Anima Questio

The continuing adventures of the members of the Sector 39 Resistance following the fall of Citadel 17 and the return of the Woman in Orange.

[animaquestio]

She nodded and returned the smile.  It...looked like a pincer maneuver was the best idea.

Once again, she took a deep breath and remembered that she was going to have faith in everyone.  Was she still worried about them?  Absolutely.  But she had to remember that these people were members of the Resistance.  They knew what they were doing.  Right now, her job was to act as commander.

Trying her best to push her fears and doubts aside, keep the aggressive impulses in check, her face took on her trademark resolution.

"Alright, then that's what we'll do.  If possible, take a prisoner.  But don't risk yourselves over it."

She wasn't quite sure if they'd have time to interrogate.  They all were supposed to converge on the Central A.I. chamber, and that was likely to be where they would meet the most resistance.  She didn't want to leave the teams separate for too long.  Fuck, she didn't want to keep her own team separate for too long. But, she needed to act quickly.

Her fingers drummed pensively on her weapon as she though of how to best divide her forces.  Both groups should have at least one of the former cores with them, as they knew the facility best.

"Piper," she gave her lieutenant a small grin, "take Lucy and Hester.  I'll go with Tau, Sam and Thorn.  Is that alright with everyone?"

From the Muzzle of Lucy's gun, Rose let out a growl of affirmation.

[animaquestio]

Sam nodded dutifully, inclining his head toward the end of the corridor. "One big group, ma'am. I think we can get the drop on them like you suggested, if we move quickly enough." Tau nodded, stroking thoughtfully at his beard. "I think that's a sound plan for now. I doubt we can capture one to interrogate if they're Elites, or even ordinary transhumance, but if there are any Metrocops with them, that might be a viable option." He turned back to Chell with a small smile. "Either way, it's your call, Commander."

[animaquestio]

Chell's knuckles turned white as she gripped her shotgun.

It...had only been a few minutes, God where was he-

A wave of relief washed over her as Sam emerged again and delivered his report.  She nodded and game him a small smile.  "Thanks, Sam.  You did well."

And you came back alive.

Finally secure with the knowledge that her scout made it back, Chell began mulling over the information Sam had given them.

Five of them...

Normally, her answer to this would be to snake around and rush the group, after getting a lay of her surrounding.  And the impulse that was becoming increasingly hard to ignore certainly spurred on the thought.

...damn.  She really wasn't used to leading a group around.  But she had fought along side other people a lot lately.  True, most of the time she was under Lily's command, but she'd made some...executive decisions herself.

Her eyes traveled up to her friends.  They were all waiting...waiting to hear from her...

...at least, she thought they all were.  Lucy's bouncing on her heels and murderous look in her eye suggested that her mind might be elsewhere.

Well, she could use that focus for something.

Her brows knitted together in concentration, "Sam, are they spread out or all moving together as a group?"

If they were spread out, they could pick them off one by one.  But...

"I...can we come at them from both sides?  If we split into two groups, we can box them in."

Even though the bastards had been here for nearly five years, well...few knew this place better than she did.

"I know a few corridors we can use to get behind them," she looked up at Tau.  

It would definitely benefit her to get the opinion of her strategist.

"Do you think that would work?"

[animaquestio]

Sam edged his way to the front of the group, nodding eagerly.

"Yes ma'am! I used to do this in my first body all the time! I'll be back quick!"

Without further fanfare, he scuttled off into the darkness.

Minutes ticked past in tense silence. Toward the back of the group, Thorn could be heard shushing the still-growling Rose from time to time as the little headcrab began to voice her displeasure with their nearness to the enemy again.

Finally, the little scout trotted back into sight, looking slightly disheveled, but no worse for the wear.

"Five, ma'am. On patrol. I don't think they'll know we're here if we keep our voices down."

[animaquestio]

There was something about Aperture that, no matter what, caused Chell to wholly, unequivocally focus on her goals.  Just the atmosphere around her heightened her will to survive.

Her will to win.

...some things, it seemed, could not be gotten over so easily.

Glancing over her shoulder, she met the more than slightly nervous faces of her friends.  Despite her laser-like, almost cold focus, she felt it too.  It was an interesting metal balancing act for her, though not one that she was entirely unfamiliar with.

Sure, she had made friends and had been very concerned about the people she trained as a scout.  But ever since she'd lost her memory, she'd grown close to these people in a way she'd never thought possible.  They were-

No, she thought, as she picked her way around the now silent and un-moving panels, They'll never...I'll never have a family...

