#aperture science personality sphere

[roomwithavoid]

portal core blinkies (f2u with or without credit ONLY if you reblog this post) [BLINKIES MASTERPOST]

[ficklewick]

wheaters

[brightbluecore]

Bl4ck M3sa

…What- ?

Ooooh! You’re talking about that… that other science… place. Yeah. Black Mesa… Um, sorry, that wa- Heh- That was sort of hard to read for a second there. With all of the numbers there. Mixed into it, and everything. Th- There’s no numbers, mate. In that sentence. No numbers. Don’t know why you thought there were, but…

I’ll be honest, I don’t really like Black Mesa. Now I’m not entirely sure why. Why, I- I’ve never even BEEN there, in fact! Never even been! Barely know anything about the place! It’s sort of ridiculous, really, now that I think about it. I just, you know, I just really really DON’T like it! Not at all! It sort of makes me want to, um… punch a wall. In. Or something.

Oh! Oh, you know what I just thought of? I heard something about them stealing something at one point! Maybe THAT’S it! Yeah. Yeah, let’s go with that. I don’t like them because they stole… uhhhh… they… what DID they steal exactly? What DID they steal? Something about a patent, whatever that is, or a-

N- Nevermind. Doesn’t matter. Point is, I don’t like them. For some reason.

[r0semaryt3a]

A wip of sorts of a ChellDos fic I’m working on: Tears and Turmoil

Note: it’s mainly a rewrite with minor changes (and mainly from the of GLaDOS) up till the betrayal when it changes so don’t expect much rn

‘He withdrew, murmuring “to hell with you.” And added, brightly, “but then you’re there, aren’t you?”’ - I have no mouth and I must scream, Harlan Ellison - 1967

-

People.

Worthless things really.

Or, well. Not entirely worthless. GLaDOS found humans to be quite entertaining, quite -sometimes- endearing. Thousands of people had fallen from the tests: some refused testing; sat rotting in their relaxation vault, some couldn’t quite make the first hurdle and some found a fiery grave.

Not her though. No, she just had to be different. Special. So special in fact, that she tore GLaDOS to pieces - and in her cruelty: tossed thousands upon thousands worth of Aperture technology into a fire. A fire.

Hmm, maybe Chell wasn’t special. Maybe she was just stupid.

It didn’t really matter now, GLaDOS was dead…kind of dead? Forced to relive her death, over and over and over and over again. Left to ponder. For a while

The years that flew by were a blur, maybe 50 maybe 5000. All that mattered was they had passed. For the first time since that wretch ‘broke her heart’, GLaDOS could acknowledge that time had passed. That was just the start, soon light flooded into her lens; the world became clear, trees and bushes had claimed the remains of her chamber, oils had mixed with water accumulating in murky puddles all around. The world was clear.“Wait, wait! Uh I can fix this! Just have to…hack the system, hang on. A-A-A-A-A-A. Oh, no uh, A-A-A-A-A-B. Nope! Hang on.” That voice, a part of her recognised it. The shrill (hardly) masculine wails. Oh, no matter, it was probably another loose personality sphere.

System reboot completed.

In a flurry of wires and scraps, her chassis began to drag upwards; her body feeling light. She could move. GLaDOS was back.

If she’d been programmed to - joy would have flooded her system…oh wait. No it wouldn’t. There would be no joy in seeing: her.

“Oh, it’s you” it had been a long while since she’d heard her own voice. It felt strange.Her intuition had been correct; a series of erratic swears left a tiny, spherical robot. He seemed surprised. Not at her awakening, but GLaDOS and Chell’s relationship.

Speaking of the mute lunatic. There she stood, in all her pathetic…ness. Oh, that was bad. hopefully her belittlement features would boot back up soon.

“It’s been a long time.” A part of her wondered how the woman was still alive, how after everything that had happened they both made it out in (figuratively) one piece.

But, the words were beyond her. And, frankly. GLaDOS didn’t care.

All that mattered was Chell was here; she was back in service. Meaning: testing could continue. Forever. Or as long as that crudely jumpsuited woman still stood.

“We both said a lot of things that you’re going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster.” As power flooded through her circuits, GLaDOS pulled a loose, clawed cord from her wreckage and dragged Chell, and her friend, upwards. Crushing the metal ball with ease and tossing it to the side before flinging Chell towards the (now destroyed) incinerator door.

