Meant To Escape

He was alone, pacing back and forward.

"Hmm….I wonder what's taking her so long. It has already been an hour," he began.

Continuing to pace, his mind then started to wander, thinking of possible scenarios that could have happened, explaining the delay. Like, maybe she took a wrong turn some-where and got lost, or she's having trouble getting from chamber to chamber, after all, most of the testing tracks were left to deteriorate, that there could be a high chance that the equipment would not function properly, or not at all due to abandonment. So basically, the problems could pretty much be the lack of certain elevators not working, doors not opening, or even buttons not responding. Overall, if this really was the case, then she would have had to find another route some-where, thereby, making him wait longer; driving his plan into a halt.

Trying to be optimistic, and not panic, he tried to tell himself that this was the case for the long wait. But, as his mind still continued to stream thoughts, it didn't really help. Especially now since he started to think of the worst possible outcome.

"Oh no! What if…what if she's dead?" he said.

And just having the mere thought, it suddenly made him stop pacing; biting his lower lip. At this point, he was worrying, worrying with a mix of regret. Since he didn't take entitlement to his job anymore, due to the lack of humans around, and with the whole facility pretty much under, the idea of going along with the woman never occurred to him. But, considering how his job was to take care of humans, he was beginning to think that he should have gone with her into the testing tracks. Sure it was against protocol for just about every A.I. to help a human solve tests, but, considering how it was just them two, it would have been fitting enough to make an exception. He would have guided her, be there for moral support, though most importantly, he would have been keeping her alive, but no, being too focused on escaping got the better of him.

And for what, only to go back into the tracks, and locate her dead body so he could give her a proper burial? Not really what he had in mind but, what can he do?

"Grrr…I should have gone with her. I should have been there to guide her out of those tracks. I even said so myself that she wasn't fit to run those courses, on the count of her being asleep longer than she should have been. Oh what was I thinking, I basically let her run off…run off straight to her death. And now—AH! Oh….how—how long were you standing there?"

Feeling that something was touching his shoulder made him jump. Though, as soon as he turned his head, he noticed that it was the woman; her hand was resting on his shoulder blade to divert his attention. Not really giving a response to his previous question, the woman just picked up her hand, and returned it to the position she had it, holding the portal gun properly. Seeing how she made it through in one piece, and along with a portal device in hand, Wheatley couldn't help but give a sheepish expression towards her. Him obviously being embarrassed of the lack of confidence he had in her. Though of course, he tried to hide that, along with the fact that he was worried about her as well.

"You know what, never mind. The important thing is that you're here. Perfectly unharmed and…uh…not dead," he said; turning his whole body forward.

"Aaand just so you know, I had total confidence in you. All that rest you had did you good. Being alert, sharp, quick, probably just had to slow down a bit from time to time to let those ol' tracks jog your memory. It just goes to show that people with brain-damage are the real heroes, considering that you successfully managed to find a portal device through all that rubbish back there. Well done."

Knowing that he was lying about the confidence part, the woman just rolled her eyes and simply overlooked that fact. Overall, in her mind, what really mattered was that she got the device. Now, it would be easier for the two to navigate through the facility.

"Yes, well, um, we should really press on," he continued; breaking the sudden silence.

"Come, follow me. You're definitely going to love this."

With that said, and of course, being optimistic, he walked past her, though motioned his hand, telling her to follow. Seeing that he was walking towards a wall, the woman gave a curious look, but, when she saw that he did something, making one of the panels expand, she stared in awe. The panel that was activated was rather small, though it revealed itself to be quite useful as it flipped, and reverted back in place in a horizontal position. The opposite surface of the panel was actually a keyboard, and the space within the wall was nothing more than a small computer screen.

"Let's see…'Enter Code.' Uh…just…just me a second," he said; turning to her, then back to the small screen.

"If I'm not mistaking, I do believe that I have the code…some-where in here."

He then looked away from the screen for a moment, and then raised his right-hand, touching the top-end of the right frame of his glasses. On that spot there, there was a tiny button, once it was activated, countless of information were now displayed on his lenses.

"Code…code…code…." he uttered; his eyes scanning through the files.

"Ah, found it." Now then, I'll just punch it on to the flat-bit."

He then started typing on the keyboard.

"Aaand done!" he finished; hitting the enter key.

Once when the code was entered, he then switched off what he had on his lenses, and looked at the wall again. By this time, the woman had already walked closer to him, though still kept a bit of distance. The panel that was activated soon flipped back and covered the revealing space, only for another panel—one that was quite larger this time, to be activated now. Once when the entire panel moved, it turned out to reveal a passage.

