[IC] Test Anxiety

[Zmerr]

Metal clattered and gears groaned as GLaDOS set up two identical tests. She'd been planning this one for a while. It was unique in the sense that, at the end, the test subjects would finally meet each other. After this test, she wanted to see their cooperative skills. She hadn't told the subjects about each other and figured this would be quite interesting.

"Hello. Did you sleep well?" She made the generic announcement to both subjects in their respective starting chambers. "Not that it really matters. With the adrenaline rush you get from the urge to survive, sleep deprivation makes little difference. Of course, that doesn't really matter either because you aren't really fighting to survive. Death here is merely a simulation."

She let the speakers in the separate rooms buzz with static in her silence for a moment to add drama. She loved doing that; keeping the subjects stuck in the starting chamber without saying anything. It gave her a certain satisfaction. It was a way to remind them that she was in charge.

"I am bound by protocol to warn you that there will be Thermal Discouragement Beams and acid pools." She finally gave the doors permission to open. "Happy testing!" Sarcasm was almost audible in her modulated voice.

[rocketrobie2]

Gregory 2 woke up with a start as jumped from his bed, sprawling on the floor. He quickly looked up as to where the voice was coming from bit couldn't find anybody "AGGHH. WHERE ARE YOU?" Greg exclaimed as he looked around the ceiling for the source of the voice. When he couldn't find it he decided he would start paying attention to the voice only for it to stop. Then the door opened and he emerged from his room only to hear happy testing and be forced to take place in the tests. He couldn't wait.

Chell woke up much calmer but still irritated that she had to be put through all this once again even after defeating GLaDOS the first time. She was irritated by the monotone voice once more speaking down on her from above as she looked around the room, looking for the exit immediately while listening to the cynical robot's voice. Soon enough the door opened and she emerged ready to once again take down the tyrannical synthoid once and for all.

[Zmerr]

Wheatley rolled along on his management rail, looking for chinks in GLaDOS' tiled walls.

"Not anything here... or here... or- Oh! What's that there?" he ground to a halt and peered inside the crack in an old, deteriorating tile. It revealed a testing chamber with various Aperture Science mechanisms that might have rendered the test unsolvable for the core, but he paid no attention to that. He was more focused on trying to find the girl with the ponytail. "Lady! Lady, a-are you in there?" He knew he probably wasn't going to get a vocal response, but he tried anyways. "Just- Just say something if you're there."

After a few minutes of silence, he gave the chamber a very close examination. It appeared to be empty. He wheeled himself back a little bit and inspected the outside wall. Finally, he found the window that overlooked the chamber. As demanded by protocol, the computer screen beside the window showed a number and a series of boxes. The number was 15. Test chamber number 15. Underneath it was a smaller set of numbers that were separated by a slash. it read 12/30. The girl only had three more chambers to go before she reached this one!

"Brilliant! I'll just sit here and wait!" Wheatley said, excitedly. He stared into the chamber through the window and hummed quietly to himself.

***

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" The human shouted as he looked fearfully around the room. She didn't humor him just yet. In her camera's view, she could see the door slide open. The man slowly made his way to it, eyes darting everywhere but at the one place that could answer his question. The camera followed his jagged movements with a smoother swoop.

"That doesn't really matter either, now does it?" She said, finally breaking her cold silence. "But, I'll tell you anyways. I'm everywhere.[/] There's nowhere on this facility you can't go where I won't be. There isn't anything you can say or do that I won't know about. So, don't you [i]dare try to defy me. In here, I am God." Having said that, she turned the speaker in his room off. It clicked and then fizzled a little bit as the electricity to it stopped flowing.