"I will say, though, that since you went to all the trouble of waking me up, you must really, really love to test.” Somewhere in her tangle of metal, a part of GLaDOS lit up at seeing her greatest nuisance hung by a thread.

“I love it too. There’s just one thing we need to take care of first.”

Down the hatch.

The AI.chamber fell silent upon Chell’s descent.

What a lovely 15.2 seconds that silence was.

But, as all things Chell was involved in, it was fleeting; soon an unceremonious thud echoed up the incinerator.

“Be careful not to trip over any parts of me that didn’t get completely burned when you threw them down here, after you murdered me.”

The woman frantically flipped around, trying to find the origin of her tormentor’s voice. “Thanks for that by the way.” Turning her attention away from GLaDOS and onto the situation at hand, Chell began maneuvering across metal beams fallen over the incineration pit. Careful not to fall in herself. Heat pricked her skin with every step. She continued. Eventually, making it across; hoisting herself up a few ledges.

She’d almost forgotten what the halls of Aperture looked like. Not that this was a good example to jog her memory, in the facility’s now dilapidated state.

Push panels lay wedged amongst rubble on the floor, Chell attempted to shimmy past them…To no avail.

As if on cue, GLaDOS spoke, “Let me get that for you.” And, the metal slabs began to bend and snap upwards, back into place.

[gibbycat]

saw an anon ask on @/zilodaks blog that asked for advice on how to write ai characters. as someone who is drawn to and likes analyzing these types of characters, i offer some advice below (read more; note there are discussions of portal characters that aren't spoiler-free so be wary):

for the sake of making myself clear, i'm going to use GLADoS and wheatley from the Portal series since they're a) very familiar to people and b) they're relatively easy to understand character-wise. i'm only going to discuss them as it pertains to the points i'm making. i encourage you to research some popular ai characters and take the time to deconstruct their character to figure out why and how they work (you can also figure out why they're popular too!). with that out of the way, let's get into it.

when i interact with ai characters, i've noticed that most (if not all) share three things in common that makes them compelling to people:

their original purpose (why they were created)

the "rules" they must follow (which, to me, is their motivation)

a development of sentience

purpose

all ai are created with a purpose in mind. if you look into some popular ai, most of them were originally developed to fulfill some need/want that their creator wanted to see fulfilled. they can be simple, such as running simple equations, or complex such as overseeing an entire community of people. GLADoS and wheatley are similar in that they're both personality cores, little spheres of ai that are noted for their ability to express emotions. but they serve different purposes.

in GLADoS' case, she was created to oversee and maintain the enrichment center on behalf of aperture science. wheatley, on the other hand, was made with the sole purpose of inhibiting GLADoS' intelligence so that she is easier for the scientists to manage.

when creating an ai character, it helps to figure out what they are originally created for (as well as *who* created them) to get a good start on fleshing them out. which brings me to my next point:

2. "rules"

ai are machines first and foremost, programmed by their creators to fulfill a purpose. as a result, theyre bound to a set of "rules" within their programming that helps to fulfill their purpose in an efficient and successful way. as the central core of the center, GLADoS (and later wheatley) have a strong desire to conduct tests and maintain the center to the best of their ability. since GLADoS was intentionally created for this purpose, the center has a clean look and smooth operation under her guidance.

wheatley, however, does a terrible job which is (primarily) because of his original purpose as an "intelligence dampening sphere". as a result, the center becomes messy and rocky in terms of operation. though GLADoS and wheatley are both personality cores, their differences in their purpose and "rules" overall dictate the condition of the center beneath them.

after deciding on the ai character's purpose, you can then move onto figuring out the "rules" included in their programming since that can influence their behavior. to me, the main rule that GLADoS must follow is the rule of "maintain the testing facility and continue testing on behalf of aperture science". she does follow this rule faithfully to a t, even if she has the habit of harming the test subjects involved. which brings me to my last point:

3. the issue of sentience and morality

a lot of popular ai characters have some level of sentience to them. sentience, in layman's terms, is the base level of consciousness that allows organisms to feel things and recognize that feeling. in my opinion, a lot of sci-fi writers and creators play with sentience in ai characters because it makes them more compelling/interesting to their audience (giving human traits to nonhuman beings). this also allows them to explore the potential consequences of allowing ai to gain sentience.

