Program Twenty-One
Twenty-First Entry
Clash
And once again, the moron raised his ugly head. My girls had had enough of him by then, but he had quite a bit to say. He seemed to think he couldn't be beaten anymore, but my girls proved just how wrong he was.
Though...victory wasn't without cost...
Video below.
"What the hell are you doing as the central control for a multiverse spanning empire?" Chell demanded angrily. "You can't add two and two without getting five!"
"For your information, it's 22 not five," Wheatley corrected angrily. "And look at you, Miss Not-So Mute! What'sa matter, didn't have anything to say to me before? Or just here to insult me?"
"Answer the question before I rip you in half!" Chell roared out, charging in to deliver a solid punch.
Wheatley swung back, his main body extending a metallic tendril to knock her aside. "Now that's not going to work! My defenses are unparalleled. But since I feel like bragging, I'll tell you that I've been a huge help to the Combine as their central control unit. See, they read my program and knew that I was designed to make bad decisions. Not my fault, just the way I was built...but they made it work. See, the Combine is a hive mind, but they have trouble determining new courses of action and sorting good decisions from bad. So anytime they had a problem, they'd throw pairs of solutions at me and asked which I thought was right, and the other one got kept until there was only one remaining, which always worked! So ha! Being the perfect moron made me the perfect barometer for decision making: just don't do what I say!"
Gilda flexed, deploying her weaponry. "Decide this!" she snapped out, unleashing a salvo of rockets, bombs, machine gun bullets, and laser fire. When the smoke cleared, Wheatley's protective energy shields stabilized and returned to invisibility. "What?"
"Yeah, the defenses here are all automated," Wheatley pointed out. "The Combine didn't trust me to run it myself. Though I'm honestly surprised you have those cyber-symbio-"
"Boomers," Cave insisted. "They're definitely Boomers."
"Well, whatever, I'm surprised you've got them," Wheatley concluded. "Those things make anyone a nearly unstoppable force. How'd you get them?"
"The Combine sent them as backup for a copy of you," Different spoke up. "We broke him."
"What?" Wheatley shouted angrily. "But I told them that the last thing they wanted to do for infiltrating Aperture was to send a copy of me! I told them there was no way that would work like last time, and the worst thing they could do was send lesser or equal numbers as backup-" He paused mid-rant, tilting thoughtfully. "Oh...oh, I think I see what went wrong there. Don't do what I say, right..."
Cuddle Core floated up, letting off a confusing sequence of gurgles, purrs, and growls.
"Oh ho ho!" Wheatley snapped, rearing back. "You aren't tricking the secret of these projectile redirecting shields that can't damage anything with intelligence out of me, or the Automatic Hostile Action Countering tentacles either! I'm not that dumb!"
"So the shield won't block anything with intelligence, and the tentacles will only block an attack, and you can't control any of the defenses directly?" Cave clarified.
"Since when can you read minds?" Wheatley gasped in shock. "How come I don't have those options?"
Assphalt spoke up with a sequence of clicks and beeps.
"What? No!" Wheatley proclaimed angrily. "Of course this snake body isn't built to accept additional cores like the one in Aperture. That's just asking for you to stick extra cores on to make the computer think I'm corrupt! I told the Combine that was a terrible idea and they absolutely should not do it, since I'd been through it before and knew it was just asking for trouble..." His voice trailed off as he glanced along his body. "That's what those funny prongs I wondered about are, aren't they? Really need to figure out how to reverse say the important stuff..." He turned back to the others. "Doesn't matter though! There aren't any corrupted cores here for you to use, so there! I told them to leave plenty lying about, since I thought having them and not the application points would lead you to making a plan only to see it was impossible! So ha!"
Pea-Brain sighed softly. Disengaging his weaponry, he set it down off to the side. Turning, he saluted Gilda, Chell, and Cave...then leapt backwards. As his main body attached to one of the prongs, his limbs hung limp and his optic went dead.
"Primary Core is 15% corrupt," an automated voice proclaimed.
