A/N: The first chapter has been changed rather dramatically, so you'll need to reread that. No other chapter has been updated, though, and it shouldn't affect the rest of the story until the very end.

Earlier…

The male juvenile angel of darkness fired off another volley of fireballs before turning around, furiously beating his wings to quickly gain altitude.

The hunter, however, blocked the fire with a shield and raised his crossbow. He breathed calmly, detecting the pulse of the escaping juvenile's soul to aim his crossbow. He fired, and heard the angel's wings flap weakly before a solid thud as he hit the ground. He walked toward the sound of the twitching body and examined the state of the creature's life force for signs of dying. It seemed that the juvenile was very weak, but would live if cared for properly. However, that was not what the hunter wanted.

"At least we know that this dose would, in fact, not kill but allow us to capture a juvenile," he muttered darkly.

"Are you sure about this deal we made?" a fairy with pale green skin and dragonfly wings asked, crawling out of the hunter's shirt collar, "I mean, the guy said that angel was unusually strong, and we want to turn it over to him alive? Not to mention he himself was very dark."

The hunter sighed. "Unusually strong? When we found it, it felt normal to me. " He began to load another crossbow bolt. "He probably told us it was dangerous to make us really want it off the streets and away from humans. Knowing it's actually nothing special is a comfort, though. We know we aren't potentially allowing a real monster to live free. Besides… we need more poison, and right now, doing this is our only way to get it. Once we have it, we can kill hundreds of these giant crows." He aimed the crossbow at the angel's throat.

…

Crystal watched from a distance, hiding behind a building. "This can't be happening…" she whispered, her amethyst eyes wide. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and whipped around to see Jake standing behind her.

"Come on," he said, "Before we get caught."

"Shouldn't we help him?" she hissed, "He's still alive…"

"There's nothing we can do," Jake replied firmly, "That hunter will just kill us too. Chief knew what he was doing. He wanted us to get away, so let's go."

Wiping away a tear, Crystal flew off with him. One of her earliest memories was being alone on the streets, an angel too young to have wings who thought she was just a weird human, until Chief and Jake, also too young to have wings at the time, came along with all these seemingly ridiculous claims that one day they would rule the night sky. They ran about freely together, calling themselves the 'Winged Wolf Gang'. It was all over now.

Presently…

When Elli said the 'real' training would begin, he meant it. Every day for the next week, they pushed deep into the wheat field, almost to the facility entrance, to train without attracting attention. GLaDOS and Chell were always completely exhausted both physically and magically by the end of each day. It paid off, however. GLaDOS had gone from using the basic magic sphere and shield to much more powerful offensive attacks – some of which having the potential to be deadly. For example, Elli taught her an attack known as 'Swords Dance' which created several spears of light, similar to Chell's Dark Needle, that spun around her in a circle, doubling as both a defensive barrier and a source of projectiles that she could throw at an opponent.

Chell, on the other hand, spent most of her time refining her attacks, learning how to consume less energy while executing the same amount of force. Elli did teach her new moves, though, such as 'Shadow Bind'. This created a shadow that would slip beneath an opponent and turn into a puddle of black sludge that would trap the opponent's feet, and then long strands of the sludge would lash out to grab the opponent's arms and pull it to its knees.

One stormy day, Elli said he needed to leave for the day since he needed to go trade for a new artifact. Turning his cane into an umbrella and magically packing several large, bulky items into a suitcase that was too small for any of them, he set out with one last reminder to not do anything rash.

GLaDOS and Chell took advantage of this as a day to recuperate after a week of harsh training. All was quiet until the late afternoon, when both suddenly felt the hairs on the backs of their necks stand up. Faint waves of dark magic were coming from outside towards the main part of the city.

"We ought to check that out," Chell immediately suggested.

"No," GLaDOS replied simply.

"Why not?"

The two were in their bedroom, lying on their beds. GLaDOS sat up and turned to face Chell.

