Aperture/Mesa Clones

There's no doubt that when GLaDOS started her bizarre manipulation of Aperture Science, she had in mind an overwhelming plan of action to save the world. Shee-yeah-right. What she did have, outside of a bunch of robot assembly lines and deserted facilities at her disposal, was a series of clone samples - Bring Your Daughter To Work Day was very, very handy for this collection.

She knew that with all the samples from the "testing" done on the Daughters, there was ample variety of genetic material to 'save' the Human race. Of course that was her goal. Not to just find out the limits of Human physiology or psychology, pshaw, that was for amateurs. She already had access to the prior research done by Aperture's dashing founder Cave Johnson. So she wanted to make people with these samples, plentiful ones.

The issues started when she tried to figure out who to pair these clone samples with - what could she make? Hmmmm?

Obviously they would need to have a smart sire, someone that could inspire awe... No, she immediately discounted trying to get some of that Freeman fellow's genetics, though it wouldn't be all that hard, since he was trying to reach the Borealis and... well, yes. That.

The answer appeared - and disappeared - mysteriously. That would do nicely, GLaDOS liked mystery. But she also liked to spice things up. So the likelyhood that the oddly inhuman male that visited on occasion would recognize his 'offspring' was minimal at best. He certainly wasn't human, looking over the genetics she'd acquired and comparing them to the 'daughters'. But that was fine. She'd spliced worse. Well, no. That, like the cake, was a lie.

She sculpted her little projects while monitoring the things going on outside. It was a mess. Chell and her own clones had done their job pretty well, training up to be released into the wild, but there were other concerns outside.

Not just the Combine, of course, but creatures as varied as they came on earth - but not from earth. Those little ham-shaped Houndeyes, barking and yipping, they were adorable. But they left messes and screwed with the sonic sensors, so they couldn't be let inside. A shame, really, because they would make good pets or guardians. Antlions were simply too numerous and too ruinous - they weren't like bugs that did exist within the facility, they were far more like ravenous burrowing winged weasels. Vermin. It was a good thing that the Vortigaunts were there to keep them in check. And those creatures... Oh how the Humans underappreciated and underestimated them.

These girls would have to be telepathic - because that was a very, very trendy thing to be outside - it would give them an edge. They would inherit many of their sire's odd abilities, though some more than others, and certainly they would learn to use them differently. But there were only so many things that GLaDOS could teach them herself. And, she'd been told repeatedly, her methods often left a little to be desired.

So be it, GLaDOS would rely upon one of her errant daughters - her own 'flesh', ARRISA (the Alternate Resource Research Integrated Sentient Android) - to find the right place to instruct these new clone girls. Since leaving Aperture, ARRISA had found herself in a new world, filled with things far more interesting, and no less deadly, than the Combine. She'd become some kind of hero in a city that was ripe with strife and combat, where her powers and form hardly raised an eyebrow.

But it would not be into Paragon City that these girls were led. Since they were young, 'teens' in appearance at most, though they'd only been 'alive' less than two years, they would go to Carramba High School. It was closer to Black Mesa and near one of the Aperture labs in that world anyway. It somehow never really occurred to GLaDOS to team up with her otherworldly counterpart. They'd never be able to get along. She hardly got along with herself on occasion.

Mixed and matched, the girls would split up and learn all they could. They would develop their skills, and eventually be summoned back to their own world to fight the Combine. In the mean time, they might encounter some even stranger creatures... After all, Carramba High has a thriving Dragon Studies curriculum. And wouldn't the Combine be surprised by that?

***

Indigo and Opal could be immediately recognized as the leaders of the girls. Indigo in a more physical way, inspiring and actually going out to lead, while Opal used her considerable communications talent to organize and keep track of everyone.

Ruby, stark and serious but manipulative and cunning, broadly learned much about the culture they found themselves in, and was adept at extracting information from almost any person in almost any situation. Crimson took a far more personal approach to infiltration, socially adept and willing to use her good looks to her advantage. So opposite her in both appearance and attitude was their urban explorer Sapphire, able to look around herself and know exactly where to go - but almost lost in social situations.

