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CHARACTERS: GLaDOS(

goodjumper)
DATE: 5/26 (day 45)
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: GLaDOS confronts Chell about the tournament.

All the things that had happened at the tournament was still buzzing in GLaDOS' head. She had been defeated by him. How could that even be possible. All logic says that she should have won. GLaDOS clenched her fingers as she strode across the beach; heels digging into the soft sand. And for him to beat her also? Absurd. There had to be something more to this all. If she couldn't beat her, how could he? GLaDOS needed answers.

She came up to the church, her mind still chewing over the same thoughts it had since her last fight. Nothing seemed to be right. She raised one mechanical arm to the wooden door and pounded loudly. She wasn't going to be ignored.

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There was no answer, no one came to open the doors, there had only been the smallest of pained whimpers at the noise.

In the furthest corner of the little church, Chell laid curled up on the floor, hands still tangled deep in her hair.

She wasn't waiting for an invitation. With a strong push, the heavy wooden doors rushed aside as she stepped into the dim room.

Whining? Well that wasn't a sound she would expect to hear. She walked up to the mess of a woman that was in the corner. "Get up. We have some things we need to discuss."

GLaDOS extended her hand, half as a gesture of peace and half to just speed up her sluggish test subject.

She made no movement to accept GLaDOS' hand and laid there for another second or two before pushing her upper body from the ground. There was a small trail of blood from her ears, enough to denote slight injury. Her nose had been bleeding as well. Even now as Chell tried to pull herself from the floor, her arms shook from the effort but finally she managed to her feet.

With weary eyes, she looked at the smears on her palms and brushed them off on her pants before giving GLaDOS a 'what do you want' sort of look.

GLaDOS quickly scanned her injuries. Nothing seemed serious enough to inhibit her communication. Good enough.

"So I hear you have had a bit of a scrape with the moron. He told me all about it. Do you now see what I meant? He wasn't who you thought he was."

She came here to say I told you so? Chell only glared at her before sitting in the nearest pew. Wait, if GLaDOS was here, that meant she died, and if she had talked to Wheatley.. No. Really?

She turned and stared at GLaDOS. All he had had was a gun with maybe a few more bullets and her knife if he had found it. Her gaze didn't last long before Chell put her head in her hand. The ringing had died down, but it was still there, making her head throb.

"Stop mopping. This isn't just about you." GLaDOS reached out to pull Chell's hands roughly away from her face. She wasn't in the mood to deal with these petty human emotions.

"Do you now see what I meant? He hasn't changed one bit. And seeing that Kernos lied about the death, there is a good chance that they lied about the rewards." She hinted at Wheatley's eventual return.

A shrug was all Chell gave GLaDOS besides her steely glare. If she wanted a reaction, she'd have to make her.

"I plan on getting back at the idiot. He has done nothing to you that I told you he wouldn't do. He betrayed you the second he had the power to do so."

GLaDOS glared back down at the woman on the pew, sensing that she wasn't about to join her. "And you would be even more primitive than I previously thought if you were to still trust him."

Chell stared at her feet for a moment before a chuckle left her. Maybe it was the blaring headache, or the emotional numbness still in place from the tournament, but there was a disconnect between her and logic at the moment.

God, Chell was mad, and she hurt, and she just didn't need this right now. What she needed was something to break. Her eyes slowly made their way back to GLaDOS with a familiar hunger for destruction gleaming in the gray-blue.

"Now. Both killed you. Heh-Can't. Can't win, can you?"

The last day had so many words that scarred her mind. Sherlock and the moron. Those two had done things that won't be easily forgotten; and for this rock-banging primate to try and mock her? She wasn't going to have this. Her hand lashed out, grasping a large section of the woman's hair. GLaDOS twisted it, forcing Chell to continue to hold that icy cold exchange.

"Listen to me. I will not let all you pathetic lifeforms bring me down. I may have failed in the past, but I can assure you now, I will be prepared." GLaDOS pulled her face just the slightest closer to the woman's. "And unlike you, I can take a few bullets before I die."

Chell could only grin, settling into the pain until it faded into something acceptable. This, this violence between them. Familiar. Comfortable. Garenteed and solid unlike so much here on this tiny island. Where death wasn't constant, this always would be. She could forgive Wheatley and make amends, but Chell needed this. This animosity. Before she had thought it pointless since they'd just come back from the dead, but right now it was all she wanted.

Her hand gripped GLaDOS' wrist as it still clung to her hair and held it tight before throwing a punch for GLaDOS' face.

The fist met hard with GLaDOS' cheek, her skin making contact with her android body. Her vision jarred only a moment after contact, but didn't push her back very far. She released her hand from Chell's hair and swung the back of her other at her face.

