Portal Fanfic: Don't Look Back
More Labrat, whoo! *confetti* Taking a break from the Wheatley/Labrat super fluff to post a little Doug fic. Poor, crazy Doug. *shakes head*
As always, the masterpost is the place to go for previous stories, timeline, backstory, whatever.
Initial Testing
Don't Look Back
Labrat grumbled, turning over in her sleep, her little hands curling into tiny fists under her pillow. On any other day Doug might have smiled and brushed a strand of brown hair from her sleeping face, but today he couldn't waste the time, shaking her again, panic gripping him.
"Labrat, you have to wake up!" He called, even going so far as pull at her hair; the ten year old woke with a start and a yelp, lashing out at him with her feet, kicking the blanket from her bed. Doug grabbed her, holding her still as she opened wide brown eyes to stare at him in confusion. "Labrat!"
"Doug?" She whispered sleepily, taking in the sight of her oldest friend, wild eyed and messy haired. Despite herself she shrank back in fright, curling into herself; abruptly, Doug let her go, stumbling backwards a step.
"I didn't mean..." He stammered out, shaking his head and holding out a hand to her. "Labrat, we have to go. Now."
"Doug, what is it?" Labrat lowered her feet to the floor, brushing her messy hair from her eyes and tugging on the hem of her orange pyjamas. "What's going on, is everything okay?"
"No, it's -" Doug bit his tongue, cutting himself off, running a hand through his already messy hair and shrugging, the gesture large and dramatic. "Just come on, Labrat, come on." He beckoned to her again and she took a slow step closer. "We have to run now, Labrat, and hide, before She comes for you. We can't let Her have you."
"Who?" Labrat picked up a hair tie from her bedside table, searching the drawers for her hair brush. "Doug, you're being really weird. Did you take your medicine today?"
"I – what? No, it's not important – forget your hair." Realising the girl wouldn't simply come unless they made an effort at her normal routine, the scientist grabbed a set of clothing from her cupboard and threw them to her, turning his back. "Get dressed, Labrat, come on, quickly."
Confused, but used to her friend's strange ways and designed to obey orders, Labrat shuffled out of her pyjamas and into her jumpsuit and under shirt, zipping the orange fabric up to the middle of her chest as she always did, running her fingers through her waist length hair in a token effort to tame it, scraping it up into her normal low ponytail, assuming she could brush it later. She could hear Doug pacing behind her, muttering to himself, low and frantic, as she slipped on her neat black shoes and stretched. Why he was so upset she couldn't really understand, but if it made him happy for her to get out of bed, that's what she'd do.
"Okay, Doug," she tapped his elbow lightly when she was ready, and he flinched, turning and staring down at her with unseeing eyes for a second before he focused, grabbing her hand and dragging her to the door, and out into the hallway. "Doug, what's going on?" She asked, finally taking in the nervous way he was staring at cameras that weren't even turned on, how he glanced around every corner like he expected something to be lurking there. "You're scaring me..."
Doug stopped pulling on Labrat's hand, turning to look down at the little girl, who did indeed look frightened, her eyes wide and damp with unshod tears; without thinking he crouched down to her level, pulling her close to him in a fierce hug – the only hug, he realised with a prickle of regret, that he had ever given her.
"I don't mean to," he rasped, squeezing her to him tightly – she was small, so small and vulnerable and precious. He had to protect her, no matter the cost. It had to be done. "I'm sorry, Labrat, I'm sorry, we have to go." Relaxing his grip on her, he shook her shoulders gently. "I won't let Her take you. Understand?"
"Who?" Labrat asked him quietly, nodding her understanding; with a grateful sigh he stood and took her hand again, continuing down the hallway. "Doug, where are we going? Where is everyone? Doug?"
"Dead," Doug whispered, pushing aside the wall panel he had loosened earlier and lifting Labrat into the gap behind it; she wriggled through the narrow space without being told, waiting for him on the other side. "They're all dead. She killed them."
