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This article describes the Portal 2 storyline, chapter by chapter.
Portal 2 almost directly follows the events of Portal from Chell's perspective, although being set thousands of days after the events of Portal.
Prologue
Fifty days after the events of Portal, Chell is reawakened by an unidentified announcer. Test subjects who have been in stasis for several months are expected to have major mental problems, and hence Chell is given a mandatory physical and mental exercise.
Chapter 1: The Courtesy Call
Set thousand of days after Portal. The announcer wakes Chell up once more, only to meet Wheatley and helps him escape with her. The original Portal chambers are introduced, only damaged and with plant overgrowth sprawling along the walls. They are guided by the same announcer, using pre-recorded messages.
At the end, GLaDOS is accidentally reawakened and starts building new test chambers.
This chapter includes the following areas: Relaxation Chamber, Decrepit Test Chamber 00, Decrepit Test Chamber 01, Decrepit Test Chamber 02, Decrepit Test Chamber 03-04, Decrepit Test Chamber 05, Decrepit Test Chamber 06, Decrepit Test Chamber 07-08 and secret area, GLaDOS' Chamber and Main Breaker Room, Incinerator Room, Decrepit Test Chamber 19.
The Cold Boot
GLaDOS introduces new tests. They primarily include Thermal Discouragement Beams and Aerial Faith Plates.
The Return
Chell is put through more tests. The Hard light bridge and turrets are introduced. Wheatley sabotages a door to distract GLaDOS using a bird egg to inform Chell of the escape plan that he has. By test chamber 14, GLaDOS states that to maintain a constant testing cycle she must "simulate daylight at all times and add adreanal vapor" to Chell's oxygen supply, which may confuse Chell about the passage of time. She then says that "Yesterday" was Chell's Birthday. At the start of Test chamber 15 GLaDOS states that Chells Jumpsuit "looks stupid".At the end of the test chamber she says that in the list of test subjects in cryogenic storage there are 2 people with Chell's last name, A man and A woman. In Test chamber 16, GLaDOS hints at a surprise for Chell and that it involves "Two people you [Chell] haven't seen in a long time". At the end of the test chamber GLaDOS hums "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow".
The Surprise
Chell is given a "surprise" as hinted by GLaDOS, though there is actually none.
Meanwhile, GLaDOS once again attempts to make Chell stop by making her feel bad, especially now GLaDOS decides to include Chell's unknown parents into their conversations.
The Escape
Before GLaDOS can kill Chell, she and Wheatley escape. They eventually sabotage GLaDOS's turret and neurotoxin manufacturing facilities. Chell and Wheatley force a core transfer on GLaDOS so that Wheatley can take control of the facility so they can both escape.
However, Wheatley easily gets corrupted and puts GLaDOS' head on a small potato battery. Due to his corruption, he throws Chell and GLaDOS down an elevator and into forgotten ruins of the facility.
The Fall
Chell and GLaDOS fall down into Cave Johnson's old test areas, back when Aperture Laboratories were instead known as Aperture Science Innovators, and get separated from each other. She is guided by pre-recorded messages by Cave Johnson and occasionally, his assistant, Caroline.
Chambers in here involve the Repulsion Gel and the first design of boxes, buttons and switches.
The Reunion
Chell managed to find GLaDOS being eaten by a crow. With no other choice, Chell installs (stabs) GLaDOS onto her Portal Gun and have GLaDOS accompany for the rest of their time. Newer, of Cave's era, chambers are visited and performed by Chell.
Meanwhile, GLaDOS reminisces her past, back when she was known as Caroline.
The Itch
Chell and GLaDOS return near the surface to Wheatley's redesigned Aperture Laboratories. Wheatley took control, but was obviously oblivious to the fact that his ownership of the place will destroy it. At this moment, Wheatley has made his own redesign and creations, such as the cube-turret hybrid popularly known as "Franken-cubes" and "CubeTurrets".
In addition, he had made new tests from scratch, and forced the duo into them.
The Part Where He Kills You
After several tests, Wheatley finds out about the Cooperative Testing Initiative and takes it upon himself to kill the two. They, however, escape with Chell's prowess over the portal device.
The two reach Wheatley's chamber, as well coming across un-incinerated corrupt cores. The two make a plan to force another core transfer in order to return GLaDOS back to her original body, as well as making a deal to release Chell once they do so. Upon getting to Wheatley's chamber, a battle ensued. Chell had to redirect bombs to Wheatley as GLaDOS delivers corrupt cores. After placing three cores, Wheatley's corruption had reached a hundred percent. A core transfer takes place, but as expected, Wheatley decides to be a stalemate. Chell reaches for the Substitute Stalemate button, but Wheatley expected this and placed bombs as booby-traps.
Chell gets thrown across the room, and the damage done is enough to shake place, opening the ceiling. The moon was visible, so Chell had to take it as a last resort. Chell fires a portal beneath Wheatley, and another to the moon's surface. Rapid decompression from space sucks them in, as Chell hangs on to Wheatley's body to survive. Unseen, GLaDOS had successfully performed a core transfer. GLaDOS knocks Wheatley out into space and decides to save Chell.
Trivia
- This chapter is only given a full name when it is reached; before that it is only known as "The Part Where...".
The Credits
Chell wakes up in an elevator, as GLaDOS tells her that "being Caroline" taught her a valuable lesson. She originally considered killing Chell for what she has done to her, but instead decides to transport her outside of Aperture and demands that she "never return", for the sake of not bothering her again.
The elevator rises and Chell meets singing turrets along the way. Finally reaching the surface, Chell gets thrown out of the elevator, into the fields. Unexpectedly, the Companion Cube makes an appearance, getting thrown out of the outhouse looking partially burned.
Co-op campaign
The co-op campaign is set after the events of Portal 2. In it, two testing androids of the Cooperative Testing Initiative carry out a series of tests in 4 different chapters, each consisting of at least 10 test chambers. At the end of each chapter, GLaDOS sends the androids outside of the testing chambers and into the facility itself, claiming their help is needed to retrieve several Compact Discs "innocently" left lying around by the humans. In reality, she appears to be using the androids to help her gain control of the facility. After each out-of-chamber task, both androids are self-destructed.
After finishing the 4th set of test chambers GLaDOS instructs the two androids to help her find human test subjects trapped somewhere in the facility. After a series of obstacles outside the facility, including inside several old Aperture Science Innovators test chambers, the androids find and unlock a massive vault door leading to a huge chamber housing hundreds of human test subjects suspended in individual stasis chambers. GLaDOS then self-destructs both androids and the credits roll, showing GLaDOS scanning the identities of the test subjects and making remarks about them, both positive and negative.
 Game storyline articles
| |
|---|---|
| General | Timeline of the Half-Life universe |
| Half-Life story arc | Half-Life (Opposing Force • Blue Shift • Decay) |
| Half-Life 2 story arc | Original storyline • Half-Life 2 (Episode One • Episode Two) |
| Portal story arc | Portal • Portal 2 |
| Alyx Vance's story arc | Half-Life: Alyx |