After Aperture: Chapter 4

Here's Chapter 4 of the Portal 2 Fanfiction, After Aperture! Enjoy! If you haven't read chapter's 1-3 or the prologue, simply scroll down and read them first!

Chapter 4: The Tests Have Begun…. Again.

Chell knew better than to walk straight into the test chamber, but without going through the chambers, she would get lost in the mazes of Aperture Science.

Before getting into the chamber, she listed in her mind the past week’s events. Her mind was still spinning on the fact that she was back inside Aperture. One, the mind wipe was starting to wear off and Chell was remembering more about her life as a child. Two, she was lured back into Aperture by the same AI that threatened to kill her in her past; GLaDOS had also saved Chell’s life after she shot a portal on the moon. Three, Wheatley was supposedly back and threatening to take over Aperture again. Or was he really?

This could be just one more of GLaDOS’s well-played out plans to keep her in testing, Chell realized. GLaDOS could have just grabbed a few turret cubes, thrown them convincingly into a chamber, and could be waiting to snatch her again. Then again, GLaDOS had also given Chell her original Portal Device. If she wanted her to be testing so badly, Chell grasped she would already be in some new testing chamber now under GLaDOS’s supervision, not racing through the outskirts of old chambers. So, she calmly walked towards the test chamber, aiming the device into the chamber, and taking the bait. She walked through the portal and into the chamber.

“Come on, turrets, the elevator is right there! Wait, what? Chell, what the hell are you doing here? You were gone and now you’re back! She really couldn’t resist going to get you couldn’t she? Aha, I knew She would try to bring you back to get rid of me, but you can’t you see! You do see, don’t you? Wait, let me turn on a screen so you can really see me.”

A hole in the wall near the lift opened and a screen popped out, flashing blue, then showing Wheatley. He was in a new body like GLaDOS said, it was just dark grey instead of bright white like GLaDOS’s body.

“I still can’t believe She really dragged you back here to try to take me out. You know, I do appreciate her placing you into my clutches, the whole turret cube thing was really getting on my bloody nerves. I even tried out Her artificial test subjects to give them a go, but she hacked into the assembly plant far too soon.”

Chell just glared at the screen.

“I could just kill you, you know, just kill you and get it over with. I’ve got plenty of mashie-spike plates in store for you, go ahead and get into the lift. Go on, or is your brain damage kicking into gear? Ha ha, I should call myself Mr. Clever.”

There was no way out now, as far as Chell could see. The portals she had already shot had dematerialized and spike plates had taken place of the walls of the test chamber.

They were getting closer.

There was no time to think. Chell could only act upon her instinct. She shot first at the floor under her feet and then at a wall between the gaps of the spike plates.

“Wait, what are you doing? No, no no no no! You can’t do that, just come back! I promise not to mash you! Wait!” Chell was already on the other side.

“Where are you, lady? I know you’re still there! Come back! Great. You know what you are? Slippery. Why didn’t I just trap her in a room of gas? Because she was slippery and I was distracted. Cameras, She has already hacked into some of my cameras! So, Miss Bossy is helping her out by hacking into my mainframe, is She? Well, Mr. Clever is starting to hack into some of hers!”

Chell stood staring between the plates at the screen, which then flickered and went out.

“Are you still there? Chell?” the tiny voice said from out of the portal device.

“Mm Hmm.”

“He’s already hacking into my main power supply. I can’t hold him off forever, you will have to shut the moron down before then.”

She was headed towards the next chamber, which was not one of the originals. It said chamber 24, and it was immense. There was only one way in and that was through the lift.

“Are you serious? You are bloody kidding me! You have got to be joking! Asking for death again, my dear? You just walked into my hands again! You know these are my chambers, not Hers don’t you? The brain damage you have must be frying your little nerves! I’ll let you live for a little while, but you will never make it out of my chambers!”

The lift stopped when it reached test chamber 24. Doors hissing open, she walked straight in, solving her first puzzle with no help from Wheatley’s constant rant. She let his voice drown into the humming of the chamber’s walls. There were no broken walls, no air vents, and no rooms overlooking the chamber. From where she stood, she could hear the higher pitched humming of turrets, and see their lasers pointed dead ahead of each one.

“The turrets will make a cheese grater out of you before you can even scream out for help. Oh, wait. I forgot you can’t even talk. That is a sad thing, that is. I remember when I first met you. I really wanted to help. I had searched the entire facility and couldn’t find one stinking live test subject. The most you could do was jump when I told you to speak. Not the talking type. I was doomed until I found you, and now you are back to help me again! Keep testing, don’t mind me jabbering about my future success here at Wheatley laboratories.”

“Aaargh!” Chell yelled, running towards the turrets. She couldn’t stand his voice anymore. Wheatley’s strong English accent was starting to grate on her nerves. She knocked down each turret, gracefully dodging bullets without a single scratch against her skin. At last the end of the level was near. Test chamber 24 was finally over. Panting, she stepped into the lift, sitting down and crossing her legs for the long descent to the next chamber.