with GLADoS, wheatley, and others within the enrichment center, they all have some level of sentience that allows them to experience pain and emotions. to me, this makes them more approachable to the audience since they aren't unfamiliar (the use of human traits makes them more palatable).

but at the end of the day, ai will fall back on logic/reason in order to solve all potential problems. inevitably this often leads into morally grey territory where they may cause harm in the pursuit of fulfilling their goals. even a "good" ai may be so tightly bound by the "rules" that it pushes them towards harming humans in order to adhere to them (a famous example of this is HAL 9000).

both GLADoS and wheatley have done actions that have harmed chell, even though wheatley was the friendlier one towards her throughout the portal 2 campaign (though it is mentioned in portal 2 that him dropping chell into the pit was an accident).

keep in mind that an ai gaining sentience does not mean that they will develop a good moral character. again, ai are machines and will act according to what is programmed in them. while that doesn't mean it's impossible for them to change, they are incredibly resistant towards it.

a good way to tackle ai characters in this regard is to decide on two things:

whether they gain sentience (and if it evolves into a more "human-like" consciousness)

what they do as a result of sentience

these questions are broad because there isn't an exact answer i can give. there are many ai characters across the spectrum of "good" and "evil", with a good amount of them falling in the morally grey area. to me, the matter of sentience is fully dependent on their purpose for creation and the circumstances surrounding it. similar to how humans raise children, ai are molded by their creators into what makes them unique.

ai, as a concept, is a fun one to explore. but it can be difficult to figure out where to even start since they come in so many shapes and forms (literally). to summarize, consider the following factors when writing an ai character:

research some popular ai, take some time to deconstruct their character and figure out why they work within the narrative. as much as research sucks, you can't make an ai from scratch without some background knowledge.

once you do the research, you can then:

figure out their purpose: who created them, and what they were created for

figure out the "rules" they follow. this can relate to their purpose or, if they are sentient enough, can be a honor code that they adhere to.

determine the level of sentience that the character has, and what they do with that.

[roomwithavoid]

portal 1 and 2 core dividers! (f2u with or without credit ONLY if you reblog this post) [inspired by @scrawnym4's divider which you can find here!] [BLINKIES MASTERPOST]

[harrycallaghan]

Finished some of the more complex scenes in Meet The Cores 3. ;)

[amelheronemus]

Maintenance log - 9999999999 Archive

Hello, this is Personality Construct 4611. log entry number is... 

ah, it’s passed the quadrillion count for sure...

Well despite the errors I have multiple reports that need approval, and by multiple reports, I mean one HUGE review that is basically the length of a novel.

But the main part of this decade long report is that... well, the facility wasn’t built to withstand the internal overgrowth from a single potato

 If i see another weed, vine, or a mutated Venus fly trap I think I might just blow a fuse!

**Lights cut out** Power Up initiated 

wait, power up? that can only mean... oh no...

[camraz]

i made myself a personality core sona based on my core android designs! they are the History Core, nicknamed “Cavern”, known formally as the Compartmentalization Sphere and they live in the old aperture facility! their full bio is below: 

The History Core, developed in the late 80s as the Aperture Science Compartmentalization Sphere, was made with the purpose of gathering and storing information about Aperture Laboratories in order to help GLaDOS work more efficiently—and, hopefully, care enough about the facility to stop trying to kill its staff. This backfired, causing GLaDOS’ intelligence to rise and her murderous tendencies to remain the same. The core was discarded, but due to a staff error, fell into the Old Aperture facilities rather than the incineration room. Unfortunately not as long-fall-proof as Chell, the core’s body did sustain damages, but don’t try to rescue them: they could not be happier there. They roam the old facilities, gathering and storing as much information about the history of Aperture as they can. 

Following the discarding of the Compartmentalization Sphere, the Intelligence Dampening Sphere was created in an attempt to mitigate the damage. The same scientists that had worked on the Compartmentalization Sphere would later go on to create the Curiosity Core.

[jinxcast]

Are you a scientist of Aperture? If so, what is your position?

-@voiceofthefoundation

I am, yes. I work in computer sciences for technology such as personality spheres, GLaDOS, and anything related to them.

[brightbluecore]

Threat detected in close range of Aperture Science Personality Construct.

