Playing Favorites Chapter 2: Shake, Rattle, and Roll, a portal fanfic

Playing Favorites

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Get out from that kitchen, and rattle those pots and pans…

The beat up old record player that ATLAS had brought P-Body from his three day excursion in the facility seemed to be working fine. It sputtered a few times and the record that ATLAS found on it skipped every couple of turns, but nothing P-Body couldn't fix. She appreciated such a nice find. P-Body almost didn't want to strip it for parts. She decided to attempt a repair job first.

The needle looked a bit worn, so that needed to be replaced. The record was a bit scratched up but otherwise worked fine. As P-Body picked the needle off the record carefully, she started to wonder who used this lovely mechanism when the facility was full of flesh and bone people to enjoy it. She imagined during a certain time period, someone in one of the abandoned offices had it playing to keep spirits up during a long work day and there were probably more record somewhere around the facility.

Through her lonely attempts to stave off boredom while ATLAS was off "inspecting" the facility, P-Body read a lot of company files on the console in the observation room she and ATLAS called home. Their "Hidey-Hole", as it were, overlooked an old, broken test chamber that GLaDOS hadn't yet repaired before being banished to the underground. P-Body knew anything below what was called "The Forbidden Zone" by their boss was sealed off with a giant vault door that couldn't be accessed above ground. That being said, P-Body wasn't sure where ATLAS got his hands on this little treasure of a music player.

Then again, she felt she might have been overthinking it. It was probably stuffed in a box and moved upward along with the other offices. P-Body honestly didn't care. ATLAS warned her about leaving again before he left on one of his excursions. She pressed a button on the computer console and it switched back to Wheatley in the Central A.I. Chamber. It had been a few days since she had been there last and helped him with his little cube-turret test subjects.

Deep down in her processors, P-Body wanted to help him more. He had been nice enough to pay her in scraps and other useless things from around the facility, but she had almost already used up everything he gave her along with the stuff ATLAS found for her. P-Body pulled out her little tool-kit (she found it in a closet before she and ATLAS went into hiding) and started repairing the record player. She accidently started it up as she pulled off a side panel.

Get out from that kitchen, and rattle those pots and pans,

Well, roll my breakfast 'cause I'm a hungry man!

I said shake, rattle, and roll

Well, you'll never do nothin' to save your doggone soul

The song was pretty jaunty and made P-Body tap her foot along to the tune. It wasn't until P-Body yanked at an unknown piece that the song stopped. The record was still spinning, but there was no sound coming from the player itself. P-Body looked at the unknown pieces in her hand and sighed softly. These pieces were old and wouldn't be easy to replace. She then looked at the junk pile and then made another mechanical sigh. She didn't see anything that she could use to fix the record player.

P-Body scratched her chin (or, the area a little bit under her one eye) and then got an idea that made her really happy for no real reason. "I bet HE has some spare parts he doesn't need anymore. Maybe if I do some more stuff for HIM, he'll give me more stuff! She chattered excitedly to herself in her mechanical language. Who knows how long that blow-hard partner of mine will be gone this time, and this just can't wait!"

P-Body packed up her record player in a sack and after making sure the coast was clear, left her hidey-hole and made her way into the facility again.

In the Central A.I. Chamber

"Ohhh, yes…Mmhmm, that's the stuff…" Wheatley prattled, as one of the "Frankenturrets" accidently found the solution to the overly simple test Wheatley gave it. Though Wheatley didn't know why, each time a test was solved, his systems started to feel funny. Good funny. He really couldn't explain it if he wanted to. Not that he really had anyone to explain it to. He hadn't seen his little robot helper in days. He couldn't say he missed her, because in the time she had been off doing whatever it was she did within the inner facility, Wheatley had been enjoying this new discovery to its fullest.

At first, he wasn't sure what the itch actually was. He thought maybe this was the reason GLaDOS was so grouchy and that maybe doing tests distracted her from it. But then one of the Frankenturrets accidently hit the right button in a test chamber and then SWOOSH! Wheatley felt really, really good for no reason.

It was then he decided to keep this going and made the Frankenturrets do more tests. He saw that the harder the test was, the better the response from the systems that released the good feelings. He wondered how much harder he could make the tests before the Frankenturrets couldn't do tests anymore. Though, it had only happened a few times, most of the results were by accident. The itch was resolved for now, and usually stayed that way for a while. But he felt they were starting to come on sooner and sooner each time he had a test solved.

Wheatley wondered if there was a connection. He put that thought at the back of his computerized mind when his security systems picked up something coming his way. Though panicked at first, he was relieved to see it was only P-Body caring a sack. His optic squinted into what one would interpret as a smile and lowered the monitor with this feed from the ceiling. Wheatley had a few things that he felt P-Body could help him with. For starters, the monitors and light fixtures seemed to be a bit loose. One monitor already fell to the floor and made a horrid smashing sound.

"Hey, hey! It's my little helper! It's good to see you again, love!" Wheatley shouted over the P.A. system. P-Body looked overjoyed to hear him. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you again! Listen, I got some stuff in here I think you're going to enjoy. Find a way to get here on the double and I'll show you!"

