A/N: Now the title will finally make sense! I had serious trouble thinking of a title for this…

Glade's POV:

Glade was still grinning slightly about the explosion as she walked down the hallway to the next test. However, the grin fell away and she stopped dead when someone else ran into the hallway.

It was mom. Her grey T-shirt and jeans were almost as tattered as Glade's own cloths, and she had a portal gun and Long Fall boots. She smiled slightly in relief when she saw her daughter, and took a few steps forward, but paused when Glade stepped back.

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Glade asked quietly.

Chell paused, like she was unsure how to respond. Glade saw her eyes dart to the bloody makeshift bandage on her arm. Man, her cut was really throbbing…

"I mean, if we knew about this place, then when we found it, we wouldn't have gone into it!" Glade claimed, her voice rising.

'If I told you about it, you would have purposefully come here sooner,' Chell replied silently, 'I kept it from you to protect you.'

"A lot of good that did!" Glade scoffed. She pushed past her mother and ran down the hall to her next test. "I… I just need to think."

She heard GLaDOS seal the way back with panels to keep Chell from following and even heard the robot sneer, "Nice parenting," but Glade didn't care.

It wasn't until she walked toward the door to the next test that she realized something.

Her mom was able to escape GLaDOS's control at least twice. Glade didn't want to stay here, but just opted to run away from her best chance of escape. This was exactly what GLaDOS wanted to happen. All this time GLaDOS had been sweet-talking and confusing her so that she would avoid her mother and remain a test subject.

Glade felt herself tense up with anger and frustration, but had no choice to continue to the next test.

"I know that it's your brother who's interested in robotics, but he's not available right now," GLaDOS said calmly.

"Not available?" Glade questioned suspiciously.

"Your mother took him out of the facility. However, it seems that she didn't understand it when I said that we were going to continue testing. I hope she understands it now," GLaDOS said in a sinister tone.

"I don't want to test," Glade muttered.

"You seemed to enjoy the last one, though," GLaDOS pointed out, "Anyway, all you have to do here is construct a personality construct. I've already created the personality; all you have to do is build the core body. There are instructions on the table."

The room was a lot like the last one, but with a table in the middle that was covered in mechanical pieces and an instruction manual. One of the pieces was a large black cylinder that had several labeled plugs on it; probably what made up the 'personality'. Looking through the manual, it would've been complete gibberish to most people, but it made enough sense to Glade. She set to work.

About an hour later, it was done. Glade turned it on, and it flickered to life. It looked at her with a dark red iris. She cocked her head to the side and stared back at it curiously.

"This sphere is programmed to eliminate corrupted and defective equipment, as well as dangerous test subjects; basically, it's designed to do the dirty work," GLaDOS explained.

"Dangerous test subjects?" Glade questioned suspiciously, looking up.

"I'm not talking about you or your mother. It's just a first line of defense in case something like that happens again," the AI replied, chuckling.

"The… R-r-red S-sphere…" the sphere stuttered in a male voice, its iris swiveling, "I-is a g-good s-sphere…"

"Hmm… It looked like it was assembled correctly," GLaDOS noted, "And the stutter might not be a problem… Did you follow every instruction?"

"Yes?" the girl answered, eyeing the core as it looked around. The black pupil in the center of its iris dilated and it had panels on its 'face' that allowed it to blink and make facial expressions.

"Did you understand the instructions?"

"Yes!" Glade replied, getting defensive.

"Alright… Put it on its management rail, and we'll see what it does," GLaDOS ordered.

Glade looked up and noticed a rail on the ceiling. She plugged the core into it.

The core slid itself, or rather, himself back and forth on the rail, as if trying to get the hang of it. Then it looked down at Glade with what appeared to be a serious expression.

"P-please follow the Red Sphere," the Red Sphere ordered, somehow opening the door and sliding out of it. Curious, Glade followed.

"Where do you think you're going?" GLaDOS demanded, her question directed at the core rather than Glade.

"The Red Sphere is a good sphere that can be trusted," Red assured, ignoring GLaDOS. Glade continued to follow it along the catwalks.

"You shouldn't trust that core, Glade," GLaDOS advised after they had traveled for a while, "You're smart, smarter than I expected, but you're not at an Aperture Science level. You probably made a mistake."

That was true, since some of the instructions made little sense to Glade, but she still wanted to see what Red was trying to show her. They kept walking, with GLaDOS urging her to turn back and Red urging her onward.

Long after Glade had lost track on how long they had been walking, the Red Sphere dropped himself off of his management rail in front of a small room. The room was cylindrical, covered in switches, and stretched upward into blackness.