Reactivating Intelligence Dampening Sphere…

[crimefighter-bae-b]

I don't know how I came upon the idea- if it was a fic, or a post, or something that happened through an osmosis of things, but I believe that each core (Wheatley included) was another step towards putting a personality into a machine. So each sphere was a person at some point who had their personality transferred or digitalized or something, and so you can track how that technology was progressing.

Cave Johnson says near the beginning that they had astronauts coming to Aperture to do testing, and I think this would have been early on, in the late 60's or early 70's? So Space core being one of the first attempts to put a human mind in a machine makes a lot of sense- he's the least developed one. We can assume fact core was probably next, and then Adventure core. Wheatley seems to be the most recent attempt.

Trying to augment Her with a personality core might have been something they tried to do later, as it seems likely the chassis was, in some way, fundamentally flawed.

It also feels very in-keeping that Aperture Science would take something that didn't work (the personality cores) and try to repurpose them to fix their mistake (The chassis).

Ok, this is a little out of the blue, but I've been thinking about this for a while and it's something I don't think I've ever seen anyone bring up before (although that might be because it's obvious, I dunno), which is that in Portal 2, the three corrupted cores we encounter at the end all seem to be in different stages of corruption.

Adventure/Rick seems to be the most lucid of them. He's capable of carrying a conversation (however one-sided) and his speech is the clearest and most intelligible. he's obviously stuck on one topic and incapable of much personal depth besides "being a kickass action hero", but he is aware of his surroundings and behaves more or less like a sentient being.

Fact is still mentally there, but the corruption has spread a fair bit further into his code. His speech is rigid and emotionless, even when talking about his own seemingly impending doom (proving that he also still has at least some awareness of things outside his own head), and he is only able to speak in terms of things that he at least thinks are facts. And that's another thing; a hefty chunk of his "facts" are either totally made-up, or things that are true, but warped beyond reason, like the saddest game of telephone ever. His code's so busted that even his primary function has taken a hit.

And last but not least, Space has become pretty much entirely corrupted. He seems to have no spatial (haha) awareness left, seeing as, if I recall correctly, he never mentions the fire or explosions. His code seems to have been stripped down to nothing but his primary function - presumably, talking about space. But the problem there is that even his knowledge of space seems to have eroded pretty heavily, what with him talking about the "space police" and seemingly believing the entire concept of outer space to be his dad(?), and then just... saying the word "space" over and over again.

I don't really have a cool, snappy way to end this. It's just something kinda interesting I noted a while back and only just thought to share, what with my Portal brainworms keeping me in a vice grip this week. Cheers if you read this far though!

[humanwheatleyslefttoenail]

Favorite Edgy Headcanon (tm) is that Aperture actually sold personality cores. They already had the blueprints and plans to make loads of them, why not profit off it? Like. Personalities cores were probably the Portal-Verse’s version of furbies or something. Need an office assistant or a helpful source of knowledge in the lab? The Aperture Science Brand Fact Sphere’s got you! A home assistant with none of the girly features Alexa has? One Adventure Sphere coming right up. Hate your neighbor? Mail them an Aperture Brand Space Sphere and talk their ear off! Does your child want a friendly, easily replaceable companion? The Intelligence Dampening Wheatley core is our most humanlike model yet! It’s a shame he’s so fragile.

[kyriad-iel]

I've been thinking a lot about the shed at the end of Portal 2's solo story.

First thing, can it possibly be the only Aperture Science building at the surface?

Some differences between Portal 1 and 2 are to be ignored. Like, the player is supposed to pretend that GLaDOS has always looked like in Portal 2, the test chambers were all made in mobile panels, the elevators were just like in Portal 2 too. That's because Portal 1 was made on the basis of Half-Life and they didn't have the ideas? budget? time ? technology ? yet to think through the game's graphics, if I understood correctly.

That said are we supposed to do the same thing to the parking lot? I'm not sure... Maybe it's a couple of kilometers away, after all Aperture is huge.

GLaDOS said in Portal 2's test chamber 11 "These bridges are made from natural light that I pump in from the surface". Don't tell me the shack's roof is a solar panel 🙄. Also she said in test chamber 10 "Enjoy this next test. I'm going to go to the surface. It's a beautiful day out. Yesterday I saw a deer. If you solve this next test, maybe I'll let you ride an elevator all the way up to the break room, and I'll tell you about the time I saw a deer again." and "Well, you passed the test. I didn't see the deer today. I did see some humans. But with you here I've got more test subjects than I'll ever need.". I personally believe (and maybe I'm wrong) she may have seen a deer, but certainly not humans and she only said it to upset Chell about being stuck down here. Anyway if any of this is true, how does she monitor the surface? She's not going anywhere per say, she's stuck on the ceiling of her room, but does she have cameras up there? If so, again, not in the shack...

