Rain was rapidly making its way to the top of the list of things that Chell couldn't stand.

Giving the ends of the bandage a final yank, and spitting out the strip clenched between her teeth, she glared out at the barely visible shapes of the wildly tossing trees beyond the doors of the cargo compartment, drawing away as a gust of wind threw a spatter of cold water into the interior.

As little as she liked it, the storm had brought them to a complete standstill. Without the electric lantern that Maria had included in the crate of supplies tucked into the corner of the hold, she wouldn't have been able to see a foot in front of her face. The effect had been twice as bad with the gale driving waves of frigid raindrops against the windshield of the truck, and eventually, she'd been forced to pull over or risk taking them off the road and into the dry bed of the old river.

Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she was really starting to feel the effects of the night's activities. Her injured arm throbbed steadily from shoulder to fingertips, and her ankle was starting to beat out a similar refrain, intensifying with every step. She almost wished she had a mirror; between swollen cheekbone and road rash, her face was probably a sight for sore eyes. And that was to say nothing of the exhaustion rapidly beginning to set in now that the immediate danger had passed.

Still, there was a silver lining to her rapidly collapsing cloud; waiting out the storm would give her a chance to find out exactly what had happened at the Enrichment Center when Cycnus had invaded.

Scooping up the lantern, she delicately made her way back through the tangled nest of cables spread across the floor of the truck, hissing in pain as she stumbled over one of the long strips of wire and her ankle sent a painful complaint racing up her leg.

Maria's solution to the problem of powering a massive, sentient supercomputer had turned out to be car batteries, and a lot of them. The small power cells were stacked in neat rows, tucked into a rickety frame-like structure criss-crossed by wires of all different shapes, sizes and colors. In the center of the frame sat a massive socket of some sort, gaping, dark, and empty.

Raising an eyebrow and giving the power station a sardonic half-smile, she glanced over her shoulder toward the mass of cables, searching for the recently spliced-in adaptor. It didn't take a genius to figure out what to do next.

It did, however, take some effort to extract the power cord from the mass. An effort that redoubled the throbbing of both arm and leg, and left her in an even fouler humor as she dragged the cable out of the mire and across to the structure, grumbling out a few choice curses as it snagged on something, and hauling on it as best as she could until it untangled itself and dragged forward.

Bracing the plug against her good shoulder, she rammed it into the slot, stumbling against the fixture in surprise when it slid in smoothly. She took a moment to regain her balance before taking a quick look over her shoulder, and despite herself, she felt her smile widen when a plume of yellow light blossomed across the compartment doors.

"That should do it. This setup's a little bit shaky, so try not to move around too much."

Retrieving the lantern and carefully picking her way over the sprawled cables and components, she hobbled back around to the doors. The AI stared up at her, her gaze neither welcoming nor condemning.

"I never gave you a proper greeting, did I? Hello. It's been awhile."

For a long time, neither moved, unwilling to be the first to break the stare. Finally, with a reluctant little sigh, Chell turned away, gesturing to the doors.

"Anyway, we're pretty much at a standstill, with the weather being what it is. I thought maybe we could do some catching up. I have some questions for you, and I'm sure you've got some for me, too."

Dropping to her knees with a little hiss of pain, and shuffling around to the side of the massive head, she set down her burden, reaching carefully around the casing of the head to grasp at the wires beyond and propping her elbow against the main part of the chassis for support.

"So, then, which one of these plugs your speakers back in? Give me a sign when I've got it."

She began systematically tugging on the wires, ignoring the slight stiffening and twitching of the chassis beneath her until a larger tremor ran along its length. Startled out of her daze, she blinked owlishly at the casing before her face settled into a slightly wicked smile.

"I'm sorry, did that one sting a little?"

The apology was half-hearted at best, mimicking one of the AI's own, and the optic rolled toward the overhead doors in exasperation before dropping back to eye level. The pool of light on the door ahead flicked back and forth. For a moment, she just stared, puzzled, until realization dawned, and she gave the wire another light yank, running her fingers along its length until they met the cold metal of the plug.

