Chapter Text
“Very good, Stone. If only you had this sudden burst of brainpower several test chambers ago...imagine how far along you’d be by now!” The male voice chirped over the speakers in the test chamber. Stone groaned, shooting a portal over the ceiling and one at his feet, dropping through it and onto a platform.
The male voice always taunted him during his tests. Cracking witty jokes at the test subject’s expense. To be honest, Stone had little to no idea how he ended up in the situation he was in. He could remember waking up from his cryogenic sleep like it was yesterday, though it had been many, many weeks ago. Or was it months ago now? There was no way to tell time within the chambers. There were only tests and short sleep cycles between the tests.
Stone remembered waking up cold and disoriented, a deep alarm sound blaring right in his ears. “Rise and shine, idiot! We’ve got a looooong day of testing ahead of us!” Stone had groaned and sat himself up in his cryo bed, rubbing his temples as the voice blared on. “Come on! Get to it!!”
Stone stood and finally realized that soft, jaunty music was playing through a radio in his room. He reached for it but pulled away when a loud buzzer was heard. “Hey! Knock it off, we’ve got things to do!”
Stone didn’t know where he was. Frankly, he didn’t know anything back then. Where he was, who the voice was...it was all a mystery. “Test Subject 007! I demand you listen to me!”
Test subject 007…? Was that...him?
“YES you, idiot. Get up and get ready for a mandatory physical and mental wellness exercise!” Stone groaned.
“Can’t I shut the radio off?” He asked.
“No.”
Stone, for better or for worse, ignored the voice. He just wanted to turn off the damned thing after all. He began fiddling with the buttons as the voice began barking at him.
“KNOCK THAT OFF THAT’S NOT A PART OF THE WELLNESS EXERCISE!”
Stone turned a knob and the radio fizzled before a loud alarm blared from it, followed by a robotic voice. “All humans left alive, this is an emergency broadcast. The world is in shambles. If you are alive head to -bzzzz- Kansas or to -bzzzzzzzzzz- these are the only safe zones….” the voice was eventually cut out by static, but Stone was still listening. He NEEDED to hear more.
“Are you done yet? Did you learn a little something? Good. Now onto the wellness test-”
“NO! What WAS that?!” Stone shouted.
The robotic voice sighed. “Humans. So curious about things that Don’t. Matter. Anyways, THAT was an emergency broadcast. Human civilization is over, Subject 007. You’re one of the few left. Congratulations. Now, for the wellness test-”
“OVER?? HOW CAN IT BE OVER?!”
“Ask Black Mesa. Now, I’m going to put your mental wellness down as a -2 and physical down as a 10. Sound good? Good. Nighty night!”
With that, Stone’s bedroom, or whatever it was, filled with a cold smoke that invaded his lungs, causing him to cough over and over until, eventually, he passed out.
The next time he woke up the testing began and, well, now here he was on test umpteenth and ten with no answers. Just the robotic voice and the one in his head.
“Stone, are you even listening to me?!” the robotic voice shouted. There was that, too. The first name basis. It started well into their third week together, with Stone demanding that the voice either call him by the proper name or else he’d stop running his stupid tests. It worked, though the robotic voice didn’t approve.
“What’s your name anyway?” Asked Stone, genuinely curious.
“None of your business.” He responded.
Stone rolled his eyes. “I’ll call you...Ivo.”
“Ivo?”
“It was the name of a goldfish I had as a kid. Besides, it feels fitting.”
“Wow, I’m honored….now back to the testing?” Ivo said sarcastically.
“Back to the testing.” Agreed Stone.
Back in real-time Stone finished the test he was on, setting the weighted cube down on the button to open the door that would lead to the elevator to the next test.
“Good job, Stone. Now, why don’t we call it quits for today. Step into the elevator and you’ll be sent back to your sleep room..”
Stone raised a brow. “But we’ve hardly done anything today. Don’t tell me you’re going soft on me~.” Stone teased.
Ivo scoffed. “As if, I am simply in need of a good recharging and don’t want to leave you unsupervised. Now, GO!”
Stone did as told, entering the elevator, which shot directly to the door of his bedroom. He plopped down on the bed and smiled. A small compartment opened, revealing a glass of water and a bowl of fruit. His dinner.
He took an apple and gratefully took a bite. For being a labrat slave, he really did enjoy himself. For starters, Ivo was softening up to him. Maybe soon they’d be friends!
Only time would tell...