"Hey, did you see the news this morning, Che?" My co-worker struggled every morning to make small talk with me; ever since I started working at the local cafe it had been tradition. He was younger than me, a senior in high school according to what he said. The lanky boy casted his backpack into his locker before closing it with a resounding 'thud'.

"I don't watch the news…" I sighed as I decided to throw him a bone, "What was it?"

His eyes seemed to focus and clear up a bit when I gave him something to respond to. He pulled out his phone and quickly maneuvered around on it, then he handed it to me, "Look at that! What do you think all of that could be?"

On the phone was a picture news article. The headline seemed to stray close to a conspiracy theory. In big bold letters it read, "Are Androids Among Us?"

"Earlier this week, police attempted to detain the previously reported on mob of people as they returned on their same path. All members of the mob ignored all demands of the police, resulting in fire to prevent their progression. However, several police officers were injured after their shots ricocheted off of the men and women in the mob. Police officers were able to shoot down only a small fraction of what witnesses state had to have been above a hundred people. The police refuse to make any statements on the matter, but witnesses testify that the people they were able to take in seemed to be dead, or 'powered-down', a few joked."

The news article was the kind of odd that strummed strings of distasteful nostalgia within me. I frowned at the continuing paragraph, "Photographs and videos of the mob, prior to the police requesting devices be turned off and for people to evacuate from the scene, show the mob circling around a specific person in the center, often checking to look at them when gunshots were fired. A single person has released a video from a second story building in which we can see said person was holding what looked to be a metal ball with handles.

In a hurry, I skimmed the concluding paragraph. I took a deep breath and hit play on the photo. The camera was shaky, and I assumed someone had taken it the clip on their phone. It focused in on the collective crowd, before zooming in on the center of it. There was indeed someone holding a metal ball, and I noticed a bright blue glow on the shirts of those to the sides of the one holding it.

Oh my god.

My coffee cup hit the table and tipped over, spilling the hot liquid everywhere in a good foot or so range. I toppled over, and Ashton's phone clattered onto the tile by my head at the same time the metal chair clanged behind me. Drops of coffee burned at my arm as I tried to sit up.

"Miss C! Are you okay?" Through blurry eyes, I saw Ashton crouch down next to me. I took a harsh breath when I saw a claw smash down on the top of the lift.

Adrenaline turned my face cold as I tried to sit up, "Stop- I'll fall!"
"C-Che? You already fell… Are you okay? I-I'll call an ambulance!"

I bolted upright with a similar feeling to breaking through the surface of water after staying under for a little too long. Ashton's hand stopped midway towards me, watching me carefully,, "No- I'm fine! S-Sorry…"

I stammered a little as I tried to get to my feet. I fell back with little resistance when I realized I didn't have the strength to haul myself up. I reached out for Ashton's hand, "Can you help me up?"

As he lifted me to my feet, I heard the creak of the old kitchen door. Our manager, Matt, grinned one of her glowing smiles at us, "I knew Ashton would knock you off your feet-"

"She fell. I think she's sick," Matt's teasing grin faded and the dainty girl ran over. She looked me up and down.

"Chelley, you're so pale! Take her home please. I'll keep you on the clock, okay, Ashton? Consider it a delivery."

"No- I'm fine- Seriously, Matt-"

"Chelley, I won't hear it. You haven't called off a single day since you started here. Go ahead, me and Blakely can hold up the store until Ashton gets back. He can easily get back before the breakfast rush fills in."

"But I-" She walked back towards the kitchen with her pink curls in full bounce as she went. I heard Ashton pick up his phone and fish his keys out of his pocket.

The ride was full of silence. He would occasionally ask if it was too hot or cold, or if I needed to stop somewhere on the way home. That, or he'd ask me to repeat or confirm directions. I kept my answers as short and quiet as possible. I, again, wished I had the money to buy a car. I had been on the surface three years now, it was about time I stopped traveling by foot.

"Is this the place, Che?" We pulled up into the lot for my apartment complex. Once he parked, I pulled myself out of his truck, careful not to kick his jacket or mess of bottles on the floor out in the process.

"Hey, Che," I turned and gave him a smile as he handed me a slip of paper, "there's my number. If you need a ride or- if you need anything, feel free to call me. Alright?"

I nodded idly and rattled mine off to him as I put the number in my pocket, and I pulled my key out in the same gesture. He grinned and nodded, and waved to me, "I hope you get to feeling better, Miss Che- Miss C."

I laughed at his slip up. He did that a lot. I wasn't sure why 'Che' and "Miss C' were okay, but "Miss Che" wasn't. Maybe it's because he almost called me Miss Chell and didn't want to make me feel old. I mean, twenty-three wasn't that old in my book. I didn't know that that had exactly been my age, but it felt right. I always had vaguely knew where I was in age, but I had no clue when my birthday was. So, I deemed it the day I escaped for simplicity. That made less dates to remember.

Wheatley is back on Earth. GLaDOS has him. GLaDOS hates him. He is going to die, and no one but me knows it. No one else knows what that image meant, and no one else knew that a sentient robot that was programmed with pain sensors had just went into his own living hell. And did I care?

Pass. Next thought.

He wasn't a good person. He had not only subjected me to testing, and betrayed me in the very last moments before what should've been freedom, but he also tried to kill me. Relentlessly. In fact, if I hadn't been so good with my long fall boots and portal gun, I would've died. He went over kill too- Bombs, neurotoxin, trapped in a room surrounded by fire, and no portal surfaces. If that pipe hadn't busted, I would've been deader than the roadkill we passed on the way home.

For a moment, the bombs landed in front of me by a foot or two, The explosion stung my face. I squinted my eyes and shot a blue portal, letting a couple soar in. Wheatley's shields had shifted to protect him from the last attack, but he still lift a chink in his armor. His robotic body went limp again, and I caught a glimpse of the green core on its way down the management rail.

Breath. One. Two… Three...

