Test Chamber 034: Nearly To Cake

[super_astute]

"Oh, this is fantastic," Wheatley said as he bent down to offer Chelldon a hand up from one of the lower levels that didn't really require jumping or companion cubes.  "Finally, finally I am being recognized for the work I've done!  It's going to be--  Just you wait, Chelldon.  I'll be promoted and just after this last test chamber, you'll have cake and after the next one you'll beat the monkey!  I'll even be in a position just to give you move tests instead of letting you get dissected for science...  Now now, I'd never let you be dissected.  I'm your companion core and you're my Test Subject and I think we'll need to jump over there?"

Right, no.  There was no ledge over there, and even if the catapulted out of it, they'd end u[ across the room on a very little ledge with no choice but to die.  That was after they managed to HIT the ledge!

And who really wanted to die?

Not Wheatley.  He had a new desire to live!

Comments

[stubbornsubject.livejournal.com]

Oh great, more tests. Couldn't Wheatley offer him something like freedom or cake? Well, it was better than having his organs given to the self esteem for young girls project, he really wanted to keep his organs. Maybe one day they'd get bored of tests. Course he'd like Wheatley to get bored and come with him but sadly Wheatley belonged here. That was just that.

Chelldon sighed and adjusted Wheatleys gun so it didn't get aimed at an area that could kill them and rather pointed to the other side of the wall. He then shot a few portals himself, swiftly moving all killable and dangerous objects around the room so they didn't kill Wheatley.

"Go."

And, like that, he shot the portals for the ledge they needed and less than gracefully shoved Wheatley through them before heading in after him. Oh well, Wheatley would live!

[super-astute.livejournal.com]

Live, yes, after flailing like an idiot and yelling and splattering himself against the wall until Chelldon came through to catch him. As much as he appreciated the portal wizard, he rather liked not being fodder for the wall panels either.

"You know," Wheatley said, fixing his glasses, "I'm really going to miss you, Chelldon. I've helped guide you towards this path of greatness you're on. You've managed to nearly outdo a monkey by this point and that's something no one can take away from you."

He couldn't believe it, but he actually felt a little upset, extra lubricant in his eyes, as they neared the last obstacle.

Cake. Chelldon would be so hyper all he would want to do is test while Whealtley left him to get his card punched.

He wasn't sure when they'd see each other next and that was when he heard a small whisper from Tyler in his cortex. Keep him occupied. Don't finish the chamber yet. It's a trap.

Wheatley was extreme bad, however, at playing things cool. "So...no promotion?"

[stubbornsubject.livejournal.com]

As great as it was to know that he was nearly better than a monkey, he wished he could go that one better and truly out do one. It had been his goal for a long time and he was slowly getting there. And cake was a fantastic motivator, it was worth having his own cake if he was going to lose Wheatley, it was a nearly even trade.

It would help him get hyped and forget the loss of his only companion here. Especially since they made him get rid of his companion cube and Walter.

Before Tyler could say any more, there was feedback going right into Wheatleys head, scrambling everything for a moment before it adapted and the feedback became more like a faint hum than a nasty ear piercing beep. GLaDOS was sending out a signal to every core to block the network of communication. He never had liked cores.

Chelldon gave Wheatley a baffled expression, what on Earth was he doing? "No promotion?"

[super-astute.livejournal.com]

"Yaaawaaahhh! AAH! Ah, that hurt!" he cried softly. "That really hurt!" he pressed his hands against his head to drown out the slow pull of awfulness that seemed to chattered through his teeth and nasal passages. He pulled Chelldon with him to an alcove, out of site of one of the testing monitor cameras.

His lips moved to Chelldon's ear. It was intimate thought Wheatley didn't notice.

"Something wrong," he whispered, cowardly and afraid. Someone else was suppose to fix this stuff. "I'm just an observer! But I think-- I think he might want us dead!"

[stubbornsubject.livejournal.com]

Chelldon gave Wheatley an alarmed look, making sure he wasn't too badly harmed, he didn't want his companion core to die on him now, he only just save the idiots body. He leaned in closer with a small frown, listening to what Wheatley said... but they didn't have much of a choice. It was all well and good if he was evil but what exactly were they to do?

They either solved the puzzle or got stuck here till they died.

"We apologise for technical difficulties, Aperture cores will be experiencing malfunctions until the network is corrected. Until then, please disregard any advise or ideas vouched by your core," the pleasant voice churned out and Chelldon blinked slowly because ... well, the voice did seem to be the system running this place and she might of had a point.

But-- But this was Wheatley!

[super-astute.livejournal.com]

"Oi! I am not defective, there are no malfunctions you...you...you stupid...stupid head!" All right, so he wasn't that good at insults. Not a problem, usually. He'd never had to match his wits against another machine before. And GLaDOS was tied into every system... Wheatley snorted sadly at the way Chelldon seemed to question him.

That made his eyes narrow behind his glasses.

"Who got you crayons and a bunny? All right, so Walter wasn't my test and I had thought it was boring and pointless, but with me you still got-- Say. Here's a thought. Let's go and find Walter!"

