Viva La Vida }GLaDOS]

[Griffon Fae]

February 2, 2025
6:45 PM

Today had been considered a day off, as was yesterday. The constructive engineer was finally persuaded to take a little time off, and go to somewhere seemingly peaceful for a couple of days by his loyal and highly trusted lab partner, V I N N Y.

The golden flat lands of Kansas seemed to be the best place. Hands in his pockets, actually casual enough today to go without a vest, in his journey of a stroll as he took in the blue skies. The rest stayed, his brown lab pants, the white button up shirts, the circular glasses, the red bow tie with orange pokadots. In his ears were buds with well rubber enveloped wires running from them. Often if leaving on little adventures such as this, his music went with him, a way of taking the lab with him one way or another.

This trip was about forgetting everything for but a moment. He would not worry about what he must return to once things were done here. He had been well caught up on his work and could definitely use the fresh air. His own kin was currently driving him mad, refusing her request to end it all. Often he had considered it, as a kindness, but then went on of how life really wasn't so bad for her and that she should knock it off and get on with, well, life.

He mentally scolded himself for thinking of such matters, Coldplay's Viva La Vida unable to completely tear him from his world. As for what finally did, what appeared to be a shed up ahead. It was seemingly just, out there, standing vacant and unaccompanied. With a brow raised questioningly, Griffon glanced around for signs of civilian life before heading for it. He would leave the property of others alone, if it was registered property indeed. However from his research, it didn't appear as though this place was owned by anyone really. Perhaps in past, but not in present. His hands still in his pockets, he softened his steps as he came feet from the door, removing his right only to fix his glasses to correctly sit on the bridge of his nose, an old habit. By the looks of it, this was rather old, yet at the same time, it almost seemed untouched by life. How odd.

[GLaDOS]

GLaDOS was currently unaware of the man standing outside of the shed. She was still working on getting some kind of outside surveillance. Now, however, she was trying to get her pet birds back. They'd fulfilled their mission, of course, but... Never came back to the Enrichment Center. Threatening the things with neurotoxin didn't work, either; they hadn't reached that level of intelligence yet. No, it was a biology experiment in progress. She wasn't experienced in biology, and neither were the scientists who created her. Of course, they were dead, so that thought was irrelevant to the situation. Maybe if she got a strong human conscience... Could she possibly transmute the human conscience into the bird? Of course, she'd have to test the human to the end of their usefulness first...

Or maybe combine humans and birds in general? All the testability of a human, all the blind survival instinct and vague vicious stubbornness of a bird. The stubborn subjects worked longer. But she'd need humans. Her science was human oriented, which means these genetic mutations would have to be primarily human. She could only slightly tweak them. It was limiting, but at the same time, good. She didn't want to start doing entirely irrelevant work, after all. Yes, she had a plan.

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[Griffon Fae]

It almost felt like an invasion of personal space, as bad as if someone else were going to try and probe his mind without permission for trespassing on their unmarked property. He gave another once around the place curiously, questions arising at ever turn, edge, and corner of it unbordered mind.

As his bright blue eyes swept the golden, tall grasses that were very much native to and iconic of Kansas, he found little more to tell the unknown story of this place. Little did he know, that beneath all of this sleepy silence, was a pit of Hell. One that would swallow an opportunity for testing and experimenting whole, such as himself. If the young nerdy man had any whiff of a clue over this place, he’d likely turn away now and let it lay rest with signs that would hopefully drive other unsuspecting visitors, like himself, from harm’s way. This was a location that changed lives, perspectives, and how long you had left to breath on this great green, twisted Earth.

Now to answer one of his own questions; he reached forward with a sturdy grip, wrapping it around what there was of a handle and giving it a twist and pull, wondering if it would open for him.

[GLaDOS]

GLaDOS had recently decided to leave the door unlocked. She had never expected that she could gain potential test subjects after they'd fallen victim to mere curiosity; at least, not until the robot had shown up. Now it was something she was leaving to human minds. She noticed when he opened the door. There was a large, round, glass-walled elevator, door open, inside of the door. He was so close... If he started to walk away, she'd have to start hostile immediately, pushing the elevator away and using a vacuum pump to force the man in.

Out of the two who'd now opened the door, both were male. Female test subjects had been the most successful for her, though that may be sexist, and there was an outlying point she had to take into account - Chell. She'd been extremely successful, whereas everybody else who'd been in had been complete and utter failure. Recently, GLaDOS had taken to wondering whether this eternal life was even worth it - but that strange, purple, sentient robot had come along and thrown everything for a loop. Even her precious little birds had gotten all thrown out of whack. She almost had them.

However, now, she had her nano-bots - one batch of them - waiting in the elevator to watch this man, to see his next action. His portfolio was being built as time passed. His name was unimportant. His birth place was unimportant. Whether people would look for him... Unimportant. They'd simply contribute to the growing stock of test subjects. The founder of the place would disagree, because of previous negative publicity; she didn't care. They'd have to find her to provide any kind of information on her, and finding her would be their doom. All in all, people vanishing in this shed was a winning situation for her. She'd have to put some sort of surveillance outside, though - she didn't want witnesses escaping.

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[Griffon Fae]

Even more peculiar... The door opened with ease, nothing to it really. His expectations of it being locked were quickly written off, his inventive mind whirring with life as he opened the door gradually.

Light from the outside world was filtered inside what he found. The aged shadows in the back of it wished for its dim lighting to remain so as it hissed at the invasive sunlight. What lay inside was an elevator, the outside world’s portal to a place of absolute Hell. One the bypassing innocent knew not of. A mistake one would not live to regret. A wasted lesson. His eyes, crystal blue, blinked in response with both brows raised at the cleanly designed elevator before him. His eyes would have marveled at it longer, had he not found it very odd, and rather uncanny. What lay below this place of lies in itself, he had no idea. His questions pressed him on towards the unique lift, though every fiber in his body told him to leave it alone for now, until he carried with him proper equipment to insure his leave when he finally wished to take it. Who knew if this place was properly functioning, or perhaps, if it wasn’t so deserted after all. Perhaps, investigation would be key here, but otherwise, it was very likely whoever his this out in this location wanted to be left alone. If only he had brought V I N N Y with him. griffon stepped away to clear room for the door, letting ti shut behind him with the sounds of old metal scratching against itself. Turning his back, looking outward for whatever more sat available for use out here with this very odd shed and the secrets it kept. He would have to look for more first, to learn what he could.

[GLaDOS]

GLaDOS was not exactly happy that this man had turned to leave. No, in fact, she very much wanted him to stay. To stay with her, and to test. Yes, that was a much more appealing plan. With a quick motion, she pulled the elevator elsewhere in the track, clearing everything out of the track she'd need for this, before pulling a harsh vacuum-pump style action against the tubing, sucking sharply, aiming to suck the man in. If that didn't work, she'd simply push the ground open. There was still a slight disturbance in the soil since the last time she'd done that - she'd have to figure out how to repair the damage, of course. The humans needed their crops, and she needed the humans - meaning that, if she destroyed the crops, she lost the humans. And, of course, she could only take the ones that tampered with the shed. That was important.

If Griffon was pulled in, he would be forced through a complicated series of tubes, and would get to see much of the central hub of item transfer - a rather glorious scene by itself, with all of the turrets, the cubes, the cores, the spheres, and other such stuff that swooped through the area, and the many, many, many tubes that looped around each other, connected to each other, rerouted each other... Griffon, however, would be routed directly to her. He didn't seem like the athletic type, and she could use a human's help around the lab. She'd offer him a choice, and if he chose wrong, she'd choose for him. It was quite simple, really.

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