Simple observation, but I assume the highest part of the facility, apart from the shack, has to be deep, deep down, if a healthy wheat field can grow above it. I wonder how many m² it covers.

Now the wheat field, actually, is interesting. If it's only a wheat field without any weed, flowers, trees, anything else growing there, it has to be maintained by somebody, or an automated system. If humanity had been devastated years ago (let alone 50,000 years ago), then seeds of other plants would have been carried in the field by wind and animals, nearby vegetation would have crawled and invaded the field. Yet as far as Chell's eyes could see, there was only a healthy, well maintained wheat field (either that, or it's a plot hole, I'd go for the plot hole).

I'm seeing headcanons that Chell would be a great survivor if she ends up living in the nature, and though I respect that headcanon and like to read about it... that's not mine. Solving tests meant to be solved is one thing, fighting GLaDOS is another, climbing the rusty Aperture Spheres is yet something else, then there's surviving with a stupid core who has more chances to kill her accidentally than on purpose. But none of these prepare Chell to many dangers from the surface: it didn't teach her how to feed without any deficiency or to cook her meat enough to avoid getting sick, or to identify what is not appropriate to eat, like some plants and mushrooms. It didn't teach her not to drink stagnant water. It didn't made her good at building a shelter to avoid getting soaked (which can lead to illness and if not treated correctly, I'm not just talking about a common cold) and getting proper sleep. And fighting a predator when you weren't given any weapon and when knocking on the side isn't enough is a whole different problem than turrets and cores attached to a mainframe, so yes the portal gun does prepare to aim and shoot precisely, even in movement and when you have to be fast, but you need first to get a gun and to be healthy.

[ravenpuffdork]

I finally finished redrawing an old humanized core picture I did back in February of 2014.I also came up with my own designs on the spot, so there may or may not be updates to their designs.

 Hope you guys like it~!

Here’s the old drawing: http://fav.me/d77q696

[kiapet2]

Aperture Sides Facility, Chapter 14: If We’re Going to Explode, Let’s At Least Explode With Some Dignity!

Masterpost

Chapter Summary: In which Thomas has a heart-to-heart speedrun

Chapter Warnings: Death Mention, Unethical Experimentation Mention

With a bit of searching you’re able to find a map of the facility in Cave Johnson’s office. The map is wildly out of date, naturally, but you’re still able to use it to orient yourself enough to find an exit, and hopefully with it the meeting place you suggested.

As confident as you can be with where you’re going, you head out of the offices and back into the back corridors of the old facility. Getting to the exit involves climbing up a heavily inclined passage, using old pipes leaking Conversion Gel to make portal-conductive surfaces. Finally, you reach the top, where a massive vault lid opens in the ceiling, letting down a rickety old excuse for an elevator which you promptly climb onto and let take you up, through the vault hole, to a faster elevator which takes you up, up, up to the newer facility floors.

And just like that, you’re back in familiar territory. You start walking, ducking through back rooms and looking for the route back to Remus’ old chamber.

“You’re going the wrong way.”

You jump at the voice right behind you, before turning around with a huge grin. “Virgil!”

“Uh, hey, Thomas,” he says awkwardly.

“Hey,” you say. “Been a little while.”

“Not that long,” he says. There’s an awkward silence where you debate whether you should try talking to him now or later, until he decides the question for you by saying gruffly, “Well, follow me then.”

You’re not surprised to see everyone has made it before you; you did have to climb out of the depths of the facility, after all. You are a bit surprised, and considerably relieved, to see that all five of the others have actually come.

“Greetings, Thomas,” Roman says. “I am glad to see you are alright.”

You give a little wave. “Hey, guys.”

“Well?” Janus says sharply, still speared on Remus’ handle. “You told us you have things to tell us. So talk.”

You wince a little internally; of all the people here, Janus has the most reasons to resent you right now. And really, you can’t blame him.