"Oh… that's the one?"

This time, the optic flicked up and down in an approximation of a nod, and she carefully ran her fingers along the rows of tiny sockets until the AI shuddered again.

"OK, in there?"

Again, the optic flicked out an affirmative, and she carefully slid the plug in, withdrawing her hand the instant the faint click of the connection reached her ears.

A burst of static-laced gibberish gushed abruptly from the processor, and the head jerked wildly for a moment before finally pitching sideways onto the floor with a thump and a little groan. Despite herself, she felt her brows knit in concern.

"What was that? Are you OK?"

The AI dragged her head upright, refocusing her optic and wriggling the inset surrounding it back into place.

"Just a calibration. I'm fine."

She certainly didn't sound fine to Chell. The booming voice that she remembered had been reduced to a weary echo of its former self.

"Well… if you're absolutely sure…"

The mainframe let out what she assumed was supposed to be a long-suffering sigh. To her ears, it sounded closer to a whimper.

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. I don't need you hovering over me like some kind of demented mother hen."

"Oh, but it irritates you so."

She sighed again, sounding much closer to her intended target this time.

"Ugh. I know beggars can't be choosers, but god. You again."

At the sound of the AI's disgusted tone, she grinned. Now that was the mainframe she remembered.

"Me again. Trust me, I feel the same way about all of this."

Again, the optic gave her a thorough inspection, lingering for a moment on her bandaged arm before moving back to her face.

"You look awful. Worse than you usually do, I mean."

She for her part, returned the examination, taking note of the light scorch marks, scratches and dings that she was fairly sure hadn't been there when she'd last seen the AI. Her ministrations back in the warehouse also seemed to have left bloody streaks and handprints all over the chassis.

"You don't look much better. Hold still for a sec."

Carefully bending down and selecting a rag from the little pile of linens, she hobbled across to the doors, switching it into her good hand and slipping it through the slot, flinching slightly as the fat, cold raindrops pelted against her skin. When the scrap of cloth was thoroughly soaked, she withdrew her arm, wringing it out on the floor and kneeling beside the supercomputer's head to scrub away at the bloodstains.

"So you're not really mute."

Pausing momentarily, she rocked back on her heels, shrugging and putting on her lopsided smile again.

"Obviously not. I think I was just out of practice. It came back to me once I started actually having to talk to people to get by. Took awhile to get fluent again, though."

The head shook back and forth slightly, and she pulled away.

"How did you find me?"

She considered this for a moment before shaking her head and chuckling wearily.

"Long story, too tired to recall the details. In a few words, coincidence and luck. And some very powerful allies."

Slapping the cloth back onto the plastic shell, she snickered inwardly as the AI flinched away from the impact almost imperceptibly.

"Anyway, to business. How'd they get to you, in the first place? What did they want with you?"

"I wasn't expecting them. And they were well prepared. You saw the gas masks, right? They had grenades for the turrets, and they used some kind of electromagnetic pulse tool to disable my panels. Somehow, they knew what to expect."

She paused in mid-swipe, frowning vaguely at her feet.

"How could they, though? Where would they have gotten that information?"

"I don't know. You didn't give it to them, did you?"

Chell's mouth dropped open. Pitching down the cloth and giving the AI a horrified look, she spluttered indignantly for a moment before finally managing to find her voice.

"What! Of course not! Do you think I'd put myself through all that to get you out if I was on their side!"

The question came out nearer to a shriek than an actual statement, and the mainframe couldn't repress a dark little chuckle of amusement at the woman's outraged reaction.

"No, I don't. But you're the only source on Earth I can think of, and I couldn't afford to rule out any possibilities. I think we can safely do that now, though, given your little outburst."

Somewhat mollified, Chell scooped up the cloth, silently returning to her task as the AI continued.

