Portal 2: The Bird Came Back

The facility was coming back to life, panels easily shifting away decades worth of plants and debris. Among the wreckage, a single bird flew lazily. All the sudden movements were startling, but she had more important things to concentrate on, namely building a new nest after the talking ball had destroyed the old one.

Oddly enough, the bird could see something strongly resembling the ball lying on the floor of a chamber. She angled herself downward, landing carefully next to the ball.

It looked much different to when she had attacked it in rage earlier that day. The blue light that usually shone from the round optic had gone out, and the optic itself was hanging limply outside the ball, a large crack running through it.

The casing was also cracked, as though some tremendous force had been used against the metal. If not for the faint spark and hum of electricity somewhere deep inside, the ball could have passed as just another piece of scrap parts.

Still, the area behind the eye looked spacious enough, and with a bit of renovation she could make this her new nest. The bird leaned inside and started to peck haphazardly at a couple of wires.

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The last thing Wheatley could remember was staring helplessly down at the lady as Her claw crushed his system into an emergency shut-down.

After that, he had been floating in an endless realm of dull grey, with nothing outside the computerised mindscape penetrating his battered sensors. He could vaguely recognise that something was wrong, but whenever he tried to access the internal damage report a barrage of error messages and simulated pain sent him fleeing back to the safely of the void.

Presently, an irregular burst of energy registered in his thoughts. The lethargy of his near-death was overwhelming, but with every surge his thoughts would jolt into sudden action. Each time, he spent his split second of clarity by panicking and trying desperately to reconnect himself to the start-up function of his core.

Something was blocking him, probably a crossed wire of some sort. It made him long fervently for the days when humans had been everywhere, with many of them perfectly capable of repairing a helpless personality core.

He was just slipping back into his stupor when a much larger surge invaded his system, this time accompanied by the unpleasant sensation of movement inside his shell.

What was happening out there?

Without warning, the void around him shattered.

A bird! Not just any bird, but that bloody bird from earlier!

He couldn’t believe it. The bird had pecked at his wires until they joined together. The temporary mend wouldn’t last forever and he could still feel himself sparking dangerously, but he was alive!

Not even the frantic pecking of the bird as it tried to make him stop moving again could stop his glee.

Now all he had to do was head back into the test chambers and find his friend.
...

But not before he figured out how to get back onto his rail.