The sky flipped. The girl jumped over a pool as she ran to the end of the white-paneled room. Her feet slid across the floor, the burning feeling gone. The door to the room opened, and the girl jumped through as it closed.
"Target lost." A high-pitch and mechanical voice replied to her exit. Shortly after, the girl heard guns sliding back into position. Glancing about, she saw the number on the wall proclaim "Test 18/19 Complete". This did little to make the girl smile.
"Oh. You made it. Well... Color me impressed. Even though you don't have paint, considering your lack of artistic readiness." A feminine voice spoke throughout the room. "Don't worry. At the end of test 19.. You will get.. Your.." *BZZT* "Prize." The voice spoke once more, the slight sound of malfunction making the girl shudder in fear. Despite her scared heart, she walked toward the elevator doors which would take her to the final test. Hopefully.. She wouldn't die..
"Time for the final test!" The voice spoke, sounding happily fake. "FOR SCIENCE!" It yelled, the elevator shaking slightly at the noise. The girl covered her ears and curled over, her sensitive ears instantly overrun by the noise. The elevator stopped, the doors opening as a mechanical arm dragged the girl to an awaiting table. She whimpered as a hatch in the arm slid open, revealing a syringe with a blue liquid inside it.
"Don't worry. I am going to." *BZZT* "Fix you for the FINAL test.." The intercom winked off after playing the message, leaving the child to struggle futilely against the mechanical arm. She pounded on the machine until she felt a snap and a poke, to which she cried out in pain and struggled less as her newly broken wrist refused to let her fight. As the girl's vision dimmed, she saw a syringe empty of any material save blood on its tip retract back into the arm that held her. Sighing, the girl layer her head down as the drugs in the syringe began to force her to sleep.
GladOs sighed. The human test subject had been especially feisty as of late, and she needed to fix her for the final test. Scanning the girl's body, GladOs noticed multiple cuts, bruises, and a broken wrist which would take a few minutes to heal. Sighing inwardly, GladOs got to work, the mechanics in the medic room waking up and healing the child subject while she was knocked out. Subject #3,987 would certainly prove interesting, since it was the first child subject GladOs ever had. GladOs noticed that the body of the child was seizing, and the heart was rapidly giving out. Frantically looking through the subject's records, GladOs noticed that the subject had a bad reaction to medication in the past, and was terrified of needles. Glancing in on the monitor to the medic room, GladOs stopped as she noticed the child flatlined, it's body sagging into a soft, white mattress underneath her.
A panel sprang from the wall before condensing into paddles which quickly moved to intercept the near-dead child. GladOs shocked the girl, causing her heart to jump back online. GladOs sighed inwardly, remembering when the scientists of Aperture forced every subject to wear electricity-conducting jumpsuits should the need arise to revive them from MORE than a mere stasis nap. The girl's eyes shot open, and she started hugging the mattress, crying even as one of many of GladOs's arm's started to drag her back to the elevator.
The girl awoke. In front of her stood a green film, which seemed to be liquid. She tried rubbing her eyes, realizing that the muck got inside them. She tried screaming in pain, only to realize it didn't hurt. She screamed in shock instead. Her lungs burned and this substance would not keep her alive. The girl's systems immediately inhaled, causing her to breath in the gunk. The gunk didn't hurt, but it was a bit odd to breath liquid, the girl thought as she finished screaming into it. It hurt her throat, yet it felt oddly soothing, like a cold drink on a hot day.. A black blob suddenly obstructed her vision, demanding her attention.
"Should we let it out, my queen?" A male voice inquired. Beyond the girl's range of vision, she heard a feminine voice reply..
"No. She isn't ready yet. In fact.." A hoof suddenly struck her prison, and the girl quivered. She felt something at the back of her head, like something was etching in, slowly but painfully carving its way to her brain. She screamed again.
"Do not worry, my child.." The voice replied, this time more calming, as a wave of pure bliss flew over the girl and she fell back into unconsciousness.
"Oh. Your awake." The voice spoke. It was the intercom, yet the cracking noises never came. The girl slowly blinked her eyes open, noticing that she was being held by two arms just over a pit of the foul acid-water she had been trying to avoid throughout every test. The girl instantly started crying, her blonde hair falling over her hazel eyes as she seemingly lapsed all knowledge of time. She was brought back as a needle came near her. In response to the needle, the girl started thrashing. It came ever closer.. She closed her eyes.. She never felt a thing. It never went in. The girl's eyes cracked open as she saw the needle was mere millimeters from her chest. Her eyes refused to close this time as the needle plunged in. It instantly penetrated her heart and began to release its unknown chemicals.
Her eyes shot open and her limbs started trembling. She felt like she could run a mile! Gazing down, the girl saw the tank below fill with a green gas as the needle pulled away, it's innards emptied.
"Now we can do the final," *BZZT* "Test!" The intercom screamed. Looking up for once, the girl saw something she simply couldn't describe. A large collection of white metal covered most of the thing's frame. It seemed to have one yellow eye, and it was hanging from the ceiling. Most noticeable and terrifying to her was that the thing was staring right. At. HER.
"Good! Now the test," *BZZT* "Can proceed as planned!" The machine thing whirred and did a few turns in the air, as if in utter happiness and triumph. This girl could practically feel the emotions coming off in waves, like a tsunami of happiness. She quickly dispensed with these thoughts as the metal turned back to her.
"Since you are," *BZZT* "Obviously about to die, I will tell you," *BZZT* "My name, out of common courtesy. My nam-," *BZZT* "My name is GladOs." The creature blinked, then glared at the child. "But you have no name.. How about.." *BZZZZZZT* "Crystal! Why I would name something so pitiful though.. I really don't know..." A 'tsk'ing sound appeared over the intercom, and the child started to feel relieved, thinking that maybe this monstrosity which had kidnapped her would let her go.
"Of course.. I can't wait to perform the final test with-," *BZZT* "You!" The arms loosened slightly and the girl immediately tensed, her body activating her 'fight or flight' instincts. Crystal stared down into the cube she was above, her eyes dilated as she saw all that was in it. A putrid green gas floated in the container, below it.. There appeared to be..
Crystal gasped and struggled all the more as she saw the acidic water, her brain now fully registering her predicament. She didn't notice that miniature green flames and sparks bounced around it. Neither did GladOs. The arm loosened further. It slowly descended toward the cube, GladOs staring coldly the whole way. Crystal whimpered, her mind's eye flashing through all the tests she had endured, knowing no life before this torture pit. She wept into the arm even as it let her go on top of the glass surface.
A hidden door opened beneath her, and she fell into green depths. Her body screeched as she could feel it melting. The last thing she heard before she died, Crystal heard GladOs humming.
GladOs hummed as she witnessed the small form fall into the substance, slowly but painfully melting until it became a puddle on the floor of the box. She looked away, computers drawn to the data of the test. Humming merrily, GladOs slowly began to dump the contents of the box onto the lab floor. She nearly physically jumped as she heard a THUMP echo from the floor. GladOs whirled around, her eye camera zeroing in on.. A green ball? GladOs could only watch in rabid curiousity as flames appeared around the ball, slowly eating it away until it seemed as though the thing had never existed.
GladOs was outraged as she thought of a million new tests involving the ball of green that she had so stupidly let get away. GladOs inwardly grimaced but smiled outwardly as she saw the next subject. This subject's name was unknown.. GladOs thought lightly before settling on Chell.