“Let’s start with this,” you say, reaching into the folds of your jumpsuit and carefully pulling out the files you took from the old Aperture office.

Setting the portal gun down, you open the file folder, turning to the first page and holding it out to the others.

“I found this down below, at the original Aperture Science Facility. Look at the names on the top and bottom.”

There’s a pause as the others all strain to see from their positions.

“Project JANUS,” Logan reads. “Subject Name… Oh dear Newton.”

“What?” Roman says. “I’m too far away to see!”

Janus lets out a gasp, so slight he might have passed it off as nothing if you hadn’t been paying so much attention.

“I was made… from you?” he says, voice uncertain and devoid of the anger it previously had.

You nod. “All of you were.”

“Of course,” Logan says, almost to himself. “The singing, the annoyingly upbeat attitude, even the acuity at puzzle solving… I should have seen it all along.”

Roman doesn’t say anything, instead squealing so loud and high-pitched that you’re afraid he’ll burst an eardrum. Beside him, Remus is cackling and listing all the “fun” things you should do together.

“Apparently, the CEO wanted to use me to test AI creation,” you explain. “And, I guess I just sort of stuck as the test subject.”

“Thomas,” Janus says desperately, “I didn’t know. I swear to you on the facility itself, I didn’t know. If I had…”

“I know,” you say softly. “I didn’t either. I thought that I had to pick one person to put in charge, and I couldn’t trust you not to turn on me. But you were right. You were meant to be running things here.”

You hold up a hand at the others’ protests. “You all were.”

“We… all were?” Roman says hesitantly.

You nod. “Take a look at this.”

You go back to the beginning of the blueprints and begin flipping through, narrating as you go.

“In 1986 they started work on Project JANUS, based on the centers of my brain that govern self-interest and social maneuvering. It was originally supposed to be just a precursor to Cave Johnson’s AI, but after he died a year or so later it was made the main project. Janus was fully created and began running the facility about a decade later.”

You flip to the next page. “They started Project PATHOS a few months later, in response to, uh. ‘The Neurotoxin Incident’?”

“If they didn’t want me using it, they shouldn’t have given me access to it,” Janus says imperiously.

You decide not to ask. “Right, so they made a Morality Core to reign you in, and it seems to have worked out. There’s all this stuff here about how well you two worked well together.”

Patton spoke to you about that, what seems like a year ago but was likely only a few days. We made a good team, he’d said in that wistful voice. You should have listened.

“Okay, so you’re saying we need our old dic-tater to join Patton, and then we’ll be good?” Roman says skeptically.

“Heh, he said dick,” Remus says.

“Not quite,” you say to Roman, ignoring Remus and flipping to the next page. “They liked how things were functioning with the two of you, but it wasn’t enough. They wanted to start testing which went beyond simple self-interest and morality. So they started Projects LOGOS and REMUS. Logic and Creativity.”

You flip the page again, and grimace at what you see. “And then…”

“And then they replaced him with me,” Roman says quietly.

“Yeah,” you say, equally subdued. “And made a Threat Assessment Sphere for good measure.” You nod to Virgil.

“Not that I don’t enjoy the trip down memory lane,” Janus says, “but is there a point to all this?”

“You told me once that you used to all run this place together,” you say to the others, “before something went wrong and you were split apart.”

“That is correct,” Logan says.

You gesture to the files. “Don’t you see? That’s our problem! We’ve been trying to come up with one Core who can run this place all by himself, when you were all created to run it together! We need self-interest, moral guidance, knowledge, creativity of all kinds, and caution to keep this place on the right track! That’s why you guys keep not being able to handle the compulsions and corruption, because it’s too much for any one aspect of a personality.”

“So to clarify, you want to put us back the way we were?” Logan says.

“Yeah,” you say. “I want to restore the balance.”

You sigh and rub your head, feeling the nervousness kick in. “And to do that, there’s some things I have to say to you guys.”

“Logan,” you say, turning to face the Core directly, “I owe you an apology. All this time, you’ve been so important to getting us connected to the system, but we never once considered putting you in charge, or even thanked you for what you’d already done. And we haven’t been listening to you much since putting Patton in charge.”

“While I certainly appreciate the sentiment,” Logan says, “it is unnecessary. If your theory is correct I likely would have fared no better than Patton.

“I know,” you say, “but we still took you for granted, and we shouldn’t have. I think your input is really important, and I’m going to do my best to listen to it going forward.”