"One, whatever's causing those pulses is probably very powerful and will kill us. Two, there's an angel hunter out there who definitely wants to kill you and might even want to kill me," she explained coldly.

A flash of fear crossed Chell's face. "I can take care of myself," she said darkly.

"You're a juvenile," GLaDOS said, "You cannot take care of yourself."

"Just because I'm young doesn't mean I can't win a fight," she countered. When GLaDOS gave her a sharp look, she added, "or be able to escape. I can just teleport like before."

"You haven't been able to teleport since that first time, though," the former AI pointed out.

"I was able to the first time because of stress. I'll be plenty stressed out if I run into him again."

"Or, you may have just gotten lucky."

Chell leapt out of bed and headed for the door. "Fine. I'll just go by myself."

"Wait!" GLaDOS called after her, but the angel did not listen.

'Stupid little…! I can't let her go by herself…' she thought, grudgingly getting up to follow her.

Outside, Chell kept one wing over GLaDOS' head to attempt to keep the rain off of her, though it didn't help very much. They cautiously followed the pulses to their source, keeping a careful eye out for any danger. They found the source to be a bloodbath.

It was downtown, in the midst of a crowded street. Non-magical humans were either running about or being trapped inside of cars as a group of supernatural creatures attacked them. Judging from their human appearance, pale skin, and long fangs, GLaDOS guessed they were vampires, but something was terribly wrong with them. First of all, many of them had bat-like ears and clawed hands, which weren't normal, as most vamps looked almost exactly like humans. Secondly, they were attacking during the day and in the middle of a public area, which broke a major rule in vampire society. Lastly, they weren't sucking their victims' blood, but rather tearing them apart like animals.

"Well… we've found the source of the pulse," GLaDOS said, "And there's nothing we can do about it. Let's go back before any of those things notice us."

However, her voice of reason once again fell on deaf ears. Chell was watching the scene with wide eyes.

"I… I know them…" she whispered.

GLaDOS glanced back at the vamps curiously for a second, but was about to insist once again that they leave when she felt a very dark, powerful presence.

Chell gasped, and GLaDOS whipped around to see one of the vampires, this one with eyes that glowed red-violet, standing directly behind her, holding a syringe full of a thick, black substance that he was rapidly injecting into her. Her skin paled and the veins on the angel's wrists, which were normally only visible as a faint blue, were turning into a deep purple. The vamp pulled the syringe out and the glow in his eyes faded. He looked confused for a second before he collapsed, seemingly dead.

Chell slowly fell to her knees, covering her face with her hands and shaking violently. GLaDOS, with one last look at the vamp to make sure it stopped moving, knelt beside her and cautiously put her hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" she asked gently, "Do you know what this will do to you?" She remembered Chell telling her about something they injected her with that would make her want to kill, and odds are that substance was it. That meant Rattmann was responsible for this, and they were in big trouble.

"Can you fight its effects?" she urged, trying to keep her voice calm to not trigger her anger.

Chell looked up, her eyes tinted red. In a single movement, she tossed GLaDOS aside and leapt into the air. GLaDOS hit the cement sidewalk with a hard crack and lay there, dazed, darkness covering the edges of her vision.

She slowly managed to turn her head to blurrily see Chell hovering in the air, a long black arm covering her actual arm. A figure leapt toward her, probably a vampire, but she easily slashed it out of the air. Nearby, perched on top of a roof, was another figure holding a crossbow. GLaDOS tried to get up but found that she couldn't move. She knew she hit her head, but what if she hit and broke her spine, causing paralysis? Her logic screamed that she couldn't have; even if she did land on her back, that couldn't have been enough force to break her spine, but as she tried and failed again and again to force herself to move, panic began to set in.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure wearing a trench coat and carrying a cane run toward her. He touched her shoulder and she felt her body relax, able to move again.

"What was that?" she asked hoarsely.