My hands dropped into my lap as the weight of the portal gun faded away. I sighed and flopped over to stare up at the ceiling. Those were getting more frequent. But yes, Wheatley was cruel. But, does cruelness back help anything? And he had woken me up, otherwise I would be a 'flippin' vegetable'. And part of me really wanted to believe that such power to a tiny robot had just overloaded his mind-

Shut up, shut up. There's no reason to contemplate that. It's over. It's not going to come back. He will never be in control of the facility again, and you will never be down there again.

Right?

I grabbed my phone and turned it on. I usually didn't bother with it. I had saved up for it and bought it, but that was mostly for calls from work since my apartment didn't have a home phone and the apartment complex didn't allow us to have one installed for some reason or another. They had holes drilled in for tvs already, and I guess they didn't want anymore.

Cheapskates are cheapskates, after all. Good ol' human nature.

I pulled up the picture Ashton showed me. I felt nauseous looking at the image of him soaring right towards her. I didn't understand how he got back, or how she knew. I hadn't a single clue as to why she cared enough to take him right to her. And I mean, what are the odds he landed where Aperture Science laid underground? It made my head hurt to think about it. I curled my torso forward as a wave of nausea crashed into me, and dropped my phone next to me.

Maybe someone would discover Aperture now. Maybe now that they want to go recover that object. Certainly the government has questions about that huge claw? I knew for a fact the people did, because a ton of people in the comments were demanding answers. If only they knew.

My chest got overwhelmingly tight as I stood up. I really didn't want to worry about it, but I couldn't just pretend the matter didn't exist. I had to decide whether not to write Wheatley off, or to see if I could do something. To me, neither sounded to appealing. He was the first kind voice I ever heard. He was the only person who ever helped me before potato-GLaDOS. And I still felt within me that maybe he really had just been overwhelmed to the point of corruption-

"Oh really? That's what you two think is it? Well maybe it's time I did something then."

I gasped and spun around, but no one was there. I was alone. They couldn't touch me here. I was completely out of their control. Aperture Science was nothing to me, and it never would be again.

Except maybe now-

No, Chell, no. You're not going back down there. It's extremely unfortunate that Wheatley has to stay down there and go through whatever GLaDOS has in store for him, but you can't help him. Overloaded or not, he dug himself into this hole. "Overloaded" didn't dismiss him from what he did anyways. And GLaDOS was only returning him the favor of what he did to Her and myself. There's no reason to save him. She'll get bored and kill him eventually.

No, no, that thought still hurt. I meant it when I said that Wheatley being overloaded didn't make it okay, he still was guilty, but being tortured? Dying? I wasn't sure he earned it. Sure, he tried to kill me, but he didn't. A lot of attempted murders didn't go to jail for life and especially not death row, so why would he-

Fine, fine. I stood up, but my knees felt didn't feel like they would support me long. I slowly made my way to my room, but I fell over rather quickly.

I reached for my portal gun,heaving out quick breaths, and rolled onto my back. I aimed at the bright moon above me-

And the ceiling stared back at my empty hands. My hands fell onto the floor for a minute as I caught my breath. Once I made it to my closet, I hoisted some things out. My boots and jumpsuit had been cleaned up so that they weren't quite as ratty as they had been. The rips and tears from wearing the jumpsuit into space had been well patched over by a local tailor.

I couldn't believe I had any consideration for doing this.

I pulled it on over my clothes. It still fit fairly well, and the zipper worked just fine now that it was replaced. I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled on my long fall boots, and a pair of knee socks since the ones I had back then were so worn out that they ripped in the wash. The boots still fit as well as they did the day I got out of that shed. They fit was almost eerie, like they'd been molded just for me. And I guess, as any shoe acted, they had formed to my feet over time.

A loud rumbling came from the right before my old, charred companion cube tumbled out in front of me-

No, there was no shed there. However, my companion cube sat where I was looked in my closet. Funny how subconsciouses work. I wouldn't need it, that was for sure. I certainly wasn't lugging that heavy thing any farther. It's funny how much lighter picking things up with the portal gun was. Carrying it across a wheat field with my bare hands had been much harder, and I had the calluses on my hands to show it.

I pulled off my boots and jumps suit and changed from my work clothes to a t-shirt and sweatpants before I plopped down on my bed. I was crazy. I was absolutely crazy if I thought I was gof back there. It wasn't happening. Even if I could make it without losing my mind- which from how things were going already wasn't a very likely outcome- there was no way to get in without GLaDOS knowing. And the very, very last thing GLaDOS said to me was "Don't come back." and I didn't want to disobey here on that one. She had always had a bad hatred for being disobeyed, and an even worse temper to match.

I mean, she definitely wouldn't let me in. And even if I did, she would say that meant I wanted to test. I didn't. I had no desire to see white panels and blue and orange portals ever again. I had no desire to see the cubes or the lasers. I didn't want to see light bridges or those excursion funnels. No ariel faith plates for me. How could I ever put myself in a situation where I would have to see those again?

I almost screamed when I an odd chiming went off. Realizing it was my phone, I brought myself to my feet. At least my knees felt a little more stable.. As I walked, I kept steady breaths. I picked up my phone quickly, "Yes, hello?"

"Miss C! How are you feeling?"

"Ashton?"

"I'm on break- Hey, which apartment do you live in?"

"Huh?"

He laughed with a light-hearted air, and I heard the sound of a paper bag shifting, "Weird question, huh? Told her. Matty is sending me out to bring you lunch. Which apartment is yours?"

"Oh… 317."

"Awesome! Be right up!" I bolted to my room and made a mad dash to shove all the Aperture objects back into the closet. Then I dashed back to the living room, and tossed myself down onto the couch. My heart pounded on the inside of my chest like a caged animal as I laid there, which made it hard to listen for a knock on the door. Finally, it came, and I made my way over.

He held up two brown paper bags labeled with our store's name and grinned at me, "Hungry, Che?"

I gave him a smile to convey my thanks and nodded before motioning for him to come in, "Woah, nice place, Che!"

I laughed softly, "Something like that. How much longer do you have before you have to go back to the store?"