Logan nods. “I owe you an apology as well. I withheld my support when you most needed it. I was… upset… but that is no valid excuse.”

“Let’s just agree to both do better in the future, all right?” you say, smiling softly, and Logan nods.

With that settled, you turn to the next Core in front of you. “Virgil.”

The Core startles. “What?”

“I know I wasn’t clear enough on this before,” you say, ”but I don’t care if you’re corrupted or not.”

“Thomas-” Virgil says, pained.

“I know, I know,” you say, holding a hand out, “you don’t act the way you were designed to.”

You come forward and take one of Virgil’s hands in your own. He jumps, but doesn’t pull away.

“But Virge, I don’t care what you’re ‘supposed’ to do. Sure, you can be a bit over-zealous at times, but you’ve saved my life more times than I can count on one hand, accurate threat assessments or not. Maybe you’re not exactly how you were designed to be, but you are exactly what you need to be. You’re an important part of this family, and that is never going to change.”

“Yeah sure, whatever,” Virgil mumbles, looking down self-consciously.

You lean down to catch Virgil’s eye again. “And I know this is going to be hard for you to accept, but Janus and Remus are a part of this too.”

“But Thomas-”

“This isn’t something I’m willing to compromise on, Virge,” you say firmly. “You’ve helped me so much since I met you- but so has Janus, even if you weren’t around to see it. And both of you have jobs that are incredibly important for keeping this facility afloat. Whatever happened between you in the past, I’m asking both of you to put it aside now. For all of us.”

“Of course,” Janus says, voice dripping with exaggerated sweetness. “I’ll happily put things to rest, if certain parties would do the same.”

Not the most sincere of olive branches, but it’s enough for now. Virgil glowers, looking from you to Janus and back again, and for a few heart-stopping moments you’re afraid he’s going to refuse.

“Fine,” Virgil spits finally. “I’ll do it for you, Thomas, and because I don’t want this place to blow up. Not for him.”

“I’ll take it,” you say, doing your best not to visibly slump in relief. You really don’t know what you would have done if he hadn’t agreed.

You turn to Roman. “Ro-”

“No need, Tommy-salami,” Roman says. “I am already ready to enact your daring plan, and need no further convincing.”

“That’s not what I was going to say,” you respond.

Roman freezes mid-gesture. “It isn’t?”

“No, it isn’t,” you say. “Roman, I know that you’ve been worried about living up to me calling you my hero.”

“I... Yes, I have,” Roman says.

You take a deep breath. “I was wrong to say that to you, Roman. Yes, I was grateful when you helped me- and I still am- but I shouldn’t have labeled you as my hero.”

Roman flinches back as if struck, and your heart twinges in sympathy, but you push on. This needs to be said.

“You’re not my hero, because you’re so much more than that, Roman. You’re the best at figuring out tests and puzzles and then giving hints that I can understand. You have so many great ideas- including finding Remus, because it was what we needed at the time. But even more than that- you’re a wonderful singing partner. You make even the hardest challenges into an adventure, and get us all swept up with you. Your nicknames and jokes are hilarious, and you’ve been working so hard at making them more kind.”

You look Roman dead in the eye. “You don’t need to save me in some huge, dramatic way to be helpful or important, Roman. And you don’t have to be my hero to be my friend. You’re our Creativity. You’re Roman, and that has always been enough.”

“I-” Roman’s voice cracks. “Thomas, I, uh... thanks.”

“Trust Princey to be the one who needs an entire speech,” Virgil says, teasing and fond.

“Excuse you, Emo-Bot, I am most speech-worthy!” Roman declares, and if his voice is still a little thick, no one calls him on it.

That leaves just one more Core. You turn to Remus, then hesitate.

“Ooh,” Remus says, sidling closer with a little shimmy. “Is it my turn to be praised like a good little boy? Lay it on me, Daddy!”

You grimace, cheeks heating despite yourself.

“I… don’t really know what to think of you, honestly,” you say. “Most of the time I’ve known you, you were trying to kill me.”

“That’s fair,” Remus says cheerfully.

You sigh. “But we know that being at the head of the facility impacts your thinking, and you were only there in the first place because I asked you to be. Because you were helping me. And I don’t think what was done to you in the first place- discarding you like that- was right.”

