Trapped

1. The Mission

Tony Stark stared at the mission statement before him. It was lengthy with many pictures and descriptions given by a young woman named Chell. Chell had shown up somewhere in the middle of New Mexico, looking beaten and battered. She managed to find S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base in the middle of nowhere.

When she arrived, she could only make small grunting noises in the back of her throat. She was carrying a box that she refused to let go of. Nick Fury was about to send her to the hospital when he suddenly changed his mind. He says that he recognizes the logo on her jumpsuit. He ordered that she was sent to speech therapy immediately.

When she emerged, she could speak in both English and French, almost as though the ability to speak had just been… forgotten, not lost.

That's when things get weird. Chell told the story of a facility, underground, called Aperture Science Laboratories, where an Artificial Intelligence (AI) called GLaDOS had forced her to do a series of tests. These tests included a special type of gun that somehow shot portals. She claims that she put a robot core in control of the facility, only to discover that it was the body of the AI itself that was evil, not the core.

Once she put GLaDOS back in control of Aperture, she was let go. Chell arrived, she believes, somewhere in New Mexico, miles from civilization.

For some reason, unknown to Stark or anyone else, Nick Fury believed her. He knew something that no one else did, as usual.

He was sending in The Avengers. It has been a year since the Manhattan was nearly destroyed by an angry god, and Fury believes that it is time for them to return.

Now that Tony had the mission, he was expected to report to the New Mexico facility to meet this Chell and meet up with the rest of the team by tomorrow evening. Tony sighed and set the file down on the large coffee table.

"Pep," he called half heartedly. "Pep, I need to talk to you, and you're not going to like it."

Tony's new wife rounded the corner, dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. She looked concerned "What is it, Tony?"

Tony smirked a little. "We're getting the band back together, Pep." He handed her the mission statement. "Meaning, I'm not gonna be around for a while."

Pepper sighed as she read the brief version of the mission. "Ok, Tony, it looks like you have to leave in a few hours to get there on time…"

Tony kissed her briefly. "I'm sorry, Pep, this was supposed to be our honeymoon."

Pepper smiled a small smile. "You're going to come back, right? Promise me that you'll take me back here when you get back."

Tony looked around the small hut that he had bought in Tahiti. "Of course, Pepper. Or do you want to go to Fiji, because I can make that happen…"

"Don't worry about it, Tony," Pepper said.

"I'll come back as soon as I can, Pep. I'll pay for your plane trip back, just use my credit card," Tony began.

"Don't worry about it," she repeated. "Now go, before you're late."

Tony stole one last kiss before gathering his things and boarding the private jet. The last glimpse of his new wife was her waving and smiling sadly. "I'll get you for this, Fury," he muttered under his breath.

0o0

One long, boring plane ride later, Tony arrived in New Mexico, right behind the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He stormed into the building and found what room Fury wanted the Avengers to meet in. He walked into the room to find Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rodgers discussing the mission.

They all fell silent when he entered the room. "Oh, hi everybody. What's up?"

At least Steve smiled a little. "Welcome back, Stark."

Everyone else greeted Tony before going back to their previous conversation.

"This is insane," Natasha said. "Who would do something like that?"

Bruce shrugged. "AI's do go out of control sometimes. It is possible that this 'GLaDOS' just was out of control when she captured Chell."

"It's possible," Tony said. "But I doubt it. In your words, Bruce, I think that, 'her brain is full of cats'."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," came a girl's voice with a thick French accent. "But I might have gone a little insane being a science experiment for a deranged robot."

A girl entered the room, followed by Nick Fury. She had long, black hair that went to her shoulders. She had soft, blue eyes, and a gaze that seemed far off. She was tall, and maybe 20 years old. You could tell that she had been through a lot in her life.

Tony shrunk back. "Uh, I take it that you're Chell."

"That would be me," Chell said simply.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss. Chell," Steve said.

Tony spoke up. "Yeah, nice to meet you."

"We've heard a lot about you," Natasha said. "Why don't you have a seat so we know what

we're getting ourselves into?"

Director Fury took a seat and motioned for Chell to take the seat next to him. She obliged.

"Miss. Chell, why don't you tell us more about this GLaDOS?" Nick said.

Chell shivered involuntarily. This was not something that she liked to relive. "Carolyn, the assistant to the guy who founded Aperture, was part of this… sick experiment that took a person's intelligence and put it into a robot. GLaDOS is Carolyn. The body of the robot is the evil part of her. She tried to kill me on multiple occasions, but she still let me go. She said that it was the easy thing to do, and let me go.

"But if- no, when -you run into her while you're down there, be careful. She is a genius, the smartest thing on the planet. She's-"

"I object," Tony interrupted. "JARVIS is smarter, I bet you."

"Shut up, Stark," Bruce said forcefully. "Please, continue."

Chell glared at Tony before launching into her tale again. "As I was saying… GLaDOS had me trapped there for uh, well the machine said that I was there for 99999 somethings. I'm guessing - no, hoping- that it was days. So basically, I was asleep for almost 20 years. Yes, that also means that, technically, I'm twenty years older than I look."

"I know the feeling," Steve said.

Tony scoffed. "Yeah, while you were doing time as a capsicle."

"Shut up, Stark," Clint said with a sigh. Everyone was surprised. Clint never really spoke unless he was spoken to. Again, Stark shut his trap and Chell continued.

"So basically, if you go there, go with your weapons. Take everything that you can with you. And whatever you do, do not give her access to her neurotoxin under any circumstances. Also, she has these things called turrets, they are full of full of bullets. Don't get into their line of sight, or they will kill you. That's about all that you need to know."

Director Fury nodded. "Did you get all that, agents? We leave in the morning, Chell will show us the way. Dismissed."

Everyone dispersed, that is, except for Steve and Chell.

"Chell," Steve said after everyone was gone. "I know how you feel."

Chell shook her head. "I know your story, my dad used to tell me about you, before Aperture, when I was 5. He fought in World War II as well, you know. But trust me, you know nothing about how I feel."

Steve was shocked. Again, it was a painful reminder who he was and what time he came from. "Oh, of course."

"I'm sorry, Steve. It's just all so…" she trailed off

"Confusing?"

"Pretty much."

Steve shook his head. "Isn't it a little soon for you to go back?"

"I cant say I'm looking forward to it," Chell said as she stalked out of the room, leaving Steve alone.

No one slept well that night, especially Chell. She had just gotten out of that… That hell hole three weeks ago, and now she had to go back? Chell knew that GLaDOS would do anything to get her back into that facility.

She glanced across the room at her weighted companion cube sitting on a chair. That was her final reminder of the facility. Hopefully, it was the last memory that she would have of the inside.

She was wrong, of course.