"Oh, right! Matty told me to text her when I got here so that she knew when to start the clock. I've got thirty-five minutes."
"Don't let her hear you calling her that, you might lose more than your job," I commented as I grabbed a sandwich from the bag and unwrapped it. I stared at it a long moment. Cheese turkey, cut apple slices, and bacon, along with mustard and avocados on a sandwich. The thought of what it would taste like made my stomach churn. I wearily knitted my eyebrows together as I stared over at Ashton.

"Oh, that one's mine," He reached for it and handed me the other one, "That one's a little more 'normal'. A ton less tasty though!"

"You are really strange, you know that?"

"Strange is good in my book- Oh, by the way, Ms. C, do you mind if I stay for lunch?" He chomped down on his sandwich, provoking a laugh from me.

"You are already aren't you?"

His face turned a rosy pink as he made a point of looking at everything but me, "Sorry. I guess I just sort invited myself, huh?"

"That's alright. You have limited time to get back, I'm pretty sure Matty intended for you stay for lunch anyways. It's fine by me. After all, you brought me lunch. Might as well let you stay."

An awkward silence hung stiff in the air until he decided to try and make conversation, "What's on your mind, Che? You seem really down about something."

My eyes flickered up at him, then darted back down at my sandwich, "What do you mean?"

"You can't fool me, Ms. Ch- C. C'mon, we're co-workers. If we can't tell each other how we feel, then how are we ever supposed to be able to function working together? We'll make some nasty sandwiches that way."

"Like yours?" Although he chuckled at my joke, his eyes stayed set on me.

I sighed and sat down my sandwich to take a swig of the milkshake he brought me. I looked over at him as I contemplated how to make Wheatley being trapped in Aperture with GLaDOS sound vague enough to sound normal. The silence left an empty feeling that I knew was making things even more awkward, so I decided I had to start talking, "This friend of mine… we met in a… difficult situation. I was trapped there, and he tried to… help me get out of it. But instead, he got sucked into it. Uh- and, long story short, we both got out and went our separate ways. Now he's trapped back there though, and well… We didn't part on good terms."

"Ah, so that's what's weighing Che down. Makes sense. So you don't know if you can help him or how, right? Or- Or do you not want to?"

"N-No I want to… I think I do. I mean, sure he wronged me but… it makes me no better if I leave him there, right? And besides… I'm the only one who knows he's trapped there."

"It's true that two wrongs don't make a right, but what if you both just end up trapped there?"

I sighed, "That's what I'm worried about."

Ashton shifted his weight around in his seat, then looked at me, "How far is to even get to where he is?"

I sighed while I racked my brain to remember. I sighed and rested my forehead on the table, "Like… Seven hours? It's about 500 miles…"

He gave me a quick nod before he began typing what I could only assume was an essay on my personal insanity. With my sandwich gone, I stared at him until he looked up and gave me a grin, "Lets go."
"What?"

"I told Matt that I'm taking you to the hospital. I'm off for the next three days, so hopefully we can get back by then."

"What? No, no, no. You can't go there- Ashton. Nothing good can come out of you going there. You'll just get trapped or-"

"But you know better. And once we get him, it'll be three against one, right?

A giant one. But I couldn't turn that into human terms. His grin bore into me, "Lets get read then, Ms. C."

I sighed as I realized there was no good way out of this. I went to my room and pulled on the jumpsuit. I knew he'd question it, but I couldn't worry about it. I pulled the boots on, and grabbed a couple of old backpacks of mine from when I used to grocery shop and walk home instead of riding the bus. I stuffed an entire pack of batteries in one, and grabbed a couple of huge flashlights. Two pocket knifes- It took me a long time to pack.

When we finally left the apartment, we both climbed into his truck. He asked the location, and I told him the closest place I knew and informed him that we'd have to walk a while from there. He nodded and mounted his phone on a piece of plastic on the windshield. I felt myself jolt back in some sort of a recoil as I stared at the spidering cracks on his screen, "D-Did I break your phone earlier?"

He laughed, "Don't worry about it, Che. It doesn't matter, I had a warranty on it. The new one will e here in a few days."

I hated being cars, they were too cramped. There was no good way out if your door got blocked. But, they were necessary. I certainly wasn't going to walk all the way back there again. Ashton would glance over at me occasionally, and when I finally caught him he chuckled and looked back at the road, "Don't consider me rude if you can avoid it, but what's with the jumpsuit?"

"Ah- Um… Long story-"

"Enough said," He shrugged and kept his eyes on the road, weaving between slow cars to get in front of them.

Roughly halfway there, he stopped us on the side of the road. He stepped out of the car and looked over it. I got out and stared at him, shifting my weight between my feet. He looked up at me and frowned, "The back right tire is flat."

"Well I'm back. The Aerial Faith Plate in here is sending a distress signal. You broke it didn't you." One of many remarks she had made at my weight. I put my hands on my stomach, then realized I was standing on the side of the road and not on white panels.

He almost laughed, "Hungry? Okay, there should be a gas station down the road from here. We can go down there and buy what we need to patch it, then we can drive it down to fill the air back in if we take it slow. We can grab food there. Sound good?"

I nodded. The sun was going down, so at least it wasn't as hot as it had been before. We started our way down on foot, and I grabbed my backpack just in case. Maybe I was paranoid, but it'd probably be dark before we got back and that flashlight sounded really nice. He would point out animals in the brush or a flock of birds in the sky. The first time he did I laughed, "Did you know that crows love potatoes?"

"Do they? Then that's why they're on my trash can so much."

It took a while to get to the station, but he found the kit he was long for. On our way back, I found myself thankful i brought the flashlight. He had to roll his car forward to get to the hole on the tire, and rather than getting in, starting it, moving it, and turning it off, he instead heaved at it at budged it just enough. I held the flashlight in place for him while he attempted to patch it.

"What caused the hole?"