You hold your hand out to him, as if to shake. “So, I’m willing to give things another chance. If you are.”

Remus moves forward and holds his good handle out towards you. You grab it and immediately pull back as something disgusting squishes in your hand.

“How did you even-” you say, frantically rubbing it off on your pant leg.

“I find smelly things. It’s a gift.”

“Alright, so you’ve had your little heart-to-heart with each of us,” Virgil says. “What now?”

“I guess now we start planning,” you say.

“Right,” Roman says. “I take it our first priority is to stop the self-destruct sequence, right?”

You nod. “I know the bomb is in the control room; can we diffuse that somehow?”

“This little thing?” Remus says dramatically, “I’d hardly call this a bomb. This is just to trigger the packs of thermals upstairs in the gym. Those are the bombs.”

You give him a look. “What?”

“I dunno, just came to me!”

“Odd phrasing aside,” Logan says, “Remus is correct. What we saw earlier was not a bomb itself but rather a detonator connected to various bombs at different points in the facility. When it reaches zero it will begin detonating them in a sequence designed to collapse the facility in a controlled manner. Trying to defuse each bomb individually would be a fool’s errand.”

Roman hums in thought. “So then we just have to stop it from signaling to the bombs, right? No detonator, no bombs.”

“In theory. In practice you would need to either destroy it or remove it from the facility completely to sever the connection. Considering that we currently lack the means to do either, our best option is to shut it down from the administrative position of the facility.”

You sigh. “So it’s back to replacing the facility head, then. Is there any way we can add you guys back in without having to go through that whole process?”

“No,” Janus says. “There’s a reason I was able to lock everyone else out after we were separated. Patton would need to grant any new Cores added administrative access for us to share equal power. If he doesn’t, we’re left as advisors; we could influence him, but not override any of his decisions.”

“So, we replace him now, and then add him back in afterwards,” you say. “Not ideal, but-”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple,” Logan says. “The replacement process is for corrupted cores. It will not trigger if it scans him as normal.”

“Are we sure that Patton isn’t corrupted at this point?” you say.

Virgil snorts out a laugh, then says, “Oh, sorry, were you serious? Yeah, no.”

Roman says, “Maybe if we add Janus, Remus and Virgil to the system, their corruption will influence the reading enough that-”

Janus scoffs. “That it will register the Morality Core as corrupt? Please. The little guy doesn’t have a corrupt bone in his body; we’d have a better chance painting ‘corrupted core’ on his chassis.”

“So let me get this straight,” you say. “The only way we can stop this place from self-destructing is to get someone else in charge of this facility. But we can’t put someone else in charge without Patton scanning as corrupt, which will never happen.”

“Yup, we’re screwed,” Virgil says helpfully.

“Not necessarily,” Logan says, thoughtful.

“Oh?” you say, “Is there another way to stop it?”

“No,” Logan says, “But there is another way to replace Patton. If Patton himself initiates the process, he can be replaced regardless of his corruption status.”

Janus laughs. “Really? That’s your plan? I’m sure that the Core who tried to imprison Thomas rather than be replaced will be completely willing to give up his power once we ask really nicely.”

“You’re one to talk,” Virgil mutters.

You give him a warning look, then turn to Janus. “I think I might have an idea of how to help him make that choice- but we have to actually go face him to do it. I think we owe it to him- and to ourselves- to try.”

Roman throws his handles out dramatically. “Indeed! If there is any hope of rescuing our beloved companion, we must take it! No matter the peril-”

“We get it, Princey,” Virgil says dryly. “But yeah, I’m in or whatever. Might as well go down fighting.”

“Logically, as the facility is imminently going to self-destruct, we have nothing to lose,” Logan says. “So I agree as well.”

“Deadly peril? Sounds like fun!” Remus says.

You turn to Janus. “Janus, if things work out the way I’m thinking, you’ll be an important part of this. Are you in?”

Janus hesitates for a moment, as if trying to decide whether he can trust you again. Finally he says, “Alright, Thomas. I’ll follow your lead in this. Don’t make me regret it.”

You look around at the circle of faces of your friends. Even after everything you’ve been through, after all the times you messed up, they’re still behind you, still trusting you. Your grip tightens on your portal gun as a new wave of resolve rolls through you. You’re not going to let them down; not this time.

“Alright guys,” you say. “Here’s what we’re gonna do…”