Kronos's system groaned as he got up and carried on. He became more worried wether he was going to make it before he broke down or not. And that stress only added to his worsening condition.

"C'mon Kronos, keep up." Katie said, starting to get anxious.

"I can't...I'm tired..." Kronos tripped over a cord, causing it to unplug and cut power from a nearby emancipation grid. After falling flat on his face, he lied there on the ground.

"Kronos, c'mon..." Katie knelt beside her friend, pulling his arm.

"I'm just...so tired..." Kronos groaned.

Katie realized she was being selfish. Wanting only to get to the upper levels as fast as possible, while her best friend was slowly wearing away.

"I'm sorry. Here, take a rest. How's your battery?"

"I have...35% power left..."

Katie bit her lip, Kronos was never going to make it. Not like this. "Don't worry, we'll make it. I promise."

"I'm gonna run out of power before we get back...what's the point...?" Kronos said looking down at the ground.

"Don't say that, Kronos! You never give up!"

"Katie, I'm going to die anyway. And when I do, I'll just be reassembled."

Katie looked away to hide her nervousness. "A-actually..." she said shakily.

fzzzzt! BOOM!

A fiery explosion went off nearby, the loud noise instantly caught the attention of the two kids. "What's happening!" Kronos yelled.

"Something exploded!" Katie answered.

CRRREEEAK!

"LOOK OUT!" Kronos looked up to see a large metal support beam coming down. Kronos's motor sped up to a faster rate, the same way a human would experince an adrenaline rush. Scrambling to his feet, he rushed out from underneath it, just to have debris and concrete come crashing down not too far behind it. Katie had run a safe distance into the next enrichment sphere.

"HURRY!" she yelled

Kronos ran as fast as his system would allow, but it wasn't fast enough. A second explosion went off, knocking Kronos on his side, allowing the falling debris to bury him in a pile as he yelled in agony.

"KRONOS!" Katie screamed.

Rubble and rusty support beams had fallen in the way, blocking Katie from helping her friend. "Kronos! Hang on!"

"N-no! Don't come out here! It's too d-AAAAUGH!" He cried out in pain as a third explosion engulfed him in flames, the horrified turret had to take a few steps back from the intense heat.

She had to remind herself, all Aperture Science Artificial Intelligence constructs could function in temperatures as high as 9000 degrees Kelvin.

Two more small explosions went off before Katie was able to run in to try and save her friend. She felt the blistering heat of the fire around her as she began to franticly dig through the rubble for Kronos.

"K-katie..." he groaned.

A glimmer of hope shone in her heart when she saw white armor. She dug faster until she could get a firm grip on his arms.

The metal on his body was hot to the touch, making it difficult to pull him. Katie knew she had to act fast, as it wasn't safe where something could explode right next to her. She dug through the rubble as fast as she could, and he finally came loose.

"Come on!" Katie shouted, even though she knew it was useless to try and yell over the raging fire.

Kronos tried to stand, but the mechanics in his legs were broken. Katie draped his arm over her shoulder and helped him walk as fast as possible.

Once safely away from the raging inferno, Kronos groaned in pain, "K-Katie..."

She suddenly stopped when she felt something wet on her. Stopping to look down, she saw thick, black fluid on her hands and on the side of her white shirt and hoodie. "Wha-? What is this...?" Katie looked back and saw a trail of the black liquid, leading to her robot friend. "Kronos? What happened!"

Kronos winced in pain, reaching up to a rupture in his core. "Uh oh..."

"W-what? What does that mean!" Katie asked, scared for her friend.

"I-I'm leaking oil..." Kronos said weakly, "That's not a good sign..."

Katie's eyes were filled with horror, "Oh no! We have to hurry!"

"K-katie...no..." Kronos wheezed, "It's no use...I'm going to die when I loose too much oil..."

Katie couldn't believe what she was hearing, "No...y-you can't just GIVE UP!"

"N-no, calm down...*zzzzt* I-I'll just get rebuilt like my mom and dad...right?"

Katie's eyes shone with sadness, "N-no...my mom hasn't build a reassembly chamber for you...so if you die...and don't get rebuilt right away, your memory file will be deleted."

Kronos's optic widened, "S-so...I'm going to die...f-for real...?"

Drops of clear liquid fell from Katie's eyes again, her body shaking with sobs. "I can't let you die, Kronos. You're my best friend...y-you're my only friend..."

"Katie...you-*cough, sputter*...Y-your eyes...are leaking again..." Kronos choked.

The turret knelt beside the testing bot, clutching his core as if it would save his life. Because at this point...anything helped.

The ground shook violently, and a thunderous boom rang through the old, abandoned facility.

"What's going on!" P-body beeped in surprise.

The three birds began to caw wildly and flap their wings.

GLaDOS was able to see the giant ball of flame through Atlas's vision. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's happening!" she said, almost sounding panicked.

"I don't know!" P-body shrieked.

"What if they're in that explosion!" Atlas said, horrified.

"You need to find him before he dies and leaves me unable to track Katie!" GLaDOS shouted.

P-body took off running toward the towering flames, "KRONOS!"

A/N: A horrible disaster strikes and Kronos is left badly injured! D: