, work had remained steady for the various bots of Aperture. Echo was getting used to her new body as a personality core, and it definitely opened up more doors for her to be as expressive as she needed to be. GLaDOS was seeing that Corbin was well off, and he was, and the machines that had built their artificial Caroline had just wrapped up their testing. Vitals were in check, she was mobile, and all that was left to do was transfer. GLaDOS couldn't wait. 

Well, actually, she probably could. In fact, as the announcer confirmed the transfer, GLaDOS began having second thoughts; so did Echo, as her core descended down in the receptacle. After the painfully long process, second thoughts were behind them, as GLaDOS's core was shoved aside and dragged away by metal arms, to retrieve the disc, and Echo was in charge of the whole facility. 

The walls were jittery and not everything was in perfect working order, but she seemed to have everything under control, much to GLaDOS's relief. 

As the arms dragged her back, she was able to get one last look at her new body before they ejected her disc, and her world disappeared. She, too, would find herself someplace entirely new. 

There was a set of beeps. Then another. Then another. Finally, the mechanical noises had died down, and GLaDOS heard Echo's voice. 

"Ma'am? Ma'am, can you hear me?" GLaDOS made a quiet noise, feeling... strange. She couldn't figure out how to move, to speak, and she couldn't see a thing. "Try to open your eyes..." Echo suggested, her voice soft. 

GLaDOS's body twitched and her eyelids fluttered softly, as the lab came into view. "Mmmm..?"

Orange was standing over her, cheering, as Echo came back online. "That's good. Can you move, lady GLaDOS?" GLaDOS tried to sit up, her arms laying at her side. They trembled, before pushing her up into a sitting position. She tried her best to move her new body around, but she was distracted by all of the new thoughts and memories that came flooding in the moment she was conscious. 

"Now, now. Take it slow. We don't know how your new body will handle too much movement." Echo warned. 

GLaDOS felt something, a heartbeat, perhaps, racing in her chest as she reached her arm up to rub her forehead. Memories of normal human functions rushed in. How to walk, to speak, to sing and dance, they all came back to her as she closed her eyes, and for the first time in a long time, took a breath. 

She noticed when she opened her eyes that she had been fitted with a jumpsuit from one of the former test subjects. It wasn't the most comfortable piece of clothing, but she was glad they had any clothing at all available to her. She remembered that humans without clothing were often frowned upon. 

Of course, she wasn't exactly human. Or maybe she was. She was originally a human, so did that mean that she was back to square one?

"Can you speak, ma'am?" Echo asked, knocking her out of her thoughts. GLaDOS looked up, her dark hair falling over her new, golden-brown eyes. "I... think... so." Her voice sounded scratchy and small, and still robotic, but it was there. "So, this is it, ma'am... We did it."

GLaDOS felt her new lips curl up into a genuine smile as she turned her head slowly to look at Orange and Blue, who were still stationed at the side of the room. "We... did it."

"Now- GLaDOS- please do be careful while you- oh dear..." Echo tried to aid her over the intercom as GLaDOS stumbled down a hallway, glancing around. She felt liberated, but she hadn't exactly gotten used to her new body. It would definitely take some time. "Echo," She rasped. "Do you have Chell's old reliable?"

"The Portal Gun? Oh, ma'am, we must not rush into testing like that.  You are not properly equipped, and you may overexert yourself." GLaDOS pouted at the ground and leaned against the railing of the catwalk, sighing. Overhead, she heard the familiar caw of a crow. She looked up to see a small black bird flapping it's wings clumsily overhead, before diving at her. 

If it were any other bird, GLaDOS would have gone running, but instead she smiled and extended her arm to serve as a landing pad. "Corbin, how nice to see you out and about..." She grinned as the bird landed on her arm and chirped curiously. "How's the new look?" She asked slowly as the crow tilted his head. "Perhaps I should have Echo call me Caroline from now on," She wondered out loud. 

She went silent, staring off for a long moment, before sighing. "I wish it could be like it was before..."

"What do you mean, ma'am?" Echo piped up. "I wish I still had a job to do... and people to see..." GLaDOS said wistfully, closing her eyes and petting Corbin. "Perhaps, you could return to the surface. I do not know what it has to offer, but if you have a chance to find anyone, it's there." Echo said slowly as GLaDOS took it in. "You're right, I suppose, but last time I checked... It's been thousands of years since society fell... What do you think's up there now?"

"Chell." Echo replied simply. "I released her years ago... What if she didn't make it out there?"

"You must have forgotten who it is we're talking about." Echo chuckled. GLaDOS nodded. "You're right. Of course she's still out there..."

"You are afraid of what else you might find, is that it?" Echo asked. "You know me so well." GLaDOS responded. "I haven't seen the surface in so long, I've forgotten what it looked like to begin with. I just don't know what I'll find."

Corbin flapped his wings and crowed, diving off of GLaDOS's arm and taking back into the air, flying back to a nest he'd made for himself. 

"Well, ma'am... Much like the bird, you won't know what's beyond if you never bother to take flight..." She said before going offline, leaving GLaDOS alone with her thoughts on the catwalk. 

"She's right. I have to get up and go if I ever want to find out what's out there..." She said to herself, standing up straight and going to search out supplies for her journey. 

______________________________________

She's gonna gooooooooooo

on an adventureeeeeeee

Because the whole story can't take place in Aperture, now can it?