Jenovaii

Tears, aided by the icy wind that blew across the deck, stung at Chell's eyes as she grabbed at the pieces of GLaDOS's chassis. The ticking of the bombs was clearer now; they were approaching their final seconds. She didn't dare look. Timers had never been her friend. She threw off her mittens, exposing her hands to the freezing deck, but grabbing the spilled components with better ease. Solder cut into her fingers, and fiberglass sliced her hands, but she was too cold to feel it, too panicked to care. She couldn't let any single part of GLaDOS escape her. She spotted the last green board, still sliding from the impact. She crawled toward it,

The fletchettes tore at Chell's jacket, exposing white fluffy stuffing but thankfully burrowing themselves in a crate behind her instead of in her flesh. She dove behind an ice-crested metal box as the thing roared and charged, launching past her and slamming into the wall. On all fours, she scrambled back to the air vent, only to be rocked to the side of it when the fletchettes exploded. The Hunter roared again, stomping right behind her, and she quickly buried herself into the vent. She crawled in for a distance before turning around, slowly edging back as the Hunter howled and paced. Peeking from the vent's opening, she saw its thick blue

Wheatley wasn't sure why he suddenly felt a strange surge coursing through his circuits. All he knew was that danger was coming and that Chell wasn't moving, and his programming reacted accordingly. His chest cavity opened and somehow he swallowed her up into it, protecting her from the yet unknown enemy. Both gun barrels popped out from his arms, and he stood between the door and Mossman. There was a harsh shriek as a long and sharp claw, about the size of Chell's forearm, tore through the door, ripping upward and slicing the metal like paper. With a final kick, the Hunter burst down the door and trotted into the room. It almost looked like

Chell took a deep breath; her first mistake. Her lungs were instantly filled with a biting cold, and she released her air with all the urgency of dropping an angry hedgehog. The icy atmosphere was a brutal wake-up call. Only the force of the portal's opening had caused the chill to blow in to Aperture; now that the portal was sealed, everything was eerily calm. Hollow breezes made hollow sounds along the empty corridors outside of the room she'd entered into. Somewhere, ice cracked, muted by layers of metal. Chell took another breath, in through her nose this time, ignoring the sharp sting of coldness seeping through. She slid her arm into th

Doug suddenly felt very old. He gently pushed Chell aside and slid into his desk chair. His cane clattered against the desk before falling to the ground. With a sigh, he rubbed his eyes, wishing he didn't feel so hollow at this moment. A husk. As if the wind would churn through the empty hallways and into his office, blowing him into dust. He finally looked up at Chell and took a deep, unrewarding breath. "What do you want to know?" Chell traced her finger around in a single circle. Even her makeshift sign language seemed curt and angry. She wanted to know everything. She accentuated her sign by poking Cube with her index finger, giving a sma

"The data's all here. Everything! She must've downloaded it all into a backup server before she died! ("She?" Caroline mused to herself.) This is excellent!" Doug whirled around in his chair to look at Chell, grinning from ear to ear. "This means we can get her back!" Chell tightened her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes flashed from Doug to his computer and back again, then she slowly shook her head. "Yes, I know. It sounds too good to be true. And I'm pretty sure it is." He sighed and pulled at his beard, but was still unable to wipe the smile from his face. "After all, I'd need to find another hard drive and motherboard an

"Can't you process any faster?" Caroline shrugged. She had her back to GLaDOS, arms crossed tightly, as if hugging herself. "It's processing in real time. I might have power over Aperture, but I can't show you the future." GLaDOS groaned, sinking into her chair. The lights in the chamber had been dim for what felt like days, and not only was she both literally and figuratively in the dark, she was also horribly bored. "I'm sorry," Caroline said, a good amount of sympathy in her voice. "I'm trying to synch up some other cameras, but it's a bit difficult. I don't want to drop your data. Ah, here, let me just..." The whole room jolted sharply, f

Upon entering the Central Chamber, Chell let out a scream. It was a completely wordless noise, a loud shriek like metal against metal, but all the same it brought Doug's attention momentarily away from his progress. He turned back to his work, ignoring her as though she were just a separate pile within the little bits and huge chunks of GLaDOS's body littering the floor. With another cry, Chell stomped up to Doug and started slapping around his head and shoulders with her unbandaged hand. He winced, startled, and, to Chell's utter surprise, reached out and grabbed her wrist. His head snapped to glare at her, and her eyes went wide at the look

GLaDOS was used to her compound-eye view of the facility. Every camera, nearly every square inch was within her field of vision. She was a dragonfly, a praying mantis, able to see the tiniest details and any sudden movements. So now, she wondered why she only saw through one camera, positioned in a corner of her small chamber, looking at her limp chassis. Chell, seemingly frozen in time, was stuck in mid-dash, both feet lifted as though she was hovering. Doug stretched his arm out to reach her, mouth agape as if to call to her. GLaDOS looked with scorn at Chell's arm, which was severely red and swollen and lumped out at an odd angle. That idi

As soon as Wheatley set her down, she broke into a run, chased by his thundering and equally panicked footfalls. She rounded a corner and almost fell over, her balance thrown off by her swollen and disobediently throbbing arm. Recovering quickly, she groaned and gave a look back to see if Wheatley was still following her. GLaDOS. Dead. Those two words were the only things on her mind as she tore through the halls toward the Central Chamber. But it couldn't be true, could it? The Combine hadn't made their way into the facility. There was no reason for GLaDOS to be injured in any fashion. Unless someone else was responsible... As she passed thr