Title: What Would You Do?
Characters: Chell, GLaDOS, Batman, Superman
Rating: G.
Disclaimer: DC owns half of them, Valve owns the other half.
Warning:Some spoilers for the end of Portal 2. This is not exactly a crossover between Portal and DC. It also is not a love song. Nor is it my beautiful house.
Word Count: 398
A/N: Happy Birthday, Mina
She remembers very little of her past.
Her own name is a mystery. They call her Chell. It feels right, but she isn't quite sure.
It is, perhaps a side-effect of the long sleep. She doesn't have the time to worry about it now. Someday she will sit and remember. After she is finished.
She remembers almost nothing of her father. Shadows on a wall. Names spoken in harsh, bitter tones.
Her mother was tall, beautiful. That is how she remembers her, at any rate. To a child, all parents must seem tall, strong, and yet somehow out of reach...
Most of her childhood is gone. Only flashes and bits of words remain. She hangs on to what she can.
She remembers stories of other people, two men in particular, who had lost their parents. One was strong beyond reckoning. He could fly and could carry the weight of the world.
She remembers the first time she stepped through a portal. It was like flying. She too would carry the weight of the world.
The second man studied everything until he understood both the good and the evil. He was decisive and could turn every situation to his advantage.
She has studied the facilities and the computers all her life. She understands them. She will turn this situation to her advantage.
Now she has only the companion cube and a name. Caroline.
Someday she will become a reporter. She will tell people what happened here.
Today she is a detective. She will find her way back inside. She will free Caroline from the machine. She will endure.
Miles below her, GLaDOS accesses a file under the directory "Caroline." The memory is of a small girl (1.02 meters tall [clutching a sheaf of unscientific {even fictional!} data] [complaining about a Halloween costume]). She doesn't want to be a princess, she wants to dress as a bat. The file resonates with feeling. The child will not give up.
The next file confirms that the child won the argument.
There is another unusual sensation attached to the file that GLaDOS equates to pride.
She makes a note to destroy all files pertaining to this "Superman" and "Batman."
Nothing good can come of that.
The cameras scan the surface. GLaDOS can find no sign of Chell. She has evaded detection.
Well, maybe one thing...