The ache in Chell's fist didn't last long before GLaDOS' hand met her face hard. It as enough force to turn Chell's head and torso and tumble her from the pew. With a groan, she pulled herself from the floor and spat the mix of blood and saliva at GLaDOS' boots.

Finally on her feet, she wiped blood from her lips. That's when a sort of weariness begins to set in, as if she was becoming somewhat winded even if all she was doing was standing there. No, now was not the time. She rushed at GLaDOS, fist drawn back for another punch.

The woman started to come back at her, but GLaDOS was prepared for another jab. She blocked it by pushing it aside with one arm with her other waiting to make a quick strike at Chell's stomach. However, right when she was about to bring the fist to meet her, her movements faltered; her punch landing short. What was going on? Had she not been fully repaired after fighting Wheatley?

Was this a joke to her? All Chell wanted was something honest, even if it was hate and in return all she got was a faked punch? In her rage, all she could think to do in reply was shove which was hardly enough to move GLaDOS at all.

Chell prepared to throw her shoulder into the android but froze in the motion. A face of anger changed to one of pure pain as she stumbled away and fell to her knees holding her left hand close to her chest.

A long gasp came before a cry of intense pain. With wide eyes she stared at her hand, expecting so much blood as some unseen knife drew deep across her palm, yet no wounds appeared. In the sensitive and thin joints under her middle knuckles, grinding against bone and tendon, god, she could feel it.

GLaDOS was absolutely perplexed. The woman before her dropped, her hand clutched in what seems to be pain. It was only after she had reached the floor that she noticed her own limb.

Her sensors were going wild, causing a dull ache. What was going on? She glanced down at her hand. She could swear that a sharp instrument was being scraped across her circuits; yet there was nothing there. GLaDOS flexed her fingers repeatedly, trying to ignore the painful sensation. There must be a loose wire or something wrong with her hydraulics. That would make perfectly fine sense, if Chell didn't seem to be experiencing it also.

She wasn't about to give into this pain, and show weakness to her. "Get up." They haven't finished their conversation.

Pain. There was always pain of some sort, wasn't there? In her presence there had always been pain and hurt, a tradition between them. And there had always been pain in her connection with him. But together at once, so clear and biting, it was almost too much to bear.

He was in trouble. If he was feeling pain like this, there was a good chance he wouldn't make it to the end. When he died, would she as well? Please let it be quick. Let it be painless. No...that had never been their luck.

Chell staid down for the moment, expecting more agony to roll in. When a moment or two passed and nothing worse came, Chell pulled herself up, left hand still cradled close to her chest.

Her head hung low and loose chunks of hair blocked her face from GLaDOS. "L-leave." She didn't want to endure what was surly coming in front of her.

Chell's mouth opened, ready to speak again or breathe, but nothing came out. Frozen for a moment, she stood there before slumping forward a little. A trembling hand reached up and behind herself groping for whatever had buried its self deep in her back. And for a second, just a brief moment, Chell met GLaDOS' eyes with fear.

Heavy feet had began to carry her to a nearby pew, but when the first spark crossed her, Chell fell, only her arms making it to the hardwood bench. Nails dug hard into the wood as the sensation of electricity pushed through her. Her lungs could hardly expand enough to breathe in those throws.

When heat and the burning sensation of fire joined in she screamed. Nothing else existed in that agony. Not her pride, not the person in the room with her, nothing but herself and the every inch of her wishing for death. There was no shame in the screams and cries of pain, each second stretching forever until finally, finally, everything tumbled into a merciful blackout.

"I will not. There are things that I still need to discuss with you," Impatience dancing upon her tongue.

The woman then moved over to the pews in what seemed to be agony. GLaDOS usually would have brushed off Chell's reaction as a human's being unable to deal with the slightest bit of pain, but when she started to feel it, she had to recalculate. It was like a surge protector had broke and her circuits were alive with thousands of volts of electricity; body tense in pain. Her vision blurred and pixilated, the scene before her only becoming a blocky representation of reality.

Then there was the searing pain, rolling in waves. GLaDOS couldn't even get her body to move properly, her wires being overrun with incoming data from her sensors screaming out in pain.

VITAL SYSTEMS BREACHED. SHUTTING DOWN.

That was particularly upsetting for GLaDOS. Nothing had happened, why would her system be resetting? Everything went black, invisible flames burning her; this was all too familiar.

