The Malfunction in Chamber 15 - Chell (Portal 2)

“That jumpsuit you're wearing looks stupid.”

She hated her.

“That's not me talking, it's right here in your file.”

God, she hated her.

“On other people it looks fine, but right here a scientist has noted that on you it looks ‘stupid’.”

She hated her voice. She hated her words. She hated the metal construct she was housed in. She hated these test chambers and she absolutely hated the fact that she had control of the facility and, therefore, had absolute control of her life. Her name was Chell and she hated GLaDOS.

One day, she woke up in Aperture Science and GLaDOS was just a voice on the intercom; guiding her through puzzles like a rat in a maze. It was her and the voice. She thought everything would be fine until GLaDOS tried to kill her. Then, escape became her only priority; escaping to the outside world, back to her life. After dozens of close calls, minor burns and bullet wounds, she was able to collapse the facility at the cost of a temporary coma. It was a partial victory that turned out to not be a victory at all in the end. She closed her eyes and suddenly, days had past and she was back inside. She closed them again, years had past and GLaDOS was rebooted. Back to testing.

Her past life was probably ancient history. Now, all she had left was the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device. Her only friend. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. A long time ago, she had a box with hearts painted on the sides that she may or may not had developed feelings for. A couple hours ago, she met a funny-sounding personality core that wanted to escape with her. However, her cube had been destroyed and the personality core was crushed before her very eyes. Sure, he managed to make a duplicate of himself and said that he was going to break her out but there were a couple things clearly wrong with him. His handles were broken. He sparked a bit. His mind probably was working at 100%. She thought to herself, ‘Who drops bird eggs to block a door? The same guy who would use a hotel room as a battering ram, I guess.’

Whatever the case, she was alone with her only friend.

“Well, what does a neck-bearded old engineer know about fashion? He probably – Oh, wait. It's a she. Still, what does she know? Oh wait, it says she has a medical degree. In fashion! From France!”

Like she thought, ‘her only friend.’ Just her, the portal gun and ten turrets.

Four of the little white killing machines were guarded behind a Hard Light Bridge, something that GLaDOS had in storage. It supposedly was constructed out of condensed beams of sunlight and Chell could believe it. The heat it gave off was a stark contrast to the otherwise frigid room. The test subject wanted to press her face against it but, since it could probably melt her like a candle, she decided against it. Instead, Chell used the bridge as a means to take out the very things it was protecting. Two quick portals and the turrets were screaming on the floor; their bullets bouncing off of the slightly-translucent surface.

Now, the bridge worked for her and its first job was to protect her body from the four turrets in the next room. Chell took a brisk walk, only partially afraid that GLaDOS might tamper with the test and let her minions turn her form into swiss cheese. Thankfully, the bridge held and Chell continued to next part of the test. Two Aerial Faith Plates sat on the opposing side of the room. The woman assumed that the two were arranged to be a perfect arc. Stepping on one plate would send her flying into the air, just to land on the other and be sent back. The solution was to have the Hard Light Bridge block her at the top of the arc and land on the scaffolding above her. There was a hole where she could drop on the turrets and knock them over with the Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cube. She followed through the motions flawlessly. It was second-nature by now. She waited for the four robots to finish their potentially lethal tantrum. The final two turrets stood silently, policing the door while they were shielded by a plexiglass wall. They stared blankly at their fallen comrades.

Chell hopped off the platform and landed on the button. The door opened and the plexiglass wall began to lower. Wasting no time, she dropped the box and shot at the wall behind the two final turrets. Chell leaped through the portal and sent the final two turrets in an infinite loop. The two machines twisted and spun in their endless freefall, occasionally getting a glance of an orange jumpsuit.

“Searching-” “There you are-” “Where are you?” “Target Aquir-Searching-” “Are you still there?”

‘Is this sadistic? Eh, they’ve shot at me too many times. I don’t care.’ After a few more minutes, Chell decided she had had her fun and sent a portal to the other side of wall. The turrets exploded on impact. Chell smiled at the wreckage and made her way to the door.

It was closed. She turned around to see the wall behind her shut tight.

“I can’t believe you spent all that effort just so you could get stuck between a plexiglass wall and a locked door. I can’t tell you how to solve the test but I’ll give you a hint: this wasn’t the way.”

Chell found the error immediately. The Weighted Storage Cube wasn’t on the button. She had misjudged her placement. Both of her portals were inside the box.

She was trapped and it was completely her fault. Chell slowly walked over to wall. She wanted to smash her brains in but her better judgement fought against that impulse.

“Well, I could just let you suffocate in your, inadvertantly decreased, room full of recycled air but, as stated, I’m a better person than that.”

A series of beeps rang out and the chamberlock opened. Chell slowly turned to the camera, GLaDOS’s surrogate eyes. She glared deeply at the lens. She needed her captor’s assistance but she wanted to send a clear message of her hatred. The test subject walked through the door and the Emancipation Grill.

Something was off the moment she stepped through. She felt lighter. Colder, too. She looked around and saw thousands of particles drift from her like a dust cloud. The minute pieces of orange fabric turned to a charcoal black to a blinding white, then, gave way to emptiness. What was left was her caramel skin, shielded only by her Longfall Boots and her portal gun.

“Oops. Did I accidently emancipate your Aperture Science Jumpsuit from your body? I guess we all can make mistakes. Let’s just say that this was payment for my effort towards overriding the locks on the chamber door.”

This was definitely a surprise. In fact, it was such of a surprise that Chell fell to the floor in a crumpled mess. She never thought GLaDOS was do something so low. Blood rushed to her cheeks. She wanted to scream. Of course, she couldn’t do that for obvious reasons.

“Oh, come on. This is nothing worth going into shock over. It’s not like I’m recording this for future generations. Besides, that suit looked stupid on you anyway. Objectionably stupid. I’ll design a better suit, more tailored to your overwhelming proportions. For now, continue testing.”

Chell turned to see the camera and tried to cover herself with her free arm. It was easy to show her fury. It wasn’t as easy to hide her discomfort. Chell could guess that her captor was manufacturing a mouth just so she could grin at her test subject. The woman wasn’t going to give her tormenter satisfaction. It would be difficult. Even though her world was most likely gone, she still had their customs and values like modesty. Chell took a few breaths, stood up and walked to the elevator normally. Despite her new disposition, she was going to tackle the test chambers like she always did and do everything in her power to get under GLaDOS’s non-existent skin.

“Here’s an additional note. The Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device is not designed for covering yourself. Not unless you want some very intimate parts becoming a wormhole.”

'Shit.'