A mechanical female voice came over the speaker. "Please ignore any useless garbage that may have collected in the Weighted Storage Cube dispensers while I was dead. I haven't really had the opportunity to clean up. But now I'm afraid I must leave you. I still have another ten acres of broken glass waiting for me." She paused. "Don't do anything stupid."

Chell rolled her eyes. For an all-powerful AI who ran the entire facility, GLaDOS wasted a lot of energy making caustic remarks about the time She had spent being dead. Really She should be grateful that Wheatley had made the mistake of reactivating Her.

The woman frowned a little. Wheatley, that blundering Personality Core. When Chell had watched as one of Her claws descended upon him and crushed him before tossing him away, she had thought for sure that the poor metal ball was done for. But as it turned out, he was a lot more resilient than she had thought. Or maybe it was just dumb luck.

Either way, what mattered was that he had somehow managed to find his way back onto the management rail, from which he silently stalked her through GLaDOS' test chambers, sparking and twitching all the while. There was no real pattern to his appearances, and Chell could only hope that somewhere behind those wall panels, he was formulating some kind of plan.

Out of the corner of her eye, Chell noticed a familiar azure glow. Speak of the devil!

"Ello!" he whispered in nervous greeting as he zoomed out to her. The light of his bright optic was constricted into a small point and scanning the area anxiously. "So I was looking about, back behind the walls. And I couldn't help but notice that there was absolutely nothing back there that would be of, well, escaping value."

Chell gave him a blank stare.

The core nodded sympathetically, a small jolt rippling through his system. "I know that wasn't quite what you were hoping for. But really, the only things back there are bits of junk. Can you imagine? Whole corridors stuffed with useless bits and knickknacks!"

She raised an eyebrow at him and looked curiously at the hole from which he had entered. An enormous pseudo-warehouse filled with Aperture leftovers? Surely there must be something in there of value. Even if it were all broken materials, she could find something remotely helpful to salvage. She took a few steps towards the break in the wall.

"Uh, love?" He slid back on the rail, giving her an uncertain look. "What, um, exactly do you think you're doing?"

Ignoring him, Chell peered into the hole. Her eyes went wide. "Stuffed" was an understatement. Up until a few feet from the entrance, there were piles of all kinds of clutter imaginable. It was so utterly packed that she imagined it had been rather difficult even for Wheatley to use his rail.

Eyeing a few choice pieces, she shot a portal onto one of the panels that was partially concealed by the junk.

"No, really," the sphere pressed, unamused. "What're you doing?"

She turned to face him and popped the second portal on the wall—a little too high. The scraps flooded out, swamping the area and almost overwhelming Wheatley.

He let out a cry and moved back to avoid the cascading parts. "Watch it now! You almost hi—" There was a loud clunk as something struck his hull, knocking him from the rail. "Bloody hell," he groaned, rolling on the floor.

Chell shook her head with a sigh and picked him up with the portal gun. She gave him a reassuring pat before reattaching him. And that's when it happened.

A sharp wail pierced the air, crashing wildly and painfully off the naked walls.

Chell jumped, looking for the source of the unfamiliar sound with an uncharacteristic sense of urgency.

Squeezing his optic shut, Wheatley moaned and shivered, scooting forward on the rail. "What is that?" He glared down at the thing that had hit him. "Bet this is all your fault," he said accusingly. "It is, isn't it? Right old piece of junk, aren't you?"

To his utter surprise, the thing shook, shrieking louder.

The core rolled his optic, and a few more sparks flew from his hull. "Oh, c'mon mate," he huffed. "It's not my fault you're defective and screeching and all that nonsense!"

Shooting Wheatley a dirty look, Chell clamped her hands to her ears and looked the offending piece of equipment over. It looked…human.

She nudged it cautiously with her foot, revealing an infant-shaped form whose face was marked with a pixilated frown that glowed an angry red.

Well, mostly human.

As the AI's gaze shifted from his human companion down to the squalling creature, something clicked. "Oh! A test baby!"