A/N: I'm not dead! Just really busy with school. But here's a one-shot that I wrote when I was bored one day. I've had this one sitting around on my deviantart and my tumblr and I never got around to putting it here, so here it is. Enjoy. I had to re-format the font because of a bunch of broken HTML, so please let me know if I missed anything!

Fragile

By FlikFreak

By now, most of the fires had died down. GLaDOS, true to her word, had fixed every remaining problem in the facility in a matter of moments. The only thing left to do, really, was cleaning up the mess that the moron left behind, and feel grateful that he wouldn't be causing it again where he was now. Still, he'd managed to twist the place around in such remarkable ways that she began to wonder if he did it on purpose at a last laugh. It seemed like something he would do, that little imbecilic metal ball...

She reveled in her anger at the thought. Oh, how good it felt to have outbursts of frustration without shorting out. What a strange thing to miss. Nevertheless, she did miss it. Being stuck in a potato with only your basic programming and a slow-clap processor was incredibly depressing at times, not to mention dull.

Fires and piles of rubble weren't the only messes that needed tending to, however. GLaDOS still had her test subject to deal with. After dragging her back in from the moon portal, she'd simply dropped her on the floor and went back to work cleaning everything up before the damage got too far out of control. She was surprised to see Chell had remained right where she was, instead of heading off to wreak havoc once again.

No, not surprised. Surprised wasn't the right word. It was something else...

GLaDOS slowly turned the chassis to the side, pointing her optic casually in the human's direction. "It's over, you know. You can get up now."

Chell remained on the chamber floor.

GLaDOS tensed, narrowing her optic at the woman. Was she planning something? "What are you lying there for? You look stupid. Get up."

Chell ignored GLaDOS and remained on the floor.

Annoyed, GLaDOS activated one of her maintenance arms - ah, it felt nice to have those again - and picked up one of the girl's arms, high enough to lift her torso off the ground a few inches, and dropped it. Still no response, other than the soft thump her body made when it fell back down. For a brief moment, GLaDOS thought she'd finally managed to kill this horrible thorn in her side. Upon closer inspection, however, said thorn was still breathing, and clearly still alive.

Of course. The adrenalin rush of the previous encounter, combined with the brief shortage of oxygen caused by the moon portal, and very likely the lack of rest since the whole debacle began had probably caused Chell to fall unconscious. For such a stubborn trouble-maker, she was certainly fragile.

Fragile...

That little voice from her time in the potato began to pester her again. Fragile was a word that she would have used to describe any other human except this one. Chell had been such a disaster for her that she'd often related her more to a military android in terms of destructive force and ruthlessness. GLaDOS hadn't overlooked the fact that Chell was still human, she'd simply bypassed it out of annoyance; after all, she'd still attempted to use turrets and neurotoxin on her, not to mention crushing her. She knew good and well how to kill a human. There were numerous dead bodies lying around somewhere to prove it. It was when GLaDOS failed to kill this particular human using normal methods that her frustration took over and she began attempting using more potent devices of destruction on her.

GLaDOS found this situation rather curious. Here, in front of her, was the reason she had died twice. The reason the facility had nearly gone to hell in a hand-basket: A human. One that never spoke, never protested, never shot around insults, and most importantly, never gave up. Yet for all her trouble, she was just lying there on the floor doing absolutely nothing.

GLaDOS had every opportunity to kill her right here and now. She could burn her in her sleep. Crush her with one of her maintainance claws like she did Wheatley. Crush her with an actual crusher. Drown her in a pool of acid. Drop her in a circle of turrets. The facility had many, many ways of killing a human being. And yet, something...perhaps it was that little voice...caused GLaDOs to simply do nothing. There was something she wasn't seeing. Something she didn't quite get. What was it...? GLaDOS leaned in, curiosity getting the better of her, and gave Chell a good look-over.

The human looked like she just came from a warzone of colored gels and mad science, which was not far from the truth. There were multiple bruises on her limbs and even a few on her face, coupled with several scars, burn marks (some cleaner than others, and some still fresh), and plenty of scrapes. Her clothes were filthy and battered around in some places, with tears around the legs and lower torso. Her hair was an outright mess, tangled and dirty. There were even numerous stains from the gels that they had encoutered in lower aperture, mostly around her feet. Not surprisingly, there were also a few small bloodstains on her clothing and her boots.

What caught GLaDOS's eye the most was the woman's hands. Though still roughed up, Chell's hands were one of the more clean parts of her body, likely due to her going to great lengths to keep the portal device safe from harm and perfectly operable. GLaDOS had to give her credit for that; after all, the portal gun was Chell's primary means of escaping. She'd noticed this when she had been a potato, of course, but hadn't really paid it much mind at the time, focusing instead on the whole debacle of Caroline's identity and finding a way to get Wheatley off the hot seat without shorting herself out in the process.

Chell was truly nothing more an ordinary human when it came right down to it. Although she was clearly skilled at dodging death, it wouldn't take much to snuff her out. Here she was, a simple, fragile human, unconscious and hanging on to a shred of life. Her breathing had been shallow and slow earlier, but was steadily improving with rest. Her eyes had fallen shut long ago, her body was as limp as a rag doll, and she hadn't responded to any of GLaDOS's jabs from earlier. She was worn out, her energy gone, her mind recovering from the adrenalin rush of the constant peril she'd thrown herself into.

All in the name of simply leaving the facility.

That's all she wanted from the start, wasn't it? And she was so willing to cause so much trouble, go to so many lengths, just to leave? The girl had even allied with a potato that had previously tried to kill her in order to escape. Was there anything she wouldn't do to get what she wanted? And another thought...had GLaDOS simply allowed her to leave, just like that, no strings attached...would she have gone without a fuss?

What a waste, GLaDOS noted. If she were to become one of Aperture's Personality Constructs, she'd make an excellent Adamance Core. Plus, she was a wonderful test subject and had yielded an immense amount of highly useful data.

She reviewed the facts. Chell wanted to leave. GLaDOS wanted to test. If GLaDOS tried to test with Chell, Chell would only cause another enormous disaster in attempt to leave. There was clearly only one route to go here if she didn't want her facility to fall apart again.

GLaDOS called up an elevator, and then activated a facility-wide intercom. "Blue. Orange. Come to the central chamber immediately. I have a job for you to do."