"A nail," He mumbled right as he pulled the assailant out out of the tire. He pocketed it - probably to avoid another car from falling into our shoes - and quickly patched it over, "It smells like crap over here…"

"Maybe because there's a bunch of cows at the fence over there?"

He glanced to his left, then went back to work, "... So there is."

We tried to drive the truck down, but long story short the patch wouldn't stay on these old, rough roads. I watched Ashton get more and more agitated as we had to move slower and slower. He suddenly huffed and yanked the keys out, then went back to the tire and started to push. I could tell it was straining him, and the truck hardly moved at all.

I quickly got out and pushed alongside him. At least it moved us about twice as fast, which meant we'd probably be there by morning. I sighed as I imagined trying to around the curb in this fashion. I stopped pushing when Ashton did, and he worked to get the patch back in place, "I just don't think it has enough air… It's staying on pretty well."

"Oh, really? I don't suppose that changes anything for us, does it?"

"No, not really." I sighed and started to push the nine-thousand pound hunk of metal. He got up and pushed alongside me. He screamed at one point and leapt in, shoved the keys back in and did his very best to make the car move a little. I saw headlights flow across the ground, and I realized the truck was partly in the other lane. As he tried his best to correct it, I pushed to try and help it move faster.

I realized we'd moved it just in the nick of time when the wind caused by the other car blew my ponytail around a bit. After we got the car to the ground right next to the road, we both sat and continued to pant from both the panic and physical exertion. I fell to my knees - don't do that on streets, it hurts - and rested my forehead on the dirty back of the truck. He came over and sat next to me. He wrapped his arms around his knees, "I don't know how we're going to do this."

His typical optimism was lacking. Guilt held my chest tight as I realized that nail would've been ages away from him if he hadn't of taken me towards Aperture.

"I might have the money for a tow truck," I offered, but he shook his head.

"This is my car, but the owner forgot to sign over the ownership. I'm meeting him in a couple of days- Well, if we get back in time. If not, it'll be fine. I just have to make sure I don't get in any trouble. But anyways, the car owner has to be present for a tow-truck to tow you."

I groaned and craned my head back. I stared up at the moon and felt my already racing heartbeat manage to pick up the pace.

This is my only shot. If I don't do this… the whole facility is going to explode. And me, Wheatley, GLaDOS, the turrets, the other cores, we're all going to die here and now if I don't make this shot. Along with all the science and technology people slaved over for years.

"Chell?" I jumped a little as I came back to reality. I realized I was in a super dramatic pose. I was leaning back a little as I stared up at the moon like a lost puppy. I must've worried him enough for him to cut the nicknames for once, "Are you okay?"

"Just worried- but it'll be okay." I put my hands in my lap and looked at the truck, "We'll get it there. It might just take longer than expected. S-Sorry about your tire. I'll pay to get you a new set when we get back-"
"That's alright, I've got a spare back at the house. Too bad I didn't- I hate myself," He breezed onto his feet and threw open the tool chest in the back of the truck. He hit his forehead hard, "I'm the biggest idiot. Ever."

"You have the spare tire."

"Absolutely," He grabbed his tools and took the pieces off, then raised the car with the jack and removed the tire. Pretty soon, we were back on track. He tossed everything back in the car and the flat in the bed of the truck. He pulled himself into the bed and climbed down next to the passenger seat, I guess to save time. Or maybe he was just that boosted in energy from the random success.

He grinned at me as soon as I got back in, "Lets get you some food!"

We washed the dirt and grime off in the bathrooms and grabbed food that probably was going to cause us heart problems one day. Hot dogs, chips, and sodas. I grabbed a couple apples as well to feel a little better about it. He snagged a couple other things, and we were off.

As we chowed down, he grinned apologetically at me, "Sorry I wasted so much time when I had another tire. And wasted so much energy on moving it."

"You forgot it was back there, it's fine. We're moving now and that's all that matters. Besides, you didn't have to drive me out here in the first place. So I'm in no position to complain." He shrugged his shoulders at me.

"That is a huge field." He stared out at the field I had trekked through so long ago. We had our backpacks on and the car locked up. It seemed like it was an okay place to park. As long as a farmer didn't get angry at us for parking right outside his fence, we'd be fine. Ashton didn't seem to worried about it.

"It is. Imagine how much bigger it felt when there was wheat up to your chest. It's only ankle-tall right now, thank god."

"Yeah but that means it's easier for us to be seen, easier to get in trouble. So we'd better move quick."
"Just be careful not to kill all the wheat. And don't waste too much energy speeding, it's a pretty long journey . Not to mention we still have to deal with what happens when we get there."

"Right."

We were about ten minutes into the walk when he finally sighed, "So I guess it's time to ask you what exactly I'm walking into. Violent? Manipulative? Male? Female? How big are they? What is there go-to thing to stop you?"

I paused to think of how to word it, "I'd give an 7/10 in violence and a 10/10 in manipulation. Uh,. female. They are… huge. But not fat huge. Like… uh… wrestler huge. Their go-to is… well- It's hard to explain."

"Fine by me. I like surprises," I could tell he was being partially sarcastic, but he let it drop, so I didn't really find the energy to scold him for it.

"I want you to keep that in mind," In my head, I saw GLaDOS hulking before me. She was absolutely terrifying in her normal state; she towered over any living being by far. She herself would easily crush a school bus if she were to fall from the ceiling. Hell, she probably would if she wasn't likely to lose control of the facility. She would say that it was a test to see how quickly school children react to danger or something.

Okay, that's enough morbid thoughts. Plenty of morbid things in reality.

"How much farther is it anyways?"

"Well, lets just say we've hardly started."

"I really am not missing my exercise while we're out of town."

"No, no. You'll get more exercise tonight than you have in the past three months combined."

"Talk about pushing yourself, huh?"

"Something like that." I glanced around the field, but there was nothing see anywhere else that I couldn't see in front of me. Wheat. I wondered if this was many farmers' fields, or if someone had enough money to own this much land. Maybe it was a mass-producer's field. Honestly, I just hoped we were going in the right direction.

