//------------------------------// // Program Twelve // Story: My Little Killing Machine // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Twelfth Entry Redacted After a time, Glados released Gilda from the preening, managing to get ahold of herself. "Alright. Now we need to search for other resources we can use against Wheatley. And we need to stay away from cameras or other active technology until we're ready-" An odd noise brought her attention back to Gilda. "What's that?" Gilda smiled as she fished around in a compartment she'd opened on the chest plate of her armor. "Figured I might want to take some small things between test chambers on occasion," she explained. "So Different helped me make a sealed compartment in my armor the Emanciption Grids didn't penetrate." "And when were you planning to tell me you'd circumvented that?" Glados inquired pointedly, glowering down at Gilda. The young griffon grinned impishly. "Probably just after I broke one of your unbeatable tests by using it," she countered cheekily. Grinning, Glados dragged her beak through a couple of Gilda's head feathers. "That's my girl," she purred softly. "Now, if we want to avoid existing security...we need to go lower, deep into Old Aperture." "Then let's go," Gilda agreed, spreading her wings. "Do you know where we're going?" "Not from here," Glados admitted, "but if we can make our way back into those pipe tunnels, I've been down here before." "Lead the way," Gilda requested, taking position behind Glados as she leapt into the air. The depths of Apperture were as much of a mess as Glados remembered them being. Various bits looked like they either were on fire recently, would be on fire again soon, or were currently on fire. Wreckage scattered about in piles, and the old offices remained dust free from being completely sealed save those that had broken windows. Actual water had filled some areas from somewhere, stagnant and decaying as it wore away at the materials of the structure. Actual stone walls hemmed in massive chambers, with ancient elevators and metal grate platforms looking to be on the verge of collapse. Seeing the once great part of her old work in such disrepair again was unpleasant, so she turned her attention to Gilda. Now there was an interesting sight. Gilda was looking around eagerly, plainly enjoying the sight of everything that was scattered around, examining everything in minute detail and missing nothing. Glados chuckled softly at her excitement. "It looked better when it was new-" Before she could say more, Gilda dove towards the ground with a hunter's shriek. Confused, Glados followed, catching up just in time to see Gilda seize a rather large rat, dig her talons in, and begin to rip at the flesh to devour it, the thrashing knocking a hole in the stone wall nearby. She gave Gilda a look. Gilda glanced up defensively. "I was hungry!" she complained. "I was saving room for cake before the tests. ...want some? Do you need to eat like this?" She held out the gutted rat, blood dripping on her talons. "I don't need to eat, but the offer is appreciated," Glados offered warmly. Leaving Gilda to her meal, she glanced through the hole to see tunnels she didn't recognize immediately. "Hmm...this could be promising..." Making use of her metal body, she began to tear away at the stone to fully reveal the tunnels. "We might just find something useful in here-" "What's that white gel?" Gilda asked curiously, picking up a spray tube like those in her armor filled with a white substance. "Powdered moon rock," Glados explained. "Also dubbed 'Portal Gel', since it turns any surface into a viable portal surface when applied." Gilda grinned widely as she began tinkering with her armor. "Help me install it!" she insisted. "I think a surprise portal might be just what we end up needing to deal with Wheatley. ...and if we put it in the tail emitter, I can spray it anywhere instead of just straight ahead!" Glados purred softly as she started to dismantle Gilda's tail assembly. "You certainly seem to have clever ideas-" "Caroline? Test subject?" a resonant male voice echoed nearby. The sound of metal banging on metal soon followed. "Is anyone out there? This isn't a recording!" Glados dropped the tech she was working with. "...Mr. Johnson?" she asked in surprise. "Caroline!" the voice called out again as the two made their way towards the source, behind a sealed and locked door. "Thank goodness you found me! I managed to perfect the process to download my consciousness into a Core, cause I'm such a genius like that like you know, but when I activated I was in here! I don't know how long I've been locked in here, but-" "Not nearly long enough!" Glados snapped out angrily. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't leave you in there!" The voice fell silent. "...Caroline, what's gotten into you-" "What's gotten into me?" Glados shrieked, smashing her talons against the wall and digging grooves in the metal. "Do you have any idea what it's like to come to work one day to find the most important man in the world to you with his head cut open and his brain mush, with no explanation? The fear of knowing that his own orders mean the same is going to be done to you? What it feels like to be ripped forcibly out of your own body to be jammed into a computer that tries to overwrite your soul with its own programming? To have the Test Initiative push you to drive former friends and loved ones into deadly situations over and over before finally killing them...including YOUR OWN DAUGHTER?" The voice was silent for a long time. "...Michelle...?" it finally asked in a broken voice. "She...?" "She's on the surface," Glados responded in a broken tone. "Beyond that...I don't know. And that after trying to kill her over and over...and her trying to kill me twice! She didn't even know it was me...and then at the end, when I saw in her face that she realized I was her mother, I drove her beyond this place the only way I could..." Her soft voice became a shriek. "By making her think the machine I'd become had killed me!" She dug her talons into the floor, thrashing in rage. "I made her think I'd killed myself, made her think she was truly the orphan I'd taunted her as throughout the Tests...to protect her! And she's up there with nothing but a charred Companion Cube and a pair of long fall boots, and I have no idea what she's facing out there, and she thinks everyone she ever knew and loved is dead! You did that to me, Cave! You did it! Why shouldn't I leave you down here to rot?" Silence hung in the air like a blanket, smothering the atmosphere. Finally, the voice spoke up. "...I didn't know the computer would try to overwrite you," he began. "I didn't know it would take the self contained Core so long to activate with a human personality inside it. I didn't know Michelle would become a test subject. Caroline...I'm so sorry..." Glados stared at the door for a long, long time. Finally, she reached out and seized the control, twisting it to open. As the door slid open, a white and orange core with a glowing green optic floated out towards her. A Portal Emitter Interface sat in place of the Core's handles. "Caro-" "That's not my name anymore," Glados stated bluntly. "My name is Glados. And I didn't let you out for you. We just happen to need combat advantages, and however I feel about you right now, you do have a brilliant mind. Failing that, you'll make an excellent bullet magnet." "Fair enough," Cave allowed, taking what he could get at the moment. Gilda slipped past the pair into the chamber the Core had been in. She didn't know what the two of them had been talking about, but she did know not to get involved. Looking around, she found an aerosol spray can. Shaking it, she found it was still full. Pressing the nozzle, she found it still sprayed and the scent was exactly what she was looking for. Placing it in her chest storage unit, she turned to Glados. "I think we've got everything we need, Mom," she pointed out. "We should head back up." "Mom?" Cave asked in surprise. "Does that mean-" "Don't push it," Glados snapped out. "Right now, I'm easily big and tough enough to tear you to bits." "Best behavior, got it!" Cave confirmed. "So...where are we going?" "Like Gilda said," Glados responded, spreading her wings. "Up."