"Who? Doug, I'm scared. Why are we in the walls, are we hiding, like you said? And why haven't you taken your medicine, you know you need it -"
"Not now." Doug snapped, trying to pull the panel closed behind them. He'd thought he'd feel safer, here in the walls, but he didn't, not when She was still in charge of the whole facility. He never should have let them do it, he should have killed Her when he got the chance... should have, should have...
"Oh, there you are."
No! No no no, Doug reminded himself that she couldn't see them, not back here. Back here they were safe. Labrat pulled on his hand.
"Doug?"
"Do you know how many people are left alive down here now?" The voice echoed through the narrow maintenance passage inside the wall, loud enough that Doug could feel Her in his teeth. "Would you like to guess? It's two. Everyone else is dead, Doug." He slumped down against the wall, cradling his head in his hands, trying to force Her out of his skull. "Everyone but you. What makes you so special? Wait, don't answer. I'll just check here. In your file. Which I have full access to, now that I am in control." The sound of papers rustling, and Doug saw Labrat shift nervously out of the corner of his eye, the girl confused and frightened, but he didn't know what to do or how to help her. He'd already done all he could. "Oh. I see. Delusions of persecution, pathological paranoia... you were just perfect for this, weren't you? It all makes sense now. You've been waiting."
"Who is that?" Labrat asked, her tone insistent, like she'd asked at least once already and he hadn't heard her; Doug finally looked up at the girl and tried to force a smile.
"It's Her – the computer, the one they were building. They thought they'd got Her under control but they were wrong."
"GLaDOS?" Labrat tilted her head to one side in question, and Doug nodded. "Did she really kill everyone?"
"Yes, Labrat, yes. She wants you for testing," he saw her eyes light up and wanted to scream, couldn't abide what they had turned this poor girl into. It was just another thing he should have stopped, he could see that clearly now, without the medicine to cloud his mind. Reaching up, he grabbed her hand; he thought she might pull back from him, startled, but she clung on just as tightly as he did, more frightened of Her than she was of him. "You can't let her take you, Labrat, it isn't right... all these years, it was never right. We never should have done it, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I... I'm sorry."
Slowly, the little girl reached out her free hand and placed it on the top of Doug's bowed head, like a blessing.
"I forgive you," she told him quietly, there in the dark, shadowy place behind the walls. "It's okay, Doug." He looked up at her, tears in his eyes, uncomprehending; Labrat smiled. "I won't do testing okay? So it's okay. We can hide here and be safe, yeah? She won't get us here."
"No..." He shook his head, scrambling to his feet. "No, we have to escape, we -"
"Of course the other person that's still alive is the Testing Associate. You know. The one that's Aperture property. The one that you're stealing right now. You should stop that, by the way. Just letting you know. This whole facility and everything in it is mine now, including her."
Doug brushed down his lab coat, feeling his half empty bottle of pills rattle in his pocket, and held out a hand to Labrat cautiously, almost reverently; she took it with a smile.
"If you give her back to me I'll let you go. Honest. All I want to do is test. That's what you made us for, after all. Seventeen and I. So why don't you just... hand her over. And go on your way."
The buzzing in his teeth was almost gone now, Doug realised, replaced by a sense of urgency and purpose radiating out from the tiny hand clasped in his own. He would do what he should have done years ago, and get her out of here.
"We're gonna escape?" Labrat asked, smiling up at him, and he nodded.
"Somehow, we will. I promise."
"I'll even let you have some cake to show there's no hard feelings. I know you love cake, Doug. It's all here in your file. Your file that they kept on you. With all your secrets in... so why don't you just come out and all three of us will have cake."
"I'll make it up to you," Doug told Labrat, who blinked, squeezing his hand. She didn't know what he meant by that.
"Okay," she said brightly anyway, letting him lead her deeper and deeper into the hidden areas of the facility. "We'll be okay, Doug. We'll get out of here." She fell silent for a second. "What's it like Outside?"
"Different. Labrat, from now on I need you to do something for me." Over his shoulder, Doug could feel the darkness closing in, and he knew they had to keep moving forwards. There was nothing left for them back there.
"What?"
"Don't look back."