Finally, I saw the shed. The place where I got my first glimpse of the outside. It almost felt nostalgic, but it wasn't a warm welcome. It meant that we were currently standing over Aperture Science, and we were about the descend into my personal hell. Also, it was quite a bit off to our right and had Ashton not pointed it out, I would've never seen it and we probably still would've been going the wrong way.

"Oh, Che! Is that…?"

"That shed will lead us to Her place underground."

"Christ, she lives underground? Middle of nowhere, underground, she's not a very social creature is she?"

"Nothing like a social creature." An antisocial machine.

It took a little while to make it to the shed, but we did. I could feel myself start shaking as we neared it, and at one point the wheat tripped me up and I got a faceful of it.

When I looked up, light glared off of the glass box around me. One portal opened on the panel behind me, and one in the surrounding room. The announcer on the intercom told me to leave through it. As I hoisted myself up, the room was abruptly missing. The sounds of crickets' chirping replaced the relentless hum.

"You alright, Miss C?"

"Yeah… I'm fine. Tripped on the wheat or something."

"We walked to the shed. I tugged on the metal door, but it was sturdily locked in place. I absent-mindedly bit down on my lip while, Ashton tugged on it, but there was no chance in it's position. He grumbled, "Too bad I didn't stop by the house and grab my crowbar. I broke the one that I kept in my truck."

He opened his backpack and pulled out a wrench as long as his forearm. About the time he got his backpack on, I felt a stinging pain in my bottom lip. I felt my fingertip along it, and noticed I was bleeding from the teeth marks I wore in. I figured he was going to try and dismantle the door, but instead he swung it back like a baseball back and swiftly brought it forward. The metal shack thundered like a horrendous storm. Birds flew up from the field and filled the sky. I think they were all crows.

However, I now figured out his plan. He had landed the hit at the lock. He was going to try and beat it out of place. Which was better than my ever-present lack of plan. He continued to beat on it like it had wronged him, and I kept watch for any angry farmers. I hadn't seen a farm or house for miles, but it would be just my luck that someone would be nearby to rip us a new one for being in their field uninvited. I wonder if they know this shack is even here. Aperture probably owns it, and just require someone keeps it here.

"Ha! I'm the bomb!" He pumped the fist that held the wrench into the air as the door creaked open. Inside was dark, so I lifted my flashlight and clicked it on. The moonlight had been plenty to maneuver through the wheatfield, but it wouldn't touch us now. He put the shed door back best he could, but it was super busted, "Huh. This is breaking and entering, isn't it?"

"Something like that. Don't worry, she won't report you. Just trust me, " It was about then I realized that I had no plan from here on out. I didn't know how to make the lift go down, I didn't know how to get to Wheatley, and if I remembered right, this lift lead right in front of Her face, "Shit."

He glanced at me and seemed to realize my predicament I walked into the lift and stared at the floor, "Yeah… I don't think my wrench is going to make this thing budge. Not to mention you would just go soaring down to the floor below and probably crash open into a few dozen bits."

I shivered. He didn't want to know what was at the bottom of this pit, or how far down below it was.

"So uh… I'm noticing there are no buttons."

"Yeah, She controls it."

"Oh… huh. I don't suppose there's another entrance?"

"Maybe. None that I know of. Probably not another one nearby."

He laughed at my side note, "Where else would it be? Her house is here, isn't it?"

"Y-" The lift started to go down. My skin felt cold. She knew. I swiped the wrench from his hand and smashed the side of the lift, "Come on!"

"Woah, woah, woah! This thing is moving way too fast- Oh my god your serious we're- What the hell!"
Through openings in the wall, you could see the occasional turret or potato plant. But more importantly, he had started to get the idea of how big this place was. And - no pun intended - he was just scratching the surface. I grabbed his hand, "When I say jump, you jump. Understand?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever you say, boss."

"Jump!"

My arm got cut by the jagged edge of the glass that remained in the elevator, but we both made it out. I did my best to get us into one of the sections of the wall, but I had mistimed the jump. We had to fall a few feet first, and at the first opportunity I had I swung Ashton into one of the cubbies. I fell past it, but he managed to get his barrings enough to hold onto me. He pulled me up, then we both stood there. We were panting like overheated dogs.

It stunk so badly in here that Ashton at one point leaned over the edge and hurled those unhealthy foods from before into the abyss. As someone who had become adapted to it, it still made me want to follow suit, so I could only imagine how bad it was on his system. Finally he caught his breath enough to turn and face me. He was at least regaining some color to his face.

"What… The… H-"

"You don't want to be there when that lift reaches the bottom. It moving on it's own means She knew someone was up there. I don't know if She knew it was me, but she knows it was someone. And the broken glass may tell her someone escaped into the facility."

"F-Facility?"

"Ashton, I… I think I need to explain things now. Things that I've been too nervous to tell you. If I told you before- You wouldn't have brought me here. You wouldn't have come here yourself. If I told you… I wouldn't have been able to come help him."

His eyes got a little narrow as he looked me up and down. The happy-go-lucky attitude of his faded with crossed arms and a hard frown, "What have you been hiding from me."

I took as deep a breath as I could, and motioned to the space around us, "This is Aperture Science. They're a very old science company that went out of business ages ago. They did a lot to stay in business- The employees even became test subjects. Their creations… broke the boundaries of science. There are gels that make you bounce way up into the air and these beams that make let you float… There's… hard-light bridges made from sunlight that you can walk on… And the beast of all creations is their portal gun.:

"Their portal gun?"

"You can create two portals with it. A blue, and an orange. The colors of the company logos and all. If you go through one, you come out the other. So if one is up high in a place you can't get to, and one is right in front of you-"

"It gets you up to where you couldn't reach before."

"Exactly. That's the basics of it. Anyway, the only thing that might be more impressive is the robots here. There's one- Her. Her name is GLaDOS. She controls the entire facility. If you see paneled walls and floors, she can move and change every one of them. If you see a button, she can activate it. If you see a cube, she can destroy it. She is… unbelievable powerful, and your best bet is to just avoid her as much as possible. Then there are the turrets. They are programmed to shoot you down. They have extremely accurate aim. They're those robots you saw as we were coming down."

