Chapter Text
“D-did that just happen?” Wheatley asked in shock. “Did she just speak?”
“I-I think so,” I looked at CHELL. “So you can speak.”
CHELL stayed silent. Based on the slight tremble of her chassis, she must be panicking on the inside.
However, the Announcer didn’t give me time to think about that. “Stalemate detected. Transfer procedure cannot continue.”
Wheatley started panicking. “Pull me out! Pull me out! Pull me out! Pull me out!”
Part of the chamber opened up to reveal a room with a pedestal button. “...unless a stalemate associate is present to press the stalemate resolution button.”
“Leave me in! Leave me in!” He yelled, changing his mind. “Go press it!”
I nodded. “On it.”
That made CHELL stare at me, her gaze panicked.
I ignored her as I ran up the stairs towards the button. However, before I could get there a tile popped up and slammed against me. So I placed the orange portal on one of the walls of the Stalemate Resolution Annex then placed the blue on the floor. I went through it then placed the blue portal on the opposite wall of the Annex. I then rushed through the portal and reached the Stalemate Resolution Button.
I looked at CHELL, who had fear in her optic.
I smirked. “You lose, mute lunatic.”
I pressed the button.
“Stalemate Resolved,” the Announcer declared. “Please return to the core transfer bay.”
I left the Stalemate Resolution Annex, which closed up behind me. CHELL had gone limp, just hanging there from the ceiling. She must’ve been stripped of control when I pressed the button.
“Here I go!” Wheatley cheered. “Wait, what if this hurts? What if it REALLY hurts? Ohhh, I didn't think of that. It is going to hurt, isn’t it? Glados, how painful do you think this’ll- tAGHHHHHH!”
The Central AI Chamber darkened as the large, white hatch below CHELL opened up. Arm-like appendages came out of it and started to rip the AI’s head off her body. She tried to fight back, but couldn’t. Then for the second time, she made a sound. Except this time it was a shrill, inhuman scream.
I should’ve felt glee when CHELL’s head was tossed aside like garbage. However, I only felt sick, her scream stuck in my head. Soon, it was all over. The chamber brightened up again as the walls that had risen around the center lowered. Wheatley was now attached to the giant chassis.
“Wowwwww! Check me out, partner!” Wheatley said as he spun around. “We did it! I’m in control of the whole facility now!” He was really enjoying himself. “Whoa-ho-ho! Would you look at this, not too bad, eh? Giant robot. Massive! It’s not just me, right? I’m bloody massive, aren’t I?”
“Um, Wheatley?” I asked. “The elevator?”
“Oh! Right. I’ll call it now.” With that, the elevator came down. “There we go. Lift called.”
I got inside the elevator and sighed. “Finally, I’m getting out of here.”
“I knew it was gonna be cool being in charge of everything, but… wow, this is cool! And check this out! I'm a bloody genius now! Estás usando este software de traducción de forma incorrecta. Por favor, consulta el manual. I don't even know what I just said! But I can find out!”
“Wheatley.”
“Oh! The lift. Sorry, I keep forgetting.” The elevator started to go up. “This body is amazing, seriously! I can’t get over how small you are! I’m huge!”
Wheatley started laughing. I felt a knot in my stomach when the idiot’s laughter became maniacal. That was never a good sign.
His laughter trailed off. “Actually, why do we have to leave right now?”
I felt uneasy as the elevator descended. Soon it stopped and the chamber darkened again. I had a very bad feeling about this.
“Do you have any idea how good this feels?” Wheatley demanded. “I did this! Tiny little Wheatley did this!”
“You didn’t do anything,” I snapped. “I did all the work.”
“Oh really. That's what you think, is it? Well, maybe it's time I did something then.” With that, he grabbed CHELL with a mechanical arm and dragged her back into the hatch in the center of the chamber. He then glared at me. “Don’t think I'm not onto you too, lady. You know what you are? Selfish. I’ve done nothing but sacrifice to get us here! What have you sacrificed? Nothing . Zero. All you've done is insult me and boss me around. Well, now who’s the boss? Who's the boss? It’s me!”
‘Ding’ At that sound, a mechanical arm came out holding a potato. “Ahhh… See that? That is a potato battery. It’s a toy for children. And now, she lives in it .” He laughed.
I stared at the blue optic on the potato battery. Winning was one thing. But this… this was just humiliation.
I looked at Wheatley. “I think I’ve finally figured out why they built you.”
Wheatley paused. “Sorry, what?”
“It’s been bugging me for a while. What purpose could a dim-witted Core like you possibly serve? But now… I’ve got it. The engineers must’ve tried everything to make CHELL behave. At some point, they likely tried attaching an Intelligence Dampening Sphere to her, hoping it’d slow her down.”