Wheatley might have been a moron, but he was also a bit of an egotistical, meglomaniacal moron?

Chelldon could only love him!

[stubbornsubject.livejournal.com]

Chelldon held his hands out to show that no, he had no issue here, he liked Wheatley and he wanted to believe him... so he would. But he was just going to keep an eye out and be a tad worried but he was allowed to be. Caution was part of being human and as much as he loved the crayons and the bunny, he knew he had to stay on his toes.

Nothing in Aperture was ever easy. You had to expect to be hurt.

It was not an easy existence but Chell had lived with it for a while now. It was the little things he liked, like Walter and tea with Wheatley. He smiled at the suggestion and nodded his head before looking up at the platform just above them. Only a few more steps to leave, he couldn't just end the test.

"Please make no attempt to leave the testing area. Please complete the test as requested or you will not receive cake. Or a bunny."

Chelldon bit his lower lip and looked over at Wheatley. That was odd

[super-astute.livejournal.com]

"What do you know? You just came online. I didn't receive any...orders... All right, all right, I did. But you sent the orders...on the proper channels... Oh, it doesn't matter. We're getting cake." Wheatley shot a portal up by the ceiling and one on the wall in front of them. "Chelldon, hold onto me, I'm going to work that panel loose but I don't want to fall doing it!"

Not that falling would hurt him, thanks to the boots, but that didn't exactly bode well just the same. Wheatley was inept. He'd likely make a big old mess of everything.

And probably cause the panel to crush them. Or annoy GLaDOS so he crushed them.

[stubbornsubject.livejournal.com]

"Please do not damage or misuse our panels, doing so will lose you any rewards, such as cake and promotions. Completion of the test is in your best interest or you will receive a unsatisfactory mark on your record," GLaDOS warned and Chelldon, who really did want to just beat the test, tried his hardest to ignore it as he held onto Wheatley and helped him get through the portal. He had no idea what the core was doing but he was curious to see.

Where they tunnelling out to find Walter or cake? Or were they just rebelling for the sake of rebelling? Well he has to ask!

"Walter?" Chelldon asked as he helped Wheatley hang out of the portal, not sure if he wanted to be eventually dropped or not but either way, he was keeping a hold of him as tightly as he possibly could... and Wheatley was not light!

[super-astute.livejournal.com]

"Wheatley," he corrected, already trying to override his natural instinct to go for the promotion and get his punch card filled out. Oh, this was awful! Didn't these people realize that his entire goal in life was for Chelldon to beat the monkey and for him to get marked 'very excellent' in all catagories?

There was a small whisper from Tyler just under the hum of electric interference that said only a human doctor could, under procotocol, fill out his punch card.

Thank Robot God -- not that he believed in a robot God because that was just plain silly -- for Tyler!

"Hold me a little tighter, Chelldon, I have to lean out more."

[stubbornsubject.livejournal.com]

Chelldon held on tight and gripped onto Wheatley as he dangled out of the Portal. Wheatley was not light and he was starting to have a lot of blood rushing too his head as they both hung downwards. Couldn't Wheatley just hurry up and for once explain himself because Chelldon could solve the test. Four portals, a moved cube and a rerouted wire... problem solved!

"I would like to remind you that vandalising Aperture property will not get you a promotion. You will promptly be fired."

Oh how he hoped GLaDOS didn't have that sort of power, he only liked Wheatley. The other cores were awkward, stupid or insane. Or... well, Tyler like.

He didn't want to risk getting the core destroyed.

[super-astute.livejournal.com]

"All right, almost...and there!" Off came the panel and, perfect, there was a spot to shoot another portal just up there! He pointed for Chelldon to use his gun -- well, they were in the middle of using both of his portals and while Wheatley was stupid he wasn't suicidal -- and beamed at the human when he accomplished the task. "New Test!" he proclaimed, because they both rather liked the idea of testing. "We find Doctor Handy, get him to score our punch card, and then we move on to the tests for cake and Walter."

Wheatley had absolutely no idea how it would work. He pondered for a moment, and then confessed.

"Not sure how yet, but I am practically brilliant. Designed to be. No, honestly. I am literally programmed for it." In a display of bravado, he actually took the first step through Chelldon's portal and stepped out on the catwalk above the testing chamber.

[stubbornsubject.livejournal.com]

Chelldon did as instructed because... well, he always did. The portal closed behind them as they leapt out and there was a sudden burst of static above them. "Hey, you can't do that. Restricted personal only. Please return to the testing area, you're so close to completion and your retirement. There is a party with cake and confetti. We're going to use the good confetti as we have been saving it for a special occasion. Do not listen to the defective cores."

Chelldon kept on moving anyway, he didn't know who was right and who was wrong but Wheatley had never purposefully lead him into danger and while they had zero confirmation if Doctor Handy even survived the neurotoxins.

As they rushed through the catwalk, part of it in front of them just crumbled and fell. Chelldon had to grab Wheatleys shirt and haul him back before he fell.

... Was that GLaDOS's handy work?

"You're close to completion, please turn back."

[super-astute.livejournal.com]

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