Walls surrounded them and the hole was covered from under them with a non-spikey face-plate. There was a loud growling noise. GlaDOS was not happy. But as Rex listened closer, he heard that it wasn't GlaDOS. The voice was male, and had an English accent. Chell made some kind of noise and backed up against the wall, scared as hell from whoever, or whatever, it was.
"You! It had to be you! Of all the humans on this earth it had to be you that came here! Right now! Your timing is annoying!" shouted the male AI. Van Kleiss looked around.
"Who are you?"
"My name, is Wheatley. And that little creep is my mortal enemy!" Chell growled.
"I was your friend," he said through her hurt throat. She put her hand over it as she finished: "And you turned on me."
"Lies! All lies! You only thought about yourself! And sense when do you talk?"
"Sense my throat got fixed," she coughed.
"Oh, great. Like you weren't bad enough when you didn't talk!" Chell opened her mouth to talk but all that came out was a week noise. She had told them that if she talked to much she may not ever talk again. She continued to try and talk until Van Kleiss put a hand over her mouth.
"That's enough," he said. "Leave her alone freak!"
"Yeah!" Rex yelled.
"Agreement," Different said softly. For once Rex and Van Kleiss had something they both cared about. Their friend Chell was someone they loved and respected. She was a genious, fast, strong, hardheaded, and above all a great friend. She strongly believed in 'No Man Left Behind' and was slowly getting them to believe it too.
"Ah, so you're the three muskateers and their little pet? One for all and all for one, eh?"
"YES!" Van Kleiss and Rex yelled at him.
"Well then, have fun with this!" The floor opened up below them and they were swallowed by tubes. Rex gritted his teeth. Like GlaDOS wasn't bad enough! Then a thought flash though his mind: Where was GlaDOS?
…
ex landed on his legs and stopped breathing at the sight before him. Crushers, fire, some kinds of goop, turrets, lasers, some kind of catapults, and above all many, many portable serves'
."Good luck solving the impossible test! Test subjects have died because they couldn't solve it!" he said.
"Jerk," Rex muttered.
"Hmm, what was that?"
"Nothing, nothing."
"Oh, i could've sworn you said something. Anyway, have fun! Ahahaha!" the speakers shut off.
"Moron," Chell growled stepping forward and looking the test over. Rex walked forward.
"Hold it!" Van Kleiss yelled grabbing the back of his collar, forcing him ten steps backward as a crusher went down. Rex's eyes went wide. Did Van Kleiss just save his life? He looked back at him as his collar was released. Yes, yes he did just save his life. Van Kleiss looked at Chell. She was looking at the puzzle with intrest. She motioned for them to come over, they did so without hesitation.
She pointed to a portable serves and then another. Rex put his portals there. She pointed to two more, Van Kleiss did as he was told. She put a portal up above her and under her, she walked through and ended up on a glass platform. They smiled.
"Whoa!" they yelled as she jumped into her other portal, came out the other, went through Van Kleiss's portals and then Rex's and ended up on a platform high above the face-plates. They smiled. She nodded to them. They nodded and did the same she had.
"Now what commander?" Rex joked as he held Different. Chell looked around, not really sure. She opened her mouth to say something as the platform opened up from below them. They were falling right for to smashers. Rex let out a sharp breath. NOW WHAT?
…
Rex and Van Kleiss fell to the floor panting as Chell set the box on the button. Chell shook her head and chuckled. The speakers cracked. Wheatley was not going to be happy. Rex and Van Kleiss looked at each other.
"You passed? What? No! How did you do that?"
"Rex finally learned how to follow orders," Van Kleiss insulted.
"Hey!" Rex yelled. Van Kleiss chuckled. Chell hit him over the head slightly. Van Kleiss muttered a curse. Chell chuckled.
"Whatever, fine, you have your chance to escape, have fun!" The door opened and they ran through it. The fell straight down into a hole. Rex stopped and gulped.