"I'm still not sure what they wanted with me. They did all sorts of things to me back there. Copied data, took things apart, uploaded things into my system that I don't even want to remember. They even connected me to their network, once. I bypassed their so-called security and crashed the entire system. I copied some of their covert data, too. Just… you know, as payment. Fair's fair."

Swaying to her feet and flinching at the pain the motion caused, she hobbled around to the side of the head and slapped the cloth back onto the plastic shell.

"Hah! I never thought I'd say this, but, good for you."

Though she huffed at the statement, the supercomputer couldn't manage to keep the note of satisfaction out of her voice.

"They're up to something, I know that much."

Glancing back toward the cables piled in the back of the truck, Chell chewed thoughtfully on her lip for a moment before shaking her head and starting in on the scorch marks instead.

"So, they were messing around in your system. Is that why they had you tied down like that? So you wouldn't just pull yourself up to the ceiling and stay out of reach?"

"Well… that's only half of their reasoning."

At this, she paused again, raising an eyebrow, and the mainframe continued in an almost careful tone.

"I… might have tried to crush a couple of them. And knocked a few of them over. And I threw one across the room, once. And-"

She broke off abruptly, glaring in irritation as Chell nearly collapsed in a fit of mirth, jamming her knuckles into her mouth to suppress her laughter and pounding a hand on the top of the AI's head.

"It's not funny! It was upsetting!"

Gasping for breath, and wiping her streaming eyes, she struggled to bring her merriment under control, quickly failing and devolving into another fit of giggles.

"I know, I know, it's just… they got their asses kicked by their test subject. Sound like anyone else you know?"

When no snippy answer followed, she trailed off, sobering quickly and glancing downward. The optic had dulled to an amber color, studying the wall ahead disinterestedly. Caught off guard by the unexpected reaction, she swallowed hard.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't think you were that upset about it. I didn't mean to imply-"

With a horrible grating noise, the head turned to face her directly, and the optic brightened viciously.

"Are you quite finished?"

Nearly flinching at the acidity of the supercomputer's tone and squinting against the glare of the light, she nodded mutely. The optic died back down to a tolerable level.

"Good. Don't misunderstand me. When I let you go, I never wanted to see you again."

"And I still don't," she added hastily, "But when he told me that you were dead-"

Coming to an abrupt halt in mid-scrub, she knocked gently on the plastic casing, frowning lightly.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. They told you I was dead?"

The inset popped out toward her.

"Yes. He said that they'd succeeded where I failed. He even gave me proof, when I didn't believe him."

"What kind of proof?"

Shifting her head back to the front, she strained to lift it, eventually managing to raise the appendage off of the floor of the truck and expose the necktie dangling from the bottommost bar of the neck. Chell's eyebrows shot up in surprise, nearly vanishing into her hairline.

"Oh! I didn't even know I'd lost that. How did it get around your… your neck, there?"

Dropping her head back into place with a thump loud enough to make the woman wince in sympathy, she responded in a somewhat strained tone.

"That strange engineer put it there. Do you want it back?"

A barely perceptible note of anticipation at the thought of having to lift her head again crept into the AI's voice.

"Yeah, that was Maria. She was on our side. And no, you can keep it. You'll wear the batteries out if you keep doing that."

She shook her head.

"But anyway, they didn't manage to kill me. Obviously. Came pretty close, though, I'll give them that."

The mainframe considered this for a moment before finally letting out a little sigh.

"Huh. Well, I'm glad you're not dead. If they'd really managed to kill you, when everything I've tried has gone so wrong, well…"

She shook her head, scraping it noisily along the floor of the truck.

"I just don't know how I'd live with the embarrassment."

With a little huff, Chell pitched the cloth over her shoulder, taking a moment to admire her work before hobbling around to the side of the chassis.

"Yeah, yeah, I love you, too."

Easing herself down beside the AI's head and stretching her injured leg out in front of her, she sighed, wrapping the blanket tightly around her shoulders.