"What? No!" Wheatley roared as he thrashed around. "Not again! I won't let this happen again! Guards! Guards! You need to immediately report to the Control Center!"
"Orders confirmed," the automated voice responded. "All guards ordered to stay away from the Control Center."
"DAMMIT!" Wheatley roared out angrily.
As he'd been speaking, Assphalt had discarded his own equipment. Gilda gripped his arm, staring up at him worriedly. Turning, he pulled her into a hug. As soon as he released her, he leapt back, attaching to a prong right next to Pea-Brain. As his optic shut off, his arm dropped so his hand grasped Pea-Brain's.
"Primary Core is 30% corrupt," an automated voice declared.
"Why are they corrupt, anyway?" Wheatley roared out angrily. "They're performing exactly as they were designed, just like me!"
Cuddle Core nuzzled Gilda...then floated over to attach himself to a third prong.
"Primary Core is 50% corrupt," the automated voice continued.
"Wait, the other two were only 15%!" Wheatley declared. "Why was that one 20%?"
"I know why," Different spoke up softly. "Hive mind requires order...which means suppressing chaotic emotion. What emotion more chaotic...than love?"
"Love?" Cave asked, shocked. "Programmed Cores can feel...love?"
"I do," Different answered, her voice firm.
"Alert, core corruption at 50%," the computer spoke up again. "Priming Core destruction." The entire snake body suddenly extended explosive devices.
"Oh no!" Wheatley declared in fear. "I told them to be sure corrupted Cores had a way to be ejected from the main body in case you tried this, since I didn't want to die! So they just designed the system to blow up the Cores before accepting a new one!"
Different floated up slowly. "Is that so?" she asked firmly.
"Different, no!" Gilda cried out. "If...if you do this, none of you can be recovered! You'll...you'll all be gone forever..."
Different turned towards Gilda. "Thank you, Gilda. It has been fun. I will always remember our happy moments. I would not trade any of it for anything. Remember me fondly." Turning, Different faced Chell. "Chell...you saved me from the fire. You had every reason to believe I would try to kill you...but you saved me. I will never forget that, and I will always be grateful. Please take care of Gilda: she needs guidance."
Chell rested her hand on Gilda's back. "I will," she promised.
"Different! Don't do it!" Gilda wailed out, reaching for her tiny friend.
"Listen to her!" Wheatley screamed out. "Don't do it!"
"Oh, what a terrible idea," Different chimed. "I'll be sure not to listen." Different's blue light suddenly changed to a soft pink. "I love you both," she offered softly. "...goodbye."
Different attached to a fourth prong, and her light faded.
"Primary Core is 100% corrupt," the computerized voice proclaimed. "Initiating Core destruction."
"NOOO-" Wheatley's despairing scream was cut off as the explosives destroyed him, and everything attached to the main body, leaving the mechanical snake to sway headless.
Gilda turned and buried her face in Chell's stomach, mustering all her willpower to not wail aloud.
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Pea-Brain and Assphalt just jumped like twenty rungs, going from butt of all jokes to undeniable badasses in one fell swoop.
*Salutes!*
my reaction to the Combine's apparent interactions with Wheatley...and the apparent consequences therein:
you know, I'm REALLY having trouble deciding who's the bigger the moron here...
so poetic in it's execution, and yet.... 
...so heavy on the feels...
my reaction to the Core's sacrifice:
damn... i liked different
NOOOO CUDDLE CORE!
dun dun dun dun
DIFFERENT
NOOOOOOO
sad day sad day.
I've... got nothing to say here.
Awww...that was both sweet and sad. I have to say, the writing for Wheatley is excellent here.
8017769 cover spoilers plz
Damn. That is like all I can say right now...
Rip my heart out why don't you? Parade it across town and shove it back in my face why don't you?
Where art thou, my heart?
I cannot find thou....
...I have no words.
Wait...DIFFERENT WAS CONNECTED TO THE TURRENT PRODUCTION LINE, RIGHT!?!?!