GLaDOS had seen to that...

But, that couldn't stop her from thinking of them that way.  She loved these people, and she could live with the fact that it wasn't mutual.  So long as she could keep them safe.

She was picking her way around some twisted metal of a destroyed catwalk railing when Piper gripped her arm.

...yeah.  She could hear it too.  The tromping of the heavy boots interspersed with the crackle of radio static.

Almost immediately, the familiar aggressive feeling welled up from the pit of her stomach, seeping into her muscles, urging her to act.  This, coupled with her natural impulsiveness made her twitch on the spot in anticipation.

But this was different...different than her first time back, which hadn't gone at all well.  And different than the fight with the Lotus Eater and the...the attack on Lake Point...

No...this time, she was the leader.  Foreign as the notion was, which was...really fucking foreign if she were honest with herself, that was the reality of the situation.

She wasn't going to rush in.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded at Piper. "I hear it.  Let's...let's wait just a second," she whispered to her squad.

Everyone stopped and remained silent, even Lucy seemed to manage to hold herself still.  Rose, however, only began growling louder, waving her forelegs in the air.

Chell's brows furrowed in concentration.  Could they ambush them?  How well were they armed, trained?  How many of them were-

Her eyes widened a bit as she turned to Sam.

"Sam, could you-" she swallowed a bit.  He was so young...

But that's what Sam was here for. 

“No, I’m not committed, ma’am. I’d be happy to go with you. Maybe I could scout ahead for your group a bit? Help you prevent ambushes?”

No, she was going to trust him.

"Sam, do you think you can see how many there are?"

[animaquestio]

The little group moved silently through the space between the walls at first, each member nervously wrapped up in his or her own thoughts. The only sound was the gentle growling of Rose from her perch on the end of Lucy’s gun.

At least one member of the group was ready for action.

Eventually, the sound of Combine radio chatter flared off to the group’s right; apparently, they were waiting just on the other side of the panels.

Piper nearly collided with Chell, reaching out to grip her arm fiercely.

"Wh-what do we do? Do we engage, or…?"

[animaquestio]

She nodded, returning the gesture, "I'll do my best to answer.  I know I don't have to tell you not to run ahead without my okay."

Even though they went through the potential hazards countless times...well...Aperture did have a habit of springing surprises of an extremely dangerous variety on people.  GLaDOS controlled or not.

At Tau's touch, Chell jumped a little, that increasingly familiar heat rising to her cheeks.  She tried to respond to him, but between her nervousness over the mission and...whatever was going on when he was around, she only managed a tiny mumble of, "Y-yeslet's..."

Thankfully, everyone was already gathered, so she was spared a moment to collect her thoughts.  With a smile to Tau, she turned to her group.

Most were standing at attention, at least, Hester and Thorn were.  Lucy was busy playing with Rose, who had perched on top of Lucy's gun barrel, squealing ferciously.  The headcrabs antics combined with Piper's friendly gesture very nearly elicited a giggle in return, but she settled for a more dignified smile.

There was a strange dissonance between planning taking back Aperture and actually doing it.  In the past, occasionally to her detriment, she'd always been one to just...do things.  Of course, she'd had to plan how to solve the test chambers, and she'd made countless maps during her stint as a scout.  But...this was just...different.  Now the lives of her loved-...erm...friends, were at stake.

Was she hell bent on completing this mission?  

Hell yes.

We're going to do this... she thought, as that familiar determination sparked in her eyes.

But...not at the cost of her friends.

Once again, she cursed her lack of aptitude for rousing speeches and addressed her group.  "Okay...uh...like I said back at the base, let's all do our best.  We'll all be cautious, mindful of our surroundings," definitely a major one..., "and watch each other's backs."

She took another deep breath, taking one last, long look over the faces of all those gathered with her toady.

"If...if everyone's ready; let's head out."

And with that, and a grim look of resolution, she began the march out into the east wing of the facility.

[animaquestio]

Tau shook his head, giving her a reassuring little smile.

"I don't think so. Not until we see the actual route, anyway. I'm sure I'll have some things to ask you then."

Reaching out to take her arm again with a playful smile, he began to steer her back toward the mass of gathered rebels outside.

"Come on, then, Captain. Let's go rally the troops."

The troops, as it turned out, were already rallied.

They stood in a whispering, chattering pack at the eastern end of the med wing, darting glances around at the others groups that seemed to be gathering in the other corners in a similar fashion.

At the head of the little column, Piper gave a mock-salute with her wrench, trying her hardest to suppress a giggle, and largely failing.