"Weeeee..." Different said. Rex chuckled and jumped in after them. It wasn't like the tubes he rode to go to the test chambers before, but it was still fun. Different slipped out of his hands and went down before him. Rex laughed as he went down, and down, and down. Then he started to get worried. Lights disappeared, it got really dark, and Rex smelled smoke. Rex landed on the ground. He had been falling so long that the boots didn't help him much as he fell to the ground. He moaned and rubbed his head. He looked around. He couldn't see Chell or Van Kleiss. Different landed on him. Rex pushed him off and sat up.
"Van Kleiss? Chell?" he shouted standing up. He looked around. "Guys...?" he murmured. Around him it was very dark, the only thing that helped him see was the little fires here and there, and the smell that surrounded him made him very scared. He picked up Different and took a right and walked. He could hear his footfalls, water dropped into little pools, he thought he heard a growl, and was that a bird overhead?
Rex found himself walking slower and slower, and the noises were getting louder and louder with every second. He stopped. He wasn't imagining that growl, that was real, wasn't it? No, it wasn't. There was a bark and he turned around. Red eyes peered at him through the darkness. Real! Very much real!
"Running may be a bad idea," Different said. Rex swallowed and took one step back as the creature walked towards him. Rex didn't move as the red eyes go closer and closer. Rex had only blinked when they suddenly started running. "Run." Rex turned around and ran with Different under his arm. He heard the creatures footsteps over his own. Suddenly a pain entered his back as the creature jumped him. Different fell to the ground. "Uh-oh."
The creature flipped him over on his back and roared in his face. Rex really wished the GlaDOS hadn't put that bracelet on his arm to take away his powers! He tried to push the creature off but the creature was much stronger then he was. Over the time they had been here Van Kleiss turned out not to be such a bad guy, a bit of a sycopath maybe but not such a bad guy. But Rex still hated him. And so the words out of his mouth surprised him:
"Van Kleiss!" he screamed. The Creature's teeth tore at the skin on his neck. Rex pushed the creature back but he knew he couldn't hold it off for too much longer. Rex strained. "Van Kleiss!" His voice rang out throughout the place. "Help!" Rex just then realized how much of a loner he was, he never asked for help before, this was a new consept. Rex's arms were giving way. There was no way he could keep this up. He let his arms go limp, the Creature knew he was giving up and charged for his neck. Its teeth enclosed around his neck. Rex closed his eyes and tensed. After all he'd been through, he was being taking down by some random Creature that he could barely even see. But Rex had given up, no turning back no.
"Get off!" screamed Van Kleiss's voice. He knocked the creature in the head with a huge piece of metal. The Creature whined and ran away. Rex's eyes shot open and his breathing sped up. He shot into a sitting position. Rex felt his arms shaking and he had to work very hard no to colaps. Van Kleiss threw the metal down. He walked over to Rex and kneeled next to him. He took a look at his neck. "Hold still." Rex nodded.
"No hurp-n-durp," he said. Van Kleiss rolled his eyes. Van Kleiss glanced to his left as Chell walked over. She kneeled next to Van Kleiss. She ripped off a piece of the orange sweatshirt she kept tied around her waist and handed it to Van Kleiss. Van Kleiss nodded and rapped it around Rex's throat five times. He didn't make it too tight though. Rex coughed.
"Dont speak, you'll make it worse," Van Keliss said helping him up. "Come on, let's go." When they finally escaped Rex was going to own Van Kleiss a lot, that's for sure. Rex picked up Different.
"Yay," Different said. Rex smiled and he thought he heard Van Kleiss chuckle.
…
Rex looked at the huge gap that was in their way. He blinked and looked to his left at Chell and Van Kleiss. His heart did a blackflip when he saw Chell was confused. If she was confused, they were so dead. Rex looked around, really worried. He blinked many times. What was a potato doing all the way down here? He walked over and picked it up. It had a ton of stuff crammed into it. He pressed a button and an orange light came on. Rex dropped it as a shock went through his hand.