Giddy and carefree, P-Body ran along the hallway until she found the door leading to the cat walk leading to the Central A.I. chamber. P-Body noted the automatic door was still on the fritz. She jumped through it at just the right time and made her way to Wheatley, who came down to greet her. "Oh, hello there, love. I have a lot I need help with. You seem to know how to fix things, so…I hate to ask, but could you…maybe…"

P-Body agreed in her mechanical chatter and took her tool kit from her sack, along with the broken music device. "Oh, thank you, thank you! You can have anything you want when you finish."

With a mechanical blink, P-Body got to work repairing the automatic door. As she did that, Wheatley coiled around the broken device. He descended a mechanical hook and poked the device as P-Body ripped a panel off the wall near the malfunctioning door. "Hey, umm…I don't mean to interrupt you over there, but what is this?"

Whirling around, P-Body chattered that it played music, but it's broken and she needed new parts for it. "Music? From this little thing? Oh, isn't that amazing!" Wheatley shouted excitedly. P-Body guessed he hadn't learned how to make music play over the P.A. system. She decided to show him after she got her music player working again. After a little yanking and twisting of the screwdriver, P-Body finally got the automatic door to work properly. She cheered happily to herself and looked around for more things to fix.

"So, what exactly does this music device do? I mean, it plays music, but how?" Wheatley asked softly. P-Body lifted up a busted monitor and picked at the back of it. She chattered softly and went to fixing the broken monitor. "Ahh, yes, quite…I can see how that…does…that…" Wheatley murmured, trying to sound like he knew what P-Body was talking about.

P-Body found her way to the ceiling above Wheatley and remounted the monitor. "So, it plays music then…and it's broken…" Wheatley kept murmuring. P-Body blinked and found her way back down to the chamber floors where Wheatley was still pondering the device. "So…what do you need to fix this?"

P-Body chirped again and Wheatley nodded. "Oh, the thing that makes the sound happen is broken? Well, then…" Wheatley reached up and yanked a P.A. speaker off the wall. "Will this make it better?" he asked, the metal claw handing the P.A. speaker to P-Body. She just stared at it and blinked her own eye at him. "…I just made a mess, didn't I? I'm sorry…just gave you more to fix, huh?"

With a happy chirp, P-Body let him know she was happy to help. P-Body yanked the speaker a part and went to her music device. "You know, I found some music files in the systems here, but for some reason, I can't get them to play. Classical music…smart music. Brain music…music for people who have big brains, I imagine." Wheatley prattled as P-Body fixed her broken device. "I wonder if she ever listened to classical music. She probably did, what with all the music files she has on here. Bee-tho-vin, Mo-zart, Batch, Patch-elle-bell, all the greats."

While she didn't want to let him know he was pronouncing them wrong, P-Body just chuckled softly and went back to her tinkering. "You're pretty good at this fixing stuff…thing. Hey, I got a pretty livid idea!"

"…and he used that word wrong…" she chirped to herself.

"You're so good at fixing stuff and building stuff and just generally making things work, why don't you stay around for a while and be my 'Go-to Girl" for when things mess up?" Wheatley asked excitedly. P-Body stopped her repair work and looked up at Wheatley, who coiled around happily. "Yes, yes, yes! You're a helper bot and helper bots help, right?" P-Body made a nodding motion with her body. "Well, until I get everything situated, which, by the way, shouldn't be too long from now…not a moron, got everything under control…why don't you keep an eye on things that need to be repaired or fixed?"

P-Body didn't want to correct him by saying those two words meant the same thing. She liked being appreciated for her talents and not hidden away in some hole in the middle of the facility. She stood up once her repair job was done and looked at Wheatley happily, chirping her agreement.

"Oh, brilliant! You have no idea how much I appreciate this! You can keep up with the repairs and such and I can concentrate on making more test chambers!" Wheatley looked down at P-Body, who had finally fixed her music playing device. She put the needle on the record and it started playing a nice jaunty tune. Wheatley started to bounce around to the tune as P-Body tapped her feet in a dancing motion.

Wearin' those dresses, your hair done up so nice,

You look so warm, but your heart's as cold as ice!

I said shake, rattle, and roll

Well, you'll never do nothin' to save your doggone soul!

P-Body twisted her body around. Being a robot made her able to dance more loosely, being able to spin her body while her sphere center stayed stationary. It made dancing around Wheatley easier, as well, seeing as his clunky chassis took up most of the room. To P-Body, it was like she and Wheatley were dancing together to the song on the old record player. The saxophone solo was probably P-Body's favorite part, as it made Wheatley come closer to her in their little dance.

In the Hidey-Hole, ATLAS returned with a big bag full of random scraps. He was angry that P-Body had wandered off again. He growled softly and threw the bag on the floor. He sat by the console and tapped a few of the buttons, turning it on. He flew through the security feeds until he found the one of the Central A.I. Chamber. ATLAS heard the song and clenched his mechanical fist in anger.