"Fear Lock," Elli replied, "Major intimidation spell. Are you alright?"

"Yes…" she answered, sitting up. Blood was trickling down the side of her head where she hit the sidewalk and her vision still threatened to go black, but by putting her hand over the wound and casting a simple healing spell, the bleeding stopped and her vision returned to normal.

Elli, glancing around and spotting the hunter, gritted his teeth. "I'll take care of the hunter," he said, "You go get Chell's attention and make sure she stays away from him."

He ran off before GLaDOS could protest. Left without a choice, she began to walk back toward Chell.

…

Now he knew what made that angel 'unusually powerful'. It wasn't just strong; it was truly a killing machine.

"I can't let this monster live, poison or no poison," the hunter murmured. From his perch on the roof, he could clearly feel the waves released by it and its slew of attacks and hear the screams of the dying humans and vampires. "I may not have enough poison to kill it in one shot, but all I need to do is weaken it enough to move in and finish it off with a shot to the head…"

Another shriek pierced the air as the creature tore something else apart. For once, the hunter was glad he couldn't see. Suddenly, a powerful blast knocked him off the rooftop. He was able to stop his momentum and land on his feet with a small levitation spell, and could sense something dark moving toward him.

"Quickly!" he ordered, pulling the fairy out of his shirt collar, "Teleport me to the angel!"

…

The angel had landed in the middle of the road and stood with her back to GLaDOS amidst the bodies. She seemed to have calmed down now that everything around her – vamps and humans alike – was dead. The bodies had massive wounds that made them look like they had been mauled by a large bear, probably the work of the black, clawed arm that extended from Chell's arm, similar to the one her younger self used in the Dream Realm.

'Why does this seem so… familiar?' GLaDOS wondered. In the back of her mind, she remembered seeing something very similar to this a long time ago, when she was looking into a lab from a camera in the corner of the room…

At that moment, however, Chell noticed her. With a snarl, the infuriated angel lunged. Without thinking, GLaDOS ran, barely dodging the attack.

She slipped between two buildings only to find it was a dead end. She turned, but Chell had already blocked the exit from the alley. The angle lunged again, this time pinning GLaDOS against the wall. Chell held her by the neck and raised her above her head with one hand, the other preparing to attack with the black arm. As she was about to strike, GLaDOS instinctively turned away, closing her eyes.

For a moment, nothing happened. GLaDOS opened her eyes and realized that Chell was staring at the trail of blood that ran down the side of her face from when she slammed into the sidewalk. The black arm dissipated and Chell released her, backing away. GLaDOS stood up and cautiously approached her. Chell seemed confused and leaned up against the opposite wall of the alley. The red glow of her eyes seemed to fade away a little.

The sound of something being pulled back was heard. GLaDOS glanced toward the alley's entrance to see the hunter pull the trigger. Before she could react, Chell threw her to the ground and fired a sphere of darkness at him. The sphere and the crossbow bolt sliced by each other and kept going, undeterred. The bolt hit Chell's shoulder just as the sphere exploded on the hunter, sending him flying backwards. Chell collapsed, the wound sizzling and slowly expanding around the bolt that was imbedded deep into her. GLaDOS quickly pulled the bolt out of her, but she had already grown very limp and was shaking tremendously. Her skin went from pale to chalky white as the blackish-red blood spilled out of the wound much faster than it should have for a wound of that size. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her breathing became quick and shallow.

'It must have been poisoned…' GLaDOS thought, 'There's no way a single hit could bring her down like this…'

She realized that Chell may die right there very soon; she had no idea how potent the poison was. 'No…' she thought, 'I need her to get back to my facility. I need her to find that lab. I need her.' She felt power begin to surge up from within her. 'Nothing can keep me from my facility or my research. I won't let her die here. I won't let him kill her!'

Her eyes began to glow gold and golden light began to swirl around her, reaching up towards the sky.