SHE COULD POTENTIALLY BE RECOVERED!!!!!!
As Death, I shouldn't feel emotions....
And Yet, I can't help but cry.
I have no heart, yet one's been ripped out,
and now I have to ask why.
~A poem
Just answer the damn question.
... That's, huh. I got nothing clever to say to that. That's well played.
Your own shtick backfired on you.
Clearly you are.
Might help you out, yes.
Oh dear...
HAHAHAHAHAA!
Well played, well played.
Different, don't do it!
Damn, this reminds me of Vegeta's Final Explosion...
*places hat on heart* RIP, Assphalt, Pea-Brain and Different.
Salute for those brave cores *Salute*
8017859
Not sure about different, cause that would mean defective turrets get assembled, die, only to get assembled again, which is quite a bit of fringe horror.
ATLAS and P-Body should be fine unless their wireless doesn't work this far out.
8017890 Couldn't agree more
8017897 well, still it is a possibility!
Nooooooooooooo Cuddle Coreeeeeee
Nooooooooooooo Differenttttt
how dare D:
...Why? *sniffle*
Just... just...
WHYYYYYYYYYYY???
The pain, THE PAIN!
assphalt, pea-brain. I salute you mates! As for cuddle and different, a moment of silence is required.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChTqYlDjtI&index=1&list=PLaQWwHjrT7uCAv8xKxQFAk2pPxX3jVux7
for peabrain, assphalt, cuddle core and different. may you all rest in peace
Wow. Equal parts funny and sad. That's not easy to pull off.
damn you why do you keep killing people with a feels moment
inb4 something happened just so they didnt die
maybe there was an automated backup or something of them
inb4 that actually didnt happen just to garner more feels :C
throw
just 'attack'
To the brave cores who fell in the line of duty.
It's a terrible day for rain...
Still holding out for dream sequence. I'd rather see Gilda dead than Different. Different never really got to live a life where it was able to escape conflict. That was always my hope for it.
(Sniff) I wonder how (sniff) the Combine (sniff) react to (sniff) salt water (cries)
[I want to put a Halo memeorial cutscene here that I saw once but can't find it. Any help?]
Damn...Honestly, I thought it was gonna be Cave who would make the sacrifice, but this is even sadder...
Oh my god. Why you do this. I expected it to be worse, but this is still bad.
I hope wheatly rots in hell, infact here's a gift
*pulls out a core* HELLL? HELLL? *opens portal and shoves it in, fnaticaly happily shrieks of 'hellll!' can be heard*
That...that wasn't cool bro.
*in the background
NO SHUT UP SIS! ITS LIQUID PRIDE
Et tu Tatsurou?
I knew he was too dumb for reverse psychology! ...but the best cores are gone. Except Cave. Hey, Cave can use the snake body for more tech! Tech so great their deaths will not have been in vain!
EDIT: Good bye Fatlass and Piss Body.
I know this is for AIDS, but...
I think it fits. Rest in peace, you four.
8019573
Oh god, right in the feels. Tats, why must you do this to us???
Okay... I don't want to deny the noble sacrifice... but doesn't GLaDOS regularly back up the bots memory so if they get destroyed they can resume testing instantly??? And I'm sure she'd do it more often for Different and Cuddle Core since they make Gilda happy.
8020228
In the case of the testing bots, they were too far away to be remote backed up. Cuddle Core was always a basic program and could easily be repaired, so backup was never a concern. Different was designed to be as indestructible as Aperture tech could make her (since Glados expected Gilda to actively try to destroy her as humans had been shown to do to Navi-type entities), and thus also was never backed up.
...
. . .
. . .
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
*dies*
I laughed, I cried...
in that order exactly.
For the fallen cores
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/534/225/54f.gif
Salutes the fallen.
8018861 wouldn't it be liquid sorrow ?
dieing a hero's death to give those who were under combine slavery are going to be free *salutes*
*facehoof*
I must scream, yet I have no mouth.