"Please p-p-pick up th-the Red Sphere and enter the m-main b-breaker room," Red ordered. Still curious, Glade picked the core up and entered the room. "Please plug the Red Sphere into the r-receptacle," he ordered again, and she did so.

The floor began to rise up. Glade eyed the core suspiciously, and he looked back at her with a blank stare.

"Central Core is corrupt," he announced.

"What?" Glade heard GLaDOS mention that she was once thought to be corrupt, and she was forced out of her mainframe by a 'certain moron'. Apparently, while she was out of her mainframe, something happened that cleared the corruption up. How could she be corrupt again?

They came up in the room GLaDOS was in. The AI glared at Glade, ignoring Red.

"You are no different from your mother," she said bitterly, "You never listen."

Glade backed away and held her portal gun at the ready, even though it probably wouldn't help.

"Central Core is (bzzzzt) corrupt," the announcer came on, "Core replacement required."

"I've already fixed any corruption," GLaDOS protested turning her attention away from Glade and her mood obviously worsening.

"Substitute core, are you ready to start the procedure?" the announcer continued, ignoring her.

"Yes," Red answered emotionlessly.

"Corrupted core, are you ready to start the procedure?"

"I'm NOT corrupted!" GLaDOS insisted.

"Interpreting vague answer as 'yes'," the announcer announced.

"NO!" she protested, but apparently it was too late.

The receptacle Red was on lowered into the ground, and several sparks flew from GLaDOS and she went limp. The hole the receptacle lowered into was sealed, and a barrier went up around the mainframe. Glade winced when GLaDOS suddenly screamed, but Red didn't make a sound.

After several tense moments, GLaDOS's core was deposited outside of the barrier as it lowered, revealing the Red Sphere on the mainframe. Red turned his attention to GLaDOS's core, and a mechanical arm reached toward it from underneath the mainframe, pulling her under the floor.

"Transferring AI in mainframe core to standard core for transportation to the corrupted core bin," Red announced. He turned his attention to Glade. "Test subject. Please return to your testing area," he ordered.

"What? No way!" Glade protested.

Red glared at her. "Test subject refusing. Test subject classified as corrupted."

The room began to shake violently.

"Please wait while proper Test Subject elimination protocols are prepared," Red ordered politely.

Please wait while proper Test Subject elimination... He's got to be kidding me! Glade thought. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Chell standing behind her, her expression tense. She grabbed Glade's arm and pulled her toward an area in the wall where the panels were out of place, revealing an opening.

"Wait!" they heard GLaDOS's voice behind them. They turned to see a core like Red's sitting beside the mainframe. Rather than having an iris with a black pupil in the middle, she had a dilating, dark yellow pupil in the middle of the optic with black around it (like Wheatley's optic).

Glade paused, looking back at her.

"Look, I know that you think I've been trying to trick you, and in a way, I was to get you on my side, but you must understand that I was going to let you go!" GLaDOS called desperately.

Glade looked at her mother, whose eyes were darting between GLaDOS and the way out. After a second of debate, Glade broke free of Chell's grip and ran toward the mainframe, dodging debris that was beginning to fall. She grabbed the AI and ran back toward the opening with Chell following closely.

Once outside the chamber, they kept running with Chell in the lead and GLaDOS occasionally telling them where to go. Finally, they raced into a hallway with an elevator on the end. They entered it and collapsed, breathing heavily from the long run.

As it began to rise, Glade looked up at her mother, who was leaning up against the wall while Glade sat on the floor. "I… I'm sorry," she croaked, still panting.

Her mother gave a faint smile and nodded, but then reached out and lightly touched the makeshift bandage covering Glade's arm, showing that she was concerned. Glade pulled away when pain shot through it. When the elevator stopped, she helped Glade up and opened the door, which led out into the wheat field. Nearby was their family car, which Alex jumped out of.

"Mom! Sis!" he yelled, running toward them. He stopped when he noticed GLaDOS. "What's that?"

"It's me," GLaDOS answered before anyone else could.

Alex glared at her. "Why's she here?"

"Explain later," Glade muttered, getting into the car and still carrying GLaDOS. Not wanting to be with the AI, Alex stubbornly sat in the passenger seat up front. Glade sat in the back and tossed GLaDOS into the other seat. The car started up and began to plow through the wheat stalks.

"Okay, I know that none of you trust me completely," GLaDOS began after they had driven for a while.

"Of course none of us trust you!" Alex growled. Chell shushed him with a light touch on the shoulder.

"But we have to go back there and get that corrupted core out of my body!" she finished. She looked from Glade to Chell, waiting for a response.

Chell sighed loudly. Glade leaned closer to her. "We can't just get rid of her," she pointed out quietly. Chell nodded, glancing back at the AI.