"Tadah! Secret panel…erm…passage…secret passage. Knew you'll love it. Now we can get out of here," he said smiling at her.

Got to admit, the woman thought that it was impressive. Him knowing about a secret entrance, though, for some odd reason, she couldn't help but stare at him, or to be more precise, at his glasses. Taking note of her look, he just chuckled.

"What are you—oh, are you wondering about these? Heh heh…they're nothing love. Just a handy tool that I have, they aren't just for show if that's what you were thinking."

The woman continued her gaze.

"Uh yeah, you see, I always had trouble remembering certain files, codes—you name it, so they ended up making me these specs for better performance. Though, I got to be honest, it felt weird at first, wearing them, since my sight is perfectly fine, and it's a type of thing that some humans wear, but in due time, I got use to them. And since I rarely use its features, I guess they are more of an accessory than a gadget really."

After he finished giving his explanation, the woman then turned her gaze back to the passage, then back to him.

"Oh no please, lady's first," he grinned.

And, even though it didn't make a lot of sense to her, since he was the one with the plans, leading this expedition…supposedly, she thought that he would be the one to go first leading the way. But, with the thought of at least getting some-where, the woman just gave a silent sigh and started walking into the passage; having her new partner walking not far behind her.

After walking through obstacles, heading deeper and deeper into the facility, the duo managed to make it all the way to Her chamber. Even though Wheatley didn't like it, he said so himself that it was necessary to go there; only to pass by and access the escape pods. Chell wasn't really fond of his idea, on the count of meeting Her again, even if She is turned off, but, considering how she didn't have many options, she just succumbed and followed her partner and hoped for the best. Once they both entered, Wheatley then took the lead, mostly so he could see himself how everything, including Her, fell into ruins. In an instant, he was astonished, after all, he never thought in a million years that She would fall…to see Her defeat, and yet, there he was standing, witnessing the remains.

Still absorbing the environment around him, his gaze then locked on to a particular sight.

"There She is…" he exclaimed.

Knowing far too well who he was referring to, she held the portal gun tighter in her grasp as they both slowly walked towards the broken chassis. The sight wasn't even prettier up close, no, in fact, wires were exposed, pieces of metal had fallen out, possibly rusted over time, and there She was on the ground; non-functional. And even though She wasn't, it was displaced by a wave of wires on Her back that She was still connected to the chassis. Within seeing this sight, it started to trigger a remembrance of how she ended Her; that alone wasn't a pleasant sight either.

"Nasty piece of work She was. Completely mental."

Not wanting to see the sight anymore, and having the objective of finding the escape pods in mind, Chell then started to walk; leaving the chamber. Though, as she continued her pace, meeting a catwalk, Wheatley continued to talk; being beside her.

"You know, I heard rumors of this, about Her defeat. Never believed them at first, since She'd always been so clever, but ever since it's been unsettlingly quiet, and this whole place basically falling apart little by little, I've come to believe those rumors. Well, especially now since I actually seen the sight. But, uh, I guess the whole problem to why I couldn't wrap my head around the thought…was because there was a human involved."

And just hearing the word…human, her body started to tense, after all, she knew…she knew that that human was her; the one who defeated Her. Because of this, she tried as best as she could to show little to no interest in the conversation. Honestly, in her mind, she thought since they're both so close to escaping, it wouldn't really make much sense to bring up the past, well, at least not now anyway. She figured that ignorance was bliss for him; he didn't need to know, right? In the end, just thinking about this, made her lower her head.

"Yeah…as far as I heard, this human ended up confronting Her, took Her down, and escaped. Nobody seeing that person ever since. Quite a fascinating little tale actually. I'm pretty sure She was surprised by the sudden turn of events, but, in the end, She got what came to Her; getting Her just desserts."

As they both were standing at the edge of the broken catwalk, he then noticed that Chell had her head down. Seeing that she didn't look too happy, worried him a little.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He then looked down, seeing another catwalk far from reach.

"Wow, that is quite the distance. Well, no problem, no problem, we can just jump. That is, if you're not afraid of heights like….I am," he said sheepishly.

Coming back to the situation at hand, she then gazed at her partner, then down to the pit. He was right, the catwalk was far down, but, definitely reachable if you were to jump. To her, it was just another obstacle. As she then looked back at her partner, she immediately saw that he was afraid, at this rate, it would be pointless to jump separately, since she would be going, and he would be staying, and of course she needed him since he knew where they were going, or at least, hoped he knew. So despite the catwalk being broken, she was willing to gamble, taking a chance that the catwalk would withstand both of their weights if they jumped together.

Keeping this in mind, she then held out her hand to him. It took a moment, but, he hesitantly grabbed it.

