Triple A Batteries

“Morgan Freeman!” Rick shouts almost immediately.

“Two cores—” Craig pauses to look at Wheatley and Virgil, both talking in the background, “—Openly talking about murder.”

“Animals!” Rick replies happily, “I love animals so much! A natural history museum would be cool.”

Wheatley glances at Virgil, as if to confirm he’s not listening. “...Norwegian.”

“Fuck Aperture!” It’s not entirely clear who shouted it.

“Mm. Could be better, if I’m honest.” He’s really quiet.

“Ooh! I’ll take this one!” Virgil steps up to the mic. “Jurassic Park. First movie I ever watched in English, first movie Wheats and I watched together on a date.” He smiles.

Rick smiles. “Nice question, kiddo. Let’s see... mine would probably be a bear—Real predictable, I know. I think Craig’s is an owl, Wheats likes frogs, Virg likes sand cats (Who can blame him, they’re like forever kittens), and Benny likes those stargazer fish. Don’t have the heart to tell ‘m that those things are creepy as all hell. Nigel, though, I’m not quite sure.”

“As well as it can be! I guess...” he pauses. “Nobody’s heard from Nigel in a few days,” he says quietly. “I hope he’s just busy, but...” he sighs.

“I might be off of testing, but I’m still working for the Boss. Can’t stick around the maintenance wing too long, or I’ll look suspicious. Virgil hasn’t associated with the rest of us in a long time.”

“Ah, well... They’re nice enough. Can’t talk to them much or It’ll look suspicious, but...” He shrugs. “Not much else to say.”

“Det går bra!” He chirps.

He shrugs, still on edge. “Guess that makes sense. Aperture came up with a lot of weird stuff in their hayday. I’m... I’m Virgil. Maintenance core PC-003-VES-03.”

“Alternate...self? What are you trying to pull here?”

He growls, a low, deep sound in his throat. “You stay out of the maintenance wing in exchange for me saving your life. I thought I was clear on that.”

“I thought we had a deal,” Virgil hisses.

He grins. “Of course.”