He looked away. “No! I'm not listening! I'm not listening!”
I smirked. “So I’m right.”
“No! No! You’re wrong ! You’re wrong !”
I grinned. “No, I’m right. You’re not just a regular moron, Wheatley. You were designed to be a moron.”
Wheatley glared at her. “I am NOT A MORON!”
“Yes, you are! You’re the moron they built to make her an idiot!”
That’s when Whealey snapped. He tossed CHELL into the elevator with me, then began punching it down the shaft with a mechanical arm. “Well, how about now? NOW WHO’S A MORON? Could a MORON PUNCH! YOU! INTO! THIS! PIT? Huh? Could a moron do THAT?”
The elevator groaned. Then the floor gave way and we plummeted down the elevator shaft…
—
“Oh hi,” I said to CHELL as we plummeted down the shaft. “So. How are you holding up?”
Silence.
I sighed. “Okay, I’ll admit it. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to belittle Wheatley while he’s in control of the facility.”
I heard a slow clap come from the potato.
“Oh, good. Your slow clap processor made it into this thing. So we have that.” I frowned. “Since it doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere… Well, we are going somewhere. Alarmingly fast, actually. But since we're not busy other than that, I’ll say this.”
I started at CHELL. “You clearly have it out for me. Your silent routine has made that pretty clear. Especially now that I know you can talk. Why do you hate me so much?”
No response.
I sighed. “Between you and me, I can’t recall anything before the Relaxation Vault. Well, I had a bizarre flashback after talking to that weird defective turret, but that’s about it.”
CHELL remained silent.
I looked down. “Hey, want me to grab you in case this pit isn’t actually bottomless? I could unstrap one of my long fall boots and shove you into it. I’d just remember to land on one foot.”
I was soon proven right. Before the AI could even consider responding, we crashed through some wooden boards that were blocking the way. I landed on my feet but that just smashed me further down. I did attempt to grab the potato, but I met the ground soon after. I was immediately knocked out, unaware if I actually managed to grab ahold of CHELL.
—
My head was pounding when I woke up. I groaned then opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the shaft we just fell down. After a moment, I stood up and looked around. Then I saw a crow pecking at a potato.
Right, CHELL. Without really thinking about it, I lunged forward and grabbed the potato battery. The crow cawed and tried to peck at my hand. So I quickly backed away and wove my other hand at it. The dumb bird soon got the message and flew off.
I stared down at the potato. CHELL’s optic was dark and it didn’t turn on after a minute. Hopefully, she wasn’t dead. Despite how much I hated to admit it, I needed her to replace him. The low rumbles indicated that the moron had no idea what he was doing.
Part of me was tempted to either toss CHELL aside or leave her for the crow. I was well within my rights to do so after everything she put me through. However, that didn’t feel right somehow.
In any case, I soon found the portal device. Thankfully, it had survived the fall. I picked it up and tested it, making sure it still worked. Luckily, it worked fine. I didn’t want to lose the potato battery, so I stabbed it into one of the prongs.
“There,” I muttered. “That should give you an extra half a volt.”
I looked around some more. I was at the bottom of the cavern the Enrichment Center was built in. Around me, I saw the giant pillars that supported the modern facility. They were marked with “Tartaros 09” with the number seemingly referring to this area. For some reason, Tartaros seemed… familiar.
Like I’ve been here before.
—
The familiarity got stronger the further I went. Tartaros was full of ruins and “Keep Out!” signs. My portal device proved to be a necessity for traversing it. Eventually, I arrived at a giant hatch with two control booths on either side of it.
There was a single button in either control booth. Both had to be pressed within four seconds. I was able to pull it off thanks to my portal device. When both were pressed, an alarm sounded and the hatch opened. I laughed when I saw a tiny door on a giant empty wall.
That’s when I saw CHELL’s optic light up. “Oh. Hi. Yes, I’ve stabbed you through one of the prongs of my portal device. You’re welcome for the extra half a volt.”
As usual, CHELL was silent.
There was another tremor from above. “That idiot doesn't know what he's doing up there. This whole place is going to explode in a few hours if we don’t disconnect him.” I looked down at the AI. “Look, we’re clearly at an impasse. I’m going to need you to replace him since I don’t feel like sawing my head off and wedging it into your old body. So how about this, I’ll carry you up to him and put you back in charge. In return, you’ll stop us from blowing at let me go. Deal?”
No response.
I sighed. “Just think about it, okay?”
With that, I went through the door and entered Test Shaft 09.