"Uh, okay, we'll jump on three," he said; looking down.

"One….two—nono it's high, it's high, need a breath."

He then inhaled and exhaled.

"Okay, you know what, counting on three gives me too much time to think about it so, we'll go on one…

One."

And with that, both of them then jumped, and landed straight-on the catwalk. It was quite an impact, but luckily the catwalk didn't break completely. After making the jump, they both then let go of each other's hands, and took a moment to register their new surroundings.

"Well this is good. Still alive, everything seems to be intact," he said mostly to himself.

"Now then, I know it's a bit dark, but if memory serves, just follow the catwalk and it will lead to where we need to go."

Wasting no time, she followed his instructions, and started to walk.

"Careful though, wouldn't want you to trip…..or look down…" he stated; his eyes gazing down, being a bit uneasy.

"Yeah, wouldn't highly recommend it."

After a while of walking, following the path, they both soon met up to a door. Knowing that they finally made it to the place, Wheatley then walked over and grabbed the handle.

"This is the Main Breaker Room," he said; facing her.

"Let's go in."

And with that said, he then opened the door. Once it was opened, the two walked in. While the room seemed small, it had many things, well, maybe not many things, but it did have different kinds of machinery and lights covering the walls. And from where they were standing, it seemed like the pattern enclosed around them could go on forever; making it oddly beautiful.

"Uh right, here's the console," he said; walking to the circular platform.

As he took a look, it seemed pretty basic. There were buttons, some levers, and keys that had few letters and numbers, things that he was sure he was familiar with. But keeping to their objective, there wasn't a need to touch of any of this. So with that thought in mind, he then looked up, seeing all the different switches there were on the walls; locating the right one could take a while. Hoping that she would have better luck, he then turned to her.

"In order to get out of here, we need to find a switch that says 'Escape Pod'. Do you think you can come over and have a look?"

Not uttering a word, Chell walked over and joined him onto the platform.

"Alright, now just try to look for the words, 'Escape Pod,' don't touch anything that doesn't say those words. Since I haven't really been down here, I don't exactly know what all these switches do so, for safety reasons for the both of us, just don't touch anything else instead of that switch. And…uh….well you understand."

Already aware of what she had to do, she tried locating the switch, but in the end, there were just too many of them, and to boot, it was also dark. Taking note on how she was struggling, Wheatley instantly got an idea.

"Hold on, maybe this will make things easier."

He then pulled a lever.

"Aaand let there be light."

Within time, lights instantly turned on, making everything a bit brighter.

"Uh, heh heh…that was…that was God; I was quoting God… case you didn't know."

In response, Chell just gave him a look; after all, he did say to not touch anything that wasn't 'Escape Pod.' And now, since the lights were on, she only hoped that that's what the lever only did; just turned on the lights. Though, once when the platform they were standing on started to move, her stomach turned, knowing that something was going to happen. Noticing that they were slowly moving up, Wheatley tried his best not to panic. His eyes were scrambling, looking down at the different buttons on the console, wondering what to do as well as trying to be calm all at once.

"No worries, no worries, maybe this button will stop the platform."

He then pressed a random button, and instead of the platform stopping, it instead did the opposite; the two now heading up to the surface faster.

"Well that didn't do any good. Hmm…there's keys here, maybe there's a password."

He then activated his lenses quickly, and started to browse; hoping that he could find some sort of code, though there was no luck. Not wanting to waste time, he then shut them off and gazed back at the keys.

"Okay, I may not have the password, so it looks like I'm going to have to guess—HACK—going to have to hack at it. Let's see…"

Though by the time he started to play with the keys, the two were already up at the surface. In an instant, she realized that they were both back in Her chamber, though, the only difference was that, instead of Her being non-functional on the ground, She started to rise; slowly powering up from a long…long…long sleep. Within seeing this terrifying sight, witnessing Her awakening, Chell just wanted to grab Wheatley and run, run as far away as possible, though fear ended up getting the better of her; making her stand, being frozen in place. At first, she tried to get Wheatley's attention by nudging his arm, though, he was soo focused on coming up with a password to notice, or even hear the powering up sequence. Or, maybe he did notice and just didn't want to look up from the console and see. By the look of his unnatural blue eyes, fear ended up giving way to him as well.

"A-A-A-A-A-G," he continued; though a buzzer responded back.

Hearing that the power up was complete, he knew immediately that he ran out of time.

"Okay, just stay calm. Just stay calm," he told himself; still not looking away from the console.

He then took chell's hand, and leaned close.

"Alright, new plan. Act natural, remember we done nothing wrong," he whispered to her.