"Oh- That's what those things were? Bullet-shooting robots? How come they didn't shoot us then?"

"Well, they're probably not activated right now. No one is supposed to be up here, and you and I are the only two humans in the facility, so they-"

"What? What do you mean- Your friend is here!"

I looked down at my feet and bit the sore place on my lip, "He's a-"

"No! No, Chell. We didn't come here for an inanimate object- Tell me-"

"He's not inanimate!" I felt my face turn red, so I started to look down out of the cubbyhole we were in, "He's... The robots here are all sentient. They have memories, and emotions, and… and they can feel pain. The scientists were sickeningly good at what they did. They… They-"

"They can't feel, Chell! There isn't a way. They can be programmed all damn day to sound and act like it but-"

"They were all human!" My voice echoed around us into the silence, and I sat down carefully to avoid falling out into the void below. I left my back to him so I didn't have to see his disbelief, "They… They were all human. Cave Johnson, the founder… He had them all built and ported humans' consciousnesses into them. I don't know about the turrets… But I know GLaDOS was a woman named Caroline. Cave's own assistant-"

"Well then why isn't he still here? Why isn't he-"

"He died just before the technology was done! He had already put the orders in."

"So you're trying to tell me-"

"I am! I am trying to tell you the robots here were previously human, and still are on the inside. I am telling you that I dragged you all the way out here to save one of them. And I am telling you that GLaDOS will want us dead the moment she sees us. But you don't just leave someone in a hell like this. GlaDOS has a programmed obsession with testing, scientifically. She makes these test chambers that you do with the portal guns- You have to do them nonstop here. It's… And the poor robots… They have to do things against their will. And- And I can't just leave someone here. I know it's hell. I know what it does to you."

Ashton was quiet for a long moment. He came to sit next to me. He stared down below us. I guess not being able to see the bottom of the pit was a little unsettling, because he turned a sickly pale color. He finally looked over at me and took a deep breath, "Okay. I mean, it's not like I know how to get out of here without dying. So, lets go."

I sat up a little straighter, "You'll help me?"

He grinned at me, "Duh. Lead the way, Che."

I got to my feet and looked around. If only I had a portal gun. I had nothing to navigate out of the hole with. I could see a catwalk down below, and I'd be fine to land on it. No way it was too far if I had survived that all down into old Aperture. But Ashton would break like a porcelain plate. I looked over at him and shot him an apologetic look before I lifted him onto my shoulder and jumped.

"Holy shit what are you doing! Chell!"

We landed, and thankfully my boots took most of the impact. I think my shoulder in his chest winded him, but he otherwise seemed okay. After I sat him down, I started off down the catwalk. I figured he would get the picture himself, but instead he was still bewildered by my seemingly careless jump

"What- Was-"

"These boots. They're called Long Fall Boots. They keep me from getting hurt as long as I land on my feet. Portal testing tends to make you fall from very high places."

"Remind me not to sign up."

No one does.

I continued to walk until we entered a small office cubicle. The computer seemed to be dead based on Ashton deciding to hit the power button. He glanced around at papers, but I guess nothing of use. I let him explore for a moment or two, before I glanced out the glass window that showed what was outside this particular area. A space farther than the eye can see, with panels that built all kinds of rooms. Exactly what we saw back there. However, Ashton's jaw dropped as he stared out at it.

"How big is this place? It seems to stretch out for miles- I can't see the end in any direction!"

"It goes miles and miles down, too. Levels sealed off years ago. I accidently ended up down there when Wheatley broke the lift."

"Someone broke the lift?"

"Uh-Uh- Yeah. He's a real klutz. Um… Really good at breaking things." Like my trust.

I kept walking. There were two entrances into test chambers, but I certainly wasn't interested. As we continued to walk, the pressing feeling that this place was too big for me to find Wheatley in landed on me. I mean, it would be like finding a notched needle in a needle stack. Ashton put a hand on my back, "Miss C?"

I was hyperventilating. It wasn't so much that I didn't notice, but that I tuned it out once I knew what it was. I put a hand on my chest and tried to focus on my breaths. He stood there for a minute, and I could tell by how hard he was looking at me that he was really trying to find something to say.

"Overwhelmed?" I was expecting one of his crappy jokes, but he apparently hadn't managed one for this situation.

I gave him a nod as my breaths finally gave away to a normal pace again. I could cancel out test chambers, because Wheatley had no arms or legs. Or any means of moving except his management rail, which I doubted he was on. However, going through test chambers would give me the opportunity to get to other parts of the facility. There had to be a way for staff to get there, right?

I started checking doors, but a lot of them were locked. I'm sure Ashton could've used his wrench to put them out of place, but that would likely alert GLaDOS and possibly not even be successful. Just like going through test chambers would not only tell her where we were, but also give her an extra-easy way to trap us. We found one of the circular doors, and went into a small square room, then into another hallway. It looked comparable to the last, except it had three of these doors at different places in the hallway.

"You would think there would be a map somewhere. How were employees were supposed to get around this place?"

"Maps wouldn't work. The place constantly changes. GLaDOS has the ability to move entire rooms at once, and often does for the 'betterment of the facility'. The employees were probably just given directions from point A to B and didn't need to worry about anything else."

Ashton sighed, "But wouldn't it be nice if there was an accurate map?"

"Sure. But if we start listing things we don't have, we'll be here all day," I started walking again, and found myself back on a catwalk. There was a tube by me, which turrets were currently resting in. Red beams swung around, so I crashed myself into Ashton to knock him onto the catwalk in hopes of avoiding bullets.

"Uh, Miss C? Are you okay?"

"Those turrets are active!"

"What turrets?"

I looked up and realized there were cubes in the tube. Not even the ones that Wheatley made that were part turrets. Just cubes. Weighted storage cubes with no lasers or even any AI at all. I sighed and got off of Ashton, "I'm sorry."