…

As the hunter struggled to stand up after the angel's attack, he was blown back down by another, different force. The alley was suddenly radiating with power. He could sense that the source of it must have been the angel's friend – the supposed human whose soul was different from any he had felt before. He could feel her power targeting him, crushing down on him. He began to feel small and insignificant, and began to rapidly back away from her. He could feel her gathering power to prepare for an attack, but didn't have the will to dodge; after all, his life meant nothing. He should just die here…

"Oh dear, it seems I'm too late…" came a male voice. The hunter sensed the dark presence of the guy who knocked him off the building. He felt the man strike the ground with the bottom of some sort of staff and yet another wave of magic was sent out. This one swept the other spell away, and there was a thud as the 'human' creating the spell hit the ground. The feeling of worthlessness faded.

"I suggest you leave this little fledgling and her friend alone, hunter," the man said with a threatening tone, "Or else I'll teach you a historical lesson on the darkest creature to ever walk the Earth."

Momentarily forgetting about the angel he set out to kill, the hunter fled.

…

Her rage fading, GLaDOS watched, barely conscious, as Elli approached, the silver ball atop his cane casting an eerie red glow. He checked her for only a second before moving on to Chell, who was in much deeper trouble.

GLaDOS forced herself to sit up, despite the rising nausea. "Is she alright?" she asked softly.

"Of course not," Elli replied casually, "She was just hit with a crossbow bolt covered in a toxin that can make anything very sick, but is especially deadly to angels. However," he picked the now passed out angel up and turned to her, "The dose was, for some reason, not completely lethal. Can you stand up?"

"Barely," she muttered, still struggling to get up.

"Good," he said, "I can't carry both of you. Now, grab onto my coat."

She more accurately leaned against him, but it only took a second for all three of them to teleport into Chell and GLaDOS' bedroom, where she collapsed on her bed while Elli gently set Chell down on hers.

Chell suddenly woke up and, her eyes still tinted with a fain red glow, began to struggle against him as Elli tried to perform a healing spell.

"Calm down, little fledgling," he grunted as he fought to hold her down, releasing a calming spell.

"You… I recognize you now…" she suddenly hissed as she stopped struggling.

"What?" he whispered, pausing.

"You… You were the one who helped me that night… after I killed the vampire-werewolf thing, weren't you?" she said, her eyes narrowing.

"I…" he began, looking uncertain for the first time since Chell and GLaDOS met him.

"Well?" GLaDOS said darkly, forcing herself to sit back up.

Elli composed himself. "Yes, I was the one who helped you. Doing so caused me to get fired, and getting fired in Rattmann's lab meant getting thrown in the test chamber to be killed by some experiment. So, I ran."

"Then you lied to us," GLaDOS accused.

"My only lie was when I said I read your minds," he explained calmly as he returned to healing Chell's wound, "You can't just read someone's mind and know everything about them without them noticing. I knew about you from the time I spent working in Aperture."

"Why are you helping us, then?" she asked suspiciously. Glancing at the now silent angel, she realized Elli's calming spell was putting Chell into some sort of sleep-like trance.

"Simple," he replied in his usual cheery way, "One – I wanted the sword, and two – Rattmann wants to kill me, and you want to kill Rattmann, so by helping you kill him, I won't have to worry about him killing me."

Elli completed the healing spell, which left the wound mostly closed and stopped the bleeding, and began to bandage the wound while GLaDOS silently watched. When he finished, he stood up and, turning to her, said, "Keep an eye on her. If she starts thrashing or something, go up the stairs and knock on my door. I'll explain everything in the morning."

A/N: I managed to get this chapter out just before school started! (Small burst of confetti, unenthusiastic party horn) Anyway, it looks like we're nearing the end of this fic. We only have one or two more chapters.

That bit at the beginning should probably be moved back a chapter or two so there's no confusion about when that happened and I wouldn't have to do the 'Earlier… Presently…' thing to show that it happened a few days before the actual chapter.