Flaw in My Code (Portal 2)[REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

Chapter 17: Monologue

"So you're telling me you made that body?"

"Well, I didn't make it, no. I found it in-"

"The human vault. Right. You realize how insane that is, though?"

Caroline tilted her head, her hands folded over her lap. Chell sat across from her on the dusty couch, leaning back. She didn't seem to possess a care in the world. "The fact that there were so many frozen, living people right under my feet that whole time..."

She stared at the ceiling with a light smile. Caroline nodded. "I would have said something in the moment, but I felt it would be cruel. I don't think you could have done much to help them." Chell glared at her and crossed her arms. Caroline smiled softly.

"As it turns out, there were actually humans running around the facility before you woke me, too." Chell tilted her head and sat up, at attention. "Wait, seriously?"

"Don't press me for details, I wasn't there." She chuckled slightly and reached for her bag, from which Corbin's head appeared to meet her hand. Chell's eyes shifted to look at him, but she dared not ask.

"I'm not surprised." Doug said quietly, walking past them with a few sandwiches, one of which he offered to Chell. She looked at him questioningly as she took one from the plate. "Elaborate?"

"There were a lot of people... sleeping." He seemed to zone out for a moment. Caroline motioned to him with a look on her face and Chell shook her head, patting Doug's arm. He looked at her with wide eyes.

"Go lay down, Doug. You should get some sleep." The man tensed and his eyes shifted. He stammered nervously, trying to make an excuse for himself. "Hey, hey... Doug. You're safe here." Chell assured. Doug shared a look with her an rested the plate he'd been holding on the back of the couch. "Sandwiches. If you- If you eat." He glanced toward Caroline and turned to walk down the short hall adjacent to the main room. 

"He seems as twitchy as ever." Caroline noted softly. "He's hanging in there. I'm sure your presence doesn't exactly put him at ease." Chell hummed, then took a bite of the sandwich Doug had prepared. "I didn't think it would." Caroline petted Corbin's feathery head as he crowed. There was a moment of Awkward silence before Chell spoke up upon finishing her sandwich. 

"So uh... You wanna tell me about the bird?" 

"His name is Corbin." Caroline smiled at him. "I thought you hated birds."

"Corbin is an exception. I raised him from a chick." Chell reached to the plate to grab another sandwich. "Are you planning on eating this?" Caroline stared. "I don't think I will."

"Then can I feed your bird?" She held the sandwich out, leaning over to wave it in front of Corbin, who bounced out of the bag and hopped closer to it. Caroline didn't say anything, knowing Chell would just feed him, anyways, but she knew he needed the food, so she didn't object. They continued talking as Corbin snatched it and backed away under the table with it. 

"We have a lot of catching up to do..." Chell sighed. "I already told you what happened at the facility." Chell just nodded. "Right, but... Like, are you okay? How are you feeling about all this?" Caroline just stared blankly. It wasn't every day someone just asked her how she felt. She was never fully prepared to answer that question, because even she never fully knew the answer.

 She settled on: "I'm not sure how you want me to respond." Chell blinked, then snickered. "Okay, that's fair, I guess. Here, I'll go first. Being out here in the big, wide world is a little overwhelming. But it's exciting, y'know?" Caroline nodded slightly. She could certainly understand where Chell was coming from. "I'm still having a hard time getting a job out here, because, well... What kind of work history is 'being a human test subject?'" 

Caroline winced and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry about that." Chell waved her off and continued talking. "I take little jobs around the city sometimes. It's never anything exciting. You know, when I found this place I was absolutely astonished that there were even people alive out here... And then you come along!" She made a dramatic gesture toward Caroline.

"Catch your breath, Chell." Caroline teased as Chell had to pause her rambling to do just that. "Are you done Monologuing?" Chell pulled her legs to her chest and scoffed. "If you think that's a monologue..." Caroline smiled gently and looked down to see her beloved crow scarfing down the rest of a sandwich. She took a moment to think about how she had gotten there, and what exactly she planned on doing next. 

"Did you feel that?" Chell blinked up at the ceiling as the shoddy light fixture swayed. Caroline shook her head and looked up. "No, what?"

"You must've been spaced out. There was like a lil' earthquake." She looked back down and grinned. "This place is kinda shaky." Caroline rubbed her head. "Oh... Didn't feel it."

"Caroline." Chell grabbed her attention with a slightly more serious look in her eyes, as if she were going to drop something heavy. Caroline looked to her and braced for bad news. "Have you heard anything from Wheatley?" Caroline just stared at Chell for a moment, an image of Pendleton forming in her head as the memories of her past life came back to her in shallow waves. She slowly shook her head, before adopting her snappy demeanor. 

"God, no. I don't want to." She sneered. "No, that's fair." Chell said, glancing away. "I was just curious. Sometimes I swear he's trying to reach out to me through every little radio transmission. It could just be me. I'd assumed if he was, though, you'd be picking up a signal, too." 

Caroline just shook her head continuously, stifling to banish the thought of Penn. "If that little idiot ever tries to contact me, I'll send a fleet of weaponized space robots to get rid of him for good." She muttered. "You have those?" Chell whispered, intrigued. "Well, no, but it's something to consider..."

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Oh hey uh,,,, oops! My bad for um.. not updating in a hot minute.

I'm sorry this is really short and kind of a filler :weary:

I hear your pleas, they come to me like prophets from an angry god (If you know what that's from ily)

I've just been focused on millions of other things lately but I will try my best to start updating a little more often. I also am ashamed to admit that I hadn't planned this part of the story out as much so I'm having a bit of trouble trying to make it interesting djadjsdhajhd

Thank you to those of you still reading after all this time! It means a lot. And thank you so so much for your patience. <3

I'm hoping for the next chapter to be a little longer and a little more progressive to the story.