"No apologies needed, Che," He stood up and dusted himself off. And boy, was there a lot of dust, "This isn't a good place. And you've been here before. It's kind of normal, at least in my book. Just try to warn me next time."

I was feeling more and more glad that Ashton came with me. Just having someone else to talk to while I was here made this place seem less daunting. I kept walking, stepping carefully as the catwalk creaked. Ashton laughed as we walked, "What are the chances this thing is going to collapse as we walk on it?"

"Roughly 8/10," I mumbled as I looked around for anything useful. Any sort of goal or destination would make me feel less antsy. Sure, I had "wherever Wheatley is" as a destination, and "save Wheatley" as a goal. But as of this moment, my odds of finding it were as good as shaking Cave Johnson's hand.

There was a broken catwalk that had at one time been aligned above us, but now leaned down and connected to our current one. It led up to a door above. Considering there was not a good way to get around it without a good odds of falling into the abyss, I decided to climb it. It seemed like it was connected to the wall pretty well still, and it was lodged pretty well into the catwalk we had just been on. I could tell from his sharp inhales each time it creaked or budged at all that it made Ashton nervous.

The door pushed open and gave away to another set of hallways. I sighed and took the one to our right.

Nothing of importance happened for a few hours. Endless hallways, catwalks, and a few jumps to speak of. At one point I got on Ashton's shoulders and climbed into the footing for a door before opening it and pulling him up. That was the most exciting thing that happened until what had to be six hours. Occasionally. we'd duck into a room to take a very quick break to rehydrate and catch our breath. Then it'd be back into the fray.

I was almost horrified by the amount of cores in the storage room we found. The shelves were aligned neatly, and hundreds of cores lay in wait. I frowned as I walked along the aisles with my hand out to feel along the offline cores. Each one of them looked exactly the same. The only difference between cores physically was their eyes, but all of these cores had their eyes shut. I looked at Ashton and pointed to the one next to me, "This is what Wheatley looks like. When this opens, it has an eye. His is blue-"

"Wait- That's what he looks like? You're saving one of those?"

I crossed my arms, raising my chin a little in an attempt to seem more confident in myself, "Yes, I am."

"Chell- Oh, nevermind," He huffed and rolled his eyes before continuing down to the next door. However, the next room was full of cores too, so we decided to head back to the main hallway, "You really are mental, aren't you?"

I wanted to laugh and tell him that they once thought I had brain damage, but I felt like he would've tried to leave. Tried and failed, probably died, but he would've tried. He followed me down the hallway, and we continued in silence for the time being. I forgot how prone I was to being quiet down here. It was a whole other world down here.

In the distance, we could hear metal banging. It sounded like an ugly pinball machine that gave the helpless ball no way out. It probably had a cube in it, trapped until GLaDOS noticed and fizzled it out. If she ever did. But as we progressed down the hallways, the noise just got louder, "I want to know what that is."

I shook my head and kept walking. I heard him go left and quickly ran back to him with an urge to smack him. I stomped my foot to try and signal him back, but instead he made a motion for me to follow. I gave a quiet sigh with as much aggravation as I could muster and followed him. Might as well let him lead, his guess was as good as mine as to where we should go.

I stumbled a little when I stepped on something that rolled instead of crushing beneath my boots. I picked up a rusty, corroded looking screw. I couldn't tell if it had been there a while or if it came from the pinball-thing that wasn't that far off anymore. For all I knew, it was both.

I swore I could hear mumbling. I caught up with Ashton, but when I looked his lips were pressed together into a line of focus. I noticed soon that the 'mumbling' was bouncing off the walls. It began to sound like repeating syllables over and over again. I glanced over at Ashton, and I guessed by the way he looked around that he had taken notice too.

"Ow… Ow… Ow…" When I noticed what the syllable was, my heart started to race like it was the one that put whatever it was there. What in Aperture Science could feel pain? Turrets said 'ow' sometimes, but it was rapid and I wasn't sure whether or not they actually felt things or if it was an attempt to make test subjects feel bad. This sound was slow and almost sounded like it itself made the sounder ache. It came every couple of hits we heard, and I'm certain that's why we both picked up the pace without a word to signal one another.

We entered a room. It looked like an old, scrapped testing chamber. Around the corner were large metal plates, jutting out to oppose the metal ball bouncing around. I could tell now that it was where the 'ow's were coming from. It was covered in blue repulsion gel, making it bounce quite a lot more.

About the time I was certain it was a core, it slipped out and hit the floor. Ashton and I had dodged to separate sides, thankfully, because a panel of the floor tossed the core back in.

Wheatley. That blue optic.

I tossed myself forward. My hand shot out and wrapped around his handle. The repulsion gel made him tremble in my fist like mad as it tried to do it's job. I ran and dunked him under the cleaning gel before bolting out. If I hadn't instantly set off alarms for GLaDOS just then, they would be going off any moment. As my feet hammered down the stairs, I could hear her in that room, "Where did you fall to now? Oh, are you already too broken to be heavy enough to be picked up by the pressure sensors?"

I heard the sound of all the panels in that room shifting, "... Where are you?"

Once she stopped talking, I finally tuned in to what Wheatley was saying, "Hello? Please, tell me who you are. Just say something… Anything. Anything will do. Not that- Not that I'm not thankful for you grabbing me- thanks for that and all- It's just-"

"Miss C? Aren't you going to say something to your friend?"

I had forgotten to tell Ashton why I didn't speak down here. It was fine when we were alone, but we weren't anymore. Now he could hear me, and maybe even Her if she'd already caught up with us on her cameras. I shook my head at his question, and Wheatley continued to ramble, "Oh, Miss C is it?" Well, nice to meet you, Miss Miss C. I'm Wheatley, and I am bloody thankful that you saved me-"

"Che, I can't keep going like this much longer. And your friend looks like he could use a screwdriver and maybe a hammer."