Purple and Violet were the complimentary pair of tacticians: Violet the offensive combat expert, and Purple the defensive; both adept with weapons and armor. Orchid and Lavender also similarly were two sides of a coin, this time a medical one. Orchid knew herbs and poisons, diagnosis and health issues, while Lavender concentrated on surgical skills and anatomy. Between the two of them, health was never an issue.

Vehicles and weapons were covered by Cobalt and Carmine respectively. Both of them were absolute marvels when it came to their field, able to put together, take apart, and generally use almost anything they got their hands on. As a companion to them, Ash served as the group's mechanical engineer - building and breaking machinery. Amethyst likewise was the computer and personal techie, both of them astounding in their geekiness and both very suited to converse with highly technical people.

Lastly were the odd pair out: Maroon and Lilac. Maroon had an innate skill with animal handling, sensing and controlling nearby creatures, and was thus also the first to really 'get into' dragons at Carramba. Lilac enjoyed the presence of children, and certainly her protective powers and attentive demeanor kept any child comfortable around her.

Most people didn't see the girls together in a group. This was both by design and happenstance - they chose their own sets of classes, and thus only a few of them actually shared any classes together. Plus, seen apart, only a few people realized that they're all clones. They do share physical features: most are tall, though some less so (Crimson was nearly 6' tall, while Lilac hardly 5'4"); they had a strong, long nose, and intense, large eyes. Their jawline was also stunningly similar, as was their slender, even build. They did tend to pose themselves alike. However everything else about them seemed quite radically different.

Aside from their hair color and style, their eyes and choices of clothing (given that they were created by GLaDOS they were also dressed according to their name) gave away their names. Their voices too were radically different, and likely all stem from their mother's genetics. They did share a quirky speech pattern, halting and stuttering, hissing s sounds, and pausing in odd places during conversation. Opal attributed this to their father's inhuman influence: they all knew so many words, choosing the right ones was sometimes difficult.

All of them were truly united in their cause, and all were dedicated to what they would eventually have to do in their own world. The defeat of the Combine was absolutely essential. Only Indigo had met and conversed with their sire, happening upon him while learning how to teleport herself. She took the knowledge that he had, of opening and closing portals, of stepping sideways through space and time, and bestowed it upon her sisters. Indigo also was responsible for learning of their whole purpose - determining that they were uniquely able to do immeasurable damage to the Combine, on their own turf, but only after their stint at Carramba.

After all, when they succeeded in saving the world - or perhaps all worlds - from the Combine, they would then be relied upon to help produce the next generation. Educating them, keeping the new world safe, those things would be relished by most of the girls eventually. For now though, they muddled through their course loads, and every evening returned to their large group dorm suite, to share their knowledge with one another.

Though they'd been entered as Juniors, they almost uniformly had a pre-existing level of knowledge in each of their own fields, of at least a mid-college level. So Opal taking Linguistics, and Ash in Speculative Engineering, were kind of redundant for them. The class that most of them shared at the same time - Indigo, Violet, Cobalt and Carmine all took Current Affairs period 2. Meausring Up (a math class) period 4 saw Lilac, Lavender and Orchid in it at the same time, while the 6th period Speech class was one that Opal, Violet and Carmine all took together. Mostly they're scattered around campus all day long.

If folks did see them together, they were likely to get a bit weirded out. For when the girls were all in one place, they hardly spoke out loud, prefering to telepathically communicate with one another in a kind of group manner. Indigo and Opal brought the Vortigaunt's "flux shifting" speech to them, and while they couldn't produce the deep, intensely throaty sounds that often accompany those creature's language, they could enjoy the 'all talking at once' mental speech.

Another thing they shared but with their own unique style: flitters! Maroon located a nest of adorable Halloween type flitters, and brought them to the sisters she knew would appreciate them most. Not to be outdone, Ash put in for several mechanical pets, while they couldn't fly they did look awesome and leapt really well.

** an update to the Girls... There are not only a second-generation bunch (see their 'offspring' links) but the whole rest of the color wheel thanks to participation by an assortment of Carramba-centric help. A second group of Girls, and two groups of Boys. Finally the last pair of groups - very colorful, very not colorful.