"Troops are all rounded up, Captain. We're ready to get going."

[animaquestio]

Once again, Chell felt a slight rush of heat to her cheeks as she took the proffered arm, smiling up at Tau.

Her stomach flipped again, but this time it was a lighter feeling.  Though she couldn't quite put her finger on why...  It was a different feeling...

Though she didn't have time to ruminate on it for very long, as soon as the pair entered the side room, the gravity of the situation returned to the forefront of her mind.

Despite this, she returned Piper's cheery wave with a smile of her own; Piper was always a reassuring presence.

GLaDOS's gesture was also returned in kind; Chell paid her precisely no mind, not even bothering to shoot a cold glare her way.

It was as much as she deserved...

And there were bigger things to worry about.

Pushing all the feelings to the pit of her stomach, she focused in on Lily's speech, her mind engulfing every word.

It was time.  She needed to give it her all.

Closing her eyes, she pictured the east wing of the facility.  From the weeks of looking at the map, she was finally able to assign a cardinal location to all the halls and catwalks she'd traversed during her bid for freedom.

The east wing mainly consisted of the innards of the facility, catwalks, the turret assembly line, the redemption line, the interconnected tubes that made up pneumatic diversity network.  ...all in all it was probably one of the more dangerous routes.  But she'd specifically requested it.  The others...well...Lily and her Resistance member had never set foot inside Aperture.  She...wanted to make it as easy for them as possible.  And the cores and GLaDOS, it was true they knew the facility far better than she did, but they'd never traversed it on foot.  With hostile forces in it, no less.

She...didn't want to put her group in any more danger.  But...perhaps a small part of her had confidence that she could lead them through safely.  After all...she...she'd done this before...twice, actually.  The east wing was also the route she took when she'd come back four years ago.

...cam back because she was worried about-

Right.  No.  Not important.

This time she had the Long Fall Boots to avoid breaking her leg and getting captured...

Yes...she was definitely pleased with her role in the invasion.

Nodding to herself, she turned to Tau, giving him a smile somewhere between sheepish and reassuring.  

"Everything seems clear to me, do you have any questions?"

[animaquestio]

With a little smile, Tau nodded, offering his arm to her before setting off toward the appointed meeting place in one of the side rooms.

The other captains and lieutenants were seated at various positions around the room, while Lily stood at the front, a makeshift pointer fashioned from a broken branch clenched in her hands, and a printout of the facility's layout tacked to the wall behind her. Piper waved cheerily from her position next to a line of shelves, but GLaDOS didn't even acknowledge Chell's presence as she entered, preferring to glare at the floor instead.

Lily cleared her throat, tapping at the map as she spoke.

"All right. So, we're all here. We've been over this plan before, so I'll keep it brief. We're fanning out into a ring, creeping along the perimeter, and making our way inward. I'll be taking my group around to the north side, the Administrator will close in from the West, Jones takes this southern portion here, and Chell will be taking the East side of the facility."

She whipped the pointer around behind her back, clenching its length in both hands.

"Be cautious; emphasize stealth, try to keep hidden, save as much ammo and manpower as you can. The real fight will be at Central Control; once we take that, the stragglers are our prisoners. And that's the gist of it. Any questions?"

[animaquestio]

"Sure did," Chell said, puffing out her chest in mock-pride.  She grinned at Laura's next statement.  "You'd rather fight than hide?  That's something I can completely get behind."

....hell, that was basically all she knew.  Not that it was a bad thing; it certainly served her well.  And was especially useful now.

"Ah, right!  Don't worry; I won't keep him for too long," she waved at Laura as she went, though she thought she felt her stomach flip as saw the older woman's slight blush.

Though, wherever that feeling came from, it was gone as soon as Tau addressed her.

"Heh, she is.  Who can dislike someone who makes explosions?  No one!"

With a bit of a nervous nod, she gestured toward the small crowd gathering around Lily on the far side of the medical wing.

"We're going to have a meeting  before we set things into motion.  I thought it might be beneficial to...well, everyone, if I brought you along.  I'm sure the other commanders thought the same thing.  I guess we're going over the plan again and smoothing out some details."

She took a deep breath.

Right.

She could do this.

She would do this.

"Shall we?"

[animaquestio]

Laura let out a hooting laugh, clapping a hand over mouth in embarrassment as it escaped, but grinning broadly behind the hand.

"Seven? That's fucking awesome. But as to why I came? Just decided I'd rather fight than hide. And y'know, Hester was coming, so…"

She darted a quick glance back at Tau, blushing slightly, before backing up a bit.