A spark ignites, her systems not quite all online, but a video feed begun playing. Peculiar. There is a desk, mahogany, cluttered with papers. Not so much as cluttered, as they are organized into piles that threaten to engulf the entire surface. They were Aperture papers. Files were being set into the lap of a woman in a quite pricey dress. It was formal, but clearly not that of an average office worker. Her hands continued to work on putting various sheets into these folders, and then the sound of a heavy oak door brought her vision up. A man stood before the doorway. "Hello, Mr. Johnson. I am just finishing up the paperwork." Mr. Johnson? Hadn't Chell once mentioned a Johnson? Everything faded away, like sediment at the bottom of a lake being swept up by a current.

GLaDOS opened her eyes, looking across the dusty floor of the church. She pushes her hands out in front of her, lifting her body from the dirty ground. Chell was still in the pew unconscious. She wasn't sure how long she had been offline; it could have been a few minutes or a few hours. She walks over to Chell, and shakes her by the shoulder. "Please tell me you are still alive."

There was obvious worry in GLaDOS' voice. It was foreign to her, but right now, her sense of fear over what she had just seen overrides that. She needed to ask her what was going on. Unfortunately, Chell was going to be the only one who could explain it all to her.

Her eyes hardly opened. Just enough for light to barely slip past and increase the pain in her head.

"H..." Everything ached, her throat especially. Mostly unused vocal chords were hoarse from screaming. "He. Died."

A shaking hand reached up and held a forehead that threatened to crack from the pressure.

"Who died?"

GLaDOS was utterly confused. Why would someone's pain be transferred to them? It really was one of the only assumptions she could make considering that they both were experiencing pain, and what from she could tell they were identical. KERNOS was becoming a real pain in GLaDOS' side.

She stared at GLaDOS for a moment, now far too weak to fight, but ignored her question to spite her.

"What.. do you w-want?"

Oh there were a couple things that she would have liked to talk about, but right now, those will have to wait. GLaDOS saw that this wasn't going to be a quick and short matter, especially considering the potential subject matter. Striding over to pew, she sat about a foot and a half away from Chell. She kept her head glued forward, not wanting to catch any looks from her. She didn't need to be patronized by the woman, not when she was already so irritated with herself.

"Since you don't seem to want to talk about that little idiot you are so fond of, I guess we could move onto some other questions." A long moment passed while GLaDOS tried to calm her nerves. Why was she getting so worried? The videos she had seen could have easily been surveillance cameras, but something was telling her they weren't that simplistic.

"You mentioned a Cave Johnson before, who exactly is he? Well, I understand that he was the head CEO of Aperture, but is there something you know that I wouldn't? Something off the records. To be honest, there is probably a lot, since I only have profiles and technical papers."

"If I say, will you go?" She hurt and for now all Chell wanted was to fall asleep and let the pain disappear for a little while.

"If you just answer my questions, I will leave."

There was a calm in her voice. Perhaps if she were a bit more gentle things would go smoother; for both of them.

"Caroline." Chell broke into a coughing fit as her dry throat and mouth ached. "That was your name."

Caroline. GLaDOS' mind stood still; attempting to process all of this. That name. It was all to familiar, all of it. Caroline. She could almost her it being beckoned to her; the voice of a man calling it out.

"What do you mean that was my name?" A bit of hostility resonated in her voice, but it may have been due to the amount of shock she was in. This was just absurd! She was GLaDOS.

"Human. Once." She stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep consciousness. "Assistant to.. to him." Another coughing fit passed leaving her voice even rougher.

"He...Got sick."

Human? Is that really even possible? Well, she had assumed there had been a genetic component, such is her namesake, but being human had never really seemed a possibility.

"Why would they make an assistant into who I am? And what do you mean sick?"

"Co-" Chell fumbled for her communicator but it slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor. "Moon ro..rock. Poisoned. Tried to..to put him in..in a computer. Guess..died. Too late."

Her eyes finally fell to GLaDOS. "Put you in instead. Cared. About you.."

The android stood up from her spot of the pew. This... this didn't feel right. It was something about the project that had created her. A deep, seemingly ancient, rage boiled up inside her. She wasn't going to sit here and just think about this. Not with her right there.

She stooped down to pick up the small electronic device, and placed it in Chell's hand. Why did she do that? She didn't even think to do anything. Any other time she would have just left it there, letting the individual pick it up themselves. Was this pity she felt? No. That couldn't be.

"You can stop. I just need time... to think about all this." GLaDOS walked straight to the door, ignoring everything around her; her mind fixated on the new information that buzzed in her head.

Had she felt better, Chell would have put up more of a fight with the information, or now would have continued to goad her on her way out. For now, though, all Chell could manage to do was slide her communicator back into her pocket and slip into unconsciousness, offering just one more sentence before doing so.

"Don't. Don't delete her..."

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I hope that you don't mind me throwing this in here...

Old Aperture is always welcomed with me~

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