With that said, he then let go of her hand, and slowly looked up; finally making eye-contact. And, just by seeing Her active, a flood of memories started to stream within in him. Remembering how cold, heartless, and intimidating She was…or in this case, still is. Her amber eyes were also quite striking, feeling as if She could be looking directly into a person soul. Bottom line, She was terrifying, though trying to be calm, and hoping he could talk his way out of this situation, Wheatley managed to greet Her with a cheerful smile.

"Hello," he waved.

Though, by the look of Her eyes, She wasn't too thrilled.

"Oh, it's you…" She finally spoke.

And within hearing Her response, it suddenly made him baffled. After all, to his knowledge, even though he knows Her, like every A.I, Wheatley doesn't really know Her personally. So he wondered, why would She say that….unless.

He then turned to Chell.

"You know Her?" he asked.

In response, she just looked down in sadness. Knowing that she didn't make eye-contact confirmed his assumption. She did know Her. In an instant, he was shocked… and far beyond confused. He was wondering how did the two know each other, and if she really was the human that took Her down and escaped, than why was she still in the facility? Overall, he was completely dumbfounded that at this very moment, he was nothing more than a meaningless android, caught in the middle.

"This…this doesn't make any sense. How do—how is She—why are you still— " he continued; not completing a single question.

Though, after many attempts, he managed to complete one.

"When were….when were you planning on telling me about this?" he finally asked; not knowing whether to feel hurt, or mad.

Though, just by the look in his eyes, and the tone of his voice, it was clear that it was hurt.

As he continued to wait for some kind of response, Chell still had her head down. Though, after finally making eye-contact,gazing at him, she wanted to do something...maybe say something, but, it was soon cut short. While forgetting about Her for a moment, Wheatley didn't see that a mechanical claw swooped down behind her. Though once when he finally noticed, it was too late, the claw ended up grabbing Chell by surprise; making her drop her weapon. Out of quick reflexes, he tried to make a grab for her, though fell short as she continued to rise higher beyond reach.

"No!"

He saw that she was struggling, trying to break free, though it was no good, she was helpless. And, within a few seconds, it didn't take long for him to be in the same situation. While his attention was diverted to her, another mechanical claw swooped down and grabbed him as well. Once he was high up from ground level, he soon started to panic; knowing that they were both helpless and now at Her mercy.

"Oh no! No no no no no…."he said struggling; though the claw began to clamp tighter around him.

Within a few seconds, he received the message that it was Her way of saying 'Be quiet,' so he did.

"It's been a long time…how have you been?" She asked; not taking Her eyes off Chell.

Not struggling anymore, she just glared at Her in response.

"I've been really busy being dead, you know, after you murdered me."

As Chell continued to glare at Her, She then moved Her eyes to the side, seeing the unwanted party member.

"Look, we both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think that we can put our differences behinds us. For Science…." She continued; looking back at her.

"Uh, excuse me, i-if I may," he soon interrupted; though still being frighten.

She then turned Her head, now focusing on him.

"Look I know that you're angry, and believe me it's quite understandable. I mean, you being the ruler one minute, then the next thing you know, you've been out-witted by a human. I know, unbelievable. And now that you're back against all odds, it's very well noted that you want to get back at her for doing this to you. Am I right? Wanting revenge? But if you think about it, that's not very civil, not really, there are indeed other ways to sort out differences than just making this lady test. Quite frankly, if you were to make her test, what you would be doing is just avoiding the problem, which goes to show that revenge isn't the answer. We could…we could just talk this out. How about it?"

After listening to what he had to say, She then turned Her head back; having no expression.

"Hmph, it seems like after all these years, you still haven't changed. Not only have you murdered me, but…."

The mechanical claw then began to press harder on Wheatley. Feeling the intense pressure, he struggled, having great discomfort, though, as the claw pressed even harder, his whole system began to shut down. Once it finally did, his whole body was nothing more than an empty shell.

"…you murdered him as well."

Even though Chell felt terrible for what happened to him, she tried as best as she could to mask her emotions. She didn't want Her to get the satisfaction of seeing her vulnerable, with Her getting under her skin; being so vile and cruel.

"To think, that he would have been better off if he hadn't met you. Then he would have lived, but sadly no. All because of you. You Monster."

The claw then threw the body to the side, then swooped back up to the surface.

"Now then, after all the trouble of waking me up, you must be very anxious to test again, don't worry, I won't make you wait any longer. Though, there's just one little thing we need to take care of first."

[System rebooting….]

…..

…..

…..