I could tell Wheatley's pupil went to it's smallest state by the glow on the wall, or lack thereof, "No! No hammers needed! No hammers at all required in this situation, thank you! Uh- however, it would be brilliant if you could replace my screws. And maybe even my handle, if you're feeling really generous."

I ducked into an alcove in the wall. For the first time in ages, I saw one of the paintings that used to guide me. They creeped me out a little, often depicting myself in a situation of some sort. Other times they seemed to be made by a madman, which didn't help my concerns. This one was just as creepy as the old, this time depicting me and Ashton crouching with a third party I didn't recognize. A big, red X crossed out the picture, but the three of us were unmarked in the bottom of the X and the triangle it made with the bottom of the wall. I frowned at it, then looked down at Wheatley.

I shifted him into both my hands so his optic could see me. HIs eye stared up at me, and his pupil shrank again, "Oh."

I handed him to Ashton and slung off my backpack. The two of us sat down and I pulled out a can of spaghettios. I started downing them with a plastic spoon as Ashton pulled his tool kit out and began putting fresh screws into The loose 'faceplate' that Wheatley had, which had often had swung of and hit me in the leg, leaving his optic behind, unencased, "Uh- It's- Er- Ow- Nice to- Ow- See you again!"

I looked away from them both and continued to shovel in spaghettios to give myself a visible reason to Ashton for me not to speak, "I-I need to say- Owwww careful on the ol' handlebar, please. It's loose. I used to have two of 'em… Wonder where that fellow went."

"Right now, the ground next to my leg. I'll get it in when I'm done working on your faceplate," Ashton told him as he worked away, "Gotta say. This is the weirdest thing I've done by far."

"I do bet it's a bit odd! Are you from the surface then? Up there where there's sun and a sky and everything? And humans?"

Ashton laughed and nodded as he set his faceplate into place and began tightening the screws he placed, "Yeah, that's where I come from. Does that make me an alien down here?"

I glanced over in time to see Wheatley's pupil shrink, "There are no such things as aliens."
"Hey, you don't know that! Have you seen all of space?"

"Not all of it, no. Quite a bit of it, though. Not once did I see anything else but asteroids and planets… And a fellow core of mine… Wonder how he's getting along up there…"

"You've been to space?" Ashton sounded quite skeptical, and I almost snorted looking at him. He had paused with his screwdriver resting in the screw, and it almost looked like he was threatening Wheatley to get him to tell the truth."

"Indeed I have. Was up there quite a while. Not sure how long though- I don't understand you humans' concept of time. I'd say a few decades, if I had to guess."

Ashton looked over at me, and I put up three fingers to signify the years. Ashton laughed and looked down at him, grinning as he finished off the screw, "Your story checks out. Wow… I'd love to see space. I bet it's cool-"

"No, no, no. It's not cool. It's cold, and dark, and lonely. And it gives you… way too much time to think. Way, way too much… An obscene amount, really. Redundant, if you ask me. Redundant. Oh- Uh- Speaking of which, when you're done with that, can you turn me to space her for a tick?"

I sat my can down, just a little left, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I glanced back over at the illustration and shook my head. Usually the painters' signs were straightforward, and I could get some sort of concept as to what they meant. But I wasn't sure this time. Was it a sign I shouldn't have come back? And who was that third guy?

"Ah, Miss Miss C?" It was strange hearing someone but Ashton call me that. I glanced over at the core as he twitched, but I figured that was still the damage from the time he woke GLaDOS up. I raised my eyebrows, keeping my eyes narrowed and my lips in a firm frown, "Ah, er… Um… Well, you see- I just wanted to- Uh… About all that, you know, back in the day… Fun times, really… Well… except… not fun. Um, anyways, what I was going to say was… Was-"

"I can hear you talking, you know. Who's in there with you? Is it the robots? Did they leave their chamber- No, no they're still there. Are you talking to dead turrets again?"

Back to his tiny pupil, Wheatley started stuttering even more than before,, "Uh- Er- I guess it'll have to- to wait- Um… Until later… For now, She's… probably not going to give up until she gets a response out of me- Uh- What should I- I say?"

"The truth would benefit you more. Maybe I'll reduce your 4,000 years in android hell to 3,999. How does that sound?"

"Uh… That's very kind of you! But… um… you see- What do I do."

Ashton looked at me and I motioned to towards the sound the speaker was coming from. I mouthed 'Her' at him. His eyes went wide, and had it not been in this scenario, I would've found it funny how similar it was to Wheatley's blue pupil changing size so rapidly. I slowly stood up, back pressed against the wall. If I had a portal gun, this would be easy. But I didn't.

I looked at them and pointed to Wheatley, then gave a questioning thumbs up. Ashton looked down and tapped on the faceplate, and pulled at the handle, which gained some groans from Wheatley, "Ey! Be careful on those, I feel starkers without them, you know!"

"Hey, it's thanks to me you have them back, now shut it!" Ashton hissed at him quietly. His pupil went away from him.

"Alrighty, so what's the plan?" Although he made his voice more raspy like a whisper, it was no quieter. If anything it was a little louder. I rolled my eyes and grabbed onto him and put my backpack back on. I stared hungrily at my spaghettios, but admitted defeat in the realization we had to go. As that occurred to me, a panel smashed into our alcove. I just barely jumped in time, pulling Ashton with me while I kept one arm hooked through his handle. I went to railing of the catwalk. One glance as Ashton told me he had no interest in jumping to the catwalk we could barely see below. I didn't have time to worry about it. I shoved Wheatley into his hands and picked him up.

Wheatley looked up wearily at him as I assumed he caught on,, "How's your grip, mate?"

"Guess we're gonna find out."

I ran down the catwalk and slung us over the railing, panting from the weight of holding them. We landed safely on the catwalk, but my knees almost buckled from holding them. It's true that the boots took the impact, but they weren't equipped to hold the weight unevenly distributed weight of two people and a core. I set them down and ducked us into a hallway of offices.

"Is that her?" GLaDOS' voice sent chills down my spine.