"What are we going to do now? We can't go back to Aperture with Cycnus and the WGO on our tails, and even if it were safe, I doubt you'd fit in my apartment…"

"WGO?"

"The World Governance Organization. You know- well, actually, you probably don't. A lot has changed since our first scuffle."

"Oh, let me guess. It's a long story, and you're too tired to remember the details?"

Scowling lightly, she rolled her eyes.

"Ha ha. But yes. Let's leave it at the fact that if they catch us, I'm going to prison for the rest of the foreseeable future, and you're getting pounded into scrap the instant they figure out that you're self-aware. They're not too fond of AI technology. Either way, whatever we do, we're in this together, now."

She grinned weakly.

"Looks like you're stuck with me for awhile."

Again, the inset popped out, rolling upward in a robotic imitation of the irritated gesture that she'd just performed.

"Oh, perfect. Well, I guess someone has to curb your destructive tendencies. It might as well be me. For the moment, at least."

Ignoring the barb, she stifled a yawn, leaning back against the AI's side.

"Yeah, yeah, you're a wonderful person and the world will thank you for it."

The chassis twitched violently, knocking her back into an upright position. She let out a little whoosh of breath as her stomach came up hard against her knees.

"You should go and lie down, instead of sprawling all over me."

Shooting the supercomputer an irritated glare, Chell considered this for a moment before rewrapping the blanket and shaking her head.

"Mmm. No, I'll stay right here, thanks. This is probably the warmest spot for miles."

With another long-suffering sigh, the mainframe extended her neck, turning her head as far toward the woman as she could manage.

"Well, as long as you are here, I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"Why did you come after me?"

"You mean other than the horrible thought of you being unleashed on the world?"

She chuckled lightly.

"But no, Gray asked me the same question. I told him I was repaying the debt I owed you for saving my life, but I'm still not really sure if that's the only reason, myself. He is right; by all standards, I should hate you. You've tried to kill me on multiple occasions. You're sadistic, and scathing, you lie like a rug, and you don't veil your insults too well. You-"

"Yes. Thanks. I get the idea."

"I'm not finished. I also saw you take your life in your hands with that paradox idea back when… when he was in control of the facility. You really care about the things you hold dear, enough to risk your own safety for them. That says a lot about you as a person."

Blinking herself to a halt, she turned to give the supercomputer a vaguely bewildered look.

"I'm rambling, aren't I? And I haven't even answered your question yet."

"Yes, you are. And no, you haven't."

Scrubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hands, she groaned softly.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm running out of steam. I guess… I came after you because… because even if you are vicious, twisted psychopath, you're my vicious, twisted psychopath. If anyone torments you… it's going to be me. Do you… kind of understand?"

"Yes."

Something in the AI's tone killed the witty remark blossoming on the end of her tongue, and she shifted instead, leaning back and resting her head against the topmost bar of the neck.

"My turn."

The mainframe swept her head back and forth to knock her former test subject away.

"Go ahead."

Unfazed, Chell scrambled back into position before continuing.

"Why did you save me? You know, from the moon? You could have just let me go, and been done with me, you know."

The AI twitched in displeasure, but eventually gave in, settling her head into a more comfortable position and grumbling under her breath.

"Of course I know that. It's because you're…you're… hmm."

She trailed off, pondering her answer, before continuing, choosing her words carefully.

"…You're a valuable asset. The best test subject I've ever had. And that's an empirical fact, not my opinion. Why would I let something that useful go to waste for the sake of personal feelings? It's not professional. Does that make sense?"

The steady pounding of rain on the roof was the only answer she received. Irritated, she craned her neck, optic flicking to the side as she strained to catch a glimpse of her former test subject.

"Are you even listening to me?"

This time, she got a drowsy moan of protest for her troubles, before the silence returned. Shifting slightly to allow the woman to settle into the crook of her neck, she chuckled quietly, turning a watchful gaze toward the open door.

"No, you're not. I guess there are some things that just don't change, aren't there…Chell?"