He saw P-Body dancing with HIM and glared at the monitor, slamming his fist on the console, making the feed shake a bit. ATLAS angrily growled and watched P-Body happily twist around with that big mechanical idiot. "She never dances like that with me! Who does he think he is?!" ATLAS growled softly.

Wait…what was this feeling coming over ATLAS? He didn't like it. It made his systems quake.

I'm like a one-eyed cat, peepin' in a seafood store,

I can look at you, tell you don't love me no more…

ATLAS wasn't sure what was going through him at the moment. Technically, he and P-Body weren't supposed to feel. But like GLaDOS said, they were special. ATLAS wasn't sure if this rage was from knowing that the big mechanical idiot was probably just using P-Body to get things done we obviously couldn't do it himself, or that P-Body was actually having fun with him.

Either way, ATLAS wanted to turn off the feed, but couldn't get himself to do it.

I believe you're doin' me wrong, and now I know,

The more I work, the faster my money goes!

ATLAS watched from the monitor as P-Body helped Wheatley figure out how to play his new favorite song over the P.A. system, allowing P-Body to strip the record player for parts. He let her take more scraps than last time and bid her farewell, happily explaining he hopes to see her again soon as he had other projects he wanted her input on. That cinched it. ATLAS slammed his fist on the console, smashing the monitor and cutting the feed.

P-Body happily pranced back to the hidey-hole as the song played over the P.A. system. P-Body promised to help him find more music like this. She had to ask ATLAS where he found the record player. P-Body wasn't actually expecting ATLAS to be waiting for her back at the Hidey-Hole. She really wasn't expecting him to be as mad as he was.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT!" He shouted in his inaudible growling. "I know where you've been! You were helping him out! Don't lie! I saw it on the monitor!" ATLAS pointed to the broken console, which sparked and fumed a bit as P-Body panicked and ran to it. Though not at all sad at the prospect of having to use her new supplies to fix it, she was angrier that she was temporality unable to see Wheatley. "If that idiot finds out we were built for testing, it won't even take him long enough to figure out how to exploit us! Though, it looks like he's already learned how to exploit you."

P-Body growled at ATLAS, who growled again. P-Body took out her tool kit and started tinkering with the broken console. She didn't see ATLAS leave in a huff, feeling somewhat guilty for cutting off P-Body's only access to the inner workings of the facility.

It took her a few hours and half of her newly acquired supplies, but P-Body finally got the console working. The screen as cracked, however, and she had no idea where she'd find a new one. But the important thing was that she could make out Wheatley's chamber and Wheatley. Just so she can keep an eye on him (or, at least that's what she told herself whenever she saw him happily bounce around to the song). The same song played over and over again over the loud speakers, though P-Body didn't mind.

P-Body placed her hand on the monitor again and cooed softly as Wheatley continued to bounce along to the music. She traced her fingers along the cracks, cooing softly as the music kept playing. She decided to go find more of those records that ATLAS found earlier so Wheatley would have more of a selection. She imagined there was probably a pile of them somewhere in the abandoned offices.

She took the rest of her supplies and took out her secret project. Now she knew what she was going to make. She'd need more materials, though. P-Body had hidden this project away, knowing that ATLAS would chastise her for making it. He'd probably even break it. She just smiled and continued to work as her foot tapped along to the song.

The very inkling that someone needed her…that someone wanted her input on something made her very happy. Usually, ATLAS would just throw some stuff on the ground for her to keep herself busy with while he went off and explored the facility. She wasn't sure what he was doing. "And honestly, I don't care! She chirped as she went back to her secret project. "If he doesn't want to include me in whatever fun thing he found than that's fine by me!"

I said shake, rattle, and roll

Well, you'll never do nothin' to save your doggone soul!

SHAKE, RATTLE, AND ROLL!

N'cha, everyone!

Luna Peachie here! Don't worry; I'm not slacking off from my other story. The newest chapter is half way done. I was listening to the Bill Haley version of the song "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" and I thought to myself "I can see the robots dancing to this." Then, as I started paying attention to road again (lol, just kidding, I'm a very safe driver), I decided to do just that.

What's this? Is someone jealous? Well, well, isn't that something?

I love this song, I swear. I think I might start naming these chapters after songs, but I dunno yet. I have a lot of work to do on my main project before I make any major plans for this story. So, don't panic you guys, I still have my work cut out for me.

Oh, and thank you all for your kind words on my…boyfriend situation. I appreciate it very much. I really do, that wasn't sarcasm, I swear! Writing for you all makes me feel loads better and I hope that soon everything will fall into place. No, I'm not plotting revenge; I wouldn't waste my folder of revenge plans on the likes of him, anyway.

Writing has always been therapeutic for me. I pour everything into my projects and in the wake of my main project ending in a few chapters, I just have a lot of energy now to pour into getting my chapters out to you guys in a timely manner. So, I wish to thank you all once again for your support and I want you all to know I write for you. I don't write for glory or fortune, I write for you all. Though, letting me know how I did would be awesome and a nice ego boost haha.

So, do just that! Give me the gift of an ego boost and keep my stories going! Read, review, and above all, be merry, my friends!

GLaDOS, ATLAS, P-Body, and Wheatley belong to Valve.