"But anyway, I won't keep you from your strategist for too long, ma'am. I'll see you after we win!"

Tau shook his head as she scooted off into the crowd, a slight smile on his face.

"Treasure, ain't she? But at any rate, what can I do for you, commander?"

[animaquestio]

Nodding, Chell gave the woman an enthusiastic smile.

"That's a hell of a story; Hester's a good woman."

So Hester was her stepmother?  That was wonderful.  It...it didn't matter if you were blood-related to someone.  You could still be family...

"Nice you meet you, Laura!  I'm Chell," she said before giving a good natured laugh, "Ha!  Don't knock yourself, you should see me around anything electronic.  My basic repairs course is legendary.  I think we stopped counting the fires I started after seven..."

She chuckled and shook her head, "Demolitions; that's fucking awesome.  I do enjoy a good explosion..."

No, she was certainly no stranger to explosions.  She'd caused quite a few of them down here.  In fact, it was still a bit odd being down here and not wanting to blow it to hell and get out.

With a grin that approximated maniacal, she continued, "Who roped you into coming here, if you don't mind my asking?"

[animaquestio]

The woman nodded enthusiastically, turning around to give Chell a friendly grin. She looked to be in the process of exiting her thirties, but the grey hadn't yet begun to creep into her coppery hair.

"Ah, yeah, that's me! Well… kinda. Hester's my stepmom. My dad left my birth mom and took me with him, and then when he married Hester, we got along good. She stuck with me even after he died during the War."

Sticking out her hand, the woman grinned.

"Sorry, though! Didn't get yer name. Mine's Laura. Laura Starke. Demolitions Expert. I'm not the best at… a lot of things… but I'm pretty careful, and as it turns out, good at things that go boom!"

[animaquestio]

The younger woman smiled, "That's good to hear; I have to admit, mine have been all over the place.  Not the greatest mindset for the leader of this squad to be in."  She shook her head, "Yeah.  Anyway..." she followed Hester's gaze over to the other side of the wing where, sure enough, Tau was chatting with dark-haired young woman.

"Thanks; I'll go see if I can tear him away from your daughter," giving Hester a wave, she weaved in and out of the crowd in order to reach the pair.

Huh, she didn't know Hester had a daughter.  Then again, with all the planning they've been doing she hadn't gotten a chance to get to know her on a more personal level.  She'd have to change that after they won.

Because they would win.

Nearing the pair, Chell smiled and approached them, "Sorry for interuppting, but would you mind if I borrow Tau for a bit?" she asked the dark-haired woman.  "You're Hester's daughter, right?"

[animaquestio]

The weathered old woman shrugged, giving Chell a placid, neutral look.

"Mornin'. Not feelin' anything right now, but I s'pose I'll be more tense later. Ain't later yet, though, so there's no point in dwellin' on it."

The other question, she considered for a moment, before jerking her head toward the other end of the wing.

"Th' professor mighta been hangin' around with my daughter down at the enda th' clinic, there. I kin tell it's him from a distance, but her, she's a sight more common lookin' from a hundred feet back."

[animaquestio]

Chell scoffed playfully, "Going back to sleep, really?  When we have an all-important mission to do?  Some Lieutenant you are!"

She gave Piper a few lighthearted nudges with her foot before shaking her head.  "Heh, I'll go find her.  Just remember, I'm pretty sure we have this whole re-take Aperture thing scheduled before noon."

With one final nudge, Chell stepped into the bustling crowd of rebels.  She spotted Lucy off to the side, giving Rose what was left of her rations.  She was going on about something to Thorn.

A small smirk crossed Chell's face; it looked like poor Thorn couldn't get a word in edgewise.

...all of her friends.

She had to step up as a leader today.  Piper and all of her friends were counting on her.  And they had faith in her.  Hell, even Lily believed in her, what with her short-lived promotion.

Well...I'm not looking to prove myself or make anyone proud, she thought as she scanned the gathering for Hester, I'll be happy so long as everyone makes it through this alive.

But now wasn't the time to sit around fretting over it.  Now, like her first times through these halls, was the time to get it done.  She was going to do this.

We're going to retake Aperture, her face hardened into a familiar determined grimace, and I'll do my best to get everyone through safely.

After a few moments of weaving in an out of the people milling about, she spotted Hester near the far wall of the medical wing.  Maneuvering around a few more people, she managed to emerge on the other end and call out to the older woman with a smile.

"Good morning, Hester.  Have you seen Tau around?  Oh, and how...are you feeling about the mission?"