[Process complete…]

There was nothing but static as the darkness quickly descended. Once it was no more, the static continued until it finally picked up an image. The image itself tried to come together, though, only an outline was able to be captured. After a while of the image coming and going, something finally clicked, making the image retain itself clearer; slowly having less and less static. Eventually, once when the problem was fixed, having the static cease, a ground was clearly displayed. Though, after taking in more of the environment, not only that was there, but, even a pair of broken glasses and a pair of hands as well. Overall, this can only mean one thing. This image…it was his vision, he… survived.

Trying to take the damage he received, Wheatley started to moan and groan in pain; Pain, hardly believable for a person to comprehend that a robot could even feel pain. Though, when you're created in a twisted place like this, it really isn't so surprising. Honestly, Wheatley never really did quite understand why people would encode simulated pain in their designs. What was the use for it? Who ever thought that that would be a good idea in the first place? Or, maybe since they were so smart, they did it for kicks; it more likely being a sick joke. Either way, just going back to how it hurt, being compressed, Wheatley wished right now that he really was a robot; having no sense of feelings what-so ever. After all, that's how robots were all like at first, before coming up with the genuine idea of giving machines personalities.

"God, I can't believe I'm still alive, I truly thought I was done for," he said; his eyes looking nowhere in particular.

Though, as his eyes continued to move around, he soon noticed that She was gone as well as her. Discovering this, he didn't know whether to feel relieved, or troubled. After all, after what happened, he was utterly lost; he didn't really know what to do.

"I gotta…I gotta sit up, can't really get my thoughts in order while I'm lying down."

Keeping that in mind, he then noticed his glasses on the ground, and, without much effort, he reached out his arm, and grabbed them. Once he had them in his grasp, he instantly noticed that the right lens was cracked. Knowing how the gadget was very sensitive, and seeing how it was now damaged, Wheatley figured that they didn't work anymore; they were just regular glasses now. Realizing this, he probably would have got rid of them, but, since he had been accustomed to them, he just gave a sigh, and put them on regardless. Once when he was ready, he planned to get up, though as he tried, he soon discovered that he couldn't move his legs. No matter how hard he tried, they just wouldn't function. This automatically worried him, just how was he going to move about now? Staying in this spot isn't really the ideal plan. But, in the end, he didn't really have a choice in the matter. He was stuck, but, as time continued to pass by, he decided he should still try and move. Even if he is a coward, or does things wrong, Wheatley never considered himself as the type to give up. (Well, at least not in this moment.) Seeing a wall ahead of him, he then started to crawl, putting all the strength that he had.

After much struggle and pain, he eventually managed to make it to the wall. And while using it as support, he managed to lift himself up a little; having his hands on the surface. Made it. Now here was the tricky part. As he continued to move, trying to have his back against the wall, he also tried to manually move his legs with his hands as well. After much complication, he soon finally got to the position he wanted; finally sitting. He never really does this, but, for the moment, he just put his head back against the wall, and closed his eyes, taking in the silence, not saying a single word.

"When were….when were you planning on telling me about this?" the sudden event soon played back in his head.

After a while, he then opened his eyes; staring aimless at the environment around him.

"I can't believe she didn't tell me, after all this time, she'd been hiding a secret. And with that secret being the fact that she was the human who murdered Her. Yeah, that would have been good to know, would have been much appreciative if she would have let me in on it. "

He the gazed down, looking at his legs.

"Hmm...I should probably be mad, furious even, since we were partners, maybe even friends— I trusted her—but, going on about how the lady killed Her, she's probably not too keen on trusting robots, understandable, since we just met, and She was a maniac, and, I also did put her on the spot, that wasn't very good, so, with me generally being a robot...an android, it's all the more reason to why she didn't say anything to me. And furthermore, if we had left as planned, I wouldn't even have known about the encounter at all, no, would've been completely oblivious about it, with the both us being miles and miles away from this God-forsaken place. But no, I just had to pull that stupid lever, thereby waking Her up, and putting that lady in even more danger."

Not feeling much of the pain anymore, he then started examining the damage he had.

"Well...I could probably still continue on with my plan, just fix myself up a bit and go since She's preoccupied. But…I'll probably never forgive myself if I escape without the lady. As much as it pains me to say this…I have to stay. She needs me...now more than ever."

Oddly enough, he then began to smile.

"And who knows, maybe some good will come out of this. With the lady being more trusting…at least with me after I help her."

After making his decision, he then focused on the next thing.

"Now then, just how am I going to break her out of those test chambers. Or better yet, how am I going to get out of here?"

And within that moment, a bird suddenly came into the picture; flying.

Seeing that the bird was flying off from something, it suddenly gave him an idea.

"A management rail."