"What?" Van Kleiss said as he and Chell walked over.
"...MORON!" shouted a tiny version of GlaDOS's voice. Chell shook her head and picked up the potato. "Oh, hello there." Chell raised her eyebrow.
"I know what you're thinking, and yes, I'm a potato again," GlaDOS said. Chell shook her head.
"Again?" Van Kleiss asked.
"Yes, again." Van Kleiss and Rex shared confused glances. Chell sighed silently and stabbed the potato with her portal gun. "OW! That hurt! Hmm, I have another half volt like last time. Nice move." Chell rolled her eyes and she and Van Kleiss shared a glance. Rex tapped Van Kleiss. He looked over at Rex to see him pointed at a rope. Van Kleiss nodded. Rex stood up on the rail to try and grab it. Chell opened her mouth to protest but she couldn't talk and nothing came out. But Van Kleiss pretty much read her mind. He ran over and held Rex up, making sure he didn't fall. Rex nodded back at him and picked up the rope and hopped down. Van Kleiss watched him as he stepped up onto a ladder and climbed up it to a higher point. Chell looked worried as she watched jumped and swung over to the over side. He let go and fell onto the rail on the other side. He looked around him and ran up some stairs. A bridge went out came out towards Van Kleiss and Chell.
"Way to go Rex!" Van Kleiss shouted grabbing Different and running across. Rex smiled and ran back down the stairs. They ran through the door and continued on their way. "Watch out!" Van Kleiss grabbed Rex as a smasher nearly hit him. He pushed him forward and they ran passed the smasher.
"Nice thinking," GlaDOS said. Van Kleiss nodded. At least he wasn't the only talking one in the group anymore. Well, besides Different of course.
…
Rex's eyes shot open as he awoke in a split second. It was the first time in weeks he had slept and now he couldn't fall asleep. He turned over and saw Van Kleiss leaning up against the wall, looking around with a keen eye. Rex just watched him as his head went back and forth, scanning everything. Rex looked away from him and looked at the ground, thinking. First he hated this, then he started having fun, then it wasn't as much fun because the tests were hard, then the AI tried to kill them, then they met Chell, then a new AI tries to kill them, then they meet up with GlaDOS again, and now his head hurt! Rex winced a little. He hated this! Why was he here anyway? Rex growled lightly and sat up. Van Kleiss's head shot over to look at him.
"How long have you been up?" Van Kleiss asked. Rex moved his right hand back and forth a little, indicating not very long. Van Kleiss nodded and kept his watch again. Rex leaned his head up against the wall and thought about Providence. How long had be been gone? Did they have a search party? Was Six, the Doc, and Bobo ok? He found himself shrinking at every thought popping into his head. He didn't like the idea of not having any idea if everyone was ok and if anyone cared he was missing.
Well, he knew White Knight didn't care. Bobo might, but who knows. The Doc would worry, true, but she had duties and might forget. Six, Rex was never sure if he cared or not, he could never tell. Would the EVOs stay under control? Would that pack attack hem thinking they had Van Kleiss? Or maybe the other way around? Would there be a bloody after-math? Would he and Van Kleiss be left alone together forever?
Someone shook his shoulder.
"Rex, what's the matter with you?" Van Kleiss said. Rex suddenly became aware he was crying into his legs. Great! Like his life wasn't horrible already! Let's throw embarresment into the mix! "Rex?" Rex didn't move. He heared Van Kleiss sigh and sit next to Rex. He wasn't very close to him, but he wasn't far away either.
"I want to go home," Rex mumbled through his legs. Van Kleiss looked at his comrade. Rex wasn't joking. He just wanted to go home! He didn't like it here! Not at all! Van Kleiss sighed.
"We'll get out of here, ok?"
"How do you know that?"
"I dont," he told him truthfully. "But you can't just give up." Rex nodded but still didn't show his face. Van Kleiss really did feel sorry for him, he truly did. The poor boy just wanted to go home! And when he really thought about it...
So did he...
